Lifted Up

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Pentecost Sunday, the first Sunday after Ascension Day, the 5th of June, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.]

Family, we’re in a rather busy stretch of our Christian calendar right now.  We celebrated Mother’s Day a few weeks back and Father’s Day is coming up soon.  Today is Pentecost Sunday, when God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within all those who believe in His Son Jesus and accept Him as Lord.  Next week is Trinity Sunday, when we celebrate the three persons of God.

But this past Thursday was Ascension Day, the anniversary of the day that Jesus went home, when He ascended back into heaven after His resurrection.  Between those two very remarkable events – His resurrection and His ascension – the once again living Jesus was seen in the flesh by over 500 witnesses.

Now Pentecost is pretty well known and understood – we cover it often and just a few weeks ago we looked at what many consider the Pentecost for the Gentiles.  But we don’t always pay as much attention to Jesus’ ascension, so I’d like to look at that this morning.  After all, Pentecost followed a mere few days after the Ascension, as Jesus informs His disciples just moments before leaving them.

Please listen and follow along to how the Apostle Luke described this event in the 1st chapter of his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 1 through 11, and I’ll be reading this from the New Revised Standard Version of our Holy Bible…

1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

--Acts 1:1-11 (NRSV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for lifting Your Son Jesus back up into heaven, His home.  And thank You for Your messengers who promised that Jesus would one day return, and in the same manner that He went home: in a cloud from heaven.  Forgive us, please Father, when we lose sight of all the promises You made us.  Forgive us when we overlook each event in Jesus’ life, for they all hold special meaning for us.  Please help us remember that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Master, and call ourselves by His name, that Your own, all-powerful Holy Spirit comes and makes His home within us, to remain always with us and guide us and pray for us.  Help us to bear witness of Your Son and His influence in our lives.  Remind us that He is coming back to us some day, and then every person on this earth will know who He truly is.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who carry out his works and deeds.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Show us how we can better fill our role in Your great plan of salvation for mankind so that all may rejoice when Jesus returns.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Actress and comedienne Gracie Allen once received a small, live alligator as a gag.  Not knowing what to do with it, Gracie placed it in the bathtub and then left for an appointment.  When she returned home, she found this note from her maid: "Dear Miss Allen: Sorry, but I have quit.  I don't work in houses where there is an alligator.  I would have told you this when I hired on, but I never thought it would come up."

Have you ever accepted a job only after making it clear that you would not work there if an alligator was brought in?  No, of course not, unless maybe you went to work for a reptile farm.  No one would think to make such a condition because they wouldn't expect it to ever happen.

Finding an alligator in the bathtub took the maid by surprise, as it was something she never expected to see in the home.  Just about everything Jesus did took His disciples by surprise, even though time after time He told them exactly what would happen.

There are quite a few interesting points in our scripture reading this morning.  First, we need to remember that what we call the Book of Acts was actually the second letter the Apostle Luke wrote to his friend Theophilus.  And in the first eight verses, Luke basically summarizes the ending of his first letter, which we call his Gospel account.

He included that first remarkable event of Jesus’ resurrection as witnessed by the disciples and others during a forty day period.  He speaks of the coming Pentecost, when they will be baptized by God’s Holy Spirit.  And then, almost as an aside, in verse 9 Luke notes that as the disciples were watching, Jesus was lifted up from the face of the earth and a cloud carried Him out of sight.

Jesus was lifted up.  He didn’t rise up on His own power.  He didn’t just vanish into thin air.  He was lifted up by God and taken back to His Father’s home, there to prepare a place for us, He promised.

Considering all the amazing things the disciples had witnessed the last three years, maybe this registered as just another miracle Jesus performed.  According to Luke, they don’t seem very excited or even a little startled.  They simply looked up toward heaven, watching Him go off into the sky until they could see Him no more, yet still gazing after Him.

And then two men just appeared among them, dressed in white robes.  They inform the disciples – and us - that Jesus has been taken up into heaven, and that someday He would return in the same manner in which He left.  In the Gospel account of the Apostle Matthew, Jesus tells us that when He returns, He will come riding in on the clouds for all to see.  Just as He left the earth, He will return.

As I mentioned earlier, Jesus had told His disciples everything that would happen while He was still among them and all that has yet to happen, but they just couldn’t fully grasp it all.  His arrest, His death, His resurrection, His return to heaven…  He explained it all time and time again.  And He explained it in terms they were very familiar with, terms that are a little strange for us today.  Which makes me wonder if we truly grasp it ourselves.

I believe Jesus understood how much we would struggle with all He told us.  Listen to His own words as recorded by the Apostle John in chapter 3 of his Gospel account, verses 12 through 17, which includes the best known verse in all the world…

12 “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

--John 3:12-17 (NKJV)

If we struggle to believe the things Jesus told us about the world around us - what has happened here, what is yet to happen - how will we be able to believe all He has told us about the kingdom of God?  First of all, do we fully understand just what it means to “believe” in Jesus, to follow Him?  It’s a lot more than just saying, “Yeah, I believe He existed, and I’ll accept that He performed some pretty amazing things.  Maybe I’ll even concede that He was sent by God as the Messiah.  But will I accept that He is the only way to heaven?  Will I give up all the treasures of this world just to follow Him and do the things He wants me to do?  Am I willing to love all others, even those who hate me, those who aren’t like me, those who don’t think like me?  No, sorry, I love the world a little too much for that.”  In God’s eyes, believing in Jesus means striving to become more like Him.

Yes, God loves all of His creation and does not want to see anyone suffer all eternity for their sinful ways.  That’s why He sent His only Son to the world, to offer us a way out of everlasting punishment.  But God is righteous, and what He says He will do.  So yes, many will suffer, whether they’re willing to accept it or not.

In those few verses from John’s account, Jesus notes that He must be “lifted up” just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.  To understand this reference, we have to remember back to when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for forty years.  One of the times the people spoke out against God and Moses, the Lord sent fiery serpents into their camps, and many were bitten and died.  God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, lift it up on a pole, so that anyone who had been bitten that would look at the serpent would live.  

The bronze serpent was lifted up on a pole so that the people might live out their mortal lives.  Jesus was lifted up on the cross so that we might live for all eternity.  He was lifted up into heaven, after promising that we too will someday be taken there to be with Him.

Lifted up…  uplifted.  The phrase, or the word, can mean being raised or elevated.  Now this can be physically, as when Jesus was bodily lifted up and carried off on a cloud.  Or it can be emotionally or spiritually, as in an improvement in mood or spirit.  Singing our favorite hymns can be an uplifting experience, just as thinking of all that God does for us, how good He is to us, can lift our spirits on the darkest days.

Jesus was lifted up onto the cross to redeem us of our sin.  He was lifted up and taken back to His Father’s house, where He prepares for us to be lifted up and taken to be with Him, forever.  We don’t know when that day will come, so we must always be prepared.  We must truly follow Jesus and get right in God’s eyes.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for lifting up Your Son Jesus and taking Him back home while we watched.  By this we know that He will keep His promise of returning to take us home.  Thank You, Father, for showing us the truth, for preserving Your word, for keeping Your covenant with us.  Father, sometimes we struggle to fully understand all that we read.  Sometimes we have trouble reconciling what our Bible contains with what learned people of the world tell us.  Forgive us, Father, when we allow ourselves to be swayed by the wrong sources.  Forgive us when we loosen our grip on Your truth.  Please clear up any confusion that clouds our spiritual vision.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, just before You left us to go back to Your Father’s house, You promised that someday You would come back for us and take us to Your home, to be with You forever.  Thank You, Jesus, for so great a love.  Through You and by our belief, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit who makes His home within us, to be our Guide and our Companion until You return.  Thank You, Lord, for so great a gift.  Please, Lord, forgive us when we put ourselves and our own desires ahead of the needs of others.  Help us be more conscientious in our service.  Remind us that not everyone will be saved but that it is our job to try to help them all.  Show us how to spread the Good News You brought into the world.  And Lord Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.