Tag: ascension

Ascending & Sending, Part 2: The Means

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(Acts 2:1-21)

“Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” That’s how we boiled down the message of our mission in part one. It was how we captured what Jesus meant when he told his disciples that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Lk. 24:47) and reminded them that they were witnesses, both having seen Jesus carry out the work he was sent to do, and now testifying to it as the mission is carried out. We tell others, “Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” 

It was ten days prior to the events in Acts 2 when Jesus ascended while blessing the disciples. It was at that time that he also sent the disciples on their mission. But he was not done sending. He wasn’t just sending them; there was another gift Jesus promised to send. “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49). Now, on the day we call Pentecost (not some deeply significant theological designation, but which means “50”, as in fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection), Jesus was sending the very gift he promised: the Holy Spirit. 

If you had to guess where some monumental event in church history might take place, where might you guess? Church, right? Or, in their day, the temple, which is where Luke said the disciples stayed continually to praise God. That would make sense. But that’s not where the Spirit was sent on this very special occasion.

Instead, we’re told they were together in a house. Now, without stretching the significance of this too far, it may nonetheless serve as a good reminder for us that the work of the Spirit and the work of his Church is not by any means limited to the church as a building. Sure, the physical location, along with Christian churches wherever the gospel is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered and received, is essential to our mission. But it isn’t exclusive, by any means. Essential, yes. Exclusive, no. 

Why? Because the Holy Spirit can and does work anywhere. He has worked in foreign lands, as he did through Moses in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon. He can show up in a burning bush. He can speak through a donkey. He can communicate through the powerful visual of a valley of dry bones. 

And, he can work as he did here among the believers on Pentecost. His work was visual, audible, and intelligible. Ultimately, it was just the means needed to carry out the mission: communicate to the ends of the earth the message, “Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” Tongues that were tangled and tied at Babel became loosed and unleashed.

When we strip away the Spirit’s special effects, what did it all come down to? Communicating in a language everyone could understand by the simplest means possible: spoken words. There was speaking and there was hearing. It was that simple. Was there any better gift that could be given to spread the message than removing the barrier of foreign language? Jesus said “all nations,” and he had now made that possible. They had the means by which to carry out the mission.

You know, don’t you, that we still have the means to carry out the mission today? Recently in our congregation, three youth confirmands were joined by two adults in professing their faith in Jesus. That same Sunday, as well as the Sunday prior, each included a baptism. Then, on the Sunday that followed, those confirmands received the Lord’s Supper together with their church family for the first time. What is behind all of this? What do all of these things have in common? 

Well, if you ask someone without the Spirit, they’re all just silly church rituals. They’re far-fetched foolishness and a waste of time.

But if you ask a believer, a child of God, one who has read, studied, and believes what the Word says about all of these things, they all point to one thing in common: the work of the Holy Spirit. Guess what that means? The Holy Spirit’s shift didn’t end after the Day of Pentecost. He didn’t clock out for the last time and decide to retire. Ever since that day, the Spirit has been building up and strengthening the Church, and he will continue to do so until Jesus returns. 

But how do we tap into that power? What does it take to unlock the same jaw-dropping effects of Pentecost? Surely that sort of thing must be relegated to the spiritual cream of the crop. It must be limited to the spiritually trained professionals and the deeply dedicated, the most devoted among us. It must be reserved for the explosive churches and ministries having a world-wide impact, who have clearly discovered something the rest of us have not. 

I think you know better, don’t you? But if we do, then why don’t our words and actions more often show it? When is the last time you got excited to get involved in something at church, not just for the sake of spending time with friends at church – but excited by the potential behind it to reach someone new with the gospel? When is the last time you started getting giddy as you realized a conversation with a non-believer was an open door to point them to their Savior? When is the last time you took the time to even look into any sort of mission work being done by your congregation or church body?

As much as we enjoy functions that bring us together to enjoy each other as we are blessed to do, Lord forgive us if our meeting together overshadows our mission together. Lord forgive us if everything we do together more or less effectively cuts our mission of Seeking the Lost and Serving the Found in half, chopping off the “Seeking the Lost”, leaving only Serving the Found (this is the mission of Shepherd of the Hills).

When we are veering off in that direction, let us run, not walk, to the last verse of our section from Acts 2 this morning: “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v.21). Believe it. you are saved, not because you are on fire with the Holy Spirit. You are saved, not because your spiritual fervor surpasses that of the disciples in the early Christian Church. You are saved because of one reason and one reason only: Jesus.

To call on his name is to cling to his forgiveness, embracing his grace, and savoring the salvation your Savior won for you. Lost your mission zeal? Never had it in the first place? It’s not counted against those who call on his name! We have been saved – but also saved with purpose!

Therefore, I am going to give you both an invitation and a challenge. First, the invitation. Please, use your pastor as a resource. Please, tell others you have a pastor that you can talk to anytime about anything and he’ll do his best to listen, answer questions, and provide guidance. Please, give him referrals. Please, send people his way. Please, share resources with others. Please, speak highly and frequently of your church. Please, tell others what they’re missing if their kids aren’t in your school (if you have one). Please, invite others to anything and everything you do at church – it’s for them, too!)

And here’s the challenge: push yourself to get more confident and more comfortable in carrying out the mission directly yourself. Because… you’re never really by yourself. The Spirit Jesus promised to send after his ascension is still at your side when you communicate the message. You’re never really by yourself.

So speak up. Talk Jesus. Normalize him in your conversations. Look for openings to bring him up whenever you can. Do it until you become so comfortable that it actually feels uncomfortable when you don’t! Go back and read that last sentence again!

If Peter can do it, you can do it. Through the power of the Spirit, Peter, the one who needed his mind opened at Ascension, was the one opening minds on Pentecost, explaining what was happening! Peter, who at one point was determined to keep Jesus from dying, was now connecting the Scriptures for those listening. Peter, who was so confident in his own allegiance to Jesus that he refused to believe he could ever turn on him or deny him, was now appealing not to his own authority, but to God’s authority through his prophets. Jesus had given him the mission; now, in this special outpouring, he was also giving him the means: the Holy Spirit. 

You have the mission and the means. There is no reason the Spirit cannot do through you the sort of things that he did through Peter and so many others. No disrespect to Peter, but there was nothing special about him. The same could be said for many of the men and women in Scripture – there was nothing special about them.

We easily forget that, because of course their names are written in Scripture, and so we automatically elevate them to some superstar spiritual status. But their names aren’t in there because there was something exceptional about them; rather, their names are recorded because they allowed God to use them so that he could do something exceptional through them. Don’t think so little of God that he cannot do the exceptional and extraordinary for his kingdom through ordinary you or me.

In fact, rather than putting all the extra pressure on ourselves, let’s start with ordinary – and let God turn it into extraordinary if he so chooses. Is he able to? Look at Pentecost!

Suppose you find yourself wandering, lost in the woods in the cold chill of winter, desperately seeking warmth. You come across a beautiful cabin that is vacant, and the front door is unlocked. As you enter, the first thing that grabs your attention is the stunning oversized fireplace. The stonework around it is exceptional, the fireplace itself is obviously well-made, and there is even a huge stack of wood inside it, carefully positioned to light up and burn for hours. The only thing missing is the fire itself.

That was the church prior to Pentecost. Everything had been completed and made ready. Jesus had trained and equipped his disciples during his three-year ministry. Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus had ascended and promised the outpouring of a special gift from on high. The only thing missing was the fire itself.

Then, like a lit match in that cabin fireplace, a blazing fire roared to life, throwing light and heat and beauty throughout the whole cabin. When the Spirit came on Pentecost, the whole church also roared to life and began to throw the light and heat and beauty of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Everything was ready; it just needed the Spirit’s spark.

Everything is ready. But the church will not roar to life in its mission if it doesn’t also have the means. It will always be the Spirit driving it. And the Spirit will always drive it through the means of grace – Word and Sacrament. Let’s keep stoking that fire so that the Spirit stirs us to roar to life in carrying out our mission together! 

Ascending & Sending, Part 1: The Mission

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(Luke 24:44-53)

Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s complex. A classroom assignment or work project can involve many steps and different layers, or it can consist of one straight-forward requirement that can be carried out and completed with relative ease. The task may be for each student or employee individually, or it may be for a group that is assigned to work together. The more complex the project and the more people involved, the more necessary it is to provide clarity on what the finished project is supposed to look like.

Before Jesus ascended, he reiterated for his disciples what their assignment, their mission, was. As you reflect on the words Jesus spoke to them, would you describe the mission Jesus was sending them to carry out as simple or complex? He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (v.46-47).

Admittedly, it might sound pretty complex. The promised Messiah, the Savior about whom God had prophesied throughout history, first had to suffer, die, and then rise from the dead. We’re already multiple steps into it – sounds pretty complex!

However, when we remember it is the risen Lord himself speaking these words to them, we realize that the heavy lifting in the assignment has already been done! The suffering, dying, and rising from the dead which had to take place had obviously been carried out. The impossible part of the mission had been made possible by Jesus. What was left was not so complex at all.

Repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached everywhere. That’s what was left. We should probably understand those two terms if we’re going to figure out this mission. So let’s strip them of their churchiness and make sure we know what we’re talking about.

That’s important because sometimes we throw around words and phrases in the church and forget that not everyone actually grasps their meaning yet. So we just keep using the same words, assuming everyone knows what we’re talking about, only they don’t. But, since they also don’t want to look foolish, don’t ask about them and just nod in agreement to go along with the crowd.

If repentance is going to be preached everywhere, we absolutely must know what it means. Simply put, it’s alerting people to turn around. Turn around. It’s caring enough about other people to let them know they’re going the wrong way. Turn around. It’s warning them about the danger ahead that is waiting for them if they keep on their current path. Turn around.

Picture the police car you first spot as a speck in your rearview mirror, appearing out of nowhere. Then, before you can blink, the view of his vehicle has completely filled your mirror because he sped right up to your bumper. The nervousness kicks in. Then, he pulls out of that lane right alongside you and slows to your exact speed. He looks over at you, makes eye contact, and then makes the dreaded gesture, pointing for you to pull over. Your heart sinks and your mind is racing to try to figure out what you did wrong. When he walks up to your window, you’re fully expecting him to drop the hammer on you.

Only he doesn’t.

That’s because he was pulling you over to let you know that you drove right past a warning sign that the road ahead was closed. He informs you that just ahead, around a particularly dangerous curve, a rock slide has left the road impassible. The reason he pulled you over was to warn you of the danger before it was too late. He’s telling you to turn around for your own safety.

That’s repentance. Out of care and concern for others, we’re lovingly warning them about the danger ahead if they don’t turn around. 

But there’s more to the mission Jesus shared with his disciples. He also said that forgiveness will be preached.

While this may be – and certainly ought to be – among one of the most frequently spoken and heard words in the church, do we really get what it means? The word “forgive” here literally means to release or let go, to send away.

So when Jesus says our mission is to follow up our “Turn around” warning of repentance with the news that a person’s sin has been let go or sent away, we are giving people everything they need for salvation! Repentance and forgiveness are like a one-two punch. When we call others to turn around, we have something substantial to follow it up with!

That’s it. There’s the mission. The church’s mission. Your mission. My mission. “Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” 

It’s also important that we don’t wrongly extend the mission. That is, when we have made that message known to others, we sometimes extend the mission to take on the responsibility of the person hearing it. We imagine that it is our job to convince them to believe it. And if they don’t, we conclude that we must have failed at the mission Jesus gave us.

But the response others have to our words is not a part of our mission. Jesus didn’t add the responsibility of convincing others to believe to our mission. That’s his work, as we’ll see more in part two of this post.

Think back to the officer warning the driver about the impassible road ahead. If the driver had disregarded the officer’s warning and sped on ahead, screeched around the corner, and smashed into the huge boulders that had spilled across the road, that wouldn’t mean the officer failed to do his job. The officer wouldn’t be at fault for the driver who disregarded his clear warning at his own risk.

So we aren’t at fault when others refuse to believe and act on our warning: “Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” Our mission is simply to proclaim it.

So how are we doing with that mission? If we’re lagging, there might be a reason.

Take note of another detail Luke shares in this account. It’s an important one. After Jesus explained that everything written about him in the Bible has to be fulfilled, something remarkable happened: “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (v.45). He made it make sense! That’s what Jesus does – he makes the Bible make sense, and he does the same thing today when we read the Bible. The more we read it, the more our minds are opened and the more it makes sense. While we’ll talk more in part two about the special Gift Jesus promised to help make that happen, for our purposes here, it’s enough to see that Jesus makes this make sense when we read it.

But if we don’t read the Scriptures, then it won’t make as much sense. And neither will our mission.

Very recently a comment made by a fellow believer reminded me of how important this was. He referred to himself as a Bible-reading Christian. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but it stuck with me later while working on this message.

His comment implied a distinction between two types of Christians: the general Christian and the Bible-reading Christian. Yes, it almost sounds absurd because we’d assume there is only one kind of Christian – the Bible-reading Christian. Yet, it’s true! There are some Christians who rarely, if ever, crack open their Bibles. Yes, it can still be said that they have saving faith – they believe Jesus is their Savior, and assuming that doesn’t change, they will end up in heaven. But… not before missing out on a huge reason why God makes us Christians in the first place: to carry out his mission!

So if his mission isn’t on your radar, or is unimportant to you, or isn’t something you can scrounge up the time to carry out, might it have something to do with the fact that you fall into that other category – the Christian who doesn’t read the Bible? If so, and if that doesn’t change, then I can guarantee that one of two things – or both of them! – is going to happen. Best-case scenario? You fritter away your precious time here on earth chasing after meaninglessness, but still squeeze into heaven because God’s grace is even big enough to drag your fizzling faith through the pearly gates. 

The other possibility is that your neglect of the Word, at being a Bible-reading believer, ends up leaving your faith completely malnourished. It then starves and you die, not just physically, but spiritually. Worst-case scenario? Both of those things happen. Your life is filled with meaninglessness and vain pursuits, which is then followed by spiritual death for eternity. 

But the message – our mission – is that no one has to experience either of those! Let Jesus make it make sense and open your mind through the Scriptures. Look what happened when the disciples had their minds opened! “Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God” (v.52-53). Joy! Praise! Where did it come from? Their minds had been opened and they knew their mission!

Do you think there is room for more joy and praise in your life? Do you think it might result from being more engaged in the mission Jesus gave his church? Let me give you two reasons why I think it will. 

First, you get to experience the awesome feeling of God working through you to possibly change someone else’s eternity. No, not everyone will hear and believe your message. But some will. And when God allows you to be a part of that process and uses you to bring someone into his kingdom, it’s at the same time one of the most humbling and exhilarating feelings you could ever experience. You’ll feel a joy and praise that you’ve never felt before.

The second reason you’ll experience more joy and praise in your life? Every time you are fulfilling our mission to proclaim this message to others, who else is hearing that message over and over again? You are!

The very message of repentance and forgiveness is reinforced and you are reassured each time you proclaim it to others. Don’t expect some logical explanation for that – it’s simply the promised power of the gospel. It works supernaturally, but it is the power that God uses in us, too, to build us up and strengthen us in our faith. So every time you carry out our mission, you also benefit from that same mission. 

Still not convinced? Still not sure you’ve got what it takes to carry out the mission Jesus gave you? Read on to part two, which covers the remarkable Ascension followup known as Pentecost, where we continue celebrating Jesus’ important work of ascending and sending, and our mission – as well as the means to carry it out.

Victorious Over Meaninglessness

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(Luke 24:44-53)

Aristotle was on to something with the phrase, “well-begun is nearly done.” He was emphasizing the importance of not only getting a project started, but starting it in a strong or favorable way. The theory is that the rest of the work comes much easier from that point on, significantly increasing the likelihood of completion. 

The expression also applied to Jesus’ words at his ascension. Well-begun is nearly done. Jesus got the mission of the church rolling, and he got it off on the right foot: he suffered, died, and he rose. That’s a great start! When on the cross Jesus cried, “It is finished,” he was speaking of your salvation. That part is done. There is no unfinished business or requirement that needs to be met in order to restore a perfect relationship with God that had previously been ripped apart by our sin. It’s all done. We’re all good with God.

But just as surely as Jesus stated, “it is finished,” from the cross on Good Friday, from the clouds at the Ascension, Jesus might as well have said, “It isn’t finished.” Because it isn’t – that is, his mission. No, Jesus’ mission – your mission, our mission, the church’s mission, is why we’re here – because that job is not yet finished. We’re here – living, breathing, alive – because that mission has not yet been completed. You’ll know when it is completed because that will be the day Jesus returns to put a permanent end to suffering and sin.

Until then, though, our mission continues. After beginning the mission and completing the backbone of it in order for us to continue carrying it out, Jesus spelled out our mission. Before returning to the right hand of the Father, he said, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (v. 46-48).

Jesus did the heavy lifting to solidify our salvation. In truth, Jesus is still every bit as much the one who does the heavy lifting today. His disciples are the ones who bring that mission to completion by witnessing to others that Jesus has already done the heavy lifting. Let’s be a little clearer: you are the ones who bring that mission to completion by witnessing to others that Jesus has already done the heavy lifting.

You get to tell others to put down their heavy burdens. You get to tell others to set down their work righteousness. You get to tell others they can let go of their guilt. You get to tell others they do not need to keep carrying their past record of wrongs. You get to tell others their sentence of an eternity of community service has been commuted. You get to tell others there is rest in Jesus, forgiveness from the Faithful One and salvation in the Savior. 

That is your mission, my mission, our mission. Is it clear? Do you need more explanation? Is something fuzzy? Good news: Jesus stands by ready to clarify, just as he did with the first disciples. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (v.45).

Consider how the phrase “open-minded” is used today. It is not usually a compliment when someone tells you that you need to be more open-minded about something. It implies you’re stuck in your ways, that you can only see a matter one way, that you are incapable of viewing it any other way. So here, Luke uses the phrase to indicate that Jesus’ disciples had a very limited understanding of Scripture. The very purpose of opening their minds was for them to gain a better grasp of Scripture. Why did they need a better grasp of Scripture? So they could understand the mission better, not just in terms of what to do, but why to do it.

Much is made of this in the way of leadership development these days, and rightly so. If people are only given a “what” – the nuts and bolts and ABCs of carrying out some task, they lack the drive to carry it out. They need to know the “why” – “why does this matter? why is this important?” Jesus covered the “why” by reviewing his suffering, death, and resurrection, thereby setting the tone for rolling out the mission: “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (v.47-48). 

When a believer or a group of believers has lost sight of the mission, minds need to be opened to understand the Scriptures and get back to the “why” of our mission: the good news of Jesus’ perfect life, willing suffering, innocent death, powerful resurrection, and glorious ascension. These are the bedrock of our very being. These remind us of where we stand with God and why – we are at peace with him – sins paid for in full – because Jesus did it all. That news is for us to soak up for ourselves!

That news is also for us to share with others! Nothing has changed in the 2,000 years since Jesus ascended; the mission remains the same. We soak up that message; we share that message.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, located in Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia, is a monument dedicated to all of the unidentified military service members who have died fighting in our nation’s wars. It is guarded by soldiers of the United States Army, and it is considered one of the highest honors to be selected to serve as a sentinel (fewer than 20 percent of volunteers are accepted). Visitors can watch the ceremony that takes place as the guard is changed at various times. When that takes place, the guard being relieved will state to the oncoming guard, “Post and orders remain as directed.” The other then responds, “Orders acknowledged.” In other words, the mission to stand guard at the tomb is the same today as it was on the day it was first given, to stand guard at the tomb. 

We need to hear the same reminder today, “post and orders remain as directed.” The mission that Jesus gave to his church at his ascension is the same mission of his church today. Nothing has changed. “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (v.47-48). Nothing has changed. That is our mission. 

In addition to speaking of opening the disciples’ minds, there is another term that Jesus used that includes the idea of changing one’s mind. That is essentially the meaning of the word, “repentance,” which Jesus stated was a part of our mission. As disciples today witness, the Holy Spirit changes minds through the Word. Repentance takes place as others are led to see their sin and rejoice in their Savior and his forgiveness. Minds – and eternities along with them! – are changed as the mission is carried out. Repentance changes minds about Jesus.

Do our minds “need to be changed?” Does repentance need to take place where we have lost sight of the mission? Do we need to confess that the reason we’re not carrying out the mission is that we’re not caring about the mission? Do we need to acknowledge that we’ve too readily admitted to failing at the mission but have not been very quick to make any changes and resume carrying out the mission we’ve been given? Have we too often told ourselves the “I’m too _______ to carry out the mission” – too timid, too inexperienced, too young, too old, too tired, too… etc.? 

The truth is that we’re “too” forgiven not to carry on the mission. Jesus takes the least qualified, and sends them – sends us – to carry out his mission. That was who he sent at his Ascension, and that is who he sends today. And those he sends, he equips, just as he did ten days after his Ascension through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. That was what Jesus was promising in verse 49: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 

To those willing to carry on the mission today, Jesus promises the same powerful Spirit. He equips us with the Word of God, he has dressed us properly in our baptism, and he feeds us regularly through the Sacrament. We lack nothing for carrying out the mission. Jesus needs only hearts stirred by the gospel and lips willing to speak. That’s really all he is looking for, and he can work with that wherever he finds it. Will he find those two things when he looks to you for them?

We live in a culture that clamors for fame. Influencers hope their social media accounts blow up and lead to fame. YouTube offers the hope of a viral video that might pave the way to fame. Sadly, the prevalence of shootings can be tied to a desire for fame – even from such tragedy. In a fame-focused culture, let’s commit to the same pursuit; let’s chase after fame.

But not for you and me. Let’s make Jesus famous. Let’s recapture for a world disenfranchised by the Christian Church what Christianity is all about: Jesus. Let’s stop praying small and start playing big. Let’s stop tearing down the world and focus more on lifting up Christ. Less of digging in our heels and more of digging into the Word. Let’s worry less about making Christianity unpopular and focus more on making Jesus famous.

After all, he got it all started – “well begun is nearly done.” Let’s faithfully finish what he started. Let’s let him bring to completion through us what he brought to completion on the cross. At his Ascension, he spelled out his mission clearly for us. Let’s recommit to carrying it out by making our lives less about us and more about Jesus as we carry out his purposes. Jesus’ resurrection – and ascension – have given your life meaning – let’s let our lives mean as much as possible in pursuit of winning as many souls as we possibly can together!