Ascension 2024
Text: Acts 1:1-11
Title: Jesus began…
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
Luke is the only one to tell the story of the Ascension, and he tells it twice.
It’s the last story in the Gospel according to Luke, and it’s the first story in the Acts of the Apostles.
It’s kind of like when you’re watching a new episode of a TV show, and at the very beginning they do a recap to remind you how the last episode ended.
That’s basically what Luke is doing here. He reminds us how the Gospel of Luke ended, as he sets the scene for the book of Acts.
The Ascension of Jesus is vitally important for the Book of Acts, which tells the story of the first generation of the church, and it’s vitally important for us, too, important enough to have a church service on a Thursday.
The key to understanding the Ascension comes with one little word in the first verse of Acts. You might not have even noticed it the first time through.
So here it is again, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,”
“The first book” refers to the Gospel of Luke, which Luke also wrote to Theophilus. And in this book, Luke says, he wrote about all that Jesus “began” to do and to teach.
That word “began” is vitally important. That word “began” is key to the whole book of Acts and the whole life of the church.
Luke could have said, “In that first book I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught.”
But instead, Luke used the word, “began.” He says that first book was about what Jesus began to do and teach.
This means that Jesus is not done doing and teaching.
The Ascension does not mark the end of Jesus’ work on earth.
It’s not as though Jesus completed His work- He taught, He did some miracles, He suffered, died, and rose again, and He’s all done, He can just relax until it’s time to come back to earth again.
No. He’s not done. He’s only just begun.
Yes, the work of earning our salvation is done. There’s nothing more that Jesus has to do to save you. “It is finished,” He said. Everything was completed.
But the work of giving out that salvation, of distributing the gifts is still ongoing. There’s still work to be done.
But if Jesus is in heaven, how can He still be active and working here on earth?
That’s where the apostles fit in.
Just before ascending Jesus said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
And again, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus tells the apostles that they will preach in His name.
That means that they are not preaching their own words on their own authority, but Jesus’ words, as Jesus’ representatives.
Think about it like this.
The mailman delivers a package for your birthday. Inside there is a present from your grandma.
Now, who gave you the gift? Was it your grandma, or the mailman?
Of course, the gift comes from your grandma. Yes, she used someone else to deliver it, but the gift comes from her.
The apostles are Jesus’ deliverymen. They take the gifts from Jesus and deliver them to the people.
When the apostles preach, that will be Jesus speaking through them.
This begins when Jesus sends His Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost.
On Pentecost, when Peter stands up to preach, His main point is this: Jesus is doing all this. All that the people were seeing and hearing- the flames of fire, the different languages- Jesus was doing all these things.
Peter says, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
Peter tells the people that Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit, all this wonderful stuff is happening. Jesus is doing it, not the apostles.
That’s what it means for Jesus to be at God’s right hand.
Your right hand is what you do stuff with. Sorry to all you lefties out there, but God is right handed. And Jesus is God’s right-hand man.
Jesus is active. He’s still at work here on earth, but He’s doing it through the apostles, to whom He sends His Spirit.
Ascension doesn’t mean that Jesus is done. He’s only just begun. Salvation is accomplished, is won, but it’s still being given out.
Jesus was at work on Pentecost through Peter and the other apostles.
He was at work throughout the book of Acts, through others, including Stephen, Phillip, Barnabas, Paul, Silas, Timothy and others.
And Jesus is still active here, now, in this place.
Jesus promised that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations, to the ends of the earth. And that includes you.
Jesus is here tonight, to bring you to repentance and to forgive your sins.
Jesus is here tonight, to feed you with His body and blood.
If you just came to hear me, then you might as well have stayed at home.
But when you hear the words, “I forgive you all your sins,” that’s Jesus speaking to you.
When you hear the words, “This is my body, this is my blood,” that’s Jesus speaking to you.
His work is still going on.
That’s why the Ascension is so important.
When Jesus was here on earth, He was in one place. If you want to see or hear Jesus, you had to track Him down, stand in line, wait your turn.
Imagine if Jesus had not ascended. Imagine how long it would take to get an appointment to see Him.
But since Jesus has ascended, and since He has sent out His apostles, He comes to you. He uses ordinary, everyday people like me and you to bring His word, His love, His blessing into every corner of the world.
And He’s still not done. His work will continue through His people until He returns as He promised, in the same way that He departed.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!