If you’ve ever felt betrayed by someone, you know how hurtful it can be.  Yet, the Bible gives us many good reminders on why it’s important to handle betrayals with grace.  Listen to this message, first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church in Racine, WI (8.31.2014) and learn four ways the early church dealt with this.  The Scripture passage referred to is Acts 1:12-20 and the homework (Parable of the Wicked Servant) is located in Matthew 18:21-35.

Link to the message Handling Betrayals with Grace

Have you ever had a good friend who moved away?  Yet you had hope of seeing them again, even if that hope was pretty remote because the distance was significant.  What about when a good friend or a family member dies?  You hope of seeing them again—and it’s a heavenly hope!!  But you’d never expect to see them walking the earth again.   The disciples had seen both, in a sense.  Jesus died and they thought they said final goodbyes before the Crucifixion, but then came the Resurrection and the empty tomb and they didn’t understand.  But then Jesus started His Resurrection appearances and as the Risen Lord, He continued His teachings so they would understand what was hoped for—resurrection–was now being realized.

The Resurrection meant that Jesus was among the disciples.  And just as real as He had been before the Last Supper.  It was like old times.  The disciples—as we continue in our series of Acts—have been experiencing both the strange hope of a friend who went away and came back and one who died but was resurrected.  But now, they’re about to be confused again.  Their friend who died and came back is about to go away and not walk this earth again just like old times.

I want to share with you today about “The Day Jesus Went Away.”

The Day that Jesus Went Away is an actual remembered/celebrated date on the Christian calendar.  Ascension Sunday is normally celebrated on the first Sunday beyond 40 days after Easter Sunday.  Most evangelical and Protestant Churches let it pass by with very little recognition.  Maybe there will be a celebration on the Sunday six weeks after Easter, this year June 1, 2014.  In the early church there was a feast on Ascension Day or Ascension Thursday which is technically 40 days which recalls the date of Jesus’ Ascension.

Many Protestant Churches skip over the Ascension because the Crucifixion and the Resurrection eclipse it.  For certain, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are important.  Last week I described them as the pivot point of all human history, yet without the 40 days of time post-Resurrection and the Ascension—the rising of Jesus Christ into the clouds before their very eyes—we’d discover that even the Resurrection would be diminished.  We’ll get to that in a moment.

Many people don’t like the Ascension in the Church because to them, it’s kind of strange to go proclaiming that Jesus went away, rising into the clouds and they try to imagine what that must have been like.  Was it:

• “Beam me up, Scotty!” from Star Trek where He turned into a bunch of sparkles?
• Or is it like Iron Man with rocket things on Jesus’ feet?
• Or maybe did He just float up into the clouds like a balloon, getting smaller and smaller until they couldn’t see Him anymore?
• Or did He disappear like the baseball players in the movie Field of Dreams who walked into the corn field and slowly disappeared?

Scripture doesn’t exactly say, just that He “was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”  Frankly, it doesn’t really matter how it looked, although I would have liked to have been there to see it.  Curiosity wants to know.  In any case, the Ascension requires a suspension of the natural world’s reliance upon the physical and conversely requires a willingness to believe the supernatural.

If you stop to think about it, why would the day Jesus left be any less miraculous than His arrival as a fertilized egg in the womb of a virgin named Mary?  Doesn’t it follow that the time from conception to baptism to ministry to death to resurrection to ascension would all be a time that the Son of God—Emmanuel (God with Us)—that it would ALL be miraculous?  This walking Miracle walked the very earth He created as God?  If we look at it that way, the Ascension of Christ is actually a fitting close to His Incarnational ministry and completes the proof of His Lordship confirmed anew in His Resurrection.

Together, Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension are considered His exaltation.  The early Church viewed them as two different ends of the same rope, two perspectives on the same event.  As it says in the early church hymn found in

Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Resurrection and the Ascension.  Two points on the continuous movement of exaltation.  Remember the scene from outside the empty tomb?

John 20:15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'”

Don’t try to hold Me to this earth, Jesus says.  The physical world has no hold on Me.  The NAS Bible uses the word ascended which is from the Greek word  Ἀναβαίνω which means “go up, ascend” and is referred to by our NIV as “returned” only because God the Father was already up there.

Very briefly, then, I’d like to explore 6 reasons why the Ascension—the Day Jesus Went Away—was critically important for the disciples then…and is critically important for us as disciples today.  6 reasons.  I’ve already alluded to the first

1.  It is a fitting closure to the days of the Miraculous walking among us.  The Incarnation and the Ascension form the two bookends of God with Us in the person of Jesus Christ.  He came.  He left.

2.  Second, it was a clear closure, unlike the empty tomb which is “open ended” in a sense.  Frankly the empty tomb could have been explained by a million natural reasons.  Had the Resurrection occurred without 40 days of proving that He was still alive, we’d probably have more questions than answers.  It’d be the difference for a Vietnam Vet between a fellow solider coming home to his family and one who is still Missing in Action.  Alive, perhaps, but not visible and all the questions surrounding where he is. Uncertainty!  If there wasn’t a 40 day period of Jesus walking and teaching, we’d have nothing hard and fast onto which to pin our faith—just an empty tomb and a bunch of theories as to how it happened.  But the post-Resurrection appearances of Christ proved that He was alive again.  That death didn’t have a hold on Him.  The supernatural had superseded the natural.  The post-Resurrection appearances of Christ were a condescension of God so that we’d believe in the supernatural of God.  But, those appearances couldn’t continue if we were to have faith in what we know from His Word and not only in what we see with our eyes.  Those post-Resurrection appearances of Christ had to end and His visible ascension provided the statement “The End” at the end of His earthly ministry as the person of Jesus on earth.  It was clear closure.  Fitting closure.  Clear closure.

3.  Next, the Ascension was important because it ushered in what was new:  the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Remember this?  John 14: 15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. …25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.”  Jesus ascended so that the Holy Spirit could come.

Now, let me tell you a little story.  When I was on a mission trip to South Africa in 2005, there were a bunch of doctors and nurses on the trip.  We stayed with a partner church and with members of their congregation.  One morning at breakfast, I made the comment that the Holy Spirit couldn’t come until the Father pronounced the acceptability of Jesus’ sacrifice.  The Holy Spirit couldn’t come to indwell us until the temple of our hearts was clean.  At that point, one of the nurses said, I always thought it was like the 1/3-2/3 rule where 2/3 of God always had to be in heaven and the Holy Spirit couldn’t be here on earth while Jesus was still here because that would have meant that 2/3 of God would be on earth.  We got into a protracted discussion of how God isn’t divisible by 3, that the Godhead is One (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), but suffice it to say for our purposes today that the Ascension was proof of acceptable sacrifice and the reason God would send the Holy Spirit since we were now in a position to be able to receive Him IN us as the indwelling Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ.  A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance as saints.  The Ascension as a point of exaltation ushered in something new!

4.  But the Day Jesus went away is also important because of the preparation work Jesus is doing even now!  From John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  When we hear that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and is waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool, it’s not like He’s lounging around in the heavenly version of a Lazy-Boy.  He’s actually finished with the work on earth, but He’s busy preparing a place for us.  How?  By interceding for us and by continuing to draw people to Himself!  Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died– more than that, who was raised to life– is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”  The author of the letter to the Hebrews says it this way:  Hebrews 7: 22 …, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. 23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. 26 Such a high priest meets our need– one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” 

He’s exalted in heaven and is interceding for you and for me—right now—and in every moment.  I don’t know about you, but I find this hugely comforting as I ponder the fate of the Christians in Iraq and journalists being beheaded and Ferguson, MO, and Gaza and Racine and struggles I face in my own life.  Jesus isn’t taking an extended nap in a Stratolounger!  He’s actively interceding and I don’t know what transpired in the moments before James Foley was beheaded, but I want to believe that Jesus showered His grace upon Mr. Foley and Jesus intervened in an eternally powerful way.  That not even death by beheading could separate James Foley from the love of God because of what Jesus did…preparing, I hope and trust, a place for him.  No one knows the answer to that one but God, but if we believe that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient to cover our sins, if we have faith that He’s preparing a place for us, He won’t let us down.  That’s what the Day Jesus Went Away proves: His sacrifice was accepted by the Father as being sufficient and nothing we can do could ever add or take away from that work of God since Jesus Himself is preparing the place for us.

Fitting closure.  Clear closure.  Ushering in something new by Jesus’ acceptable sacrifice.  Going to prepare a place for us where Jesus is still lovingly working on our behalf.  But I’m not done. 

5.  There’s more that the Ascension proves:  It also tells us that we’re not through.  Jesus will come back in the same way He left.  In verse 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” 

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean in a tunic circa 33 AD with OT sandals and looking like those portraits people imagine of the beautifully coiffed wavy light brown hair and blue eyes holding a little lamb and that it will be like a rewind of how Jesus looked leaving.  Like we’re just watching it play backward, but it does mean that in the same miraculous and supernatural way He left, His return will be nothing less than supernatural too.  He told us in John, remember?  John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” 

The Ascension was witnessed history—people saw it, men of Galilee saw it—and it proves that the Day Jesus Went Away is also our guarantee that Jesus will be returning.  People can scoff all they want—and they do, but the truth is that when He returns there will be eternal joy and presence of God for those who believe …and eternal separation from God for those who scoffed at witnessed history.

Yes, all those rocket scientists who made up their own versions of matters of creation, who rejected the supernatural as being nothing but fantasy.  Hell will have its share of people who were “too smart” to believe the supernatural.  When Jesus comes back, Scripture tells us every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  Yes, EVERY.  That means even those who refused to believe it while it would have done them some eternal good.  But they didn’t take it for truth when they were alive.  Live by the physical world.  Die by the physical world…dust to dust for their bodies, but they ignored that their souls are supernatural and at the point of Jesus’ return, supernaturally separated from God forever.   Yup.  The Day Jesus Returns, supernaturally, we’ll see who the truly smart ones are.

6. There’s one last thing that I want to mention about the Ascension among the many good reasons to be thankful for the Ascension and not ignore it:  We’re supposed to do the work of witness until He returns.  I love what today’s passage says:  Acts 1:9 After he said this, [said what?   Back to verse  8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”]  After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” 

A good principle for walking with God in our daily lives is this: Do the last thing He told you to do until He tells you what the next thing is.

Our entire job now is to witness to who He is, walk with the Holy Spirit, learn about God and His ways through His Word and to teach it to others so that when He returns we’ll be found faithful—working hard at what He told us to do.

So here’s your homework assignment.  Browse through the Gospel of Luke and think about the 6 reasons we identified today that the Ascension is important.  That the Ascension is

(1) a fitting closure—Jesus’ incarnational ministry was miraculous from beginning to end,

(2) that it is clear closure—no missing in action doubts whether it’s true, or expectations that He’s going to pop out periodically from behind the clouds.

(3) ushering in something new because Jesus’  sacrifice was accepted.  The Ascension as a point of exaltation proves that.

(4) changing the scope of Jesus’ work from completed incarnation on earth to ongoing ministry of preparation and intercession in heaven.

(5) proof that He will be returning.  In the same supernatural way He left, He’s a-coming, comin’ for to carry me home.  And not just me, everyone who believes upon the Name of Jesus for forgiveness, for remission of sin, and for our salvation.

(6) transforming our work from disciples just watching and learning …to becoming disciples who are doing as well.  The work of witness, the work of Kingdom growth—this amazing partnership God has privileged us to share is possible because the Holy Spirit is now here.  For the disciples staring into the clouds, they were still waiting for this gift worth waiting for, the Holy Spirit who would lift them out of their ruts and expectations, who would empower them to stand as witnesses!  And the Ascension as one point on the exaltation of Christ proves that He will be returning!  Just as Jesus said Luke 18:7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The Ascension—The Day Jesus Went Away—is supernatural.  His coming was supernatural.  His return will be no less supernatural.  So the question we’re left with is, Will we believe?  Or as Jesus stated it,

When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?

Let’s pray.

===

This message was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church in Racine, WI on August 24, 2014 by Barbara Shafer

The Day Jesus Went Away (audio version of a message on Acts 1:9-11)

Click the link above to hear the message “The Day Jesus Went Away” first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church in Racine, WI on August 24, 2014.

Gracious Father in Heaven, You are our greatest treasure and we value You above everything else.  We honor You as God.  We marvel at Your awesome power.  We praise You for Your goodness and love.

We acknowledge, Lord, that we fail to give You all the glory You deserve, for You deserve it all, infinitely more than we know how to give as finite human beings.  We thank You, Lord Jesus, for the sacrifice of Your life for our sins, though our sins are many.  We know that apart from You, we can do nothing.  We thank You for Your faithfulness to endure the Cross for our sakes.  We thank You for Your grace and mercy.  Holy Spirit, we thank You for Your guidance, for pointing us to Christ, for inspiring every good thought and every good deed.  Lord God, You alone are good.

Today we ask that You would make us bold witnesses for Yourself so that we might take a stand in a world that does not know You.  We thank You for the power of the Holy Spirit and the way He gives us words when we don’t have any.  We thank You for friends and family, for coworkers and neighbors, as well as for our leaders—in our local communities and in our nation.  May Your people be bold witnesses, standing up for Jesus and proclaiming the powerful truth that Jesus Christ is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life.

We thank You that because of the power of the Cross, nothing—not even death—can separate those who believe in You from the love of God shown to us in Christ Jesus.  We praise You for Your mercy and grace that we can only know because of Jesus Christ in Whose Name we pray.

Amen.

Witness, Stand!  Message 8.17.2014 from Plymouth Congregational Church in Racine, WI (text version)

Unless you’re Rip Van Winkle, have been living under a rock, been in solitary confinement, or been in a coma during the last week, chances are really good that you heard that Robin Williams died.  It’s been everywhere: tributes, wall-to-wall news coverage on CRWNN (The Cable Robin Williams News Network), newspapers, social media.  It’s been everywhere.  In fact, the coverage has even eclipsed the fact that the world is falling apart at home and abroad.  Everyone, it seems, has a story to tell about Robin Williams and what he meant to them.

Just to make sure there’s no mistake about what I’m saying: Robin Williams was a comedic genius, a kind-hearted person, a loving friend, and a philanthropic man.  His suicide is a tragedy to be sure.  It is not his death per se that I want to focus on today, but rather the national reaction to it that I find nothing short of profound.  Particularly in light of the one major point of today’s message that I’ve entitled, Witness, Stand!

What is that one point of Witness, Stand!?  It’s that witness and worship are interconnected.  What we find ourselves talking about, witnessing to, recounting stories of…speak volumes about what and who we worship.  Witness and worship are interconnected.

In the days following Robin Williams’ death, we heard graphic details of the scene, every friend he ever had appeared on the news to witness to who he was and what he did, their favorite memories of times together and the difference Robin Williams made in their lives.  People who didn’t know him yet heard about him or knew of him through movies and late night shows all had stories to tell and wanted to be part of the ongoing celebration of his life.  They were witnessing to Robin Williams.  Some even took photos of themselves standing on their desks, putting themselves in the story book of Dead Poet’s Society and remembering Todd Anderson’s witness to Robin Williams as O Captain My Captain!  The picture on the front of today’s bulletin.

Of all the items of witness, there is one item that is missing.  One question that is going unasked and unanswered.  One elephant in the room no one is talking about.  One mystery unresolved.  One question no one wants to touch.  One idea that hangs heavy in the air and remains in the hushed breath.  One thought that we are all dancing carefully around to avoid disturbing:     the question of “Where is Robin Williams now?”

We’ve been hearing nothing but witness 24/7. All of this witness and yet no witness I’ve heard to worship of anything larger than Robin Williams.  What a comfort it would have been to his family to know that while suicide is devastating, not even that–not even death from suicide– can separate someone from the love of God in Christ Jesus—that He has shown to those of us who believe.  What a comfort it would have been to his family and his friends to know that faith in Jesus Christ meant eternal life for Robin Williams and encore performances, laughter and smiles forever, instead of just a final curtain call with a strange silence of one hand clapping.  In all the witness and tributes and celebration of life and fame, I have yet to hear one word of witness to what would make the question of “Where is Robin Williams now?” less disconcerting.

In our Old Testament passage from today, Joshua 24:13-24, the people of Israel took a stand (for a while at least) saying they were witnesses and they’d serve the Lord.  Witness is meant to be something we take a stand on…not something we hide under a bowl.  Witness is visible.  Witness is audible.  Witness is public proclamation of what you believe, what you know and what you saw.  In a court of law, the fate of others, the outcome of judgment is based upon witness testimony.

Witness, Stand!  That’s what we could glean from today’s passage:

Acts 1: 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We can stand as witnesses to what Jesus has done for us and no one can take that away.

If you’ve been with us over the past couple of weeks (or have been listening online at our new website  Http://PlymouthChurchRacine.com) you know we’ve been working our way through the book of Acts.  The first week we heard that the Holy Spirit is a gift worth waiting for and last week, we interrupted Jesus’ thought mid-stream as he was chastising the disciples to get out of the Ruts, give up the Old Tapes, and stop relying upon our understanding of the End Times.  Jesus was about to do a whole new thing and He wanted to make sure we understood that the Crucifixion and Resurrection proved the pivot point of all history so that now because of the Holy Spirit coming, we’d be empowered for worship and witness in a whole new way.   Because witness and worship are interconnected.

Acts 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

As followers of Jesus Christ, you and I are supposed to be witnesses, to take a stand for what Jesus Christ has done in our lives.  With the Holy Spirit pumping spiritual iron in our souls, we have all the power needed to do it.  It’s easier to witness to the difference Robin Williams made in our lives than it is to witness to what Jesus did.  Not because Robin Williams has done more, but because it’s easy.  No one will look at you sideways or stop inviting you to parties if you share your connection with Robin Williams.  Arguably, you’ll get invited to more if you have less than a 7 degree of separation with him and knew him personally.

Witness isn’t always easy though.  Here’s something else that happened this week.  In a strange sense of media selectivity, while Robin Williams took a last stand for celebrity, the Yazidis and the Christians in Iraq were taking a stand, too.  They were refusing to convert to Islam and instead were taking a stand on what and who they worship.  What they believed was so important to them and the threats against them were so real that they had to flee!

Who are these Yazidis?  Yazidis pray to Melek Ta’us (Tawûsê Melek), the archangel who didn’t bow down to worship Adam, served time in hell and repented, and is worshiped as an angel, the Peacock Angel.  Given the way he fell from God, the Islamic name for Melek Ta’us is “shaytan,” which is the Arabic word for the devil and a close relative of the Hebrew word (ha-)satan or Satan in English.  This idea of devil worship is among the reasons the Yazidis are being targeted by the militant Islamic State group.  So, up on the mountain in Iraq—while the US is giving testimony to Robin Williams’ difference in our lives—up on the mountain we have Yazidis who worship a fallen angel at best, the devil at worst…and we have Christians witnessing to their worship of God and paying the price for being Nazarenes (i.e. Christians).  Both Yazidis and Christians are being systematically targeted for extermination because of their religious beliefs…both groups seen and judged as being infidels  by militant ISIS members.  Yet, they witness because witness and worship are interconnected.  Witness speaks to who we love and what we worship.

Going back to our passage of Scripture today, Jesus says we’ll have all the power in the universe—Holy Spirit power–to be witnesses in our culture.  To take a stand for Jesus.  To say we love Him.  To talk about the difference He’s made in our lives.  Each of us has a circle of influence that begins with our Jerusalem and ends at the farthest reaches of the earth.  The Internet means that we don’t even need to leave our living rooms to touch people a world away.  But will we witness?

Witnessing doesn’t need to be walking up to total strangers and saying “Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?  If not, you’re going to hell.”  Witnessing is what we did with Robin Williams.  It’s saying what he meant to us.  Witnessing to Jesus’  impact on our lives doesn’t need to be any more complicated than being a good listener and when someone is talking about a struggle, finding a way to say, “I don’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but the Bible tells me that Jesus knows what you’re going through.  I can point you to Him and tell you that He’s made a difference in my life.  I can pray for you!  You need comfort?  He’s the comforter!  You need wisdom?  He’s got it all!”

Back to our passage: “you will be my witnesses.”  Notice Jesus didn’t say we’d be His theologians all the way to the ends of the earth.  He didn’t say we’d be His apologists, His scientists, His philosophers, His media consultants, or His lawyers.  Witnesses don’t have to do that kind of work.  All we need to do is to tell our story.  Dumping the whole gospel dump truck on people scares the socks off of most of us, including the one getting dumped on.  But telling our story, witnessing to meeting the Love of our life, Jesus Christ, our Rescuer, the Comforter, the One who provides jobs and healing and friends with encouraging words, the One who answers our prayers, befriends us in our deepest depression and gave our lives meaning—this is a story people will listen to.  It’s real and it’s personal.  And no one can take it away from you.  Even in an age of relative truth, no one can deny your story and what it means to you.

So, will you respond to the command of “Witness, Stand!” by telling one person your story this week?

I’d like for you to turn on your biblical imagination for a moment.  I don’t do this often, but for the moment I want for you to imagine that you woke up last Friday morning really early and Jesus told you to stand on the corner of College and 12^the Street here in Racine at 11:32 am.  Don’t be late, He said.  Then He told you that the winning Powerball ticket was going to be blowing on the wind up from Illinois and He was going to give you the sudden ability to jump up and pluck it out of the air because He wanted you to bless others with the money that you’ll win.  So you think maybe this is all in your mind and maybe pretty stupid, but if it’s real….well, what’s the harm in trying?

So you’re there on the corner right on time and sure enough, here it comes, floating on the wind….kind of like that feather in Forrest Gump.  You hear a voice behind you saying, on the count of three….Jump.   One.  Two.  Three.  Jump!  And so you do.  You look like LeBron James and leap 5 feet into the air, the Powerball ticket firmly in grasp and then you land comfortably on both feet, not even winded.  You tune in to watch the Lottery and sure enough, you’re the mega million super-duper trillion dollar winner!

How many of you would keep it completely quiet, even from all your family?  How many of you would call someone you know or tell someone at home what bizarre thing just happened to you?  Heck, how many of you would call family to tell them that you jumped and didn’t hurt yourself! Can you believe it?  I haven’t jumped in years!

Most of us probably couldn’t keep ourselves from telling all kinds of people what happened.  And seriously, in the scope of eternity, what matters more?  Jesus’ sacrifice paying for your sins, total forgiveness, and giving you access to our loving God for all eternity, or Powerball tickets, and Robin Williams and other comforts of this world?  How many of those can we take with us when we die?  We talk about what excites us, what moves us, who we love, and what matters to us.  Our witness is interconnected to our worship.  So this week, here’s your homework:  Be a listener to someone who doesn’t know Jesus.  Take time to be a witness, to take a stand, in your own little corner of the world with people you know.  Don’t let a day go by without giving your friends and your family the knowledge and the comfort of knowing where you stood.  For the world, the whereabouts of Robin Williams may be a mystery, but with you and with me, it doesn’t need to be.  Witness and worship are interconnected.  So, Witness, Stand!

* * *

Scripture Readings 8.17.2014 referred to in today’s message

Joshua 24: 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ 14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” 19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” 21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.” 22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied. 23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.

Acts 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Witness, Stand!  This is what Christians are supposed to do.  This message was first given by Barbara Shafer at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on August 17, 2014.  The sermon text is from Acts 1:8.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

You can click this link to hear the message:

Witness, Stand! Message from Plymouth Congregational Church on August 17, 2014

Thank You, Father, that You comfort us and have not left us alone, face-down and despairing, in the ruts of life.  We ask Your forgiveness for the ways we have embraced old tapes instead of listening to You.  Forgive us for readily listening to the world or to the evil one or anything else that seeks our destruction and failure. Forgive us for trip hazards we ponder and dwell on instead of attempting to remove and especially, Lord, forgive us for any stumbling blocks we put in each other’s way.

We ask, Lord Jesus that You would instruct us about the Kingdom of God and You would show us where we go astray in our understanding.  Holy Spirit, guide us and teach us; make known to us everything we need in order to do the will of God, just as Scripture promises You do.  Help us, Lord, to be on the lookout for Your work in our midst and give us encouragement to embrace new things and new ways even if they’re uncomfortable for us.  We ask, Jesus, that Your presence would go with us and we would find joy in quiet times with You.  Thank you for the gift of prayer.  We thank You that Your burden is light and Your yoke is easy.

We praise You for how You choose to use Your people to build Your Church.  May we always be prayerful.  May we always be faithful.  May this always be to Your glory.  We ask, Lord, for visible fruit for our efforts to serve You.  Keep the evil one far from us as we draw closer to You.  Protect us by the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Grant us love for one another and unity in the Body of Christ.  May we witness to the world that we belong to You, Lord Jesus.  Be glorified this day.  Amen.

Ruts, Old Tapes, and End Times  This is the sermon text version of the message first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine on August 10, 2014

Have you ever had the experience of trying to remember something and an answer comes to mind that is close-but-no-cigar and suddenly that’s the only answer you can think of—even though you know it’s wrong?  Your mind gets in a mental rut and you can’t think of any other answer, usually until around 2 o’clock in the morning when you wake up and remember the answer but you seem to have forgotten what the question was?

Ruts can be problematic for each of us, Christian or not.  The disciples—the 11 remaining since Judas was dead—had just heard Jesus command “Don’t Leave, but Wait!” and should have been experiencing the Woo-hoo of anticipation!  But they were in a rut.

Today, mindful that it is Communion Sunday, we will take a brief look at the totally new thing Jesus was doing and three dangers that might impede our ability to see the new things Jesus has in mind.

What are these 3 dangers?  Ruts.  Old Tapes.  And a preoccupation with the End Times.  Getting stuck in any one of those acts like the molasses swamp in Candy Land where you’re stuck there and can’t get out until the red card is drawn and it never seemed to arise.  Stuck.  No way of getting out.

Ruts.  Old Tapes.  End Times, 3 trip hazards or pitfalls in the progress of the Church and Jesus had to deal with the disciples on this before the Church even got started.

To set the stage, Jesus has just finished with commanding “Don’t leave but wait!  The Holy Spirit is the gift worth waiting for…” and you’d expect the disciples to break into a happy dance or at least be on the lookout for this gift all the while asking, “Are we there yet?”

Nope.  What do the disciples do?

Acts 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

This is a rebuke and the 1^st century Jesus version of a face-palm.  These disciples—Jesus must have wondered, are they really reliable enough to get the Church going??  If I’d been Jesus, which clearly I’m not, I would have asked the Father to revisit whether this plan was really the best we could do.  Entrusting the growth of the Kingdom and the fate of the entire church to such a group of closed-minded people who weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.  Jesus talks about the Kingdom OF God and these disciples are still there asking about the Kingdom TO Israel.  Arrgh!

And yet, in some odd way…because the Holy Spirit was coming…we ARE God’s best plan for growing the Church even though we have ruts and old tapes and end times preoccupations that are not unlike that of the disciples.

What might be some of our Ruts?  Do any of these fit?

• We’ve ALWAYS done it THIS way.
• Oh, we tried that way back when and it didn’t work.
• So and so used to do this, but now we don’t have anyone to do this anymore.  No one can do it like So-and-so did.

A few years back—when I was in seminary actually—we were asked to read some things to provoke theological thinking.  One of those items was The Revelations of Divine Love — a 14th-century book of devotions written by Christian mystic Julian of Norwich. She had sixteen mystical visions called “Shewings” and in those, she contemplated universal love of God for mankind and tried to communicate hope in a time of plague, religious schism, uprisings and war, times—interestingly—not unlike ours. Published in 1395, it is the first published book in the English language to be written by a woman.  Which of course, that all by itself made many of my classmates throw up their hands in utter disgust and then point their fingers at the few women in the class and say, “See?  This is why women shouldn’t do theology!”  Their ruts were well-formed.

I disagreed with much of what Julian of Norwich wrote, but there is one image she painted that has stuck with me:  It is the image of a Servant and she writes, “Which sight was shewed doubly in the Lord and doubly in the Servant: the one part was shewed spiritually in bodily likeness, and the other part was shewed more spiritually, without bodily likeness.”

She continues to describe the Lord as both Father and Son…and the Servant as both Adam and the Second Adam Jesus.  The Servant Adam is sent to do the Lord’s will and she writes,

“The Servant not only he goeth, but suddenly he starteth, and runneth in great haste, for love to do his Lord’s will. And anon he falleth into a slade, and taketh full great hurt.”  (A slade is a rut.  And this Servant, the first Adam could not get out.  He was facedown and stuck.  Julian continues), “then he groaneth and moaneth and waileth, and struggleth, but he neither may rise nor him himself by no manner or way.”

In her vision she understood that he felt pain and heaviness of body, feebleness, blindness in reasoning, stunned by the fall enough to almost forget his own love.  He was stuck, he could not get out and the two things that concluded her assessment of this Servant’s situation was that “he lay all alone and it was a long, hard, grievous place”.

Anyway, the point of this is that the rut is a problem.  It required Jesus entering into humanity’s rut and the love of God working a miracle at the Cross for us to experience a return to the loving presence of the Father.  Julian reflected up on the plight of man writing, “Of all this most mischief that I saw him in, was failing of comfort: for he could not turn his face to look upon his loving Lord which was to him full near, –in Whom is full comfort;–but as a man that was feeble and unwise for the time, he turned his mind to his feeling and endured in woe.”

The idea that we’re in a rut, facedown, and cannot even look to see the face of our loving Lord, our loving Father in Whom we can know all comfort, that rut is a very clear image of where people are at—even today!

The disciples were in a rut.  They didn’t quite get it that Jesus was about to ascend to heaven and that the great gift of the Holy Spirit was going to be His ongoing presence with them in a whole new way.  They didn’t quite get that there was a parenthesis of time between the Resurrection/Ascension and the time of Jesus’ return.  To them, Jesus was back.  He rose from the dead.  There was a new sheriff in town and He was going to do exactly what their old tapes said He’s supposed to do.  The same thing that the Old Tapes before the Crucifixion were suggesting.  Political overthrow.  Kingdom establishment and the Vindication of Israel.  Old Tapes on perpetual repeat.

It was like a skipping record.  Old Tapes, ruts of thinking that said the Crucifixion and Resurrection were just unnecessary blips between what the Old Tapes said about restoring the Kingdom and restoring the Kingdom and restoring the Kingdom and restoring the Kingdom…

Jesus wanted for them to understand that the Old Tapes needed to go because it wasn’t about Restoring an old sinful Kingdom.  It was going to be a whole new thing!  Their confidence must be transferred away from sinful humanity’s solutions of politics and overthrow….and instead, to place their total confidence in what God has done through Jesus.

What are our Old Tapes that undermine our confidence?  Maybe something from your childhood like

• Why can’t you be like your sister, your brother, the neighbor’s child or the perfect kid from school?
• Why can’t you do better at math, science, writing, praying, going to Bible study, being better behaved?

Or maybe from your current experience?

• You tried that before.  Remember how you failed.
• You’re too old to do that.
• Women don’t…men don’t….
• You have no power against a culture that’s plowing ahead and face it: you’re stuck back in the 1950s.
• Or how about this Old Tape:

God let you down before.  He’ll let you down now.

Jesus says to throw away all those Old Tapes!  Anything that undermines your confidence in Him and Him alone.  Anything that says you can save yourself.  Throw it out.

Ruts and Old Tapes are dangerous indeed, to the growth of the Church!  But there’s also the danger, the trip hazard, the pitfall of focusing on the End Times.  You see, the disciples were so focused on what happens at the end of time that they failed to realize that they were just embarking upon the nearly 2000 year window of the Church that you and I can see has already constituted “the last days.”

There’s a lot of work that has been done in spreading the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth in the past centuries.  And there’s more work to do before He returns.

By focusing on the End Times and relying upon our Old Tapes and Ruts of theology we can act as though we’ve got all the answers and now we just wait for Jesus to come surfing in on the clouds.

I’ve actually been in a bit of a theological discussion with a Christian brother on the Internet.  His focus on the end times—ignoring the interim time frame—and his self-assurance of knowing how God saves people means that evangelism becomes completely unnecessary.  To people like him, God has elected some for salvation and some for damnation and there’s nothing that can be done to save the damned.  Therefore the days of the elect are devoted to thinking “Praise God I’m saved! And now I’ll just sit on my hands until the angels sing and Jesus tells me all the reasons why He chose…ME!”… like it was a divine basketball team and Jesus and Satan were picking sides for the big game at the end of time.

This is the outcome of ignoring that there’s window of time in which God is building the Church—it’s not over yet!  The Kingdom is still advancing and He’s using regular people do to it…by sharing the Good News.

Pitfalls, trip-hazards exist!  We have ruts, old tapes and end times.  Worse yet, our culture exploits those and increasingly finds ways of turning Christians inside out.

What used to be private: sex lives and sins and nasty thoughts toward one another are suddenly becoming public consumption.  We see Sex, Lies and Video Tapes all over the media.  People use Twitter and Facebook to say nasty things they would never say in person.  Private thoughts become public consumption with a virtual distance/anonymity to give us the illusion of covering our shame.

And yet, what used to be PUBLIC—our religious beliefs—after all there was a time that the church building was the center of every town.  Town meetings were held there…why??  Because it was the only space big enough to hold a whole town because for people of that day, religion was a public thing.  What used to be PUBLIC we’re now increasingly told must remain private.  Irrespective of what you think of these individual items, let’s just note that in aggregate they are serving to privatize the Christian faith.  No Nativity Scenes or Christmas trees in the public square.  No proselytizing about Jesus.  No 10 Commandments anywhere.  No Christian references in public schools.  No education about why freedom of religion was authored to protect the citizenry—not to silence us.

Now we have nothing but equal time for everyone in our culture because everything is *relatively* true…for someone…and the rut of thinking that is being well-formed by our culture is that you’re a bigot—and an ignorant backward person too—if you say anything about Jesus’ being THE ONLY WAY.  Culture says to keep your opinions to yourself.  Privatize your religion, the culture shouts!  It’s been banished from the public square to the closed doors of one’s bedside as if Christianity ought to be a sign of shame.  Fear of being ostracized is a huge rut and danger to the growth of the Kingdom.

We must be willing to dispense with Ruts, Old Tapes, and End Times.  We must place our confidence in Christ and be willing to engage with our culture while there is yet time.  Jesus says that Acts 1:7 “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Until then, there’s work to be done and if we’ll just get rid of Ruts, Old Tapes and End Times preoccupations…and place our total confidence in Jesus Christ, we’re just the disciples to do it!  Amen?  Let’s pray.

Ruts, Old Tapes, and End Times represent 3 dangers, trip hazards, or pitfalls to the growth of the Church.  This message was first given by Barbara Shafer at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on August 10, 2014.  The sermon text is from Acts 1:6-7.

Acts 1:6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

You can click this link to hear the message:

The Scripture reading from the morning referenced in the content is from

Daniel 7:13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. 15 “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. “So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever– yes, for ever and ever.’ 19 “Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws– the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. 20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell– the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. 21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.