WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.740 I want to spend a couple of weeks with you, except for next week, I'll be doing a couple 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:17.039 ! of these talks, looking at who Jesus is, and specifically as we've talked about him in the 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:23.120 ! Book of Acts. That might sound strange if you know the Book of Acts, because we often 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:29.760 think of it largely as the story of the new church, isn't it? The church growing. To the 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:35.439 ends of the earth, the gospel, as Jesus says there. But sometimes people make the assumption 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:42.460 wrongly that Jesus only makes a guest appearance once or twice in Acts. If you want to learn 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:47.900 about Jesus, you go to the gospels, don't you? If you want to learn about the church, or about 00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:56.280 faith growing, or about how we came to believe, no, you go to Acts. But that would be wrong, 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:01.359 I think. Yes, Acts does tell us about those things. But what I want us to see over the 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:07.760 next couple of weeks is how central Jesus is to everything Luke wrote about how the Christian 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:15.439 faith grew. And particularly today, I want us to look at what Luke, the physician, the doctor, 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:21.680 and the historian who wrote this carefully researched account of Jesus' life in the Book of Luke, 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:29.320 and the next part in Acts, what he thought the most important thing is we should know right 00:01:29.320 --> 00:01:35.980 at the beginning of this story of how the church came to grow in the way that it did. Because 00:01:35.980 --> 00:01:43.740 I want us to see that Jesus' birth and death and resurrection wasn't firstly really about 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:51.179 us. That might shock you, if only a little. In our kind of Western individual culture, we 00:01:51.179 --> 00:01:56.959 often think about us and personal salvation, and yes, a personal saving relationship with 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:04.579 God is central to us being saved. But that's not all there is. And we lose sight of that. 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:10.979 And we place ourselves maybe too much at the centre of the story of Jesus saving a people. 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:17.799 And you see, there are many mistakes we can make about who Jesus is and was. You know, 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:22.599 many of the big controversies, the big heresies in the history of the church have happened because 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:29.419 people have that wrong. Some people have said he wasn't really God. He just pretended to 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:35.359 be. Or he wasn't always the Son of God. He was a man who was adopted as the Son of God. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:42.700 Or that he wasn't really a man even. He just looked like one. Or, and you know, this is one 00:02:42.700 --> 00:02:48.500 of the reasons why the Bible is so clear about Jesus physically rising from the dead. The 00:02:48.500 --> 00:02:54.500 rumour that Jewish religious leaders, that they started, that he never rose from the dead. 00:02:55.300 --> 00:02:59.880 But he's still dead. And his disciples just stole his body to make everybody think he was alive 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:05.740 again. Or that he's a spirit now, a ghost, a memory who lives on in his followers or something 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:11.939 like that. You see, in the last chapter of Luke's first book, the Gospel according to Luke, 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.919 he tells us about many people who saw Jesus. And we read about that again here in this chapter 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:25.019 of the second book, the first chapter. Luke really wants us to get that. And that Jesus rose 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:32.020 bodily, that he even ate with them. And he's really at pains for us to understand exactly 00:03:32.660 --> 00:03:41.020 who Jesus is and who he is not. We need to be very careful to ask who Jesus really is and 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:47.680 not who we think he is. And how we're influenced by the world with many ideas about who Jesus is. 00:03:47.740 --> 00:03:53.160 A good teacher or something only. He wanted Theophilus. He wrote this book too. 00:03:53.159 --> 00:04:01.259 And God, who inspired this book, wants us to know as much as Theophilus who Jesus is and 00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:06.300 what he has done. So that's why the next couple of weeks we're going to look closely at how 00:04:06.300 --> 00:04:13.659 he's presented in this book of Acts. And he's not just God become man as we saw in our series 00:04:13.659 --> 00:04:23.779 before Christmas, didn't we, working up to the birth of Jesus. He's not just the perfect sacrifice for us, 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:30.600 the one who died in our place so that we can be made right with God. And he's certainly not just 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:40.079 a good and a wise teacher. And unlike what it might feel like now that Jesus isn't physically with his 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:47.599 disciples or indeed with us, he hasn't moved on having quote unquote done his bit. 00:04:48.479 --> 00:04:54.500 He didn't just come to die for you so that now it's your turn and you have to now crack on 00:04:54.500 --> 00:04:59.599 and do your bit. 00:05:00.039 --> 00:05:04.180 See, Luke wants us to see that it was all about Jesus, about him being exalted, 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:11.480 about him being praised and glorified, and that who he is and what he says and does and is still doing 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:13.879 is the most important thing of all. 00:05:14.699 --> 00:05:20.340 The first book, the Gospel of Luke, is about, and we read that in verse 1 here, didn't we, 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:23.019 about what Jesus began to do and teach. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:29.879 The implication, isn't it, that Jesus is continuing to do and to teach things to us. 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:36.519 So who is this Jesus who is speaking to us every time we read or hear his word? 00:05:39.019 --> 00:05:40.800 That's the question that we want to be asking. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:46.199 Now you relate differently to people, don't you, when you know more about them. 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:52.439 Your house shows a damp patch on the side and your new neighbour tells you, 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:53.920 well, you should have that looked at. 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:59.339 You might think, well, yes, it always looks like that a bit in winter and then it dries out again in summer 00:05:59.339 --> 00:06:01.699 and then you ignore your neighbour, don't you? 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:07.299 But then he tells you he's a master builder and a building inspector 00:06:07.299 --> 00:06:10.379 and he thinks that wall is going to crack next year. 00:06:11.979 --> 00:06:14.219 And you're not going to ignore him then, are you? 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:21.479 Or someone gives you medical advice, tells you to go to the doctor to have yourself checked out. 00:06:22.239 --> 00:06:26.199 And you think to yourself, well, I'll just go read up on the internet like that person probably did. 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:30.259 And then you learn that she's a professor of internal medicine. 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:33.079 And you're going to go to the doctor then, aren't you? 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:40.740 Luke wants us to understand who Jesus is so that we'll know how to listen to him well. 00:06:41.539 --> 00:06:47.199 And two things that Luke wants us to see in this very short passage that we read today. 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:49.560 Well, firstly, Jesus was taken up into heaven. 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:55.699 And secondly, Jesus will return from heaven as he went up into heaven. 00:06:56.259 --> 00:07:01.139 Now, that might seem obvious, but let's unpack what that means. 00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:03.379 Firstly, Jesus was taken up into heaven. 00:07:04.259 --> 00:07:12.019 Verse 2 and verse 11 and verse 22 and even verse 9, which is lifted up for that matter. 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:16.699 So we get this over and over again, don't we, that Jesus was taken up. 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:19.500 Over and over in this passage. 00:07:19.599 --> 00:07:20.500 He was taken up. 00:07:20.599 --> 00:07:23.719 Now, I'd skip over that because we know Jesus ascended into heaven. 00:07:25.099 --> 00:07:26.439 But there's more in that. 00:07:26.779 --> 00:07:28.500 Why is it in the passive voice? 00:07:29.659 --> 00:07:31.659 Why is it that Jesus was taken up? 00:07:31.799 --> 00:07:33.579 Who took him up into heaven? 00:07:34.019 --> 00:07:36.939 It has to be his father. 00:07:37.620 --> 00:07:40.199 God the Father took him up into heaven. 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:48.060 God sent Jesus into the world to die for our sin and to take our punishment on him. 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:51.019 But that was not the end of the plan, was it? 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.139 God's promise of the Saviour doesn't end with us. 00:07:56.379 --> 00:08:01.659 And it isn't shock, horror, even primarily about us. 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:05.439 What does it mean that the Father takes Jesus up into heaven? 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:11.620 We've got to remember that this isn't the first time that Jesus was lifted up, is it? 00:08:12.339 --> 00:08:18.279 On the cross he was lifted up in shame and humiliation and pain. 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:24.459 But now with the ascension, God is taking Jesus up. 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:28.240 He is lifting him up again into heaven. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:32.560 And he reverses what happened on the cross in some sense, isn't it? 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:33.899 It's the exact opposite. 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.600 Jesus is lifted up in glory now and approval and love. 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:47.639 We'll see a glimpse of that in another week when we see how Stephen sees Jesus at the right hand of God the Father. 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:51.279 This is the Jesus Luke wants us to see now. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:09:00.819 Not someone who's just done his bit and it's over, but the Son of God, God himself, publicly being put in authority over all things. 00:09:01.439 --> 00:09:01.879 Everyone. 00:09:02.939 --> 00:09:03.379 Everywhere. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:05.919 That was the plan. 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:11.079 At the beginning of Luke he writes to Theophilus about the things that have been fulfilled amongst us. 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:12.100 That's what he writes about. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.199 Here in Acts he writes about what Jesus has begun to teach and do. 00:09:16.699 --> 00:09:17.439 And is continuing. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:23.500 Jesus being taken up into heaven means he is right now the Lord over all of creation. 00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:25.400 Over all people everywhere. 00:09:27.140 --> 00:09:30.240 That's why Jesus now sends his disciples out. 00:09:32.060 --> 00:09:38.780 After they receive the Holy Spirit to be, as he says, doesn't he, in verse 8, 00:09:39.780 --> 00:09:44.260 to be his witnesses in Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:09:44.259 --> 00:09:51.799 Because in God's plan, now that Jesus is publicly lifted up in glory over all of creation, 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:59.059 now the good news goes out to all of creation, to all the world and not just the Jewish people. 00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:05.319 Jesus being taken up into heaven isn't just a kind of neat tidying up of the loose ends. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:14.420 It's not like a long running TV series where you've got to find a neat way of getting one of the main actors out of the way now 00:10:14.420 --> 00:10:16.700 so the rest of the cast can carry on with the story. 00:10:17.920 --> 00:10:19.440 It's not a plot device. 00:10:20.140 --> 00:10:22.100 No, not at all. 00:10:22.180 --> 00:10:23.020 Not one little bit. 00:10:23.140 --> 00:10:25.100 It is the plan of God being fulfilled. 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:28.019 You know what? 00:10:28.060 --> 00:10:29.620 I think here's part of the problem. 00:10:29.800 --> 00:10:34.300 If we just stop with Jesus having died for our sins, us being saved, 00:10:34.600 --> 00:10:40.740 and we don't very much remember that he wasn't just raised from the dead but taken up into heaven. 00:10:41.740 --> 00:10:49.320 We in some way actually run the risk of doing the same thing that people have done right from the very beginning 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:52.060 when it went wrong in the Garden of Eden. 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:54.219 We make it about us. 00:10:55.379 --> 00:10:58.219 In the Garden of Eden, that's how the serpents have used to eat, isn't it? 00:10:58.319 --> 00:11:02.619 If you eat from that tree which God said you couldn't, you would be like God. 00:11:02.699 --> 00:11:04.279 You wouldn't need God. 00:11:04.959 --> 00:11:09.719 And it was an appealing thought to her, but a very, very wrong appealing thought. 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:14.339 So the first thing that Luke wants to do in Acts is reorient our expectations. 00:11:15.199 --> 00:11:21.859 Even as Jesus isn't physically on the scene, and now he sends his disciples out and he entrusts this kingdom to them, 00:11:22.059 --> 00:11:29.559 and to us his followers, that doesn't mean that he now exits, stays right, never to be heard of again. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:38.639 He is the vindicated ruler of all, the glorified king of kings, and the exalted saviour. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:42.399 That is what God is doing by taking him up into heaven. 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:46.059 It's not just a neat plot device. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:54.580 But the second thing he wants us to see, isn't it, is that Jesus will return from heaven as he went up into heaven. 00:11:54.580 --> 00:12:00.860 That's the second thing God wants us to see, that that wasn't the end of the story. 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:05.180 Because he's not just the Jesus who was lifted up. 00:12:05.680 --> 00:12:11.080 He's the very same Jesus who will return as he was lifted up. 00:12:11.800 --> 00:12:17.460 This is the Jesus who definitely did die, but did not stay dead, and has conquered death. 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:22.460 And this is the same Jesus as in that second passage that you've got on your sheets there, 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.820 Peter's sermon of Pentecost, when he says in verse 36, 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:34.560 The one whom God has made Lord and Christ is the rightful ruler of all creation. 00:12:34.680 --> 00:12:36.120 He's God's anointed saviour. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.019 And this is important to remember too, isn't it? 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:46.199 Because as much as we can make a mistake of stopping after Jesus was resurrected, 00:12:46.519 --> 00:12:49.899 and not go to Jesus being the one who ascended into heaven, 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:54.559 if we only stop there as well, we run another risk, can't we? 00:12:55.220 --> 00:13:02.340 We can be so transfixed by that, as the disciples were watching Jesus ascend into heaven, in some sense, 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:08.740 that we forget that we do have to get on with what Jesus has told us to do. 00:13:08.740 --> 00:13:16.080 And we don't live our lives, or do evangelism, or whatever it is that we do, in a certain way, 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:23.840 because Jesus is now only reigning in heaven, and it's up to us to now kind of continue in a certain way. 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:30.580 We live our lives, we do evangelism, we are God, Jesus' witnesses to the ends of the earth, 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.500 even in Ealing on a rainy Thursday afternoon in the year of our Lord, 2020, 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:41.960 because he is coming back, as he went up into heaven. 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:47.500 Just a quick aside, many people have claimed in history that there is Jesus who has come back. 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:52.620 There is even a TV series on Netflix now called The Messiah, 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:58.159 where a CIA agent is investigating whether a man who claims to be the Messiah 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:02.159 is a con artist and a charlatan, or the real deal. 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:07.439 They didn't have to bother, it could have been a very quick, short film. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:16.319 Because the question is, has anybody seen him return publicly, visible, from heaven to earth? 00:14:17.079 --> 00:14:21.079 And Luke is very clear in this passage that Jesus was seen, taken up into heaven, 00:14:21.139 --> 00:14:23.159 and he will be seen when he returns. 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:29.139 And the Bible is very clear that Jesus will return from heaven as he went up, 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:31.839 and everyone will know when he returns. 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:35.199 Here's why this matters. 00:14:36.439 --> 00:14:39.939 Because, like I said at the beginning, if we don't fully understand who Jesus is, 00:14:40.199 --> 00:14:45.120 what he said, and especially what he's continuing to do and will do, 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.620 we'll have our own misconceptions about him. 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:49.559 And that can be paralyzing. 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:52.519 Here's why this matters for us now. 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:57.799 At some level, this statement is a warning that Jesus is returning. 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:03.879 If you've not put your faith in Jesus, that day will be a terrible day. 00:15:05.699 --> 00:15:09.559 Philippians 2 tells us that every knee will bow before him, 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:13.460 and every tongue will confess that he is Lord, 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:16.299 because it will be undeniable. 00:15:18.299 --> 00:15:20.120 But it will be too late then. 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:24.039 If I did you here today, consider this. 00:15:24.860 --> 00:15:29.220 You might conveniently deny Jesus' reign because he is in heaven. 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:31.980 Not here, far away. 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:37.120 But Acts reminds us that this won't be the case forever. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:42.379 Perhaps you are considering Jesus. 00:15:42.899 --> 00:15:45.100 Perhaps you are even transfixed by him. 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:47.879 But you've not committed to following him. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:55.460 Then, like the angels warning these disciples to get on with what Jesus has told him, 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:57.259 this passage is a warning. 00:15:57.259 --> 00:15:59.740 Don't put it off. 00:16:01.379 --> 00:16:06.000 But secondly, and most importantly, this passage is a promise, isn't it? 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.600 And we've seen through Jesus' death and resurrection and his ascension, 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:15.659 that God firmly and definitely keeps his promises. 00:16:15.659 --> 00:16:20.339 Not one promise will be left unkempt. 00:16:21.379 --> 00:16:26.699 And this promise that Jesus will return is a firm basis for us, 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:31.100 to engage in mission like Jesus has told his disciples. 00:16:32.059 --> 00:16:37.539 To live lives worthy of the price that Jesus has given for us, to save us. 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:41.240 It is a promise that sustains us in hard times. 00:16:42.819 --> 00:16:48.079 Acts was written for a church that had started to experience the persecution and oppression. 00:16:49.339 --> 00:16:52.519 But the church has always experienced sins to some extent. 00:16:53.899 --> 00:16:57.740 We need to remember this promise as much as they did, 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:02.759 as we see more and more the church being oppressed and persecuted, 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.399 even on our doorstep, finding it difficult more and more. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:12.980 And I'm not even talking about places in the world where Christians literally lose their lives or their faith. 00:17:14.540 --> 00:17:20.500 We relate differently to people when we know more about them, isn't it? 00:17:21.100 --> 00:17:26.120 And we need to, we want to relate to this Jesus. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.000 Verse 11, this Jesus will return. 00:17:30.340 --> 00:17:32.720 Not any other idea of Jesus. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.720 The one who will return. 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:36.980 This exalted Jesus. 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:42.880 This Jesus was taken up into heaven and will return as he came. 00:17:43.819 --> 00:17:44.640 That Jesus. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:45.860 Amen.