Thank you so much for causing your word to be written.
We thank you that you sent your son Jesus to die upon the cross to be our savior.
We thank you for his tasting all there is to taste of death with nothing left over.
We thank you, Father, for his mighty resurrection, and we thank you for his ascension,
and we thank you, Father, for his coming again in glory.
And we thank you, Father, that you didn't just act to save us, but you gave us the good news.
You interpreted what happened. You told us what happened.
Father, we thank you for this.
We ask, Father, that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit into us,
so that our minds will not be conformed to this age,
but we will be transformed, Father, by your word and by your Holy Spirit.
We will be transformed and have minds that lead us to act in such a way
that our lives bring you great glory.
And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
I wish I could tell you that every time somebody says something to me at a coffee shop,
like one of my non-Christian friends,
I wish I could tell you that I was like an apologetic ninja
that could just always parry everything that they say and just get them.
But, you know, often I'm the exact opposite of an apologetic ninja.
I just sort of stand there, not quite sure what to say,
and then thinking of the perfect thing to say five minutes or five hours later or something like that.
But I had a time just a little while ago where,
maybe it was even about a year ago,
maybe somebody had been to a church and heard something like the story of the Ascension,
which we're going to look at.
And he just completely mocked the story.
And really, like, in really quick, you know,
it's as if he'd been practicing,
and his speech just came so perfectly flowing and quick.
You know how completely and utterly ridiculous the Bible is?
It's completely unscientific.
It's worse than unscientific.
It's completely anti-scientific.
It presents this idea as if somehow or another
God sent down a fishing hook or a line and grabbed Jesus
and pulls him up into the sky.
And just on the other side of the clouds,
you know, where there's the blue dome,
and it's just painted blue,
and God paints it blue during the day,
and he paints it black at night,
or however, he just turns the light on and off.
And God lives in some little room just above the sky,
and he pulls Jesus up there,
and that's where Jesus is.
And the God and Jesus are just sort of waiting.
And he said, you know,
the Bible is just so completely and utterly ridiculous.
And I remember one time when I had something like this happen to me,
the fellow did it as well in a bit of a loud voice
so that most of the Starbucks could hear it.
And I can't remember what I said in reply.
What I do know is that he actually probably,
the fellow who said all this to me,
actually probably wasn't willing to hear the answer.
He just wanted to embarrass me.
But some people don't just want to embarrass us,
but they're troubled by texts like this.
They're troubled by the fact that it seems as if the Bible has a worldview
that science is just completely and utterly disproven
of a very tiny little planet Earth,
and there's no, you know, the sun is just like a,
I don't know, like a light that God turns on in the sky
and sort of walks it around the roof,
like a theater a little bit, I suppose.
You know, that the, and that God is just on the other side of that ceiling
and he turns different lights on and off and,
you know, has spotlights that move.
And that's sometimes how it looks as if the Bible,
is that what the Bible teaches?
Is that what Christians are supposed to believe?
It's obviously scientifically ridiculous.
So let's look.
Let's look and see what the Bible says.
Be a great help to me if you open the Bible.
Bible and Acts 1, verses 1 to 11.
And just a little bit of a plug.
I also read my Bible on my phone and stuff like that.
But, you know, I just want to really encourage you.
There's something about a book.
And part of the thing that's so good about a book
is that you know it's a book.
You know, when you're reading the book of Acts
and you know, look at this, there's all this stuff
in the book that goes before
and there's all this stuff that comes after.
There's just something about a book.
And so I want to encourage you not to give up on books
when it comes to reading your Bible.
I mean, obviously, if the screen helps you read,
then that's what you should do.
But sometimes it's good to crack open a book
and look at the words
because you see the bigger flow.
Anyway, Acts 1, 1 to 11.
So is the Bible teaching us something pretty ridiculous,
not only unscientific,
but completely and utterly anti-scientific?
So let's have a look.
And we'll start here.
Acts 1, verse 1.
In the first book, O Theophilus,
I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.
Now just pause.
He says here in the first book.
So Luke has written another book
and we know it as the Gospel of Luke.
And it's very important in this case,
if we just want to understand what the Bible is saying,
to look at how Luke introduces his first book
because he has a very similar type of introduction
in both books.
So if you can just, you can keep your finger there
or maybe you're really good at finding places in the Bible,
just turn to Luke chapter 1.
And we're just going to read the first four verses
of Luke chapter 1
and just see how it is that Luke introduces
the first book that he writes.
And here's how he introduces it.
Luke 1.
Luke 1, 1.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative
of the things that have been accomplished among us,
sorry, start again.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative
of the things that have been accomplished among us,
just as those who from the beginning
were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word
have delivered them to us,
it seemed good to me also,
having followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly account for you,
most excellent Theophilus,
that you may have certainty
concerning the things that you have been taught.
So notice here that,
in fact, just if you're not aware of this,
Luke was not one of the original disciples.
He's not Jewish.
He didn't actually,
he was an eyewitness of Jesus
and what Jesus did.
Luke was a pagan, well-educated.
He was a doctor,
who had been relatively prosperous,
upper-middle-class doctor.
He becomes a Christian,
leaving paganism behind to become a Christian.
And he's one of the early pagans
who becomes a Christian.
And Luke becomes very deeply involved
in the early Christian community.
He meets many of the people who are eyewitnesses.
He probably,
who knows what types of other things
were in circulation,
maybe little handwritten things
or something like that.
And he's a literate man,
a scientific man,
at least as they would have understood science back then,
somebody who was careful in observation.
And he decides to write
not a story inspired by true events
or based upon true events.
He tries to tell you true events.
That's what he's claiming to do.
He tries to put in a narrative form.
And the best history is always written
in some type of a narrative form.
He tries to put in a narrative form,
selecting out of the hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of things
that he could have written about Jesus,
eyewitness testimony in a narrative form.
And that's what he's trying to do.
And Theophilus is a pagan name.
So he's not writing it for Jewish people,
although obviously he'd be fine
if Jewish people read it.
He's writing for other pagans.
Whether Theophilus is a pagan
who's become a Christian
or whether he's a pagan
who's a complete opponent and skeptic,
whether he's a seeker, we don't know,
but he writes to another pagan.
So now let's look at Acts chapter one.
Sort of mindful of that.
That's Luke's first book.
And now we see Luke's second book.
And he wrote the first book
thinking he'd write a second.
And now we get how he introduces the second book.
Remember, this is all important
because we're trying to look and understand
does the Bible portray
that the universe is a little bit
like the Ottawa Little Theater
and God is on the roof.
Well, actually, there's a space between,
you know, here.
No, God doesn't need a roof.
So God just lives on the roof.
Is that what the Bible's telling us?
So chapter one of verse one of Acts again.
In the first book, O Theophilus,
I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach
until the day when he was taken up
after he had given commands or orders.
It's a bit of a military image.
Those of you who've served in the military,
Jesus gave orders.
He gave them a commission.
He gave commands through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
after his suffering by many proofs,
appearing to them during 40 days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
So here's the first thing.
Those of you who know me,
I'm not going to say,
well, this is just a metaphor.
It's just an analogy.
It's just, you know,
a mythical account of peak experience
or mystical experience.
It's, you know,
a way to use language or imagery
to talk about, you know,
what is Luke claiming?
If you could put the first point up, Andrew,
that would be great.
Luke tells the true story of Jesus,
body and soul,
being taken up into heaven.
That's what Luke's claiming to do.
Now, we might say he's wrong.
We might say that he was, you know,
full of it.
We might say that he's just,
he's believing nonsense.
We might believe,
we might say all of those types of things
and skeptics do
and people from other religions
and other faiths
and other spiritualities
and philosophies.
That's what they do.
But at least we need to hear Luke.
And this is what Luke is claiming.
Luke is claiming
that he is telling
the true story of Jesus
who, body and soul,
he was taken up into heaven.
And so it's not a metaphor.
It's not an image.
And by the way,
you know,
here's one of the things.
I'm not just saying this
because this is what Christians
have always believed.
And some people might feel
very uncomfortable
because you see some Christians
under the pressure
of science
and of skepticism.
They think they're helping
the Bible
or helping the Christian faith
by saying that it's just a metaphor
or it's an image,
it's an analogy,
it's just a mythic telling
of a spiritual truth.
And they might even say,
doesn't it actually say,
George,
in 1 Corinthians 15
that Jesus doesn't have
a physical body
but he has a spiritual body?
So isn't this just accounting
just a spiritual thing?
And so some people,
in a well-meaning way,
they try to reinterpret it.
But the fact of the matter is,
that's not at all
what the Bible,
it's not what the text says.
Just even if you just set aside
for a second,
in a sense,
I don't know if any of you
have ever watched,
there was a movie
that went out,
a documentary about
Christopher Hitchens
debating this very
orthodox Christian
and across the country.
And one of the things
that Christopher Hitchens
says is that he loves
debating this fellow.
In fact,
here's Lord have mercy.
He said,
I hate debating
those Anglican types
because when I start
to press them
on what the Bible says,
they say it's just a metaphor,
it's just an analogy,
it's just a parable.
But when I press
this guy on things,
he says,
yeah, darn tootin',
that's what it says.
And he defends it.
And the fact of the matter is,
is that you can't read
the book of Luke
and you can't read
the book of Acts
without coming to believe
that Luke believes
that everything
he's talking about
happened.
That's what he believes.
From a literary point of view,
that's what the book
is trying to communicate.
Whether or not
that's ridiculous,
that's a bit
of another question,
but we can't take refuge
that it's describing mysticism.
That's not what
the text is saying,
just straightly
from an intellectual level.
Now, here's the other thing
about this text,
is obviously we can't prove,
I mean, Luke is claiming
that if we went back
in a time machine,
and if we were there
with the apostles,
we were somehow able
to be just somehow
there in the background
waiting for it to happen,
what Luke described
is what we would see.
That's what Luke is claiming.
But the proof for this,
for somebody like you and me,
is it ultimately goes back
to the resurrection,
which I'm not going to spend
very much time on.
But, you know,
I'll just share with you,
I've had different times
in my life,
especially in the first
ten years of my Christian life,
where I almost left
the Christian faith.
You know, I have a degree
in sociology
with a minor in philosophy.
I only have studied
with non-Christian professors.
I've never had
an evangelical professor.
For any of my first degree
and my other types
of post-graduate work
and my graduate degree,
I've always had
non-Christian professors.
And I've had times
where I almost gave up my faith.
Just as I, you know,
you really just,
you get filled with the weight
of criticism.
And it can sometimes be very,
it was sometimes
very, very hard.
And I'd pray,
and I'd do reading,
and I would do research.
But I have never yet seen
any good account
for the start
of the Christian faith
that actually can deal
with the facts
in a reasonable way.
You know,
in our,
just during the last election,
one of the big cries
is that you wanted
evidence-based policy,
evidence-based thinking.
That was one of the big things
that supposedly,
I'm not making a political comment
one way or the other,
the conservatives
didn't believe
in evidence-based policy.
Whether you,
you know,
that's a separate matter.
I'm not going to comment
on that at all.
But, you know,
unless you're a person
who just says,
on no condition,
no matter what actually happens,
it's just absolutely
completely impossible
that anything in the book
of,
that any of the eyewitness
accounts of Jesus
are possibly true,
if it's just rejected,
using the philosophical term
a priori,
you just reject it
completely and utterly
as not even being
worth considering.
And you just say
it's completely and utterly wrong.
Unless you're,
if you're actually willing
to look at the evidence,
the evidence is very,
very, very strong.
And there's,
I have never seen
a good account
to account for Christian origins
apart from
this astounding claim
that Jesus really did die
on a Friday afternoon,
that he was
physically just known
to be dead,
that the thrust
of the spear,
the partial embalming,
the seal on the tomb,
and that on the third day,
the tomb is empty,
even though it was
guarded by soldiers,
and that Jesus appears
alive to a whole range
of witnesses
over 40 days.
And I,
there's been no account
that deals with the,
there's no other account
that deals with the evidence
of the explosive growth
of the Christian faith
in the very city
where Jesus died,
where all anybody had to do
was show the body.
And the explosive growth,
despite persecution,
despite jailing,
it's a complete opposite
of the,
of,
of Islamic origins
that are closely tied,
Islamic origins
are closely tied
to military victory.
Christianity suffers
complete and utter
the,
the weight,
the unrelated,
lenting weight
of the state
and the military
against it,
and the explosive growth
on the claim
of an empty tomb
and a real resurrection,
and there has never been,
I have not seen
an account
that can deal
with the evidence.
I just never have.
And that's,
it's because of that
that these other types
of claims
that I think
we need to take them
very seriously.
And,
and the claim
that we can't take
this very seriously,
this whole thing
of a,
of the worldview,
there's a very,
very simple mistake
that people make
when they say that.
They,
they,
sometimes they might
be well-meaning,
sometimes,
like my friend,
they were just trying
to embarrass me.
But,
Christians believe,
I mean,
this is a bit of a
theology geek moment,
like a bit of time out,
theology geeks,
okay,
time out for theology geeks.
But,
the Christian claim
is that it's the words
of the Bible
that are inspired.
It's the words,
the words that God
wanted written
are the words
that were put down.
The Bible doesn't
make the claim,
Christians haven't
made the claim,
that God scanned
the earth and thought,
you know what,
the most brilliant
person ever is Luke,
so I'm going to have
Luke write it.
And,
and the most mystical
person and holy
person ever is John.
I'm going to have
John write it.
Oh,
and look at Mark.
Mark,
whoa,
IQ through the roof,
you know?
No.
The Bible,
in fact,
God,
the consistent record
of the Bible
is that God chooses
the weak and the foolish
to shame the strong.
He wasn't looking
for the guys
with the highest IQs.
And that's a bit
of a put down
for us,
by the way,
okay?
We're not the highest
IQs in the city
of Ottawa.
If you think you are,
a few marks off
your IQ right there.
And,
and so,
what the Bible says
is that,
that,
okay,
you know what it says?
It's very chaste.
Look at verse 9 again.
Look at verse 9.
It's a very chaste
description
of what happens.
The whole account
of the ascension,
what goes on,
the few verses before,
which we're going to
look at in a moment,
the few verses after
give you interpretation
and context,
okay?
But the actual event,
look how simple it is.
And when he had said
these things
as they were looking on,
he was lifted up
and the cloud
took him out of their sight.
It's very,
very discreet.
Now,
you know what?
It might very well be
that if we went back
in a time machine
and we knew how to speak
to the apostles,
we'd mastered their language,
that if we were going back,
afterwards as they were going back
to their next place,
they might actually,
each one of them
might literally have thought,
whoa,
you know,
the world is like
the Ottawa Little Theater
and God is on the roof
and God pulled Jesus,
and that might be
what they think.
I mean,
that might be
what they think.
But you know,
one of the things
which is so wonderful
about the Bible
is that none of this
is actually in the Bible.
Like all their views
about how the world worked,
all their views
on what we would now call
astronomy and physics,
it's not there in the Bible.
Part of the power
of the Bible
as God's inspired word
is what's not in it.
And you know,
we should be so glad
that what is in it right now
doesn't accord
with what we say
in 2016,
because the fact
of the matter is
is that if Jesus
tarries in 2416,
the science
that we now hold,
they will laugh at.
So that if the Bible
was written in such a way
of somehow or another
that God had magically
given the apostles
an understanding
of physics and astronomy
that would match 2016,
it would just make it ridiculous
in a hundred years' time.
You see,
part of the power
of the Bible
is all the things
that are kept out.
Here's another thing.
This actually is something,
and you know,
maybe science will come up
with something
a little bit different.
You see,
the possibility,
it is making
an astounding claim.
What the text is saying
is that Jesus
started to rise.
And that as he started
to rise,
a cloud comes
and obscures him.
Now,
if you've read Luke,
you'll know that
at the end
of the transfiguration,
the cloud comes
and obscures Jesus
and everything
that's going on.
They're in a cloud.
And if you've read
the Old Testament,
there's a cloud
that leads the people
of Israel by day.
And if you read
the Old Testament,
you know that
the Shekinah,
the glory,
the cloud comes
and settles on the temple,
that there's different times
when the cloud
is a very,
very chaste way
of describing
the presence
of God's glory
and how,
as God's glory
comes,
it's as if
we can no longer
see God's glory
because our unfallen,
our fallen eyes
cannot behold
unfallen realities.
But rather than
trying to do it
the way
Steven Spielberg
would do it,
the Jewish people
under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit
give a very chaste,
simple description.
And so what we see
is that Jesus
is rising,
the cloud,
the Shekinah glory
comes and no longer
can Jesus be seen.
And we can just imagine
that Peter and John
and James,
they elbow the others
and say,
we've seen something
like this before.
The cloud's going to go away
and it's just going to be
Jesus only.
But the cloud fades,
they're looking up,
waiting to see Jesus only
and Jesus is gone.
Christians believe,
you want to know
something which is
really cool?
And I have to be careful.
I'm going to be saying
a few things about physics
and all next week.
I know there's at least
one real physicist
in the room,
so I'm always a bit nervous
anything I say about physics.
But what I understand
about,
one of the things
I've understood
about physics is that,
and this is mind-blowing,
is that space is curved.
Like,
I always just sort of thought
that space,
like if you were able
to get like a laser,
like some unbelievably
powerful type of laser
that would never turn,
would just go straight
and somehow could withstand
gravitational pull
so that if you pointed it
at a black spot in the sky,
it would just go on
forever and ever
and ever and ever
because space just goes on
forever and ever
and ever and ever.
But you know what physicists say?
That if you had that,
if you had that,
that laser
and it could point in,
it would never vary,
it would never go anything
other than straight
and it would never be affected
by gravitational pulls,
that if I did it like this
and it could speed time up,
it would hit me
in the back of the head.
That's what physics teach.
Space is curved.
Isn't that freaky?
And so what the Bible teaches
is that everything that we know,
all of space and time
was created by God.
Just imagine,
I'm not God,
but just imagine I'm God.
This is space and time,
all of the created order.
It's this tennis ball.
And God is outside of it.
There was a really,
really wonderful debate
slash dialogue the other night
and right up here,
the philosophy professor
from the University of Toronto
who was the atheist,
you could almost see him
just going like this,
like, you know,
how on earth could there possibly
be a God who's created all things?
Like, what was he doing before?
Like, was he just sort of
sitting around waiting
and he just sort of like
with a little bit of a grin
on his face?
The fact of the matter is
is that space and time
is created.
It's on the ball.
Time doesn't apply to God.
Just as if you're watching,
you know,
Downton Abbey
or watching something on Netflix
and we're outside of it,
the time that's going on
in the show,
that's completely different than us.
Just a very smart way.
And all of creation
is like this tennis ball.
It's even curved
because who on earth
can get their mind
around the fact
that space is curved?
And God is outside of it.
Time doesn't apply to him.
And what the Bible text
is just saying
is that Jesus,
who lived with body and soul,
that he entered,
in a sense,
this tennis ball.
He entered the realm
of space and time,
the credit order.
And he did all the things
that he did
to ultimately save us,
that at some point in time,
the resurrection appearances
come to an end,
which is part of the point
of the ascension.
And Jesus leaves space and time
and body and soul,
he goes outside of space and time
where God is.
And if you say,
well, how on earth
does that work?
Then all I can say
is what Paul says
in 1 Corinthians 15.
You fool.
How on earth
can we possibly talk
about what existence
is like
outside of space and time?
You know,
we can't even,
it's a famous problem
in philosophy
that you can't even
talk about time
without using
an analogy
of distance and length.
Isn't that freaky?
I think that's mind-blowing.
So how on earth
could God use
any words
that would mean
anything to our minds
framed by space and time
as to what it's like
for the God,
the Son of God,
body and soul,
to leave space and time
to be where there is
no space and time
where God is?
I don't know what that means.
But one day I will.
I will.
Now,
that's all pretty cool.
But you know what?
For some people,
just hearing what I've just said,
all it would do
is create fear within them.
I just saw this
really spectacular quote
in the paper the other day.
It was quoting
a Canadian academic.
It was written by,
the article was by
a non-Christian,
really very,
very, very, very
deeply thoughtful guy.
I love reading him.
And he was talking about
this new work
by a Canadian
teaching the States
trying to talk about terrorism.
And Andrew,
could you put up
the first note?
Hey, bien.
I'm going to,
this is a quote.
It's just NB
because it's not my point,
although I've just
slightly adapted it.
Here's what I saw
in the paper
just recently.
If God is,
actually they use God
with a capital G
and I demoted that God.
Sorry,
it's a Christian church,
so I demoted him.
it
for this purpose.
But if God is on our side,
everyone else is godless
and worthy of death.
If God is on our side,
everyone else is godless
and worthy of death.
Now,
in our bones,
we believe that.
I mean,
for a lot of people
in our culture,
if I,
the more you come
to prove that Jesus
might actually have risen
from the dead
or that it's intellectually compelling,
for many of them,
it's not,
oh,
you know,
tune my heart
to sing thy praise,
but a feeling of dread.
Now,
this quote was in the context
of explaining
Islamic terrorism
or Islamists,
anyway,
you know,
I don't,
I'm not,
you know,
that terrorism
from that root,
but the fact is
he didn't say that.
He made it
in a very general comment
and that for many,
many,
many people
in our culture,
this is how
they view religion.
It's why,
no matter how compelling
arguments would be,
they do not want,
part of the reason
they do not want it
to be true,
but let's be honest.
If I was like God
and I could do things
like God
and get away with it,
people would die.
And I'm not
especially wicked.
I'm probably only
average wicked.
I think every single
one of you too,
if you think about it,
my body count
might be way higher
than yours
because you're
a better person
than me.
And why is it
that we talk
about murderous looks?
And there is
something deeply
human
in this phrase.
That if I had
the power of God,
if I thought that
God was on my side,
then those who
are the godless
are worthy of death.
And we would
kill some of them.
I would kill some of them.
So would you.
There's something
very true
about that statement.
So,
and the other thing
about it was
we have to be honest
is that some people
who call themselves
Christians
and maybe really
even are Christians
have acted
in this way.
God is on their side.
The godless,
therefore,
are worthy of death.
So let's just look
a little bit here
at the Bible
and see
do Christians
need to be corrected
by modern academics,
by secular culture?
Do we need to be
corrected?
Because if we get
too serious
in the Bible
it's only going to
cause deep problems.
Muslims.
I just read a very,
very fascinating book
by a former Muslim
and one of the things
that he says
is that part of the problem
right now going on
in Islam
it's by
Nabil Qureshi
and
is that
in Islam
there's the Quran
then there's the Hadith
and then there's Sharia
with fatwas
that go along with it
and all three of them
sort of govern
how Muslims
sort of understand
themselves
and that when people
are asking for Muslims
to go underneath
a reformation
the problem is
that the Quran
is vastly more
murderous and bloody
than the other two sources.
In other words
he says
ISIS
is the reformation
and that for Quran
for Muslims
we need to hope
that the other sources
which are far more humane
end up governing
and historically
have governed
how most actual Muslims
that you'd ever meet
actually would live
that those become
more powerful
but for Christians
is it that as we get
more closely into the Bible
that this will be true?
Well let's look
we stopped at verse 3
let's continue at verse 4
and while staying with them
that was Jesus
and by the way
one of the words
for staying
that little simple sentence
could be translated
in three ways
by the way
in Greek
and one of the ways
to translate it
would be that he was
eating with them
like yet another proof
that he was actually
physically alive
he ordered them
not to depart
from Jerusalem
but to wait
for the promise
of the Father
for which he said
you heard from me
for John baptized
with water
but you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days
from now
and you know
it might very well be
that for the apostles
they think
whoa
we're going to really
have power now
now we're going to be able
who knows what they thought
then verse 6
so when they had come together
they asked him
Lord will you at this time
restore the kingdom of Israel
now when they're asking
in this question
they're basically asking
God are you going to come
is Jesus
are you going to become
the head of Israel
and is Israel going to
basically take over
the world
that all of the world
will bow the knee to Israel
and by the way
when they're asking
this question
if you read the gospels
you know that they thought
they would all have
they weren't thinking
they would be on the top
they weren't thinking
they'd be the top dog
they were thinking
that Jesus would be
in the top chair
but guess who would be
in the chair
just underneath them
them
and then Israel
and then the world
so that's how they think
they're asking him
that question
verse 7
and if you think
about it for a second
isn't that question
like this
that's implicit
in the question
something like that
God's on our side
those who are not
are godless
and how does Jesus answer
he said to them
verse 7
it is not for you
to know times
or seasons
that the father
has fixed
by his own authority
now just pause here
for a second
he basically ignores
the question
basically he's saying
that's not what's
going to happen
and the other thing
which is really
really significant here
is that it's not
just that people
people who think
that God is on their
side
they also
you know
the most of the death
in the 20th century
that's been caused
by tyranny
has been by people
who think that utopia
is on their side
that they've understood
the flow of history
and because they know
how history is going
to go
the workers
the peasants
the educated
that the people
who are Chinese
if you're in Vietnam
or whatever
the wrong groups
they can be put
to death
and Jesus here
is completely
rejecting
any type of
millennial
utopian knowledge
given to his people
Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders
the person
who will serve you
coffee at Tim Hortons
and the next street
person
and me
all equally
know the future
as well as
the philosophy
faculty
and sociology
and psychology
and political
science faculty
and MBA faculty
University of Ottawa
and Carleton
we all equally
know the future
which is zero
the one thing
that Christians
know
is that Jesus
will return
beyond that
nada
that's
that's all we know
so you see
right here
that the biblical
text is starting
to cut the legs
out from that
human desire
expressed in that
quote
but it gets
even more
look at verse 8
but
okay
so we want
they want to have
political power
and they want to have
knowledge of the future
Jesus says
you're not going to have
either of those things
but
and I don't know
maybe they're going
okay but
there's going to be
something better
there's going to be
something better
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
let's be honest
folks
for many of us
when we hear
that rather than
getting lots of
power and superior
knowledge
we just get the
Holy Spirit
we say we just
get the Holy Spirit
oh dang
I was hoping
for something
a bit better
let's just be honest
but Jesus
is giving us
something better
if we trust
him
in verse 9
and when he had
said these things
as they were
looking on
he was lifted up
and a cloud
took him out
of their sight
and while they
were gazing
into heaven
as he went
behold
two men
stood by them
in white robes
their angels
and said
men of Galilee
why do you stand
looking into heaven
this Jesus
by the way
this is going to be
really significant
because it introduces
a phrase
that's going to be
all the way
through the rest
of the book of Acts
and all the way
through the book of Acts
constantly
the apostles say
this same Jesus
whom you crucified
it's tying it
to the entire
book of Luke
this Jesus
okay I'll explain
the significance
in a moment
this Jesus
who was taken up
from you into heaven
will come
in the same way
as you saw him
go into heaven
could you put up
the first point
as the next point
Andrew
here's what the
Bible's trying to teach
this is one of the
reasons why this
deep fear that we
have in our culture
that the Bible
the Christian faith
that what Jesus does
it completely
undermines it
because you see
the cultural
expectation we have
in our culture
is that if
if I was like God
people would die
that is so deeply
rooted in our culture
that if
in what it means
to be a human
that if I was God
if I was like God
if I had God
in my pocket
if I could walk
around and God
was right with me
and he would do
whatever I wanted
because he is my ally
people would die
and we cannot
understand
that the God
who really does
live and exist
and he saw human
beings like you
and me
and he decided
he would die
out of love
for us
and what we're
seeing here
with the end
of the ascension
is we see this
one powerful
act of grace
by one person
to redeem
every person
who receives him
by faith alone
what we have to
understand
is that it's all
just one mighty
act of God
Philippians 2
5 to 11
puts it all
in a very very
wonderful way
and it's God
the son of God
and he sees
profound human need
he sees the murder
in our hearts
he sees the desire
for us to be God
in our hearts
and seeing who we are
as we really are
he sets aside
his glory
and divine prerogatives
and it's one mighty
act to save us
created in the womb
of the virgin Mary
taking into himself
our human nature
even such unbelievably
frail and weak
human nature
as what a human being
is like in the womb
of a woman
taking that into himself
without giving up
being God
and going through
the process of birth
and living as a child
and living as a lower
working class person
in an oppressed
people group
and doing his three
years of teaching
in his sinless life
it's all one mighty
act of God
and his death
upon the cross
where God himself
dies for humanity
that wants to be God
and he sees
we cannot leave ourselves
and he dies
for us
God himself
as Jesus
as man
dies
for you
and me
and then
he tastes
all there is
to taste of death
and then he rises
from the dead
on the third day
and then he ascends
into heaven
it is one
mighty act
of grace
one mighty act
of God
to redeem
any
who put their faith
and trust in him
and it completely
subverts
to use modern
post-modern language
it completely
deconstructs
and subverts
the fear
and desires
of our heart
if we are but
willing to recognize
that they are there
within us
the other day
and that's by the way
that's why we don't need
secular philosophy
to improve
Christianity
what we just need
is to be gripped
by the gospel
Jesus calls us
to be witnesses
not rulers
and by the way
that's a wonderful
wonderful comfort
so I've shared
with you
there are many times
too many times
for me to share
with you
when I've tried
they know I'm a Christian
and people
it's almost as if
some people
this is not a bad thing
it's a good thing
it's almost as if
they're waiting
for me to come in
because they've got
an objection
to the Christian faith
that they don't think
I'll be able to beat
and sometimes
I am not an apologetic ninja
I don't go
oh yeah
and then karate chop them
and just
aha beat them
I am
Bible here isn't saying
I am going to make you
apologetic ninjas
who will destroy
every single argument
that ever comes your way
no it doesn't say that
the power comes
from the Holy Spirit
that's where all the power
comes from
I just want you
to be witnesses
not ninjas
witnesses
the word is martyr
now just the other day
I was coming into
I have to
I have to be careful
here at my time
I came into
one of my favorite
coffee shops
and
a person was telling me
about their
I guess their latest theory
and
and she has a
science degree
and
completely non-Christian
really really
you know
a nice young woman
and
for some reason
she wanted to share with me
that the only value
that human beings have
is that the energy
that is within them
and
and that when they die
the only value we have
is the energy
that we release
back
when we die
and
here's the thing
Andrew could you
let's read verses 9 and 11 again
and when he had said these things
as they were looking on
he was lifted up
in a cloud
took him out of their sight
we'll just read verse 9
Jesus is taken up into heaven
body and soul
let's put this next point up
Andrew
the human person
body and soul
matters to God
so the person
body and soul
should matter to God's
redeemed people
I mean the fact of the matter
is it's actually sort of
very sad and tragic
and I didn't do a very good job
responding to
to this young woman
but it's sort of
very sad and tragic
to think that
the only way we can
could conceive
from a scientific point of view
the value of a human being
is the energy
value in the body
and
we don't really live that way
because the fact of the matter
is if somebody
had slapped her
I'm sure she'd say
how dare you treat me that way
if somebody had
you know
taken her wages
she'd work the hours
and then somebody else
had taken the wages
or taken all the tips
she'd say
how dare you treat me like that
and on one level
we have this very fundamental sense
that there's a dignity
and importance to human beings
and there's a dignity
and value of human beings
but for people increasingly
in our culture
we have no way of grounding
that in anything
like one of the saddest things
about the conversation
between the atheist
and Os Guinness
last Sunday night
in this room
was that he had no way
to actually account
for the value
or dignity of human beings
or even their freedom
but look at this
this text
of the ascension
it's so wonderful
Jesus
body and soul
goes to be with God
outside of space and time
it shows that the body
and what it means
to be a person
that it matters
and that's why
Christians throughout the ages
as they've been gripped
by the gospel
not only do they want
to go to the ends of the earth
to share the gospel
but we
that as you're gripped
by the gospel
you know that being a person
matters body and soul
and that's why
historically Christians
they want to
they want to start hospitals
they want to start hospices
they want to start schools
they want to
people who don't have
have language
but no writing
they want to give them writing
they want to give them
the gift of books
and the gift of learning
and they've been at the
and it's why Christians
you know Martin Luther King
and the whole civil rights movement
and William Stringfellow
and the abolition of slavery
and how Christians
and you know
the birth of some basic
social care issues
in Canada
which came out of the
you know
out of the
you know
out of the
Manitoba
and Christians
it's
there's a concern
for justice
for treating people right
for treating people well
for the abol
the body matters
the person matters
and because of that
justice matters
and feeding people
matters
and it's rooted
in Jesus
it's rooted in the gospel
as we're gripped
by the gospel
we will have
a greater concern
for the integrity
and the value
and the importance
of a person
body and soul
and in fact
as well as that
like you know
the well-meaning people
who try to say
that Jesus didn't ascend
bodily into heaven
and didn't
in 1 Corinthians 15
Jesus had a spiritual body
and they're
they're very well-meaning
but sometimes
they're often very well-meaning
sometimes they're not
sometimes they're just
being troublesome
and mischievous
but they're potentially
well-meaning
and they don't understand
that the 1 Corinthians 15
isn't saying
that somehow
Jesus' body
became just spirit
yet the spiritual body
means
you know
my body
and my spirit
and my mind
often don't work together
like I wake up
in the morning
and I'd like to be
a go up
get up
and get them
but my knees
just don't agree
I used to be
when I was young
I could get up
in the morning
go for a run
I need to be up
like for an hour
and a half
two hours
just to get the
things moving
you know
my mind
wants to do
something
my soul
wants to do
something
my body
just doesn't
agree
gets in the way
and the spiritual
body is saying
that the actual
body is so
completely at one
with God
with a redeemed
spirit
and so
when a spiritual
body
is being taken
up into heaven
it means that
Jesus is triumphant
not only over
all evil things
but creation
itself
which no
longer is the
way that it
should be
that create
the created
order itself
is drawn up
into heaven
which is why
it is that
Christians
gripped by the
gospel would
care for the
environment
and would care
whether animals
are treated
cruelly
because the
entire created
order matters
and is brought
up into
heaven
to be
with Jesus
and one final
thing in
closing
this is an
adaptation by
David Foster
Wallace
and it just
struck me
recently
could you put
up this
thing
I've just
slightly changed
something that
he said
most of the
big things in
my life do
not love me
that is
really true
you know I
was listening to
the radio a
little while ago
and somebody
commented about
how they just
before they knew
it they'd
wasted five
hours looking
at funny cat
videos on
YouTube
and I'm sure
nobody here in
this room has
ever done
anything even
remotely like
that
and if you
think about it
for five hours
the biggest thing
in your life
was looking at
a screen
and the
people who
invented all of
that none of
them love you
and it just
left you being
alone
and now some
of us some
of you have
young babies
and gosh they
love you
so it's not
that everything
that's a big
thing in your
life doesn't
love you
but you know
how many of us
give ourselves
to politics
how many of
us give
ourselves to
culture
how many of
us give
ourselves to
money
how many of
us give
ourselves to
career
how many of
us give
ourselves to
the university
how many of
us give
ourselves to
Netflix
and none of
these things
there are big
things in our
life and none
of them love
you
and that doesn't
even count the
fact that we
get
death's a big
thing sickness
is a big thing
being alone is a
big thing
enemies are big
things
things and
often if we
are honest
we seem like
small little
things in a
world of big
things and if
we are honest
most of those
big things
don't love
us
and this
story of the
ascension of
Jesus tells a
completely different
way for those
who are followers
of Jesus to
begin to learn
to live
if you could
put up the
point Andrew
the real
true
living Lord
of costly
love
is vastly
bigger
than any
big thing
in my
life
verses 8
to 11
and if you
read through
the gospels
and read
through the
New Testament
one of the
things you'll
understand about
the Holy Spirit
is that the
Holy Spirit
is God
himself
the third
person of
the Trinity
and one way
to understand
the Holy Spirit
is the
everlasting
love of
the Father
to the Son
and the Son
to the Father
and that
everlasting
progression of
love is one
way to
understand the
Holy Spirit
himself
that the
coming of
the Holy Spirit
into our lives
is the coming
of love
into our lives
it's coming
into our lives
of the very
very same
power that
created the
universe that
rose Jesus
from the
dead
you know
what we'll
see with the
day of
Pentecost is
that the
Holy Spirit
comes upon
God's people
in a new
and powerful
way
you know
if you've
ever seen
the movie
The Lord
of the Rings
there's this
wonderful scene
towards the
end where
the orcs
are attacking
can't remember
the place
and they know
they're going
to win
and one orc
says out
loud
the age of
men have
ended
the age of
orcs have
begun
and of course
they're wrong
but
when we
read here
in verse
8
we're seeing
that God
is saying
the age
of the
Holy Spirit
has begun
the age
of witness
has begun
the in
between
time
between
Jesus
ascending
into heaven
and his
coming
again
that time
has begun
listen to
verse 8
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
ends of the
earth
and when he
had said
these things
as they were
looking on
he was lifted
up and a
cloud took
him out of
their sight
and while
they were
gazing into
heaven
as he
went
behold
two men
stood
by them
in white
robes
and said
men of
Galilee
why do
you stand
looking
into
heaven
this
Jesus
this
Jesus
who has
taken up
from you
into heaven
will come
away
come
again
will come
in the
same way
as you
saw him
go
into
heaven
we
Christians
need to
learn
that Jesus
is big
and everything
we face
is small
and it's
not that
he's made
me big
but that
the one
who's
ascended
in triumph
over all
principalities
and power
and he's
ascended
over heaven
in triumphant
grace
filled
triumph
that I
can go
through my
day
being held
by him
who's
bigger than
everything
I face
I can go
through my
days
and I can
be like
I don't
know
some of
the kids
who come
down for
communion
you'll
notice
they don't
come down
for
communion
I mean
they get
a blessing
not
communion
they come
down
on their
daddy's
shoulders
they're
the tallest
ones
in the
room
even though
they're only
two feet
tall
and that's
you and
me
when we're
with Jesus
we can go
through our
day on
Jesus'
shoulders
and he's
bigger than
anything we
face
he's bigger
than anything
you face
in your
past
that still
haunts
you
any
bigger than
any type
of addiction
he is
bigger
and we're
on his
shoulders
want to
just stand
please
Andrew
could you
put up
the prayer
to close
you know
the wonderful
thing about
all of
this
before we
say this
prayer
I'm going
to invite
you to
say this
prayer
with me
is
remember
I tried
to say
that
Luke
believes
and I
believe
and I
think
there's
good reason
to believe
that this
really
happened
so this
isn't
just a
pleasant
story
to please
you
this
isn't
like
you know
like
you hurt
your knee
and your
mommy
tells you
something
about how
if she
kisses
it's
going to
make it
better
but you
know
we all
know
that a
kiss
by a
mommy
doesn't
actually
make the
cut go
away
I mean
we know
that
right
and this
isn't
just like
a story
like this
is true
like this
really
happened
like Jesus
is really
present
he really
gives his
holy spirit
to ordinary
fallen
human beings
like you
and me
when we
put our
faith and
trust in
Jesus
and if
you have
never
given your
life to
Jesus
there is
no better
time
than today
to make
even this
prayer
your
conversion
prayer
please
pray it
with me
Lord
I
confess
that I
live my
life
as if
you are
small
and most
other things
in my
life
are big
please
make me
a disciple
of Jesus
gripped by
the gospel
living for
your glory
please
grow in
me a
deep
humble
habit of
being
and
habit of
action
where
you
are
big
and
everything
I
face
is
small
father
this
is
the
cry
of
our
hearts
make us
disciples
of Jesus
gripped by
the gospel
living for
your glory
father
help us
to not
desire
to tower
over
things
but to
bear witness
to live
for your
glory
to live
for the
good of
people
and for
your
great
glory
help
us
father
to
face
each
day
with
courage
and
humility
and
hope
knowing
how
big
our
savior
is
who
carries
us
that
he
is
vastly
bigger
than
even
the
biggest
thing
we
face
father
thank
you
and
all
God's
people
said
amen