Don’t Just Stand There; Do Something!
Ascension Sunday
June 1, 2003

A message by Rob Sack
Crossroads International Fellowship
Pusan, South Korea

Text: Acts 1:1-11

Ascension as closure

Endings are very important. My favorite movie in recent times is The Lord of the Rings part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring. I loved it. The characters came to life for me, the story sparkled, and the settings were beautiful. The only thing I didn't like was that the ending wasn't a proper ending. The fellowship members were all heading off in different directions, the bad guy was still going strong, and there was a strong sense of anticipation of what was to come next. Of course, The Two Towers also had that feeling. It's only natural, because alone they are only 2/3rds of the story. The Return of the King, coming this December, if you can wait that long, will finish the story, with a good solid ending. Don't worry, I won't tell you how it ends. Don't want to spoil it for you.

If you think about it, real life also has proper endings for big events. We talk about graduation from high school or university being a beginning of the next phase, but we all know that graduations are something that marks endings, not beginnings. Though beginnings are often just around the corner.

Next week is Pentecost, when we usually celebrate the beginning of the church. Our scripture today marks a significant ending, as well as a beginning. The ending of Jesus' ministry on Earth. Christians around the world, but especially in the West, celebrate Christmas and Easter as our main holidays. Some people even think of them as the beginning and end of the story of Jesus.

But while I was studying our scripture for this week, I thought about something. What if our history of Jesus ended on Easter Sunday. Christ rises from the dead, reveals himself to his disciples and friends, then is never heard from again. If that was the whole story, I don't think we would be here today, because no one would have believed the amazing story!

John 21:25 "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

Granted, this is before the age of digital memory, but it still tells us that Jesus did many things in front of many people. And today's scripture tells us that "After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3)

And that was as important then as it is to us now. Because when you can't see something for yourself, and when you can't see it on TV, and when there aren't even newspapers to tell you what has happened, you depend on witnesses. The Jewish leaders of the time, the same people who had Jesus put to death, would not have been happy at all to hear these rumors, no, this NEWS, of Jesus being alive. They would have, and did, call these witnesses heretics and rabble-rousers. They would have been imprisoned, like Paul. And like many of the early Christians, some of them would have been put to death.

They had to know for sure that Jesus was alive, or they would have shut up. Or worse, they would have testified against the "other things" that Jesus did.

And think about the period of 40 days. Where else in Jesus' life is 40 days important? The beginning of his ministry. He fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the devil, almost like proving that he was ready for his work. But this final 40 days was more like a victory parade. I imagine that Satan was not very happy during those days, after all the work he went through to get Jesus up there on that cross.

And so we have this final period of Jesus physically existing here on Earth. Then it was time to go. Jesus has one last meeting with his disciples. He tells them that they will soon receive the holy spirit, and that they will be his witnesses to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Then he is taken up.

His disciples stare up as Jesus leaves, intent on seeing him. I imagine that they didn't want to loose sight of him again. He had promised to come back some day, but they had no idea when. For all they knew this time really would be the last time they saw him.

Even though they must have been sad that he was leaving, it wasn't the same as the last time. This time they were full of joy

I also imagine that they were thinking of all of the things he had taught them, all the places they had gone together. The way he fed the crowds by the Sea of Galilee with just a few pieces of bread and a couple of fish. The way he had healed the blind, the lepers, the lame, and anyone else who came to him with faith. The way he had raised Lazarus from the dead. Some of the things he had taught them were hard to understand at the time, but made sense after the horrible crucifixion and wonderful resurrection. The bread his body, the wine his blood, now it all made sense.

Then suddenly there were two men dressed in white standing among them, saying "Men of Galilee, 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."

The verse is very clear that the men appeared while Jesus was going, and their message seems pretty clear to me: "What are you doing? Don't you have something better to do than stand there staring?"

I imagine this easily because it happens to me all the time. Especially with sermons. I will usually choose a scripture early and read it many times, but the actual writing part takes me a long time to get started. I will get distracted by other things, checking email, listening to the news, even doing the dishes. Just ask my wife: when I have something important to do, I will delay the start as long as possible.

And for us Christians this is a big potential problem. Because we have some wonderful stuff to focus on. Meditating on the scriptures is something we should all be doing every day. As it says in Psalm 1:2 "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

It seems like that's what the disciples were doing, but they got scolded for it! Why?

Because it was time to start the church! They knew what to do, and they had just been told to start, but they didn't. They stood there, probably thinking about how wonderful everything was.

They weren't following Jesus' example in the most important way: Love! And not just the kind of love the world talks about, where you feel mushy inside and don't know what to say. Real love, the kind of love that means giving something up. The kind of love that makes a husband and wife give up what is important for each of them to have what is important for both of them. The kind of love that reaches out to the sick and the poor. The kind of love that Jesus demonstrated every day of his ministry.

That kind of love doesn't come to you when you look up to the sky and ask God for it. It comes when you use what you have. It comes to you when you give it away.

That kind of love, the giving, is in itself an act of prayer. It is an act of thanks to God. I certainly don't mean to suggest that you should avoid prayer, or reading the Bible. I do want to suggest that after you pray and read your Bible that you meditate on them both in your actions. Pray that all you think say and do would be a blessing to God. Treat your coworkers and students with love.

We as Christians have a task to perform in life that seems very difficult. Seems. We have to balance ourselves between God and the world. At least, that's what we're told. Over and over throughout history and even today, there are people who insist that God and the world are completely separate, that you have to choose between them, and you can only choose one at a time to focus on.

In one way this is true. When you decide who to follow, you can only follow one at a time. You can do what the world says is good, or you can do what God tells us is good.

But when you are working, when you are playing, when you are living, you don't have to choose who to look at. In fact, if you choose to follow God's word, you MUST look at the world, because Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. You can't do that if you never talk to your neighbor because you are always at Bible study or locked in your room praying.

I want you to imagine the parable of the good Samaritan with one more character. Not a priest, just a believer. A man who prays a lot. He is walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and praying and singing the whole time. He walks right past the man who had been robbed and beaten without even seeing him because his gaze is always up towards God. He doesn't hear the man call for help because he is singing hymns too loudly. And he doesn't smell the fresh blood on the ground because he is constantly burning incense to God.

So I ask you, does he fit into the good neighbor category or the bad neighbor category?

It sounds like a lot of work for you, I know. Loving the people around you all the time. Keeping your heart on the hereafter and your mind on the here and now. Following Jesus' command to go and make disciples. But never fear. In Acts chapter two, God sends the Holy Spirit to help us.

But that's a sermon for another day. Perhaps next Sunday. In the mean time, if Christ came back today (or tomorrow) would you be busy doing His work, or would you just be looking up?

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