This past Thursday was Ascension Day. Forty days after Resurrection Sunday Jesus ascended, in His resurrected physical body into heaven. Actually ascended; not symbolically, not as a metaphor, not imagined.
And, today is Mother’s day so we have a conflict. The church calendar vs the secular calendar!
What a decision, so, we’ll try to work them in together without short changing either!
Now in all reality, we know that the church calendar is pretty much as man made as the secular calendar is.
We don’t really know what day of the year Jesus was born so the church picked a date associated with a pagan holiday and said this is it.
We know that Jesus was crucified and rose physically from the dead on a certain date which it seems we could get a pretty close estimate on that one but instead the church decided to base it on a certain full moon and always have it on a Sunday.
The ascension of Christ into heaven is an important date on the church calendar.
Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit is an important date on the church calendar.
Trinity Sunday is designated as the Sunday after Pentecost Sunday on the church calendar.
But when the apostles were alive the church calendar looked pretty much like this: On the first day of the week gather together for worship and declare the wonders of Jesus, the Son of God, crucified, risen, ascended into heaven and one day returning.
Then during the week they would gather together for prayer and teaching.
Other than that the church calendar consisted of the Jewish Holy feast days.
But, today we are looking at the ascension of Christ into heaven and see how that can apply to Mother’s day …
Let’s read about the ascension in Acts 1:1-12
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.
“After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
“On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about.
“‘For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
“Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
“He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority.
“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. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
“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.”
“Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.”
This story fascinates us: Jesus was verified dead by the soldier who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while He was on the cross and by the centurion who was summoned by Pilate to verify Jesus’ death.
But, now He’s alive in a resurrected body and physically rising from the earth without any visible means of transport.
I mean, His last words were not, “Scotty, beam Me up!”
Actually, the entire insertion of Jesus into our world was surrounded with the supernatural. Actually, it was natural for God, just seemed supernatural for us …
Jesus was supernaturally born of a virgin
Jesus performed supernatural miracles
Jesus was supernaturally raised in bodily form from the dead
Jesus supernaturally ascended into heaven
This is very difficult for people to believe …
Actually, it’s impossible to believe without the help of the Holy Spirit. And … it’s nearly impossible without the assistance of a godly mother or father or some genuine adult believer in Christ who will be the conduit of God’s prevenient grace for the child.
Jane and Heather and Pastor Karenlee are conduits of God’s prevenient grace to the children of Crossroads Church of The Nazarene.
Ike Pitcher - one of my bosses from years ago had elementary school age children and I would talk to him about the Lord and his need to teach the children about the things of God. His response was that they had decided to let the children grow and decide for themselves who they would follow when they became adults.
The main problem with such a philosophy is that while he and his wife were idly sitting by waiting for their children to grow, the children were not in a neutral spiritual environment but in a world that is hostile to the ways of God in every way imaginable!
Here are just some of the sentiments being taught in schools today.
They are being taught that:
The Bible is a myth.
Paul's letters contradict Jesus' message of love.
The male gender is responsible for the world's problems.
There are no absolute truths.
The Bible is full of inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies.
Tolerance means accepting all lifestyles (sins) as valid.
Human beings are the product of evolution, not creation.
Christians are responsible for the earth’s pollution.
Homosexuality is okay with God.
Christians are hateful.
Christians are bigots.
All religions say the same thing.
The spirit of antichrist is alive and thriving today
In John 10:10 Jesus says:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Mothers and Fathers are God’s first line of defense against this onslaught of evil!
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
“Fix these words of Mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
“Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
“Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”
Wow! What a responsibility!
The ascension of Jesus into heaven and parenting have two necessary elements:
1) If you don’t teach them they won’t believe it.
(half hearted instruction won’t do)
(Little minds are not able to distinguish between Santa and the
Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy and God on their own …)
2) It has to do with this instruction which was given to the disciples in Acts 1:4b-5:
“…wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
How many of us have taken the time and are taking the time each day and each week to “wait for the Gift that the Father promised and who Jesus spoke about?”
Jesus gave us a great promise. If we would only wait for the arrival of the Gift, the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine if the apostles had said, “Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t have time to just sit around waiting for something to happen?” But, they didn’t walk away. They waited and the great church of Jesus Christ was born on Pentecost!
Can you imagine what would take place of all of us were to wait for the Gift of the Holy Spirit that the Father had promised? If we were to set aside everything we possibly could and make Him our focus until we received the blessing of the Holy Spirit?
Here’s the thing, we and our children, are not empty vessels!
We are filled with something!
This week three of our grandchildren were down for a few days and one afternoon we were sitting out on the front porch and we have a couple of old milk cans sitting out there. Our grand daughter asked me what was in the cans and I told her that there was air in the cans.
Then I asked her how we could get the air out of the cans if we could get the lids off and she really had no idea.
Of course, we know that in order to move the air out of the milk cans it must be replaced with something else.
We could take the milk can to the nearest farm that has a
manure lagoon and fill the can with that. The air would be out of the can but the stuff in the can would be putrid; just awful!
Or, we could take the can to a
beautiful, clear waterfall on a spring fed brook and fill it from that. The air would be gone and the can would be filled with wholesome goodness.
Can you believe that God the Father sent His Son to die for us so that we could have a choice?
Can you believe that we neglect such a choice when we neglect waiting for God to fill us with His Holy Spirit?
There IS time for us to set aside in order to wait for the promised Gift, the Holy Spirit, to fill us and guide us. But what calls us instead?
TV, internet, texting, sports, hobbies, making more money than necessary, possessions, visiting …
Jesus gave us a key before His ascension when He told the disciples to WAIT!
Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday when we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit! Here’s the challenge for the week: wait!
Ask the Lord: what would You have me to give up in order to wait on You, to wait for You to renew Your Holy Spirit within me?
Can you imagine if we each dedicated one hour a day, every day in the next week to seeking the complete filling of the Holy Spirit in every part of our lives?
It would be transformational! God would be glorified! God would be exalted! It would be a service unlike any other at least since the time we’ve been here!
Let’s do it! Make the commitment now! Lord help us!
Communion
Benediction:
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.
