Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2007 : May 20, 2007

Theme: Why Are You Looking into the Sky?

Church year occasion: Confirmation/Ascension Sunday

I'd like to talk to everyone who drove this morning to get to church. What did you do when you backed out of the driveway? Hopefully you looked behind you, or looked in the rearview mirror. Once you got out of the driveway, where did you look? Through the windshield to see where you were going. Did you look anywhere else as you were driving? Hopefully to the sides to see if anything or anyone was there, and from time to time at the rearview mirror again to see what or who was behind you. So, basically, you were constantly looking back and front and from side to side probably without even thinking about it too much. But did you ever look up? If you ever get a chance to drive through the Rocky Mountains sometime, especially through a narrow pass where the rock walls close in around you and the sheer cliffs rise up hundreds of feet on either side, I hope you're driving a car with a sun roof -- or a convertible would be nice, or, better yet, a motorcycle. When you do, you'll be so blown away by the sheer majesty of those mountains that it will almost take your breath away. Why? Because you're not just looking ahead through a small windshield, but you're looking all around to see the breathtaking beauty of everything around you.

On this Confirmation Sunday and Ascension Sunday we're going to focus our gaze in all those directions we talked about -- front, back, side-to-side, but especially upward toward heaven -- to make sure we have a proper perspective of what our earthly life needs to be about, not only for our confirmand, but for all of us. This morning we explore the question that the angels asked of Jesus' disciples in our reading from Acts just after Jesus ascended into heaven: "Why are you looking into the sky?"

The words we're looking at begin with some of the last words Jesus spoke on this earth. Let's see what direction he's looking. He says, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." So first of all Jesus is looking backward, into the past. He's looking at the things he had taught his disciples. He had told them plainly about his upcoming suffering and death and even his resurrection. That was his purpose in becoming a human being. But Jesus wasn't the only one who had predicted his suffering and death and resurrection; the entire Old Testament pointed to it. The Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms was the common way that the Jews divided up the Old Testament. Basically, Jesus was saying the entire Old Testament, from Genesis, the first book of Moses to the Psalms to the last prophet Malachi, all pointed to him and told what Jesus would do hundreds and even thousands of years before he did them.

In Psalm 22, the preincarnate Christ speaks through David and says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" David foretold that the coming Savior would be rejected by God himself. Why would our Savior have to go through such a horrible punishment? Elsewhere in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah explains, "The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." The Messiah would suffer eternal punishment, being forsaken by God because all of our sins would be put on the Savior as he paid their horrible punishment. But that wasn't all that the Old Testament foretold. The Messiah himself spoke again through David about himself in Psalm 16: "You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." The sign of Jonah said the same thing visually based on an actual event: "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." It was all down in black and white. The Messiah would suffer and die, but death would not be able to hold him. He would rise from the dead. Jesus told them that all these things had to happen to him because he was that promised Messiah. He told his disciples exactly what would happen to him before he died so that they would take comfort and not be discouraged.

Many times the disciples did get discouraged, however. Jesus showed them time after time what would happen to him so they wouldn't lose heart, but when Jesus died they thought it was the end of the world for them. Even after the resurrection, they were hiding for fear of the Jewish authorities. And now Jesus was leaving this earth physically. They wouldn't see him anymore with their eyes. They could only see him through the eyes of faith.

And we are in the same boat. We can't see Jesus. We can easily get discouraged in this life and look for things other than our Savior for guidance and protection and comfort. That's all too obvious when we look at the number of confirmands who fall away from the Lord. Within four years, you won't see 2/3 of those who are confirmed in worship. It's called Confirmation Syndrome.

How can we beat Confirmation Syndrome? Keep our eyes on Jesus. But how can we see Jesus if he's ascended into heaven? We look to the same place Jesus directed the disciples -- in the rearview mirror. First, we can look at our own lives and see how God has been with us and has brought even trial and difficulty into our lives for our good, to strengthen our faith. Then, and most importantly, we can look into the past in the Scripture, both Old and New Testaments. That is how God the Holy Spirit works. He works through gospel message, that powerful message that says that in spite of your many sins, they are forgiven completely in Jesus' blood. It seems too amazing to be true, but that is exactly what God's holy Word tells us, the same Word the Holy Spirit caused the Apostles and Prophets to write down for us.

The disciples now had to get on with their lives. They no longer had Jesus with them physically to lead them and instruct them. They knew that the same Jewish authorities who had murdered their Lord and Savior would now be looking for them. Where could they turn?

As we are driving through life, we have many enemies as well. The devil wants to rob us of our faith. The world wants nothing to do with a Savior from sin, even if he is alive. It will make our lives miserable as strive to live for our Savior and stand up for the truth. And our own sinful nature will always be ready to keep us from following God's will in what we do and say and especially in what we think. These are very powerful enemies. How do we stand a chance against them? Jordaine [today's Confirmand], as you continue in school, you will even have some friends of yours try to show you how foolish Christianity is. Add to that the normal tragedies that are common to every person in this sinful world, and it will be a miracle if any of us keeps our faith in Jesus until the day we die.

But that's the point. By our own strength, we don't stand a chance. You will make promises in a few minutes, Jordaine, to remain faithful to your Savior until you die. But notice that you aren't saying that it will be your strength that will enable you to do that. It will be God who does it. And how will he do it? Through the same power that he promised the disciples -- the working of the Holy Spirit. True, we don't have the Holy Spirit in us the same way the disciples would when Jesus would send him on the Day of Pentecost which enabled the disciples to speak in different languages they had never studied and speak with such boldness that many believed and were saved that day, but we have the Holy Spirit nonetheless. He works just as powerfully today through his powerful Word, that Word of God that is living and active, the gospel that is the very power of God. It changes hearts and lives. It has changed ours so that we know Christ as our Savior. It will keep us in Christ until the day he takes us home to heaven.

And that is the complete picture Jesus is giving us. You're driving your car through life. As you look at all the enemies to your faith that surround you today as you look through the side windows and the windshield, look regularly in the rearview mirror and see what God has done for you in Christ. Look in the Scriptures and see how he promises to be with you always, to the very end of the world, just as he promised his early disciples. And then, instead of looking only at this world, look through the sunroof and look into the sky -- toward Jesus, the Author and Perfector of your faith, and to heaven where you will eventually be because of what Jesus has done and promises to do for you.

Then listen to how Luke ends his Gospel account: "They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God." I would have expected the disciples to run from that hill in fear. Their Savior and Lord was no longer visible to them. But they didn't let their fear control their lives. They trusted in their Savior and Lord. He would control their lives. He would send his Spirit who would strengthen them through his Word. He would make them bold to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth as "repentance and forgiveness of sins [were] preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

As you live your Christian life, remember your promise to remain faithful to him and live for him. That is no small promise. But it is possible through the powerful working of the Spirit. Then when you finally reach the end of the road in this world, Jesus will give you the crown of life. Amen.