May 13, 2021 – Ascension Text: Acts 1:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
“You don’t know about me without having read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer…That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There were things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth…Aunt Polly – Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is – and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.” Page 1 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
“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.” (v. 1) Our text this evening is the 2nd book Luke wrote to a man named Theophilus. The first book is the gospel of Luke. In it, Luke described in detail the life of Jesus. It only began to tell what Jesus did. Like all good authors Luke left the door open for a sequel.
Luke’s Book II is the Book of Acts. Book I is what Jesus did for us. Book II is how He continued to act through us. Book I the story of the Gospel. Book II what God’s people have done with the Gospel.
“THE STORY OF JESUS CONTINUES WITH US”
To understand this Book I is an absolute prerequisite. Luke wants us to see the two books as a unit. If we didn’t have the basic facts of what Jesus did and taught in the Gospel of Luke then Book II would make no sense. When Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn, he assumed we knew Huck and Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher. Without the Gospel, we wouldn’t know the characters in Acts – Jesus, Peter, and the rest. More important, without the Gospel, there would be no Book II. Jesus’ death means forgiveness. Jesus resurrection assures eternal life. Jesus’ teaching about the grace of God rules our hearts. In Book II Luke assumes we know and believe this: “After His suffering, He showed Himself to the apostles and gave many convincing proofs He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (v. 3)
Luke’s gospel is required reading in order to move to Book II. Without Jesus’ teachings, there would be no Word to proclaim. Without Jesus’ suffering and death, there’d be no reason to speak. Without Jesus’ resurrection, there’d be no hope; no story to tell.
The ascension ends Jesus’ earthly ministry, yet our text is not an ending. Jesus’ resurrection continues in Book II. For forty days He appeared frequently to the disciples and other men and women. Easter wasn’t just one chapter in an ancient book. Jesus is alive and this is the hope. Why else would they share His Word?
“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.’” (v. 4-5) Pentecost. The disciples would proclaim Jesus boldly in a whole United Nations of languages. Where the Holy Spirit is at work, Jesus’ story continues.
The same story continues with us. The Holy Spirit has baptized us. This is not an isolated event in our scrapbooks. It is a continuous writing of our life story. In the faith, forgiven, sharing the Good News of Christ. We are the witnesses to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. The Book of Acts is a book of acts.
Book II continues with us. We are the characters in Book II. We have our Jerusalems and Judeas and Samarias. They are our children and the people we work with and golf with. They are the millions in the state and billions in the world who need the saving message of Jesus.
Jesus ascended to God’s right hand. This is no distant place. It’s really no place at all. He is still exercising God’s power on our behalf. Not only His divine nature with us but his human nature as well. True God and true man are right here with us. The Lord is praying for us, guiding us, protecting us. Jesus is continuing to write the story of our lives, our Book II’s.
Book II will continue until the end of time. The Greek forms Luke uses in v. 1 of our text might suggest a third book – a trilogy. We don’t have this third book but it might complete the story of Jesus forever. “They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘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.’” (vs. 10-11) If there would be a Book III, it would begin when this same Jesus returns as we have seen Him go. Christ has ascended into heaven as our forerunner, with the promise to return and take us there. That . . . Book III. . . will never end.
But that’s another story.
Amen.