So That
6/5/2011 (Ascension Sunday)
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
Acts 1:6-14
Linda and I had an interesting week with our granddaughters, Emma and Kira. On Tuesday night we had a slumber party and Emma asked that I tell her a story about ‘when I was a little boy’. Within a minute after I started the story she fell asleep.
That story worked just like my sermons do sometimes?!
Last Sunday I gave ‘An Eight Word Sermon’ and several people told me it was the best ever!
What were the eight words?
Love Christ,
keep his commandments,
receive the Spirit.
Today’s message is about two words—just two simple words.
You see, words are important.
Words can hurt.
Words can heal.
This past week Peter Addicott, Jane’s son, sent me a U-Tube. You have maybe seen it. It is very popular on the internet right now.
In it a blind man is sitting on a street corner with a sign that says,
“I’m blind. Please Help.”
Many people walk by but only a very few leave money.
Then a young woman comes by, picks up his sign and writes new words.
“It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it.”
As a result many people leave donations.
The point of the video is: Change the words and you change your world.
The two little words I want to talk about this morning are: ‘so that’.
I bet you never before heard a sermon about ‘So That’.
These two words are tremendously important. Think about it. When you say ‘so that’ you mean that a result is going to follow.
For example, you might say, “I am going to church today so that I can worship God.” Or, “I am going to listen to Pastor Norm’s sermon so that I will learn why he chose a strange title like this.”
In the book of Exodus God tells Moses to have the people make a sanctuary, so that God can dwell among them.
I John says, “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Psalm 104 says: “You set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be shaken.”
If someone came up to you and asked you, “Why does your church exist” what would you say?
You would probably answer with the words ‘so that’.
So that we can proclaim Jesus Christ.
So that we can fulfill our mission.
So that we can be a beacon of light to our community.
So that we can bear fruit for God’s kingdom.
Today is Ascension Day on the liturgical calendar. Today we remember how the disciples watched as Jesus disappears into heaven.
For Jesus' disciples, the ascension was a powerful catalyst to get them to work on the mission Jesus had left them so that Jesus message would not be forgotten.
Just before he ascended into heaven Jesus said, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth"—implying so that the world will know.
Jesus was perfectly clear in his last earthly words: advance the gospel to the ends of the earth! While the disciples kept craning toward the sky like it was a rocket launch, angels appeared and said, “He'll come back from the skies just like he left.”
As though to say, “Now stop staring! There's work to be done.” The ascension must have been a stunning spectacle to see. But more amazing than Christ's departure was the unlikely lot with whom he left the mission. They grew up cleaning fish and collecting taxes - not as religious leaders.
They'd misunderstood parables.
Fought over who was the greatest.
Fell asleep in the garden.
Denied Jesus in his last days.
Humanly speaking, perhaps the disciples weren't the best choice to advance the good news. The ascension was powerful.
It told the disciples that Jesus' mission was now their mission. Far from feeling abandoned, they felt empowered.
His mission was theirs.
They continued to praise God in the temple, waiting for Pentecost which we will observe next Sunday. The ascension had a counterintuitive effect. Jesus didn't abandon his disciples. Instead, for the first time, they took ownership of the mission. Ascension Sunday is a time to reflect on how we partner with Jesus in life and faith and ask, “Do we have a clear sense of personal mission?
Are we clear what follows so that in our mission? Here are four implications of the ascension.
1. It's on us. If the world is going to be saved it is up to us.
2. We aren't alone. The disciples were told they would have Help.
3. We're in a partnership. We need to understand our mission as a partnership with God's Spirit.
4. The time is now. If we know the good we ought to do and don't do it, we sin. We need a faith that works so that God is alive in our world.
This kind of Christianity is that to which the ascension calls us. Ascension Day is a natural time to take a look at our spheres of influence and ask, "Am I advancing or abandoning my calling?"
One of the most famous composers had a rebellious son who used to come in late at night after his mother and father had gone to bed. And before going to his own room, this rebellious son would go to his father’s piano and slowly, spitefully… and loudly would play a simple scale, all but the final note.
He would play, “Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti…” and then he wouldn’t strike that final “Do.” Then leaving the scale unfinished, he would retire to his room. Meanwhile, his father (great musician that he was) hearing the scale minus the final note… would twist and turn and writhe on his bed, his mind unable to relax because the scale was not finished. Finally, not able to stand it any longer, the father would crawl out of bed, stumble down the stairs and strike that final note of the scale. Only then could he relax and be at peace. That’s an interesting parable because it reminds me of the way we so often treat God. We play around with some of the notes of faith, but we don’t play the full scale… - We forgive, but not completely. - We love, but not completely. - We serve, but not completely. - We accept Christ, but not completely. - We live the Christian life-style but not completely
- We commit our lives to God, but not completely.
- We don’t know what comes after so that!
What follows the so that of your life? Can you say I am a Christian so that others will know the love of Jesus?
Some years ago I heard Bishop Desmond Tutu speak. He told the story of how he asked his minister why the people of South Africa had to suffer so much poverty, hardship, and oppression.
"Why doesn't God do something?" he said he wailed.
"He has," said that wise pastor. "He has created you."
And so Desmond Tutu, now the archbishop of South Africa, became the answer to his own question.
Words are important.
The world is looking for honest and authentic answers to life’s problems and they know when they encounter that which is false.
At this time I would like to ask a volunteer to come forward.
Hold out your right arm straight.
I will say a true statement like: 2 + 2 = 4. (I can’t push the arm down.)
I will now say a false statement: 1 + 1 = 3. (I can push it down easily.)
Our words are important. Use them wisely so that the world might know Jesus.
