Acts 1:1-11 I wrote my first book, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began doing and teaching 2until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After he had suffered, he presented himself alive to the apostles with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and told them things about the kingdom of God.
4Once, when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what the Father promised, which you heard from me. 5For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6So when they were together with him, they asked, “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9After he said these things, he was taken up while they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10They were looking intently into the sky as he went away. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood beside them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
“God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church.” (Ephesians 1:22) Amen.
The other day I gave my 7th grade Catechism students the assignment to work with a partner to write questions for our end of the year “Ask the Pastor” outdoor session. Here are some of their questions.
Where do aborted babies go?
If God knew that Adam and Eve were going to be tempted, why he let it happen?
How did God make Jesus 100% God and 100% man? That’s not good math.
Where does the devil go when there is a new heaven and a new earth?
Whew! Those are some tough questions! I don’t think I knew what I was getting myself into.
But Jesus knew exactly what he was getting himself into with his last outdoor session with his students. 40 days after his glorious resurrection from the grave, Jesus gathered his disciples on a mountain. He told them to stay in Jerusalem for 10 more days. Then they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit. “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what the Father promised, which you heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
They were outside. Together. Teacher and students. It seemed like a good time for one last session of “Ask the Teacher.” So when they were together with him, they asked, “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
These disciples don’t seem to get it, do they? They don’t understand the nature of Jesus’ Kingdom.
After Jesus said he need to suffer many things, be killed and raised again on the third day, Peter rebuked his Teacher saying, “Lord, this will never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22) Peter didn’t understand Jesus’ Kingdom work. So Jesus replied strongly, “Get behind me, Satan!”
Later, James and John sent their mom to ask if her boys could sit on Jesus’ left and right in his Kingdom (Matthew 20:21). Jesus replied, “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
On Easter afternoon, the two disciples walking to Emmaus said to the unrecognized Jesus, “But we were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Jesus replied, “How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
Now it seems that the disciples still don’t get it. “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” What a dumb question! After three years of traveling Seminary training, these dimwitted disciples seem to get Ds and Fs in Understanding Jesus 101. Even after the resurrection they’re still confused!
But I was the one who was confused, not the disciples. Why? I didn’t pay attention to the context. I just focused on what I thought was another dumb remark from the disciples. I didn’t focus on the response Jesus gave. He doesn’t put his palm to his face, shake his head and say, “No, no, no! Do you still not get it? Are you still so muddled that you misunderstand my Messianic mission?”
Jesus is like one of the professors I had at the Seminary. Professor Panning had a gift of taking a poor question or a wrong answer and making it sound good and correct. Jesus gives them a No/Yes answer. He uses their question to gently redirect them in a different direction to a broader mission. They are thinking small with the restoration of Israel, but Jesus gives them the big picture of what God intends for Israel.
They are looking for a “when” answer, but Jesus gives them a “here’s how” response. They ask, “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Instead, he says, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus says, “Don’t worry about the timetable. That’s the Father’s business.” That’s the No half of the answer. Then comes the Yes half. “Here’s what has been given to you – to receive my Holy Spirit and to be my witnesses personally, locally, and universally.
The Kingdom will indeed be restored to Israel, but in a greater way than the disciples imagined. “After he said these things, he was taken up while they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Jesus had come to earth as God taking on Man’s flesh. As the God Man, Jesus paid the price for the sins of all nations on Calvary’s cross. He walked out of the grave to give all people his resurrection hope and comfort. He ascended into heaven to be seated at his Father’s right hand in the heavenly realms and have all things placed under his feet (Ephesians 1:21,22). As the prophet Daniel had witnessed centuries earlier in a vision, “I kept watching the night visions, and there, in the clouds of heaven, I saw one like a son of man coming. He came to the Ancient of Days, and he was brought before him. To him was given dominion, honor, and a kingdom. All peoples, nations, and languages will worship him. His dominion is an eternal dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13,14).
The Messiah, the Son of Man, came to his Father, the Ancient of Days, having accomplished the salvation of all peoples, nations and languages. To him was given a kingdom that was to span the whole world – a world that his disciples of all times and places – that means you – will now be his witnesses as they are clothed with the Holy Spirit.
The disciples wanted to return to the former glory of Israel under King David. They were thinking too small. Jesus wanted them to think bigger, grander, more glorious. They were thinking physically. Jesus wanted them to think spiritually. They wanted to preserve an area. Jesus wanted them to save souls.
How often don’t we become like those muddled disciples? We get it … but not quite. We find our glory in preserving buildings, but Jesus reminds us that his Christian Church isn’t a church building or a steeply. We open the doors and see all the people. The people are the Church … a building is not the church.
We revel in the numbers of members or offering totals or bank accounts. Jesus reminds us that the only numbers that matter to him are the souls who are hearing the gospel, receiving his baptism and being ushered by his angels to stand in front of his throne.
We spend so much time and effort protecting the little fiefdoms of our church – buildings, property and ministry – that we forget that when Jesus returns, everything we’ve built will be burned up in his as he brings his new heaven and new earth. The only thing that remains his Word that endures forever.
Jesus sends us out to be his witnesses beyond the walls of our churches. He sends us out with his Word and sacraments. Not to fill our church buildings but to grow his Kingdom.
How do we do that? How do we keep a Kingdom mindset? After all, we pray for God’s Kingdom to come all the time in the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Your Kingdom come.”
One of the pastors that we called to serve us at Water of Life texted this question to me. After looking over our call documents, he asked, “So, let me get this straight. Epiphany and New Hope are merging together to become Water of Life. Epiphany and First Evan jointly operate Wisconsin Lutheran School. And the Kenosha churches recently merged to become New Life. Wow, you really like shared ministries over there.”
I texted back. “LOL. I never thought of it that way. Yes, we do!”
I could have added that all of our WELS churches in Racine and Kenosha initially had their start right here from First Evan.
God’s people working together. Christ’s soldiers joining forces against the Prince of this world. The Spirit’s saints doing something better together than they could do separately.
God’s Kingdom is not built when pastors, people and congregations jockey for position. God’s Kingdom is restored when our pastors preach God’s Word from the pulpits of our churches. When our teachers are sharing the old, old gospel story in their classrooms. When parents are bringing their babies to be baptized, their children to be catechized, their families to receive the Means of Grace in their ears and on tongues.
This Kingdom comes when we realize how special a night like this is. So much in our nation has been shut down for a year. Yet God’s Church is open for business for his saints to sing, pray, and commune together. To celebrate our unity in the faith together.
This Kingdom comes when we set aside petty squabbles and preach the cross of Christ. We hear the still, small voice calling us to repentance before the throne. The voice calling us to receive absolution before the cross. The voice calling us to die to sin and rise to new life at the open tomb. The voice calling us to give forgiveness to the sinner, hope to the wounded, and life to the dying.
By God’s grace, through the redemption of the Son, and the working of the Holy Spirit, you and I are the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. But out there in the neighborhoods around our churches are those you and I are called to share the still, small voice of the gospel so our neighbors can be restored and become part of Israel, too.
We are witnesses to the world. That means we get out of our comfort zones. We leave the walls of our churches and speak this small voice into our community.
To African Americans around First Evan.
To Hispanics and Latinos around our Water of Life Racine campus.
To white collar workers around our Water of Life Caledonia campus.
The way we grow God’s Kingdom is by going with God’s Kingdom.
We often work so hard to protect what we have and what we’ve built. Tonight we join with the disciples of old and stare up into the sky. Our ascended Lord is reminding us what he builds as his Kingdom is the only thing that matters. It’s the only thing that endures.
It isn’t a church. It isn’t a steeple. If you open the doors, you see Christ’s Kingdom is all the people.
We are the Kingdom of God.
We are the restoration of Israel.
We are witnesses of the resurrection.
So more and more people will be included in the Church, the body of Christ, which is as St. Paul calls it, the “Israel of God.”
As citizens in Christ’s Kingdom, let us work together to restore his Kingdom, not our own. His Kingdom. Downtown. West Racine. Caledonia. And everything in between. And everything beyond. Amen.
“The church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:23) Amen.