The Story of the Ascension (Acts 1:1-12)
Sermon Notes
Sermon Series: Acts - Our Story, Our Mission
Sermon Title: The Story of the Ascension
Passage: Acts 1:1-12
Preacher: Ashley Herr
The Story of Acts (v1-2)
The Story of the Ascension (v3-12)
This story raises two questions:
Where is Jesus? - Followed by: Where is heaven? How do you get there? How far away is it?
What is Jesus doing?
Why is the story of the ascension so overlooked and under appreciated? (taken from The Ascension of Christ by Patrick Schreiner)
The Bible speaks little of it
It seems like a bad plan
The implications are unclear
The event is abnormal
The resurrection subsumes the ascension
Their Anticipation (v3-5)
Jesus spent the 40 days:
Reassuring them (v3) of what had taken place by: presenting himself alive to them, proving he was alive, and opening their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45)
Preparing them (v3) for what was about to take place by: teaching them about the kingdom of God and how to live as citizens of that kingdom while living in the fallen kingdom of Rome
Ordering them (v4-5) to sit tight until it had taken place
Their Question (v6)
Their Mission (v7)
Jesus corrects their misunderstanding of
When the kingdom will come
Power within the kingdom
Their role in the kingdom
His Ascension (v9)
Their Response (v10-12)
worshiping him (Luke 24:52-53)
obeying him
The gospel ceases to be good news without the story of the ascension
The Bible speaks of it extensively (references from sermon noted below)
Jesus: John 6:62, John 16:5,7
Paul: Ephesians 4:8-10, 1 Timothy 3:16, Colossians 3:1
Peter: 1 Peter 3:22
The Author of Hebrews: Hebrews 4:14, 6:19, 9:24, 12:2
It was an incredible plan
The implications are becoming more clear (John 7:39, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Ephesians 5:23)
The event is abnormal
The ascension was a critical turning point
Reflection
Read the words of Jesus in John 14:18-29 and reflect on the reality of Christ’s spiritual presence with you
Read the word of Paul in Romans 8:31-39 and reflect on the reality of Christ’s physical presence with the Father
Bible Reading Plan
Monday: Luke 1 - The Announcement
Tuesday: Luke 2 - The Birth of Jesus
Wednesday: Luke 3 - The Baptism of Jesus
Thursday: Luke 4 - The Temptation of Jesus
Friday: Luke 5 - Jesus Calls His Disciples
Saturday: Acts 1:12-26 - Devoted to Prayer
Sermon Footnotes
“Five reasons the ascension is neglected” - Patrick Schreiner (The Ascension of Christ, p2-6)
“(The gospel) is spread by witness, not by soldiers, through a gospel of peace, not a declaration of war, and by the works of the Spirit, not by force of arms, political intrigue, or revolutionary violence.” - John Stott (The Message of Acts, p22)
“The ascension must be thought of as an ascension beyond all our notions of space and time, and therefore as something that cannot ultimately be expressed in categories of space and time.” - Thomas Torrance (Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, p286 - taken from The Ascension of Christ by Patrick Schriner, p32)
“We now know, however, that space is such that heaven is not merely upward from the earth, and it also seems likely that the difference between earth and heaven is not merely geographic. One cannot get to God simply by traveling sufficiently far and fast in a space vehicle of some kind. God is in a different dimension of reality” - Millard Erickson (Christian Theology, p710)
“As we find in many passages of the New Testament, Jesus is not far away; he is in heaven, and heaven is not a place in the sky, but rather God's dimension of what we think of as ordinary reality. This is an essential feature of biblical cosmology, and the failure to grasp it leaves many Christians puzzled about how to put together the biblical picture of eschatology. The point is that Jesus is presently in God's dimension, that is, heaven; however, heaven is not a place in our space-time continuum, but a different sphere of reality that overlaps and interlocks with our sphere in numerous though mysterious ways. It is as though there were a great invisible curtain hanging across a room, disguising another space that can be integrated with our space; one day the curtain will be pulled back, the two spaces or spheres will be joined forever, and Jesus himself will be the central figure.” - NT Wright (Surprised by Scripture, p96-97)
