Because He Cares for You...

Acts 1:6-14

Psalm 68: 1-10, 32-35

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

John 17:1-11

First Lesson: Acts 1:6-14

Challenges:

Oh how easy it is to be down on the disciples here.  Silly disciples, don't you get that you aren't supposed to know the time when the kingdom will be restored.  Silly disciples, stop looking up into the sky and get to work! Silly disciples...let's keep using them as bad examples again and again. I get that, but at the same time I think their actions are pretty darn understandible.  They have just experienced Jesus raised from the dead, doing amazing things: if the kingdom is going to be restored, this would be a pretty likely time for it.  Also, if two men is white robes had asked me why I was looking up at the sky, and I had answered honestly, I would have said: "Well, I'm stilly trying to process what's just happened...it could take awhile..." My point? Maybe we could give the disciples a break, at least a little one.

And also, there could be nagging doubts that this story is all made up as a convenient way to "get rid of Jesus" from the story so as to explain why he's not around anymore, even though he's resurrected.  This can cast nagging doubts on the Resurrection itself.  

Opportunities:

We all think differently. Some of us are comfortable with mystery, others want all the details explained. There are strengths with both mindsets.  When it comes to the Ascension there will be many people who are curious about the exact details. "Where exactly did Jesus go? Is he transported through time? To a different dimension?  Why did he go "up" if heaven isn't above the clouds?  These aren't bad questions in themselves, but it's important to show that this is a story that is trying to somehow explain the unexplainable: the image of the cloud is a very good one, actually.

One thing informs my thinking: the disciples themselves were so caught up in what had happened and the experience of Jesus that they seem to have not asked all of these probing questions.

The Good News: 

Verse 8 is a favorite of mine. I often tell people "Did you know that our town is mentioned in the Bible? Really it is..." and then I talk about "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth..." Usually there can be a joke about how we're the "end of the earth." But then you can get serious and talk about how this message of the crucified and risen Jesus, a man called God who died and then rose again, eventually made it's way to us...many years later. Someone told someone who told someone. For A LONG TIME. It changed and transformed and improved and completed lives for thousands of years.  That's pretty exciting...even more: that's PROFOUND.

Psalm: Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35

Challenges:

Don't you just love it when the psalm readings jump around? Don't worry, no one will actually notice.  So, who exactly ARE God's enemies? Ask anyone and they will probably have a whole list...that also happens to agree with their own list.  I'm sure I am on someone else's list of "God's Enemies" and I bet you are too. I wonder if the people I'd put on the list of God's enemies would agree.  Perhaps we're all enemies of God...who have been reconciled through God's son Jesus Christ. Now that I can go with...

Opportunities:

When I first read verses 1-3 this week my mind immediately went to the climactic scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when Nazis open up the Ark of the Covenant and are promptly melted by the Spirit of God like so many overheated crayons.  I don't know what you can do with this, but I wanted to share the image.

The psalms often give us amazing imagery, and the image of God as the one who "rides upon the clouds" and is"the rider in the heavens..." is a very vivid one. It almost sounds like a lyric from a classic rock song. Again an observation, but I'm not sure what you can do with it.

Hmmm...I'll try harder for opportunities with next week's psalm.

The Good News: 

It's one thing to talk about a majestic and powerful God.  To talk about God's ability to destroy and conquer and what-not. I'd be tempted to "Sing to God" along with the nations...you don't want a deity like this to be angry at you! But that wouldn't create much love in my heart and life.  But verses 5 and 6 talk about God cares for orphans and widows, captives and the desolate. The God of great power cares for and protects the powerless.  That's amazing, inspiring, life-changing, challenging, comforting and confounding all at once. It convicts me and consoles me all at once. Something within me is drawn to a powerful God who cares for the powerless.  Sounds like the Gospel!

Second Lesson: 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Challenges:

Talking about persecution is a tricky thing. Not a BAD thing, just tricky. It's also especially tricky to talk about someone ELSE'S persecution. "Well, Christians in other countries are persecuted, but that's good because it draws them closer to Christ." Well maybe, maybe not, but to make a statement like that blithely is dangerous.  This can also go beyond oppression for the sake of religion and move into other realms as well.  Public figures in the United States will sometimes say "Black people seemed happier when they were all picking cotton out in the fields. They were poor but happy, not like now." Wait, what?!?! NO!

How often have women facing abuse been told, rejoice because you are bearing Christ's sufferings, stay in the marriage? Again, I'm not saying don't talk about persecution, just think it through, pause, and then think it through again.  Use some humility...it's good for your soul.

Opportunities:

There's some really good practical stuff here: casting your anxiety on him...discipline yourselves...stay alert...resist the devil, steadfast in faith..." there's some really good stuff here. What do these things look like today?  How do we cast our anxiety on Jesus Christ? How do we disciple ourselves. In my experience, many pastors (myself included) like to speak in abstracts. (If I could move to a place called "abstract-land" I think I'd love it there...) But again and again I hear faithful, godly people in the pews ask to hear practical guidance for living the Christian life.  I don't believe they are being lured away by "works-righteousness" (at least not all of them). They just want to know how to live in such a way that honors God because they care. How can this text show us how to do that?

The Good News: 

All of those things I mentioned above: casting anxiety, discipline, staying alert, resisting the devil, ALL of it is kept together by an amazing linchpin: "BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU." It's one thing to do all of that stuff because the boss says to and you don't want to lose your job and that's just how the world works.  It's a completely other thing to do all of that stuff knowing that God CARES FOR US AND IS WORKING FOR OUR GOOD EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF HARDSHIP. That changes everything. An awareness of this can completely transform the way we look at the world.  It can completely transform our lives for the good.

Gospel: John 17:1-11

Challenges:

I truly and sincerely believe that God can and will speak to us in all of scripture. I don't ever want to say, "Well, that has nothing to say to me." But I also need to be honest that some scripture comes through louder and clearer than others for me!  Jesus' speeches and prayers in John can be tough for me to keep up with.  Who's in who and glorifying who?  Mine are yours, yours are mine...who is who?  I've come to really love the Gospel of John and the idea of "life in the name of Christ" and the "light shining in the darkness" but it can also be complicated to me. This doesn't mean it's bad, wrong, or worthless.  Far from it! God can and will speak through these words.  How can I open my ears and my heart to them?

Opportunities:

I have often loved the image of a bridge in describing Jesus (not that any image can completely describe Jesus!). Jesus is the bridge between God and humanity, the connection that brings us together. So, in verse 8 when Jesus says "for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me." I see that connection, that bridge, that Jesus forms between us and God.  What does God want? What does God find important? How does God want us to live? These are all important questions with very few easy answers...but Christians believe that we can turn to Jesus when we have these questions and can find life in his name and in the name of his Father when we do this.  

Are there any other images that, while not specifically mentioned in scripture, enrich your understanding of who Jesus Christ is?

The Good News:

Hmmm....I think I already gave some of the good news at the end of the "opportunity" section. This happens quite a bit.  Here's something else: Jesus asks his Father to protect those who belong to him in "your name." I believe that when Jesus prays something, things change. Knowing that we receive protection from the Father is a powerful thing (we're not being left as orphans as Chapter 14 tells us).  There's good news there.