Sunday, May 17, 2026
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
Sermon Title: “An Ascended Life”
When I lived in Jacksonville, I remember visiting another pastor friend’s church. This is what pastor’s like to do, visit other pastor friend’s churches. And I remember she showed me around the sanctuary, and it had stained glass windows all around, and she made the comment that the stained-glass windows at the front were centered on the Ascension. And she said, “Who focuses on the ascension?” Most churches focus on the cross, or the resurrection. But the ascension? The ascension tends to be forgotten about.
Ascension Day was technically this past Thursday, May 14th. But we’re celebrating Ascension Sunday today. Ascension Day is 40 days after Easter because today’s scripture tells us that Jesus appeared to the disciples for a period of 40 days. This Easter Tide we were in a series called “Easter Encounters,” reminding us of Jesus’s various appearances and encounters with the disciples. And these Easter Encounters end with Jesus’s Ascension.
We live in a skeptical world. During the Pandemic we saw a lot of skepticism. Skepticism about whether masks work or not. Skepticism about if the vaccine works. Skepticism about scientists, researchers, medicine, the CDC, and the government. There was a lot of skepticism. And we tend to still live in a skeptical world. A world where people are skeptical of scientists, government leaders, really anyone in authority.
Today’s scripture uses word: “proof.” I imagine people would have been skeptical about news of Jesus rising from the dead. After all, resurrection goes against all that we know to be true of the natural world. People don’t come back from the dead. People wanted proof then just as much as they do today.
But Acts 1:3 tells us that “after his suffering, Jesus presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3, NIV)
These proofs must have been convincing, because we see a big change in the disciples after the Resurrection. Before the Resurrection, they had deserted Jesus. Peter even denied he knew Jesus, not just once, but three times. But then after the Resurrection, after spending 40 days with the Resurrected Lord, everything changed. Their hearts were set on fire for the Lord. Especially even more so after Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week.
Seeing Jesus resurrected gave the disciples all the proof they needed. After the Resurrection, the disciples were not skeptics.
During one of these encounters that Jesus had with the disciples, Jesus told the disciples to wait. To wait for a gift the Father had promised – the Holy Spirit. In a few days they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Waiting, it’s something none of us like to do. Whether it’s something minor, like waiting in line at the DMV, or waiting for a delayed flight, or something more major, like waiting on test results, waiting on healing from treatment, waiting while a loved one is in surgery, or waiting for a baby. No one likes to wait. For the most part, we are impatient people.
I remember when my dad was about 10 days post op for his knee surgery. And he was still in pain, which I don’t think he was expecting to be. He’s normally a go getter, very active, he’s a fire fighter. He also loves being out in nature. He loves hunting and fishing. But he’s used to going, he’s used to doing, and I remember him getting very frustrated sitting around icing his knee. I remember him getting down about waiting to be able to do the things he loves to do. But sometimes you have to wait to heal. Sometimes you have to rest before you can experience the things you want to do.
Here, Jesus tells the disciples to wait. They are to wait for the gift promised from the Father – they are to wait on the Holy Spirit to come. Sometimes we want to go, but sometimes God calls us to stay, to wait. Sometimes we have to wait, to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can then be empowered to go.
Are you in a season of waiting? Are you trying to go, but Jesus is saying, “stay put, wait.” What might Jesus want to do in you during this season of waiting? How might Jesus want to strengthen and empower you for what lays ahead? Are you willing to wait on Jesus? Are you willing to trust in Jesus while you wait? Or are you trying to run ahead of Jesus?
Understandably, the disciples have questions about this Holy Spirit coming in a few days. They ask, “Lord, at this time are you going to restore the Kingdom of Israel?” (Acts 1:6, NIV) Itseems they are still thinking and hoping that Jesus is going to overthrow the Roman Government.
And Jesus says, “It’s not for you to know when the Father is going to do this.” But Jesus tells them this verse which is a key verse not just for today’s scripture, but for the whole book of Acts. Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
In a court of law, a witness testifies on behalf of either the prosecution or the defense. The witness tells what they observed with the hope of convincing a jury to believe them. Sometimes you’ll even hear of a character witness, where the witness is to testify on behalf of what they know of someone’s character.
The disciples, and that includes all of us are to be witnesses, testifying to the character of God. Testifying to the good news of Jesus. So that others, like a jury will be convinced that Jesus is Lord. So that others will be convinced of the good news of Jesus Christ. The way we live our lives has the power to convince people to believe in God or turn away from God. Will we use our life to testify to the goodness of God? Or will we use our life to hurt others and push others away from God?
The disciples are called not just to be witnesses in Jerusalem, but Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
Yes, Jesus told them to wait, but the waiting won’t last forever. They have a mission; they are called to go forth and go out. But first they had to wait, to be empowered by the Spirit so that they would have the strength to do the mission they were called to do.
After Jesus gave them these instructions, he was taken up by their very eyes. And a cloud hid Jesus from their sight.
They were looking to the sky when 2 men dressed in white stood beside them. We can assume they are angels. And these angels asked them, “why do you stand here looking at the sky?”
Jesus will return again, and the disciples are not to keep their eyes up in the clouds, but they are to do what Jesus commanded. They are to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
During the Pandemic, many of the workforce started working from home. We learned all about Zoom Meetings. I worked about two years from home with little ones. I saw a Facebook post once that said, “the Ascension is when Jesus started working from home.” Jesus is back in heaven, on the throne on the right hand of his Father. Jesus is not walking the earth anymore. But Jesus is still at work. Jesus is working from his heavenly home.
We may not focus on the Ascension, but we speak about the ascension every single time we recite the Apostle’s Creed. We say, “he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.”
Jesus is ascended. He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He is working from home. And he will return again one day.
Some question, why did Jesus have to ascend to heaven? Why couldn’t Jesus stay on earth forever?
When Jesus walked the earth as a human, he could only be in one place at a time. But with the Holy Spirit, we can all experience the Holy Spirit with us at all times, and in all places, all around the world. Jesus had to ascend so that the Holy Spirit could come and dwell with us. Jesus ascended so that the Spirit could come. Jesus ascended, started working from home, so that the Spirit could be with all people, in all places, at all times.
The Ascension means that Jesus ascended to sit on the throne, to be with the Father in Heaven. It means that Jesus ascended so that the Spirit could descend. But what else does the Ascension mean for our daily lives?
One of my seminary professors, Steve Seamands, wrote these words about the ascension. “When the early Christians confessed the ascended Christ is king, they weren’t merely affirming what would be true sometime in the distant future. By proclaiming that he had ascended into heaven and is sitting at the right hand of God, they were announcing he was already king now.” The ascension means Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord.
A couple of weeks ago, King Charles had a historic visit to the US. I didn’t happen to watch it live on television, but perhaps some of you did. I did see a few clips from the event though. There was a lot of pomp and circumstance. For Great Britain, the monarchy is a symbol more than anything. The King doesn’t really rule the country. Parliament and The Prime Minister do.
And as we look around our world and see stories in the news of violence, injustice, inhumaneliving conditions, poverty, war, the list goes on and on, it can be easy to feel like Jesus sitting on the throne is just symbolic as well. It can be easy to say, Jesus is king, but evil rules this world. Chaos rules this world.
But we would be wrong to say that. Jesus is not just king in symbol only. Jesus truly is king. Jesus truly is Lord of all, Lord of the Universe.
And so for us, living an ascended life means keeping our focus on King Jesus. It means keeping our focus on Jesus as our Lord. Now this doesn’t mean forgetting about the problems of this world. It doesn’t mean just staring at the sky like the disciples. We are supposed to go and spread the good news of Jesus after all. But living an ascended life, living as followers of Jesus with theAscension at the forefront of our mind means that we don’t forget that Jesus is reigning from the throne. It means we don’t forget that Jesus is Lord. It means we don’t forget that Jesus is King.
I grew up taking dance lessons for many years. And one of the concepts in dance is called spotting. You pick a place on the wall to fix your eyes on, to spot, and turn your head fast when you turn so that you don’t get dizzy and keep your balance. It’s how ballerinas can do many turns over and over.
In the same way, we as followers of Jesus are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that the chaos of this world won’t cause us to fall and spin out of control.
Even in the midst of pain, suffering, injustice, war, violence, greed, poverty, corruption, Jesus is still Lord. We are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Jesus is still King. Jesus is still reigning from the throne. It’s interesting when we look at our Creed that we recite most every week, the things we say about Jesus are past tense. He was conceived, he suffered, resurrected, he ascended, but then we get to present tense. He sitteth at the right hand of God. Not someday, but right now, this very moment, Jesus sits at the right hand of God. Jesus is on the throne right now. Jesus is reigning as King and Lord of all.
In Jessica Lagrone’s book “Out of Chaos,” she writes, “do we focus on the mess of our lives, or do we focus on the masterpiece?” Looking at my house, it can be easy to focus on the mess of toys strewn everywhere, which is especially frustrating after I spent an entire day cleaning, or I can focus on the beauty of my life, I can focus on the masterpiece, that I have two beautiful healthy children.
But there are so many other things in life as well, not just literal mess from kids’ toys. What is the mess in your life? And what is the beautiful masterpiece, what is the goodness of God? And which one are you choosing to focus on? The mess or the masterpiece?
In our world is the same, we can focus on the negative and the evil of this world, or we can focus on the goodness of God. We can focus on the masterpieces God is painting all around us.
Living an ascended life means we focus on the masterpiece. Living an ascended life means we focus on the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God.
It’s hard to believe this coming Wednesday will mark 1 year from when we bought our house. This year has truly flown by. That same day will also mark 8 years since we lost our first baby. And I remember when we closed on our house last year on our firstborn Leah’s birthday, it felt very redemptive. It felt like God was taking this day that had been full of pain years earlier andturned it into a day of goodness. A day where we closed on the house where we will raise our little girls. And I could have spent that day saddened about what happened to our first-born Leah. I could have spent the day focusing on the mess, but I mostly focused on the masterpiece. I mostly focused on the goodness and faithfulness of our God who has given us Ellie and Isla. I focused on the healing that God has brought to my life.
May we too live lives focused on the masterpiece, the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, instead of sulking in the messiness. May we remember that Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne, at this very moment ruling over everything.
And yes, right now evil can sometimes feel like it is winning. We see political division, even political violence. We see injustice, war between Israel and Palestine, and now us and Iran, Ukraine and Russia. And it can feel like our world is such a mess. Yes, right now, it can feel like Jesus’s rule is only symbolic. But Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is reigning. And Jesus will come back again and set all things right one day. But we don’t have to wait for that day to have hope. We don’t have to wait for that day to have joy. We don’t have to wait for that day to experience the goodness of God.
God’s goodness, God’s masterpieces, God’s reign, God’s Kingdom is breaking in all the time. Living an ascended life means focusing on the Kingdom of God, focusing on the reign of God, focusing on the Lordship of Christ, focusing on Christ as King, even when the world feels chaotic. Even when the world is spinning out of control. Even when everything in our life feels like a mess.
So maybe when I toured that church and it seemed strange to have the church focused on the ascension, it’s exactly what the Church today needs to be focused on. That Jesus is ascended, sitting on the throne this very moment. Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is reigning.
Will you choose to focus on Jesus as King, even in the midst of pain and evil in our world? Willyou choose to focus on the masterpieces of God? Will you choose to focus on the goodness of God, the Kingdom of God? Or will you focus on the messy? Will you focus on the evil, pain, and suffering in our world?
I hope we choose to live an ascended life, focused on the Kingdom of God. Focused on the reign of God.
Let us remember all the days of our life that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is King. And Jesus is still ruling from the throne.
Amen