"Looking Into the Sky"
Acts 1:1-11
Sunday May 21st, 2023
Rev. Rhonda Blevins, pastor
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods 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.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
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If you worshipped with us last Sunday, you heard me deliver a message entitled “Where Is God?” based on a passage in Acts 17 in which the Apostle Paul is walking around the city of Athens, Greece, fascinated by their many religious idols and altars, including an altar to “an unknown God.” Paul uses that altar “to an unknown God” as an object lesson, telling the Athenians about the One true God “in whom we live and move and have our being.”
Some of you shared “God sightings,” ways in which you have noticed God recently here, on planet earth. Some of the ways you named seeing God included:
· Seeing God in creation: at the beach in the early morning, seeing fish and dolphins and a lightning storm, watching baby birds fledge
· Seeing God as protector: coming out with zero scratches and Divine peace after a 3-car accident, a 94-year-old mom being in church just a couple of weeks after falling and breaking her hip
· Seeing God in others: in the smiles of children, gathering of family, in friends at a women’s lunch, spending time with adult kids, watching the care for people in a nursing center
· Finding God in music: like from the beautiful voices emanating from our choir.
It’s almost like . . . you get it! God “is not far” from us, as Paul told the Athenians. We live and move and have our being in God.
But Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it, as evidenced in two significant ways in these 11 verses from Acts 1. Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected—they witnessed, mostly first-hand, all of this—and they still didn’t get it.
Let’s talk about the first way we witness the disciples “not getting it” in this text.
LOOKING INTO THE SKY
We find them staring up into the sky, wondering where Jesus went.
Who could blame them, really? I mean, if we saw someone levitating up, up and away, we’d probably be staring up into the sky as well. Think about what they must have felt in that moment. Amazement? Bewilderment? Excitement? All of the above and more?
While they were standing there with their mouths agape, two men in white robes appear to them saying, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” If the two angels were making a case for not looking into the sky, they needed to rethink their argument.
It seems to me that Christians have been looking into the sky ever since this moment, thinking about heaven, wondering about heaven, imagining Jesus and God in heaven, wanting to go to heaven. Or like the country song says,
“Everybody want to go to heaven, nobody want to go now.”
Have you ever met someone so heavenly focused that they’re no earthly good?
This “looking into the sky” that we’re so tempted to do . . . what does it reveal about us? Why are we so fascinated by books of the “heavenly tourism” genre?
· Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander has sold over 2 million copies.
· 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper has sold over 6 million copies.
· Heaven is for Real by Colton Burpo has sold over 11 million copies.
Why are these kinds of books so popular with the American public? Could these accounts of heaven be real? Are the authors charlatans, trying to capitalize on Americans’ fascination with heaven? Are telling what they believe to be the truth? And if it’s the latter, could their stores be . . . true? Here’s the thing: either way, whether charlatans or truth tellers, it matters not in the here and now. Let us not fall into the trap of becoming “so heavenly focused that we’re no earthly good.” God is not far from each of us.
And what is heaven? Heaven is the dwelling place of God. So if we live and move and have our being in God, and heaven is the dwelling place of God, then where is heaven? Here, there, and everywhere!
“Why do [we] stand looking up toward heaven?” when heaven is all around?
LOOKING FOR A POLITICAL SAVIOR
Now, for the second way the disciples “didn’t get it” in these 11 verses from Acts 1. Do you remember what they asked Jesus immediately before his ascension? “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It’s so funny to me, how they walked with Jesus for three years. They heard him teach, live and in person. For three years! And yet, they still expect him to be a political savior instead of a spiritual savior.
And are we so different than them?
Every four years. Every four years American fears are stoked, and every four years American imagination is kindled. Every time there’s a presidential election, one side tells us their candidate is the savior and the other candidate is the devil. The world will end if so-and-so is elected! Things will be perfect if our candidate is elected. And you know what? We buy it! Even though it was the same story four years prior and eight years prior and twelve years prior and sixteen years prior.
We are always, ALWAYS, looking for a political savior.
“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” they asked Jesus. If ever there was an eye-roll moment in scripture, this is it. Luke (the author of Acts) tells us what Jesus says. He doesn’t mention what Jesus does in response to this incredibly frustrating question. Does he let out a big sigh? Does he face palm? Does he eye roll? Does he shake his head in disbelief. Does he whisper a prayer to God saying, “Seriously, God? They STILL don’t get it?”
It's not political salvation that they needed. Sure, they wanted a political overthrow. But political salvation wasn’t what they needed. They needed spiritual salvation. They needed spiritual transformation. They needed change, not externally, but internally.
So do we.
Why do we keep looking into the sky when our bodies are the temple of God? (1 Cor. 6:19)
Why do we keep looking for a political savior when what we need is spiritual transformation? (Rom. 12:2)
God isn’t just “up there” but down here too.
God isn’t just “out there” but in here too.
“So what?” you ask. (Thanks for asking!)
Life is challenging enough without imagining a god (little “g”) somewhere up there or out there. We make life more difficult when we think salvation is some place other than our current reality. We make life more challenging when we think that salvation is in someone with an “R” or “D” in parentheses beside their name on our favorite cable news show.
So what? Heavenly tourism and political escapism is out. Life in the here and now is in. In fact, it’s all we’ve got. And that’s ok, because God is in this moment, this moment has everything we need. The past and the future only exist in our imaginations. When we find ourselves in either, we’re not fully living.
Why are you looking up at the sky?
Why do you seek salvation in another?
Claim this moment, and when you do, you’ll find Christ has come. Again. And again. And again.
I close with a beautiful poem entitled “Go to the Limits of Your Longing” by Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke:
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.