The Reminders I Need!

I’m forgetful. God has blessed me with some talents. A great memory is not one of them. I went to Martin Luther Prep School for high school. I was in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. It’s now Luther Prep School over in Watertown. But I went to Martin Luther Prep School, and one year I forgot my birthday. And if I hadn’t gotten a birthday card, I would have cruised right through that month and had no clue that my birthday had happened. I need reminders. Google Calendar has become one of my best friends because if it’s not in Google Calendar with the reminder feature, the chances of me remembering it unfortunately become kind of slim. I would guess if we went around the room, we could hear a number of stories from different people who have forgotten different things. I think it’s true of all of us humans that we need reminders. One of the things sin has done is it has messed up our memories. How easily I remember the challenges of life. How soon I forget God’s many blessings. Amen? I’m really quick to remember the sins which people committed against me. I’m not so quick to remember the sins that I committed against others, particularly if I don’t think it was that big a deal. How much we need reminders of the blessings of God, the faithfulness of God, our need for God, et cetera, et cetera. You can even see it in the Old Testament worship experience. God built reminders in over and over and over again. There was a daily sacrifice. Why? The Israelites needed to be reminded that they needed forgiveness day after day. The lights in the temple or in the Tabernacle temple were kept lit all night long. Why? Because they needed the reminder that God was their light and God was with them all the time. They had certain things that they did once a month, a new moon sacrifice, that God had blessed them through another month. Some things were done once a year, the Passover, the reminder of how God had brought them out of Egypt, oh so faithfully, loved them dearly, and would someday send the ultimate Passover lamb to rescue them. Reminders. At the time of our text, the disciples didn’t know it, but their life was about to become way more difficult. It was not going to be long after our text that the disciples would be whipped, beaten, jailed. It wasn’t gonna be terribly long after our text. We’re not sure exactly how long that the first New Testament Christian martyr was going to take place when Stephen was stoned to death. The disciples were gonna see almost all of their group martyred. What was their crime? Believing in Jesus. And sharing Jesus with the world. And it wasn’t just gonna be the disciples, lots of believers would join them in martyrdom or in being thrown into prison. Do you think at those times it might have been hard for them to remember that God was on their side? Think at those times it might have been hard for them to remember that God was always blessing them and that God loved them dearly? I’m guessing it could have been. What did they need? They needed some reminders. They needed reminders of God’s love, God’s faithfulness, God’s power that God was with them, et cetera, et cetera. And that’s where Ascension Day comes in. We tend to remember people the way they looked the last time we saw them, right? Yeah, that’s what makes class reunions so interesting. Man, those people changed a lot. (laughing) This was the last sight that Jesus gave of his disciples. Do you think Jesus might have chosen carefully what that last sight would be? Since this was the way they were likely going to remember him? Oh yeah, I think Jesus chose very wisely and very carefully, and very purposefully. So what does he do? Alex, are we ready for the PowerPoint? Gave me a thumbs up. This is the Mount of Olives, the vicinity of Bethany. I’m looking down at the city of Jerusalem. Right, there is the gate through which Jesus would have ridden on Palm Sunday. This is the road he would have ridden up or he might have descended down this hill about here. This thing doesn’t move quite as easily as a laser pointer does, but they would have moved right down there. This is a similar shot, but now I’m looking down specifically at the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was taken captive. Now I’m looking over to the west side of the, maybe it’s not west, maybe it’s south. I’m looking over to this side of the city. We’ll go south. And this is where the high priest’s palace was, where Jesus was taken captive, and where he was put on that crazy trial and whipped and beaten and he never opened his mouth. Right in here, right in this area in here, it’s a little hard to nail it down on this picture, but right in here is the site of Mount Calvary and the empty tomb. All of this would have been visible to the disciples as Jesus was ascending. Before I saw this when I went to Israel, one of my questions about the ascension was why didn’t Jesus ascend from Galilee, like from Capernaum? He had spent so much time up in Galilee or why not Nazareth or maybe Bethlehem? That would have brought things full circle, right? No, he chose Jerusalem. He chose the Mount of Olives. Why? I think it’s because Jesus wanted his disciples to have these pictures in their minds. They could see everything that really mattered. They could see that Jesus had willingly gone to suffer and die for them. They could see the place where Jesus had given them the Lord’s Supper. They could see the place where he actually died for them. Most importantly, they could see the place where he rose from the dead. What else did they need? At the end of the day, that’ll do, won’t it? Oh, but there’s more. Then he lifts up his hands and blesses them. And notice what it doesn’t say. The text doesn’t say he lifted up his hands and blessed them and after he blessed them, he was taken up into the sky. No, it says while he was blessing them, he was taken up into the sky. Did those hands ever go down? No, they didn’t. And then notice what the text doesn’t say. The text doesn’t say he went up so high that he got so small they couldn’t see him anymore. No, what it says is that a cloud came and covered him so that they could no longer see him. But was he gone? No, he was right there with them. He hadn’t gone anywhere. They just couldn’t see him with their physical eyes. And oh, by the way, don’t overlook the obvious. What’s he doing? He’s going right up into the sky. Who else could do something like that? What a reminder to them of his power that he could do this. This is the sight that’s going to stick in the eyes of those disciples. What do you think? Helpful reminders? Oh yeah. When the disciples had sinned and messed it up, how important to see those hands up because what would they have seen on those hands? The nail scars. The reminder that Jesus had died to pay for their sins, but those hands weren’t dead anymore. They were risen. The proof that their sins were forgiven. When they were feeling the whip and in chains being martyred, how important for them to see Jesus’ hands up in blessing. He had not stopped blessing them. Oh, it may not have felt like it at the moment, but he was still blessing them and still blessing them richly. When they were weak and struggling, how important for them to picture Jesus just going right up into the sky as a reminder that the all-powerful God was on their side, that his strength was their strength when they were feeling alone. How valuable to see that cloud come and cover Jesus. The reminder that he wasn’t really gone at all. They just couldn’t see him with their eyes. Think the disciples might have used those reminders. Think you and I could use those reminders. Oh, yeah. And this is the last sight that Jesus gives you of himself. I don’t know this because the Bible doesn’t say it, but I tend to think this might be the way that Jesus might want us to remember him the most. Because this is the last sight. Hands up in blessing. My brothers and sisters, there are the nail marks. Our sins are forgiven. We serve a risen Savior who has conquered death and brought life and immortality to light. We have a powerful God who could just go whoop up into the sky and it can do anything that you and I need. We serve a Jesus who is right here with us always to the very end of the age. The cloud covers him for now, but someday the clouds will lift. I will get to see that he’s right here with us. Today we’re particularly thankful for a number of our teaching staff who will be moving in other directions this next year. Take these reminders of Jesus with you. His hands are up in blessing. There are the nail scars. He’s powerfully going up into the sky. He loves you dearly. He’s with you always. And that’s the truth for every single one of us. And as long as we’re here on this side of eternity, we’re gonna continue to need those reminders until, until what gets said at the end of the text. Metagalley, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? Well duh, did you see what just happened? The same Jesus who’s been taken from you into heaven will return in the same way you’ve seen him go into heaven. Someday those clouds are gonna lift, my brothers and sisters. And there will be Jesus smiling away. Hands up in blessing. There are those nail scars, the proof of your salvation. And he’s gonna welcome you into your eternal dwellings where faith will be sight. And there will be no more need for reminders. Even about your birthday. Amen? – Amen. – And amen.