SPECIAL DAYS: Ascension Day

June 4, 2000 - LESSON: John 17:6-19, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: On Your Own

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. While telling her Sunday school class about Jesus' Ascension into heaven the teacher was taken aback by the question of a young would-be scientist.
    1. "How fast was Jesus traveling when he ascended into the heavens?" asked the little girl.
    2. Thinking fast, her teacher responded, "Well, obviously not faster than the speed of sound because the Bible says Jesus spoke words of blessing to the disciples as he departed."
    3. "Well, then," the precocious child replied, "in that case, Jesus isn't even there yet!"
    4. He ought to be there by now
    5. What is the purpose of his going?

MAIN BODY:

  1. He has to go
    1. He has to go because
      1. His mission is accomplished
      2. "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world."
        1. He has lived the truth
        2. He has taught the truth
        3. He has witnessed to the truth thought he marvelous signs that he performed.

(John 17:4 NRSV) I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.

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      1. The disciples need more light and truth which can only be provided by the Holy Spirit.

        2.  

        (John 16:7, 12-13 NRSV) Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.[12] "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. [13] When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

    1. He has to go because (John 17:6-19 NRSV)
      1. [7] Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;
      2. [8] for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them
      3. (They) know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
    2. He has to go because the disciples are in the world and need protection.
      1. [11] And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
      2. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me,
      3. so that they may be one, as we are one.
      4. [12] While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me.
      5. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
    3. He is going so that they may live within the same "joy" in which Jesus lived.
      1. This joy will be present even though the wold hates them.
        1. [13] But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
        2. [14] I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

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    1. He is going so that they may be protected from the "evil one."
      1. [15] I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
      2. [16] They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
    2. He is going so that the disciples may be sanctified in the truth.
      1. [17] Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
      2. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
      3. [19] And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
    3. He has to go so that the disciples may be sent into the world.
      1. [18] As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
    4. It is time to go
      1. Have you ever had a guest for dinner that did not know when it was time to go?
      2. Jesus knows when it is time to go.

CONCLUSION:

  1. What does it have to do with us?
    1. We are also disciples and co-creators with God of the kingdom of God.

    2. John Killinger, Letting God Bless You, writes about an old sign that he saw (1)
      1. "There is an old sign on an old barn just outside Broadway, in the English Cotswolds - or there is if it hasn't completely faded out by now.
      2. I saw it three or four years ago as I was walking through the rain and stopped to look at the peaceful farmyard scene.
      3. It said, 'Bellow & Son, Ltd., Makers - Leominster.'
        1. "It didn't say what Bellow and his son made - only that they were makers.
        2. I have often thought about that sign and what it boded for Bellow and his son.
        3. What a wonderful age it must have been, when sons became part of their fathers' businesses and eventually became the managers and took their own sons into partnership.
        4. How proud both Mr. Bellow and his son must have been when that sign was painted there, announcing their working relationship.
      4. "And how glorious it is for us to be called the children of the Creator of the world
        1. ...because we desire the fullness of the creation and are willing to invest our lives in helping to achieve that fullness.
        2. It should give a lift to our steps today.
      5. "Just imagine: God and Son, Makers; or God and Daughter, Makers.
      6. It's a beautiful thought, isn't it?"

    1. John Killinger, Letting God Bless You (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992), 111-12.

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