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May 17, 2020

Parting Gifts

Parting Gifts

Passage: Acts 1:1-11

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: House Calls

Keywords: god with us, ascension, priest and king, jesus sitting (standing) at god’s right hand, jesus as the perfect prophet

Overview: The Book of Acts is essentially Luke Part 2, showing us that Jesus came back from the dead in a glorified body and ascended to the Throne of Heaven where he is perpetually our Prophet, Priest and King as he births and grows His Church through us, his people, by the indwelling Power of the Holy Spirit.

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV
OT READING: Isaiah 43:1-3a, 5, 10-11
CENTRAL TEXT: Acts 1:1-11 ESV
MESSAGE: Parting Gifts
CREED: The Apostle’s Creed
BENEDICTION: Romans 15:13 ESV

Children's Lesson

Readings & Scripture

Call To Worship: Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV
LEADER: 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

ALL: 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

OT READING: Isaiah 43:1-3a, 5, 10-11
LEADER: 1 But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
11 I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.
God’s word to us.

CENTRAL TEXT: Acts 1:1-11 ESV
LEADER: In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

CREED: The Apostle’s Creed
ALL: I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried.

He descended to the dead. The third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. The holy Church. The communion of saints.
The forgiveness of sins. The resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

BENEDICTION: Romans 15:13 ESV
LEADER: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • Numbers 35:30
  • Deuteronomy 17:6-7
  • Isaiah 43:10-12
  • Jeremiah 16:15; 23:8; 31:27-34
  • Joel 2:28-32
  • Amos 9:11-15
  • Matthew 28:16-20
  • John 14:12-17
  • John 16:5-7, 9-15
  • Romans 8:34
  • Ephesians 1:26-23
  • Hebrews 7:25

ILLUSTRATIONS:

InView Media: 5.17.20 Album

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What’s something precious to you that someone left you? Who were they and why was what they left you precious?
  2. Describe your last conversation with someone about faith. How did it begin? How did it go? How did you feel during it? Describe any apprehensions you have about even discussing Jesus with someone. What are they based on? What are you valuing that feels like you risk losing it should that become a topic of conversation?
  3. Name several reasons one might disagree with someone else bearing witness about Jesus? Name several ways they might respond?
  4. What would you say is the distinction being made between John’s baptism and being baptized with the Holy Spirit? Why do you think both are necessary?
  5. Jesus tells His disciples that in receiving the Spirit of God they will have power for, among other things, bearing witness about Him. What would you say is that power? In what ways does that power function, do you think?
  6. Name several ways in which one might bear witness to the truth and beauty of Christ. What else besides (but not without) words?
  7. Paraphrase in your own words what you think the two men robed in white are trying to say to the disciples.

QUOTES:

  • The absence of the Ascension from the thought and life of the church has meant a focus on what Christ has done for us in the past, but not on what He is doing for us in the present in personal and public life. He is the ascended Lord of all areas of thought and life. Are we making Him Lord of all areas of our lives? The Spirit has been sent to empower us in the church as well as in the world. Do we draw on His power in all areas of our lives? Jesus promises that the Father will “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13). Do we ask him for power elsewhere and in every task? Do we realize that the ascended Lord prays for us? Art Lindsley
  • The records represent Christ as passing after death (as no man had ever passed before) neither into a purely, that is negatively, 'spiritual' mode of existence nor into a 'natural' life such as we now know, but into a life which has its own new Nature. It represents Him as withdrawing six weeks later, into some different mode of existence. It says - He says - that He goes 'to prepare a place for us.' This presumably means that He is about to create that whole new Nature which will provide the environment or conditions for His glorified humanity and, in Him, for ours. The picture is not what we expected - though whether it is less or more probable and philosophical on that account is another question. It is not the picture of an escape from any and every kind of Nature into some unconditioned and utterly transcendent life. It is the picture of a new human nature, and a new Nature in general, being brought into existence. We must, indeed, believe the risen body to be extremely different from the mortal body: but the existence, in the new state, of anything that could in any sense be described as 'body' at all, involves some sort of spatial relations and in the long run a whole new universe. That is the picture - not of unmaking but of remaking. The old field of space, time, matter and the sense is to be weeded, dug and sown for a new crop. We may be tired of that old field: God is not. - C.S. Lewis, Miracles
  • "A missional church then is one that trains and encourages its people to be in mission as individuals and as a body.....the church must not be only attractional: it also must equip and send the laity into the world to minister....missional churches must equip lay people both for evangelistic witness and for public life and vocation. In Christendom, you could afford to train people solely in prayer, Bible study and evangelism -skills for their private lives- because they were not facing radically non-Christian values in their public lives. In missional church, all people need theological education to "think Christianly" about everything and to act with Christian distinctiveness. They need to know which cultural practices reflect common grace and should be embraced, which are antithetical to the gospel and must be rejected and which practices can be adapted or revised." - Timothy Keller
  • We saw his light break through the cloud of glory
    Whilst we were rooted still in time and place
    As earth became a part of Heaven’s story
    And heaven opened to his human face.
    We saw him go and yet we were not parted
    He took us with him to the heart of things
    The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted
    Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings,
    Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness,
    Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight,
    Whilst we our selves become his clouds of witness
    And sing the waning darkness into light,
    His light in us, and ours in him concealed,
    Which all creation waits to see revealed. - Malcolm Guite, “A Sonnet for Ascension Day”
  • In the mystery of the Ascension we reflect on the way in which, one sense Christ ‘leaves’ us and is taken away into Heaven, but in another sense he is given to us and to the world in a new and more universal way. He is no longer located only in one physical space to the exclusion of all others. He is in the Heaven which is at the heart of all things now and is universally accessible to all who call upon Him. And since His humanity is taken into Heaven, our humanity belongs there too, and is in a sense already there with him.”For you have died”, says St. Paul, “and your life is hidden with Christ in God”. In the Ascension Christ’s glory is at once revealed and concealed, and so is ours. Malcolm Guite
  • Thus being received into heaven, he removed his bodily presence from our sight, not so as to leave without help believers who still have to live on earth, but to rule the world with a power even more present than before. Certainly his promise to be with us to the end of the age has been fulfilled by his ascension, for as by it his body was lifted above all the heavens, so its power and effectiveness reach far beyond all bounds of heaven and earth. - John Calvin
  • before I found God, I had an unconsciously manufactured higher power: I spent a lifetime trying to earn extra credit from some imaginary teacher, grade-grubbing under the delusion that my continuing mistakes—missed assignments, cheating, other nameless sins—were constantly held against me. And I knew in my heart that failure was inevitable. What Christ teaches me, if I let myself be taught, is that there is only one kind of judgment that matters. I am saved not because of who I am or what I have done (or didn’t do), but simply because I have accepted the infinite grace that was always offered to me. - Anna Marie Cox
  • I don’t just believe in God. I am a Christian. Decades of mass culture New Ageism has fluffed up “belief in God” into a spiritual buffet, a holy catch-all for those who want to cover all the numbers: Pascal’s wager as a roulette wheel and not a coin toss. Me, I’m going all in with Jesus… Here is why I believe I am a Christian: I believe I have a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior. I believe in the grace offered by the Resurrection. I believe that whatever spiritual rewards I may reap come directly from trying to live the example set by Christ. Whether or not I succeed in living up to that example is primarily between Him and me. - Anna Marie Cox
  • I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened. A faith that just accepts is a child’s faith and all right for children, but eventually you have to grow religiously as every other way, though some never do. What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you feel you can’t believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God. - Flannery O’Connor

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