Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

Robert L. Hutcherson, Jr.

Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church

                                        Sermon Preparation/Delivery

                                                      Acts 1:1-11

“Staring Upwards”

The Rev. Karla J. Cooper, Pastor

May 20, 2007

                                             Seventh Sunday of Easter

Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

TEXT

Acts 1:1-11

BODY

Anyone who has attended a management seminar in the past several years or so has heard about a thing called a paradigm. A paradigm is simply your and my accustomed way of looking at the world. A paradigm is a perspective that causes us to focus on certain things and interpret those things we focus on in a certain way. A paradigm is the way we interact with reality -- which means that a faulty paradigm can cause us to miss what is really going on.

Let me share with you a true story that may be familiar to you. It illustrates the power of a paradigm.

The nation of Switzerland dominated the world of watchmaking for over sixty years. The Swiss made the best watches in the world. Anyone who wanted a good watch, an accurate watch, bought a Swiss watch. The Swiss didn't just rest on their laurels either. They continually worked at making better watches. They were constant innovators.

By 1968 they had done so well that they had more than 65 percent of the unit sales in the world watch market and more than 80 percent of the profits. They were the world leaders in watchmaking by an enormous stretch. No one was even a close second.

But by 1980 their market share had collapsed from 65 percent to less than 10 percent. Their profit domination had dropped to less than 20 percent. They had been dethroned as the world market leader because they had run into a change in the fundamental rules. The mechanical watch mechanism was about to give way to quartz electronics. And everything the Swiss were good at -- making gears and bearings and mainsprings -- was irrelevant to the new rules.

In less than ten years, the Swiss watchmaking future, which had seemed so secure, so profitable, so dominant, was destroyed. Between 1979 and 1981, fifty thousand of the sixty-two thousand Swiss watchmakers lost their jobs. The Japanese took over first place. Today the Japanese have about 33 percent of the market.

Now the irony of this story is that the collapse was totally avoidable. It was totally avoidable -- because it was the Swiss themselves who invented the electronic quartz movement for watches at their research institute in Neuchatel. They invented it. But when the Swiss researchers presented this revolutionary new idea to the Swiss manufacturers in 1967, it was rejected. It was rejected because it did not fit their watch making paradigm.

After all, it didn't have a mainspring, it didn't need bearings, it required almost no gears, it was battery-powered, it was electronic. It couldn't possibly be the watch of the future. The manufacturers let their researchers showcase their useless invention at the World Watch Congress that year. Seiko took one look, and the rest is history.

If you read the ascension story carefully, it isn't about continuity, but discontinuity. It's not so much about Jesus' universal presence as his absence. What Luke tells us is that Jesus physically left this world and the disciples stood gaping into heaven. What does this mean for us?

In our New Testament passage from Acts 1, we see Jesus disciples as they are about to enter a very profound paradigm shift -- a movement in the way they see the world. Their old way of looking at things is about to be shattered.

As we open the Book of Acts, the Disciples have gone through the experience of the Last Supper, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. They have spent forty days with the resurrected Christ. Now they are on their way to the top of the Mount of Olives where Jesus will ascend back into heaven.

They have seen it all. They have done it all. They have heard it all. But they still see things upside down. We know this by the question they ask Jesus in verse 6: "Lord, at this time are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

What does this question mean?

It means that in spite of everything that has happened to them -- in spite of the crucifixion and in spite of the resurrection -- they are still being shaped by their old paradigm that told them what the Messiah was going to be. It is not amazing that the Disciples asked this question. But it is amazing when they asked this question -- after the resurrection. But that is the power of a paradigm to shape how we read reality -- to shape our interpretation of events.

As we open Acts 1, what is the disciple’s Messiah paradigm?

Like the rest of Israel, the Disciples are still looking for the Messiah to be the political and military leader of their one small nation -- to restore the glory that Israel had known in world affairs a thousand years before during the time of King David. With their Acts 1:6 question, it is almost like they are saying that what has just happened doesn’t matter. "This crucifixion and this resurrection were interesting -- but now its time for You to get about the important stuff. It’s time for you to get the Romans out of our land."

In asking their question, the Disciples show that they are still mentally stuck at Palm Sunday. They haven’t yet moved on to Good Friday and Easter. For their concept of the Messiah was the theme of what happened on Palm Sunday.

As Jesus entered the City of Jerusalem it became a political demonstration. The gospels tell us that the people stripped palm branches off of the trees to wave at Jesus. They cried "Hosanna to the Son of David."

Why "Hosanna?" Hosanna means "Lord save!" -- not save us from our sins but save us from our corrupt earthly rulers -- from our position of political and military weakness. "Lord, at this time will you restore the kingdom the Israel?" That’s a good Palm Sunday question. But the fact that the Disciples are still asking this same question in Acts 1 shows that even after the resurrection the Disciples are living in the paradigm of Palm Sunday. They still believe that all that has happened is for the fulfillment of their own narrow, national agenda. Even as that walk with the risen Christ, this is what they believe.

That is what they will continue to believe until God opens their eyes at Pentecost. The Disciples will only understand what really happened on Good Friday and at Easter when God opens their minds to a new way of seeing by sending them the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.

And I believe that God will use his Holy Spirit in us the same way -- to give us a new way of looking at reality, learning to embrace the wider Kingdom of Jesus Christ - which means that we are going to learn to celebrate what God is doing in our world, our nation, and our local community. That’s a great theme, Because God is up to a lot more in this area than what we see only through our one local church -- just as God was up to much more in Jesus than ‘restoring the kingdom to Israel."

The ultimate gift of the ascension was that through him our human body entered the throne room of God. When his wounded, risen body ascended to be seated at God's right hand, Jesus imported human flesh and blood into the very heavenly presence of God. By ascending bodily into God's presence he affirms what the Creation story told us-- that flesh and blood are good, not bad, that they are good enough for Jesus, good enough for heaven, good enough for God. By clothing himself with our humanity and keeping it on, Jesus not only brought God to us; he brought us to God. As the great ascension hymn sings: "You have raised our human nature on the clouds to God's right hand; there we sit in heavenly places, there with you in glory stand." This is the culmination of Jesus journey of salvation, and it's the culmination of ours too.

The victorious Lamb who arrives in heaven to shouts of acclamation is our human brother. And with his place before God our mission in the world takes on new meaning. Nothing that happens in this world is so bleak, so tragic, that it can thwart the joy and hope that proceeds from the heart of God, now touched by our humanity. All the worlds' tears and pain are borne to God's very heart by the presence of our ascended brother and friend.

That's all wonderful, but still, when it comes right down to it, we're the ones left behind gazing up into the sky. We're not left behind in the sense of those fabulously popular, but to my mind, unbiblical novels. We're left behind while our Lord has reached his destination and, ultimately, ours. What do we do in the meantime? When we listen to it carefully the ascension story tells us a great deal about what it means for us here and now to worship and follow the ascended Lord. The crucified and risen one is now on the throne of glory at God's right hand. This is the climax of the good news. And it's not only good news for Jesus, but, as always, what's good news for Jesus is good news for us. The important thing about the ascension is where Jesus is now. God is up to much more than just us and just here. It's also important to see how Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure. He gave them a job to do. But first, they were to wait and pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them. The Holy Spirit would empower them to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jesus' real absence was to be a time of intense activity for his disciples and for the church. From his place of ultimate glory, Jesus promised to pour the power of the Holy Spirit on the church. And what a power that was, as the church exploded into being after Pentecost and began its work of witness that would carry them to the ends of the earth. Their job was to tell the world that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

But they can't do that on their own, and this is the lesson the church needs to learn over and over. Our very first job is to wait and pray to be empowered and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the gift of our ascended Lord. I believe that Jesus wants His church to demonstrate a more visible unity.

I want to come back to-the cloud. As Luke describes Jesus' ascension he says that while they were watching, a cloud took him out of their sight. That means the disciples didn't watch Jesus rocket to some far off place beyond the galaxies. A cloud enveloped him, or rather, the cloud. It's the cloud that led the people of Israel through the wilderness, the cloud that enveloped the heights of Sinai, the cloud that filled the temple. It's the cloud that descended on them all as Jesus shone with glory on the mountain of Transfiguration. This is not just a meteorological cloud, but also a theological cloud. It's the cloud that throughout the Bible symbolizes God's presence.

What this says is that Jesus did not ascend light years away, but was received into God's very presence. He passed from the visible dimension of space and time, to the invisible, but equally real dimension of God's presence. And that's not some far away place, but closer than we might think. God is the creator of all things, visible and invisible. It's that invisible dimension of reality, which is just as real and active as what's visible, to which Jesus ascended, and into which Jesus passed. Jesus said in John 12:32: "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

So the question I want to ask is not, "What are our differences?" but "Which Jesus are we lifting up?"

Are we lifting up the Jesus who is the living Word, who was in the beginning, who was with God, who was God?

Are we lifting up the Jesus who left the glory of heaven, was born of a virgin, took upon himself the form of a man, and as a human faced every temptation and trial we will ever face and did so without once sinning?

Are we lifting up the Jesus who said, "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"?

Are we lifting up the Jesus who said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep"?

Are we lifting up the Jesus who said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me will live, even though he dies"?

Are we lifting up the Jesus by whose wounds we are healed, who bore our sins in his body on the cross, whose blood cleanses us of all our sin, and who died, was buried, and rose on the third day with victory over sin, death, and hell?

Are we lifting up the Jesus who has been exalted far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come, before whom every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and whom every tongue will confess that he is Lord?

Are we lifting up the Jesus of whom ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands say in heaven, "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength 'and honor and glory and praise!"?

CHILDREN’S LESSON

Order of Worship

Sunday May 20th 2007

11:00 A.M.

Opening Hymn…………………………” Praise Him! Praise Him!”, Hymm 92

Doxology……………………………………………………All

Call to Worship…………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Hymn…………………………………………..”Christ Is All”,  Hymn 430

Prayer……………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Prayer Response………………………………….”Give Us This Day”

Scripture Reading………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Decalogue……………………………………….Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Gloria Patri…………………………………………….Congregation

Sermon…………………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Invitation to Christian Discipleship……”Lead Me, Guide Me”, Hymn 402

Altar Call/Offertory………………………………………..All

Offertory Response……………………………”All Things Come Of Thee”

Affirmation of Faith…………………………………..Congregation

Benediction………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson