The Absence of Jesus

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
You're listening to the Christ Church Toronto Podcast, a recording of the Sunday Sermons of Christ Church Toronto.
Christ Church Toronto is located in Toronto's East End and seeks to practice the ancient Christian faith today. We would love for you to join us in the future. Until then, here is today's scripture reading.

**Kyle Hackmann** (0:26)
We're starting a sermon series beginning this Sunday in the Book of Acts. It'll take us close to eternity, just like the Book of Genesis. And we are going to have a good time watching the ways in which God's Spirit works in the world and moves in this world, so that more people come to know Jesus, and more churches are started around the world. And this morning, we're going to begin in Acts 1, verses 1 through 11 And to read for us this morning is Catherine. So please, it would be helpful if you open your Bible up to Acts 1
It's also available in your bulletin and page 9 Please give God's word your full attention.

**Catherine** (0:59)
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
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. 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, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed 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 and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. 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. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. This is the word of the Lord for our church and it is given for our good.

**Kyle Hackmann** (2:20)
Thanks, Catherine. At this time, I'm going to ask you to pray with me and we'll spend some time reflecting on this passage. Let's pray.
Our heavenly fathers, we assemble now together under your word. We ask that by the power of our elder brother and your son, Jesus, who has ascended and sits at your right hand, you would send your spirit with great power upon us and that we would see Jesus and know something of his work for us this morning and leave here a more confident people, knowing full and well that we are loved and that Christ advocates for us and also as a people through your Holy Spirit who are sent out to love and serve this world. So speak powerfully through your word, we pray in Christ's name, amen.
Well, as I stated, we're starting a new sermon series in the book of Acts. And some of you may know this, but Acts is actually just the second volume in a work that was written by a physician named Luke. And he writes his best sort of history that he's gathered together for someone named Theophilus. We don't exactly know who Theophilus is, but in Luke's gospel, in his first volume, he refers to Theophilus as most excellent, which was a title given to provincial governors. And so it's more than likely that Theophilus is some real person, some person of some societal standing. And we can know from Luke's first volume that Luke knows that Theophilus is dealing with some doubts. He lacks confidence, and his goal is to record all that Jesus has said and done so that Theophilus would have confidence. And it's interesting that the way Dr. Luke starts his story in the Book of Acts, as he begins the second volume, is with Jesus' body disappearing. This seems peculiar to me. I'm sure it seems peculiar to some of you. And if you haven't stopped to think a little bit about this moment in Jesus' life called the Ascension, when his physical body goes into heaven. This seems like maybe something, if you're a believer, that's somewhat almost embarrassing or certainly disappointing. And if you're a non-believer, you think, oh, this is so convenient. Here you are, you Christians running around saying, this one man, Jesus of Nazareth, did these miracles. He preached this good news, lived this perfect life, died a sacrificial death on the cross. He rose from the dead. Let me see the body. Oh, he ascended into heaven. It's very convenient. This is a source of frustration for people who are somewhat skeptical. And Dr. Luke knows that, and he starts his story and acts with this story of the ascension. And all I want to do this morning is argue with you, and I want to make the case that the ascension is very, very, very good news for you. It might seem disappointing or it might seem frustrating. If we were thinking through how we would run world history, we would say, you know, the one piece of physical evidence that substantiates the claim of Jesus is this resurrected body. And if we were running the show, we would say, my goodness, shouldn't we just keep the body here on earth so that everyone can come and we can set up the Museum of the Resurrection, you know, in Jerusalem, and everyone can go and all the people who are skeptical, all the people who have doubts can go see this resurrected body and know for sure that Jesus is who he says he was, that he really did rise from the dead. Why would we get rid of the body? Why take it away? Why not submit it to modern scientists to study? What's going on? Well, I want to make the case this morning that this moment in Jesus' history called the ascension, when he ascends into heaven, that this story should not be a disappointment for anyone here. It shouldn't be a source of embarrassment. It shouldn't be something you try not to think about. I want to make the case this morning that the ascension of Jesus Christ, understanding this, is essential to understanding the good news of what Jesus has done for us. And it's essential to understanding our identity as we work out in this world. My goal this morning is that you would leave here celebrating this ascension of Jesus.