Continuing the Conversation … May 3

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” - Acts 1:6

Ascension Sunday is an opportunity for us to recognize not only the event in Jesus’ life when he departed from his disciples and ascended to the Father but also the fact that:

• God has given us the Holy Spirit (something we’ll discuss this week in Pentecost). The Holy Spirit is the real abiding presence of God in the life of his people.
• Christ’s ascension highlights Jesus’ Lordship. Jesus is Lord, not merely over my personal life, but he is the Lord over the universe, over life, death, and every person, place, thing, idea, feeling, movement, zeitgeist, worldview, and so on that might resist the goodness of God’s Kingdom.
• The Kingdom of God must be understood on God’s terms. That is, throughout the Gospels we see God’s Kingdom proclaimed and lived out through the life of the human, Jesus of Nazareth. The Kingdom looks like Jesus.

We should be encouraged by the fact that just prior to Jesus’ return to the Father he took time to restate that God’s Kingdom is God’s business. Being a part of what God is doing in the world requires that we, like the followers of Jesus gathered in Jerusalem that day, wait for God’s gift, the Holy Spirit - his abiding presence - and thus be empowered to live and breathe God’s Kingdom wherever we are.

I hope that this will give us peace and freedom:  1) A peace that will allow us to trust God more fully in the workings of this world especially when they look anything like Christ.  2) A freedom that will encourage us to participate wherever God leads, knowing that our imperfect decisions and half-competent actions will be redeemed in light of the Gospel.

The Kingdom looks like Jesus.