Take a Seat

Luke 24:44-53New International Version (NIV)

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Cheyanne is a planner.  She plans out everything.  And most of the time it is weeks in advance.  If an event is not on the calendar it’s like it doesn’t exist.  If I fail to put something I want to do on the calendar... yep, you guessed it... It’s like it doesn’t exist.  This calendar holds the highest precedence in the Wallace household.  Don’t get me wrong, it is an extremely useful tool.  It keeps the “hot mess express” rolling and on time to the next activity.  It is convenient and settles most issues with one simple question, “Was it on the calendar?”  While the calendar is an extremely helpful tool, it can also be inconvenient.  It makes living on whim difficult when the answer to “Was it on the calendar?” is “no.”  But this is the only time it is inconvenient.  In other words, it is only a pain when it doesn’t work out in my favor.

Have you ever been a fan of a particular player or team and that said player or team has somehow betrayed you?  Whether the team had high expectations and didn’t live up to them or the player got into some trouble or you find out they are not a very nice person, have you felt a sense of betrayal?  Maybe you have spent a lot of time cheering for this team or player and enjoyed doing so but then you come to the realization that this energy spent may have been in vain.  In other words, in the moment you enjoyed it but later realized it was perhaps a waste.  

I feel like we may approach faith in either, or even both of these ways.  Faith and Jesus and God are easy to address when things are going well.  Faith is easy to explain when we are healthy and not staring down tragedy and injustice.  When faith is challenged and questioned that is where we find the inconvenience of God.  Miracles, the Holy Spirit, Sin and the Ascension of Christ which our scripture talked about this morning are difficult to explain.  A Google search of the ascension of Christ will provide links that stress it’s importance.  The Wikipedia page for this event explains that stories like this one were commonplace in the time of Christ.  I had a professor once tell me that creation stories similar to the one in Genesis were also common to the time period it was written down.  For many, this brings into question such Biblical stories in a way that makes defending faith an inconvenience or even a waste of time to some.  

What is difficult to deny is Christ’s earthly ministry.  Many people who have no ambition to acquire faith can get behind the social gospel of Christ’s earthly life.  Which is great, we should treat others as Christ instructed and take care of those in need, but all the other “stuff” (the death on the cross, the resurrection, the Ascension, the Holy Spirit) is much more difficult to explain and live by.  Therefore, much of Western Christian religion focuses on the social aspect of Christ.  Again, a lot of great things have come of this, but we are watering down the more difficult aspects of Christ’s life and death to make us feel comfortable.  We are taking the inconvenience out of religion.  We are putting God on the calendar, He is our favorite player on our favorite team, but when faith doesn’t seem to work out in our favor or we somehow feel betrayed, He becomes inconvenient and we can feel like we have wasted our time.  

Jesus said some difficult things.  Wrapping our mind around God is difficult.  Church leaders from all over America have so many different interpretations of who God is and what that should mean for us which pulls us into to many different directions.  Again, this creates an image of God that is based on the ideals, morals, socio-economic status, and demographics of the individual church.  The image of God presented in this very church may look incredibly different than the one presented in a church in downtown Chicago or L.A. and it may look very different still from a church in Africa or South America.  Part of me knows that these different images are necessary because it is within our nature to create an image of God that is applicable to who we are.  But we cannot sacrifice who and what God is to do so.  We cannot pick and choose what we make God look like.  We cannot rid ourselves of the inconvenience simply for the sake of making God fit into our lives.

Things like the Ascension of Jesus are difficult to understand.  We shouldn’t praise God for calming the storm while explaining away Jesus walking on water.  We shouldn’t point to Jesus helping those that society has forgotten about while downplaying his death and resurrection.  Many human hands have touched the Biblical translations we read today and humans are flawed but this doesn’t mean God’s perfect, righteous and just hands aren’t also involved.  Faith and life are not definitive and they definitely aren’t black and white.  God is inconvenient and He is certainly not a waste of time.

You see, these images of God we have created are flawed... for God is not an image.  When we create an image of our understanding of God we are creating an idol.  We give the Israelites a lot of flack for creating the golden calf while Moses was on the mountain but we are no different.  Most likely, we all have created our own golden calf of who we think God to be.  So, I have spent a lot of time saying who God isn’t which means I have a responsibility to tell you who God is.... Part of me wants to tell you that God should make sense to you.  Part of me wants to tell you things that make God make sense to middle-class, caucasian folks who live in rural south-central Iowa.  That would be convenient.  However, this is what I know: God loves you.  He loves you enough to send part of Himself, His son, to die for your sins.  He loves you enough to conquer death through the resurrection.  He loves you enough to send Christ back to earth to show the divinity of His son.  He loves you enough to help you wade through your preconceived notions of who you think He is.  He wants you to help those in need without blinking an eye but this shouldn’t be your only focus.  He wants you to seek Him with an intensity and find Him in everyday life.  He wants you to share this love with others.  He wants you to know that you are made in His likeness and His goodness is the very basis of who you are.  Please do not make God into an image that conveniently fits into your life.  Rather, be a person who fits conveniently into His message of eternal hope, love and grace.  God has never once seen any of you as inconvenience nor a waste of time so may we do our absolute best to stop viewing one another as either of those things.  May this body of believers continue to be at the forefront of presenting the eternal love, grace and hope of God, even when it is of the utmost inconvenience.  Amen.