It Feels Good to Know Where Your People Are
A few weeks ago, my daughter could not find her father. She came home late one Sunday night, and seeing her father’s rusty minivan parked in the driveway, she assumed that he was inside. But when she stepped inside, my daughter could not find her father. “Dad!” she called out. “Dad.”
So, she pulled out her phone and did what teenagers do these days. She opened the little Find My Phone app where you can find the phones of all of your family members. And she zoomed in, and her father’s phone was in the house with her. And sure enough, there it was sitting in the bathroom where it sits every time her father is in the house. His lamp was on in the bedroom, and she called out, “Dad!”
Starting to get concerned, she texted a mutual family friend, “Do you know where my dad is?” And when no one knew and there was no response, she reached out to her boyfriend and said, “Can you come over? I don’t know where my father is.”
And so, the boyfriend, being a good boy and a great friend, he jumped in his car and he zoomed over. And just as the boyfriend was pulling into the driveway, my daughter’s boyfriend’s girlfriend’s father came riding down the street. You tracking that? And he was on a bike, not his car, because he was at a party just a few blocks from the house. And because he wanted to give his full attention to people, his phone was not in his pocket but left at home.
And I get off my bike in the driveway, and my daughter’s boyfriend says, “You’re here.” To which I said, “Yes, I am here. Why do you ask?” And that’s when my first-born daughter, Brooklyn, she comes kind of jogging out of the house with this concerned expression on her face. She said, “Dad, where were you?” And I was about to answer with a logical response, but first I said, “Wait, did you care about where your father was? Do you still like me?”
Now my daughter, Brooklyn, I asked her permission to share that story, and at first, she said no, but then she paused and she said this, “You can tell the story in church if you buy me Starbucks.” And if you want to know what it’s like to parent a teenager, it’s when you can’t talk about them in public unless you buy them Starbucks. So there, that’s a lesson for you young parents
So now, why am I telling you that story? Here’s why. I think you would agree with my daughter, and with me, that it feels really, really good to know where your people are. One of the reasons that on Snapchat the Snap Maps are used so often, the reason we like location-sharing technology, the reason we like the Find My Phone and Find My Friends, is because it does something in our heart to know where our most important people are.
You know, when you open up the map and there’s your friend on the highway driving to your house, you just feel a little bit better. When you’re a parent and you’re worried about your new driver kid and you can just track them on Life360 and know that they made it to their friend’s house or to the graduation party, there’s just something powerful about knowing where your people are.
The Question Most Christians Never Ask: Where Is Jesus?
And I share that today because I want to talk not about your people, not your family, not your friends, but about your person, at least if you’re a Christian. The question I want us to wrestle with today, and also for those of you who are watching at home, is this one, where is Jesus? Like the person above all the other people. Do you ever think about that, where Jesus is right now as we speak? His specific location and what he’s doing wherever he is, and why that would matter, whatever he’s doing?
You didn’t think about that when you got up this morning, but by the time I say, “Amen,” I’m going to propose that you should have
I think so many people, in fact so many church-going people, so many Christians, they think about this kind of truncated, edited version of the story of Jesus where he lives for us, and then he dies for our forgiveness, and then he conquers the grave so that we don’t have to be afraid to die. Roll the credits.
But if you’d actually read the Bible and watch the whole extended cut of Jesus, you would find out the Bible has so much to say, not just about his life, death, and resurrection, but what happened next and what it means for you today. Today I want to preach to you, as best as I can, about what Christians call the ascension of Jesus. What is it? Where is he? What is he doing right now, and why would you care?
Before we’re done today, you’re going to find the answers to all those questions
So, we’re going to wrestle with kind of three big things today. First of all, where exactly is Jesus? What’s the biblically, theologically correct answer to that? Number two, what is Jesus doing? We’re going to find three answers to that question. And finally, throughout the whole message, why would you care?
You didn’t come here today; you’re not watching at home because this is some theology class where you want to pass the final exam. What difference does it make in your daily life to know where Jesus is and what Jesus is doing? That’s where we’re going today. So, let’s start with that first question, where exactly is Jesus?
The Ascension: Jesus at the Right Hand of God
The book of Acts gives us the start of the Bible’s answer. In Acts 1, Jesus is speaking to his friends before he returns to heaven, and he says this, “‘You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” Two thousand years ago this passage is saying that he was on earth, and suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, he took off vertically and kind of dragged behind him this mission, this purpose that he gave to Christians, be my witnesses, preach the good news, make disciples of all nations, baptize and teach.
But I think a mistake that lots of Christians make is that they’re so focused on the banner of our purpose and mission that we’ve stopped thinking about the person that we should still be paying attention to. Now because Jesus disappeared into the rafters, so to speak, we don’t think much about where he is. We maybe think more about how to live. “Okay, he’s gone, now what do we do?” But that would actually be a huge mistake because the Bible has a lot to say about, even though we can’t see him, where he is and why that matters. So, let’s finish the answer to the question, where is Jesus?
In Ephesians 1 we find the complete biblical answer. It says this, “God raised Christ from the dead and seated Christ at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” So, if you’re taking notes at home, or here in church, this is the Bible’s answer to the question, where is Jesus right now, where was he yesterday, where will he be tomorrow, unless he returns? And the answer is, he is at God’s right hand.
But don’t turn your brain off too quickly. Have you thought about this? God does not have a right hand. Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he was a little kid with a right hand and a left hand and fingers and toes and ears and a nose. But God the father is a spirit, which means he doesn’t have a physical body, which means he lacks hands. So, if a kindergartner asked you, “Dad, if God doesn’t have a right hand, where is Jesus?” Well, you’d have to think about that question now, wouldn’t you?
But when the Bible says that Jesus is at the right hand of the father, what it’s not saying is that God has this big white throne where the father sits and, if you go just to the right, there’s like a little bit smaller throne that his son, Jesus sits on. That wouldn’t be accurate because God doesn’t have a right hand or a left, so what does it mean? Here’s what it means.
Do you know how sometimes in English we say about someone, “He’s my right-hand man”? Which isn’t a way of saying he’s the dude that normally stands here instead of here. It’s our way of saying he has a really powerful role in my life. He’s a really important person to me. When the Bible says that Jesus is at the right hand of God, what it’s saying is that right now Jesus is doing something really powerful and really important. Don’t think of it as a physical location, think of it more as an active action. Jesus is at the right hand of the father, which is the Bible’s way of saying, “Pay attention, because he is doing something very powerful and very important for you.”
Jesus Is Interceding for You
Which brings us to question number two, well, what is it? What’s the powerful, important job that Jesus is doing in this very moment? I’m going to give you three Bible answers to that question, but here’s my summary, he is not in heaven playing pickleball, all right? He’s not just chilling for however long until he comes back on the Judgment Day. Jesus is doing something that you should think about every day of your life because he meant it to be for every day of your life.
Three answers I’m going to share with you today. Here’s the first one, if you’re taking notes. Right now, at the right hand of God, Jesus is interceding for you. So, the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 8. He writes this, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one that condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life,” here it is, “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
He’s putting himself, and especially his pierced hands that mark the shed blood from the cross, he’s putting himself in between the thing that would condemn you and you so that you’re not condemned. When we say that Christians make it to heaven, it’s not because we’re good people, it’s because we have a Christ who intercedes for us. When we say that we can step into God’s courtroom on the Judgment Day and not be kicked into the fires of hell but welcomed into the happiness of heaven, it’s not because we were such wonderful people who never did anything wrong, it’s because we have a Jesus who took every charge that would have convicted us, and he nails it to the cross.
In fact, if I can get deep with you today, Jesus does this so well that the book of Hebrews would tell you he is seated at the right hand of God. Do you know when you can sit down in your house? When the work is done. And the book of Hebrews makes this amazing case that when the scriptures say he’s seated at the right hand of God, it’s because he doesn’t have to run around to fix all the messes you spiritually made. It’s because he did it. On the cross he said, “It’s finished. I paid for all of it, so I’m going to sit as a mark that 100% of the debt has been paid. I’ve interceded for you so that nothing from your past or present could separate you from the love of God that’s in Christ.”
Your Big Brother Is Bigger Than Your Shame
Reminds me of a story I heard from a pastor named Dave. He said that when he was a freshman, he went to this basketball camp that was kind of notorious back in the 1990s where the seniors would haze the freshmen. Y’all remember these days? And he said that the seniors, on one night of the basketball camp, were just going door to door through the dorms, grabbing any skinny freshman that they could find, dragging them down to the bathroom, sticking their head in the toilet, flushing it.
So, skinny David is sitting there while the seniors show up at his door. They grab his roommate first. “No, no, no.” They drag him off down the hall, gets a free shower, and then they come back for Dave. And they grab him, what is he going to do? He’s a scrawny little kid. And they’re about to drag him off for round two when one of the seniors looks at him in the eye and says, “Wait, let him go, not him.” And one of the other seniors says, “Why? Why not?” And the first senior says, “Because that’s Steve’s brother.”
You see, Dave had a big brother named Steve who was very big. He was the Georgia State wrestling champion, and the rumor was that in the championship match he picked up and body slammed his opponent, who weighed 300 pounds. Steve was a big, big boy. And when those seniors, who thought they were stronger, found out that Dave had a big brother like that, you know what they did?
Anyone get what I’m getting at? You have a big brother, too. His name is Jesus Christ, and he is infinitely bigger than any part of your past or present that wants to drag you down the hallway, stick your head in that old shame, and flush the toilet. I don’t know what it was, I don’t know how bad it was, but I do know this, at the right hand of God Jesus is interceding for you.
So, let me ask you a personal question. What sin bullies you? What old memory pops into your head like some cruel senior and tries to drag you back to things that you can’t change? I don’t know what it is that triggers your regret or your guilt or your shame, but I do know this, that because Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, he is doing one of the most important and powerful things you can imagine.
He’s flexing in between you and anything that would declare you unworthy of God loving you, accepting you, approving of you, and liking you in this very moment. If Jesus was running around in heaven trying to take care of your sin, you should feel guilty. If he had not ascended to the right hand of God Most High, you should be afraid. But if he is there, seated at the right hand of God, you can actually believe that you are forgiven and that there is a God in heaven who is for you and not against you.
What is Jesus doing after his ascension? He is interceding for you.
Jesus Is Ruling for You: Why Anxiety Is Illogical if the Ascension Is Factual
Second, write this down too, he’s also ruling for you. Let’s go back to Ephesians 1 where Paul wrote this, “God seated Jesus at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and over every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.”
I love that picture. I picture him sitting in this chair with screens of everything that’s happening in your life, your marriage, your kids, your job, your hopes, your dreams. And because he’s all-knowing, he can keep his eye on every one of those screens at the same time.
I think the reason that you worry is because you kind of believe that Jesus is playing Wordle. You think that there’s something going on in your life that he’s lost sight of, that his eyes got weary, he had an extra cup of coffee, and he fell asleep at the command center.
But what if, what if Jesus is at the right hand of God and he is, as Ephesians 1 says, ruling not some things in your life but all the things in your life for the good of the church? I’m trying to tell you that anxiety is illogical if the ascension is factual.
It simply does not make sense to worry. If Jesus wasn’t in a position of utmost power and authority, you could and should freak out about things. Or if he had all the power in the world but he didn’t love you and didn’t care about you, you should freak out about things. But if he has all the love for you and all of that kind of cosmic power, why would you and I worry about anything?
Jesus, in this very moment, could push a button and send an angel like a ballistic missile to fix your biggest problem. He could. If that would be for your spiritual best interest, he could do it in a millisecond. Or if he can see things in the future that will come out of your present pain, if he sees how a breakup or miscarriage or a change in career, if he sees how a global event or inflation or a setback, if he sees how that winding road could lead you closer to him, he’ll keep his hands off the buttons. It’s all under his feet, and he rules everything for the good of the church.
And some of you are old enough to look back 20 years and see things that you freaked out about in the moment, and you realize now how they were some of your biggest blessings. You didn’t understand it, like a child in the back of the van on a long summer road trip. You freaked out, but God was taking you to somewhere powerful and beautiful.
I want to challenge you, if you’re struggling with fear, I just want you to remember where Jesus is. I want you to remember what Jesus is doing. Memorize, if you have to, Ephesians 1, and remind your own heart it’s not some things but it’s all the things that are underneath the feet of Jesus, and he rules over all things for the good of the church. He’s interceding for us. Guilt, shame, get out of here. He’s ruling all things for us. Fear, worry, anxiety, you’re not welcome here.
Jesus Is Equipping You Through His Church
But the third thing I want to share with you today is Jesus is also equipping you. Oh man, I might be biased because I’m a pastor, but this is my favorite part of the ascension of Jesus. Look what Paul says in Ephesians 4. “The Jesus who descended,” that was his life 2,000 years ago, “is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.” So what? Here’s what.
“So, Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Now some people, they like to take cheap shots at organized religion. Sometimes we deserve it because we are flawed as an institution and as people. But you should never be too hard on organized religion because Jesus organized his religion.
The ascended Jesus didn’t just say, “Good luck.” No, instead he structured — Are you catching that in this passage? He sent and gave pastors and teachers to teach and to preach so that you would know what God wants you to do, and then we all could serve each other with faith and knowledge and love so that all of us are built up.
In other words, Jesus loves this church. That’s a crazy thought to me. He never stopped caring about Time of Grace. He doesn’t quit being deeply concerned about the church that you might attend. He loves it. And he brought us here together, he called me to this place for a profound purpose, that this could be the best spiritual season ever in your life.
An Honest Church Changes Everything
Why are you here? You are here so that I can talk to you, open a Bible and preach at you, that you can understand it and believe it and then use it to love the person who’s sitting next to you, and vice versa. It is so, I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this, but I need to say this. For too long, people have thought the purpose of the church is to dress nice and convince the person next to you that you are nice.
Before Snapchat invented filters, we Christians had that down centuries ago. Yeah, we figured out how to fake it, how to smile. But man, it is such a profound thought that when we step into this space sincerely pursuing God and being radically honest with each other, that things change and transform.
Have you seen that like I have? I mean, honestly, if you would spend the next year just being honest at this church, God would blow your mind. If you would stop thinking, “Well, it’s probably a dumb question, so I’m not going to ask it,” but just honestly ask your questions, God has given you the resources right here to answer almost every question that you have.
Like, you might be kind of new to church, or you never really understood the Bible, or you grew up in church but it never kind of clicked for you. If you have questions about Jesus or salvation or deep doctrines like predestination or election, if you’ve never understood baptism or communion, can you think of anyone who might know the answers to those questions?
If you have questions, ask the questions. And if you have a confession, make a confession. God didn’t put you here just to funnel you all into the pastor’s office. He put you here to love each other that the body of Christ might be built up. I’ve seen this hundreds of times, but hundreds of you have yet to experience it. Just be honest.
If you don’t know how to recover from drugs or alcohol, just tell someone you need help. If you don’t know what a Christian relationship looks like because you didn’t grow up seeing mom and dad love and respect each other like the Bible says, just ask for help. If you’re starting a business or you’re going off to college and you don’t want to lose your faith but want it to be a transformative time for your faith, just —
If any of you, I guarantee, in this very moment, if we had time and you stood up and you just said, “Here’s where I’m at,” hundreds of hands would raise with advice and encouragement and examples and prayers and scriptures.
And the only reason that it doesn’t happen, besides not having enough time, is that you’re scared to do it. Don’t be scared. The ascended Jesus is sending church leaders, this passage says, so that you can eventually be blessed. I hope that you join the process so that this organized religion is as amazing as Jesus always intended it to be.
Let me throw you a slow pitch. You need something? Ask. Got a communication card in your hands? You’re watching at home? All you have to do is send an email. Just put in the subject line “The truth” and ask your question and make your confession and ask the person next to you after. Man, our church could go to profound new levels of spiritual impact if we would just love each other in the way that Jesus has always intended.
He’s not sitting around waiting for the Judgment Day. He’s sending people, equipping people, empowering people to live for the glory of God and the good of their neighbor. I told you the ascension was good, didn’t I? Would you join me and let’s pray.
Closing Prayer
Dear Jesus, we know exactly where you are. You are in the most powerful position in the universe, far, far above the name of every president, prime minister, powerful person, athlete, influencer. You are a billion times bigger, God, and yet you haven’t forgotten about us.
You haven’t forgotten about our relationships, about our bad backs, about our fears for our future. You haven’t forgotten about our final exams, you haven’t forgotten about our sports practices. There’s not a hair on our head that you, Jesus, the ascended one, don’t care about.
That’s a profound thought. And I pray we never get used to it but are overwhelmed by the fact that the one who has the most power loves us like no one has ever loved us.
God, plant that deep into our hearts, and when we confess that creed or think about where you are, every time we open up that little map to see where family or friends are, help us to take a deep breath and just rest in the amazing news that we worship a Jesus who conquered death and then ascended to the right hand of the father.
For everyone here today who finds it hard not to get stuck in the past, who needs a miraculous power to forgive themselves for the thing they really messed up, I pray that they would believe that you are interceding and there is no one that can condemn them, that there’s nothing that can separate them from your love.
For all of us who are afraid, who read the headlines or are waiting for the results of a medical test, God, just rid us of all of that. You will use it, whatever it is, in life and death, in sickness and in health, richer or poorer.
God, you have made a vow and a promise to us that all of it is being used for our good. Give us faith to believe that. Help us not to give in to the devil who would like to convince us that you’ve somehow forgotten, that you’ve left the right hand of the father, that you don’t have power to use this specific thing. Free us from fear as we live in the comfort of your ascension.
Oh, and God, bless our church. This church has been so good for my faith. It has been an honor to see these people, your church, disciple my wife and my daughters. I have seen you work miracles in so many ways, God.
So, for the examples and the encouragers, for the accountability and the correction, for the brothers and sisters who kick us in the pants and put an arm around our shoulder, God, we’re grateful for all of it. And I pray that more and more people could experience it.
So, make us an honest church, God. Not one that takes sin lightly, not one that justifies bad behavior. Help us to be an honest church as we seek holiness and obedience in the name of Jesus.
God, we pray all these things and more because we know who we are. We are your children, and we know who you are and where you are. And so, we celebrate and pray today in Jesus’ name.
And everyone said, “Amen.”
