Fairhaven Sermon 5-17-2026

Summary

In this week’s service, (insert Pastor’s name) opened with a candid reflection on the challenges of Christian faith, noting that spiritual growth is not always linear and that the gap between one's belief and observable reality can be difficult. He reminded the congregation of Jesus' profound command—the Great Commission—to go and make disciples of all nations, a calling that continues today. However, he challenged the church to look beyond its current struggles, questioning whether the traditional means of evangelism are effectively leading people to a heart change and true commitment to Christ.

Pastor (insert Pastor’s name) concluded by redefining the role of the disciple. He taught that once Jesus ascended, the believer is no longer merely a student of ideas, but rather a living member of the Body of Christ. The source of power for the mission is not found in external resources, human brilliance, or spectacular miracles, but in the continuous, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. The ultimate goal is realizing that the fullness of Christ’s power is present—right in the pews and within the hearts of the people—requiring only our availability and willingness to let God work through us.

Transcript

Something surprising that I have found over almost 20 years or so as a Christian in the church is how in some ways faith gets harder over time. You know of course that I wasn't raised in the church, that's something that I came to myself in my teenage years, but now that it's my life vocation, the church, I'm I feel like I experience it more up close and constantly than the vast majority of people. So my relationship with the church in particular is where my difficulties with faith bubble up the most. I don't often doubt God, but sometimes the church can be a little rougher. And you would think that every facet of our faith would get easier the longer that we're in it, the longer that we know Jesus. And maybe for some people it does. Good for you if so. But in my experience, it's a real mixed bag. Yes and no. Some things get easier and some things get harder. And one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian faith for me is the way in which I find myself challenged by the gap between what I believe about things versus what I actually see in front of my own eyes.

I knew a Russian Orthodox priest who once had the experience of while he was serving communion, standing behind the table, breaking the communion bread. He said he saw the back wall of the church fall away, and in its place he saw the faces of all the saints and the angels that were partaking in communion with the people of his church. I don't get that experience, and yet that's what I believe very strongly is happening in that moment. That's what we say in the liturgy. We rejoice with all the angels, the archangels, all the company of heaven, and then we sing. I'm envious of Father Edward seeing his belief confirmed—which is something that God has not yet decided to give me. I haven't gotten to see what my heart knows. But here's the instance I'm talking about today where faith and reality really collide. And not in a way that invalidates the faith I have in Jesus, but in a way that doesn't make it easy. That is that God's plan for the salvation of all creation runs through these pews. The saving work that began in Jesus' time on earth continues largely through us. As the Holy Spirit empowers us to make disciples for the transformation of the world, which begins, of course, with making disciples of ourselves, we're transformed by Jesus so that we might transform others with the love of Jesus. We're going to be talking about this. We carry the torch that is passed to the disciples on the day of the ascension. That's the moment Jesus says, you guys, take the lead. And they're expected to keep up that work that began in the Holy Land and then rippled out to all the earth. This is a standing order for disciples of Jesus. This is straight from Luke 24, given in the moments before Jesus ascends into heaven. It's a standing order to go out to all the world. And you've probably heard this referred to as the Great Commission. And you heard this in our gospel reading this morning, that a change of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in Christ's name to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. And the Father, Jesus continues, will soon furnish or equip those who believe in him with the power to make that happen.

Acts picks up at the same moment in Acts chapter 1. Luke reports here that Jesus says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So in being baptized, in joining Christ's church, you become part of that you that Jesus is referring to. It's not just you, the original 12 disciples, but all people who seek to follow Jesus. You are the you. And so when Jesus says to go to all the world proclaiming the gospel, the changing of heart and lives, the forgiveness of sins, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he's talking to you. The responsibility to make disciples, to share the love, the good news of Jesus, to continue to do the same sorts of miracles he did, belongs to you. And the Holy Spirit's going to make that possible, but the work is ours. You still got to do it. It's going to happen through us. Jesus' game plan is us. Jesus' ongoing strategy for the salvation of the world is the church.

Has he met us? Frankly, we are not overflowing with resources, with people, with dedication, with expertise, though we are blessed among churches. And most congregations aren't. And the reality is, too, if we're really honest, that the way Jesus has chosen to do this doesn't seem to work very well. Do most people who walk through the doors of this church or any church find themselves fundamentally changing their hearts and lives out of love for Christ? Do most of them, most of us, find ourselves going out to make more disciples and the ends of the earth or even our little tiny part of the earth? No. And the evidence that I've seen in my life suggests no. We see these occasional revivals that have caught fire over the last 2,000 years, but these seem like an exception rather than a rule. Again, maybe this is probably my biggest struggle with the Christian faith. This one doesn't become easier over time. All of this to say, with all due respect to our Lord Jesus Christ, I do not think his is a very good plan. It's not one I put all my chips on, and yet this is what he's clearly chosen to do.

And so the ascension marks the moment where Jesus departs from the disciples' sight. His wounded and resurrected body rises into the skies, and he takes his place enthroned beside the Father. And he leaves this brief, silent gap before sending the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to accompany all of us who remain here, which still is here. Jesus doesn't have to do it that way, obviously. He could have done whatever he wanted. He doesn't have to leave us to carry on, guided by the power of this intangible Holy Spirit that we can't see. It had been so much easier, it would be so much easier, if Jesus was just here. telling us what to do, healing people, picking up the slack when the disciples fail... God is going for something different than that. And that's because at the ascension, the role of a disciple changes. It's not a student anymore. With Jesus having left their sight, the position in which we still find ourselves today, disciples are no longer students. They're no longer just followers seeking to live a specific lifestyle Jesus commands. We're not following Jesus's ideas, right? Those who follow the Buddha or the Stoic philosophers of Rome, those are students of ideas. But we're not trying to understand a system of thinking and living and then applying it. The ascension opens us up to something different and reminds us that the church was never meant to be this social club with a list of rules powered by our volunteer hours. The church is a means of grace, this channel through which a power that doesn't belong to us flows into the world.

[Long section on Meister Eckhart omitted for brevity, focusing on the core theological development]

The apostles are much more faithful to Jesus after the ascension than beforehand. Somehow their faith is stronger, their work is better, their commitment is deeper after he's gone. Isn't that kind of fascinating? You'd think that they would struggle in his absence more. But no, they hit their stride only once he's gone. And they're sent the Holy Spirit. Whenever they're entrusted with the work of the kingdom, that's when things take off. With Jesus ascending into heaven, we've become more than followers now. Our relationship has changed. It's not that it's become more distant. It's deepened. We are somehow now literally the body of Christ ourselves here on earth. And this changes things. We're not just following along behind him now. We're not like these 12 apostles who are apprentices seeking to learn. We're not just students of this great moral teacher. We're not striving just to conform to his teaching. We're trying to learn from him. We're trying to be perfected in his image, but it's more. What we have now to offer to the world does not lie in how convincing our ideas are. The gift of being part of the body of Christ is access to this mysterious, miraculous power to transform inside us and around us. It's the Holy Spirit moving through us as God continues to work.

Luke tells us this morning in chapter 24 that one of Jesus' last commands to his disciples is that you are witnesses charged with telling the world about him, about who he is. And our witness has power. As we can speak to the change that he's made in us, if we've let him, we can speak to the change that he's made in us, and show the incredible way that Jesus continues to transform our lives, continues to make the impossible happen. Witnessing to that has power of its own. And luckily for us, that doesn't require a multitude of resources. It doesn't require thousands and thousands of people in the pews. It requires one person. It doesn't require expertise, doesn't require genius, it just requires us to let the love of God move through us, to demonstrate it in our words and in our lives. Jesus hasn't decided to work through the church in the expectation that it's just going to be filled to the brim with a bunch of superstars, able to accomplish all sorts of things on our own strength and brilliance because he picked the best of the best. Exactly the opposite of that, actually. He expects instead that we'll make ourselves available to the power of the Holy Spirit and just go where it moves. It's not about our ability. It's about our availability to the Spirit. And even more than that, living out the great commission Jesus gives us is this means of grace itself. It's not just work that we're called to do, it's something that is for us. We're made perfect in Jesus' love as we live in his love. And so where the church fails to accomplish its mission, it's not because we don't have the resources to do it. It's not because we don't have the skills to do it. God has not left us without enough stuff to accomplish what God has asked us to do. We can. Whenever we fail, whenever we falter at doing what we are supposed to do, it's because we're unwilling or disinterested in letting go, allowing Jesus to work in us first and then empower us by the Spirit to reach the world. It'll work if we let it.

In the first chapter of Acts, where Luke opens by retelling the story of the Ascension, he tells us that the disciples are standing on the road there. They're just looking at the clouds, wondering where Jesus went. And then they are told by these two mysterious men, these angels dressed in white, what are you looking at? Just get moving. But in his letter to the Ephesians, we meet Paul today praying for something more internal for Jesus' disciples. So we're, again, we're unlikely to get these heavenly messengers who brought us to get down to the business of being disciples in the world. And Paul asks for this instead. He says that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. And that's really a needed corrective, the eyes of our hearts. Someone like me, I like to imagine my spiritual life would be a whole lot better if I could just see the angels like Father Edward did. If I could just see it, things would be different. But Paul tells the Ephesians here that seeing angels isn't the goal. Getting this holy vision isn't the goal. Seeing the power that's already at work in you, in the person next to you, that is the goal. He wants us to perceive that the fullness of Christ isn't some miraculous supernatural vision. It's in the pews. He wants us disciples to see that the ascension isn't about Jesus' absence, but about the way his presence is still with us and moves through us. And being able to see that is even more miraculous. Paul writes that the same overwhelming greatness of God's power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at God's right hand is at work in us. And so he confirms the promise that Jesus gives that the ascension isn't about Jesus going up, it's about his power coming down. we possess now the fullness of him who fills everything, in Paul's words. And that means that when we leave the building today, you aren't doing so as people who are following the teachings of a man who lived a long time ago. No, you're carrying his presence with you. You aren't waiting for Jesus to come back and fix the world. He's waiting for you to realize he's already here, working through your hands, your voice, and your heart. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.