Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Luke 24:50-53
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  May 10, 2018

Even more than the clothes you wear or the words you speak, your body language reflects how you feel about yourself.  Without even thinking we present ourselves to others. In fact, our body language may even change how we think about ourselves. Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist and Harvard professor theorizes that our posture not only reflects our current mood, but it can also change our minds. Her studies show that standing in a powerful pose, even when we don’t feel confident, can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, even having an impact on our ability to combat stress. I see some powerful body language among you right now. I also see some rather vulnerable poses out there too. So what does the difference between power and vulnerability look like? Well, in the animal kingdom, a powerful pose is always an expansion A bear stands up on its hind legs to roar. A goose spreads its wings wide to scare off children in the park. A cobra rises up and flares its hood in a fight. A pufferfish literally puffs itself up to show power when threatened. Animals puff themselves up when they want to look powerful. On the other hand, vulnerable or docile behavior is always characterized by becoming small or compressed. A dog cowers with its tail between its legs. A turtle retreats into its shell. An abused animal shrinks down in the corner of its cage.

This funny thing is that this applies to humans as well. When we feel confident and powerful our body language also expands and becomes more relaxed. Maybe for you, it’s stretching out on your bed. Perhaps you lean back in your chair and put your feet up when you relax at night. It’s the mother or father who puts their hands on their hips to communicate parental authority. I think of a domineering boss who leans across the desk or the athlete who pumps his fists in the air and flexes for the camera. When we are feeling powerful or relaxed, it shows! Conversely, when we are sad, afraid, or ashamed we close up. We physically compress, just like animals. We hang our head, we slouch back in our chairs, we cover our face with our hands. The fetal position is not a power position, is it? I see a good mix of these positions among you today. But no matter what body language you find yourself displaying, tonight we are going to look at our Savior’s body language from Luke 24. And we will test the power of body language, not for our physical well-being, but more importantly, for our spiritual health.

Luke tells us about Jesus’ ascension in just two verses: Verses 50 and 51, “When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.”  This is a monumental event: Jesus miraculously ascends up into the heavens from which he once descended. This is the last moment on earth that he spends with his disciples.  This blessing is composed of the last words Jesus will speak to his disciples while he is on this earth. Wouldn’t they have remembered them? Wouldn’t they have told Luke the exact words?! But Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus said. No, in his sparse narrative, the Spirit only inspired Luke to show us one detail: Jesus’ body language—“he lifted up his hands in blessing.”

This position of both arms raised above the head is the universal victory pose. When we win, when we are feeling victorious, we naturally raise our hands above our heads. Everyone does this. Even congenitally blind people have this reaction when they win. Even though they’ve never seen anyone else do it, even though they can’t even see their arms, they naturally raise them above their heads in victory. We see it in all ages, on the silver screen, and even in statues. (Touchdown! “V” is for victory!) This universal, physical expression of victory is the powerful body language that Jesus maintained as he ascended! His hands were lifted in blessing! What does that mean for you as his follower?

I could just tell you to mimic his body language, but would that be natural for you? Is this (arms raised victoriously) an accurate expression of how you feel? Are your hands usually raised in victory or do you sometimes feel more like curling up in a ball? This past week I’ve tried to pay attention to my body language. If you’re like me you’ll probably find yourself positioned on all points of the spectrum based on what’s going on in your life. On some days, you feel like a winner, confident, and optimistic. But other days, depending on what’s happened or how you’re feeling, it’s hard to even get out of bed.

It is hard to raise our hands up in victory on those days when we feel like we’re losing, when we feel afraid or ashamed. When you’ve been hoping and praying for a certain outcome and yet what happens is not at all what you wanted. When you aren’t sure if your life is headed in the right direction, but no prospects are in sight and you wonder if you can ever be happy. When you look around at other houses, other families, other people and feel so insignificant in comparison. When mistakes form the past cling to you, no matter how long ago, you can’t shake that feeling of guilt and condemnation. When you think of all the time you waste in anxious hours and the sins that you fall into again and again. When you sigh with bitter frustration and say with the apostle Paul, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Our arms don’t naturally form a victorious “V”. No, when we stand in front of a holy God, any honest sinner would not dare raise their hands in victory, but cower in fear and vulnerability before the one who sees all things. The one who knows that sin isn’t just around us but in us. The one who knows that sin deserves an eternal sentence. When we look at our hearts, by nature, we aren’t going to be able to lift our hands even an inch.

But that’s why we are here tonight. Because tonight we gather not to look down into the sinfulness of our hearts, or the frustrations of this world, but to look up at our ascending Savior, Jesus Christ. My friends, look at his ascending body language. He left this earth in blessed victory! He said earlier in chapter 24, “Everything must be fulfilled which was written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy of the Old Testament in the specific times, ways, and places that God’s prophets of old had predicted. He never sinned; he completed God’s law perfectly. His victory fulfilled God’s standard of perfection. And Jesus took that perfect life and gave it up for us. One of those prophecies he fulfilled was Isaiah 53:5 “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Jesus died on the cross as our substitute. And yet, in poetic irony, even in his death, even in his seemingly weakest, most vulnerable moment, Jesus’ arms were stretched out in victory. You see his death is our victory over sin and his resurrection is our victory over death. As Paul said, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:55-57) Jesus’ raised those same pierced hands at his ascension to show he had fully paid the price for that victory. My friends, it is because of Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection that God credits us with the victory we see so clearly exhibited in Jesus’ ascending body language.

Think about the reality like this. Many of you root for a certain sports team. When they win a big game, do you ever throw your hands in victory, or jump around your living room after the game. We even say things like, “We won! We won!” Now you were probably nowhere near the game. And you certainly didn’t play in the game. You didn’t hoist up the trophy. So why were your hands raised up in victory as you sat on the couch? Because you’re a fan, a follower of your team, and even though you didn’t win the victory it was still yours. The players and coaches even acknowledged this in interviews when they say, “This championship is for all our great fans!” In a more powerful and meaningful way, even better is the victory that God gives to you. God gives that victory to you who through Spirit-wrought faith are a fan and follower of Jesus. Because he won, you win! Because he lives, you will live! Because he ascended in victory you can live in victory! This is the importance of the ascension—it sets the tone for the Christian life. Our lives can be characterized by victory!

Too often people think about Christian virtues like humility and gentleness in terms of smallness and docility. Christ’s ascension teaches us not to separate victory and power from the servant-like nature we display as his people. Just because a Christian acts with gentleness and humility doesn’t mean that they aren’t powerful. In fact, the most insecure and cowardly people are often the most physically violent and oppressive. Just because we are willing to put others ahead of ourselves, doesn’t mean that we aren’t victorious. In fact, it’s only because we already know that we have the ultimate victory, through Christ’s ascension, that we can be self-sacrificing. It is only in Christ that we can be joyful in his victory even when on earth it sometimes feels like we’re losing. Even in our weakest, most vulnerable moments, we can see Jesus arms raised in blessing and know that we are truly victorious in the most meaningful and lasting way.

Amy Cuddy theorizes that our body posture can change our minds. She teaches that standing in a power position for just two minutes a day can improve your confidence and optimism. She also recommends power-posing before interviews or other stressful situations. So if you want to test out her theory go ahead, but what is more important is that you think about the victory that Jesus demonstrates for us at his ascension. See his pierced hands raised in blessing. Let his victorious ascension body language set the tone for your life. No matter what position you may be in, no matter how you may feel, your Savior has ascended to the right hand of God the Father in eternal victory. Amen.