Tuesday, May 24, 2016

“We Find Courage in Our Lord’s Ascension” Acts 1.1-11 Ascension Day, May ‘16



1.                   Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  It should be a celebration! The house is full of kids. You’re the guest of honor, and you’ve got six candles on your cake to blow out. So what’s wrong? Maybe your brother or sister is playing with one of your gifts. Maybe Johnny swiped a finger across the frosting of your cake before you got to blow. Whatever it is, it’s suddenly all coming apart. The bigger picture of fun, games, and friends has been lost.  Because Jesus ascended into heaven, He’s now exalted over all things. He rules all things in heaven & on earth on behalf of His Church. This should bring us as Christians great hope and joy. But, too often we become discouraged by worldly cares. We become like the unhappy birthday child. Our sinful nature shuts our eyes to what God has done through our risen and ascended Lord Jesus. We see only with our physical eyes, focusing on the discouragements around us in this sinful world. In the life of our congregation, we may worry about financial challenges or the number of inactive members. We may become discouraged as we struggle to accomplish the things we feel are important or overcome the challenges we face. We may find ourselves in a state of despair because of our own sins or the sins of others. And as a result, we reel in self-pity brought on by our own disappointment. But, our Lord has ascended on high and rules over all things on our behalf. Let’s not lose sight of this wonderful truth and all that it means for us.  The message this Ascension Day is taken from Acts 1:1-11, and is entitled, “We Find Courage in Our Lord’s Ascension,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.                   Ascension Day is important for us in our lives as Christians, but unfortunately many Christians this past week missed it.  In between Wednesday and the middle of a busy work week and Friday’s promise of the weekend, Thursday hardly seemed like a day to celebrate and have a festival when there’s still work to be done. Ascension Day is just as holy as Easter Sunday, but most of the world, including many within the Christian church moved through it unconsciously.  Even those who have confessed the lines of the Apostles’ Creed: “On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.”  Our Gospel lesson from Luke 24 for today records, “Then [Jesus] said to his disciples….’See, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’  Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.  While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24:49-53)
3.                   The ascension of our Lord Jesus after His death on the cross and resurrection might seem somewhat anti-climatic. Maybe this is the reason that the resurrection and ascension statements of the Apostles’ Creed are essentially treated as one in the same: On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. One might think that the one miraculous act flowed immediately into the other: that the death of the body of Jesus was answered in the resurrection of Christ, a presence who then floated spiritually into heaven. Unfortunately, the result of this impression is that many think that the ascension points to the casting off of Jesus’ human nature, as if Jesus is now a presence that only used to be human.
4.                   But, this is far from the experience of the disciples, as we see here in Acts 1, to whom Jesus appeared many times in the days following His resurrection. To them it was clear that Jesus wasn’t any sort of ghost. He ate with them. Jesus talked with them. He instructed them as to the ministries they would lead and the deaths they would face because of their belief in Him as their Savior. Jesus was more fully human than they had ever realized, and it was this holy body, this divine person that they held near as they lived and died to proclaim His kingdom. 
5.                   As the disciples were watching and Jesus was taken up before their own eyes, a cloud hid Him from their sight. Our text in Acts 1:9-11 refers to them, “looking intently up into the sky as he was going” when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them: “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go.’” In this resurrected body, Christ ascended to heaven, fully human, fully divine, and entirely glorified.  
6.                   On the day Jesus ascended into heaven, the work God sent Him to accomplish was finally completed. The ascension was a public declaration of Jesus’ dying words on the Cross: It is finished. Ascending to heaven, Jesus continued the victory of Easter—the victory of a physical body in whom God had conquered death. Because of the ascension, the incarnation of our Lord isn’t a past event. Because of the ascension, we know that the incarnate Christ who was raised from the dead is sharing in our humanity even now. And just as the angels informed the disciples, so we carry in our own bodies a guarantee that Christ will one day bring us to Himself.  It’s for these reasons that the Christian scholar N.T. Wright affirms, “To embrace the Ascension is to heave a sigh of relief, to give up the struggle to be God (and with it the inevitable despair at our constant failure), and to enjoy our status as creatures: image-bearing creatures, but creatures nonetheless.” (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: Harper Collins, 2008), 114). 
7.                   WE DO FIND COURAGE IN OUR LORD’S ASCENSION.  Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus left for heaven.  There are six reasons we can find courage in Jesus’ Ascension.  First, Jesus’ ascension assures us that we can go home, too. Jesus tells His disciples a little later that he’s going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house (John 14). Because Jesus returned to the Father, I can say with Paul that, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” when I die, I will be with Jesus. 
8.                   Second, Jesus’ ascension assures us that He intercedes and prays for us to God the Father.  Jesus, the God-man, speaks on our behalf to God our Heavenly Father. He knows what it’s like to be human (Hebrews 4:14–16), but He’s not just asking God to give me a break. Jesus Himself was broken for my sin, and because of His perfect sacrifice on the cross, He sustains our right relationship with God (Hebrews 9:15).  This message is being presented on Mother's Day weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there today. One traditional role of moms, though, has always been that of a praying referee. When it's with siblings or friends, moms have always had to step in, to try to make peace, or try to negotiate, or try to hear each other out, prayerfully. If one of my brothers and I started calling each other names or swinging fists at each other, mom made sure we settled down and figured things out; and, of course, all the time praying to God for all of us. That's what moms do, right?  Now, if our moms do that well, just imagine that God does the same thing perfectly. Jesus prays for unity.
9.                   Third, Jesus says we should rejoice in His ascension. Jesus says, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father.” This alone is reason to be glad. 
10.               Fourth, Christ’s ascension has given us the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us that He must leave in order to send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). The Spirit teaches, convicts, and comforts us while we’re here on earth. 
11.               Fifth, we have the inspired Gospels. Jesus promises His disciples that the Holy Spirit will teach them and remind them of all that He said (John 14:25–26). And that’s good for us, because the disciples were able to give accurate accounts of events they didn’t understand while they were happening (Matthew 15:15–17; 16:9; Mark 6:52; 9:32; John 12:16). 
12.               Sixth, my king is where He belongs. Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, has taken His seat in glory at the Father’s right hand (Hebrews 1:3). He obeyed, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:9–11).
13.               Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus reigns forevermore.  We find courage in our Lord’s ascension into heaven.  On this Ascension Day we remember that our Lord Jesus hasn’t left us as orphans. In the same post-resurrection body He invited Doubting Thomas to touch, Jesus invites us to full humanity today. He ascended with a body, he shares in our humanity, and He’s coming back for our bodies. Christ is preparing a room for us in heaven, and we know it’s real because He Himself is real.  Amen. 

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