1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. Happy Ascension Day to all of you! The message from God’s Word for us this day
is taken from Ephesians 1:15-23 and is entitled, “On Christ’s Ascension I Now Build,” dear brothers and sisters in
Christ.
2.
Supposedly
Dr. Martin Luther (1483-1546) was once asked about a preacher who had
distracting mannerisms in the pulpit. The upset church member complained to Dr.
Luther, "I just can't watch him and
get anything out of the sermon." Dr. Luther replied, "Well, then, take your eyeballs out of
their sockets, put them in your ears, and listen!" Jesus' Ascension
ushers us into the time of hearing God's Word. After all, hearing God's
life-giving Word is the foundation on which our life with God with God is built
on. When our Lord Jesus ascends to God’s
right hand, so do we. And Jesus promises to rule all things for the good of His
body, the Church. As we sang in our Ascension Day hymn: “On Christ's ascension I now build, The hope of my ascension; This hope alone has always stilled, All doubt and apprehension; For where the Head is, there as well, I know
His members are to dwell, When Christ will come and call them.” (TLH 216)
3.
Ephesians
1:17 says, “I keep asking that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him better.” On
Easter Sunday the risen Savior told Mary Magdalene to go and tell the disciples,
“I am returning to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20:17). The “God of our Lord Jesus Christ” is our God. Through Jesus we can approach God as our Father with
confidence. So Paul does here, on behalf of these Ephesian Christians.
4.
Paul prays that God, for Jesus’
sake, would give these Christians “the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Our ascended Lord has sent the Holy
Spirit just as He promised. It was the Holy Spirit who had brought these
Ephesians to faith in Jesus. Paul now prays that God would give them an added measure of the Holy Spirit, that
the Spirit would continue to teach, instruct and guide them along the way to
eternal life. The Holy Spirit is the source of true wisdom; he reveals the
truth, about God and about ourselves, to us. We need the Spirit to continue to
do that for us through his Word! How blessed we are and how grateful we should
be that our ascended Lord has given us the Holy Spirit.
5.
These Christians already knew God,
who he is and what he’s done for them. Paul’s prayer is that they may know God better.
The better we know God and his love for us, the more confident and
content we will be. The better we know all that our Savior has done for us, and
is now doing for us as our ascended
Lord, the greater peace and joy we’ll have. The better we know God and his will
for our lives, the more we’ll understand and strive with his help to live
God-pleasing lives.
6.
As we know God better, we’ll also be
better witnesses of God. “You will be my
witnesses,” Jesus said just before he ascended on high (Ac 1:8). What’s a
witness? A person who has seen or experienced something. What does a witness do? He tells others what he’s seen or
experienced. So we’re Jesus’ witnesses. As the Spirit helps us to better
understand the Father’s love for sinners, the more we’ll reach out to other
sinners with his love. As the Spirit helps us to know our Savior better, the
more we’ll want to share our Savior.
7.
Paul continues to say in Ephesians
1:18, “I pray also that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has
called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” In the next chapter of Ephesians Paul
reminds us that we’re all by nature “without
hope and without God.” But in Christ, our risen and ascended Lord, God has “called” us to himself and given us “hope,”
the sure hope of eternal life in heaven. And this hope isn’t a wish. God didn’t leave our salvation to chance. He
took care of everything for us. He had his Son Jesus become one of us and take
our place under his law. He had Jesus live the perfect life for us and die on
the cross to pay for all our sins. Our Lord who died for us is now our Lord who
lives for us. He came forth from his grave alive and victorious. On this day so
many years ago Jesus ascended on high, his work completed, the job well done.
He has reconciled a world of sinners with His Heavenly Father. Once more
heaven’s gates stand open to us.
8.
And now our ascended Lord Jesus is
preparing our “glorious inheritance”
(Jn 14:2, 3). Heaven is an “inheritance,” a gift
our heavenly Father gives to us his children through faith in Christ. Just as
our Father is “glorious” (v. 17), so
too is this inheritance. The “old order
of things” will pass away, and so there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev 21:4). We will no longer have to contend with sin
and Satan. No longer will we have temptations to resist or a sinful nature to
crucify.
9.
Paul prays that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened”
to see and know this hope. The “eyes of
the heart” are our inmost being, that which controls our attitudes and
actions. When the heart “sees” things
rightly, right attitudes and actions will follow. The Holy Spirit “enlightens” us through the gospel (cf. Luther’s explanation to the
Third Article). We don’t need to go through this life groping in the dark and
grasping for straws. Through the gospel the Holy Spirit has turned on the light
in this sin-darkened world. He enables us to see things right. He enables us to
see and have that rich, forgiving love of God, and that “glorious
inheritance” which God in love has prepared for us.
10.
Ephesians
1:19-20 says, “and his incomparably great
power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty
strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” Our hope of a glorious inheritance is secure,
for we’re secure in the hands of God almighty. Nothing can surpass or exceed
God’s power. In the Apostles’ and Nicene
Creeds we confess our faith in God’s almighty power. And as we do, we usually
think of that power as it was demonstrated in the creation of this world. Paul
reminds us of two other demonstrations of God’s almighty power: our faith and
Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. That anyone is a believer is a miracle, a
work of God’s mighty power. (We were “dead” in sin but have been made “alive”
in Christ, 2:1–5; we are a “new self,” 4:2–4; 2 Co 5:17) That Jesus’ cold
corpse came back to life is a miracle, a work of God’s mighty power.
11.
This
almighty power is at work right now “for us who believe.” It’s the power
behind God’s promise to work all things for our good (Ro 8:28). It is being used
right now by our ascended Lord as he sits at God’s right hand.
12.
In
Ephesians 1:21–23, the Apostle Paul says,
“far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can
be given, 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, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in
every day.” These verses provide us
with the definition of God’s right hand and what it means that Jesus is sitting
there now. There are not three thrones in heaven, the Father sitting in the
middle, Jesus on his right, the Holy Spirit on his left. “God is spirit” (Jn 4:24). The Father and the Holy Spirit don’t have
bodies. God’s right hand is a biblical expression for God’s almighty power and
total control of all things. That power and control our Lord Jesus has and is
using. Our Savior, the God-man, is in control and in charge. He has “all authority in heaven and on earth”
(Mt 28:18). He who was betrayed and beaten, condemned and crucified, is ruler
over all things. The words “rule,
authority, power, dominion, title” all emphasize this fact. Add to this
that Jesus will never be replaced or dethroned.
13.
Our
ascended Lord Jesus is ruling this world for the good of his church. That means
me and you and all believers. What peace, joy, comfort, confidence this fact
offers us! Life isn’t a matter of chance, fate or luck. The Lord is in control,
and he knows what he’s doing for the good of your salvation. Amen.
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