1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord is taken from Ephesians 1:15-23, it’s entitled, “The Bigger Picture,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. It should be a celebration! The house is full of kids—school friends, neighborhood friends. You’re the guest of honor, and you’ve got six candles on your cake to blow out. So what’s wrong? Maybe to the adult observers it’s unclear. Maybe brother or sister is playing with one of your gifts. Maybe Billy swiped a finger across the frosting of your cake before you got to blow. Whatever, it’s suddenly all coming apart in tears. You’re ready to sing, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, you would cry to if it happened to you…” The bigger picture—a bright picture of fun and games and friends—has been lost.
3. Because Jesus ascended into heaven, he is now exalted over all things. He rules all things on behalf of his Church. This should bring great hope and joy. But, too often we become discouraged by worldly cares. We can easily become like the disgruntled birthday child. Our old sinful nature often shuts the eyes of our hearts to what God has done and is doing through our risen and ascended Lord. We see with our physical eyes, focusing on the discouragements around us in this fallen 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 call important or overcome the challenges we face. We may find ourselves in a state of despair because of our own shortcomings or the shortcomings of others. And as a result, we wallow in self-pity brought on by our own disappointment. But, our Lord has ascended on high and rules over all things on our behalf. He has ascended to fill and be filled by his Church. Let’s not lose sight of this wonderful truth and all it means for us.
4. We, who are so blessed by our ascended Lord, should be filled with confidence, joy, and hope. We should be filled with faith in Christ and love for our neighbor, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. We should be filled with the knowledge of the power of God in Christ. Why is it, then, that we are so often filled with other things—fear, discouragement, despair, and self-pity? Maybe it’s because we as the modern church suffer from another form of ADD, theologically we suffer from ascension deficit disorder. We so often forget that our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord Jesus now rules and reigns over heaven and earth and has gone up to heaven to prepare a place for us.
5. Not so the apostle Paul, even writing from a Roman prison to the Christians around Ephesus. Even in the face of worldly disappointments, Paul knew the power and might of God that are revealed in the risen and ascended Lord—the one who fills all things and who has his fullness in us, his Church. He could rejoice in the face of adversity because he knew the bigger picture, that our Lord Jesus ascended to fill and be filled.
6. Jesus, because of his ascension, fills all things, but, amazingly, the Church is now the full expression of Christ (Eph. 1:19–23). God’s might was at work in sending Jesus, “God of God, light of light, very God of very God,” into the flesh to make atonement for the sins of the world. He died on the cross, but God showed his might and power by raising Jesus from the dead and lifting him on high (Heb 1:3).
7. Christ’s ascension emphasizes this exaltation of our Lord. Jesus is elevated “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Eph. 1:21). Jesus’ ascension to the Father means he is no longer bound by the limitations of his humiliation. Lifted beyond the confines of space and time, he now sits at the right hand of God. This is not a specific place, but the position of power, authority, far above all other powers and authorities. Everything has been put under his feet, but he rules on behalf of his Church. Jesus also fills us because we are his Body. He is the head over all things, but especially, he is the head of the Church.
8. But, the most amazing thing is that the Church, his Body, is the “fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23). We are the full expression of Jesus who is over all. All things in heaven and on earth are filled by Christ. And all things, in heaven and on earth, are given to and for the benefit of his Church. Jesus is in us and we are in him. His being in us means that he fills us, and our being in him means that we fill him. This is such a mystery! In the Gospel of John 15:4–7, Jesus described this truth as of a vine and its branches. The branches have their fullness only in the vine, and the vine has its fullness in the branches. This is a tremendous paradox! Maybe we don’t realize this wonderful truth, or maybe we lose sight of it. But, Paul seeks to encourage Christians with this remarkable reality (Col 2:9–10).
9. This same Jesus, who is head over all, who fills all things, is given as a gift to his Church. He is given and is present with us who remain bound by time and space (Eph. 1:22). He is with us as true God and true man, exercising his rulership in the Church through his Means of Grace. In God’s Word, in Baptism, in our Lord’s Supper, we mortals grasp the King of the universe and receive a foretaste of the feast to come.
10. So that the Ephesians would stand joyful and confident in their faith, Paul unceasingly asks God to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God (Eph. 1:15–19). Paul wants them to behold things with the eyes of faith, so that they are not disturbed by worldly distractions, disrupted by their sinful flesh, or disheartened by Satan’s forces of evil. Instead, Paul wants them to see and know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power in Christ.
11. We, too, are intended to have this knowledge of God’s power in Christ. This is the power of the Gospel unto salvation for all who believe (Rom 1:16; Eph 3:7). It is the power of the keys to the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus says to his disciples and to his Church, us (Jn 20:22–23; Mt 16:19; 18:18).
12. Paul further wants the Ephesians and us to know the riches of a glorious inheritance in the saints. Our ascended Lord comforted and gave confidence to his disciples of all ages. Jesus says in Jn 14:1–3, that He has gone up to heaven to prepare a place for us that where He is we also may be. We are encouraged and strengthened at the glimpses of heaven we receive in God’s Word and the foretaste of the feast in our Lord’s Supper, an inheritance we share with the saints on earth and those now at the heavenly banquet.
13. Therefore, called into Christ, we have hope in the face of difficulty. Paul prays that we know what wonderful hope we have in this calling by God (Eph. 1:18). Our calling is to be members of his Body, with all the Church on earth and in heaven, which he fills and by which he is fulfilled. It is the reason Paul, though the least of all the saints, was made a minister of the Gospel. It is so that through the power of the Gospel, the Church will be built up (Eph 3:10–12).
14. Christ is subjecting all things unto himself, even the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, and he is doing this through us, his Church. Despite what our physical eyes see around us, with the eyes of enlightened hearts we see all that we have through our ascended Lord. In view of this hope and the riches of our inheritance, Paul encourages the Ephesians not to lose heart over his suffering (Eph 3:13). He encourages us not to lose heart, whatever we may see and experience in a fallen world.
15. Because Christ has been lifted far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, we, his Body, need not fear any rule or authority or power or dominion, whether on earth or beyond. This especially includes the warnings Paul would give later in his Letter to the Ephesians, warnings about the spiritual warfare with which we are involved (Eph 6:12). Because Jesus has ascended, we need not fear. We can be confident, even fearless (Rom 8:38–39). We are more than conquerors in Christ, who has all things under his feet and who is head over all things to and for the Church. His name is above every name. Eventually, all powers, authorities, and every knee will bow to him (Phil 2:9–10).
16. Christ is in control, head over all! He has been given all rule, authority, power, dominion. That is why he ascended on high. With the eyes of our hearts so enlightened, let us not lose heart. Our ascended Lord rules and fills all things for us, his Church. He, who fills all things, fills us. What an amazing mystery! What an encouragement! With confidence, joy, and hope we celebrate, because our Lord ascended to fill and be filled. Through Jesus we see the bigger picture. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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