The Ascension of Christ

Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

Today is Memorial Day weekend.

We remember those who lived before us, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. There are many we remember who led us to faith in Jesus Christ, who helped us to make sure of our salvation, who loved us so much they would not let us get out of this world without coming to Jesus Christ.

One day, perhaps, there are people in your life who will look back in time and see you as that person who did not let them get away from Christ. They will look back and see that you loved them so much you would not leave them alone before they came to Christ. Who will you lead to Christ? Will you lead anyone to Christ?

Memorial Day was originally established to remember the dead from the Civil War. Later, it became a special day to remember fallen soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

As we remember those who shed their blood for our freedom, it is critical that we remember the One who died for all of us, whose body was broken and blood was shed for all of us. It is appropriate, you see, for today the church celebrates the Ascension of Jesus Christ to Heaven.

We know the story…

Jesus has been back with the Apostles after His temporary death and permanent resurrection. He is back with his new, glorified body, His new body that will never grow old, will never rot, will never die. He has visited them several times, taught them, breathed on them His Holy Spirit, eaten with them, redeemed Peter, broken bread with them, and asked Thomas to put his fingers into the hole in Jesus’ side that the spear made and to touch the marks on His wrists where the nails were driven. Jesus has amazed them all simply because He is there, alive!

Luke tells us that about what happened that final day when He ascended to Heaven…

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

Have you ever noticed that it takes an open, curious mind to understand Scripture because it so often goes against what the world teaches us?

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

In Luke’s second book, the Book of Acts, Luke expands this speech a bit. He tells us that Jesus said:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Meanwhile, they walked outside Jerusalem to the nearby suburb of Bethany just over the Mount of Olives, the little village where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived, and He blessed them.

While He was blessing them, He was taken up into the air and disappeared among the clouds.

The disciples were 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 into heaven.”

And so the disciples worshipped Jesus and went dancing back into town with great joy. Then, they went every day to the Temple and praised God for the next week and a half.

We look at the Ascension as an important part of the Jesus story, for the disciples – now known as Apostles – explained the event to us. In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us that

“[God] raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. “
This is the last time the assembled disciples saw Jesus on the earth. They were confident that Jesus had been seated at the right hand of the Father, to judge the living and the dead someday. It is recorded that Paul and John each saw Jesus again – Paul on the Damascus road in his terrifying, blinding encounter with Jesus, and John when he received his heavenly vision that led to the Book of Revelation.

But what would have happened if Jesus had not ascended to Heaven? What would have happened in this world if Jesus had stayed on earth with the disciples?

I’ve thought about that for a while and my answer is not what you’d think. I know most people would think – hey, Jesus would have eventually taken over Jerusalem and begun ruling from there. The world would have been grand!

But I don’t think that is what would have happened. God the Father has great wisdom and never does the second-best thing. I think Jesus had to ascend to Heaven, or nothing much would have happened.

Imagine this:

Jesus stays in the Jerusalem area. His disciples gather around to hear Him teach…and…that’s just what happens. The disciples never become apostles, because listening to Jesus speak is just so doggone interesting.

You see, Jesus is speaking the Words of God. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus IS the Word of God. Once we begin to listen to Him in earnest, it’s like eating peanuts or Lay’s potato chips – we can’t stop listening because He knows everything and knows how to teach deep truths to us.

In John Chapter 14, Jesus Himself says that He has to go to the Father so He can send us the Holy Spirit. The disciples and us had to receive the Holy Spirit so we could become apostles, going out to proclaim the Word of the God and the Gospel of Christ. He had to leave so we wouldn’t hang around, so we would go into the world.

You know, the Word of God is so interesting that there are truly some people who spend their careers trying to understand everything, all the depths found in a single book. A few weeks ago, my wife Saundra met a seminary professor who is one of the world’s experts on the Book of Numbers. His career is focused upon the Book of Numbers. I don’t know about you, but I think I’d choose a different book, like Acts or Revelation, but to each his own…

Yet this guy does little or no evangelism. He simply writes articles for journals read only by other seminary professors. He is so much a disciple that he isn’t an apostle. He is fascinated by that one book of the Bible.

Now imagine that Jesus was here and he could talk and listen to Jesus day after day. He’d never leave the building!

Unfortunately, that is what happens to many people. They become so much disciple that they never become apostles. Perhaps you are one of those people…You’re like a guy who spends his days reading automobile service manuals and can tell you which spark plug is used in a 1974 Ford Pinto, but has never changed a spark plug. You’re like a woman who reads recipe magazines day-in and day-out but can’t cook Kraft macaroni-and-cheese. You’re like a friend of mine who pitches like Charlie Brown but can tell you the 1971 batting averages of Willie Stargell or Roberto Clemente. A permanent disciple is worthless. You have no fruit!

Jesus has left the planet, so what’s your excuse? Why have you become a permanent disciple, ever learning but not proclaiming?

Perhaps our problem is we understood Moses better than we understand Jesus.

We love the Gospel when we hear it. We cry with joy when we understand we have been forgiven of everything we ever did wrong. We weep when we first “get it” that Jesus died for us and would have died just for you or me if we were the only people who had ever done wrong, He loves us that much.

But we soon forget it. We go back to the Law of Moses. We take on that burden of the Law again. We look into Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and we forget that Jesus fulfilled the Law through His death and thus we are ok. We look at passages in Paul and think we have to develop the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, etc – when it clearly says that these are the fruits of the Spirit, what comes naturally when we follow the Spirit, but we grow scared and believe we have to work harder to have our love, joy, peace, etc. And so we forget about what Jesus did for us.

And we are particularly good at teaching others about the Law, but we rarely teach people the Gospel. Folks, almost everyone in America knows the basics of the Ten Commandments, and everyone has broken those commandments repeatedly.

What people need to hear from us, from us who are filled with the Holy Spirit, from us who are supposed to be Apostles is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

That Gospel is really very simple. It has five key points:

First, except for Jesus, no human is perfect. We all have broken the moral law repeatedly – which moral law? It doesn’t matter. Tell me your personal code and I guarantee you have broken it at one time or the other.

Second, God hates those who are in sin, who break moral codes, who are in rebellion to God.

Third, God gave us a second chance. He sent His Son Jesus to pay the penalties for all we have done wrong, for all our sins. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.

Fourth, to prove Jesus was God walking around, God the Father raised Him from a real death, where he was seen by over 500 people.

Fifth, Jesus has promised that all who choose to follow Him will have eternal life with Him one day and are declared “not guilty” by God the Father. We who follow Jesus have been forgiven by God the Father. There is no need to fear death or God’s wrath ever again. Just follow Jesus!

You know, I’ve been your pastor almost four years. When I first heard about you, I heard from other pastor’s I know that you were a good church. (Believe me, churches gain reputations among pastors!)

I can say what Paul said about the Ephesian church:

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

A couple of weeks ago, another pastor was here for the COME event. He commented on how many people greeted him, how helpful everyone was, how welcoming you all were. And I know there were people from both churches here that day.

Paul continues:

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.

That’s why we offer so many classes. We need to know God better!

Continuing, Paul said to the Ephesians:

I pray 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 his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Folks, we look around at each other and think, “I’m a pretty good Christian.” But have you really taken this hope of eternal life down deep in your heart, deeper still into your gut, down to the tips of your toes? Do you really grasp that you will live forever and ever, that this life is nothing compared to eternity? Try taking a calculator and dividing the 100 years of this life by the billion years or more you will live with Jesus in eternity. It is less than a second is compared to your earthly life. We need to allow our understanding of eternity to drive our behavior on earth:

The eternal life is what counts, not what your employer did to you last Friday.

The eternal life is what counts, not what your sister said to you yesterday.

The eternal life is what counts, not what the President did or didn’t do last week.

The eternal life is what counts, not the size of your paycheck.

The eternal life is what counts, not the look on your co-worker’s face.

The eternal life is what counts….Bring your best friend to know Jesus and they will be with you in eternity.

The eternal life is what counts….Bring your grandchildren to know Jesus and you will play baseball with them in eternity.

The eternal life is what counts…Bring your rotten neighbor to know Jesus and you will have another friend in eternity because of the power of God.

God’s power of resurrection is real and vital to us.

Paul tells us “that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, 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 way.”

This world will end. When Jesus ascended to Heaven, a process started to give everyone a chance to change their ways and choose to follow Jesus. For us, that process was:

 

1) Believe in Jesus, 

2) be baptized, 

3) begin following Jesus’ commands and example as disciples, 

4) become apostles who bring others to believe in Jesus so they can have a chance to change their ways and choose to follow Jesus.

The disciples became apostles a week later on the Day of Pentecost, which we celebrate next week.

Hundreds of people saw Jesus peacefully ascend alone to Heaven that Ascension Day. Paul and John saw him years later. Others have seen Jesus throughout the centuries… saints, ordinary believers, non-believers who became believers…but He has never stayed on the earth since that day. His home is with the Father in Heaven until His return at the end of the age as described by John in Revelation 19, a return that will be much different in style and emotion. John wrote:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Can you imagine a winepress where people are put in instead of grapes?

Work with me, church! Let’s do what we can to make sure and certain that no one is left standing in this area to face this army of heaven, to be trampled over by those horses and have their blood shed like a winepress by that sword and scepter! Let us be apostles to our friends, our neighbors, and our families, helping them to bow voluntarily in gratitude before they are forced to bow down before the King of Kings.

It is time to pray today. Give up your hurts and fears and emotions to the King of Kings as you stand or bow down before Him. Pray for your friends. Pray for your families. Pray for your neighbors. And pray for yourself, that you may hear the Word of God and the Holy Spirit guiding you into a glorious future with Christ.

And from our memory of the Civil War comes a hymn that was sung by both sides, a hymn with imagery drawn from Revelation: The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;

His truth is marching on!

May God grant you a vision of your purpose and guide you into a form of ministry that you may go and serve the Lord! Amen !