The Main Thing….
Feast of the Ascension! - May 20, 2007
Eph. 1:15-23
† In the name of our Lord †
“Because I have seen your faith in the Lord Jesus and I know your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.
Today, we celebrate one of the incredible events in scripture. It is, a feast day, as is next week. Both the readings from Acts, and from the gospel of Luke, tell of the incredible event, when Jesus was taken up from the presence of the apostles, and ascended before their eyes, into the sky. What an incredible event! Not a vision, the actual, risen, live, body of Christ, ascending into the heavens…
So what? I really mean that – so what?
How does a day, on a mountain side 2000 years ago, affect our lives today? Sure a miracle happened, one that was incredible, and revealed the power of God, invested in His son Jesus. But how does that miracle, affect me this week, when I needed more than one miracle to occur in my life, and that of my friends, and my family? Actually, if I counted it up – 11 miracles would have been really nice.
So what that Jesus ascended?
How does that help me give comfort to the pain in the Rayson family’s hearts? Or to alleve the fear that affected Pastor Hendry’s family, as they dealt with a granddaughter in pain, who the doctor’s first diagnosis was that the pain was caused by Leukemia? Or Duane, who had a student at his school collapse, because the two brain shunts he has became clogged. How does it deal with couples I know that have divorced, or whose lives are so under pressure, that they are considering that option, in anger, or fear?
What does the eyewitness story of the Ascension do, for those whose faith is being tried in the fire? What comfort can it give, in the midst of trauma, and grief, and pain, and anger that accompanies grief?
While the readings from Luke’s gospel, and the book of Acts, tell us the story… the epistle reading, from Ephesians, gives us the rest of the story, and the hope, that is found in the power that raised Christ from the dead, the power that is in work in us.
One Prayer
That you get this picture clearly….
I started this sermon, with a directed paraphrase of the Ephesians reading. In other words, I used Paul’s words about the Ephesians, to describe our relationship, mine and yours. Here the words again…
“Because I have seen your faith in the Lord Jesus and I know your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.
I know of your faith – I have seen it at work, I have told others about it, about the church that believes God will answer their prayers, that cares for each other. At lunch this week, I was the recipient of the love you have towards this church and community. I thought I would hide – by going to a different place to eat. And two different couples saw my car, and came in, and encouraged me, knowing I was dealing with the pain of Mike’s son’s death.
Knowing that, just as Paul heard of the Ephesians people’s faith, and love, I want one thing, the main thing that I pray for – that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and reveal to you all you need to know about Jesus. Paul will go on to clarify that comment, by saying that the prayer is as well – that you would have the eyes of your heart enlightened. As I read this in Greek – the word enlighten is the word photo – so Paul is praying that you and I, and the Ephesians, would get the picture!
That we would see in our hearts one thing, and that it would be burned into the retina of our soul. That it becomes part of your wisdom, that it governs all you do. That where ever we go, whatever we encounter, our hearts would be filled with one idea. And here it is…
that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
Called to Hope
Called from?
Big sentence, so let’s break it down. First, the hope to which He has called you. I cannot hear these words, without thinking of my friend Lois, who has a lot of stress in her life, when I was her pastor. Her line, how could anyone endure life and suffering, without Christ? She’s right. How could anyone deal with the effects of 7000 years of mankind’s sin, and the accidents that occur in life, without hope that we have in Christ? Yet to be called to hope, means that we were once without that hope,
I love how a pastor/scholar named Kittel, put it,
Hope is expectation of good. It is linked with trust and yearning, and differentiated from fear. So long as there is life there is hope (Eccl. 9:4)…. The life of the righteous is grounded in a hope that implies a future because its point of reference is God. To hope is to trust .
To trust in what, leads us to the next phrase, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. This is a strange sounding phrase, for it pictures us, as the riches of his glorious inheritance that Christ receives. Us? His riches? Yes! That is part of the picture we need to understand, that God views us, as the worksmanship, the craftsmanship, of Christ Jesus! That is the phrase in the next chapter of Ephesians, verse 10. We are His – that is, God’s – worksmanship – created in Christ Jesus, for good works, that He has prepared for us from beforehand!
That works into the next phrase, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.
Imagine a 1800’s era goldsmith, who takes a hunk of gold, recently mined, or perhaps, just melted from something that has been crushed. It is full of impurities, and is ugly, and without any perceivable value. The goldsmith takes gold and heats it and purifies it – ridding the metal of impurities, and then crafts it into a piece that is of great beauty and worth.
That is the incredible work of the God, in our lives. The Holy Spirit, taking away the impurities of our sin, and doubt, and giving us life. In my case, I can’t imagine the power necessary to turn my life, into something labeled the work of a craftsman. And yet, God does this in all of our lives, calling us to faith, to the hope of a relationship with Him. Refining us daily, yet never letting us alone.
What power?
Same that raised Christ from the dead
Same that put him above all
As I look at this passage, I find the answer to the “so what” question about the ascension. For it is in the ascension, that we find assurance of the power at work in us, and our eternal fate. For the power at work in us, the passage says,
“20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
That’s the ascension – not Jesus just floating up into the sky, but Him rising from the dead and ascending to His rightful place, the place He held, prior to coming here with the mission to glorify the Father, by saving us. The Father then restores Him to His rightful place, seated at His right hand. Where again, He works on our behalf.
Remember – no one sat in a King’s or Emperor’s presence back then, unless there was some reason. The heir, or the parent, or someone given special honor. Christ has been given all power, in words that are incredible in their description, and yet, perhaps only give us the briefest glimpse…
He ascends to receive all power, all authority. He ascends to a place where no one is comparable with Him, and that is not all… for the Father gives Him His inheritace,
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The very same power that works in Christ, to do all this, to raise Him from the dead, to cause Him to ascend to heaven, and inherit all the power and authority, including authority over us. That power is at work in us, recreating us, in our baptism, in the strengthening of our faith through word and sacrament. Through the very presence of God here, now.
The nature of my “so what”, my plea, in the light of the various traumatic experiences of this last week, to find meaning in the ascension, is answered in the very thing Paul wants us to know.
That the Father raised Christ from the dead, and raised Him to heaven, and installed Him above everything, and made Him our head, our leader, our Good Shepherd. That same power, which accomplished all of that, is at work in our lives, it is what calls us to our hope in Christ – a hope that we have been taken, from hopeless, rough, impure, sinners, and re-create as children of God. With our impurities washed away, found righteous in Christ, and welcome to celebrate at the wedding feast of the Lamb of God.
So live in the incredible joy and peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. The peace which guards our hearts and minds, in the midst of this world and its trauma. For we are in Christ Jesus. AMEN? AMEN.
