5.16.21 Ephesians 4:7–16
7 But to each one of us grace was given, according to the measure of the gift from Christ. 8 That is why it says, “When he ascended on high, he took captivity captive and gave gifts to his people.” 9 Now what does it mean when it says “he ascended,” other than that he also had descended to the lower parts, namely, the earth? 10 He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. 11 He himself gave the apostles, as well as the prophets, as well as the evangelists, as well as the pastors and teachers, 12 for the purpose of training the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up the body of Christ. 13 This is to continue until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, resulting in a mature man with a stature reaching to the measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 The goal is that we would no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, when people use tricks and invent clever ways to lead us astray. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body, being joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows in accordance with Christ’s activity when he measured out each individual part. He causes the growth of the body so that it builds itself up in love.
It won’t be too long and we’ll be celebrating the 4th of July again, a time where people look up in the sky and wait for things to blow up in a beautiful way. I’ve always been somewhat of a grinch when it comes to fireworks. It seems like a waste of money, and fireworks freak my dog out too. We’ve been to one firework show at Bay city, and that’s enough for me. Maybe that’s how some look at the ascension of Jesus as well. What’s the big deal? Is this nothing more than a fireworks show? Watch a guy fly through the air? “Oooh. Ahhh. Ok, let’s go home.” Or is there more to it than that? Well, the short answer is “yes, there is more to it than that.” Paul writes about its importance in today’s text.
I Believe that Because He Can Fly, I Can Fly
Paul first of all reminds us WHO is floating in the air. He writes, “He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens.” Jesus isn’t just some Elon Musk who learned how to fly or figured out how to build a spaceship and escape this world. God chose to come into His world, that WE ruined, to save us. Many parents probably tried to talk their children OUT of going to Vietnam or Afghanistan or Iraq to fight a war they didn’t believe in. They didn’t think it worth the possible sacrifice. God felt it worth the sacrifice to come here.
Prior to the time of Jesus’ birth, there was one special way that He maintained His special presence within the Israelite community, hidden and yet present. God had the Ark of the Covenant built, and he chose to specially dwell in between or hovering just over the angels that were on top of the Ark when it was in the Most Holy Place. So God performed some neat miracles with the Ark. The Israelites saw the Jordan River split in two and the walls of Jericho come tumbling down when they had the Ark.
The problem was that when they finally entered the Promised Land, the Israelites used the Ark as a good luck charm of sorts. They brought it into battle and thought, “As long as we have the Ark with us, (apart from the God who called them to repent), we will win.” So God had to allow the Ark to be captured by the Philistines while it was in Shiloh in order to rid them of that idea and also to call them to repentance. Eventually, the LORD put a curse on the Philistines, so they felt compelled to return the Ark without the Israelites having to fight for it. Finally, after making sacrifices and seeking counsel, David was able to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, which ended up being the capital of Israel for a time. The Bible said that David was dancing in front of the Ark and celebrating! It was a huge deal!
But that wasn’t all! David laid everything out for a more permanent temple to be built. He collected the finest of offerings from the people in order to build the temple. Once Solomon took over for David, he built the temple. The most talented craftsmen put time and effort into building a beautiful building. This was the pinnacle and fulfilment of everything that God had promised up to this point. He had conquested the Promised Land and firmly established Himself there. It was like the planting of the flag on Iwo Jima.
Every time that the Israelites went to Jerusalem, they referred to it as going UP to Jerusalem. There are Psalms of “ascent” that the Israelites would sing on the way up to Jerusalem for the three major festivals. It wasn’t that it was necessarily higher than everyplace else in Israel. But it was going UP in a spiritual sense. Jerusalem was in fact, built on a hill. Elijah returned to Mt. Horeb in order to find God when he was being chased by Jezebel. Now the people could run UP to Jerusalem to find God at the temple. Everything was as God designed it, the Israelites were living in Israel, and God was dwelling right in the middle of them, up in Jerusalem.
The reason I mention all of this history is because of Psalm 69. It is the Psalm that Paul quotes when he is talking to the Ephesians about the Ascension of Jesus. When Jesus ascended up into heaven, it was similar to when God ascended to Jerusalem. But now God hadn’t just conquered the Promised Land, now God conquered the earth along with all of the enemies that stood in His way: sin, death and the devil. How did He do it? He took captivity captive. He took on the punishment of sin on the cross and captured it by dying under God’s wrath for it. He conquered the grave by coming out of it. He gave Satan nothing to accuse us of as our defense attorney and our substitute.
Before we go any further, let’s remember that God had to come here and do this for us. We couldn’t rescue ourselves. We would have ended up in hell, with no hope, had Jesus not come down here to rescue us from our sins. It’s amazingly blind how so many people live as if God never had to enter this world. It’s a shame that so many who were brought up to know Jesus now treat Him more like an intrusion on their lives instead of the reason for life. God forgive us for taking this story for granted!
Now back to the story. In the original building of the temple. God received gifts FROM His people in which to build the temple. But now the direction has changed if you listen to what Paul says. Instead of RECEIVING gifts from His people to build the temple, when Jesus ascended He GAVE gifts in order to build a different temple, not built by hands but built by the Holy Spirit, a temple of faith built in the heart. So it’s like the Ascension becomes for us almost like a heavenly type of Santa Clause. Jesus ascends to heaven and now He’s got plenty of gifts to give, gifts that He has earned through His work here on earth. What are they? They aren’t health and wealth. They aren’t success and power, new iphones or cars. They are deeper than that. They are forgiveness of sins! Life! Salvation! Free for all, given through faith!
How does this happen? Listen again. He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. That’s quite the statement! What does that mean?
When you look at Creation, John tells us, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (1:3-4) I see that everything that EXISTS is through Jesus, first of all. Everything is His in reality. This isn’t my body. It’s God’s.
Secondly, when you read the Bible, Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39) When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to come at Pentecost, He also said, “He will testify about me.” Everything in the Bible is about Jesus too!
Here’s another point. Paul wrote that when you are baptized, you are actually baptized into Christ, buried with Him into His death and raised with Him in the resurrection. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus gives you His own body and blood. Paul repeated the same thing. Why would Jesus be so personally and physically present in the Lord’s Supper? For the forgiveness of sins. So Jesus is the center of everything that gives us LIFE!
So it’s interesting how this works. Usually when someone leaves they do it to get AWAY from you. In this case, Jesus leaves in order that He can come TO us and GIVE us HIMSELF, and so also give us His gifts of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
Jesus’ Ascension lifts Jesus above and beyond us, so that He is not limited by time and space. He’s in another dimension, ruling this world, captivating it, taking portions of it over with His grace. Here’s another goofy illustration. I used to play a game called Age of Empires a LOT when I was first in the ministry. I would be up until like three in the morning, and after a few weeks I realized, “I need to stop playing this!” Anyway, it is addicting because you are put in charge of civilizations. You direct builders and soldiers with a click of a button. A part of this game is fighting and destroying the enemy. But that’s not all. One of the more intriguing aspects to this game is that you can use an army of monks to cast spells on enemy soldiers and war units to convert them to the other side. So they change from one color to another, from an enemy to an ally, after a few seconds of monk attacks. When Jesus gives “gifts” to His church, isn’t this a part of it? It’s not captivating only in the sense of destruction, getting rid of sin, death and the devil. It’s also converting!
Think of Paul, who was an enemy of the church. He was publicly hunting down Christians and putting them in prison. But Jesus stepped into Paul’s way, came into his world, and confronted him on the way to Damascus. Jesus turned Paul turned from enemy #1 into the greatest ally of the church, the greatest evangelist the New Testament church has ever had. Isn’t this what Jesus has been doing as our resurrected AND ASCENDED Lord now and until the end of time? Listen again to how PAUL says it, “When he ascended on high, he took captivity captive and gave gifts to his people.” . . . 11 He himself gave the apostles, as well as the prophets, as well as the evangelists, as well as the pastors and teachers
Now Jesus, ascended into heaven, has chosen to work THROUGH pastors and teachers, evangelists, prophets and apostles, to captivate the world through the WORD. 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, “thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” We have this powerful fragrance of grace, of Jesus, which wafts through the Gospel in the Word and the Sacrament. Jesus chooses to conquer hearts as we preach and teach and administer the sacraments. This is THE FUNDAMENTAL calling of every Lutheran pastor, to rightly administer the Gospel in Word and sacraments. This is what you are called on to use with your children and your neighbors and friends as you reach out to them too! Without that, there is no power and there is no kingdom.
But with that, there is power and there is growth. The whole body grows. You learn the Bible well. You know truth from error, so that you’re not so easily led astray. You support each other, so that I as a pastor don’t need to be the only one running here and there trying to keep the ship running.
You can see it working through the coronavirus. Many are scattered and scared. But the elders of the church and the deacons of the church have been stepping up and calling on people, helping the pastors to reach out and keep us connected and together, so that we aren’t overwhelmed with fear and loneliness. This is how it’s supposed to work! Paul writes,
speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body, being joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows in accordance with Christ’s activity when he measured out each individual part. He causes the growth of the body so that it builds itself up in love.
Notice how he says that? The body BUILDS ITSELF up in love. So you also are receiving gifts from the ascended Lord, making you strong, as you make use of the love that you have in Jesus in the way you love each other. None of this would be able to happen if Jesus didn’t ascend into heaven and give us His gifts!
When Michael Jordan was at the height of his popularity, he starred in a movie called Space Jam. In it there was a song that went, “I believe I can fly,” if I remember correctly. His athletic ability and his shoes inspired many young boys and girls to think they too could be “like Mike” if they had his shoes or bought Gatorade. It wasn’t true. Michael couldn’t fly, and most people can’t jump like Mike even with Air Jordans.
Today, as we celebrate the Ascension, we see Jesus fly right up and beyond the heavens. What does that mean for us? It’s so much more than a fireworks display! It means that Jesus broke the boundaries of this world. He conquered it, for us! And now He is ruling, giving out different gifts, all connected to HIM. His gifts aren’t tennis shoes and Gatorade. His gifts are forgiveness of sins, life and salvation through HIS death and resurrection, through His Word and sacrament.
Paul promises us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17,
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
I believe that because He can fly, so can I, and I look forward to that Final Day! Amen.
