Acts 1:1-11 * May 1, 2008 * Ascension *
In
the name of Jesus, our risen and ascended and returning Lord, dear friends:
Life
is different for Jesus now. Remember how he was born in a barn in
It’s
a blessing to know that I can wake up every morning and smile because God has forgiven
me for Christ’s sake. I know that. I know what Jesus did for me two thousand
years ago, but what about today? What
about now? What has Jesus done for me
lately?
Life
is different for Jesus now. He’s not
suffering and dying, but living and ruling. He is commanding his angel armies
to protect you from the devil and his demons and their umpteenth attack on your
soul today. He is working in this world
to turn bad into good. And he is making
everything work out for the good of his church, for your good and mine.
Jesus
is also interceding for us. When we sin,
he speaks to the Father on our behalf.
He is our advocate, our defender, our Savior. And in addition to being and doing all those
things Jesus is preparing the place that he has reserved for you in heaven.
If
you were under the impression that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God,
just sitting around and not doing anything else, nothing could be farther from
the truth. He is still at work, but his
work is different now…
LIFE IS DIFFERENT FOR JESUS NOW
I. He rules
II.
He intercedes
III.
He prepares
Luke
wrote the book of Acts to convince his readers that Jesus Christ is the true
Savior and that Jesus’ followers are equipped to face every trial and trouble that
comes their way. No disasters or diseases, no financial hardships or false
teachers, no prisons, no pain, no sickness, no swords, not even sin itself can
overcome believers whose hearts have been transformed by the mysterious and
miraculous working of the Holy Spirit.
With
that goal in mind how did Luke begin the sequel to the gospel that bears his
name? With a detailed description of the
ascension! The Lord had led his followers to a mountaintop, both literally and
figuratively. They had been reunited
with their risen Lord. They were ready
to share his message with the world. And
the disciples had Jesus’ promise that he would always be with them, guiding,
directing, protecting and ruling.
“After his suffering, he
(Jesus) showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was
alive. He appeared to
them over a period of forty days and spoke about the
Jesus
could have suddenly disappeared from their sight, but he didn’t. Jesus could have slowly faded away, but he
didn’t. He ascended. He ascended to let his followers know where
he was going. He ascended to assure us
that he is still in charge. The ascension
was Jesus’ way of making an official entrance onto his heavenly throne where
his foes and your fears are his footstool.
If
you watched the news this week chances are that you saw a story about the price
of gas. Some are predicting that the cost
of a gallon of regular unleaded will top $4.00 a gallon by the end of the
month. Consumers grumble and complain as
they reach deeper into their pockets. We
blame the oil companies and the politicians for causing the spike in
prices. But we are part of the problem
too. Big demand and big vehicles are at
least partially to blame for prices that appear to be spinning out of control.
I
don’t have a problem with people driving cars.
I don’t have a problem with people who are upset about escalating gas prices
(I’m one of them). What I have a problem
with is the phrase “spinning out of control.”
Those words make it sound like nothing can be done. That statement implies that there is no one
in control.
But
we know better. Christians know that God
is in control…of everything. Our
ascended Lord is in control of the war in Iraq and the 2008 presidential
election and the price of gas in Milwaukee County and your health and your
family and your job and everything else that is important to you.
Simply
put, Jesus rules.
He rules the world with truth and grace. He rules like a shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd who always knows and
always does what is best for his sheep. He
loves us so much that he gave up his life to save us from our sins.
But
he didn’t stop there. He rose from the
dead. He appeared to his disciples. He instructed his disciples. And they were probably hoping that Jesus
would stay with them forever. So why
didn’t he? Why didn’t Jesus stay? Why did he leave? Why did he ascend?
Jesus
didn’t ascend into heaven because he needed to take a break. Jesus didn’t ascend so that he could get a
little R & R. Even though his saving
work on earth was complete, he is still working. He is still interested in our lives. He is still active in our lives. And he is ruling over all things for our
good.
Even
though Jesus has visibly ascended into heaven, even though Jesus is no longer
physically present on earth, he hasn’t left us alone. He hasn’t left us to fend for ourselves. He is with us. And he is interceding for us.
Right
before Jesus ascended he promised his disciples that he would take care of them
after he was gone. He told them to wait
for the gift the Father promised, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the miraculous gift
they would receive ten days later on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
How
did Jesus know about this gift? How did
Jesus know about the Father’s promise?
Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus has
a direct line of communication with his Father.
Jesus has a perfect relationship with his Father. And that is a great comfort to us because our
relationship with God is less than perfect.
Sin
separates people from God. Sin erects a
barrier between humanity and God. A holy
and righteous God looks at us and says: “You knew the rules: ‘Obey me and you
will live. Disobey me and you will die.’ You know the difference between right and
wrong, and you still choose to do wrong.
You know that your actions have consequences too. For all the bad things you have done, for all
the good things you haven’t done, you deserve to die.”
We
can’t argue with that. We can’t make
excuses. We can’t make things
better. There is nothing we can do,
nothing we can say to make our sins go away.
But there is someone who can.
There is someone who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ,
the Righteous One (I John 2:1).
He
says: “Father, I know what they have done, but I don’t want you to look at
that. I want you to look at what I have
done. I want you to look at me. I suffered and died for their sins. I sacrificed my life for their sins. And by my perfect life and innocent death I
have paid their debt in full.”
How
many times a day does Jesus have that conversation with his Father? How much of his time does Jesus spend
interceding for us? If you think about
how often you sin, you might come to the conclusion that Jesus doesn’t have
time for anything else. But he does. In addition to this important work, in
addition to his work of ruling and interceding, he is also preparing.
When
Jesus ascended his disciples kept staring up at the clouds after he was
gone. In fact, it took a couple of
angels to get them to bring their eyes back down to earth. They said: “Men of
It
sounds like the angels were surprised that the disciples were so surprised. If you read between the lines, it sounds like
the angels were saying: “You guys should know better.” Only a few weeks before Jesus told them that
this was going to happen. In the Upper
Room on Maundy Thursday Jesus told them: “In
my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told
you. I am going there to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where
I am” (John 14:2,3).
Jesus
is preparing places for us in heaven. It’s a promise. It’s a fact, but what does it mean? What is Jesus doing? Is he doing some remodeling? Is he doing some cleaning? Is he making sure that the name on the door of
each room is spelled correctly?
We
don’t know exactly what Jesus is doing to prepare for our arrival in heaven,
but we don’t have to. We don’t have to
worry if there will be enough room for us.
We don’t have to be concerned that God will forget about us. We don’t have to worry about anything because
Jesus has taken care of everything.
The
Hagia Sophia was a Christian church in
Standing
under the great dome and looking straight up, an American tourist noticed that
the figure of Christ with outstretched hands (which had been painted over) was beginning
to show through the wear of the covering paint. He turned to the person next to him and said,
“Look, he’s coming back.”
The
man who said that wasn’t just making an observation. He was making a prediction. He was paraphrasing the angels’ words to the
disciples. He was repeating the same promise
Jesus made to his disciples. And we
remember that promise every time we confess: “He will come again…”
In
the meantime our ascended Lord is still at work. He hasn’t taken early retirement. He isn’t taking a vacation until Judgment
Day. He is ruling over all things for
our good. He is interceding for us
before the Father’s throne of grace. And
he is preparing a place for you and me in heaven. Life is different for Jesus now, and because
it is our lives will never be the same. Amen.