Sermon
for Ascension, May 9, 2024
Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind. Amen.
Ephesians 4:7-16 7But to each one of us grace
was given, according to the measure of the gift from Christ. 8That is why it says, “When he
ascended on high, he took captivity captive and gave gifts to his people.” 9Now what does it mean when it
says, “he ascended,” other than that he also had descended to the lower parts,
namely, the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so
that he would fill all things. 11He
himself gave the apostles, as well as the prophets, as well as the evangelists,
as well as the pastors and teachers, 12for the purpose of training
the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up the body of
Christ. 13This 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. 14The
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. 15Instead,
speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is
the head. 16From 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. (EHV)
Christ ascended that His body, the Church,
would be built up.
Dear children of the
living God,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.” (Luke 2:14) So sang the angels in the sky after Jesus’
birth, which is quite similar to what they sing around the throne of God with
Jesus ascended to heaven, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” (Revelation
5:12) These two passages more or less
bookend the story of our Lord Jesus.
Sadly, it
is not a surprise that many churches won’t celebrate this day, so why do we
celebrate Christ’s Ascension? We
celebrate as the ancient church celebrated Jesus’ ascension because it marks
Christ’s return to His Father’s side where He is given authority to rule all
things in heaven and earth for our everlasting good. We celebrate because Christ
ascended that His body, the Church, would be built up.
At His
ascension, we celebrate that Jesus has completed all the work He needed to do
as a Man on earth. “It is finished!”
just as He said. (John 19:30) Every law
was fulfilled. With every prophecy
concerning the promised Messiah completed, Jesus had lived in perfect obedience
and in perfect harmony with His Father’s will, so that you and I and all people
could be counted righteous in God’s sight.
Then, so that no sin could taint our souls before God, and so that the
devil could no longer accuse any person of sin before God, Jesus paid the price
for us all with His innocent blood shed on a cross, making that cross the altar
upon which the Lamb of God, the only Lamb without blemish, gave up His life and
His blood so that you and I are now marked as God’s possession no longer
subject to the punishments reserved for the devil and his hoard. All this we celebrate at the Ascension.
The
disciples who followed Jesus those last three years of His earthly life, grieved
much at the message that He would soon die, and they were terrified when His
arrest happened and they saw the devastating, cruel treatment Jesus endured as
He gave up His life to save us. Yet,
Jesus had forewarned them about what was to come, and in His forecast, He also
promised a great blessing for you and me.
He said, “If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to
you. But if I go, I will send him to
you. When he comes, he will convict the
world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: about sin, because
they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the
Father and you will no longer see me; about judgment, because the ruler of this
world has been condemned.” (John 16:7-11)
In our text
this evening, St. Paul wrote, “When he ascended on high, he took captivity
captive and gave gifts to his people.”
Without Christ and all He has done for us, mankind would be captive to
the devil’s whims and the curse of sin.
However, Jesus eliminated that disastrous end for all who believe in
Him. The devil couldn’t tempt Jesus to
sin. The grave couldn’t hold Jesus after
He laid down His life to pay the debt we each owed for sin. The victory is complete, but you and I and
all people needed to learn of this good news, and we needed to be brought to
faith in Jesus to enjoy His victory.
That is why Jesus returned to heaven.
From there, at His Father’s side, Jesus rules all things, and the Holy
Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to work the transformation of our
lives.
Paul
confirms that Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to win the
victory for us. He confirms that Jesus
has always existed as the Son of God and therefore came down from heaven for
the express purpose of winning our release from Satan’s chains. At the same time, because Jesus is at His
Father’s side in heaven, He provides us with the people who will carry out His
will to share the Holy Spirit’s work with the world. First, it was prophets, evangelists, and
apostles carrying the message of forgiveness and salvation to a world lost in
sin. Today, it is missionaries, pastors,
and teachers who the Holy Spirit empowers and equips to provide us with the
message of salvation.
All of
this is given and directed from above so that you and I are washed clean of our
guilt in Baptism, as we hear the Good News of all Jesus has done on our behalf,
and the Holy Spirit works through the message to give us new hearts of flesh in
place of the stone-dead hearts of our birth in sin.
In our
world today, it certainly isn’t hard to find conflict. Even within the various branches of the
Christian Church, there is far too much disagreement about the doctrines
Scripture proclaims. Needless to say,
that is not what the Lord has intended for us.
The Holy Spirit remains at work through the Word to bring those who
believe in Jesus into perfect harmony.
That perfect harmony, however, comes not here on earth, but in our
eternal home above. Thus, with that
goal, the Spirit continues His work among us, as Paul writes, “for the
purpose of training the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up
the body of Christ. 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.”
In this
world, there is much to trouble us.
There is danger on every side, enemies seeking to harm us both body and
soul. Sin still influences much of what
happens in this world, for many still do not believe in the Savior God sent to
help us. You and I would not survive
without God’s help, without Jesus’ help, without the Spirit’s help. However, Jesus ascended to heaven so that we
would never be alone in this fight for our lives. Jesus promised, “I will not leave you as
orphans; I am coming to you. In a little
while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my
Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:18-20)
In our
text, Paul assures us that from heaven, Jesus is carrying out this promise,
giving us His Word of grace to sustain, protect, guide, and keep us. “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.” Little children might be easily led astray,
both by false promises and with fears, threats, accusations, and deceptions. But, when the Holy Spirit is working in us,
He is building up both our resistance to the devil’s misleading ways, and by
Christ’s grace is making us unified in salvation.
Through
His chosen speakers on earth, the Lord is at work through the power of His
Spirit, so that, “speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up
into Christ, who is the head.”
Again, it all comes back to Jesus.
He is the source of our forgiveness before God, and He is the source of
our life.
In just a
little over a week, we will celebrate Pentecost, in which we remember God
sending His Spirit upon the disciples after Jesus ascended to heaven. Without the words of assurance from Jesus
Himself, and the Spirit He sends, those early Christians, and you and I, might
face the future with great trepidation and fear, always wondering whether we
would be preserved through all the troubles, hardships, and slips we endure
through our time here on earth.
In
Christ’s ascension, though, we are continually reminded that Jesus is at work
to save us. Here, Paul assures us, “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.” Through the work of Christ and the activity
of the Holy Spirit, we are being joined together as the body of Christ, to be
united with our God and Savior in the marriage feast of the Lamb in heaven when
He returns in all His glory to judge both the living and the dead.
Christ
has made us a holy, and acceptable people to the God who created the world and
everything in it. By the power of the Holy
Spirit working in us, we are prepared to meet our Lord and to dwell with Him
forever. Tonight, we celebrate, because Christ
ascended that His body, the Church, would be built up. God grant that we hear His message, believe
what Jesus has done for us, and rejoice in the grace God has showed us so that
we will never be parted from Him again. To
God alone the glory. Amen.
To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Amen.
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