The Praise of the Saints

There has been a genre of television that has been extremely popular, it is reality tv. If anyone has ever watched reality tv the premise is to bring to the audiences unscripted lives and events of those on the show. The idea is for audiences to watch how certain people react in certain situations on a day to day bases. This genre can include anything from a game show style program, to following around real families. Millions of people tune in to watch how the people will treat one another and how they will respond in difficult situation and even how they respond in joyous situations. As Christians if you had a camera crew following you around and video taping your lifestyle what would the show look like? How would the audience see you? Would you be different then you are now or the same? This morning we are going to look at what the Christian’s lifestyle should be like, we will have an understanding of how we react and why we should react in that way.

When it comes to being a Christian, a Holy one of God, there must be a natural response from the Christian. That natural response should be to worship Jesus with great joy and public gratitude for what God has done and is doing and will do. Worship is only and must always be attributed to God and God alone. Worship, true worship, comes from the heart which is an attitude of worship and it is expressed in action, rejoicing and showing gratitude to God. It is an honoring of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of life and all that is in and on the earth. Worship and praise is not a Sunday morning thing, it is an everyday lifestyle.

We are going to see how knowing Jesus as Redeemer and trusting in His promise can lead us to worship and praise of God the Father, Creator, God the Son, Redeemer, and God the Spirit, Sustainer. We are going to see this as we roll up Luke’s first volume on the Holy Spirit’s active work in and through Jesus’ earthly ministry and in two weeks we will open up Luke’s second volume and we will see how the Spirit was active in and through the Apostels to bring about the Church. My prayer for all of us this morning as we roll up this scroll is to have an attitude and actions that are evident in the apostles in these last four verses. I pray we can be like these men and women and our praise of the Savior will be obvious to all those around us. Let’s go ahead and take a look at The Praise of the Saints.

The Praise of the Saints

We find this response at the very end of Luke’s gospel account of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In Luke 24:50-53, Luke provides a summary statement of Jesus’ ascension. This as we know from Acts 1 happens 40 days after the resurrection. So for forty days we have Jesus coming and going and teaching, instructing and eating with His disciples. As we saw last week Jesus has also commissioned His disciples to be His witnesses and they are to wait to be clothed with power from on High. We saw last week this being clothed with power from on High is the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is the One who will lead these men to proclaim the gospel with power and strengthen the church and be a testimony to God and the finished work of Jesus Christ. He was not only promised by Jesus but also promised by God in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we have the passed instruction, and we have present understanding of the passed instruction and that we can trust in His present office, His powerful indwelling of the saints. Now Jesus has commissioned these men and as we look this morning these men are going to be moved by what Jesus has done and they will be moved to worship Jesus and publically praise God. Let’s go ahead and take a look at The Praise of the Saints. We find this in Luke 24:50-53.

Luke 24:50–53 NASB95

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.

As I have just told you Luke is summarizing the events of Jesus’ post resurrection instructions and now we have arrived at the summary of Jesus’ very last moment with His disciples. Only Luke records for us the ascension, no other gospel writer does this and Luke provides it twice, the summary here and his extended ascension narrative in his second volume the book of Acts. Now as we close this chapter we first see here in verse 50 that Jesus is leading His disciples out as far as Bethany. It is funny here in Luke’s telescopic view he provides a very specific location which is the town of city of Bethany which is located on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. In the book of Acts Luke only provides a general location of the Mount of Olives. There is absolutely no reason to see this as an inconsistency because the two location overlap and even more so then this Luke is here closing the chapter on Jesus’ earthly ministry and in Acts he is opening the chapter on the apostles going fourth as the witnesses to the events they saw and took part in.

Luke tells us here in verse 50; “And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.” This ties our study last week with what we are looking at this week. Jesus is blessing the saints, or as The Saints are Blessed.

Blessing the Saints

The Saints as the term is used in Scripture means ‘Holy Ones.’ The men and women of the Hebrew Scriptures who were faithful servants of God are called Saints and these men and women here are also called saints and this also goes for us here. If we have come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior and placed our faith in His finished work on the cross then we are also saints, ‘Holy Ones’ of God. So Jesus is here blessing the Saints. Jesus was providing a benediction of sorts here. We saw that He has commissioned these men by telling them to wait until they are clothed with power from on High. This is the same thing. If we take these last two passage as two different times Jesus provided a great commission it would make sense He would be providing a blessing at His ascension. Jesus taught many times the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit and now as He is about to go and be with the Father and take His seat at God right hand He in His last words and His last action provides the invocation these men need. The blessing is a sealing of sorts of the commissioning of the disciples.

This actually becomes common place in the New Testament church. This is a charge to the men and women of the church in the fact that they are about to be His servants and they are about to continue the work of the gospel. Jesus provides for them a parting word a divine charge to serve Him and to serve God. He is also placing on them a blessing from God, a looking forward to the fact that God will guide them and lead the success of His call upon their lives. Luke here doesn’t provide any words from Jesus in this event it is not about what Jesus is saying to them it is a changing of the guard so to speak. Jesus is going to go be with the Father and sit on the throne, the apostles with the power of the Spirit will take up the mantle of continuing the work Jesus began and this is in a sense confirming for the apostles that God will cause them to prosper.

Do you consider yourself a saint?

If you consider yourself a saint what makes you a saint, if you don’t why not?

So here Jesus is commissioning these men and He is providing them with an encouraging benediction and as He is doing this we see that He departs from them. Verse 51 says this; “While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” The blessing, the benediction Jesus is providing happens at the same time as He is departing from their sight. There is a difference here from the other times we have Jesus come and go, when He would vanish and pop in out of nowhere. The difference is the finality of His present departure. Each of the other times He only disappeared from sight this time He is not just disappearing from sight but He is moving from this present world as we know it to be with the Father in Heaven. His present work is now complete and as He moves from the earth to heaven providing a divine benediction on His disciples there is a close to one chapter of God’s active work in the world and the beginning of a new chapter of God’s active work in the world. Jesus is blessing these saints and the reaction of the saints is dramatically different then what we have seen through out not only chapter 24 but through out all of the Gospel of Luke. The Saints for the first time have offered something to Jesus that He absolutely deserves but wasn’t fully recognized until this moment. The saints offer Jesus worship.

The Saints Offer Worship

Verse 52, “And they, after worshiping Him.” This is the first time Jesus has ever received worship. Worship has always been reserved for God and God alone. Now these men fall on their knees and worship the Lord Jesus. They finally recognize as Jesus is ascending to heaven His true and mighty power, He is God. The word that is used here for worship is the word proskyneo, which we derive our English word prostrate from the Latin transliteration of the Greek. The idea when it comes to the word in the New Testament being used of worship it always carries the idea of bowing down. It even is used of Jesus and God. There are two instances where worship is wrongly attributed. First in the book of Acts when Peter goes to Cornelius Acts 10.

Acts 10:25–26 NASB95

When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am just a man.”

Cornelius begins to attribute homage to Peter and the way in which He does this is by falling on his knees at the feet of Peter. Peter doesn’t accept this homage because he knows he doesn’t deserve it. Then there is an instance in the book of Revelation;

Revelation 19:10 NASB95

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

See John was taken back by what the angel had said to him to write in the letter and as he fell to the ground at the feet of the angel the angel refused the worship. The angel, like Peter knows very well he didn’t deserve worship, honor and adoration. He is a created being just like John is, just like Peter, and just like you and I. The only One who deserves adoration and honor is the God head, God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The disciples for the first time realize exactly who Jesus is.

Yes I know Peter provided that amazing confession of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the Living God but even though the Spirit moved Him to say this it didn’t mean the disciples truly understood the depth and the brevity of what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God. For Jesus to be the Son of God, it means He is God. Every part and essence of God is in Jesus and vice versa. These men now see Jesus for who He has always been, God. As He is being raised to heaven on a cloud never the less, they bow to the ground and pay homage to Jesus. Jesus never tells them not to worship in fact while they are worshipping Him He is blessing them.

Do you honor and worship Jesus because He is God?

This is a big deal because if you know the Jewish law you know that the only one they are to worship is God. They would take this seriously. I know and understand if you read through out the Hebrew Scriptures there are times they would bow down to foreign God’s but in this instance as we look at this gospel written by a Jewish man who is providing as accurate account as he can and being divinely inspired we find these disciples worshiping Jesus being He is God.

Then as Luke continues this great summary of Jesus’ ascension we find these men after they bowed to the ground recognizing exactly who Jesus is they returned to Jerusalem. Jesus departs from their sight and now remember when Jesus died and was buried they were all grieving His death. That is the emotion human’s feel when they loose someone close to them. It is the reaction people have when there is death and it should be our reaction because death isn’t natural, it is a part of the curse that was brought on this world and on mankind because of sin, disobeying God’s direct command. Now there should be grief at death. The thing is in Jesus’ death it was a cause for mourning, not so much that He died because He repeatedly told them He would rise again on the third day. It was a cause for mourning for why He died. He died to take the place of all humanity, to take the punishment for the death we all deserve.

The grief the disciples felt the sorrow they had was not because of the reason why Jesus died but it was because they had believed He had departed from them. When they should have remembered His words they then should have had hope He would rise again but they didn’t and they were hopeless and sorrowful. Now as they watch Jesus depart from this world on a cloud they recognize His power and majesty and they offer Him the honor and adoration He deserves as Redeemer and King and their hearts now are no longer filled with hopeless sorrow but ‘great joy.’

There is a contrast here between the attitudes of the disciples now and the attitudes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. If you recall when the men were on the road to Emmaus they were discussing the events of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and death and even the news of the resurrection. Jesus, veiled, appears before them and asks them what they were talking about and remember the response.

Luke 24:17 NASB95

And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad.

They looked sad, they were hopeless, still not understanding what had happened to Jesus, they were grieving His death and now wondering, ‘what do we do.’ Now as Jesus is ascending to heaven their demeanor is different, because they see Him for who He is, God. So they offer Him the worship He is do and they also depart from Bethany with ‘great joy.’ They have seen their risen Savior and they have been commissioned by Him and they have watched Him go up. This time Jesus didn’t just vanish out of sight, their eyes watched Him arise. The events of what happened on the day He was crucified now making more sense in their minds and hearts still it would take a little time before they could go out and serve but the fact remains they were not sad their savior had departed but they were returning with ‘great joy.’

Does the thought of Jesus ascending into heaven bring you ‘great joy?’

Listen they weren’t just returning to Jerusalem smiling with warm fuzzy feeling. I picture these men walking back with a spring in their step and a song of praise on their lips. For those of you who first fell in love with your spouses think back to when you were first dating them and the joy you had when you realized that was the person for you. Or maybe think about when your child or children were born how overwhelmingly joyous that was. I guarantee those wonderful joyous moments of our lives pail in comparison to what these men were feeling at this moment as they are walking back to the temple. They say with their own eyes the Lord go up to take His place with the Father, physically saw it. It wasn’t until their eyes were opened that they were able to see this and now that they did they are overjoyed at what they saw. To the point they didn’t contain it or hide the gratitude not just for the privilege to be apart of this event but for what this event means God is at work and they have just spent the passed three in a half years with God in the flesh. Now Luke doesn’t just end the gospel with a simple they returned overjoyed which he could have and that would have been enough to end the book. No instead Luke ends with something amazing, he brings his gospel full circle and in doing so he shows us that the saints are to offer public praise.

The Saints Offer Public Gratitude

Let’s take a look at verse 53. Luke continues here and writes, “and were continually in the temple praising God.” They didn’t just go back to Jerusalem they went to the temple, the center of Jewish worship. This is where Jesus has spent His last week, each day going to the temple and teaching. This is considered the dwelling place of God and this is where they went. Jerusalem is the epicenter of Israelite worship meaning Israelites were continually going their to worship especially on major holidays such as the passover and the holiday coming up, Pentecost. So there were many Jewish people going in and out and the religious leaders were their as well. It was a very public place. The idea here is they were in the temple day and night, worshiping and praising God. What a sight, these fishermen, tax collectors and prostitutes, the dregs of society in the temple continually praising God. Now think about this these are the men and women whom the religious leaders of the day would say are not worthy of God. They would say these people would be going to hell and have no place in God’s kingdom because well they just were not righteous people. Yet, here they are in the temple praising God.

This was not the case prior to the ascension. In John’s gospel look at what we find in John 20:19.

John 20:19 NASB95

So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Do you notice they are in the upper room and John tells us why they are in the upper room. They have the doors shut, the idea is they were locked. They were cowering in fear especially at night because of the Jews. They were afraid of them. Now if you look at this text this is before Jesus ascension, Luke in fact has this event on the very same day as the resurrection. These men were afraid, but now look. They are out in the public eye, in the temple no less and they are publicly praising God. Their fears have been relieved and sorrow has been taken away and now they praise God because of the hope they have found in the mercy and grace Jesus has demonstrated for us on the cross.

Luke as I said brings his account of the life of Jesus Christ full circle. Luke’s gospel opens with temple worship and praise. In Luke 1 we find Zachariah the priest who goes into the temple,

Luke 1:8–17 NASB95

Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

When I first studied this passage and I came to the verse concerning the petition being heard the context was very clear to me the petition is wanting a child. Now after studying the entire gospel in depth I believe the petition was deeper then having a child. The child was a means to answering the true petition. The nation was looking for hope, they were seeking the Messiah. Zechariah is in the temple performing his priestly service and a part of this priestly service is to ask for the ‘redemption of Isreal.’ The angel tells Zechariah your prayer has been answered and not only is the ‘redeemer’ coming but the one who will usher in the coming of the Redeemer is your son John.

The rest of Luke’s gospel points to the Redeemer and unfolds the mercy, grace, love, compassion and hope the Redeemer has brought to the nation of Israel. Now we see this story has come full circle because the hope Zechariah was praying for has come and the disciples who just witnessed Jesus return to heaven are in the temple, the same temple as Zechariah, praising God publically because they have seen the hope and they have been commissioned by Jesus to be instrumental in spreading word of this hope. Zechariah was frightened and unsure of what God was doing. The contrast is these men return to the temple overjoyed because of what God has done and anticipating what God will do in the near future. They don’t know what it will be or how God is going to use them or how people are going to treat them, but they know it is God will for them and they are grateful God has shown Himself and demonstrated such grace and mercy. They have hope in what God has done, what God is doing and what God will do.

The hope they have in the ascension has everything to do with the hope of Jesus’ future coming. Luke in his longer account of the ascension of Jesus says this.

Acts 1:9–11 NASB95

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

So here we have it they have been provided the hope of Jesus’ return and they are grateful in His having come and grateful that He will come again.

This is the attitude everyone should have if they have been transformed by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. Christians have place their faith in Christ and in so doing you have placed you hope in His finished work on the cross. Jesus has, not verbally mind you blessed, but we have been blessed never the less to be called His Holy Ones. If we have been called His holy ones we should have a constant practice of worshiping Jesus with great joy for His calling us and we should be continually thankful to God for the hope He has placed in our hearts and the hope we have in Jesus’ future return.

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