The Ascension
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This morning marks the end of our time in the Gospel of Luke.
This morning marks the end of our time in the Gospel of Luke.
This is the 143 sermon from Luke and it is the end of it.
Please open your Bible’s the very end of Luke’s Gospel, .
This morning we come to the very end of our
Read Luke 24:50-53
Don’t read this line - Looking forward with joy
Don’t read this line - Looking forward with joy
Hold up the advent calendar.
As you go through each ring, rip it off.
There is joy in looking forward to something.
Do you remember making these for Christmas?
This is an advent calendar.
Each ring represents a day of the week.
And at the end of the day, you tear off one of the rings, meaning you are one step closer to the big day.
The advent calendar was a display of a child’s joy towards Christmas.
Then there was Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas.
I believe Christmas Eve is the night of a child’s worst sleep.
Because he’s so excited for the next morning.
Presents, stockings and goodies throughout the day.
As a child I loved tearing off each ring.
It meant I was closer to that glorious morning.
Here we are at the very end of Luke.
Luke doesn’t give us a timeline.
I still look forward to Christmas.
But we are about 40 days after the resurrection of Christ.
Luke says we are in Bethany.
In Luke’s follow up book, Acts, we learn that they are on the Mount of Olives.
The two are very close.
So close that if you say you were going to Bethany, you were going to the Mount of Olives as well.
The last time we saw the disciples, they were moping around.
Jesus was resurrected, but they weren’t believing.
On Easter morning, women returned from the tomb and told the disciples that Jesus was a live, and remember what they said?
They said it was an idle tale, make believe.
But now there is something different going on, there is joy.
This is something they are looking forward to.
Jesus blesses His disciples, and then all of a sudden, Luke says He was carried up into heaven.
He just went into the sky and left them.
In , a book also written by Luke, he gives a little more information.
You heard Richard read about it this morning at the start of our service.
says, “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
He was lifted up and went into the clouds and then was gone.
He was physically in the presence of the disciples.
Went up and then somehow went into the presence of God, to sit at His right hand side.
This isn’t the first time something like this happened.
Remember the prophet Elijah?
How did he go to heaven?
In chariots of fire.
The ultimate Uber came and picked him and he was seen no more.
What I’d like you to see though is the response of Jesus’ disciples.
Think for a moment of a goodbye.
Goodbye’s are awful.
My nephew Nathaniel can’t stand goodbyes.
Jesus is a priest
Jesus is a priest
He hates the word goodbye.
Just saying it makes him cry.
Think of a goodbye where you are never going to see that person again.
This might happen at an airport.
Before a move.
On a vacation.
In a hospital.
It’s not really a goodbye, it’s final, and it hurts.
These disciples are never going to see Jesus again.
For 40 days He would appear and spend some time with them.
But this is it.
He’s going up into the clouds.
This is a final goodbye.
Yet we don’t see tears, and we don’t read of crying.
Their lives will forever change after this moment.
They won’t have Jesus in their presence to protect them in quite the same way anymore.
Their lives will forever be on the line.
The world will hate them.
Yet, they don’t respond with tears or in fear.
In the end of John’s gospel, Peter is told that he will be crucified.
Tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down, because he didn’t want to take the honor of dying like Christ.
John was boiled alive.
One by one these disciples would die for following Christ.
Yet, we see an attitude of joy.
They are like a child, tearing off the rings from an advent calendar.
It’s as if they are actually looking forward to something.
Jesus leaves, and in verse 52 it says they worshiped him and returned with great joy.
They then went to the temple and blessed God.
Their actions are the the result of Jesus being the object of our affections.
A child looks forward to Christmas morning.
Each day is one of joy, because they are one step closer to that wonderful morning.
The disciples are filled with joy because Jesus is the object of their affection.
When Jesus is the object of our affections, then He becomes the object and the source of our joy.
He is Who our joy is for, and He is Who our joy comes from.
So that is what we are going to do this morning, we will look to Christ, and in the process discover the same joy that the disciples had.
This is about joy.
Do you want joy?
I’m sure you do.
But this isn’t the power of positive thinking, nor is it 12 steps to a happy life.
This is simply, and I mean simply, simply looking to Jesus.
Looking with anticipation.
Because that’s what the disciples did.
They watched Jesus go, but they were looking forward to something with joy.
This morning we will look at 5 reasons to have joy because Christ ascended to the Father.
The first reason for joy is because with Jesus leaving He will send the Holy Spirit.
The first reason for joy is because with Jesus leaving He will send the Holy Spirit.
Back in , Jesus told the disciples that He was going away.
And understandably they were sad.
But His leaving is not an abandonment.
He will be sending the Holy Spirit.
He says in , “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Don’t be troubled.
But then in Jesus says, “Peace
Don’t be afraid.
“I am leaving. But don’t be troubled. Don’t be sad.”
Then in , again Jesus had told the disciples that He was going away.
He told them of this hour, when He would leave.
And their response was they became sad.
says that sorrow had filled their hearts.
They weren’t ready to say goodbye.
As great as it was for Jesus to be present with them, Jesus had an even greater promise of intimacy for them.
Let me say it another way, we want to be close to Jesus right?
People always talk about wanting to be close to God.
Jesus has the best plan for us to be close to Him.
In He says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away,” - let me just stop right there. It’s for your advantage if He goes away, - “for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
Jesus must go so that He could send the Holy Spirit.
Now here’s the advantage.
In doing so, the believer then becomes the Temple of God.
That’s how Paul describes the believer.
I Corinthians He says you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
And in He says you are a temple of the living God.
You don’t become God.
But God the Spirit dwells in you.
They loved the intimacy that they had with Jesus.
Face to face conversations.
Meals together.
That’s a close relationship.
But the Spirit being in us is even closer.
Have you ever tried to say something very personal, and very emotional and you didn’t have the words to say it?
I have a hard time saying how I really feel.
When it comes to me and my most personal feelings, I struggle.
Doesn’t matter who I’m talking to.
Sometimes I just start crying, because I don’t know how to say it.
Now let’s say you are having a conversation with God.
Jesus is in front of you.
You want to say something, but you have a hard time putting those words into speech.
If the Spirit is in you, He knows your heart, He knows your feelings, He knows you better than you know yourself.
Maybe you’re like me and you have a hard time putting into words what you think.
The Spirit can put into words exactly what you want to say.
says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
The presence of the Holy Spirit makes our relationship to Christ even closer.
Because He enables us to pray, and to pray in the most honest way possible.
And the Spirit will never leave.
Goodbyes are hard.
Because you know the person is gone.
The disciples don’t show sadness, because they know that even though Jesus is physically leaving, they are still connected to Him.
Paul calls the Holy Spirit, “The Spirit of Christ”
In Paul says that if the Holy Spirit is in you then Christ is in you.
Jesus is not abandoning them, nor has He abandoned you.
If you are a believer and the Spirit is in you, you are never alone.
You may feel disconnected from other people, but there is one who is closer than a brother.
You know God.
Isn’t that great?
And the Spirit will never leave you.
says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
I know that there are those who think that you can lose the Spirit or lose your salvation.
What kind of hope is that?
That as long as you perform well Jesus will continue to love you?
If that were true, then the disciples wouldn’t be responding with joy, because there could always be the chance that they would lose their fellowship with Christ.
I’ll tell you what, those who say you can lose your salvation or lose the Spirit are joy robbers.
Jesus has said He will never leave you nor forsake you.
That’s a promise.
And that promise is fulfilled by the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
In that sense, Jesus ascending into heaven is not a goodbye, but it’s a step closer to being close to Christ, because He will send His Spirit.
The second reason for their joy is because Jesus is our High Priest.
The second reason for their joy is because Jesus is our High Priest.
Recently I got a letter from Tesla.
Tesla is who we bought our solar panels for our house from.
Tesla told us that there was an electrical company that was trying to charge solar customers an $80 access fee.
Basically, solar customers and only solar customers would have to pay an extra $80 a month just for the privilege of using the companies electricity.
So Tesla saying that if you don’t want to have this charge, they said to write your congressman and say you don’t want to see this fee put into place.
By writing your congressman, you are writing someone who is in authority who can intercede on your behalf.
Jesus is going, He’s ascending into heaven, to sit at the Father’s right hand side.
And we have a problem.
And that problem is worse than an electrical company charging an access fee.
Our problem is sin.
Your problem is sin.
And the payment that is due for your sin is your life.
If you have sinned, you have earned yourself and eternity in Hell.
The wages of sin is death
We need someone who can intercede on our behalf.
A priest intercedes.
In the Old Testament, priests would make sacrifices to God.
And those sacrifices were on behalf of the nation, those they represented.
You go to your congressman, and you say “Represent me.”
Congress is also called The House of Representatives.
The priest represented the people.
The high priest would offer a sacrifice.
He would put his hand on the head of a goat, and confess the sins of the people on it.
The people’s sins would be transferred onto that goat, and it would be sent away.
Jesus, acting as our High Priest, offered a sacrifice to God for our sins, and it was His very life.
He now sits at the Father’s right hand side, interceding for you.
Let me make this relevant to you.
You sin.
You don’t want to sin.
But you sin.
You know how much God hates sin.
You know it is offensive to Him.
And you feel utterly worthless because of that sin.
And now you are afraid of what God is going to do for you.
This is where Christianity is separate from every other religion.
Some religions tells you that you must do something to pay off that sin.
Go to a priest.
Say a Hail Mary.
Say 12 Hail Marys.
Maybe you’re told to go and do some community service.
Christianity says something better.
You have a mediator next to God.
That mediator is Christ Jesus.
You sin, and Jesus looks to the Father and says, “I died for that one.”
That’s what our faith is.
It’s a trust, it’s a hope, that Jesus actually paid for sin, and now is interceding, mediating for you
When life gets hard, you have a friend in heaven, who intercedes for you.
Jesus is leaving, but the disciples worship and have joy.
Like the child looking forward to Christmas morning, they have joy with Jesus leaving.
“Alright Jesus go.”
“I’m not alone.”
“I have Your Spirit.”
“And you are there on my behalf.”
Are you starting to see how our joy is directly related to Jesus and where He is right now?
I have a real joy because Jesus is in heaven.
The third reason for their joy is because Jesus is glorified.
The third reason for their joy is because Jesus is glorified.
Do you remember the old Incredible Hulk TV show starring Lou Ferrigno?
Lou Ferrigno played the Incredible Hulk.
As a kid I’d get up super early to watch that show
He was this massive body builder, painted green to look like the comic book hero.
As much as I loved the show, it was pretty boring.
It was about an hour long, and the Hulk was only in the final 2 minutes of it.
Basically, there’d be 50 minutes of drama.
Then for 2 minutes Bruce Banner would get angry, become the Hulk, move in slow motion, throw a chair, jump through a styrofoam wall, flex, and then run off.
I watched that show for the final 2 minutes, when the Hulk would make his appearance.
I watched it to see the Hulk in all his glory.
For 33 years, Jesus lived humbly.
He held back His power.
He held back His glory.
He wasn’t worshipped.
He wasn’t recognized.
For 33 years He lived unrecognizable.
Just like how the final 2 minutes of the Incredible Hulk is the good part, Jesus ascending is the good part.
Jesus is glorified.
No longer restrained.
No longer held back by His flesh.
He is in power.
Jesus looked forward to this moment.
In His high priestly prayer, found in , Jesus prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
The humility that Jesus had was that He:
Entered the world as one of us.
He grew up as one of us.
He suffered.
He died.
But now He is in glory.
Death cannot touch Him.
He bears the scars of His humanity, but they serve as marks of His victory.
And now He is in glory.
In Revelation, John describes Jesus in this way, “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
I watched the Hulk for those final 2 minutes, to see Him flex those muscles.
Christ lived for 33 years as a humble human, but now He’s glorified next to the Father.
He’s flexing His muscles.
This is something to behold.
I look forward to it.
Have you read the book of Revelation in a while?
Do you know that that is a book of praise?
It’s a book of Jesus Christ and His might.
It’s a book of praise to the glorified Jesus Christ.
It’s not something to be afraid of - it’s something to look forward too.
In the Great Commission, found in , probably the same event that we are reading about in Luke, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
And from here on out, Jesus only exists in power and authority.
He is the only way to the Father.
There is no other name that man can call on for salvation.
says, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Have you read the book of Revelation in a while?
The ascension of Jesus Christ is a coronation.
Do you know that that is a book of praise?
It’s the King taking His throne.
It’s a book of Jesus Christ and His might.
The disciples praised God for this moment.
It’s a book of praise to the glorified Jesus Christ.
It’s not something to be afraid of - it’s something to look forward too.
The fourth reason for joy is because Jesus is preparing a place for us.
The fourth reason for joy is because Jesus is preparing a place for us.
His leaving, is for our benefit.
is what’s called the Upper Room Discourse.
It’s Jesus final night with His disciples.
It’s when He had the last supper.
It takes up a huge portion of John’s Gospel.
In that same section he explained that He will be going away.
He’s talking about His death.
Then His ascension.
The Disciples weren’t happy to hear that Jesus is leaving.
Again, look at the contrast between when He first told His disciples of His plans with how they react now.
Before their hearts were filled with great sorrow.
In it says they returned with great joy.
In , when Jesus said He was leaving they were sad.
Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Where’s Jesus going?
He’s going to prepare a place for us.
In His Father’s house there is a book.
It’s called the Book of Life of the Lamb Who Was Slain.
If you belong to Christ, your name is in that book, and He’s there holding your reservation.
He’s there to welcome you into paradise.
A number of years ago, Jason, Alicia, Amanda and I, went to Thailand.
We’d never been there before.
The language is nuts, you can’t read the letters.
It’s like a foreign country.
Thankfully, we had a friend there.
Michelle LaPorte was there to greet us.
She was waiting at the airport in Bangkok, and had even reserved a van that would take us to our next destination.
We had a friend who got there early and was ready to welcome us, and who was prepared for us.
One day, each of us will die.
Some people call death, The Great Unknown.
But it’s not the Great Unknown.
We have a friend there already.
He’s preparing a place for us.
He’s secured it.
He’s put down the payment.
Not just the deposit, but it’s paid in full.
And though it’s appointed for man to die then face judgment, those who are in Christ, don’t have to fear, because Christ has secured everything already.
In that same passage when Jesus said He’s going to prepare a place for us, Thomas asked how we are supposed to get there.
Remember what Jesus said?
He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This is our joy, even to death.
And this joy is because Jesus ascended to the Father.
The final source of our joy is that Jesus will return.
The final source of our joy is that Jesus will return.
The disciples are there in Bethany, they are on the Mount of Olives.
Jesus floats into the sky.
Disappears from their sight.
And they are all staring at what they just saw.
In , we get a little more detail.
It says, beginning in verse 10, “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
2 Angels appear and see the disciples staring into the sky.
They tell them that Jesus is going to return the same way they saw him go into heaven.
They are on the Mount of Olives.
Jesus ascends into the sky.
And now we hear that Jesus will return the same way.
That means Jesus must come again by descending out of the sky.
And then stepping foot on the Mount of Olives.
says that the day is coming when Christ will return.
And how will He return?
It says that the world “will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
The world won’t miss it.
In fact that passage says people will mourn.
Why?
Because when He comes again, He comes in power and authority, and in glory.
And He will come to judge.
explains, “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east ...”
Do you see what we have just seen in these verses?
He was on the Mount of Olives.
He went into the sky.
And He will return from the sky.
And He will set foot on the Mount of Olives.
And then He will rule.
describes whats called The Millennium.
For 1,000 years Christ will rule on this earth, before having His final victory over Satan and then He will make all things new, and make a new heavens and new earth.
The disciples respond to this with joy.
They are looking forward to the ascension like a child looks forward to Christmas morning.
They are going to endure terrible suffering.
The church would grow on the blood of the martyrs.
Stephen was stoned at the command of Saul, later called Paul.
James the Great was beheaded.
Philip was scourged, imprisoned then crucified.
Matthew was killed with a halberd.
James the Less had his brains bashed out with a club.
Matthias was stoned then beheaded.
Andrew was crucified like the letter X.
Mark was dragged to pieces.
Peter was crucified upside down.
Paul was beheaded.
Jude was crucified.
Bartholomew was beaten then crucified.
Thomas was killed by a spear.
Luke was hung on an olive tree.
Simon was crucified.
John was boiled alive … .
Yet their lives were not lives of heartache, their lives were filled with joy.
Peter says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”
We live lives like a child leading up to Christmas morning.
We live lives in anticipation.
Because Christ is coming and he will rule.
Tear off another ring from your advent calendar, because Christ is coming.
The end of Revelation has a prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Joy is possible when Jesus is the source of our joy, and the object of our joy.
Joy is possible when Jesus is the source of our joy, and the object of our joy.
Sadly, many Christians don’t live lives filled with joy.
Maybe the reason for our lack of joy, is that other things are the objects of our joy.
Maybe we are trying to get joy from the wrong things.
Jesus goes away.
And we look forward to Him returning.
But He must go because:
He sends the Spirit.
He intercedes as our High Priest.
He is glorified.
He is preparing a place for us.
And He will return.
This is real.
This is our joy.
Pray for joy.