Series: Growing Together in God's Grace
Third Sunday of Easter
April 14, 2013
Dear friends in Christ.
In just a few weeks, on May 5 to
be exact, we will be celebrating the Ascension of our Lord and Savior. On that day we will review the account of
Jesus’ ascension and how he sent his disciples into all the world to proclaim
the gospel to all nations. However,
today, we are getting a sneak preview!
Today we are reminding ourselves of how Jesus died in our place, how he
rose again from the dead, how he redeemed us and bought us back from our enemy
the devil, making us his own through faith!
But most importantly today we are reminding ourselves of Jesus’
exaltation in heaven and what it means for each and every one of us as his
children. So as we worship this morning,
we will focus ourselves on the task of answering the question before us: Why is
Jesus’ exaltation so meaningful to us?
Why is Jesus’ exaltation in
heaven so meaningful to us? Well, the
Apostle Paul answers that question so very clearly and completely as he writes
to the Christians living in Ephesus.
Paul writes, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a
life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and
gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to
keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and
one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one
Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and
through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ
apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led
captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” 9 (What does “he ascended” mean
except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who
descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to
fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to
prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be
built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.” (Ephesians 4:1–13, NIV84)
In these thirteen verses Paul
does indeed tell us many, many reasons why Jesus’ exaltation is so very
important to us as Christians, however, the key to what Paul is saying here is
to remember Jesus’ words on the cross.
One of the very last things that Jesus cried out was simply, “It is
finished!” Only moments before he gave
up his life, Jesus declared that his saving work was completed. Then, he gave up his life to complete the
saving work that he had just declared had been completed. His followers took his lifeless body and
quickly, yet lovingly, buried it in the tomb, thinking that this was the end of
Jesus. However, on the Third Day, Jesus
rose again from the dead and began appearing to his disciples to assure them
that he was alive and to assure them that his work of salvation had been
completed. Forty days later, Jesus
returned to his heavenly home, ascending to heaven to assure each and every one
of us that his saving work has been completely completed. Now, because he has completed his saving
work, he has returned to heaven and has been exalted there, ascending higher
than all the heavens, as Paul tells us, to fill the whole Universe. Because Jesus has been exalted to the highest
place that heaven affords, we are certain that as Christians, we have been
unified by the Spirit of Christ whom he pours out on us through his Word and
his Sacrament. We are certain that we
have all been baptized into Jesus’ death by the baptism we received as either
children or adults, through which the Holy Spirit came into our hearts,
creating, strengthening and sustaining our faith, applying the forgiveness of
sins to us. Because Jesus is exalted in
heaven, we know that he is the one who has given “some to be apostles, some to
be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to
prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be
built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ." (Ephesians 4:11-13, NIV 84)
This is why Jesus’ exaltation is
so important to us! It is so important
to us, because now that Christ our Savior has been exalted in heaven, we are
confident that he led us, as captives, out of the captivity of our sins. He called us to faith through the work of the
Holy Spirit and made us his own, washing us clean with his blood. He has called us to serve him with our lives,
patiently bearing with one another in love, just as he loved us. He has called us to serve him in his kingdom
in so many different ways, helping in Church, evangelizing, talking to others
about Jesus, building up the fellowship of believers. Because Jesus has been exalted in heaven, we
know that his work of redemption is complete, and we know that we are the ones
who are to spread that message of salvation to those who do not yet know
through our words, and actions, so that many others might know that Jesus is their
Savior who is lovingly preparing a place for them in his heavenly kingdom.
This too is why Jesus’ exaltation
is so important to us! Not only does it
give us the comfort of knowing all that our Savior did for us to free us from
our sins and make us his own, but we also have the comfort of knowing that
because our Savior has returned home to his heavenly kingdom, he is right now
preparing the very place where we will dwell when he calls us from this life to
his exalted side forever in heaven.
This, in fact, is the very thing that Jesus promised his disciples on
the night that he was betrayed. On that
night, only a couple of months before he would be exalted he told them, ““Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 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. 3 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 14:1–3, NIV84)
This is the day to which each and
every one of us is looking forward! We
are all looking forward to the day when our Savior will finally call us out of
this veil of tears to his exalted side in his glorious kingdom forever. We are looking forward to that day because we
know that we belong to our Savior. We
are looking forward to that day because we know that our Savior who returned to
heaven will one day come back from heaven to take us to be with him so that we can
be where he is. We know that because he
has returned to his heavenly home, he is right now sitting at the right hand of
God the Father almighty. Now, because he
has been exalted to the right hand of God the Father, almighty, we take comfort
in knowing that not only is he preparing a place for us, but he is even
interceding for us, just as Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, “Christ
Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of
God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:34, NIV84) And as John tells us in his first letter, “My
dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody
does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the
Righteous One." (1 John 2:1, NIV84)
And as Paul again reiterates to a young pastor named Timothy, “This is
good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all
men—the testimony given in its proper time." (1 Timothy 2:3–6, NIV84)
Because Jesus has been exalted to
the right hand of our heavenly Father, we know that he is interceding on our
behalf. We know that he is watching over
us and ruling everything for the good of his church, working all things for the
good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. We know that we belong to our Savior, and we
know that when the time is right, he will return to judge the world and take us
to be with him forever, just as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, “Just as
man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a
second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting
for him." (Hebrews 9:27–28, NIV84)
Though we don’t know the time, we
are ready. Though we don’t know the
date, we are ready. We are ready because
Jesus has made us ready by calling us to faith.
Jesus has made us ready and assures us that we are ready through his
exaltation in heaven. This is our
comfort and our assurance.
This is the comfort and the
assurance that we find in Jesus’ exaltation and this is why his exaltation is
so important to us. Though we still have
a few weeks until we celebrate our Savior’s ascension to his heavenly home and
remember his glorious exaltation, today we have received a sneak peak. We have set the stage for May 5, when we
celebrate our Savior’s ascension, and we have been reminded, just why Jesus’
exaltation is so important to each and every one of us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
