May
9, 2013
ASCENSION
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Psalm 47
“JESUS’ ASCENSION IS PSALM-THING TO
CELEBRATE!”
1.
We
celebrates what He has done.
2.
We
celebrate what He is doing.
Psalm 47 “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout
to God with cries of joy. 2 How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth. 3 He subdued
nations under us, peoples under our feet. 4 He chose our inheritance
for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. 5 God has
ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. 6 Sing praises to
God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.7 For
God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.8 God reigns over the
nations; God is seated on his holy throne. 9 The nobles of
the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth
belong to God; he
is greatly exalted.”
It
seems to be one of the paradoxes of the Christian faith. We celebrate Jesus’
Ascension into heaven. We celebrate the fact that Jesus visibly leaves us.
Shouldn’t that be something that makes us sad? Wouldn’t it have been better for
Jesus to visibly stay here on earth? No, not from what God tells us in the
Word. Think of Jesus’ Ascension like the gold winner at the Olympics ascending
the podium to receive his reward. Think of Jesus’ Ascension like a small town’s
favorite son leaving to become the ruler of the most powerful nation on earth.
Jesus’ Ascension is something to celebrate. It was prophesied as something to
celebrate in Psalm 47 so today we look at Jesus’ Ascension as Psalm-thing to
celebrate.
Psalm
47:1 says, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.”
You heard the Lord. Let’s celebrate Jesus’ Ascension. Back then as now clapping
and hooting and hollering were ways of celebrating. We do that when our teams
win or we see a good play. Why did the Psalmist have us celebrating? “How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth. 3 He
subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. 4 He chose
our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.”
First we celebrate what Jesus has done. He is the King over all the earth. He
subdued nations. One job that Old Testament kings had was to protect their
people from their enemies. Psalm 47 celebrated the nations or enemies being
subdued.
Jesus
did that for us and His Ascension is proof. All the confirmands who are getting
ready for Examination this Sunday know very well the enemies we have. Do you?
The Devil, the world, our own sinful nature holding over us the control of sin,
death and the power of the Devil. Jesus subdued or beat them for us. His
perfect life, His death on the cross beat them and beat them bad. Now the Devil
is a defeated enemy. Sure he is still around. He still tempts us but we can say
No to him resist him and he has to flee. When he accuses us before God, he
finds the evidence of our sin has disappeared, wiped away by the blood of
Jesus. Yes, the unbelieving world is still there, it still pressures us to sin
and conform to it. It still demonizes Christians who hold to Bible teaching as
unloving and intolerant, but it won’t last. It will pass and on the last day
all the unbelievers will have to acknowledge that we were right. They will hold
on to our feet begging us to take them with them. Our sinful nature? That too
is a part of us. But because Jesus has paid for our sins the weakness we have
does not matter and we are renewed in Christ to fight it. Death become
something to embrace and look forward to as our sinful nature gets removed from
us for good and the gate to heaven opens
wide. That’s the inheritance Jesus has chosen for us and won for us. How do we
know? Jesus ascended. Visible proof that His work is here is done. That makes Jesus’
Ascension is Psalm thing to celebrate. We celebrate what He has done.
We
celebrate what He is doing. “God has
ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. 6 Sing
praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.7 For
God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.8 God
reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. 9 The
nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for
the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.”
Jesus’ Ascension is Psalm thing to celebrate because of what He is doing. Psalm
47 reminds us that Jesus is not just a king but the King. What is it that kings
do but rule. Who is it that Jesus rules but the nations. We confess that truth
every time we say the Apostles’ Creed. He is seated at the right hand of God
the Father almighty. As you heard in the Ephesians readings Jesus seated at the
right hand means He is ruling all things for the good of His church believers.
Hold on to that truth, remember it when your trust is challenged. It was true
for the Christians living in Rome as they saw their government and people
become more and more morally corrupt. Jesus was ruling and had plans to spread
His Gospel. It was true for Lutheran living in Germany at the time of the
Prussian Union when their king tried to forcibly change religious beliefs with
the result that many of those Bible believing Christians emigrated to America
and brought confessional Lutheranism here. It’s still true as we watch our
nation’s moral erosion and growing anti Christian sentiment. Jesus is ruling
and the measure of our faith is that we believe this not when things look good
for us but especially when they start looking bad.
Before
Jesus ascended He spoke the word we sang a short time ago. “Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. Trust in God. Trust also in me.” A little
later He told them, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled. Do not be afraid.
Then He let the disciples see troubling things like His betrayal, His arrest,
His death. They were troubled. They were afraid. But they didn’t need to be. Jesus
was in control. He gave His life. He rose again. He ascended to rule all things
and He is doing just that. What’s bothering you? What’s got you worried? Do not
let your heart be troubled. Do not be afraid, says your ascended Lord Jesus. He
is ruling all things. We celebrate what Jesus is doing.
Jesus’
Ascension is Psalm thing to celebrate. Wouldn‘t it have been better for Him to
visibly stay here? No. Would we believe then His promise in Communion that we
receive His body and blood? Probably not. Would we believe His promise to be with
us always if we knew He had a house in Bethlehem or Nazareth? I kind of doubt
it. Would we trust ourselves to do the work He have us to do when we know He is
so much better. I don’t think so. Thankfully none of that matters because Jesus
did ascend and that is Psalm thing to celebrate. Amen.
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