Text: Acts 1:1-11 Ascension Sunday
Christ’s Work Continues
I. His work on earth was perfect
II. He continues His work in heaven
III. We continue His work on earth
Dear fellow redeemed in our Ascended Lord,
What a relief! What a relief it is when we have completed a project! Or when somebody else has completed a project for us. Maybe it’s installing new kitchen cabinets in our home. And we’re so happy to be done. But then they fall apart. They need maintenance. The work must continue. And we wish that the work just ended once and for all. Or at least that someone was always on call to help us.
Well, today we’re going to talk about Christ’s work in the world. By the grace of God, it does not end. His work continues and He’s always on call for us. Because of the broken world we live in, that’s such good news! So we see how our text shows that His work on earth was perfect. And that He continues His work in heaven, while He continues His work, through us, here on earth. .
I. [His work on earth is perfect.] We find today’s lesson in the book of Acts, short for “The Acts of the Apostles.” Its author is Luke, the same man who authored the Gospel of Luke. In that gospel he presented all of Jesus’ work from the time of His incarnation. And what was that work that Christ came here to accomplish?
Well, first of all, let’s talk about what it was not. And it was not what the disciples were expecting or hoping for. We see in verse six that they thought He would restore to them the Kingdom. That He would make their nation great. They wanted His work to be what they wanted. And how often isn’t that the case with us as well? We try to make Jesus into the King we want, instead of the King he is. That’s what people are doing when they say, “God wants us to love each other and homosexuals love each other so it must be okay.” They’re making God into the God they want Him to be. And it’s what we do when we dismiss certain sins as “not so bad.” Having a few too many drinks, cutting a few corners at work. We make God into the god we want. And we become the gods. And that leads only to eternal wrath and punishment. In reality, we’re showing how much we do actually need a Savior.
The good news is that Jesus knows much better than us, and He is the promised Savior that we need. He came here and lived the perfect life that we could not. He died an innocent death so that we wouldn’t have to. By His perfect sacrifice, He won forgiveness for all of our sins. All of the very real sins that we have committed. And then three days later, He rose again from the dead, proving that His perfect work had been accepted. But this didn’t end His work here on earth in visible form. This work continued as He appeared to His disciples and others, proving that He was indeed the perfect Messiah. He prepared the church by instructing the disciples and promising His Holy Spirit in a very special way on Pentecost. Christ’s work was so much more than we could ever want or hope for. And the Ascension shows that this work on earth, as a visible man, was and is complete.
II. [He continues His work in heaven.] So here we are at His Ascension. Forty days after His resurrection. Meaning that Ascension was actually this past Thursday. Some churches have Ascension services. We don’t, but, because it is of such great significance, we do dedicate the following Sunday (today) to celebrating! To celebrating the Ascension of our Lord. His Ascending. I’ll be ascending when I fly out of SFO to go to Australia this coming Wednesday. When Jesus ascended, it was the same idea. Except that He had no plane and it was no magic trick. As He was blessing them, He was lifted up before their eyes.
But He promised, right before He ascended, that He’s still with us, to the “very end of the Age.” [1] So why did He ascend? Well it was to show, as I mentioned, that His work on earth as a visible man, was indeed completed. But then also to bring His exaltation to a peak. As we say in the Apostles’ Creed, He now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. That doesn’t mean He’s sitting on the literal right side of God. It means that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. [2] He reigns over all creation. In the words of the children’s song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” Now, we may not always understand what He’s doing and in fact we often don’t. But knowing that He has completed and accomplished His perfect work on earth for us… and knowing that He rules as the King of Kings… we know we can trust Him. It is said that the wife of Albert Einstein was once asked if she understood her husband’s theory of relativity. She replied, “No, but I know my husband and I know he can be trusted.” When it comes to Jesus ruling this world, we know He can be trusted to run this world for the benefit of the church, therefore we can live in confidence.
And it’s not just the confidence that He’s ruling over us. As Paul writes in our second lesson from Ephesians, He fills every thing in every way. He has claimed us as His own in baptism and He fills us with His love. When Satan comes to us with his wicked temptations, we can confidently know that because of Christ’s completed work on earth, Satan is already defeated. And even though the devil persists… Christ rules our hearts and is so much stronger than any devil could ever be.
This confidence is ours until the day He comes again to judge the living and the dead. That’s a scary thing for unbelievers. But for us who believe, nothing could be more joyful! We know that when the time is right, He will return to bring us to the rooms He is preparing for us, right now, in the heavenly mansions. [3] And as He does this, alongside ruling the universe… we continue His work here on earth.
III. [We continue His work on earth.] Think how honored we would feel to be chosen by the CEO of a company to be in charge of, or even part of, a special project. A project that has the potential to change the company, and possibly the world. Well we’ve been called into our King’s service for such a project. And it can completely change the lives of those affected.
We are Christ’s witnesses. Like those in court, we testify to what we’ve seen. Not in the same way as the disciples, who actually saw Jesus with their physical eyes. But we report what we’ve seen through the eyes of faith. The God we know from what He has told us in His Word. And the God we know from how He has worked in our lives.
Now, as Lutherans, we don’t always like to talk about testimonials. We like to focus on the objective reality of what Christ has done for us. And yet there is so much power in personal testimonies of what the power of God has done in our lives. How comforted we are by His completed work on the cross. How hopeful we are by His resurrection. How good it is to know that He has always kept His promises. And how He has sometimes turned our plans upside down but worked them for our good in the end.
And as we provide these witness testimonies, we know that we’re backed by the King of Kings. We know the power of God that is in His Word. And we know that He has sent us the gift of the Spirit who empowers us as well.
And with the Holy Spirit empowering His witnesses, the Kingdom of God grows. It started in Jerusalem, where 10 days after this, they were blessed with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. It spread to the surrounding countryside of Judea, and north to the adjoining area of Samaria. 7500 miles to the West, the Gospel is here for us today. I’m going to Australia, clear other side of the world where the toilets flush backwards. That’s almost 9000 miles to the east of Jerusalem. The Gospel is there, too. The Kingdom of our Lord is worldwide. Not meaning that Christ’s work, our work, is done. It’s not for us to know God’s times or dates. But meaning that Christ is powerful, and His Word is powerful. And that it continues…. in heaven over the world, and through us, in the world. Until the day He returns.
Today we’ve read two Ascension accounts. One in the Gospel of Luke; one in the book of Acts. The funny thing is that both of those New Testament books were written by Luke, and they were both to the same recipient. So why did he write about it twice? Well because while it is the end of Jesus’ work on earth as a visible man, it’s also the beginning of His work on earth through the church… and through us. And so we testify as to the joy and love we have in our Savior. And as we do, we keep our eyes on the heavens. Because as the angels said, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go….” What a glorious day we have to look forward to. What a hope we have in our Ascended Lord. Amen.
[1] Matthew 28:20
[2] Ibid 28:18
[3] John 14:2