"Rejoice in Glorious Hope"

  

"While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy."

 

            Today we conclude the season of Easter. We have used this time to focus on the Christian hope. It is the Ascension of Jesus into heaven that connects us to the Christian hope. The risen Jesus is exalted in heaven and will return from there. There were many witnesses to Jesus after the resurrection. He is the first fruits of a greater resurrection. There were also many witnesses to his Ascension into heaven. This exaltation of Jesus brought great joy to the disciples: They saw something that gave them hope.

            N.T. Wright says that "Early Christians believed God was going to do for the cosmos what he had done for Jesus at Easter." There will be a new heaven and a new earth, and a few weeks ago we read in Revelation about an unspoiled creation with clean water and abundant food and the healing of the nations. At the heart of the Christian hope is the return of Christ in power and glory, described with the word "presence." It is this hope that leads us to true repentance and active living for Christ. We look forward to the resurrection of the body, when we will move from "tent living" to the protection of a building not made with hands. The Holy Spirit gives us a longing for the resurrection body so that we will be with the Lord. For our hope to be realized we need salvation, we need a Savior. In Christ, through faith, we have been justified, we have peace with God, we have access into God's presence, and we have God's love and God's Holy Spirit. We have hope in Christ.

            Yet, even since Easter Sunday we have been keenly aware of trouble and devastation in our world: an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that will not stop, and devastating floods in Tennessee, and earthquakes and tornadoes. We live under the cloud of continual war and acts of terror. We can feel a long way from our hope in Christ. So it is the Ascension of Jesus that connects us to our hope.

            Just as the cross without resurrection would leave us still in our sins, so the resurrection of Jesus without the Ascension would leave us disconnected from our hope in Christ. It would seem like speculation without evidence.

            Leon Morris notes that the account of the Ascension of Jesus is very brief and thinks that Luke is running out of papyrus, since he has already written more than a single scroll could contain. Whatever the reason for being so brief, the point is that Luke focuses on the joy of the disciples. The response of the disciples to the disappearance of the Lord is not to weep or despair, to feel again grief at a second parting. Rather their response is one of joy and worship. They have a hope that fills them with joy and not with fear. Christians who have hope in Christ do not pray with fear or live in fear. They pray with hope and live in joy.

            Paul prays for the Christians in Ephesus, and part of his prayer is that they might know the hope to which God has called them. Maybe they didn't really know the hope they had in God. In the reality of their struggles in a powerful, idol-worshipping city like Ephesus, maybe they did not feel the joy of knowing the Risen Lord Christ who is exalted in heaven, so that no power is greater than his. Maybe they were worried about their future and had taken their focus off the riches of the glorious inheritance that was theirs.

            It was good to gather with believers from a variety of churches on the National Day of Prayer. I am glad that we have been invited to participate in this event over the last several years, and it was encouraging for me to see a number of you come this year. When we prayed in small groups for our national and local governments and for various issues that confront us as a people, I felt in my group that we began to slide into fearful praying, that we took our eyes off God's future. I hoped for a greater confidence and joy in praying. I realize that is not easy. It takes an intentional effort to focus our hearts on hope, when we live every day with discouragement or uncertainty. The Ascension of Jesus helped the disciples to pray with joy and faith, and it can help us as well.

            Why did the Ascension make the disciples joyful? Because whatever they had thought of Jesus in his ministry, his death and his resurrection, now in seeing the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, they were convinced that he was divine, that he was worthy of worship, and that he would return. They would join him in God's realm one day. Leon Morris writes that since the humanity of Jesus was taken into heaven, so also the humanity that he has redeemed will be taken there as well.

            John 14:28: "You heard me say, ÔI am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.' " So the disciples were glad at the Ascension, and prayed with joy and confidence.

            N.T. Wright says that if heaven and earth are two different dimensions of God's good creation, and not two different locations within the same continuum of space or matter, then one who is in heaven can be present simultaneously anywhere on earth. "The Ascension therefore means that Jesus is available, and accessible, without people having to travel to a particular spot on earth to find him." But, he adds, it also means that Jesus is not simply with us, he is also standing over against us and addressing us from heaven as Lord. In other words, in our desire to feel the comfort and friendship of Jesus, to be carried by him, we must not forget the authority of Jesus, and his place as Lord of heaven and earth.

            Paul prays that the people in Ephesus might come to know the risen and ascended Christ better and also to know hope, their inheritance in Christ, and his great power. He knows how important it is for believers to have hope. Klyne Snodgrass writes that "our culture offers us no basis for hope. We have a sense that we cannot solve our problems." I think this sense of hopelessness pushes us to focus on short-term rewards, to think of how we might escape the pressures of our work, and to get lost chasing pleasures. As a result we become very vulnerable in our work. We try to hold on to a job rather than work to build a better future. We do not have a clear sense of what a better tomorrow would look like for our children or grandchildren Ð or, if we did, how to get there. We make what we can for our families rather than setting long-term goals for the whole community.

            Living in a culture that does not offer us hope, we struggle to listen to the hope of the Gospel. But, Snodgrass says, "God has called us to be among his future people, and so hope becomes the basis from which we live in the present. Christians live from their future, the future God has established for them."

            As we have been talking about hope in these weeks, what have you been led to consider about your life? Does hope in Christ call you to make any changes in the way you live? Are you able to rejoice in glorious hope, that is, does hope help you to worship in a more meaningful way? Does your hope in Christ help you to give time and effort to that which is truly important and valuable? Do you think about the long term good of our community, our church, our nation, and not just about short term gain? How does your hope in Christ and the new creation help you act for the good of the earth? Does hope guide your witness to unbelievers?

            Friday was the last day for his season of our Moms group. They have had a great year of ministry to moms and young children. Most are not from our church. But there is a real joy here when they come to meet. I hear the moms laughing together. I see them talking intently. I hear about the fun the children are having and what they are learning about God. This is surely a ministry that is informed by hope. Because of the willingness of several leaders who have a vision for ministry to mothers of young children in our community, and the willingness of many to serve as helpers, God is working in and through them to bless and encourage and give witness to Christ. Here we are seeing believers who are living from their future, and God is blessing them. Let us all live in that way.

            Amen.