Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2005 : May 8, 2005

Theme: Tap into the Power of the Ascended Christ

Church year occasion: Ascension / Mother's Day

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was on a quest to find the Emerald City where she could talk to the great Wizard of Oz who could tell her how she could get home to Kansas. But she was very disappointed when she found out that the Wizard was a big fake -- it was only a man who really didn't have any power at all. Dorothy learned that she had the power to get back home to Kansas the whole time. It was in her ruby red slippers. All she had to do was click her heels together three times and think of home, and she'd be there. And she was.

Christians are also in a strange land wanting to get home. We're in this world, and we're waiting until we can finally make it to heaven, our home when we die. Do you sometimes have those days when you wish you were already there? Wouldn't it be great to be able to click your heels together three times and just want to be there and it would be so?

Jesus realized that we would have days like those, and you might be going through days like those right now. But I have to tell you, clicking your heels together and thinking about heaven isn't going to get you there. That is something that God alone can do. He has opened the way through his Son Jesus and has sent the Holy Spirit to create faith in us to believe it. So how do we survive until we get to heaven? That's what the Apostle Paul is talking about today. He tells us when we have days where nothing is going right, or even when everything is going right, we need to Tap into the Power of the Ascended Christ.

Today we are celebrating the ascension of our Savior Jesus. On a hill outside of Jerusalem, 40 days after he rose from the dead, Jesus was talking with his disciples as he began to be lifted up into the sky until finally a cloud hid him from their sight. And there they stood. Waiting. Looking. Waiting for Jesus to come back down. It wasn't until two angels told them that Jesus would come back in the same way they saw him go that they left that hill and went about their regular lives. They weren't sad. They were happy. They were living in the power of the Ascended Christ, even though some very dark days lay ahead of them.

Paul tells us how we can survive through dark days also. Listen to what he says in verses 18-19: "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he [God the Father] has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe."

What two things does the Apostle pray that we know? If we want to get through the days of this earth, we first of all need hope. And what a hope it is! It is a hope based on the finished work of Jesus. We hope for our eternal inheritance of heaven. But we don't have to wait until heaven to enjoy some of the benefits of it. Look at the Apostle Paul's life. Even when he was going through the darkest days in his life, even when everything was going so badly that he despaired even of life itself, he always had something that could never be taken from him -- his hope of heaven. Even if his life became a horrible existence, he always knew where he would go someday. He would go to heaven where every other saint who had died had already gone. And the same is true of us -- even in the darkest of days, we know that our eternal inheritance is waiting for us. In fact, Jesus promised his believers that right now he is preparing our personal room in the mansion of heaven.

But until we reach heaven, we have something else that gets us through this life -- the power of God. Can you think of some instances where God showed his power to believers on this earth? We might think of the crossing of the Red Sea, fire sent from heaven to destroy whole cities or sacrifices to show who the true God is, Daniel in the lions' den, Jesus feeding the 5000. And that doesn't even scratch the surface. But notice who that power of God is meant for. The benefit of God's power is meant for believers. Those who don't have faith in Jesus, also don't have his power in their lives. Instead, by their own choosing, they try to find power in other things -- maybe wealth or their position in a corporation or their influence over others or in themselves.

But here's the question -- even though Christians have God's power in their lives, do Christians always tap into that power source of God's incomparably great power? Often times Christians don't because they like what they see when they look at the power of this world. And that distracts them from using God's power. Using God's power is like harnassing the power of a river. You dam up a river and put a hydroelectric plant on a river so that the power of the water is translated into electricity. That electricity can power cities all through the year. But if you choose not to tap into that power, you'll be stuck lighting candles in your home for light, or washing your clothes by hand instead of in a washing machine, or putting your food in a cellar instead of in the refrigerator.

Listen to how Paul describes the power source of God's limitless power: "That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead." What does that verse tell us? That we have powerful enemies -- enemies that by ourselves we could never overcome. But Jesus has already fought our greatest battle and won when he suffered and died on the cross. When he rose from the dead, he showed that death had no master over him, but that he was the Lord of life and death. And since Jesus defeated death, it proved that our sins have been forgiven and that all who simply believe in Jesus as their Savior have their sins totally wiped clean.

And that's not all. Paul has to say more about what the ascension means for us. "That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

You can't miss Paul's point here. With Jesus now at God's right hand, is there anything he can't do? No. When God seated Jesus at his right hand, he showed that he had power over everyone and everything. Is that important for us? Absolutely it is! Today is Mother's Day. Mothers have to deal with bratty kids, kids who talk back, kids who display temper tantrums, kids who fight with their siblings, kids who get in trouble at school or who do something as simple as getting their clothes dirty after mom just washed them. On top of that, many mothers today are looked down on if they are stay-at-home moms. Some are also juggling a career on top of getting the food ready and keeping the house clean and everything else. Who better than moms need to hear this verse! Jesus has power over everyone and everything. Moms need to hear that especially when they see how they haven't been the best of mothers -- when they let their kids, or husbands, get to them. When their patience ran thin. When they exploded in anger. And all of us do those things. We need to hear these verses when we are struggling with temptation and looking how we can be strong to resist it -- we do it in the power of the risen and ascended Christ.

But the greatest place in our lives where we can easily see God's power is in one place. Can you guess where? It isn't when we see God send fire from heaven or when he drowns an enemy army in the depths of the Red Sea or when he destroys this world with an enormous, world-wide flood. Where do we especially see God's power displayed? We see it displayed when we see our Savior Jesus hanging on a cross outside Jerusalem. When we see the almighty God himself sacrifice himself in weakness and rejection and dishonor, as we see blood dripping down his face as he paid for the sins we've committed, when we hear that cry of God-forsakenness coming from his lips, then we know God's power -- a power so strong and vital and enduring that it has destroyed the power of sin and death and hell and the devil in one fell swoop. We see God's power most when we see him serve us to the utmost and give us eternal life as a gift of his grace.

As we live in this world, understand that heaven is coming for those who trust in Jesus as their Savior. Also understand that until we get there, God's power is ours through faith. Make use of it as you live your life proclaiming the praises of your victorious and risen and ascended Savior Jesus. Amen.