“Our Ascended Lord” // Acts 1:9–11 // Acts #2 • But that’s okay. says he’s sending the Holy Spirit, who will give them the power they need. Acts chapter 1:9–11: If you’ve already found your handout for the • In order to send the Spirit, however, Jesus has to leave. morning you may be thinking to yourself, “It’s this guy’s second week • Which is what we read in verse 9–11 preaching in here, and we’re filling up a front and back page. What are we in for?” — • Don’t fear, if you look closer, like a good Baptist sermon there are only I wonder though, do we really grasp what we just read? Jesus just three main points, and each main point only has one sub-point. beamed up in to the sky like he’s in Star Trek or something, only he • Most of the text on the page is Scripture. didn’t just teleport. His physical body actually defied the laws of gravity • At Green Street, most Sundays we just focus on one text. and he lifted up into heaven. • Acts 1:9–11 is still our main text, but what happens in this text • I think the popularity of the science-fiction genre makes it hard for requires that we look all over Scripture to really understand what’s us to read this passage with the proper response. going on. • **Don’t get me wrong, I love that genre, especially superhero movies. • My first plan was to put these all the cross references on slides, but • If you need me to be quiet for 6 hours straight, but put on Avengers: thought that ______would hate me, because he/she’d get Infinity War with Avengers: Endgame on autoplay. If that’s on the carpal tunnel just from changing slides today. tv, I’m in a state of hypnosis. You could burn my house down and I • To avoid that outcome, I just decided to put them all on the handout would just sit there. for you. What happens though, is when we read a passage like Acts 1, our If you’re in Acts 1, let’s read and see what happens. brains want to put it into the category of science-fiction. • Luke 24 records the ascension, and it gives the detail that Jesus held Acts 1:9-11 “And when [Jesus] had said these things, as they were out his hands and blessed them as he ascended. looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. • **If you’re a Trekkie, you probably imagine Jesus held his hands like 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two this. [Vulcan Salute] men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken All joking aside, this text is not science fiction, and we have to fight the up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw temptation of reading it like that. him go into heaven.’” • It is a historical text. The event it records actually happened. • On top of that, it has massive implications for your life today. Last week, we looked at “these things” that Jesus said, in verse 8, Jesus says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come — upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all When we talk about Jesus being lifted up to heaven, the theological Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” term we use is the doctrine of the ascension or simply “the ascension” because he ascended. witness is the core task that Jesus intends our lives to revolve around. This doctrine says that: After rising from the dead in a real, physical • His vision for our lives is that it works like a Solar System. Gospel body, Jesus ascended into heaven in a real, physical body. witness is the Sun, and all the other details of our lives are like the planets. The ascension answers three basic questions: • That core task is a tall, tall order: Take the gospel to ALL the world. • 1. Where did Jesus go? • 2. What is he doing there now?

Page 1 of 11 • 3. What does that mean for us? • Number 2: When Jesus rose, his body was indeed physical, but it was what the describes as a “glorified body.” 1. Where did he go? • This glorified body, was not subject to any of the corruption or decay or brokenness that have affected our physical bodies since Heaven, specifically, he is seated at the Father’s right hand. Adam and Eve first sinned. • Originally, God made our bodies not to die. Death was an effect of sin. If Jesus has a physical body, does this mean that you could get to him if • When Jesus rose, he defeated sin, so his body had no side-effects of you had a fast enough space ship and a JPS (or, Jesus Positioning sin. But his body was even better than what Adam and Eve had. System)? So, somehow it is possible for his physical, glorified body to exist in the I’m definitely no astrophysicist. alternate dimension we call heaven. I do know that because we are made up of matter, we (along with everything else made of matter) live within something called the space- Second question: What is he doing? Our three main points answer time continuum. that question today. Before we get there, let’s consider why the • Physical matter has to have somewhere to be—space. ascension even matters: • Physical matter has to have some-when to be—time. To begin with, the ascension is critical to the gospel. Neither space nor time are infinite. They’re both part of what God made “in the beginning.” He made them to be the boundary lines, or Paul summarizes the gospel to Timothy, his young protegé like this: 1 basically the container that holds all the physical things he would make. Timothy 3:16 “[Jesus] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by — the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed However, there’s more to what exists than just the material world. on in the world, taken up in glory.” Notice how he includes the ascension. It may sound a little sci-fi at first, but you could say that heaven is in another dimension. Also, just look at your handout at the number of times the ascension is • In addition to the physical dimension within which we live, the Bible referenced in the Bible. . . and that’s just a small sampling! teachers that there is a whole other spiritual reality. We can’t see, touch, taste, smell, or feel it, but it’s there. On top of that, the ascension matters because it has massive • Call it whatever you want, it sounds like another dimension to me. personal implications for you as an individual. — So, to answer the question of where Jesus went, when he went to In Ephesians 1:3 Paul says that God the Father “raised [Jesus] from heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand, you could say he went to the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.” another dimension, located somewhere not on the space-time continuum. Then he goes on in Ephesians 2:6 to say that God the Father also “raised US up with him and seated US with him in the heavenly Some theologians argue that, because he has a physical body, he has places in Jesus, . . .” to be somewhere in the material universe. But I don’t think he does, because: He’s not using a metaphor there. He’s stating a fact. We in a real way, as believers, have been raised and seated with Christ, and we, in a real • Number 1: God is God, Jesus is God and he’s not bound by the laws way, are there with him now. of nature.

Page 2 of 11 In Colossians 3:1–3, Paul tells us what our response to this should be: They just didn’t have anybody who could adequately till the offices. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are — above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your As the Old Testament era marched on the biblical writers began to tell of minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 a Messiah to come who would be the perfect prophet, priest, and king. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” When Jesus came as the Messiah, he stepped into those offices, and Your “life” in that verse is talking about all the things that give us identity, when he ascended, he did not stop being the perfect prophet, priest, and purpose, and joy, and meaning. Basically what makes life worth and King. He is in heaven, at the Father’s right hand as the perfect living. prophet, priest and King.

Because Christ ascended and because he took us with him, that’s (slide) where your life is located. The first thing Christ is doing in heaven: As a King. . . 1. Christ reigns. So to find your life, you need to set your mind on our ascended Lord. . . which is exactly what we are doing this morning as we talk about what And, He is reigning with all authority. Jesus is doing in heaven and what that means for us. In Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been — given to me . . .” This is a popular verse, many of you may know well What Jesus is doing right now reflects three main offices that God because it’s the opening line to the most popular rendition of the Great established in the Old Testament for the nation of Israel: Prophet, Priest, Commission. and King. • Prophets were sent by God to warn people that if they don’t change But notice, he did NOT say: “All authority in heaven and on earth has their ways, God is going to come and execute judgment on them. always been mine.” - **Think Jonah going to Nineveh, after his whole incident of getting eaten and regurgitated by the giant fish. What he said, indicates that something new has happened. As the • Priests stood between sinful people and God. In a nutshell, people eternal Son of God, in one sense, he as always been reigning over the sinned, they brought a sacrifice to the Temple or Tabernacle to atone earth as sovereign God. for their sins, the priest went into God’s presence to offer the sacrifice on their behalf. But in another sense, his work of redemption by death and • Kings don’t need much explanation. They ruled over the kingdom resurrection has granted him a type of authority that was not and did kingly things. previously his. Sitting at the right hand of the Father is a sign of him - **But unlike the Royal Family in the UK, they actually ruled the stepping into authority. nation. So don’t get your image of a King from them; these Kings — did more than philanthropy and photoshoots for People magazine. As he reigns with authority, He is reigning in an exalted glory. But for Israel, there was a massive problem—these offices were filled by people who have a tendency to do sinful, selfish things. But even At his resurrection, Jesus started one motion that theologians refer to as the best of people still have the tendency to die, and leave these roles his exaltation. unfulfilled. • The exaltation of Christ includes his 1) resurrection 2) his ascension and 3) his session, or his seating at the right hand of the Father. These are good offices that the people of Israel needed.

Page 3 of 11 The exaltation is the flip-side to the other half of his ministry, that In coming to establish God’s Kingdom on earth, the human heart was theologians refer to as his humiliation. Jesus’ target. The heart is simply the center of our will, our emotions, • The humiliation of Christ includes his 1) incarnation, where he and our thoughts. The heart is how the Bible refers to the control center stepped down from eternal glory into a normal life, 2) his life on of a human being. earth, where he lived for 30 years in humble obscurity, and 3) ultimately his death on the cross. If Jesus gets our hearts, he gets us. This is why the gospel is his Kingdom-building tool. When someone believes the gospel, it The idea of humiliation is not exactly the same as our typical use of the transforms them from the inside out, and they become a citizen of God’s word. *Like when you’re humiliated for dropping your tray in the Kingdom. cafeteria. *Or one of those dreams where you’re at school naked. • It’s mostly about God humbling or lowering himself. The church is the present representation of God’s Kingdom on earth. In • But, honestly, when you consider his death, how he was mocked, the church, the Son of God is ruling now in a way that he was not ruling stripped naked, beaten, and spit on, our typical use of humiliation is before his exaltation. God has always been sovereignly ruling over spot on. everything. But now, in the church, God the son is in direct, personal communication, and control of how things operate. Humiliation and exaltation are two-sides of the coin of Christ’s redemptive work. Put together they form a U-shaped arch, where Christ Like I said last week though, the Kingdom is established, but not fully. It stepped down in humility, and then was raised up in exaltation. is presently an “already, . . . but not yet” Kingdom.

However, in his exaltation, it’s not just that he went back exactly to He’s not just in charge of the church. He’s in charge of everything. He where he was before. Yes, everything he laid aside was restored to him has already been exalted above all rule and authority and power and in full. But he actually returned with something more. dominion.

Ephesians 1:20–23 says that God the Father “. . . raised [Christ] from However, as evidenced by the fact that we still have human rulers and the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, different governments all over the world (some better than others), we 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and know that Christ’s authority is not yet visible and effective over all the above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in world. We’ll talk in a minute about why it’s not yet, and why Christ is the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave waiting to finish his Kingdom. him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” But for the present, just hold onto this fact that Christ is reigning, with all authority in exalted glory. As a result of his humiliation, Paul says in While God has always been reigning over the earth, the fall into sin Philippians 2:9 that “God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on changed the nature of his rule. As sinners, we don’t have a place in him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of God’s Kingdom because we don’t qualify. The qualification for Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under citizenship in God’s Kingdom is perfect righteousness. the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Furthermore, when we sinned, we rejected God as the King of our lives, and put ourselves on the throne of our hearts. God’s desire for One day, every knee will bow to the true King. creation is to rule completely and entirely, which starts with the And while we wait, we hold on to the truth that he is indeed reigning property lines of the human heart. over all, and

Page 4 of 11 (slide) It can get really discouraging, really quickly. 1a. Because Christ reigns, we run with endurance. But as you run this race, you do not run from the perspective of trying to Don’t take my word for it though. Listen to what the author of Hebrews make yourself or keep yourself in good standing with God. says in Hebrews 12:1–2 “. . . let us also lay aside every weight, and • No, you’re running this race in response to the fact that Jesus has sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race already finished the work. He has given you a good standing and that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of there’s nothing you can do about it. our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the • **J. D. Greear has a gospel prayer that he encourages us to start cross, despising the shame, and {notice what he says} . . . is seated every day with that starts like this: “Because I am in Christ. . . There is at the right hand of the throne of God.” nothing I have done that could make you love me less, and nothing I could do that would make you love me more.”1 The author of Hebrews wants to give his readers a boost of energy to help them endure the hardships they were facing. What does he do? He When you run this race, you can run with endurance, because Christ’s tells them to look to Jesus, specifically to the ascended and exalted perfect love has driven out all fear. Jesus. • **Trying to run this race without keeping Christ’s finished work in mind is like trying to play basketball focused on not re-injuring your knee. He is telling us to draw endurance for the Christian life • You won’t jump as high, run as fast, or play as well because you’re . . . Through confidence in our completed salvation. scared to death of feeling that familiar pain in your knee again.

Back in Hebrews 1:3, the same writer says, “. . . After making Christians, we have nothing to fear. Our salvation is complete and it is purification for sins, [Jesus] sat down at the right hand of majesty secure. So just run, and when you get beaten down or discouraged, on high,. . .” look to Jesus, and let his finished work give you the endurance you need. His sitting down indicates that the work is finished. • **if you’re wondering why I didn’t use a running illustration for that • **If you work with your hands and are on your feet all day, you know point, it’s because distance running equals pain. I am not a runner. I how good it feels to finally get home and sit down in your favorite have tried being a runner, but realize that’s not the case when I think chair. I’ve been going for 30 minutes and look at my watch and it’s only • **my job involves a lot of typing on the computer, so I got one of those been five. So endurance runners, you have my respect, but don’t ask stand-up desks, just so I don’t miss out. me to be your training partner.

As we march on through the Christian life, we have a mission to fulfill. (point transition) We are to spread the gospel to all the world. But on top of that, life is really, really hard. What is the next thing Jesus is doing right now?

Just trying to raise kids and work and pay bills without losing your mind (slide) is enough to keep us on our toes. But on top of that, throw in the fact As a priest, 2. Christ Intercedes. that we’re in a spiritual battle against a real enemy named Satan who has an army of demons who are trying to oppose our mission. To intercede is to step in for someone else and represent them before an authority figure.

1 You can find the whole prayer at: https://jdgreear.com/blog/the-gospel-prayer/.

Page 5 of 11 • **When a lawyer represents a client, she basically intercedes for that • On the Day of Atonement, the priest would go into the Tabernacle or client before the judge and jury. Temple, into the innermost place, called the “Holy of Holies,” and would offer a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. All the priests and all the sacrifices of the Old Testament were ultimately • God’s presence would meet them there. And if the high priest didn’t foreshadowing the perfect work that Christ would one day fulfill. purify himself just right, or did something wrong, he would be struck dead because the effect of sin in the presence of God’s glory is like a Yes, there was a real purpose for those sacrifices, and in a way, God fly hitting a bug zapper. That’s just how it works. used those sacrifices to keep Israel in relationship with himself. • But just think about it for a minute. Can sinful human priests, and Hebrews 9 is saying that this Day of Atonement practice was really a animal sacrifices ever actually offer a sacrifice that can atone for shadow of what Christ did in heaven on our behalf. human sins in a real and lasting way? • Of course not. Hebrews 10:4 says explicitly that “it is impossible for So presently, now that he has ascended, Christ is interceding for us the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” . . . As the perfect high priest.

But God never really intended the Old Testament Law, with all its In order to be the perfect high priest, who can represent us, it’s crucial instructions for sacrifices and the priesthood, to be his plan for taking that Jesus still has his human nature. It’s critical for him to still be the away our sins. God-man. • Hebrews 10:1, says of the OT sacrificial system that it’s just “a • You don’t have doctrine of the ascension right if it excludes the fact shadow of the good things to come.” that he ascended bodily into heaven. That is, with a physical body. • And Colossians 2:17, says it was “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.” When Christ died, he sacrificed himself in a way that could actually take away the sins of the world. He is a worthy sacrifice, because . . . Paul is writing after the ascension of Christ, in the present tense, • Number 1, he is truly sinless. So, He’s not like the human priests who meaning that our ascended Lord is still fully God and fully human. really had no business going into God’s presence since they had their own sins to deal with. Look at Job 9:32–33. Thousands of years before Jesus came, Job • Number 2, he’s also eternal, which makes his sacrifice powerful articulates really well the need for a mediator who is fully God and fully enough to cover all sins for all eternity. man: Job says, “For he [God] is not a man, as I am, that I may answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” But the activity of his redemption was not just isolated to a hill outside of Jerusalem where he was nailed to a cross. Hebrews 9:24 tells us that We are sinful humans, and God is holy divinity. There is an infinite chasm the truly significant activity of Christ’s death was happening in the between us that we just don’t have what it takes to fill. So God the Son, courtroom of heaven. as the perfect redeemer, came to the earth took on a human nature, he fully God and fully man and therefore is able to “lay his hand on us It says, “Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, both.” which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to • When the Son stepped out of heaven. He lost none of his divine appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” nature. • When he stepped back into heaven, he lost none of his human nature . . . except that which was corrupted by sin. He defeated

Page 6 of 11 temptation and all of sin’s effects, ultimately driving death itself out of You may have never heard that phrase before, but if you’ve read the his human nature. Bible much, you’ve seen the evidence of this doctrine. • Every time you see a phrase like “in christ” or “in him,” it’s talking At his ascension, he did not become any more God than he was about union with Christ. before, because that’s not possible. • Paul uses “In Christ” or a synonym of “In Christ,” 216 times in his • He has always been and always will be fully God. writings alone. • He has simply returned to heaven with a glorified human nature, and • John says it 26 times in his writings.2 will now always be the God-man who is in heaven interceding on our behalf. This idea that we are “in Christ” or Christ is “in us” means that we are united with Christ in a real way because . . . (slide) . . . He infused us with the Holy Spirit. And 2a. Because Christ intercedes, we identify with Christ. As believers, we have God’s Spirit living inside of us, to the effect that This identification is possible, first of all, because we have been made one with Christ. The implication of this, is that if . . . Christ identified with our sin. Christ is sitting in heaven, beside the right hand of God the Father, we are there with him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says it well: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the And we are there, in the presence of God, righteousness of God.” . . . in the confidence of Christ’s righteousness. Not our own.

At his death, Christ took all our sins upon us. His death was not just an (slide) example to follow, or even just a display of God’s love for us. His death John Calvin explains the interceding work of Christ like this: did something real. And we, who have put our faith in Christ, were “[Christ] turns the Father’s eyes to his own righteousness to avert his involved in his death in a real way that has real effects. gaze from our sins.”3

That’s why in Galatians 2:20, Paul can say: “I have been crucified By means of your union with Christ, it is as if. . . no, it’s not just ‘as with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” if’ . . . you are, in actuality, before God. But you’re not there as a sinful Again, he’s not speaking in metaphor, but in a statement of fact. person who needs to hang his head in shame. You are there as Christ, in the confidence of his righteousness. How is this possible? But also, we have The answer is articulated in a little doctrine we refer to as “the . . . the comfort of Christ’s experience. believer’s union with Christ.”

2 James S. Stewart says, “The heart of Paul’s religion is union with Christ. This, more than any other conception . . . is the key which unlocks the secrets of his soul.” Cited by Bruce Demarest, The Cross and Salvation, Foundations of Evangelical Theology, ed. John S. Feinberg, 314. 3 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.16.16. Cited in Allison, Historical Theology, 419. The quote continues, “He so reconciles us to the Father’s heart to us that by his intercession he prepares a way and access for us to the Father’s throne. He fills with grace and kindness the throne that for miserable sinners would other wise have been filled with dread.”

Page 7 of 11 Hebrews 4:15 says, “. . . we do not have a high priest who is unable Paul Miller wrote a book called A Praying Life, which I highly to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect recommend. He puts it like this: “How do we learn to talk with with our has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Father? By asking like a child, believing like a child, and playing like a child.”5 In his time on earth, has experienced every type of temptation that we • Kids ask for anything. could ever be tempted with. • Kids believe most anything is possible. *Even that they’re capable of flight if they’re wearing a Super-Man cape. He actually knows the weight of temptation better than we do, because • And kids have really short attention spans. he never caved in! • **Just like only the champion weight lifter knows the full force of the So when you pray, just talk to God about whatever’s on your mind. You 500 pound bench press, because all the others never actually held it, don’t have to clean yourself up and talk in Thee’s and Thou’s and say so too Jesus knows the difficulty of your struggles better than you. “Father God” a billion times. Wherever your mind is wandering (worries • So in the heat of temptation, run to him. And run with the confidence about school, work, your family, whatever), maybe the secret to prayer that the one who represents you before God the Father knows what is just inviting God into the conversation of your wandering mind. it’s like to be in your shoes. The third and final thing Christ is doing in heaven: And also, because we are there, with Christ, at the Father’s right hand . . . we interact with God as a child to a loving father. (slide) As a prophet, 3. Christ Waits. John 20:17, Jesus says this to Mary after he rose from the dead: “Do Back to our home passage in Acts 1:11. The two men say to the not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to disciples: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in your Father, to my God and your God.’”4 the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

He’s saying that by merit of hid death and resurrection, his ascension Christ is at the right hand of God, waiting for has ushered in a whole new way for us to relate to God. . . . a day that will surely come. • “My Father and your Father . . . my God and your God.” • That’s not careless phrase. That’s Jesus intentionally trying to make The angels did not say Jesus may come, or might come, but that he sure she and the disciples understand their new relationship with God. will come. It’s only a matter of time.

Because we are raised with Christ, we experience God as a child to a Jesus foretells his own return in Matthew 24:30. He says, “Then will loving father. Like the perfect father figure, who parents in such a way appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes that his children respect and adore him. of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” This massively changes your prayer life. The prayer life you want is about simply learning to talk to talk to God like a kid to his father.

4 See also, 1 John 1:3b “. . . indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”; Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” 5 Paul Miller, A Praying Life, Chapter 4.

Page 8 of 11 The angels weren’t making it up that Jesus would return in the same • We don’t know exactly when the meter will go off in God the Father’s way. Jesus already told them. He went up with a cloud and he’ll come head that the gospel has gone far enough. down with a cloud. • But he’s not talking about a cumulonimbus, or any other weather But we do know this: cloud that’s just a puffy ball of condensed water droplets. • there are presently 4,605 unreached people groups in the world today. • Yes. He departed through the sky, and the sky is often full of clouds. • which adds up to 3.19 Billion people who have no access to the • But throughout the Bible, clouds are the way biblical writers describe gospel.7 the appearance of God’s glorious presence on earth. • For example, in Exodus, you have the pillar of cloud where God led Regardless of where God is drawing the lines, and regardless of your Israel and the cloud that descended on the Tabernacle. Then on the scholarly opinion of Matthew 24:14, there is work to be done. Mount of Transfiguration, a cloud came down when God spoke and said, “This is my beloved Son.” I’m sorry but the fact that 3.19 billion people have a good chance of living and dying without ever hearing the name of Jesus is a crying So Christ is waiting in heaven for a day shame to those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus. . . . when he will return in glory. • When will the church of Jesus get serious about the mission of Jesus? That’s what he means when he says he will come on the clouds of heaven. One day, Christ will return. But for now, we have an ever-closing window of opportunity to do the one thing that we can’t do in Do we know when this day will happen exactly. Nope. heaven, which is to share the gospel with nonbelievers, because, Matthew 24:36, Jesus says, “. . . concerning that day and hour no there won’t be any nonbelievers in heaven. one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill is promise as some count slowness, but [he] is patient toward you, not wishing that any Not even Jesus knows the exact time. But he does give us a clue, that should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” he is waiting for a day . . . when the gospel has been proclaimed in all the world. (slide) And so, 3a. Because Christ waits, we work with passion. Matthew 24:14 he says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all God’s desire is for all to hear the gospel and for all to repent. Reality is, nations, and then the end will come.”6 not all will repent. But that’s not up to us. It is up to us to make sure they hear the gospel. Does this mean that Jesus is literally waiting until we get our act I said that as Christ waits, he fulfills his prophetic role. But in reality, his together and get the gospel to all the nations? design is for us to fulfill that role for him. • Some scholars say yes. Some say no. There’s some disagreement on exactly what Jesus means there. Because of the Holy Spirit in us, we can say that Christ is in us. This is • We do believe that Jesus could come at any moment. Largely why the refers to the church as the “body of Christ.” because we don’t know exactly what he means by “all nations.” Is it As we’ve said, Christ’s physical body is in heaven. But in a real sense, the current nations, or the ones back in his day, or is it people groups.

6 Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” 7 https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics, accessed January 16, 2020. Page 9 of 11 he still has a physical representation on earth by way of Christians And we work with passion, because we work who are filled with his Spirit. . . . with everything we need for success in our mission.

This gets confusing. Is the Holy Spirit just Jesus in spirit-form? That’s John 16:7, Jesus says “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your not the case. They’re still separate persons of the Trinity. One scholar advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not says better than I could: come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you.”

“The Spirit does not replace Jesus, or even become the real The Spirit is the one who empowers our witness, and brings the presence of Jesus; the Spirit makes the presence of Jesus real.”8 spiritually dead to life when we faithfully share the gospel.

Still clear as mud? That’s okay. We’re not capable of fully understanding And the Spirit gives us all the tools we need. Notice how the gifts of the the mysteries of the Trinity. Spirit are rooted in Christ’s ascension:

All you need to know is that as we share the gospel, as take it as Ephesians 4:7–8 “But grace was given to each one of us according “testimony to all nations,” Christ is, through us, acting as a prophet to all to the measure of Christ’s gift, therefore it says, ‘When he the world, pleading with them before it is too late. ascended on high, he lead a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ (cf. Psalm 68:18)” So we work with passion. but we do so . . . with joy in our ascended Lord. That’s why Jesus said it’s “to your advantage” that he goes away. And Luke 24:52–53 tells what the disciples did after Christ ascended: “they then in John 14:13, he makes a pretty audacious statement, “Whoever worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works continually in the temple blessing God.” than these will he do {and why can he do greater works?} because I am going to the Father.” The outcome of this sermon, yes, should be a greater zeal for gospel witness. But that zeal should be fueled by a ridiculous sense of joy the And finally, we work with passion because we are fueled exalted Christ. . . . by the pleasure of Christ.

We also work with passion because we are fueled (MUSIC & CONCLUSION) . . . by hope in our certain future. The Greek word translated as witness, is where we get the word Philippians 3:20–21 says, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it “martyr,” which is someone who dies because of their witness for we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly Christ. A man named Stephen was the first Christian martyr. bodies to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” He was proclaiming the gospel to the religious leaders of his day. Performing that prophetic role. But as we know, prophets are not always And Colossians 3:4 puts it like this: “When Christ who is your life well received. The gospel is, by nature, a pretty offensive message. appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

8 M. M. Thompson, The . Cited by Peter C. Orr, Exalted Above the Heavens: The Risen and Ascended Christ, NSBT, ed. D. A. Carson, 61. See also, John 17:11 “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”

Page 10 of 11 The religious leaders took great offense at his message. They became furious with Stephen. So they convict him of blasphemy, sentence him to death, and execute him on the spot by pummeling his body with stones.

Right before he dies, this is what he saw:

Acts 7:55–56 says that “[Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”

Stephen is granted vision into heaven to see our ascended Lord. But he’s not seated at the right hand of God. He’s standing at the right hand of God.

Jesus sees Stephen, being a faithful as a gospel witness to the point of death. And Jesus stands up, like a standing ovation, in honor of what Stephen is doing.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that when Stephen closed his eyes in death, the first thing he heard was “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Green Street. What’s the driving force behind your life? Is it personal comfort? Success? Power? Security?

Let’s let the one driving force of our lives be the desire to please Christ so that when we close our eyes in death or see him coming on the clouds, we hear “Well done.”

(Instructions for Song and Response)

(Pray)

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