Mission Accomplished
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Scripture Introduction:
There are many questions which we humans are asking ourselves—even if we aren’t asking ourselves verbally.
At the end of the day am I going to be alone? Will I die alone? Even if I’m in a room full of people will I be left alone? And this question extends heavenward? Are we actually alone in this universe—all just some big cosmic happenstance—or perhaps placed here by some distant being, who then just kind of abandoned us? Are we left alone?
And the second question…takes several forms but it’s something like this...“am I actually forgiven, are things actually okay, will things work out, is everything going to be set right?”
Of course, I believe the answer to these questions is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news. And what is that good news?
It centers on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Sound good? Am I missing anything…?
I am...
And that thing I’m missing, I believe is the answer to those two fundamental questions which we are asking. Listen in, and see if you can spot what’s missing.
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.
Sermon Introduction:
It’s the ascension. That’s what I’m missing. I’ll be honest, this is one aspect of the gospel which I so often don’t even think about. It’s so easy to just forget about the importance of the ascension. I think we just kind of wrap it up into the resurrection when we talk about Jesus. But there is something vitally important taking place here. And it will answer our two questions.
Am I going to be left alone?
In John 16, this is before Jesus will be crucified. It’s before the resurrection. It’s in the Upper Room on that night before. And Jesus tells them, “where I’m going, you can’t come.” Or again, “I am going to him who sent me...”
And Jesus says, “sorrow has filled your heart...”
Think about this for a moment. They have been with Jesus for years now. God in the flesh. How wonderful would that be? Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to just reach out and touch Jesus? To ask Him a question? To go to the source of Life? To be hugged by Him? To see His face?
All of that, Jesus says, is going to be going away for them. He’s leaving. And they feel the pain of it. But now listen here to what Jesus says to them in John 16:7-15
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
It’s good that I go. Because when I go, you’ll be given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Without the ascension there is no gift of the Holy Spirit. This is, in part, what Ephesians 4 is saying when it quotes Psalm 68.
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
Christ came to earth…then went back up…And as he did this, he gave gifts to men. The greatest gift—the Holy Spirit…and everything else flows out of that.
Would you rather have the Spirit inside of you, or Jesus beside you?
Now, you might say, “well why not both?” Why couldn’t Jesus have stayed and the Spirit been poured out as well?
Because the primary ministry of the Spirit is to shine a spotlight on the finished work of Jesus. And you don’t have the FINISHED work of Jesus without the ascension.
The ascension is when He sat down at the right hand of the Father. The ascension is crowned King. The ascension is when Jesus is lifted up by the Father. It is here when Jesus is lifted up—yes, lifted up on the Cross—but also lifted up in the ascension…that the Great Commission of drawing all peoples to Himself will begin.
So, the Spirit couldn’t have been poured out while Jesus was still on earth, because the work of Christ wasn’t finished.
But let’s think of all the Spirit does.
Do you find Jesus to be beautiful and wonderful? Do you love Jesus? Do you want to be like Christ? Are you drawn to Him?
That’s the work of the Spirit.
Do you have conviction of sin? Do you have a different view of sin and grace than you once had?
That’s the work of the Spirit.
Have you ever read Scripture and then all of a sudden “light bulb”? It’s as if God’s Word is illuminated to you and you’re able to see like you’ve never seen before, and feel like you’ve never felt before?
That’s the work of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. You have these increasing in your life? Are you looking more like Jesus?
That’s the work of the Spirit.
Comforter. Helper. Counselor.
The presence of God within us.
Spiritual gifts.
A seal in our lives…when you are struggling with whether or not you are saved—and you are given assurance.
Or that thing that happens when you meet someone that you’ve never met before and you just know that they are believers—there is a way that your Spirit connects with their Spirit.
Or when you go into another country and people speak another language entirely and you don’t seem like you have much of anything else in common but at the same time you feel the deepest sense of unity with them. That’s the Spirit.
Or even when you don’t know what to pray. Scripture says the Spirit is interceding for us...
Which, side note, that is another part of the ascension that matters. You know when Jesus was on earth He was physically bound. He was fully human. If you wanted to talk to Jesus you needed to be present with Jesus. But you know what can happen now?
“Dear Jesus....” And He’s present. He’s present in the Lord’s Supper. He’s present when two or more gather. I don’t understand all of this to be honest…it’s one of those things too big for my brain…But Tim Keller says it well:
Jesus leaves the space-time continuum and passes into the presence of the Father. He is still human, still our second Adam . . . and still our Advocate—yet now he has been so glorified that everything he does has a cosmic scope . . . any time-space limitation passes away.”
Or, if you’d like it a bit less nerdy I’ve always loved what Robert Murray McCheyne said,
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.”
The ascended Christ is available. And He has given us the Spirit. No, we are definitely not alone.
Even if you are not a believer today the Spirit is working. Opening eyes and minds. If you will become a Christian today it will be because of the Spirits work in your life.
Maybe you hear all of these things and your thinking—man Jesus just isn’t present. It might mean that it’s because you don’t have the Spirit. And if you don’t have the Spirit it means you aren’t united to Jesus. You need a relationship with Jesus.
All of this happens because of the ascension. Jesus is present through His Spirit. You are not alone.
Think of all that we have here because of this gift of the Spirit.
It’s also that Christ is King.
That’s why Jesus says, “i’m sending the promise of the Father…wait...” Because in Acts this is precisely what we see. This is the connection between Luke and Acts. It’s why one ends with ascension and then is picked up again in Acts.
The connection is the gift of the Spirit. In our Bible it likely is titled Acts of the Apostles. But really it’s the Acts of the Spirit through the Apostles…it’s about the continued ministry of Jesus by the Spirit through the apostles. The gifts that we read about in Ephesians 4...
But we also need to know that everything is going to be made all right…everything will be fixed…we are finally and fully forgiven.
II. The Priestly Benediction
You’re in the Old Testament. You have heard the Law. You’ve been raised with the sacrificial system. So, you know that sin requires blood. You offer a sacrifice.
How do I know that worked?
This is where the priestly blessing would come in. Numbers 6:22-27
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
It was a way of saying, all is well. But as we learn from the New Testament we know that sacrifices kept having to be made. There was no perfect sacrifice. It didn’t really cover sin. It was temporary. The people knew it. They all knew it.
But now Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice. And here as He ascends, He gives the priestly blessing to them.
And notice the response of worship and joy. This is the only time in the gospel of Luke that worship of Jesus in this manner takes place. Luke saves it for this moment. He is the exalted Jesus. Worthy of worship.
But there is also something else to this joy. It’s connected to Psalm 67.
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Let the PEOPLES praise you. It’s a universal blessing. Which is what we will also see in Acts.
Do you know what this priestly blessing means for you?
Jesus fulfills this. So do you know what that means?
—no way that God can forgive me
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
—I’m not accepted, I’m not enough
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
---filled with shame, nobody would ever want me
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
---I don’t matter
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.