Luke 24:50-53....He Blessed, They Worshipped

Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

Introduction...

Worship is the act of expressing reverence, honor, and respect to God. It is a Biblical mandate that we worship God and Him alone. Worship can be defined as “the reverence or adoration that one shows toward something or someone; holding a person or object in high esteem; or giving a person or an object a place of importance or honor”. There are hundreds of scriptures in the Bible that speak about worship and provide guidance as to both who and how to worship. Worship is also an expression of our gratitude to God and our submission to His will

And you show reverence, honor and respect to someone when you know who they are...

I stand firm in my belief that we should worship God and Christ for who they are.

Not for what they can do for us...

In my opinion, when you know what someone can do for you and you are nice to them, are you just using them to get something from them...

I am sure there were plenty of folks that surrounded Christ just to see, and get something.

I always wonder, did they continue to worship are did they go on with their lives?

But to worship Him for who He is, means you have to know something about Him and know what He has (past tense) already done for you.

Let me call the roll…TALK, PREACH...

I worship Him for who is and the only reason, I know who He is because of the way He has blessed.

He is my all in all..

The disciples knew who Jesus was and He blessed not only on His way back to heaven but so much for the 3 years they walked with Him, that after the ascencion, they had to go worship Him..

Church when you truly realize what He has blessed you with, I hope you show Him reverence, honor and respect…in other words, i hope you worship Him

and it just doesnt have to be on sunday mornings..TALK, PREACH.

History..

The ascension of Christ, is an overlooked part of the bible. we know the story, TALK, PREACH..

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Twenty-Four: The Son of Man Triumphs! (Luke 24)

our Lord’s ascension is not given the prominence in the church that it deserves. Think of what it meant to Him to return to heaven and sit on the throne of glory! (John 17:5, 11) His ascension is proof that He has conquered every enemy and that He reigns supremely “far above all” (Eph. 1:18–23).

the ascension assures that God is alive

the ascension assures that christ is God’s son

it assures that heaven is real

that the gospel is true

it assures that we have a very special helper in heaven

Only Luke and Acts contains details of the ascension and wouldn’t you know they have the same author…Luke..

Luke ends his gospel with and begins the book of Acts with it.

Luke is the gospel of christ and Acts tells of the beginning of the church.

another interesting point, is that The Gospel of Luke began in the temple with Zacharias unable to say a word because he didn’t believe what he was told. It ends in the temple with people believing, rejoicing, singing, and worshiping.

TALK, PREACH.....

but here in the text for today we that after 40 days as Christ gets ready to leave and go back to His father and to prepare a place for us as he said in his word

we see Christ giving a final blessing and then ascending to heaven.

from there the disciples, return to Jerusalem and worship Him for who HE is ..

He blessed and they worshipped...

Let’s go deeper

Points...

Luke 24:50–53 “And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

CHRIST’S LAST ACT ON EARTH...

Luke 24:51 “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.”

the ascension has 2 general purpose..

1, to bless the disciples

2, to provide witness and give assurance

what did it show

showed that Christ is our High Priest

showed that His blessing are eternal

his blessing was unlimited

he would bless those who would be His witnesses...

TALK,PREACH.......

as much as it hurt them to see him leave,When He did, Jesus left the earth blessing His Church, and He continues to bless them, as much as His people will receive.

will you receive His blessings

do you know that you have already been blessed...

When Jesus blesses His people, it isn’t just a pious wish like “I hope things work out for you” or “I hope you will be feeling better.” Instead, the blessing of Jesus has inherent power within it.,TALK,PREACH...

“If he has blessed you, you shall be blessed, for there is no power in heaven, or earth, or hell, that can reverse the blessing which He gives.” (Spurgeon)

by recognizing our blessings today and knowing that Christ is the head of the church we should understand that from His blessings for us Jesus Christ is equipping His people to live for Him and serve Him in this present world

those years with Jesus and seeing everything He had done was preparing them for their work ahead

but seeing Him crucified and resurrected surely blessed them..

The Teacher’s Bible Commentary The Resurrection (Luke 24:1–53)

The witness of the early church was not based on the empty tomb but on the encounter of the disciples with the risen Lord

we may not have had a physical encounter with our risen Saviour but prayfully you have a encounter with Him through the Holy Spirit.

So Christ has blessed them in so many way as he has done us and what we see now is that The last act of Jesus after His resurrection was to bless. The first act of the believers after His ascension was to worship.

Luke 24:52–53 “And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 24

People often think worship is the means of getting blessed. True worship, however, is simply responding to what God has already done for us.

TALK,PREACH.....

They worshipped Him: This means they knew that Jesus was God, and they gave Him the honor He deserves.

the ascension stirred worship. they truly knew that He was the Messiah and was going back to the right hand of the father

do you know for yourself?

They returned to Jerusalem: This means they did just what Jesus told them to do. They were obedient.

Luke 24:47–48 “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”

Acts 1:10–12 “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.”

With great joy: This means they really believed Jesus rose from the dead, and let the joy of that fact touch everything in their life.

"A little before, they could not believe for joy. Now they were joyful just because they believed." (Morrison)

Continually in the temple praising and blessing God: This means that they lived as public followers of Jesus, and could not hide their love and worship towards Him.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 24

that is, every day at the regular hours of prayer till the day of Pentecost.

because of their being blessed they worshipped continually

let’s remember, he went away after 40 days, the Holy Spirit didn’t until the day of Pentecost, 50

so what did they do for 10 day…the worshipped...

it’s hard to get folks to worship one day a week…TALK, PREACH....

Conclusion..

we can worship Him for who he is and the reason we can know who he is because of what He has done for us and we know that no one else could have done that but a true and living saviour.

because he has blessed us, we can worship him

i know what he can do if it be in His will but i am so grateful for what He has already done..

and i give Him reverence, honor and glory, and respect for that...

because He didn’t bless me with unconditional love

his mercy, his grace....i would not be able to worship him

and how did he do that...

TALK, PREACH, CLOSE...