May 1, 2008
The Ascension of our Lord
Colossians 3:3-4
Grace and mercy be to you from
our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed,
The year is flying by. With
the arrival of Pentecost next Sunday, the Church year will be halfway gone. During
the first half of the year we followed the life of Jesus from preparing for His
coming to His birth to His epiphany and transfiguration to His death and
resurrection. And here we are today, marking forty days after Christ’s promised
return from the dead.
During the Easter season we’ve
had the Baptismal font and the Paschal candle front and center to remind us
that Baptism is a drowning: We were
therefore buried with Him [Christ] through baptism into death in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too
may live a new life (Romans 6:4).
We died to sin when Christ
died. That’s what Paul is talking about in Colossians 3:3: For you died. Therefore our lives are now hidden with Christ and
His cross. This means that our eyes are now seeing clearly for the first
time.
So now, dear Christians, don’t
trust your own wisdom. Proverbs 3:5 says: Trust
in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding. So when our wisdom tells us that
the Law can get us to heaven, don’t listen. If fact, the Law does everything it
can to prevent us from entering heaven.
The Law says, “Do this, do that, don’t do this, don’t do that, and so forth.”
Does it ever help you do this or that? Does it ever help you to stop doing this
or that? No, it never does! All the Law ever does is point an accusing finger
in your direction. All it does is show us how
miserable we are and poorly we measure up to perfection. The Law points us to
the sins that we commit daily (actual sins) and the Law also points us to how
deeply stained and thoroughly saturated we are
(original sin). We do sins and we are sin.
But our foolish wisdom keeps
egging us on, “C’mon, you’re a Christian now, you have
responsibilities now, time to kick in and measure up and show Jesus that you
were worth it.” This is a clever trap of the devil because it sounds so right
and biblical. The devil tells you that if you hide in Christ and take refuge in
Him, you are a coward and not worthy.
Basically the devil is calling
us a chicken, and is delighted when Christians are foolish enough to trust in
themselves and blind to the way things really are—we are worthless sinners who
can’t do anything to save ourselves even after we have been saved.
By faith we can see clearly.
We are worthless sinners who have been redeemed by love that is outside of us.
The reason we are now wise is because true wisdom comes from above. True wisdom
looks to Christ and His Cross and believes it and everything needed for
salvation is already done.
We still have one-half year to
go. During the season of Pentecost we change our focus from the specific
details of Jesus’ life here on earth, His perfect Life that saved our miserable
lives, to Jesus as He sustains the life of the Church—our lives—here on earth.
One thing to be clear about concerning Jesus’ ascension: He didn’t leave us. He
rules from heaven and is present in our hearts and has sent the Holy Spirit to
give us life. And one day He’ll come back and take us home to glory.
Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again! Amen.
Pastor Luke Boehringer