Title: THE ASCENSION ORIENTATION

Focus: We impact our world with the Lordship of Christ and draw wonderful benefits from living with an ascension orientation.

Text: Colossians 3:1-11

Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 18

INTRODUCTION

Many of us travel on occasion and find ourselves separate from our spouse for a while. How does a married couple relate to each other when they go their separate ways for a few days? How do you maintain the bond of marriage in the absence of your spouse?

There are many ways to keep up and nurture the relationship between the two of you. For example, you make periodic phone calls to keep each other up-to-date and let her know that you miss her or love her. You set boundaries in what you do and where you spend your time and with whom. You wear your wedding ring and think of him. You pray for your hubby or you bring back a gift for your sweetie. All of these gestures or activities are part of a healthy, good marriage orientation. Such an orientation strengthens your marriage and brings wholeness to the family and community at large.

The Lord Jesus is our bridegroom; the church is his bride. Through faith and the workings of God’s Holy Spirit, we are united, one in Christ. It’s in this light that I say to you: the ascension of the Lord Jesus calls for an ascension orientation by his followers.

Jesus knew that his ascension to his heavenly Father would trouble his followers. They would feel abandoned, alone, bewildered perhaps. So already before his crucifixion, Jesus prepared his followers for the day that he would leave them. His absence, however, would not mean abandonment. In fact, Jesus’ physical presence in heaven would mean Jesus’ omni-presence here on earth through the gift of his Holy Spirit. “I will not leave you as orphans,” said Jesus to his disciples. “I will come to you…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John. 14:18,26).

Yes, Jesus is physically absent, but as the Catechism tells us so beautifully: “Christ is true man and true God. In his human nature Christ is not now on earth; but in his divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit, he is not absent from us for a moment.”

So, as Christ rules as King in heaven, and as we have both feet here on earth, let me say it as clearly as I can: it is through an ascension orientation that we impact our world with the lordship of Christ and draw wonderful benefits from Jesus’ ascension.

THE PASSAGE: Colossians 3:1-11

I say this in light of the apostle Paul’s teachings in his letter to the church in Colossae. Listen to how the apostle Paul frames this ascension orientation for us. He says: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Take note of the following:

Believers in Christ share in the rescue work of Jesus. In chapter two, the apostle Paul writes that Christ “forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Jesus accomplished this rescue work on Good Friday when he died for our sake, and on Easter Sunday, when God raised him from the dead.

Here is the astonishing thing: believers in Christ share in this work of Jesus. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ….” Somehow, we share in Christ’s death and resurrection. And Paul tells us that we also share in Christ’s glory. Listen: (3:4) “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you all will appear with him in glory.”

Note also that

Believers, therefore, find their orientation in Christ today. We may be a trucker, a grower, a businessman, a teacher, a student, a homemaker, you name it—but first of all we are royalty, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, called to live with an ascension orientation that is fully in Christ. Listen: (3:3) “…your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Can there be any doubt that Christ is in us and we are in him? Can there be any doubt that the ascended Lord Jesus is the antenna by which we orientate all of life?

Note , then, how Paul stresses

The ascension orientation by saying: “…set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Why this call for ascension orientation by us today? Simple! We impact our world with the lordship of Christ and draw wonderful benefits from living with an ascension orientation.

Let me introduce you to some of the benefits that come to all believers today due to Jesus’ ascension into heaven. You will notice that Jesus’ physical absence from us is for our good. And you will realize that an ascension orientation will be for the good of the world and the rule of God in this world.

In Lord’s Day 18 of the catechism, the Bible teacher asks: “How does Christ’s ascension into heaven benefit us?” This is a “relevance” question. So listen: (Jesus) “pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father.” In other words, we have an advocate, a representative, an agent in heaven.

Some athletes or major movie stars have agents who wheel and deal for them and negotiate contracts and salaries for them. These agents are expensive, and fickle. Sometimes they do more harm than good for their clients.

Our representatives in Congress are as good as their morals, character, and abilities to keep promises. Sometimes they represent us well; other times, they seem self-serving or oriented to political small interest groups with lots of money to dish around. Often, our politicians disappoint.

Lawyers are needed. Some are good and represent us well in court. Others are self-serving, and they fail us miserably. And so it goes. We all need representatives, advocates, agents to advance our interests at times.

Well, take note of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ; he is our Advocate par excellence. He pleads our cause in the presence of our heavenly Father. Jesus’ requests before the Father are always heard because Jesus knows how to pray in accordance with the Father’s will.

Also, Jesus does not charge us a penny. He offers himself as a mediator and he says to us: “Come to me! Lay your burdens, your needs, your requests before me; and I will sift through them and plead your cause—in your best interest—before my heavenly Father.”

Can you imagine having president Bush as a reference or agent speaking well on your behalf? That would be awesome. Well, we have Jesus Christ, King of kings, pleading our cause before the Father in heaven. Draw encouragement from that as you impact the world with an ascension orientation.

Another benefit to draw from is Jesus’ physical presence in heaven. Says the Bible teacher in L.D. 18: “…we have our own flesh in heaven—a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven.” By ascending into heaven, Jesus has brought us into heaven as well. Our own flesh and blood is guaranteed to live forever in the presence of God. Christ is physically in heaven; we shall be there as well. Don’t say: “Someday, I’m going to heaven.” For you are already there in Christ Jesus! I know. Our feet are on earth. We live on this globe. But this is the guarantee from which we draw today: As Christ, our head or representative, brought our dust, our flesh to heaven, so Christ will come and take us, so that we, too, shall be where he is, forevermore. Christ went into heaven; his people will follow. Just as the fruit is present in the buds of the tree—a guarantee of a harvest to come, and just as the essence of the butterfly is already in the caterpillar—so our flesh is in heaven, waiting to be revealed in its glorified state.

This gives us strength and encouragement to impact our world today with a message of hope and resurrection. Keep this ascension orientation clearly before your eyes, and watch how God’s Spirit gives you focus and energy to impact the people around you.

Is not this amazing? Jesus takes our flesh with him into heaven; and he gives us something in return: the Spirit of God. Thus the Bible teacher in L.D. 18 echoes the scriptures saying: (Jesus) “…sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit’s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.”

This is so amazing! Christ—our flesh; we—Christ’s Spirit. Having our flesh in heaven, Jesus continually remembers us in prayer before his heavenly Father, as he demonstrated on the night that he was betrayed, saying in front of his disciples: “Father, I am praying for those you have given me, for they are yours…protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one” (Jhn. 17). And we, having received Christ’s Spirit, now pray in and through the Spirit saying: “Maranatha, Lord Jesus, come soon.”

Why am I “go hung” by Jesus’ ascension? Well, by developing an ascension orientation, we impact our world and Jesus’ rule or influence is being felt and seen in more and more places.

You see, when we develop this ascension orientation, we approach God’s throne of grace in prayer with great confidence. We have this wonderful Lawyer before the Father, a terrific, one-of-a kind Mediator or High Priest. He fills our empty hands of prayer with heavenly gifts. What are these gifts from heaven? Consider: holiness, purity, grace, forgiveness, fruit of the Holy Spirit such as kindness, joy, love, and charity. All these gifts we receive from him as we have an ascension orientation.

And then we turn around and distribute these gifts to people all around us: at home, in the neighborhood, in the schools, the workplace, and everywhere else in creation. And in that way, we impact the world for Christ and the kingdom or rule of God.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.