Sermon Notes for: 5/4/2008
Living under the Ascension - Luke 24:36-53
-- Jeffrey C. Evans --
 

I. Introduction
a. From our perspective, God often turns things upside down.
b. We want to be confident and useful like the Apostles, not timid and fearful. If we are to be this way, celebrating and living under the Ascension is important.
c. Context

II. A Theology of the Ascension
a. Confessional Statements (WLC 51-55; LD 18, QQ 46-49)
b. The Rule of Christ from Heaven—gone away, like going to the capital or capitol
c. What goes up must come down: the return of Christ

III. Dealing with Fright at the Voice of Peace (vv. 36-43)
a. Jesus’ speaking of “Peace”
b. Troubled hearts
c. Looking upon the incarnated Son of God

IV. Reminding How the Scriptures Must be Fulfilled (vv. 44-49)
a. The Law, Prophets, and Psalms
b. Jesus opens the disciples’ understanding
c. The suffering and rising is inextricably linked with the preaching and witnessing of the Apostles

V. The Promise and Blessing of Christ (vv. 50-53)
a. The sending of the Spirit
b. A priestly blessing
c. A reversal of the Apostles’ timidity and fear

VI. Application
a. Jesus is our sympathetic high priest. Just as the disciples were frightened by thinking of Jesus as a spirit so too we can be frightened by thinking of Jesus as utterly transcendent and beyond us ruling in heaven. Instead, hear the voice of peace and the blessing of our king.
b. You will probably suffer physically and all of us will most certainly die. Christ’s real body suffered, died, and remains with Him as He exercises a sympathetic kingship, priesthood, and prophetic office in heaven.
c. Just as the Scriptures had to be fulfilled with Jesus’ earthly ministry, so too they must be fulfilled in His heavenly ministry. This means that every enemy is being conquered by Christ, with the last enemy being death itself upon Jesus’ return (1 Cor 15:25-26).
d. We must hear the Word of instruction from our Father through the Spirit given to us by His Son. You do not get the Spirit by works but by God’s grace. He sends it upon His people that believe His Son, desire His Word, and, especially, those that worship Him in truth.
e. While not giving any room to laziness or faithlessness, it is right for us to wait upon God’s blessing and the Spirit before embarking on a certain ministry.

VII. Conclusion

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