Why the Ascension Matters (Ephesians 1:15-23)

Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Sun Churches Podcast.

We're a gospel centered church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.

May God bless you today through his life-giving word.

Our next lesson is from Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 to 23.

Ephesians 1:15–23

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all the word of the Lord.

And let's pray.

Father, help us to comprehend this great truth of Christ's ascension.

Father, um, just pray that any distractions from this week would fall away and that you would draw us to yourself.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

And please be seated.

So while a lot of us on Thursday were eating chili, I'm sure most of us didn't know or forgot that that was actually Ascension Day.

Thursday was Ascension Day.

Today is Ascension Sunday.

And if you were like me, or if you did remember, well, you're a better Anglican than I am, or literature calendar uh follower than I am.

But it's interesting that Ascension Day is on a Thursday.

It's not this big celebration on a Sunday.

We have Ascension, sorry, this today's Ascension Sunday.

But the actual day is during the week.

You think about Christmas Day or you think about Easter, there's these great celebrations surrounding that day.

It's on the Sunday, it's through the week, there's a big celebration.

There's a lead up to it, and then there's also a um celebration after the actual day.

It's like that with Easter as well.

But with Ascension Day in a lot of churches, um, it just creeps by.

And um I come from a background of I went to an alliance church, I was in charismatic church, and you never heard about Ascension Day.

You never heard about it.

It's great that we celebrated here, but why is it that um the ascension is um not talked about as often as it should?

Because it's such an important um factor that needs to get talked about.

So why doesn't it get talked about?

Or why should we even celebrate or make much um much fuss about it?

The thing is, without the ascension, there's with Christianity, there's it is hopeless.

But with the ascension, sorry, it is the greatest hope imaginable.

Without the ascension, Christianity is hopeless.

But with the ascension, it is the greatest hope imaginable.

Now I'm not gonna be up here arguing about if uh Jesus was beamed up or if he uh floated away on clouds or feels almost like raptured out.

We're gonna focus on why does it matter?

And because it's vestry, I have a shorter amount of time to talk about this.

So we're gonna rush through it.

But the thing I know about new song after being here for two years, shorter actually means longer.

So we're gonna go with that.

And we're gonna do it in three points.

Quickly, three points.

And we're gonna do this.

Because of the ascension, you can rest in the hope of your calling.

Point two.

Because of the ascension, you can rest in the riches of his glorious inheritance of the saints.

And point three, because of the ascension, you can rest in the power of Christ.

Now, if you have your Bible a bulletin, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 to 23.

Ephesians 1:15–23

And it's very helpful if you have a Bible with you, because especially in this sermon, I'm going to be looking at verses that come before this section of text, because it's so important.

Because Paul is writing a letter, so you have to take into account what is just what he just wrote about into what is being spoken about today, because it won't make sense if you don't.

So Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 to thir uh to 23.

Ephesians 1:15

And we'll do uh verses 15 to 18 to begin with.

For this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.

Now, Paul is writing from jail when he writes this, and he's writing to a church or churches that he helped plant in Ephesus.

And he's writing to these churches, and he has this great love for them.

You can see it in the text.

He loves them and he reflects on their gr on their faith and holding true to during persecution and during all these things that are happening to them within the church.

And what does he mean though, um, when he says, having your eyes enlightened and your in your your heart, sorry, have your eyes enlightened, your heart and your sorry, your eyes of your heart enlightened.

That's a tongue twister for me.

That you may know what is the hope of what you he has called you.

Now, what does that mean to have your your heart, the eyes of your heart enlightened?

What he's talking about here is when it's when we talk about the heart, it is your entire being.

It's your moral compass, it's how you live your life, it's how you um present yourself, it's your entire being.

And he's talking about these eyes to enlighten the heart.

Now, what's the hope?

Well, in the previous verses, Paul, um, in the previous verses, Paul writes this glorious opening to Ephesians.

It's one of my favorite um sections of the Bible when he writes this.

But we're gonna focus in.

When he says in uh verse four, he says this even as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

He is talking about a great truth here.

That he, God, chose you and me before the foundation of the world.

This is a great truth.

It is extremely powerful, it's profound.

It's a profound truth that God chose you and me before he even created the world.

He know you, he knew you before the world was created.

And then he says in verse 13, he says, In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

See, Paul is reflecting on Acts 2 here when he's talking about it.

It's talking about when the Spirit came for Pentecost.

But Creighton will talk about that next week.

But what he's talking about here is the hope that you've been sealed with Christ through your faith in him.

That is the hope.

And it's the hope that God called you to him, that you didn't have to do anything for this faith, that it was given to you, and that you've been sealed by the Spirit that's within you after you've put your faith and trust in Him.

And because of that, because of that, it's all through the ascension.

And because of the Ascension, you can rest in the hope that you are called by the Father.

You can trust, you can rest in the hope that through faith you are sealed.

And then you can also rest in the hope of eternal life, of that promised hope that comes through the gospel.

But also, because of the ascension, you can rest in the riches of his glorious inheritance of the saints.

In verses 17 to 18, Paul talks about this when he says, when he says this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know the hope to which he has called you, and what are the glory and what is the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints.

What Paul is talking about here is you have to think about, you know, the familiar slogan of Scotiabank, you're richer than you think.

That's what he's talking about here.

But in our culture, in our world, when you think about riches, you think about material things, you think about having big bank accounts full of money, that'd be the dream, right?

But it's not that.

That's not what he's talking about.

The thing that's really interesting about Christianity, when you read the history of Christianity, it thrives the most in cultures that are in poverty, not in rich cultures.

See, Paul is pointing to this idea of a great richness in God.

But what is it?

What is he talking about?

It's something that's more, that's better than money, that's better than wealth, that's almost better than health, too.

What he's talking about here is this that the realized the riches are the realization of this shared inheritance with all gospel-centered, Bible-believing, Christ-following Christians around the world and through the ages, you share this with Christ.

You are heirs with Christ.

Because he says in verse 5, he says this, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.

You see, you when we have faith in Christ, we become adopted to God.

God adopts us.

We are made sons.

Now we have to use the language of sonship, because if you use the um if you don't do it, it doesn't make sense.

Paul's illustration falls short.

Because what he's talking about here is the sons were given the inheritance within the culture.

So what he's talking about here is that when you are a child of God with faith in Jesus Christ, you are given the same inheritance that Christ is given.

We become brothers and sisters with Christ, and God is our Father.

That is what he's talking about.

That is the great riches, the great inheritance that he prays for this church, and that he prays for you to inherit, to have, to trust in, to put your hope in.

We have full access to God the Father, because we are heirs with Christ.

See, before we knew Christ, we were all beggars, and we're still beggars.

We're on the pilgrimage towards the great city, but we were in rags.

But when you trust in Christ, you become adopted, and you are given beautiful clothing, you're nourished with the great truth of the great hope of the gospel.

We're given beautiful clothes, we're adorned, we're given a father who will never abandon us and who will never leave us because he loves us so deeply that he gives us his son.

But also, because of the ascension, you can rest, because of the ascension, you can rest in the riches of the glorious inheritance of the saints, but also because of the ascension, you can rest in the power of Christ.

Verses 18 to 23.

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

See, God is proving his great power in the resurrection of Christ.

God proves his great power in the ascension of Jesus.

And the thing that's profound about this is that there's eyewitnesses, eyewitness counts of this of these things.

We've talked lots during Easter about the historical evidence of Jesus' resurrection and how it stands up to scrutiny.

So I won't go into it.

But it shows God's power, it shows his great love that he can work all things.

But we're gonna focus in on the last verses of verses 20 to 23.

On Tuesday, I don't know if you're up in the news, but the king was in town.

He was in Ottawa, and he did the throne speech on Partland Hill for the new government.

And the throne speech is just either the monarch, the king, or it would have been the queen before, or the governor general sits in the Senate and reads the government's intentions of what they plan to do in their government going forward.

But if you when you watch it, the thing that's interesting, I when I've when I was a photographer on the hill, I have to take photos of these throne speeches.

The prime minister sits on a small seat beside the throne on the right hand side of the person who's sitting on the throne.

But the prime minister sits in a smaller chair.

And the prime minister, it shows, is under the monarch.

It's under him.

But did you notice Paul's language here?

There is um there is kingship language in this.

Paul is writing that God, the Father, makes Jesus King, King of everything, the ruler of all dominion, ruler of all creation.

No one can stand up to this king.

Jesus is the king, the promised king from Psalm 110 that David writes about, is the promised king.

And the thing that's also so profound about this, about the ascension, is because he is king, we share in that great inheritance that Paul writes about here.

Everything has been put into under subjection to under Jesus.

And we have a tendency only to focus on the cross and the resurrection.

We have a tendency to do that.

But one commentator put it like this to Paul, the cross, resurrection, and ascension are considered three parts of one great act.

You gotta have them all three of those together to understand the great truth of what the gospel is and what God did through his son.

Christ, through the ascension, becomes the head of the church.

And when the church trusts in the head, the power, and doesn't try to subvert it, there's great power in that, and the gospel that is proclaimed through that is unstoppable.

See, it may seem like in the world that the world's falling apart, and the church, it may seem like the church is falling apart.

But when the true gospel is proclaimed and Christ is glorified in his rightful place, the church is unstoppable.

Nothing can stop it.

It may look like it, things are falling or churches are closing, but the gospel is being proclaimed.

If you look in um if you look in towards Africa, Christianity is thriving.

In other areas of the world, there is poverty where people or governments have tried to suppress Christianity.

It actually just starts to thrive more.

And that's because Jesus is the one sitting on the throne.

He is the one who is in true power, because he's ascended.

He's with the Father, and through the Father, nothing can happen against the church.

So why does the ascension matter?

It matters because the ascension through it, you can rest in the hope of your calling, that you've been called, that you are a child of God.

Because the ascension, you can rest in the great riches of his glorious inheritance of the saints through the ages.

And then you can also rest in the power of Christ.

We have access to that.

We have access to that to ask Jesus to take things out of our lives that we struggle with.

We can have the power of Jesus to work all things for good through the working of the Holy Spirit.

And we also have access to that one day, as we're about to sing now, as when the band comes up, we will sing all through with saints all through the ages, and we'll sing the song of ages to the Lamb.

And we'll be singing this your name is the highest, your name is the greatest, your name stands above them all.

All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, your name, Jesus' name, stands above them all.

And we will hear all the angels cry holy.

We will sing with all creation, crying out holy.

We will sing, you are lifted high, holy, holy forever.

Because through the ascension, Jesus is glorified.

Through the ascension, we are sealed through the Holy Spirit that's given through the Father.

And there is great hope in that and great trust, and we can rest greatly in that.

Because only that only happens through the ascension.

Amen.

Let's sing.

We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today.

If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m.

If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you.

Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us.

Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us.

If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.