Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel
The Ascension of Our Lord
Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
“Christ Jesus Is Risen, Ascended, and Reigning for Our Benefit”
(Ephesians 1:20–22)
[God the Father] raised [Christ Jesus] 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.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus and crown Him with many crowns for He is Lord of all! As the apostles worshiped
our ascended Savior and then returned to Jerusalem,1 so we continue to join
with the Church which for twenty centuries has praised Christ Jesus for His glorious ascension. We join
with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven in praising Christ Jesus for the great salvation
He has won for us and for the blessings which we enjoy even now because He lives and reigns forever and ever.
We have every reason for such joyous celebration in view of all that has filled our lives in recent days
and over many years. The farmer looks at his rain-soaked fields and wonders when he will be able to begin
planting. The housewife looks at the rising prices of food and clothing and wonders how to meet the needs
of her family with their limited income. Every person who uses anything derived from crude oil wonders
where the price spiral will end. Retirees look at the instability of the stock market and give serious
thought of returning to the workplace, but jobs are not easy to find. High school students look for summer
work and wonder how to meet the rising costs of a college education. Grief-stricken families mourn the
recent deaths of loved ones and can see today and the coming days only through a veil of tears. And in
the midst of all these things which rob us of peace and joy we still do rejoice because Christ Jesus is
risen, ascended, and reigning for our benefit. That fact gives us comfort, peace, and confidence in the
face of all that we are enduring in this life.
When the apostle Paul wrote the words of our text under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit, he was not
basking on the beach of some Mediterranean resort, enjoying the beauties of spring. He was not enjoying
a carefree retirement. He was under house arrest in Rome, arrested because He had faithfully preached
the Gospel of Christ Jesus. He was awaiting trial before an unbelieving dictator who wanted to be
worshiped as a god. When you remember the setting in which Paul wrote the words of our text, you can
sense the great difference that the ascension and reign of Christ means in the life of the person who
trusts in Christ Jesus.
The ascension and reign Christ Jesus mean that His work of redeeming us is complete. We have divine
assurance that all of our sins have been forgiven. God never will mention them to us. In another letter,
Paul asked a rhetorical question and gave the answer: “Who shall bring any charge against God's
elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the One who died — more than
that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”2
Jesus speaks to the Father in our defense and we are declared not guilty of any sin. We are righteous
in God’s sight because Christ Jesus is risen, ascended, and reigning for us.
Eternal life is ours already now and will continue to be ours in Christ for all eternity. Death cannot
separate us from the love God has for us in Christ Jesus. And when we stand at the graves of loved ones,
as some of us have done this week, our sorrow at our loss is tempered by the assurance that the grave is
not the end for those who trust in Christ Jesus. He who is the resurrection and the life gives to us the
victory He has won over death and the grave. Because He is risen, ascended, and reigning we laugh in the
face of death, knowing that when we draw our last breath in this life, the next breath we take will be in
heaven with our Savior.
Because Christ Jesus is risen, ascended, and reigning, we have divine assurance that He is sustaining the
entire universe by His powerful Word.3 While others worry over the possibility
of global warming and other environmental disasters, we remember that “the earth is the LORD’s
and everything in it, the world, and those who dwell in it.”4 We remember
that God has given human beings over the entire creation.5 So we seek to manage
what God has entrusted to our care in ways that will please Him. And we remember that our Savior is ruling
the universe, so we live without unnecessary worry as a positive witness in the face of those who have been
sucked in by the pseudo-religion of environmentalism and evolutionary theory.
Because Christ Jesus is risen, ascended, and ruling, we even have a significantly different understanding
of the war on terrorism. While many people date the onset of that war as September 11, 2001, we realize that
the war on terrorism began much earlier in history. It did not begin in the Middle Ages with the crusades nor
in the seventh century A.D. with the appearance of the so-called prophet Mohammed. The real war on terror
began in the Garden of Eden when Satan first led Eve and Adam into sin. It was then that God declared war on
terror and on every form of evil. He said to Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
between your offspring and her Offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”6
“Enmity” means hatred and warfare. God declared war on Satan, the ultimate terrorist, by promising
to send a Savior who would destroy Satan’s power. That is what Christ Jesus did. His resurrection,
ascension, and reign daily the divine declaration that in Christ Jesus God has won the ultimate war on terror,
and we daily are living in the benefits of Jesus’ victory.
We are able to face each new day and whatever the future may hold for us with absolute confidence because
Christ Jesus is risen, ascended, and reigning. When I was much, much younger, I spent a lot of time and nervous
energy thinking about how I would handle all the details of life. I would think up scenarios of what might
happen and how I would respond. I thought up conversations in advance, planning what my response would be if
so-and-so said this and that. What waste that was. Daily life never did happen the way I imagined that it
might. It is so much easier and far better to trust our risen, ascended, reigning Savior and Lord handle
all the what-if’s and all the details.
Now understand that I am not saying that we should not use the intelligence God has given us to make some
preparations for the future. As good managers of the life that God has given us and all that He has entrusted
to us, there is some planning that we should do under His guidance. But we still leave the details and the
outcomes in His trustworthy hands.
Since I announced to the congregation that I plan to retire in August 2009, several people have asked my wife
and me where we are planning to live and what we are planning to do. While we do have some ideas, we have no
definite plans, and that’s the fun of it. Who knows what will happen in the next sixteen months And in
the next five and one-half years? Only God knows that. So we are letting Him do the directing, confident that
He will make the details plain to us at just the right time.
Because Christ Jesus is risen, ascended, and reigning, every person who trusts in Christ Jesus lives with the
assurance that our future is in the very best hands, both our future in this life and our eternal future. Our
future is in the hands which were nailed to the cross to free us from the guilt and punishment that we in sin
deserved. Those hands which once were raised in suffering and death now are raised in benevolent rule for the
benefit of all who trust in Christ Jesus. They are raised in blessing as daily our Savior floods our lives with
evidences of His grace.
When the rulers of Iran and North Korea raise their voices in threatening words, we live in true security,
knowing that Jesus rules over all authority and power, even over those do deny Him and despise Him. When the
forces of nature seem out of control with tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires, we live in true security,
knowing that Jesus rules all things for the benefit of His people, His Church. When it appears that our Synod
is abandoning its confessional roots in order to be attractive to a generation that does not understand what
confessional means, we entrust ourselves and the people of God into the hands of our Lord who is the Head of
His Church and who is risen, ascended, and reigning for the benefit of His Church. When governmental leaders
show evidence of being self-centered and corrupt, when political campaign seasons seem to last longer than
eternity, “when all things seem against us, to drive us to despair,”7
we tune out all the maddening voices of despair and doom and listen to the voice of our Savior, risen, ascended,
and reigning for us and for all of His Church.
On this Ascension Day, and in every day that we, we give thanks, honor, worship, glory, and praise to Christ
Jesus. With great confidence and joy we bear witness to Him as we live in the peace He gives. And even when
things look their worst, we remain confident and at peace because Christ Jesus is risen, ascended, and reigning
for our benefit. Amen.