Happy Ascension Day 2015 - What Jesus' Ascension into Heaven means to you

Luke 24:50-53 "And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising God."

Today's post is featuring an event recorded in scripture that, in the words of Bible teacher R.C Sproul, puts an exclamation point on entirety of Christ's first coming: The ascension. Today many Christians all over the world are celebrating the 40th day following Easter Sunday that is called "Ascension Thursday." 

Two scriptures give us the beginning and ending points of the forty day period of time between Jesus' resurrection from the dead and His ascension into Heaven. Matthew 28:1 states: "Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave." According to Acts 1:1-3 "The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." 

Much of course occurred in that nearly six week period of time. For our interests today, we want to consider the event of the ascension itself.  By beginning to focus upon the scriptures that speak of the event of Christ's ascension, we can begin to see why this event is so crucial to our understanding and worship of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Event of The Ascension of Jesus Christ
Jesus Himself had predicted during His trials and journey to the cross that He would be ascended and seated at the right hand of God the Father in Luke 22:69 "But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” Such a statement is important and reminds us that Jesus' ascension into heaven was only possible because of His willing "descension" from heaven to earth, in the virgin birth of His incarnation and ultimately into His passion or sufferings on the cross.

The ascension as an event is recorded in the Gospels and in Acts. For now I just want to list the scriptures that record this event. Why? To remind the reader that this was no myth or fictional hallucination in the minds of the New Testament authors. This event really happened, in time and space, in history and among eyewitnesses.


Mark 16:19 "So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. "

Luke 9:51 "When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem."

Luke 24:50-51 "And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven."

John 6:62 "What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?"

John 20:17 "Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

Acts 1:9 "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight."

Acts 1:22 "beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”



Thus we see that according to Jesus Himself, the New Testament scriptures and the testimonies of the early Christians, the ascension functioned as a watershed event that would fix the identity of Christ's exaltation forever in the full testimony about Him.  

Closing thoughts:
I thought I would close out this special ascension day post with a statement from the SBC "2000 Baptist Faith and Message". With other Bible-believing Christian bodies throughout the world, Southern Baptists strongly affirms the reality and significance of Christ's ascension.  Consider the following statement: "He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man." To all my readers, I bid you a happy Ascension day.  May we all think on the event of the ascension and why this event is so crucial to our understanding and worship of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Healthy Christian Souls Aim for a Good Testimony - 3 John 1:10-15 & Conclusion

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post concludes a series of posts that have been derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3 John, namely "Healthy Christianity". The phrase within 3 John 1:2 that has governed this study has been the statement John makes regarding his readers as those who have "prospering souls". In this series we have explored the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". Thus far we have looked at how healthy Christian souls....

1. Prize walking in the truth

2. Prize faithfulness to the Lord

3. Love the work of God

4. Love to do what is right

As we conclude this series, we will consider one more trait of a healthy Christian soul, namely...

Healthy Christian Souls Prioritize a Good Testimony

3 John 1:12 points to  amn who had a good testimony - "Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true." I am sure the reader has heard it said that a good testimony results from a "test" and that any message flowing from a testimony came after a "mess". 

Within the book of 3 John, we see the mess that a villian, Diotrophes, was making in the small church to which John wrote. We saw yesterday how Diotrophes typifies unhealthy Christianity by how he was self-centered, self-sufficient, accusing, divisive and argumentative. According to 3 John 1:10, Diotrophes was abusing his leadership power to the point of excommunicating people who were otherwise spiritually healthy!

To contrast Diotrophes, John mentions to Gaius and his fellow church members the testimony of a man named Demetrius in 3 John 1:12. Though we are given scant detail about this man, it is very clear that he was a man who had a very healthy Christian soul. Everyone had nothing but good to say about Demetrius and his level of Christian piety was to such a degree that even the Apostle John could say that not only God's Word, but even the Apostles themselves recognized his testimony. Ought Christian people be the type of people who can be spoken well of, whether in the church, at the workplace, the school yard or even in the lips of enemies? Demetrius' reputation seemed nearly second to none. 

Closing thoughts

As John closes out his little letter, it is clear he has much more to say as indicated by his words in 3 John 1:13-15. Healthy Christianity is what John is urging Gaius, the church to which Gaius was a part of in fellowship and what the Holy Spirit is urging us to desire. Remember, healthy Christian souls...

1. Prize walking in the truth

2. Prize faithfulness to the Lord

3. Love the work of God

4. Love to do what is right

5. Aim for a good testimony

Would we as Christ followers attain unto being those with healthy Christian souls. 

Healthy Christian Souls love to do right - 3 John 1:9-11

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post continues a series of posts derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3 John, namely "Healthy Christianity". The phrase within 3 John 1:2 has captured my attention in that the Apostle describes his readers as those who have "prospering souls". In this series we are exploring the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". Thus far we have looked at how healthy Christian souls....

1). Prize walking in the truth

2). Prize faithfulness to the Lord. 

3). Love the work of God

We continue onto the fourth trait of the healthy Christian soul expressed by the Apostle John in his third letter, namely...

Healthy Christian souls love doing right

3 John 1:11 reads - "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God." A healthy Christian does not view good works as duties to perform but as delightful expressions of love. When the heart of a person is regnerated and converted in saving faith, God begins to take what are "have to's" and turns them into "want to's". 

Why would John urge his readers not to imitate what is evil? There was a man at the small church to which he wrote who was exercising tyranny over the flock - a man by the name of Diotrophes. The irony of Diotrophes was that even though his name in the original Greek means "nourished by love", the kind of love he fed upon was not God's love, but self-love. The result? Chaos. A quick summary of Diotrophes unhealthy soul provides a contrast to what John is urging his readers to be: namely healthy Christiani souls. Notice quickly the signs of unhealthy Christianity in Diotrophes:

1. "loves to be first", i.e self-love 

3 John 1:9

2. "does not accept what we say", i.e self-sufficiency. 3 John 1:9

3. "unjustly accusing us with wicked words", i.e accusing. 3 John 1:10

4. "does not receive the brethren", i.e argumentative. 3 John 1:10

5. "he forbids those who do so", that is, Disotrophes opposes those who are united around the cause of those advancing God's Kingdom in Christ. Hence, Distrophes is divisive .

When we take all five of the traits of unhealthy Christianity: self-loving, self-sufficient, accusatory, divisive, argumentative; we can see why John is urging his readers not to imitate such a man. Instead, John is urging his readers to not just be good people, but to be the kind of people that have works flowing from God's goodness flowing through them. Galatians 5:22-23 explains perfectly what such a lifestyle ought to be: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Therefore healthy Christian souls love to do right.

More tomorrow

Healthy Christian Souls love God's work - 3 John 1:6-8

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post continues a series of posts derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3 John, namely "Healthy Christianity". In this series we are exploring the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". Thus far we have looked at how healthy Christian souls prize walking in the truth and aim at being faithful to the Lord. Today we continue by noting a third traith of healthy Christianity, namely...

Healthy Christian souls love God's work

3 John 1:6-8 tells us - "and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth." We can never seperate the Person of Jesus Christ from His work. God's presence and His work are inseperable. A healthy follower of Jesus Christ cannot claim to love Jesus with all of their heart and yet not have some interest in wanting to serve Him and encourage others to do the same. John's readers both loved the church and loved those who were advancing the cause of Christ outside in the mission field. This is one of the most detailed descriptions we have in the New Testament of how early churches sent forth missionaries. Healthy Christian souls light up whenever there is opportunity to do anything for Jesus. Hence, healthy Christian souls love God's work.

More tomorrow...

Healthy Christian Souls are faithful - 3 John 1:5

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post continues a series of posts derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The book of 3 John comprises only 215 words and fits on one page in the average Bible. Though small in size, this inspired text is just as profitable as the other 65 books in the canon of scripture. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3rd John, namely "Healthy Christianity". The phrase within 3 John 1:2 has captured my attention in that the Apostle describes his readers as those who have "prospering souls". In this series we are exploring the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". Yesterday we began by first noting that the healthy Christian soul walks in the truth. Today we consider the second trait of a healthy Christianity or a healthy Christian soul, namely... 

Healthy Christian souls are faithful

3 John 1:5 reads - "Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers." What does it mean to be faithful? Starting from conversion, every time I am faced with a decision to exercise faith in obedience or be disobedient out of fear determines how consistent I am in the walk of faith. Everytime I choose to trust God over myself, I am building in a track record of "faithfulness". Faithfulness always looks beyond self to the needs of others and the cause of God's Kingdom. Faithful people will never meet a stranger who is all about advancing God's kingdom work. God's kingdom is the domain of His reign in the hearts of men, the heavenly realms and will be made manifest in the soon return of Jesus Christ. Healthy Christianity thrives on faithfulness. Faithfulness, not success, is what defines healthy Christianity. 

More tomorrow.... 

Healthy Christian souls walk in the truth - 3 John 1:1-4

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post begins a series derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The book of 3 John comprises only 215 words and fits on one page in an average Bible. Though small in size, this inspired text is just as profitable as the other 65 books in the canon of scripture. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3 John, namely "Healthy Christianity". The phrase within 3 John 1:2 has captured my attention in that the Apostle describes his readers as those who have "prospering souls". Certainly his bidding for them to be physically healthy is worthy of a blogpost itself, however in couching such an command within an already existing state of healthy Christian spirituality makes me want to ask: "What does a healthy Christian soul look like?" It is with these thoughts in mind that we will explore over the next several posts the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". 

To get started, we can note the first characteristic of a healthy Christian soul, namely....

Healthy Christian souls walk in the truth 

John writes in 3 John 1:3-4 "For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." When Christians are regularly conducting themselves around the Word of God, it causes joy in the hearts of other Christ-followers who have given their lives to the truth. Truth is the food and drink of the Christian and commitment to the truth of God's word is a premier sign of true conversion. (see John 14:21) We are told in Ephesians 4:1 to "walk worthy in the manner of our calling". What is the manner of our calling? To walking in the truth, the light of God's presence. (1 John 1:5-7) Jesus Himself is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and thus believers are urged in 1 John 2:6 to "walk as Jesus walked". Hence a healthy Christian soul will prioritize walking in the truth.

More tomorrow...

God's greatness shown from the Father explains evangelism

Psalm 67:1-2 "God be gracious to us and bless us,And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. 2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations."

Introduction:

Why does the church engage in the activity of evangelism? Over the past couple of posts we have proposed that the only answer that makes sense is for the greatness and glory of God. God's glory and greatness is the mission of the church and the message of the Gospel. We have seen that God's greatness through the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ, establishes evangelism's foundation. He is why we do what we do. We aim to make Him known and aim to know Him. We then considered that by the Person of the Holy Spirit, the greatness of God empowers the work of the great commission. Through both the Son and the Spirit, the greatness of God is the driving motivation and message of the mission. God's greatness is shared co-equally and eternally by the Son, the Spirit and the Father. In today's post we want to understand how God's greatness from the Father explains evangelism.

God's greatness from the Father explains why we do evangelism as Christians
Inasmuch sinners need to hear the gospel and be saved from the wrath to come, unless God's glory is the chief reason for our evangelism, we won't do our evangelism out of desire. Certainly seeing our families, loved-ones and friends saved from sin, satan and the coming judgment ought to be motivation enough. Sadly, as Christians we battle with left over sin and if God's glory and greatness is not our chief motivation, we will do what we do out of guilt, emotional manipulation and duty. Our depth of commitment to sharing Jesus with unconverted people will be no deeper than our highest view of God's greatness. 

Missions and evangelism are the Father's idea, not our own. Henceforth our evangelism must begin with God, go to man and end up back at God. Consider some passages below that reinforce this line of thinking. Psalm 67:1-2 "God be gracious to us and bless us,And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. 2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations." Unless the greatness and glory of God (which is His greatness put on display) is frontloaded into our missionary strategy, both His way and salvation won't be made fully known among all peoples. Psalm 99:1-3 proclaims - "The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble;He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!
2 The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He." Isn't this the goal of our evangelism - to tell sinners that God reigns and that He has claim on their lives and that they need to surrender to King Jesus by faith? 

Prophetic texts repeatedly state that the Messiah, the Savior, would be "sent" by God. This act of sending entails two Persons. Isaiah 52:13-53:1 states -
"Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand. 53:1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" We know that the "arm of the Lord" is none other than Jesus Christ, since New Testament passages like 1 Peter 2:24 expound on Isaiah 53 as being about the sufferings of Christ in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies. The Father is the One who sent the Son into the world, as explained by the very familiar text of John 3:16. 

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 gives us the clearest statement regarding the Father's plan of worldwide missions - "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God,who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." The text of 2 Corinthians goes onto explain how we are God's ambassadors. What do ambassadors do? They represent the interests of the sending nation or monarch. We proclaim God's greatness to a people who think that other things are great but not God. Scripture reminds us that mankind has been blinded to the truth of God's greatness (2 Corinthians 4:1-4); is spiritually dead to such truth (Ephesians 2:1-3) and gladly exchanges His glory for created things (Romans 1:21-25). Mankind intutitvely knows of the greatness of God as seen in the general revelation of creation (Psalm 19:1-2; Romans 1:18-20). Despite knowing about God, unbelieving man suppresses such knowledge and knowingly rejects Him. God the Creator of all men only becomes the Father to believers once the Spirit's convincing work of receiving Jesus Christ by faith is confirmed by a response of faith from the sinner's heart. (Romans 8:14-16; Galatians 4:6). 

Unless God's greatness is made the priority starting point and endpoint of our evangelistic efforts, reaching lost souls for His sake will have no lasting passion nor ultimate purpose. Today I want to close with this amazing insight from John Piper regarding God's greatness as our mission as Christians and the church - "God is calling us above all else to be the kind of people whose theme and passion is the supremacy of God in all life. No one will be able to rise to the magificence of the missionary cause who does not feel the maginificence of Christ. The will be no big world vision without a big God. There will be no passion to draw others into our world where there is no passion for worship." Piper later adds: "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't." May that be our mission: the greatness of God from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit explaining, empowering and establishing the mission of the church. How great is our God!