The Creed:
“On the Third day He rose
again He ascended into heaven.”
A great and beautiful
pattern………….
Despite the beauty of
the Apprentice Pillar, or the wonderful vaulted stone ceiling in Rosslyn
Chapel, there is one lesser known part of the chapel that is just as
fascinating……..
In the quietness of
the crypt underneath the chapel you can see the plans the stone masons drew on
the wall for one of the corners of the building….
On the wall, drawn
into the stone in pure geometry is a blueprint,
in which a huge circle
sweeps down
and cuts very precisely
through the lines drawn on the wall
in
a great and beautiful pattern
You know, there is a
great and beautiful pattern in the gospels too,
there are places, events,
in the gospel where we can see very clearly
the way that eternity
sweeps down and cuts very precisely through
the time of the world in
the life of Jesus.
Eternity sweeps down
and cuts very precisely through
the time of the world………
at
the birth of Jesus, when the angels are heard singing “unto you
a Saviour is born”
at
His baptism, when the Father’s voice is heard saying “This is
my beloved Son, with whom I am well please”
at
the Transfiguration when Jesus is shrouded in light, and the
Father speaks again
at
the cross,
and at the Resurrection…..
and finally eternity
sweeps down and cuts very precisely through
the time…..of the world
in the life of Jesus when He ascends into heaven………
from the limitations of
this world into the Father’s presence……..
The Creeds, the Nicene Creed, and the Apostles
creed, put it
like this,
very simply that:
'On the Third day He rose again, He ascended
into heaven.'
That moment
when eternity swept down,
intersected with our time,
and Jesus was taken up
from the narrow limitations of this world
into the Father’s eternal
presence……..
This morning,
We are thinking about the Ascension of our Lord
Jesus,
looking to discover some of the great treasures of
grace and faith
that there are for the
Church and for ourselves here………
in the ascension of our
Lord Jesus .
You know, if you read the book of Acts right
through, in reflective mood,
when you come to the end, to the 28th. and last chapter, you may well think to yourself,
that on the day of Pentecost we read about at the
beginning of Acts,
it was just as well that the Church did not know
precisely what was ahead of it in the times to come……….
On that day of Pentecost, who could have known
that within a month
one of the beloved servants of the Church, Stephen,
would be lying dead, killed by a hostile crowd ?
Who could have known that within the year, the
whole Church would be under threat from the authorities……
and that believers living peacefully in
across the sea to
So the question is – where did the Church find
its strength, its life ?
Well, of course, in
the power of the Spirit………
But above all in the
risen, ascended Jesus………
the Church, the
believers knew that whatever happened,
all authority, all
authority belonged to the risen ascended Lord………
The Church looks to the risen ascended Jesus………
and the conviction that bears the Church up,
is that all power, all authority is given to
Jesus……
This, of course, is echoed and re-echoed in the New Testament, but
it is already there in the prophecy of Daniel 7. 13-14: we are told that the
Son of Man: approached the Ancient of
Days…… and was led into His presence, He was given authority and all worshipped
Him.
Peter says in the earliest sermon in Acts:
2.33 – this Jesus, whom you crucified,
God has made both Lord and Christ………..
Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says: The Father raised Jesus from the dead, and
seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and
authority, power and dominion… and placed all things under His feet
Head over
everything ………
in Philippians: God
exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every
name………that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow
And it is in that authority that Jesus sends
us out into the world:
All
authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…….. go,
make disciples….
In the face of the opposition of the world,
its hostility,
its violence……..
in the face of its
indifference….
Despite the opposition of the world,
its hostility,
its violence……..
despite its indifference,
there is a greater reality,
which is this: that God exalted
Jesus Christ to the highest place and has given Him the name that is above
every name………
The Church in the New Testament finds its life,
its strength
in looking to the risen ascended Jesus………
The Confessing Church in Nazi
the Church in the New Testament found its life, its
strength
in looking to the risen ascended Jesus………
And……….we find our life, our strength in looking
to the risen ascended Jesus………for all authority, all authority belongs to
Jesus Christ the risen ascended Lord………
Thinking about this
sermon, a
memory came back to me yesterday……..
of the view from a
small country road as it climbs up through the fields
near a small village
outside
As I walked along
early on a beautifully clear autumn morning there was hardly a cloud in the
sky. From the crest of the hill, across the
There was still a
deep, dark, mist in the alpine valleys down below
but above, the summits were
lit by the bright morning sun from the east……
Sometimes, life, the
life of the Church, our life,
can be shrouded in dark,
or mist,
but we know, that above
in Christ is the fullness of light, and that’s where our hope is anchored.
You see, the centre
of our concern has moved with Jesus to heaven………..
Through His life of perfect trust in the Father’s
love, through His suffering, and death on the Cross, Jesus of Nazareth, risen from the dead, has gone up in triumph into the
presence of God.
The break between human life and God is healed.
and the root of new human life is in Jesus
who is now God's presence.
In Him the new source, the new wellspring of human
life is to be found
and to know Jesus is to share in that new life..............
The roots of new life, the new source, the wellspring of
human life are in Jesus who is in God's presence.
As He says
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
You see, the centre
of our concern has moved with our Lord Jesus to heaven………..
the centre of our
concern has moved with our Lord Jesus to heaven………..
and where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also.
Jesus has ascended, as Colossians 3 puts it – so set your hearts on the things that are in
heaven, where Christ is…
Yes, sometimes, life,
the life of the Church, our own lives,
can be shrouded in dark,
or mist,
but above is the
fullness of light, and that’s where our hope is anchored.
It is to where Jesus is, the ascended Lord,
that we look,
Who says to us: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…….. go
May our lives be
touched with the light of His glory -
May our lives be
signs and promises
of the fullness of the
life to come,
in Jesus Christ.
Amen