St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Ascension May 17, 2007 Matthew 28:17-20

When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of our Ascended Lord and King:

People are forever trying to come up with new ways to be as happy as humanly possible in this world. I heard a new one the other day. There is a place in Japan—where you put on your jammies. Then you sit in bed—and eat this big bowl of ice cream—while people play the most beautiful music. When you are done with your ice cream—you can lay back on soft pillows—snuggle and cuddle and fall asleep listening to the beautiful music. What do you think? Sound like heaven on earth? I don’t care if it’s one of those sleep number beds—with pillows that cost a bunch of geese the softest feathers from their tummies—the creamiest home made ice cream—and the best music in the world—it pales to insignificance compared to the joy and rest and peace that we will know when we come home to heaven! All the best in this world—cannot begin to compare to the wonder of rest in Heaven! Today we celebrate the day that Jesus returned to heaven—the work of saving us from our sins completed! Today we celebrate our sure and certain hope of a place stored up for us—bought and paid for with Jesus’ innocent blood. Today God’s Word encourages us:

Serve Our Ascended Savior!

It has been 40 days since we were here in Church as the sun came up—to rejoice—that Jesus is risen from the dead! 40 days since the grave has lost its sting! 40 days since the angels asked why are you looking for your living Lord here at the cemetery? He is not here. He is risen from the dead just like he promised! You can look inside—and see where his cold lifeless body used to be. The napkin that once covered his face is neatly folded and set aside. Surely not what would happen—if someone had stolen Jesus’ body! Easter night—Jesus appeared to his disciples on the road to Emmaus. He set their hearts on fire as he reviewed the Old Testament Scriptures—that promised in great detail all that Jesus would do to rescue us. Jesus himself appeared to his disciples—all of them except Thomas. Jesus took little morsels of food and ate them in front of his disciples. Again—not something that a ghost—a spirit—a phantasm would do. A week later—when Thomas was stubborn in his unbelief was with the other disciples—Jesus was back. The doors were again locked for fear of the self-righteous arrogant leaders of the church. Suddenly Jesus stood among them—with the peace and calm that come from sins forgiven! Jesus told Thomas—reach out your hand and feel my nail marked hands. Reach out your hand and touch my spear wounded side. Stop doubting! Believe in me!

When his work of saving us from sin was finished—just before he went back into heaven Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus has authority over everything—everywhere! You realize this—when someone you love is in the hospital—going to have a very serious operation—you are reminded only Jesus has authority over absolutely everything! Our life is in Jesus’ nail marked hands! Our life does not depend on how smart our doctors are—how skilled the hands of the surgeon—how well the nurses did in nurse school—how expensive all the computerized equipment. Jesus is the one who takes care of us. How interesting—to be by the bed of someone who is going to have an operation—talking about Jesus’ love. And an anesthetist student say—Jesus loves us—and we don’t begin to deserve it! We don’t begin to deserve it! We don’t! That’s the whole thing about being saved by grace alone—Jesus’ undeserved love. Jesus’ forgiving love is unconditional. We don’t deserve his love because we have tried recently to be very good. Jesus’ loves us because that’s what he does! God is love! That’s what he is—through and through—forgiving love! That’s why we don’t need to be anxious about anything. Jesus is always with us! He always loves us. He always forgives us!

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” All nations! That’s a tall order! All nations includes places like Benin. Do you know where Benin is? It’s between Nigeria and Togo—formerly French Togoland. Benin has about eight and a half million people. Benin was always a very military place. Young boys would kind of be apprentices to men who were in the army—learning from them to protect their country. Learning how to fight—to keep their nation safe. Benin was often compared to Sparta—a place where people were fierce warriors—so disciplined and strong—they could grind to dust an army that far outnumbered them. Not only did boys grow up—carefully trained to defend their nation. Women grow up—carefully trained to defend their nation by force of arms, too! People in Benin—not too long ago—practiced human sacrifice—putting to death literally thousands of slaves and enemies—on national holidays. They believed that putting to death their enemies in a very swift and fierce way—made their warriors stronger and stronger and their leaders more and more powerful. People in Benin today—practice the religion of voodoo. They have small forests of short and pudgy trees—under which they bury a small piece of jewelry or token from the person they were cursing. Idols—false gods carved from stone are everywhere—along with altars of stone covered with chicken blood—to satisfy gods of superstition and tradition. The government of Benin does not hide or cover up the fact that thousands and thousands of their people are dying in the African epidemic of AIDS—leaving more and more children orphaned in a land of poverty the likes of which are painfully difficult to explain. People in Benin speak French. Who is telling them about Jesus? There is one man—a pretty good Sunday School teacher—who is the first to admit he doesn’t really understand all this baptism teaching. He goes to Benin from time to time. So far—that’s pretty much it. Could some pastors from Nigeria preach in Benin? I don’t think any of them speak French! Is this your responsibility? Ought this to weigh on my conscience? Benin is part of all nations. We need to share God’s Word—in Benin—in the Amazon Rainforest—and in Watertown. There is so much work to be done. How are we doing? If we aren’t going to Africa—are we going next door? If we aren’t going to Zambia and Malawi—do we bring the Thankofferings to send someone else? Do we bring the thankoffering we need to bring—to patch the roof of Jesus’ house here—to keep our ministerial education schools open—so we will train the pastors and teachers to replace the ones with grey hair and white hair?

Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. We need to do everything Jesus has asked us to do. On the one hand that might seem like a very complicated task. But it isn’t! When asked what’s the most important commandment what did Jesus say? He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind. The next most important commandment is to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” That’s pretty clear isn’t it? It’s not easily done—but it certainly is clear isn’t it? The night he was betrayed Jesus said—and this was in your Meditations the other day—remember? “A new commandment I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples—my students, followers and imitators—if you love one another.” John 13:34,35 That means love your little brother. Don’t sit by them at a graduation—and poke them and irritate them—and kick them—and do everything that your devious little mind can think of to irritate them. It means pick up your dirty clothes—your egg shells—and put them down the laundry chute—or throw them in the hamper—or put them wherever they are supposed to go—instead of waiting for the laundry fairy to pick them up and wash them and dry them and fold them—and put them back in your closet. It means bring home notes and messages from school and give them to your parents. It means never ever cheating—stealing answers from some one else’s papers. Never ever arguing with your teacher—even if you don’t think they are being fair. It means always always always tell the truth whenever you are asked a question. It means speaking the truth in love—which is to choose your words carefully—so that you don’t say anything that will cause someone else hurt and pain in their heart!

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Jesus is by us all the time! We invite him into our home all the time—if we say, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest!” Do we think about what that means? Be our guest—sit at our supper table with us—and listen to what we are talking about! Do we eat supper together? Do we talk about—how did it go at school today? What did you learn today? A shrug of the shoulders or a mumbled “nothin’” ought not to be acceptable. If we were in this building from eight o’clock until past three o’clock—what did you study? What part of the wonderful works of God—did you study today? What part of God’s Word did you have devotions about? What would happen—if every single Sunday—parents from every family would find the teachers of their children—and ask them point blank—“How is my child doing? How did it go last week? How did it go last week—and what do they need to do to do even better? What would happen—if parents showed appreciation for their teachers—not just one Wednesday in May—but all year long? If parents would build up and encourage our teachers all the time. Like Luther used to say, “Take their words and actions in the kindest possible light!” With just a few days of school left—only Jesus can make our children strong enough and self-disciplined enough to sit in class with their heads up—not sleeping on their desks. Jesus gives us the self-discipline to listen respectfully—not talking unless we raise our hand and are called on. Jesus can give us the self-discipline to do our homework promptly and to the best of our abilities—that school might give glory to God—and be a joy and a blessing to students and teachers! Remember that Jesus is sitting in every classroom every hour of every day. Jesus is on the playground and in the hallway—listening to every whispered conversation. Jesus is with us always!

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. I told you the other day I have been getting Newsweek magazine since before 1970. There was an article in it the other day said a majority of people in our country are both unhappy now and pessimistic about the future. Can this be true? A comedian from on TV about my bedtime every night wrote an essay that says—if you stop and take stock—we have so many reasons to be thankful and joyful this makes no sense at all. The fact is—we have reason to be content—not just because we have clean water—electricity—cable TV—Internet—cellphones—groceries—cars—lawns free of dandilions. You and I have a Savior from all our sins who has promised he is always with us. We have nothing to fear. We have nothing to worry about. We have everything to be thankful for. Let us thank God our Savior is always with us. Amen! To God alone all glory!