St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church of Watertown

Devotions delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Ascension Day, May 25, 2006

I. Jesus Came to Earth to Pay the Penalty for our Sins.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9

There is built into the little gears and wheels that are our mind—thinking that says—you get what you deserve! That if you are good—then good things will happen to you! That if you find somebody’s brief case—and it’s full of—I don’t know—little packs of hundred dollar bills—or little velvet bags full of diamonds and rubies. And you dutifully return the brief case to the rightful owner—that you get your picture in the newspaper—holding this huge reward check—and the praise of your peers because you did what? The right thing! You could have stolen the money. You could have stolen the diamonds. But you gave them back to the rightful owner—so where is the pay back—the financial reward and the glory you deserve for being good? It’s the same with being good. Don’t do anything really gross or disgusting or sinfully self indulgent—and you kind of start to think—I should not have a flat tire! Certainly I should not have a flat tire in the rain—where I get soaked changing it—and people drive past me and splash me—and the wrench slips and I scrape my knuckles and they bleed! I should not get the stomach flu or food poisoning. I should not have to throw up in the middle of the night. This should not be happening. This is not fair!

There is built into the little gears and wheels that are our heart—that when we are really nice—like extra patient with the worker at the gas station mini-mart that can’t figure out how much to charge us for $20 of gasoline and $1 for a Mt. Dew and 50c for a Snickers. Or there is a little grandpa trying to buy groceries and he’s a dollar short even after he has dumped out every penny in his pocket including the lint and fuzz at the bottom of his pocket—and we give him a whole dollar! Don’t you kind of have the feeling that something pretty nice ought to happen to you—for being so considerate? I mean—you usher—or you fill the candles with oil—or pull the weeds from Jesus’ flower bed? Doesn’t the Almighty kind of owe you something?

The fact is—it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God! We have forgiveness because Jesus came to earth to pay the penalty for our sins! They say there are all sorts of people—literally thousands who were arrested right after hurricane Katrina. They say many of them will simply be set free—because there are not enough prosecutors. There are not enough public defenders. Many of the computers were damaged by the hurricane. Records have been lost. Evidence washed away. They can only bring so many defendants to the court house each day because of security. So lots of these people who are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty—will simply be let go! They might simply go free—but Jesus paid for all their crimes, sins and mistakes—even if this world’s so called justice system completely fails. Jesus paid for every sin and mistake—every single one! Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the people already condemned to hell. That’s why we can tell anyone and everyone we ever meet—Jesus died for you. Jesus paid for all your sins and mistakes. Know it. Believe it. Rejoice in the peace Jesus bought for you with his innocent blood!

II. Jesus Ascended into Heaven from Where He Rules all Things

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple praising God. Luke 24:50-53

Jesus rules over everything! That includes the weather. Do we sometimes forget that? It is interesting how often people remark about the weather! Lots of times it’s to complain. Sunday morning—and the sun is rising in the east and what do people say? “Hey, pretty bright!”, they say, as they squint and hold their hand up. Do you know how hot the sun is? 27,000,000 degrees F! At that rate—of course it’s bright! What would we prefer in the morning—just enough clouds so that at 5:27 a.m. it’s like a giant dimmer switch—so it’s a very gradual illumination—not so bright early on? You hear complaints about the breeze. It’s blowing trash through my yard—little dandelion seeds into my perfect lawn. People complain about the rain. As if to say—how dare the Almighty—the Creator—turn on the sprinkler and water the farmer’s fields—and make them more soggy than we think appropriate? The weather—from tsunamis to gentle spring rains are in Jesus’ nail marked hands.

Part of the weather that Jesus is in charge of—is what we call natural disasters. Like hurricane Katrina. How many people died in that? Do you know? Was it in fact 1300 people? Is that possible? If you didn’t know any one of those people—it’s just something you hear for literally a minute or two on the news—quickly followed by some other disaster far far away. There is a volcano in Indonesia—smoke and steam and ash up into the sky. Is that something Jesus is causing—to remind us that Judgment Day may be not just pretty soon—but maybe today? There is a terrible fire at the air port at Istanbul in Turkey—thick black smoke—from aviation fuel storage tanks on fire. Right away people think of terrorism—but maybe it was just some bad wiring—some little sparks that caused that terrible fire. God’s Word contains a wondrous promise—all things work together for good to those who love God. That means the most painful and difficult things that happen to us and to the people we love—will ultimately work out to accomplish something for our eternal benefit. That’s the Gospel promise of a Savior who loves us.

When Jesus went back up to heaven—his disciples stayed continually at the temple praising God. Staying at church praising God. Does that sound boring to you? Staying at Church all the time! Is that dull? I don’t think so—if you think about being here to give glory to God. I’m afraid we sometimes think about Church—like consumers. What’s in it for me? What am I going to get out of it? The parking lot is good—unload in the drive through if it’s raining. Plenty of room in the entry way for visiting. I like the padded pews—good lighting for reading the bulletin—good sound system so I can hear. I like the grand piano—in tune—nice pipe organ—choirs singing—little children singing the psalms. I like that, too! What about praise? How do I give glory to Jesus—my crucified, risen and ascended Lord? I give glory to God not by bringing him lambs and sheep and prime beef cattle—not bringing sweet wine to pour out on the ground at the base of a bronze altar. I don’t bringing him the best whole wheat and fists full of incense to be burned up. I bring him a little white envelope—a small envelope that contains along with a neatly written check—my love—my heart—my soul—my concern for Gospel ministry in Watertown and in the green and rainy humid Amazon Rain Forest and for souls in Indonesia and in the heart of Africa. I give glory to Jesus when I talk to my children, my family, my relatives about Jesus’ love. I glorify Jesus when I encourage people who have not heard God’s Word for a long time to not worry about the past—but to rejoice in the present—giving praise here and now—to the King of the Universe—who loves me with the most powerful love in the world!

III. Jesus Promised Not to Forsake Those on Earth Who Believe in Him!

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. Matthew 28:18-20

Go and make disciples—students, followers and imitators of the Lord Jesus—of all nations! They had the National Geographic Bee the other day. Alex Trebek from Jeopardy! asked the questions. The toughest one was—what’s the name of the mountain range that extends across most of Wales—from the Irish Sea to the Bristol Channel? Would you know? Could you point to Wales on a blank map? Do you know where the Irish Sea is? Do you know what the Bristol Channel connects? Did you know there was a mountain range between the two? Are there people living there? If there are—Jesus wants them to know about his forgiving love! Do we have any missionaries in the United Kingdom? I don’t think so! Do we have any missionaries in France? I don’t think so! Do we have any missionaries in Spain or Portugal? I don’t think so? How many little countries used to make up the Soviet Union? Do you know? How many missionaries in Tibet? Any one? If there are 8^th graders who know about all of these different places then shouldn’t people who are in their 50s and 60s know? And if we aren’t going to China or India or Swaziland—then maybe we need to go across Watertown or across the living room to talk to someone who needs to be encouraged to love Jesus who loves them first and loves them best!

Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you… That’s a pretty tall order, too—to teach anybody everything Jesus has commanded us—everything?! In order to do that—why—you’d practically have to be reading your Bible all the time! Who are you going to teach? Fathers need to teach their children! Remember why Luther wrote his small Catechism? He wrote it so that fathers would teach their children! Husbands need to teach their wives—not so much by what they say—but how they live—by loving their wife like Christ loved the Church. Then we can teach our neighbor—our boss—our co-workers—our customers about Jesus’ love by how we treat them. And when they notice—by how we act—and they will—then tell them in humble simple turns that Jesus has promised never to forsake those who believe in Him.

IV. Jesus Will Come Again to Take Us to be with Him Forever!

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Jn 14:1-4

Have you seen those Volkswagen commercials? They show people in a car—visiting—laughing—having a nice time. Wham! They get crashed into. Metal crumples and glass shatters. In slow motion they show the glass splinters land on the pavement. Where did that come from? I didn’t see that coming—did you? That’s the way it will be with Judgment Day! It will be here like a thief in the night. When you least expect it! That’s why I think today—Ascension Day would be such a wonderful day for Judgment Day. Christmas would be nice—the day baby Jesus was born—and he comes again—not the baby in the manger but the King of Kings and Lord of lords. But I don’t think so. Good Friday would be nice—he died that afternoon when the sun stopped shining—and now he’s here with the glory of all his holy angels. But I don’t think so. Judgment Day could be an Easter morning—the Risen Lord—and we see him like the women did. But again—I don’t think so. What irony—if Jesus came back on a Thursday near the end of May—to come back the same way he went into Heaven. And who will be prepared to meet him? Will we? By grace alone we will. Amen!