and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”161 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
Footnotes
[1]14:60Or Have you no answer to what these men testify against you?
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”161 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
Footnotes
[1]14:60Or Have you no answer to what these men testify against you?
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Dwight Castle:
This afternoon's opening scripture or the scripture for the sermon, comes from Acts chapter one verses six through 11. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Dwight Castle:
And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. This is the word of the Lord.
Connor Coskery:
Thanks be to God. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you this evening for gathering us. Lord, we thank you for your goodness, your grace, your kindness, your mercy. Lord, for this place for us to meet, to open up your word.
Connor Coskery:
Lord, we confess that, we we've we've come with, with jumbled thoughts, lord, with things going on in our lives. But Lord, we thank you. We thank you that by your providence you have gathered us here. Lord, we thank you for what's going on in the life of our church. We thank you for, for the experience of, that our women had as they retreated this weekend and for the amazing stories, the ways that they are growing together to flourish.
Connor Coskery:
We thank you for all the planning that's happening with our mission summit and we pray that you would bless this event and that it would it would send out so many of our members to the nations to declare your good news. Lord, we ask now that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that are open, a disposition to pay attention, Lord, to what you have to say. So Lord, I pray that, Lord at the meditation of my heart, the words of my mouth would be pleasing in your sight. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Connor Coskery:
Over the last couple weeks we completed our series through the gospel of Mark. Joel did a summary of Mark last week where he he charged us to to repent, to surrender, to believe in the finished and victorious work of Christ. Tonight, we're gonna focus on what happens right after the resurrection, Jesus's ascension. Don't feel bad if you haven't heard of the ascension before, many theologians have called it the forgotten act of Jesus. Just this week I was talking with, with a friend of mine, and she was asking me, so what are what are you preaching on this week?
Connor Coskery:
And I said the ascension. She's like, oh, I totally thought we would be talking about the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost or at Pentecost. This isn't uncommon. I find myself when I'm, sharing the gospel, quick to, talk about Jesus's perfect life on earth, his atoning death on the cross, his victorious resurrection. And then I jump to the Holy Spirit coming in the early church building.
Connor Coskery:
Right? I think we do this because we don't really know what to do with the Ascension. It's only mentioned very briefly at the end of Luke's gospel and at the beginning of Acts. If you're like me, I'd I'd love some additional commentary about the physics of Christ being lifted up into the clouds, right? At best we see the attention as a transition scene.
Connor Coskery:
It transitions us from from Jesus' earthly ministry to his heavenly ministry. But more often we just move right on past it. So we began our time by reading from Acts chapter one and we'll continue to unpack these verses. However, since, we're exploring a doctrine, the doctrine of ascension, we're gonna reference several other books of the Bible. Some of those are, already printed in your worship guides.
Connor Coskery:
I'm also gonna be looking at Hebrews. So if you wanted to save your place in your Bible there, we're gonna be, spending some time there as well. Now as I prepared for this sermon, what I tried to do is I tried to put myself in the shoes of the disciples, and I wanna encourage you to do the same thing. Imagine you've lived with Jesus for the last three years. He's done some really amazing things and the last, week has been brutal.
Connor Coskery:
You've witnessed, this leader that you followed for three years executed but then that that sadness is replaced with joy where then he's resurrected. And he and then he shows up to you. He shows up while you're while you're meeting around with your friends but not as a ghost, he's actually really alive. He allows you to touch his wounds, to see his scars, and he feasts with you, he fellowships with you. He opens the scriptures and he points to how each of them have all been pointing to him.
Connor Coskery:
And he does this all for forty days and then he leaves. This is the occasion that we arrive at when we when we look at Acts chapter one verse six. What must it have felt like to be a disciple to see Jesus rising into the clouds? I mean they had to be thinking like, Jesus this is going really well, like why can't you just stick around, right? And it's from that perspective.
Connor Coskery:
Jesus, where have you gone? Where are you going? That I wanna spend our time together. Two questions spring to mind, that that are gonna guide us into a deeper understanding of the Ascension. The first, why did Jesus leave?
Connor Coskery:
And two, if you had to leave what's he doing right now? What's Jesus doing right now? So why did he leave and what is Jesus doing right now? And with these questions in mind we're gonna jump in and I I hope I hope that tonight, that I can demystify a little bit about this particular doctrine. And I hope, my prayer tonight is that this community right here, that we would leave these doors not forgetting the ascension.
Connor Coskery:
That we would be a community that knows about the ascension and not only knows but actually thinks about it a whole lot. Because in the ascension we are going to find great comfort and assurance. Great comfort and assurance that Jesus is not here but that he is risen and he is ascended. So point one, why did Jesus leave? Look at Acts chapter one verse six.
Connor Coskery:
So after spending weeks with the disciples Jesus, and the disciples they're they're there together and the the disciples you can sense they're they're ready for action. They ask Jesus, say Lord will at this time you restore the kingdom of Israel? I mean the dead man's come back to life right? Like this is a good time for us to avenge our enemies. And then Jesus ascends.
Connor Coskery:
We read that as the disciples were looking on Jesus was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. The only other direct mention of the ascension is at the end of Luke's gospel and he describes, while Jesus blessed them he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. So not only did Jesus bypass their question about restoring their geopolitical kingdom, he left them. Why did Jesus leave? Where where did he go?
Connor Coskery:
Wouldn't it be better if Jesus stuck around? Now before we get to that, in defense of Jesus, he didn't pull a fast one on them. The plan was always for him to resurrect and return to the father. Throughout his ministry and especially towards the end, Jesus had been preparing his disciples for this very moment. A few examples, in the gospel of John as Jesus neared his death, he told his disciples.
Connor Coskery:
Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I'm going away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father for the Father is greater than I. Now I've told you before this takes place so that when it does take place, you may believe. Or if you look in your worship guide at Mark chapter 14, we studied this package passage back in November, where no, Jesus is on trial before the high priest and as the the high priest and the council around him falsely accused Jesus, Jesus remains silent until a question is asked of him.
Connor Coskery:
The high priest looks at him and he says, are you the Christ the son of the blessed? And then Jesus erupts and he references Daniel which is also there in your worship guide. And he says, I am and you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. When you read the gospels you can, it becomes evident that the disciples had a really hard time seeing beyond what was right in front of them. And so along the way Jesus was pushing them, he was telling them, he was he was warning them, he was trying to to get them to think beyond what was right in front of them.
Connor Coskery:
Jesus made clear that his miss his mission was more than just about just Israel. Jesus never intended to set up his throne here on earth. Instead, Jesus descended to earth to fight and defeat a much greater enemy than Rome. He came to war with sin, death, and hell. And after winning that war, his plan was always to return to heaven and be crowned as the triumphant king.
Connor Coskery:
And this is exactly what Jesus does at the cross and resurrection. Sin, death, and hell, they're stripped of their power and they're destroyed. Jesus finishes his assignment victorious and in the same way, the the same way that emperor, Roman emperors, they would they would parade through the streets of Rome after winning a big battle. They would parade through the streets with their spoils and with their captives and then they would they would walk up to the top of the Capantine Hill to declare every to everyone around, I am the victor. This is what Jesus does.
Connor Coskery:
Jesus ascends not up a hill but to heaven to be crowned as victor. I love how the great preacher Charles Spurgeon he he described it, Jesus came to earth to be your champion. And he was. The king returning home, this is the backdrop of the joyous scene that we read in Psalm 24 our opening scripture. Lift up your heads o gates and be lifted up o ancient doors that the King of glory may come in.
Connor Coskery:
Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts he is the King of glory.
Connor Coskery:
The heavens are rejoicing as Jesus rises into that as the King of glory, the Lord of hosts is home. Why did Jesus leave? What why did Jesus ascend? Jesus ascends to make it unmistakably clear that he is not just a revolutionary trying to overthrow a rival kingdom, he is not just a teacher about the kingdom of God. Jesus is the true king seated at the right hand of God the father reigning now and forevermore.
Connor Coskery:
Jesus is the true king seated at the right hand of God the father reigning now and forevermore. And church, this is good news for us today. In fact, it is better that Jesus is on his throne in heaven now rather than him be on an earthly throne. Why? Three reasons.
Connor Coskery:
Three three reasons it's better that Jesus is on his throne in heaven and not on an earthly throne. First, it is from his throne in heaven that Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to fill his people. Now I'm not gonna spend much time on this because Joel is going to preach on Pentecost the giving of the Holy Spirit next week. But as we read in Acts before Jesus ascended he comforted his followers by assuring that in his absence the advocate, the helper, the Holy Spirit would come. All of the benefits that we receive from the ascended Jesus they flow from the Father by the Spirit.
Connor Coskery:
So stay tuned join us next week it's gonna be great. Second though, second, when Jesus ascended to heaven he took his human body with him. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he took his human body with him. Think about this for a moment. There is a human body in that now sits at the right hand of God the father.
Connor Coskery:
John one tells us that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian, to the Philippians said, Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant born in the likeness of men. When Jesus came to earth he took on human flesh this is called the incarnation. The second person of the Trinity, God the Son, became man. He didn't cease to be God he took on a human nature.
Connor Coskery:
He is fully God and fully man. And then through his perfect life, death and resurrection he redeemed humanity and then he took his humanity with him into the eternal counsel of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we think about the Ascension, he didn't unzip his flesh. He didn't morph into a disembodied state and then beam up into the clouds. Jesus took his human body with him to heaven.
Connor Coskery:
One of the reasons this is significant is because when Jesus sits down next to God the Father with his human body, Jesus finally does what God intended for man from the beginning of time. Way back in Genesis when God created Adam and Eve, he placed them in the Garden Of Eden and he gave them a mission to rule over creation on behalf of God. Man would reflect God's good rule as they exercise dominion and care for the world. But humanity lost that royal privilege in the fall and ever since that day we have been trying to get back to that throne. That's why there's so much anticipation throughout the Old Testament when a new king would rise to the throne.
Connor Coskery:
There's this thought of like oh, is this the king we've been waiting for? Is this the one? And we see several times they get close, but it always ends up it's like, no, this isn't the one. When Jesus ascends to the right hand of God and sits down, he he finally restores the task given to humanity from God. Humanity is ruling over all creation.
Connor Coskery:
Man and God are together again in perfect relationship as it as it was always intended to be. Jesus taking his humanity with him is also significant because it means that the one who is physically wounded, who endured real suffering, who bore our sin to the point of death is alive and exalted in the presence of God the father. The one who is tempted in every way yet without sin will one day greet you and I with flesh and bone. I love how author Garrett Dawson beautifully imagines that day. He says and I quote, because of the ascension, a human hand will grasp us as we make our way into heaven, securing our relationship with the Father.
Connor Coskery:
End quote. A human hand will grasp us as we make our way into heaven, securing our relationship with the Father. Humanity resides in the presence of God right this moment and one day he will welcome us home. So, we have the Holy Spirit, the giving of the Holy Spirit. That is that is good news for us.
Connor Coskery:
The second piece of good news is that humanity is in the presence of God. The third and final, when Jesus ascended into heaven, he brought us with him. This is holy and mysterious ground. But the apostle Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, he says, by grace, when we are saved we are raised up with him and seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. When we believe in Jesus we are united with him in his death, in his resurrection, and his ascension.
Connor Coskery:
This means that believers are in a spiritual sense already enthroned with Christ. While we aren't on the throne yet we look forward to the day when we will rule with Christ in the truest most physical sense, but until that day we can stand in confidence that our Messiah is on the throne. And that because we are united to him one day we will be there too. Have you ever considered that you are royalty? You're royalty.
Connor Coskery:
When you are united to Christ, your humanity is hidden safely in Jesus in the very presence of God. You're in a real sense already in the throne room, known, accepted, loved. Paul describes this more in his letter to the Colossians where he says, If then you who you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above not on the things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory.
Connor Coskery:
This has massive implications when we think about identity. Our culture's really concerned with discovering our true selves and expressing it to the world and and receiving validation. But when Paul, what Paul is saying here is that if you really want to know who you are, if you really want to know who you are deep inside, your true authentic self, don't look deep inside, look to Jesus. That's who you are. You're washed and clean.
Connor Coskery:
You're righteous and forgiven. You're an adopted son or daughter. You're a prince princess of the king. Now as we talk about kingships and thrones and royalty, I realize that we here in Birmingham, Alabama, don't live in a society with monarchs. In the world today, the idea of royalty is in fact more synonymous with pop culture than it is with ruling and reigning.
Connor Coskery:
For us specifically, because of how polarizing American politics are, I don't blame you if you get a little uneasy when you think about rulers and kings. Instead of popular embrace, some might struggle to trust the institutions who are put in place and meant for our good. I'm sympathetic if all this talk about Christ the King makes you a little uncomfortable. And if that's you, I want you to know and I want you to take comfort this evening in the fact that we live under the rule and that we serve a good king. Jesus isn't a king who is weak or self centered, power hungry or prideful.
Connor Coskery:
No. Our king is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalm one zero three, he he describes our king like this, the Lord, the Messiah, the ruler of the universe, he knows your frame. He knows your frame. He knows your weakness.
Connor Coskery:
He knows your temptation, and he willingly partook of your human experience to save you completely and give you absolute security. The good news of the gospel isn't just that the tomb is empty but that the throne is full. The king is home and this king isn't lazy. When Jesus sits down on his throne, he doesn't stop working. So let's, let's look at our second question, about the ascension.
Connor Coskery:
If Jesus had to leave to return to his to his throne, well then what's he doing now? What's he doing right now? Years ago, doctor Mark Genolette, professor at Beeson Divinity School, he led one of our summer talk backs and he posed the question, Perhaps another way of thinking about this is the popular bracelets with WWJD on them. There's any anything inherently wrong about these, the message on these bracelets, but it naturally makes us think. If you think about it, it naturally makes us think about Jesus as someone in the past instead of him being active today.
Connor Coskery:
Because of the ascension a better bracelet would be W I J D. What is Jesus doing? I'll get Jonathan Haas on that. We'll have him here next week. Because Jesus didn't ascend to heaven to take a load off.
Connor Coskery:
He didn't rise up into the clouds, sit on his throne, and then just stop working. Instead, he ascended to heaven with specific work to do on our behalf. The author of Hebrews, goes as far to describe what Jesus is doing now as the actual anchor of our souls. We read in Hebrews chapter six. Says, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become a high priest forever.
Connor Coskery:
This is what Jesus is doing now. He has gone before us to his throne as king to be our high priest forever. Context, priestly language. This is unfamiliar to us in our culture, but this was the world of the Bible. When sin entered the world it caused a separation between holy God and sinful man.
Connor Coskery:
And so God graciously instituted the sacrificial system which made a way for the relationship between God and man to be restored. And to fuel that system, he set apart priests. And those priests would serve as mediators sacrificing animals as a substitute for the people to take away the power and presence of sin. There was sacrifice and blood in the temple all the time. If you're following along with our church wide bible reading plan, I think February 18, we hit Leviticus.
Connor Coskery:
And that's what Leviticus is all about. It's all about this sacrificial system. Now according to Hebrews, which in a lot of ways is a commentary on Leviticus, the incredible thing about Jesus is that he is both our priest who knows our frame and can sympathize with our weakness, and in his death, he is also our sacrifice who removes the power and presence of sin. But Jesus's priestly sacrificial work was very different. Hebrews goes on in chapter 10 and, to tell us that while the priest would have to offer these sacrifices over and over again, when Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God the father.
Connor Coskery:
After Jesus offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the father. No high priest would ever sit down in the holy of holies. Being near the presence of God was a scary and awesome thing for these priests. But when Jesus but Jesus he goes in he makes that atoning sacrifice and he sits down so that he can be our priest. He can continue that mediator that intercessory work for you and I forever.
Connor Coskery:
What is Jesus doing now right now? Jesus sits at the right hand of the father on his throne as your sacrifice, as your priest living his life to be your mediator and interceding on your behalf for forever. He is our king and our priest. But what does this kingly priestly work look like? What does this look like specifically to to believe that Jesus is our high priest?
Connor Coskery:
Once again three things. First, as king and priest Jesus is making sure that the world doesn't fall apart. The author of Hebrews at the very beginning of his letter in chapter one he says, Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. See Jesus isn't a divine clockmaker who dials it in and then takes a step back to just watch it.
Connor Coskery:
He is both the creator and sustainer of the world and Jesus is actively, this very moment, holding all things together by his providential love and care. Tim Keller once, once shared a story that he said transformed, his life forever and how he thinks about God. And I remember hearing, hearing Tim Keller sharing this, this story in one of his sermons. And I I still haven't been able to shake it. And so, Keller says and I quote, at a Christian camp in Colorado, a woman Bible teacher gave an illustration that changed my life.
Connor Coskery:
She said, if the distance between the earth and the sun, just 92,000,000 miles, was reduced to the thickness of a sheet of paper, then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of paper 70 feet high. And the diameter of the galaxy would be a stack of papers 310 miles high. That's how big the galaxy is. And yet the galaxy is nothing but a speck of dust virtually in in the whole universe. And the Bible says Jesus Christ holds this universe together with the word of his power.
Connor Coskery:
His pinky as it were. And then she asked the question, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant? End quote. A God this big and this powerful should cause deep reflection on our allegiances. But how amazing is it that this all powerful sustaining God descends to us to save us and bring us home to himself.
Connor Coskery:
God doesn't just sit down on his throne in heaven and demand us to follow him, he descends to us in gentleness and grace. While he makes sure the oceans don't swallow continents, he numbers the hairs on your head and he won't let a single one of them fall apart from his will. If Jesus were to stop working, the entire universe would collapse and cease to exist. This should startle us. This should invoke right fear in the awesomeness of God.
Connor Coskery:
Are we neglecting Jesus? Are we relegating him to be our assistant as it were? Or are we following him as king? But it's not just fear. Christ holding all things together also provides deep and abiding comfort.
Connor Coskery:
For those who have trusted in Jesus, you have resources to live in this ever changing broken world that that an atheist or a non believer simply doesn't have. Because Jesus holds all things together, you can be steady and non anxious when the world devolves into chaos. Because Jesus is on his throne you can look at whatever is happening in your life, in the world, even death itself with the defiant faith and say, Jesus Jesus is in control. I belong to him and he holds all things together so that I don't have to. Jesus is holding all things together.
Connor Coskery:
And Jesus is also active in building his church. Jesus is he's feeding his church to help it grow and mature. In God's kindness, Jesus has given the church means to help us grow in faith. He's given us the scriptures. He's given us prayer, he's given us baptism in the Lord's supper, he's given us fellowship, community.
Connor Coskery:
And we believe that these means aren't empty but that God shows up. That though ascended, Jesus promises to descend to us again and again and again to meet with us and to change us. This means that we don't have to chase miraculous experiences to meet with God. It means that we don't have to, to sit in a quiet space and try and, discern the still small voice of God. He's given us ordinary places where he promises to show up.
Connor Coskery:
And as we return to those places over and over and over again, he promises to change us. More on this next week. I think Joel's gonna talk a lot about this. But Jesus is also building his church by bringing his lost sheep home. The fact that Jesus is alive and exalted, sitting at the right hand of God should give us boldness and give us confidence in our evangelism of the lost.
Connor Coskery:
Saint Athanasius, in his short book on the incarnation, he says, and I quote, dead men can't take effective action. Their influence lasts only until the grave. Dead men cannot take effective action. Their influence lasts only until the grave. When we share our faith, we do so with power.
Connor Coskery:
Our Lord is alive and his words are effective to call people to himself. And he's invited you and I to join him in the in the mission to take this good news, this gospel to the ends of the earth. We heard from Dwight about the mission summit. I want to encourage y'all in the next two weeks, to, to join us, to hear what the Lord is doing and to pray about how how can I get in on that? Because the Lord is building his church by bringing his lost sheep home.
Connor Coskery:
And he doesn't do so with a magic wand but he uses us. Jesus is holding all things together. He is building up his church. And finally, and perhaps the greatest comfort, Jesus is praying for you. Right now Jesus is praying for you.
Connor Coskery:
Towards the end of John's gospel Jesus prays to the father in what's been called the high priestly prayer. And he promises that when he returns to heaven he will continue to intercede for his followers. Right now, Jesus is praying before the father by the spirit for you and me knowing exactly what it's like to be human. This means that when you don't know what to pray for or even where to begin the Godhead, father, son and holy spirit is already praying. Paul in Romans chapter seven, he says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
Connor Coskery:
For we do not we do not know what to pray for out as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Later in chapter eight, Paul's gonna say that as Christ has ascended and seated at the right hand of the father, he lives to make intercession for you. Instead of it being easy, my experience with prayer can sometimes be frustrating and confusing. Fits and starts wrestling with like, Is this is this really working? And if, and it's it's from there, it's it's it's in those moments that I need this promise.
Connor Coskery:
God is already praying for me. God is already praying for you. It's not about my word choice or my perfectly ordered thoughts. God isn't sitting there evaluating my prayer and when he sees that I'm not doing it good enough he like jumps in and says, okay my turn. No.
Connor Coskery:
What this means is that God partners with us praying with and for us as we pray. A way to understand this dynamic, my son Jacob, he's six and he's he's really into football right now. He wants to throw the football all the time. And when he was first learning how to throw a football, you know, he's he's saying, daddy, can we play football? I didn't tell him like, okay, I want you to stand on the driveway over here.
Connor Coskery:
I'm gonna give you a little notepad. And I just want you to take notes on how I, you know, how I grip the ball and how hard I throw it. No. What I did was I took him in front of me, I took his hands, and I showed him how to grip grip the laces. And then I put my hand over his little hand and I showed him the motion.
Connor Coskery:
And those first couple of times we threw the ball together. If you were to ask in that moment, who's throwing the football? The answer would be both of us. When we cry out to God in our weakness, when we cry out to him in our confusion, we can trust that he is praying with us and he's praying for us. Like my hands gripped Jacob's, God's words overlay our words.
Connor Coskery:
Our jumbled and confused thoughts, they're perfected to the father. Friends, this should give us enormous confidence when you pray because it means that you're never praying on your own. You don't have to stress. For example, when home group comes and they ask you to pray out loud or if when we, take a moment here and we thought we're not gonna do it, and we split up into small groups and we pray, you don't have to stress because it's not about being the most eloquent. Your words are being perfected to the father.
Connor Coskery:
You also don't have to worry about cleaning yourself up before you pray. Instead, you can pray with freedom and confidence knowing that you belong. But you belong in God's presence not because of anything that you've done but on the basis of Jesus your king. You can even trust that when you don't have the strength to pray, that when the words aren't there, that Jesus has already started the conversation. That when you're in that moment and it's like, Connor, I I don't have anything in me that can pray, that Jesus is already praying for you.
Connor Coskery:
With all that in mind, there's there's never a wrong time to start praying. You can start praying to the God of the universe this very moment trusting that you have his ear based on the blood of his son. That your words, your thoughts, your requests, they're being perfected by the Spirit. And that you pray not to a far off deity, not to that divine clockmaker who's way off that you're trying to find. No, you pray to a father who loves to give good gifts to his children.
Connor Coskery:
If we truly believe that why would we ever stop praying? I hope by now I've convinced you that the ascension isn't just a transition scene between Jesus' earthly ministry and the beginning of the church. The ascension is about the king returning home. But did you catch what the what the angel said to the disciples as the disciples are standing there looking up into the clouds? If you look at verse 11 in Acts, the angel said, Men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven?
Connor Coskery:
This Jesus who is taking taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. When Jesus knew his time on earth was coming to an to an end he began to prepare his disciples saying, look I'm leaving, things are gonna get really bad, they didn't like me, they're not gonna like you. But he promises that I'm going away for good reason. I'm going away to prepare a place for you and then I'm coming back for you. Essentially he's saying, hey I'm going away but I'm gonna save you a seat.
Connor Coskery:
As I mentioned earlier, ever since the fall when we lost our royal status as children, we have had this inbuilt hunger to return to that throne. We know this isn't where we're meant to be. We desire that purpose, that meaning that we're created for. We know this isn't our home. This life, it's called we're we're living in the the now but not yet.
Connor Coskery:
We are in a mysterious way seated with Christ in the heavenly places. But we are still here surrounded by sin and brokenness. We haven't arrived yet. And it's interesting, Acts begins with Jesus ascending into heaven but the book of Acts ends not with Jesus descending back from heaven. Luke, the author of Acts, I think what he's trying to convey to us is, hey, the story's not over.
Connor Coskery:
We are in fact part of this ongoing story where we watch and we wait on mission for Jesus to return. But when Christ ascended, when Christ ascended our lives were immediately infused with the blessed assurance that Jesus will one, one last time descend. He will descend but not to bring us up to the heavenly places, but to bring down our home to us. One day Jesus will descend again but not to bring us up but to bring our home to us. And so I wanna end by reading these words from Revelation chapter 21.
Connor Coskery:
Church, this is the home that our risen and ascended king is preparing for us and will one day bring back to us. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Connor Coskery:
And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Amen? Amen. Let's pray.
Connor Coskery:
Lord I thank you that even now, Lord as we are gathered together, that you have, you have been and, and will never stop praying for us. Lord I thank you that you are king, that you are in control and that we don't have to be. Help our hearts to believe that. Lord give us assurance to know that you are you are at work right now for us and for our good. And Lord would you send us out on mission knowing that you are alive and that you have filled us with power that can take people that are dead in faith and make them alive.
Connor Coskery:
Lord we pray all of this in the strong name of Jesus who is both risen and ascended, Amen.