ASCENDED
[1]WELCOME: Good morning, if you’re new with us or just tuning in my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone church in Auburn, IL. SERIES: We’re continuing our teaching series today called THE CREED: WHAT WE BELIEVE. And the creed was something that early Christians used to teach new followers of Jesus about what was true. They wanted them to be able to understand certain things about God the Father, Jesus the Son, The Holy Spirit, the Church, what happens at the end of time, and what we’re supposed to be doing between now and then, the mission of God’s people. But it was also something that they repeated in worship together often to help them continue to live with peace, hope, joy, strength and endurance in a world that was broken, dark, and often filled with trials and persecution. Today we’re getting to the part of the creed that says that Jesus…[2]
· ASCENDED TO HEAVEN AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY. FROM THERE HE WILL COME TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. Just like Silent Saturday, when Jesus was in the grave, we’re talking about another part of the ministry of Jesus that many of us don’t think about. I know for me growing up I didn’t really hear any sermons about what Jesus is doing in heaven right now. Which is a shame, because Jesus is still at work in heaven, and what he is doing is absolutely amazing. So, let’s pray and then we’re going to say the creed together and then unpack what we know about what Jesus is doing in heaven. [3]
Almighty Father and Daddy God, we run boldly to you today as your kids and are able to speak directly to you because of Jesus our Savior and our spiritual brother. Help us wrestle with the mystery and the beauty of being in your presence today because of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Help us hear you, love you, and obey you. It’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen. [READ CREED] [4-12]
(TEACH) EXALTED, INTERCEDING, AND ADVOCATING (God)
BACKGROUND: [13]I encourage you to open up your bibles today to [Acts 1:6-11] or if you want you can go to auburncstone.info and follow along with the sermon notes there. Let’s read this together… [14-21]So for 40 days after Jesus rose from the dead and proved that he was God and that he was alive we see him standing with his disciples on a mountain. And he tells them that they need to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes on them and then they’ll be ready for the next part of their mission. [22]And then he suddenly is “lifted up”. The words that Luke, the writer of this book of our bible, uses are chosen very carefully. When he says “lifted up” it’s not simply giving directions. If someone were to say, where did Jesus go, Luke wouldn’t simply point up. He was saying that Jesus was being…[23]
EXALTED: he was raised up to a position of authority. IT’S NOT ABOUT WHAT DIRECTION JESUS WENT, BUT ABOUT WHAT POSITION HE WAS TAKING. He is saying that God is taking Jesus from his position here on earth as SAVIOR and exalting him to his new position in heaven as COSMIC KING. The ASCENSION OF JESUS MEANS THAT HE IS NOW IN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE OF HONOR, WORSHIP, AND AUTHORITY. [LEVI’S QUESTION: WHO IS ON THE LEFT HAND?] We’ve talked a lot about how that changes the way we look at this world. How it might seem like this world is out of control, but Jesus is over it all and will guide it to fulfill the purposes he has for it. It may seem like evil is winning, but like a chess game with a master tactician who is 20 moves ahead, the game is won, the adversary just doesn’t know or won’t admit that it’s already lost. So, the question becomes… [24]
WHAT IS JESUS DOING IN HEAVEN? And there is more than one answer to that question. He’s preparing a place for us. He’s guiding history to it’s desired completion and I’m sure many more things that even scripture tells us. However, I want to focus on two things specifically. The first is that in heaven Jesus is…[25]
· INTERCEDING FOR US: There is a book in our bibles called Hebrews and the writer of it says this [26][Heb. 7:25]. In this section of our bible Jesus is being compared to a high priest. And Jewish high priests were primarily responsible for doing two things. FIRST: He offered the blood of a scarified animal as a substitute for the sins of the people. The innocent animal died so that guilty people could live. The SECOND thing the priest did was pray to God on the behalf of the people. He asked God to forgive them, to bless them, to protect them, and to strengthen them. And what this scripture is telling us is that, Jesus entered into the presence of God, into heaven itself and he presented himself as the ultimate sacrifice. He was the innocent human killed as a substitute for guilty humans. And then it says that…[27]
o JESUS IS PRAYING FOR US: Isn’t that crazy? Most of us don’t think about what Jesus is doing in heaven. We just know he’s coming back. But doesn’t that blow your mind? Right now! At this moment! Jesus is praying for you. He’s praying for me! He’s praying for his church. Now let’s not complicate things. Prayer is simply talking to God. So, what we know is that Jesus is speaking to God about us, right now! And if that weren’t enough to give you a great amount of hope and courage that Jesus is going to get you through whatever you’re going through, let me give you something else to chew on.
o WHAT MIGHT HE BE PRAYING FOR YOU ABOUT? I think we get a glimpse into what he is potentially praying for when we look at two different parts of scripture. One of the things we see him praying for his people is that…[28]
o THEIR FAITH WOULD NOT TO FAIL: [29-31][Lk 22:31-32]Jesus while he was on earth was praying for his followers. And specifically, we hear that he has asked God to keep Peter’s faith from failing. To keep him from being destroyed by Satan. And what we see is that he knew that peter’s faith would falter, but that ultimately, he would come back stronger and HELP strengthen the other disciples.
§ Too often I think we as followers of Jesus think that faith is something that is completely our responsibility to keep strong. To have doubts feels like failure. To have struggles with the plan of God or even feeling his presence feels like we might be lost. Oops, I didn’t have enough faith. God probably is done with me. And what you need to know is that Jesus is praying for you. He’s praying for your faith not to completely fail. Faltering happens, but Jesus prayed for Peter and his prayer was answered. And his prayer for us will be as well! Not only did Jesus pray for us his followers while he was on this earth for their faith not to fail, but he also prayed for…[32]
o THAT THEY MIGHT BE: FRUITFUL, PROTECTED, UNIFIED, JOYFUL, MADE PURE, INCLUDED IN THE TRINITY, SHOW THE WORLD JESUS, AND BE WITH HIM IN GLORY! All of those things you can find in [John 17]. Isn’t that quite a list? And I want you to know that…[33]
§ JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS PEOPLE ON EARTH & HE IS STILL DOING SO HEAVEN. And I want to ask a rhetorical question…Does God the Father listen to the prayers of Jesus? Is God going to answer the prayers of Jesus? YES, YES, YES! Listen, there was a wonderful woman named Shirley Bachman who was part of our church, and she used to tell me she was praying for me. That woman prayed for her husband to be healed of cancer! And it happened! It disappeared for years. And you know what, when she said she was praying for me, I felt like she had the ear of God and that he answered her prayers. So how much more powerful is it that Jesus is praying for our faith not to fail, to be fruitful, for protection, for us to experience joy, unity, and for us to be able to make it to his side in glory? So Jesus is interceding for us, he’s praying for us. But he’s also…[34]
· ADVOCATING FOR US one of the followers of Jesus named John and probably Jesus’ best friend here on earth said this about Jesus. [35][1 Jn. 2:1] John uses the word Advocate which is primarily a legal term. It’s used to describe what we would normally call a lawyer. Someone who stands by our side and knows the ins and outs of the justice system. Someone who is going to represent us and help us achieve a status of “not-guilty”. Let me give you a picture of what this might make you think of. You’ve given your life to Jesus and you continue to live, but even though you have been forgiven of your sins, you continue to sin. You’re trying your hardest but you still fail and turn to people, pleasure, possessions, and position to make you happy instead of God. Well, an advocate would then speak to the judge each time we sinned and say [36]“I’d like to present to the court, the cross and my sacrifice as evidence that Nic is not guilty!” And when I sinned again, Jesus would say “look at the evidence again, still not guilty!” Now John is saying that if you truly love Jesus and understand what he went through on the cross, you will not think to yourself, “yippee, I can do anything I want! No consequences. I never have to change.” He says if you truly love Jesus then you will over the course of your life surrender more and more to him and that will cause you to not continue to sin in the ways you have in the past. Here is why I believe that Jesus Advocating for us is such a huge truth to cling to. It means that…[37]
o THE VOICE OF JESUS IS LOUDER THAN THE VOICE OF OUR HEARTS AND THE VOICE OF THE ENEMY! Too many times our inner voices say “I’m a failure, I’m worthless, Jesus is disappointed in me or Jesus couldn’t possibly want me.” This is what John calls the language of a condemning heart. Our hearts usually speak in first person…I’m Not, I can’t. Our hearts are trying to drowned out the voice of Jesus. [38]And John says that the voice of Jesus is the only true voice worth listening to. Then there’s the voice of spiritual attack. Demonic attack loves to say to you, “you’ve sinned one too many times! Sure, you SAID you believed in Jesus, but then you did your own thing, he won’t take you back!” It’s the voice of accusation and condemnation. And What we are told is that the voice of Jesus is the only voice that matters. It’s the voice that whispers from heaven, NOT GUILTY, STILL NOT GUITLY, STILL NOT GUILTY. HERE’S THE EVIDENCE. THEY’RE COVERED BY MY BLOOD.
§ Part of the reason that these voices are so compelling is because they reinforce a wrong picture of God the Father. We wrongly believe that God the Father is sitting before Jesus and sees us sin and is just waiting to cosmically smack us with disease, or hardship or destruction. And we wrongly see Jesus standing in front of a raging dad and saying, no dad, don’t do it, they’re covered by my blood. They’re still forgiven. God the father and God the Son seated side by side together and they see us sin again and again and again, and like friends who have known each other for a very long time, they can just look at each other and not say a word and know exactly what each other are thinking, and they look at us, look at each other and know what the other is thinking. “NOT GUILTY, STILL NOT GUILTY.” And they want to use the Holy Spirit inside us to say the same words to us when our hearts condemn us or demons attack us. The Spirit speaks “NOT GUILTY, STILL NOT GUILTY. YOU’RE FORGIVEN. YOU’RE FREE. YOU’RE HOLY. YOU’RE MY CHILD.”
o [39]WANT TO ENTER INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH A COSMIC KING WHO PRAYS FOR YOU AND CAN DECLARE YOU NOT GUILTY?
§ FOLLOWING JESUS, BAPTISM
o FOR THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS MAY YOU BE ENCOURAGED AND COMFORTED KNOWING THAT HIS PRAYERS FOR YOU ARE HEARD AND ANSWERED AND THAT YOU STAND INNOCENT AND LOVED AS A CHILD[40]
