Ascension Day, 2012.

Ascension, Holy Communion Service, 2012

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 8 AM Phoenix Time

The Hymn #221  Hark Ten Thousand Harps  3:33

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual    Acts 1:1-11

The Gospel            Mark 16:14-20

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 216  On Christ’s Ascension            3:41

Believe and Confess

The Hymn #316   O Living Bread            3:45

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #294 O Word of God            3:31

KJV Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

[The ending of Luke fits with the opening of Acts, which Luke also wrote.]

KJV Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

KJV Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Ascension

O Jesus Christ, Thou almighty Son of God, who art no longer in humiliation here on earth, but sittest at the right hand of Thy Father, Lord over all things: We beseech Thee, send us Thy Holy Spirit; give Thy Church pious pastors, preserve Thy word, control and restrain the devil and all who would oppress us: mightily uphold Thy kingdom, until all Thine enemies shall have been put under Thy feet, that we may hold the victory over sin, death, and the devil, through Thee, who livest and reignest with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

By Norma Boeckler

Believe and Confess

KJV Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

First Ascension Sermon – Luther - http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/04/luthers-sermons-mark-1614-20-ascension_5750.html

Second Ascension Sermon – Luther - http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/04/luthers-sermons-mark-1614-20-ascension_21.html

Third Ascension Sermon – Luther - http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/04/luthers-sermons-mark-1614-20-ascension.html

The moderns decided against the ending of Mark, so they do not like the traditional Gospel for this day. The modern translations do a lot of this, so this lesson is a reminder of their cavalier attitude about the Bible. They began with this lesson, then moved on to changing the actual meaning of each verse. They know what God would have said in Greek if He had been a better writer – like them.

Luther pointed out that this lesson has been criticized for having the wrong times, pushing everything together. But that falls apart when Mark is seen as condensing the events from the resurrection to the Ascension. Mark is the shortest Gospel and duplicates almost every single verse in Matthew and Luke, so it could have been the first Gospel harmony. No one agrees, and it does not matter for any believer – on for those defending doctoral dissertations about Mark’s Gospel.

Another point - the first three Gospels describe the public ministry of Jesus as one year, the Fourth Gospel as three years. People accept the three-year ministry and understand that the first three Gospels are not trying to be travelogues or diaries, but passion accounts (about 25% of each Gospel).

This account makes modern man address a basic question in the theme Luther raised – believe and confess. Ever since the Age of Rationalism, from the 18^th century on, the Bible has been subjected to analysis based on man’s reason. If it is not within man’s reason and experience, it cannot be true.

This is where the revelation of God’s Word transcends all human reason, knowledge, or wisdom. Faith in the Word sets aside what man claims to be true and trusts in the message from God.

KJV Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. 14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Although Jesus led His disciples gently along, He also rebuked them for lack of faith. This happened during His public ministry and also after His resurrection. Of course, we say, “How could they doubt after the empty tomb, seen by others, after all He promised?” The same could be said of us, since we know that and more, after many centuries of Christian teaching.

I can see the conclusion of Mark being used as a concise catechism or lesson about the resurrection and ascension of Christ, with additional passages used in study to supplement the main message.

After all, there are references to the two Emmaus disciples (verse 12 – the two of them) but the complete story is told only in Luke.

The rebuking reminds us that the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin, because we do not believe. In all of Luther’s sermons, this is emphasized. Faith implies thought and action. In the first sermon for Ascension, Luther preaches and believing and confessing.

There is quite a difference between knowing/seeing and believing. As we see in the calming of the storm, when fear enters in, faith flies out the window. It is easy to believe in Christ, but to keep believing in Him is a struggle against our Old Adam, the unbelieving world, and the deceptions of Satan.

Some might say, “I would believe in Him if I saw someone risen from the dead.”

The rich man said that in his torment, wanting someone to warn his brothers who were still alive. The answer was stern – They have Moses and the prophets.

Faith comes from the efficacy of the Word. The Holy Spirit speaks to the hearer or the reader, planting or confirming faith in that person. Jesus taught thousands of people. The Holy Spirit teaches millions, bringing Christ to them in every corner of the globe.

Believe and confess. To believe without confessing the truth is not genuine faith. Confessing the truth means convicting the unbelieving world of sin – because they do not believe.

That is bearing the cross – to be met by scorn, mockery, anger, insults, and slander – and not just from clergy and church officials. Cult members and atheists are just as bad.

Luther once said, “The cross means being willing to be slugged in the mouth.”

Satan is a powerful creature of a thousand arts, and he knows where we are weak. He uses his troops to exploit those weaknesses.

But the Holy Spirit is the master of 100,000 arts, and can vanquish Satan with one Word of God. (Large Catechism – marked in blue on the blog post.)

Unbelief causes hardness of heart and blindness. Trying to teach the Word makes the blindness and hardening worse. But the cause is not ours, and that is God’s will when people refuse to hear the Word. They may rejoice at the moment but they pay a terrible price later.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

One way to test the meaning of a passage is to compare it to a parallel. This parallels the Great Commission in Matthew. It does not say “you have to make disciples” but “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.”

Ever since man has tried to turn the Gospel into a law of some kind:

• Leave the world and become monks praying for your own salvation.
• Obey these rules to qualify for eternal life.
• Transform the world.
• Create a just society with the New Deal (based on the Social Gospel Movement’s platform of legislation).
• Form cell groups.

The Gospel causes and encourages faith because the Holy Spirit conveys Jesus to us in its message. We need that constant nurturing because we can do nothing by ourselves.

Although people wonder about God allowing the world to continue so long, we should also consider His patience and His constant providing for the Gospel to reach new people.

I published Bente’s Historical Introductions on the blog – for pastors and interested laity. The first one to thank me was a classmate from Moline, a woman who drives trucks. She is a Lutheran. And she said, “Thanks for sending this over. I enjoy the study material and thirst for more!” I always think others think the same way. I hear from quite a few, and 2,000 pages are read each day now.

Today, also, an Appleton Lutheran pastor informed me that I was a nut for doubting Obama and the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. You would think a pastor would say, “Thanks for making my sermon preparation easier and faster, with all the Book of Concord and Luther materials – plus hymn graphics, Biblical graphics, and doctrinal graphics – so I don’t have to steal from Groeschel anymore.”

That illustrates what we should do – broadcast in the old fashioned sense of the word, scattering the living Word in all directions and letting God accomplish His will through the Word. Jesus did not say, “Be successful” but “Preach the Gospel.”

Luther – First Ascension Sermon:

Therefore, I will form for myself another people, which shall know me and love me. When they see that I will not regard their works but will give them every good thing freely, their hearts will teem with joy and will never weary of my praise.

8. Therefore, beware of glossing the text and seeking to improve upon the words of Christ. Our doctors and colleges have tried to better them and have said these words must be understood thus: “He that believeth” (understand: and doeth good works), “shall be saved.” Who authorized them to make that insertion? Do you think the Holy Spirit was too stupid to make it? Thus they have utterly obscured, yea, perverted, this precious statement with their insertion. Therefore, take heed and let no one make an insertion for you, but abide by the text as it reads and understand it thus: “He that believeth shall be saved” without his merit, without any works.

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

This is a good concise statement of salvation only through faith, damnation from not believing. This is not a way to belittle baptism at all. The Word is used with water for our benefit. An adult may ask for baptism to fit in with others, to benefit himself. He is not saved by baptism but by faith in Christ.

For instance, someone asked me for baptism because “she had tried everything else.” I did not refuse but asked her to look into her other problems, because she had an obvious medical condition.

Babies become believers through the Word in baptism, but parents also have the responsibility to nurture that faith.

There is no comfort in this verse for people to say they were saved before believing or without believing. That is the false message of UOJ, getting more strident every year.

But the message of faith in Christ is comforting -

Luther – First Ascension Sermon, Lencker edition:

12. Now, place the two side by side, and you can rightly conclude: Where there is faith, there cannot be so many sins, but they will surely be swallowed up and exterminated by faith; where there is unbelief, you will never be able to do good works enough to blot out the least sin. Little, therefore as sin can stand in the presence of faith, so little can good works abide with unbelief. Therefore, nothing is needed, in order to do good works, but faith; and nothing more is required, in order to do sin and evil works, than unbelief. Thus it follows that he who believes has no sin and does nothing but good works; on the other hand, he who does not believe, verily, does no good work, but all he does is sin.

13. Therefore I say, however, you cannot have committed so many sins, neither is Satan such an invincible enemy of yours, but that all is taken away and forgiven as soon as you begin to believe. For through faith you have Christ as your own treasure, who was given to you for the very purpose of taking away sin; and who will be so bold as to condemn Christ?

Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

This may make many moderns uncomfortable. When the Church was being established, the apostles performed great miracles, just as Jesus did. There were so many frauds in those times that this showed the genuine divine power of the early followers.

Miracles have not gone away, because every Holy Communion service is a miracle, with the Word consecrating the elements. However, we do not manufacture fake miracles, although unbelievers crave them. Jesus performed many profound, visible miracles, but people walked away as soon as He began to teach (John 6). Thus, miracles are not sufficient for unbelievers, since the Word annoys and vexes them, as it does today.

This group of miracles is to show – they can do all things through faith. We see many examples of that today, when people do not take counsel of their experience and reason, but trust completely in God’s wisdom and power.

All things done in faith are God-pleasing, but no venture without faith is anything but a sin. So we should perform all our duties in faith and consider it a blessing to serve God in such a way.

Many clergy have thought they were not “doing anything” when they were being faithful but seeing no visible results. It is not for us to judge the results but to discern the difference between true and false doctrine.

I told a pharmacist I could not do his job because I mix up the medicine names. That caused one child to die, when the wrong pills were pulled from storage. The medicine he needed sound just like the one he was prescribed. It was a terrible tragedy because no one sought to look at the pills. I have taken pills in to be matched on a chart – they are not the same.

Biblical doctrine is similar. Some people say, “There is no real difference,” but there is. If a pastor cannot tell the difference he should study more or find another vocation. Nothing is true because a synod voted on it or because it helps one’s career. It is true only if the Bible teaches it.

Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Moderns explain patiently that we no longer live in a three-storey universe. Oh, how primitive ancient man was. But that shows how foolish the rationalists are, because they force one view onto the Biblical story. Jesus rose and disappeared from their sight. It does not say He went to the stratosphere or ionosphere. Things beyond mortal life are beyond our knowing, so we are told what we need, and we trust in this truth.

When rationalistic man reduces the message to what he can understand and experience, nothing is left. Thus honest atheists have a passionate hatred for the Word, because they feel the condemning effect of the Holy Spirit and counter with hatred, doubt, and blindness.

Luther says in one of the sermons that it is the nature of faith to grow constantly. I take issue with that wording, because faith shrinks when it is not nurtured. He probably saw less of that in his time, when people still believed in divine power.

When people remove themselves from the Means of Grace, they lose the growth in trust that we receive and need in the Gospel.

Luther, First Sermon, Ascension:

30. Again in still another Psalm, David says ( Psalm 68:18): “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led away captives; thou hast received gifts among men, yea among the rebellious also, that Jehovah God might dwell with them.” And all the prophets took great pains to describe Christ’s ascension and his kingdom. For, as his sufferings and death are deeply founded in the Scriptures, so are also his kingdom, his resurrection and ascension. In this manner we must view the ascension of Christ. Otherwise it will afford us neither pleasure nor profit. For what good will it do you if you merely preach that he ascended up to heaven and sits there with folded hands? This is what the prophet would say in the Psalm Christ is ascended on high and has led captivity captive. That is to say, not only does he sit up there but he is also down here. And for this purpose did he ascend up thither, that he might be down here, that he might fill all things and be everywhere present; which thing he could not do had he remained on earth, for here in the body he could not have been present with all. He ascended to heaven, where all hearts can see him, where he can deal with all men, that he might fill all creation. He is present everywhere and all things are filled with his fullness. Nothing is so great, be it in heaven or on earth, but he has power over it, and it must be in perfect obedience to him. He not only governs and fills all creation (that would not help my faith any nor take away my sins), but also has led captivity captive.

Thus faith is the victor, this faith which the Holy Spirit gives us through the Gospel.