May 12, 2013
Fr. Phil Eberhart
King of Glory,
King of Peace
Happy Mother’s Day
- We will have a blessing of our mom’s
during the Prayers of the People this morning and we have 4 dozen roses here at
front and at the back for all of our ladies here this morning. Please take one as a sign of our love for you
and who you are in our midst at REZ as women.
I wanted to say that
up front because I’m not going to preach on being a mom. I hope you are not disappointed, but I want to
preach on Jesus! The first line of our
opening prayer this morning kind of captures my theme for this morning:
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your
only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven.
This last Thursday,
as I mentioned last week, was the Feast of the Ascension – the day in the
church year, 10 days before Pentecost, when we mark the ascension of Jesus from
the Mount of Olives into heaven.
A few verses from the
1st chapter of Acts captures this moment:
So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set 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, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
Of course we also
have the words captured at the end of the gospel of Matthew as well, though its
not clear that it was at this moment, it is clearly a commissioning, as Jesus
said:
Jesus came and told
his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Teach these new disciples to
obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you
always, even to the end of the age."
(NLT)
Last week we talked
about the great and precious promises of God, and this week I want to talk
about the ONE who promised… who promises. The One who died to be the ground and the
guarantor of the promises of God to His People. The One who now sits at the right hand of God
making intercession for His Church, His Bride – We the people, - We His People, here on planet Earth!
Paul captures the
weight of this in several places in his letters as well: In Philippians, the second chapter, at the
end of the Kenosis passage he says:
For this reason also,
God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And in his letter to
the church in Ephesus also:
God put this [His]
power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power
and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also
in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him
the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Friends the
scriptures are replete with these references to the exaltation and the eternal
power of Jesus Christ – of his position at God’s right hand – and of His
universal power and presence with us now, by His Spirit, to effect the work of
the Gospel and the spread of the Kingdom of God among men on the earth.
The Gospels and Acts
are clear records of all the things that Jesus, as Luke puts it, “began to do
and teach.” But we need to know that
Jesus isn’t finished, not by a long shot!
Because of what Jesus
started while on earth and commissioned before He left the earth and empowered
from Heaven after leaving the earth, by His Spirit – we are encountered and
empowered and engaged in the most exciting adventure in the history of humanity
– my friends, we are a part of the church in the last days!
What we see in the
latter chapters of the book of Acts, from our reading this morning and from the
book of Revelation, that we’ve been hearing for several weeks, are the echoes
of this series of events that we are in the midst of right now. The Ascension
and Exaltation of Jesus Christ to his place in heaven, above every throne and
name that is named – the waiting on His empowerment in these 10 days and the
oneness that the infant church experienced in this time, I believe, set the
stage and became the crucible into which the Holy Spirit was poured!
This church was
expectant and desperate at the same moment.
They had been given a colossal commission by Jesus as He left them and
He made it clear in his very last words to them, that this was not to be done
in their power and their strength, but that the promise of the Father was the
missing ingredient – the secret ingredient for them and for the mission of God
in the world, to which they were commissioned and sent – to which WE are
commissioned and to which we are SENT.
I hope that you
realize that all this is not just a history lesson! The Ascension of Jesus Christ to the eternal
right hand of the Father in heaven – the Oneness He prayed for and bestowed on
them in prayer – that they experienced in this 10 day period together – and the
outpouring of the Spirit of Jesus, by the Father and the Son, on the Church was
for one continuing purpose, until Jesus comes again!
This outpouring is
the coming of the power of God, in a Person, to enable, empower and accomplish
the work of the Gospel of God – the work that God has purposed from the “foundation
of the world” – the reconciliation of the world to God, through the shed blood
of Jesus Christ, presented in heaven for the atonement of the sins of the
world, and Jesus sat down at the right hand of power and glory, and together
with the Father, sent His Spirit into the Church to give us the power to GO.
Friends, we do NOT GO
in our own power or our own authority to do the work of the Kingdom and to
spread the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is still the work of the Trinity!
The next two Sundays will highlight that fact – we will celebrate the coming of the Spirit next Sunday on Pentecost and the persons of the Trinity on the Sunday after Pentecost. As we go, we go in the Name of and in the authority of the whole Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus was clear in His commissioning of us. And throughout the whole of scripture we see the whole action of the whole Trinity involved - sometimes its difficult to distinguish a differentiated personhood because they are SO ONE – they are the model, in fact, of the prayer that Jesus prayed for the Church in our gospel today.
Listen again to the
first part of our Gospel, from The Message:
Jn 17: 20-23 I’m
praying not only for them But
also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them In the same way you’ve loved me.
Friends,
our unity – our oneness in Jesus Christ – is not optional equipment, no more
than the Holy Spirit himself is optional equipment. As I said last week, a prof of mine at ORU,
said one time, “Having the Holy Spirit in your life is not like the choice of a
deluxe or standard interior in your car … it’s the choice of whether or not you
want the car to have an engine!”Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them In the same way you’ve loved me.
In the same way, the
choice of our oneness – the choice of unity with one another is not the choice
of our outward trim and appearance packages, it’s the drive train and the
wheels – Friends, it where the “rubber hits the road.” It is through our unity, a visible and
visceral unity – a tough unity that pushes through our differences and
irritations with one another, that takes Jesus seriously when He says to us “Love One Another in the same way I have
loved you.” It takes the injunction
to be in right relationship – to be “at peace with all men, as far as it
depends on us,” – it takes it all seriously.
A breach in our
ONENESS is a breach in our OBEDIENCE – it is a breach in our defenses as the
Church.
The picture of unity
in Paul is the Roman Phalanx - a
side-by-side armored column or line advancing in the same direction. In Paul’s treatise on spiritual warfare in
Ephesians 6 there is no armor for the back side – if enemy forces penetrate the
forward movement of the line, then the line collapses and moves to a
back-to-back formation that is covered on all sides and able to defend from all
side.
Jesus told us, in
regard to our personal relationships, that the moment we had or know of
anything coming “in-between” us as believer that making that right – making peace
or restoring peace, is the first order of business, even before worship.
This is the reason
that the peace is where it is in our service – after the confession and before
the communion – giving us opportunity to respond to the conviction of the HOLY
SPIRIT in our lives, when something is wrong between us as believer, to go and
make it right before we come to the Lord’s Table. Do you see the priority and necessity?
Anyone here ever had
a flat tire? What do you do with a flat
tire? Fix it / replace it. On the
spot!! And if you can’t do it you call
someone who can, right now. AAA. I’ve been a member for nearly 20
years!!! It’s that immediate… it’s that
necessary… for us to tend to the relationships in the Body of Christ. Why?
Listen to these
words:
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
Friends, it is our
witness that is at stake and if our witness, then the salvation of the
world! God doesn’t have a plan B! If you cannot come to Him and to Each Other
and to the World with Willingness – Availability – and Obedience, then we are
incomplete in our witness – incomplete in our unity – incomplete in our
worship.
I have to come back
again and again to those three ingredients for our life. David prayed, “Lord, uphold me with a willing
Spirit.”
Let’s stop for a
minute here and just do a “willingness check.” Ask God to search you, He knows you already,
and to reveal any places where you are unwilling to be his ambassador – to be
in relationship to Him or to His Body – any place that you have tried to hide
from Him.
Lord, I confess my
places of unwillingness … unwillingness
to be a servant as you were … unwillingness to give of my time, or my talent,
or my treasure to see Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven …
unwillingness to be reconciled to one who has hurt me or to go to someone I
have hurt to ask their forgiveness. Lord
I confess my pride and stubborn heart.
….
A little deeper we go
to an “availability check.”
Lord, I relinquish my
“lordship” over my time and schedule. Most
of us don’t have complete control of our own schedule, but within our
boundaries we always have some ability to choose. Lord help us to choose You and to choose your
way each day. Show us ways and times to
focus on you as we go through the paces and places of each day – as we meet
with people, co-workers, business associates or those who serve us in the
marketplace. Help us to be available to
You first, Lord and then to the needs of those we meet day-to-day.
….
And finally, an “obedience
check.”
Lord, I acknowledge
You as Lord! I bow my knee and I
confess with my mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” (say it if you mean it)…
Lord means you own my
life, my days, my nights, my waking, my sleeping, my working, my playing – you own
it all, LORD. Help me to live my life
FOR YOU … in Your service and employment above all else. Open my eyes to see the power you have given
me and my ears to hear your voice whispering as I go through my day.
And when I hear you, help
me to say, “YES LORD.”
YES LORD.
Amen.
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