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The Highest Place that Heaven Affords is His Text:
Luke 24:44-53 The Writer of the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament speaks of the humiliation and exaltation, the ministry, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus when he writes: “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” [Hebrews 2:9-10 (ESV)].
On the basis of these words the 19 th -century hymn writer Thomas Kelly penned the words of the hymn:
The Head that once was crowned with thorns Is crowned with glory now; A royal diadem adorns The mighty Victor's brow.
The highest place that heav'n affords Is His, is His by right, The King of kings and Lord of lords, And heav'n's eternal Light.
For forty days after his resurrection from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples showing that he was indeed alive and preparing them to be this living institution and fellowship he called his “church.” The time was coming and now is that they would no longer occasionally gaze upon his crucified and now glorified physical body. Now they themselves would be his body in the world. As he said that he was in the Father and the Father was in him and whoever has seen him as seen the Father, so now, whoever would see Jesus must see him in his body, the church, because this is where and how he has promised to locate himself to dispense forgiveness and life to all whom he draws to himself. Though we await ten more days the Day of Pentecost, as did the first disciples, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, tonight could truly be said to be the “birthday” of the Church, for beginning today Jesus will no longer make physical appearances, but dwell in and with his church, as he promised, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
In 1 Corinthians 12 St. Paul uses the analogy of the human body to describe the unity and interdependence of each member of the church, saying, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” [1 Cor. 12:27 (ESV)]. Our text tells how a person is made a member of his body.
It begins and ends with the mighty Word. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Do you know these words? These words of scripture have been around for hundreds and thousands of years. Through those years many heard and believed in God's promise of salvation by means of the coming Messiah or Christ. Yet many did not understand or believe. It's the same today. Many are they who deny God's Way of salvation primarily because they have never read or heard the scriptures. How many are they who call themselves “Jews,” having that very Word or Torah for their own possession, and yet do not see or understand the promises therein? Even more distressing are those who call themselves “Christians,” who have the full revelation including the New Testament scriptures but whose understanding has been darkened by the various philosophies and myths of the world so that they deny even the resurrection of Jesus Christ? And how many of us who have and hear the pure teaching of scripture from Sunday to Sunday have grown dull in our hearing, maybe lusting after those so-called “churches” that seem to be so popular, famous and successful but whose popularity and so-called success is founded not upon the pure preaching and doctrine of the scriptures but upon the manipulation of human emotions or desires?
In his recently published book Pastor Klemet Preus talks about what he calls “The Fire and the Staff.” The fire is the pure doctrine of the gospel. The staff is the faithful practice, that is, the liturgy and teaching and life of the church that issues from the fire of pure doctrine. He shows that without the fire, without the right and pure doctrine, the worship and life of the church veers off into other directions. And without the faithful worship and life of the church, the fire of pure doctrine is watered down and quenched, snuffed out. The two go together, doctrine and practice. We suffer spiritual tragedy whenever we begin to think that either the Word of the scriptures or the worship and life of the Church are merely human innovations and playthings subject to our whims and personal preferences and not to the Word of God.
That's why St. Luke continues, saying, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Without God's own operation of “opening our minds to understand,” the scriptures remain a dark and confusing book. Think of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts chapter 8, when St. Philip found him reading Isaiah the prophet. Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And the man responded honestly, “How can I [understand], unless someone guides me?” He asked who Isaiah was talking about. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” It's all about Jesus, you see. The man's mind was opened, enlightened! And then it is most interesting that Philip did not, then, just give him some more literature to read or invite him to pray the so-called believer's prayer, but, “as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?'” Philip baptized him there on the spot. No baptismal certificates, no sponsors, nothing but the catechesis or teaching of the Scriptures and the heart-felt desire for what God commands and promises, namely, that through Holy Baptism one is thereby connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and given the forgiveness of sins, new, eternal life and salvation (Acts 8:30-38).
From the beginning, pure doctrine and faithful practice go together, hand-in-hand. The heart and center of pure doctrine is the cross and the empty tomb of Christ. “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” namely that, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” This is the heart and center, the main and constant theme of all gospel preaching. The issue is the establishment and maintenance of a person's relationship with God through a life of repentance and forgiveness of sins. It is what we call the doctrine of the justification of the sinner by God's grace through faith in Christ. When everything else that goes on in the church has that as it's main theme and reason for being, then everything is put in its proper perspective. When, however, anything else that goes on in the church becomes disconnected from the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness for the sake of Christ's suffering and resurrection, either things fall apart or they have to find some other reason for being.
How many people “shop” for a “church” by means of looking for “programs”—be it Sunday school (which, by the way, is not a Lutheran invention!) or a youth group or group programs for ladies or men, singles or married, or “entertaining” music or displays? How many people judge the pastor based upon his seemingly pleasant and friendly and winsome personality rather than on his faithful preaching of the Word?
“Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” My friends, the important thing, and sometimes the only thing is the Word, the Word, the Word! Look at your catechism. It's all about the Word when you learn the Lord's Prayer. It's all about the Word when you learn about the sacraments. “As it is written” is the constant refrain. But then this Word is to issue forth in lives of righteousness and purity, in worship and witness. As a person's coming to faith begins as a purely passive thing, God himself working the gift of faith in the heart, so do true worship and witness begin as a primarily passive thing—God coming and distributing his gifts, forgiving sins and strengthening faith through his Word and Sacraments, and that new nature he creates showing forth as a testimony of his grace and glory. Oh, surely, Christians are actively involved, not, however, in anything we give to God, but in responding to God's gifts with praise and prayer and to the neighbor's needs in godly love.
As those who have heard, whose minds have been enlightened by faith, our Lord reminds us, “you are witnesses of these things.” He has sent the promise of his Father upon us and clothed us with power from on high. He has blessed us. We therefore worship him with great joy and give ourselves as witnesses of his glory to the world. Because of his mighty work of salvation, “The highest place that heav'n affords is his.” And because he has saved us with his blood, he gives you “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.” “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” [Ephesians 1:17-19, 22-23 (ESV)]. Let us, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and the whole Church throughout all time and every place give all praise to Christ our Lord. ____________________
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