God wants to do something new in your life!

Isaiah 43:18-19 says “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?

The Lord asks in this verse that, when we in faith accepts that he “will do a new thing” in our lives, our families and our churches, we would be ready to open ourselves to his new direction, his open door and his response to our needs and concerns.

Are we willing to, within the parameters of the personal relationship God wants to have with us, embrace his plan for us and our lives, our futures and our calling?

The Lord is saying, "I am going to do a new thing. Will you embrace it? Will you receive it into your life?"

May our hearts respond with joy and thanksgiving to our God who knows our need for him to do a “new thing” for us. May we all say wholeheartedly: “Yes, Lord. I want to be open to whatever you do. I want to be available to your time to do this for me. There is every reason for me to believe that you are preparing me for something new, even something significant.”

We are not to sit back and become spectators of God’s interventions and plans. No, as the Lord plants the “seed” of the “new thing” he is doing in our lives, we will be full partners of God in taking care of the seed he planted in our lives and in faith expects the seed to sprout.

We will be personally involved and asked to work with the Lord, within our relationship with him, to bring his new plan, his open door and his purpose for us, to fruition.

Jesus multiplying bread and fish: The abundance of God's reign!

Multiplication of bread and fish is a sign of the coming of the Kingdom.

A second narrative of Jesus multiplying bread and fish to feed 4000 men plus women and children, is found in Matthew 15: 29 – 39.  The gospels often speak about bread against the background of Jesus calling himself the Bread of life!  The message is clear: we do not receive crumbs of his redemption. presence, love, forgiveness and power, but we  receive complete fellowship with him that indicates abundance.

But there also is another context that helps to identify the significance of Jesus’ actions involving abundant food. Firstly, we must remember that the world of the first-century Roman Empire was marked by significant inequalities concerning, amongst others, food access.

Many experienced food insecurity and struggled on a daily basis to acquire enough food and nutrition. The small group of ruling elites in the Roman Empire enjoyed an abundant variety of nutritious, excellent food, while the majority of the population lived below subsistence level with inadequate food resources.

The petition in the Lord’s Prayer that God will supply daily bread, reflects this situation (6:11).

The lack of food was one of the ways that the majority experienced the injustices of the oppressive empire. The abundance of the elite signified their abuse of power and influence and total lack of compassion for the poor.

The coming age of the Messianic Kingdom is in the Old Testament depicted in terms of abundant food and feasting for all. Ezekiel  said  “They shall be secure on their soil … when I break the bars of their yoke, and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them … I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land … ” (Ezekiel 34:27-29). This happens when God breaks the self-satisfying rule of oppressive governments and powers.

The scène in Matthew 15: 29 – 39 is set in a “wilderness place.” The setting reminds of the exodus and God’s feeding of the wilderness generation (Matthew 14:21).

Crowds joined Jesus in this deserted place.

Jesus’ response was first of all one of compassionate power expressed in healing. His compassion is then powerfully illustrated by feeding this multitude when the disciples produced 7 loaves and some fish.  Jesus took control and hosted the meal. He took the food, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the crowd gathered there.  

The blessing on that day in the wilderness is expressed in the words: “All ate and were filled.”

Remember Psalm 107:9 celebrating God’s actions of grace and love: “he satisfies the thirsty and the hungry he fills with good things.”

God intervened in this narrative to multiply the limited resources so that there is abundant food. Not only is the crowd of four thousand men plus women and children were fed, there were leftovers, “7 baskets full.” Jesus unequivocally demonstrated his lordship over food resources and that the abundance of his provision signifies that “the Kingdom of God has come near”.

Jesus hosted a life-giving feast representing, proclaiming and celebrating the gracious abundance of God.  And this is the message we should share with a lost, hungry and oppressed people living in an immoral and power hungry world!

Sermon Recordings in English and Afrikaans

Click on this link to download sermons in English:

http://www.centurionwest.co.za/sermons.htm

Kliek op hierdie link om preke in Afrikaans af te laai:

http://www.cpk.co.za/sermons_a.htm  

For women’s day, Sunday 9 August 2015!

The Bible tells amazing stories about strong women who played a central role in God’s encounters with his people!  Two of the many heroines of faith were the mother and grandmother of Timothy.

The little that the Bible tells us about these two ladies speaks volumes for their character. One verse, 2 Timothy 1:5 says:  “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that is also in you.”

Paul was telling Timothy that he saw great character in him and that he would become a pillar of strength in the church. Paul’s letters to the young minister often refer to the things Timothy had been taught, the things he had learned.

Timothy’s grandmother Lois and mother Eunice taught Timothy about the Bible, about God and about Jesus, as they seemed to be diligent students of God’s Word.

The stories of great women in the Bible are inspirational to women today.  Not only do they play a pivotal role in advancing the Kingdom of God (and often they are not recognized for it) but they also prepared many other heroes and heroines of the faith to fulfil their calling.

Mary, mother of Jesus, remained a lifelong support, disciple and friend of the Saviour.

Elizabeth was key to forming and preparing John the Baptist.

Hannah gave a powerful prophet, Samuel, to the temple to serve God fervently.

Lois and Eunice educated a zealous minister of the Word.

And today we know that without our strong mothers, sisters and women co-workers, the church would be too poor, even unable, to fulfil her mission and serve her Lord.

We salute you, our mothers and sisters!  We confess that through the history of the church you were not recognised as you should have been. We repent of this un-Christlike lack of gratitude and respect.

We honour you and urge you to continue to be as heroic as the women of God always have been in God’s encounters with his people!

Faith and Life: the same fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in us!

The Word of God praises the role of the mind as an essential part of doing what is right and our growing through sanctification. Our faith emphasises the truth that how we behave and what we think (believe) influence each other. What we think and believe and what we do, act on each other. 

When we alter the gospel, both our ways and views change.  When we stop seeking to do what is right and holy, our thinking and understanding of the gospel slithers too.  

Note Ephesians 4:17 – 20 on this relationship between not living according to the Word and futile thinking:   “So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn about Christ like this!”

The gospel is not something we learn in order to do right!

No, the gospel is, by the work of the Holy Spirit, the powerful word of God that achieves the authenticity of the salvation that the Spirit proclaims through our lives. Therefore the gospel is a lot more than “information” or even “salvation history”!

No, the gospel is what Christ did and lived, so that we too may live.  The gospel is the truth that re-creates us and through our teaching, re-creates the world.

This is why the Christian’s mind is important:  we act out of who we are. The Spirit who changed our minds about Christ, also changes our ways into an identity that lives for God and for my neighbour.

The right answer is neither legalism nor liberalism!

Christ can be taken out of the salvation equation either through blatant rebellion of the will and law of God or through the less visible confidence in your own wisdom. Paul speaks extensively about the latter and calls it “confidence in the flesh”.  Neither legalism nor liberalism offers answers!

But what is legalism? It is not the presence of God’s law in our daily walk with God and our desire for sanctification. No, it is an attempt to be acceptable before God by my own law-keeping and my attempts to live by my own effort to stay within boundaries I perceive to be “Christian”.  

The opposite of legalism is not “antinomianism”, meaning being against the law or being in denial of God’s law. God always remains God and his will for me and for all that he created always remains intact. The opposite of legalism is not lawlessness.

No, the opposite of legalism of any variety and often present in all the various Christian traditions, is the gospel.

It is the gospel that teaches imputed righteousness by grace and through faith in Christ alone.  The gospel is not a message of grace that adds protection of a Christian life that bears fruit, through an obsession with any law, whether it comes from human tradition or biblical tradition.  Such qualified grace puts us back under the burden of anti-evangelical self-justification.

Paul clearly says in Galatians 3:  26 – 29:  For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.  

Paul takes the Galatians to whom they were before their redemption in Christ: they were accursed because they were law-breakers as well as slaves of rules and laws at the same time.  But in Christ they became sons and daughters – even heirs -  and therefore own the full right of children who are in possession of their inheritance by the indwelling Spirit; even though its fullness and perfection is still to come on the Lord’s Day.  But in spite of our imperfection in this dispensation, we have already received the inheritance as God’s children, because Christ was born of a woman, born under law, in his perfect humanity, to redeem us from the curse of law-breaking and to make us heirs united with and in Christ Jesus.

How did it come about? Paul does not talk about what we are doing or have done, but proclaims what our Lord, in whom we trust, has done.

When we did not know God, we were enslaved by what is wrong, sinful and offends the very character of God. But when we became God’s children we have come to be known by God. How can you ever turn back to the weak, impure and worthless principles, customs and traditions of the world, whose slaves you never want to be again.  

Paul says in Galatians 4: 8 – 10:  Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.   But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable force? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?..... I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

We cannot trust ourselves to move from rebellion to salvation. Therefore we should not trust in ourselves to “remain saved” by keeping rules and boundaries in our own strength!

And in the same way that legalism tries to protect my salvation, in the same way liberalism tries to create and make acceptable a life without boundaries and disrespect and apathy for God’s perfect will and law.  As little as we can trust ourselves to protect our salvations through our own efforts to keep the law, just as futile is the notion to create your salvation by making your own rules and law that suits your era and suits a society that exists as God’s very enemy!

Paul taught that our spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being, both personally and as a community of believers are at stake.  Trying to be the keeper of our own salvation, or the creators of our own salvation, always results in the absence of joy and a life burdened with futility.  

And our witness to the only true gospel of salvation by the radical grace of the imputed righteousness of Christ in our place and for our salvation, is at stake.  Both legalism and liberalism offer no gospel that is worth proclaiming to a world unable to save itself.

As messengers of the gospel we can proclaim nothing but Christ, grace, faith, the Word and the glory it gives to God which is the only, final, radical and complete source of our salvation

Nothing can ever be more relevant for the ministry of both individual believers and the church, than free justification by faith in Christ, the only Righteous One.

The answer to both the sins of the flesh (the result of legalism) and to the sin of confidence in the flesh (the result of liberalism) is the same:

The imputed righteousness in and through Christ Jesus, our Lord!

God’s way to confirm his love: Word, Baptism and Holy Communion!

Last Sunday we rejoiced in the baptism of two infants.

This Sunday, 12 July 2015, we share in the Lord’s Supper and in faith we expect to have holy communion with our living Lord.  We are privileged to hear these “two words of Christ”, two Sundays in a row.  For those who listen to the assurances given in the Name of God, it remains a rare, encouraging growth experience!

The same Word of God that addresses us verbally through reading the Bible and through preaching and the personal witness of our fellow believers also comes to us visibly and clearly through the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Both sacraments are much more than symbols of the Word and never just visual aids to understand the Word better. They are visible, material forms of the Word of God itself. In the most personal way they apply, confirm and seal the promises of the gospel to the individual Christian. In both Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the Lord comes to speak to each of us by name, to both comfort and challenge us personally to receive his Word and he promises and renews his covenant of grace with us individually to redeem and sustain us as his children.

To all who are keen to receive the holy Sacraments with open hearts and minds, Christ speaks personally and with saving grace, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

As the Holy Spirit awakens faith by means of preaching and personal witness to Christ, so by means of the Sacraments the same Spirit confirms our faith and binds us to Christ. They create a faith relationship with our Lord and establish the the assurance of our faith and our experience that we are God’s children.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper convey and effect God’s promises of love, forgiveness and restoration within his family of believers  to all who in faith accept these divine assurances when we through our participation continuously experience the grace and the love of God.

Through remembrance the Lord every time “recreates” the moment that faith entered our lives!  As we at the Lord’s table remember what Jesus did for us at the cross, we see his love and come in awe to rejoice in the open grave.  

We are renewed by his resurrection power and his light shines in the realities of our daily lives. We are encouraged to continue to fully live for our Lord till the end and at the end!

Unite in prayer, for worldwide peace.

Christ calls us to come to rest in his divine love,
to rest from the things that are troubling us,
to learn what Christ teaches of life and life's challenges,
to commit to what we can offer others,
and go to the ends of the world to serve the love of the Lord for the sake of a lost world, bleeding and in pain!
May all Christians, all denominations, all followers of Jesus Christ unite in prayer for worldwide peace!

Shall we not unite in prayer for the world to find true peace, justice and love in Christ Jesus?
Christians across the globe, petition our Lord to intervene and make us instruments of his peace and grace!

Imagine the impact when every church that believes in the living Lord, begin to pray!
When the Body of Christ becomes the incarnate word, love and mercy of Christ, amongst others using the internet and the powerful social media, to claim the great shalom that the one and only God shares with his people, when we humble ourselves before him, and in faith avail ourselves as peacemakers. Then  we will be blessed and called children of God (Matt. 5:9).

Is this not the Church that Jesus desires – united in love, and as such drawing a lost world to the Truth, the Way and the Life, Jesus Christ, our Lord?

Pray for a human race at war with itself!

Pray for the world. 

For victims of war and radical extremism amongst all faith groupings.

For victims of prejudice, hate speech, abhorrence and persecution!

For victims of sexism, racism and ethnic supremacy anywhere and everywhere.

Pray for peace, for rest, for the love of God to cover and heal the wounds and to restore joy because -
God is love!

Pray for wise leaders in political, economical and faith communities.

That the Spirit of the Lord will guide our leaders, protect our children and summon those who have influence and power to make peace and bring harmony to a torn and broken humanity.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will pour out the Saviour’s love on all God’s children!
Today, and in church on Sundays, and at our small group meetings and hours of prayer - lets unite in prayer for worldwide peace and dignity for every human being.

Unite in prayer, for worldwide peace.

Be blessed that the world may call us true children of God

and will return to the God of love!

Shalom!

Awestruck by the power and love of God!

Acts 2:43:  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

God was at work in the first Church in Jerusalem.   The Lord saved them by grace, through faith, and one of the outcomes was that they were filled with awe.

One of the ways awe can be explained is that it means that you are filled with respectful fear in the presence of the almighty God.  And we need a deep sense of the awesomeness of God. We need to become awestruck by the holy power and love of our God.

This occurs where believers actually see God working amongst them in power and glory. The first Christians experienced the power of God, because they expected in faith to see the might of the resurrected and ascended Christ amongst them.  The core message they preached was after all:  The Lord has risen indeed!

The first Church would not allow anything to distract them from their calling to share Jesus with their community, their city and all who came to listen to the gospel.

We will see God’s miraculous work when we share Jesus with zeal and passion with everyone. When we invite the community to church. But not for self serving reasons, but because we are focused on what is in the heart of God – to see people delivered from darkness of being lost.   The only outreach that makes a permanent difference, is the one started in the heart of God!

Do you want to see God excited about your church, your ministry and your walk with him, then share the good news about his beloved Son with others. Imagine the heavenly powers and the might of the ascended Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit focusing, zooming in and enabling the ministry to which you were called!

That was what happened in the first Church in Jerusalem.

And one of the reasons why they were God’s priority, was that they were filled with awe as they selflessly and reverently served our Lord with holy fear and love.

May the Church of Christ be awestruck with the power and love of God!

May our Lord, Jesus Christ, reveal his awesome, miraculous power as you share Jesus with everyone!

Sermon Recording Numbers 6: 24 - 27 Preekopname!

You can download the recorded sermon preached on 21 June at CPC on the incredible benediction found in Numbers 6: 24 - 27, from our website, in Mp3 format, at the following link:   http://www.centurionwest.co.za/sermons.htm 

"The LORD bless you and keep you!" 

’n Preek op 21 Junie by die CPK in Afrikaans, oor die onvergeetlike hoëpriesterlike seën in Numeri 6: 24 - 27,  kan in Mp3 formaat afgelaai word by die volgende link op ons webwerf:  http://www.cpk.co.za/sermons_a.htm 

"Die HERE sal jou seën en jou beskerm!"

The dangers of being ungrateful.

Paul and Barnabas were preaching the Good News of Christ in the city of Lystra. In their audience was "a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked" (Acts 14: 8). Paul was used by our Lord to heal this man.

The crowds were excited and surprised by this miracle. They proclaimed Paul and Barnabas to be the Greek gods Hermes and Zeus – for who but the gods could do such a wondrous thing as heal a man lame since birth, they thought!

How many times do we, like the people of Lystra, thank the wrong person? We do that every time we give any human, including ourselves, credit instead of thanking God for his blessings.

Paul then states that the healing of the lame man points to the only living God. He tells the crowd that the healing of the lame man is only one testimony among many to the one and only true God.  The healing of the lame man, just as the making of the vast Creation (Acts 14:15) – as well as the revelation of Jesus Christ, point to God only. When the people of Lystra heard the Gospel and saw the healing of the lame man and saw God’s works in the vast Creation, they should have "turned to the living God" with gratefulness and in faith. (vs 15 - 18).  So often we give credit to humans, ministers, leaders, those who make the news, when we should be om our knees before God in humble gratitude!

We never have to fear that God will forget to provide in the smallest detail of our lives. What we must fear is that human pride and worldly thinking might get in God’s way.

More importantly, what we must fear is that we do not give ourselves back to God in gratefulness and love, because we fail to see his mercies and wonders.

Why do we celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

Firstly, because God will in his divine grace and mercy receive all who repent of their sins, to share in the Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ. And even when we realise that we are still weak and find it hard to live according to God’s law, we accept in faith founded on the Holy Scriptures, that our human nature cannot prevent us to receive the food that Jesus, our Host at the table, wishes to share with us.

Secondly, because we expect to be reminded by the Holy Spirit of everything Jesus did for us to save us and make us his own. The Holy Spirit speaks God’s Word to us through bread and wine that remind us that Jesus was not only innocently condemned to death and let his body be nailed to the cross, to cancel the debt we have because of our sins, but also was victoriously risen from the grave to raise us up to a new life of love for our God and for our neighbour. We are reminded that Jesus was forsaken by God, that we may be accepted by the Father and never be forsaken by our Lord and his Spirit.

Thirdly, we celebrate the holy Supper to have fellowship, with our Lord at his table. Jesus invites us to feast with him to assure us of his love and salvation. He directs our faith to his perfect and complete sacrifice on our behalf.  By the Holy Spirit, who dwells in Christ as our Head and in us as his members, we have holy communion with him and share in all his gifts, his eternal life and his glory.

Fourthly, we come to his table expecting that the Spirit unites us as brothers and sisters in true Christian love as members of the one Body of Christ. We come to love one another at the holy table and show this love not just in words but also in deeds.

Finally, we come because we expect to receive a foretaste of the amazing joy Jesus promised to his own, that we one day will share at the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. Then we will drink God’s new wine in the Kingdom of God our Father.

We celebrate our Lord’s Supper because there we are nourished and refreshed in our inner-being by the living Christ, as certainly as we receive the bread and wine in remembrance of him.

A Creed for Trinity Sunday

A liturgical Creed for Trinity Sunday  (31 May 2015)

I believe in the one and only almighty God:

the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

I believe in God the Father,

Creator and Sustainer of all things;

And in God the Son,

Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord,

who suffered and died for our sins,

rose from the dead,

and is exalted in heaven

for the sake of our eternal victory;

And in God, the Holy Spirit,

who assembles the Church,

makes us one body in Christ,

convicts us of both sin and forgiveness,

and works eternal life in us.     AMEN.

Pentecost Sunday - 24 May 2015

On Pentecost Sunday celebrate:

1. The power of the indwelling Spirit
2. The Church is central to God’s Work in this world, through the power of the indwelling Spirit
3. The multicultural character and mission of the Church is demonstrated on Pentecost
4. The missional ministry of the Church is guaranteed on Pentecost.

Celebrate Jesus through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit!

Pentecost is testimony of the multicultural character of the Church of God.

On the first Pentecost Sunday the Holy Spirit empowered the first disciples to speak of the wonders of the Gospel, and particularly of the resurrected Messiah, in many languages. These languages they did not learn in the way we do. It was a miracle that they could (Act 2: 5 – 13) and this wonder was given to the Church that there never will be any doubt in anyone’s mind that the Church, an instrument in God’s hand, in its purest form is multicultural. This implies that it is linguistically, culturally and racially inclusive.

As we celebrate Pentecost Sunday on 24 May 2015, we have to make a difference in God’s work, by amongst other things, being a community that draws all people that share the grace experience of the salvation of God in Jesus Christ. This shared experience of redemption constitutes a community where no other qualification than being saved by grace ,through faith in the risen Lord, can ever be so important that it divides God’s people.

Love that comes about as a gift of the Spirit amongst those who share the grace experience, is described in 1 Cor 13: 4 – 8: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

All people, from various cultures are drawn together by God’s love in Christ. Paul writes in Galatians 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

There are, by the mercy of God, exceptions, but the Church has in general not done particularly well in living out its multicultural mission in the world. Looking at the general church experience around us we do see that to be divided according to language, race, and ethnicity seem to have become an unquestioned norm to many. But we need to prayerfully protect our multicultural testimony of the unity of the Church of Christ, as demonstrated at Pentecost. It remains God’s standard, even in racialist societies that often breed unkind, loveless exclusivity!  It is the church that Jesus prayed for! (John 17).

Pentecost matters as it challenges all of us to continuously examine our own attitudes, to reject and repent of any prejudice that prowls within us, and to continue to open our hearts to all people, even when they do not share our language and culture.

Pentecost demonstrates that multiculturalism in the Church is something that the Spirit of God will help us to make work, if we are available to him.

Today is Ascension Day. It means our Jesus can!

The same Jesus who rose from the dead to ascend to heaven as King and Lord of all, worked as a carpenter and provided for his mother and siblings, ministered to many from town to town and was willing to give his life and become our Passover Lamb.   He, who shared our daily experiences on earth as well as our sufferings and death, assures us of his help and understanding, whatever difficulty may challenge us.

His Ascension to the right hand of God where he received all power and authority in heaven and on earth, assures us that he can help us, and that nothing is impossible with him, seated in heaven with all authority, yet so near to us, always being part of our lives through the Spirit.

Jesus can.  Only Jesus can!!

Have you seen people with faith in the ascended all-powerful Lord tackle their problems? They know that God loves them.   They act in faith. Faith keeps them going and gives them hope. They know that the almighty Christ leads them through life and even through the valley of the shadow of death.

Have you seen people without faith tackle their difficulties?    At best they are without joy or hope, and at worst they are despondent and desperate. “What will be, will be” may rationalise their dilemmas, but it does not heal their wounds or inspire meaning and strength! 

Today we celebrate the ascension of Christ, his enthronement in heaven as King and Lord of all.  Our heavenly King is the same Jesus who ministered, died and has risen.    It is he, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Son of God, who takes care of us, every day!

Our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Our help comes from the Lord who came to us as a man, a Saviour and the Redeemer! He will never forsake us! And he has all power in heaven and earth.

All hail ascended King!

The meaning and message of Ascension Day.

The Ascension of Jesus Christ is the Christian teaching in the New Testament about the event when Christ was taken up to heaven in his resurrected body, in the presence of eleven of his disciples. It happened 40 days after his resurrection. Jesus ascended to his Father and to the throne of the Father, where he is at God’s right hand and reigns over his Church and has dominion over everything, both visible and invisible.

We believe that his second coming will take place in the same way – he will one day again descend in bodily form.

Ascension Day is therefore celebrated on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter Sunday. (On 14 May in 2015.) This celebration was first observed in the second half of the 4th century. It is still observed by followers of Jesus Christ for longer than 1 600 years.

But, what do we believe is the meaning and message of this day?

1. What does “He ascended into heaven” means?

That Christ, in the sight of his disciples, in his human nature and resurrected body, was taken from the earth to heaven, and is still there today in a position of divine authority and power, until he shall come again to judge the living and the dead.

2. Is Christ then not with us as he has promised?

Christ is true man and true God. According to his human nature he is now not on earth but in heaven, but as our God, Saviour and King he is always with us.

3. What benefits do we have because Jesus Christ ascended into heaven?

Firstly: He is our Advocate in the presence of his Father in heaven, always praying for us.

Secondly: Because he is in heaven as a human being, we know that he as our Head will also take us, his human followers, there.

Thirdly: He sends his Spirit to us, by whose power we seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, and not the things on the earth. The glorious Christ, enthroned in heaven, pours heavenly gifts on us, defending us against all our enemies and protecting us from evil.

(See Heidelberg Catechism)

The Ascension of Christ proclaims his authority over all.

Ascension Day, this year celebrated on 14 May,  proclaims Christ’s glorious triumph and his complete future dominion over all.  It insists that we live as people who follow the Son of God, the eternal Messiah, and serve him only, in everything we do.

It reminds us that we confess (in the words of the Declaration of the Faith for the Church in Southern Africa of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa) -  

that:

We believe in Jesus Christ the Son,

who became human and lived

and died and rose in triumph

to reconcile both the individual and the world to God,

to break down every separating barrier

of race, culture or class,

and to unite all God's people into one body.

He is exalted as Lord over all,

the only Lord over every area of life.

He summons both the individual and society,

both the Church and the State,

to seek justice and freedom for all

and reconciliation and unity between all.

And in the Holy Spirit,

the pledge of God's coming reign,

who gives the Church power

to proclaim the good news to all the world,

to love and serve all people,

to strive for justice and peace,

to warn both the individual and the nation of God's judgement

and to summon them both to repent

and trust and obey Jesus Christ as

the King who will come in glory.

I will put my trust in the living God!

According to Paul in Rom 4: 17 our God is “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not, as though they were.”

I believe in God the Father, almighty Creator of heaven and earth. Everything good that we see and experience, he called out of nothing and they are witnesses of his glorious power and love. He sustains his creation and keeps all of us through his love.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord!
God gave Jesus life and victory and our Lord has all authority in heaven and earth.

I believe in the Holy Spirit who teaches me how great my God is and that the salvation through the Son makes me a child of God.

Therefore I will not be troubled.  I will trust in in the living God. And I will trust in Jesus Christ my Saviour, my King and my Lord.
Because he is alive, I will live through him. And because I love Jesus, God will love me too!

Resurrection is both good, and terrifying news!

Resurrections are great news because they happen so rarely. But because it is so unexpected, the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest and most significant event in the history of mankind.

The Bible records only a mere 10 separate resurrection miracles. It is something rare, something unusual, something marvelous, something exciting and something wonderful.

The resurrection of Jesus was entirely unexpected. It was also entirely different from the other 10 resurrections, because later on all the others died again, but Jesus lives forever. His ascension to heaven testifies that he lives at the Father’s right hand and rules and reigns over everything and that he is the Head of the Church, forever.

The resurrection is great news, because death no longer rules and loss is no longer irreversible.  The sting of death was removed. Death was reversed.  Jesus was crucified. But now "He has risen!" Disciples who were scattered and confused and without hope because of the crucifixion, became enthused and excited about Messiah Jesus again.

But the resurrection is not only good news.  It is also terrifying news.

When our culture thinks of Easter it thinks of Easter candy, bunnies and colorful eggs. Easter is for many a time for new clothes and holidays and celebrations.

But when we think of the resurrection of Jesus we should be filled with a sense of awe, fear, terror, astonishment, amazement, and reverence. We know we are in the presence of an unexpected event that removes death's sting and takes away death's loss.

So what is so terrifying about the resurrection? Someone said that the only two certain things in life are death and taxes. But now death does not look so certain anymore.  Jesus rose from death and promised us that we too will be raised.

So, to be true to the Gospel means that after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the church has to speak out with a frightening message and a terrifying call: Your life does not end in death! You now have to consider the eternal consequences and purposes of your life.  

The resurrection story ends only on the day of our own resurrection! The resurrection story will only end when those who died with Christ at the cross are raised to a new life with him and in him.  It ends when we put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature and instead put on the new self of love, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  

The story of the resurrection of Christ is completed in the lives of those who know that the resurrection is more than rare and unexpected:

It removes death's sting and takes away death's loss.

And it urgently calls us to be ready to live the resurrection life of Jesus, here and now, and for all eternity!