Church Sermon - May 16, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Historical Lesson; Acts 1:1-11
Gospel Lesson; Luke 24:44-53
Sermon Text; Ephesians 1:16-23

If your right arm is your strongest arm, raise your hand for a second.

If your left arm is your strongest arm, can you raise your hand, for just a second?

Ok, a lot more right arms went up. Why is that? It is because most of us are right handed, and because of that our right arm is our stronger arm.

We confess every Sunday that we believe Jesus "is seated at the right hand of the Father". What does that mean? In the Old Testament, in the Book of Psalms, many times when the Bible talks about God’s strength, it talks about the right arm of God. The right arm of God is a picture of the strength and power of God. And so, when we say that Jesus "is seated at the right hand of the Father", we are not saying that He is sitting in a throne somewhere, next to His Father in Heaven, and that He is at the right hand of His Father in Heaven. But, in today’s scripture reading the Bible describes the right hand of God as a position of power, and authority. It says that God "seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come."

When we say Jesus "is seated at the right hand of the Father", we mean that He has a position of absolute power and authority over all things, in all ways. So, He is seated at the right hand of God.

And then the Bible says that God has placed His enemies as His footstool. Now, what do you do with a footstool? You put your feet on a footstool and the footstool serves you. Imagine if one of my enemies were up here, on his hands and knees. Do you think he would want to be up here, with my feet on top of him? Do you think that he would willingly be there, with my feet on top of him? He wouldn’t be. And yet scripture says that Jesus sits at the right hand of God and that His enemies are His footstools. Which means that Jesus’ enemies, serve Him, unwillingly, unknowingly, but they serve Him. They are His footstools.

When did this all happen? We believe that when Jesus ascended into Heaven that was what we call the moment of His coronation. Here on earth, He redeemed us. He purchased us from sin, by dying on the cross.

Does that mean now that Jesus has ascended into Heaven, He is not working for His Church anymore? Absolutely not! Jesus continues to work for His Church, but now He does it in a position of power and authority. Not only to His divine nature, but now also His human nature shares all power and authority that has been given to Him.

We know that Jesus is not just in some local spot in Heaven. The Bible says that He ascended in order to fulfill all things.

Jesus is now

present everywhere,

ruling over

all things,

as Lord and Master over

all things.

The Bible tells us that His enemies are His footstools. In His power, even though His enemies don’t know it, they don’t realize it, and they don’t want it to happen, His enemies serve Christ in a very particular way. Our scripture reading says Jesus is "head over everything". He rules over everything, for His Church. Everything serves the Church of Christ; even the enemies of God serve the Church of Christ. They serve believers. They are Christ’s footstools, whether they recognize it or not.

Let me give you some examples from history. Think about what the enemies of Christ did to Jesus. The enemies of Christ took whips and whipped Jesus. They nailed Him to a cross. They spit upon Him. They mocked Him. They had no intention of serving Christ, or serving His Church. They had every intention of getting rid of Christ, getting rid of His believers, and getting rid of His followers. And yet the very act that they performed, what did it do? It is the very thing that enabled our Savior to die to redeem us, to pay for our sins, and win for Himself a people who believe in Him and trust in Him! And so, although the enemies of Christ intended to hurt Him, and harm and destroy His believers, they instead became His footstool and they served His purpose. They brought about the events that brought the redemption of our souls! They unknowingly and unwillingly served Christ! And, they served His believers!

Very shortly after Jesus ascended into Heaven, what happened? The Bible tells us that a great persecution broke out in Jerusalem, where the believers were. The believers were sometimes killed, sometimes arrested, sometimes taunted, sometimes tortured. The enemies of Christ had every intention of destroying Christ, His Church, His people, and His believers.

But what happened? The Bible tells us that because the believers were persecuted in Jerusalem, you know what they did? They fled. They fled all over the world. They fled all over the known world. The Bible tells us that wherever they went, wherever they went, they spread the message of Jesus! And the Word of the Lord grew!

And so, here the enemies of Christ intended to put a stop to the spread of the Word of God, but they were serving as Christ’s footstool. He undid their purposes. The very events that they brought about caused the opposite of what they wanted. They caused the Church of Christ to grow and spread.

head over all things.

rule over all things,

for the good of His Church.

Even the enemies of Christ will serve Christ and His Church, though they do not want to.

Next we go to the 1500s. Did you know that in the 1500s Germany almost became a Moslem country? It came very close to becoming a Moslem country. The Turks (or the Moslems) were on the doorstep of Germany. They were about to invade Germany. Their intention was to destroy Christianity, and force the people of Germany to become Moslems. They were that close.

The ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, (which included also Germany), had a problem in Germany. The problem was Martin Luther and Martin Luther’s followers. He didn’t like what Luther was teaching. He did not like the fact that Luther was teaching we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. He did not like the fact that there were people who starting to believe that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And, this teaching was spreading and growing.

Charles V would have crushed Martin Luther, he would have crushed Martin Luther’s followers, and he would have started, in essence, a civil war in Germany to destroy Luther, to destroy the Gospel, but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it, because he knew that if he started a civil war in Germany, the Germans would not be able to fight off the Moslems. And so instead of destroying Luther, destroying the Lutherans, and destroying the Gospel, Charles V actually granted them protection, so they could join in the fight against the Moslems.

Now, the Moslems had every intention of destroying Christ and the Gospel. But the very fact that they were there, the very fact that they were there, Jesus was using them, as His footstool, so that the Gospel would be protected and preserved in Germany! And, the saving Gospel message continued to grow.

Scripture is true, when it says that Jesus is at the right hand of God. He is in power, ruling over all things, even His enemies, though they do not know it, are unaware of it, and do not understand that they are serving the purpose of Christ and extending the growth of His Church.

Here in the United States, in the 1800s, Christ even ruled over sickness. Jesus is Lord over all things. There was a young man who emigrated from Germany. He was a strong, young man, who had the world ahead of him, but when he got here, to the United States, he got sick. He got very sick and was sick for a very long time. He couldn’t go out and do what he wanted to do. He had to stay inside all of the time. There wasn’t TV back in those days and all he could do was read. And, the only person in his town who had any books to read was the pastor.

So he started reading the pastor’s books.

And that man, by the name of C.F.W. Walter, because of that event, because he got sick, ended up being one the greatest Lutheran theologians of all times!

Now, the devil wants to hurt us with sickness, but you see how Jesus is Lord over all things. And all things, even His enemies, serve as His footstools. That sickness, instead of hurting or harming the Church, ultimately caused the strengthening of the Church.

Jesus, our ascended Lord, sits at the right hand of God. His enemies are His footstools. In our scripture reading for today it says,

"God has placed all things under His feet."

Does that mean you and I are under Christ’s feet? Does that mean that we serve Him unknowingly and unwillingly? No. There are some people who serve Christ unknowingly and unwillingly and those are His enemies, the unbelievers. But His believers are not under His feet.

The scripture reading goes on and says,

"God placed all things under His feet

and appointed Him to be head over everything

for the Church,

which is His body."

You and I are the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ! If everything is under Christ’s body, then everything is under us! Everything, though it wants to or not, is going to serve our good, as Christ’s body, as Christ’s people.

Martin Luther goes so far as to say; We are Lord’s over everything, just as Christ is Lord over everything, because we are part of Christ’s body. Even our enemies will serve us.

Let me give you some examples. Sin is a terrible enemy and the devil is a terrible enemy that you and I have. Sin and the devil come after us. They point their finger at us and they trouble us. They say, "Oh. You have sinned. You have done wrong. You have gone against your Savior, Jesus. The scripture says, ‘The soul that sins, it shall die.’ You should be condemned. You have not done God’s Will. You sin day, after day, after day, although you call yourself a Christian. You don’t deserve to be in Heaven."

Sin and the devil are our enemies and they strive to frighten us, drive us away from Christ, and drive us into despair.

But what can we say, as Christ’s people, as part of Christ’s body? We can say to sin and the devil, "Our ascended Lord, rose from the dead in power over sin and in power over the devil. Our ascended Lord is in Heaven, right now. The Bible says that He is pleading our case before the Father in Heaven. He is pleading with the Father that the Father forgives my sins. And, God the Father listens to His Son. He says, ‘This is my Son. With Him, I am well pleased.’ For the sake of Jesus Christ, my sins are forgiven. God will not, cannot, and does not hold them against me. Now sin and the devil, instead of driving me away from Christ, you only cause me to want to cling my Savior more, and more, cling to His promises, and His forgiveness more, and more. So, though you try to drive me away from Christ, you only drive me to my Savior! You only serve as a footstool to Christ!"

All things are under our feet. Death tries to frighten us. Death appears to be an enemy. Death says, "One day you shall die. One day the end shall come for you. One day you will say good-bye to your friends, your family and all that you have. All will come to an end."

Death appears to be an enemy. But we are part of Christ’s body. All things are under Christ’s feet. All things serve Christ and His Church. And death serves us, whether it wants to or not. We can say to death, "Death, our ascended Lord has victory, power, and might over you. He has proclaimed that even though we have died, we shall live. We can say with Christ, ‘Oh death where is your sting? Oh, grave where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory.’"

In fact, death only serves God’s people. The Bible says,

"Blessed in the eyes of the Lord

is the death of His Saints."

Now, for us, death is not the end. Death is the beginning! Death is the beginning of the glorious inheritance that scripture is talking about in today’s scripture reading. It is the beginning of a life in Heaven, with our Savior, free from all the sins and troubles of this world! And so death cannot, in the end, overcome, because it serves as a footstool. It serves Christ and it serves His people, whether it wants to or not. It is the entryway to Heaven for us!

No matter what we may face in this world, as Christians, we can be confident.

As Christ’s people, how confident we can be! We know all the events of this world, even the unbelievers, (though they may try to destroy Christ, destroy His Church, hurt you, and harm me), are His footstools. He will use them. He will use the events, however they unfold, for His Church, and for His people, to keep us in our faith, to keep us clinging to His Word, to keep us clinging to the cross.

How confident we can be! Instead of serving Christ by force, unwillingly, unknowingly, we serve Him happily! We serve Him as part of His body, because we want to. We serve Him joyfully!

The last command our ascended Christ gave, before He ascended into Heaven was this: "Go therefore, go and make disciples of all nations." Let’s be busy serving our Savior in joy and gladness, as we go about spreading the wonderful message of our risen and ascended Lord, who sits at the right hand of God!

In His name, Amen.

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