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“The Ascension Difference”

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Series: What Difference Does It Make?

by Pastor Nate Walther

Seventh Sunday of Easter (Ascension), 05/17/2026

            Today we celebrate that Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after rising from the dead.  It sounds pretty important!  We’d probably all agree this is a significant event… But why?  Yes, Jesus is in heaven, that’s great!  At the same time, what different does his Ascension really make for our lives here on earth? 

            It’s interesting that Ascension always used to be celebrated with a special Thursday night service, 40 days after Easter – separate from our regular Sunday service, which would have a different focus.  These days we’re still willing to go to extra midweek services during special seasons, but like us most churches don’t really have a dedicated Ascension service anymore.    By the way, that’s OK.  We don’t have to worship on any particular day, Christ has given us that freedom in these New Testament times!  Yet if we’re honest, we might admit this has happened because Ascension feels like a lesser holiday.  Lesser certainly than those great festivals like Christmas or Easter.  Probably even less significant than something like Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week when the Holy Spirit came upon the church.  Perhaps even less significant than something like “Good Shepherd Sunday” a few weeks ago.  After all, at least that’s practical, we can relate to it as we think about our needs on earth and how Jesus meets them as our shepherd.  But how can we relate to Jesus going to heaven while we are left behind?

            What’s not OK is if we’ve lost the striking difference Christ’s Ascension makes for our lives.  That’s the blessing of our sermon text today from Ephesians 1.  Paul wrote these words while he was in prison in Rome, awaiting trial for testifying about Jesus.  Yet, what’s remarkable about these words is that they contain a joyful (almost hymn-like) tone. Why?  It’s because Paul saw that Jesus’ Ascension made that kind of difference in his life.

We see that in a number of ways in our sermon text, which focuses on Christ’s Ascension, and notice that it is something Paul wants his readers (us!) to experience as well.  It’s why in verses 17-18, Paul prays that we would understand what our Savior has done more fully.  That’s no easy task.  As Paul describes Jesus’ power in verse 19, for example, he uses words that contain the idea that all of this is beyond our ability to measure it.  To put it in another way, Paul says that God’s power is “off the charts!”  Our translation makes an effort at saying that: “Just how surpassingly great his power is for us who believe…”  In fact, it’s so powerful that, verse 21, “God worked (his mighty strength) in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”  What Paul pictures for us in Jesus is a human body that not only rose from the dead, but which rose to heaven to the highest seat at God the Father’s right hand.  In a few minutes we’ll talk about the difference it makes to have someone like that on the throne.  Especially when, notice in verse 22 where his attention is focused from his throne: not on kings, nor is it on nations; rather, he’s focused on the church, on us!  If all that weren’t enough, notice what Paul calls us in verse 23:  “The church is his body—that means we’re connected to him; again, that will make a difference for us—and then notice what else we’re called: the fullness of him who fills everything in every way…” Let that sink in…  The one who fills all things—the one who requires absolutely nothing from us—is the one who chose to be filled by us. Which doesn’t make any sense.

            Not when, at our best, we’re still so far below God.  I mean, our understanding absolutely pales in comparison to his!  Us trying to understand the Trinity, for example, is like our Preschoolers trying to understand Calculus.  Meanwhile, he’s in charge of all nations, and he does that so capably, which must make our concerns seem so trivial by comparison.  Yet he focuses his attention especially on us, his church?…  Again, that’s looking at it from our best.  At our worst, we throw God’s affection for us in the garbage with every sin we commit – with every regrettable outburst where we cause our kids to shut down, with every time we see pain in the eyes of someone we have just pierced with unfair comments, with every excuse we make for our pathetic sin… Why would the Lord of the Universe want to be filled by that?  And then, as we heard in our other readings, why would Jesus additionally leave his beloved church behind in the hands of sinful men like the Disciples—sinful people like us—and entrust the most important work there is (eternal work that gets souls to heaven) to people like that!? 

It doesn’t make sense.  It’s not meant to make sense.  In fact, it’s precisely what makes Jesus’ death and resurrection so meaningful.  Because this really is love, unconditional & unearned.  Because it wasn’t just enough for Jesus to stand supreme, he genuinely longs for a real relationship with you.  And that explains everything Christ did for you.  It’s why Jesus lived for you on a sin-torn planet, even though it meant leaving the perfect comforts of heaven.  It’s why Jesus suffered for your sins on the cross, including hell itself – think of it, the God who created hell for the opposite of everything he stands for, he suffered everything he detests for you!  It’s also why Jesus died for you on that cross – think of that, the Living God (who had never not existed) actually died for you, never cease to marvel at that!  And finally, it’s why he ascended, to direct all things—to make a real difference—for you and for others.

            Let me ask you, what difference would it make if your dad were the president of the United States, or if your best friend were the richest person on earth?  I asked my 10-year-old those questions, and he quickly said we’d probably get someone to drive us everywhere and we could just order people to finish our basement project – though, he quickly added, I’d still find something else to stress about.  How well he knows me!  Likewise, can you imagine the difference it would make for you if someone close to you were the president or that rich?  You would get the best protection from the secret service, you would eat the finest foods prepared by a personal chef (and it would probably be good for you too!), and you would get world-class medical care for whatever situation you’re facing (can you imagine not having to wait months for a test?)!… Now, let me ask you this, what difference does it make that Jesus Christ, your brother, is the king of the universe? Yeah, no matter what I’m going through, I’ve got someone on it – literally directing all things in all creation for my good.

            The Ascension Difference.  Get used to thinking in those terms.  Maybe it helps to think of it like this: the Ascension means there is literally human flesh and bone on the throne in heaven right now.  You see, where other religions talk about casting this flesh off—freeing ourselves from our bodies in death, which ultimately makes them and what we do with them meaningless—Christianity is meant to make a difference for our whole selves–body & soul alike–including our real lives and real struggles here also.  Jesus didn’t ascend to distance himself from all of this, but to bring it closer to God and to his own control.  So much so that he’s filled by it; He’s filled by you.  Finally, you are as much a part of Jesus as your own hand or your foot belong to your own body.  And just as we will instinctively, without question act in self-preservation for our body and seek to remedy its maladies – longing to get that splinter out, seeking medicine that will sooth us, curling up and covering our heads in a moment of danger – Jesus will instinctively, without question act in our interest as the members of his body.  It’s not a matter of us being worthy or being good enough.  Rather, just like your arm is attached to your torso or your leg to your hip and that’s why you care about them, it is a matter of being connected to Christ our head by faith.   That’s why we can live with joy every day, knowing Christ will take good care of us here.  (How will he not when he is attached to us?) And it’s why we live with hope every day, knowing the best is yet to come.  (He’s not just going to forget someday that we’re attached to him!)

            So… what a Sunday!  What a celebration!  What a great day to sing rich praises to God, as we do so in orchestral form today!…  Granted, we will still face stress when we leave this joyful celebration behind, just like I would still stress even if my dad were the president or my best friend were rich.  But in those moments, keep going back to the truth we heard today.  We don’t have to solve all of our problems, not when our Savior is in a unique position to do just that.  It’s the Ascension difference he wants for you too.  Amen.

The One Place God Isn’t

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“The One Place God Isn’t” (Matthew 28:1-10)

Series: What Difference Does It Make?

by Pastor Nate Walther

The Festival of Easter (4/5/2026)

            Have you ever been in a situation where you wondered, “Where is God?”  If so, you’re not alone.  Even us pastors feel like that at times.  We’ll look difficult situation or a difficult home, and we think, “There is no God in this place.”  And you can understand that if it’s a situation where someone has rejected God and done what is wrong. But what if you haven’t?  What if you do everything right in your career, but others end up ahead?  What if you do your due diligence on your car purchase and keep up with the preventative maintenance, and you still have a catastrophic engine failure?  What if you go to church and try to follow what the Bible says, yet you still come down with that cancer diagnosis. What if it’s your mom or your dad who always went to church and they were so good to others, and they died way too young?  It’s those times where we may be tempted to think, “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES MAKE?” if, in fact, our faith does not seem to be making any difference where it matters the most.

            Well, there is ONE PLACE GOD DOESN’T EXIST, but it’s not in these places where our fears dwell.  The one place God doesn’t exist is in the grave.   Because the only thing worse than not being able to see God is working in a situation would be if he were truly dead himself, unable to help us with these situations.  But the great meaning of Easter is that Jesus lives, and that means our faith in him can always make a difference.

            As we look back on our sermon text, a few thoughts really stand out in connection with this theme. First of all, did you notice that fear is a repetitive thought throughout?  From the soldiers to the women it is mentioned again & again, and the women’s fear even persists after they get good news from the angel.  Granted, godly fear can be a good thing – you may recall that this Bible word even has the connotation of respect – but when the angel & then Jesus himself both tell the women “do not fear”, it tells us this is not healthy fear but bad fear.  And of course they were afraid.  They thought the one they had identified as their God was dead!  They just saw him buried in the tomb at the end of the previous chapter of Matthew. Now, it would have seemed their faith would make no difference for them. And the fact is that Jesus was indeed dead for a time, the angel’s word don’t hide that truth.  He had clearly been killed before their eyes by crucifixion (vs 4), and (vs. 6) when the angel describes Jesus lying in the tomb, the tense in the first language conveys the sense that he was lying there for some time.

            Wouldn’t we have drawn the same conclusion?  As we face trouble in this fallen world – as we encounter pain and confusion and loss – fear often gets the best of us and threatens to undermine all God would give to us.  You ever notice how fear subtly shapes our lives for the worst?  You go through something bad, so you fear it happening again.  You don’t trust someone because you don’t want to get hurt again, or you assume the worst of situations that hold any resemblance to a bad chapter from your past, or you anticipate that a medical test will only end poorly long before you know the results or how it will actually play out in the future. It’s PTSD, or rather PSTD, Post-Sin-Traumatic-Disorder.  The more we’re affected by the consequences of sin in our world – worse yet, the more we’re affected by the consequences of our own sinful actions and see the damage it causes – the more it wears on us… 

            And that may be where we think we’re missing something in our faith, or (even wors) that God isn’t actually there.  But do you realize what’s going on?  There’s a very simple explanation for this that has nothing to do with any deficiency in our faith; or rather, any deficiency the object of our faith.  It’s our sinful nature’s last-ditch effort to get us away from the right answer. It’s our wounded nemesis Satan trying to drag us down with him before God crushes him.  You see, faith was never meant to solve all our problems in a terminally-ill world.  That may be the world’s delirious idea of faith as it lies on its deathbed, but it’s not God’s idea of faith.  In fact, faith will always mean a struggle in a world dying with sin.  The Bible says that faith is certainty of what we cannot see, which assumes that life won’t always be problem-free!   That’s precisely what we hear from God today: faith may not eliminate every cause of fear in our lives. But what it will do is help lead us through these fears to something better. 

            Case in point, consider the women once more from our sermon text.  They were clearly living in fear before the events of the first Easter Sunday.  I even wonder if they had some PTSD as they walked to the tomb and felt that earthquake, harkening back to a few days earlier to that wretched earthquake when Jesus died and their hopes died with him.  And we’re even told they continued to have some fear after they heard the good news from the angels!… but also that there was joy mixed in.  Why?  It wasn’t because Jesus hadn’t died.  It wasn’tbecause they were able to erase every concern.  It was because there was one place their Savior could not be found. As the angel said: “He is not here.  He is risen!”  The tomb was empty.  Though the angel reminded them that Jesus spent time in that tomb just like we will, the angel also told them that Jesus hadn’t stayed there. 

            So also, dear friends in Christ, “He is not here. He is risen!” Our Savior exists everywhere except in death.   That means Jesus lives to drive away our fears.  So whatever it is that you face – whatever irrational fears have a grip on your heart, whatever health concerns you have for you or those you love, whatever hopelessness you see in a grave whether it’s a dying relative or you just think about the terror that awaits you someday – Jesus lives to deal with it and Jesus lives to bring us back from it!  As we saw with the women, those fears may not be removed right away, but there is joy to be found if we face these fears with a Savior who offers certain victory in the future.  And it’s not just for the future.  As you look to him in faith, Christ may calm those fears sooner than you realize.  Consider the rest of his disciples.  The angel said Jesus would see his disciples in Galilee some time later. (It had to be a few days later at least, since it would take them some time to travel from Jerusalem.)  Then, Jesus repeated that he would see his disciples in Galilee.  But, whether it was because of their fears or their lack of faith, Jesus actually appeared to them that same evening in Jerusalem. (That’s actually our Gospel next week in church.  Make sure to come back for that, don’t let Easter just be a “one and done”, this message is too good!)

            That’s just it, our faith provides such good news that it’s an immediate call to action.  Back to the women: think of how they responded.  There was no waiting around.  No lingering at the greatest memorial in human history.  After all, what good was this empty tomb if others didn’t know their Savior lived also?  Similarly, the good news of Jesus’ resurrection is yours to share.  You heard that right.  Don’t think for a moment you have nothing to offer if you’re not a pastor or a teacher.  Think about this: if at this most pivotal moment in all of human history, God chose women to be the first witnesses of the resurrection with all the challenges they faced back in that culture – women whose testimony wouldn’t have been admissible in a court of law back then, women who weren’t even looking for this task themselves – then this is a job for all of us even if you think nobody will believe you or if you’re not looking for this task. Like them, the only thing we need to be qualified is simply to have heard the message that changes everything…  and you just heard it.  And besides, why wouldn’t we want to have such meaningful purpose in our lives? Souls saved forever.  That’s what’s at stake. Forever is a very long time. Nothing else we do could matter as much as that! Don’t let fear stop you from experiencing such joy.  Get it in your mind that this is for you to share, to live out, to bring to the world around you. (We’ll hear more about that also in the weeks to come.) 

            Finally, all this rings true because there’s one place God isn’t: dead and in a tomb.  If he were, our faith would contain no call to action; in fact our faith wouldn’t make any difference in our lives, we’d simply be at the mercy of what happens to us.  But Jesus lives.  Throughout this Easter season, we’re going to see all the difference this can make in our lives.  For today, if you just remember one thingn remember that this single fact has changed your outlook on eternity.  You and I know where we are going. That makes all the difference.  We know we’re going to see our loved ones raised in the flesh someday, because Jesus was raised in the flesh first, and we’ll see them with our own eyes as we too are raised in the flesh. … So, if Jesus lives to make such a difference for death, somehow-someway he can make a difference for everything else along the way.  Amen.

It Makes a Difference

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When you hear the name, Martin Luther, what picture of him comes to mind? Some might mistakenly think of Martin Luther King Jr., the famous civil rights activist, but we’re not talking about him.

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