ASCENSION DAY MESSAGE
(Thursday- 1st May, 2008)
At
THE HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
(Mossford Green, Barkingside- London, United Kingdom)
By
REV EGERTON GBONDA
(Anglican Diocese of Bo- Sierra Leone, Church of the Province of West Africa)
THEME:
Be a Witness, You’ve Got a Mansion, Be Ready to Go!
TEXT:
Acts Chapter 1 verses 1 to 11
INTRODUCTION
The story is told of a mum who would take her son to nursery school, kiss him good bye and would always say to him ‘darling I’m leaving you in good hands, OK?’ She will do this every day she takes her son to school. When the son was of age and mum was quite old now and experiencing dementia, the son took his dear mum to a care home. As he said good bye, he remembered the words of his mum when he was quite young; he then kissed her and said ‘mum I’m leaving you in good hands’. His mum who could hardly remember things now because of dementia held on to his son’s hands and tears started streaming down her eyes; she remembered her own very words years ago.
We all know that today is Ascension Day. Before Jesus left His disciples he told them, in our reading this evening, he was going to send the Holy Spirit, who will give them power to carry out his work on earth. I therefore believe that we are in good hands, even though Jesus has ascended to heaven. This will form the basis of tonight’s talk. Why did Jesus ascend to heaven? I hope to throw light on this also. The words of the ‘two men dressed in white’ (as was read in the passage) would also be another focus of my message. For the next 13 minutes or so, I would be majoring on these three things; once again- what Jesus requires of us in his absence (I mean his physical absence on earth), what he said he was going to do for us in heaven (when he ascended) and what should we expect. These three topics are part of my theme which I have titled- Be a Witness, You’ve Got a Mansion, Be Ready to Go! And I will be using Acts chapter 1verses 1 to 11as our main reference or text.
Let us pray: Our Father in heaven we thank you for this Ascension Day service, we now ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to grasp great truth from tonight’s reading that would bless our lives; we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord- Amen.
BE A WITNESS FOR CHRIST
Acts chapter 1 verse 8 tells us: ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth’. These were the words of Jesus to his disciples before he said good bye to them and ascending to heaven. As usual Jesus played His own part- He fulfilled His promise- the Holy did come upon the disciples. Did they play their own part of being witnesses for Christ? I am sure we all know they did. Then who or what is a witness? If you check the dictionary meaning you may get the following:
• Attestation of a fact or event
• A testimony – giving evidence
• Someone present at a transaction- to testify to it having taken place
• Having personal knowledge of something or someone
• Public affirmation by word or example of what you believe.
Jesus telling his disciples to be a witness could imply all of the above meanings. They were even present at the transaction Jesus did for humankind- purchasing us with his precious blood by dying on the cross and they were witnesses. Now it’s left with us. Peter and others have done their bit. What about you and me? Are we being witnesses for Christ? We can only be witnesses for Him if we have a personal knowledge of Him and a testimony to share. Definitely you can not be a witness in a court of law if you did not witness the event or if you did not know the defendant, plaintiff or accused, as the case may be. I know Jesus- I can say that with certainty; why? Because I have accepted Him as my Lord and Saviour in my life and I continue to learn about Him by studying what was written about Him; through daily Bible Study (what I call my Quite Time), attending Christian programmes- church services, Christian meetings, etc). I talk to Him by praying. Therefore I believe I know Him. This means I ought to be His witness to friends and relatives- testifying about Him. If you know Jesus it is incumbent on all of us to be His witness wherever we find ourselves; it is not easy though but we need to make efforts. Loads of opportunities do come our way to be a witness for Him. Someone may say something- this could be an entry point to share what you know about Jesus, all we need to do is to be sensitive and ready to catch any opportunity to be a witness for Christ. I will give an example- someone you know could be calling Jesus’ Name unnecessarily; you may use that as an opportunity to wittily tell him/her what you know about Jesus. What about starting by saying- hmm you seem to be a religious guy? Wait for his or her response to know what else to say. Loads of occasions do arise for us to be Christ’s witness by what we say and do. May the Holy Spirit enable us to make use of those opportunities.
YOU’VE GOT A MANSION
Why do you think Jesus ascended to heaven? I am sure your answers would vary from- He had completed His task to die for our sins, to send the Holy Spirit, to seat at the Father’s right hand- to advocate and mediate on our behalf and many more answers. We should however not forget that he told His disciples that their hearts should not be troubled, that they should believe in God and in Him. That in His Father’s place, there are many mansions (King James’ Version, uses the word mansion, which I like) and He would go and prepare a place for them. Then he would come and collect them, for them to posses their mansions. We see this in the Gospel John 14 verses 1 to 3. What he told His disciples applies to us too.
Jesus has gone to prepare us a place- a mansion for us to posses. I tell you my brothers and sisters in Christ, angels are still working on your mansions, to make it superb. A mansion for you, a mansion for me where we don’t need a mortgage to get it, where you don’t need to be on a fixed rate or variable rate to be paying for it, where you don’t need to be paying a council tax for it, where there are no credit crunch to punch you and your heart racing that interest rate has gone up on your house.
As we go through life’s journey let us remember the words of William Walker (1809 – 1875) - ‘This world is not my home, I’m just passing through…’ which was beautifully sung by Jim
Reeves. We are just pilgrims here, we have no abiding city here; Heaven is our eternal home- where Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. May the Holy Spirit continue to help us to be constantly aware of our transient life on earth.
BE READY TO GO
The men in white in Acts chapter 1 verse 11 said ‘men of Galilee’, referring to the disciples, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go to heaven’.
Do you believe that our ascended Lord is coming again? Indeed I believe He is coming again, I don’t know when, all I will say He is coming again on glorious day. So what should we do? This behoves me to ‘watch and pray’- I should let nothing move me. Rather I should always give myself to the work of the Lord, because I know that labour for the Lord is not in vain; as Saint Paul tells me in First Corinthians 15 verse 58.
My brothers and sisters in the Lord, we should be in constant readiness for the return of our ascended Lord. Indeed He is coming again- be ready to go!
CONCLUSION
In concluding, Jesus has not left us alone- the Holy Spirit is here to empower us to be Christ’s witness. I will give you this illustration or demonstration which preachers would often like to use. I have with me a 20 pounds (British pounds) note. It stays in my pocket and enhances me with a purchasing power. I can equip others from this £20, so that it is not mine alone. How can I do it? One way would be by breaking it to four £5 bills, which means I can financial empower four people.
Figuratively, that was what Jesus did for us. His ministry on earth was limited to Palestine, in fact not the entire Palestine. His ascension however and the sending of the Holy Spirit means I have the Holy Spirit, the Vicar here has the Holy Spirit, you too have the Holy Spirit. Jesus is therefore in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be a witness for Christ, just as the money empowers us to make a purchase.
May the Holy Spirit continue to help us to be not only star gazers, like the disciples who were gazing into the sky, but also earth movers- being a witness for Him; at the same time setting our minds and hearts on things above- where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. For we died and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God, therefore when Christ appears (who is our life) we shall also appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3 verses 1 to 4); let the people of God say amen!
