His Witnesses Until He Comes – Sermon 17 May, 2015

His Witnesses Until He Comes
Our first reading today suggests that Ascension occurred shortly after the Resurrection; according to Luke, 40 days after. We read that Jesus took the disciples to the Mount of Olives, blessed them and then He was lifted out of their sight. Therefore the Ascension story was critical at that time and it is still critical for us today. Otherwise, His few appearances during the post resurrection forty days would have simply faded in occurrence and significance and perhaps in their memory too.
But the Ascension lifts Jesus up again as God and on this occasion into Heaven and in a way that endorses His resurrection and creates the application of His return again in the future. As well as His ascension affirms His position at the right hand side of God the Father, from where He supervises His operations world-wide.
In the opening verse of Acts, Luke tells us that this second book is a sequel to his first book which was about the life of Christ written to his friend Theophilus. Here he gives an important clue to the theme of the book when he says that his Gospel was about all what Jesus began to do and teach. The very clear indication here is that Acts will detail Jesus’ continued ministry.
Jesus was seen alive for forty days before the Ascension. Then He took His disciples to the Mount of Olives where He ascended to Heaven. This was in reality His crowning after His victory over death. The disciples saw with their own eyes how He was taken up to Heaven, to go there and get His lawful place at the right hand side of the Father.
Before Jesus was ascended to heaven the disciples brought up a question that they have asked several times before. “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel?” Is this the time for the Kingdom of God? Jesus had spoken much about the Kingdom during His ministry and many people, including the disciples, were expecting a dramatic change and the establishment of the Jewish Monarchy. The Pharisees also had asked when the Kingdom of God was coming (Luke 17:20) It was enough to know that His power over Satan was sufficient proof that the Kingdom had come upon them. But here He replied to the disciples saying that knowing the time was not theirs but God’s. The thing they had to do at that time was to go to Jerusalem and wait to receive power and be witnesses to the ends of the world until He comes back.
His disciples did as they were instructed to do. They gathered in the Upper Room with the family of Jesus and a group of faithful women, altogether about 120 in number. This was the pre-church group, which was established ten days later on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came upon them in the form of tongues of fire. Interestingly we see here Jesus going up and the Spirit coming down. There is always the idea of God being up there and we, the sinners down here.
The Gospel represents the power of the Son of God and His task. A task which comes to its conclusion for Jesus, but at the same time that same task remains to be an unaccomplished task for the church and the body of Christ. If the church is the church it is supposed to be and if the disciples are really His disciples, they should follow in the footsteps of their Master and Teacher. He gave them a clear command for a job to be done. And the church should do that specific job, which is to be His witness.
But the question we ask today is:
Why the church should continue to witness and labour?
There are four simple reasons for the role that the church has to play:
1. It has His a blessing
Jesus blesses all His disciples and followers. As the church to play our role we need His blessing. We find several examples in the Bible where people bless others, like their children. Isaac blessed Jacob. A father blessed his son and gives specific commandments and directives. The greatest disgrace is rejecting a father’s blessing. Jesus blessed the church, His body, which was going to be established and was supposed to continue His legacy.
2. It has a promise
The given promise is the Holy Spirit. The disciples with Christ had represented no power. The simple proof was their state when He was captured, tortured and crucified. And now as Jesus was being separated from them, what was supposed to be their state? The Holy Spirit not only would comfort them, but it would give strength; a power to function as the body of Christ.
3. It has a command
The command was to be a witness for the Lord. Until that time they were not witnesses for Him; though they were following Him and at some point going from town to town, from village to village to share the Good News. But they did not have the zeal to be perfect and their faith was weak and they needed the power of the Spirit. They were the remnant of the old and the core of the new. The given command was to go out in the entire world and to testify, and preach the gospel. And the disciples did that with the power of the Spirit. Is the church doing the same today? As the church we are called to be His witnesses until He comes. This is our holy duty.
4. It has His support
The Lord has promised to be with them and with the church, till the end of time. He works with all those who are willing to obey His commands. “Now I go, but I am with you always. You labour, take care, water, but I make it grow”. We are the labourers, but the Lord is the one who makes it grow. He is our helper in our endeavour.
The church has to go forward with the help of the Lord. In this way a new era starts for the Christians. It is the responsibility of every Christian to be a witness. The Word of God should be spread by the church which is filled with the Spirit. We have to preach about salvation, if we don’t, then we are not the church and cannot be a living witness for God. And if we don’t want to be a living witness, we are not supposed to be here and part of the body of Christ.
Let us testify and preach about the resurrected Christ, who ascended to Heaven as He is the only means of our salvation.
Come, let us start doing what we are supposed to do with the grace of our Lord and Saviour.

Krikor Youmshajekian