We hear little about the ascension either in sermons or books, perhaps because it is one of the most difficult subjects for our minds to comprehend. Yet the ascension of Christ carries with it immeasurable implications for the church. Two truths stand out vividly in the marvelous scene of Christ ascending into the heavens—Christ is alive this very day, seated at the right hand of God, and the church has a definite charge because of this reality. Blending Matthew 28:19-20 with Acts 1:1-11 as two parts of a living whole, we gain deep insight into the purpose and the ministry of the church.

First there was a commission. Jesus issued a command to his followers: ``Make disciples!'' That imperative actually consists of three parts. We are first commissioned to go. The church was always designed to be a mobile unit. We can never afford to sit idly within our four walls and wait for people to drop in. The church is to move out into the town, the nation, the world itself. A church that turns inward upon itself is, in the truest sense of the word, a dying church.

Then we are commissioned to reach. The church was never intended to be merely an extension of the social programs of the government, as excellent as they might be. The over-arching task of the church has always been, and will always be, to win the lost to Christ. Missions and evangelism are so interwoven into the fabric of the church that it cannot exist without them.

We are also commissioned to teach. Once the lost have been won to Christ, it is the duty of the church to teach them the ways and truths of Christ. The educational programs of our church are an integral part of our very reason for being. Sunday School and Bible study must always remain priorities in the program of our church if we are to carry out fully the Great Commission.

There was then a promise—``I am with you all the days until the completion of the age!'' This is a literal but awkward translation of the words Jesus spoke. His promise to us has a two-fold implication. He tells us that we will never be alone. The task he has commissioned us to do does not have to be accomplished without help. Because Jesus sits at the right hand of God, he is with us in whatever we do. No matter how you feel, you may rest assured that the presence of Jesus is with you at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not you are aware of that presence at any given time. Commenting on this particular verse, A.T. Robertson says: ``All the days—all sorts of days, weakness, sorrows, joy, power.....''

Jesus will return. The angels said to his disciples, ``This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.'' It is difficult for us to accept this very basic truth in today's sophisticated society. Yet no more valid nor vital fact has ever been recorded than the assurance that Jesus is coming back again. We must never let the lurid and sometimes preposterous ideas of Christ's second coming, so popular today, blur from our vision this great reality.

There was also a power—``You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!'' Jesus did not leave us on our own. He promised that the Holy Spirit would be in the life of every Christian. What he has for us to do cannot be done by our own efforts, no matter how dedicated or sincere they may be. There is an amusing story of the world's three greatest magicians, who happened to be gathered together at a dinner party in New York. Houdini, master of escape from every manner of lock and chain; Blackstone, capable of making both people and objects disappear; and Dunninger, able to read minds and name even the serial numbers on the bills in a person's wallet, left to return to their hotel in Dunninger's automobile. The great Dunninger had made a very common mistake—he had left his keys in the ignition of the locked car. All of the escape artistry of Houdini, the magic of Blackstone, and the ingenuity of Dunninger could not open that simple car lock. The three great magicians, much to their embarrassment, had to resort to the very common and ordinary solution of calling a locksmith. All of their magic could not accomplish what one simple locksmith could do easily. What we cannot do for ourselves with all our programs and talents, the Holy Spirit will enable us to do. There is great comfort in knowing that we are not expected to reach a lost world by ourselves.

No person has ever begun to tap the enormous power that is available to us through the Holy Spirit. The Day of Pentecost was only a small and isolated example of what the Holy Spirit can and will do in the lives of men and women. The tremendous power of the Holy Spirit is within each of us, just waiting to be tapped. For centuries, in the state of Alabama, a mighty river flowed through the central piedmont. Periodically overflowing its banks, it flooded fields, enriching the soil. It brought water to the areas through which it flowed, making them green and fertile. Yet only a small portion of its tremendous power was being utilized. Then someone had the idea of building a dam across the river in order to harness its power. A towering dam was built and generators installed to produce electricity from the great flow of water. Now Jordan Dam provides much of the electrical power for central Alabama, and yet has not diminished at all the force of the rushing river. This modern miracle of science and technology is small compared to what is available to the church today in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, there was a position—``You will be my witnesses!'' Jesus commissioned each Christian to be his witness. A witness is charged with telling faithfully and truthfully what he has seen and heard. So often we feel that, in order to be witnesses for Christ, we must have a seminary degree. How foreign from the truth this is! Each one of us can tell in words of beautiful simplicity what Jesus has done in our lives. The people out there in the world who need God's word do not want ritual or ceremony. They need what is real within our own lives. The story is told of an occasion when Charles Noble, former dean of Syracuse University, went to a boxing match with a friend who was a Catholic priest. As the boxers prepared to meet in the center of the ring, one of them quickly crossed himself in the Catholic manner. Dr. Noble asked his priest friend, ``Will that help him?'' The priest, with a twinkle in his eye, replied, ``It will if he can fight!'' People are not interested in the rituals through which we go, but in what truly lies in our lives placed there by Christ himself.

We are given no option in the matter of being witnesses. Being a witness for Christ is inherent in becoming a Christian. We do not decide whether or not it suits us to witness for Christ; that decision has already been made for us. Once an eccentric millionaire called his junior executives together at his mansion. They stood around a large swimming pool in which a vicious shark swam menacingly. The executive said that he was ready to appoint a new executive assistant. He said that the first man to jump into the pool and swim across to the other side would become the new executive assistant. ``Plus'', he said, ``I will also give him a bonus.'' Following a few minutes of silence, a splash was heard and a man frantically swam across the swimming pool, just barely making the other side before the jaws of the shark snapped shut. The millionaire was surprised to see that the man was his own butler. He said to him, ``I had no idea that you would be interested in the position. I'll write you a bonus check right now.'' The butler answered, ``That's fine, sir, but what I want to do first is to find the man who pushed me.'' Like that butler, the choice of whether or not we want to be witnesses is taken out of our hands the moment we accept Christ. Because we bear the name of the risen and ascended Christ, we have the responsibility of doing his work here on this earth.

So we come to the close of this series of sermons on the seven stained-glass windows in our sanctuary. We have looked at Jesus in the Temple, the Baptism of Jesus, the Agony in the Garden, the Resurrection, the Good Shepherd and Jesus at the Door. Now, at last, we see the Ascension—Jesus at the right hand of God. There is a different sermon in each window for each person who sits week by week in this beautiful sanctuary. Beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder. Each of us can look at these beautiful stained-glass windows and see a different sermon. A work of art is a living entity that changes as we change. As we continue to sit here and look at each window in its turn, may we allow them to continue to preach their sermons in stained-glass as they have to so many generations before us. Surrounded by such works of beauty, let us resolve to be all that God meant for each of us to be and to make First Baptist Church the church God designed it to be until Jesus himself, from his seat at the right hand of God, comes again to say to us, ``Well done, good and faithful servants. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.''

Harold L. McDonald

First Baptist Church

Albemarle, N.C.

April 21, 1991