Instructions can be important! So listen very carefully:  when I say ‘Simon says’ you need to do the action; when I don’t say ‘Simon says’, you should not do it . . . . .

Simon says - wave your right hand

Simon says - wave your left hand

Now, nod your head!

Oh dear!  What has that got to do with Ascension Day? Stay with me . . . .

Ascension Day seems to me to be a bit like the filling between two very substantial pieces of bread; one piece is Good Friday & Easter Day : when hopes were dashed and ALL HOPE was restored to us and the other piece is Pentecost, the amazing and public event which shook a massive crowd out of complacency and brought 3,000 to faith in Jesus. When The Church, the company of believers, was begun.  They are inseparable events – part of a whole - and I would like us to look at the disciples, and at what Jesus said to them.

Their response to Jesus’ trial and crucifixion and even his resurrection was entirely human and very varied. Some hung around, some ran away. Denial, betrayal, fear, terror, disbelief & doubt. It all sounds depressingly familiar!!  But, at Pentecost THESE SAME PEOPLE persuaded a mocking, joshing holiday crowd that they needed radical change in their lives – that they needed Jesus, whom they themselves had largely deserted only a few weeks before, in that very city and at the time of His direst need.  So, it must surely pay us to see what it was Jesus said and how these friends responded.

We have a series of instructions from Jesus, which I believe we should look at and apply to our own lives, both individually, but also as a team of churches - a company of believers – something we also mark today.  In the first place, Jesus says that God authorised and commanded him to commission them and this was the commission:

STAY – WAIT - GO

STAY ‘on no account leave Jerusalem’; WAIT ‘for the gift that the Father had promised’; GO! train & instruct everyone you meet. 

Jesus tells them that He’ll be with them day after day after day after day . . . and that they will be able to be His witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes. He says this just before He ascends – an amazing & unforgettable visual aid to help them remember His last words to them!  So, they waited and it must have seemed like ages. Puzzled, confused, trying to make sense of all that had happened. But they waited – they obeyed – they were in submission to God’s plan and His Word.  And so, they became part of what followed! We find that the disciples were obedient to that command because, when we get to Pentecost, there they are .They are the same people. In fact the authorities became quite alarmed by their confident behaviour and described them as ‘laymen, with no training in Scripture or formal education - ordinary people’. But these ordinary people now know the right words to say. The Promised Gift had arrived and because they had been obedient, they were now fully equipped, ready and able for anything.

So, what can/should we learn from this?  First, we are commissioned by God through Jesus. Our faith in Jesus brings our commissioning. Commissioning to:

STAY: The disciples were to stay in Jerusalem. The promised gift and power was to arrive for them there. The crowd was there. The job was there. If we are commissioned & called to the Epping area, the job for us is here. So let’s stick, with conviction, as commissioned people – as ‘people under orders’.

The next instruction is to WAIT: This can be so HARD! Scripture assures us that we’re commissioned. We believe we have to STAY. Now we may have to WAIT. Like the 1st disciples, we may not know why we must wait or how long or even what we are waiting for. But what we can do is to equip ourselves whilst we wait. We must wait positively, not passively! If we’re not watchful, if we’re not equipped, we will not be ready. But ready for what?

Because we’re in the right place, staying with conviction, waiting with watchfulness, spring-loaded by the Holy Spirit, the final instruction from Jesus is to ‘go and train everyone we meet’ – a very tall order!  Now, I’m not known for wanting to water down the Word, but let’s just re-phrase that to ‘ Go and train everyone who’ll listen’ : plenty to do there! We can SHOW Jesus to everyone we meet, and TRAIN everyone who is willing and able to listen.

And so, just as the disciples became part of what followed, it is the same for us. Called and commissioned to be part of God’s plan – each one of us and the whole body of us – the Team – given a part to play here in this area, and given the opportunity and the freedom to witness, work, to be part of the plan which is so much bigger than we can imagine.

Our job – and we mustn’t lose sight of this – is to battle against darkness – in ourselves and in the world. In that battle, we have God’s commission, our obedience, His mighty power – all working together.

You know, whilst instructions are important, on their own, they don’t amount to much – it’s people’s response to them which makes the difference.  Fire Instructions may be posted up, but they won’t save your life, unless and until you follow them! We found out at the start that we have to listen carefully to instructions, if we want to stay in the game.

So, as a team, let’s respond positively to Jesus’ instructions, be convinced about our place here, willing to wait expectantly and therefore available to seize the opportunities given us, to ‘love the hell out of people’ and show them the Kingdom.

Amen.