Positioning for Power
Acts 1: 1-26
Introduction
There is a lot of talk about ‘power’, ‘signs and wonders’ and ‘Pentecost’. Often today the church fall into going into one of two extremes – it either looks for ‘power encounters’ or it so manufactures, organises, commercialises, programmes successful ‘powerful’ events that we lose sight of what the Bible teaches us about the divine power provided for believers and the church in Gospel witness. Today in examining the first chapter of Acts we will observe:
1. Presence Acts 1: 1-3
2. Promise Acts 1: 4-5
3. Power Acts 1: 6-9
4. Prayer Acts 1: 12-14
5. Provision Acts 1: 15-26
1. Presence Acts 1: 1-3
Luke continues from his Gospel to tell more of what Jesus did. The title of the book should really be ‘The Acts of the Ascended Jesus Christ’. Jesus appears to His disciples over a period of 40 days, there is so much significance with the period being 40 days. That is the time for preparation and positioning. The disciples are blessed with His presence. He ensures that the seminal church is held together during this period of transition. Additionally, He makes certain that they have sufficient proof that He was alive, v.3
The substance of His teaching was on the kingdom of God. This was a special time and one we should appreciate more than we do. Everything has a purpose! When our needs are greatest God’s presence is most needed. The presence of God provides the launching pad of courage in times of trial and difficult. It is the absence of the sense of God’s presence that makes struggles most acute.
2. Promise Acts 1: 4-5
Part of the preparation for the church was a key promise made by Jesus before His crucifixion – the promise of the Holy Spirit, v.4 this is called the gift my father promised and was spoken by Jesus. Then comes the comparison between the baptism of John’s with water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, v.5. This takes us back to Luke 3:16
16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Here a contrast is made – water and fire. The fire is alluding to the way the Spirit would work in the midst of the church and the people in fulfilling the task set before it in its commissioning by Christ, v.8
3. Power Acts 1: 6-9
In response to the disciples’ concern for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, Jesus presents them with a greater concern and task. Jesus here commissions the church to spread the Gospel after there comes to them the necessary Power, v.8. This reference relates back to the earlier one in v.5 – this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It relates to empowering for the task of taking out the Word. No wonder the image of fire is used. The church and believers will be empowered by the Holy Spirit in a special way / a special baptism of the Holy Spirit which will make the Gospel spread like wild fire. It will consume all in its path. This power from the Holy Spirit is the Greek work dunamis (dunamis) - it is the same word from which the English word dynamite comes from. In the Greek there are two key words used for POWER – one which refers to authority and the word dunamis which is raw energy and prevailing force. We’ve got the POWER! The church has access to the POWER and each and every believer has access to the POWER by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus gave the Great Commission He also gave the means by which this would be accomplished – the Gift of the Holy Spirit is supernatural power. It is not in our own strength.
The Church is Christ’s witness – we as individual believers are Christ’s witnesses. The world needs the church!!! The world needs empowered Christians baptised in the power of the Holy Spirit!
It is once this is stated that Jesus ascends into heaven – these are the last words of Jesus before His ascension.
Before we move to the next point there is a little PAUSE vv.10-11. The disciples keep looking up – looking, looking, looking . . . too long. Jesus had given His people a command – GO and WAIT!! Here is a warning we are not to get so caught up in looking upward that we are not doing our task of going forward! Faith by its nature is forward in movement. If your faith is only contemplative it is faulty. Faith is a gift of the Spirit and there it an in-built dynamism – if that dynamism is gone you need to be filled with the Spirit.
Once woken from their looking the disciples got on with the task of waiting.
4. Prayer Acts 1: 12-14
Waiting is not a passive task. The disciples moved back to Jerusalem from Galilee. They all joined together constantly in prayer. Here was an act of anticipation and expectation. Jesus had given them a promise and they were going to pray into that promise. We have the same promise that we need to be constantly praying into. A literal translation of the Greek reads like this:
These all were continuing steadfastly with one mind in prayer
Waiting time is not wasted time when it is done in the manner God has directed. This time was a time for re-positioning -getting ready to go with the flow of the Holy Spirit who was coming. Both a church and individual believers go through periods of re-positioning. They are times of transition. If you feel yourself in that situation make sure you are: 1. in the right place 2.United with other believers. 3. in prayer. 4. waiting with expectation.
5. Provision Acts 1: 15-26
Besides praying there was another important task needed to assist in preparing for the work of the Spirit in the church. There was a deficit in the number of the apostles with the betrayal and suicide of Judas. There needed to be a replacement so as the team of apostles would be at full complement. This need was addressed by Peter – fully restored and acting in his role of leadership. Transition times are times for restoring any breaches there might be. This was an act of anticipation which fuelled preparation. The provision of a replacement came from both the disciples acting responsibly and God in ordaining Matthias to take over the vacancy.
Conclusion
We need to be on guard that we are not content in wanting to be in the land of waiting without expectation and anticipation. This is like Israel wanting to take ease in Zion while there were stills wars to be waged and battles to be fought.
We are called by our all potent God to be His dynamic people driven by the power of the Holy Spirit to declared and demonstrate in words, signs and wonders Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour. He can lift the world out of the mire of sin and destruction. And He alone can bring freedom, hope, joy and meaning to each and every person.
