The Power Of Unity In The Holy Spirit

Today our topic is the Power of the Holy Spirit. We begin with the book of Acts, chapter one, verses 4-9. This is forty days after Christ’s resurrection.

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (Acts 1:4-9)

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”. That’s the promise Jesus made to the disciples, and to those of us who follow in their footsteps. Ten days after he spoke these words, on the day of Pentecost, they did receive the gift of the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit did enable them to be his witnesses. We are here today, two thousand years later, because of that promise and that gift. But the promise wasn’t limited to the original twelve disciples. It was made to us also. We know this, because the original Twelve couldn’t go to the “ends of the earth”. They couldn’t cross all of the world’s oceans, and mountains, and jungles, in order to bring the gospel to every people group on the planet. But those who followed them over the centuries could do that, and have done that, and are doing that. And so the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of his power, was for the Twelve, but also for those who followed them in faith, including us.

We have the same Holy Spirit the apostles had, the Holy Spirit who comes to indwell us from the time when we first put our trust in Christ. And because we have the same Spirit as the apostles, we have the same power as the apostles. The very same. There was nothing special about them. They were just ordinary, unschooled men, as Acts 4:13 tells us. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, they changed the world. And you and I have that same power; the same power as Peter, and James, and John. Christ’s promise, and the gift and power of the Holy Spirit, belongs to us as well. This morning, I would like to examine what that power is, and why we need it, and what it can enable us to do.

First, note that Jesus promised them the power of the Holy Spirit just before he left them and ascended into heaven. And so this gift was the alternative to Christ remaining with them. Instead of his personal presence with them going forward, they would have his Spirit. In John’s gospel, before his crucifixion, Jesus talked about this exchange, this substitution.

“6 . . . you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:6-7)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have Jesus here present with us, bodily, so that we could speak with him, face to face? Ask him for guidance? Seek his blessings? Certainly that’s what the disciples wanted. They didn’t want Jesus to leave them. They wanted him to stay. They were filled with grief when he told them he was going away. But Jesus told them that it was actually better for them that he leave, because he would send the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit. And the same is true for us. As much as we might wish to have Jesus here present with us, it is better for us to have his Spirit. Because the Spirit lives in each one of us. And the Spirit comes with power.

Now, I want to make clear that the Spirit’s power is not separate from his person or his presence. His power isn’t some kind of supernatural energy that we can direct or manipulate as we wish. No, the Spirit’s power is just the Holy Spirit, acting in power. He is in control of his power, not us. But his power is available to us because he lives within us. And because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we have the ability to act, and think, and speak, and respond in the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and so you literally have Jesus Christ in you; you literally have God in you. This is what Paul means when he tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit; it means that the Holy Spirit lives in us; he inhabits us; he dwells in us. As Paul writes: