THE ACTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

(Acts 1:1-11)

Rob Yule based the first series of biblical expositions in his ministry at Greyfriars on the book of Acts, because it bears witness to the central role of the Holy Spirit in the growth and vitality of the early Christian movement. This first message, preached on 9 March 2003, introduces the Holy Spirit as the central actor in this exciting drama, so important for us to be in touch with if our Christian churches are to be vital, witnessing communities of faith today.

The book of Acts is Volume 2 of Dr. Luke's two-part history of the origins of the Christian movement. Volume 1 - Luke's Gospel - describes the acts of Jesus Christ - his life, ministry, death and resurrection. Volume 2 describes not so much the 'acts of the apostles' (as the book is called) as the acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. This passage describes three things the Holy Spirit does.

The Holy Spirit links Past and Present (1:1-5)

Luke's Gospel describes 'all that Jesus began to do and to teach' (Acts 1:1, NIV). The book of Acts describes all that Jesus continued to do and to teach as the Holy Spirit empowered his first witnesses the apostles. The link between Jesus' past ministry in the first century and his present ministry today is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit - the same Spirit who indwelt and empowered Jesus during his ministry in Galilee and Judea.

Some people - particularly in our Reformed and Presbyterian heritage - teach that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today. They claim that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the apostles. These miraculous gifts were active in the life and ministry of Jesus and the first apostles, but they ceased, in effect, when the last nail was driven into the last coffin of the last apostle. This widespread belief is called cessationism. The Holy Spirit was necessary to put starship Christian Enterprise into orbit, but once in space the church floats on through its initial momentum.

The Bible teaches differently. Jesus told us that we would do what he did, and 'even greater things' than he did, because he would go to his Father in heaven (John 14:12). Freed from the physical limitation of being in only one place at any given time, and 'raised immortal' to share in the eternal life of God the Father, Jesus would pour out his Spirit 'from on high' upon believers (Luke 24:49), and they would do the things he did and indeed even greater deeds than he did.

Volume 1 of Luke's history of Christian origins tells us that Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit for his earthly ministry. Luke's Gospel says that the Spirit descended on Jesus in physical form - like a homing pigeon returning to its loft - and empowered him for the ministry he was about to begin (Luke 3:21-22). Before this Jesus led an anonymous life as a village carpenter. After this hinge event he went about 'in the power of the Spirit' (Luke 4:14), miracles of healing began to occur, his fame spread far and wide, and large crowds were attracted to his ministry. What made the difference was the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Now if Jesus, God's Son in human form, needed the empowerment of the Holy Spirit for his ministry to be effective, how much more do you and I, who are not God's only-begotten Son, need the Spirit's empowerment for our witness and service to be effective. Just as the Spirit anointed Jesus for his ministry, so we need to be baptised with the Holy Spirit to proclaim Jesus in word and deed today (Acts 1:4-5). The Holy Spirit is the key to proclaiming Jesus in power and demonstrating his kingdom with 'signs following'. Otherwise our message is of words only, a form of godliness lacking power and effectiveness.

The Holy Spirit links Jerusalem and the Ends of the Earth (1:6-8)

The book of Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome. It describes how the Christian movement spread in ever-expanding circles of influence from Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, into the Gentile nations - Antioch, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Greece - and finally to Rome, the capital of the Empire. It describes how what was originally a Jewish movement became a worldwide movement, breaking the confines of Judaism to win Gentiles to Jesus. It describes how the Gospel began to conquer Rome, the superpower of the day. The key to this remarkable evangelistic expansion described in Acts is the impulse of the Holy Spirit.

The geography of the Bible has two foci: Jerusalem, and the ends of the earth. God reveals himself to the covenant people, the Jews, whose capital is Jerusalem, the centre of God's dealings with humanity. But God's purposes do not stop with the centre, Jerusalem. They expand outwards to the circumference, to the ends of the earth. The Jews were chosen not to keep God to themselves, but to share God's ways with all the peoples of the earth.

If you have a bag of lollies and a crowd of children, there are two ways you can share them. One is our common way, a lolly scramble. This is fundamentally unjust, because the swift and the strong, who don’t need so many lollies, grab most of them.

The other method is to give the whole bag to one child, and ask that child to share them fairly with every other child in the group. This is the method God chose to share his salvation with humankind. He revealed himself, his word, his ways, to the Jewish nation. Their responsibility was to share the bag of lollies fairly and justly with everybody else. There was only one snag - selfishness.

The worst kind of selfishness is that of religious people who've got God's blessings and don't freely share them with others. Religious people who hold tight the bag of lollies and don't give them to others. The Holy Spirit is God's saboteur, who slips in and sabotages the selfishness and complacency of Christian people - who puts a bomb in the bag and scatters the lollies to a needy and receptive world.

The book of Acts begins in a secret room and ends in an open house. To break out of the confines of the Church is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. To take the Gospel to our families - where it's often hardest to witness - is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. To take the unsearchable riches of Christ to our work places, sports clubs, and social events, to the various sub-cultures and social strata of our own and other nations - this is the role of the Holy Spirit.

The job of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to Jesus (John 16:14-15). The Holy Spirit first makes Jesus real to us, then makes Jesus real to others. The Holy Spirit is the impulse to love and evangelism. The Holy Spirit frees us from our fears and inhibitions. The Holy Spirit opens our hearts and opens our mouths. The Holy Spirit inspires testimony to Jesus. The Holy Spirit brings people to know Jesus and changes people to be like Jesus. The Holy Spirit initiates seamless mission from the church door to the ends of the earth.

The Holy Spirit links Heaven and Earth (1:9-11)

The Holy Spirit was given to believers after Jesus ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9). From heaven the risen and ascended Jesus pours out the Spirit and distributes the gifts of the Spirit to his followers (Ephesians 4:8).

The Spirit comes from Jesus, in heaven. The Spirit is heaven on earth. The Spirit is no earthling, no plaything. The Spirit is God at work in the midst of human beings. This is high voltage stuff. Like in a sub-station, there is a crackle of electricity, a hum of energy. There are miracles and wonders, there is awe and danger. The realm of God is awesome. 'Danger, God at work.' We need to treat God's Spirit with care, reverence, and respect.

Wherever the Holy Spirit is at work there will be things that seem inexplicable to human reason. Where the Holy Spirit is at work there will be things that confound the wise, that perplex the scholars, that challenge the sceptical, that threaten the power-brokers.

The Spirit sets up a tremendous longing in the hearts of believers for God's will to be done on earth as it is already done in heaven. The Spirit is the foretaste of the kingdom, the presence of the future, the 'first-fruits' of the coming reign of Jesus on earth (Romans 8:23). One of the key roles of the Holy Spirit, said Jesus, is to show us 'things to come' (John 16:13, AV) - to awaken in us an expectancy of Jesus' return. The Spirit is the link between the risen and ascended Christ in heaven and his followers on earth - a link which is full of hope and longing for Jesus to return. 'This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven' (Acts 1:11, NIV).

When I was baptised in the Holy Spirit in October 1981 it was this aspect that caught me by surprise. All the 'usual' things described in the testimony literature happened to me: speaking in tongues, great joy and inner freedom - like bubbles aerating a fish aquarium - effective witnessing and speaking about Jesus. What was completely unexpected was this longing for Jesus to return. Whole prophetic passages of the Bible began to light up for me - relating to what God was doing to prepare the world for the return of Jesus.

I began to see current affairs in a new light. Jesus won't return to London, the centre of the British Commonwealth; or to New York, the headquarters of the United Nations; or to Mecca, the heartland of Islam; or even to Rome, the centre of Christendom. Jesus will return to the place he left from, to east Jerusalem - exactly as the angels said. Indeed, the angels only underscore what the prophet Zechariah said six and a half centuries earlier: 'On that day his feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. ... On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem. ... The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.' (Zechariah 14:4, 8, 9, NIV).

Rob Yule, 9 March 2003

© 2003, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church