Acts 1:1-11 "You Shall Receive Power"

Verse 1

The book of Acts is the second part of a research project written by Luke and presented to Theophilus (which interestingly means “lover of God”). Luke was a physician who traveled some with Paul. He is the only writer of the gospels and of Acts that freely admits the use of sources. Traditionally, the book of Acts is called “The Acts of the Apostles,” but it would probably be best called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” This is the story of the church moving from being a scared-to-death small group to becoming an empowered movement that takes Eastern Europe and Asia Minor (present day western Turkey) by storm.

The two major themes for this reading are waiting for the Spirit and receiving the Spirit. The promise is that they will receive the gift of the Spirit and that is the key to all that follows. Two quick questions come to mind that will be more fully answered as we do this study together. We will take a first stab at them now.

Question 1: Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the third dimension of God in which God works around, in and through us. The Holy Spirit is present at creation in Genesis 1 as brooding over the chaos, as creative power waiting to be released. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people and give them superior strength (Samson), insight (Samuel), speed (Elijah) a sense of God’s presence (David). It is important to remember that the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts was revealing a dimension of God that had always been there. In John 14:16, the Holy Spirit is referred to as “another counselor” (advocate, comforter, literally ‘one called along side to help’). The word another in Greek is either heteros (another of a different kind) or allos (another of the same kind). The word here is allos. Jesus is sending one like himself to be with them forever. In the Spirit, the presence of God in Christ becomes portable in you and me. No wonder Jesus could promise in John 14:12 that “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact, will do greater works than these because I go to the Father.” By the power of the Spirit, Christ literally multiplies himself in you, me and everyone who believes and follows.

Question 2: What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Baptism is such a rich term that means “sprinkling” (Jewish baptism) “washing” (secular Roman use in the washing of eating utensils), “dipping,” “pouring,” and “immersing “(used in religious settings and secular settings – including the sinking of a ship). Baptism, when related to the Holy Spirit as we shall see in Acts 2, seems to be related more to the idea of pouring. It’s made me wonder about all our quibbling over methods of baptism. Jewish baptism of Gentile coverts was done by the shaking of a cat tail at the riverside. Baptism as immersion entered much later in history as a symbol of the move from death to life in Jesus Christ. I wonder how much water John the Baptist used. Was he near the shore giving new meaning to shaking the cat tail? Did he submerge the people under water? Or did he take them out in the water and pour it on them? The use of the Greek that Jesus came up out of the water would have been used if he was fully under or just went back to shore. Some of us who have fought so strongly over baptism may be very surprised when God clears it up in heaven some day. That’s why I’m pleased that the United Methodist Church allows all three methods of baptism (sprinkling, pouring and immersion). In connection with the Holy Spirit, baptism means the pouring out of God’s Spirit on the world in and through us.

Jesus must have shaken his head when the disciples asked about the restoring of the kingdom. They are still hooked on their version of the kingdom in which Israel executes military and political triumph over those who have occupied Palestine. They see Jesus’ resurrection as a sign that Jesus would be their desired conqueror after all. But the movement is neither military nor political, though it will have military and political consequences. Acts 1:8 is key to understanding the entire book of Acts. “You shall receive power” is the promise of Jesus. The word for power is dunamis, the word from which we get dynamite or dynamic. By the Holy Spirit, God fills us with an explosiveness, a dynamic that allows us to fully live the Christian life and fulfill our calling. Want a dynamic preacher? Pray that he or she will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Want a dynamic church? Pray that God will make us a movement of His Spirit, taking God’s explosive love into the world.