When I Move, You Move
What does growth require?
A. Growth Requires Patience (Acts 1:4)
The disciples were told to wait (a few days) because the Holy Spirit was to come only after Jesus went away. Their need to wait is no more binding on later Christians than the command to receive the Spirit in Jerusalem. Rather, the reason for this contrast is to compare a ‘sign’ with ‘power’.
Despite Jesus’ recent crucifixion and the patent animosity of the religious leaders the disciples needed to stay together and wait for the Promise of the Father.
On this occasion Jesus commanded his disciples to remain in Jerusalem and await the gift of the Father. The Greek construction can be rendered quite literally, “Stop departing from Jerusalem,” implying that at this point the disciples had been coming and going from the Holy City. They were to remain there and await the Father’s promise.
Jesus instructed the apostles to stay in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father. Here promise means concretely ‘the thing promised by the Father’ and must refer to the Holy Spirit
The first command was to wait. They were not to engage in ministry until they had been empowered by the gift my Father promised.
Not to depart from Jerusalem. (See Luke 24:49.) It was necessary, according to the prophecy, Micah 4:2; Isa. 2:3, that the gospel should go forth from Jerusalem. Wait for the promise.
The task confronting the disciples could not be accomplished by human means alone. They must wait (1) until the time appointed, (2) at the place appointed, Jerusalem, the place of greatest danger and greatest challenge.
There was to be (1) a devout expectancy of the great power of God; (2) a deep longing for that power, and for fitness to receive it; (3) and earnest, united prayer that God would fulfill His promise.
To wait for the promise of the Father (περιμενειν την ἐπαγγελιαν του πατρος [perimenein tēn epaggelian tou patros]). Note present active infinitive, to keep on waiting for (around, περι [peri]).
B. Growth Requires Promises (Act 1:4, 8)
1:4 promised by the Father God promised to give a new spirit (or His Spirit) abundantly when He inaugurates the new covenant (Ezek 36:26; Joel 2:28–32). Jesus had told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would empower them to be effective in their mission (Luke 12:11–12; John 14:26).
power The Greek word used here, dynamis, can refer to power displayed in miracles (e.g., Acts 2:22; 4:7; 19:11), or (more generally) the ability of God or people to carry out their purposes (e.g., 3:12; 4:33).
God will enable the apostles to accomplish His work, wherever and whatever it is.
The gift my Father promised is, as the following verse makes clear, the Holy Spirit. The disciples would have heard Jesus speak of the Spirit throughout his ministry, but the teaching recorded in Jn. 15:26–16:16 was especially relevant to their situation. The command is recorded with different words in Lk. 24:49.
The passive tense of the verb indicates that baptism does not depend upon our efforts to obtain the promise, but upon the Lord’s will.
Jesus promised that their power would come from “the Holy Spirit”—the third Person in the holy Trinity.
Unlike John’s baptism, the new converts would also receive the presence and power of the Holy Spirit (2:38b). Throughout Acts new converts experienced repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Spirit.
Verse 8 places the disciples’ question in proper perspective. The “restoration of the kingdom” involves a worldwide mission. Jesus promised the disciples two things: power and witness.
Jesus’ promise is strengthened by a reminder of the testimony of John the Baptist; he had claimed to baptize merely with water, but prophesied the coming of One who would baptize with the Spirit (Luke 3:16),
God had already made a promise to send them the Holy Spirit, and this is about waiting for God to fulfill that promise
When someone was baptized by John it meant that he or she was ready for God to come. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit and it was the sign that the Messiah had come and the new era had begun [BECNT].
C. Growth Requires Purpose (Act 1:8)
my witnesses The apostles are called to testify about Christ—to proclaim the reality of His death and resurrection as well as His kingdom and lordship (compare v. 3 and note).
Discipleship is not about knowing the times and dates, but it is about being ready. In Acts, this means receiving the Holy Spirit’s power and being witnesses
Instead of being concerned about the date of Christ’s return, the disciples’ job was to carry His message throughout the world.
Be witnesses is Christ’s command to His disciples to tell others about Him regardless of the consequences. Church tradition tells us that all but one of the eleven apostles who heard this promise became martyrs (John died in exile).
God empowered His disciples to be faithful witnesses even when they faced the most vehement opposition. That same power for witnessing is available to us today. Our task is not to convince people, but to testify of the truth of the gospel.
He would enable them to serve as witnesses.
The power they were to receive was divine power; the word is dynamis, the same word used of Jesus’ miracles in the Gospels. It is the Spirit’s power (2:1–21).
L. Keck notes the close connection between the Spirit’s power and the witness to Jesus, observing that what was true of those first apostolic witnesses is still true of witnesses today: “The less Jesus is the core of witness, the less power we have.”
SUPPORTING IDEA: Our call to witness rests on both Christ’s command and his coming.
Notice that the call to witness is not limited to any select group of people since it spreads from the apostles to the 120 believers and on throughout the pages of Acts.
Nor can we restrict it only to service in our own churches or to some kind of “professional ministry.” Every believer should be a “world Christian,” able to function for the Savior from the other side of the street to the other side of the world.
Ordinary people were able to do extraordinary things because the Spirit of God was at work in their lives. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury; it is an absolute necessity.
We hear a great deal these days about “soul winning,” and the emphasis is a good one. However, while some of God’s people have a calling to evangelism (Eph. 4:11), all of God’s people are expected to be witnesses and tell the lost about the Saviour.
This power is for witnessing: it gives (1) power within, (2) power to proclaim the gospel, (3) power to lead others to God.
As “witnesses” the apostles knew Christ to be the Messiah of prophecy and the Redeemer of mankind. They could also testify of His promise to return.
Followers of Christ today are similarly called to bear personal witness to the works and teachings of Jesus, to the purpose of God to save the world through His Son and to the effectiveness of the gospel in their own hearts. No more convincing testimony can be borne. Without personal experience there can be no true Christian witness.
The clause λήμψεσθε δύναμιν ‘you will receive power’ is also translated ‘you will be filled with power’ [TEV], ‘you will be empowered’ [AB], ‘(the Holy Spirit) will give you power’ [CEV]. This noun denotes the potentiality to exert force in performing some function [BDAG, LN].
The Spirit’s power will enable them to speak boldly when testifying to the message of God’s work through Jesus. Their direct and real experience of Jesus and his resurrection qualifies them as witnesses, but the Spirit will give them the capability to articulate their experience with boldness [BECNT, PNTC].
