Acts 1: Who are you playing your part for?

We all have ways of interpreting things.  What passes as a harmless remark made in jest for one person, is a deeply hurtful insult to another.  The difference between the two ways of seeing it is usually based on what experiences shape our worldview.  For the first disciples of Christ, the period surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection was a tumultuous one.  It would have been easy for them to swing on a pendulum from depression to elation and back, and at times that is probably exactly how they felt.  However, the beginning of Acts tells us that despite the variety of emotion that they undoubtedly felt, those earliest followers of Jesus sought to anchor themselves by interpreting all that they experienced through the lens of scripture, and by devoting themselves to prayer.  What is the first thing that the disciples do after being commissioned by Jesus to go to the ends of the earth?   They pray.  They have the knowledge that they need.  They have just had a 40-day intensive course with Jesus’ as their teacher, but clearly more than knowledge is needed.  The disciples have Jesus teaching, but they must also wait for his power.

This power had been promised to the disciples by Jesus, but it had actually been promised long before then.  Several centuries before Jesus’ ministry, the prophet Joel had related a promise from God concerning the time of renewal that he would bring about:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (Joel 2:28-29)

Jesus hinted during his ministry that the promise was near at hand, for when comforting the disciples concerning their ability to stand up to persecution, Jesus reassures them that “it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:20)  Multiple times in the Gospel of John, Jesus promises them an advocate or comforter who will strengthen and enlighten them in times of trial.  All of this is a fulfillment of what John the Baptist said concerning Jesus:

 “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16) 

So Jesus tells them that the power promised ages ago to their forefathers was about to arrive.  God is about to keep his promise and the words of John the Baptist will ring true.  Jesus sends them out with the assurance that the promise of power is about to become a reality.

But to what end?  It is not enough to know that the Holy Spirit came; we must know why it came.  The short answer to ‘why’ is because we need to play our part, and play it well, and for that we need power.  It is easy to get so caught up in the miraculous work of Peter, James, John, and Paul that we forget the Holy Spirit descended on all the followers of Jesus who had gathered together.   

Only Peter, James, and John are mentioned again in Acts, or any other New Testament book other than the gospels.  We are not even sure what happened to Justus and Matthias, the two finalists for Judas old position as a member of the twelve apostles, after Matthias is chosen.  It is not that they did not do anything; it is just that their acts were not known to the world, and in many cases their lives have been lost to history.  What a stark reminder that our deeds in this life are not done for our own glory!  Should the Lord tarry, it is likely that within a hundred years no one will remember who we were.  However, God can be glorified if the impact of our life is felt, albeit anonymously.  While it may seem that the purpose of the Holy Spirit was to work miracles through a few apostles, in reality its purpose is broader and deeper than isolated acts of miraculous healing.  The Spirit’s purpose is to work from the inside out, dwelling in the heart of every Christian, and remaking that person into the image of God.  That is why we must remember that the whole reason behind our faith is not to serve or glorify ourselves, but to serve others and glorify God.  Jesus had reminded his followers of this when he was with them:      

“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Mark 10:45

The Holy Spirit inaugurates a kingdom where greatness is judged not based on who takes the most, but on who gives the most; and because giving is not always easy, Jesus sends the Spirit to lend us a hand.  Hopefully we will all learn something from these earliest Christians.  When speaking of them, the theologian N. T. Wright makes the observation that:

“Part of Christian obedience, right from the beginning, was the call to play (apparently) great parts without pride and (apparently) small parts without shame.”

Do you take pride because you seemingly have all the power?  Are you ashamed because you seemingly have none?  The Holy Spirit comes to convict you, to convict me, to convict all of us that none of that matters.  It comes to tell us that the question is not what part are we playing, but who are we playing our part for?