Empowered By His Spirit

A local farmer was helping one of his cows give birth, when he noticed his 4-year-old son standing wide-eyed at the fence, soaking in the whole event. The farmer thought, "Great, I’m gonna have to start explaining the birds and bees to a four year old! No need to jump the gun, I’ll just let him ask, and I’ll answer." After everything was over, the man walked over to his son and said, "Well son, do you have any questions?" "Just one," gasped the still wide-eyed boy. "How fast was that calf going when he hit that cow?"

Birth is a mysterious thing.

Many of us have had the experience of waiting for that baby to be born. A due date is established, but the baby seldom arrives on the exact date expected. Babies tend to come on their own timetable. As we come to our passage today in Acts 2, we see that the birth of the church happened on God’s timetable.

Last week, in our study of Acts 1, we discovered that the apostles received instruction to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1:4-5). As we pick up the story in Acts 2:1, the birthday of the church is dawning. And it is quite and event! It is a lengthy passage, but let’s read it together.

You might be wondering, “Why should 120 people, sitting in a school building in Mayville Wisconsin, in the 21^st Century care about 120 people sitting in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem in the 1^st Century?”

This book of the Bible that we are examining is commonly called “Acts.” It has been included in our Bibles by God because the actions of the Holy Sprit, and the early church leaders under His guidance, serve as a testimony of His power to us today. This is a book about the Holy Spirit, His impact on the early believers, and His role in our lives today. Some Bibles entitle this book, “The Acts of the Apostles,” but it could just as easily be called, “The Acts of the Early Church,” or perhaps most accurately, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit,” because none of the actions of the apostles, or the church, would have been possible with out the primary acting of the Holy Spirit. This book is called “Acts,” because it’s all about action – about doing, about achievement, about advancement and accomplishment. The “acts” of the book of Acts were empowered by the Holy Spirit – and the acts of the church today must be empowered by that same Holy Spirit.

A Sunday school teacher had taught her class to recite the Apostles Creed by giving each child one phrase to learn. On a beautiful Sunday morning, the class was given a chance to do their recitation before the whole congregation. They began beautifully:

“I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” said Sarah.
“I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,” chimed in Rachael.

Everything went perfect one after the other and then there was a long, uncomfortable, silent pause. Finally a little girl spoke up and said,

Now, I would guess that most people in this building, and most people in Christian churches around this city and this nation would say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” but the reality is that when it comes to His work in our lives, for far too many of us, there’s a long, uncomfortable silence. But without His empowering, we cannot act, and without his filling we won’t act!

Now, we have read a lengthy portion of Scripture today – and without apology! It is the Word of God that is “living, and powerful,” not the words of Bob! There is so much we could examine here today, like details of the Holy Spirit’s coming with the sound like wind and the appearance like fire; or the speaking in languages to the crowd; or Peter’s first great sermon; and more. But I feel led this morning to make just two larger observations from this passage, rather than a lot of focus on the details. I trust that these observations will speak to our hearts this morning.

They could only act after the Holy Spirit came; and after the Holy Spirit came, they could only act!

They could only act after the Holy Spirit came. They did not act on their own power. They had been told to wait, and they had waited. Jesus had said, back in chapter 1, verse 4, that they were to wait for the gift the Father had promised, the Holy Spirit’s baptism. Jesus then told the disciples in verse 8 of chapter 1, that they would have power after that baptism, when the Holy Spirit had come upon them, and that they would be his witnesses. But it all hinged on the Holy Spirit’s arrival in their lives.

Look at the activities of the group while they waited, which we talked about last week. They were obedient, unified, studious, prayerful and trusting in God. All good things, but all introverted. Without the Holy Spirit’s power their activities were limited to waiting and preparing. They were doing what Jesus had told them, but the focus was internal, and rightly so. As we said last week, preparing is important, but preparing is not accomplishing. If all we do is prepare, we never achieve. They were doing what they were supposed to do at that time, but they couldn’t stay there forever!

Now notice the activities of the believers after the Holy Spirit baptism. They were speaking (vs 4), declaring God’s glory (vs 12), teaching & preaching (vs14) warning and pleading (vs 40), baptizing and incorporating into the fellowship (vs 41). When the Holy Spirit filled the early church, their concern turned to the world around them – the very ends of the world that Jesus had told them to reach. After the Spirit came upon them their attention moved from self-preparation and internal issues to reaching the lost at any cost. Henry Martyn wrote, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” When the Spirit of God was in them, they were empowered to live for Him.

After the Holy Spirit came, they could only act! – When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they could not help but act! They had a passion, a fire that drove them to reach out to the people around them. The greatest evidence of the Holy Spirit within them was not the ability to speak in other languages, though that was cool – but the greatest evidence was that they now saw the world as Christ did! His filling altered their entire lives. It changed their focus, their boldness, their effectiveness. Look at verse 40 – Peter warned them and pleaded with them. There is passion in those words! Vance Havner said, “We are not going to move the world by criticism of it, nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.”[i]

When the Holy Spirit of God empowered the People of God, they became passionate about the things of God – lost people. They added 3000 on that day, and if you look over at verse 47 of chapter 2, you will see that from that great birthday of the church, they began to add daily to their number people who were being saved.

I have people who tell me all the time, “I need to get my life right with God.” Maybe that’s why you are here today. I just got a call this week like that from a person I had never met! Man, that is great! But here’s the deal – you can’t do it on your own, or by trying real hard. You don’t get your life right with God by quitting drugs or alcohol. You don’t get your life right with God by going back to church, or taking communion. You don’t get your life right with God by trying to change your life – because it’s still your life!

The people listening to Peter were religious people, they had traveled from all over the world to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, but their religion was hollow and didn’t have any vitality. By any standard today they lived “good lives.” But they wanted more – they needed more! They needed a relationship with God that would be meaningful and real. They had religion, but they didn’t have the Holy Spirit living in them. Sadly, the same is true for millions of people today.

You can’t please God, you can’t live for Him, and you can’t know Him without the Holy Spirit coming upon you and baptizing you into God’s family. This crowd, listening to Peter, realized that they had messed up – they had rejected God, and His love. They were religious, but it was impersonal. Their religious deeds had replaced genuine love. When they realized that, they naturally called out, “What do we need to do?” Peter states this in verse 38 – “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of you sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Peter told them to turn around. To stop going in the direction they had been going – to stop chasing after religion, stop trying on their own, and place their faith in Jesus. When they did that, they, too, would be forgiven of their sins and then they would receive the Holy Spirit and be part of God’s own family.

The same is true today. If you’ve been running around churches for most of your life, but it seems hollow and meaningless – then you need to place your faith in Jesus. Not in religion, not in a church, not in your own good deeds, or your hope to do better. Ask Him to forgive you. Trust only in Him, and turn from whatever has been keeping you from Him. Then you, too will receive the Holy Spirit. You receive that Spirit baptism when you place your faith in Jesus Christ. Church doesn’t do it, trying real hard doesn’t do it – it’s only when we surrender to Him. You cannot live for God any other way.

The second application is this: When the Holy Spirit fills you, you can only live for Him.

When a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to live for anything else. We see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and act with His passion.

But some have placed their faith in Jesus, and yet their lives still seem kind of empty and passionless. Are they not saved? Do they not have the Holy Spirit? Do they have less of the Holy Spirit?

Listen, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, then you have the Holy Spirit within you! Paul tells us “we have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body.” Peter says, “The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off…” When you place your faith in Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit’s indwelling – He comes inside your being, it is a definitive act of God. But that is not the end. The question is not how much of the Holy Spirit do you have, the question is, how much does the Holy Spirit have of you?

Paul, who said we had “all been baptized by one Spirit into one body,” also said, “keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18. Peter and the others received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, but later in the book of Acts we read of Peter being “filled with the Spirit.” The filling is meant to be an ongoing, daily, moment-by-moment emptying of myself so that I can be filled with Him. “When I receive the Holy Spirit, it means that I belong to the Body of Christ, when I am filled with the Holy Spirit, it means my body belongs to Him.” [ii]

If we were to look up into the sky on a clear day, we might be able to see vapor trails streaking across the heavens! The vapor trails are produced by high-flying jet aircraft, flying too high to be seen! Yet, the mere existence of those vapor trails proves that a jet aircraft is up there somewhere in the skies above! So it is with the Holy Spirit! Although the Holy Spirit cannot be seen, He leaves an unmistakable trail as He works in our lives - proving that He is there!

We all remember September 11, 2001 – but do you remember September 12? I remember driving to work that day, and noticing that there was not one vapor trail in the sky. Every plane in the country had been grounded, and I thought, “I probably have never seen this before in my life.” I hope I never see it again. When the sky has not trails, it’s either that there are no planes at all, or the planes are inactive.

Listen. If there is no evidence of the Spirit’s work in your life, then He’s either not there, or He’s been grounded. You either don’t have Him at all because you’ve never given your heart to Jesus, or you’re life is so full of everything else, that He can’t fill you. In either case, you can’t please God without His filling – so give yourself to Jesus today. As Peter said, the promise of the Holy Spirit is for you, and for your children, and for any who are far from God – for whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Ask Him to save you, and to fill you with His Holy Spirit, and empower you for His purposes from this day forward.

[ii] Ibid, pg. 408.