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THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

POWER TO GO ON

Acts 1:1–5

My Dear Theophilus, I have already given you an account of all the things that Jesus began to do and to teach, right up to the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had, through the Holy Spirit, given his instructions to the apostles whom he had chosen. In the days that followed his sufferings, he also showed himself living to them by many proofs, for he was seen by them on various occasions throughout a period of forty days; and he spoke to them about the kingdom of God. While he was staying with them, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem but to wait for the Father’s promise, ‘which’, he said, ‘I told you about; for I told you that John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit before many days have passed’.

IN two senses, Acts is the second chapter of a continued story. First, it is the second volume which Luke had sent to Theophilus. In the first volume, his gospel, Luke had told the story of the earthly life of Jesus. Now he goes on to tell the story of the Christian Church. Second, Acts is the second volume of a story which has no end. The gospel was only the story of what Jesus began to do and to teach.

There are different kinds of immortality. There is an immortality of fame. In Henry V, Shakespeare puts into the king’s mouth a speech which promises an immortal memory if the Battle of Agincourt is won:

This story shall the good man tell his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered.

Beyond a doubt, Jesus did win such an immortality, for his name will never be forgotten.

There is an immortality of influence. Some people leave an effect in the world which cannot die. Sir Francis Drake was the greatest of English sailors, and to this day the Royal Naval Barracks at Plymouth are called HMS Drake so that there may always be sailors armed with ‘that crested and prevailing name’. Without a doubt, Jesus won an immortality of influence, for his effect upon the world and lives of men and women cannot die.

Above all, there is an immortality of presence and of power. Jesus not only left an immortal name and influence; he is still alive and still active. He is not the one who was; he is the one who is.

In one sense, it is the whole lesson of Acts that the life of Jesus goes on in his Church. Professor John Foster of Glasgow University told how an inquirer from Hinduism came to an Indian bishop. Without any help, he had read the New Testament. The story had fascinated him, and Christ had laid his spell upon him. ‘Then he read on . . . and felt he had entered into a new world. In the gospels it was Jesus, his works and his suffering. In the Acts . . . what the disciples did and thought and taught had taken the place that Christ had occupied. The Church continued where Jesus had left off at his death. “Therefore,” said this man to me, “I must belong to the Church that carries on the life of Christ.” ’ The book of Acts tells of the Church that carries on the life of Christ.

This passage tells us how the Church was empowered to do that by the work of the Holy Spirit. We often call the Holy Spirit the Comforter. That word goes back to the translation by John Wyclif, made in the fourteenth century; but in Wyclif’s day it had a different meaning. It comes from the Latin fortis, which means brave; the Comforter is the one who fills people with courage and with strength. In the book of Acts, indeed all through the New Testament, it is very difficult to draw a line between the work of the Spirit and the work of the risen Christ; and we do not need to do so, for the coming of the Spirit is the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus: ‘And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20).

Let us note one other thing. The apostles were told to wait for the coming of the Spirit. We would gain more power and courage and peace if we learned to wait. In the business of life, we need to learn to be still. ‘Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength’ (Isaiah 40:31). Amid life’s surging activity, there must be time to receive.