On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:4-5
What would have happened if His disciples had gone out anyway despite Jesus’ command? Let’s ignore the disobedience factor for the moment: These Jesus-trained disciples who were definitely privy to their assignment (Go, Make, Teach, Witness, etc.) and had just enough information to be dangerous could have tried to create their own plan as to how they were going to carry out His instructions. Given the disciples’ previous tendency to argue over who is the greatest, I could see their own planning going down something like this:
Peter: Okay, let’s divide ourselves up to conquer more territory.
John: But we’ll totes go in pairs like Jesus showed us!
Matthew: Okay, I’ll take the new guy Matthias and we’ll go to Judea.
James: Bart and I have dibbs on Galilee!
Judas: Not quite, James. Simon and I already have a plan for Galilee; you all go to Samaria
Simon: Not it!
Philip: Are there Jews in Rome? Maybe someone should go to Rome.
Thomas: Guys, I doubt ANY of this is going to work…
This sounds like a staff meeting we might have today as we strategize about ministry organization, church planting, sending people as missionaries, etc. We rely on our strength, our smarts, and our assignment–though all these things come from Jesus Himself–but we can often sidestep the Holy Spirit who was sent and meant to empower and equip us. He does that in His own timing and in specific areas. This fictional and man-made plan would have these twelve men with limited resources tag-teaming large areas of land on their own. Six pairs of men are not going to change the landscape on their own with this kind of scheme.
Have you been guilty of trying to forge ahead without the Holy Spirit, and it flopped big time? Check out next week’s conclusion of “Wait for Wave” to see why it was worth the wait!