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Creekside Church
Sermon of June 29,
2003
"The Incomparable
Power of God"
Ephesians
1:15-23
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Ginny Haney
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A
while back, on Friday night when I went to bed, I had my schedule
for the day on Saturday all planned in my mind. I had a lot
to do and was eager to get up and get at it. I woke early
when my husband got up to get ready for a breakfast engagement
and allowed myself the luxury of drifting back to sleep while
he took his shower. I anticipated getting up and getting my
shower and beginning my day when he finished. The next thing
I knew, he came in and said, "Did you hear that?"
I said, "No, what?" "A big boom." His
next statement caused a very high level of anxiety in me.
"Uh oh, the power's off!"
I laid
in bed, sleepily contemplating what I could do at that moment.
Steve called NIPSCO and left for breakfast - his plans were
intact. But because our house was powerless, I was powerless.
Everything I had planned to do required power - the vacuum
cleaner, the washer, the shower and most of all, the computer!
I had a paper and 2 sermons to work on! At that moment,
I didn't particularly relish the luxury I had of laying
in bed - I wanted my power back!
I'm
sure you have all had times in your life when you felt powerless.
Perhaps, literally powerless, when you could do nothing
because your electricity was out. Or, when your cell phone
battery is dead and you can't make a phone call. Or, like
my grandson, when thinks he's powerless because the batteries
are dead in his Game Boy. Those situations are fairly easy
to remedy - you just wait for the power to come back on
or put new batteries in. The setback is usually only temporary.
But,
there may be other times you feel powerless in a way that
isn't so easy to attain the power you need. Perhaps you
feel powerless to accomplish something due to time constraints.
Or you can't do something simply because you don't have
the physical strength to do it. We often feel powerless
in times of grief or emotional stress. And, we feel a lack
of power when we can't have what we want - no matter how
realistic the desire. We are, after all, only human and
our capacity is limited. We tend to look for power wherever
we feel we can get it - through status, with money, job
position, etc. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just get
on the internet, go to a search engine and type in the word
power and hits too numerous to access would appear right
before your eyes? You can actually do that, but it doesn't
actually give you the power.
But
Ephesians 1: 15-23 tells us that God used his mighty strength
when he resurrected Jesus - only his incomparable power.
It goes on to say that the same power God exerted in Christ
is in us, as believers. Paul says …"I pray also
that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order
that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the
riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his
incomparably great power for us who believe. That power
is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted
in Christ when he raised him from the dead…."Paul
piles term upon term to emphasize that the extraordinary
divine force by which Jesus Christ was raised is the same
power at work in and through believers. Jesus himself told
the disciples they would receive power to do great works.
Then, very soon after Jesus' ascension into heaven, the
disciples, among many others experienced the miracle of
Pentecost. Once again, they are reminded of the power of
God as his word came to each one in their native tongue.
The only explanation some could give was that everyone was
drunk! But it wasn't that kind of spirit that was in everyone;
it was simply the Spirit of God. And they soon recognized
it as that because they were given the power to do something
they could have not done on their own.
The
disciples had witnessed a resurrected Jesus. They had seen
him ascend into heaven on a cloud and they had witnessed
wind, and tongues of fire and strange languages at Pentecost.
Hollywood would require magic, stunt doubles and pyrotechnics
to pull something like that off. But it was simply God's
power.
That's
a pretty awesome thought to think about that power - God's
power - being at work in us. The NIV tells us that God's
power is incomparably great. Incomparable means "eminent
beyond comparison" or "matchless". Where
we as humans fall short, God's power is matchless - there
is nothing else like it- and it is in us - because we believe
in him and we believe in Jesus as the risen savior.
I read
a true story lately about the pastor of a church whose kitten
had climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid
to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc.
The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough
to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to
his car and drove away so that the tree bent down, he could
then reach up and get the kitten. So, he did. All the while,
checking his progress in the car frequently, he figured
if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be
bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he
moved a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree
went "boing!" and the kitten instantly sailed
through the air and out of sight.
The
pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood
asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody
had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, "Lord, I just
commit this kitten to your keeping," and went on about
his business.
A few
days later, he was at the grocery store, and met one of
his church members. He happened to look into her shopping
cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was
a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why
are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?"
She replied, "You won't believe this," and told
him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat,
but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child
had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl
"Well if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it".
She then told the pastor, "I watched my child go out
in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And
really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with
my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue
sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front
of her." -- I am quite sure that mother never underestimated
the power of God ever again!
In spite
of all the visible demonstrations of God's power the disciples
weren't quite convinced when Jesus left them again that
they could do what he had asked them to do. Paul's letters
to the new believers repeatedly reinforced this.
To the
Corinthians he says - "For the kingdom of God is not
a matter of talk but of power." (1 Cor. 4:20) And -
"For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet
he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet
by God's power we will live with him to serve you. (2 Cor.
13: 4)
To the
Thessalonians: "…because our gospel came to you
not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy
Spirit and with deep conviction…." (1 Thes 1:
5) "…with this in mind, we constantly pray for
you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and
that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours
and every act prompted by your faith." (2 Thes. 1:
11)
And
once again to the Ephesians: "I pray that out of his
glorious riches he may strengthen you with powers through
his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell
in you hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, may have power, together
with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high
and deep is the love of Christ… Now to him who is able
to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according
to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations,
for ever and ever! Amen." (Eph. 4: 16-18, 20)
Wow
- we are put on the same level as the new Christians. We
are put on the same level as the saints. And we are told
that the power is available to us through our faith. That
power comes to us at the times we need it most. Sometimes,
we are aware of it, other times, its just there - like the
air we breathe or the ground we walk on.
It is
understandable that the new Christians needed to be reminded
of the power of God through Jesus. But here we are more
than 2000 years later and we sometimes seem to have a very
short-term memory. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to be all-
inclusive, but I at least need to be reminded constantly
that God's power is in me - and works through me - because
I believe. And - all this power is in us!!! We don't have
to plug anything in, or change the batteries or call the
power company. The power is there!! Just because we believe!!!
Sometimes we just have to say, "God, I cannot do this
on my own, but I choose to believe that with you I can."
In 1984,
my husband's sister died of cancer at the age of 36. She
had a special song that got her through some of the rough
time. It was called "Like a Dove" and that the
choir sang it at her funeral. It still touches many of us
in a special place when we hear it. When Linda died, it
was a very painful experience for her family and friends.
But, somehow, through this experience, I really felt the
power of God. I found strength through the faith and quiet
witness that shone through her suffering that sustained
me.
"Like
a Dove" gave Linda strength to get through the effects
of her chemotherapy treatments. It tells of how the Spirit
of God came to Jesus like a dove and how that Spirit stays
with us even now. This message was the reminder that Linda
needed in her spirit to deal with the disease and its effects
that were ravaging her body.
After
the song was sung at Linda's funeral, it got put at the
back of the shelf for quite some time after that. No one
could bear to sing it again. When someone got it out to
sing again about a year and a half later, I was taking an
American Sign Language class and was moved to ask if I could
sign the song while they sang it. Sign language has a beauty
all its own and it really fit with the words of the song-
"Like a dove, the spirit comes to us, like a dove,
it then remains with us, from above a voice cries this is
my beloved child, with whom I'm well pleased." I practiced
and practiced. But - how in the world could I do this? As
much as I was convinced that I wanted to do this to honor
Linda, I was almost as convinced that I couldn't pull it
off.
When
it came time for the worship that morning, I was petrified.
I hadn't done a lot of public performance at that time,
so I frantically prayed for two things - Dear God, please
don't let my hands shake, and please, please, don't let
me cry!! The hymn that was sung just before the choir was
to sing "Like a Dove" was "God of Grace and
God of Glory." I closed my eyes and sang from memory,
hoping to gain some shred of strength. "God of grace
and God of glory, on thy people pour thy power…"
As I sang, an amazing thing happened. A feeling of actual
physical warmth - and yes, power - started at the top of
my head and worked its way down through my body. I can't
describe the incredible peace and strength that came to
me at that moment. By the time we finished the fourth verse,
I felt I probably could have leapt a tall building with
a single bound.
God's
grace and power got me through that song. And it has gotten
me through many other things - both small and insignificant,
and large and catastrophic. God's power comes to us - in
the simple belief of a child wishing for a kitten - as a
feeling of physical strength - in the whisper of the wind
- in the flicker of a flame - as the gentle flutter of bird
wings… And through the Spirit of God, we can do things
that we could not have done on our own. God is the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Here and the
There, the Before and the After, the Up and the Down, the
Left and the Right and The space in Between. God is the
All in All.
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