Sermon:
Most of us, at one time or another, have flown in a commercial jet. They are powerful. You sit there at the end of the runway waiting for the pilot to spool up or rev up the engines, and you hear that whine, that loud whine as they get going and then the pilot releases the brakes and off you go, being pulled back into the seats. You feel the power of those jet engines. A simple act of kindness has power, too. I remember once I was in the Marine Corps coming home to Fort Worth from being overseas and I was seated in an aisle seat. The man, older gentleman, next to me, seated next to the window, got to talking and he was the president of either the University of Florida or Florida State. In any event, I was in my uniform and he asked me if I’d like to sit by the window when we came in to land and we felt that power when the pilot uses the engines to reverse thrust and slow us down. I’ll never forget that little act of kindness. It was a thrill for me to see outside and witness that power of those engines. But while I remember the power of those jet engines, I especially remember his act of kindness. I have no idea whether he was a Christian or not or even religious. I never corresponded with him, don’t even know his name. But I remember the power of his kindness.
That’s power. That’s the true power of God. But God’s power is not limited to the acts of kindness you and I do for each other.
1 John 5:18-21
We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. 20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;£ and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.£
The power of God protects us from evil and as John said “the whole world lies under the power of the evil one”
This doesn’t relieve each of us Christians, followers of Christ, of the responsibility of telling others about the power we have been given, even if “the whole world lies under the power of the evil one” In fact, we must double and re-double our efforts to make the world aware of the love of God, the power of God, through simple acts of kindness.
But even the evil ones powers are derived from God. Remember what Jesus Christ told Pilate in our Bible reading for today?
Jesus Christ said to Pilate; “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above;
All of the world leaders have no power except that that they have been given from God above, The Almighty Power.
Put what Jesus Christ said to Pilate in perspective. Here’s Rome, the all powerful Empire…Nation…in that time, about like America is now, America the lone superpower in the world, and Jesus Christ is telling our leaders, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above;
All power, here in America, then in Rome, all over the Universe with its awesome display of power sometimes, all of that natural power, all of that political power comes from God.
Even leaders of another faith, for example Osama Bin Laden, have no power except that which is given to him and his followers by God. Why does God give them power over others? I don’t know. It’s a mystery to me. Why would God allow Satan to run loose on the world for the time being? I don’t know but the Bible speaks of us being remnants, always remnants.
You know what remnants are, don’t you? Those are the pretty pieces of cloth that a person who is skilled in the fiber arts, making a quilt, a beautiful quilt that keeps us warm on a cold winters night, that beautiful warm protecting quilt is made up of remnants of cloth woven together by a master weaver.
As Paul wrote to the Romans in Chapter 9 beginning in verse 27
“And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.”£ 29And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors£ to us,
we would have fared like Sodom
and been made like Gomorrah.”
That’s Paul from the letter to the Romans. “only a remnant of them will be saved”
So, even though all the world is under the spell of the evil one, including here in America, we, the followers of Christ will be God’s remnants, for God to craft into a beautiful warm protective quilt.
But as Jesus Christ in Luke 10:17
said after he had been told by some of his followers that
“Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18He said to them, Jesus Christ said “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
So, someday, sometime, God will make Satan fall again like a flash of lightning! Like a flash of lightning, Satan will fall.
Christ demonstrated his power over Satan, over and over again. From
Luke 4:32 The Bible says.
He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34“Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 35But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. 36They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!” 37And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.
But don’t get caught up with what is called eschatology, which seems to catch so many Christians. Look at the popularity of the books “The Left Behind series.”
The Bible says in
Acts 1:6
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9
It’s all fun to speculate, but never let that simple speculation take your soul away from the task at hand with Jesus Christ, the simple acts of kindness in the name of Jesus Christ that set you aside and apart from the evil world. If two people on the same street at the same time, one is robbing a bank and shooting, violently shooting a bystander, and the other is tending to that persons wounds, which do you suppose is the Christian? Pretty easy. But place yourself in a board room of a large corporation and one person suggests a scheme to bilk thousands out of their life savings and you as a Christian, do you sit there and say nothing or do you speak up? Or you’re on the freeway and let someone in who was trying to merge. Or you give up your seat to a young marine on his way home from overseas. A simple act of kindness. A simple act of kindness and you have shown the true power of God. And you become part of God’s quilt.
Jesus Christ demonstrated for us how to turn the Devil back, to say no to the Devil, to Satan, to the evil of this world.
The Bible tells us in
Luke 4:5
Then the devil£ led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And the devil£ said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”
9
And we can always pray. The power of prayer is beyond doubt. I like to say about prayer, “It works, it always works.”
Here is a prayer of worship to God, that tells God we know of God’s power. From the old Testament from the Book of
Jeremiah 32:17
Jeremiah prayed “Ah Lord GOD! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”
I end today with what I started with, the Beatitudes. I want to do this because it demonstrates to me that the power of God is not what we humans think of as power. We think of power as being more of a force to make others do our will, be under our control. Just think of the power of a nuclear bomb. The first two atom bombs that exploded over Japan in August 1945 and made the Japanese surrender to the allied forces in World War 2, each of those bombs had more power than more scientists had imagined just a few years before. The first one dropped over Hiroshima contained the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT and killed over 145,000 Japanese. Now, I’m not arguing the ethics of efficacy of that bomb. I’m simply pointing out its destructive power. 20,000 tons of TNT. A ton is 2000 pounds, so doing the math, that bomb was as if you had stacked 2000 times 20000 pounds of TNT or 40,000,000 million pounds of TNT. I know from having worked with some Demolition people in the Marine Corps that they use ¼ blocks of TNT to create shellholes 4 feet deep. 40 million pounds of TNT. And yet, as immense as that is, we humans have gone on to make today’s nuclear weapons with a yield of power 1000 times that. That kind of power on Earth is almost unimaginable. And yet all of that power comes from God. How we use his power, for evil, nuclear bombs or for good, simple acts of kindness is up to us, each of each.
As Jesus Christ said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely£ on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If you’d like to have this immense power, God’s power then Join me right now with a prayer, it doesn’t have to be exactly like this but pray with me now “Oh Heavenly Father, I have been searching for the wrong power, for the wrong reasons. Please, give the understanding and the love to know the power in one simple act of kindness. In Jesus precious name I pray…Amen”
