Sermon for 2/22/2009
Ephesians 1:15-23
Introduction:
On May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens exploded with what is the most visible indication of the power of nature that the modern world has ever seen. At 8:32 am the explosion ripped 1,300 feet off the mountain, with a force of 10 million tons of TNT, or roughly equal to five hundred Hiroshima’s. Sixty people were killed, most by a blast of 300 degrees heat traveling at 200 miles an hour. Some were killed as far as 16 miles away.
WBTU:
A. Lot of things to talk about from these verses but I want to focus on power.
B. Vs. 19 Paul talks about God’s power. Other translations use adjectives like immeasurable and unlimited power, the exceeding and incredible greatness of his power. The NIV says incomparably great power. His power doesn’t compare, doesn’t match up to other powers. The NASB says the surpassing greatness of his power. This version is telling us to imagine the most powerful thing we know and God’s power surpasses even that.
C. How do we know God is powerful?
1. God is all powerful. Almighty God
2. God made the universe in 6 days
3. His miracles described in the Bible. Greatest - resurrection of Christ.
D. What happened when Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Mention three things:
1. The power of sin was broken.
a. (Gal 3:22) But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin
b. (Heb 9:26 NIV) But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
2. Jesus Christ destroyed the work of the devil.
a. When Jesus died, the devil and Christ where engaged in a battle.
b. (1 John 3:8 NIV) The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
c. (Gen 3:15 NIV) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
3. Jesus Christ has control over death.
i. (Heb 2:14 NIV) Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--(Heb 2:15 NIV) and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
a. (Rev 1:18) I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
E. In most Scriptures it says that God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead. This account is no different. Ephesians 1:19-20- Working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ. God’s stamp of approval on what Christ did,
F. Three days in that tomb. He was not just sick, his heart probably burst, his lungs were damaged, lack of blood, wounds would have been enough. To bring a body like that back to life is impossible. (Mat 19:26 NIV) "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
G. Had a doctor come and give a talk on the state of Lazarus’ body after 4 days. Jesus body would have been in a similar state
H. Lazarus was raised to die again, but Christ was raised never to die again.
I. Ephesians 1:20- The ascension of Christ.
1. (Acts 1:9 NIV) After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (Acts 1:10 NIV) They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going.
2. (Eph 4:10 NIV) He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.
J. When he reached God’s right hand, he was exalted. (Phil 2:9 NIV) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (Phil 2:10 NIV) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (Phil 2:11 NIV) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
K. When Christ comes back, he will be fully above all rule and authority as described in Ephesians 1:21. Only in the church is he the head today. One day He will be completely over all. (1 Cor 15:24 NIV) Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. (1 Cor 15:25 NIV) For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
L. This power is the same power that is available to us. But we feel so powerless. Many Christians do not know this power- or they only know if from a distance.
M. When we think of the resurrection of Christ, we think of the things that happened after it. However, this is not the resurrection power. His body lay in the tomb wrapped in the grace clothes, and at the moment God determined, the body left those grave clothes and just walked out of the tomb. What I am trying to say is that the power of God, the resurrection power, is not a power that makes a great demonstration. It is quiet. But it is there!
Thesis: What does this power help us to do?
For instances:
1. Helps us to be saved.
This power is for us who believe, yes, but it is also leads us to Jesus Christ and His salvation. (Rom 1:16 NIV) I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
A. An old miner, who was transformed during the Welsh Revival in 1859, said, “When I was a boy we dug our coal with chisels, after that came dynamite, and with this we mined a much bigger quantity of coal. Till this week I have seen nothing but chisel work in our churches, but now here is God’s dynamite at work!
B. We got our English word Dynamite from the Greek word Power from this verse!
C. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
D. Stop using chisels and start using dynamite. Let the gospel consume us; let us be saturated with the gospel.
E. Billy Graham is an evangelist that always emphasizes the gospel (death, burial and resurrection of Jesus). I used to listen to the Hour of Decision and it amazed me that Dr. Graham always mentioned something about the gospel and his messages were very simple. After a while I could almost predict what he would say. I would think, "Why doesn’t he talk about something else?" Let me say that because he emphasizes the gospel, the Lord has used him to get more decisions for Christ than any preacher I know!
2. Helps us to be sanctified
A. To be holy, to be like Jesus Christ.
B. The power to change bad habits. Most of us are caught up in some kind of habit that is harmful to us… physically, emotionally or spiritually. Habits are hard to change. However, God has the power to change habits.
C. The power to change heartaches. We all know what it is like to have heartache. It may be someone we love who hurts us. Perhaps it involves a death in the family. Perhaps it is a dysfunctional family, suffering from the pains of divorce. It may be something we do or say that damages a friendship. Maybe our church family doesn’t behave as we think they should. We have many inner hurts. We may be bitter over some experience that we had long ago, and we have a hard time forgiving somebody for what they have done. Our heartaches are many. But God does not want us to remain heartbroken. Our life is to be a joyous life. Jesus told us that He came to bring us life and life more abundantly. God has the power to change heartaches to joy.
D. The power to overcome fears. The answer to fear is power and love.
D. The power to change history. The Bible teaches that the very direction of nations can be changed by God. The Iron Curtain! Now our own nation.
E. Charles Spurgeon- The very same power which raised Christ is waiting to raise the drunkard from his drunkenness, to raise the thief from his dishonesty, to raise the Pharisee from his self righteousness, to raise the Sadducee from his unbelief.
F. (2 Pet 1:3 NIV) His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
G. If we have Christ we have all we need. Not saying that we don’t need the help of others, but through his divine power working through others, we have all that we need.
3. Helps us to serve others.
A. if God wants us to do it; he will give us the strength, wisdom and direction.
C. The church should make more BAGS- Big Audacious Goals. Many churches make plans and goals based on what they can do with there resources. What they feel they can do. What about what God can do?
D. We need to feel like we can do it. If we wait for this, we will never do anything. Begin to reach out and act to meet the needs around, and suddenly we discover that there is unusual power at work.
E. The Message Paraphrase- vs. 19- Oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him- endless energy, boundless strength! Don’t we want that!
F. (Phil 4:13 NIV) I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Invitation:
There was a Welsh woman who lived in a valley far away from any town or city. She was s simple minded, hard working person who knew little about the ways of the world. At a great sacrifice to herself, she had electricity installed in her little cottage. "You use the electric lights so little, I wonder if it was worth what it cost you to have them put in," said a neighbor. "Oh, yes," answered the woman. "I switch them on every night to see to light my lamps. Then I switch them off!" Think of it! With great power at her command with the flip of a switch, she continued the task of trimming wicks, pouring oil and lighting lamps!
For Christians many times we do things in our own power and it makes us tired. We have power beyond compare at our disposal but we often fail to use the power God provides.
For those without Christ, you need to tap into the power source. Need to be saved to get the power of Jesus Christ in your life.
