SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: January 10, 2015
Date Preached: January 11, 2015
Church: OPBC (AM) Sunday
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Title: Our Power in Christ
Text: 2 Timothy 1:7-9; 2 Cor 4:1-18
ETS: Paul told Timothy had great power through Christ.
ESS: Our service to God is fueled by a power we cannot comprehend.
Introduction:
Today is the 2nd Sunday of the new year…how y’all holdin’ up? Last week we looked at a passage where Paul taught Timothy fear was not an option for believers… He said, [show 2 Tim 1:7-9 here…follow me as I read]
7for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
He shared that fear was not to be a part of the Christian walk because God equips believers with three very important tools to live a victorious Christian life!
We also took a brief look at these tools last week…we briefly reviewed what those tools are, they are “…power, love and self-control…”
Last week I shared how fear was rearing its ugly head in my life, and I told you that our severely reduced budget had brought fear into my heart.
BUT then I told you that fear was not controlling me because that God had given me a new focus… I’m not exactly sure what words I used or how I said it… but simply put fear drove me to God’s word and when I got in God’s word… my OUTLOOK changed!
FEAR was rising in my heart, but when I focused on God’s Word for my life… that fear was replaced with something else! My brothers and sisters I am NO longer in fear…
I was fearful of my future; I was wondering how I was going to make it…My focus was directed toward ME; I only considered my power over the situation; I only saw what I could do! You see, it was a focus on the wrong thing!
However, now I God’s word has affirmed to me something I already knew … that NO matter what happens… God is in control. He will make a way to keep me here OR He will chooses to make a change… It is up to Him!
I am comforted and at peace in my heart that God is in control because…you know what?? God does NOT make mistakes!
So I say, to the Enemy:
bring on that fear…
bring on your attacks…
So I say, to my situation/circumstances:
bring on this revitalization…
bring on the changes to be made…
bring on the challenges of our budget…
bring on the ALL challenges that we face in our fellowship!
Bring em ALL on…because no longer live in fear! The fear that the enemy wants to paralyze me NO longer has a hold on ME!
Do you remember what I said about fear last week? Fear is a choice! Fear is NOT real…Fear is in our minds…we make something out of nothing and drives us to fear!
I am not naïve and I know there are dangers that we must avoid both personally and a corporate body of believers… BUT I will NOT fear!
Why? Because I know I am equipped with 3 very useful and powerful tools from God! My friends if you have Christ in you…YOU are also equipped with these same powerful tools!
Over my next 3 sermons I am going to dive into these tools and hopefully we will ALL get to know them better and begin to use them in our Christian lives so that we NO longer are ruled by a spirit of fear!
The first tool I know I am equipped with and that I want to speak about is the spiritual tool of POWER! Paul told Timothy that he was NOT called to be given to the spirit of Fear… but of POWER!
People, when we receive Jesus into our hearts & lives, we are EMPOWERED and fueled by the God who created all things!
Do you understand what that means? The very One who spoke the words, Let there be… and then there WAS… That ONE is the ONE who gives you power through His HS which dwells within you! If you have Christ in your life, you have the mighty power of Heaven at your disposal!
Now when you sit back and take that view…
When you sit back & understand that the very power that spoke the world into existence flows through your life - you have to cry out…
How can I be afraid?
How can I allow the Enemy to bully me with fear?
How can I allow the situations and circumstances of life take me away from God’s focus on my life?
Let me share some useful bits of information about his power we have coursing through our very soul!
The word Paul uses is the Greek word dunamis, its where we get our English word for dynamite! told you this last week…
The Bible uses this Greek word for power about 250 times total and about 120 times in the NT. However, as I was studying God laid a passage on my heart from Paul’s letter to another church… the church at Corinth!
Here Paul was emphasizing the futility of our own power but the surpassing strength we have in HIS power! So turn with me to 2 Cor 4 and we are going to look at the entire chapter but I want to start off by reading what Paul says here about fear and power! [show verses here-follow me as I read]
6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us…16So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Paul was addressing a congregation that was fearful of many things…it seems like they were a fellowship on the brink of giving up! They felt like EVERYTHIING was falling apart!
Oak Park, do you ever feel like that? Do you feel like the things in YOUR life are falling apart? Do you feel like you are on the brink of giving up and throwing in the towel?
In the first few verses of this passage Paul give a general encouragement to this fellowship! Paul’s desire was to see them stay on course with God!
So how does the tool of power work in defeating fear in the life of the believer? Well Paul lays out
We are called thru God’s power…not our own (v1-7)
1Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. [show v7 here]
The calling of God is upon each and every life that receives Jesus as Savior and in HIM we should never lose heart!
But we cannot just simply SAY we have faith….remember I reminded you last week what James said about faith. He says that an empty faith…or a faith that has NO works attached to it… it is an empty or a dead faith!
First I want to point out here that Paul does NOT believe he is instructing these people apart from how HE lives his life… He INCLUDES himself in this instruction
Here Paul lets the Corinthian church know that they have been called by God and they have made the choice to serve Him! They had CHOSEN to act in service…look what Paul says about them:
2But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. [show v2 here]
They have renounced their former ways… what Paul means here is they have made a conscious choice to put aside their old way of life… they had turned their back on how they used to live!
Now they could only do this and make this choice because God had called them and saved them! But they were ACTIVELY serving by laying aside their former self!
He also states here that they REFUSE to tamper with the word of God… in other words, they were seeking to be obedient to what God’s Word says!
He uses the phrase ‘…practice cunning…’ which is a shot at those who want to take the word of God and then twist it to their own personal desire! Those who take God’s word and then say things like, “…well the Bible says THIS but it really means this…” and then they will pronounce their own interpretation…
My brothers and sisters… the Bible is not UP for our interpretation! We do not read INTERPRETATIONS of the Bible, we read translations. We don’t INTERPRET the Bible we seek its original meaning and purpose!
We seek the original truth and then we apply that original truth into our own lives… We don’t bend Scripture to approve our lives… we are called to live a life that bends in obedience TO Scripture…TO the Word of God
Paul states here that they had RENOUNCED this way of thinking… with the implication being that they had submitted in obedience to the Scripture!
Even when we live according to how God calls us to live, there is going to be hardship and burden in our lives! When we try to share Jesus with the world… many will NOT look, many will NOT listen…
Have you ever been faithful to share your faith only to see that person just walk away? Have you ever been faithful to live obediently but it seems as if your life has NO affect on those around you? Look what Paul says about that…
[show v3 here]
3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
What Paul is saying here is that we live in a world where the enemy is strong and his deception is hard to avoid! We ourselves are deceived by him from time to time when we take our focus off of Jesus…RIGHT?
But understand that your obedience is not result oriented… The enemy wants us to think that way… he wants us to think that if we don’t see results that we are a failure, that God is not pleased with us… He wants us to melt in fear over failing God! But look what Paul says…
[show v5 here]
5For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
What we proclaim is NOT ourselves… it is NOT from our own power! It is NOT of our own making… it is from the God who created everything!
We must understand that the message we have for this world AND the power we have to take this message to the world is from the same place… they BOTH come from the one who caused light to shine out of the darkness…
Finally Paul says that our calling is not our own, but it is from God by saying in v7 [show v7 here]
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
This treasure is our calling in Christ! God’s calling is placed upon fragile clay vessels…
God chooses to use those who are cracked and in danger of breaking under the pressure, NOT because he believes they will endure, but to show His power and His might in overcoming the fear the enemy wants to inject into our lives!
The enemy wants us to cower at how awful things are in this world and how much we fail God… He wants us to be fearful, but we are NOT called to that spirit of fear but to a life of power…fueled by HIS calling in our lives!
Last week I said my focus has been changed… well the first thing is that I have come to realize that my fear is based on my power… but my calling is based on HIS power!
I am called by HIS power to serve… I have to make the choice to serve as He has called! My focus is on making the choice of following HIM!
You too may struggle with this area of your Christian walk! We are all called by God to serve Him thru His power in this world… but the 2nd point this morning is that calling to SERVE Him is in a BROKEN world!
We serve thru God’s power in a broken world (v8-12)
Have you ever heard the phrase, “In a perfect world… this or that would be like this or that…” To me that is the most idiotic statement we could ever make… truthfully speaking we should NEVER use that phrase because we live in a broken world.
Nothing is going to work out as you think it will… let me try to illustrate this to you. Do you remember training for the first job you ever had?
The person training you told you just how things were supposed to go… but when you started working… things never seemed to go like they had told you they would!
I can remember my very 1st job at 15… I went to work at Wendy’s and the first thing they trained me on was the French fry machine… they told me you do this, and this and this and its easy…no problem! But don’t get burned…
I trained and I told my trainer I was ready… but I really didn’t fully grasp he meant by ‘don’t get burned’ meant… However, on my first day of work when I was running the French fry machine… I found out!
Getting burned meant not having fries ready when the orders come thru…and the manager was NOT happy! I was the one who got burned… I did not last long in that job!
You know this old world is like that… we hear how we can do this or that in this life, but when we start doing it, things never go as planned do they?
This old world always seems to get the better of us from time to time. AND there are many times when we MAY feel like we need to throw in the towel…
Look what Paul says to the believers in Corinth…
[show v8-12 here]
8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Is your life like this… does it seem like life ‘afflicts’ you in EVERY WAY? Does fear rule in your heart because you feel like the world is crushing you down? Are you perplexed at what happens and wonder why God allows such things to happen to someone who is obedient to Him?
Maybe you are facing despair in your life because you feel persecuted as a believer? Maybe fear rules in your heart because it seems that no matter what you do…you get shot down and put down at every turn…
Do you ever feel like that? Well Paul said these things NOT because they MAY happen in your life… he said them because you ARE going to face them in your life… you probably will face them everyday!
James tells us that we should rejoice in such things… he says WHEN trials and tribulation come… not IF but WHEN! Here Paul speaks to these things because these are things that bring FEAR into our hearts!
But Paul gives us a view that the enemy does NOT want us to look at, he says it like this:… now this is not Scripture but this is my paraphrase of what Paul is saying here… I am not taking what Paul said and making it mine, but I am trying to illustrate Paul’s point here…
Paul says, “…people you know we are afflicted in every way…from every angle…from any source… and you know the enemy knows NO boundaries when it comes to bringing affliction into our lives…”
In essence, what Paul is saying here is that affliction is part of living in this world, especially for the believer! We live in a broken world filled with sin and we are never going to have rest from sin and our sin nature while we live here in this life… Our lives will always be afflicted by the evil one!
However, Paul says we are afflicted by the enemy BUT we are NOT crushed! Why is this? It is because we are NOT doing this under our own power! We are not crushed because Christ is there to sustain us and protect us…
Yeah tho I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear NO evil because YOU are with me!
Paul tells us there that affliction can perplex your heart and leave you confused and disoriented… Has the enemy ever done that to you? Has he ever come at you so hard that you were left confused & disoriented…not knowing what to do or how to react?
What Paul is saying is that for the believer focused on Christ, fear will not rule the day! When the world throws more at us than we believe we can handle… we may be perplexed… BUT we are NOT driven to despair!
This is because Christ is in our hearts & lives! The believer focused on God will trust that God is faithful beyond the circumstances of life!
I know that there are times that the disturbing nature of this world can cause issues, but there are other times when it comes from the people in our lives!
Paul says we will be persecuted… he says we WILL see persecution BUT we will NOT be forsaken! This is because God has promised He will never leave or forsake us! He has promised to hold us firmly in His hand – even when the world come against us!
Paul goes on to say that there will be time when the world seems to be winning… we may suffer, we will be struck down by the evil in this world!
We will suffer at the hands of others who want to tear us down… BUT Paul says we may get struck down, but we will NOT be destroyed;
Scripture tells us in Is 54:17 (HCSB), [show now]
“...No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants, and their righteousness is from Me. This is the Lord’s declaration...”
Oh my brothers and sisters the world is gonna rise up and come against you… the enemy is seeking how he can destroy you!
But what Paul points out to us here is that we still SERVE Him, even in this broken world… even when things look bad around us…we are called to serve Him in this broken world…
My fears as pastor over this budget thing are NOT the only fears I have had… I have had constant fear over what seems to be a losing battle! We have worked hard and have tried SO many things to see growth here at Oak Park… however, all I have seen has been failure…
It seems AS if we are constantly afflicted…
It feels like I am perplexed on a perpetual basis…
This is because my attitude is always falling prey to despair and the feeling that we are somehow being persecuted
But in spite of all these fears, I now had a NEW focus… I know our fellowship has been afflicted, but we are still here…the enemy has NOT been able to crush us!
We know that our fellowship is perplexed by our lack of success, but look around you…
I don’t see quitters and those ready to throw in the towel…
I don’t see people driven to despair!
Do you know what I see… I see worshippers who are being encouraged and lifted up by God in this transition! I see servants willing to submit in obedience to building this kingdom… Oh loved ones… I see God moving…
We know our fellowship has been persecuted and we may feel like we have been struck down… I want you to know that we have NOT been forsaken and God is NOT going to allow us to be destroyed!
This situation will NOT stand, God is going to move and HE is going to bless… this I have seen and this I know… so this is my focus now…I am NO longer focused on my fear of failure!
We serve Him from His calling NOT our power…
We serve Him in a broken world…
…but finally this morning I want us to see that...
We Serve a POWERFUL God – Don’t lose Heart (v13-18)
[show v13 here]
13Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,
When we are TOGETHER in serving God… we become a powerful force for the Kingdom! But people we must be together NOT just in word… but in deed!
Here Paul says that these people were of the same faith that had been spoken and preached to them… but that they had become believers who SPOKE and BELIEVED the word thru their actions!
Paul goes on here to say…
[show v14 here]
14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
The same God who’s power spoke the universe into existence…
The same God who’s power raised Jesus from the dead…
He is there with that same power for us as we serve Him!
Paul says here that it is for OUR sake… His grace/power extends further and further thru our obedience and it MAY seem like we are NOT doing anything for the kingdom, but when God is in it… all things are good and profitable!
There was an old Southern Gospel song that I used to hear in church when I was young… it says: (softly sing this…)
Does the place you're called to labor
Seem so small and little known
It is great if God is in it
And He'll not forget His own
Little is much when God is in it
Labor not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you go in Jesus' name
People it may SEEM as if we are NOT getting things done from a worldly perspective! However, if God is in it there is NO task too small or trivial for us to do…
we should not fear that our church is not the size it once was…
we should not fear that because of our size we cannot have a great impact on this community…
we should focus on serving God and allowing HIM to produce the results!
Finally this morning Paul tells us that when trials come our way… we need to focus on God! When fear arises in our hearts we need to focus on God! Look what he says in these last 2 verses:
[show v17-18 here]
17For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Paul describes the ‘affliction’ this church is suffering as a light momentary thing…
Let me ask you, how often have you endured something and later you have been able to look back and see that it was NOT really as bad as you thought it was…because you realized that had God delivered you thru it!
My brothers and sisters, here at Oak Park, we will face more affliction, persecution and difficulty as we move forward because the enemy does not want us to succeed! But NO amount of affliction will compare to the glory God has for those obedient to His calling!
Our focus cannot be on what the WORLD constantly wants to throw before us… that is a view that will perish one day! BUT we must focus our efforts and thoughts toward HIS purpose and plan for us here at Oak Park…
My fear was that what I have done… my seven years here had been a waste, that I had made NO impact, that I had failed God, that I had failed this church in not growing it… but all those fears or afflictions the enemy wants to pile on my heart… they are all temporary!
My focus must be on things eternal… the things we may not be able to see here in this world, but they are things that will last…
My brothers and sisters, fear must not rule in our hearts and ONE tool we have to keep fear out of our daily walk is the power of God!
It is a power that calls us to serve Him …we don’t have to rely on our own power
It is a power to serve EVEN in this broken/sinful world…
It is a power that reveals our obedience is what He desires, not the world’s vision of success…
This power… is also a power that will save you! If you don’t know Jesus as savior… [give evangelistic invitation here]
This power is a power that will fully fuel your walk in Christ! [give believer’s call for confession here]
