EPHESIANS 1:15-23
“POWER TO SPARE”
Invisible beams of evangelism flash day and night across sky and sea, penetrating nations and hearts where missionaries cannot go. Such are the shortwave ministries of ventures like HCJB, TransWorld Radio, and Far East Broadcasting Company.
The FEBC began in 1945 when three Christians pooled their resources and formed a nonprofit corporation to broadcast the gospel through the Orient. One of the men, John Broger, set out for Shanghai searching for a spot for a transmitter. He sailed to Manila to explore the possibility of locating the transmitter in the Philippines.
While completing paperwork for the Philippine government, Broger requested permission for 10,000 watts. Imagine his thrill when officials marked out the amount and wrote: “Unlimited Power.”
But the Philippine government insisted the station go on the air by June 4 or not at all. Meanwhile in the U.hair., the founders frantically tried to raise funds as bills came due. One delay after another tore at the project, but government officials refused to extend the timetable. Nail-biting difficulties arose, and three days before the deadline, transmission problems developed. When June 4 dawned, high-voltage wires crisscrossed the station and workers stepped through ankle-deep water from heavy rains. Broger rushed downtown to make a final plea for an extension. He was refused.
He had no choice but to rush back through cart-congested streets, weaving through traffic jams, racing against the clock. He came to a screeching halt in front of the station, rushed in and shouted, “We’ll test on the air.” The switch was flipped, the transmitters hummed with power, and the winded staff began singing All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.
I. GOD HAS POWER WE EXPERIENCE.
a. God’s power is “exceeding”
Verse 19 (huperballon): surpassing, unlimited, immeasurable, beyond imagination.
The European Baptist Federation met in Budapest, Hungary in 1989. Hungary was still a Communist country, and it was the first time the federation had ever met in a Communist country. The meeting ended with a one-day Billy Graham crusade that filled the sports stadium with the largest crowd ever assembled there. There were eighty-five thousand inside and thousands more outside. Earlier sessions had welcomed church leaders from all over Europe with translations into the various languages and headphones for the listeners. Where, you may wonder, did they get all those headphones? They got them from the army!
Psalm 62:11 (NKJV) God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God.
Sergei Nikolaev, an energetic Christian leader in the Soviet Union, said, "Don’t look at the circumstances and don’t look at what you can’t do. Look at your Lord. Call on his power. Trust his timing. Don’t put a period where God puts a comma."
Psalm 20:7 (NKJV) Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
b. God’s power is “great”
Verse 19 (megethos): mighty, explosive, beyond measure. This is the word from which we get the English word megaton, which measures atomic explosives. Imagine the great explosive power of God!
How’s your power source? Are you plugged in? In his book Spiritual Stamina, Stuart Briscoe tells the story of a man who bought a new computer. Bringing his new prize home, he carefully opened the box, gingerly took the machine out, studied its manual, and connected the wires. Eagerly he flipped on the power switch--but nothing happened. Puzzled, the man switched the computer off and rechecked all the connections. He rounded up a screwdriver and fastened the wires more securely. He read again the relevant portion of the manual. Satisfied that he’d followed directions, he flipped the computer on--and again nothing happened. As his anger rose the man’s little girl walked into the room.
"Hi, Daddy!" her cheery voice rang out. "What a pretty computer! Can I plug it in?" –Moody
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
c. God’s power is extended to us.
The thing to note is that God’s power is to us-ward; that is, God takes His power and extends it, presents it, makes it available to the believer. How do we know this? Because of what God did for Christ. What God did for Christ He will do for us. God’s power is demonstrated by what He did for Christ.
When Arthur Rubinstein, the famous concert pianist, was in New York, someone invited him to attend church. His answer: "Take me to a church that will challenge me to attempt the impossible." Great people are attracted to great challenges, and that’s why we as Christians who are willing to dream great dreams.
Christianity is the power of God in the soul of man. Robert Boyd Munger (1910- )
John 14:12-14 (NKJV) 12“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
II. GOD HAS POWER THAT EXALTS.
a. God’s power exalted Jesus in the resurrection.
If ye seek Jesus, do not go to His grave. You will not find Him there. Is it not quite striking that after the disciples were convinced that He had risen they never again visited His tomb? At least there is no record of it. Why should they? It was only an incident, a temporary halting place in the experience of our Lord. They did not make pilgrimages to it. They did not esteem it above any other place. They did not bury it beneath tokens of affection. They did not break off pieces of the rock and keep them as relics for seeking souls to look at in the hope of meriting divine favor.
No, after that first Sunday evening, the disciples were done with the tomb. Why should they give their time to the veneration of places, when they had the living Savior with them? To us, Christ is all and in all. He is alive, and He has power to give life. Not by meat and drink, not by pilgrimages and fastings, but by looking unto Him do we enter into life that death cannot touch.
Acts 2:22-24 (NKJV) 22“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—23Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
b. God’s power exalted Jesus to the right hand of the Father.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) In his life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live. In his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins. In his resurrection, he is a conqueror. In his ascension, he is a king. In his intercession, he is a high priest.
Hebrews 8:1 (NKJV) Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
c. God’s power exalted Jesus as the head of the church.
Colossians 1:15-18 (NKJV) 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Remember putting your face above a headless frame painted to represent a muscle man, a clown, or even a bathing beauty? Many of us have had our pictures taken this way, and the photos are humorous because the head doesn’t fit the body. If we could picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers, would the world laugh at the misfit? Or would they stand in awe of a human body so closely related to a divine head?
Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV) Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
III. GOD HAS POWER THAT IS EXERCISED.
a. God’s power is exercised in our hope.
Hopelessness is anticipated defeat. Karl Theodor Jaspers (1883-1969)
Ephesians 2:11-18 (NKJV) 11Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest fame but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand all other ground is sinking sand.
b. God’s power is exercised in our inheritance.
Our Sunday school superintendent had two new boys in Sunday school. In order to register them she had to ask their ages and birthdays. The bolder of the two said, "We’re both seven. My birthday is April 8, 1976, and my brother’s is April 20, 1976." "But that’s impossible!" answered the superintendent. "No, it’s not," answered the quieter brother. "One of us is adopted." "Which one?" asked the superintendent before she could curb her tongue. The boys looked at each other and smiled, and the bolder one said to the superintendent, "We asked Dad awhile ago, but he just said he loved us both, and he couldn’t remember any more which one was adopted."
In Romans 8:17, Paul writes: "Now if we are [God’s] children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ..." (NIV) Paul’s comparison is to adoption. By our faith in Christ we become his adopted brothers and sisters--adopted sons and daughters of God. As fully adopted and accepted children, we share the same inheritance as the begotten Son, Jesus. We are made heirs of His power, heirs of the promises of God, Heirs of His presence and heirs of His kingdom.
Romans 5:10-11 (NKJV) 10For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
c. God’s power is exercised in our lives.
If you combined the flow of all the rivers in the world, you would have to multiply that power by 100 to equal the force of the Gulf Stream, that current of water that flows through the Atlantic at a rate of 150 million cubic meters per second! Despite its enormous volume and force, the Gulf Stream is invisible even to those who are sailing on it. In the same way, there is often unseen power in words, in ideas, and especially in the gospel.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV) 20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
There is power to save us and to keep us. There is power to change and transform us. There is power to lead us and to use us. There is power to be glorified in us and through us. There is power, power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb.
CONCLUSION
