"POWER TO GODS PEOPLE!" July 30, 2000

Ephesians 3:14-21

Baseball fans have witnessed a lot of "power hitters" in recent years, as home runs are becoming very common. Twenty some years ago Second Presbyterian had a team in the church softball league. I was no "power" hitter, but I did hit a couple of home runs. Ill never forget one of them. (When you only hit a couple, its pretty easy to remember them!) We were playing in a double elimination tournament, against YMI. It was a very hot day, and wed seen some of their players drinking beer in between games. I hit a fly ball to center field, and for some reason, the outfielder had a hard time judging whether to go in or out to catch it. By the time he realized it was over his head, I was well on my way around the bases. I like to think I was under the influence of the power of the Holy Spirit, and the center fielder was under the influence of the power of ANOTHER spirit!

In Pauls letter to the Ephesians, he talks frequently of power (dunamis, dynamite in the

Greek). Paul wrote "WITH THE EYES OF YOUR HEART ENLIGHTENED, YOU MAY

KNOW...WHAT IS THE IMMEASURABLE GREATNESS OF HIS POWER FOR US

WHO BELIEVE, ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS GREAT POWER. GOD

PUT THIS POWER TO WORK IN CHRIST WHEN HE RAISED HIM FROM THE

DEAD..." (1:17-20) Paul prays in chapter 3 that God "GRANT THAT YOU MAY BE

STRENGTHENED IN YOUR INNER BEING WITH POWER THROUGH HIS

SPIRIT...I PRAY THAT YOU MAY HAVE THE POWER TO COMPREHEND... THE

LOVE OF CHRIST THAT SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE." Then Paul concludes with the

words which comprise my favorite benediction "NOW TO HIM WHO BY THE POWER

AT WORK WITHIN US IS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH ABUNDANTLY FAR MORE

THAN ALL WE CAN ASK OR IMAGINE, TO HIM BE GLORY IN THE CHURCH

AND IN CHRIST JESUS TO ALL GENERATIONS, FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN."

When Paul wrote these words, had he just been crowned the first pope in Rome? Had he been made high priest of the Jerusalem temple? Named Chairman of the Board of the largest tent making conglomerate in the ancient world? No-- when Paul wrote these words about power, he himself was a prisoner of Rome. But Paul rephrased that to say he was a prisoner of Christ Jesus! The world saw Paul as powerless. Paul felt the power of the Holy Spirit overflowing in his life! Gods Word, Gods love, Gods power, is not chained!

When Jesus was on trial before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, Pilate was amazed that Jesus did not try to refute the charges made against him. Most people that had been tried before Pilate were begging for their lives. Pilate said to Jesus "DO YOU REFUSE TO SPEAK TO ME? DONT YOU REALIZE I HAVE POWER EITHER TO FREE YOU OR TO CRUCIFY YOU?" And Jesus responded "YOU WOULD HAVE NO POWER OVER ME IF IT WERE NOT GIVEN TO YOU FROM ABOVE." (John 19:10-11)

What Jesus and Paul are saying is that God is the one who gives true power. Certainly, there is such a thing as worldly power. Mao Tse Tung used to say "All power comes out of the barrel of a gun." There are "power forwards" in the NBA, "power lunches", and cars with lots of power. Many strive for these worldly forms of power. But the wise ones, like Charles Colson, eventually discover that the power they once held has its limits, but Gods power doesnt!

Albert Schweitzer was a man who knew the power of God.. .a power which led him from

Europe to tropical Africa earlier this century as a missionary physician. Schweitzer might

walk up to a person in bed, reach for their hand and say "Im Albert Schweitzer, and Jesus

Christ has sent me to help you get well." The power of God was overflowing in such

encounters! When Paul wrote to Timothy, Paul began his second letter by writing "GOD

DID NOT GIVE US A SPIRIT OF COWARDICE, BUT RATHER A SPIRIT OF POWER AND OF LOVE AND OF SELF CONTROL." (II Timothy 1:7) This is the kind of power that attracts me to the gospel!

Robert McAfee Brown says ft well: "Where you stand determines what you see!" (April 13, 1995 sermon by Dr. Frank Harrington of Peachtree, "LOVE CONVINCES--THREE MEN, THREE CROSSES, THREE ATTITUDES.") Luke tells us that Jesus friends, including the women who had followed him down from Galilee, "stood in the distance watching". (23:49) How many of us are content to stand in the distance as unengaged observers, spectators, NOT participants! £rhere was a reason for Jesus friends to stand at some distance that day. Jesus friends feared for their lives.. .that the ones who arrested and crucified Jesus, might go after them as well.

Do we face that danger today? Is not neutrality fashionable these days? We dont want to get involved. We want to remain calm, detached. Let someone else take risks. Are we like the man who once told Frank Harrington "I almost joined three churches." How much good will people like this do for the kingdom of God in the year 2,000? Standing off in the distance from the cross costs little. And ft is worth just what it costs you... little or nothing! We wont find the power of God if we are content to stand in the distance, watching!

One could never accuse the Apostle Paul of being content with standing in the distance, watching. Five times Paul received 39 lashes (one short of the death penalty), three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned, three times he was shipwrecked; many times, Paul was imprisoned. (II Cor. 11:24) What kind of power is it that enables one to endure such abuse, and rise back up to serve God again, regardless of the cost? That is the power of God! If we stand in the distance and watch others suffer, and convince ourselves theres nothing we can do, nothing will be done. Its only when we get close enough to the cross, that "sorrow and love flow mingled down" upon us, its only when we get close enough to misery that it breaks our heart, that were ready to be used by God. Where we stand determines what we see, what power is made available to us. Gods power is available for us to love and serve Him... if were ready to stand close enough to the cross!

One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world was the huge and impressive temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the very place to which Paul penned his letter to the Ephesians. Artemis was considered a very powerful goddess in the ancient world. Perhaps were more familiar with her Roman name, Diana. Artemis was goddess of the underworld (is that the same as the Mafia?) Her temple was also a banking and financial center. She was called "savior" and "lord." There was a huge statue of Artemis. Around her neck were the signs of the Zodiac. Her power was revealed by rows of lions, steers and other animals on her dress.

Reading about the power of the goddess Artemis makes me think about my second grade teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In first grade, wed had a pretty, young teacher just out of college. Mrs. Stout in second grade wasnt like that! She was middle aged, and big! If theyd let women play for the Oklahoma Sooners football team, Mrs. Stout could have been all conference! The very first day of the school year, Mrs. Stout took the Tulsa phone directory in her hands, and tore ft in two! I went home that day, and couldnt get past the second page! You can bet Mrs. Stout didnt have any discipline problems that year. We could each picture what she MIGHT do to us if we misbehaved!

In the shadow of the Ephesian goddess Artemis, Paul writes that the power which the Holy Spirit may implant within us is the most powerful power of all! The Lords Prayer ends with this phrase "FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY

FOREVER!" We pray those words at least weekly. Do we believe them? Martin Luther wrote in the lyrics of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God": "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing." Ive found when I rely in my own strength, Im in for a long, hard day. Its the times when Ive confessed to God that I dont have the strength needed, and called upon Him, that Ive felt Gods strength in the most powerful way! lts amazing what God fills us with when we empty ourselves of pride and call upon the name of the Lord. Gods power comes and fills us! When we stand in a distance from the cross, watching, we are filled with fear. But when we come to the foot of the cross, and confess our sins and inadequacies, when we step beyond our security zone and trust God, His amazing power can fill us!

Al Winn was one of the best professors I had in seminary. When his 4 children were small, Al was writing a dissertation on the Holy Spirit. You can imagine that ft was difficult for Al to answer his children when they asked him "Daddy, what IS the Holy Spirit?" The Winns were living in Alabama in the late fifties, when a great riot broke out, protesting the integration of the University of Alabama. The Winns pastor was a very shy, retiring man. But that Sunday when he rose to preach, there was something different about him. With a power none in the congregation had seen before, he laid his job, and indeed, his life on the line, to tell the congregation clearly and unmistakably that every human being, regardless of color, is precious in the sight of God. "There was a great stillness. New people were being born." (A CHRISTIAN PRIMER, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1990, p. 157.) Even Winns children were quiet. In the car on the way home Winn said to his children "Now I think you know what the Holy Spirit is." And his children all nodded their little heads!

Would you like the power of the Holy Spirit for the living of these days? Stand at the foot of the cross, and confess your need of the One whose is the kingdom, and the POWER, and the glory. ..forever!

David Layman -- July 30, 2000

First Presbyterian Church

Richmond, Indiana