Having Power Through God

Good to be with you again this morning and greetings from the Christians who meet in

Fairview Chapel, not too far from here. One of the great dangers I think sometimes of being a

Christian is you think you have all the answers to life and you can carry on virtually on your

own and you don't give it a minute's thought until all of a sudden you kind of stuff up big time and

you get something wrong in life and it's at times like that that you realize actually you can't make

anything of the Christian life unless you really throw yourself on the mercy of God and the power

of his Holy Spirit and I really enjoy this week reading again the passage you've given me. It's

a great passage of scripture, one with a lot of depth to it but one that's really practical and

helpful. I was saying to Graham earlier he was very jealous that I'd been given that passage but I said

to him not to feel too bad because I'm through in Hamilton tonight speaking and they've given me

Genesis 20 to speak on. Now I know from your looks you're thinking what's happened in Genesis 20?

Well what you'll find is a very intriguing story of Abraham meeting up with a king called Abimelech

and the central theme of the story is he passes his wife off as his sister. I've got to talk for 40

minutes on that tonight so anybody who has any suggestions it's not too late there's still a gap in

my in my sermon I'm going to phone the chairman up this afternoon and suggest he picks a couple of really

long hymns to fill in the gaps but so our passage this morning very much more straightforward and

powerful for us. I was really encouraged too when Peter was up earlier flying helicopter because he

talked also about how did he say power like that there you go um and he referred to that period in uh

the experience of the disciples when they'd seen the lord die they'd seen him buried they'd experienced him

alive and then he began for 40 days to teach them and he taught them just two things in these 40 days

isn't that incredible the last 40 days perhaps that he would be with his disciples on earth

he spent two days teaching them firstly about the kingdom of god

and that's really important because that kingdom has started we're living in it and it's stretching out

in front of us and the second thing he taught them was about the holy spirit about god's power

and i want as we go through our passage this morning to think about god's spirit's power

and how it helps us to live as christians for him today so just to get the context before we turn to the

passage we're going to read acts 1 verse 8 you don't need to turn to this you'll know this verse

Acts 1:8

you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you what a promise

and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judea samaria tanzania the ends of the earth

what a challenge so let's turn then to ephesians 3 i have no fancy power point for you so you just

have to listen to me i'm afraid nothing for you to look at on the screen at least i hope not there

you go nothing on the screen for you to look at just me and uh god's god's word let's read ephesians

3 um let me start at verse 13 um i did have a title actually give me a title the manifold wisdom

of god i'm not sure if i'll bring that in or not other than to say here is the manifold wisdom of god

okay so um there you have title dealt with verse 13 of ephesians 3 i ask you therefore paul writes

not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you which are your glory for this reason i kneel

before the father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name i pray that

out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being

so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and i pray that you being rooted and established

in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide long high deep

is the love of christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the

measure of all the fullness of god now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or

imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in christ

throughout all generations forever and ever amen power well in a few weeks time there'll be a few people

who have been hoping for power either happy they've got it or disappointed they've missed out on it i guess

we too will be either happy they've got it or disappointed they've missed out on it i do hope by the way that

you'll be voting the right way by which I mean praying there's no political comment in that at

all but we need to pray for things like elections it's important to us my mother-in-law has been

complaining lamentably for weeks now about power different kind of power she's been complaining

about Scottish power anybody here from Scottish power oh there's one person no no she's denying

it she just resigned my mother-in-law's had trouble with her boiler and every time she phones there's

a new drama and it's all the fault of Scottish power well that's not the kind of power that the

apostle Paul here is talking about power is a has been an important word for Paul he's been talking

about power in this letter he's written he's talked about God's incomparably great power kind of hard

to imagine and get your head round doesn't it God's incomparably great power that raised Jesus

from the dead Paul's been talking about it he's just talked also earlier on in this chapter about

how God's power is actually at work in our hearts in the hearts of these Ephesians in your heart and

mind if we know the Lord Jesus isn't that incredible God's power right now today is at work in your heart

and in mine we kind of forget that don't we Paul's prayer comes out of a sense I think that these

Christians he was writing to had got a bit discouraged with life particularly maybe about

what was happening to Paul that they'd heard about his suffering maybe their own and it was getting

them down that kind of happens to us as Christians doesn't it at times we get down we get discouraged

living for Jesus today is sometimes quite hard to do especially when we know in our hearts we've let

God down or perhaps actually we feel sometimes he's let us down now of course that's not the case but

doesn't stop us feeling that way sometimes doesn't it so Paul's prayer here makes the point that

actually discouragement ought not to be what we should feel as Christians because God has given us his

power to live for him and that power as we heard earlier of course is the the presence of his Holy Spirit

in our hearts and in our lives he enters our hearts of course when we we give our lives over to the Lord

Jesus Christ he's given to us his energy if you like his presence and that spirit's purpose is of course to

continue day by day to help us understand more and more of God and to reveal more and more of the Lord

Jesus both to us and also to help us to reveal it to others now our world of course has totally the wrong

idea about power we often see it as something rather negative or overbearing we don't like to think of

something or someone who has power over us but when the New Testament talks about power it's talking about

the tremendous resources of God available to you and I to get things done for God

the English language has great many origins and the word dynamite people say has come from this

Greek word so we immediately think God's power is something that goes bang there I've woken you up

and blows things up and destroys things well of course that's not the idea at all is it

God gives us his power to enable us to live for him and to do what he wants us to do what he has asked us to do

what he has commanded us to do and actually just to help us sometimes day by day live for Jesus

and so as Paul thinks about these slightly discouraged Christians he prays that the power of God's Holy Spirit

would be their very real experience he wants them living beyond their expectation

as I thought about that I did wonder whether our churches today maybe you as an individual need a fresh

realization of that God is at work in your life his power is here in this place do we need that fresh

realization I guess before we are too quick to say yes we need to ask ourselves why is there something

that's stopping God's power either working through us or or working through the church is there something

that's that's just putting a big dampener on how God works is it that we've not left him any room in

our lives to work for you know our lives are so full of other things that are far more important than God

well we've kind of squeezed them out maybe that's the case well as we'll see in a moment Paul will give

us some really important reasons for seeking fresh wind fresh power as as the American pastor Jim

Simbala called it in his book and there's only one real purpose for God's power you know

Paul described it in verse 21 as so there would be glory in his church

Jesus said you'll get this power so that you will be my witnesses

that's why we have God's power oh it's nice to know it's there

but it's not so that we can go around healing people unless you are of course a very talented doctor

in which case God's giving you some gifts there but it's not really for these fantastic experiences

great though they might be you have God's spirit in you so that you can live for Jesus

and when you live for Jesus you will be his witnesses day in and day out

it is isn't it an incredible and humbling thought that the Holy Spirit is the enabling power behind the

witness of the church in the world he is the ability given to Christians for the completion of the great

commission of world evangelization and we've heard a bit about it that's a huge relief it's not down to me

and it's not down to you oh we can do things in the power of God but ultimately it's God's spirit so if we

want to claim this power for ourselves then we better be completely behind the strategy of heaven

which is to win men and women for Christ

let's look at this prayer let's look at verses 16 and 17 as Paul prays here for the power to strengthen

the inner man I pray he says that out of his glorious riches out of God's glorious riches

he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your

hearts through faith

now our culture of course is more concerned with the outer man

gym members keeping fit

anti-aging creams

plastic surgery whatever it might be we've got to look good on the inside it doesn't actually matter if

inside we're rotting away as long as on the outside we're looking good

but that's not God's ambition for us his ambition is that inner man the eternal bit of us

gets stronger and stronger and stronger day by day paradoxically of course as Christians

on the outside we may look terribly weak and rather vulnerable as was in the case of Paul

ill persecuted beaten imprisoned and yet inside he was utterly lion hearted and he would write to the

Corinthian church we do not lose heart he says outwardly we are wasting away and yet inwardly

we are being renewed day by day

why is it the priority of God that the inner man

is strengthened

well says Paul

so that Christ may

dwell

without question I think the most remarkable

fact of scripture is that Jesus Christ himself

through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart and life

settle down

and be at home

there

that's the sense of what Paul means

because to dwell you know is not

what you do as a lodger

or what you do as you rent a room

that's not the sense of what Paul means here

what he means is Jesus Christ has come into a life and he's there to stay

that heart is his

in John 14 we find Jesus talking to his disciples about homes

they had all left their homes for him

he was saying to him that he would shortly leave them and prepare a home for them

meanwhile their hearts

would be the home

for his spirit

oh they find that really hard to understand

until at Pentecost and then they felt that presence didn't they

a tremendous wind

the flames of fire

so demonstrable symbols

God was there

the spirit

had come home

Robert Munger a Presbyterian minister

from a few decades ago

he wrote a wonderful little book entitled

My Heart

Christ's Home

anybody read it

anybody brave enough to put their hand

because you're probably over 50

nobody has

well there you go

My Heart

Christ's Home

in it he pictured his life

as various rooms

so he said Christ came in and I showed him into the library

it was his mind

the control room of the house

and he writes in his book of his embarrassment

embarrassment at Jesus

viewing the books

in his library

the magazines on his coffee table

the films

in his

collection

and he writes

I turned to him and said

Master

I know this room needs a radical alteration

will you help make it

what it ought to be

then he says

we went to the dining room

the place where our appetites

are met

and it dawned on Robert Munger

of all the things he had fed himself on

that were not ultimately satisfying

and in some cases were harmful

and how much he knew then

he needed to feed himself on Jesus

the living room

where he relaxed

put his feet up

he realized how much time he spent

relaxed with his feet up

and how much time he should have spent in prayer

and then he talks most challengingly of all

of the closet

under the stairs

the room is locked

it's dark

and it's where he said

he put things

from his past life

that he found hard to give up

and so he'd locked them away

and he writes in his book

how the Lord came to the room

and asked for the key

and Robert Munger says

you can't go in there Lord

and the Saviour is saying to him

but I need to

it needs cleaned out

and Munger says at that point

he knew he didn't just need to open up

he need to give the title deeds

of the house

to the Saviour

do you see the point

the inner man

is where the Lord Jesus

comes and dwells

and if he's going to come

and he's going to dwell

he's going to own

and we need to give it all to him

there's nothing in there

that we can keep

hidden away

that he doesn't deal with

how much therefore

we need the power

of the Holy Spirit

to strengthen that inner man

to ensure that our hearts

are homes

that Jesus will be at rest in

and that we will be at peace

knowing his presence

the power to strengthen

the inner man

then verses 17 to 19

Paul talks about

the power to love

with that lovely video

at the beginning

it was really clever

Paul here wants us

to know something

that is essentially

unknowable

the amazing quality

and dimensions

of the Saviour's love

we have such a superficial

and small view

of love

even when we grasp

what the Bible says of it

so Paul gives us

a couple of metaphors

to help us understand

what grasping it really means

one is botanical

we've got to be rooted

something is going to grow

really strong

I'm not a gardener

I prefer concrete

but there you go

but if something's going to grow

it needs good roots

apparently

and he gives

an architectural

here as well

he talks about

something that's grounded

that has strong foundations

you want a big building

like this

I guess it has really

strong foundations

you see

when the rubber

hits the road

of our Christian life

or our church life

it's how well rooted

we are

how well grounded

we are

in the love of God

that will help us

and Paul gives us

these limitless

dimensions

of height

and width

and depth

I wanted to break

into that chorus

Jesus love is very wonderful

but I won't

I will empty

the place instantly

but you get the point

don't you

and the reality

is of course

you can get

really low

in life

you can feel

as though

you've committed

the most heinous

of sins

you can feel

as though

your life

has got

just rock bottom

and below rock bottom

and do you know what

the love of God

in Christ

is there for you

or you can have

the most spiritual

high you've

ever had

the greatest

experience

you've ever

had

of Christ

do you know what

there's always more

there's always more

John talks about

Jesus saying

to his disciples

I want to show you

the full extent

of my love

and he

he did it by

you know

by washing

smelly feet

but as a picture

of

of what he would

do on the cross

with arms

outstretched

pinned to a

wooden cross

that's the

extent of the

love of the

Lord Jesus

Christ

I don't know

about you

but

do you know

sometimes I'm

just utterly

speechless at that

that

you know

transcendent

sense of

something that

you really want

to grasp

and yet it's

unknowable

it's too vast

can't understand

it can't get a

head

around it

but you know

when Christ

comes in

and dominates

your life

the one obvious

characteristic that

will be shown

will be love

and just in case

we don't understand

what kind of love

Paul is describing

and why we need

the spirit to

empower us

John would say

this is how we

know what love

is Jesus

Christ

laid down his

life for us

and we ought to

lay down our

life

for our

brothers

but did you

notice something

important there

in verse 18

he says

we have power

he says

but together

with all the

saints

there's something

here you see

about God's

power that

that isn't

individualistic

at all

it's communal

it needs all

of us to

know and to

understand God's

love you can't

do it on your

own

we need

each other

the person to

sit side

needs to tell

you what God's

love has meant

to them this

week because

even if you

felt in a

cold and

difficult place

they can come

and they can

warm your

heart

they might be

able to

demonstrate it

to you in

some way

you see

that's why

church is

really important

for Christians

you think

that's a

terribly obvious

thing to say

but do you

know I get

terribly fed up

with some

folks at

you don't

tell them

that but

do you know

they say to

me I said

to him I

didn't see you

last Sunday

no I was

quite busy

oh that's

funny I

always thought

Sunday was a

day of rest

I was resting

they said I

had a busy

week

do you know

I get cross

I know you

shouldn't but

that's a

daft way to

go on

God has

given us

this vehicle

that we call

church but

he's given us

it as a

community we

need to be

here

there's no

point sitting

in your living

room on your

own relaxing

because you

won't get any

sense of the

love of God

in Christ

that's really

meaningful there

or you might

get a wee bit

of it

but who wants

a wee bit

of anything

would you

not rather

have it

all

John

Stott

wrote

do you

know

it takes

the whole

people of

God to

understand

the whole

love of

God

because as

isolated

Christians we

can only ever

know some

of it

oh and by

the way of

course it's

crucial to

our witness

isn't it

by this

shall all

men know

that you

are my

disciples

that you

have

love

for each

other

I hope

Bellevue

will listen

to the

tape

I don't

suppose they

will

they're

probably

glad to

be shot

of me

for a

day

here's the

last point

verses 20

to 21

it's a wee

doxology at

the end of

Paul's prayer

I don't know

what your

prayers end

up like

mine usually

end up a

kind of

confusion of

words and

I thought I

better get

on I'm

going to

work

Paul has

time to

kind of

give us

this wonderful

doxology

that really

is all

about a

power

to do

so we

thought about

a power

to strengthen

our inner

man we

thought about

a power

to love

here's a

power to

do because

the heart

of Paul's

prayer is

not that we

know something

but that

we do

something

we serve

here a

God of

no limits

now maybe

you're sitting

there and

you're thinking

you know

what I'd

be really

happy if

I could just

accomplish the

things I

know about

the things I've

been praying

about the

things I've

been thinking

about here's

Paul telling

me about

things I

haven't even

imagined about

he wants

us to do

but you see

the point

it's not

about us

it's not

about you

it's not

about me

it's not

about what

we can do

because you

know what

we can do

now that

means nothing

to our

Tanzanian

friends

we can do

nothing on

our own

anything

we do

for Christ

is done

in his

power

at work

in us

and someone

once said

you know

what would

you attempt

for God

if you knew

you couldn't

fail

if you just

knew it

wouldn't work

what would

you do

maybe you'd

go off to

Tanzania

maybe you'd

just talk to

your neighbour

about the

Lord

maybe this

morning you'd

open your

heart up to

the Lord

Jesus Christ

and you could

say come

in

come in

I think

too easily

we allow

ourselves to

doubt and

limit the

power of God

to accomplish

all that he

wants to do

through you

and through

me

we have a

God of no

limits

again John

Stott says

he is able

to do more

than we can

ask or

think or

imagine

for his

expectations

are higher

than ours

and he

does not

give his

grace

in calculated

measures

well

is Christ

at home

in your

heart

have you

made that

commitment

maybe you've

tried you

know maybe

you've

you've prayed

that the

Lord would

come in

and hasn't

really felt

as if he

has

maybe it's

because you've

got a closet

and there's

something in

there that

you've got

buried away

and you need

him to take

ownership of

that as

well

we often

times have

those experiences

in our life

when we

we just need

to get things

right with

God

by his

spirit

he gives

us that

strength

to do

that

are you

willing to

allow him

to fill

your life

what with

love

yeah

what about

this church

is it to be

filled with

the love of

God

such that we

love one

another

such that others

see the love

we have for

one another

and such that

we love

others

who are not

yet part

of Christ's

great kingdom

are we going

to be his

witness

testifying to

his glory

seeking his

grace

may God bless

his word to

us

and I trust

he will bless

all that this

church seeks

to do for

him

let's pray

together

our father

God we

thank you for

the coming of

the Lord

Jesus Christ

we thank you

for the way

he came and

he lived and

he identified

with us as

human beings

we thank you

for the fact

that he died

that he took

my sins on

Calvary he

dealt with

him we thank

you that he

rose and that

now he is

ascended in

heaven he's at

your right hand

and father we

thank you that

we are not

alone he

hasn't left

us that in

our hearts we

have your

spirit father we

claim him we

own him we

ask for him to

come and to

anoint us yes

but to live

within us we

turn over our

hearts and lives

to him as

individuals this

morning yes but

also corporately

as fellowships

whether here at

Brunsfield or at

Bellevue or any

of the other

churches in

Edinburgh father

may they be

spirit filled

and spirit

empowered places

of worship

that this city

this land

might be claimed

again for

Scotland for

God father we

thank you for

the growth of

your church in

other lands we

thank you for

the growth in

Africa for the

growth in South

America for

even that growth

in China and

in other lands

Lord we want

that growth here

we want to see

people streaming

into our

churches

we want to

see people

turning this

land upside

down again

because of

you and we

might have a

part to play

in that

war

release us

we ask

in Jesus

name

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen