The Power of God’s Presence

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What better day can you think of to talk about the Power of God’s Presence than on Easter Sunday?

When we think of power a few things come to mind. We might think of human hierarchy where we consider people being in a position of power.

We often say the president of the United States is the most powerful person in the free world. We think of people that have a lot of money as powerful people.

We might also think of electrical power provided to buildings and devices. Electrical power and other sources of energy are very important in our daily lives today.

Without it how many people, especially young people today would be lost. How many would the loss of power actually cause life threatening survival issues.

I don’t know if any of you ever watched Star Trek, but in almost every episode Captain Kirk would yell “Scotty, I need more power!” And Scotty would yell back “I can’t give her any more Captain the dilithium crystals are about to blow.”

How often do we feel that way in life? We need more power but there just isn’t anything left in the tank. We struggle through day after day needing more power, but our dilithium crystals are about to blow.

If we only understood the power of God’s presence. I say the power of God’s presence because there’s what I might call a misnomer the church has used around God’s power for too long.

How many times have we heard, I myself have said it, that we are given God’s power. God’s power is offered to us as believers.

The problem is the church has used that on an individual basis. Each one of us receives the power of God. Presented to us as if we wield that power like a sword.

The truth is when we truly place our faith in Jesus, when we truly believe He is our Lord and Savior, we come into contact with God’s power through His presence.

The same power that resurrected Jesus on the first Easter Sunday. Yes that power by way of the Holy Spirit resides in us, but it isn’t given to us. We don’t have any control over it.

As I said last week we are all by nature narcissistic to some degree. That’s why it’s so appealing to us when the church says God offers His power to us.

Today I want to look at the presence of God’s power on the first Easter Sunday and deconstruct our individual selfish misnomer questions we ask about God’s Power.

What is Offered to Me?

Does it Benefit Me?

What Good is it to Me?

In order to understand the Power of God’s presence we must first understand the power of God. We get excited when we think about it and we start thinking about all this power we are going to receive.

What is Offered to Me

The different gospels record this event with each supplying certain pieces of information relevant to their audience while leaving out some pieces of information found in the other gospels.

John discusses how Peter and John “the one Jesus loved” ran to the tomb in John 20:3-7

John 20:3–7 CSB

3 At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. 7 The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself.

You might be saying yes we know the resurrection power is beyond worldly understanding. However, I want to talk about something else.

There is a discovery called the Shroud of Turin. It’s supposed to be ,and by all evidence appears to be, the linen that covered Jesus’ body in the tomb.

Scientists have recently had the opportunity to physically examine the shroud with the latest technology. They said they can’t figure out how the image was produced in the cloth.

It’s not painted or drawn on the cloth, it’s not some material soaked through the cloth. They said the image is imposed in the cloth like a photograph.

The scientists said in order for the image to be in the cloth the way it is, would have needed an amount of energy far beyond all the energy the earth could produce. And a light so brilliantly bright that it can’t be produced by human technology.

I say all of this so we might get some understanding of just how incomprehensible the power of God’s presence really is in our finite minds.

Is this the power offered to me?

That’s exciting right? Can’t wait to get out there and start using that power!

However we need to understand something. Jesus, in His humble submission, did not wield this power Himself.

Scripture does not say Jesus resurrected himself anywhere. It all says God raised Him. Jesus relied on the power of the presence of God the Father.

We aren’t promised to receive the power of God. Ephesians 1:19 says,

Ephesians 1:19 NKJV

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

God’s power works towards us who believe it IS NOT given to us who believe. It’s important to note that conditional statement “who believe.” God’s power working toward those who believe.

Those who believe receive God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us enacts the power of God’s presence in us and around us. We have no power to wield the power of God.

The authority we are given is to pray for God the Father to wield His power in us and/or around us by way of the Holy Spirit in us.

However, that only happens when we are humbly submissive to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The power of God’s presence is only seen and/or experienced in our complete humble submission to our triune God.

So, if we aren’t given the power individually then how does it benefit us?

Does it Benefit Me

When I was in school for biblical and theological studies one of my professors was talking about the gospel. He asked what parts of the gospel were required to believe for salvation.

I wrote Jesus was born of a virgin, He lived a perfect sin free life, was crucified as the perfect sacrifice on the cross, was raised on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of God.

My professor asked me if the ascension is required for salvation. He was arguing that it wasn’t. I was arguing that it was. At the time I didn’t know how to articulate my view very well.

Here’s what Jesus says about His ascension and the benefit we receive due to His exalted glorified ascension.

John 16:7 CSB

7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.

In John 20:16-17 the resurrected Jesus makes it clear that He must ascend and be glorified for our benefit.

John 20:16–17 CSB

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.” 17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Without the ascension we could not receive the Holy Spirit. Look at what Jn 14:16-17 says,

John 14:16–17 CSB

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

God the Holy Spirit doesn’t just hover over us, He isn’t just around us, God the Holy Spirit takes up residence IN US!!!

The Holy Spirit is in us forever. That means He will never leave us. We have the power of God’s presence within us.

That very first Easter Sunday Jesus overcame all sin. Jesus paid the required price of reconciliation between God and Mankind.

40 days later He was glorified as He ascended to heaven. On the day of Pentecost He sent the Holy Spirit, who is God, to reside in all who believe.

What greater benefit could we ask for than a reconciliation with God so great that God resides in us?

Here’s where most Christians get hung up. They say the Spirit is in me, but I don’t see any change.

What good is it to Me

We’ve talked about God’s power working towards those who believe. We are not given God’s power, rather the power of God’s presence works in us and around us.

We benefit by having God the Holy Spirit reside in us. We receive the counselor.

But what good is it to me?

The Holy Spirit seals our eternal salvation.

That might be good for us.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:13-14.

Ephesians 1:13–14 CSB

13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

The key phrase is “and when you believed.” The Greek word translated believed means to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance.

Far too often we focus on the friend we have in Jesus. Jesus calls us His brother. The church has a tendency to water down the truth.

Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Jesus is the King of Kings. He humbled Himself in obedience to God the Father when He became man.

We also have a prime example in Jesus about complete trust and reliance. His obedience even to the point of death on a cross demonstrates complete trust and reliance.

Jesus said He would be crucified and then raised on the 3rd day. But what kind of trust and reliance must that have taken?

Jesus, the only person to live without sin, became sin and provided the unblemished perfect sacrifice. I don’t know how it works, but we know the punishment for sin is separation from God.

Somehow Jesus (who is God) is separated from God in His death. To have the trust and reliance on God the Father and unwaveringly believe He will be resurrected 3 days later is exactly how we should believe.

When we have that kind of belief, that kind of trust and reliance, the power of God’s presence does us a lot of good.

John 14:26 CSB

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

We will be taught by the Holy Spirit and be reminded of Jesus’ commandments. We will learn truth, not in head knowledge, but in our character.

We will undergo a character change where our desires will be less about fleshly sinful desires and more about God’s desires.

That change in us is one way God testifies to the world. Look at Jn 15:26

John 15:26 CSB

26 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.

Believe in Jesus with complete trust and reliance. The good we receive is many fold. We receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit:

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Much better than living life full of anger, hate, conceit, envy, jealousy, full of chaos and impulsiveness.

Look at how the ladies left the tomb in Matt 28:8

Matthew 28:8 NKJV

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

It’s not until the next verse that they are met by Jesus. They’re probably still afraid this is just some trick or evil act. But, in trust and reliance, they have great joy in the resurrection.

The presence of God’s power works towards those who believe. Who completely trust and rely on God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Anyone with that kind of faith in Jesus Christ has the benefit of the power of God’s presence in them forever. The Holy Spirit will never leave you.

In this broken world there can be no greater reconciliation with God than having His presence in us. Do we live our lives every day, every moment, in udder gratitude for the cross?

Listen, to not place complete trust and reliance in Jesus is nothing less than diminishing the work Jesus did on the cross. We’re all guilty of it everyday though aren’t we?

I rely on my own judgment, I rely on my own understanding. I don’t seek Him in all things as His word tells me to do.

And I find myself in tough situations and feeling desperate or hopeless because of it. Yet, I’ve found He’s faithfully there every time to walk me through it and out the other side.

In the death, burial, resurrection and ascension Jesus provided the path of reconciliation.

A path to a life that’s not perfect or even easy, but is full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Every year Christians come together on Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection. We set this day apart from all the rest in celebratory fashion then move on tomorrow to other things.

My hope and prayer is that maybe this year you all will join me in looking at Easter differently. As a reminder of the celebration I should have every day for the resurrection.