Sermon Tone Analysis

*Behold the Power of Your God!*

*Eph 1:19-23*

*Andy Woodfield, HCC, 6-10-2007*

* *

I have titled this mornings message “Behold the power of Your God!

In 1 Cor 1:18 Paul says

/" //For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." /

 

How can this be?

How can there be such opposing views when it comes to the gospel, to the preaching of the cross?

The perishing world considers the cross foolishness because it is intellectually ludicrous that some man in history by dying on a Roman cross by crucifixion could somehow provide for you and me a means of salvation from our sinful condition and restore peace between us and God.

It is literally the exact opposite of what a sophisticated Greek philosopher would embrace – this weakness, this death, this substitution, this blood – it is disgustingly abhorrent to the educated thoughtful mind.

(1 Corinthians 1:23).

It quite simply makes no sense to the educated mind.

Now to the Jews the cross was a stumbling block, it was the last thing they expected in terms of the coming of Messiah, the cross was a sign of shame, weakness, failure, not victory, power and glory.

They wanted a king who would bring them out from under the Roman thumb.

But for those who believe, both Jew and Gentile (v.23) the cross is the power of God, the “/dunamis/” of God.

It is not weak or foolish it is powerful.

This power, this /dunamis/ speaks to the capability and action of God to save immoral fallen mortal creatures from the certain judgment of the second death by giving life to their dead souls and bodies and restoring them to a dynamic blessed relationship with their eternal Creator God.

This power, when spoken of in Scripture, stands in stark contrast to the powerlessness, inability and incapability of man to please God.

Why is this so?

/"//because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is/ /not even able to do so,// //and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:7-8)/

 

*So then the cross rather than symbolizing weakness and foolishness is to the Christian the power of God.

Paul could say I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16) *

 

Do you believe this?

Like Paul do you believe the cross and the gospel symbolize power?

And if so how powerful are they?

There are many professing Christians who say they have experienced this power, this “/dunamis”/ of God and yet they sit in churches this very Sunday with no *assurance of the hope that they sing about*.

*No victory over sin in their lives from week to week.*

They sin as a Christian just like they sinned before they were a Christian.

Even more disturbing is that many professing Christians have given into a life of compromise with sin and the world.

They have no sense of victory, no sense of power, they are easily drawn after false teachers who scratch them in this area of weakness.

They are led to believe if they do certain things, follow certain rituals, then they will have, and experience, the power of God in their lives.

What grieves me in all of this is that in time these people find that these so called super apostles, super messengers, don’t deliver what they promise and many turn back to the provisions of Egypt, which is the biblical symbol of the world.

In our text this morning Paul gives his answer to such people as to how it is possible to be overcomers and mature in their faith.

What seems impossible with man is possible with God.

The answer Paul tells us is found in recognizing and trusting in God’s Power.

READ: Eph 1:19-23  Here we take up the text half way through Paul’s pray for the Ephesian believers

 

*In the previous message from Ephesians 1:15-19a* we saw that Paul was praying with a passion for these believers:

 

 

* That they might know *God* experientially,

* That they might know *hope* through God’s calling,

* That they might know the *Riches* of the glory through God’s inheritance

* and that they might know *surpassing greatness* through God’s power.

Paul knows that if the believers know these four things then they will not only be assured of their salvation but will continue in their salvation as they grow up in their faith and love.

However, if they do not know these things as personal realities then they will easily be overcome by the flesh, the world and the devil.

So Paul highlights the source of the believers power.

*19b  /These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might/**/ /**/which He brought about in Christ,/*

 

Beloved the source of our power is through Jesus Christ, This same Jesus whom the world considered weak and impotent God offers as the means to sovereign, eternal power.

Paul stacks up three nouns in this prepositional phrase, (in accordance with the /working/ of the /strength/ of His /might/) in order to modify the phrase, “the surpassing greatness of His power.”

He wants the believers to know what this power is:

* *An operative power*: The Greek word translated “/working/” is *evne,rgeia *from which we get the word energy and speaks of actual or active power of God as opposed to potential power.

This is the operative power of God.

Paul uses this word 3x in this letter here and in 3:7; 4:16.

*evne,rgeia *is supernatural power that is in actual operation

* *An authoritative power*: The word “strength” come from the Greek word *kra,toj*, from which we get theocracy, the rule of God; autocracy, the rule of the wealthy, thus this word has the meaning of strength, might, dominion and mastery.

The verb form of this noun shows the idea of this authoritative power.

A power that flows from a dominion of mastery.

/"//who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.

To Him be honor and eternal *dominion*!

Amen." (1Timothy 6:16)) /

/ /

/"//To Him be *dominion* forever and ever.

Amen." (1 Peter 5:11, NASB95) /

/ /

/"//to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, *dominion* and authority, before all time and now and forever.

Amen." (Jude 25, NASB95) /

 

* *An inherent power*: The word “strength” (*ivscu,oj*) speaks of that power which is inherently possessed and in this case it is *the power that* *God possesses*.

All these words are closely related to one another and overlap each other.

By way of illustration, a bulldozer has the ability, capacity, and potential of routing out trees.

By looking at it one senses its inherent or possessed strength (*ivscu,oj*), but when its engine is fired up and roars and it begins to move its power of mastery and dominion (*kra,toj*/)/ over trees becomes obvious.

However, when it comes to tree and knocks it down flat one sees the activity (*evne,rgeia*) of it’s power.

*We can conclude from this word study that the end of knowing God intimately is that we might understand the awesome operative, authoritative and inherent power of God that is directed to all who are believers.*

This is not a secret or special power or a higher power you need to ask God for No! This is the power that is yours in Christ, a power that is freely available to every believer:

 

Paul now gives the Ephesian believers and us the evidence that the surpassing greatness of God’s power toward us who believe *is genuine and attestable*.

He does this so that we might have great confidence that we can become all he has in the earlier part of the chapter said we are to be.

That there is no reason to feel weak and beaten down by the world the flesh and the devil.

We will see from Eph 1:19b -23:

 

*PROPOSITION: Four Dynamic Evidences of God’s Power to give us confidence of a right relationship with God, of our hope, riches and power through Christ.

*(I want you to get these four dynamic evidences down this morning – commit them to memory)

 

The first evidence of God’s power is…

* *

*1.

The Dynamic evidence of the Resurrection of Christ:*  /which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead/

 

The working which God worked was the raising of Christ from the dead.

In other words God’s power is more powerful than the jaws of death.

The power of physical death is so final, so complete, so, divisive in its separation from life.

It is a one way door to darkness with not return or exit.

It is cold, unfeeling, comfortless and hopeless.

Yet as Barnes so ably puts it:

“The /power/ which was exerted [at the resurrection of Christ] was as great as that of creation.

It was imparting life to a cold and "mangled" frame.

It was to open again the arteries and veins, and teach the heart to beat and the lungs to heave.

It was to diffuse vital warmth through the rigid muscles, and to communicate to the body the active functions of life.

It is impossible to conceive of a more direct exertion of /power/ than in raising up the dead; and there is no more striking illustration of the nature of conversion than such a resurrection.”

(Barnes)

 

However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ speaks of much more than the raising to life of a dead man.

It speaks to such grand subjects such as the divinity~/diety of Christ, victory over the realm of death, and the cause of death, it speaks to the atonement, propitiation, satisfaction of God’s wrath, redemption from slavery to sin and the hope of transformation and ultimate glorification.

It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that authenticates our Lord ministry, it sealed His redemptive work, marked the beginning of His glorification, and was a public testimony of the Fathers acceptance of His sacrifice.

[AW Pink said concerning the resurrection] … “The resurrection of Christ was necessary not only to evince God’s acceptance of His satisfaction on our behalf but as a necessary step to secure the application of the merits of His sacrifice to us, to communicate "the sure mercies of David" (Acts 13:34) to us.

"Because I live," said He, "ye shall live also" (John 14:19); otherwise He would be a Bridegroom without a bride, a Redeemer with no redeemed, the living Head of a lifeless body.

God’s raising of Christ from the dead was the pledge that He would quicken into newness of life all for whom He died.

The Corn of wheat which died "bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24).

(PINK)

 

The Greek construction of “/He raised Him from the dead”/ indicates that Christ was raised “Out of the dead” out of all those who had died and who remain buried in the earth.

This was no hoax or farce of deception.

This was a dead man not just coming back to life but a dead man breaking the bonds and shackles of death with a power that death could not vanquish – the power of GOD!