I don’t have a catchy story to introduce this message today. I have only one question. “Is the power of God enough for you?” I know our knee-jerk reaction is to give the Sunday school answer of the expected answer of yes. But really… it’s not a question of “Is God powerful enough?” It’s a question of… “Have you found that sweet spot where the power of God is enough for you?”
Ephesians 1:19 – 23…
Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be open to “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
The apostle Paul is on his knees praying for the Ephesian believers and he’s praying that God would open the eyes of their hearts to the power of God in the resurrection and the power of God in Heaven and the power of God in the church.
He’s basically describing the power of God in three different ways or from three different angles so that these believers would understand that because they were following Jesus they are now connected to the power of God because of their union with Christ. And the truth is this: The power of God is enough for you.
1 :: The power of God in the resurrection is enough for you… (19-20)
When the apostle Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be opened to the power of the resurrection he minces no words in describing what he’s talking about. He says I’m praying that you would see “the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead”.
Think about the impact of these words and phrases for a minute. Immeasurable greatness. His power toward us who believe. The working of his great might. That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Paul is using a pile up method of communication to build a mountain of truth for us so that we can see that the power source we are connected to is enough.
It’s like saying that that home is the most beautiful, gorgeous, pristine, wonderful home you could ever buy and it’s enough. This is what Paul is doing in regards to describing the power of the resurrection.
But why? Why is Paul making such a big deal out of this? I think Paul is making such a big deal out of this because the power of the empty tomb had radically affected his own life and he wants the Ephesian believers to be radically affected in the same way. Paul had come to believe that the power of the resurrection was enough for him and he wanted the Ephesian believers to believe the same thing.
Think about it. How had the power of the resurrection become enough for the apostle Paul? Paul thought he had everything he ever wanted before meeting the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. He had power, fortune and fame and he was on the road to vocational success at a rate that probably made others jealous. In a sense Paul believed he had enough before meeting Christ.
Don’t hear me wrong. Paul was an evil man who became successful, powerful and famous off of his skill in hunting down Christians and hurting them. But nevertheless he was powerful, successful and famous. So what changed the day he met Jesus on the road to Damascus? What significance or power did the resurrected Christ have on Paul’s daily life? How did Paul go from being a dude who believed his effort was enough to now believing that the power of God in the resurrection was enough for him?
I think part of the answer is that previous to meeting Jesus, Paul was a religious dude who thought he could work hard to earn God’s love. And I don’t think he realized the depth of his wickedness prior to meeting Jesus. Paul’s identity was wrapped up in what he could accomplish apart from Christ. But when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus he met the resurrected Christ.
He met the only person who holds the power over life and death. He met the only person who holds the power to freedom from sin. He met the only person who is the essence of perfection. He felt the weight of the depth of his own sin in light of the presence of the power of the resurrected Christ. He met the personification of power. And it’s almost like Paul who was a dark light bulb previous to meeting Jesus was now lit up in the power of the resurrected Jesus. Quite simply, the power of God in the resurrection became enough for the apostle Paul at the flip of a switch.
So, what significance or power does the resurrection have in your daily life? When I stop and think about the affect of the power of God in the resurrection in my life I am deeply humbled because I know who I used to be and I know how I still struggle. And yet, Jesus stands in pristine, unexplainable, immeasurable, beyond powerful, unfathomable greatness in contrast to my weakness and he loves me completely. He loves me enough.
That’s unimaginable infinite power that blows my mind. Jesus died for me. And the tomb is empty. Jesus beat Satan, sin and death and I am his possession now. I am twice his. Priceless not worthless. Chosen not forgotten. Planned not an afterthought. Adopted not fatherless. Eyes open not blind.
What does that provoke within me? I’m not asking how do I feel about this. I’m asking what does this effect within me? What does this cause me to want to do? This causes me to want to love Jesus. To become like Jesus. To talk like Jesus. To act like Jesus. To live like Jesus.
The power of the resurrection makes me want to love people more, to live in the joy of my salvation more, to strive for peace with others more, to be more patient, to be more kind, to be good, to be more faithful and to live a more Spirit-led self-controlled life. This is the power of God. The power of God in the resurrection is enough for you.
2 :: The power of God from Heaven is enough for you… (21)
As we think about the power of God from Heaven I want us to think about powerful people in powerful places for a minute. Think about the President in the White House or a king in a castle.
Presidents and kings have authority and control because they are seated in a place of power with a powerful title. Therefore, everyone in their kingdom at that time is under their sovereign rule and reign. Their power is not intrinsic to who they are. They weren’t born with power. Their power is given to them by their title and their seat in a powerful place.
With God it’s different. God isn’t powerful because we gave him a title of power and he isn’t powerful because he has a seat in Heaven. The throne that God sits on and the locational place of Heaven are powerful because God himself is powerful. And Paul wants the eyes of our hearts to be open to the immense power of God from Heaven in our daily lives because the power of God from Heaven is enough for us.
This is why Paul prays that we would see that God has seated Christ “at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”
In other words, the power of Heaven exists because our God who is the personification of power is seated there. Every other ruler is under his powerful authority. Every person is under God’s powerful authority. Every current and future season of everyone’s life is under God’s powerful authority. Furthermore, this portion of our text reveals that Christ is God because God needs no one to sit at his right hand to advise him. The power of God from Heaven is enough for us.
But how does this connect to our daily lives? Again I want you to think of the apostle Paul. He’s sitting in a hole in the ground jail cell for preaching the gospel and he’s praying for God to open the eyes of the hearts of the Ephesian believers to the power of God from Heaven. And the Ephesian believers are living in a city that is hostile to the message of the gospel. Hostile to anything that has to do with living a godly life. And from that context Paul prays into the context of the Ephesian church.
And his literal prayer at this point is that the Ephesian believers would experience the power of God from Heaven in the daily context they are living in. When Paul prays this he is praying that the Ephesian believers would experience the power of God from Heaven and they would find this power to be enough for them.
When I think of this story I think of my own experience as a pastor and I think of believers in this church. New believers learning to walk in repentance. Older believers learning to walk in obedience. Other believers facing extremely painful circumstances. Lonely people. Angry people. Hurting people. Negligent people. Sinful people. Broken people. Fearful people. Pride-filled people.
And into this context Paul’s prayer becomes clear. There is no struggle in repentance that God isn’t powerful over. There is no struggle in obedience that God’s power isn’t enough for. There’s no painful experience that God’s power isn’t sufficient for. There’s no loneliness that God’s power won’t suffice. There’s no anger or pain or negligence or sinfulness or brokenness or fear or pride that God’s power can’t handle.
God wants you to be connected to Him as your power source. He wants to light your life up like a light bulb so that other people can see his work in your life. Sin makes your life go dim but the power of God in Heaven will light you up like a Christmas tree if you let him. The power of God from Heaven is enough for you.
Some people ask me how to repent from sin and it’s a great question. And part of the answer is… you have to be connected to a true life-giving power source. Your mind and your heart have to be captured by the hope of Heaven. Heaven is the future vision for the believer’s best life now. If you don’t have a vision of Heaven then sin will be the Heaven you pursue now even though you know sin leads to hell.
Maybe a practical way to apply this portion of text to our lives is to go home and begin praying this payer with urgency. What if we prayed this prayer over our own lives and over the lives of our loved ones every day for the next year? What if we all prayed that God would open the eyes of our hearts and help us to live in the power of God from Heaven? This is the power of God. The power of God from Heaven is enough for you.
3 :: The power of God in the church is enough for you… (22-23)
Think with me for a minute about some of the most powerful and influential families that have existed in our country like the Bush family or the Buffet family or the Kennedy’s or the Trump family or the Clintons or the Obama family.
We can argue all day long about whether or not we like the influence that these powerful families have exerted throughout the world but at the end of the day every one of us has to agree that these powerful families have wielded their power in influential ways that have impacted people’s lives across the globe.
It is no different with the church and in fact it’s even better because the power of God in the church has eternal consequences in people’s lives. This is why Paul prays that God would open the eyes of our hearts to the power of God in the church so that we would see that when Jesus ascended to Heaven after his resurrection, God “put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
The reason I can stand in front of you and say with confidence that the power of God in the church is enough is because Paul tells us that Christ is the head of the church and the church is the full representation of Christ on this Earth and Jesus is the one who fills the church with power and influence to reach the ends of the Earth with the gospel. The power of God in the church is enough.
I’m in this church with you today because another church that was full of believers followed the great commission and loved me enough to serve me practically and they shared the gospel with me. The power of God in that church was enough to help in the process of saving a sinner like me. The power of God in the church is enough.
Jesus had filled that church (the one that reached out to me) with his very own powerful presence and the influence of that church family has been felt not just in my own family and not just in me but also in our church family here and in other local church families throughout the world. The power of God in the church is enough.
When I stand in front of you and call us to repentance from sin or call us to give our very best talent or call us to give more of our money to the church it’s because I wholeheartedly believe that the power of God in the local church is more than adequately influential enough to rock the gates of hell as sinners are saved and transformed through the preaching of the gospel. The power of God in the church is enough.
How far could our influence reach as a church family if the eyes of our hearts opened and we began to live out of the powerful presence of Christ who is sufficient enough to fill the church family to the point of exploding into the world we live in?
Some of you might be thinking “We are just a poor little church, what kind of powerful influence do we really have?” Or “We are just a young church that is struggling to stay alive, what kind of impact could we really have?” Can I just challenge us for a minute here? Why would any of us want to sell the power of God short by believing we are too small or too poor to make a lasting difference? Can you imagine where you’d be today if that was the dominating thought of our leaders here? I can surely tell you that this isn’t the dominating thought in our leaders.
Our dominating thought is that the church is the hope of the world because it is the bride of Christ and the body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the church and he certainly won’t let his body fall apart and he certainly won’t abandon his bride for another wife. Though she is imperfect and stubborn and negligent and spotted with sin… Jesus gave himself at the cross for her. He wasn’t just willing to die for her he was ready from before the foundations of the world to die for her. The power of God in the church is enough.
This is why I can boldly stand in front of you today and call you to turn away from your sin and turn away from your negligence and turn away from your wandering and turn away from prostituting yourself out to other god’s. I can do this with confidence because the gods of negligence and self-indulgence are powerless and their influence leads to hell. The power of God in the church is enough.
Will you turn to Christ in these moments and leave behind those dead gods of sexual impurity and greed and selfishness and bitterness and backbiting and divisiveness? Will you leave those powerless gods behind and cling to Christ who is your Savior? Will you cling to Christ in these moments even though you’ve forgotten that he is in fact the powerful King of the world? This is the power of God. The power of God in the church is enough for you.
Conclusion…
I don’t have a catchy story to close this message today. I have only one question to leave us with. “Is the power of God enough for you?” I know our knee-jerk reaction is to give the Sunday school answer of the expected answer of yes. But really… it’s not a question of “Is God powerful enough?” It’s a question of… “Have you found that sweet spot where the power of God is enough for you?”