Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul prays that we would wake up to the fact, that we as God’s people, we are God’s own special treasured possession, God created a special people, who are unique and holy, who are distinct and different than the world around us, precisely to be the witnesses to his mercy and grace to the nation’s. Paul prays that we would wake up to the privilege and the calling of what it means to belong to the people that are God’s own inheritance, that God has taken and set aside for himself. It’s a privilege that we’re opening eyes to, but it’s also a challenge and a calling. Paul prays for the hope, that we might know the hope to which God has called us, the riches of being part of his glorious inheritance and his holy people.
Paul prays that Christians would come to know his incomparably great power for us who believe. Paul wants us to open our eyes to this resource of power that’s available to us, but this resource of power in our cultural setting, when we hear the word “power,” for the most part it’s not very positive. He’s a very powerful man, don’t cross him, he can make things happen. That’s how power is conceived of in our culture and specifically the abuse of power that comes before us, so we’re automatically suspicious of power, because we think of power as just having the ability to do whatever we want, that’s how we think of power.
What does it mean when Paul says that we might wake up to this huge power resource available to us? Paul is really quick to qualify what he means, that power is the same power as the mighty strength that God exerted when he raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is invoked not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. Paul immediately qualifies he’s not talking about power and victory, being an influencer for Jesus. Paul says, the kind of power that’s available to us, is the same kind of power that transformed the death of Jesus into resurrection life.
Paul has a whole story in his mind, the present age and the age to come and this is the basic story that Paul’s telling in all of his letters, is that he calls the present world that we live in, he calls it the present age and he calls it the age of sin and death. The good world that God made, but has been deeply compromised and fractured by human sin and selfishness, that results in a world of death. Part of the story that Paul’s trying to tell in all of his letters is the age to come, but the future has actually come crashing in to the present in Jesus and God has in Jesus come among us as the one human being, who is not compromised by sin and who doesn’t give in to the impulses that we all give into every single day. Jesus actually lives as the kind of human being that God always intended human beings to be. Jesus lives on our behalf, he dies on our behalf and he absorbs the collective results of all of the selfish decisions that we make, he absorbs death into himself on the cross.
Resurrection power is at this moment, it’s right here in the midst of our broken world, how we see what the power of God is all about, it’s not like power to do whatever or what God wants us to do or to tell us what to do or commands us to be a nice person, it’s the kind of power that gives up status and authority to absorb and to take the hit on behalf of others. But because God’s commitment to humanity, his love and mercy for sinful humans is so strong, he has the power to reverse death into life and that’s what the resurrection is about. In the resurrection, it’s what God’s power is up to in our world, not power to underwrite our dreams. It’s power to take the most tragic sinful selfish human beings and through an encounter with Jesus, it turns us into something that’s actually life-giving. Physical death, it’s a tragedy, it’s an enemy, but it doesn’t get the last word, because Jesus rose from the dead and whatever power God exerted when Jesus was raised from the dead, that power is going to manifest itself somehow for us one day.
Resurrection power in Paul’s letters, we’re going to see it’s not just about physical death, it’s about the power that God has to actually change us. There might be patterns of behavior in our lives, we leave a trail of broken relationships, what Paul is asking us to entertain is, do we actually have a hope that the present state of our life doesn’t get to determine the meaning of our lives, the present state of our character, Paul prays that we would actually have the faith to entertain the idea that God has the power to resist, to reverse those death moments in our life into something new. God’s making all things new, this is the power to heal and transform sinful human beings, that’s what Paul prays for. If a gathering of Christians means anything, we’re gathering in hope that the privilege of being among the people that God calls his own precious inheritance and the hope that we have is that he can actually reverse the power of sin and death in our lives.
Paul prays that Christians would come to know his incomparably great power for us who believe. Paul wants us to open our eyes to this resource of power that’s available to us, but this resource of power in our cultural setting, when we hear the word “power,” for the most part it’s not very positive. He’s a very powerful man, don’t cross him, he can make things happen. That’s how power is conceived of in our culture and specifically the abuse of power that comes before us, so we’re automatically suspicious of power, because we think of power as just having the ability to do whatever we want, that’s how we think of power.
What does it mean when Paul says that we might wake up to this huge power resource available to us? Paul is really quick to qualify what he means, that power is the same power as the mighty strength that God exerted when he raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is invoked not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. Paul immediately qualifies he’s not talking about power and victory, being an influencer for Jesus. Paul says, the kind of power that’s available to us, is the same kind of power that transformed the death of Jesus into resurrection life.
Paul has a whole story in his mind, the present age and the age to come and this is the basic story that Paul’s telling in all of his letters, is that he calls the present world that we live in, he calls it the present age and he calls it the age of sin and death. The good world that God made, but has been deeply compromised and fractured by human sin and selfishness, that results in a world of death. Part of the story that Paul’s trying to tell in all of his letters is the age to come, but the future has actually come crashing in to the present in Jesus and God has in Jesus come among us as the one human being, who is not compromised by sin and who doesn’t give in to the impulses that we all give into every single day. Jesus actually lives as the kind of human being that God always intended human beings to be. Jesus lives on our behalf, he dies on our behalf and he absorbs the collective results of all of the selfish decisions that we make, he absorbs death into himself on the cross.
Resurrection power is at this moment, it’s right here in the midst of our broken world, how we see what the power of God is all about, it’s not like power to do whatever or what God wants us to do or to tell us what to do or commands us to be a nice person, it’s the kind of power that gives up status and authority to absorb and to take the hit on behalf of others. But because God’s commitment to humanity, his love and mercy for sinful humans is so strong, he has the power to reverse death into life and that’s what the resurrection is about. In the resurrection, it’s what God’s power is up to in our world, not power to underwrite our dreams. It’s power to take the most tragic sinful selfish human beings and through an encounter with Jesus, it turns us into something that’s actually life-giving. Physical death, it’s a tragedy, it’s an enemy, but it doesn’t get the last word, because Jesus rose from the dead and whatever power God exerted when Jesus was raised from the dead, that power is going to manifest itself somehow for us one day.
Resurrection power in Paul’s letters, we’re going to see it’s not just about physical death, it’s about the power that God has to actually change us. There might be patterns of behavior in our lives, we leave a trail of broken relationships, what Paul is asking us to entertain is, do we actually have a hope that the present state of our life doesn’t get to determine the meaning of our lives, the present state of our character, Paul prays that we would actually have the faith to entertain the idea that God has the power to resist, to reverse those death moments in our life into something new. God’s making all things new, this is the power to heal and transform sinful human beings, that’s what Paul prays for. If a gathering of Christians means anything, we’re gathering in hope that the privilege of being among the people that God calls his own precious inheritance and the hope that we have is that he can actually reverse the power of sin and death in our lives.
