Oct 10 2008
God’s incomparably great power
Here is a link to today’s reading:
You need to know three things: the hope of your calling, the riches of being part of God’s people, and the incomparable power of God for those who believe. Knowing and trusting God’s power is the key to living a passionate and risky life for God. If Gideon didn’t trust God’s power, he could never have gone to battle, and if you do not know God’s power you will never be able to live your life full-out.
Today’s Challenge:
What is an area of your life in which you need God’s power? If you knew that God’s power was sufficient for you what would you do differently? Talk to a trusted friend and ask for prayer and then take a step that depends on God’s incomparably great power.
Textual Reflections:
I love Ephesians. I know that doesn’t really count as a textual reflection but I have to get it off my chest before I can even talk about the text. I’ll try and be helpful now.
This section begins with little snippet of stereotypical letter form that we need to notice. In Greek letters there was a lot of cool introductory stuff (which I want to talk about here but won’t for the sake of time and tired fingers) that included greetings, happy thoughts and a little bit of chit-chat. But when the writer wanted to get to the heart of the letters they used a pretty stereotypical transition line, “I want you to know that …” We can find this in a lot of Paul’s letters (Phil 1:12, Col. 2:1 are the clearest but we have forms of this device in other places) as well as many other non-biblical letters.
In Ephesians, the whole letter moves along almost as a prayer, so the “I want you to know” line become part of a petition to God rather than a direct address. But it significance is not less just because it is introduced in a slightly different way. In fact this three part prayer for knowledge is a key to understanding Paul’s whole reason for writing this letter. So let’s be sure that we know what it is that Paul wants his readers to know.
Paul wants his readers to know the hope of their calling. This means that he wants them to understand that God’s has called them to something. Paul will get specific about this in Ephesians 2:1-10. IN short, they have been called out of their old lives that were headed toward death and into a new life that is a gift from God and is the entryway to the good purposes for which God has saved them. I love how this phrase reminds me that my calling has hope built into it. Even as I walk in Christ I know that I am meant for even more than this. (You can read more commentary on this text in my post from a few days ago.)
The second thing that Paul wants his readers (and you) to know that all those who have been made a child of God through the work of Jesus have an inheritance that awaits them. This language of an inheritance in the saints, combines two of Paul’s favorite ways to talk about the people of God. Inheritance language is the language of family. Not only do we have a personal hope but we have a shared inheritance because in Christ we are God’s children and co-heirs with Jesus of the good things that God longs to give to us. The language of saints is also people language. This is the language of holiness which means to be set apart. The siants are those that have been set apart by God. So the inheritance of the saints is a double metaphor to talk about our participation in teh people that God is trying to create. Paul focuses on this in Ephesians 2:11-22.
The third thing that Paul wants his readers (and you) to know is the incomparably great power of God. I’ll talk about the nature of this power in a second, but first I want to talk about ordering. Even though God’s power is third on his list of things worth know, it is what he focuses on first. I think that their is a very logical and un-mysterious reason for this. Unless we are convinced that God is powerful, we will never trust in the other two things that Paul wants us to know. Only a powerful God could undo the consequences of sin and evil in my life and in the world. Only a powerful God could unite all people into one family. So Paul knows that before he gets to his first too points he needs to discuss the incomparable power of God.
Here is what he says,
That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
So Paul is saying that the power available to those who believe is that same kind of power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. That is big stuff. (We can see in chapter 2 that Paul thinks that because of the sin in our lives we basically were dead, so it is not surprising that this kind of power is necessary for God to work in your life the way God intends to.) God’s power for you is not just any power, it is ressurection power. This is why the historical reality of Jesus ressurection is such a central truth of the Christian faith. Christ’s ressurction and exolatation is the only demonstration of the kind of power now available in the lives of those who trust God to work in them.
I like comics and I like super powers. I have spent sometime thinking about what powers I would want and those fantasies are enjoyable to me. But Paul says that this is not fantasy. There is real power available to those who believe it is the same power with which God raised Jesus from teh dead. It ressurection power and it is through this power that you can know the hope of your calling that the richies of your inheritance amoung all the saints.
If you are a follower of Christ, surrendered in faith, then that power is in you. Why not take it out for a spin this week?
on the walk
-Ethan
i think the hard thing to do is to believe in God’s power on a realityl level. Culturally in our Christian communities, it is a must to believe that God raises people from the dead, spilts waters, slays giants, etc.
But in the reality of our world, people we love die too soon, we see deadly storms, crime, etc. and we slowly subtly decide God is poweful but only in the Bible.
perhaps it is a difference in having factual knowledge of God’s power and claiming it.
I think it’s also that we have the luxury of reading the Bible without the burden of waiting. We can jump from the begining of a story to it’s end without waiting. I am sure for the people who experienced the real stories of the Bible waited alot, doubted God’s power alot. We cannot fully understand the waiting pain because the stories are compacted with a nice beggining middle and end.
Our pereception of time is a great enemy in understanding God.
I guess what I am saying is it’s easier to see God in others stories than to wait for him in our own.
well said obiroddy
I agree with Obiroddy that we have a subtle internal shift that causes us to lose some of our belief in God’s power to act in this crazy world we live in today.
But, I do believe it, that God can calm storms and heal people that I love and protect us - I believe God is active in these ways even today.
What I find more difficult is to trust that God can do something about the darkness in my own heart, that this resurrection power can raise ME from the dead. Some days I can’t even figure out what it looks like to take this power out for a spin. Some days I walk in fear more than God’s power.
So I cling to what I know is true, “the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him” - and trust God to bring about resurrection in me on the days I forget what I know and act like a walking dead person.
Muffin writes (can I call you muffin? Probably not)
Ragamuffin soul writes: “What I find more difficult is to trust that God can do something about the darkness in my own heart, that this resurrection power can raise ME from the dead.”
I totally share that feeling. One of the reasons this verse is so important to me is that it clarifies exactly what kind of power it is that is available to believers. It is not the power to leap tall buildings in a single bound or the power to avoid all suffering. It precisely is resurrection power that available to me. One thing it means to me to “take that power out for a spin” is to look at the dead bits that are still part of my life and declare to them, “You have no power over me. I do not fear you because God is resurrecting me. You may be the death of me but that is okay because God has that covered.”
C.S. Lewis reminds me that the way to deal with the parts of me that are half-dead and drag me down toward death and way from life is not to try to revive them but to let them die. That is big irony I need to face, the way to take advantage of resurrection power is to die.
I am not always sure how to work that out practically but I know that I am in a better position to let God work in my life when I remember that it is resurrection power that God has for me. Consequently the little deaths that I fear in my life are instead likely to be avenues and opportunities for God’s power to be made manifest.