The Paradox of Power, II Corinthians 12:2-10
Introduction
French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, “I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests – and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning – and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"
Transition
It was her goodness that made her strong and it is her goodness which makes her strong today. We live in a nation which whose character was plainly shaped by the influence of God through His Church. We live in a nation whose founding documents all proclaim the goodness of God implicitly.
It is our creator who grants inalienable rights. It is our creator who proclaimed liberty to captives of sin through Jesus Christ. It is indeed our creator who offers a definition and example of what liberty even is. I would now suggest that apart from and prior to the revelation of God in the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ, Liberty as a standard of conscience and a manner of life was nonexistent.
Pure liberty is not only found in Christ but it is defined by the very nature, person, and work of Christ. In other words, apart from the Gospel liberty, sweet and pure, cannot be found. Though she be sought in the halls of science and academia, though she be searched out in the hearts of men, though she be hunted on the fields of natures beauty, scarcely can a wisp of her fragrance be discerned, scarcely can a vapor of her presence be known outside of the Gospel.
Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” ( KJV)
This morning we will deal with two primary themes. As we celebrate the 4th of July we will deal with the paradox of power as it relates to this great nation which was founded by faithful men and women, guided by the principals of Scripture. Though they were imperfect they passed on to us a legacy, an inheritance of the promise that each of us must live up to: namely, to create a more perfect union.
The promise of liberty is that each succeeding must continually cash the check that the framers wrote to secure for each and every person life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The paradox of power as a motif in the Bible, when applied to the character of this great nation is that it is not our strong military might or our incredible wealth which makes us great. It is, as Alexis de Tocqueville remarked, our goodness which makes us great.
The greatest gifts of America to the world historically or currently, I would argue, are the times and instances when America was able to offer or secure the great gift of freedom and liberty to the world. Weather it was in WWI, WWII, or in current operations, though we, like the framers be imperfect wielders of freedom’s sword, in our attempts to share the liberty with which we have been blessed, it is then, that we have been at our best.
We will focus our attention this morning, on the even more pressing matter, of the paradox of power as it relates to the life of the believer. It is not us who have the power to save ourselves, but God who has secured our salvation in Christ. It is not in our own sufficiency that we find security; it is in Christ alone that we find hope, salvation, freedom, liberty!
Exposition
Contrary to the popular notion of our day, it is weakness that we are made strong! It is we who must decrease, that Christ, in us, may increase…
In our lives, as in the life of our nation, we do well to remember that it is not we who are sovereign. It is not we who cause the moon to rise at night or the sun to shine its rays; though there are folks who live perhaps full in that assumption. In every facet of our lives, the Bible declares time and again, that it is God who is sovereign over the affairs of Nations, the affairs of kingdoms, just as He is absolutely sovereign over every matter of our lives.
The biblical motif of the paradox of power reminds us that in the upside down economy of the Kingdom of God it is not we who set the table or we who prepares the feast. It is in our weakness that we are strongest as we allow God to have sovereign provision in our lives. As the Apostle Paul says in today’s passage of Scripture, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. “(2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV)
It is not in our knowledge that we are wise but when we submit our reason to the mind of God that we find wisdom. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5 KJV) The paradox of power is that in spite of our own high view of our own strength and abilities, it is not us who is in control, in power, or capable; it is Christ in us which empowers.
Illustration
Who was the first one to see the continental United States? Today we celebrate the 4th of July and I am convinced that in light of the great Christian heritage of this nation, it is right to do so. At this time of the year it would be entirely appropriate for us to discuss those first men who set foot on the shores of America; our Congregational and National forefathers, the Pilgrims. For two centuries, Americans have been coming away from that account with the idea that the Pilgrims were the first to land on our shores. But we all know that Indians migrated from the Asian continent across Alaska and into America, possibly as early as the biblical account of Babel. Although Vikings from Greenland and Iceland visited the Atlantic coast around the year 1000, they did not settle. Other Europeans would come and go in the 1500’s.
So who was the first to say, “Land ho!”? There are these inspired words: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalms 90:2 NIV). Before the earth was even formed, God could see the history and topography of the United States in his mind’s eye. Aren’t you thankful we have such a great and eternal God?
Before every discovery, God was there. Before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, before the revolutionary war secured independence from Britain, Before the Civil war secured freedom for slaves, before women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement; and before the wars in your life began to rage; God was there.
How often do we forget the providence of God in today’s culture of self-exultations? How many are those whose lips are full of praise their own accomplishments rather than praises to God? Oh, we like those passages in the Bible which speak plainly to the notion of our own free will and empowerment, but what of those passages in the Scriptures which speak to the divine sovereignty of an almighty and powerful God? We should love them even more!
Listen to the beautiful words of Ephesians 1:2-8, where the same author of today’s text, the Apostle Paul says, “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” (KJV)
The God who knows the beginning from the end, the God who is not bound by time and space or any other thing knew before the foundations of the earth that you and I would be set apart as a divine remnant for His glory. There is nothing in this life that occurs that is foreign to the mind of God.
His absolute foreknowledge of all things gives us great comfort that no matter what we endure, He has tread that path before us and will use all of our joys, sorrows, heartaches, and victories to transform us into the image of Christ; to draw us nearer and nearer to His grace and love.
The biblical doctrine of Predestination, on the other hand, deals with our having been chosen before the foundation of the earth as adopted children of God; secure in Christ! This does not mean that God has charted out every detail of our lives beforehand so that we are programmed robots, forced to obey. In fact, such a teaching cannot be found in Scripture. Whenever the Bible speaks about predestination, it is concerned only with salvation. According to sacred Scripture, what God has predestined is not every detail of our lives; He has predestined our eternal salvation and everything that pertains to it.
At times in our lives when we feel like giving up; we need only hold on to the hand of God leading us through the path where He has already trod. At times in our life when we feel like we cannot continue; we need only raise a voice to Heaven and look up for our redeemer has prepared a place for us in eternity. At times in our lives when we feel abandoned, alone, or cast off; we need only look within to the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, comforting and guiding us.
The paradox of power is that it is not our strength which secures but His! The paradox of power is that it is not the military might or great wealth of this nation that makes it great but our goodness that makes us powerful. It is not in the stretching out of hands to build or to destroy that power is most well achieved; it is in stretching our hands of prayer and submission to God and hands of comfort and compassion to others that power is most well expressed!
Communion
There is o so much more that I would love to say with regard to the paradox of power. But alas, no phrases of human invention compare with the receiving of and sharing in the communion supper of the Lord. Where words fail, the blood of Christ is sure to satisfy the soul. Where oration ceases, the broken body of our Lord is sure to continue in its healing power!
Dear saints of God, today all are welcome at the table of the Lord because Christ died for the entire world. Any who profess faith in Jesus Christ for salvation according to the Grace of God are welcome to dine at the Lord’s Table.
Any who are broken and in need of healing, come. Any who are weary and in need of rest, partake. Any who are imperfect and in need of a savior, drink deeply and be satisfied by the refreshing waters of God’s grace. Amen.
