Holy Spirit Series 2000
The Surprising Power of the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 3:14-21
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
On August 6, 1945, at precisely 8:15 AM, a uranium bomb exploded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Within seconds, the entire city lay in ruins. Seventy thousand people were dead and another seventy thousand seriously injured. That one bomb had exploded with a force greater than twenty thousand tons of TNT. That is power!
But that is not the only power. For five years, I could look out my office window and view a small nuclear reactor adjacent to our university’s research facility. The very same principles of physics that made possible the atomic bomb are at work in that reactor and in its larger counter parts used, to generate electricity. When the reactor is in operation, there is no explosion, no mushroom cloud, and hopefully no danger. But there is power! A reactor’s power may be quiet and not nearly as spectacular as a bomb, but it is power nonetheless. In fact, the silent energy of that reactor can be far more powerful and certainly more significant than the force of a thousand bombs.
To believe that a reactor is less powerful than a bomb simply because its power is less obvious would be a mistake, Clearly, real power need not be spectacular, violent, or even visible. Understanding this valuable truth can shed much needed light on our understanding of the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said this his disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). They would be "clothed with power from high," he promised (Luke 24:49). Paul echoed the same thought when he prayed that his readers might know and experience the mighty resurrection power of Jesus in their lives (Eph. 1:18-20). For Paul the message of the Gospel itself contained power, the very power of God (Rom. 1:16).
But one important question must be asked: what kind of power? The awesome force of the bomb or the quiet energy of the reactor? The biblical answer is perhaps—both! The Spirit does manifest his power in spectacular ways at times. At Pentecost, he came with a sound of a mighty wind and cloven tongues as of fire. In Acts, the power of the Spirit shook buildings, healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons. But to limit his power to the spectacular and that alone would be just as great a mistake as denying the power of the reactor simply because it does not explode.
Yet this is precisely the attitude of many in our times. Sometimes we talk about and seek the promised power of the Spirit in our lives yet refuse to acknowledge it except as some overwhelming force. "Surely, we think, "if the Spirit is truly present our lives should be filled with one spectacular miracle after another." Given such a dispositions the slightest problem becomes the occasion for frustration or even doubt. We are forced to conclude that either the Spirit isn’t present in our lives or God doesn’t keep his word. It seldom occurs to us that we may have created our own problem by limiting the Spirit to our idea of "power."
The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power! He IS quite capable of doing "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Eph. 3:20). Yet perhaps the most amazing thing of all is his ability to demonstrate quiet power in ways often unnoticed by man.
THE POWER TO SUFFER
One such amazing aspect of the Spirit’s work is his ability to give power in suffering. Several years ago, the well-known German pastor and theologian Helmut Thielicke was asked during a visit to America what he considered the greatest problem in the US. He surprised many with his unexpected reply. "The biggest problem," he said, "is an inadequate view of suffering." He went on to explain that, in his view, the American dream of perpetual progress had led many to believe that any and all problems could be solved with a minimum of effort or discomfort. Unfortunately, he insisted, this is simply not the case. There are, and always will be, certain burdens in life that cannot be eliminated. In Thielicke’s words, "These burdens obviously pitch the American into such helpless embarrassment that he either capitulates, to them or represses them or glosses them.
Unfortunately, the German pastor’s words have as much relevance for many Christian’s view of life as for society at large. In the popular mind of our age, it is assumed by many that power always leads to pleasure. Adversity and suffering are certain signs of weakness. Given this attitude, the Holy Spirit’s power is measured by his ability to make life easy for the believer. Health, wealth and success are the true signs of the Spirit’s blessings. Adversity and suffering, on the other hand are the companions of spiritual weakness. For many the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to enable a believer to escape adversity, but not strong enough to sustain him in it.
Such an attitude is far removed from the teachings of the New Testament. Nowhere does Jesus promise his followers an easy life. Quite to the contrary, Jesus insisted that the path of discipleship is straight and narrow and the way hard (Matt- 7:13-14). Rather than rejecting adversity as a sign of spiritual weakness, the early Christians rejoiced that they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" (Acts 5:41). Paul even taught that suffering was an expected part of the Spirit-led life (Romans 8:14-27).
Dr. Paul Brand, world-renowned leprosy specialist, provides some enlightening background for this spiritual truth from his experiences with the lepers of India. Dr. Brand tells how he discovered that contrary to once popular medical opinion leprosy does not directly cause the deterioration of the flesh of its victims. The disease simply deadens the nerves of the body’s extremities. Eventually the leper looses all feeling in his fingers and toes. The afflicted person can burn his hand and never feel the pain. Infection and even gangrene can eat away at his flesh with out ever creating the slightest discomfort.
In fact, in certain villages in Africa and Asia the town leper is given a unique job because of his inability to feel pain, The leper stands by a heavy iron cooking pot watching the potatoes. As they are done, without flinching, he thrusts his arm deep into the boiling water and retrieves the cooked potatoes. Such insensitivity soon destroys the leper’s flesh. After years of working with lepers, Dr. Brand learned to rejoice in the sensation of cutting a finger, turning an ankle, or stepping into a too-hot bath. Pain itself, the hurt of pain, is a gift. "Thank God for pain!" writes Dr. Brand.
This is precisely the attitude of scripture toward adversity of every sort. Such a view, however, is not simply a Stoic acceptance of fate: "we might as well live with it. There is nothing we can do about it anyway.’’ Not at all! The Bible insists that adversity is not simply something to be endured. It is a tool of God used to teach us much needed lessons (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4). Adversity is like a cloud. It may block the sunlight for a time, but it also brings the rain. Both sunlight and rain are needed for growth. As C. S. Lewis phrased it, "God whispers in our pleasures, but shouts in our pain."
Phillip Brooks must have understood this spiritual truth when he wrote, "Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself at the richness of life which has come by the grace of God."
The Holy Spirit can and does bring power to God’s people. But because he is the Lord of the valleys as well as the God of the mountain tops, his power often brings the quiet strength needed to endure adversity and not simply the power to escape it.
THE POWER TO LOVE
A second unexpected power of the Spirit is the power to love. Again, in-the eyes of the world, loving and forgiving are measures of weakness not strength. When abused or attacked the strong reply in kind. Vengeance, not forgiveness, is the law of life. Only the coward or the man too weak to fight fails to retaliate.
If forgiveness and love are the marks of a coward, then Jesus must have been the coward’s coward. When attacked, he remained silent. When blasphemed and ridiculed, he blessed and cursed not. Even in death, Jesus refused to raise his hand in resistance. He could have called ten thousand angels in angry vengeance. Instead, he cried, "Father, forgive them."
Not only that, Jesus taught his disciples to do likewise. He commanded them to love their enemies, not just those who were kind to them. Going the second mile, turning the other cheek, and forgiving without limit were to be the true signs of spiritual power for Jesus’ men and women.
The Lord knew, as his modern disciples must learn, that real power never needs to hate or destroy. Only a man unsure of his strength needs to prove it. A truly strong man can look hate square in the eye and say, "In Jesus’ name I love! I forgive!"
Valerie Collins pinpoints this view of true power in her verse "Affirmation of Strength" (Mission, (May 1976), p. 8):
Yes, my friend, I’ll walk this mile.
And walk it twice again!
Not because I’ve learned to crawl,
Not because I fear death’s call.
But thus I was told
And thus I’ll do
Because He loved me
And said to love you.
Yes, my friend, I’ll surrender my coat and purse
and shirt and shoes to you,
Not because I quake at your power,
Not because you make me cower,
But thus I was told
And thus I’ll do
Because He loved me
And said to love you.
Yes, my friends I’ll turn my cheek and turn it 7 times 70 more,
Not because I cannot destroy,
Not because I was made your toy.
But thus I was told
And thus I do
Because He loved me
and said to love you.
This is the power of the Holy Spirit, a power so absolutely miraculous that few men have the courage to live it. Indeed, none live it but by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
THE POWER TO SERVE
The Spirit also provides the power to serve. As with suffering and loving, service is not often a mark of power in a fallen world. In facts in our world a man is esteemed if he no longer is forced to dirty himself with the menial tasks of life. A powerful man is to be served not serve. Ruling, controlling, manipulating the lives of others--these are the marks of power.
Not so with Jesus! On his last night with his disciples, Jesus demonstrated his radical attitude toward power. He removed his cloak, took up a towel, and washed his followers’ feet. Surely he had better things to do! Someone else could assume such a lowly role! Quite to the contrary Jesus insisted that the highest privilege of man is to serve another. There is nothing more important than that.
Jesus taught his disciples this same lesson again and again. Only a week before the Upper Room Jesus cut short an argument over his disciples positions in his kingdom with a startling truth, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matt, 20:25-28).
Paul encouraged this same attitude when he wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus “ (Phil. 2:3-5).
The inability to accept such a concept of Christian servant-hood was the very problem that created the disastrous confusion over the work of the Holy Spirit at Corinth (1 Corinthians 12-14). Apparently many in the Corinthian church had decided that whatever power or abilities the Spirit had given them were for their own personal benefits. Paul insisted otherwise. Every gift of the Spirit is for the "common good," taught the apostle (1 Cor. 12:7). No individual member of the body dares look upon himself as the master of the church. Each is a servant of the rest. To use a gift of the Spirit for any other purpose than loving service for others is to destroy their very value to the body (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
Who are the most spiritually powerful Christians today? The eloquent evangelist? The famous faith healer? The brilliant scholar? The wealthy benefactor? Perhaps, but not necessarily. The most powerful Christian may well be the lowly widow with the cup of cold water. In the kingdom, power is measured, not by prestige, or position, or wealth, but by selfless service!
POWER FOR TODAY!
Suffering, loving, serving---that’s not power! Miracles, raising the dead, healing the sick--that’s power! In fact, that’s the only kind of power that will cause our world to sit up and take notice. That is the power of the Spirit that we need today! So might read the arguments of many.
And there is some truth in all of that. The power to love and serve and suffer is not likely to impress our kind of world very much. But that shouldn’t surprise us. The world has seldom understood or readily appreciated the ways of God.
As Paul stated long ago, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world--and the things that are not --to nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before him” (1 Cor. 1:18, 27-29).
God still bestows power on his people, just as he always has! But it is HIS power--and not the worlds!
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
