God’s Power Suit
Luke 24:49 , Acts 1:8, Phil 2:7, Mark 10:45, Matt 10:24-25, Luke 22:24,
John 13:1-5, 2 Cor 12:10, 1 Cor 1:25, John 7:37- 39
July 21, 2004
I. Do you know what the catch word for today is? POWER!
A. Power sells. Power is in. Power is what people seek.
1. Clothing advertiser’s aren’t selling clothing anymore they’re selling power!
2. Power suits and power ties are for power lunches.
B. An ad in a magazine says "GET SUITED UP FOR POWER"!
1. Below is a picture of an executive in the newest power suit,
2. Behind him is a new suit of armor that is suppose to let us know that his suit and the armor both assert power and authority.
3. If that’s not enough his desk is lined with phones, fax machines and trophies from his athletic accomplishments.
4. Junior executives stand at attention, waiting for orders from the main man.
5. A secretary that makes a better model than she ever would a secretary sits on point ready to take notes.
6. And the lines beneath read "POWER IS EVERYTHING"! You’ve worked hard to get it. It’s been a long climb up the ladder, so why not look the part in the latest power suit, that signals your influence.
7. Not daring to reduce their market, the caption goes on, " And even for those of you who are not yet in the positions of power YOU DESERVE look like a warrior in armor who has taken command. Get suited up with power NOW!
C. The business industry is not the only one to zero in on the power addiction though.
1. For Christians there is "Dunamis Sportswear" a line of casual clothing for active Christians.
2. Every piece of clothing has an emblem with DUMAMIS boldly printed on it, which is the Greek word for power.
3. Prophet sweats, Jerusalem Jerseys, Galilee sweaters, and Bible Smuggler’s bags all have the word Dunamis sewn on them.
4. The word of the advertising world today is POWER.
5. From power suits to power ties, from power lunches to Power Aide, and Power Naps, we live in world that is addicted to power.
6. We all want to be the "Top Gun".
D. The pull of the power magnet screams for us, to by our wills and our manipulative abilities accomplish our goals and gain and maintain power to control people and situations.
1. Everybody wants power! Those who have some want more, and those who feel like they don’t have it crave it.
2. And we play power games to get what we want. Control!
3. Marriages are destroyed by control issues.
4. Crimes are committed in the name of obtaining power.
5. Many wrongs and hurts of the world are the result of power struggles because people are addicted to power because power equals control.
E. What did we say was the root of Adam and Eve’s sin? CONTROL!
1. God I don’t trust you to be in control because I want to be in control.
2. We are caught in the grip of a life destroying quest for the wrong kind of power.
F. We strive for human power while we loose our grip on the real power.
(Luke 24:49 NIV) I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
1. Now, THERE’S real power! Power from on high!
2. Not the power of the world, but the power that created the world.
II. Jesus created the power suit!
A. Not a worldly power but, being clothed in power from on high.
1. God’s power, the same power that He modeled in His ministry on Earth.
2. The power that perplexed the Pharisees and subdued the Sadducees.
3. The same power that defeated death when He rose from the grave.
4. And the power Jesus wants to give us, comes when He lives through those that will give Him His rightful place as Lord.
B. The disciples needed that power. They were feeling pretty powerless.
1. They had seen the human power from Rome coupled with the religious power from Jerusalem nail Jesus to the cross in a surge of hate.
2. But now they were faced with the power of God as the resurrected Jesus stood before them and told them the same power would be given to them.
3. But this power would not be wasted on meaningless things, but released for a specific purpose.
4. The power from on high would come so His followers could be witnesses and change the world.
(Acts 1:8 NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
C. Now back to us.
1. With the promise of this kind of power available to us, why do our lives get so consumed by the struggle for a cheap imitation human power.
2. Why are so many Christians powerless, reeling and tangled with loose ends.
3. Because we are operating or trying to operate under our own power instead of being controlled by the power of the Spirit of God.
4. That is true, but we have to go deeper to get to the real problem.
5. To do that I am going to take a look at the five steps to putting on God’s power suit.
III. The first step to authentic power is to admit our human addiction to, and misuse of human power.
A. We can’t correct a problem if we refuse to admit that it is there.
B. Everyone of us has some level of power in life, and it is too easy to get in the habit of using what power we have to manipulate, in the struggle for control.
C. So many people want their name to be the answer to the question "whose in charge here".
1. We pout, shout, compliment, and complain as a way to try to gain control.
2. Some people are up front and demand their rights and recognition.
3. Some work behind the scenes to try to manipulate their way to control.
4. Some try to negociate their way to power with money, sex and many other things.
5. And many people struggle to control with out realizing it.
6. The addiction to power causes people to play control games and many marriages, families, and business relationships are broken up today because someone has too many control issues.
7. Children and parents have running battles over control.
8. In some places pastors try to use power to control, and church members try to control pastors.
9. Churches in many cases try to control people, and force them to live for God instead of letting God deal with what He wants changed in people.
10. But the saddest part is that the quest for power causes people to withhold love, affirmation, and joy from other people.
11. The reason that a lot of people don’t express love and concern is that they have a learned showing love and concern can reduce the level of power they hold over other people.
12. This is a major problem in a lot of marriages. Control becomes more important that love and affirmation.
13. Managers keep employees under control by keeping them insecure about the future of their jobs.
D. And the bottom line is, it keeps us from receiving and passing on the love and power of God, because even with God we struggle for control.
1. Many people try to manipulate God with good works. "God if I do this then you have to accept me."
2. And we try to use our efforts and accomplishments to barter with God instead of serving Him out of love for Him.
3. The first step to putting God’s power suit on is recognizing that the struggle and misuse of power makes us powerless.
IV. Step two, True power comes only when we accept the fact that we are nothing more and nothing less than a servant of God.
A. Jesus while He was on Earth was the most powerful human ever (Phil 2:7 NIV) says, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
1. He who has the power to create the world took the form of a servant, to show us an example of what we should be.
2. He served God with no thought of reward and no attempt to manipulate, but strictly out of love for God and people.
(Mark 10:45 NIV) For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
3. His purpose was clear.
Mat 10:24 - 25 NIV) "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.
4. Even the disciples had a hard time with control. The night before Jesus was crucified they got caught up in the power struggle thing.
(Luke 22:24 NIV) Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.
B. This explains why Jesus did what He did in John 13:1-5
(John 13:1-5 NIV) It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.) After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
1. Jesus left the ultimate example of what we are to be with His disciples, how could he do what He did?
2. The answer is in verse three, The Father had put all things where? Under His power.
3. Jesus was able to humble himself and be a servant because He knew where real power came from.
4. When we step out of the struggle for human power long enough to realize that true power comes from on high, then we will see that we are created to be a channel of God’s power.
5. When we acknowledge Jesus’s power an right to be in control, we receive God’s power, and we don’t need false power anymore.
C. The cure for the struggle for false human power is found in a question. HOW CAN I BE A SERVANT?
1. In marriage, with friends, on the job, in the church, and community our purpose is to serve and not to expect to be served.
2. What difference would it make in marriages if every person thought of what they could do to serve their mate instead of keeping tabs on what their mate had done for them.
3. To give ourselves away unselfishly and love unconditionally is not easy to do, but when we replace our defensiveness about our own power with a commitment to serve, the Lord gives us authentic power from on high that nothing can take away.
V. The third step, when we admit our powerlessness and acknowledge our own vulnerability (which is the opposite of the defensive attempts to manipulate people and situations ) WE free ourselves to confess our own weakness and need, and we are then prepared to receive power from on high.
A. Always having to be the strong one closes our ability to have God’s power.
1. Paul says in 2 Cor 12:10 NIV For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2. The problem is that we are in the habit of controlling others by appearing to be strong and self sufficient.
3. Jesus cannot bless with supernatural power, those that want to be self appointed humanly powered superstars.
4. That brings us to the popular catch phrase What Would Jesus Do.
B. Well, where power was concerned He was willing to become vulnerable.
1. The creator of the universe became a helpless baby.
2. He lived among us and learned what human weakness felt like.
3. He was rejected and crucified and the Cross is forever the symbol that even God made Himself vulnerable in the name of LOVE.
C. Paul said it well in (1 Cor 1:25 NIV) For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
1. At the Cross God made Himself vulnerable to man, and showed unconditional love, and that is why we can be vulnerable to Him, confess our weakness and receive His power.
2. He gave us the example of how to receive power and in doing it He showed us that we could trust Him, because he gave Himself for us.
3. It is just like God to give power to the ones who are willing to make themselves vulnerable and admit that they are weak.
VI. The fourth step is to accept real power as a gift.
A. When we admit the power addiction, accept that the purpose of real power is to be a servant, and acknowledge that we have no real power in and of ourselves, then we are ready to accept the way that we can have real power.
(John 7:37- 39 NIV) On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
B. The powerless who come to Jesus and confess that their lives are not what they should be and are tangled in loose ends, and then turn control of their lives over to Him, will have an intimate relationship with Him.
1. Then through the Spirit of God living in us, Jesus gives the gift of real power.
C. The Spirit of God flows into the dry and needy place of our lives and fills our empty insecurities, fears and anxieties that make us feel out of control.
1. And under His control we are given the power to think with the mind of Christ.
D. But that is not the end.
1. We are then to be a river, and not a lake.
2. Jesus said that our hearts would flow with rivers of rushing water, not a little trickle, but a raging white water river at flood stage.
3. Doesn’t that makes sense. What happens to a lake that water flows into and nothing flows out of? It Stagnates! Why do you think the Dead Sea is dead? It has no outlet. The water that flows in has no way to flow out.
4. It stagnates! And there are a lot of stagnate Christians in this world because they try to dam up the power and love of God to use only for themselves.
5. When the Spirit of God is not allowed to flow through us to others, it stops what is flowing in.
6. If we try to keep to ourselves the things that God wants to flow THROUGH us to others, we loose the in flow, and if we refuse to show love and affirmation to others to try to maintain control of them we lose the real control of life which is being a channel of the love and power of God to the people around us.
VII. Step five, (which is by the way not to be done before step four) is try something that you could never do without the power of God.
A. When we attempt the humanly impossible we see the power of God.
B. Step number five is filling in the answer to this question.
1. If I had an unlimited supply of God’s power I would attempt For Him!
C. That’s what Jesus wants us to do, because if we attempt only what we can do, we don’t need His power.
D. Take a self inventory this morning, ask yourself these questions.
1. Am I addicted to false human power or the struggle for it in marriage, with friends, at work, at church, or anywhere else?
2. Do I depend on playing power games to get and maintain control of people or situations?
3. Do I use manipulation instead of love to motivate others.
4. Have I accepted Jesus’s purpose for having His power? And am I living as His servant or for me?
5. Are my feelings of loose ends enough to make me see that I have to give Him my life to be filled with His power and peace?
E. Now that you have asked yourself these questions, take this opportunity to do something about it.
1. And if you would like to be a member of this church so you will have a better opportunity to serve Him this is the time for you to come.
