Awesome God
His Wisdom, Power and Love
TCF Sermon
February 13, 2005
What do you think of when you think of the word “power?” When I think of power, many different things come to mind. When we’re working here in the office and a thunderstorm moves through, I think of electrical power...because often we don’t have any.
Electrical power is vital to our daily lives, and we often don’t realize how important it is, and how much we take it for granted, until we don’t have it.
The other thing I think of is nature...which, of course, we as Christians know is created by, and under the control of, our heavenly Father. I think of earthquakes.... I think of tornadoes...I think of lightning and thunder...I think of hurricanes...
In recent weeks, we cannot think of the power of nature, without thinking about tsunamis. What we note about the power of nature is not just its awesome look, but its power to literally change the landscape, and as a result, to change lives.
One of the other things we think of when we think of power, of course, is the power of God. Even then, we tend to think of the spectacular. We think of mighty creative acts. We tend to think of amazing miracles.
Here’s a Random House dictionary definition of power...for our purposes this morning, I’ve highlighted four of the definitions:
pow•er, n.
1.ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something.
3.great or marked ability to do or act; strength; might; force.
4.the possession of control or command over others; authority; ascendancy: power over men’s minds.
7.delegated authority; authority granted to a person or persons in a particular office or capacity: the powers of the president.
—Syn. 1. capacity. 3. energy. See strength. 4, 5. sway, rule, sovereignty.
Though it’s sometimes not the case that our modern-day usage of a word corresponds fairly closely with the biblical use of a word, in this case, power as dictionary-defined, and power as viewed in the Word of God, are actually very similar.
dunamis (doo na mees) is one of the Greek words translated in our various English translations as power. It means literally – to be able.
All the words derived from the stem duna – have the meaning of being able, or capable. It may even mean to will.
Another theological dictionary says:
“Power is an English logical construct referring to a variety of ideas relating to ability, capacity, authority, and might or strength.”
This Greek word is the word from which we get our English word dynamic.
dy•nam•ic adj.
1. pertaining to or characterized by energy or effective action; vigorously active or forceful
So, power is a key concept in scripture. The Theological Dictionary of the Bible explains it this way:
In Greek thought, power was portrayed as a major cosmic principle.
“Greeks viewed God and cosmic principle as equivalent. It was rare for them to speak of “the power of God” since these ideas were nearly equivalent. In the Bible, however, God is a person, and not merely power. Therefore, a phrase like “the power of God” takes on new meaning, because a person who possesses the characteristic of power is the prime mover of the universe. Furthermore, the biblical deity is a God of history, not just nature. Therefore, this God brings the world into existence, and distributes power to people to fulfill his historical purposes (Exod 15:6, 13; Deut 3:24; Pss 46:1, 86:16). The biblical description of power relates primarily to God and people.”
That’s the view of power I want to look at in scripture this morning. While God’s mighty acts of creation, His superintendence of the power of nature, and His amazing miracles in Scripture, and in our own time, are awesome signs of His power, it’s even more amazing to me when I consider how this Awesome God, a God who’s omnipotent ....that means all-powerful....when I think of how our omnipotent God, works in people, through people, in ways we can sometimes see, but also, in ways that are transparent to us, to accomplish not only His grand scheme of history and redemption, but also, to get to that end, by accomplishing His specific purposes in each and every individual life.
Even the mighty things He does, the amazing miracles, and yes, even the acts of nature, are designed in ways we can sometimes see, and in ways we cannot understand, to impact His plan with people, with groups of people, individual people, or both.
Let’s ponder this today. The apostle Paul pondered this great truth, and it caused Him to fall to his knees in worship before God, as we’ll see in a moment.
Our God is an Awesome God...I’m calling this message this morning Awesome God, in part because when we sang that Rich Mullins chorus last week during worship, I was already working on this morning’s message, and I pondered this phrase in the song...
“He reigns in heaven above, with wisdom, power and love.”
Those three attributes of our awesome God, wisdom, power and love, and so closely intertwined, so inescapably inter-related, that any one without the other, would seem to make God less than He really is.
The passage of scripture that prompted my line of thinking for this morning is from Ephesians 3. We’ve been studying Ephesians in our house church, and there’s so much there, it has been really rich.
I read this verse in my daily devotions a few weeks ago,
Eph 3:14-15 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
We’ll see what reason Paul’s talking about as we move along...and then I read it from the New Living Translation.
Eph 3:14 NLT When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
Here, Paul’s response is to the wisdom of God, and the vast scope of His plan throughout eternity. But, isn’t that our response to power, too? A display of power leaves our mouths open wide with amazement sometimes, doesn’t it?
Paul knew that the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, which had been outlined in the verses prior to this verse, as well as in the previous chapter, was brought about by His amazing power.
Not necessarily just the power we can see, but perhaps even more often in the power we cannot see at work, until we get at least a glimpse of the results.
When we go over to Beaver Lake, I’m always amazed at the smoothness of some of the rock formations, in addition to the way there are all these interesting niches seemingly scraped out of the rocks. In fact, they are scraped out of the rocks, by the power of the water, incessantly, over years and years, lapping at the surface of the rocks, until there are these indentations.
Looking at it without knowledge of what was happening, you’d never call that water powerful, but inevitably, inexorably, the water does have its genuine, permanent impact on the rocks. I believe that’s just a small glimpse of how God works in people.
I see a thread here in what God’s been speaking to us in recent sermons. A few weeks ago, Gordon talked about listening to the Lord. I believe it’s important to listen to what the Lord says about His plans for our lives. To listen to Him when He reminds us, through His Word, through someone else’s words to us, that He’s on the throne, that He’s in charge, that He’s got it all under control, that He’s at work, in whatever circumstance of our lives we face. That we’re part of His plan, and we’re a tool He uses to accomplish His eternal purposes. After all, He’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Last week, Jim talked about his desire to see and experience the Kingdom of God in our midst, and to remember there’s this unseen Kingdom at work around us daily, whether we can see it or not. He talked about how we need to have a Kingdom mindset, and we need to remember the supernatural aspect of the Kingdom, and to remember the deeds of the Kingdom.
Part of God’s unseen Kingdom deeds among us include an amazing power a supernatural power, to accomplish His purposes, to advance His Kingdom, individually, corporately, nationally, internationally and eternally by using we believers who belong to Him, and even by using people who never acknowledge His Lordship in their lives.
God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of His power and authority, it’s a supernatural Kingdom, where His omnipotence rules and reigns. The apostle Paul knew this, and referenced the power of God often. But, he also related it clearly to God’s wisdom.
Ephesians 3 provides several examples. In verse 7, he wrote:
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power
How did Paul come to serve Jesus? By God’s grace – of course that’s how we all come to serve Him. But His grace was provided to Paul by the working of His power. I’d submit to you this morning that this is how God’s grace reaches all of us.
The word working here in the Greek, is the word from which we get our English word energy. So, it’s kind of a double whammy...
Paul is saying God’s grace was given to him by the energy of God’s power. Of course, Paul did experience a miracle. God visited Him. He was temporarily blinded, later to be healed of that blindness. But where’s the real miracle in Paul’s conversion story?
I think it’s in his deeply changed heart.
After all, here’s a man who not only wasn’t a follower of Jesus, but he was a persecutor of those who follow Jesus. God went to extraordinary means to get his attention, blinding him, knocking him to the ground, allowing Paul to hear the voice of Jesus, then a few days later, healing him of blindness.
But many people have experienced miraculous intervention in their lives, and never responded, never changed, the way Paul did. The real miracle is that Paul not only quit persecuting Christians, but became one himself! God’s power to change hearts turned Paul’s heart around.
God, in His wisdom, did what He needed to do to get Paul’s attention, to draw Paul into His Kingdom. He did this not just because He loved Paul, which God clearly did, but also because He had a purpose for Paul. It was a purpose that didn’t end with Paul, but rippled beyond Paul, to those whose lives Paul touched, and then to those whose lives were touched by those whose lives Paul touched....and onward and onward.
Bible Believer’s Commentary says:
"The ministry was in the nature of an undeserved gift: according to the gift of the grace of God given to me. And it was not only a display of grace; it also demonstrated God’s power in effectually reaching the proud, self-righteous Pharisee, saving his soul, commissioning him as an apostle, empowering him to receive revelations, and strengthening him for the work. So Paul says the gift was given to him by the effective working of His power."
Then, in verse 10 and 11, Paul writes:
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord
God’s eternal purposes were revealed, are being revealed...put on display, through the church. That’s us! We’re the church. God, in His wisdom, and accomplished by His power, and because of His love for us, has chosen to display His wisdom to the angels, through us. What an awesome thought!
It’s all part of His plan, His purposes, and these are purposes that were established before the beginning of time.
Verse 11 says this happened “according to His eternal purpose” which He accomplished in Jesus.
Commentator William McDonald writes:
Before the world was made, God knew Satan would fall and man would follow him in sin. And He had already prepared a counter-strategy, a master plan. This plan has been worked out in the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Christ. The whole program centered in Christ and has been realized through Him. Now God can save ungodly Jews and Gentiles, make them members of the Body of Christ, conform them to the image of His Son, and honor them in a unique way as the Bride of the Lamb throughout eternity.
In verse 16, Paul writes:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being
Here, we see Paul talking about power again, and then again in verse 20-21:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
"The means by which God answers prayer is given in the expression, according to the power that works in us. This refers to the Holy Spirit, who is constantly at work in our lives, seeking to produce the fruit of a Christlike character, rebuking us because of sin, guiding us in prayer, inspiring us in worship, directing us in service. The more we are yielded to Him, the greater will be His effectiveness in conforming us to Christ."
source: Believer’s Bible Commentary
Do you notice how, throughout this chapter of Ephesians, we see Paul connecting God’s wisdom, and His power, with His perfect plan? It’s power with a purpose... with an end in mind...and that end is His plan of redemption... but ultimately, the accomplishment of that plan of redemption brings glory to Him.
We started out with Paul recognizing the awesome wisdom, the incredibly far-reaching scope, the amazing power, of God’s plan for redemption. The context here in Ephesians is the reconciliation of the Gentiles, who can now, because of what Jesus has done, share in God’s Kingdom with God’s specially-chosen people, the Jews.
So, Paul wrote, “for this reason.” What reason? “God’s plan.”
Not just the plan itself, but the amazing scope of the plan, which spans human history, and the wisdom and power it took to bring this plan to pass, and and to bring it to completion.
Initially, Paul’s remarking on the Jews and Gentiles reconciled... but ultimately, God’s plan is His plan of redemption, that Jews and Gentiles share in equally.
That’s what caused Paul to note “I fall on my knees” recognizing the wisdom and scope of God’s plan.
When I first began to ponder this passage, I tended at first to think of His plan in terms of how it impacts me. Isn’t that so human of me? Even in these tremendous things of God, even though this plan encompasses every person who ever lived, even though it’s been in place since before time began, my first look is to the impact it has on me.
As I mentioned some of my thoughts to Jim Garrett, he pointed out that’s how we frail, self-focused human beings often view things – through the lens of what it means to us...and, of course, it does mean something to us, because even though God’s plan is so much larger than us, even though it was put in place before the world began, has continued to operate throughout human history, operates today, and will be worked out by God’s wisdom, power and love long after I’m no longer an active participant, it does impact each of us as individual believers...because, after all, we’re saved as individuals.
Jesus talked about the growth of the Kingdom as yeast that begins small and grows larger. But Jim reminded me of a better way to think of this, and I believe Paul’s words compel us to think of it this way, is from the greatness of God’s plan, and then inward, rather than the impact on me, and then rippling out from there.
That is, God’s masterful, awesome plan of redemption, the plan that caused Paul to say, “for this reason I kneel before God” is so incredibly far-reaching, so amazingly large and all-encompassing, that even though it guides every event in human history, it also embraces little old me.
Not only does it embrace us as believers in Jesus, by including us in God’s plan of redemption, and saving our souls from eternity apart from God, but God’s power, in ways I can only imagine, includes our actions, our obedience, our service, too. It includes each of us.
The outworking of His plan includes those who don’t know God, as well. Those who don’t follow Him and probably never will.
Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
The heart of the king is in God’s hand (cf. Ecc. 9:1) as are the plans of all people (cf. Prov. 16:1, 9). A farmer directs water by digging canals. Similarly the LORD directs the hearts of kings, as, for example, Pharaoh (Ex. 10:1-2), Tiglath-Pileser (Isa. 10:5-7), Cyrus (Isa. 45:1-6), and Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:21; Neh. 2:1-8). God is sovereign (cf. Prov. 21:30).
source: Bible Knowledge Commentary
So, God uses anyone and everyone to reveal His manifold wisdom, and to accomplish His eternal purposes. We can choose to be a cooperative tool, or we can be wielded by God unwillingly, but either way, in God’s perfect wisdom, through His unlimited power, and in view of His unending love, we’re part of the working of His plan and purpose. I, for one, want to be a willing vessel, a cooperative tool – don’t you?
1 Cor. 1:18 For 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.
I’m among the “us who are being saved....” and the implication here is clear as well – some are perishing, and some are being saved.
So to me, being a cooperative tool, is being utilized as part of His plan and purpose through the power of God.
1 Cor. 1:22-25 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Here, once more, we see God’s power and wisdom spoken of together. Christ crucified, the focal point of the gospel, the focal point of our salvation, God’s eternal plan of redemption. Paul, here writing to the Corinthians, calls this both the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
God has complete control through His wisdom and power, and this means He not only can, but He will accomplish His eternal purposes, not just in us as individuals who have chosen to receive His gift of salvation, but in human history.
Some additional related verses.
Philip. 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
The word for “works” here is again the word we looked at a bit ago...It’s God’s energy in you, it’s God empowering us...that enables us to not only to do what God purposes. Paul writes “to act according to His good purpose....” But His power, His energy, even enables our will.
Now, admittedly, this is something I don’t understand fully. But clearly, we have a will. We can choose to believe or not. But it’s God’s power that enables us to believe. Our wills must be “energized” by God.
Matthew Henry says,
“it is the grace of God that inclines the will towards the good, and then enables us to perform it.”
This is one of those things that causes me to respond as Paul did in Ephesians 3:14. When I think of how God can, without violating our freedom to choose to believe, or our freedom to choose to obey, God can still move in such a way that He’s moving toward the completion of His eternal plan a plan that will not be thwarted, or hindered, or in any way at all sidetracked, I have to say, with Paul, when I think of God’s wisdom, His power, the scope of His eternal plan, I must fall to my knees in worship.
We can say what Paul said to the Colossians that we will proclaim Christ, teaching with all wisdom, in Col 1:29
Col. 1:29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
As we prepare to close, I’d like to read another passage from Ephesians. This would be my prayer for all of us...
Ephes. 1:17-20 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 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,
His incomparably great power for us who believe. Here, the word power is again dunamis. But Paul needs more to describe God’s power, so he goes on. He says this power is the working – there’s that word for energy again. Then he adds, it’s the working of his might...another word for power – a power that overcomes resistance.
Then, Paul refers to God’s strength. This is still another word synonymous with power. This word emphasizes more forcefulness, ability and might. So, in one sentence, we see God’s power described in four different ways, and it’s compared favorably to the power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead.
What he says here is that the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, is “for us who believe.” It’s the same power God used for our redemption. He uses it in us, through us, to preserve us, and He is using it to move His amazing plan toward completion.
en•er•gy
1. the capacity for vigorous activity; available power: I eat chocolate to get quick energy.
2. an adequate or abundant amount of such power: I seem to have no energy these days.
It seems that the only appropriate way to close a message where we’ve surveyed such amazing, incredible truths about God, is where Paul ended up often...iIn doxology – in praise to the great and Awesome God we serve...
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
