Stepping Up To A New Level With Power
2/12/06 Genesis 1:27-30 Matthew 20:20-28
Suppose for a moment that when you wake up in the morning, there is angel at your bed and He says, “God is giving you an unlimited amount of power for the next hour and a half. Do as you please with it. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind as to what you would do? How many of us changed our situation in life?
How many of us immediately thought of the poorest of the poor and changed their positions? How many of us thought of granting healings? How many of us did something on a world wide scale? How many of us became rich or famous? How many of us led people to Christ?
I want you to know that God has given each one of us an unlimited amount of power, but it is spread out through time in small segments. In the first book of the bible, when God created us, God created us in His image. We know that God is all powerful, therefore if we are in His image, we are given a certain amount of power. Right after God said, “let us make man in our image”, the next statement was “and let them rule over.” Now the them refers to male and female and the rule over refers to all of the rest of creation including the earth itself.
Later again in verse 28 God makes us aware of the power He has given to us by again instructing us to subdue or to conquer the earth, and again to rule over every living creature. God gives us power from the moment we come into the world. God equipped us as babies with a high piercing scream to give us power with adults. That scream will often get us what we want whether it is to be fed or to get a diaper changed.
Each of us has been equipped with a certain amount of power in our home, in our church, in our school, on our job, and in society. Power is the influence to make things happen. When I speak of stepping up to new level with power, I’m not referring to finding a new source of power, but rather steppin’ up to a new level of controlling the power that we have.
Men have an incredible power over women, in that women seek healthy loving relationships, and will submit to men to get it. Men are generally stronger than women and can use physical power to over come them in getting them to do what they want. When this goes to the extreme, we have men on boys beating on women and girls in relationships.
Women and girls have an incredible power over men. You know how to dress and speak in such a way as to get the average man to turn his head again for a second look. You can get a man to risk a 25 year marriage to spend 30 minutes with you, or you can get a young guy to forget about 18 years of child support payments just to spend 15 minutes with you. It will be the most costly 15 minutes of his life.
Parents have power over their children. You can love them or you can terrify them. I’ve done funerals where kids have said nothing good about their parents, other than they were mean and strict. Children have power in their homes. They can be loving and obedient and build up the home, or they can be rebellious and destructive and make life in that home absolutely miserable.
Teachers have power over their students. They can build on a child’s life to inspire them to become nurses, scientists, doctors, workers and a lot more, or they can take the attitude, look I’m paid whether you learn anything or not. Students have tremendous power in the classroom. They can choose to equip themselves to reach their dreams, or they can join in disrupting the classroom so that very little learning takes place.
Employers and supervisors have incredible power over their employees. They can make life at work meaningful and coming to work a positive experience or they can make 8 hours seem like an eternity of drudgery and harassment. Employees have an incredible power with their employers. They can help make a business profitable, or they can help run it into the ground.
Power is never a once sided relationship even when it looks like it is. Back in the civil rights era, the segregationist in the south had the police, the national guard, the courts, the city government , county government and city government on their side, and they lost to a group of non-violent blacks. Part of understanding power, is knowing that you have it and then choosing to use it wisely.
When we are told to subdue the earth, it means to make it function to our advantage. So we each have a part to play in this use of power. Much of the heartache, the oppression, and violence that we see in the world today, is the result of power that has gotten out of control. The local school bully has been replaced by gangs with guns who wait to meet you after school. The former plantation owner and sharecropper from whom you could never get out of debt, has been replaced by master card and visa who have some of us enslaved to them for years. Their power allows them to change conditions of the agreement solely at their discretion, putting us further into debt.
The nation that boasts everyone is free until proven guilty has been replaced by an administration that holds people in jail in Guantanomo Bay for years with a trial, without lawyers, and throwing in a little torture and abuse in the name of national security. Yet their power allows them to do this with no thought of concern.
The writer in the book of Ecclesiastes made this observation Eccles. 4:1 (NIV) Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors-- and they have no comforter.
What he is saying here, is that power can be just as much a negative influence on those being abused or misused as it is on those who are doing the abusing. You see in the economy of God, you can never intentionally hurt or abuse others, without doing damage to yourself. God identifies on the side of the oppressed, and God will repay.
Some of us today have power on our side, and its tempting us in the direction of sin. Some of us are already using our power wrongfully, and we find ourselves in the midst of sin. Today is the day for a change. We have got to be willing to start steppin’ up to a new level with power, so as to keep that power from bringing us down and destroying us. You don’t have the power to completely cover your tracks. Because God has said I will bring to light those things done and hidden in secret.
This desire for power infiltrates us even when we are in Christ. There were three guys that were really tight with each other. Jesus, allowed them to see things the other disciples did not get to see. They were the brothers, James and John, and their buddy Peter. Now they knew Jesus was going to one day become king. Well James and John, decided to dish Peter out of the equation in their power grab, and they had their mother try to use her influence with Jesus. She asked Jesus, to let James and John sit on his right and left side when he sat on the throne. They wanted the position of power and authority so that they would answer to no one except Jesus, and others would have to do what they wanted them to do.
When the other disciples heard that they had asked for those positions of power at their own expense, they were furious with James and John. Now Jesus took this opportunity to show us what power that is not tainted by sin is really like. You see our problem with the power that we have is we often use it for our own selfish motives.
Jesus says to them, now fellows we all know that those outside the kingdom have rulers over them and they exercise authority over them. They use their power and authority to show how great they really are. They want others to take notice of them wherever they go. They expect special favors and treatment. They let others know, they are somebody. They are in charge.” This is the kind of culture that we live in today. We know who are the important people because of the authority or power they display.
We enjoy the perks that go along with being the one in charge. We even tell ourselves we deserve this kind of treatment. When you take it to the extreme, you end up on trial like the Enron boys today. Or you keep firing workers so that you can make more and more money. Your emphasis becomes, what’s best for me.
But then Jesus comes with his backward way of seeing things and says, “but not so with you.” Jesus actually expects us to live, act, and think differently. He doesn’t say, “but not so with you” at church. He says “but not so with you” wherever you find yourself. Jesus is saying that none of us should just be going along with the crowd when it comes to power and acting in the same manner.
It does not matter if its at school, when students are constantly making fun of the same person because the person is somehow different in the way they look, or dress, or even smells or whether it is at work, when you are making decisions concerning your employees or your boss. Jesus is saying, “stop and ask the question, am I using my power in the way God wants me to use it or am I just doing what everybody else is doing.”
Jesus goes on to say, now listen if you really want to be somebody significant. If you really want to be important. If you really want to make your life count then pay attention to this, “not so with you, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first bust be your slave—just as the son of Man did not come to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Now most of us believe that Jesus was out of his mind by saying this. What? God wants me to use my power to be a servant to those who I am over? What does that look like for a man or a father to be a servant in his home? Do you think his children might grow up to love and respect him? What does it look like to be a servant at school? Do you think it might make the teacher’s job easier and your grades and attitude would improve? What does it look like for a manager or supervisor to have a servant’s attitude toward his or her employers. Do you think they might enjoy their job and appreciate you a little more?
I heard a story of a stewardess on an airplane she was speaking to this woman in first class who was immaculately dressed. She had asked the woman a question about what she would like to have, but the woman refused to say anything to her. Finally the gentleman in the seat next to her, said to the stewardess, “Please understand that she is from very high nobility in her country and she has been trained not to speak to servants.” The airline stewardess couldn’t believe what she had heard. This woman thought of her as some kind of a servant, not a professional stewardess.
But do your understand, what Jesus is saying to us in this passage is that it does not matter what title or lack of title we may hold, to be a follower of him is to be a servant in that role. So how as a servant, can a man beat his wife or his girlfriend? How as servants can we use and abuse one another for our pleasure or to build our own economic empire? We have been waiting for years to get the power so that we can drive, we can get out on our own, we can get this home or that job. How often have we desired power so that we can be more effective servants?
Now the kind of servant Jesus is talking about is not a yes man or woman to other people or a doormat for others to walk upon. Jesus was neither a yes man or a doormat. A servant is one who is willing to do what God requires of them in a given situation. For instance the night before Jesus was crucified, the soldiers came at night with a crowd of people with swords and clubs. They were going to take Jesus by force. They thought they were the ones in charge. The disciples were willing to fight to try to save Jesus from being captured.
Jesus told the disciples, guys put your swords away. At this very moment I have seventy two thousand angels at my disposal to fight for me, but I’m fighting for something far greater than my own life. I voluntarily lay down my life in order to do the father’s will.
God has given us all power to see how much of it we are willing to lay down in order to be His child. How much of your power are you willing to lay down in order to show someone that Jesus lives inside of you. The only times we are truly effective witnesses for Christ is seen when others expect us to behave in the way they would have reacted. Child, you sure got them told off, but what did it do for Jesus? You really made it so we could make more money, but what did it do for Jesus? You really got him back, but what did it do for Jesus.
What are we doing with the power that has been entrusted to us. Many of us are praying for more power, when we are not choosing to properly handle the power that we already have. Have you ever noticed how some people constantly are confused about the power they have been entrusted with by God. You can find these people in any church organization or classroom or work environment. If they use their power constructively the rehearsal, the class or the meeting goes well. If they use their power negatively, the whole thing becomes a waste of time, because others pick up their cue from them.
One of the reasons Jesus came into the world is because we all have a problem handling power in the way God intended. Some of us have used our power to destroy our own lives through bad choices and decisions that we have made. We have shattered the lives of others and in the process shattered our own lives as well. I want you to know there is a far greater power than the one that messed us up, and that power is Jesus Christ.
Jesus said I came that you might have life and have it abundantly. Until we surrender our power to His power, we’re going to keep on messing up, missing out on the good that God wants to do in our lives. Steppin up to a new level of with power, means letting Jesus put our power back in check. We always win when our authority and power is used in the will of God even when circumstances do not turn out the way we hope. We always realize, it’s not over until we stand in the presence God, and God says its over.
Steppin’ Up To A New Level With Power
2/12/06 Genesis 1:27-30 Matt. 20:20-28
A. There Is An Angel With A Gift To Offer
1. What Happened
2. Power In Tiny Segments
B. God Made Us In His Image
1. God Is Powerful
2. We Have Power In The Image
3. Let Them Rule
4. Subdue The Earth
C. The Power Distribution
1. Men-Women Women-Men
2. Parents-Children Children-Parents
3. Teacher-Student Student-Teacher
4. Employers-Employees Employers-
Employees
5. Power & Segregation
6. Knowing It—Choosing Wisely
D. Power Oppression Violence
1. School Bully—Gang
2. Plantation—Master Card/Visa
3. Innocent Until—Eccles. 4:1
Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors-- and they have no comforter.
5. Power Double Negative Influence
6. God Identifies With Oppressed
7. Power Tempting, Power Overcome
8. Not Enough Power To Conceal
E. Struggle For Power In The Church
1. James, John, & Peter
2. The Disciples Fury
F. Jesus’ Intervention
1. The Big Shot Power & Authority
2. Take Notice, Special Favors
3. We Are In Charge—We Deserve
4. What’s Best For Me –Enron
G. But Not So With You
Matthew 20:25-28 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. [26] Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- [28] just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
1. Not Limited To Church
2. Are You Just Going Along
3. Laughing At School, Deciding At work
4. Stop And Ask The Question
H. The Real Key To Being Somebody
1. The Servant Who Gives
2. What Does A Servant Look Like
3. Father, Teacher, Student, Supervisor
4. What Might Change
5. The Stewardess Who Discovered
She Was A Servant
6. It’s Not In The Title, But Attitude
7. How Can A Servant Abuse
I. The Servant Is Not A Yes Man Or
Doormat
1. Jesus On The Night Of His Arrest
2. 72,000 Angels Ready To Go
3. The Voluntary Choice To Serve
4. Effective Witness When We Should
Have Done Otherwise
5. At What Cost To Jesus Did We
Get Them Told
6. Not More Power, But Effective
Management Of What We Have
J. Who Really Controls The Power
1. Just Doing Our Thing
2. Making A Difference For Jesus
