Powerful (Lord's Prayer 3)

Did you see the power of the "Thorpedo’s" dolphin kick as Australian swimmer Thorpe won Olympic gold in the 200 meter freestyle event? That’s athletic power.
"Gray power" sells auto insurance. At least it did to me. Black power, native power, women power, man power, electric power, nuclear power, and who knows how many other kinds of power are familiar terms. There is snarling disagreement about what most of them mean. But power is in.

Iran and North Korea threaten the world with nuclear power. The once powerful corporation, Nortel Networks, saw it’s power in the market place trickle away. Do you suspect that Martha Stewart’s once prodigious power is now trimmed?

How real is God’s power? What would it take to convince you and me of the power God? How is God’s power related to all of these other forms of power? And what is this "immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe?" Will God’s power help me to change some of the powerful habits that I would like to get rid of? Will it help me, say, quit smoking, or quit those temper outbursts, or quit gossipping? And doesn’t that age-old question still haunt thoughtful people: If God is all powerful, how come he doesn’t use some of his power to stop the atrocities in places like the Sudan, or to heal my mother’s cancer?

Jesus was having a last conversation with His followers. It was the very last time that they would talk together. And what was the topic? Jesus’ followers were squabbling about power. They wanted to know how Jesus was going to decide this question: "will we get those positions of control and importance and dominance that we want so badly?"

What did Jesus say to them? "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has kept in His own power. But you will receive power, after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." "You will receive power."Did it sound like nonsense then? Does it sound like nonsense today? It isn’t nonsense. It was Jesus who had given them this prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

"Yours is the power." Does that put life in the right perspective? Doesn’t it destroy the pretensions of power under which we sometimes masquerade? Is it true that with humans nothing is impossible? We know better, don’t we? That’s one thing we admit when we say: "God, you have the power."

And another, just as important is this: by the power of God, you and I can become really human again. We can have, by God’s power, real compassion, and a real heart that beats as warm as any human heart should beat. By the power of God, that can happen. By God’s power, we can be transformed so that we can become God’s instruments of healing in a world full of suffering. In other words, by God’s power, we can be saved.

Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, - it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes." We desperately need to be saved. But the power to be saved is not our power. By God’s mercy and grace, His power goes out to people, - to you and me. It is the power of God that can turn us around. He can do what we can’t do. He can turn us around.
And how does He does he do that? Here’s how: "By His kindness, God brings us to repentance, so that we see ourselves as we are." We turn toward God for salvation. That’s repentance. And that kindness of God is a power for the good and respectable as well as for the wicked and disreputable. It really doesn’t make any difference. It really doesn’t make any difference, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory that God has a right to expect of every one of us. In Christ, we see ourselves as we are.

Is there anybody who needs to be convinced that history is not under our control? Nations that thought they were sitting on top of the world, disappear. The great God keeps on showing His hand. All it takes is one little crop failure, one hurricane and the pretensions of power go poof! One terrorist with a bomb strapped to his back, one yahoo in a rented truck full of explosives drives into the basement, one raging river overflows its banks, and all the assumptions about who controls what go sky high. What has happened to some will happen to others. Like it or not, we shall all have to come to this at one time or another: Real power, the power that counts, belongs only to God.

The God we worship exercises His power in a wonderful way. How does He use it? He proposes, with His power, to save people. He does save people. He has the power, and He has given His authority to His Son, Jesus, Who is one of us. People were amazed and incredulous that God should have given such authority, such power to a person. Some of them laughed and hooted in derision. But, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, died for the sins of the word. Isn’t that a strange way to exercise power? Does that fit with how we exercise power?

But, guess what. That’s the way God does things. In Jesus, He surrendered to the power of selfish people. He was cursed. And in the curse of the Cross, He blesses His people. With indescribably power, He raised His Son from the dead. Now that Son is Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus is the Good News of God. He is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

So it’s true. History is not under our control. It isn’t for us to know the times or the seasons which the Father has kept in His own power. But the Son of God, Who was crucified for our sins, and who forgives all, tells us with all the authority that He possesses: "You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you, such as you are, will be witnesses to me."
You will receive power. Put your name there. You will receive power from the Spirit of God himself. He is at work in the world among people like us, with the Good News of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the gracious Word of God’s power, we are accepted.

Would you believe it? God doesn’t keep His power to Himself. He shares it with people. He has the power to give. Strange as it may sound, that is what’s happening in our world. It is happening today. And it will keep happening tomorrow.

With the power that God gives, you can hallow His name. With the power the God gives, His kingdom will come to you. By the power of God, you can see His will being done in your life, just as it is in heaven. The power of God makes you somebody. When the Spirit of God comes, you become a son or daughter of God. That means power. To as many as receive Jesus Christ, to them He gives power to be the sons and daughters of God. You are no longer the helpless victim of unknown forces. You are no longer the victim of memories of yesterday, or of fears about tomorrow. No are no longer the victim of today’s desires and longings. You belong to God, and He cares. You are His son. You are His daughter. You count.

Sometimes I meet friends who have dropped out of church. Who doesn’t have a friend or a family member who has quit? There was a time when they sang the hymns and were moved by the Scriptures. There was a time when God was close to them, and they longed to be with His people at worship. What happens to make people quit?

There are probably lots of causes. But isn’t one of them that they run out of gas? So much of life is crumbling these days. So many people are running out of gas. When you fear failure, failure comes. It can happen to anyone. It happens when you forget who has the power. Now we remember, when we say, "Your will be done on earth as in heaven."

His powerful will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The only question is "will it be done in me?" When we pray, "Thy will be done on earth as in heaven," we pray that it will come to be power in our own lives, that His will will be done among us too.

When history is all said and done, when it is all over, God will rule. When I pray: "Your will be done," I ask that it be done right here and now, - in me. When I pray, I recognize His power to do what He wants to do. And I say, "I want to stand with you God. Please give me the power to obey you."