Our Power Is From God!

2nd Sunday after Pentecost, 6/10/12
2 Corinthians 4:5-12


Our Power Is From God!
I. A power that enlightens us
II. A power that sustains us


Only if you have completely ignored your daily delivery of US mail would you be unaware that you have choices when it comes to your electrical provider. Dayton Power and Light is not the only provider in town. There are countless others and you are free to choose which one you want.

But it’s not a simple choice. There are different rates and different monthly charges such as customer charges, transmission charges, generation charges and even something called a generation rider. Do you understand what all those mean? Neither do I. And every supplier will tell you that they have the best deal of them all and that you’ll experience the same level of service that you are enjoying now, but it makes you wonder. In fact, it can fill you with confusion and doubt.

But there is still only one source for spiritual power, and that’s the one true God. Contrary to what you might hear and read about where spiritual power comes from, there is only one source and it’s the very same one you have enjoyed all the days of your Christian life.

Paul reminds us of that very thing with these words from this morning’s sermon text, “This all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Specifically Paul is speaking about the ministry that all Christian’s have—the ministry of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. That may be as informal as letting your light shine as you carry on your daily life. It might be as formal as leading a Bible study or preaching a sermon. It covers all that you do as a Christian. And the power for that ministry comes from our God. Our power is from God. Let’s celebrate that refreshing truth this morning.

Part I.

You and I use electricity almost every second of our lives. Even when we’re sleeping several things in our homes are still using electricity. And we never give it a thought, until there’s a power outage. And then our lives are turned upside down. Not having it wears on you. Living in the dark depresses you.

Our God knows that. That’s why he created physical light. Paul refers to that act of creation in our text. God simply spoke, “Let light shine out of darkness,” and it happened. He used his word to create the light which is absolutely critical for our existence here on earth.

So also, life with our God wouldn’t exist without his divine creative power. Paul states that truth with these words, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Have you ever heard of anyone coming to faith in Jesus all on their own? I haven’t either. That’s because it can’t happen. Think about it. A light bulb can’t light up a room unless electricity is applied to it. A person who is in spiritual darkness—in other words, unbelief—can’t come into spiritual light or spiritual truth on their own. A power must be applied to that person. That power comes from God. His power to bring spiritual light into our hearts is his gospel—the saving good news of Jesus as our Savior. That good news enlightens us. Our God enlightens us regarding our salvation.

He also enlightens us regarding our ministry. As I mentioned earlier, Paul is specifically speaking about the ministry of the gospel in this section. He begins our text by saying, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Paul wrote these words about 25 years after Jesus ascended into heaven and already there were preachers who were preaching themselves. Just what does that mean? They were preaching their own false ideas rather than the truth of Christ. They were preaching some truths about Jesus but were adding false teachings to them. Whether they did this intentionally or not, whenever anyone adds to or subtracts from what Jesus says in his word, it’s the height of sinful arrogance. They are preaching themselves.

One of the reasons our God has shared his spiritual truth with us is so that we can share it with others. The power to do is from God. He is the source of spiritual truth and power. We can’t make that truth any more powerful or effective than it is. Some people might think so. They might think their wisdom and oratory skills add power to the truth, but they’re wrong. That’s why Paul states, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Clay jars in ancient days were as common as plastic and aluminum containers are today—nothing special. We’re nothing special. No sinner is. God made the light of his truth shine in our hearts. We know and believe that Jesus is our Savior from sin. We now have the ministry of sharing that truth with others. We can’t make God’s saving truth more truthful. We can’t make his saving power more powerful. There’s nothing special about the way we speak that truth or write that truth. We’re just common clay jars. The power belongs to God. The power is from God. Our power is from God, the power that enlightens us regarding our salvation and our ministry.

Part II.

You probably know people who are quick to shift the blame but are also far too ready to take the credit. If it’s bad, it’s someone else’s fault. If it’s good, then they did it.

That same tendency exists in you and me when it comes to spiritual matters. But we can’t take the credit; only the blame. Instead of blaming God for what’s wrong in your life, the healthy thing to do is to honestly admit where your own sins have caused the trouble and have even at times made your life miserable. And then realize you are fully forgiven in Christ. That forgiveness is all God’s doing. That forgiveness comes to those who trust in Jesus, and that’s all God’s doing. There’s your comfort, my friends. There’s the rest that Jesus spoke about in today’s Gospel. In spite of our sinfulness, God, in his grace and mercy, made us his own. He caused the light of his salvation to shine in our hearts and now he uses us to shine that light into the hearts of others. What assurance! Our efforts to reach out to others receive their power from the almighty God, not from us. Our power is from God. That power enlightens us.

There is a false idea that, since church work is God’s work, God should make that work relatively easy and wildly blessed. But that’s not the way it goes.

It certainly wasn’t that way for the greatest missionary in Christianity, the Apostle Paul. He suffered for doing kingdom work, sometimes terribly. He writes, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Paul is speaking about himself as well as other Christians. We are Christians who are God’s children and destined for life with God in heaven. But we’re not there yet. We’re still in this sinful, ugly world and that means we’re still going to suffer the misfortunes of living in this world. We get sick and injured. We experience frustration and failure. We face rejection and ridicule.

And all the more so because of our connection with Christ. Paul writes, “For we…are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake.” Our world openly ridicules our faith and our Savior. It makes Jesus out to be a liar and it labels us as fools for adhering to his teachings. The Bible calls that the cross that we must bear for the sake of Christ. It’s suffering for the name of Jesus.

But we don’t suffer alone. Our power is from God—a power that sustains us. Jesus promises, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). That’s the rest we’ve been speaking about this morning. Jesus promises that, no matter what the trouble or misfortune, he is with us, he brings us his forgiveness, and he will sustain us.

In fact, when he does so, our sufferings bring glory to God. Just look at what your God has brought you through—sickness, heartaches, financial woes, even the death of loved ones. And when we realize that we made it through those tragedies only by the power of God, we become living monuments to the glory of God. We suffer and we hold on to our faith in Jesus. We may even suffer death because of our troubles, but then we live forever with our Lord. That’s power for living, my friends. Our power is from God—a power that sustains us.

The man who wrote these words keenly knew what suffering was. He was beaten for his faith in Jesus and left for dead. He was scourged for his faith. He was shipwrecked. He was imprisoned more than once. Eventually he died for his faith. Yet the power of God sustained him. He’s now living in eternal bliss.

What’s killing you these days? Your job? No job? Your finances? Lousy relationships with relatives or friends? Stress? A lack of health? Despair? Disappointment? Failure? You’re not alone. Christians down through the ages have suffered all those things. Some were even martyred. But just as they were not alone, neither are you. Your God sustains you. The One who conquered sin and death and hell for you is your Savior. He brings you the rest of knowing your forgiveness and eternal life. There’s nothing he can’t conquer. He invites us to be still and know that he is God.

Our power is from God. Rely on it! Tap into it through his word! Amen.