Northside Church - Sydney
Journeying into 2013 Week 4: A Place of Power
I'm listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was one of those moments, I was a Saturday morning and I was working in a furniture shop that was not very far from the theological college where I was doing my training, the College of the Bible in Melbourne in Glen Iris. And there I was in my suit as was my custom on a Saturday morning serving customers and all of a sudden outside on busy Burke Road Glen Iris there were two horses, full-size horses being spooked by the traffic, obviously in real distress cars were screeching to a whole swerving, then, so I made my way along with a few others of the staff out into the street, there I saw the principle of the college, Dr. Keith Bose, holding one of these horses by a kind of a cord or rope or maybe a bridle and I just started, "Dr. Bose what are you doing? What's happening here?" Without a word of warning or explanation he took the bridle or the rope and he gave it straight to me and said, "Here, take this, the horses have escaped, take this horse back to the college." And he said, "I'll go and get the other one," and it was already running across Burke Road. See the college had a big expansive ground, we used to run some horses for the locals there, these two had escaped, he lived next to the college, he'd seen them going up the up Elm Street and they'd made their way to this store which was only about half a kilometer. Like the thought that he would hand this horse to me when I left that showroom had never occurred, didn't he know, I don't do horses, like I'm sorry for those of you who know I don't like horse, I've never ridden a horse, I've sat on a horse once for a publicity shot in Texas, some of you have seen it on my wall in my office, but like I just don't do horse, all of a sudden I'm with this thing and I'm like, "Whoa, hey, I'm trying to remember every line I could think of from black beauty, you know how you sort of calm horses down?" He's off, he's across the road chasing the second one. So I thought he might have said, "Look, can you get your friends together? There's somebody here who's into horses, can we, no, no, Graham, take this horse back to the college." So I'm sort of leading this horse back in my suit, back to the college, frightening a crazy day. Listen, here's the question, have you ever been handed a responsibility suddenly, unexpectedly, without warning, in your hands, right there, right then? Somebody didn't show up, somebody's left, somebody's died, whatever, your trust into a situation of responsibility, a task, a role, a specific challenge. My guess is you probably found it rather daunting, rather overwhelming. Then again, doubtless, there were some of you who would say, "Well, it was the making of me." You know, I grasped the opportunity, I rose to the occasion, I really grew through the experience. I'd like to say I grew into a horse whisperer after that experience, you know, I didn't really change my thinking at all. But look, here's Jesus in this Acts chapter one passage, here's Jesus, and his disciples. They're on the Mount of Olives and there's about to be a huge transfer of responsibility, an incredibly significant, handing over of the reins, literally, as it were. And the way I read this passage, friends, I believe this handover would have come as a total surprise to those disciples. They had no warning of it whatsoever, no inkling of it. I mean, look at the question they asked in verse 6, that they asked the question, when the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time give the kingdom back to Israel?" Now, friends, I've got to tell you, these guys would not have asked that question if they believed, that they truly believed that Jesus was literally about to blast off, you know, and never to be seen again, physically, until his return, his second coming, which we're still waiting for hasn't happened yet, I mean, they would not have asked that question if they thought they were about to witness his departure. They were still very uncertain. Matthew's version of this incident says, "Some of them doubted whatever that means. Jesus has been alive for a number of weeks. Some of them doubted." Whoa. So the motivation behind this question was to see if the moment had arrived when the resurrected Jesus would set up his new kingdom, and would rule, as he was meant to rule, as the Messiah, setting up a theocracy, in other words, a kingdom which had God himself as the sovereign. And this would mean getting rid of all the Romans and re-establishing Israel as the promised land. It was a big question, a big political question. It was a big spiritual question, but what a reply comes from Jesus. I really love this. He basically says, "Look, don't worry about the establishment of that kingdom. Don't worry about that, just to get back for a minute. That's not what's going to happen. Here's how it's going to happen. You are going to be filled with power, and you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samirah. In fact, you're going to have an impact all over the world. So guys, if you've missed it for the last several years, this is the kingdom I've been talking about all along. To get this busy, this is the new kingdom. This is what I've been talking about, kingdom in the hearts and minds of people. And you're going to launch it. You're going to establish it. You are going to be the front runners, in fact, I'm about to leave. I'm going back to my father in heaven. How about that? Can you imagine? They would have been as gobsmacked as I was when I got handed the reins of that horse. He was like, "What, are you kidding me?" There's a butt, and it's a big butt from Jesus. He says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you." I'm not totally abandoning you. I'll be with you. Hopefully they would have remembered the comforter this course. I will send the comforter. He'll be with you forever. Hopefully they'll recall some of that at this point. What a relief, that disclosure. What a relief, that announcement would have been in the hearts and minds of those guys. And it was a word they would have loved. You will receive power. Wow. Everybody loves power. You can do a lot with power. You can make a real splash with power. But here's the thing, and it's an important point, as the story of the early church unfolds, it's clear that the power Jesus promised his disciples has some unique characteristics. It's the same power he promises to you and to me through the Holy Spirit. Nothing's changed. The first characteristic is this, it's an inner power. It's different to the showy, sometimes superficial, external trappings of power normally associated with that word. I saw power in a very graphic way when I was back in the real workforce, before ministry. I had one job only, one full-time job only in my life, working for BP Australia. Some of you know, the big oil giant. I was a commercial cadet being groomed for some kind of future in that organisation. My last posting was in their Melbourne office, it was the head office. And on this particular occasion, as a young cadet, I had to make my one and only, never did it before, hadn't done it before, never did it again, had to go to the very top floor of BP House in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. And up there, most floors had dozens of workers. Up there, there are about five, including our managing director, Mr. J.S. Fox. We'll probably just leave that from the podcast in case he's family listening. Mr. J.S. Fox, lovely man, by the way, but he was the CEO, the managing director of BP Australia in Australia and Asia and the South Pacific. It was a big job, very, and he was the classic CEO of that era. He looked like the monopoly man, you know, Adam Esteach, a silver hair that was over his collar and a fairly road tons on a gentleman. And I delivered my little file sheepishly to this secretary and made my way to the lift well, and pressed a button and all of a sudden, out from the side door, which was his sort of escape door from his office, came Mr. J.S. Fox. And he gave me a sort of a cursory look, he'd see, he saw that I already pressed the button. Nothing was spoken, no, hi, how are you? I was just like a bit overcome, a bit overawed by this man's, just he just had reeked of power and leadership. So the door's open, still no words, inside, I pressed floor five, there's my floor out of 18. He produced a key and he put the key into a slot, which I'd never seen before on the control panel, turned the key, pressed basement. Not any, where are you going, son, no, no, straight to the basement. And when those doors opened, I saw quite clearly his gleaming Mark 10 Jaguar, for those of you of my era, you remember the Jaguar as long as from here to the entrance door, massive Jaguar, British racing green, no other colour for the CEO in those days. And his chauffeur who actually clicked his heels as he opened the door, Pete kept the whole thing, that was the life of J.S. Fox, man of incredible power with external trappings of power. Now, if you're thinking, oh, well, that's the old day, that's the old days Graham, you know, the Charles Dickens days when you grew up, the 70s, no, it was the 70s, wasn't that far back? This is current. We have the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world coming to the conference in the next month. If I told you the company would have to sort of lock the doors and you have to stay here till after she'd gone. So we can't tell you which company. But we've already been given our conference stuff, we've been given a few little briefings about what this person, number one person of a massive international company making a 20-minute appearance, we already know about dietary requirements. We already know about security arrangements. We already know about the finer points of how she likes to be miked, including nobody is to touch her, which will be very interesting with our particular miking setup. She'll be an amazing contortionist if she can get all the wires without anybody touching her. Like, people with power in that external sense really have some clout, they can really specify exactly what they want. The popular usage of the word power generally denotes expressions of influence and authority that are quite visible. In contrast, look at what Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians. Look at this. How rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people and how very great is his power at work in us. You see, friends, the power of the Holy Spirit in your life and mind has its epicenter in our heart, our soul, the very depths of our being. That's where our power is centered. It's an inner power and it's there we experience the peace, the confidence, the hope, the love that's available through knowing him. And over the years, some churches have mistakenly associated the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person's life with external manifestations, and like the gift of prophecy or the gift of speaking in tongues, and in those churches, only those with the outward manifestation of the gifts I consider to have the Holy Spirit. And I've never understood it, I've never understood it because one simple reference, and there are stacks, one reference like this one from Paul blows that kind of thinking out of the water, just blows it, asunder. Some of the most powerful people I know, spiritually speaking, are in no way demonstrative or showy in the way they express their walk with God, but they have a depth of understanding and a breadth of knowledge and discernment that is breathtaking, just wow. And it has nothing to do with age. I'm not just talking about those who have been in the faith for you, I'm talking about young adults, and it's in this church. Some of the most spiritually responsive and aware people are not particularly showy or anything, but they've just got it, and it spans all age groups, here's the second characteristic, it's an inverse power. It defies some of the popular conceptions of power, and it stands them on their head, just reverses the whole thing, hence the word inverse. It's like we said a moment ago, you know, most forms of power are accompanied by signs of authority and influence and strength, but look at this word from Paul to the Corinthians. And most of us know about his thorn in the flesh, and how he prayed three times, and ultimately God said, "Look, my grace is sufficient for you. We know that." What's not often quoted is what Paul said after the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient." This is what Paul said. Look at this, "I am most happy then to be proud of my weaknesses in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me, for when I am weak, then I am strong." See, it's an inverse power. Now, this, of course, opens a very deep area of Christian thought and theology involving surrender, vulnerability, submission, trust, a whole range of other things, essentially. It means that when we may appear to be at our weakest, and Michael referred to this as he looked back over his list of things that he'd found very tough, when we appear to be at our weakest, sick, defeated, sad, broken, vulnerable. That in fact, in God's economy, may be the time when we are potentially at our strongest. That's how it works. He come back with me in time to a particular moment in a young woman's life. It must have been very daunting. There was a crowd jostling for position to see what was going on. The lights of the police cars were flashing. We were men with loud voices asking questions, firing a lot of questions at this person. Cameras were clicking. It must have been rather intimidating for this young woman sitting alone on the bus with all the other passengers having got off. She must have felt very vulnerable and very weak as a policeman said, "Man, you are breaking the law. It's the law here in Montgomery, Alabama that you must give up your seat for any white person irrespective of age or gender. You are refusing to give up your seat. If you don't do that, we're going to take you downtown." This meek little woman in her 20s said, "Well, I'm not going to give up my seat," and they took it downtown, and they put it in the cells for a little while. There's a picture on – you can Google a picture of her being fingerprinted. Of course, the date is December 1, 1955. I'm referring to Rosa Parks in the famous busing incident, and all she could give us her defense for us. She said, "Look, I go to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and we have a new preacher down there. He's just out of college. His name is Martin King. Some people call him Martin Luther King, but he's preaching up a storm. He tells me I'm a person of worth and value and dignity, and it suddenly occurred to me today. Why should I get up my seat if Jesus thinks I'm special, and I am special, then I'm just not going to do that." Wow. A moment of great courage and defiance, but in that prison, a moment of great vulnerability and great weakness, but who really was in prison? Was it Rosa Parks, or was it the people who'd imprisoned her, were they prisoners of their own bigotry and racial discrimination? Well, of course, that defiance stands by a follower of Jesus Christ, accelerated, didn't start it, but it accelerated the civil rights movement in the United States under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King. One moment in time that changed the course of history, a moment of weakness on the surface, a moment of vulnerability, but a moment of great strength because of the power of Jesus working through her. Okay. Time is against this. Another one. It's an impregnable power, an impregnable power. This power promised by Jesus to those early disciples and to us, it's tough, it's resilient. It prevails against all odds. That's what's impregnable means. It can't be penetrated. And friends, I thought about the most appropriate scripture to illustrate this, and I couldn't go past Philippians 4, 13. I think it's the best one you might think of others, where Paul says, "I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me." Friends, I want you to notice it's all conditions. Notice that? All conditions. Not just those times when our financial advisor says, "Hey, you're sitting pretty, boy. Things are going great." Not those times when the doctor says, "You're as fit as a fiddle. You're going forever." Not those times when the boss says, "You know what? This company is so strong, we're just powering ahead." When your partner says, "You know, I love you so much, I'll never leave you." Not just those times, not just those favorable conditions of life, but the power Christ gives enables us to face and prevail in other conditions. Like when the financial advisor says, "You know what, we're in for a very rough road." I'm sorry about that. Like when the doctor says, as he looks at the results, "You know what, I'm going to have to refer you to a space that could be a problem here." When the boss says, "I'm really sorry, it's come from above, but I'm sorry, that's it for you." Or when a partner says, "I'm leaving." There are people listening to my voice here in this congregation who've been through every single one of those scenarios, and many, many more. And you're here today, and you're still praising God, and you're still giving thanks, and you're still getting through somehow because of the power of Christ in your life. You put it to the test, finally, very quickly, it's an incomprehensible power. It can't be fathomed, it can't be understood. I mean, how did that small group, that little motley crowd of disciples, how did they change the world of their day? How did they do it? How did it happen? Defies imagination. Defies description. How has the church lasted for 2,000 years, despite all the persecutions, all the attacks, all the huge rutions that it's sort of experienced? How has it lasted? You can't explain it in any other way other than the fact that the power of Jesus has worked through ordinary people like you and me, and the church continues, and will continue until the return of Jesus. What we do know is that Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, describes the power that's available to us in these terms. Look at this from Ephesians. He says, "This power, this power that was promised to Pentecost, is the same power as the mighty strength he used when he raised Christ from death." That's the power we're talking about. Now friends, look, you could devote a lifetime, and some have, to the study of that one verse, just that one verse, and its implications for our daily lives, and at the end it'd still be more to explore. You wouldn't plumb the depths. The fact that the power available to us is the same as the power that raised Christ from the death. I just can't get my head around that. What we do know, and we embrace this truth by faith, is that Jesus promised, "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power." It wasn't just for those twelve guys, it's for all of us. It's a power from within. It's a power that is strongest when we might feel at our weakest. It's a power that's impregnable, it can sustain you through the most difficult times of life, and it's a power that's incomprehensible. There's always something more to learn. We never get to a point where it's all sown up. There's always something more. So friends, where are you this morning? Are you utilizing this power? Do you have this power? Do you have Jesus Christ in your life? If you're a long-term Christian and you're living in defeat, God doesn't want you to live in victory. I don't know exactly how it's going to work out for you. You might be able to identify with some of these scenarios I've mentioned, but he wants us to live with the reality of that power. It's a different kind of power to what the world exhibits. It may not get you to an executive office, it may not get you driving a fancy car or having a huge bank balance. It's not that kind of power. It's a power far greater than any of that because it's beyond just that which can be seen and touched. It's metaphysical in that sense. It's eternal. Do you have that power this morning? Let's bow in prayer. [BLANK_AUDIO]