Ephesians 1:14-23, Part 5
In the summer of 2010, I was sitting in a bank in Chicago, squirming in my seat, very uncomfortable. A group of us from Faith Church were there on a mission trip, working with our sister church Kimball Avenue. We were listening to a presentation about the use of power to overturn injustice.
I was squirming because power is so corrupt, especially in human hands. So I mentioned that to the presenter during the Q & A. I wasn’t ready for the presenter’s response.
Before I tell you what she said, this week we have been studying Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:14-23. In the previous post, Paul talked about the inheritance that God wants to share with us. Rather than an inheritance that we experience after a death, Paul’s point is that we can participate in God’s inheritance to us now.
How can we enjoy God’s inheritance to us now? In Ephesians 1, Paul goes on to explain what he means in verses 19–20,
“…and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,”
Did Paul just say what I think he said? That the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us? Resurrection power is available to us? Can it be possible?
Let’s clarify. Paul is not suggesting that God wants us to go around trying to raise dead people back to life. He is simply saying that the same power is available to us in the here and now, because we are in relationship with the same God. The same God that Paul prayed a few verses earlier, that we might know him better.
In our culture and society, we regularly learn about many warped views of power and demonstrations of power. The use of power is often extremely evil and selfish. This is at the root of the famous saying, “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We can have so many brushes with abuse of power that we don’t want to be anywhere near it.
It is not easy to wield power in a godly way. That’s why I was so uncomfortable in that meeting in the bank in Chicago.
The presenter in Chicago, put me in my place very quickly and graciously, asking me, “Well don’t you have power as a pastor?” Uh…It doesn’t seem like much power, but I had to admit, “Yes.” They she drove her point home, “Don’t you want to use your power for good?” Of course. Yes! The conclusion, there is a way to view and employ power for all sorts of good.
That’s what Paul is getting at here. We have access to the power of God, because God wants to work in us and through us so that we will have the abundant flourishing life Jesus said he came to bring us in John 10:10. That abundant life is not an erasure of pain and difficulty, but as we saw earlier in the passage, the abundant life is based in God’s deep sacrificial love and sacrificially sharing that love with others. Loving our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus wants to empower us to live that sacrificial love, just like he did.
I think of Jesus’ Vine & Branches analogy. It is all about power. In John 15, Jesus teaches, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
The Fruit of the Spirit is all about power. In Galatians 5:22-26, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
We need God’s power to be the people he wants us to be, to pursue the mission of his Kingdom. There is a great humility in this prayer. It is a reminder to us that we don’t have the power in and of ourselves. But he does! And he wants to make it available to us, for good, for the good of his kingdom, for the good of others, for the good of human flourishing.
Then Paul concludes his prayer with a short benediction about Jesus.
“Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
I encourage you to pray the whole prayer of Ephesians 1:14-23 every day this week. Maybe choose a few of the people in your life and pray this prayer for them. Place their name in the prayer. Ask God what you need to change in your day to day life for the people around you to know that you are praying this prayer for them, and that you are loving them.
Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash
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