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Tim Allen brought to life one the most beloved and most quoted television
with the plight of man in a society that has decided it no longer wants to be male-
frat-boy sense of humor and a viking’s sensibility – well, at least what we picture
to be a viking’s sensibility. The sports arena, the hardware store, the garage
were his stomping grounds – where he was most at home. He even spoke fluent
grunt.
And like the typical male, his natural bent was to fix things, whether he
knew how to or not. The mental and emotional discomfort that gets stirred up by
much for Tim Taylor, as it is for the average male. The urge to fix it, to make all
things better, to bring order back to something breaking down into chaos always
gets the better of Tim, driving him. And for him the primary means of fixing
have power bars, power ties, power walks, power brokers and my personal
turns heads and opens doors; it both inspires and calms fears. We want to be
We want power. Everyone wants power. The pursuit of power is what got
Adam in trouble and landed us in a fallen world – a creation groaning under the
curse and a heart bent toward sin. And yet, what is it that Paul prays for in our
Over the past few weeks we have been talking about holiness. We looked
at the big picture of holiness and then talked about what it means practically to
pursue holiness. It isn’t just dos and don’ts – rather it is reflecting Christ in every
area of life. We then said that it begins with repentance – with taking God’s
attitude toward sin and making it our own. Essentially, hating sin as God hates
balance as we grow in how think about God, how we worship and how we feel
about him.
This morning we are going to talk about the power of holiness. We will
begin by talking about what the power of holiness is not. Then, we will take a
look at Paul’s prayer in Ephesians for insight concerning what is the nature of the
power of holiness. Finally, we will talk about how that power is revealed in the
So when Paul is praying that we will have power, what is he praying for?
there naturally.
In Acts 8:9-24, Simon the sorcerer sought the power of holiness, but he
didn’t understand what he was asking for. After seeing the manifestation of the
Holy Spirit upon those whom the apostles touched and prayed for Simon begged
them to sell him the power to do the same. He wanted to be able to share or
church today – is that when you begin talking about the power of holiness, we
are not talking about receiving this new ability that allows us to do this or that.
We are not talking about some sort of magical or miraculous powers that
suddenly start showing up in our lives. We are not talking about becoming a
Now, we may giggle and laugh a little and think, “Gee, Chris. We knew
that.” Yet, when we talk about power, we still think of it as some sort of
endowment of ability that we are able to use at our discretion, like a faucet or
light switch we can turn on or off at will. We want to be able to control it, to
harness it and use it strategically. We want to be able to bring to bear on specific
But this is not what Paul prays for when he prays that we may have power.
Such power would never suffice for what Paul has ion mind. Any power that
would lay within our grasp to control or manipulate to our own ends would fall
miserably short of what Paul hopes for those who read this letter.
intrigued by the notion, the idea that the power of God touched someone in such
something very inviting and mysterious about the whole thing that captured the
receive Christ, you start speaking in another language that only God knows what
you are saying. Unless, of course, someone happens to be there who speaks
Now, I am not going to say that the guy was lying or intending to deceive or any
such thing, but as he and I talked about how his gift manifests itself and how it
was used in his life, I became suspicious. You see, he literally described this gift
as something he could turn on and off at will. God had apparently given him this
wonderful ability for his own personal use. He had the power of God harnessed,
so to speak, so that he could use it to his own advantage whenever he felt the
need. Granted, the gift only benefited him in the arena of faith, still it was a
powerful tool in his arsenal if it were true that it worked the way he described it.
To put it in an old folk proverb, you can’t put lightning in a bottle. And if you
do, you better not open the bottle ever again because you have no idea what will
happen next. The Holy Spirit indwelling us – and it is his power at work in us in
holiness – is not a spigot to be turned on at our convenience and then turned off
again when we no longer need special power. We can no more control how the
Spirit works in our lives than we can control the earth’s rotation around the sun.
All we can do is gratefully receive the power of the Spirit and pray for wisdom
that we respond to it wisely. Any talk of controlling the manifestation, the use of
or the outcome of the power of God should immediately raise the hackles on our
So if the power of holiness is not some sort of super power for us to use in
combating evil in the world as we see fit, what is it? In his letter to the
Ephesians, Paul prays in several places that the members of the church will be
given power, but it is not just power to be used willy-nilly. It is not discretionary
power that he prays for, rather it is compulsory power – power that overcomes us
and that changes us in spite of resistance. Power that will do in us what we will
never do for ourselves. Look with me at vv. 14-19 of our text this moring.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole
family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out
of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, may have power, together with all the
saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the
love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge
—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of
God.
To just set up the text a little, let me remind you of what Paul has been
saying to the Ephesians up to this point. He begins the letter by exploring the big
picture – that God has redeemed some out the fallen mass of humanity in order
reveal the glory of his grace and to bring all things together under Jesus Christ.
Then Paul demonstrates how this is being done by salvation by grace alone
through faith. This is the only way that any are brought into a redeemed
relationship with the Creator – that means both Jew and Gentile. Therefore, God
is drawing both together in order to form one new people of God. In fact, Paul
says, I was called to be an apostle for this very purpose, to gather the Gentiles
into the body of Christ, into the covenant community of God. It is because Paul
was specifically tasked to bring in the Gentiles – that is all the other nations and
peoples who were not Jewish – that he now kneels before the Father and prays
First and foremost, to believe. He prays that they may latch on to the
message of the Gospel, not just initially but continually – probing its depths, its
contours, its textures. He prays that they may become so familiar with love of
Christ that they can rattle off its dimensions the same way we rattle off the square
footage of our houses or the size of our waist. Do you know Christ’s love that
well?
But he also prays that we will know the love of Christ even beyond its
dimensions. Paul knows that even as we plumb the depths of Christ’s love, we
will never get its full measure – it is beyond us. So he prays that we will know
even that which exceeds our ability to know. That is quite a prayer, one that is
seemingly impossible. But let us not forget who is at work here; the God who is
Now, why pray for something that seems like a shoe-in anyway? God
loves us, we love God, isn’t the natural progression of things that we will grow to
love him more? I mean, wow, he died for us. That is a pretty powerful motivator
for us to love him. Yes, it is. But always remember, it was by the power of God –
by the work of the Holy Spirit that we came to believe the message of the gospel
in the first place. Without God’s gracious intervention in our lives – without him
You see, the power of holiness is God’s power at work in us. It is not some
spiritual battery pack that we recharge and discharge at our discretion. It is not
the we become powerful in the Spirit, rather it is God’s Spirit that is powerful in
us. The power of holiness is God himself in action. The same power that flung
the stars into space and formed the earth – that called everything into existence
And since it is the power of God at work in us, these two things are true.
First, this power is not at our disposal for our purposes. It must fulfill the
purposes of God. For those who preach that God’s power is yours to use – to
empower you to become wealthy and successful or to make your life pain free do
not understand the nature of God’s power and pervert the message of the
That being the case, the power of holiness is most evidenced in our
weaknesses. Now, I am sure that makes you just as uneasy at it makes me. I
the light of God’s love and power from reaching the eyes of others. In other
So how does God’s power get revealed in us? How can we become clear
panes of glass for others to see Christ at work in us – see his power? How can
The first way is heightened expectations. Let me read vv. 20-21 again.
imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in
the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and
ever! Amen.” Whatever you can imagine, the most audacious thing you can
It has been said that in the Christian church our problem is not the size of
our faith but the size of our God. We often think of God as too small – unable to
really do what we pray he will do. It is okay to expect really big things from God.
Any God who can create our universe, then enter his creation as a creature to
die so he can restore the relationship we broke can easily do immeasurably more
accomplish the purposes of God. We must always remember that even Christ
The second way that we tap into the power of holiness is through changed
lives. Whether you have been walking with Christ a day or a lifetime, you still
have rough edges to knock off. If you have become so set in your ways that you
cannot – really will not change – then consider yourself, at least in part, a
shuttered window. You may not believe it right now, but there are changes God
needs to make in your heart. If you don’t believe me, ask him. Start praying for
God to change your heart – even where you can’t see it. You will be amazed,
and so will all those who witness the change. And when that change comes, the
net result is real righteousness – not one we manufacture, but righteousness that
God works in us. The light of God’s holiness shines into every corner of our
heart, exposing the dust and dirt we have shoved out of sight. The more we row
like him, the more we see how unlike him we are and the more discontent we are
The third way – and this is a critical one – is through empowered ministry.
When we use the gifts God has given us to build up the church an amazing thing
happens – the church gets built up! We begin to sharpen one another the way
that iron sharpens iron. Those rough edges we talked about are knocked off.
And as the church is building up, the power of holiness is revealed in two distinct
ways – needs being met and evangelism that reaches the heart. In concert with
the heightened expectations, it is okay for us to really want to see people come
to Jesus Christ. It is okay to pray, “O God, let me share the message of the
holiness. Because in the power of holiness, God’s the dimensions of God’s love
is revealed and lives are changed. The pursuit of that power is one that we can