In Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” Scrooge hated any
celebration of Christmas day. In the story he is visited by three ghosts, past,
present and future Christmas. When he is confronted with his own death, a very
lonely and sad one, Scrooge breaks and begs for mercy. He is granted that and
when he awakes he is in his room safe and sound…but now a different man! As he celebrates
he makes a statement that speaks to our subject today:
Scrooge: “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try
to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.’’
Scrooge understood that Christmas was not a day, but a state of
mind! This is even truer with Easter. So many see it as a one day a year
acknowledgement, then we move back to “real” life and do not think about it again for
another year.
What wasted joy, peace and a potential for intimate fellowship
with our Creator! When we understand that Easter communicates that not only did
God walk among us, but gave Himself to pay the ultimate price so we could be
redeemed, a door to a brand new and powerful way of living is opened before us!
I want to spend some time investigating why we do not see the “resurrection” power
we say we believe in everyday of the year.
The text I will be drawing from is another resurrection story.
John 11:11-45, if you desire to read it that would be good, I will be quoting
from a lot of it.
The main problem is not a difficult one to diagnose – because it is
the root problem of all of our problems…Faith. Jesus dealt with
this throughout His ministry but one that leaps out is found in Mark:
Mark 9:21–23 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus
asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit
often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on
us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus
asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
If
we really believe Jesus rose from the dead and offers us Life…eternal and
abundant Life then we need to fill our mind with Who He is and what He has
promised! There are three problems I have witnessed over the years that
interfere with God’s power interacting with us. We will look at one today and
the other two in the next Devo.
1.
We Place Our Limits on that
Power! I realize this drives the Hyper Sovereignty folks crazy, but that’s due
to their inability to understand that when a Sovereign God places His own
limits on His power, He is no less Sovereign…in fact that displays His Awesome
power, only a Sovereign God could or would place limits on what He will allow
to happen. Jesus showed this Truth in His hometown.
Matthew 13:58 And He did not do many miracles
there because of their unbelief.
Mark 6:5–6 And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do
any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal
them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Jesus
was still Jesus, but He chose to allow people’s faith to limit what He could
do. Now don’t run too far with that – there are many times God does what He
does in spite of our lack of faith, John 11 is a good example. We never know
what God will do, but IF we have “trusting belief” (faith) we are exactly where
God wants us to be!
How do we limit God’s power?
a.
By what we Think is possible. Martha
& Mary and all there had this problem.
Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my
brother would not have died… Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was,
she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here,
my brother would not have died.” But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the
eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”
So many times we draw a line that states: “After
this it is too late to fix!” Whether it be a marriage, a calling, or
even our ability to be used after a serious failure. In this case it was death.
Jesus makes it clear He never loses real control:
John 10:18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it
voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to
take it up again.
b.
By what we Think we know.
“Even now I
know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your
brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again
in the resurrection on the last day.”
There is a subtle line between Real faith and intellectual
faith! Martha knew her theology, but failed to understand that the Author of
that theology was not limited to a date! Yes all those that believe will raise
on that day, but God is not limited by that! Remember Enoch and Elijah never
died, they were translated to heaven…not the standard way to go, but God chose
it for His reasons!
As usual Jesus pushes the envelope to help Martha deal with her
lack of faith.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he
who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and
believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes,
Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who
comes into the world.”
We will leave Martha there and pick up next Devo. What is important
is the question Jesus laid before Martha. The answer has eternal ramifications!
Consider how Jesus put the question another time:
Matthew 16:13–16 Now when Jesus came into the district of
Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son
of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but
still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do
you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God.”
The so what: Who do you believe Jesus is? How has that affected
the way you live? How many days a week do you fellowship with Him?
When we claim to believe that Jesus conquered death and rose
from the grave…we open a door for a life with no impossibilities! Yet, so many
of us…including
myself, struggle living in that power and seeing all that God wants to do in
our lives. We are examining why this happens. For review:
3. We Possess the Wrong Motive for that Power! We do this by thinking it is about
anything other than God first. (Not Only, First!) 
The stress between these two truths is what requires a serious
examination of why we ask for God’s help. Most believers want to glorify
God, still, they hope for what they asked for, this is normal. The subtle
danger is which one dominates our motive! God does not expect you to ask for
something and then not care if you get it, that would be absurd. The issue is
Trust! When the “bottom line” of your faith is to glorify God, you are
by faith trusting God for the rest! 
Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha said to Him,
“Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus
said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the
glory of God?”
