The Power of God

“9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:9-12, NIV.

                    Easter is a celebration of the mighty power of God!  We sing the wonderful hymn, “I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise…”  And we find nothing in all creation that shows us God’s power more than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

                    The phrase that I want to focus on this morning is the phrase, “faith in the power of God.”

                    “12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:12, NIV

                    The Christian life is a life of faith.  One of the main differences between Christianity and many of the other religions of the world is in this area of faith.

                    So many people believe that if they are good people, they will go to heaven.  If they follow the teachings of their religion, give to the poor, help family and are good to others, they will go to heaven.

                    But Christ tells us that there is a different code.  This code is the life of faith.  Instead of trusting that we have been good enough, we trust that Christ, through is death on the cross, paid for our sin.  We trust that we have been forgiven.  We then come to trust Jesus and live a life of faith in Jesus.  Martin Luther, the great German reformer was transformed by the verse in Romans that says, “The just shall live by faith.”

                    But what Paul tells us here is that our faith has an object.  This object is the power of God.

                    I don’t know about you, but I have never thought about the faith I have in the power of God.  It is easy for me to say, “I have faith in God...” but it is a little different to say, “I have faith in the power of God.”  Before I looked at this text, I have never thought about this.

                    What is interesting is the Greek word used here for “power.”  It is the word that we use all the time, “energy.”

                    Energy is the strength or ability to do something. Some translations use the word “operations.”  When I think of this energy, this power, I think of the kind of power that is working.

                    One Greek word for power denotes authority.  Someone can have authority and not use it.  Or another Greek word for power talks about might.  But one can have a lot of might and not use it.  We think of the restraint showed between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  But this “energia”, this energy, is a power that works.

                    Paul is telling us that a true Christian has faith in a God whose power is working for them. 

                    Some of you in investment use the same thing.  You want your money to work for you.  Or we might say in the shop, “This isn’t working.”   Paul tells us that we are to have faith in a God who is working effectively for us.

                    What is God doing?  What has he done? Verse 13 tells us. “When you were dead in your sins and in the un-circumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,” Colossians 2:13.

                    This is what God’s work was.  He took those of us who were dead and made us alive.

                    You talk to anyone here who is a Christian.  There are three truths that will be common to every Christian.

                    First, we will all admit that before we put our faith in Jesus, we were spiritually dead.  We were separated from God.  We were like sheep that go their own way. We didn’t really know God and were separated from Him. We will admit this, because it is true.

                    Second, we will admit that in some way, God brought us to the cross.  There are many roads we all take to Jesus Christ, but there is only one road that will bring us to God.  That road is a narrow road and not many find it.  That road is Jesus Christ. 

                    The Father sent the son to be the savior of the world.  God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man cometh unto the father, but by me.” 

                    Every Christian will tell you that they came to a place where they believed in Jesus.  They trusted him.  They believed that he died on the cross for their sins, was buried and rose again.  Every Christian will tell you that at some point, they believed that they were dead in trespasses and sins and that they came to the cross and found their forgiveness, pardon, and acceptance by God through Jesus Christ.

                    The third truth that every Christian will affirm is that through death, they received new life. 

                    First of all, this new life was a life in which we are reconciled to God.  Our sins are forgiven and we know that God loves us and is looking out for our best interests.

                    Second of all, this new life is a change of direction.  Theologians debate as to when this change takes place, but none debate that the change will take place.  We have a new life, a life of faith, a life of following Jesus.  As God, through his power, sent Jesus to experience death for us, so he also came to give us new life.  That is why Paul describes God as the one who raised Jesus from the dead.  God’s power worked for his son.  He was placed in the tomb, dead through the power of men.  But in that tomb, God’s power took that lifeless body and changed it and gave it new life.  And he does the same for us.

                    This Easter morning we are going to have a baptism.  Let me explain what baptism is and how it fits into this Easter season.

                    Notice in verse 12 that it says, “having been buried with him in baptism”?  Baptism is the burial service of the old life.  We were dead in trespasses and sins and Jesus took our place on the cross.  He died there for us.  The old nature was nailed to the cross.  The old life was nailed to the cross. 

                    It needs a burial.  It needs a funeral.  Just as Christ was placed in the tomb after he died, so we are placed under the water as a symbolic burial of our sinful self.

                    And as God, through his power, raised Jesus from the dead, so he also has given us a new life.  This new life came when we received Christ.  It came when the Holy Spirit came in.  But as part of this burial service, this baptism, we will not keep anyone under the water, but will show the new life, the resurrection life, that came through Jesus Christ.

                    The song writer said, “Up from the grave he arose…” The wonder of the resurrection!  And we will see it this morning in a person who has come to Jesus in faith and who believes that God works in forgiving sins and in giving new life.