“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith may not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” 1 Corinthians 2:4-5
At Hill View we’ve been focusing on the names of Jesus prophesied by Isaiah. One of the names for Jesus in Isaiah 9:6 is the Mighty God, a characteristic that hits home when we struggle with our own bankruptcy of power and apparent lack of results. I believe that in our times of weakness God is at work drawing our attention to the fact that He alone is omnipotent, all powerful.
We live in a society where man likes to boast of his strength and accomplishments. We’re taught at a very early age that if we work hard enough we can accomplish anything, but failing to pass on the stories of those who worked hard and according to this world didn’t accomplish anything significant. Perhaps we should apologize to people like Noah who preached for 120 years with only seven others beside himself responding. Yet 2 Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah performed the job given to him with complete obedience and calls him a “preacher of righteousness”. We have even allowed this mindset to pollute the thinking of the church as we hear of all the accomplishments attributed to someone’s “strong leadership”. While I believe in a Biblical work ethic where hard work is rewarded with greater responsibility and privilege, we must also remember that our strength to do anything comes from the Mighty God, therefore results are dependent upon Him.
I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s might and strength lately and how each week that I stand to speak at Hill View I have no reason to expect anything to happen because of me. If anything occurs in someone’s life because of what I’ve said, what they’ve experienced was an explanation and not a demonstration as it says in our text. Two thousand years ago Jesus chose twelve ordinary people: fishermen, tax collectors, etc. and they literally had nothing going for them in the world’s eyes. They were not Pharisees or Sadducees, just twelve ordinary people through whom some extraordinary things happened when Jesus’ power, the power of the Mighty God, came in and worked through them.
Notice again the word demonstration in our text, in Greek it means a showing off, or proof. This is a courtroom term used to speak of legal proof. Paul said it was the Holy Spirit who used his preaching to change lives. God wants us to study to show ourselves approved (2 Tim. 2:15), He wants us to demonstrate that undefiled religion in the sight of God by visiting orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself unstained by the world (James 1:26), and He certainly wants us to prepare and use every gift that He has given us, but we must never put our confidence in ourselves. We put our faith in the Mighty God and that faith is induced by a demonstration of the Spirit’s power and not the product of human ingenuity.
Are you hungry for a demonstration of God’s power in your life? If so, then tune the chattering wisdom of man out and listen to the Word of the Mighty God. Romans 15:13 says “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
