
The Spirit Empowers (Zechariah 4:6-10)
- please open your Bible to Zechariah 4, the second
last book of the Old Testament
-
- when I was just a child, I developed a tremendous
respect for those engaged in Gods service
- at that time I thought mainly of pastors and
vocational Christian workers like missionaries
- I thought that it would be great to grow up and
to become a pastor myself
- as I grew, I shook off these childish notions
- but eventually, as I graduated from school, I
still felt God tugging at me
- and so I enrolled in seminary
- and today I believe Im where I should be,
doing what I should do, and I thank God for calling me as a pastor
-
- on my graduation day, they gave me a piece of
paper saying I had earned a degree
- they had filled my head with knowledge, and I
was ready to take on the world
- the pastoral search committee here was obviously
getting a bit desperate, so they agreed to take me on
- and on September 1st, 1991, I began
as pastor of Park Lawn Baptist Church
-
- now think back with me to that day
- job description:
- to preach and teach Gods Word in such a
way that individuals have their lives transformed and literally become
new people
- to evangelize so that hell-bound sinners repent
and turn their lives around and come to trust in Christ as their Savior
- to lead and provide spiritual direction for the
church
- to provide pastoral care for people
- to equip them to use their spiritual gifts so
that they can impact others for God
-
- now, how was I going to accomplish these tasks?
- was my seminary education enough to see lives
transformed?
- were the powers of eloquence and my exceptional
charismatic personality going to impact people powerfully?
- you can stop laughing now
- you see, essentially I was and am powerless
to accomplish the mission that God gave me
- I cant lead sinners to repent
- I dont have the ability to bring conviction
to people
- my speaking gifts are not sufficient to transform
lives
-
- now, this problem isnt just confined to
me
- lets talk about you
- God has given us all a mission
- its not just pastors and vocational Christian
workers who run up against these barriers
- God has given us all the task of spreading his
Word, of using our gifts, of impacting others with the love of God
- who among us has the ability to do this?
- the answer: no-one
- thats why I say that the Christian life
is not hard its impossible
- theres no way that you and I can accomplish
what God wants us to on our own
-
- theres a passage in the Old Testament that
relates to this, however
- this passage has three lessons that give us the
answer to this dilemma
- the problem is basically this: how can we
be useful to God despite our severe human limitations?
- and this passage gives us the answer
- Zechariah was a prophet and a priest, writing
when the Jewish nation returned from exile
- as they returned, they had a crucial task awaiting
them: the rebuilding of the temple
- God gives Zechariah a number of visions regarding
this task, but the one I want us to look at is the fifth of eight visions,
taking place probably around 519 BC, and its found in Zechariah
4:6-10
- and what applied to Zechariah and the rebuilding
of the temple applies to us today
- there are three lessons
-
- the first lesson is this:
- ITS GODS POWER THATS IMPORTANT,
NOT OURS
- (Zechariah 4:6) So he said to me, "This
is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but
by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
- God says to Zechariah, when the King Zerubbabel
rebuilds the temple, he doesnt have the royal might and power
that the original builders had, King David and King Solomon
- theres an acknowledgement right off the
bat that the human capabilities are lacking
- but God says, "Thats all right, because
Im not concerned about the power and the might you possess
the power of the Spirit is going to be enough"
-
- now think about us
- we dont have the human resources to defeat
Satan
- the Scriptures teach that Satan is our enemy,
prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour
- Satan is a deceiver and a liar, and he possesses
powers enough to render our mission impossible
- its like what Martin Luther wrote in that
great hymn, A Mighty Fortress:
- For still our ancient foe, doth seek to work
us woe;
- His craft and power are great, And armed with
cruel hate
- On earth is not his equal.
- Did we in our own strength confide,
- Our striving would be losing
- Were not the right Man on our side, the Man
of Gods own choosing
-
- friends, left to ourselves, we would be defeated
by Satan
- our powers are no match for his
- but its not our power, its Gods
power
- its not by might, nor by power, but by
the empowering of the Holy Spirit
- (2 Corinthians 10:4) The weapons we fight with
are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine
power to demolish strongholds.
- (2 Corinthians 10:5) We demolish arguments and
every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and
we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
-
- I love the old movies where a fight or a shoot-out
is about to begin
- and the referee comes out, opens up a case containing
some guns, and says, "Gentlemen, choose your weapon"
- I saw the second Crocodile Dundee movie almost
ten years ago now
- Dundee is walking down the street in New York
with his girlfriend
- some guy jumps out to rob them
- one guy pulls out a knife and says, "Give
me your money!"
- Dundees girlfriend cries, "Oh! He
has a knife"
- but Crocodile Dundee remains calm
- he reaches back and pulls a huge knife, about
five times the size of the robbers
- and he says, "Thats not a knife, this
is a knife!"
-
- when Jesus left this earth, he commissioned his
disciples
- (Acts 1:8) But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
- Jesus said we would receive power in the
Greek, dunamis, from which we get the English word dynamite
- the power to accomplish Gods mission, which
otherwise would be humanly impossible
- its the Holy Spirit difference
- Tony Evans says that this power of the Holy Spirit
creates a powerful people who have his powerful presence carrying out
his powerful program
- weak men who fled from Christ, spiritual weak-kneed
wimps who ran when the going got tough, received power from the Holy
Spirit
- when they received power, they preached and thousands
were saved
- Acts 4:13 tells us that the Jewish authorities
marveled at their courage
- nothing could stop them
- even after they were beaten and ordered to stop
preaching, they went out and preached some more
- where did they get this power?
- from the Holy Spirit
- the Spirit empowered the early Christians to
work miracles as they proclaimed the Gospel
- he gave power to the preaching of the early church
so that when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they proclaimed
the Word boldly and with great power
-
- now listen to me
- we too have been given the task of building Gods
kingdom
- I neednt remind you that this task is humanly
impossible
- but as the Holy Spirit empowers us, we will receive
more than adequate power to accomplish this task
- (Zechariah 4:6) So he said to me, "This
is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but
by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
-
- the second lesson from Zechariah 4 is this:
- ITS GODS POWER THAT REMOVES THE
OBSTACLES, NOT OUR POWER
- (Zechariah 4:7) "What are you, O mighty
mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will
bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!'"
- those who were going to rebuild the temple faced
all sorts of obstacles, but God promised that he would open a way for
them
-
- this is not too different from what Jesus promised
- (Luke 10:18) He replied, "I saw Satan fall
like lightning from heaven.
- (Luke 10:19) I have given you authority to trample
on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy;
nothing will harm you.
- (Luke 10:20) However, do not rejoice that the
spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
- as we minister, God does away with the spiritual
opposition that hinders us
- God removes the obstacles
-
- God even overcomes the obstacles of our own inability
- when God called Moses to rescue his people out
of Egypt, Moses protested:
- (Exodus 4:10) Moses said to the LORD, "O
Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you
have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
- but God replied:
- (Exodus 4:11) "Who gave man his mouth? Who
makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it
not I, the LORD?
- (Exodus 4:12) Now go; I will help you speak and
will teach you what to say."
-
- I had lunch with a pastor friend the other day
- God is blessing his ministry
- the preaching of the Word has been powerful in
his ministry
- they were joking the other week that they ought
to put tissues in the pews, because almost every week people were being
moved to tears by the proclamation of the Word
- people pray before the service that a "God-moment"
would take place
- you know, a moment in the service where God breaks
in and everyone knows that he is working
- and my pastor friend said to me, "Its
not my eloquence, its not what I say its God working"
- what God is doing is overcoming the obstacles
that stand in the way
-
- as we serve God, as we accomplish the mission
that he has given us, we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, and
hes the one that removes the obstacles
- he enables us to overcome spiritual opposition
to the preaching of the Gospel
-
- a third and final lesson is found in this passage
- and its this
- GOD REJOICES OVER OUR WORK
- (Zechariah 4:10) "Who despises the day of
small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand
of Zerubbabel. "(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range
throughout the earth.)"
- it turns out that some who saw the original temple
thought that the rebuilt temple was insignificant
- to the eyes of men, the temple project was just
a small thing, but to the eyes of God, it was a source of great joy
-
- God delights in using small things
- Warren Wiersbe points out that God used
- Moses rod (Exodus 4:2)
- Davids sling ( Samuel 17)
- a jawbone (Judges 15:15)
- a hammer and a tent peg (Judges 4:17-24)
- a piece of rope (Joshua 2:15-21)
- a basket (Acts 9:23-25)
- loaves and fish (John 6:9)
- a cup of cold water (Matthew 10:42)
- and even mud (John 9:6-7)
- who has despised the day of small things?
- God loves to use small things
- because when the Spirit empowers small things,
theres no telling what will happen
-
- I dont know what small abilities you have
- but I know that if you are a believer, you have
received a spiritual gift
- speaking of spiritual gifts, the apostle Paul
writes:
- (1 Corinthians 12:11) All these are the work
of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he
determines.
- when we use our spiritual gifts, even if we consider
them to be small, we are showing the empowering presence of the Holy
Spirit
- God delights in using small things
-
- I need to say that we should never seek the Holy
Spirits power for our own ends
- some people talk about harnessing the power of
the Holy Spirit
- the Spirits power cannot be harnessed
- his power cannot be used to accomplish anything
other than the Fathers will
- but the power of the Holy Spirit is given for
a specific reason to enable us to be effective witnesses for
Jesus Christ
- but God promises his Spirit to enable and empower
us to accomplish the task he has left us
-
- I cant transform lives
- I cant convict people
- I cant be an effective pastor on my own
strength
- we arent very powerful
- we dont have the abilities and the boldness
necessary to turn the world upside down with the truth of the Gospel
- but thats all right
- because God says, "Its not by your
might, its not by your power, its by my Spirit"
- and God removes the obstacles and turns our small
gifts into wonderful things that can be used to please him
-
- would you pray with me that God would empower
us?
- (Ephesians 3:20) Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power
that is at work within us,
- (Ephesians 3:21) to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.