The Spirit Empowers (Zechariah 4:6-10)

Big Idea: God achieves his mission through believers, not by human strength, but by the Holy Spirit's power, enabling life transformation and overcoming obstacles for his glory.

When I was just a child, I developed a tremendous respect for those engaged in God's 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 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 I'm 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 took a chance on me. And on September 1st, 1991, I began as pastor of Park Lawn Baptist Church.

Now think back with me to that day. Job description: Preach and teach God's Word to transform lives and help individuals become new people. To encourage sinners to repent, change their lives, and 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? Did my seminary education lead to transformed lives? Would my eloquence and charismatic personality have a strong impact on others? You can stop laughing now. You see, essentially I was and am powerless to accomplish the mission that God gave me. I can't lead sinners to repent. I don't have the ability to bring conviction to people. My speaking gifts are not sufficient to transform lives.

Now, this problem isn't just confined to me. Let's talk about you. God has given us all a mission. It's 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. That's why I say that the Christian life is not hard – it's impossible. There's no way that you and I can accomplish what God wants us to on our own.

There's 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 several visions about his mission. The fifth vision, found in Zechariah 4:6-10, likely occurs around 519 BC. And what applied to Zechariah and the rebuilding of the temple applies to us today.

Three Lessons

There are three lessons. The first lesson is this:

It's God's power that's important, not ours.

Then 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 of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6).

God tells Zechariah that when King Zerubbabel rebuilds the temple, he won't have the same royal strength and power as the original builders, King David and King Solomon. There's an acknowledgement right off the bat that human capabilities are lacking. God assures us that He isn't worried about our strength or abilities; the power of the Spirit is sufficient.

Now think about us. We don't 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. It's 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 God's own choosing.

Friends, left to ourselves, we would be defeated by Satan. Our powers are no match for his. But it's not our power, it's God's power. It's not by might, nor by power, but by the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ... (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

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!" Dundee's 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 robber's. And he says, "That's not a knife, this is a knife!"

When Jesus left this earth, he commissioned his disciples.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Jesus promised that we would receive power. The power to accomplish God's mission, which otherwise would be humanly impossible. It's the difference that the Holy Spirit makes.

Tony Evans says that this power of the Holy Spirit creates a people empowered by his presence to carry out his purposes. The same disciples who had fled from Christ in fear—men who scattered when trouble came—received power from the Holy Spirit. Once empowered, they preached fearlessly, leading to the salvation of thousands. 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 this transformation come from? The Holy Spirit.

The Spirit empowered the early Christians to work miracles as they proclaimed the Gospel. He empowered the early church so that when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they boldly preached the word with great power.

Now listen to me. We too have been given the task of building God's kingdom. I needn't 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.

Then 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 of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6).

It's God's power that's important, not ours. The second lesson from Zechariah 4 is this:

It's God's power that removes the obstacles, not our power.

Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" (Zechariah 4:7)

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.

And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:18-20).

As we minister, God does away with the spiritual opposition that hinders us. God eliminates obstacles. God even overcomes the obstacles of our own inability. When God called Moses to rescue his people out of Egypt, Moses protested:

But Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue." Then the Lord said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." (Exodus 4:10-12)

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 joked recently about putting tissues in the pews because many people were moved to tears by the sermon each week. 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, "It's not my eloquence, it's not what I say – it's 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 he's the one that removes the obstacles. He enables us to overcome spiritual opposition to the preaching of the Gospel.

It's God's power that is important, not ours. It's God's power that removes the obstacles, not our power. The third and final lesson is found in this passage. And it's this:

God rejoices over our work.

For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:10).

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 has used the most ordinary things: Moses' rod, David's sling, Samson's jawbone, Jael's hammer and tent peg, Rahab's piece of rope, a basket that lowered Paul to safety, a boy's loaves and fish, a cup of cold water, and even mud (Exodus 4:2; 1 Samuel 17; Judges 15:15; Judges 4:17-24; Joshua 2:15-21; Acts 9:23-25; John 6:9; Matthew 10:42; 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, there is no telling what will happen. I don't 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:

"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). 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 Spirit's power for our own ends. Some people talk about harnessing the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's power cannot be harnessed. His power cannot be used to accomplish anything other than the Father's will. The Holy Spirit empowers 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 can't transform lives. I can't convict people. I can't be an effective pastor on my own strength. We aren't very powerful. We lack the ability and courage to transform the world with the gospel's truth. But that's all right. Because God says, "It's not by your might, it's not by your power, it's by my Spirit." And God removes the obstacles and turns our small gifts into wonderful things that can be used to please him.

The gospel teaches that we can't fulfill God’s mission alone, but Christ’s work and the Spirit’s power support us. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has already defeated sin and Satan, securing our salvation and empowering us to live for him. The Holy Spirit equips us to proclaim the gospel, overcome obstacles, and use even our smallest gifts for God’s glory. Our confidence comes from Christ's completed work and the Spirit's presence, which guarantees that God's purposes will succeed through us.

Would you pray with me that God would empower us?

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)