Lessons from the life of Jesus – 3
July 31, 2014
I am writing this block as I am sitting in a café in Rome. I landed about an hour ago and have an eight-hour layover before I fly to Tirana, Albania. So the easiest way to kill some time is to read and meditate and write. I am meeting new coaches here and then we all fly to debrief with their squad. Here is what we will meditate on today.
Luke 4:31-32 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
When we study the life of Jesus we come to the conclusion that he did a lot of miracles. His life was known as one of power. Everywhere he went people would flock to him for a healing. He openly demonstrated the power of God by healing all that were oppressed of the devil. There was not any sickness that he could not heal. All the funerals he went to he messed up by raising the dead. His life was known for the miracles that he did while he ministered for three and a half years. John goes as far as to declare that all the miracles are not even recorded because there would not be enough books to record it. I think we see a very small picture of what Jesus really did when he was here two thousand years ago.
The verse we looked at says something else. There are two Greek words translated as “power” in our bibles. The one is the word ‘Dunamis” and the other one is the word “Exousia.” The first word simply means power. Think about dynamite. That is where we get that word. It is the raw power of God to do anything He pleases. Nothing is stronger than the power of God.
The word used in this passage however is not the word “Dunamis” but the word “Exousia.” Even though it is translated as power the words meaning is “authority.” It is made up of two Greek words:
Ex – which donates out of or origin.
Eimi – which comes from the root word “I AM.”
So we see that where we see the word authority it simply means “Out of the I AM. This makes us think twice about what authority means. Authority means you have the permission to use it. Authority will release the power of God. They always operate together. Power without authority is to put people in slavery. If you exercise power without the authority to do so you will abuse people.
Authority must flow from relationship. In Matthew seven we see the people that did miracles in the name of Jesus, power without the authority flowing from a relationship, and Jesus rebukes them and sends them away. Once you establish relationship you will never represent God in the wrong way. People run after the dunamis power to make a name for themselves but they don’t desire the relationship with God. Relationships is hard work. We need to sacrifice and seek him.
I preached a message a long time ago and what I heard God say to me was:
The price for his presence is time.
The purpose of his presence is change.
The product of his presence is holiness.
The verse we looked at says that his word was with power(authority) – out of I AM. Look at what John writes about Jesus:
John 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Because Jesus spoke out of God, The word coming from God, God did not limit hw much of God’s Spirit could be on Him. The spirit always come on the word of God. We see that in Genesis 1. The Spirit of God was hovering over the deep waiting for God to speak. As soon as the command came forth and God spoke light into existence the Spirit came on the word of God and created the spoken word.
Not only did Jesus do miracles by the power of God but his life demonstrated the power that rested on him because he spoke from the right source. No wonder he commands us to let our words be few. Jesus says we will give account of every word that we spoke. The possibility is that we can speak from the heart of God and God will make His Spirit rest on what we speak. The question we need to ask is if God can trust us with our tongue?
Lastly Proverbs says that life and death is in the power of the tongue. I am guilty of speaking when I should be silent. James says that it is impossible to tame the tongue. We can however renew our minds so that when we speak we speak blessings and not curses. Jesus word was with power. May God help us that we will learn to speak life in the face of death, forgiveness in the face of revenge, restoration in the face of devastation, peace in the time of war and love in the face of hate.
