Christ The Power Of God

by G. Jarvie | Category: N/a | Mar 1951

"We preach Christ crucified - Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1.23-24). "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are made full" (Colossians 2.9, 10).

So then the wisdom and the power of God are centred in Christ. Apart from Him the Christian has nothing, and apart from Him the Christian can do nothing. In Christ, the Christian is made full, therefore he needs no other source of supply. We read concerning Stephen, the servant of Christ, that he was full of grace and power, and that he wrought great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6.8). From whom did he receive this grace and power? He received it from Christ. In like manner, every believer who has had power in his life, has received that power from Christ. If any Christian is powerless or unfruitful he is so because of a lack of Christ in his life. We may be slow to admit this, because there may be no open sin in our lives, but if in secret we are failing to draw strength from Him, then outwardly it will be manifest in spiritual poverty and weakness. The joy of the Lord will be absent in our lives. We may endeavour to make up for our poverty by increased labour for the Lord, but this can only increase the leanness of our souls. We may seek to compensate for the Jack of the Lord's joy by concentrating on other "joys," but they will prove bitter in the end. No, there is no other source of power and fruitfulness than Christ. No other source and no other person.

Let us confess with humility before God, that we do not have the power that we long for in His service. Speaking generally there is a lack of the power of Christ. Why is it so? The answer is simple! Other things! Let us not judge one another in this, but let us search each his own heart. As His disciples, we love the Lord, and we love each other. Is it not love for Him that brings us week by week to remember Him, and to show forth His death until He comes? It is so! Though we may be often ashamed of ourselves we are not ashamed of Him. Yes, He knows that we love Him despite our little power and little grace. "Thou hast a little power-I have loved thee," He said to the church in Philadelphia (Revelation 3.8, 9). A little power! Are we satisfied with that? If so, then indeed we shall have no more. Not so the apostles, and many men of God since.

" Lord ... grant unto Thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness, while Thou stretchest forth Thy hand ... And when they had prayed ... they spake the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4.29, 30). They were bold in prayer and bold in preaching, bold through faith.

What are the "other things "which cause the lack of Christ in our lives? LITTLE FAITH is one of them. This comes from looking round about us, as Peter did on the sea (Matthew 14. 30), instead of looking off unto Jesus. Too much attention to newspaper opinions, to the radio, and to many other voices, and above all to the whisperings of the evil one. How can faith grow? By the reading of God sword and by prayer; by considering the faithfulness of God. Little faith is a great hindrance to the power of Christ in us, and unless our faith grows we shall lack that power in our lives.

LITTLE PRAYER is also one of the "other things." A life busy with many things, but no secret communion with God! Failure is stamped on this life, because there is little of Christ. Even public prayer cannot make up for a lack of private humbling and confession and prayer. " Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased " (Daniel 12.4) is very true to-day, but in spiritual things much activity and little secret prayer is the way of spiritual defeat. Is it not true that we are more keen to serve God according to our ability or our gift, than we are to wait upon Him in secret to know His power? It is so! We may also increase in the knowledge of God's will, and yet lack His power. We thank God, for the knowledge of the truth which He has granted to us, but we need the power of Christ in our lives to make known that truth. "Power belongeth unto God," and it is only granted to the one who will quietly wait upon God (Psalm 62.). The disciples were able to cast out many demons, but one they were not able to cast out, because that kind could only come out by prayer (Mark 9.29), this was where their failure lay. A thoughtful consideration of the warfare of the Christian as as seen in Ephesians 6.10-20 will show us the futility of the prayerless life. If we fail to enter into the inner chamber and there take time with God, then no amount of knowledge or activity will avail to bring power. We shall lack Christ, and lacking Him we shall lack power.

AN UNYIELDED LIFE, a failure to appreciate that we are Christ's, will mean no power. The divided heart can never know the power of Christ. We ourselves - our gifts, our time, our substance - belong to Him. "Yield yourselves unto God" (Romans 6. 13). Then and only then can He come in, and fill us and use us. To the lukewarm believers in the church at Laodicea the Lord said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" Revelation 3.20). Poor Laodiceans, lukewarm, half-hearted, a part for themselves and a part for the Lord! They neither knew His presence, nor His power. Plenty of knowledge, perhaps, but little power! Why? Because Christ did not fill their hearts. Let us yield our whole ransomed beings to Him. Only thus can we serve Him intelligently and effectively.

LITTLE LOVE. Can it be that the first love which we bore to Christ has dimmed? that it has become less and not more as we have grown older? Has our knowledge increased, but not our love? Perhaps we have been patient, and have not grown weary, we have plodded on. But yet we admit there is little power, little joy, little love. The sweetness of His presence is absent from our lives. Let us seek the cause. It cannot be circumstances or in others for none of these can separate us from His love (Romans 8. 38, 39). Let us pray as the Psalmist did,

"Search me, O God, and know my heart:

Try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any way of wickedness in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139. 23, 24)

Has there been a failure to love all the disciples? Have we held a grudge against a brother or a sister? Have we committed a wrong against another and not confessed it? If we sin against a brother we sin against Christ (1 Corinthians 8. 12). Have we allowed pride to rise in our hearts? Pride in our home affairs or in our family. Pride in our service for God, or in our ability or our preaching. Perhaps our eyes are holden so that we cannot see it. We may have been so long out of touch with God that we have become accustomed to living at a distance from Him. Shall we spend the rest of our days like that? or shall we come to Him with a contrite heart and seek cleansing and renewing? It may mean a breaking down to take away the cause, but it will be worth it, for the Lord Jesus will draw near and go with us. Once again our hearts will burn within us as He opens to us the Scriptures.

"Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way;

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay;

Make me and mould me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielding and still."

"With great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4. 33). We do confess our need of power in the preaching and teaching of God's word if souls are to be reached, and disciples strengthened. We do confess the need of grace in our lives, so that Christ will be seen in our manner of life. This power and this grace can only come from Him, but it will come through faith and prayer, through yielding and through love. Are we willing that it should come? Are we willing to pay the price? Am I?

G. Jarvie | Mar 1951
N/a