Where the Church Gets Its Power

John 17:6-19


It's an exciting thing to be part of the Church of Jesus Christ. We've got a good thing here, and we need to let the rest of the world know just how exciting it is.

There's an old story about a young high school football star who was being recruited by a coach from a major college. The coach had never seen the young man play, so he asked him some direct questions. "Son," he said, "I understand that you do the passing for your team. Are you a pretty good passer?"

"Am I a good passer?" the boy answered. "Why, I threw the ball 100 times this season and only had one incompletion -- and that was because the receiver fell down before the ball got to him.

The coach was impressed. "I understand that you also played defense," he said," are you a good tackler?"

"Am I a good tackler?" the boy answered, "Why I will have you know that in one game this year, I sacked the quarterback three times."

The coach rubbed his hands in glee. " I understand that you also do the punting for your team. Can you kick the ball pretty well?"

"Can I kick? I'll have you know that I have to hold back on my punts to keep the ball from sailing into the stands." 

The coach was thrilled. "Tell me, son, " he said, "do you have any weaknesses?"

The boy thought for a moment and replied, "Well. I do have a tendency to exaggerate a little."

That young man may have overstated his abilities more than a little. But what a refreshing change from most Christians. If anything, most of us have a tendency to understate just how much God means in our lives, and how much of a privilege it is to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ. 

Following Jesus is the most thrilling business in all the world. God has entrusted you and me with the work of bringing this beaten and battered world into a right relationship with God. He has called us to bring abundant life to hearts that are cold and uncaring. He has offered us the possibility of being part of the building of God's kingdom in this world. Doesn't that make you feel really good inside? Or are you like that man who went into a hotel and asked for a bottle of Old Squirrel whiskey?

When the bartender replied that he didn't have any Old Squirrel but did have some Old Crow, the man said, "No, I don't want to fly. I just want to jump around a little bit."

Please pardon this terrible story. Bit it makes my point: there is a great difference between people who want to fly and people who just want to jump around a little. Our spirits ought to soar when we contemplate the great honor that God has bestowed upon us -- the honor of being called God's own people and being entrusted by God to reconcile the world to Himself.

In our scripture lesson from John's Gospel, Jesus prays for the church. He prays that they will be united in the work to which they were called. But I wonder if any of those disciples could possibly have imagined that more than 2,000 years later there would be people walking in their footsteps. Two thousand years! Certainly God honored Jesus prayer. To be sure, Christians have bickered and fought with one another. and some have been lost. But the truth of the matter is that there are more of us now than ever before. Those twelve became seventy. And the seventy became hundreds. And now those hundreds have become millions.

Indeed, the past two centuries have seen the greatest explosion of Christian outreach since the days of the early church. There are more Christians in the world today than there were people in the entire world just a century ago. Don't be deceived by how anemic the church is becoming in the United States and Europe. Around the world thousands of new people are coming to Christ every day. It is truly an exciting thing to be part of the church of Jesus Christ. But where does the church get the power that sustains her through the ages? Well, I believe she gets it from three sources.

We will take a look at the first one tomorrow!

Questions to Ponder

• Do you ever exaggerate?

• Do you consider it a privilege to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ?

• Where do you believe the Church gets its power?

In His Service,
Terry Phillips