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 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 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 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 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 God’s 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 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 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 it’s 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:
- IT’S GOD’S POWER THAT’S 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 doesn’t have the royal might and power that the original builders had, King David and King Solomon
- there’s an acknowledgement right off the bat that the human capabilities are lacking
- but God says, “That’s all right, because I’m 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 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
- (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!”
- 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
- (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 God’s mission, which otherwise would be humanly impossible
- it’s 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 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
- (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:
- IT’S GOD’S 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, “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
- a third and final lesson is found in this passage
- and it’s 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)
- David’s 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, there’s 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:
- (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 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
- 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 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 don’t have the abilities and the boldness necessary to turn the world upside down with the truth of the Gospel
- 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
- 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.
