How does our faith in Christ deliver us from the existing power structures? Do we fight with the weapons of the world? Do we strive for the power that the world lusts after? Do our hopes for escape from all that is despairing and futile in this fallen world ultimately rest in the acquisition of dominance? These are questions that demand an adequate answer. Think about the world in which we live. If we think about the powers that control how things operate and how decisions are made and how plans are carried through we will discover, without much effort that the power behind it all, is the power, not of faith, but of force. What gets the attention of the world is force. Force is symbolized in a variety of ways; perhaps the most ancient of symbols is that of physical size. All the way back to the days of ancient Israel we learn that the Israelite people desired to have a king of their own, because this was the practice of the other nations around them. The primary quality that the people were looking for in their future king was physical size. Saul, we are told from scripture, was a man who literally stood head and shoulder above his countrymen. So, even though Saul’s character left much to be desired, he was chosen (by the people) to become Israel’s first official king.
This same bias is revealed in the New Testament as well. The Apostle Paul, in his second letter to the church in Corinth, must defend his ministry against those within the church who were suspicious of the credibility of Paul due to his apparent unimpressive stature. “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.” (2 Cor. 10:10 NASB) Even today, those who have an impressive physical presence are often hurried to the front of the leadership line simply because physical size suggests definite power. This weakness in our thinking does not end with physical size in humans. It certainly translates to every facet of our existence. Bigger budgets, bigger homes, bigger governments, bigger militaries, bigger schools, bigger businesses, all suggest dominant power.
So, reading the Bible, and specifically the book of Ephesians, one is confronted with an enormous paradigm shift in terms of this presumptuous understanding of power. One verse will do to make this point, “…walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Eph. 5:2 NASB)
“A fragrant aroma,” this inspired comment by Paul suggests that all of mankind’s willful and ignorant attempts at offerings and sacrifices in the name of and for the purpose of acquiring salvation from their perpetual and futile existence have been a nauseating scent into the holy nostrils of God. The Lord God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, has never been impressed with the offerings and sacrifices of sinful people, under the false premise of gaining and using power, in order to achieve victory over the power of death. This premise has been used throughout history as a means to justify some of the most heinous of crimes against humanity. Every war that has ever been declared and fought has no doubt been justified as a necessary action in the name of deliverance. Yet, what we see in Jesus Christ is a willingness to “give himself up” to the powers that be in order to make known the superiority of the power of God.
This is the paradigm shift, namely that God has called his people to serve Him through faith in His power rather than serving the world’s system through fear of its power. If Christ had responded in fear to the power that Pilate wielded, he would have compromised his faith in the Father and “cut a deal” in order to protect himself from the dominating power of suffering and death. But the power of God is infinitely greater than any power on earth. The Scriptures tell us that the power of God is infinitely greater than worldly power, because this inferior power can only end life; but the power that God has is so great that He can actually raise a corpse to life that has been in the grave 1 hour or 1000 years.
If we are to live in this world and be the witnesses for Jesus Christ then we must live by the power that comes through faith in His name. If we do this then we will not be a people manipulated and controlled by the emotion of fear, but will be a people whose confidence in God is so great that we know that whatever power we face the power of God is ultimately superior. Let us be willing, like our Savior, to even give ourselves up to God in order that our offerings and sacrifices would be a pleasing aroma to
