Chris Bailey III - Perfectly Powerless

ROMANS 5:6 KJV - 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Nobody wants to approach any interaction from a position of weakness or need.  I know what it's like to stubbornly wait in the car while your wife goes in to apply for Food Stamps. What we call resilience is often just veiled pride that totally rejects the idea of being broken.  But in the Gospel transaction of forgiveness, over fear; victory, over victim, it is the ONLY way for us to experience salvation.  The timing of our redemption as noted in ROMANS 5:6 is not just a report or descriptive, but it is also prescriptive.  It is a blueprint for the conditions necessary for the gift of God, Christ Himself, to take affect in our lives. 

What is the best situation to identify where our will and resilience need to be, in order for God to get us where He wants us to be?  There is none better than death...

Ephesians 2:4-7 KJV - 4 But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in [His] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

There is low power, then there is no power.  Which does EPHESIANS 2 seem to compare sinners and our situation to?  Putting it in phone terms, which is lower, 15% power or 0% power?  If we were to look down at our phones and see we were at 15% power we would say,"Wow - my power is low!  I need to charge my phone."  And why would we want to charge it?  Because we don't want it to... die.  It's near death, but not dead.  Some original power remains but not enough to sustain.  But if we were to look down and see our phone is at 0%, there would not even be a readout, but instead, there would be a blank screen, no power, and the verdict,"My phone is dead."  Like the picture above, your phone looks at you and says "Hey, we're out of options here. If you want anything out of me, you gotta plug me up and you gotta plug me up now!" 

Once our phone is dead, our only hope and immediate response is connect it! This is where we are in our hearts when the work of Christ actually makes effect in our situations and we actively move to connect with God through Him. To show that this is even possible, God sent His Son and our Savior to do a work among the physically, literally dead.  So by the time the apostles come along and speak of us being "dead in sins", we get a picture of what's possible when we are perfectly powerless. 

2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV - 9 And [the Lord] said unto [Paul], My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God's power only rests on the dead!  Family, we are perfectly powerless against sin (singular) and we all got the sins (plural) to prove it.  Until we admit it and confess it, we won't accept being forgiven for it, nor have faith to be delivered from it.  That year when I sat in pride outside the Department of Human Services building waiting for Tara, she went inside by faith and in humility for her babies, and came out with documentation that allowed us to get four times more money than we ever budgeted to buy food! If billion-dollar companies take government assistance through tax-incentives and subsidies, why can't I?  If Paul the persecutor, Jacob the deceiver, and Mary Magdaline the escort are going into Heaven, why can't I? Don't let your pride, and not your need, be the source of your spiritual starvation.  Our need - God can fill it.  Our pride - it won't let grace get to us.  Our choice is the only way to keep us out of the kingdom of grace, and not our sins when "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 JOHN 1:7)

Grace!  His power to the perfectly powerless!