| “MIGHTY GOD: KING OF HEARTS” Psalm 145; John 6:1-15 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 12/06/2009 |
Bill Hybels, pastor of the dynamic Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburbs, preached a 4-point sermon in
September of 1989 that apparently convinced many people of the mighty power of the living God. The four points which
Pastor Hybels used to elaborate on God’s mighty power went something like this.
First, Only God could create a universe out of nothing. Second, Universal order could not happen without design. A
graphic way of understanding these first two points is to think about a probability study done by some very competent
mathematicians. You may remember this illustration, whereby using formulas and computers these math whizzes figured out
what the odds are that a tornado, ripping through a junk yard, could leave in its wake a complete and operational Boeing 747 Jet,
assembled from the spare parts lying around that junk yard. You can imagine that the chance of that happening is one in some
astronomical number way beyond our imagination. Yet it was discovered that there is more chance of that happening than for
the universe with all its highly intelligent systems and complicated natural laws to have come into being and arranged itself
simply by chance. Many scientists who study these things realize that there is an amazing Master-Mind behind the creation and
order of the universe, someone we know as the Mighty God.
Hybel’s third point was that credible people demonstrate the born-again experience. In other words, those who testify
to and demonstrate the transforming power of this Mighty God in their lives are not just a group of freaks, weirdoes or
members of the lunatic fringe, but solid members of society. Responsible people, including scientists, secretaries, businessmen
and women, athletes, waitresses, doctors, teachers, mothers, and fathers—all kinds of credible people witness to the truth that
there is no one else like the Mighty God.
Finally, Hybel’s last point which absolutely proved the mightiness of God for that Chicago congregation was that it was
mid-September of 1989 and the Cubs were in first place! I guess that’s something only a Mighty God could have accomplished
at that time. They went on to become NL East Champs that year, but unlike our Phillies, the Cubs didn’t make it to the World
Series (and haven’t since 1908!) Maybe the fact that the Phillies won the series in 2008 and then put up a good fight in the
2009 series is even better proof that there is a Mighty God after all! Now if God would only do something about those Sixers!
Probably no one who believes in God has any doubts about God’s mighty power. Maybe most of us would even say that
more than anything else, it is God’s power and might that make God who He is. And that’s the way we are taught to think
about God. That’s the way Israel first learned to think about God, because all through the history of God’s working with his
chosen people, He did wonderful, powerful, miraculous things that no one else could do. Sometimes, He was a God of
punishment, when his people erred and strayed far from his ways. Sometimes He was the ultimate Mighty Warrior who fought
on the side of Israel and delivered them from their enemies time and again. But either way, it was clear that the God of Israel is
a Mighty God who acts in power on behalf of his people.
Today’s lesson from the book of Deuteronomy reminds us of the greatness of this Mighty God, the one who created the
earth and everything in it. This scripture claims that no other god can compete or measure up to the mighty power of the God
of Israel. This passage makes God’s might and power very clear as it lists the numerous ways God has revealed Himself
through the ages—by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by his mighty hand and outstretched arm—so that
every generation will know that the Lord is the one and only Mighty God.
Given this view of God, maybe we should not be so critical of those in Israel who missed seeing the hidden power
revealed in that helpless infant, Jesus, born in a lowly manger in Bethlehem. This baby hardly satisfied most people’s
experience of God or their great expectations for the Mighty God promised by the prophet Isaiah. God had always revealed
himself to Israel in the past through his might and power. How then could they be expected to identify God in such shabby
surroundings, coming out of such a humble family and such a vulnerable state? Certainly God had never done it this way
before! And even if they had seen God in this baby, what good could this little one do? How could this shabby, humble,
vulnerable baby possibly be the Mighty God with the power to deliver Israel from her oppressors? If this really was God, why
wasn’t He acting more like God? What’s the good of a God who won’t behave like one?
Thankfully, as the baby grew to manhood, He started to get with the program. He healed the sick, rebuked demons,
changed water into wine, brought the dead back to life and fed thousands by multiplying just a handful of loaves and fishes—
with plenty of leftovers to boot. Finally! He was beginning to show some promise as a Mighty God. It had taken Him long
enough, but maybe now He would begin to act like the King and mighty warrior and deliverer He was prophesied to be.
Of course we already know the end of that story. Israel’s idea of a “Mighty God” didn’t turn out to be Messiah’s idea at
all. Christ knew the minds and hearts of the people, but He would not be controlled or coerced into becoming their political
leader and king. His power would not be political, but spiritual. His battle to deliver his people would not be against Rome, but
against the power of evil and the stubbornness of human hearts. His might would not win their hearts by force, but by love,
and that is why the power of this Mighty God who came as a humble baby would not be so obvious to a people whose hearts
only had room for political agendas. Nevertheless, time would prove that the kingdom of this baby would outlast any earthly
empire the world had ever known.
And so as un-mighty and un-powerful as it seems, God came to earth as a baby, not to capture our enemies but to capture
our hearts. And perhaps when we think about it, we begin to understand that this God who comes in this rather unexpected
way does not really come in weakness at all. For which is the harder task: winning a political battle or winning a human heart?
Which requires more power and might: changing the boundary of an empire or altering the course of human life and history?
Those of us who have tried to redirect just one human life, perhaps a wayward son or daughter or sibling or spouse or parent,
know all too well how difficult it is to change anyone. The power to influence lives and change human hearts is a mighty
power indeed, so perhaps it was not so foolish after all for God to send a baby rather than a soldier.
Even Napoleon, who thought he could be great because he founded a kingdom based on force, discovered how futile and
weak and temporary that kind of kingdom really is. At the end of his life, Napoleon admitted, "Alexander, Caesar,
Charlemagne, and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ
alone founded his empire upon love. And at this hour millions of men would die for him."
We have seen the many ways Jesus Christ has inspired and influenced the lives of those who were touched by the power
of his mighty love. For example, as far we as know, Jesus painted no pictures; yet some of the finest paintings by Raphael,
Michalengelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him. Jesus wrote no poetry; but Dante, Milton, and scores
of the world's greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Mendelssohn, Beethoven,
and Bach reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratorios they composed in His praise.
Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this Mighty God, who came to us not in power but in weakness, and
who touches our hearts not with force but with his humble and sacrificial love.
Sometimes this Mighty God, however, is just not mighty enough for our purposes. We think we have come so far since
that first Christmas. We think it was foolish for those Israelites to have missed the birth of the Messiah who came not in force
but in love. We laugh at all the times that Christ’s own supporters misunderstood the intentions of his earthly ministry. The
crowds he ministered to, John the Baptist, Peter and even Jesus’ own family all questioned who He was, what He did and how
He carried out his work as Mighty God. Everyone seemed to have a better idea of how He ought to be the Mighty God. And
we, in 20/20 hindsight, believe we would never have criticized his decisions and actions. Yet if we are honest, don’t we often
complain when God’s mighty power doesn’t measure up to our great expectations? Don’t we become frustrated and impatient
when the Lord will not behave like the Mighty God of the universe that He is supposed to be? Don’t we sometimes resist his
mighty work in us, the work of changing our stubborn hearts and lives? Aren’t there times when we try to force Him to be
king of our own agendas, rather than surrendering to Him so He can be King of our hearts?
The truth is that we are not so very different or wiser than those who missed his coming in the flesh, because our hearts
are just as sinful and selfish and hard as theirs were. And unless we humble ourselves and confess our sin and ask Christ to
take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh, we continue to miss the Mighty One whose purpose in coming to
earth was to be King of Hearts.
This Mighty God who came as a lowly baby in Bethlehem and who continues to come to us by the power of his Holy
Spirit is the King of Hearts in more ways than one. First, He is King of hearts because his heart is the greatest of all. No heart
is mightier in humility than the heart of God, who gave up his place in heaven in order to come to us in the flesh and dwell
among the likes of you and me. No heart is mightier in love than the heart of God, who willingly sacrificed his life and died a
horrible death on the Cross. No heart is mightier in power than the heart of God, who raised Jesus from the dead and promises
the same eternal life to those who make Him King of their heart, now. It is the humility and love and power of God’s heart that
we remember each time we come to this table and partake of this sacrament, made possible for us by the mighty heart of God’s
only begotten Son, Jesus.
Receiving the cleansing power of God’s forgiveness and love is yet one more way that Jesus Christ, our Mighty God,
demonstrates that He truly is the King of hearts. The power of his grace and love enables us to give our hearts back to Him,
hearts in which He alone sits on the throne. This means that we do not tell Him how to be Mighty God, but allow Him to tell
us how to be human. This means that we do not try and form Christ in our image, but allow Christ to transform us, more and
more, into his. This means that we do not impose the desires of our hearts on God, but make room for God’s desires in our
hearts instead.
Someday, Jesus will be King of every heart, for Scripture tells us that, “…at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Phil. 2) Someday, everyone will have to admit that Jesus Christ really is the
Mighty God, the King of Hearts. The question is, will we make that confession now? Will we make Him King of our hearts
now, so that we may reign with Him in glory forevermore?
Let us pray.
September of 1989 that apparently convinced many people of the mighty power of the living God. The four points which
Pastor Hybels used to elaborate on God’s mighty power went something like this.
First, Only God could create a universe out of nothing. Second, Universal order could not happen without design. A
graphic way of understanding these first two points is to think about a probability study done by some very competent
mathematicians. You may remember this illustration, whereby using formulas and computers these math whizzes figured out
what the odds are that a tornado, ripping through a junk yard, could leave in its wake a complete and operational Boeing 747 Jet,
assembled from the spare parts lying around that junk yard. You can imagine that the chance of that happening is one in some
astronomical number way beyond our imagination. Yet it was discovered that there is more chance of that happening than for
the universe with all its highly intelligent systems and complicated natural laws to have come into being and arranged itself
simply by chance. Many scientists who study these things realize that there is an amazing Master-Mind behind the creation and
order of the universe, someone we know as the Mighty God.
Hybel’s third point was that credible people demonstrate the born-again experience. In other words, those who testify
to and demonstrate the transforming power of this Mighty God in their lives are not just a group of freaks, weirdoes or
members of the lunatic fringe, but solid members of society. Responsible people, including scientists, secretaries, businessmen
and women, athletes, waitresses, doctors, teachers, mothers, and fathers—all kinds of credible people witness to the truth that
there is no one else like the Mighty God.
Finally, Hybel’s last point which absolutely proved the mightiness of God for that Chicago congregation was that it was
mid-September of 1989 and the Cubs were in first place! I guess that’s something only a Mighty God could have accomplished
at that time. They went on to become NL East Champs that year, but unlike our Phillies, the Cubs didn’t make it to the World
Series (and haven’t since 1908!) Maybe the fact that the Phillies won the series in 2008 and then put up a good fight in the
2009 series is even better proof that there is a Mighty God after all! Now if God would only do something about those Sixers!
Probably no one who believes in God has any doubts about God’s mighty power. Maybe most of us would even say that
more than anything else, it is God’s power and might that make God who He is. And that’s the way we are taught to think
about God. That’s the way Israel first learned to think about God, because all through the history of God’s working with his
chosen people, He did wonderful, powerful, miraculous things that no one else could do. Sometimes, He was a God of
punishment, when his people erred and strayed far from his ways. Sometimes He was the ultimate Mighty Warrior who fought
on the side of Israel and delivered them from their enemies time and again. But either way, it was clear that the God of Israel is
a Mighty God who acts in power on behalf of his people.
Today’s lesson from the book of Deuteronomy reminds us of the greatness of this Mighty God, the one who created the
earth and everything in it. This scripture claims that no other god can compete or measure up to the mighty power of the God
of Israel. This passage makes God’s might and power very clear as it lists the numerous ways God has revealed Himself
through the ages—by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by his mighty hand and outstretched arm—so that
every generation will know that the Lord is the one and only Mighty God.
Given this view of God, maybe we should not be so critical of those in Israel who missed seeing the hidden power
revealed in that helpless infant, Jesus, born in a lowly manger in Bethlehem. This baby hardly satisfied most people’s
experience of God or their great expectations for the Mighty God promised by the prophet Isaiah. God had always revealed
himself to Israel in the past through his might and power. How then could they be expected to identify God in such shabby
surroundings, coming out of such a humble family and such a vulnerable state? Certainly God had never done it this way
before! And even if they had seen God in this baby, what good could this little one do? How could this shabby, humble,
vulnerable baby possibly be the Mighty God with the power to deliver Israel from her oppressors? If this really was God, why
wasn’t He acting more like God? What’s the good of a God who won’t behave like one?
Thankfully, as the baby grew to manhood, He started to get with the program. He healed the sick, rebuked demons,
changed water into wine, brought the dead back to life and fed thousands by multiplying just a handful of loaves and fishes—
with plenty of leftovers to boot. Finally! He was beginning to show some promise as a Mighty God. It had taken Him long
enough, but maybe now He would begin to act like the King and mighty warrior and deliverer He was prophesied to be.
Of course we already know the end of that story. Israel’s idea of a “Mighty God” didn’t turn out to be Messiah’s idea at
all. Christ knew the minds and hearts of the people, but He would not be controlled or coerced into becoming their political
leader and king. His power would not be political, but spiritual. His battle to deliver his people would not be against Rome, but
against the power of evil and the stubbornness of human hearts. His might would not win their hearts by force, but by love,
and that is why the power of this Mighty God who came as a humble baby would not be so obvious to a people whose hearts
only had room for political agendas. Nevertheless, time would prove that the kingdom of this baby would outlast any earthly
empire the world had ever known.
And so as un-mighty and un-powerful as it seems, God came to earth as a baby, not to capture our enemies but to capture
our hearts. And perhaps when we think about it, we begin to understand that this God who comes in this rather unexpected
way does not really come in weakness at all. For which is the harder task: winning a political battle or winning a human heart?
Which requires more power and might: changing the boundary of an empire or altering the course of human life and history?
Those of us who have tried to redirect just one human life, perhaps a wayward son or daughter or sibling or spouse or parent,
know all too well how difficult it is to change anyone. The power to influence lives and change human hearts is a mighty
power indeed, so perhaps it was not so foolish after all for God to send a baby rather than a soldier.
Even Napoleon, who thought he could be great because he founded a kingdom based on force, discovered how futile and
weak and temporary that kind of kingdom really is. At the end of his life, Napoleon admitted, "Alexander, Caesar,
Charlemagne, and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ
alone founded his empire upon love. And at this hour millions of men would die for him."
We have seen the many ways Jesus Christ has inspired and influenced the lives of those who were touched by the power
of his mighty love. For example, as far we as know, Jesus painted no pictures; yet some of the finest paintings by Raphael,
Michalengelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him. Jesus wrote no poetry; but Dante, Milton, and scores
of the world's greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Mendelssohn, Beethoven,
and Bach reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratorios they composed in His praise.
Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this Mighty God, who came to us not in power but in weakness, and
who touches our hearts not with force but with his humble and sacrificial love.
Sometimes this Mighty God, however, is just not mighty enough for our purposes. We think we have come so far since
that first Christmas. We think it was foolish for those Israelites to have missed the birth of the Messiah who came not in force
but in love. We laugh at all the times that Christ’s own supporters misunderstood the intentions of his earthly ministry. The
crowds he ministered to, John the Baptist, Peter and even Jesus’ own family all questioned who He was, what He did and how
He carried out his work as Mighty God. Everyone seemed to have a better idea of how He ought to be the Mighty God. And
we, in 20/20 hindsight, believe we would never have criticized his decisions and actions. Yet if we are honest, don’t we often
complain when God’s mighty power doesn’t measure up to our great expectations? Don’t we become frustrated and impatient
when the Lord will not behave like the Mighty God of the universe that He is supposed to be? Don’t we sometimes resist his
mighty work in us, the work of changing our stubborn hearts and lives? Aren’t there times when we try to force Him to be
king of our own agendas, rather than surrendering to Him so He can be King of our hearts?
The truth is that we are not so very different or wiser than those who missed his coming in the flesh, because our hearts
are just as sinful and selfish and hard as theirs were. And unless we humble ourselves and confess our sin and ask Christ to
take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh, we continue to miss the Mighty One whose purpose in coming to
earth was to be King of Hearts.
This Mighty God who came as a lowly baby in Bethlehem and who continues to come to us by the power of his Holy
Spirit is the King of Hearts in more ways than one. First, He is King of hearts because his heart is the greatest of all. No heart
is mightier in humility than the heart of God, who gave up his place in heaven in order to come to us in the flesh and dwell
among the likes of you and me. No heart is mightier in love than the heart of God, who willingly sacrificed his life and died a
horrible death on the Cross. No heart is mightier in power than the heart of God, who raised Jesus from the dead and promises
the same eternal life to those who make Him King of their heart, now. It is the humility and love and power of God’s heart that
we remember each time we come to this table and partake of this sacrament, made possible for us by the mighty heart of God’s
only begotten Son, Jesus.
Receiving the cleansing power of God’s forgiveness and love is yet one more way that Jesus Christ, our Mighty God,
demonstrates that He truly is the King of hearts. The power of his grace and love enables us to give our hearts back to Him,
hearts in which He alone sits on the throne. This means that we do not tell Him how to be Mighty God, but allow Him to tell
us how to be human. This means that we do not try and form Christ in our image, but allow Christ to transform us, more and
more, into his. This means that we do not impose the desires of our hearts on God, but make room for God’s desires in our
hearts instead.
Someday, Jesus will be King of every heart, for Scripture tells us that, “…at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Phil. 2) Someday, everyone will have to admit that Jesus Christ really is the
Mighty God, the King of Hearts. The question is, will we make that confession now? Will we make Him King of our hearts
now, so that we may reign with Him in glory forevermore?
Let us pray.
