Paul’s words come clear and firm to us when he said “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. it is the power of God unto salvation.” This verse has come to mean more to us as we continue our studies and our experiences enlarge in Christian Life. When we think of power we think of a a high water way spilling through a narrow opening turning great engines that create power for human needs. Or to get a little closer, power might be described by the eye witnesses of a terrific storm, this indeed brings us closer to God. Even yet more marvellous is the power in creation displayed when a little acorn pushes its tender shoot up through well trodden paths. These revelations of power may not seem to have much to do with Paul’s statement that the “glad tidings” is the power of God unto Salvation. There is, we believe, much room for thought tied up in this inspiring subject.
This we know that in all these examples there is something happening —something that can be seen, or that can be felt. The roaring water ; the violent wind, and the quiet thrust of the tender shoot through the earth’s crust. Going back to creation we find forces at work beyond the human mind to conceive —the breaking up of the mighty deep, the folding back of the very heavens, the appearance of the gentle life-giving rays of the sun. These wonders enlarge as we think of them —the clay bringing forth the human species, so fearfully and wonderfully made. This lifeless form, so helpless until the breath of God brought life. These might be called all natural things, things that perhaps Paul didn’t have in mind when he penned Rom. 1:16. To understand then more fully Paul’s statement we must review certain conditions in Eden. The wonderful newly created man, though energized by the breath of God, became, from Paul’s own reasonings, a “dead” creature, dead in trespasses and sins, so in need of reconciliation —in need of life because of death. Here we have introduced to us the “glad tidings”, the “Good news” of eternal life by the grace and power of God to everyone that believeth from Adam to the end of time. The man who had fallen from grace (therefore a sinner) had to realize his position of need, his utter dependence upon God and the salvation God offered through the Way. Jesus, the saviour promised to mankind from the very beginning, was that Way and truth and life. Later Paul says, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. This opens to our view many channels of thought. Abel did not see Christ as a man sees his neighbor face to face, yet he believed in Christ as the saviour typified in the lamb. So Abel had faith in God, and like Abraham later on it was accounted to him for righteousness. The Gospel was the power then, the Gospel is the power now. If the Greek word “Dunamis” Paul uses is understood properly it infers “mighty works”. Jesus said, If the mighty works I have done in your presence had been done in Tyrs and Sidon they would have repented. What mighty works ? Did not Jesus who was given all power in heaven and earth testify and display to that generation t h e mighty works of God ? The gracious life-giving words that fell from his lips were the very gospel. The words that were able to drive home to the hearer the fact that surely this was the son of God. The words like the tender acorn shoots were powerful enough to cause the humble fishermen to say, surely our hearts burned within us while he spoke to us of the good news.
The truth comes home to us then that great things are going on around us. God’s power is at work. His word is sent forth loudly from the housetops, it doesn’t return to him void. His word goes forth in gentler ways by the soft healing rays of His Son entering the heart of man, and like the tender acorn shoot lifts the earthly crust to reveal the wonderful creation of a new creature in Christ Jesus.
The question we must ask ourselves now is, is this power of God at work in us ? Too often we find ourselves engrossed in looking for the creative work of God in others. Let us ask ourselves again, do we feel the power of God at work in us. Do we feel an inner driving force at work compelling us to go forward ? This power we must feel in our very lives if we are indeed the children of God. The human heart and mind are so destructive of this power. So much so that that which has begun in us as we force our way through the earthly crust is destroyed by the elements we face —so the germ of life dies. The power of God through the Gospel must continue to flow through our veins every day of our life to life’s journey’s end. It must always be manifest in us, and God has promised if we keep our contact with Him, his power in us will never fail. Why ? Because He has a purpose with us that we might transmit that good news to others. This is our destiny, to hold forth that good news to others that they might feel the power of God giving them salvation also.
Our great need today in our fight for life, and the power that shall be ours for ever in the Kingdom, is to keep our contacts with God. We must never cease to read His word daily. We must pray constantly through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must never cut ourselves off from the fellowship of the sons of God. We must never limit the Power of God in us. Some falter and hesitate today, fearful to carry forth the good news. Some judge beforehand the unworthiness of others to receive the good news. We must not in this way limit the power of God. We are only instruments in His hand to reflect His glory. Therefore our Christian lives must be a living testimony that the love of God dwells in our hearts, as a burning fire ever being replenished by the very word itself, ever ready to transmit to others the way to eternal life in the kingdom of God. Whether only in our every day life with our fellow workmen, or the giving up of all that we hold dear to journey to some foreign land, let us then be determined of this one thing, that the Gospel shall be preached by us, knowing that as the power of God has worked in us, so it will work also in the hearts of others. Let us be able to say with Paul ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One