“You Have One Job” – Ephesians 6:10

*Show pics of examples of having one job and messing it up*

Maybe you have seen those or seen some like those before. I’ve always thought they were funny but I was thinking about it the other day and I’m sure most of the people that made those mistakes actually had more than one job to do. Almost every job requires doing more than one thing but when you do your main job wrong, that can follow you around for a long time. In fact, if you do the main part of your job wrong, it doesn’t matter how well you do the little stuff.

Now, as Christians, what is our main job? You might know the answer to this if you were with us all this past year as we talked about how to handle it when Satan attacks us. We talked over and over again how important it is to make God look good even in the midst of the worst Satanic attacks. That, in a nutshell and without churchy talk, is our main job as Christians; to make God look good.

We know that we, as Christians, are also supposed to read the Bible and pray. We should disciple people and be discipled. We should evangelize (tell others about Jesus) and we should go to church and give generously and don’t forget to take a shower. Nobody gets discipled or evangelized by a stinky Christian. Right? We have multiple things we are supposed to do but if you don’t make God look good in the difficult times as well as the good times then you are not doing your main job.

How many of you have ever worked any kind of construction? Maybe you framed houses or roofed or did remodeling or concrete or something similar. What’s the first thing you do when you get to the job site? You look for power. You hook up the extension cords and unravel the air hoses and get everything plugged in so you have power to do what you are supposed to do.

You could use a hand saw to cut boards like they did a hundred years ago when Troy was working construction. And you can use a hammer and nails and stir concrete in a wheel barrow with a stick. Maybe you can even make bricks out of mud and straw. But if you want to compete in the modern world, you rely on electrical power to run generators and compressors and nail guns and you use diesel-powered machinery to get the job done. You need outside power.

It’s the same in the life of a Christian. For a big chunk of 2018, we looked at the wonderful passage in Ephesians 6 that talks about how we are to put on the full armor of God. We looked at each piece that Paul mentioned in depth and detail because we were talking all through 2018 about how to handle it when Satan attacks us.

Now, since we spent literally all of 2018 looking at how to handle those attacks by Satan, how many of you can say that you are out of the woods and Satan doesn’t bother you anymore? I can stop hammering on it. You learned how to put on the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and you are never bothered by temptation or difficulties of that nature any more. Anybody? No? Of course not. Satan is always going to attack you. That’s his one job and he’s good at it.

So, we are going to continue looking at how to handle it when Satan attacks us in part (not all) of 2019, starting next Sunday by looking specifically how to handle all the attacks on our finances. But before we go there, we have to know where we get the power. Because you can try to do it yourself. You can start 2019 with a resolution to do better and try harder and read more scripture and tell more people about Jesus and you can resolve to spend more time in prayer and do all the things you are supposed to do, including showering, and I give the best of you about two weeks like that. Because you just can’t do it on your own. Thankfully though, we have the secret right here in Ephesians 6, that same passage where Paul talks about the armor of God, he starts by telling us the secret to putting all that on. Look at it in Ephesians 6, verse 10.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” Repeat.

There are two things I want to look at in this verse: What is this power and strength and how do we get it? First, let’s look at what this power is. According to my concordance, there are six different words under the heading “power” but the one that Paul uses here is “kratos” and it means “the manifest (seen, obvious) power of God.” It is the dominating, effective and oppressive power of, not just the Creator of the universe, but of the Father who brought the Son out of the grave.

Ephesians 1:18-20 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”

Would you say that when God the Father drew Jesus out of death and out of the tomb that it was a pretty close call between God and Satan? Would you describe that effort by the Father as barely getting it done or that it was touch and go there for a while to see if He could actually do it? Did Satan come in a close second in that vicious struggle over death?

No! You would describe that power as dominating, effective and oppressive. It wasn’t even close. Alright, we don’t have to get into an argument here but somebody tell me who the best professional football team is right now because I have no idea. Let’s say that professional team were to play Bridgeport, what would happen? And by “Bridgeport” I mean the Bridgeport Middle School Sissies Volleyball team. How close would a football game be between those two teams? You get my point.

How many of you need a little bit of that kind of power in your life when Satan comes creepy-crawling around trying to attack you? Man, I do. I want that dominating, effective and oppressive power when Satan attacks me physically. I want it when he attacks me spiritually. I want it when he attacks me financially. Don’t you?

Of course, you do. The question is, how bad do you want it? Do you want it bad enough to keep all the Ten Commandments? Do you want that power in your life bad enough to follow all the Old Testament dietary restrictions and all the 613 or so Jewish laws? Do you want it bad enough to be a good enough person to deserve that kind of power? Me neither.

Aren’t you glad that’s not how you get it? Aren’t you thankful that you don’t have to work harder for it or be better for it or do anything to deserve it? So, the obvious question is, how do we get this power? And Jesus answered that question best when He told His disciples in John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Jesus said we are to remain in Him and we will bear much fruit. Bearing fruit is His way of describing something miraculous and powerful and we can do miraculous and powerful things when we remain or abide in Him. The King James translates it “abide”. Do you know what it means to abide? Again, going back to my concordance, the word is “meno” and it means to dwell, to stay; to continue or even to live in a certain place.

For example, in John 1:38-39, two of the disciples who first encountered Jesus asked him “Where are you staying?” They wanted to know where Jesus made his residence. The word “staying” is the same word translated “abide” in John 15. To abide is to reside. To abide is to continue, to stay, to remain.

Do we have any hot tea drinkers here? I enjoy a hot cup of tea, especially on a cold day. I might have two or three, in fact.  Even if you don’t drink it, you probably have seen people put the tea bag in the cup of hot water. Now, most people start stirring it around and dipping down and bringing it up, in and out of the water. They like to wrap the string around the spoon and dip it and swish it. Not me. I like to just let that tea bag…abide.

I want that hot water to soak all through that tea bag and I want that tea bag to go all through that water until it is completely steeped and has a really strong flavor. You know what I mean? Just leave it in there until it is completely ready. To misquote Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that it is tea.”

Now, obviously, the correct version of Psalm 46:10 is “Be still and know that I am God.” Let your hands hang down. Quit trying to solve the problem and fix everything. What this looks like in your life is when you are being attacked by Satan or maybe you just have some other kind of problem in your life, since you are so close to God; you are abiding in Him; you are resting and dwelling in Him and He in you, now just whisper your problem to Him and confess that you are helpless to fix it. Admit that you are very concerned but because His word tells you to come boldly into His throne room to find help in your time of need (Heb. 4:16), that you are doing just that.

In fervent prayer, fasting when needed, go to God with your problem and with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) for being able to do so, leave that problem at the feet of the Creator and Sustainer who brought Jesus out of the tomb and who wants you to have that same power and take away from Him His joy and His peace. And when that happens you go make God look good by telling somebody else what He has done. That’s your job!

You may have to do that job every five minutes for a while but that’s okay. Repeat as necessary. Abide in Him. When a problem comes, just take it to Him in prayer and leave it there. Take His joy and peace and go tell somebody. Job one, job done.

Now, there are at least two myths we need to clear up in this. First myth is if I abide in God then I don’t have to do anything except sit on the couch watching Oprah and eating bon-bons. Right? God is going to do all the work. I don’t have to do anything. Isn’t that what it means to abide and be still and know He is God? Be a tea bag? Not quite.

Have you ever seen a well-trained dog being walked on a leash by his master? My dogs see a leash and think, “What is that?” But a well-trained dog walks beside his master and is constantly looking up. He is constantly watching his master, wanting to know what he wants and where he is leading, taking cues from the leash and where the master is looking and how and where he is walking. Yes, he has time to look around and smell the grass and do what he needs to do but his purpose is to go where his master wants to go. He’s not worried about where it is or how long it’s going to take or how many hills or obstacles will be in the way because he knows his master loves him and is in control. What does he have to worry about? I think you can understand that illustration for your own life.

Now, the second myth is that there won’t be any hills or obstacles in the way if I abide in God. I mean if God loves us and is in control then why would He allow us to suffer? Louis D. Brandeis once said, “If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.” That is true for Christians and non-Christians alike. In fact, if you go back to the story Jesus was telling about the vine and the branch in John 15, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Sometimes what we see as an attack by Satan because it is so painful and difficult is just the Father, the Gardener, pruning us and making us more like Him. Again, through the pruning, all we have to do is abide in Him, looking to Him, trusting in Him, leaving our problems and difficulties with Him and taking from Him His peace and His joy. And when we do that we can make Him look good. That’s your one job. Don’t mess it up.

I will close by just saying that everything I have said here this morning; the abiding, the joy, the peace, everything except maybe the showering is impossible if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus. The good news there, though, is, once again, you don’t have to be good enough. You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to change yourself and be clean before you do it. All you have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is God, that He died on the cross to pay the price for your sins that you could never pay. Then allow Him to come into your life; abide in your life as you abide in Him and ask Him for forgiveness of your sins. Then let Him change you as He abides in you. Do that right now as the music plays.