31/05/15
Less than a month to the start of Wimbledon…
Venus Williams ’ famous quote: “Some people say I have attitude – maybe I do…but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there. ”
For any athlete to achieve their full potential one of the most important battles is the battle for the mind. Venus Williams clearly understood this, and the results are evident!
Jesus models how we access God’s power to build his Kingdom John 5.19-26; Mk 1.29f; Acts 13.1-12
We will never achieve our full potential if we choose to give in to all the self-doubt that comes from outside and within. Yes, there are some kinds of self-belief which are pure arrogance, and often without foundation! But as Christians, we have every reason to be encouraged to believe in ourselves. Not because of our own merit, but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. One example of this is part of the John reading, Jn 5.24:
‘Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
In other words, we are already eternal beings.
Eternal life is not something that we are given when we die, but has already begun, because of what Jesus did on the cross. You have already passed from death to life! You are an eternal.
The implications of this are massive, and, as a believer, you have every ground for ‘self-belief’, in the Christian sense of that phrase.
You are a son or daughter of the most High…
To the right are further reasons to celebrate how special we are in
God’s eyes, and how much potential we have.
And all this has been given to us so that we can serve God and his kingdom. Jesus made it clear in the sermon on the Mount, when he said (Matthew 5.14f):
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine
before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
God has placed each of us in specific situations where we are uniquely able to serve him, be an agent for him. You have a unique potential to do something amazing for God wherever God has planted you.
But often we feel powerless and very limited. There may be a variety of reasons for this, but here is a little illustration that might help us to understand why we often feel powerless, and tend to give up.
The picture to the left is a London trolley bus from the 1950s. Up here in Sheffield we had trams, but in London it was trolley buses. They both have overhead cables to power them, but the difference between them is that trams run in tram tracks, whereas trolleybuses have rubber wheels and run on ordinary roads.
A tram driver has no choice about the direction of travel, and the tram tracks will always be under overhead cables. But a trolley bus driver has to keep an eye on the overhead cable, to make sure he or she steers in a path that will keep them connected to the power source. The power in the overhead cables is immense, and will take the trolley bus up any steep hill, but only when the trolley bus is connected to the power source. If the trolley bus driver chooses to deviate from the cable route, then the bus will become disconnected, lose power and grind to a halt. So the bus driver has to avoid the temptation to go on detours, no matter how tempting that might be at times when the road ahead looks blocked, or goes through a difficult neighbourhood.
The power available to the trolley bus driver is not independent power. It is power to take the bus along the route that the bus company has already planned. In the same way, the Power at work in us who believe is not for our independent use, but only for use in accordance with God’s plan and purpose, when and where he wants.
The key then, is to always act in accordance with God’s plan and purpose. And when we do, we will lack neither power nor resources. How then can we keep attached to the power supply?
In the passage from Jn 5 we are given clear picture about how we might do this. In Jon 5.19, Jesus reveals to us how he himself is able to access spiritual power to do God’s work. Despite the fact that he is clearly the Son of God, and we are told in this passage that he has the power to give life and raise the dead, yet as Son of Man he walks the path of humility and obedience, looking to the Father, and seeking the guidance and power of His Spirit:

‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.
Jesus looked to Scripture to see the actions of the Father through history, to gain guidance in general terms, then also spent time with his Father in prayer, in seeking specific guidance for the way ahead. An incident from Mark 1.32-39 perfectly illustrates this point:
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all who were ill and demon-possessed. The whole town
[Capernaum] gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so that I can preach there also.
That is why I have come.’ So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
We can see here the way that Jesus got up early in the morning to spend time alone with his father in order to recharge his batteries, so to speak, and also to seek guidance from his father about what to do next. The disciples expected him to return to Capernaum, but Jesus was guided by his father to go to other towns.
God’s power would not have been available at
Capernaum, but only where the Spirit was guiding Jesus to go to – to other towns.
We see here that Jesus acknowledged that he can do nothing without his father. And He looked to his Father for general guidance, and by prayer for specific guidance.
If that is true for Jesus how much more true it is for us : we can do nothing without the power of God’s Spirit, and we need to look diligently at Scripture to gain the general picture of what God wants us to do, and spend time in prayer and in
God’s Word to receive specific guidance for specific tasks. If we do that we can be assured of all the power and resources we need.
In Acts 13.1-12 we see an illustration of Christians looking to the Father for Specific guidance – just as Jesus did:
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
They travelled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called
Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of th e sun.’
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul [of Cyprus – Sergius Paulus] saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
1. The Christians sought God earnestly in worship and prayer and fasting.
2. God reveals his will – he has a plan to use Paul & Barnabas in Cyprus for a specific purpose that they could never have worked out for themselves.
3. The Christians obey the prompting of God’s Spirit, and he directs them to someone who is open to the Gospel. The proconsul is amazed at the words and deeds of Paul & Barnabas, and he became a believer as a result.
We as 21 st Cent Christians need to follow the same pattern of Jesus, and also of the early church. We are eternal beings, with an eternally significant purpose from God.
We look to him and he will guide us - then give us the power we need.
BUT FIRST WE MUST BELIEVE, as they did. The question remains, do you believe? If not - why not?
Questions to consider:
1. Thinking of Venus Williams and her quote, why is self-belief so important to an athlete? To anyone?
2. (Jn 5.24) Has it ever struck you before that you are already living in eternity? How might this alter our perspective?
3. What are the privileges, responsibilities and resources available to us God’s beloved, chosen people?
4. In what kinds of ways might God use us uniquely in the different situations in which he has placed us?
5. Does the trolley bus analogy help explain why we sometimes feel powerless?
6. Why might the trolley bus driver sometimes want to deviate away from his power line? Why might we from ours?
7. (Jn 5.19f) What did Jesus do in order to access the Holy Spirit’s power for his own ministry?
8. What we learn from that, and how might we do this in practice? (see also Mk 1.29f)
9. What lessons do we learn from the story in Acts 13.1-12. What are the challenges?
10. What do you think God might be saying to you through this, and what are you going to do about it?