"Living With More Power" - Mark 1:9-15 - March 12, 2000

My all time favorite television program is Home Improvement. Remember how Tim would add more power to the appliances around the house? He once put a motor in the garbage disposal that would eat tree limbs. Or how about the time he put a jet engine on his riding lawn mower and got a ticket for speeding? For Tim, the only way to make life easier was to add more power.

I believe we have been conditioned to do the same. Perhaps we have not put larger motors on our garbage disposals but we seek additional power because power is what we use to get what we want. Power is what we need to make it through the jungle of life. The three types of power we frequently use are money, machines and information.

Money buys stuff. If we have more money we can get anything we want. Machines make our life easy. If we have the right equipment we can accomplish any task with little effort. And if I have access the right information I can stay two steps ahead of everyone else.

When Jesus was in the wilderness he had a decision to make about power. He was there for forty days, tempted by the devil, facing wild beasts. In the gospel of Matthew and Luke the devil challenges Jesus to use power for his own personal gain. But, Jesus rejects the devil and says, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." In the gospel of Mark we learn that Jesus was tempted, but instead of going into detail about how he was tempted, the gospel of Mark includes the phrase, "and he was with the wild beasts."

What are the wild beasts? David Chambers, First Congregational Church, Berkley, California, says "They are not outside of us but within us. They are the beasts of greed, envy, lust, apathy, anxiety and fear." These power over us when we are trying to make a decision. As I said earlier, life is like living in a jungle. We are surrounded by overwhelming circumstances on one side and temptations on the other. We need power to withstand the elements against us and we need power to resist those things that give us a false sense of security. Today I want to talk about facing our wild beasts and make you aware that you have more power than you could ever dream possible.

Although I would agree with Chambers about his categories of beasts, I want to suggest a few of my own. One wild beast we face is hopelessness. We feel overwhelmed, stretched, pulled in various directions. Life has too many burdens, too many demands. There never seems to be enough resources to adequately solve all our problems.

Notice that while Jesus was living with the wild beasts the scripture goes on to say that "the angels waited on him." In other words, Jesus was not alone. He did not have to face the wilderness without the presence of God. He had power, plenty of power. He had the power of God. Our story illustrates that Jesus had power, but not in money, machines or information. He was energized by a power greater than himself, a power that guided him through the wilderness and beyond. There was an army of power in the angels that were watching over him. And the same army of angels is watching over us.

A second wild beast we face is fear. We can’t see straight because of all the distractions. Our vision is blurred, our hearing is impaired. We are unable to find our way because of the obstacles we encounter. Life is like a jungle. We can’t see our way clear because of the thick vegetation, twisted branches and high grass. There are predators and creatures lurking about. There appears to be no escape.

Fear is overcome with faith. Faith in a God who loves us and wants the best for us. Faith in a God who is with us in spite of whatever we face. The devil has no power over us, only what we give to him. The devil cannot make us do anything. We make the decisions because we have the freedom to decide. The devil can tempt us with anything, but we have the ability to say "no."

Another wild beast we face is negativity. That is the attitude that I can’t do anything or that whatever I attempt to do will go wrong. I was listening to a tape recently by Zig Ziglar, a prominent motivational speaker. Ziglar says that the thing that prevents us from being positive and hopeful about life is our attitude. When we have a negative attitude it is contagious and the more negativity we introduce the more it is compounded and makes life miserable and chaotic. Having a positive attitude at the beginning of every new day will set the stage for the rest of that day.

To combat our hopelessness, fear and negativity something has to change. That is where repentance comes in. Faith and repentance are inseparable. To overcome hopelessness with assurance, to overcome fear with faith and to be positive instead of negative requires us to make a turn in a different direction.

When I am on a tack while sailing I reach a point when I have to come about. That means the direction of the boat is changed about 180 degrees. First, you have to loosen the jib. Second, you have to shift the rudder to the opposite position. When the boat is headed in the new direction, you secure the lines and reposition the rudder. To repent is to come about. There has to be some shifting, letting go and placing our security in a new position. When you come about there is a few seconds when you are powerless. You have to rely on the wind to swing you around to your new course. To change course in our lives requires some letting go and trusting in the power of God to sustain us.

Perhaps we can never appreciate the power of God until we find ourselves in a position of complete powerlessness. I can’t imagine being a prisoner of war for 5 years, like John McCain, for example, who was at the mercy of the enemy. None of us may have experienced what McCain experienced but there are times when all of us reach the end of our rope.

I once counseled a young woman who was feeling very desperate. Her life seemed to have a pattern of self destruction. She was praying for solutions and answers to solve her problems. I suggested that perhaps she needed to pray for help and trust in the direction that God would lead her. God can’t help us until we have reached a point where we are dependent on God and open to God’s help. That is how Jesus made it through the wilderness and that is how you and I will survive the jungles of life. By recognizing that we need God and that God is amazingly powerful.

Charlotte Yonge, "Chicken Soup for the Couple’s Soul," tells the story of The Wives of Weinsberg. It happened in Germany, during the middle ages. The year was 14ll. Wolf, the Duke of Bavaria, sat trapped inside his castle at Weinsberg. Outside the walls was the army of Frederick, the Duke or Swabia, and also his brother. The siege lasted a long time and the time had come when Wolf knew he had no choice but surrender.

Messengers rode back and forth, trying to establish conditions and proposals. Wolf and his officers prepared to give themselves over to the enemy. Their wives, however were not ready go give in. They sent a message to the Duke of Swabia requesting safety for all the wives inside. They also requested that they be allowed to leave with their personal valuables, only what they could carry in their arms.

Their request was freely granted and soon the castle gates opened. Out came the ladies, but they weren’t carrying precious jewels, gold or other valuables. Each one was carrying their husband. Moved by their determination the Duke of Swabia assured them of safe passage. Then he invited them all to a banquet and made peace with his brother, the Duke of Bavaria.

The wives at Weinsberg shifted the rudder, and left behind their gold and precious jewels. They chose instead to carry something far more valuable, those whom they loved. They trusted in the power of peace to set them free.

Tim the tool man entertains us with his ability to add power to appliances and other household machines. But, his "power" is no match for the power of Jill, his wife, when she nurtures the relationships in the family and uses the power of love or forgiveness to keep the family running smooth and efficient. Such is the power of God, a power that enables us to survive every jungle we face. For with God there is more power!

Dr. Keith Wagner. St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio