“With great power, comes great responsibility.” If you are like me, you know this memorable line from 2002’s Spider-Man movie. The iconic line comes from Uncle Ben who is trying to guide the newly-powerful Peter Parker down the path of moral character. Peter, still in awe of his new-found power and identity balks at the efforts of his loving uncle who has raised him since childhood.
We may not have the superhuman powers of web slinging and web swinging, but if we are in Christ, we have the awe-inspiring power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Paul states in Romans 8:9-11 “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” What power! That we, in this life, be given abundant supernatural life to be empowered to live as Christ lived!
We may not have a secret super-hero identity, but we have been given a new identity in Christ. For in Christ, we have been made new! Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Paul says in Romans 8:17, “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Imagine that! In Christ we are co-heirs of GOD! We are children of God (1 John 3:1), we are citizens of God’s kingdom (Ephesians 2:19, Colossians 1:13), we are priests (1 Peter 2:9), we are members of his body (1 Corinthians 12:27)!
What Power! What Identity! There is so much joy in these wondrous truths of who God has made us to be in Christ, that it is often easy for us to forget that our power and identity in Him is only one side of the “coin” of what it means to be a Christian. How wonderful to fellowship with the saints! How glorious to join together in celebration of our God! But this God, who has called us to himself, has also commissioned us. With great power comes great responsibility. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV). We have been given power and identity in Christ. And therefore, it is in Christ that we will find our responsibility. The Apostle John says this in 1 John 2:6, “the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.”
Though, like Peter Parker, we can often find ourselves desiring to remain in the glow of our identity and power in Christ, that identity and power is given us so that we might walk as Jesus walked. So that we might do what Jesus did. So that we might bring the light of Christ to the world and to the Church alike. He has given us blessing beyond comprehension. He has given us that blessing to be used to further His Kingdom—not ours.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
Consider closely Paul’s words here. The Almighty God has in Christ entrusted the very message of salvation to the Christian. The cause that, moved by the love of God, brought the incarnate Christ to earth and led him unswervingly to the cross. That cause that saw the blood of the Creator spilled for His creation, the ministry of reconciliation, the Gospel itself, which is the power of God unto salvation, has now been given to the church. Has been entrusted—to you.
The Christian therefore cannot truly enjoy the abundant life Christ died to give to them apart from His will for them. We must not determine or choose our own causes, our own purposes, our own responsibilities that supersede or conflict with the preeminent calling and reasonability that has been placed upon our lives. With great power, comes great responsibility. “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required…” (Luke 12:48).
Finally, as we consider this great responsibility, let us fix our eyes on Jesus and not ourselves. For it is in His power that is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Consider the words of the author of Hebrews:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:1-3).
For further reading: Matthew 25:14-30, 2 Timothy 2:1-13.
Pastor Brian