This is Why We Should Not Worry About Demons (or the Government, War, Economics, etc.)

Chris —  May 22, 2014

At Austin Mustard Seed, where I serve as Community Developer, we’ve been asking the question “what does it mean to be a people who Practice Resurrection?

That question was prompted by this statement in Ephesians:

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Paul seems laser focused on helping churches understand that God’s resurrection power is available to them.

This is a dense passage, one of many that have been manipulated for various means. What exactly is Paul saying?

Let’s lay out as bullet points:

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above:

      • all rule and authority
      • power and dominion
      • every name that is invoked
      • not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Paul is making a claim about who Jesus is.

It would be really easy to get lost trying to explain what these things are. For instance, some would suggest that we see a list like this in scripture that it is a taxonomy. It’s easy to get sucked into a rabbit hole of trying to be specific.

Some will try to identify each item on this list with specific spiritual or temporal powers. Some might try to say that there are types of spiritual beings that are powers and dominions. Some might say that there are particular gods or demons who have powers that you can invoke when you use their name. Others want to make this a completely physical thing, saying that Paul’s point is that Jesus is the ruler of the world even over Caesar.

This can be a fun and distracting exercise, trying to figure which demon or which ruler Paul is mentioning here. It also completely misses the point.

Look at the next sentence:

God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church…

My sense is that Paul is not giving us a taxonomy, he is providing an exhaustive list.

He’s making this list because he wants his readers to know that any force, any power they can imagine, whether it be physical or spiritual has already been made subject to the power of Jesus resurrection.

Perhaps this is an easy mistake because we are hesitant to think the truth could be this simple:

Jesus is Lord.

We’ve inherited his power.

That’s it.

The problem is that many of us have built an identity that looks at these problems and says “yes, but…”

“Yes, but what about the diminishing size of my bank account?
“Yes, but what about the looming wars in Ukraine and Syria?
“Yes, but what about good people I know with cancer?”

Let’s not diminish the real and painful difficulties all around us. Life is hard. Our world has overwhelming injustices that should not go ignored.

But if resurrection is all that it’s cracked up to be, then we have to remove the words “yes, but…” from our vocabulary.

Since Jesus is Lord, we no longer look at the world as full of forces beyond our control. We look into death and darkness and proclaim them well cultivated spaces for resurrection.

If Paul wrote an exhaustive list of what resurrection had conquered for our churches neighborhoods like he did for the Church in Ephesus, what would he put on it?

Or, try to finish this sentence without a “yes, but…”
Jesus is Lord of _______.

Jesus is Lord, no matter what is taking place at my church.
Jesus is Lord, no matter what happens in Ukraine.
Jesus is Lord, no matter how many student loans we have to pay off.
Jesus is Lord, superior to the dark forces of the spiritual realm.
Jesus is Lord, superior to forces of economic inequality.
Jesus is Lord, no matter what happens at the doctor’s office.
Jesus is Lord, even if I can’t get a date for Friday night.
Jesus is Lord, even when if feels like my prayers are going unanswered.
Jesus is our Lord.

When life happens, expect nothing short of resurrection.

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