28 May, 2000

The Strength of Weakness

2 Corinthians 12: 1-10

During the trip out to Seattle and back, I spent a lot of time just sitting behind the wheel and thinking.
One of the things I spent a lot of time thinking about was the different needs of our congregation here. What do we need, what should we make our priorities, how can we best build each other up ?
Some of us that have been here for a while know that we have certain strengths and weaknesses, but what should we focus on?
One things for sure: Satan knows how to get to us, and he will always exploit and take advantage of any group of believers where ever he can.
But if I were to try and pinpoint any one area where Satan works the hardest to attack Christians, I would say it is in the area of relationships.
I believe Satan attacks the Christian family, and all families for that matter, on two main levels: parents and their children, and husbands and wives with each other.
If Satan can cause problems in the relationship between the husband and wife, then it is easier for him on all levels.
The parents are disrupted in their relationship with each other, and their ability to successfully role model Jesus Christ before their children is hindered. Everybody loses.

What I hope to do for our assembly here, in the coming months, is to occasionally share from the Scriptures some practical ways of improving our relationships with others.
For the last couple years, I have tried to emphasize the powerful and liberating truth that when a person trusts Christ as Savior, that person is totally identified with Christ.
When Christ died, the believer died. When Christ arose from the dead, the believer arose with Him, in Him. The believer is placed in Christ, seated with Him, now, in heavenly places, and empowered of God to live a victorious and successful Christian life here, now, today.
What I hope to do in the months to come, as God will show me and teach me, is to share with you some practical ways to make that a day to day reality for each of us.
Pray for me that God will teach me and show me what He wants all of us to know. I am not planning to change the overall aim or orientation of my ministry, but instead I am hoping to add to it.
I am not a professional counselor, I have no special skill, but God is able, and the need is great. Pray for me. Prayer changes things.

If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn to 2 Corinthians 12, and verse 1.
Corinth was a very spiritually immature church, it had problems, and somebody had started this gossip that Paul was not a real apostle, he had no real authority, the things he was trying to teach were not true.
So in much of 2 Corinthians, Paul is validating his credentials, reminding people that he really was the genuine article, and that is his main focus in chapter 12, but there is also something he teaches us here that is very special, very notable, very good for us.

Chapter 12, verse 1: " It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2Co 12:5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
2Co 12:6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

Paul had somehow been taken by the Lord to see and hear things that were too wonderful to talk about, and along with the wonderful things he saw and heard, God allowed Satan to have access to Paul in some fashion, to keep him humble, and to teach him an important truth.
What is that truth? I want us to especially notice verses 9 and 10; God tells Paul; "My strength is made perfect in your weakness." Paul understands that; "When I am weak, then I am strong-in the Lord."
That's not the way we normally think, is it? We figure that our strength is made perfect with more strength, and weakness is a nuisance.
We figure that if only we could be strong enough, nothing will hurt us, nothing will bring us down, then we can do anything, right?
That might be a good plan if we are in some physical contest, but how well does it work for us in personal relationships?
Emotional relationships? If we have two people in a personal relationship, and both of them are as physically strong as humanly possible, is that going to improve their relationship? Probably not.
The world values strength, agility, speed, but are those things valuable in a relationship, or in a family situation? Probably not.

On the other hand: how many of us would rather be weak than be strong? Doesn't sound like much of a good idea, does it?
But that's not what Paul tells us here. Paul refers here to a genuine physical weakness, a real infirmity that he has, and he is thankful for it.
Paul had asked God three times to take away this thorn in the flesh, God said no. God said "My grace is sufficient for you, because My strength is made perfect in your weakness."
How did Paul react to that? "Wow, that's great! The strength of God? I'll take it! I will glory in that, that's wonderful, the power of Christ may actually rest upon me! That's a good exchange!"
We aren't like that are we? We would rather be totally capable, we would rather be able to do anything ourselves, wouldn't we?

This last week we got invited to go see the movie; "Mission Impossible", and the hero was incredibly strong, and agile, and apparently capable of doing anything.
Except one thing. I didn't see where he was able to live a Christian life. I looked close, but I didn't see it. And that's not surprising.
Mission Impossible would be a good description of the Christian life, if you were to try and live it in your own strength.
Trying to live the Christian life in your own strength or ability is not easy, nor is it difficult; it is impossible. Because God planned it that way.
God does not want us thinking like the world thinks, and He does not want us doing things like the world does them.
It is impossible to live the Christian life in our own strength or ability, and God wants us to know it.
He wants us living and doing through His abilities, and not ours.

But we don't want to do things that way. We think we can do everything ourselves, we think we need to be competent and capable, we need to be successful, to get along in the world.
We think that if we have all the right strengths in all the right areas, then we've got what it takes. Let me tell you a secret: we don't have what it takes. None of us. Not you, not me either.
If you are trying to live successfully on the basis of your strengths, you will surely fail, why? Because none of us have that many.
You will end up restricting yourself terribly in a number of areas, because none of us have everything we need.

Over in 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul tells us; "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."
Paul tells us that he was the chief of sinners. I used to think that he was saying that he was the worst of sinners, which seemed kind of odd, because Nero, or Hitler, or Stalin was certainly more evil, a greater sinner, but I think Paul means something else.
All humans are sinners. All sinners miss the mark, all sinners fall short of the glory of God. Some sinners live such moral and noble lives that they come much closer than others, but all sinners miss the mark.
Think of it this way: a group of people are trapped atop a burning building. The only escape is a 30 foot jump to the roof of the adjacent building.
So you get some of those terrified people that run and jump, and they go about 15, 18 feet out, and then fall and go splat.
Some of those people are younger and stronger, so they go almost 20 feet, and then they fall and go splat.
It just so happens that there are a few college athletes in the group, and they go almost 25 feet before they fall and go splat.
And there is even an Olympic gold medalist broad jumper up there, and he goes 29 and a half feet, and then falls and goes splat.
To use Paul's terminology, he was the chief of the "splats." He came closest, but he still missed the mark.

Of all the sinners that ever lived, Paul came closest. Before he got saved, he did better than any other sinner ever did in trying to live a holy life, he was the chief, the greatest of sinners, but he too missed the mark, without Christ.
Paul has come to realize that what he thought were his strengths were unable to perfect him, and instead it is his weaknesses that allows the strength of God to rest on Him, and work through him.
We need to learn the same thing. God's strength is only made perfect in our weakness.
God is able to make us like His Son, but first, He has to get us to the point that we quit trying to do what only the Holy Spirit can do, and just let Him do it for us.
God has to get us weak in our own minds before the truth of our identification with Christ, and Christ living in us, will become precious to us, and we start to live it out.
Until we learn to realize and accept that we are unable to do it, we will keep trying to do it on our own, and that just makes things worse.

Turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 26, verse 1; "Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah." Skip down to verse 4.
2Ch 26:4 "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.
2Ch 26:5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper." Skip down to verse 15.
2Ch 26:15 "And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
2Ch 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
2Ch 26:17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:
2Ch 26:18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.
2Ch 26:19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar.
2Ch 26:20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.
2Ch 26:21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land."

Here we have a godly man, a man who followed the Lord, and God strengthened Him. He became king at 16 years old, just a puppy, but he followed the Lord, and the Lord helped him marvelously, until he was strong.
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, and he transgressed where he should not have gone, and he died a leper, separated from his family and friends.
Uzziah confused worldly strength with spiritual strength, he thought that because he was strong in the things of the world, that he could presume in the things of God. It doesn't work that way.
Worldly strength is not spiritual strength. God has to get us to the end of our own abilities so that we can recognize that we need Him to come in and take over, and do what we cannot do.
God has to get us to the point that we have lost confidence in our own abilities to fix our problems, then we realize that we are not going to be able to fix them ourselves, and then we finally start looking around for someone who can fix them for us.
That is the point that God can step in and lift us up. Just like a drowning man, once we quit fighting and struggling, then He can rescue us.
That is true in our initial salvation, it is also true for the rest of our spiritual lives here on earth

Our problem is; we get saved, we get a little spiritual knowledge, we get a little comfortable in our Christian life, we learn how to do the Christian behavior thing, so now we can go through the motions, now we think we can live the Christian life in our own strength. Not true.
We need to stay as dependant on God to live the Christian life as we did to enter the Christian life. We didn't become Christians on our own, we can't live as Christians on our own.
And if we don't maintain our awareness that we are weak and dependant on God, then He will need to do something to remind us.
Did you get that one? If we don't remember to stay weak and dependant on God, then He will need to do something to remind us.

Have you ever considered that Jesus Christ always kept Himself entirely dependant on the Father?
Turn to John 5:16; "And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Joh 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
If Jesus found it necessary, or appropriate, to do everything in total dependance on His Father, then where does that leave us? Should we not also live in the same dependance on the Father that Jesus did?
If we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, (and that is certainly God's plan and intention for us,) then doesn't it seem that continuous, daily, dependance on God will have to be part of that also?

Lets talk about this matter of being conformed to the image of Christ.
How many of you think that God has already done everything in your life that He needs to do to make you like His Son?
How many think that God is all done changing you around, and working in your life to make you like Jesus?
How many of you think that God still has a long way to go to make you like Jesus?
Let me see your hands; how many of you think that God still has a long way to go to make you like His Son?
Do you know what that means? That means that you will not be staying like you are, right? That means that you will change, you are in the process of becoming someone different, right?
If you are married, and your spouse is a believer, that means that God is also in the business of making your spouse into someone different.
How many of you think that's a good idea, and maybe God could hurry it up a bit?
How many of you think your spouse thinks the same thing?

Question: What sort of tools do you suppose God uses to mold you and make you into what He wants you to be?
This last week I was restoring an old bookcase that had belonged to Barbara's grandfather, and it was in sad shape.
The finish on that old bookcase had to be 70 years old, and it was all gouged and scratched up, what do you suppose I used to get it into shape?
Wax? Soap and water? Polishing compound? No way, I burrowed Jerry's belt sander and leaned into it. And then I got a can of paint stripper and drenched it, and scraped it. Twice.
Then I got a can of mineral spirits and scrubbed it down everywhere to get rid of the old finish, even scraped the corners out with razor blades.
Then I got some 80 grit sandpaper and went over the whole thing again, then followed it up with 220 sandpaper, then I stained it, and then steel wooled it. Only then was it ready for the finish coats. It looks OK.

But the point is this; Depending on where you are in your life, God might be leaning on you with the belt sander, or the 80 grit, or the stripping compound, or the steel wool, or even the razor blade; but either way, right now, things are probably a mess in your life.
There is going to be dust and mess all over the floor, and your old finish is half gone, and you look and feel all beat up; so what?
That's what has to happen to get rid of the old finish, get the dings out, and get you looking like something new and different.

Now lets ask the question again: what kind of tools is God using in your life to make you what He wants you to be?
Health? Is God using some physical infirmity to make you have to depend on Him? Or are you still trying to tough it out on your own, and deal with your problems in your own strength?
How about finances? Philippians 4:19 tells us; "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." But you are worried anyway, because you don't believe it.
How about emotions, and relationships? Family members, children, spouses? That strange person you married?
Ooh, now we've got that extra coarse sandpaper on the belt sander, and it's just pulling big chunks right off of us, isn't it?
And we are saying; "Oh, God, I want you to make me like Jesus, but I don't like the way you're doing it!"

Wives, listen up: God is looking at you and saying; "I really need to get that old finish off, and her husband is a belt sander with coarse grit on it, he ought to smooth her down just about right. The perfect tool for the job." and wives, what are you saying?
"God, instead of the belt sander, why don't you just use the soap and water?
Don't use my husband for that kind of a job, that man is driving me crazy, he is so frustrating!
I would be so much happier, if my husband was exactly like what I want instead of like what he is."
Maybe God's goal is not to make you happier, maybe His goal is to make you like Jesus, and your husband is most likely the primary tool He is using to do it with.
Or maybe your kids. Or your health. Or your relatives. Or money. Tools in the hand of God. And God is fixing to fix you.

Guys; your turn: God has looked at you and said; "This one is sorry! I really need to take this one down to the bare wood.
And since that woman he married has all the best qualities of paint stripper, phosphoric acid, and a Brillo pad, I think I'll just use her for the job."
And guys, what are you saying? "Lord, what happened to this nice girl I married? Why is she like this? I was happy before she started in on me!
"Isn't there some other method you could use to make me like Jesus? Maybe a little Armor All, or a can of Krylon?"
But what does God do? He smears another coat on you, and scrapes you down again.
And you still have all those other problems with money, and your job, and your relatives, and your kids. Tools in the hand of God.

But in our culture today, how do Christians respond? Husbands and wives decide that they can't stand the heat, so they get out of the kitchen. They split up, leave the relationship, get a divorce.
Quit the job, go off and leave the kids, tell the in-laws that the next time they come around, they're going to get shot.
We don't like what God's doing, so we try and knock the tools out of His hand. We go look for a more comfortable cabinet shop.
And instead of Christian men and women becoming the fine old well finished items that they ought to be, they go through life damaged, scarred up and skinned up, partly finished, with emotional gouges that have never been fixed.
We are broken by sin, but God has a plan to fix us. And He has put us in situations and relationships that will work to our fixing, if we will just cooperate.
God will use the situations and relationships that we are in to make us what He wants us to be.


We can do things the worldly way, be strong, be tough, stand up for our rights, our opinions, our own happiness, and if the situation becomes too unpleasant, we'll just change to another situation.
Or we can be like Paul; and let that thorn in the flesh; be it health, finances, job, relatives, children, spouse, whatever; let that thorn do it's work on us, and mold us, conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us; "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong."
This next week, when things come into your life that reproach you, distress you, persecute you, weaken you;
before you just react like you usually do; stop and think. Why has God allowed this to come into my life, and what should I do about it?
Do I deal with this in my own strength, or do I confess my weakness before God, and then allow Him to use that situation according to His plans and purposes?

Am I saying that we need to be just placid, stoic, zombies, and whatever happens, we just pretend that nothing can get to us?
No, not at all. But perhaps we can trust in the goodness and provision of God, that the situations that come into our lives are according to His planning and wisdom and they have a purpose.
We can waste our time and energy in trying to get out of every situation that we don't like, try and change it to suit our self.
Or we can ask God to show us if maybe this is one of those "sand paper and steel wool" occasions that He is using on us to make us like Jesus.
God is going to make us like Jesus one way or the other. We can cooperate and probably things will go easier and quicker.
Or we can scream and kick and fight and make things difficult and possibly drag the whole process out much longer than it needs, and only get half as far along.
God told Paul; "My strength is made perfect in your weakness." We need to apply that truth to our own lives as well.

We have not even begun to scratch the surface in this area, in a few weeks, God willing, we will be returning to it again from another angle.
In the meantime, start letting it soak in, it is so opposite to the way that the world thinks of things, we are all going to need a while to get used to the idea, and start letting it work in our lives.
This week, take time to stop and think about what God might be using to sand you down and refinish you with.
The things in your life that are grinding you down: are they really just aggravating situations that just hassle you?
Or could some of them be God's refinishing tools? And if they are, how would that affect your response to them?
Will you try and deal with them in your own strength, or will you count yourself as crucified with Christ, dead on the cross with Him, and let Him live His life through you, and deal with your problems for you?
I pray God that He will open your spiritual eyes this week, so that you can see what He is doing in you.
And I pray that you will let Him be your strength, trust Him to be what you need to be. Let God meet your needs in Jesus.