Strength in Weakness

December 15, 2013 Wouldnt it be great if everyone in Hollywood started preaching the gospel? Just imagine how much easier and exciting it would be! Or what if someone donated a billion dollars to the church? Just imagine all the good we could do: we could build a family life center, have a brand new building with all the latest technology, hire a full-time staff for every age group, get our own jet for missions, put in a Starbucks at all the entrances, and be the most attractive church in the state! Or wouldnt it be wonderful if God gave us super-human powers so that we never get tired or cranky or sick? That way we could minister and preach for hours on end without ever stopping! Or we could learn and read and keep learning until we know so much that we never have to struggle with truth anymore. Wouldnt that be great? Im stretching it, but these wishes arent too far off base from whats often wished by well-meaning Christians. The trouble is that none of these desires cause us to depend on God or give Him alone glory. God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise (I Cor. 1:27). As far as the world is concerned selfreliance and control over your own life is the pinnacle of achievement. To be free to do what you want and to be in charge of your own comforts is the main goal. This is why theres such a hunger for money, power, and fame. But faith is the opposite of these things. Our money comes from Him and its spent to His glory. In fact, we value Him far more than the rubbish our money buys. Our power is the power He gives us to live and to accomplish His will. Our fame is only what we find in Him: we decrease and He increases. But how do we keep this in mind? Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain (Proverbs 30:7-9). Agur knows that too much contentment will cause him to forget about God. Too little necessity could cause him to abandon the Lord. So he asks to be kept between the two pointsdont give me too much that I forget, and dont give me too little that I give up. This fits right in with what Jesus commands: Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God

so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself (Matthew 6:25-34). The idea is that (1) we dont strive for the things that we know God will provide, and (2) we accept the limitations and weaknesses God imposes on us knowing that they cause us to keep seeking Him and that He receives glory for it. Our strength and assurance isnt in our flesh but in our God. I want to give you two specific examples from the Scripture. One comes from the life of Paul and the other comes from the Israelites in the Old Testament. Lets look first at Pauls weakness: I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, [who was] caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (II Cor. 12:2, 4). He gives his account of being caught up into heaven and taught by Christ! Now, what pride he could have taken in his experience; Christ Himself has taught Paul and even brought him into heaven to do it. Apparently Pauls done something special, right? Apparently hes a super-saint: 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. 8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9And 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. 10Therefore 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 (II Cor. 12:7-10). Paul wanted to be free from this thorn in his flesh, so he asked God to remove it. Theres a lot of discussion as to what exactly the thorn was, but the main point is that it forced him to keep praying to God! Christ finally answers by telling him that problem is going to stay with him because it keeps Paul aware of his weakness; and when Paul doesnt rely on his own flesh then hes forced to rely on Christ. Paul takes pleasure in suffering for his faith and for being weak and helpless because he knows it glorifies God Who has chosen the foolish things of this world to
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confound the wise. The things that seem to hinder us or make us less valuable are actually things that cause us to cry out to the Lord. Theyre things that remind us that were never so good that we no longer need grace and the strength of our Lord. We should thank God for our infirmities. The very fact that our bodies are falling apart is a reminder of our need for grace! We should thank Him when some people reproach (criticize) and persecute us. He was hated, and we take joy knowing were like Him! We ought to be pleased at necessities (calamity) and distresses. He is the Shepherd who leads us through the Valley of Death! When Paul suffered he asked for relief, but when God refused, Paul took pleasure in his hardships because it made him look to Christ for strength! Now, theres another example taken from the Israelites in the Old Testament: And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 2And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. 4So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 6And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. 7And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 8Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. 10And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 11And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain (I Samuel 4:3-11).

The Israelites trusted in the ark to give them victory over their enemies and they find out just how helpless and pitiful it is. The ark is only wood; it has no power. Now, fast forward a couple chapters (and many years), and we find the Philistines once again fighting the Israelites: And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. 10And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 11And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar. 12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (I Samuel 7:7-12). Now they seek God rather than the ark, and look at the difference! What the ark could not do, God did! They learned the hard way about their weakness. When they thought they were strong, they discovered they were weak. When they realized they were weak and turned to the Lord, they were very strong indeed! It reminds me of Christs admonition to the Laodicean church: Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Revelation 3:17-18). This verse is true of churches even today that have everything wanted and very little of what is needed. Theyre blinded to our weakness because of wealth. Who is the Lord? We should instead rejoice in our fiery trials and accept with gladness the sufferings and persecutions granted to us. We should instead cease not to cry unto the Lord. newgracebaptistchurch.wordpress.com