We’re going to look at Using Your Weaknesses. Every one of us has weaknesses. You have physical weaknesses, emotional weaknesses, relational weaknesses, financial weaknesses, intellectual weaknesses. There are things your body can’t do. (How many of you can roll our tongue? Under?) Some of us have fashion weaknesses. We have all different kinds.
The real issues is, What are you going to do with your
weaknesses?
What we normally do is deny them, we defend them, we excuse them, we resent them and most of all we hide them – we don’t want anybody to see our weaknesses. Then God comes along and in the Bible, He says, “You know what I want to do with your weaknesses? I want to use them.” “That doesn’t make sense,” we say, “Use my strengths not my weaknesses.” We think God wants to use our strengths: “I can do this. How come I’m always setting on the shelf here. Use my strengths.”
God does use your strengths obviously. But in the book of Isaiah 55, God says, “My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” I’m smarter than you. He says, “The way you think I should work is often the exact opposite of the way I really work in life” God says, “I don’t want to work around your weaknesses. I don’t want to work in spite of your weaknesses. I want to work through them – through your weaknesses.”
1 Corinthians 1:27 “God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to put wise men to shame and what the world considers weak, in order to put powerful men to shame.” Underline “God purposely chose” and circle “weak”. It’s not by accident. The weaknesses you have in your life, God purposely chose them and God works through weak people. Why? It demonstrates His power.
When I was a kid, I used to think that Samson was this giant, muscle bound hunk – kind of a Jewish Rambo. Bulging biceps. The truth is that Samson was a very ordinary looking guy. The Bible says that when the enemies looked at him they couldn’t figure out why the guy’s so strong. From all appearance, he just looked normal. He was not some beefcake. The Bible tells us that his strength laid not in his muscles but in the Spirit of the Lord. He probably looked more like Conan O’Brien than he did Schwarzenegger. They couldn’t figure out his secret. It wasn’t muscles.
God is not impressed with might. We are, we’re really impressed with strength and might. But the Bible says in Zachariah 4:6 “`It is not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.” God says, “I like to choose and use weak ordinary people because that’s when My glory, My grace, My strength, My power shine through the most effectively.”
That’s good news, really good news, because most of us are not extraordinary people. We don’t have bodies like the models. We don’t have extraordinary intellect. We’re just normal, ordinary, average people. God says that’s ok, because I don’t choose to work through natural strength. I choose to work through natural weakness and then My power shines through.”
So this week and in the second half of this message, we’re going to look at how do you not avoid your weaknesses, excuse or resent them, but how does God want to use them in our lives
When I talk about weakness, I’m not talking about sins, character flaws you can change (like overeating, impatience, greed, laziness.) I’m not talking about things you can change.
Weakness is any limitation in my life that I inherited or I cannot change.
There are all kinds of limitations like that.
There are circumstantial limitations that you were born with, that you don’t have any control over that you can’t change – disadvantages, problems, external pressures that you can’t control.
There are financial limitations when you don’t have enough money. Have you ever had unexpected expenses that weren’t your fault? Sure.
There are relational limitations. Some in this world really have a heart for God but their spouse is spiritually apathetic. They don’t care about the Lord. Maybe they’re not even a believer and that’s a limitation in your life. Or you have a difficult child or difficult children or a rebellious child. Or you have a handicapped parent. Something in your life that you either inherited or you cannot control that causes pain in your life.
There are emotional limitations. Some of us have a tendency, a predisposition, to get depressed. It’s in your nature. That’s no sin, just your nature. Some of us have a tendency, a predisposition, to worry about everything. Some of us have a tendency, or predisposition, to lose our temper and get angry. Or to be fearful. It is the natural inclination. When we make bad choices, we give in to that.
We have talent limitations. There are some things you just cannot do and you never will be able to do. Jesus said there are one talent people, and five talent people and ten talent people.
And of course, we have physical limitations. You have a certain amount of energy and no matter how much you work out you’re never going to have more energy than that, given your physique, your make-up. Maybe you deal with a
handicap or bad back, or some other kind of physical limitation in your life.
All of these things, God says, He purposely chose. Why? 2 Corinthians 4:7 “We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows the great power is from God not from us.” God says, “I put my treasure of wisdom and joy and salvation in you, in your body, but your body is just a clay pot,” and a lot of our bodies are just cracked pots. The thing about clay pots is they break easily. If you drop a clay pot, it breaks. It’s not indestructible. Every clay pot has inherited design faults and flaws in it. It is weak, it is not indestructible. Paul was saying, “Yes, I’m a Christian and God’s in my life but I’m not indestructible. I’m a human being. My body is a clay pot so I have weaknesses in it.” It says that God chooses to do this because it shows the great power in our lives is from God and not from ourselves. God puts His greatest gifts in ordinary containers – like you, like me. Some think, “God could never use me in a great way. I’m just an ordinary person.” You’re the kind of person God uses. He puts His greatest gifts in ordinary containers. He takes ordinary, weak people and uses them in extraordinary ways.
We’re going to look at how can I use my weaknesses?
The Bible says there are three steps. (2 this week)
1. ADMIT MY WEAKNESSES
(vid) That’s obviously the starting point. That means I stop pretending I’ve got it all together. Because I don’t. Nobody has it all together. It means that I stop hoping that my weaknesses will go away if I just ignore them. Out of sight, out of mind. If I pretend they’re not there, maybe they’ll go away. They won’t. It means I stop making excuses for my weaknesses. It means I stop blaming other people for my weaknesses. It means I stop denying that I’ve got them and stop defending them. I just admit I have weaknesses. Nobody has it altogether!
You may be an entrepreneur – small business owners or large corporation owners. This is really the secret of building any effective organization. You first sit down and figure out, What am I good at? What are my strengths? And you start building on your strengths. But you also look at - What are my weaknesses? What am I not good at? What am I really bad at? Then you start hiring people who compensate for your weaknesses. That’s how you build a great team.
That’s what we’re doing here @ FOCUS* I have tried to gather people on our staff who are smarter than me in different areas. Together we compensate for our weaknesses. We don’t all try to be the same kind of person.
Warning: Because God wants you to admit your weaknesses, sometimes He has to bring something into our lives to get us to admit them. That is called a crisis. A crisis is a weakness identifier. When you go through a crisis it says, “Here’s the fault in my life, the failure in my life, the lack, the weakness, the weak spot.” My advice is: Don’t wait. It’s far less painful to identify your weaknesses and admit them up front than having to go through crisis after crisis for God to get you to admit, “I’m not God. You are and I’m not.”
Once you have admitted your weakness you go to step two.
2. I MUST BE GRATEFUL FOR MY WEAKNESSES
You say, “You’ve got to be kidding! I want to come to church and I want you to tell me how to take a magic pill to get rid of all my weaknesses. I don’t want you to tell me to be grateful for them. I want to know how to be freed from them all.” God says, “I want you to learn to be grateful for your weaknesses.” 2 Cor. 12:9 “I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses.” I love that phrase, “cheerfully made up my mind.” He says, “… because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ.”
Paul’s saying, instead of wasting your time posturing yourself constantly like you’ve got it all together, I am confident, I am composed, and most important I want everybody to think I am in control. He says, since everybody knows that’s not true anyway, instead of posturing yourself and wearing a mask, why don’t you just stop, admit your weaknesses and start focusing on God’s power and realize a deeper
experience of the power of Christ.
I’ve been a Christian for many years. I’ve been around alot of believers and I would say most Christians have never experienced a deeper experience of the power of Christ. Why? Because they haven’t admitted their weaknesses and they haven’t grasped a grateful attitude for them.
I love this verse in the Living Bible, “I’m glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power instead of showing off my own power and abilities.” Paul says instead of resenting my weaknesses I’m glad and I’m grateful for them. Why in the world would anybody do that? There are many benefits. You don’t realize it but the weaknesses, the limitations that you inherited and can’t control are actually blessing in disguise.
Four benefits:
1. It guarantees God’s help.
When I have weaknesses in my life, that guarantees God’s help. This next week, when you attempt to face any challenge or solve any problem on your own power, God says, “I’ll step back and watch. Be My guest. Go ahead and do it. If you think you can handle this on your own, great. If you think you can solve that problem at work, if you think you can make that marriage hang together, if you think you can turn that kid around on your own power, be My guest.” And He stands back and watches. “If you think you can pull yourself out of that financial low, go right ahead.” But the moment you come to God and say, “God, I’m weak. I don’t have what it takes for all the pressures that are on in my life, I don’t have what it takes. God, I need You.” God says, “I knew that. I just wanted you to realize it.” Then He plugs you into His power and you realize a deeper experience of God’s power and find power you would never have on your own to make it, to not only survive but to thrive in life.
2 Corinthians 12:10, God says “I am with you. That’s all you need.” We could stop right here and go home because that’s all you need to hear this week. God says, “No matter what you go through this next week, I’m going to be with you and I’m all you need.” You may have a major happenings going on this week - Some of you have a problem you have to solve this week. You have a conflict maybe at home, at work, at school. You need to resolve it this week. You’ve got a difficulty that seems insurmountable. All you need to know is two things. God says, “I’m with you. And that’s all you need.” We don’t usually realize that God is all we need until God is all we’ve got. What happens is, God intentionally allows everything else to fall apart. All those props and gimmicks and all those things that give you safety and all those relationships you think you need to prop you up, all of a sudden go by the wayside. And God is all you have. When God is all you have, you turn to him and realize He’s all you needed in the first place. One plus God equals a majority. If God’s on my side, who can be against me.
God says, “I want to teach you this week that I’m with you and that’s all you need.” Paul says “So when I am weak, then I am strong. In fact, the less I have, the more I depend on Him.” This is a lesson that I have to learn over and over and over. And so do you. We have short-term memory when it comes to this. We’re in a tight financial situation and God comes through with flying colors and bales us out and helps us through it and then the next day we’re acting like an atheist again. We forget how many times He’s worked in our lives. He’s been there. He’s helped us. He’s made it through the situation. We forget. We have to learn this lesson over and over. We naturally resent our limitations.
When there’s something in my life that I’ve inherited and I can’t control it but it causes pain in my life (emotionally, physically, spiritually – any other way) my reaction is “Why me, God? I’m a good guy. I’m trying to live for You. Why did You allow this?”
God says “My power shows up best in weak people.” If that’s true, why should God take away your weaknesses? You know the thing you’ve been praying about – “God, please take this away!” and He hasn’t done it, it’s probably a weakness. God’s saying, “My power shows up best in your weakness. Why in the world would I take it away?” If you didn’t have any weaknesses in your life, if you could solve every problem and meet any need instantly, how much would you depend on God? Zip! Not at all. You’d think you were God. If you could meet every need and solve every problem, you’d think you were God. “I’m invincible! I’m the master of my faith” God says, “No, you’re not. You’re a human being. I made you and I love you and I created you and in your weakness, that’s where My power shows up strongest.”
2. It prevents arrogance.
2 Cor. 12:7 “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, it was given to me a thorn in my flesh.” What is a thorn? He said, “I have a thorn in my flesh to keep me from getting arrogant.” God blessed his life so much. He’d learned so many things. He’d had so many great revelations from God. (He got to write most of the New Testament.) God gave him a thorn.
What is a thorn? It is a weakness. It is a limitation I’ve inherited or cannot change that causes me pain and limits my ministry. He says this was given to him as a reminder. If Paul could have changed it, he would have. In fact, the Bible says he prayed three times, “God, take this away.” And God said, “I’m not going to do it because My grace is sufficient for you.” That thing you’ve been praying, “God take this away in my life,” and He hasn’t, it may be a thorn.
It may be your thorn.
Thorns are given by God so they’re not sins. God doesn’t give sin. If thorns were sin and you prayed, “God, take it away,”
He would. Because God always removes sin. So we’re not talking about some sin in your life.
Some thorns are temporary in our lives. Some thorns are removed gradually. Some you have for a lifetime, as with Paul.
What does a thorn do in my life? It’s that persistent perplexity that causes me pain, that gets my attention, keeps me dependent upon God, keeps me humble before Him. It acts as a governor on my life. It guides and directs me and it
motivates me.
It’s my thorn. (migraines; cant talk, cant breath) I’ve asked God to take it away but He hasn’t. But the greatest pain in my life has also been the greatest blessing in my life because it’s kept me dependent upon God. It’s kept me close to Him.
If God is ever going to use you in a great way, expect a thorn. He will do it to get your attention.
It may not be a physical thing like mine. It may be a relational, emotional, some other kind of thorn. But it will come because it prevents arrogance and it guarantees God’s help.
3. It causes me to value others.
One of the dangers of strength is that it breeds an independent spirit. If I don’t have any weaknesses in my life, I tend to think, “I don’t need anybody!” I don’t need to be in a small group. I don’t need any close relationships. I don’t need you. I’ve got it all together.” But God made us to value each other. He wants us to value each other. So nobody gets all the gifts. Nobody gets all the pieces of the puzzle. You need other people to complete the puzzle in your life.
One of the biggest lies in our society is that significance is the same thing as prominence but it’s not. Significance is not prominence. In our society, we tend to think if you’re well known then what you have to say is very important. But you can be a celebrity and be living a totally trivial life. Just because you’re well known or prominent does not mean you’re important in the whole scheme of life. A celebrity is not necessarily a hero. Too often we confuse that in our society. We think if you’re well known then you’re a hero. No you’re not.
You may have some very prominent features physically (eyes, great smile, cute nose) But they’re not very significant. You could lose your nose and live the rest of your life it may prominent; but it’s not significant. On the other hand, there’s some things like a spleen, a liver, both kidneys. They’re not seen, not prominent at all, but they’re far more significant. We can’t live without those things.
The Bible says, “Some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary.” That’s true in the body of Christ. God allows each of us to have weaknesses, so that all the parts will recognize their need for each other. “The hand can’t say to the foot, `I don’t need you.’ And the eye can’t say to the ear, `I don’t need you.’” We need each other. God allows us to have weaknesses so we see the value of other people.
You make a strong rope, not by making one solid cord. That breaks pretty easy. You make a strong rope by putting a lot of strands together – a lot of strands of weak cords. When you take a lot of weak cords and put them all together, you’ve got a pretty strong rope.
You’re pretty weak and I’m pretty weak, but together we can do stuff that nobody thinks is possible otherwise. That’s the value of unity. That’s the value of church family. A person without a church family is a weakling. You don’t have any other support. All you have is your part of the puzzle. You don’t have all the other pieces. I’m not talking about just coming to church, listening to the sermon and going on out. I’m talking about getting involved, developing relationships, getting in a community group, so that when a crisis hits your life there’s somebody there to support you. And you’re there to help others when they go through crisis. Because it’s inevitable.
4. It gives me a ministry.
God puts you on earth, not just to live for yourself, but to help other people. Your greatest ministry will flow out of your weaknesses. The greatest life message, the message that God wants to say to the world through you (what He put you here on earth for), your greatest life message, may come out of your deepest hurt. The very thing that causes you the most grief and pain, God can use in the ministry and can use it as a message for other people to encourage them. The thing you’re most embarrassed about, the thing you’re most ashamed of, the thing you don’t want anybody else to know about, you want to hide it, put in a closet, forget it, push it out of your mind – God wants to use that to encourage other people. Pain makes us more sensitive to the hurts of others.
If you want to have a Christ-like ministry, that means sometimes other people are going to be helped, encouraged and even healed by the wounds in your life. Jesus Christ, received a bunch of wounds in His body and we all benefited from it. You will go through some pains in your life that, if you will admit them, be grateful for them, learn to share them with others (the lessons you’ve learned), others will be benefited by it. It becomes a ministry.
2 Corinthians 1:4 “God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received.” Most people have pain. God comforts us in our problems.
And we can turn around and comfort others with the same comfort we’ve been given. Who could better help somebody who’s going through a divorce, than somebody who’s had a husband or wife walk out on them and leave them for somebody else? They know that sting of rejection. Who could better help somebody who’s just been devastated by unemployment than somebody who’s went through that? Who after 20-30 years of faithful service was canned? Who could better help somebody come out of a gay lifestyle than somebody who was stuck in a gay lifestyle and found freedom? Who could better help somebody with a Down Syndrome child than somebody who had a Down Syndrome child? Who could better minister to a family who’s had a teenage son or daughter go off the deep end, get into drugs, have a teen pregnancy than somebody who went through that very experience themselves?
God never wastes a hurt. God will use the thing in your life that you are most ashamed of, most embarrassed by, most heartbroken over to encourage other people if you’ll learn to admit it, see what God wants to do in it, be healed yourself through it and begin to share it with others.
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