Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 1:24pm
MP3 File:
Designed to Grow
Grow Strong—Facing life's challenges
Last week we began a series of messages on growing in the kingdom. We saw that the kingdom of God was designed to grow—that growth is a core characteristic of the kingdom. God's life flows through the kingdom, so the kingdom itself is alive. And if it's alive, it grows.
Jesus described the kingdom of God as a farmer planting seed in the ground: it is the nature of seed to grow—and it is the nature of God's kingdom to grow.
So what? you ask. What does that mean to you and me?
It means that each one who has found new life in Christ and has entered into the kingdom of God should be growing! God designed us to grow. God wants us to develop and mature as believers. He wants us to grow as kingdom workers. He wants us to produce a harvest—to fulfill his purpose.
In fact, if you're not growing and developing, you need to ask yourself if you're really connected to the kingdom—because it is the nature of the kingdom to grow.
If you claim to be part of the kingdom, but your life isn't producing any harvest—you're not fulfilling God's plan—something is wrong, because it is the nature of the kingdom to grow.
There should be no such thing as a "dysfunctional believer." It's an oxymoron. Because those who are in Christ and part of the kingdom should grow and function in the roles God has given them!
By definition, a believer must grow! God wants us to grow healthy so we can function properly as a part of the body of Christ, the church.
Today, however, I want to take this study to the next level and talk about how as believers we are to grow strong in the Lord.
Paul, the apostle, said he'd been struggling with a terrible situation. We don't know what it was exactly, but he described it as something in his flesh that came from Satan to "torment" him—so it had to be serious.
Paul repeatedly asked God to take it away, but his prayer wasn't answered the way he hoped it would be.
9 ...[God] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10)
Let me be clear. God wants a strong church! A church filled with believers who have what it takes to live victorious lives. Believers who have the strength to face the challenges of living in a fallen world. Believers with the power to win battles over the forces of evil.
Jesus: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt 16:1, KJV); "...the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (NASB).
Maybe you don't feel all that strong. That's not unusual. When we first come to Jesus, we're anything but strong. We come weak and powerless. We come to Jesus in desperate need.
When we first come to Jesus, we're like little, helpless babies, just born into the world. When we're "born again," we start out as spiritual infants. We need to be fed the milk of the Word. We need to be helped up on our feet—first we crawl, then we walk, and finally we run. We need to be trained to distinguish good from evil.
When we come to Jesus, we're in the grip of sin. We don't have power over anything. Instead, sin has power over us. Our habits and addictions hold us captive; we're held hostage to painful pasts; we're stuck in destructive cycles of behavior. Often when we come to Jesus, we come beat up by our circumstances, bruised by hard knocks. We're discouraged with ourselves and disappointed with life.
But God saves us so we don't have to stay that way! He doesn't want us to stay weak, living defeated lives. God pours his grace into us so we can become strong!
God wants us to join his kingdom, to grow in him, to be overcomers. God doesn't want his church full of weak, powerless people. God wants each weak person to grow strong in the strength of the Lord! This is Good News for you if you feel weak and powerless!
Paul urged the church in Ephesus, "...be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power" (Eph 6:10). He would urge us today in this church to be strong in the same way!
But how often do we give in to our human weaknesses instead of living up to our full potential in God's strength? How often do we live mediocre lives instead of achieving God's call and purpose? How often do we drop the ball instead of seizing the opportunities that God gives us?
The reality is that God gives us opportunities every day to grow strong in him. In fact, he allows difficulties and challenges to come along to stretch us and discipline us so we can grow strong as believers. The very things we think will wear us out and drain our energy are the things God uses to make us strong in him.
Over and over in the NT Paul confessed that his strength came from God: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13); "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength" (1 Tim 1:12); "...the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength" (2 Tim 4:17).
The amazing thing is Paul claimed that God's strength comes especially to those who recognize their own weakness! It doesn't come to those who think they are something. God doesn't help those who think they can run their own lives or do their own thing. God doesn't help people who try to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
26 ...think of what you were when you were called [Paul wrote]. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (1 Cor 1:26-27)
Paul discovered God's power when, in his difficult circumstances, he had to admit his own weaknesses. That's when God gave Paul something even better than freedom from his painful situation by pouring grace into his life so he could grow strong in the Lord.
9 ...[God] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10)
If you're going to grow strong in the Lord, I'd suggest this is probably the best place to start. First...
1. Embrace your weakness!
It's only as you acknowledge your inabilities that you open the door to God's abilities. It's only as you accept your weaknesses that there is room for Christ's power to rest on you.
As long as you're determined to be in charge of your own life, God can never really be in charge of your life. As long as you try to fix things in your own strength, you limit the flow of God's strength.
That's why we have to admit our weakness. That's why we have to face up to our problem. The first step is to admit to a problem! You can't be cured if you stay in denial.
AA's first step: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
The doctor can't help you—can't diagnose your illness or prescribe any treatment if you won't admit something is wrong. You have to name your symptoms before you can get a cure.
So embrace your weakness. Paul said, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
2. Relax in grace.
God's grace is sufficient! It's all you need. It's more than enough for all the strength you need. You don't need anything else beyond grace.
It's difficult for humans to be satisfied with grace, however, because we have this innate compulsion to do things for ourselves. We want to receive recognition and credit for our efforts. We want to earn God's favor, but God's grace is not something we earn.
Grace is not something we can buy. Being rich and famous doesn't give you any advantage in receiving God's grace. A lot of independent people—educated, powerful, famous, beautiful—have a hard time understanding grace because they're used to making things happen. They are "movers and shakers," not used to letting things happen. They don't see that grace comes only as a gift.
Grace is the best gift given to the least deserving. Grace has nothing to do with who we are or what we've done. Grace is not about who deserves it and who doesn't. The fact of the matter is none of us deserve God's grace. If we got what we deserved, we'd all be in trouble.
God doesn't want to give us what we deserve. Instead, he offers us grace. It is God's gift, pure and simple, available to whoever is willing to receive it, simply by acknowledging that we are weak.
"My grace," God says, "is enough. It's sufficient. So relax."
3. Delight in difficulties.
Paul said he took delight in his weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties!
Delight? What's that about? Other versions: "I am glad" (CEV); "take pleasure in" (KJV); "am happy" (NCV); "quite content" (NLT); "I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer" (MSG). The Greek word is eudokeo: "to think well of, i.e. to be well-pleased...(lit) to have a good opinion."
This is not normal! When troubles come, it's not normal to get happy. But Paul says we can have a better opinion of our troubles when we see that they are only a means to the end—that difficulties serve as something to make us strong in the Lord.
Difficulties are like exercise equipment. If you get happy at the sight of a tread mill or a rowing machine or a weight machine, I'm thinking you're not normal. But plenty of people join health clubs and sign up for physical training—even taking delight in those things—because they're able to look beyond the work to see the benefits and the outcome.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:11)
Earlier I said that God allows difficulties and challenges to stretch us and discipline us so we grow strong. The Apostle Peter put it like this:
6 ...it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. 7 These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold... (1 Peter 1:6-7, NLT)
NASB says that these fiery trials provide "the proof of your faith." The original root word was dokimos, meaning "tested, approved." Some of the ancient pottery makers, after firing their clay pots in the intense heat of the kiln so they would become strong and durable, would mark the bottom of their pots with this word, dokimos—meaning it had gone through the fire and had come out better and stronger. It was tested approved. If it was cracked or somehow didn't make it through the kiln, then it was not approved. The heat was intended to make it stronger, just as difficulties should make us stronger.
"The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart" (Prov 17:3). It's in the heat of trials that our hearts are tested and strengthened!
Tempered steel is stronger metal because it has gone through a process, melting and blending several metals together in intense heat, and then suddenly cooling the metal by plunging it into cold water. I don't understand how it all works, but the process somehow alters the molecular structure of the metal so it becomes stronger and less brittle.
10 For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. 11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. 12 You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. (Psalms 66:10-12)
God uses "fire and water" to make us like tempered steel—believers who experience his abundance and blessing, who are stronger, who can live boldly for him. He brings us through fire and water so we can be strong, victorious believers.
Do you know what it is to go through trials? To experience painful disappointment? Do you know what it feels like to be refined by the fire? Then don't let those times of testing go to waste! Let God use them to help you grow strong!
God wants you to be a strong believer! A victorious Christian! An overcomer! God wants you to fight battles for him and come out on top, a winner!