Pastor Richard Waialeale
July 13, 2014 - W1428

In the 1940’s, Charley Boswell was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was soon promoted to captain. While he was trying to rescue a fellow comrade, a tank blew up around him. He escaped other injuries but he would be blind for the rest of his life. Being an athlete at heart, he wouldn’t give up playing sports. One of the sports he pursued was golf. He discovered he had quite a talent for the game and won several tournaments and even achieved 3 hole-in-ones in his career. Upon receiving a Ben Hogan Award he made a comment to Ben Hogan, “I’ve always had a dream to play golf with you.” Ben Hogan graciously accepted the invitation. “For money,” Charley continued. Ben Hogan was appalled by the suggestion but after much coaxing, he agreed to play Charley for $1,000/ hole. Charley said “okay, meet me here at 10:00 tonight”.

 You see the blind golfer’s weakness was strong but only in the dark. Our weakness in life is strong but only in Jesus. It is just like Paul says in the following scripture:

“I came to you in weakness and fear and trembling.” (1 Cor. 2:3)

 God uses weak people. Instead of hiding our weakness today we will learn how to glory in our weakness. God will use our limitations and use it mightily. Think about it, when we share our gifts for God, that’s great, but when we step out and do something beyond our gifts - something which uses our weakness, then we do something mighty for the Kingdom. It is a myth that you have to be a super human to be mighty in ministry. Paul had a handicap, and he said “I glory in my weakness”.

 Today’s lesson will be focused mainly on the books of Corinthians 1 & 2. Let’s take a look now at 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

 1) God in his mercy has given us this work to do, and so we do not become discouraged… 5) For it is not ourselves that we preach; we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake… 7) Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us. 8) We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; 9) there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed. 10) At all times we carry in our mortal bodies the death of Jesus, so that His life also may be seen in our bodies… 15) All this is for your sake; and as God's grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving. 16) For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. (2 Corinthians 4:1, 5, 7-10, 15-16 GNT)

 Now in scriptures it says we are like clay pots. If you remember in earlier scriptures it describes us as lumps of clay that is molded and shaped by the potter. If the pot is dropped it will break, meaning we will be injured. But scripture says He glories in the clay pot, the breakable clay pot. The moment we think that we are unbreakable, or when we hide from our limitations to avoid being broken, is the day we “die”, because that is our handicap. We are all broken people. Look at Jacob, he had a limp because he wrestled with God, and Paul lived with a “thorn in his side”. Having a “limp” in life does not make us worthless. God is humbling us for His glorious works. We just need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus.

 In 2 Chronicles 16:9 it says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect for Him”

 God will use our weaknesses to glorify His work. In fact He is just waiting to make ourselves available to do the things He is calling us to do even if it is not within our gifts. He is waiting for us to open up our heart to be used mightily for His Kingdom. Have you ever heard of “SODSAT”? The letters stand for “Somebody Ought to Do Something About That”. When I was a new Christian, I would sit in the audience and I would hear Pastor Wayne say “saving lives for Jesus, or winning souls over for Jesus”. One day I said “somebody ought to do something about that” and that is when it hit me. In 2006, I planted a church in the Ala Wai Elementary school named New Hope South Shore. Very soon into the ministry, I heard God tell me to feed the homeless. I said that’s not in my talents, but, ‘somebody ought to do something about that’. Well then for the next 8 years we have been serving at the Kakaako and River of Life Homeless shelters. God wants to use that weakness, that greatest fear because that becomes His greatest platform. He can and will use them in big ways.

 There is a man by the name of Chuck Close. He is a portrait artist who’s so accurate in his style that when you look at one of his portrait paintings it will look like a photograph. When you look up close at them you will see that it is a painting. There are two things you should know about him. He is paralyzed. He paints with a paint brush that is strapped to his arms and wrist. He also suffers from an extreme case of Prosopagnosia, which is a cognitive disorder of facial blindness. He can paint a great portrait masterpiece, but the fact is that even after painting his detail oriented portraits he will not remember a single face he painted. But he is so renowned for his portraits even with his own set of circumstances and “weaknesses”. You would ask that for someone faced with his disorder of being both paralyzed and that he forgets any face he painted, why paint portraits? Because he says it motivates him to the point of saying everything he does is driven by his disabilities. His greatest weakness became his greatest platform for achievement.

 So know that God can use you in some shape, form or manner whether it is in your marriage, or in health issues or job, you just have to be that person to do something about that. Every person has a weakness, God uses that weakness to show the power of Himself in that life.

 This is what it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you because My power is made perfect in weakness.”

 God isn’t searching the world for the perfect people because it is in the imperfect that God can show His power working. It is in our weakness that we need to depend on God. Just as it says here in 1 Corinthians:

“God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to put the wise men to shame. And what the world considers weak in order to put powerful men to shame. He receives glory.” (1 Cor. 1:27)

THE BENEFITS OF WEAKNESS-Here are four of them: 1. It creates a dependence upon God. 2. It prevents pride. 3. It causes a greater dependence upon other people (small groups).

4. It expands our capacity to minister.

 Scripture has us remember that:

2 Corinthians 1:4 “God comforts us in our trouble so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort in ourselves that we received from God.”

 In other words, other people can find strength in our weaknesses. They can find healing in what we have just experienced. For instance, a childless family can be of great comfort to another childless family or what better way to help an alcoholic than to talk to someone who was an alcoholic. Our greatest life message comes out of our deepest hurts. People don’t know how much you know until you are willing to care and share your own testimonies.

 Here’s a story about a lawyer who was helping a client who was a Christian. The client saw how sincere the lawyer was so the client asked him “I often wonder why you aren’t a Christian?”

 The lawyer said “well everything that I have heard or read says that you can’t become a Christian if you are an alcoholic”.

 The client replied, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

 The lawyer responded, “No one really shared to me about God.”

 At that moment the client shared all about God and led the lawyer to believe in Jesus as Lord and savior. The lawyer prayed a sinner’s prayer and the lawyer expressed how he felt a great burden lift from his shoulders. The lawyer’s name is C. I. Scofield who helped edit the reference Bible. If that client did not take the time to care enough to share God with him, then C. I. Scofield would not have admitted to his weakness nor be able to share that weakness for the Glory of God’s Kingdom. God doesn’t want the “perfect” people (because there are none), instead He wants the imperfect. It is in these imperfections that God’s power is magnified and that sustains us by God’s grace.

Here are 4 areas that will help impact your life and help to impact other’s lives as well.

 1. Learn to share your feelings.

 Apostle Paul said, “Oh my dear Corinthian friends, I’ve told you all my feelings and I love you with all my heart.” (2 Cor. 6:11)

 In this verse, Paul says he is not afraid to share his feelings and he expresses his love. Love was the one principle that this church is built on. In fact it was because of that love that I became a Christian and a member of this church.

2. Be honest about your faults.

“There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God.” (2 Cor. 3:5)

 There’s a quote in John Maxwell’s book The Winning Attitude that says “For every possible predicament for a man (or woman) there is a correspondent grace from God.” In other words for every problem there’s a definite answer, for every hurt there is a cure, for every weakness there is a strength and for every confusion, there is guidance. Growth begins when we accept our own weaknesses.

3. Admit your frustrations.

“We didn’t know about it but we did live through it and we felt like we were doomed to die. We despaired of even life itself.” (2 Cor. 1:8b-9a)

 There was a time in Paul’s life that he was so frustrated that he was ready to give up. He felt so vulnerable. But when he put the situations back into the hands of God he was able to complete his tasks. What we need to do is begin to doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs. Too often we do the opposite. We doubt our belief and believe our doubts. God IS with us.

4. Admit your fears.

“I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.” (1 Cor. 2:3-5)

 Notice that Paul is not afraid to admit that he is afraid. So we need to recognize our weaknesses, which is the sign of a mature Christian. If you don’t know your weaknesses, ask someone close to you. Paul said that he will never boast about his accomplishments but talk only of His weaknesses because it is there that God is found in all His glory.

 Robert Vogel wrote about a 10 year old boy who lost his left arm in an accident. But he always wanted to learn how to do Judo. So he went to an old Japanese Sensei who taught him only one move. His entire time with the sensei was spent learning this one move. During the tournament he would only use that one move and he rose up in the ranks fighting bigger and more experienced opponents. When he got into the finals, the judge pulled the coaches on the side and said that he couldn’t allow this round to happen for fear that the one armed boy would be hurt. The Sensei assured him it was okay. The impatient opponent came at the boy with such force and vigor, but the boy did that one move and won the tournament.

 Later the boy asked his teacher, “Why did I win with only that one move?”

The Sensei replied, “Because the only defense for that move is to grab the left arm.”

 So in our weakness He is strong. Don’t be intimidated to face your weaknesses, He is going to use it to show His Glory to others who need to be encouraged because of their own weaknesses.

 1) What are your weaknesses?

 2) How can you use them to encourage others?

 3) Who do you call upon when you don’t know what to do? And Why?

 4) Think of a ministry outside of your gifts to serve in, what is it you’d like to try?