March 8, 2020 - Our Weakness - Christ's Strength

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

· I think if we’re honest with ourselves…

· We can read through these verses, and see OURSELVES in them…

No – not as Jesus…

But as – Peter

· Peter is an interesting character in the Bible…

· He’s like that young teenager who … thinks he knows it all.

o Thinks he’s stronger than he really is

o Wiser than he really is

o More courageous than he really is

· And we can RELATE…

We’ve all BEEN THERE before - ourselves…

And we see it in everyone around us (our kids, family, friends)

· This is what I want to focus in on in this passage today…

Back to v36

John 13:36 ESV

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

· Simon asks Jesus where He is going…

· And notice Jesus’ response…

· You cannot follow me now – but you will follow afterward.

· “BUT you WILL follow Me afterward!”

· Peter didn’t like that answer…

· It wasn’t enough for Peter to know that he WOULD end up following Jesus!

SLIDE: Our Impatience Before the Lord: More Than You Think

Your Impatience Before the Lord

· Jesus tells Peter – you CANNOT follow Me now – but you will follow me later…

· How does Peter respond?

John 13:37 ESV

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

· Jesus had said – If you want to follow Me, you’ll have to WAIT for the appropriate time…

· And Peter’s response was like that of – a 3 year old?

· NO – a full-fledge adult

· WE – are this way before the Lord!

· *We live in a FAST FOOD world…

We want things – yesterday!

We DESERVE things – yesterday!

· These things exist – BECAUSE this is true…

· Self-Check-out lines

· Self-Ordering kiosks at McDonald’s

· Grocery Pick-up

· Grocery Delivery

· Door Dash

· And there’s a million more…

· Wait for this stuff?? Why???

· No way…

· And I think we’d agree that we often respond this way to God…

This is how Peter responded to Jesus in our text…

· He KNEW he had to wait – but that wasn’t good enough…

· God will OFTEN place us in a season of – WAITING…waiting on Him…

· How many of you ENJOY that!?

We see this happen many times in Scripture…

· Noah - From my research, it seems it took Noah between 55-75 years to build the ark...

· Abraham - waited 25 years for God’s promise to come to fruition...

· Moses - wondered 40 years in the wilderness...

· Joseph - waited 13 years on the Lord

· David - waited around 15 years to become King

· Daniel - waited 21 days

· Paul - 14 years of ministry preparing him for his first missionary journey, and the 10 years to follow...

· Even Jesus - 30 years of prep - before beginning His earthly ministry...

And so we could plug ourselves into ANY of these situations...

and we could PROBABLY figure out that we would REALLY struggle

I don’t know about you - but it seems like when I come across something I want to pray about...

I’ll pray about it pretty consistently, for a time period...

But then if after a few weeks nothing has changed...

I just forget…and then sporadically get back to it after that...

And that’s really just a form of PRIDE that rises up and chokes out that prayer life...

We want things to HAPPEN - NOW and if they don’t...

Then we just assume God doesn’t care - He’s not listening...

And so we STOP...

And in doing so - we DISPLAY an UTTER LACK of...

Trust in God

Confidence in God

KNOWLEDGE of God...

**How many of you feel like there are NOT enough hours in the day??

- Nowadays we deal with...

more homework

more sporting events

more extra curriculars

more updates to make

more THINGS to do...

And NOT ENOUGH - time

And so OF COURSE we don’t have time - to - WAIT on the Lord! We’re BUSY!!

Too busy for what God wants to do…IF WE WOULD JUST WAIT...

In our text today, Peter wasn’t willing to wait!

He wanted - what he wanted - RIGHT NOW!

But what does Isaiah 40:31 say...

Isaiah 40:31 ESV

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

EVERYTHING in us WARS against us living this verse out...

KNOW THIS:

As impatient as you THINK you are regarding God - It’s SO MUCH WORSE than you think!!

And we’re going to close today with how we can GET HERE....but we’re not done yet...

Back to our text...

John 13:36-38

SLIDE: Your Weakness Before the Lord: More Than You Think

Your Weakness Before the Lord

John 13:37 ESV

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

Sounds pretty confident doesn’t he?

Now, to be fair to Peter, he ended up dying for his faith…

· He didn’t die in his house from old age…

· Tradition tells us that he was CRUCIFIED…upside down – because he didn’t feel worthy enough to die the same way Jesus did…

· SO he did end up dying for his faith…BUT…

THIS NIGHT – his confident claim was – ALL TALK – no SUBSTANCE…

· I will die for you Jesus!

And this was typical for Peter…

He was OFTEN putting his foot in his mouth…

SEEMINGLY – getting ahead of Christ…out front…

THINKING he knew what was best…

REACTING on assumptions rather than reality

· But I KNOW – we can relate.

· Often times we’re MORE TALK – than WALK…

· Songs we’ll sing on Sunday…

o I Surrender All…

o Lord I Give You My Heart….

o Lord I Want to Yearn For You…

o We Say YES Lord, Yes Lord, Yes, Yes Lord

· We SAY these words – like Peter…

· But how much SUBSTANCE is behind them…

Would we hear the SAME words that Peter heard that night…

John 13:37–38 ESV

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

· Jesus says – yeeaaahhh, I hear your confidence…but just so you know…before this night is over…you will deny Me 3 times…

When the rubber meets the road…you will not DIE for Me…you will DENY Me…

· Think of the comparison…

o On one hand – I will DIE for you!

o On the other – you will DENY Me 3 times!

· What Peter displayed that night was – WEAKNESS! a LACK of TRUST in Jesus!

On the one hand - IMPATIENCE is a LACK OF TRUST

On the other hand - EMPTY CLAIMS is a LACK of TRUST

· His words sounded STRONG…but they were EMPTY…

· It was WEAKNESS!!

And so WE need to see and understand that our WEAKNESS is FAR greater than we think!!

We might say or sing –

· I will die for you Jesus

· I love you Jesus

· I will pursue you above all things Jesus

But the substance beneath all of that is:

I don’t ever open my Bible to pursue truth

I don’t ever get together with the church to engage my brothers and sisters in the faith

I don’t ever engage my family and friends with the Gospel

I don’t ever seek ways in my life to exalt Jesus

· SO in THIS scenario, we have someone who merely SPEAKS Christianity, but doesn’t live it…

· But we can also have someone who SINCERELY loves Jesus – but just struggles

· They PURSUE Jesus – or at least WANT to – but struggle finding ways to do so..

· Struggle living out the faith…

· And maybe they just don’t KNOW – how to MOVE FORWARD against the CURRENT of this life…

What I’d like to do is close out today with some ways we can do that…

What we see in Peter - in our text today - is a LACK of TRUST...

· And so hopefully these things will help us begin to STRENGTHEN our weaknesses (LACK of trust)

· We all have a LOT of Peter in us…so what can we do to become STRONGER in our faith…

Let’s go back to Isaiah 40:31

Isaiah 40:31 ESV

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

· When we think about this verse…we can picture the PICTURE that it portrays…

· A giant eagle – SOARING high over a mountain ridge…without even flapping its wings…

· How can an eagle get to the heights that it does…without (1) having a jet engine…but (2) not even using its wings?

· Eagles are designed to maximize the power of the air…

· They will SOAR on the currents of air…and so they’re DEPENDENT on something outside of themselves…to SOAR

· It would SEEMINGLY be a WEAKNESS of the eagle…

· But it’s ACTUALLY its greatest strength!

· It FLIES in the power of the air…

SO – how can we maximize the strength of Christ?

How can WE live in His strength…and SOAR on the updraft of His power?

The word used here for “WAIT” can be viewed as – To Look for, to Hope, to expect…

· So what are we HOPING in…thru life…

· What are we EXPECTING…thru life…

· And WHAT SHAPES those expectations…

For us Believers…followers of Jesus…a lot of times it just takes a change in perspective...

a REMINDER of reality to help - BOOST our walk… strengthen…our step

Think back to this verse…Eagles are often seen soaring over and around Mountains...

The Mountain being the - obstacle

So what does it do!!?

It actually uses the mountain...

Around the mountains are the best UPDRAFTS of air!

And it will catch one of those updrafts, and ride that air over to the other side!

So think about that...

Slide:

The very obstacle the eagle wants to get past produces the power to rise above it. Our difficulties can produce “updraft” for our thoughts to set our minds on things above.

Maybe you’re thinking about your life...

And you KNOW that you’ve been...

IMPATIENT with the Lord…IMPATIENT to what God would do through you...

WANTING answers yesterday and not willing to wait for Him to move...

Not willing to CONTINUE in prayer...

Or maybe you KNOW that you’ve been talking a lot of talk - without walking the walk...

Talking a lot - without actually getting INTO the game...

And maybe you’re thinking - HOW DO I GET BEYOND THIS?

How can I begin to really TRUST that He knows what’s best...

How can I begin to REALLY believe that He is trustworthy with the DETAILS of my life...

So if the AIR is God’s power (in this analogy) - God will USE the mountains - these OBSTACLES in our way - He’ll use them as a means to EMPOWERING US and sustaining us through those times...

So thinking about the eagle - the MOUNTAIN becomes a BLESSING because it causes the air to lift the eagle ABOVE the mountain

God will USE trials to LIFT US (in HIS STRENGTH) over and above those trials -

If you are waiting on provision, immerse yourself in the truth that God takes care of His children:

2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV

8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

God told us to look at the birds to see how God provides for them...

Matthew 6:25–34 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Where we THINK we TRUST God - TRUST Him MORE!!

If you are waiting on direction for your life or for a specific situation, dwell on the fact that God has promised to guide us:

Psalm 32:8 ESV

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Isaiah 30:21 ESV

21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

If we want to combat the LACK of TRUST in our lives - we must SET our minds on things above!!

What else can we do?

SLIDE:

Use God’s past faithfulness to strengthen our future hope and trust in Him.

**How many of you have ever been in a situation that you had felt like - was hopeless...

rock-bottom...

Did God provide?

Was He faithful?

We are LITERALLY here today - because of the FAITHFULNESS of God!!

We should USE those moments - as FUEL for FUTURE HOPE...

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV

9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV

3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

Psalm 86:5 ESV

5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

So HOW DO WE combat the PETER in all of us...

the LACK of trust in our lives…? Which leads us to DENY Jesus in any given situation…?

It starts by UNDERSTANDING that our LACK of TRUST in God - is GREATER than we THINK it is!!

SUMMARY:

Set Our Minds on Things Above

Use Past Faithfulness of God to Strengthen our Future Trust in Him

Let’s pray...

LORD’s TABLE:

This brings us to the Lord’s Table…a time for each of us to reflect on our lives, to examine ourselves spiritually, and to remember the cost of our faith. We were bought with a price, and these elements remind us of this.

Are you currently embracing a LACK of TRUST in Jesus - in your life...

Do you SENSE a disconnect between what you SAY and what you DO?

DO you find yourself APATHETIC to prayer…to bible study, to fellowship...

THESE things need repented of...

God is faithful…He can be trusted - EVEN with the details of your life...

Have you experienced the Saving Power of Christ at the cross?

Maybe you’ve heard of Jesus and KNOW that He died on the cross…but it has NO IMPACT on your life...

You need to repent of that - and turn to Jesus...

He is WORTHY and He is FAITHFUL!

We are however, not to take this lightly. Scripture says – “ whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

Take time now and examine yourself before the Lord.

22 While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” 23 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

“do this…in remembrance of me.”

1 John 4:7-8- Beloved, let us love one another…for love is of God...

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