When the Weak Shame the Strong
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:03
0 ratings
· 123 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
May the Weak be Strong
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567
What do you do when the Creator of all things seen and unseen who was slain to
purchase your soul (Colossians 1:16; Revelation 13:8; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), asks you a bornagain believer to serve in His kingdom? While many believers have embraced getting closer to
God as their life goal few are willing to be like the prophet Isaiah and cry out “here am I, send
me” (6:5)? Looking through worldly
binoculars that magnify money, fame,
and power as being absolute indicators
of success we tend to magnify and be
blinded by our “worldly weaknesses!”
Foolishly we say to ourselves surely
Christ would never choose for His
hands and feet one so low and wretched
as I and yet to our utter amazement and
dare I say with much terror He calls us,
and we must choose how we will
answer His call. We could continue to
remain sleepy, pew sitting giants who
are comfortable enough to give Him
platitudes of service one hour a week by
reading Scripture, singing songs, and listening to sermons while at the same time ignoring their
words that cry out for us to demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit in our lives; or we could choose to
rise and trust He who asks also enables one to serve rightly and successfully in His kingdom!
The following sermon is going to review 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 to help us remember that God
chooses the foolish, weak, lowly, and despised of this world to serve Him and in doing so
shames the wise and strong so that boasting of righteousness, holiness and redemption would
only be done in the Lord!
Being Overwhelmed when Asked to Serve (26)
While church politics can be quite frightening nothing strikes terror into one’s soul like
being asked to serve in God’s kingdom! You know that uncomfortable moment when you pick
up worldly binoculars and what is being asked of you becomes so much “bigger, insurmountable
and un-overcome-able,”1 than this mere piece of dust and babe in Christ could ever attempt! In
that moment of dare I say terror, is not our minds instantly flooded with excuses that prohibit our
service. When I say this, I think of Moses’ call in Exodus 3-4. While he was tending the flock of
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
1
1|P age
Jethro his father-in-law the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a
burning bush (1-2). While Moses was afraid to look at God that day due to His holiness (6), he
was also filled with terror of God’s request that he go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of
Egypt (9). To try and convince God to
choose someone else Moses gave Him
five excuses: I am not good enough
(11), I do not have all the answers (13),
people will not believe I was chosen
(4:1), I am a terrible public speaker
(4:10) and I am outright not qualified
(4:13). These excuses probably sound
awfully familiar for many Christians
still use them today in response to
God’s call! If only we would turn the
binoculars around and see that our call
from God is quite small in His eyes.
Like Moses we need to be constantly
reminded that God is not only with us
(3:12) but is also responsible for the
results of our service (3:20)! Rest assured we are not called to be Christ’s hands and feet without
access to His power. Like Moses, God will give us words to speak (4:10-12) that will penetrate
the stoniest of hearts and when we have faith as tiny as a mustard seed we need only ask, and He
will move mighty mountains for His name’s sake (Matthew 17:20)!
To help combat the church of Corinth’s fear of serving Apostle Paul suggested to
remember the circumstances of one’s calling. I invite you to reflect upon the day when God
came knocking on the door of your heart and through belief in His atoning sacrifice you were
born of the water and the Spirit (John
3:5). Were you wise by human
standards, influential and of noble
birth when you said yes to Jesus to be
the Lord of your life? When God
chose to bring the Good News to us,
we had done nothing to earn our
salvation (Ephesians 2:8)!2 Our
righteousness, holiness and
redemption was a gift from God (31).
Were we not gossips, slanderers, Godhaters, insolent, arrogant and boastful
without understanding, fidelity, love,
or mercy when we were called
(Romans 1:30)? Surely, we remember
2
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., Revised
Edition., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI;
Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 86.
2|P age
our depravity for if we do not then how could we ever know the depths of God’s love and grace?
Paul stated that while some of the church of Corinth such as Crispus, Stephanas, Chloe (Acts
1:16,16:15, 1:11), Gaius (Romans 16:23) and Aquila and Priscilla (16:19; cf. Rom. 16:3; Acts
18:2, 26)3 had status and wealth, most of the church who were called were of low status based
on worldly standards! “God then we must conclude is no respecter of persons! God freely
chooses whomever God pleases at will, and not in a manner beholden to human standards.
God’s grace does not necessarily correlate to social order or human patterns of evaluation.”4
For example, when an argument broke out in the church of Corinth over whom was the
greatest to follow, Paul or Apollos, Paul told them that successful service in God’s kingdom is
not dependent on how others rank one’s level of spirituality but rather is based on whether or
not one is faithfully performing the task that God has assigned (3:1-15). In other words, there
are no justifiable reasons one can give to say no to God’s call of service! So, now that we have
expelled with any excuses lets now focus on why God predominantly chooses the weak and
despised to do great things in His kingdom.
Whom God Chooses to Serve (27-30)
The reason why God choses the weak, foolish, and despised things of this world is to
shame and nullify the wise and strong.
Let us unpack this statement and
provide some clarity as to what Paul is
saying. Corinth with its artificial
double harbor covering some 460,000
square miles and its linking of
Peloponnese to mainland Greece,5 was
a super city of great fame, power, and
money!6 It would be quite easy to use
one’s lowly status in such a society as
an excuse to not serve. To combat this
tendency Paul invited the church of
Corinth to look amongst its members
and realize how few of them were
3
Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, The Pillar New
Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2010), 105.
4
Marion L. Soards, 1 Corinthians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 2011), 46–47.
5
J. Murphy-O’Connor, “Corinth (Place),” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible
Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1135.
6
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
3|P age
mighty based on human standards.7 While God sometimes chooses “mighty” people in the eyes
of the world to serve, He predominantly chooses the weak for a variety of reasons. First, God
chooses the weak to perform miracles in His name so that their success might point to the
sovereignty of the Father and in doing so “eliminate the possibility that humans would feel selfsatisfied and arrogantly elevate themselves before God!”8 Second, God chooses the lowly
people to serve to prove the wise, influential, and rich as being foolish and wrong to view their
worth based on things here today and gone tomorrow rather than on a relationship with Him
(Matthew 6:19-20).9 This of course is not done out of a sense of vindication so much as it is
done to invite the mighty of society to become foolish in the eyes of the world by humbly
bowing their knee to a risen Savior! And lastly, God chooses the lowly people because such an
act reflects His gracious character.10
So, let us rejoice and embrace the truth that God chooses ordinary people to do
extraordinary things in His kingdom! Did not Christ choose 12 ordinary men to forever change
the world? While displaying the apostles in
larger than life, stained-glass windows inside
the great cathedrals of Europe, has sent a
message to all Christians that they represent
an exalted degree of spirituality,11 were they
not just ordinary men? After all, they were
not the spiritually elite when Jesus called
them but were merely low-class, rural,
uneducated, common people and yet they
“turned the world upside down”12 by
demonstrating the power of the Gospel in
both word and deed! When God chose
Abram was he not a mere Canaanite whose
family foolishly believed in many gods
(Joshua 24:2)? Did not God choose a mere
shepherd boy David to be the king of Israel
who would be forever known as “a man after
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
8
Marion L. Soards, 1 Corinthians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 2011), 48.
9
C. K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Black’s New Testament Commentary
(London: Continuum, 1968), 58.
10
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., Revised
Edition., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI;
Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 86.
11
John F. MacArthur Jr., Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for
Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You (Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group, 2002), 9.
12
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
7
4|P age
God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22)? Did not Christ choose to be born of Mary who was neither
famous nor rich in the eyes of the world? In each of these cases these ordinary clouds of
witnesses embraced their calling not because of any inherent ability of their own but due to their
genuine belief that by the power of God all things are possible and permissible by those who
have faith and ask in the name and will of Jesus Christ (Mark 10:27; Matthew 7:7; 1 John 5:14)!
So, when God comes knocking on our door of hearts to serve Him let us gladly rejoice and
accept His invitation with the assurance that an omnipotent and sovereign God knows what He is
doing!
God not only choses the weak but often gives us humanly impossible challenges so that
upon successful completion His power might be known, and our faith might increase. For
example, lets quickly look at the story of Gideon in the book of Judges. Since Israel had done
evil in the eyes of the Lord for seven years, He gave them over to the hands of the Midianites
(6:1). From the weakest clan in Manasseh and least in his family, God asked a man named
Gideon to raise and lead an army against
Israel’s enemies (6:15). We are told that
upon his calling Gideon lacked faith so
he asked God to give him three signs
that victory would be ensured (6:17, 37,
39)! His faith grew and he mustered up
32,000 fighting men to go to war. Even
this size of army was not that many
considering the Midianites and
Amalekites had camels that could “no
more be counted than the sand on the
seashore” (7:12). Since Israel would
have boasted in their own abilities had
they some how won this war, God told
Gideon to reduce the size of the army.
First God told Gideon to tell the fighting
men if any of them were afraid they could leave, and 22,000 of them left (7:3)! Second, God
told Gideon to have the men to go down to the water and get a drink and only those men who
cupped their hands and drank would remain in the army (7:5). With just 300 men (7:8) fully
dependent on God13 and with trumpets, empty jars, torches and merely shouting “A sword for the
Lord and Gideon” (7:20), God threw the Midianites and Amalekites into such confusion and fear
that they turned their swords on each other and fled (7:22)! No doubt not only did Gideon’s faith
grow exponentially that day but he most likely was overwhelmed with joy because he said YES
to serve God. In the same manner we too must not let the size of the service seem too big, or us
too small, when God asks us to serve in His kingdom for it is precisely in our weakness that His
strength is perfected (2 Corinthians 12:9)!
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
13
5|P age
Let me tell you one final story about how God strengthens us in weakness.
“A boy was trying to pick up a rock.
He said, “Daddy, it’s too heavy.” He
said, “Boy, you can pick that rock up.”
He said, “Daddy, it’s too heavy.”
“Boy, you can pick that rock up.”
“Dad, you don’t understand, it’s too
heavy.” “Boy, you haven’t used all
your strength.” “Dad … I … I …” “You
haven’t used all your strength” “I
have used all my strength.” He said,
“Try one more time. Try one more
time.” He reached down and he
picked up the rock, this time it began
to get up, it began to get up. Then he
noticed underneath, the father had
placed his hands. In other words,
until I have been involved, you
haven’t used all your strength. You
haven’t used all your strength unless and until I’ve gotten involved.”14
It is so easy to put on the binoculars, see the service He asks as being too big and become
frightened. This fear is based on seeing the task through our eyes and abilities but what if we
started seeing divinely assigned tasks through God’s eyes? With His hands firmly raising us up
would not our deficiencies become irrelevant in His strength and would not His promise that
those who put their hope in the Lord will not only renew their strength but will soar on wings
like eagles (Isaiah 40:31) remove any doubt from our minds? “God says, sometimes I got to let
you see you’re weak, so that you can finally discover I am really strong. And you can experience
me. God has used the weak things of this world, and then when somebody asks you, you can
confound the wise. How did you do that? You can explain. I don’t really know except God made
a way.”15 The point of the story of the boy and the rock is that when our strength comes from
God there is simply nothing we cannot do in His kingdom!
Look Around and Boast in the Lord (31)
Let us conclude this sermon with one final suggestion. First, take the time to examine the
people living in your community. How many of them know Jesus Christ as their personal
Savior? Do not most of them see the cross as mere foolishness as they are perishing in their sins
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
15
Tony Evans, “‘Greatness through Weakness,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans,
2015), 1 Co 1:26–31.
14
6|P age
instead of a demonstration of His power and their atonement (1 Corinthians 1:18)? You were
like them and yet despite your weaknesses and lack of influence and power based on worldly
standards God called and invited you to believe in His Son and you became a new creation in
Christ Jesus! Tell them about Jesus
not just with words but with doing the
divine tasks God has assigned to you.
Second, look around at all the people
in your blessed church and realize that
they and you are not to be sleeping
giants who in fear do nothing in God’s
kingdom but are to be faithful servants
whose light shines not because of
accomplishments that God has done
but because He has chosen the weak,
foolish and the ordinary to shame the
wise, influential, and noble people of
this world. Would we even have
known about Moses, David, and
Gideon’s life had they focused only on their weakness and refused to serve? How many
opportunities have we let pass us by simply because we refuse to see a sovereign God as being
capable of making a great harvest from our filthy rags of service? So, they next time God comes
calling you to serve please reflect on God’s sovereignty, put fear aside and yell from the depths
of your soul “here I am, send me” and when you do miracles in His name give Him the credit
and forever boast in the Lord!
7|P age