To the Weak, I Became Weak
Notes
Transcript
In this sermon series, we have seen how great men of the Bible like Elijah and the Apostle Paul engaged the unbelieving world with the truth of God’s word. That is the how, but what should be the content of our message, when an unbelieving world asks us these questions:
If God is a loving God, how can He bear the evil and suffering in the world?
Before I talk about it:
Clarification for something I said last week. It has to do with what the apostle Paul said when he faced the idolatrous crowd in Athens. At some point during my message I said that “we are all God’s children” including those who do not believe.
I merely modeled Paul’s technique of starting with a commonality with his pagan audience when he said in verse 28 of Acts 17:
28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
So in a sense he identified with his audience..
I have to be careful, in explaining what Paul meant:
Ontologically, or by nature, all of mankind are children of God in the sense that everyone was created by Him and created in His own image.
But I did say in my message that, Paul did not stop with that commonality with His audience, he eventually talked to them about repentance and that they can be a part of God’s forever family.
So there’s a difference..
Ontologicall, or by nature - everyone in the world is God’s children.
but
Theologically - Only those who come to saving faith in Jesus become God’s children and become part of His redeemed family.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
I hope that clarifies it we are not preaching an all-inclusive message here, “everyone is God’s children”, everyone is saved, if we do then Christ died in vain - we are careful to preach always - the finished work of Jesus.
I really appreciate the dear sister who approached me after the message last Sunday..
But in Last week’s message, we saw what Paul actually did, he demonstrated what he meant when he said these words in 1 Corinthians 9.
20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
He identified with his audience in order by all means he might save some.
So instead of alienating our unbelieving audience.,, like..
I am a Christian, you’re a pagan. I am a believer, you’re just a heathen - listen to me (jc tag on chest).
I’m Republican, you’re a Democrat.. I’m conservative you’re just a liberal progressive..
I’m Christian, you’re Muslim..
Question is you may be all that, but if you’re truly a Christian, right? So what is your highest calling..
Paul said to the Jew I became as a Jew..
to the Gentile I became as a Gentile (those outside the law)
to the weak I became weak..
Remember what I shared from last time, when we address a non-believing audience, the principle of engagement should be:
NO CONDEMNATION, NO COMPROMISE
Paul’s technique of identifying with his audience is not something new --- guess who he is imitating..
40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
He was doing what our master Jesus Christ did..(emphatic)
In John chapter 1 we see:
verse 11: He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him..
verse 14: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus came to be like us - this is the power of the incarnation
We should be an incarnation of the love of Jesus to those we share the gospel with wherever you are, when the gospel is preached in the church, your family, your neighborhood, at your workplaces or in a far away mission field.
I want to focus on verse 22 of today’s main passage:
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
Imagine Jesus, the strongest Person in all of the universe, in Colossians Paul said He holds all things together — think of the implications of that,
- from the nuclear power that holds subatomic particles together
- to the astronomical cosmic force that keeps the planets in their orbits and the tremendous force of gravity in a black hole that even light cannot escape from it.
The same Person Who controls all these, the strongest being in the universe — became a man, He came to the weakest in all of us.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Now for the content of our message, how do we identify with the weak, most especially those who are suffering in order to win them for Christ.
I remember a debate that I saw between a Christian and an atheist.
How do we answer the question:
If there is a loving God, why do evil and suffering exist?
Remember the principle: to the weak I became like the weak.
There is a rational answer to this question, and in my message today, it is not my intent to do apologetics or to philosophize — my job and my calling is to point people to Christ.
There are definitely answers to these questions:
Some answers to the question of evil and suffering:
God gave mankind free will. He did not create evil but because of free will there is a potential for evil.
Suffering is not part of God’s original design, it entered when man fell in the garden, so suffering is part of man’s fallen nature.
God brings the ultimate good through the suffering of His children.
Like I said I am not going to use this time to explain each of these answers.
In reality, how do you say these answers to someone who are in the middle of suffering, those who lost loved ones to COVID-19.
Instead of logic or philosophy, I would offer them Jesus.
God’s answer to human suffering is the Incarnation.
The Theologian Peter Kreeft said this:
“He (Jesus) Himself entered into all that agony, He Himself bore all of the pain of this world, and that’s unimaginable and and shattering and even more impressive than the divine power that created the world in the first place.” - Peter John Kreeft
Jesus is able to sympathize with our suffering because He Himself suffered..
For all the questions and accusations being thrown at God, why does He, a loving God allow suffering in the world - the Christian message is this.. God did not love the world from a distance and detached Himself from the world’s sufferings..
God did not get Himself off the hook of suffering - Almighty God put Himself on the hook of human suffering. How? Through the cross of Jesus Christ.
The answer to the question: How can God bear all the suffering in the world - HE DID!
God indeed bore all of the world’s suffering when Jesus was shamed, beaten, tortured, nailed on the cross.
What we can offer to the question of suffering is not answer - but rather a PERSON!
Are you broken? - Jesus was broken for you.
Are you despised? - He was despised and rejected by men.
Are you crying within your souls today - Jesus is a man of sorrows and acquainted with our grief.
Did someone betray you? - Jesus was betrayed by His closest friends.
Did you love and were not loved in return - Jesus loved and was rejected.
Do you feel alone? - Bible says people hid their faces from Jesus, and avoided Him like the plague.
Every tear that you shed is His tear.. He may not wipe those tears yet but someday HE will.
Such divine goodness Hallelujah - that the Son of the Living God should die for us:
“Amazing love, how can it be that Thou My God, should die for me?”
this is why though carrying the cross of suffering is painful, Paul considered knowing Jesus is to fellowship in His suffering. I want Jesus!
If you have a friend who is suffering, what He truly needs is not an explanation, He needs a Person - He needs Jesus. Be with Him, be an incarnation of the love of Jesus to Him.
People dare accuse God: “If you are a loving God, Why do You allow suffering, and pain, and evil in the world?”
With what we know now, with what God has done----- he can rightfully ask us today:
What will you do with My Son? How do you respond to the pain, anguish, the suffering, the injustice, the shame and the death that He endured for you?
Have you accepted Him into your life?
If you have accepted Him, are you sharing Him with others?
The ball is in our court!
Let us pray.