Admitting You're a Crack Pot

Introduction (5m)

I’m a crack pot!

Known me 5 years - Weaknesses, broken, vulnerable, leak.

Maybe you are too?

Fleeing from some pain/Hoping running away > stop/Pouring energy and resources into serving > not looking at broken areas in your life/Difficulties in your life > anger./Hiding how broken, fractured and frail you are?

Explanation (5m)

Good News: Paul, one of Jesus’ greatest followers, was a crack pot too, but he came to see his brokenness and weakness as the place where God could work the most miracles

We can see this best in the way he dealt with Corinthians

Visited by super-apostles > signs and wonders that surpassed Paul > revelations and God-moments > Paul seem very ordinary/Claimed special, unique authority from God > undermined Paul’s apostolic authority > gradually congregation moved away from Paul and towards them.

What would you do in that situation?

Better teacher, leader and preacher than me and that they had an authority from God greater than mine? > Go on the offensive!/Tell about successes, gifts, revelations, visions.

But instead Paul argues he is an authentic leader by focusing on his weaknesses:

2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT

even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

God’s leader because of ‘thorn in my flesh’ in my life to keep me humble./No idea what - could be opposition/ailment (poor eyesight - large handwriting - or something else). But definitely debilitating/humiliating/critics - proof God was not with him.

But Paul chooses to see the thorn in his flesh as a gift of Christ’s power in weakness

Proof of the transcending power of God in his life. Tormented, discouraged, wished it could be taken away, but:

2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Are you surprised? Well, this is the way God chooses to work - through the weak and broken rather than through the strong and powerful

Weak/broken not proud/powerful. Society/culture/TSA and church measure strength in terms of power./Celebrate celebrity, beauty, wealth, success./TSA, perhaps even people here, buy into buildings, finances, numbers of people to demonstrate the success of our movement, our corps and our ministries. - How many count up who’s here on a Sunday?

Cross/resurrection - greatest gift found in greatest wounds/weaknesses

Killing of God = redemption of the world./Worst amongst us have the power to become the best./Death becomes life./Our own wounds, our own weaknesses can reveal Christ’s power.

Application (5m)

Will accept your cracks - your brokenness and weaknesses and allow Christ to “leak” through them?

What is the wound/weakness that God has gifted you?/Physical disability/loss of physical power as you grow older?/Emotional fragility? A tendency towards depression, anxiety or worry, loneliness, negativity?/Do you have scars on your soul from people or circumstances that have deeply hurt you in the past?/Do you face real temptations to be angry, to hate or resent people or to be judgmental towards them?

The world, perhaps even the church, sadly, will tell you that you are a loser

But God says, my power is made perfect in your weakness.

Why? Because your weakness can be the catalyst for change

God doesn’t want you to stay where you are in your weakness. He doesn’t want us to simply accept it and give up. He wants us to embrace our wounds and our weakness and to open up through them to his power. Admitting the truth about our wounds and our weaknesses allows him to begin the process of transformation.

The day you admit you are struggling is the day you struggle less

Worry > less anxious. Negativity > more positive. Anger > peace that you crave. Judgmental > forgiving. Not loving > loving.

So as you admit your wounds and your weaknesses, as you stand before God and say my name is Rob and I’m a crack pot, learn to depend on him

Say, I am glad I can boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work in and through me. The more weak you are, the more you can depend on God. And the more you depend on him, the stronger you will become. And as you fill up with Christ’s power, as he transforms you in your weakness, you will continue to leak, as we spoke about last week, but this time the leaking will be different:

Pete Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church, uses story to illustrate what I mean: There once lived a water carrier in India. He used two large pots for his task. He suspended a pole across his neck and attached a pot at each end of the pole. One of the pots had a big crack in it while the other pot was perfect. The perfect pot always delivered a full portion of water from the stream to the master’s house, while the cracked pot arrived only half full each day. For two years this water carrier made the same journey. The perfect pot became proud of its accomplishments. The cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. Finally, one day by the stream, the cracked pot spoke to his owner about his bitter failure, “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologise that I have only been able to deliver half my water to your house. There is a crack in my side which causes water to leak out. Because of my flaws, you don’t get full value from your efforts.” Then the water carrier replied, smiling, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.” On that trip from the stream, the cracked pot looked around. “Did you notice there are flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?” the water carrier commented. “That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we passed these spots, you watered them. Now for two years I have been able to pick those beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, I would not have this beauty to grace his house.” It is the way God works.

Crack pots leak Christ’s power

So as you walk as a crack pot this week choose to live in your brokenness. To embrace your vulnerability. Let go of what other people think of you and surrender to God’s love, mercy and power. To help, prayer on card:

I asked God for strength

that I might achieve,

I was made weak

that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health

that I might do great things;

I was given infirmity

that I might do better things.

I asked for riches

that I might be happy;

I was given poverty

that I might be wise.

I asked for power when I was young

that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness

that I might feel the need for God.

I asked for all things

that I might enjoy life;

I was given life

that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for,

But everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself,

my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all people,

most richly blessed.

(Prayer of an

Unknown Confederate Soldier)

Pray it in your seat, perhaps bring it forward and kneel in your brokenness and weakness and depend on God to show his power through your cracks this morning.

Next Steps

SOF6-2976 - My hope is built on nothing less

1 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus' name. Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong, in the Saviour's love. Through the storm, he is Lord, Lord of all. 2 When darkness seems to hide his face I rest on his unchanging grace; in ev'ry high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil, my anchor holds within the veil. Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong, in the Saviour's love. Through the storm, he is Lord, Lord of all. He is Lord, Lord of all. Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong, in the Saviour's love. Through the storm, he is Lord, Lord of all. 3 Then he shall come with trumpets sound, oh, may I then in him be found; dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless, stand before the throne. Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong, in the Saviour's love. Through the storm, he is Lord, Lord of all. Christ alone, Cornerstone, weak made strong, in the Saviour's love. Through the storm, he is Lord, Lord of all. Jonas Myrin, Reuben Morgan (born 1975) and Eric Liljero with verses from 'The Solid Rock' by Edward Mote (1797-1874) © 2011 Hillsong Publishing Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 30158 Copied from HymnQuest: Copyright Licence Users' Edition HymnQuest ID: 82267 CCLI#: null