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BE A JABEZ
I Chronicles 4:9-10
Bobby Earls, First Baptist Icard,
February 4, 2001
SLIDE 1 – TITLE SLIDE
Please take your Bible this morning and open to the 4th chapter of the book of 1 Chronicles.
I want to share with you today about a man that few people have ever heard about, but that deserves to be known by all.
His name is Jabez.
We discover all that the Bible has to say about Jabez in the two short verses tucked away in this fourth chapter of the O.T. book known as 1 Chronicles.
SLIDE 2 – SCRIPTURE
Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”
So God granted him what he requested.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10, NKJV
1.
I must confess that the first 9 chapters of I Chronicles is not the most exciting portion of the Bible to read.
These chapters read like a Hebrew telephone book.
There are more than 500 names given to us.
Reading through all these names, names that you can't pronounce, can be dull and difficult reading indeed.
2. Yet in verses 9-10, we discover the man named Jabez.
He is one of those fellows that stir us to give our best, do our best, and be our best for God.
3. Someone has said that in each of us there are 3 persons: .
There is the person you are right now. .
There is the person you could be for evil if you allowed Satan to control your life. .
There is the person you could be for God if you allowed God to rule your life.
4. Jabez demonstrates for us the person we could be if we let God rule our life.
Jabez is the kind of person I want to be.
What I see in Jabez I want to see in this Church.
5. Let's look at this fascinating character and this inspiring passage from God's Word.
Let me point out 3 things from the passage about this man that begin in the shadows and end in the spotlight.
SLIDE 3 – POINT ONE
1. THE PERSON OF JABEZ!
1.
Now there is very little that we know about Jabez.
We don't know where he was born, where he lived, or when he died.
We don't know if he was from a prominent family or a poor family.
About all we know about him is that which his name reveals and what his life shows.
SLIDE 3 – MASK 1
A. HIS NAME THAT IS SO SUGGESTIVE.
1.
We read in verse 9, "...and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him in pain.”
2. There are several Bible names I would never think of to give to a child.
I certainly would not name a girl Jezebel or a boy Judas.
Nobody names his or her children Jezebel or Judas.
3. Jabez is another name that I would not give a child.
The name "Jabez" means, "to cause grief, to be sorrowful, or simply, pain."
4. How would you like to be named "pain?"
I have known some people that deserved the name, but I would not want to bear the name myself.
5.
The text says she named him Jabez because she bore him in sorrow.
We don't know what sorrow it was that caused her to give him such a name.
6.
Many things have been suggested.
Since his mother named him, it would suggest that his father was dead.
Normally the father named the child.
7. Some have suggested that his brothers had stolen his inheritance and his mother grieved over the impoverished life he would live.
8. Others have suggested that his mother grieved over the barren environment in which he would have to live his life.
9.
It is possible that she named him Jabez because she had such a hard time delivering him.
10.
Most suggest that Jabez was born with some handicap.
Clovis Chappell said, "His name was a handicap if there was nothing else." 3
10.
Whatever the reason, it would appear that Jabez was not among the "Who's Who" or an "All-American."
There was some handicap and burden that he would carry all his life.
SLIDE 3 – MASK 2
B. HIS NATURE THAT IS SO STIRRING.
1. Whatever his handicap may have been, he did not let it defeat him or hinder him from being all he could be and doing all he could do.
2.
Even though we know little about Jabez, what we do know tells us that he was an achiever in spite of his handicap.
3. It is possible that there are some of you that feel you could never be used of God or do much for God because you feel you don't have many talents or abilities.
You feel that you don't measure up to others and therefore you think that God could never do anything special with you or that you could do anything special for God.
4. I am glad that Jabez didn’t feel that way.
In spite of his handicap, he wanted to be used of God and he was used of God.
5.
You don't hear Jabez saying, "I'm not qualified" or "I don't have the ability," or "I could never be anything for God." No, in spite of his handicap he was an achiever.
6.
You may not be able to sing like others, you may not be teach like so and so, you may not be able to do many of the things others can do, but you ought to say, "I am going to be all that I can be and do all that I can do.
I want to be a Jabez for Jesus."
1.
The Person of Jabez!
SLIDE 4 – POINT TWO
2. THE PROMINENCE OF JABEZ!
1.
We read in verse 9, "And Jabez was more honourable than his brothers..."
2. His name may have been pain or sorrow but God gave him the name of the Right Honorable Jabez.
3. Now what does the Bible mean when it speaks of Jabez being more honorable than his brethren.
SLIDE 4 – MASK 1
A. THE BLESSED LIFE OF JABEZ.
1.
The word "honourable" was used in a negative and a positive way.
In the positive, it means "numerous, rich."
The ideal is that Jabez had been blessed of God.
He wanted to be blessed and he was blessed.
2. Now here is a reason why we should want to be a Jabez for Jesus.
We should want to be blessed by God.
3. I hear Christians talk about how all they want is crumbs from the Master's table.
May I say that is why we have so many crummy Christians.
4. God wants to open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessings upon us.
5.
When the word was used in a positive way it meant, "numerous, rich, prosperous," but when the word was used in a negative way it meant, "to be heavy."
6. Jabez was not only blessed, but he was heavily blessed.
He was weighted down with God's blessings.
God had loaded him with blessings.
7. It is much like what the Psalmist said in Psalm 68:19, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation."
SLIDE 4 – MASK 2
B. THE BETTER LIFE OF JABEZ.
1.
Notice carefully that it says that he was "more honourable than his brothers."
Now in all these names we find, I am sure there were some great men, and some were greater than others.
But Jabez was the greatest.
I am sure some were better than others, but Jabez was the best of the best.
2. What it is saying is that Jabez was not your average Christian.
He was not ordinary; he was extraordinary.
3. The simple truth is most Christians are average Christians.
What do I mean when I talk about the average Christian?
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