"His Energy"

Sign seen in a textile mill, "When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman." A young woman was new on the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought, "I'll just straighten this out myself." She tried, but the situation only worsened. Finally she called the foreman. "I did the best I could," she said. "No you didn't. To do the best, you should have called me."

Striking is this message. In our current individualistic, hedonistic, and self-absorbed society, getting help is kind of a weird dynamic. Asking for help is a hard thing for many. There is so much wrapped up in it. First of all it might affect our self-esteem. To ask for help is to admit you can’t do it and you and others might think less of you because of it and other opportunities for advancement, achievement, and self-satisfaction or our pride will be affected. For many asking for help is too humiliating, too belittling, reminding me of times when people called me “hopeless.”

Maybe for some of us we don’t ask for help because no one is gonna help. Shane I have asked people to help me but people will not lend out a hand. They always got something to do. They are too busy to help. They got other priorities. People just don’t care. And many times that is so true.

But for many, they don’t want to help, because they say that they take advantage of me, they are irresponsible and now they need me to bail them out of their own mess. They are not thankful and grateful for all that I have done for them. Shane bro when they call they always ask… “So what are you doing Saturday afternoon? Are you busy?” Man I dunno how to answer that… so now I say… “It depends.” “Depends on what?” “On what you are gonna ask me.” The reality is… many times people want to help, but they do not want to bail us out. My uncle used to say to me all the time… “a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” We gotta get this. Many times people want to help they just don’t want to bail us out. But many times that why we ask. We don’t ask for help, we ask to be bailed out.

Now there are times in life when we gotta get help. Sometimes its just too important. Sometimes we gotta get a sober view of ourselves and recognize our short-comings and that we cannot do it on our own. I have always said that I’m smart, because I’m smart enough to know that I don’t know everything. So I need help. But to keep our distorted self-respect, we push to do it on our own, we have too much pride to ask for help. We have too much independence to put ourselves in a place of dependance. But especially as Christians, we cannot be like this. We need to get help from God. It is way too important for us to do all that God had called us too.

I remember when Scott was young, he was pretty adamant about doing some things on his own. I hear it like this for many children. They wanna tie their shoes by themselves. They get upset cause they just gotta do it so that they can be a big boy. And I get it, but sometimes, with all the screaming and crying you are running late and we do not have 5 minutes to wait for Scott to do it himself. Or he does not do a good enough job and you don’t wanna spend all day telling him to tie his shoes. Just let me do it!!!!

Sometimes it is not that we can’t do it. We just can’t do it a certain way in a certain amount of the time required. We just can’t do it. And when it comes to God it is the same thing. We so badly want our independence. This has been true since the fall. Or we wanna do it on our own because we so badly want to stand worthy and deserving before God by our own efforts. Deep down inside we want to deserve heaven. So we don’t... here is the key… we don’t depend on God. And what makes it worse is that we don’t depend on him we use Him. We pray and ask for help when we by our own folly mess things up and we need for Him to fix it.

Proverbs 19:3 NLT

People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.

We need Him to bail us out. And when He does not, we get mad at Him. We blame Him and we accuse Him. But Shane we cannot live life they way He wants us to. Its way too hard. Loving enemies, taking up a cross, going to church, reading Bible and praying everyday, raising children with standards, stand against the flow of culture, give to those who do not deserve, turn the other cheek, denying things that give me pleasure, abstaining from the lust that the world provides. How in the world does God expect me to do this. What God is asking for is the impossible. Why does He ask this of me? I am way to weak… Yes, when we are weak then we are strong. God expects so much, because He never intended of us to do it alone. Let’s check it out.

Colossians 1:28–29 NLT

So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Him We Proclaim

His Energy

The first thing we will look at today is how Paul describes what he means when he says, “Him we proclaim.” Second, we will see the real motivation and energy and where it comes from to enable Paul to do all that he has done for the kingdom for his grace is enough for us.

Thesis: Though sin, the pattern of this world, and the false teachers cause us to lose confidence in the sufficiency of Christ in all of life, but it is the truth of the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to see the beauty and wonder of what it means for the grace of Christ to sufficient for us.

I. Him We Proclaim

- Warning and Teaching to present perfection.

A. So remember that Paul and Timothy are right now defending the ministry of the Apostle Paul against those in the church in Colossae who are causing many to fall away and give up on their complete confidence in Christ. They are not denying Christ all together but they are denying that He is all that they need for life. They are saying that Christ is an authority, but he is not THE Authority in the universe. They are not throwing our Christ altogether. But they are diminishing Christ. And to diminish Christ IS JUST AS BAD as throwing him out altogether.

B. This is happening today. We are not denying Christ, be many of us feel like Christ is not enough. If we want to experience the fullness of life and live life to the fullest then we need to look at other things that the world has to offer to be compete. To say that Christ is not fully supreme is indeed offending God. To say that Christ is not enough is indeed offending. Even if you don’t deny Him outright, to diminish Him in anyway is to deny Him outright. Do not be deceived.

C. I read a quote from a Christian life coach this week and I quote, “True fulfillment (notice like the false teachers they are talking fullness)in life does not happen when you become some ideal person different than yourself. Happiness and joy come when you become comfortable expressing who you really are at your core.” This is a lie. This is soooo messed up. This kind of stuff is being proclaimed from the pulpits all across our country. This is the message from the world not from Christ.

D. Christian you are called and commanded to become an ideal person different from yourself… You are called to be like Christ!!!. And we are commanded not to express who we really are at your core… We are by nature sinful at the core. We are not called to express our authentic selves… we are called to express Christ… period. We sit back and let this stuff happen and wonder why we got oky doky woky stuff happening in the church. Preachers and contemporary Christians artists fighting for same sex couples and transgenders to have a sin accepted place of service in the church.

E. Do not diminish Christ in anyway. Not his supremacy and not his sufficiency. He is more than enough for us. If all you got is Christ then you got all you need.

2 Peter 1:3 NLT

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

F. Pretty hard stuff here Shane. This was to illustrate the methods used by Paul when he says “Him we proclaim”. He does this by warning us and teaching us. And the scriptures are full of warnings and full of teaching in all wisdom. And this is an important designation when it comes to our preaching on Sundays. Full of warnings and teaching. But sometimes these things are not received. Many times I do get a chance to talk to people who have come and have not come back and if they are honest it is very revealing. It is almost like they are saying that they don’t to hear sermons that warn us and teach us doctrine and stuff.

G. We by nature do not like warnings. We do not like other people telling us what to do. And we by nature do not like teaching because we do not like people telling us what to believe especially if we do not agree with it. But this is what the scriptures communicate and what it means to proclaim Him and how we will be presented to the Lord in perfection. This is our warning today… heed the warnings of the Lord. It is there it is real and the threats are very very real.

II. His Energy

- Not to be done on our own.

A. And for Paul to this this to a culture like his and a culture like ours… it is not easy and it is a struggle. And so Paul struggles and Paul and Timothy continue to toil but they do it depending. Depending on what… depending on energy. And we need it to do all that God has called us to do.

B. One of the most distracting and deceptive things we hear today and one of the most erroneous teaching. I heard it my whole life and I heard it just last week. “God never gives us more than we can handle.” This is not true. It is wrong. It does not take long in reading the scriptures to find out how wrong this is. This is not a scripture. It is not biblical. This is not true at all. It is pervasive and Christians everywhere say it and teach it. Well meaning people say this. But it is wrong.

C. God constantly gives us more than we can handle. Many times we find ourselves in situations that are legitimately impossible to handle. We don’t have the capacity, the strength, the fortitude, the resources, or the patience. We feel the weight of the burdens and tasks just absolutely tearing us down. We experience this in our own lives, and we read about it in Scripture. Moses was gonna contend against the most powerful ruler of the most powerful nation at the time? David was gonna get into a physical fight with a literal giant? The disciples were supposed to feed 5000 plus with 5 loaves and 2 fish? God absolutely asks for the impossible. And...

2 Corinthians 1:8 NLT

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.

D. So it is pretty clear that the Lord will give us tasks that are more than we can handle. God will cause us to endure more than we can handle. This is not a time to teach self-empowerment and self-sufficiency… And this is important for us today. Why? God wants us to endure what could kill us? Yes why? The rest of the verse.

2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT

In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.

E. Because we learned that it is important that we stop relying on ourselves but learned to rely on God. Huge piece. Stop relying on ourselves and learn to rely on God. God wants us to rely on Him in our life and life’s struggles. Even to the point were we are expecting to die!! This is why God asks the impossible… because He does not intend for us to do it alone. The one who has the power to raise the dead will help you and even do it for you.

F. I suppose this misleading quote comes from and misunderstanding of ...

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

G. But this is not teaching self sufficiency AT ALL!!! The verse tell us that he will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able because with the temptation HE will provide a way of escape so that we can endure it. It is because God makes us able. The life coaches need to go away. The Bible is not teaching self-sufficency but dependance on Christ. Do you not realize that the goal is not to be strong within ourselves to be able, but to be weak in self so that God can be strong and we will not just be able but extraordinary.

H. Paul teaches us today that he struggles but he does so depending on the energy that Christ gives him. He cannot do it on his own. He depends on Christ.

I. Today we need to rely on Christ. Depending on Christ is not laziness. It is allowing the power of Christ to be made perfect. How is the power of Christ made perfect? Weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

J. The grace of Christ is all we need. Why? Because it means that the power of Christ rests upon us. If we are weak, beaten down, busted up, broken down, in utter weakness, the power of Christ, the power that can raise the dead, will be made perfect and it will rest upon us. It is so much more than enough.

K. The grace of God is the grace by which we can stand. We have life and life more abundant because of Christ and Christ alone. He is what we need and he is all we need. His grace is sufficient.

L. In sin we are led astray. We doubt. We transgress the laws of God. We rebel. We do not heed warnings. We do not tolerate sound teachings in sin. We rest in the arms of the world more than in the arms of the Lord. But there is forgiveness for us. Salvation is here. And it is because of the grace of Christ.

M. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. By His stripes we are healed.

N. And we can have all the blessing of being His vessel when we become Christians. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Salvation is here for us today. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

O. And so today we will struggle. We will toil. We will have much more than we can endure. But we can do that, because we depend on the energy of Christ and we pray it perfectly and powerfully works within us.