Feel Weak? You Are Useful to God! By
Kelly Durant 5-19-13
1 Corinthians
1:26-28
26 For ye
see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called:27 But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;28 And base
things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
2. How many of you have known of disabled people
serving in The Salvation Army? I have! All people in life need in to be used by
God, we are inherently born this way! You have seen this video of the man with
no arms and legs, Nick Vujicic, right? Imagine, with his condition, he does great
things and is an inspirational speaker! Most people imagine that someone in his
condition would never leave home! But he is full of life and inspired, happy
and used by God, talking in public places and travelling. What an amazing man
of God used by God despite no arms and legs!
3. One of the first things I noticed and liked
about The Salvation Army when I first got involved was that they had a
variety of strange characters (even bearded ones) serving in disasters. Then,
after visiting their churches, I saw many characters out of rehab. No matter
the age or health problems, people were serving others and each one was happy
to help. I love seeing others get a second chance, how about you?
For example with Hurricane Rita while in Lake
Charles, right after serving in Katrina, I met a man that had metal rods in his
entire back because all of the cartilage of his spine had degenerated. He
walked rather straight like this (rigid). He had been through a rehab for heavily
using cocaine and he said to not be depressed he would find ways to volunteer
his time. In disaster service you can find people with all kinds of personal problems,
but they are made happy while serving others, making new friends, and hearing
about the gospel. God will use anyone who is willing, no impediments!
4. The way to be happy is to make someone else
happy! You have heard that simple formula, right? But do you know what makes
people happiest? It is to find out that no matter how ugly they may look, no
matter how bad their physical problems, weaknesses, or handicaps, there is a
God of love that loves them and can still use them despite their conditions and
faults! No one wants to feel like life is over, that brings mortal depression!
I have always believed that God is a God who
cares for the weakest of the weak, and in the world there are a lot of hurting and
weak people! We are here as representatives of Jesus to help heal and give
meaning and purpose to the lives of everyone we meet. That is what the kingdom
of God is about! In the Salvation Army we, and it should be this way with any
Christian, carry out activities in which everyone is valued and included with
no discrimination of any kind. We must fight to maintain this standard!
5. But for work in society, you are
discriminated against considering you past training, capacity, and education
amongst other factors. We are an Army but of volunteers and we are made up of
wounded healers; But the military Armies of the world, only accept young fit
men and women to serve. These requirements exclude about 70 % of the
population! God’s word makes it clear He rejects noone, rather he specializes
in the rejects!
When you look at the population at large in the
U.S., the majority of the people are either weak, older, or disabled. Even
worse they are often depressed and spiritually incapable, or unwilling to do
anything for anyone else due to embarrassment, or impediments, from allergies
or whatever, not to mention laziness or selfishness. In this country currently
about 45% of the people get government support for being either retired or
incapacitated somehow. That is a lot when you think about it!
So when we read… 27 But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;… what can we
conclude?
6. That God needs on this earth a people group,
an organization, a movement, (or a kingdom of God as Jesus phrases it) that is
made up of anyone who (whosoever will theology) will serve! And if you are not
in such good shape mentally or physically, be happy and encouraged! God specifically
wants you to serve and be of value! God loves misfits!
When we consider the foolish things, not many
people here are scholars that can discuss the pious platitudes of philosophy or
theology, so it is a comfort that God is not concerned about our education
level, or even our physical condition, he just loves us and wants us to be
useful and active for Him. In the end we are taking in breath from day to day
to serve in the mission to win souls to Jesus, otherwise our lives are just
wasted not preparing for eternity.
7. How can we not be proud of the Salvation Army
for being willing to work with the lowest of the low, the homeless, the
addicts, and the ones with HIV? In other countries our line of service includes
taking into refuge homes orphans and prostitutes. Your upper class suburban
churches do not make these types of people their specialty! But Christians
should focus on the despised and the weak, which is where God’s blessings are
at!
My wife and I visited several of the rich mega
churches in Atlanta and some boldly proclaim they are called to reach the rich
middle upper class baby boomers. Hispanics, blacks, and poor (sinners) seemed
to not even be in their radar! What a poor and ignorant vision! Ultra-rich
churches intimidate the weak and poor. When something is so big you lose the
sense of family, I think it is time to break it down into more manageable
groups as Moses did in Joshua 14:4-6. Delegation and division allows more
attention to each one.
So when we read in 28 And base things of the
world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which
are not, to bring to nought things that are: Can we not conclude that some
Christians do not have the right focus since they are targeting the opposite people
of the verses we are studying today? Is the exclusivity to one group the
non-discriminatory attitude a Christian should have? Obviously not! Too many people live in a
comfort zone that has them stagnant and being ineffective!
8. There is a serious problem within
Christianity, too few Christians are actually reading the Bible and obeying
what it says, to seek out the low base things of the world and then empowering
them to serve in God’s Kingdom.
See Barna Research Group (http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/101-americans-are-misinformed-about-poverty-but-widely-involved-in-helping-the-poor?q=poor) Three
out of every four Americans see poverty as a big issue. Christians interviewed
only showed 1 out of 2 believing it concerned them, yet about 83% of
evangelical Christians claimed to be involved in helping the poor. What is wrong
is that 2 in 3 Christians believe the government should take care of the poor,
not them! But God called us to care for the widows & poor, and even give
them place to serve: The low are the despised, the rejected, the weak, these
are the ones God can use!
For the most part we can be proud of the Hialeah
Corps as everyone who comes here regularly does what they are capable of doing,
here or in the community, teaching, cooking, and sorting donated food for the
poor, visiting the rest homes as well. But we have a long way to go yet to get
the Hialeah community to do that as well! This community is a challenge, what
can we do to get them more involved? Volunteers are so few!
I have often wondered; what do disabled or
retired people do all day? Wal-Mart’s are full night and day, but in the
daytime most beaches are only full of tourists, so what is going on these
people? Where are they all day?
You may know a few people who have government support,
so tell me what do they do all day? God wants to use them for something good
but I have a feeling many people are just deaf to this calling. They have ears
to hear but they do not hear how God loves them and wants them busy with things
that make the world better. Those indifferent are wasting their time giving
them a meaningless life. We must invite them to serve since God uses the weak.
9. Like it or not, we should confront those
who waste their time. Our society and Christian heritage was built with an
attitude and spirit of great sacrifice but more and more people are failing to
maintain the volunteer spirit of sacrifice and pureness and of love for their
neighbor and community as they should. Being unproductive in the work of God is
a sin, especially when you know you should be doing good and you are not doing
it.
Consider these verses that are basic warnings to
the people (even Christians) that are excusing their selves for not giving
their time in something for God because they think they are too busy or too old,
too sick or too handicapped, or living in denial that they are just plain
rebellious, selfish, and lazy.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you,
brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the
weak, be patient toward all men.
I Tim 5: 12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first
faith. 13. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to
house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things
which they ought not. Ephesians 5:16
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
10. Never think there is nothing to do for God!
Invite your friends! Do you realize how many people have started coming to
church because they first volunteered? I think I told you I came to know the Salvation
Army by volunteering for disaster service.
But people in these past few decades have become
self-complacent, people with nothing to do are not giving their time for
something noble. This is a sad new cultural trend! It is up to us to be salt
and light and to teach others to serve God, and God wants those who are weak.
Here is a
truth: you cannot make yourself better without first investing in someone else.
In the end, everyone you know that is weak,
everyone that seems not-so-pretty, to be of the nature most people would think
they are nobodies, these are the very people God wants and uses! God
specializes in using the low, the base, the ugly, the despised, and the
not-so-bright. So if you think you are not worth much, cheer up, you are wrong,
you are one of God’s chosen!
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