Be Weak, Simple, And A Fool for God! By Kelly Durant 6-29-14
1 Corinthians 1:27 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;
2.I just had a few weeks of vacation! When you tell people I
am (was) on vacation, they usually ask, where did you go? Some people want to discover
what adventures you got to do that they wished they could do but can’t because
of some reason, right? Well, at this point in my life I enjoy the simple
things; a mind vacation at home was good enough for me without the stress of
worrying about expensive hotels and bills! Thank God Regina had a safe trip and
she was busy with her mom sick in bed!
As much adventure as I have already had in my life in my
past, I am not dying to visit some over-rated big city advertised with pretty
pictures but when you are there the reality hits when you walk on the filthy
smelly streets being surrounded by threating frightening looking people. I have
a special love for every place I have been, but I am glad I was not in the crowds
of Rio for the World Cup! I had to run for blocks being chased to be robbed 3
times when I was there and got away by grabbing a bus! And besides you see the game
better on TV than live!
There is a lot of wisdom in having a simple lifestyle and simple
appetites. There is wisdom in just being happy with life & God itself! The
world thinks you are stupid when you are simple though, ha! You can transport
yourself to different worlds just by reading the Bible, and with some other
good books! Consider… Proverbs 23 “When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
consider diligently what is before thee:2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou
be a man given to appetite.3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are
deceitful meat.” There is a lot of wisdom in just being happy with simple
things and not ambitious or lavish!
3. Travel can be risky and I think many of us don’t like to
be in situations where we feel we do not have the absolute control with what is
going on around us. Some people rarely even leave their homes just because they
are afraid of people and new situations! It is a fact, most of us recognize our
human weaknesses and we don’t always like to have them, but God uses weakness
to turn them into strengths if we let Him. No one likes feeling foolish, vulnerable,
weak, inadequate, small, or un-noticed; it goes against our nature, but God
wants us to recognize our frailty so we depend on Him for everything! God
chooses the weak and foolish things (people like you and me) of the world to
confuse the proud, arrogant, and confused sophisticated! Knowing you’re weak
makes you trust God!
Reflecting on my past travels, I think the best thing in my
life to kill my youthful pride was the humiliation of having to adapt to the
unfamiliar customs and learn 3 languages (Portuguese, Spanish, ASL). When one
is young and cool with the cool clothes but then you have to be in the shoes of
a toddler again repeating a word 50 times to learn it, can make you reach the
point of going crazy! But God puts us all in certain situations in life so we
can learn to depend on Him, learn His simplicity, meekness, weakness, humility and
lowliness. The meek will get exalted and inherit the earth, but the proud will always
take a fall! Have you already accepted the fact that you need to make yourself
humble & foolish in order for God to use you?
Thank God His Word has an answer for everything. I recall this
verse when learning my first words in other languages, “But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise;” I felt like a fool all day
long for months on end and in another country you cannot depend on anything you
have learned before, laws, customs, foods, music, everything is different!
Thank God I did learn enough in each language to lead Bible classes and preach
the gospel. After accepting you are just a fool (or look like one) for Christ, then
God can work.
4. But being in a ‘weak’ or humble position in order for God
to use me (or you) involves more than skill or language; it is mostly an
attitude or heart issue. I had to accept the fact that I was going to sound
like a fool when talking to strangers, and I had to accept that obeying God meant
becoming to the “Greek as a Greek”; it was a serious matter. Obeying God means
becoming weak by giving up your pride, your knowledge, your culture, your
ideas, your dreams, everything in order for God to use you for what He has
planned for you. He is always active in your and my life!
The problem with weakness is that it is often misunderstood.
Weak and foolish does not mean one should think you are humiliated and
miserable; weakness means the acceptance of being like Jesus, who as the
innocent lamb of God exemplifying the gentle character that should live in me
and you! Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek
and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Our comfortable
human default mode of wanting to appear strong, smart, and aggressive disquiets
our spirit and is counterproductive to God’s mission of Him being able to use
us!
Two things: Don’t imitate humbleness and don’t be aggressive!
Have you ever known people who try to appear so nice in public, like they are a
poor weak victim in society? But you know by watching them closely the deduction
is that at home they are probably a fierce character? A strong in-the-flesh
person, as long as they believe they will get their way with you by being loud
and manipulative, by being mean, by being a pest until you cave to them, is not
useful to God! (Plus they are a menace to others) Human strength and
belligerent-ness is rebelliousness, and for this reason God wants to break and
mold everyone into a new creation! He is the potter, we are the clay. (and
remember, the clay must be soft)
5. As Christians we practice meekness and this clashes with
the world’s values! Many people try to manipulate my wife and I (and Tania) all
the time for extra food, toys, or book-bags; it can get trying to deal with
people who appear to be lying, people who are not always nice and pleasant. But
God gives us the patience and grace for them, actually even a pity for them
knowing they must live in misery because of living with their own character!
These are people without Jesus in their hearts; these are people who live in
darkness who suffer in life thinking everything is the fault of everyone else
for their problems, when actually their bad times is usually a reaping of their
pride and of what they have sewn.
These are the world’s people and we want to win them for
Christ, but what Paul had an issue with was the church in Corinthians is that
they were Christians but they were not holy and conforming to the meekness of
Jesus that should be practiced in our Christian behavior. How bold (and funny)
for Paul to tell the know-it-all philosophical, prideful warlike Greek people
to become foolish and weak for God! But if they were really Christian, then
they were going to have to accept they had to become fools in their way of
thinking and behaving.
Actually in this Corps there are many here that truly have
learned weakness and are mature in Christ. Don’t you agree that many here are
wise, Biblically studious, and intelligent and usually show a meek and humble
spirit, willing to proclaim Jesus serving others in love? Thank God for you!
You model what others can be!
6. Since everyone must learn foolishness and meekness I
suggest you try some Corps leadership positions. Often Corps leaders face the
Dean Martin situation of having ‘too many chiefs and not enough Indians’! To
accomplish anything we need a team and people who are Faithful, Available, and
Trainable (FAT) but often we have undependable, absent, know-it-alls to work
with!
History and cultures repeat themselves and the vast majority
of Christians will always have the challenge of learning to be nothing and a
nobody clashing with the world. 1 Corinthians 4:10 We are fools for
Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye
are honourable, but we are despised.
Yet many people in the church today have become like the proud
Corinthians in Paul’s day. They are adapted to the culture lifted up in pride by
praises for their intellectual achievements (humanism), lifted up in their
pride over their power positions and professions. All these, ‘I did this’
things clash with the foolish appearing, weak and humble spirit of Godlike
attributes that Jesus taught us.
7. What is amazing is that despite all the negative mockery
form the media we can still see examples of public people being fools for
Christ sake. For example, ‘The Duck Dynasty Show.’ Who would have ever thought
that a bunch of Southern hillbilly Christians with beards would stay on TV for
5 seasons? They have been mocked and persecuted for standing firm on Christian
values. Funny how God chose them to get His Word out, while the big atheistic
TV networks scratch their heads in jealousy, confounded by their humility,
popularity, and success.
How many testimonies have we already heard about how one
humble weak little nobody Christian became the example and humiliation of some
prideful giants? Look at one weak, old, short, not-so-pretty lady that got
worldwide attention for her extraordinary love and care for the sick and
suffering, Mother Teresa. Overlook her religion if that bothers you, and be
thankful that she gave everyone an example that any Christian can be a sweet
servant despite all odds of poverty.
It is so important to learn to be willing to be a fool for
Christ sake! Hundreds of times when I was out giving out Christian tracks or
going door to door people would say, “Ok, I’ll listen to you then you listen to
me”, and I’d say, “Deal”. I’d tell them about salvation then they would
complain to me about all the evils the gringos had done to mess up their
country. I’d always answer in 3rd person, you are right, those
gringos really are bad, I am sorry for your people, but all I want to do is
love you, I am not a business tycoon, I am not a CIA spy, I am just a poor
humble nobody missionary! Usually they were without words after that! Being a
fool for Jesus means dealing with the foolishness in others! But humility wins.
8. Have you prayed for
wisdom and the Holy Spirit’s power to stand up to those who appear aggressive
and strong yet they are nothing? Consider how the Greeks were actually the real
fools because they, despite their philosophy and trained warriors, lost their
kingdom and glory. Sadly, even today Greece has terrible woes in their society,
bankruptcy and riots. Pride comes before a fall and it can be fatal.
Remember when you become weak then God is able to be strong
in you!
We must recall that there is no way to change the way the
world interprets strengths and weakness. For the people of the world, we will
never as Christians never be considered strong and cool like the loud,
indulgent, belligerent, rude, aggressive mocking faithless ones. We will always
be considered as fools and weak people, but this contributes to making us holy,
noble, and used by God!
9. This may sound crazy, but if you consider yourself incapable,
weak, dependent on God, a fool for Christ, a humble nobody then be proud of it!
Jesus said in Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased;
and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. What a paradox, be strong by
being weak!
It is a fact that some people in this life will never repent of
their pride, sin, and trusting in their own strength to become humble ‘fool for
Christ’, while others will struggle to give up everything for God. It is a
process, it takes time but God is still working on you and me!
Think about this, if we are just like the people of the world
copying their aggressive know-it-all character, what can we offer others that
is better and different? The truth is humbleness, weakness, and being as a fool
for God’s cause are virtues that make ordinary simple people like you and me become
great! Pray the Holy Spirit will help you to grow more by becoming more useful
to God by becoming simply ‘a fool for Christ’. You are chosen, so be what God
expects you to be and see him work in strange and great ways through you!
