The Value of Vulnerability - Charles R. Swindoll

our Chapel speaker today is fresh off of a trip to Israel with I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 buses that accompanied him many of our faculty as well our Chancellor dr. Charles swindle serves as the pastor as you know of the Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco Texas he's the voice of insight for living ministry he is written about 50 books a year it seems to me but well over 50 books and I think it's probably closer to a hundred these days his station he would not tell you this but I can it's aired on 2,000 stations daily worldwide what God has done through Chuck and his wife Cynthia's partner in life and ministry is truly astounding it's a privilege for a continuing relationship that he maintains with us here at the school Chuck thank you for your time and your energy for writing for speaking on our behalf and representing us would you join me in welcoming our Chancellor dr. Charles I want to say a word to our Korean friend here who before you leave when I was a student here the only other nationality present on the campus were was a group of Korean students in fact back then they came and began their studies here and never went home until they finished so they stayed all four years and it was a joy one Thanksgiving for Cynthia and me to entertain all of them in our little campus apartment over here thank God it's been torn down but back back then it was home and tiny little apartment and we had two folding tables that we placed in what was our living bed in dining room and we went it with another couple and served a Thanksgiving meal turkeys on each end and and all the trimmings and I'll never forget when all the men walked in and they stood around the table they all wore dark pants white shirt dark tie and looked like a roomful of Mormons and I remember looking over them and thinking someday God will use them in in remarkable ways and indeed he has one man said with tears he said we could feed one family for six months from just the food on this table and by the end I had tears and I said I'd like you to do two things I would like for you to sing your national anthem and then I called on the senior member of the group to do the prayer before the meal and they stood and ramrod attention as they sang their national anthem and then he prayed til a film formed over the gravy I mean he he went from Alaska to Zurich as he covered the the waterfront and it was one of those great moments that we still talk about we still remember I'll tell you the story simply to urge you it's not too late to get some time with these who will be returning to their homeland to a hold forth in a language we don't know in a culture that is foreign to us but they will make an impact and to this day we followed some of those young men and to this day there are serving faithfully right there in that great land of Korea now we'll switch gears and I want to talk to you for a few minutes about the value of vulnerability one of the problems with growing up is that we learn to hide for some reason when we are older we are no longer comfortable letting the truth be known when we're little over and we're little kids it doesn't matter if we're afraid we quickly say I'm scared and we take the hand of our mom or dad or older brother or sister because we're scared if if we're not feeling well we say I'm sick if we're really not feeling well we throw up where we have no sophistication if if we are unable to keep up we simply admit you know I'm not as good at as you are I can't run as fast as you can run I don't I don't know how to make such good grades as you make and we say all of that but as we get older we become reluctant and we turn from that kind of authenticity to a cover-up and we even get better at the cover-up the more educated we become which is part of the reason I fear for some of you and I mean this in all sincerity and no way to be insulting I I fear that you're earning a degree will make you more and more distant from those with whom you minister because you will feel the need unfortunately to become a little sophisticated and you'll be tempted to be increasingly more someone you're not I think it was my friend Jim Dobson who said it better than anyone we are not who we are we're not even who we think we are we are who we think other people think we are we need to we need to think about this before we are out in ministry engaged in it on a regular basis because we will find as we are there that more and more folks will want to guard us from letting the truth out they will want to protect us and for the first ten years of my ministry I operated like that I thought that's what you did until my wife began to talk straight to me about just being who I am and not trying to act like I'm someone I'm not which she was noticing I was doing more and more of and and I was I was a little like uncle uncle Zeke from Muleshoe Texas maybe you've heard of uncle Zeke he had a good friend in the guy that worked the blacksmith shop they'd been friends since they were boys and what uncle Zeke didn't know before he showed up is that the blacksmith had been working on a horseshoe kept putting it back in the fire bringing it out pounding on it back in the fire bringing out butt and finally he realized he just wasn't gonna cooperate so he tossed it in the sawdust just before uncle Zeke walked in Zeke walked in looked down saw the horseshoe and picked it up and dropped it right away and blacksmith looked over his glass that's kind of haughty - Zeke I think said nope just don't take me long to look at a horseshoe I've always liked that story because more of you than you want to believe or like uncle's eat rather than saying yeah dumb of me not to ask ahead of time is this hot it's okay or to say after we burned ourselves what a dumb thing I just done and you will find increasingly in your life that if you do not cultivate the habit others will not help you do so you have to make a decision that you're going to be who you are or you won't be always admired the first lady Betty Ford because she said I'm I'm an alcoholic I also am addicted to prescription drugs and I need to seek help you know I remember clearly the very brief presidential tenure of her husband Gerald Ford and in our home or any home I was around I never heard one word against her for admitting it and I heard a lot of words of appreciation I was pleased when I read John Erickson's book that she wrote with her husband can Tata as Kant admitted in the book that he sometime grew weary of taking care of her I admired can not I've told him so that he would say that all of us think if ken is kind of a angel without wings and and of course Johnnie adores him because he has adjusted his life to hers much more than she has had to adjust to his but he says in the book it hasn't always been easy there been times I wanted to get away from it all I admire that kind of vulnerability I appreciated when Chuck Colson said in his book born-again that when he was with the president he was the hatchet man he would have run over his own grandmother to get the president's wishes done takes a lot of guts to say that and it made people hate him more but a few who realized he was through hiding who's gonna let the truth out and on and on the illustrations could go on if you follow college basketball but way back when John Wooden was the coach at UCLA and they had an incredible streak I think 88 games if I'm not mistaken without a loss till they came to Houston and there Houston had a tall young man named Elvin Hayes who slammed that ball in the basket more often than the young man known then as Lew Alcindor or in in Houston beat him I was living in LA at the time and you you could feel the response of the fans as they all began to choose which which player they ought to blame for the loss and the big headlines came out in LA Times sports edition blame me John Wooden the coach said I didn't prepare them well it's my fault we lost by the way they played him again and ate their lunch and wouldn't didn't brag he said the reason we lost was not because of some player we lost because the coach hadn't done the job he should have done you will discover in ministry that there will be a number of times that someone else deserves the credit but you'll get it because you're the senior member of the team or you're the you're the one with the seniority on the mission field or you're the president or you're the lead of the department and it'll be your tendency to take the credit how wrong that is how unchristian how unlike Christ when you develop the value of vulnerability you will realize that everything is gained and nothing lost by simply admitting the truth now because some take things like that to an extreme I need to clarify before we get to the passage I want to look at I need to clarify what it isn't some people hear this and then they rush out and they decide to be vulnerable and they go into all kind of indiscriminate and inappropriate confessions and the pulpit gets filled with all the sins of the pastor and every time he's looked at this woman with lust he admits it and something is lost in that that's not vulnerability that's stupidity so we're not talking about that I'll never forget going and being in a Thanksgiving service and one of the well-meaning younger wives was down toward the front we were passing the microphone around and let people share you know that Thanksgiving service and she said I just want to tell all of you throughout my marriage I've had a terrible relationship with my mother-in-law and I need you to pray for me because it isn't much better now than when we first got started the problem is a mother in law's about three rows behind her and she thought that was vulnerable that's stupid that's insulting it's not what we're talking about vulnerability has everything to do with you personally it's not about being rude so that you say the first thing that comes to your mind being authentic does not mean we yield all restraints restraint is a mark of maturity and we learn what not to say at a time and it's inappropriate the vulnerability I'm talking about is the acknowledgement that you are 100% human and you will make mistakes and when you do you are to apologize for your mistakes you are you acknowledge it without hesitation and you are to say to whoever the one is that has faced you with it your right we keep waiting for the words when people in Scripture are confronted the simple words I have sinned I just speaking on Saul last Sunday and finally he says it to Samuel after he's rationalized and covered up and denied the reality of his disobedience just say it just learn to say it I was wrong or you know yesterday I spoke too quickly I discovered in my life as a father that my children felt closer to me when I would acknowledge when I had said or done something wrong I didn't know how to do that at first I wasn't reared by vulnerable parents so I didn't learn how to do it at home and little by little I began to discover that I get closer to my children when I am completely honest with them even as they become especially as they become teenagers I like the prayer one person put together Lord keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion release me from craving to straighten out everybody else's affairs keep my mind free from the recital of endless details give me the wings to get to the point I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others pains help me to endure them with patience but seal my lips to my own aches and pains their increasing and my love of her cursing them he's becoming sweeter as the years go by teach me the glorious lessons that occasionally it's possible I may be mistaken keep me reasonably sweet I do not want to be a saint some of them are so hard to live with but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places talent and unexpected people give me O Lord the grace to tell them so make me thoughtful but not moody helpful but not bossy with my vast store of wisdom seems a pity not to use it all but thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end 1st Corinthians chapter 2 is an account of open and unguarded vulnerability Paul is remembering when according to 16 verse 8 of this letter he wrote the letter from Ephesus so while in Ephesus he's thinking back to his many many months in Corinth and he remembers in chapter 2 when he first came among them it was a tough assignment being called to Corinth Corinth is a fast City it was the Las Vegas of the 1st century it was downtown LA 24-7 it was a mixture of Hollywood and the Hollywood Bowl it was drama rhetoric sophistication cynicism and he's called there this unknown Jew to hold forth among these people put yourself in his sandals and imagine because one day the calling in your life maybe to a place you never dream you would be I am confident Paul's distant dream he never saw himself in Corinth and here he is what was it like he tells us and you'll love him more for the way he does so when I came to you brothers I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God quite an admission I mean well educated as well as anybody in Corinth perhaps more so than most capable absolutely talk about multilingual I think Paul was one of those men who could pick up a language and grasp a culture with very little time passing I I was always envious of people like that you've got some in Hebrew class with you or in your Greek class don't answer out loud right and I I mean your I have my Hebrew Bible upside down the first week because I it looked like a rag rug to me and I thought there's no way on earth and here I got Bruce Waukee teaching us fresh out of Harvard we took a summer course to prepare for the fall semester there were 17 of us in the class then the average grade was 28 so I was kind of halfway between 0 and 28 which is maybe about a c-grade on a big curve and what when we finally hit the floor running in the Hebrew class it wasn't long before you could spot the linguists well they're good some of you were really good at that and how great that is that you may not be did there's hope for you really really I mean that no one will ever ask you what your grade point average was at Dallas seminary they don't care only you care nobody else I've never been asked by an elder to show me showing my transcript I don't care about that what they care about is you're willing to say what Paul said you know I didn't try to outdo the pros when I arrived I wasn't in competition with the dramatists who could hold up the the comedy mask and give those lines in the crowd would just break up and laughter and then race off and come back on with the tragedy masks and those lines of tragedy I I wasn't on a stage I wasn't in competition you do that well says Paul in effect I didn't come as a hypocrite OHS I came as Paul look at verse 3 I was with you look at the words in weakness and fear and even trembling the more I understand that in weakness and fear and much trembling I love it that he says so he acknowledges it I I wasn't strong in myself I have I entertained fears and on occasion my voice shook I remember when I was invited by the Commandant of the Marine Corps to speak at the National Cathedral there's no incredible opportunity I was tempted to say no because I knew what was in front of me or what would be all the Marines there were dressed in dress whites the commanding force of the Marine Corps said in the first two rows the Commandant row of stars there in the second row as well I don't think I saw like Colonel among them all all generals to my left was graduating class from Quantico and the drum and bugle corps was there in their kilts and they played with bagpipe Amazing Grace how sweet the sound I said him to platform I'm gonna speak to this girl and it's filled with moms and dads that are so proud of the young second lieutenant marine graduates and the Commandant said to me truck I'd like you to speak on integrity never forget that assignment I worked on that message but when I stood to speak I was glad I robe I wore one of those big robes because my knees like that who was I who was I to speak to this group well I was the one who was invited I hadn't asked for the job I did my very best but I was with them in weakness and fear and in trembling I usually am when I before a group for the first time when Cynthia and I go to conferences I do better the second third and fourth time but the first time I don't know the people and I don't know what the needs are and so you you do your best but you feel squigglies down inside you know uneasiness Paul felt that in fact he says in verse four my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom this is the Apostle Paul are you hearing him this is the truth how grateful we are for that kind of honesty I I didn't come to WoW anybody and wasn't the purpose he tells us what he was and what he went through in verses 1 3 & 4 he tells us how in verse 2 and why in verse 5 how I determined to know nothing among you except what I knew about Jesus Christ and him crucified I know that subject I'm not here to address the philosophy that you know so much better than I I'm not here to play a role that many of you could play I am here to speak of Jesus and his crucifixion why verse 5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God will you learn that please will you learn that before you get out will you promise yourself that they called you to wherever you will serve to represent Jesus Christ and to continually address what he did and who he was do that faithfully regularly an old preacher taught me years ago don't ever let a message pass without mentioning with in failing to mention the name of Jesus Christ don't ever do that represent Jesus talk about Jesus tell them about the Savior present the good news don't hold back that's what you're learning here and hopefully you're learning how to do it in a context where it isn't heard all that often I like the way Eugene Peterson renders the words found earlier in the chap in this previous chapter take a good look friends that at who you were when you got called into this life I don't see many of the brightest and best among you not many influential not many from high society families isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and expanded exploits and abuses chose those nobodies to expose the hollow pretensions of the somebodies by the way when I finished the message at the Cathedral I stepped down and was getting ready to take my robe off and the commandant walked up and threw his arms around me I'll never forget that oh for commandant like this every four years in the Corps he said praise God that you told us about Jesus praise God that everyone here has her that he is the model of integrity so grateful for that by the way when the thing was over he asked me if I come to his home and have tea with him method sure I guess I could work I didn't know my schedule so I sit down the back seat of this long black limousine it's got flags flying with four stars in the fender we're on our way and there's a black phone there's a red phone and I said Jonah crawled what'd he say I just call him my wife and I started to pick up the red phone and he said he used that I'll have to kill you why don't I use the black phone and tell her what we're doing then we walked into his home and it was lined with the canvas oils of all the common dogs in the Marine Corps down through the years what a place to sit and visit and here since this man responsible for the entire Corps having tea with me good night I had to go the bathroom so bad I'm telling you I just I just didn't know how to say it you know you know where do you take a leak here you know it's not what you want to say in weakness in fear and trembling but I did it so their faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God chapter four of second Corinthians since we have this ministry we received mercy we do not lose heart look at his admission in verse 2 of second 2 Corinthians 4 we've not we pronounced the hidden the things hidden because of shame we don't walk in craftiness we don't adulterate the Word of God but my manifestation of truth look at those words by the display of the truth declaring it modeling it by truth in it we commend ourselves through everyone's conscience in the sight of God verse 5 we don't preach ourselves but Christ Jesus is Lord there he is again it isn't about us hard to forget that in this me as a mage it isn't about us it's about the message we have to deliver and we are here is your bond servants for Jesus sake when I was a student sweet Anderson who was in the class just behind me class of 64 said to me one day hey we're gonna go to the Oklahoma campus once you come along we'd loved it you know go in the dorm and witnessed some of the guys and you ever done that I said no I never have and sweet had been with crusade and we'd go back with them and still is with them by the way love sweet Anderson I wish you were president but that's another subject anyway uh sweet along we through for the guys and on our way there he said I probably need to prepare you for it Chuck he said you got to know when you get into the dorm it's going to be filled with pictures of naked women all across the wall and the guys are going to notice when you walk in if you're looking at them the guys or if you're looking at the pictures so he said I suggest let all of us simply focus on Jesus because he said they'll watch your eyes and they'll know what you're really thinking when you talk to him I appreciated that direct piece of advice he had forgotten I'd been to Marine Corps where that kind of stuff was commonplace stay focused stay focused on what it's about good we have this treasure in earthen vessels and that great we've got this treasure in fragile clay pots that's who we are that's a surpassing greatness of the power may be of God not from ourselves that will deliver you from so many restless nights that'll help you after messages that you didn't do well on you'll be so grateful that it is all about the person of the Savior the power of God when it has ever displayed through you it comes from him not from you how do you get like this how do you become that genuinely self effacing I think it requires pain I think you have to hurt now speak the language of many of you because some of you are going through some very painful times I know it's part of the curriculum here though you don't have to pay tuition for those courses some of you having a real tough time at home your husband or your wife and you are at odds all of you are having financial difficulties some of you are wondering gonna make it through this semester you're gonna pass the exam that's coming you understand what it is to hurt you'll know hurt all the way through your life you'll know pain toes are said it's doubtful God can use anyone greatly till he's hurt him deeply I've been hurt you are being hurt Paul does a whole list of hurts in the 11th chapter of this letter I think when we hurt that deeply by and by our interest in self-image passes it got back from Israel Mark mentioned that earlier and brought a friend back with me as a parasite living in my intestines from the wonderful fresh vegetables but they serve over there I didn't know he was there I came to know that on the way home and he hung around for about eight or nine days in fact it was so difficult and I even missed a Sunday at church and I just just won't do that unless I absolutely have to but I was so sick in it but you know what that was real good for me it was real good because we'd had such a great tour I mean they weren't 14,000 buses but there were there were 18 of them and we have some of the faculty were there and they could tell you just great great to come back from something like that feel a little bit like not when you have a parasite the necessity of this kind of humility can be wrapped up in three things number one identifying the things that have brought us to our knees Paul does that beautifully acknowledging our own humanity Paul models that like few others and quickly real are relying on those who come to our rescue ministry isn't a solo flight you can't make it on your own you try you will fail you stay close to a few really close stop hiding Cynthiana after returning from our first year at the seminary sort of caught our breath at glen airy which is the headquarters of the navigators you ever have a chance to go there I encourage you to do that Prabhas with a navigator overseas i heard about a man named Jim Peterson I'd never met Jim when we got to the Glen I understood that Jim was back from Sao Paulo where he administered very effectively it's a huge City and understood from a number of the navs that Jim had just absolutely knocked it out of the park I was anxious to meet Jim Peterson Jim and Marge wonderful people some of you may know him and of all things they invited sending me over first-year students the Dallas seminary going to visit with these seasoned missionaries said down to a simple meal was wonderful and I finally worked up the courage to say Jim how did you do it how did you do it ssam Paulo is a huge place and first you had to learn the language and then you had along with that pick up the culture and you had to relate with the people Jim by the way his real dark complected and black hair and fits the part you look very Brazilian I'm handsome man he smiled and said to me oh it suck it really isn't that difficult let them see the cracks in your life that's the secret he's right let him see the cracks in your life you're gonna soon be through with your studies here we're gonna say adios you're gonna get a piece of paper you're gonna frame it it'll go on your wall like mine is on my wall you'll be flooded with memories of those who taught you and the things learned here things you did well the things you did poorly but you'll be on your own you'll be out there let them see the cracks in your life you're not going out to make a big impression you're not going out to make anybody go whoo and all you're going out there to tell him about Jesus and him crucified and as gifted as the Lord has made you you've got the equipment because of His grace you've been able to study here were these men and women poured themselves into you but you'll then be demonstrating I hope the truth continue to learn continue to grow continue to let the crack show father thank you for the the beauty of your time and the way you have of making it all beautiful in your time there are feelings of uneasiness represented in this group today there are those who look at the future with a bit of fear you'll no longer have the ringing of a bell or the prof to give an assignment they'll be on their own so we pray in your time and you will cultivate in these lives the kind of authenticity that marked a man like Paul and ultimately an apostle named Peter and a lover like John and simple men like Andrew to take the message to the place of your appointment help us with the things we have heard today because the enemy doesn't want any of these things to happen so remind us of these few simple words today when we're out there on our own in the name of Jesus pray everybody sit

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 24,140

Rating: 4.8683128 out of 5

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, Charles R. Swindoll, Vulnerability, value, christ, authenticty, authentic, dallas seminary chapel

Id: 7mpSiQvMhFk

Length: 44min 6sec (2646 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 16 2014