Weakness Is The Way | Worship Service | Jamin Goggin

if somebody loved you so much they died for you wouldn't you want to know them and if there's a better way to live then i'm going to run to it and i want to see your purpose and plan for see how good god is good to see you all this afternoon how you guys doing today doing all right all right so good to see you would you stand with us god is moving god is at work he's alive let's sing to him let's worship him because he's right here with [Music] you come us the dawn with grace breathing life into this day [Music] as we are dancing [Music] come on let's put our hands together like this here we go [Music] this faith [Music] [Music] our pulse is racing [Music] [Music] we're singing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is racing come zombies [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] if i lose [Music] [Music] there's nothing for me [Music] if i [Music] me darkness [Music] bringing me back to your life bringing me back bringing me back to your life [Music] is [Music] he's leading us [Music] [Applause] [Music] trust your lies [Music] thank you [Music] hello saddleback family it's so good to see you today my name's doug if you're joining us on the lawn today we are glad you made it if you are watching us online or at your one of our other venues we're glad you're here as well let's start off with a little bit of friendliness shall we turn to your neighbors tell them hello if you got some water something razor glass and say i'm glad you're here make sure they know they matter to you good stuff good stuff all right when you're done saying hi you can go ahead and grab a seat when you came in today one of our awesome ushers gave you a bulletin looks like this that bulletin is covered with great images and some good useful information but it's also got some things inside i want to tell you about as we get started today one of the things you've got inside your bulletin is a set of message notes that will help you follow along today as we go through the message a little bit later you'll be glad you've got that also you've got what we call the connection card inside your bulletin too we would love it if sometime during the service today you take a moment fill that out let us know you were here you can literally write anything you want to us on that card but one of our favorite things to get is when you just tell us a little bit about what's going on in your life and tell us how we can pray for you we've got a dedicated team that prays for each and every prayer request that comes into our church each and every week so take a moment and turn that in later on you can drop that in the offering baskets as they go by let us know you're here we're glad about it next you've got one more thing in your notes as well or in your bulletin it looks like this it's an orange sticker you want to grab this out real quick and take a look at it this is an important part of our time together today you may or may not know this already but church is meant to be so so so much more than just something you go to on the weekend now this matters what we're doing together matters worshiping god together like this matters but there's more to it the bible tells us that we are a family that we're a body that i need you and you need me and i belong with you and you belong with me that we're meant to be bonded together with something something powerful that our love for jesus and our loving commitment to one another binds us together here's what that sticker's all about my hope is today that you would take a second you've got a pen that came with your bulletin i would love it if you would write down on that white space what is it that makes you feel like you belong at saddleback church i belong through what is it maybe it's i belong through our worship experiences or nights of worship or maybe it's i belong through my small group or i belong and feel connected because i serve in saddleback kids or in student ministries or maybe i belong through you know my purpose coach it could be anything you want all we want to know is what is the glue that makes you feel like you're stuck to this church you're a part of this family you are bonded to this body of believers here if you fill that out and right in that white space i would love it if on your way out today you're going to pass by the connection center which i'll talk about in just a second and there's a big booth set up and there's a place where you can stick your sticker just to the right of the connection center you won't miss it on your way out and if you want to stick your sticker up on that wall you'll become part of our big family collage that we're celebrating today it's a beautiful picture of how we are all a part of one family so i hope you'll do that now we got some important stuff to talk about there are always such great things happening at saddleback church one of the really cool things that happened just this past weekend is saddleback yorba linda took a huge step of faith and has now expanded into the city of brea saddleback brea we're celebrating that not just in brea but as a whole church family because when one church wins or one campus wins we all win so let's take a quick look at this video and let's celebrate what god's doing in bread hey i'm pastor tosh and i'm the campus pastor for saddleback brea and we're here at the brea community center our very new location last weekend we had an incredible time welcoming in the people from our community that we've been praying for and serving for many years we saw that there's all sorts of needs all sorts of people who are hurting not only with physical needs but desperately needing spiritual hope as well and we started serving with grocery distributions all over the city all over north oc we went to the nixon library started handing out food over there and giving hope and then we went right across the street from here to the breya mall and we started serving thousands of people food every month and that's what's been exciting it hasn't been a move it's been an expansion and now we are at the heart of of brea north oc right at the 57 and imperial highway at the breya mall so as we come here it's not so much about how many seats are filled it's not so much about the facilities and how nice it looks it's about the transformation that this community is going to experience so we're excited about what god has in store because we're gonna continue to be a place where anybody can come where everybody is welcome last weekend it was incredible to see familiar faces and new faces here but the reality is we're figuring a lot of this out we're depending upon god and i would encourage all of us as as all one saddleback family together to be praying for what god can do through this place through us as we are here the hands and feet of jesus christ in north oc and that we would be able to figure out how to use this new place for the kingdom of god man how sweet is that we're going to pray for saddleback brea in just a moment before we do i want to talk to you real quick if you're new to saddleback this is your first or second weekend or maybe you've been coming for a while but you've never really talked to anybody yet we want to change that tonight on the way out today i hope you'll visit the connection center we've got a team there friendly people who would love to get to know you just a little bit so if you've got questions about saddleback church what we're all about why we do what we do or what it means to get involved here we'd love to answer those questions there and have a conversation with you we're glad you're here now what's going to come next as we sing and as we listen to the word of god spoken in the message in just a few minutes is not to be rushed so right now i just want to take a second and slow us down just a little bit i know i've covered a bunch of stuff but i want to just slow it down and let's pray together let's pray for saddleback church brea and let's pray that god would use this time as he sees fit will you join me in doing that good father thank you for hearing us as you always do thank you for understanding us as you always do thank you for being here with us as you always are lord we give you all the attention and all the affirmation we give you all the credit for everything that's going to happen tonight because your spirit is with us as we begin to hear your words spoken in just a few minutes prepare us lord i ask that you would get out your tools we invite you to get out all your equipment lord and change us let us be transformed by what we hear and experience tonight let us be changed by your spirit lord will you heal us tonight so we can experience all the goodness of the life you intended lord we thank you for all the blessings you give and we thank you that our story continues we thank you in advance for what you're going to do tonight we think of saddleback church brea and we're so grateful for the transition and the newness that comes from such a big change moving a city away but lord we know that with all those unknowns and with all the change that might freak us out a little bit and and cause us to trust you in new ways we know that you know all the details you know everything that goes into that and because they're our church family and not a different church family but they are our church family in brea we remember them tonight we lift them up and we celebrate what you're doing in their community and we ask you lord will you bless them in such a powerful beautiful way lord will you empower pastor tosh and their staff and their volunteers will you draw the people to them from that community that need you so badly and need your healing and good touch in their life and lord as we sing together now hear the voices of your grateful kids who love you so much and honor you we ask your blessing on this time in jesus powerful name amen let's stand to our feet [Music] i was lost but he brought me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] forgive me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] yes [Music] i am [Music] i am is [Music] i am [Music] i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this lord we respond with a hallelujah making away in the desert breaking the strongholds that come to kante calling the dry bones back to life shaking the walls with the sound of your praise cause worry can leave all doubt now released perfect love casting out everything we say hallelujah [Music] there's freedom when i see where i am is peace [Music] [Music] in the sea your scars are holding my prongs thank you for your sacrifice and fight across i found my victory [Music] [Music] is [Music] so i will see [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's freedom when i [Music] will yeah [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] sing a little louder [Music] come on church [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] amen amen it feels so good to just give our praise to the one who deserves it give our praise to the maker of heaven and earth give our praise to the one from whom all good things come and we're so grateful today that's why we sing it's great singing with you all today thanks for joining us you can go ahead and have a seat and let's join pastor rick for this message hi everybody and welcome to worship at saddleback this weekend i'm actually in phoenix arizona where kaye's brother andy my brother-in-law is getting married and i'm doing the wedding so that's why i'm not with you this weekend i'm in phoenix doing a family wedding now all of this month we are talking about getting back into small groups most of you have been in a small group in the past but for the last 18 months the two years during covid maybe your group hasn't met and i want to encourage you to get back into a group you know the bible says that god has five purposes for your life and you need worship opportunities that's what we're doing today you need discipleship opportunities growth opportunities you need service opportunities where you use your gifts mission opportunities where you expand your mission in the world and you need fellowship opportunities that's the one that's been missing for almost two years because of the pandemic you have been fellowship starved and so now it looks like we're getting to the end of the tunnel we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it looks like covet is winding down and we want to get back into this purpose of fellowship you're not going to really feel like you're part of saddleback church unless you're in a small group we've had as many as 8 000 small groups meeting in homes in 196 different cities from santa monica to san diego and southern california and of course in berlin and in manila and in hong kong and in buenos aires where our other campuses are i can't stress enough the importance of you being in a small group i told you last week that i was going away for a weekend retreat with my small group it was an incredible time of fellowship of bonding of fun of uh growing in the lord we went up to monterey took a weekend off had a wonderful time and i want to encourage every small group to plan at least a day getaway and if you can a weekend getaway between now and the end of the year it will do your heart good it will refresh your spirit it'll recharge your emotions did you know that when you're in fellowship with other people it creates more energy in your life and you need more energy because of the fatigue of the constant stress and strain of constant change and trauma and all the things that we've been through in the last two years so after the service i want you to go out to the patio uh at your campus and go out there and sign up to get in a group if you're not in a group already get your group back together if you're in a group uh we want you to we'll help you start a new group and and you can do that and at the end of this service uh each of the campus pastors will give you instructions on how you can get in the group it is absolutely vital to your spiritual health you cannot grow like christ you cannot become all god wants you to be unless you're in a small group when jesus started his ministry the first thing he did is start a small group so please please please please please take the time say well i don't have time yes you do you make time for the things that are important and you the benefits will far outweigh what you put into being a part of a small group literally tens of thousands of saddleback members meet in small groups every week and i want you to be in part of that the end of the service your campus pastor will give you more information on this now today i want to tell you about an important book it's called the way of the dragon or the way of the lamb and the back of the book says this why do so many rock star pastors and leaders implode under the spotlight and how is it that so many christian leaders and institutions have been lured by the toxic and abusive power and why are so many christians tempted to chase worldly success and status because according to jamin gogg and kyle strobel rather than seeking kingdom power embodied by jesus we've embraced the form of power that is antithetical to the cross this is one of the most important books i've read in the last few years the way of the dragon or the way of the lamb and today i've asked to speak to us one of our own who wrote this book jamin goggin grew up at saddleback church i've known him since he was a baby his parents dan and alice goggin the charter members of saddleback church from like the first year jamin grew up in this church went off to christian college and university in seminary got his advanced degrees he served on our staff for many years leading our retreat ministry at rancho capistrano and now he is a pastor here in southern california and i asked while i was doing the wedding this weekend for kay's brother if jamin the author of this book would come and speak to us he's a homeboy coming home uh as a hero we love you jamin i want you to stand and give a warm saddleback welcome to one of our own jamin goggins well hello saddleback [Applause] hello it's a joy it's an honor to be with you as rick shared i'm maybe a new face to you but i assure you i'm not new to these parts i think my first weekend service was technically in the nursery at laguna hills high school that's it's been a few years this is the church i was saved at this is the church i was baptized in the faith it was here that i discovered the joy of christian fellowship in my first small group it was here that i met my wife kristen in high school grateful for that and so it's good to be back it's really good to be home thank you so much for having me it was in those high school years that i first felt the nudge of god towards vocational ministry being a teenager i didn't really know what that meant and so it wasn't until i got to to college that that kind of nudge became something of a clear call to me i can remember the moment really vividly in fact i was sitting on a bench at biola university any biola people in the i got a few hands thank you it's good to see a few christians have shown up today to the service but i was sitting on a bench at biola a place i commonly sat to spend time with the lord just praying and it was one of those really rare moments for me in prayer those rare moments of clarity and assurance or i just kind of knew in the moment i was called to be a pastor and so i with great enthusiasm and conviction and a bit of grandiosity in my heart rose from that bench and marched forward on the path that god had set before me in my life i worked hard at developing what i thought would be the necessary kind of talents and skills and abilities for vocational ministry as a pastor i went to seminary i doubled down on seminary education i got two masters at the same time determined that more learning would only be better and i got my first job in ministry as a youth pastor and i was elated at the opportunity and a few years into that position as a youth pastor all was going according to plan all those years of hard work all those years of preparation all those long nights of studying were paying off the hard work and the diligence were paying off my ministry was growing i received glowing affirmation from members of the church and from the leadership of the church i was given more and more teaching responsibility in the church i was well on my way to becoming the successful pastor that i had dreamed and envisioned of being but just when it appeared that the sky was the limit for me and my vocation everything came crashing down i lost my job the church simply couldn't financially afford to sustain the size staff that we were and i was one of those positions that they just couldn't afford to continue to hold and initially of course i was shocked i was devastated i can remember we had just purchased our first home here in ladera ranch my wife was pregnant with our first child so losing my job at this point in my life wasn't exactly what i envisioned but here i was out of work fairly quickly out of that shock and that devastation that grandiosity that had kind of been in my heart since those college days kicked into gear and fueled by all the affirmation i've been receiving from members of the church and leadership of the church i was at i i pressed on self-assured self-determined with pride in my heart and a resume in my hand i was determined i would get a better job in ministry but it didn't happen months and months went by i applied for several positions several pastoral positions at several different churches and i didn't get any of the jobs none of them it was a profoundly humbling experience for me you can imagine one that forced me to face the reality of my weakness see the truth was my resume didn't rise to the top of the pile my talent didn't win out my determination and resolve to get a job wasn't enough and as i kind of faced the reality of my limitations and my inadequacies there were some uncomfortable questions that began to kind of surface in my heart questions if i'm honest i hadn't really wrestled with previously in my life where was god in all this had he abandoned me had he forgot about that calling he had placed upon my life what is he doing maybe i misunderstand that misunderstood that calling maybe i'd gotten it wrong maybe i hadn't heard him right where do i go from here well my story this story is by no means unique i i have no doubt that many of you here many of you watching online at other campuses have experienced the hardship of unemployment in your life it's a painful experience maybe this is even where some of you find yourselves right now or maybe that's not your story but nevertheless you face the reality of your weakness through other kinds of difficulty and hardship and pain in your life for some of us it comes through physical injury or illness we have to face the reality the very real truth that we have limitations that our bodies can't do what they used to do no matter our resolve to fix it perhaps for some of us it's come through the death of a dream maybe we had personal or professional goals in our lives things we imagined what happened things we determined were going to happen and they simply didn't come to fruition because we didn't have the resources or maybe we didn't have the ability to make it happen the way we thought we could make it happen and yet still for others of us i think it shows up in and through parenting as a father of four children i know this experience in my own life maybe you've had to face the difficult truth that you can do all the right things as a parent you can read all the parenting books and take all the parenting workshops and it turns out that your kids can still make foolish choices does this happen in anyone's life destructive choices and ultimately you're powerless to control it powerless to control perhaps the outcome of the decisions that they've made and of course in so many ways the pandemic that we've been in the last year and a half of our lives or so it's forced us to collectively face the reality of our weakness you see in a culture convinced of its ability to solve any problem and overcome any obstacle the long cold winter of the pandemic has been a shock to the system has it not it turns out that we can have all the cutting-edge technology we could possibly imagine we can have miraculous modern medicine we can have riches the world has never seen and our lives can still be radically impacted and threatened by an unseen virus it turns out we aren't as powerful as we imagined we were if the pandemic has shown us anything it's that we are in fact fragile limited finite indeed weak creatures now i don't know all the specific hardships and difficulties and pains and challenges you've had to face in your life i i don't know all the ways that the pandemic has particularly impacted you and your family but i can imagine if you're anything like me for the past couple of years you've come face to face with the reality of your own frailty your finitude your mortality your weakness and i can imagine similar questions perhaps questions like the ones that surfaced in my life those many years ago have begun to surface in your own hearts in this season to varying degrees and in varying ways where is god in this what is he doing where do we go from here sometimes i think these can be really scary questions to ask scary because we're not sure what kind of answer we might end up with or if we'll hear an answer at all but today i want to assure you god is not scared of your questions he's not scared of your questions and today what i want to do is at least graciously ask you if you will to courageously kind of hold open those questions before the lord open your heart and present them to him trusting that the lord who searches the heart and knows it is always moving towards you in love the god's not put off by any question you might have about the circumstances of your life he wants you to ask he wants to meet you in those questions god will meet you in those questions he he met me in those questions as i wandered through the wilderness of unemployment years ago and in that season of my life he surprised me with his grace he met me with oh so unexpected good news you see what i came to discover in that season of my life was that my weakness it turns out wasn't actually a problem to fix but a gift to embrace that it wasn't a sign of god's abandonment in my life but in fact the location of god's promised presence in my life that in my pursuit of a vocational calling god had placed on my life i had missed in fact unbeknownst to me at the time the deeper calling he had placed on my life it's a calling we hear on the lips of jesus in the gospel of matthew chapter 16 verses 24 to 26. if any of you would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life from my sake will find it you see while i had an earnest desire to follow god's call into ministry in many ways what i discovered that was that i had been seeking to gain the world to be powerful to be successful to be significant as a pastor unbeknownst to me i've been trying to save my own life and i was losing it in the process in the painful reality of losing my job god had a gracious gift for me designed to help me find life designed to save my soul as jesus says you see what god showed me in this season was that weakness is the way weakness is the way weakness is the only way in fact to a flourishing life it's the only way to the abundant life that god has to offer us and so today i want to share with you the surprising and unexpected good news of the way of weakness and we see the way of weakness all throughout scripture it shows up over and over again in the pages of scripture story after story of how god meets his people but for our purposes today i want to focus on the life of the apostle paul paul i think serves as an excellent model for us in this way of weakness as we observe the work of god in paul's life we see there are three key principles in this way of weakness so my hope is to kind of trace those three principles for us today and as we do my hope is that you will discover as i did the surprising good news of jesus right in the midst of your weakness and so principle number one of the way of weakness god calls us into our weakness he calls us into our weakness now see prior to his salvation the apostle paul was the definition of success personally and professionally he had it all put together his resume is as impressive as it gets he was from the right tribe of israel he was blameless according to the law this is paul's own words blameless according to the law he received the best education of the day under the most notorious rabbi of his time gamaliel he had it all his life was put together his resume was put together and right in the middle of that success story paul encountered jesus rather disruptively if you know the story jesus encounters paul and he places a radical new calling upon his life jesus articulates this calling in acts chapter 9 verse 15. we read this he this is jesus speaking about paul now he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel for i will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name this is the call of jesus upon paul's life i'm going to show him how much he's going to have to suffer for my name as it turns out jesus isn't bluffing here we read in second corinthians chapter 11 verses 24 to 28 kind of a snapshot of paul's life following this moment a snapshot into his experience as an apostle paul gives us just a taste of what it's been like and here's what he says five times i received at the hands of the jews the forty lashes lest one three times i was beaten with rods once i was stoned three times i was shipwrecked a night and a day i was adrift at sea on frequent journeys and danger from rivers danger from robbers danger from my own people danger from gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at sea danger from false brothers sounds fun doesn't it in toil and hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst often without food and cold and exposure turns out jesus wasn't blessing about paul's suffering this is what paul traded in his powerful and successful life for this this is the call of jesus on his life a life of influence and notoriety and respect for a life of hardship and danger and scarcity and rejection the question just begs to be asked doesn't it does something go wrong along the way here is this really the plan well according to paul nothing went wrong this was the plan for paul this reality the suffering of his life this reality is a a validation it's a validation it's a marker that he has in fact faithfully followed christ to begin with paul says it this way again in second corinthians chapter 13 verse 4 for he was crucified in weakness and he's paul talking about jesus he jesus was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of god for we also are weak in him but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of god this is paul's way of saying yeah i've taken up jesus's calling in my life to pick up my cross and follow him i'm following him in his way his way of weakness jesus who died on the cross and weakness and relied upon the power of god i'm following that same jesus in my life this is validation that i've followed him faithfully okay that's all good and well but maybe maybe paul was called into weakness but you know it's like a unique specific calling on his life i mean he is an apostle after all i mean maybe there's like a there's an option out here for us i mean none of us are apostles right like maybe that's kind of his deal we don't have to do this maybe it's not normative well not according to the bible don't believe me just just think for a minute about the characters of the bible their stories the ones that many of you probably know even if you don't know the bible front to back you know these stories abraham you're going to be the father of a great nation for me kind of a problem lord i'm too old and i can't have children anymore no problem i'm calling you into that moses you're going to be my mouthpiece you're going to be my leader who calls my people out of egypt who rescues them god i'm not sure if you know but i have this kind of speech issue this speech impediment not really a great communicator and besides that i have a whole lot of you know baggage shall we say with egypt not sure i'm the right guy for this job david david you're going to be my chosen king lord have you did you not notice i'm the youngest i'm the smallest i'm the least kingly looking there's a reason why everybody passes over me when they think about this i'm not it calling people into their weakness is god's standard operating procedure this is how he works and i think many of us assume the opposite we assume the opposite this idea that god calls us into our weakness it feels utterly bewildering to us because we operate with the assumption that god works in a completely different manner in our lives he doesn't do that he does the opposite of that and what we've done what i had done in my life was many years ago as i encountered my own weakness as we import our own vision of life our own vision of the good life the flourishing life the abundant life what that ought to look like we kind of import that into our relationship with god this is the way it's supposed to go you know a life marked by comfort and control a life where i feel powerful and significant we unconsciously assume that god is just kind of on board with this plan he's basically just another resource in our quest for success oh god you want to sign up for the plan great i'd love to have your help getting where i want to go sounds great and so when suffering comes along when hardship sets in when we're faced with the reality of our weakness our frailty we wonder what went wrong this wasn't the plan did we upset god is he is he mad at me did god abandon me somewhere along the way was the plan kind of working and then he decided like i'm sorry i'm busy over here with these other people i'll get back to you later no did we upset god did we do something wrong did he leave us behind when in reality what's going on is god is faithfully completing the good work that he began in us okay but if this is the case why this is the question surface for me i don't know if it's surface is for you but it surfaces for me why i mean did god just want paul to suffer seems rather cruel does he just want us to suffer the answer of course of course of course of course is no the goal is not suffering the goal is a truly flourishing life an abundant life the good life that he offers but it turns out the path to that life is in and through weakness why does god call us into our weakness well this question leads us to the second principle of the way of weakness the second principle of the way of weakness is god calls us to embrace our weakness he calls us into our weakness and he calls us into our weakness so that we will embrace our weakness and once again we turn to the life of the apostle paul here as a model for us what this looks like in second corinthians 11 3 paul says this if i must boast i will boast of the things that show my weakness paul boasts not in his gifts not in his talents not in his abilities not as in his accomplishments not even in his impressive resume but rather in what in his weakness and in doing so to be sure he takes great risk this decision to to signal this in this letter to the corinthian church it's a risky move you see paul speaks these words to a church that has begun to question his apostolic authority and credibility we read through the second letter to the corinthian church we pick up on this dynamic that's going on paul has been gone and while he's been gone they've begun to question whether he's really an apostle worth his salt whether he's really worth listening to and following whether he really has authority whether he really has kind of the anointing of god why well in short precisely because of this laundry list of weaknesses that i read to you earlier you see paul simply doesn't fit the kind of corinthian profile of a powerful and successful religious leader he doesn't fit the bill we just heard paul's list of hardships they weren't excited about that hearing how he's in danger from everyone and no one likes him anywhere this isn't what they're looking for we pick up on other weaknesses that the corinthian church have become concerned about though as well in paul's life as we read through these letters for example we hear that he doesn't have a commanding presence paul doesn't kind of have steve stage presence he doesn't have gravitas he doesn't have an impressive personality they don't like that he isn't an eloquent teacher we're here stacked up against kind of the teachers of his day the rhetoricians who are traveling the land and pressing people with their oratory ability he's not in the kind of upper echelon of that group in fact he's probably somewhere down here and all the while there are other teachers these other eloquent teachers these other kind of teachers who have gravitas who have stage presence they start coming into town while paul's away from the church in corinth they fit the bill they're pulling people away from paul and towards themselves they fit the bill for kind of successful powerful leaders worth following and listening to this is what i mean when i say paul takes a real risk here things hang in the balance whether this church is going to continue to follow him as their apostle and listen to him or leave and follow others false teachers you see the bottom line is paul is about to lose this church to false teachers teachers who oppose the gospel all because he is too weak for their taste so what does he do what's his solution to the problem well you just heard it what's his response i will boast in my weakness wow he boasts in his weakness i mean i i don't know about you but this wouldn't have been my approach would this have been your approach this wouldn't have been my strategy for one i certainly wouldn't have you know given them any further kind of fodder for criticism like hey let me let you know about more weaknesses which is what he's done throughout the letter oh you think those are bad let me give you a bigger list of weaknesses that wouldn't have been my approach would that have been your approach wouldn't have been my approach beyond that i i would have i would have marshaled a strong defense a defense of my authority a defense of my credibility a defense of my anointing as an apostle i would have worked hard to cover up whatever weaknesses they may see they may identify and i would have pushed forward all of my talents and abilities and accomplishments you know that impressive resume that paul has i i would have pushed that forward i would have been posting that on my social media feed all day long hoping that they share and like but fantastically paul does none of that he does none of it in fact he does the exact opposite he repeatedly brings up his less than commanding presence he himself talks about it he brings up his less than captivating teaching style he talks about it he so embraces his weakness that he boasts in it he says god calls us to embrace the truth of our weakness in a culture that boasts of personal accomplishment achievements personal strengths it's hard to imagine a more radically counter-intuitive idea isn't it in our culture weakness certainly isn't something to embrace or boast in or to gladly be content with it's something to be ashamed of it's something to hide from spend our lives trying to cover up hoping that no one will ever see it or notice it i mean think about it what are you supposed to do in the interview room when they get to that weird final question you know the question right can you tell me about your weaknesses what might those be well you certainly don't acknowledge you have any instead you say something like this i guess i'd have to say my weakness is that i just care too much and work too hard well that's not a weakness is it we know exactly what we're doing but somehow that actually works and kind of the exchange in our culture that makes sense that's what you should do never give in to your weaknesses perhaps the nagging question though still remains for us in this why okay so god calls us into our weakness and calls us to embrace our weakness why is the goal of the christian life just to be weak does god i don't know want us to be like a bunch of eeyores you know eeyore from winnie the pooh kind of walking around life head hell hung low just reciting a narrative of failure over our life all day have you noticed this about eeyore not with four kids i notice this about you or when i read winnie the pooh stories he's just all day long i'm terrible i can't believe that anyone likes me why would anyone ever want to be friends with me probably won't work out anyways is this what we're supposed to do in our lives just be yours well once again of course the answer is no so then why embrace our weakness why why would we do that this leads us to our third and final point god calls us to flourish to flourish in our weakness to flourish in our weakness as we read paul's second letter to the corinthian church we discover there's there's one particular weakness that he himself in fact is struggling to embrace paul is like us he didn't just kind of have this figured out the moment of salvation it's a process for him of learning to embrace the weakness learning to embrace where god has called him and we see in this letter to the corinthian church that he's struggling to embrace this one particular area of weakness in his life what he refers to as a thorn in the flesh and we see paul crying out to god pleading to jesus three times in fact that jesus would would take this away from him i don't want to have to deal with this anymore it's really hampering me and my ministry it's really it's a weakness that i just don't want to have i really think i could forge forward much more strength and much more power lord if you just get rid of this three times he pleads with jesus to take it away from him and jesus's response is functionally no no we hear jesus's response paul actually tells us jesus's response to him in prayer in second corinthians 12 verse 9. here's what jesus says to paul's request that he just take his weakness away from him jesus says this my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness do you hear the functional no to the question will you take the weakness away no my grace is sufficient for you my power is made perfect right there right there in the place you want me to get rid of that's where you're going to know my power not beyond it or outside of it but right there you see god has called paul into his weakness to embrace his weakness for a reason for a good and ultimate purpose so that paul would know paul would know the presence and the power of god in his life not the presence and power of god as an idea but as an experienced reality in his life right in the midst of his weakness that he would come to know god's power right there it's this truth that leads paul to say this in 2nd corinthians 12 9-10 jesus's response and my grace is sufficient for you leads paul to say this in response therefore i will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that so that this is the key turn of phrase there so that the power of christ may rest upon me for the sake of christ then i'm content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions calamities why why would he be content with all those things for when i'm weak then i'm strong you see what paul has discovered is that what is best for him is not that he's rid of all of his weaknesses not that god would just kind of get rid of all the frailties and the brokenness the fragility and the limitations and the inadequacies and the failures of his life but rather what's best for him is that he would come to know god's presence right there that he would encounter the power of god in his weakness it's for this reason that he's content with his weakness paul doesn't just like getting beat up boy it's fun he doesn't just like sleepless nights man this is great he doesn't just like being persecuted and maligned because um that feels good paul embraces these realities because he's come to learn oh that's where the power of god is found that's where i come to know god's presence that's where i come to know a strength that goes far beyond any strength that i might muster or possess in my own life it's for this reason and this reason alone that paul is content with his weakness for it's there that he experiences the power of god you see for paul this isn't just kind of some nice theological tip of the cap to god's sovereignty yep god's all-powerful rather as we see throughout paul's life it's a lived experience it's a known relational reality this is true paul knows it to be true it's what leads paul to just behave in the strangest of ways saying things like i rejoice in my suffering i'm content in my weakness because the true experience of his life is oh i know god right there i know god's strength right there i know god's power in my life right there it's what leads paul to say things like this philippians chapter 4 verses 11 through 13. not that i'm speaking of being in need for i have learned in whatever situation i am to be content there's that language again you hear i know how to be brought low and i know how to abound in any and every circumstance i have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger and abundance and need what's the secret here is at the end i can do all things through him who strengthens me notice for paul there this is a need not just when you're weak and desperate but when you're also what when things seem abundant and life seems to be going well at all times we need god i've learned the secret of being content i've learned the secret of boasting in my weakness i've learned the secret of rejoicing in my suffering you know what it is that in all things i have christ with me and he strengthens me you see saddleback family the truth is when we are weak then we are strong you see as those whose lives now are are shaped by the cross of jesus what we begin to see is that weakness is not a place of loss but victory what we begin to see is that weakness is not a place of death but life this is the upside down paradigm-shifting counter-intuitive logic of the gospel of jesus christ of the power of the cross it's the same logic that makes sense of a whole bunch of really weird things jesus says you've noticed jesus says like a lot of really weird things things that seem counterintuitive things that seem upside down things that make our our minds go is that really true things like this let me tell you who's blessed blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven in other words blessed are the weak jesus says this all throughout his teaching ministry you want to know where the blessed life is found in your weakness and to be sure this sounds utterly foolish to the world but to know to those who know god and who are called according to his purpose we come to hear this as true wisdom it's the wisdom of the cross you see brothers and sisters your weakness is not something to hide from or cover up it's not a problem to fix rather weakness is the way it's the way the only way to true power true joy true peace true life embracing your weakness and depending upon god's strength alone abiding in christ and coming to learn that apart from him you can do nothing this this is the good life this is the abundant life this is the life of prosperity that jesus has promised you life independence upon him life and reliance upon his strength alone this is the flourishing life the life that produces much fruit not a life of self-sufficiency a life of self-reliance a life of self-achievement a life of self-actualizing only those who walk by faith and not by sight could possibly see that weakness is the way it sure doesn't look that way when we look around in the world what it looks like is all of those who are actualizing their pa their talents maximizing their strengths and abilities all of those who are dominating and winning they're the ones flourishing but jesus invites us by faith to see what can only be seen by faith the way of weakness this is the way to eternal life this is the blessed life this is the abundant life this is the flourishing life and what good news is that it's good news isn't it you know why it's good news it's good news because if your life is anything like my life your life is full of weakness it's good news because our lives are full of weakness it's good news because we live in a world that constantly is exposing to us how fragile we really are how limited we really are how inadequate we often are how incapable we might really be our weaknesses are exposed every day in our lives is this just my experience are you living this kind of life as well they're exposed every day when you have to take a test in school and you studied really hard and when you get to the test you forget everything you studied that's a terrible feeling isn't it weakness when you're asked to manage a new project at work and you realize that upon receiving it you don't have the time necessary to actually execute well when you're in an argument with your spouse and you come to realize maybe later if you're like me maybe later you come to realize that one of the primary reasons for the conflict is just how feeble and broken and weak your love really is for them when you begin to feel the effects of old age not just on what you can maybe physically do but on your cognitive abilities you see what good news for us that the abundant life that jesus has to offer us is found right in these places right there right in those moments of exposure to the truth of how fragile and weak and broken and needy we truly are that every occasion of weakness is an opportunity to turn to god in prayer and say oh lord this is where i need you right here that every moment of exposed weakness is an occasion to say i'm not sufficient lord but your grace is i i need you right here what good news it is that the foundation of our lives is not our strength not our abilities not our faithfulness but gods and gods alone but good news what bad news it would be if the abundant life the good life the flourishing life was only offered to those who had it all put together to those who'd figured out how to rid their whole life of any frailties or weaknesses or brokenness to those who are perfect and always put together wouldn't that be bad news we'd all be in trouble wouldn't we praise be to god that a truly flourishing life is not the result of our best efforts praise be to god that his power is made perfect in our weakness do you pray with me i recognize as we kind of turn our hearts in prayer that we all hear the lord's word today our lives in different places maybe some of us have yet to say yes to jesus's offer his offer of grace his offer of strength and weakness the power the saving power of his cross so maybe as you hear the word of the lord today you're inclined to respond you don't know exactly what that looks like maybe but you know that you're weak and you you want god's strength you know that flourishing life being determined by yourself that project isn't going well and you like god's abundant life what he has to offer you in through jesus cross that's where you find yourself today can i invite you just to say lord i'm weak i need your strength the bible says if we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that god raised jesus from the dead will be saved it it's just a yes to jesus's saving work for you upon the cross a yes to the power he offers you in your weakness i encourage you to say yes to jesus for all of us as we hear this message today no doubt certain weaknesses in our life surface maybe ones we've been trying to hide or cover maybe ones that others don't even know about weaknesses could be our sin could be our failures it could just be foibles and inadequacies we have in life maybe there's things we've been hiding maybe even trying to hide from god maybe one or two of those things kind of surface for you in your heart as you hear the message today can i invite you just for a moment just bring that before the lord in prayer lord i'm weak right here he meets you in love he meets you in grace he already knows the truth of your life would you ask him to begin teaching you what it might look like to depend upon him in this place to not view your weakness as a problem to fix but as an opportunity to abide in his strength so father what good news it is that your power is made perfect in our weakness we thank you for this truth we pray these things in the name of jesus amen i'm glad you guys are here that one was for me though uh i i jotted a ton of notes down on this one i said god thank you for meeting me where i'm most weak and broken and you maybe have experienced that in your life too i want to talk to you for just a second especially if you decided to say yes to jesus tonight as jason or as jaime was just talking about if that's a first-time decision for you the bible makes it really clear that you have a fresh brand new start and you need a church family you need people that are going to support you in your new life so there are a couple ways you can get some help one great way is to text new start to 83 000 but you can also stop by at the connection center you can talk to one of our team members you can talk to a pastor figure out what it means to be supported as you start this new journey with jesus now if you uh have trust in jesus and you have come ready to be baptized tonight my buddy jared over there pastor jared is baptizing tonight and he would love absolutely would make his day if he got to baptize you tonight so you can exit just out the back of the worship center there you can talk to an usher if you don't know where that is they'll point you right to the spot we'd love to see you baptized tonight and if you're watching online and you'd like to be baptized in your area you can go to saddleback.com baptism to learn about that last god shows his goodness to us in so so many different ways each and every day some things we notice some things we don't even notice because god is so good he's always dousing us with blessings and we sometimes don't even notice but one of the ways we say thanks to god is by giving our offerings to him so in just a minute the baskets are going to be passed and you can use that opportunity to give your gift if you're a member here and you feel god's calling you to give if you're a guest with us tonight we do not want you to give you're our guest we want you to be comfortable and have a good time that's it don't want anything from you just to be here and be with us so in just a moment you can you can give your gift you can also drop your communication card or your connection card from earlier as well last if you wrote on that sticker that you have the i belong through sticker on your way out don't forget to stop by our small group booth they'd love to talk to you about what it means to join a small group to start a small group if you're thinking it's probably hard secret is it's not it's actually really super easy to start a small group we'd love to help you do that but go by if nothing else if you just want to get in and get out that's fine get your sticker on the wall be a part of our family collage guys we're so glad you're here with us see you next time [Music] all right let's send our time together we're going to worship through giving we're going to worship people singing so would you stand with us let's sing it keep bringing me back to your life oh you're bringing me back to your [Music] life you keep bringing me back to your life you're bringing me back bringing me back bringing me [Music] you're bringing me back you're bringing me back to your life [Music] we love you church we'll see you right here next week god bless you have a great week [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Saddleback Church

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Length: 88min 8sec (5288 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021