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Expectations for the Perfect
I Cor. 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. KJV
Let’s read that again, carefully, this time from the New American Standard Version, not because it is “better” but so that we might be sure and get the sense of what God is saying to us.
1 Cor 1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, 29 that no man should boast before God.
NAS
While most people have high hopes and expectations of those who minister – and it’s not wrong to have those hopes – when the reality comes crashing in that their favorite preacher is human, a lot of people are simply devastated. “How could (she/he) do THAT?” is the cry.
The answer is: GOD DOES NOT USE PERFECT PEOPLE! (Stop right here and memorize that. You are gonna need it.)
God uses weak, flawed and imperfect humans, people who struggle with the same types of problems that everyone struggles with. He does not choose the “wise”, the “mighty”
(“powerful” in the Greek language), the “noble” (“high ranking”) people. He chooses the “foolish” – the Greek word here is “moros” = “dull, stupid, morally blockheads”. He chooses the “weak”
(feeble, impotent, strengthless both literally, figuratively and morally), the “base”
(“ignoble”), the “despised” and those which are nothing.
If God chooses to call and use these kinds of people, why in the world are we surprised when it actually turns out that they are human?
Because:
- We expect more from them than from ourselves
- We often think they are more spiritual than we are
- We often think they are better than we are
- We often believe they are “perfect”
- We don’t like to think they may be as weak and prone to failure as we are
Sometimes those in the ministry pretend that they have reached some sort of perfection and foster this attitude. It is possible some may be so self-deceived as to think they really are perfect. I would hope not. Quite often though God’s people simply have not understood the fact that God does not choose what we humans would consider “the best” for the job He wants them to do.
PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT excusing or condoning sin. I am not making excuses for failure. I am not saying we have to sin.
What I am saying is that if you believe Christian leaders do not struggle with the same temptations, sins and failures that you do, you are deceived. And if you happen to be a person, leader or not, who believes that you do not have any weaknesses, sins or failures to struggle with or watch out for, you are deceived.
1 John 1: 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. NIV
God does not call those who are “perfect’. As a great minister of the Lord once said, “He does not want gold vessels. He does not want silver vessels. He simply wants yielded vessels.”
Flawed, imperfect, fallible and prone to failure. Those are whom He calls. The reason the Father does this is so that He might get all the credit for the good things that come through the ministry! It is to prove that whatever good happens, it is not from man! It is all of Him.
This does not mean that we can give up striving against sin. This does not mean that we can just run off and do whatever we wish. This does not excuse our failures. We cannot say, “I am just weak and I can’t help it.”
Our core attitude MUST be that we do not want to sin. It HAS TO BE a desire to do better. It MUST hate the flesh. And it MUST be shown in an immediate humbling of ourselves when we realize we have failed. It has to be shown by a quick response to Holy Spirit promptings and immediate confession and repentance. A quick yielding to the Lord and His dealings with us shows that in the core of our being we do not want to fail and we do not excuse our failures.
This has been traditionally called “brokenness”. God does not use perfect things. God uses broken things. When something has been broken it has no more of its own natural strength. It is now flawed, weaker than it was initially. This is what God chooses to use.
Broken things:
- Judges 7:19 - 20 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
It was only when the pitchers were broken that the light inside could be seen.
- Acts 27:44 and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.
Paul and the people with him on the ship did not get to land safely in lifeboats. It was with broken pieces of the ship that they were saved.
- Matt. 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
The miracle did not happen until the bread was broken.
- Mark 14:3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
Ministry to the Lord did not happen until the box was broken and its contents poured out. (after that it filled the whole house!)
God uses broken, imperfect things. STOP PUTTING YOUR HOPE AND YOUR FAITH IN THE IMPERFECT! Put your faith and hope in Him Who is Perfection! Jesus, the Almighty Son of God!
Yes, the Lord sets leaders in the Church. We are to follow them as they follow Jesus. That does not mean follow them in everything they do. Where they are following Jesus, you follow.
1 Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
NIV
You have the Word of God. You have Holy Spirit in you. You have Jesus. There is an anointing that abides in you. You are responsible to follow the Lord and to follow those whom God has set in the Church. But the following them is in the measure that they follow Jesus, realizing that God chooses the weak, the lowly, the prone-to-failure, so that He might get the honor and glory for all that is accomplished.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Pray for your Church leaders. Pray for all those who are involved in ministry of some type whether in Sunday School, Children’s Ministry, Youth and Teen work, Worship Leaders .. where ever they are serving the Lord.
The pressures are heavy. The temptations are many. Often the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak. It is only as we hold one another in prayer that strength comes. Be a Strenghener. Do not be one who tears down with your mouth. We are to build, strengthen, encourage and help.
As we strengthen one another we all become stronger in the Lord. And He is glorified.
Gal 6:1- 2 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. NIV
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