INTRODUCTION
Are you called to be a church leader bul fear your inadequacy will keep you from being successful? Do you believe you are too weak to be a strong leader? Perhaps you have already been thrust into a position of leadership and are facing frustration or even failure. If so, take heart. God has good news for you.
A. GOD USES THE WEAK
He glveth power to the faint, and to lose that have no might. He increaseth strength" (Isa 40:29)
When God calls a person to become a leader, He doesn't choose him on the basis of how clever, talented or educated he may be, infact, these are things which God
may have to modify (or sometimes destroy) before He can use us. The Bible says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent" (1 Cor. 1:19)."
The Apostle Paul says, "... the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called, "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; 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 (1 Corinthians 1:25-28).
This is what the Apostle Paul was teaching us: through our weakness our faltering, our failings, God reveals His wisdom. Through our helplessness, God displays His power. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
A preacher friend of mine, Jack, shared a recent experience with me. While he ministered in Japan, the Lord was impressing him with this scripture:
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest (defeat/silence) the enemy of the avenger" (Psa. 8:2).
Enemies Defeated
He was teaching the church leaders of Japan that the Lord uses the praises of babes and sucklings to defeat His enemies (see Matthew 21:16).
It is as if God takes delight in humiliating Satan by using the weakest members of His creation (you and me - His babes, His children) to still (defeat) the enemy and the avenger.
As Jack was flying home from Japan the Lord gave him a vision. He saw a group of children leading a bunch of bleating, helpless sheep. The children were praising God and rejoicing in Him.
As Jack meditated on this, the Lord spoke to him and said, "I have chosen the symbol of lambs and sheep to represent my people because they are symbols of weakness and have no ability to lead or save themselves. But I am going to take a bunch of praising children who are leading a flock of bleating sheep and use them to utterly vanquish Satan, to defeat him at every turn of events."
I believe Jack is right. God uses the weak to destroy His enemies.That means
He can use you and me.
B.THE PEOPLE GOD CHOOSES
I am often astonished by the people God chooses to do particular jobs.
Paul
For example,He sent Paul to the uncultured pagan Gentiles. Paul had studied the Scriptures under Gamaliel (who was a great master teacher of the Pharisees). As a candidate for the Sanhedrin (a prestigious Jewish men's group who interpreted
the religious laws in Israel) Paul had to memorize and quote (without error) the first five books of the Old Testament (called the Pentateuch). He was a Jew of notable background and achievement.
From a human viewpoint, no one could have been more suited to the task of evangelizing Jews than Paul. But to whom did God send Paul to minister? Not to the cultured Jews but to the ignorant and outcast
peoples called Gentiles. The Gentiles had little appreciation for Paul's great learning
and his mastery of Jewish law.
All of Paul's natural strength, all his education, cleverness and talent had to be set aside. God had to strip it all away by taking him to the desert of Arabia (like his forefather Moses) and there divest him of all those things he could have boasted in (see Galatians 1:17; Philippians 3:4-8).
In that, " ... howling waste wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? (Jeremiah 2:6).
Paul learned his success as a minister of Christ would only be through laying down "all that was gain - to count it loss - to gain Christ" (see Philippians 3:7, 8).
He learned to proclaim the gospel "...not in plausible words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. 2:4).
To convince people that Jesus was their Savior, Paul counted more on the Spirit working miracles through him than he did on his ability as an orator or preacher (1 Cor. 10:4; 2 Cor. 10:10). We should do the same.
Peter
Though Peter opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 10), he remained in Jerusalem among the most elite Jews of
the Roman empire as "the apostle to the Jews" (see Galatians 2:8). What qualified Peter for this task? Certainly not great academic achievement or education. The Bible describes him as unlearned and ignorant (Acts 4:13). He was but a simple fisherman, yet God qualified him for the job by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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