Jesus needs messed up people
This morning I want to begin with a little Korean history.
Korea was occupied by the Japanese for 30 some years beginning in the early 1900¡¯s The Japanese wanted to make the Korean peninsula their own. They had to do this in order to move on and annex China. During the 30 years, they sought to destroy the Korean culture, and they tried to implant the Japanese culture. And they tried to replace our language too. By the way, how do you spell Korea? It begins with a K. But have you ever seen it spelled with a C. The Japanese changed the way we spell Korea. This is because in the Olympics the countries stand in alphabetical order. And Japan felt superior and wanted to stand in front of Korea. Now when I first learned about this ten years ago, it kind of made my blood boil. It¡¯s a good thing I¡¯ve had gone through a few years of sanctification. Is your blood boiling? Maybe you need more sanctification. I don¡¯t want you to hate the Japanese. I just want you to understand how the patriotic Korean people felt when they were under Japanese control. Now during this time, although the Japanese had a lot of power, they were short on people. So they recruited Koreans. They paid them well and gave them good homes. The Koreans who accepted work at the hands of the Japanese were looked down upon as betraying the honor of their nation. They were looked down upon and despised. Imagine yourself living in those days, and you had a neighbor. Let¡¯s call him Jack. Let¡¯s give him a Korean name. Jack-ku. And Jack-ku had given in to the Japanese and worked for them. How would you feel towards Jack-ku? To be his friend, would mean that you would risk losing all your other friends. Would you be his friend?
I know of someone who would be his friend. His name is Jesus. Jesus would be his friend. And I¡¯ve got Bible to prove it to you.
Matthew 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ¡°Follow Me.¡± So he arose and followed Him.
Do you know why Matthew was sitting at the tax office? It was because he was a tax collector.
The Jews hated Matthew. Matthew was a Jew who worked for the Roman government.
And the tax collectors were not merely the instruments of Roman oppression; they were extortioners on their own account, enriching themselves at the expense of the people. So Matthew took advantage of other Jews.
A Jew who accepted this office at the hands of the Romans was looked upon as betraying the honor of his nation. He was classed with the vilest of society.
Can you think of a notorious tax collector in the Bible? Zaccheus! Everybody knew Zaccheus! And everybody hated Zaccheus, that is, until he started giving back what he stole.
Can you imagine what people said about Jesus as Matthew followed him around? It probably didn¡¯t help Jesus reputation.
Why would Jesus ask someone like Matthew to be his disciple?
Matthew had problems, would you agree?
Jesus uses people withproblems. Do you have problems? Are you disappointed with yourself? Are you far from being perfect? Jesus can use you. If Jesus can use Matthew, then Jesus can use you. Amen!
Among Jesus¡¯ twelve disciples, there was one disciple that really really hated Matthew. Who do you think that could be?
Let¡¯s take a look at who Jesus disciples were. Turn with me to Luke 6:13.
(13) And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
Now as we read through this list, try and figure out who might have hated Matthew the most.
(14) Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;
(15) Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;
(16) Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
I¡¯m sure all twelve disciples didn¡¯t like Matthew very much. But who do you think hated Matthew the most?
It was Simon, Simon the Zealot. Why? Because he was a Zealot.
The Zealots were a Jewish political party. They were a fanatical Jewish sect that militantly opposed the Roman domination of Palestine during the first century A.D. They were devoted to Jewish law and religion, and thought it was treason against God to pay tribute to the Roman emperor, since God alone was Israel¡¯s king. These guys were willing to fight to the death for Jewish independence.
The Zealots had intense hatred toward the tax collectors.
Can you imagine what it must have been like to have both Matthew a tax collector and Simon the Zealot in the same group? Why would Jesus call both of these people who couldn¡¯t stand to be with each other?
Does God sometimes put people who can¡¯t stand each other in the same church? Why does He do that? Why can¡¯t God just put all the tax collectors in one church, and put all the Zealots in another church? Why can¡¯t God put all the tares in one church and all the wheat in another church? Why can¡¯t God put all the wolves in one church and all the sheep in another church? Why can¡¯t God put all the saints in one church and all the unsaintly in another church?
Could it be because God wants us to practice loving our enemies? Do we need practice loving our enemies? Do you love your enemies? When is the last time you took flowers to your enemies? You have a reason to be grateful to your enemy. Can you think of why you ought to be grateful for your enemy? It¡¯s when you see you enemy, the evil that was hidden in your heart comes out to the surface. It¡¯s your enemy who helps you to realize how unChristlike you are! And when you realize how evil you are, it drives you to your knees. And you are never closer to heaven than when you are on your knees. It¡¯s all because of your enemy that you end up drawing closer to God. So for that reason alone, we ought to be grateful to our enemies and we should love them. Amen!
Let¡¯s look at some of Jesus other disciples.
There was John. Do you know what his nickname was?
Turn with me to Mark 3:17.
¡°James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, ¡®Sons of Thunder¡¯;¡± (pronounced boh uh NUR jeez)
How would you like to be called Boanerges? Did these two brothers have problems? It must have been something that ran in the family.
In the book Acts of the Apostles p. 539, speaking of John, Ellen White writes:
¡°By nature he had serious defects. He was not only proud, self-assertive, and ambitious for honor, but impetuous, and resentful under injury. Evil temper, the desire for revenge, the spirit of criticism, were all in the beloved disciple.¡±
As I read Ellen White¡¯s commentary I thought this brother must have had some Korean blood in him. I don¡¯t know about you, but I know a lot of people in my clan that can fit this description.
Let me read this to you again. Ask yourself if you can identify with this brother.
¡°By nature he had serious defects. He was not only proud, self-assertive, and ambitious for honor, but impetuous, and resentful under injury. Evil temper, the desire for revenge, the spirit of criticism, were all in the beloved disciple.¡±
What was Jesus thinking when He picked His disciples?
Did you ever think, ¡°God can¡¯t use me, I have too many problems.¡± I¡¯ve got news for you. God can use you. If Jesus could use John, then Jesus can use you! Amen!
Then there was Peter who was self-sufficient, emotionally unstable, impulsive and given to fits of temper.
What did Jesus at one time say to Peter?
Matthew 16:23 ¡°He turned and said to Peter, ¡®Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.¡¯¡±
Now I don¡¯t believe that Jesus was calling Peter Satan. Christ¡¯s words were directed at the unseen foe who had prompted Peter to say those words.
SDA Bible Commentary says:
Peter had permitted ¡°the gates of hell,¡± as it were, to prevail upon him to be the mouthpiece of the prince of evil. However, Christ¡¯s words were addressed, not so much to the disciple, as to the one who had prompted his words.
Sometimes, family members, spouses, and church members can turn into something that does not resemble Jesus. And it¡¯s so easy to want to retaliate. What we need to remember is that they are prevailed upon by the prince of evil.
Every now and then, my wife turns into somebody that I did not marry. When she undergoes metamorphosis, I try my best not to argue with her. I go into my bedroom, and get on my knees, and I begin to cry out, ¡°Lord, cast that demon out of her.¡±
Friends, when you see a person who becomes angry, and you see unpleasant things, and you begin to see things fly through the air, know that you are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And when that happens, you need to call upon God. Only God can deliver you. Amen!
By the way, I was not describing my home or my wife just now. Things don¡¯t fly through the air in my home. We are way more civilized than that.
Let¡¯s get back to the sermon! Where was I?
The disciples all had a lot of problems.
There was only one disciples that seemed to have it going on.
He was a man of great potential, a man of resourcefulness. He had great interpersonal skills. He had a keen business mind and contacts in high places. His name was Judas.
If I were Jesus, I would have picked twelve men that had Judas ability.
Jesus didn¡¯t even invite Judas into his circle. He just kind of invited himself.
What was Jesus thinking? Talk about a dysfunctional group.
Imagine what the people said who saw Jesus traveling around with his disciples. They probably said, ¡°Look, there goes Jesus with a gang of losers.¡±
Jesus chose a bunch of messed up people. But when you look through Scripture, that¡¯s what you see. God is always using messed up people. There are few people in the Scriptures that really had it together.
Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid.
I¡¯m so glad God uses messed up people! Do you know why I¡¯m so glad? It¡¯s because I¡¯m pretty messed up. If God can use Moses who stuttered, and Jeremiah who was depressed, and Jonah who was reluctant, and Peter who was impulsive and hot-tempered, then God can use me and God can use _______ (you)!
Do you want to know why God uses messed up people? Because only messed up people can reach messed up people! In this world, there are a lot of messed up people. Most everybody is messed up.
A person who has it all together cannot understand the pain and struggles that others go through. Several years ago I read one of Joni Eareckson¡¯s books. Joni Eareckson, back in July of 1967, at 17 years of age, dove off a diving platform in the Chesapeake Bay. She hit the shallow bottom and broke her neck. She became a quadriplegic. She was paralyzed from the neck down. I will paraphrase what she wrote in one of her books. She writes that we can only understand the pain and suffering of others to the degree that we have suffered.
This means that a paraplegic, someone who has been paralyzed from the waste down cannot understand the pain and struggle of a quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the neck down. A person who has sight cannot understand the pain and struggle of a blind person.
The person who has never experienced cancer cannot say to a cancer patient, I understand. You do not understand.
By the way, unless you have been through the same struggle, the best thing you can do to help someone who is suffering, is just to be their with them by their side. Just be there for them. That is the best way to help. Saying too many things can make things worse.
Have you had problems in your life?
Ever feel insignificant? I know what it¡¯s like. Have you ever felt insecure? I know what it¡¯s like to feel insecure. Have you ever felt inferior? I know what it¡¯s like to feel inferior. Have you ever experienced low self-esteem? You feel shy, withdrawn, inhibited and anxious. I know what it¡¯s like to have low self-esteem. I battled low self-esteem for many years. Have you ever experienced severe anxiety? I¡¯m talking about where you feel worry, fear, phobia, and stress all at the same time. And then you begin to lose your appetite, start experiencing panic attacks and sleeplessness at night. I¡¯ve been there. I know what that¡¯s like. And if you don¡¯t get over that you slip into depression. When depression becomes severe, you start contemplating suicide. Have you ever been there? I¡¯ve been there? I¡¯ve said, ¡°God, take my life. Just put me to sleep forever and don¡¯t let me wake up. I know what it feels like. By the way, did you know that mighty men of God have felt suicidal? Moses at one time was suicidal. Go read Numbers 11:15. Elijah was suicidal at one time. Go read 1 Kings 19:4. The reason I share this with you is because the devil loves to come to a Christian who is feeling suicidal, and he says, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you. You¡¯re a Christian! You¡¯ve got problems.¡± And the devil wants to drive you to the edge.
I¡¯ve many times cried out to God saying, ¡°how come I¡¯ve had to go through so much suffering in my life?¡± It was a half a year ago that I felt I finally received an answer. It was as if I felt God say to me, ¡°in the world there are a lot of hurting people, people with all kinds of pain. I have been preparing you to understand their pain so you can more effectively minister to them.¡± Ever since then, I have stopped complaining about all that I¡¯ve been through.
I love the promise in 1 Peter 5:10. God says, ¡°But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.¡±
Oh, I like that!
¡°¡¦may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.¡±
By the way, God is not the author of suffering. But He allows it and uses it to refine us. Just as gold is put through in a hot fiery furnace in order to remove the impurities, so it is in the furnace of affliction that the dross is separated from the true gold of Christian character.
¡°¡¦ may the God of all grace¡¦¡± We serve the God of all grace.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God says, ¡°My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Joni Eareckson writes in one of her books that she has accepted her life as a quadriplegic, not only that, she writes that she wouldn¡¯t want her life any other way. How can a person in her situation say something like that? Because she sees God making His strength perfect in her weakness. God is able to do more through her because of her weaknesses. She travels all around the country and speaks to thousands, giving them hope.
God¡¯s grace is sufficient for you. Are you pretty messed up? God¡¯s grace is sufficient for you.
God can use you, amen! God can use you if you would just stop making excuses! What excuse can you make that hasn¡¯t already been made?
God is in need of messed up men and women who are willing to work for Him.
In Isaiah 6:8, God says, ¡°Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?¡±
Is there anybody here who is willing to say, ¡°Here I am! Send me.¡±?
If you will surrender yourself to him, God will not only use you, but He will change you.
The disciple John who was proud, self-assertive, and had an evil temper, was transformed as he daily surrendered his life into Christ¡¯s hands. He later went on to write 1,2, &3 John, and wrote things like, ¡°Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.¡±
In closing I want to share with you something that came out a few years ago.
"It Depends on Who’s Hand It’s In"
A basketball in my hands is worth about $19. A basketball in Michael
Jordan’s hands is worth about $33 million. It depends whose hands it’s in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $6. A baseball in Sammy Sosa¡¯s hands
is worth $19 million. It depends whose hands it’s in.
A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal. A rod in Moses’ hands will
part the mighty sea. Say it with me: It depends whose hands it’s in.
A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy. A sling shot in David’s hand is a
mighty weapon. It depends whose hands it’s in.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God’s hands will feed thousands. It
depends whose hands it’s in.
Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse. Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands
will produce salvation for the entire world. It depends whose hands it’s in.
As you see now, it depends whose hands it’s in. So put your concerns, your
worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your relationships and your life in God’s hands because -- It depends whose hands it’s in.
I don¡¯t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. And I want to be in His hands.
Is it your desire to put your life in His hands? If that is your desire, I want you to stand with me as we sing our closing hymn.
Closing hymn: Draw Me Nearer p. 306, First 2 stanzas.
