Prov 6:6-11; Eph 4:12, 14, 15 ; Eph 6:10-11

 

INTRODUCTION:

I would like to share with you this morning about the wickedness of sinful weakness.  Wicked weakness, the misunderstanding of weakness.

Mostly we preach and teach that weakness is an asset because if you are weak, then you can be strong in the Lord.  Paul often refers to himself as being weak, he refers to his thorn in the flesh and that he was the least of all the apostles, and that God's grace works in his weakness.  We preach from Isaiah 40 that even young strong men will stumble, but those who are really weak, will wait on the Lord and will rise up with wings like eagles.  In that sense it is always true that we need to be very conscious that we are utterly weak, weak unto death in ourselves.  It is a lifelong lesson for a Christian to recognize our utter weakness so that we may find strength in God.

However, there is a wicked type of weakness.  There is a type of weakness which is totally unnecessary and simply holds you back in the service of God.  It is simply an excuse for being strong in the Lord and being godly and righteous, and you lean on the crutch of being weak.

Example:

A great man of God (Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones) was once preaching in England.  He went by train to a certain church.  He was met by one of the elders who took his suitcase and walked him to his room.  On the way the elder said, "You know, Dr Jones, I am weak.  I am not worthy of being an elder.  I am just a worm of the earth."  Jones retorted, "Your problem, Mr So & So, is your pride.  You are proud of your weakness.  Stop speaking about it because it is weak and hypocritical."

I would like to look now at the other side of the coin.  There is the truth that we are weak, we are but dust, our old Adam is useless to save himself.  We will always preach that.  But let me now present the other side of the coin. 

SCRIPTURE READING:  Prov 6:6-11

POINT 1:  Spiritual laziness

God has put this text in the Bible for a purpose.  It aggressively attacks our laziness.  It is saying basically, "You are going to get what you are.  If you are lazy in your life, even in your physical life, you will come to poverty."  God takes the tiniest animal and says, "Look at the ant to learn a basic lesson of life.  See how the ant works hard, being industrious, diligent, preparing for the difficult time.  It needs no captain or whip.  It works and it works and it works."  But the sluggard, the one who is in love with sleep, or laziness really, is the exact opposite of the ant.

It uses a physical example, of how he will come to physical poverty.  But it is written there certainly not just because of our economics, it is definitely there for a spiritual purpose too.  I chose this specifically because of its tremendous spiritual value, of not being lazy spiritually.   Many Christians who think they glory in their weakness are actually plain lazy.

In Proverbs there is a place where it says the lazy man is so lazy that while bringing the spoon from the bowl to his mouth, he falls asleep!  I haven't seen any of us being that lazy.  It might be an amusing example, and God has put it there because it brings a feeling of disgust and pity that a person can be that lazy:  he has got food but is too lazy to eat it.

Haven't you maybe fallen asleep between the bowl and your mouth when you read the Word of God, your spiritual food?  Or you have your Bible right next to your bed, it is closeby.  Some people are even superstitious and put the Bible under their pillow thinking it will transmit spirituality into their brains.  (When I was at university we had a belief among some of our students, and that is that you take a taperecording of the lecturer lecturing and you fall asleep with your headphones on and somehow you will remember it when exam time comes.   But it didn't work for me.  I quickly learnt that it didn't work.  I had to do plain hard studying.)

So, one of the basic causes of wicked weakness is lack of food because of laziness.

The Word of God is God speaking His direct thoughts to us.  How much time are you spending eating your food for the day?   And of course, with eating, you will find there is spontaneous prayer that must go with it.  There will be thanksgiving for the food, its richness, the gems that you find in the Word.  There might be confession, "O God, Your Word has found me out again  -  I see my sinfulness."

Remember that point about wicked weakness if you are bonelazy when you come to the rich food which God is giving you.  There is no reason to remain weak spiritually.

That Bible reading should not only be during your quiet time.  The Psalmist says, "I meditate on the Word of God all day long, and at night I think on it, I contemplate on it."  We have to work during the day, we have our jobs, or we are students, but there is something from the Word of God which you can certainly think about or chew on even while you are busy.

Example:

A man got converted through a Gideons Bible down in Cape Town.  He was so excited!  He knew that he had to shower to get clean, but he didn't want to stop reading.  So he took it into the shower with him and held it just out of reach from the water.

If you find that the Word of God has lost its glow and appeal, it might be that you are too diligent doing something else, that you lose your appetite for the Word. 

POINT 2:  Pet sins

That brings me to another point which can cause wicked weakness, and that is a pet sin.  If you have a pet sin, in other words that thing which you know about, your secret, private pet sin, you will be held in perpetual weakness and finally death.

In the Old Testament someone prayed, "Lord, hold me back from secret sins, and presumptuous (purposeful) sins."  You have confessed it a thousand times but you do it again, knowing full well what you are doing.

In Hebrews 12 where it speaks about running the race, it excludes weakness.  It mentions that if there is something that burdens you or entangles itself around your ankle, throw it off, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.  He gives us the strength to throw off the weight and get rid of that which entangles itself around our ankles.  Or is the Cross not powerful enough to deliver you and set you free from that thing which entangles itself around you? 

POINT 3:  God's commands concerning strength

Some of the commands of God concerning strength:

Eph 4:12, 14, 15  -  The context before this is about Christ who died for us and gave us gifts and ascended to heaven.

12.  "... for the work of ministry":  If you stay in wicked weakness you are useless for God's work, if your reasons for being weak are wicked.  God can take us out of sin and equip us for ministry.  That doesn't only mean ministers that stand in the pulpit.   Ministry is in many different ways.  Ministry means service.

12b.  "... for the edifying of the body of Christ":  God wants you to be strong so that He can use you to edify (= to make strong) the rest of the Body of Christ, in other words other members of the family.

13.  So that we can grow up and become mature.

14.  So that we will stop being little children being tossed around by every teaching and every wind that blows.  In other words, that we stop with sinful weakness.

15.  So that we may grow up.

I know in other places of the Bible it says, "Become like little children".  Remember that if God gives a parable or phrase, He means it in the context in which it is given.  We need the simplicity and faith and trust of a little child.  But Paul says here (v.14) that we should no longer be little children  -  by that not contradicting what Jesus had said when He said that we should become like little children.  God's Word has got many angles to it.  If you are weak because of your laziness ...

Maybe that laziness in your case is a simple apology that you should make to someone.  Maybe with you you are gripped in weakness because you refuse to apologize to your wife for speaking while being upset.

Eph 6:10-11  -  God's solution for our sinful weakness.  "Finally, my brethren, be strong!"   Very strong words, but weak if you don't continue with, "... in the Lord and in the power of His might".  This is not an optional extra for mature Christians, not something which you learn later on in life when you have one foot in the grave already and can no longer enjoy the pleasures of life.  No, this is applied to every single Christian.  Everyone who is converted and regenerated and who has found grace from God, is commanded by God, not by Paul, to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

You say, "But I am so conscious of my weakness all the time, and I have fallen, I stumble every day.  I am just so weak and useless."  That is not the life that Christ was crucified for and rose for.   Through His death He has given you the right to be strong in His strength.   This is where the secret lies, it says, "... be strong in the Lord".   You cannot try and just be a positive thinker, thinking you will just go out after the service and be strong.  The devil will punch you on the nose and you deserve it because you haven't read God's Word properly.  The command is to be strong in the Lord, which shows us the importance of abiding in Him.  Didn't Jesus say to His disciples in John 15, "Without Me you can do nothing"?  Absolutely nothing.  And even if you can achieve something, in My sight and in the sight of eternity it will be counted as nothing.  But you abide in Me, and I will abide in you.  Isn't that a wonderful relationship, that the King of glory and power and strength should live in you.  That is why I have called this sermon, "The wickedness of sinful weakness" (maybe a strange title), because to be weak with such promises is indeed sinful.

In the next verse he continues to give very practical instructions of how to be strong in the Lord.

11.  "Put on the whole armour of God."  It goes on to say that we have full protection from the onslaught of the devil and all his demons by putting on the whole armour.  God makes it possible to be strong in Him, even if we are weak in ourselves  -  and we are utterly weak, weak unto death in ourselves.  But He gives us His strength and power.

Eph 3:20  -  Paul speaks about the wonderful things in chapters 1 to 2 which God has done for us.  V.16   -  God grants us to be strengthened with might in the inner man.  God doesn't want us to remain perpetually weak.  V.17  -  "... that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

V.18  -  "... that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth ..."  As God strengthens you with His power through Christ in your heart, you together with the saints will comprehend the depth and height and length of the love of Christ.  He runs out of vocabulary.

Strength is found in the fellowship of the saints, not alone.  We are saved as an individual and we will stand before God as an individual, but our strength and growth lie in the warmth of the fellowship of the saints.

I have come across many Christians who claim that they don't belong to any church or Bible study  -  they walk alone with the Lord.  They are what you might call independents.  That is a good thing politically perhaps, but spiritually it is a disaster.  If you want to grow spiritually and be strong, it will be in the company of God's people.  If you isolate yourself and withdraw, you will find yourself filled with emptiness and weakness.  Of course you still walk alone with God, and have your own individual relationship with the Lord, but under the new covenant we are saved so that we can walk and grow in grace together.

1 John 1:7  -  "If we walk in the light as He is in the light", we are able to have our own private Bible study and we don't need one another.  Does it say that?  No, it says, "... we will have fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus will cleanse us from every sin." 

CONCLUSION:

Practical advice about avoiding sin:

Prov 5:8  -  It refers here to staying away from sexual immorality (a father advising his son) but let us take it as staying away from any sin.  Practical advice to stay away from wicked weakness.   How close should we get near the door of sin?  If you are the type of Christian who asks, "Is it sinful for me to do this? Is it okay to do that?", then you are getting close to the edge.  The way of life and strength is not how close you can get to sin but how far you can stay away from it.  "Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house."

Eph 3:20  -  All of this becomes possible through Him.  There are things for you to do, but you cannot save yourself.  But God enables you to do this, because of Him abiding in you.   He makes it possible.  "Now to Him Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above everything we ask or think according to the power which is at work in us..."  Notice it doesn't say, "Now to Him who can help you"   -  He is not just there to help you.  Sense and feel the power of this verse  -  it says, "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think", so powerful is His strength in you. 

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