Let’s Lose Some Weight – 2

                                                               Let’s Lose Some Weight – 2

Subject – Hold Out Your Weakness

By Rick Welborne

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NKJV)
¹  Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
²  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 

--Just like people can find different ways to lose weight, there can also be different ways to lay aside the weight, the sin, or the thing (whatever that thing might be) that is in our lives. 

--Last week we said we needed to look to Jesus, look to His Word, and to be disciplined. As Christians, as disciples those things should come pretty automatic for us. Sadly, they don’t.

--So what do we do when there is an area of weakness in our lives that has been there for a long time and we have just assumed “it is what it is”?

Luke 6:6-11 (NLT2)
⁶  On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching.
⁷  The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
⁸  But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward.
⁹  Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”
¹⁰  He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!
¹¹  At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him. 

--Until we admit, confess, or recognize what our weakness is, there is a really good chance that we will never change. If we are in denial (not the river) about the weight or our weight, we will not change.

--One of the great revelations of the last 20 years is how we have discovered how much spandex or elastic will stretch. You can be a 38 pants and buy 32’s as long as the waist has elastic. “I still wear 32’s.” Right!

--And someone needs to talk to a few people who believe spandex has no line of demarcation. Everything has limits and eventually something has to give. Someone needs an honest friend that says “no, please, no!”

--The writer of Hebrews is trying to have an honest discussion with believers by telling them to lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily besets or entangles us. 

--In this story in Luke 6 we see a man who obviously has a problem, an issue, an ailment, and Jesus is trying to help him deal with it. Let’s look at this man’s weakness and see if he can lay aside his weight.

1. Our weaknesses are sometimes publicly displayed.

--So what are we to do when it is obvious to us and to others around us that we have a problem? We can probably do what this man had done several times…leave and go home taking his problem with him.

--We can cover our problem under a robe of shame or pride. Please, God, let no one see this thing.

--If you say you absolutely do not have a weakness, your weakness is obviously pride. But, if we are willing, we can hold that weakness out to Jesus and let Him heal it. Why would we do that?

2. Jesus promises to help us in our weakness. 

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJV)
²⁸  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹  He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
³⁰  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹  But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. 

-- He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

Isaiah 40:29 (NCV)
²⁹  He gives strength to those who are tired and more power to those who are weak. 

--God is willing to give power to the weak. The question, are we willing to wait on Him to renew our strength?

--Yes, I do believe waiting on God means to get in His presence and to seek His face but I also believe to wait on God is to serve Him with all your hearts. We become waiters and waitresses for God.

--If God has said He will give power to the weak if we wait on Him, if we serve Him, then, let’s wait and serve.

3. We need to change our attitude toward our weaknesses. 

Joel 3:9-10 (NKJV)
⁹  Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up.
¹⁰  Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, 'I am strong.' " 

--We must prepare ourselves for battle especially if we perceive we are going through a time of weakness (Covid). There cannot be an attitude of complacency. We must lose the weight.

--Hear your pastor, what you say about your weakness is so important…Let the weak say, 'I am strong. This is more than just positive confession; this is a statement of faith. Paul in dealing with his thorn in the flesh:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV)
⁷  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
⁸  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
⁹  And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
¹⁰  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Barnes' Notes on the New Testament - The word which Paul uses is worthy of special notice. It is that this "thorn in the flesh" was given to him, implying that it was a favor. He does not complain of it; he does not say it was sent in cruelty; he does not even speak of it as an affliction; he speaks of it as a gift, as any man would of a favor that had been bestowed. Paul had so clear a view of the benefits which resulted from it, that he regarded it as a favor, as Christians should every trial. 

4. Paul saw weakness as an opportunity for God’s power to be demonstrated.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
²  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
³  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
⁴  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
⁵  that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 

--In your weakness determine to get to know Christ better and to know His sufferings…Him crucified.

--Acknowledge your weakness, your fear, and even your bouts with anxiety. Paul said I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. Paul was saying, I have this weight.

--Acknowledge your dependence is on God’s power not on man’s wisdom.

2 Corinthians 3:5 (NKJV)
⁵  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

5. Paul realized that his weakness could become someone else’s salvation.

1 Corinthians 9:19-22 (NKJV)
¹⁹  For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;
²⁰  and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;
²¹  to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;
²²  to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

--Sometimes we have to adapt (not compromise) ourselves to our environment to win the lost. Identify with people in their pain and sufferings. We all have it at some point. Listen to this verse about Jesus:

Hebrews 2:17-18 (NKJV)
¹⁷  Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
¹⁸  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

--So what is your weakness today? Swallow your pride and do not worry about anyone else. Get ready to lose some weight that is ensnaring you.

--Extend your weakness to the Lord like this man with the withered hand and let Him touch it.

--Please know that God’s grace and strength will be made perfect in you and in your weaknesses. 

--Whatever you are struggling with here today might just turn out to be someone else’s salvation. 

--Hold out your hand and lose some weight.