cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Stephen McKay – geograph.org.uk/p/6156425
❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Make Your Weakness the Source of Your Strength
Your church Covenant II
Mari Ikeda
How are we practicing in the church the second promise of Your Church Covenant, “Love and serve each other”? Whether or not we actually practice it well, what kind of community are we trying to become? Today, I’d like to learn from the conversations between Jesus and Peter, what church is, and how we should be. There are three important points.
First, be yourself in this church.
Second, give yourself in this church.
Third, pray and wait for God in hope together. Let us start with reading the passage of the first encounter of Jesus and Peter in John 1.
A. Be yourself
1. Jesus chose you because you were you
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon … And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1:40-42)
Peter, just as told by Jesus here, became a rock, or a foundation, of the church as a pillar of the church. However, Jesus chose Peter not because he had a special ability or a superior character. Jesus chose Peter, just because Peter was Peter. Peter became the rock of the church later, only because Jesus called him so. It was indeed the call and the calling of Jesus for Peter.
We also need to remember that Jesus chooses and calls us in the same way. He called us to come and be with him just as the way we were, not because we were superior to others or we did something good.
This calling of Jesus is the foundation of the church. In the visible churches including this church there are always some difficulties of human relationship. Therefore, it’s important for each of us to listen well to Jesus’ call and not to be deceived by other people’s evaluation about us or comparison with others. You can be just you, and don’t need to be discouraged or get a feeling of superiority by comparing yourself with others.
Jesus knows us better than anyone else. Moreover, He knows our weakness and sin more than we do, and forgives. We can be sure of it because He told Peter just before He was hanged on the cross like this.
2. Jesus knew and forgave your sin and weakness
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” … “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22;31-34)
Jesus knew that Peter would betray Him. Likewise, He knows that we forget Him and doubt Him. He knows that we make mistakes and that we are too weak to stop doing what we know is wrong. He knows we are sinners who make others suffer. That’s why Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross. It is only the love and mercy of Jesus at the cost of His life that can save us.
Jesus tells us, too, “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” It means to pass on to others the joy we have by no longer relying on our own strength but just being forgiven and loved by Jesus. It can be done only those who know their weakness. It is only those who know they have no power to save themselves and others, who know the true joy of being saved by Jesus and can transfer the joy to others.
In this way, church is the gathering of people who make their weakness the source of their strength. This is related with my second point, “Give yourself.”
B. Give yourself
1. Because there is no greater love
To love each other does not mean just to help each other by bringing and using strength and abilities of each other. Although sometimes we need to do that, what is more essentially important is that we share our experiences of finding Jesus when we are weak. Or to confess that you have lost the sight of Jesus. As it requires us to expose our weakness and ugliness to others, we need a certain period of time to build a trust relationship. But in the attempt of building the relationship where we can accept each other’s weakness, we can discover and reflect Jesus’ love that is living within each of us. This is the essence of loving each other.
Jesus said,
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)
This is exactly what Jesus did for us. So, Jesus meant it literally. But at the same time it also implies that we should give our whole life to our friends. It means that we use and pour out for our friends the pains and sufferings each of us has gone through in life. Furthermore, it is for us to witness and expect how Jesus has turned or will turn them into joy. There is no greater love than this.
What kind of life will this way of life lead us in the end? Jesus taught Peter as follows.
2. “Being taken where you don’t want to go”
“Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18)
While these words of Jesus are prophesying Peter’s death as a martyr, Jesus is not trying to frighten Peter by foretelling how miserably he would end his life, but rather He is assuring how Peter would grow. He is saying, “When you were younger, you lived your life all at your disposal by your own strength, but when you are old, you will let go of your plan and entrust yourself to others’ hands.” It is the prophecy that Peter would accept it for the sake of Jesus even against his will and even by risking his life.
At a glance, this has nothing to do with loving each other in church. Nonetheless it is very important in order for a church to keep facing outward instead of facing inward, to welcome new people, and to change according to the needs of contemporary society. We are not doing church for ourselves. Church belongs God, who desires to convey His love to all people. To fulfill that purpose, we cannot cling to what is comfortable to us and the old value we think is right. Sometimes we need to let go of our security and give up the strength and experiences that we have piled up so far, in order to accept new changes. It would be a painful but hopeful journey, as Peter went on to martyr by his deep trust in God.
Now, I’d like to pick up a few psalms to read. Psalms are songs of individuals, but they are at the same time corporate prayers that have been read out in gatherings and shared among people from the ancient time. To make our weakness the source of our strength and to love and serve each other means to pray the prayers like those in psalms together with others. As I’m afraid what I have spoken so far today was abstract and not clear, I hope reading these psalms help your understanding.
C. Pray and wait in hope with others
– Cry in desperation (Psalm 22)
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22)
Feeling of loneliness and despair that God have forsaken me is frightening. However, the same loneliness and despair were felt by the writer of this psalm and many people who have read this psalm. Moreover, note that Jesus Himself cried this cry of desperation on the cross. By reading this psalm with others, therefore, we can confirm there is still hope.
– Confession of sin (Psalm 51)
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion / blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity / and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51)
We all need to acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves but we can only ask for mercy from God. No one is accepted by God as perfectly righteous.
– Thanksgiving (Psalm 139)
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139)
This psalm is used in the song we are fond of in this church. We have repeatedly learnt that God never leaves us but always holds us and walks with us, even if we ourselves lose sight of him.
– Confession of faith (Psalm 27)
One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD / all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD / and to seek him in his temple. … Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. (Psalm 27)
This psalm is also used in a song. Confession of faith and prayer asking for help are repeated. We can learn that our faith is not only one-time decision, but it is strengthened whenever we doubt and God give us assurance.
– Praise and prayer (Psalm 121)
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. … the LORD will watch over your coming and going / both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121)
This psalm might sound familiar to many of us, as it is used in a famous worship song, but it reveals us a very simple truth. Our help comes from the Lord, not within us. To assure of it together is the purpose for which we pray together. This psalm goes on to a prayer, “May the Lord protect you.” To pray like this for others and to be prayed like this by others will be our strength.
D. Church is neither a place nor a building, but people
Before I end my message, I’d like to add one more point: Church is neither a place nor a building, but people. When you are connected with someone in the church, and you can be yourself and have such a relationship as giving yourselves to each other, Jesus is there. Church is there. As Jesus said,
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20)
Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you cannot come to the church on Sunday, or if you cannot see us because you live far. You don’t have to open up yourself with many people. You don’t need to talk much if you don’t want. It’s totally fine to leave in a secondary place what specific role you take in the church. But please make sure that you may not hesitate to ask the leaders if you want us to help you to be yourself and give yourself in this church. Let us experience together that we are strong in our weakness.
(Prayer) Dear Lord Jesus, please help us to love and serve each other in this church. Each of us came from a different background. Age, personality, occupation, life stage, all different. Some are happy. Others are in sorrow. But we all gathered here to lift our eyes and seek your help. Help us know each other better so that we can pray and wait in hope together, and that we may praise you. Dear Jesus we pray this in your name. Amen.
Summary
The second promise of Your Church Covenant tells its members to “Love and serve each other.” To love and serve each other, it’s important for you to “be yourself,” to “give yourself,” and to “pray and wait in hope with others.” What is needed is your weakness and the things you are not good at, rather than your strength and the things you are good at. Love becomes true and a community becomes real only when we accept sin and weakness of each other. That is where Jesus is and where a church is.
For Discussion
1. Are you being able to “be yourself” in Your Church?
2. What does it mean to you to “be taken where you don’t want to go”?