How God Uses Imperfect People

Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast.

Subscribe to hear a new episode every week.

Thanks for joining us. I'm going to pray for us, and

then we're going to jump into this talk today as we wrap up

our series Make Room. Can you pray with me, Lord?

I just settle my heart here for a moment.

I thank you for everyone in this room and everyone attending

online. Everyone listening to this

podcast later, I'm humbled and I ask that you would just be the

teacher today. That whatever you're doing at

the hearts of each person who hears these words would be your

business. You love each of them so much.

I make myself available to you for whatever purposes you deem

good and right. May you draw all of our hearts

into deeper trust in you and a more reliance on you.

We're so confident of your goodness, but the world is so

dark. We pray for peace in our world.

We pray for things to be put right.

We pray for those who are grieving.

Pray for those who are broken. Please, Lord Jesus, come

quickly. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

So we have been in this series called Make room and this series

has been about sanctification. And that's a Bible word.

And if you're new today, you're like, I haven't heard that

before. We've been talking about this

word every week. And so we've been saying it

together. I'll say 123 and you will all

we'll all say sanctification together.

You ready? 123 sanctification, right?

We're learning this Bible, this biblical word, this, this

theological word called sanctification.

The sanctification is simply the process, the lifelong process of

the Holy Spirit transforming you into the likeness of Christ.

And if you're a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is

transforming you into the likeness of Christ.

And that's what we've been talking about and what we've

been saying in this series of things like this.

When a person comes to know Jesus Christ and they get saved,

they just do not have their sins simply forgiven, which is great.

You know, God does not hold their sins against them.

We said that in week 1. But in addition, God makes you a

new creation when if anyone is in Christ, new creation has

come. And so the old is gone.

The new has come. The Spirit is making us new.

This is what we've been learning.

And what we said was that we, our task, our role in the

sanctification process is to set our mind on the things of God,

to set our mind on what God is doing.

And sorry, I take my watch off because I think it's making

noise and I don't want to like distract me.

So what we've said is we set our mind on the things that that God

has done in our lives, right? God has adopted you.

He's, he's called you to himself.

He's made you one of his children.

He's done this work. Your identity is 1 of chosen.

And so the process in sanctification is you setting

your mind on that truth. And we said, it's not that we

need to try harder, it's that we need to remember better.

We need to remember who we are. And then the process of

remembering who we are that renews our mind.

And the Holy Spirit works through that remembering through

our upsetting our mind. And we also said last week that

this transformation that's taking place does not happen in

isolation. It does not happen in isolation.

It happens inside of community. We said this last week, we said

the Spirit changes us personally, but he forms us

collectively. In other words, there's he's

doing something in my heart personally, but he's also doing

something in US collectively at the same time.

And it's in community that we see change take place.

It's a people, other brothers and sisters, Christian friends

that help shape our lives as Christ followers.

In other words, if it's it's hard to be a Christian serious

about your faith and not have any close friends who also share

that faith, it's really difficult to do that.

And So what we've been saying is a sanctification is the life on

process of God transforming you slowly into the likeness of

Christ. And your role in that is to set

your mind on what's true about you, that you are loved, you are

chosen, you are adopted. And as you set your mind on that

truth, the Holy Spirit is renewing you and changing you.

And that it this all takes place.

The Holy Spirit's assuming inside the context of community

with brothers and sisters who are supporting you, encouraging

you, holding us accountable, right, That this is where this

takes place. But this leads us to a question.

All right, all this change, all this sanctification, why does it

feel so slow? Anybody want to say Amen to

that? Why does it feel so slow?

At some point, we all begin to ask this question.

Shouldn't I be further along than this?

Right. Should not be further along than

this. So what do you do when the life

that you believe Jesus has given you a renewed life, a new

creation, you believe that Jesus has given you that, but the same

time your actions and your attitude and your words are not

always lining up with that new life.

The changes that you hoped would happen are not happening as

quick as you thought they would. That's what we're going to talk

about today. The slow change.

The I thought I'd be further along tension that we all feel.

So there's our question for today.

Why does change feel so slow? Because if we don't answer that

question honestly and thoroughly, we're going to be

tempted to go one of two ways. So if we don't, if we don't get,

we don't look at that question honestly in the face and say,

OK, why does this feel so slow? Why is it that I'm changing?

Maybe I'm changing, maybe I'm not changing, but it feels so

slow. Why is this?

We have to look at that question honestly because if we don't,

one of two things will happen. Either one, we will get

discouraged. In other words, we'll just

think, well, I'm never going to change or we'll start

pretending. Have you ever been a Christian

who pretends? They don't have to raise your

hand? We all have been there, right?

We've all been there. And this, this is what happens

when we don't, when we don't get honest about this question, why

is this taking so slow? Why is this taking so slow?

We'll either get discouraged or we'll start pretending.

So we got to answer this question.

Why is this so slow? So that's our first idea this

morning. This is the tension we all feel

#1 the tension we all feel. This is it #1 the tension we all

feel. I thought I'd be further along

by now. I mean, I want to be different.

And if you've been following Jesus for any length of time,

you've probably felt this. You look at your life and you

think, I really thought this would be different by now.

I thought I'd be more patient. I thought I'd be less reactive.

I thought that that habit, that habit would be gone by now.

And it's confusing because something clearly has changed.

I mean, you love Jesus, you, you, you, you read your Bible,

you talk to other people about your faith, you go to church.

You, you want to follow Jesus. You love the things of God, you

love the word of God. And yet there are still these

parts of your life that don't seem to line up with all those

things you desire. Anybody.

Is it just me? Yeah.

And that creates tension because on the one hand, the Bible says

you are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has

come. But on the other hand, there are

still moments when the old you shows up strong.

Anybody. Yeah.

I'm a new person. I'm a new creation.

I'm a new man in Christ. I'm a new woman in Christ.

But then somebody cuts you off in traffic, then that same

person at work does that thing. And then, you know, the your kid

won't stop. That's the tension I'm talking

about. And I told you, we all feel it.

We all feel that tension. I thought I would be further

along. And what happens is you think,

where did that come from? I thought that was in the past.

And here's the danger. You begin to draw a conclusion,

and every Christian does this. You begin to draw the wrong

conclusion. When we feel like change is so

slow, when we see the old man or the old woman rear their head so

strong, we draw the wrong conclusion.

We assume something must be wrong with me.

Maybe I'm not growing. Maybe I'm not serious enough

about this Christian stuff. Maybe some of you have said

this. Maybe Christianity just doesn't

work for me. That's a wrong conclusion.

The other side of that, though, is we can draw the wrong

conclusion and do this. We can just lower the standard.

We can just say, you know what? This is just who I am.

I'm a jerk. I'm a liar, I'm a deceiver, I'm

a luster. This is just I'm never going to

change. This is probably I just need to

lean into who I am and just just this is what it is now.

This is this is the problem, right?

Do you understand the problem of this tension is we'd either draw

the wrong conclusion and say something's wrong with me.

I'm never going to change. Something's wrong with me.

Christianity doesn't work for me.

I'm I'm just too broke and I'm not serious enough and we just

walk around in shame and guilt all the time, right?

That's one wrong conclusion. The other wrong conclusion is

I'm also lean into it bro. I'm never going to change.

This is just who I am. That's also the wrong conclusion

as well. Here's what I want you to see

this morning about the tension you feel.

The tension that you feel is not a sign that something is wrong.

It's not a sign that something is wrong.

The tension you feel is actually a sign that something is

happening inside of you. The fact that you feel that

tension means you care. It means this matters because

when the Spirit of God begins to work in your life and in my

life, two things happen at the same time.

Two things happen at the same time.

Number one, you begin to see Jesus a lot more clearly.

That's enough. That's the first thing that

happens in your life. You begin to see Jesus a lot

more clearly. And the second thing that

happens is you begin to see who you are a lot more clearly.

This is what the Spirit of God does in us.

He shows us the beauty and the goodness and the grace and the

loveliness of Jesus. And he shows us the gap between

who He is and who we really are. And that, friend, That gap can

be quite discouraging. But listen to me, This is

actually evidence that God is at work in you.

If you feel that tension that I thought I would be further

along, I don't understand why this is this way.

That's actually evidence that God is at work in you.

So if you've ever felt that, and I want to be further along, I

should be further along. You are not alone.

And more importantly, believe it or not, you're not stuck.

God is working in your life. That's why you feel that

tension. That's why you sense it.

All right, so we feel the tension.

We should be further along by now.

What does the Bible say about this tension?

All right, and this is idea #2 this morning.

All right, Idea number 2 is God uses imperfect people.

So if number one is the tension we all feel, I wish I could be

further along than this. Number 2 is God uses imperfect

people. Now we're going to see that God

uses imperfect people by looking at first Timothy in just a

second. So if you have your Bibles, go

there. But before we do that, I'm going

to ask my friend and part time staff member at our church if

you would hand me these two Staffs here.

Thank you for being there, John. That's awesome.

I totally forgot to bring these up with me.

All right, so I brought these here with me today.

This here is a a trekking pole if you go on hike.

Anybody ever use one of these on a hike?

I've never used one of these, but it's pretty cool.

I got this from a dear friend who used to attend our churches.

Passed on. Now this trekking pole was

manufactured, right? It's straight and it's aluminum.

It's got a nice little rubber foot on the bottom of it.

Oh, it's got a little doggy paw on the bottom.

Look at that. So when I didn't know, I've

never knew that before. So when you're walking and you

put it in the dirt, it looks like a dog is walking.

That's weird. Anyway, this is this is what

most of us would pick as our walking stick.

If you're going on a long hike and you needed a walking stick,

this is what most of you would pick.

This is also a walking stick. It'll do the same thing, right?

It's it's, it's uneven, it's crooked, and you know, it's

shaped over time. Most of us in this room, when we

think about being used by God, we think we need to be this.

We think, well, God, if you're going to use me, I need to have

it together. I need to have a nice

comfortable handle, nice wood, decorative knob on the top, the

wrist strap. I need to be perfectly straight.

I need to have the foot here with a paw.

I need to be just right. And when I get things right like

this, God, you can use me because I'll have it together.

The reality is, is nobody's this.

Nobody is this. I have to say it twice because

you don't believe me. Nobody is this everybody is this

everybody? You ready?

It's crooked. I know you're like I'm I don't.

Everybody's crooked. Now, are some of us more crooked

than others? Yes.

But once you're crooked, you're crooked.

That's all there is to it. You're not that.

You're not perfectly straight. You're crooked.

You see, there are no straight, perfect people.

Every single one of us are a little crooked.

Now listen to what the apostle Paul says.

The Apostle Paul says first Timothy chapter 1 verses 15 and

1 Timothy 1:15

16. He says there is a trustworthy

saying that deserves full acceptance.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am

the worst. But for that very reason I was

shown mercy, so that in me the worst of sinners.

Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example

for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.

Think about these words. Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

Now think about who's writing that.

This is the apostle Paul, a man who planted churches, wrote much

of the New Testament, and followed Jesus for years.

And he says I am the worst of sinners, not I was the worst of

you got to catch this. He didn't say I was the worst of

sinners. And now I've got it together.

He says I am the worst of sinners.

Now stop. Stop.

OK, Well, how is that possible, Steven?

I mean, like, he's like the Apostle Paul.

He's met Jesus on the road to Damascus.

He had, he wrote most of the New Testament like he's a kind of a

big deal. Did he become a Christian and

then just get worse? No, he did not become a

Christian and then just get worse.

Not at all. He actually became a Christian,

met Jesus, and he began to see things more clearly, including

himself. You see, the closer you get to a

light, the more clearly you can see what is around that light

and what was always around that light.

In other words, when you get to the light, what's there was

always there. You just couldn't see it because

you were further away. But as you get near the light,

you can see it clearly. You see, as Paul grows in his

understanding of God's great, as Paul grows in his understanding

of God's holiness and God's goodness, God's perfection.

In other words, as he has more revelation of who God is and

sees more clearly of who God is, he also has better clarity of

who he is and he sees his deep need for God's grace.

So it's not that Paul became a Christian and became a worse

Sinner. It's that Paul became a

Christian and began to see just how deep his sin ran.

He began to see just how deep his sin ran.

You see, there's an old saying, the beauty of the gospel is I am

a worst Sinner that I ever dreamed I could be, but I'm also

more loved than I ever dared possible.

Those both of those things are true at the same time.

And this is what Paul is saying has happened to him.

So Paul shows us now in verse 16 that there's a reason that God

uses him even though he's the worst of sinners.

Let me just reread part of verse 16 that says, but for that very

reason, in other words, the reason that I'm the worst

Sinner, for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that Christ

Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those

who would believe in him. In other words, Paul is

basically saying, hey, I'm not perfect.

I'm crooked deep down, but God uses me anyway.

What does he use you, you for Paul, He uses me to put on

display his mercy and his patience with all people.

And so Paul is saying, hey, if you're feeling like you're too

broken and you're too sinful and you're too dark and you're too

crooked to be used by God, Paul says no, no, no, I'm the worst

that can happen. And I'm living proof that God is

merciful and patient with all of us because I'm the worst.

I was used by God for this is the reason that God was merciful

to me, to show you that you all, all of you are the objects of

his mercy and patience. You see, God has never ever used

perfect people. Do you know why?

Why there aren't any? There are none.

I tell people who are guests are at church.

Sometimes I'll say, hey, welcome to islands.

I'm glad you're here. We don't allow any perfect

people. It's just a kind of a way to

kind of let them know like, hey, if you're feeling nervous in

this moment, they're like, I don't know, churches.

I feel weird because, you know, if you're a guest at church, it

feels weird, right? You guys who come here every

Sunday should just pick a Sunday and go somewhere else and you'll

feel it like it's like there aren't there are no, there are

none of these. None of these these don't exist.

The reason God uses broken, crooked people, it's because

that's all there is. This is all there is.

If he said I'm only going to use perfect, straight, got it

together people, what would he get done?

Nothing. You were plan A, there is no

Plan B and everybody's like this.

Everybody's crooked. Some are more crooked than

others, but everybody's crooked. Now, I like this saying you

should write this down. If you take notes, God has

always drawn straight lines with crooked sticks because that's

all there is. Now think about that.

Isn't that beautiful? All throughout scripture you see

it. Abraham was used by God.

He had faith and yet he was a liar.

He was a deceiver twice lied to put his wife in jeopardy.

Bro that's a whole nother level of lying whole.

Like Can you imagine when I got back home?

You don't know the story. You should go read it.

I can't believe you told him I was your sister.

Well, he might have killed me. You know.

I don't care. Could you?

That was a bad day. But here's Abraham had great

faith and walked away from his family.

All these amazing things. Liar, deceiver.

Crooked Moses. Moses led the people out of

slavery, saw God in a Bush. The murderer.

The murderer David. David worshipped.

I mean, he wrote so many of the Psalms.

We sing his words in our churches today.

David worshipped and he led, but he raped and he murdered.

Peter led the church. So many look to him and yet he

denied Jesus his most needful hour.

You see, Paul says all these broken, crooked people that God

has used. Paul says I'm the worst and the

fact that he used me the worst is evidence that He will use

you, that He has a plan for your life.

So if you're sitting here thinking today I should be

better, I should be further along.

What Scripture shows us is that, friend, God is not waiting for

you to get polished or to get together or to become a finished

product before He works in your life.

No, he's not. He will work in you and through

you while you are still in process, while he's still

straightening out the crooks. He will use you even while you

are crooked and crooked deep down.

This is the goodness of our God, and this is what Paul shows us,

and this is what all of Scripture shows us.

And so you though, and me, both of us, all of us though crooked,

God uses us. He uses imperfect people.

Now, this raises one important last question.

If God works through imperfect people, if He is patient with us

in the process, why do we feel like it's so slow?

Why does change take so long? And this is the last idea this

morning. It's a process, not a moment.

It's a process, not a moment. And that's our third and final

idea. Your sanctification and my

sanctification is a process and not a moment.

I was a child when microwaves became popular.

Do you guys remember those? We had a an Amana microwave that

had two turning knobs on it and you could spin it real fast to

get to like 3 minutes or 4 minutes.

You spin it. You know, it was the coolest

thing. We didn't have a push button

when we had a spinning when it was really cool.

And I remember as a child getting microwave bag popcorn.

You guys remember that when that first get me, I guess I'm

showing my age and you some of you are like younger than 30 or

like this guy's ancient. Yes, but that was because prior

to that, you know, popcorn was this machine you took out of the

cabin you plugged in. It was like you put the seed in

the oil and it's like, is the popcorn ready?

No, come back in 30 minutes. You know what I mean?

Is this ever going to happen? Like I'm over it now.

I don't movies over like I don't watch this popcorn.

So microwave popcorn. You guys remember that?

You pop it in, make sure this side is up.

What is it minute and 1/2? You know, I am surprised it

hasn't gotten faster. I'm a little disappointed in

that like technology feel like feel like it should be quicker

by now, but but but but like it's so it's so like it's so

microwavable and what happens is is we're kind of programmed for

instantaneous and things just happening quick that we kind of

see our faith that way. We want our faith to be

microwavable, white microwavable.

We want things to happen in an instant, but that isn't the way

God works in us. He works in US overtime, through

our lifetime, through our circumstances, through our

challenges, and through our celebrations.

And the changes in your life, and this is hard to believe, but

the changes in your life are oftentimes, to you,

imperceptible. You don't necessarily perceive

them. Others might perceive them, but

you don't necessarily perceive them as you follow Jesus.

They just happen overtime in small incremental ways and you

have to accept that in faith. Philippians 16 Paul says being

confident of this that he who began a good work in you will

carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, right.

God is faithful. He started something in you he's

doing it now. Most of us realize if you're a

Christian that God has begun a good work in your life.

You're like, yeah, I get that we remember your conversion.

You remember your baptism you're like, yeah, I'm in and and and

we we we remember that we decided that the gospel message

was true. We committed our life to Christ

and most of us can be confident about the future.

We we believe that there is a new heaven and a new earth.

We believe that God is going to make everything new again one

day. And so we're confident about the

future. Where most of us struggle is in

the part of that verse that says we'll carry it on.

We'll carry it on. That is the process of your

sanctification. This is how God has decided to

work with us in the process of carrying it on day after day,

Set back after, set back, get back up, take a step forward,

take a step back, 2 steps forward, one step back.

It's all part of the process of Him carrying it on.

It's slow. And here's the hardest part of

it. You ready.

You and I are not in charge of our own sanctification and we

wish we were. That's really what is at the

base of this. We want to be in control.

We want to say, I want to be different and I want to be

different yesterday. And God says, no, I'm working

this out in your life. I am working out a process in

your life and I'm carrying it on.

One more passage of Scripture, Second Corinth what?

Two more actually, before we leave 2nd Corinthians 318, it

says this and we all with unveiled faces, contemplate the

Lord's glory, are being transformed.

You see that we're transformed. If you have your Bible underline

that we're being transformed into His image with ever

increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit,

and those are the key lines there.

We're being transformed into His image with ever increasing

glory. IN2021I planted an oak tree.

I bought it at Lowe's. It was in a pot.

When I took the tree out of the pot and put it in the ground,

the tree was about 6 inches shorter than me.

It's I've been watering it. I fertilize it from time to

time. I'm not an arborist.

I'm not like, you know, I don't go talk to it or anything, but I

water it from time to time. I really shouldn't say I do much

at all because I don't do much at all.

But every now and then I'll, you know, if I'm washing up.

I don't wash cars. I mean, just when you drive a

little junk, you don't wash it. The dirt might be holding that

thing together. So, but here's the thing about

my oak tree. I just let it grow And today

it's like a foot or so, maybe 2 feet taller than me.

It's a bit taller than me big. I'm never going to sit in its

shade. I'm I'm never going to like see

it big and all its glory and it'll live to be 7-8 hundred

years, 1200 years old. Who knows what I'll never see

it. I'll never sit in the shade, but

it's growing. And here's what's interesting.

It started out about 6 inches shorter than me and today it's

like a foot or two taller than me.

I've never actually witnessed it grow.

In other words, I've never gotten out the car.

I'm oh, caught you. I saw that itch.

Way to go buddy. 700 more of those.

I'm going to get in the shade. I've I've never witnessed it and

yet it has happened. I can see the evidence of it.

Friend, this is true of you. The changes that God is ring

bringing about in your life. They're imperceptible to you,

you, you. You don't necessarily see them

happening. Now.

There are moments where you get glimpses of it, but for the most

part it's imperceptible. It's just happening.

God is growing you overtime, slowly, steadily into the

reflection of Him. What's that verse say with ever

increasing glory? Isn't that beautiful?

You are receiving an ever increasing glory of His image.

You don't see it day-to-day, but overtime it becomes undeniable.

Now some of you are thinking, Steven, I hear you, it's a

process, yadda yadda, yadda. But I don't like the process.

I want this to go faster. I want to see change sooner.

Let me give you one last passage before we leave today that I

hope will give you some hope and patience for yourself and maybe

grace for yourself. First Thessalonians, another

Paul passage. I love how the Bible is just so

agreeable across all these letters.

First Thessalonians 514, it says.

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn of those who are

idle and disruptive. That's a whole sermon there, by

the way. Encourage the disheartened, help

the weak. Be patient with everyone.

Isn't that good? Be patient with everyone.

Now don't miss this. Don't miss this.

Don't miss this. Don't miss this.

What is God? What is the last line there that

God's commanding all of us to do that laugh To be, to be what?

With everyone? To be patient with everyone.

OK, Any leader who calls you to do something or commands you to

do something. He himself or he or she herself

must be willing to do that thing, right?

If God has called you and commanded you to be patient with

each other, then what is God's disposition towards you?

Patience. He would not call you to be

patient with one another if He himself were not patient with

you. And so as you feel the

frustration of I just, I just wish this were happening.

God is not surprised by your struggle.

He is not frustrated with you, He is patient with you.

So you don't need to live frustrated either.

Be patient. God's grace is sufficient.

His power is made perfect in weakness.

He is working even when you can't see it.

He is growing you even when it feels slow.

It's happening, so be patient. So as we close today, and really

as we close this whole series, here's what I hope you will take

with you. God works through a process, not

all at once, not overnight, but steadily and faithfully overtime

over your lifetime. And that means that this

morning, if you are following Jesus Christ and you feel this,

I'm not there yet or I still have work to do, that does not

mean something is wrong. That means something is right.

That means you're in it. That means God is working.

You're in a process. And the invitation of this

series has been simple. Hey, make room in your life,

Createspace in your life, not just for a moment of change, but

for a lifetime of formation. Make room for God to keep

working for his Spirit to keep shaping you.

Stay in the process, even when it feels slow.

Stay connected to the community of believers, even when you feel

discouraged. Stay in the process.

Keep making room. Because God.

God is more committed to your transformation into His likeness

than you are. He is more committed to your

sanctification than you are. He is dedicated to it.

And He's not in a hurry. He's not idle, but he's not in a

hurry. So you don't rush it.

Don't quit, don't settle. Stay with God, stay connected.

Because the same God who began a good work in you will carry it

on to completion. He will.

And you may feel like this today.

I'm not ready, is what most people tell me when I asked Him

to start serving. I'm not ready.

You may feel crooked, not quite where you wish you were.

But friend, this is exactly who God uses.

He draws straight lines with crooked sticks because that's

all there is. Your sanctification is

happening. It may be slow, but friend, it

is undeniable. Will you stand with me as we

pray together? Father, on this stage right now,

there are two crooked sticks. There's the one I dug out of the

ground that I've had for a number of years, and there's the

one you dug out of the ground and I've had for a few years.

Thank you that you use crooked sticks to draw straight lines.

How faithful you are. Thank you that you're preparing

us for what you have prepared for us.

You're shaping us and changing us and forming us.

And to the women and the men and who reflect you with ever

increasing glory, in Christ name Amen.

Thank you friends, have a blessed week.

We'll see you back here next Sunday.

Next Sunday.