(In)adequate
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Today is Resurrection Sunday. Culturally today is - Easter!
Today is the day that we celebrate that our King has risen from the dead - and all of the wonderful things that means for us. Today - people across the world will celebrate Easter. Culturally we will celebrate with egg hunts and Easter bunnies, etc. Christians will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, our God, Jesus the Christ.
The foundation of our faith rests on this holiday.
The reality, that Jesus of Nazareth was born of a virgin
He lived on this Earth, ministering to the hurt and the broken - people like you and me.
Then when the time was right, he surrendered himself to die upon the cross, to pay the price for our sins. You and I deserved to pay the price for those.
And yet, like Barabbas - you and I - stood next to the Lord, guilty. And we were set free. That is the great gospel story. And yet - our God is Better.
Not only would He die on that cross, He would rise again. Because He is God. Because Death doesn’t keep God. He is bigger than death. That is what we celebrate today.
The Story of Jesus’ resurrection is recorded in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20.
This is the main event.
This is the big deal.
This is the thing that makes everything else we know about our faith possible and real.
It all hinges on this.
Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins.
And He rose from the dead to defeat death and ascend into heaven - where everything else falls into place.
I serve a living God, One God - three persons. Not a relic on a cross, not some man buried. I serve a living God.
As we go into worship this morning, consider those things and worship our God together.
SERMON:
I am inadequate. I am not enough.
My skills and abilities, my intellect and wisdom, the work of my hands, the quality of who I am as a person - just doesn’t cut it.
There are things that are required of me - that I just don’t have.
There are things as a father, a husband, a businessman, a pastor, that I fall short in.
I can’t even follow Jesus well.
The time that I devote to that relationship doesn’t feel like enough, I sin way more than I should.
I am inadequate. So are you.
And that is okay.
The title of my sermon this morning is Inadequate.
Inadequate means lacking the quality or quantity required, insufficient for a purpose.
So when you don’t have the skills you need for something, or you stand at the counter of a store with out enough money in your account to cover the price of the item that you are attempting to purchase, you are inadequate.
And that is an uncomfortable feeling.
I was struggling with this the other day. Feeling totally and completely inadequate. The things that were going on were beyond my control, and yet I felt like I had to wrestle everything back together in my own strength and prove myself in it.
It was uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable is a common feeling for a Christian, in case you didn’t know.
For someone to be inadequate - there has to be a standard or an expectation. There has to be a measurable goal.
So, many people - especially more recently - remove the goal.
You can’t fail, if you don’t try.
But there is one standard that we can’t avoid.
It starts in the Book of Genesis. Gen 2:17
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
Way back in the beginning - God created this standard, that we all have to live up to.
Except we can’t. We didn’t.
Adam and Eve failed in the garden, and every one of us has been failing ever since. And our sin has consequences. You will certainly die.
In the old testament, God established a way for his people to be reconciled. That way was animal sacrifices.
Every year, God’s people would sacrifice animals to restore their relationship with God and to purify the land. only - it had to mean something. And every year, it lost a little more meaning, until it meant so little to the people, that God said through the Prophet Isaiah 1:11-13
11 “What are all your sacrifices to me?” asks the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who requires this from you— this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies— I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.
When we are confronted with that standard, we realize that we are inadequate.
Even the things that we could bring - have become worthless, because of our heart in the matter.
I am not enough.
But God says to us in that moment, when we realize that we are not enough, that we are inadequate, God Says “But I am”
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets.
22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
As a direct response to our sin, our greatest inadequacy, God sent his son to die on the cross to take care of it.
And it had to be him. We don’t make the cut. We can only offer imperfect self, the price for sin is never truly paid, and we keep sinning anyway.
And then He rose from the grave. Jesus did not stay dead, he came back to life.
Before coming to know Jesus - we live life, inadequate.
But if you know Jesus - he becomes our adequate.
He is enough. He is the perfect sacrifice. He was the lamb who was slain. He is the word of God and he was with God and he is God. He is the beginning and the end.
And he gives to us a new standard - He said pick up your cross and follow me.
And we look at that standard… and we shudder;
Because it is too much.
To Follow Jesus is too hard.
To live a life for him is beyond what I can do.
I can’t love my wife like Christ loved the church, I can’t teach people about Jesus, I can’t raise children to know God in their heart, I can’t work a job in a way that honors God. I can’t serve in the church and give all of my time and my money.
I am inadequate.
God called Moses out of shepherding to speak to the most powerful man in their world, Pharaoh.
10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”
4 The word of the Lord came to me:
5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”
He called Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations - and his response was - I am so young lord!
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”
15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”
These people who God used in incredible ways - these mighty heroes of our faith - knew themselves to be inadequate. Moses said - Please God… I ain’t good at talking. Gideon said “I’m too little”
They each struggled with their own not enough’s.
And they were met with the same response from my God.
I am with you. You can do this - because I am doing it. You can do this - because I am with you.
Paul explained this to us in plain language :
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God.
5 It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.
6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
We don’t do any of this on our own.
We don’t have salvation on our own.
We didn’t do this.
Because I am inadequate.
Because you, aren’t enough.
But He is.
Jesus is.
If you are hearing my voice this morning, you are in one of two places.
You might be in a place where you have no relationship with Jesus. Some of the things I have said don’t make any sense to you.
If that is you this morning, I want to introduce you to my Lord.
He is more than sufficient to meet your needs - he will provide salvation, and so much more during your life as a believer. Eternity with him is promised, heaven is promised. Paradise.
2. If you do have a relationship with Jesus - we are still inadequate. Our response is to dwell with the one who is adequate. We boast in him who created us, and makes good enough.
And here is the harder part.
Say yes.
When God asks us to do something, say yes.
When he directs us somewhere - say yes.
When he leads us into something - say yes.
When he requires something of you - say yes.
No, you aren’t adequate.
You might - only have a stick.
But He is enough.
We are inadequate.
but we can be in.... adequate.
where on our own, we lack the quality or quantity required. We are insufficient for our purpose.
But with him, we dwell within the one who has the quality required, who IS sufficient, and gives us our purpose.