A Flourishing Life

Below is an excerpt from a post by Darryl Dash discussing Andy Crouch's new book Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing.

,,,The premise of the book is simple. We are meant to flourish, and flourishing requires two things that at first don't seem to go together. "Here’s the paradox: flourishing comes from being both strong and weak." Or, to put it in a form of a 2 by 2 chart, we're to embrace both authority and vulnerability.

It's easy to miss this paradox. In my talk, I'd focused on the grace that's found in weakness, reflecting on the Lord's words to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). I'd inadvertently glorified what Crouch calls the withdrawing/suffering quadrants, missing the quadrant of flourishing (authority and vulnerability). Crouch's model helped me understand that we're meant to be weak and strong in equal measure.
Flourishing, though, isn't about health, wealth, growth, affluence, and gentrification. We know this because Jesus, our model for flourishing, didn't live an affluent life. Flourishing means that we care for our communities, especially those who were most vulnerable. It means that we avoid the temptations of withdrawing into safety, or grasping for power, just as Jesus did.

I was most moved by how Crouch weaves the gospel into this model. The path to flourishing is a path that takes us through suffering:

Surprisingly, rather than simply moving pleasantly into ever greater authority and ever greater vulnerability, we have to take two fearsome journeys, both of which seam like detours that lead away from the prime quadrant. The first is the journey to hidden vulnerability, the willingness to bear burdens and expose ourselves to risks that no one else can fully see or understand. The second is sacrifice, the choice to visit the most broken corners of the world and our own heart.

"Without a doubt," Crouch writes, "this is the greatest paradox of flourishing: it is only found on the other side of suffering— specifically, our willingness to actively embrace suffering."

The implications for leadership are profound. "Leadership does not begin with a title or a position. It begins the moment you are concerned more about others’ flourishing than you are about your own. It begins when you start to ask how you might help create and sustain the conditions for others to increase their authority and vulnerability together."
Strong and Weak is a book that manages to be both simple but profound. It's worth four dozen self-help books. This book helps us understand the right path to flourishing, and how to help others take it too. It's a path that Jesus took before us — a path that looks like dying, but one that leads to real life.

Near to the Lowly

Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

A Prayer For Those Who Hurt

We bring before you, O Lord,
the troubles and perils of people and nations,
the sighing of prisoners and captives,
the sorrows of the bereaved,
the necessities of strangers,
the helplessness of the weak,
the despondency of the weary,
the failing powers of the aged.
O Lord, draw near to each;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

- Anselm of Canterbury

HT: Trevin Wax

Power In Weakness

From Steve Brown: The Warrior Is A Child:

...The power of the Christian witness isn’t in our strength but in our weakness, brokenness and sin. It is that message with which we “strengthen our brothers and sisters.” It’s a message about redemption, forgiveness and God’s incredible grace, mercy, and love to people who don’t deserve it. Only sinners can proclaim that message because we are the only ones unqualified enough to do so.

Strength To Be Weak

Here's a good question: Are You Weak Enough? by Katie Persinger (via J.D. Greear). Sometimes we just need the strength to be weak-- and dependent on He who is Strength.

There aren’t many societies that praise weakness. Ours is no different. Whether you’re a pastor or a police officer, an on-the-go salesman or a stay-at-home mother, weakness is seen as a liability. Nobody wants to be weak. Strong is the name of the game. 

Sadly, our obsession with strength blinds us to a key biblical truth: God uses the weak. It’s so pervasive that you’d be hard-pressed to find a book of the Bible that can’t be summarized this way. And yet despite being hard-wired into the very DNA of Scripture, we don’t really believe it. We still clamor after strength. But God doesn’t need our strength to deliver us. In fact, our strength is actually more of a liability than an asset.

I’ll go a step further: God is so single-minded in his preference for weakness, that when he wants to use us, he often begins by weakening us. Case in point: the Bible’s most courageous coward, Gideon.

Just before heading into battle with the mighty Midianite army, Gideon hears from God: “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’”(Judges 7:2). So God gives Gideon a couple of tests, designed to trim the ranks.

Test 1 is to send all the fearful people home. It turns out that’s a decent number, and 22,000 of Gideon’s 32,000 leave. (I wonder if Gideon tried to sneak off with them?) Now, that might not have been a foolish decision. Fear is contagious, so 10,000 brave soldiers are better than three times that many if 70% of them are wimps.

But if Test 1 was designed to create a braver army, Test 2 was only designed to create a smaller and weaker one. God tells Gideon to have his men drink from a stream, and all of the men who “lap like dogs” (who does that?) are the ones that should stay. It’s an arbitrary test, but an effective one: only 300 men remain.

God was teaching Gideon what he wants to teach us today: when he wants to use us, he often begins by weakening us. That doesn’t mean God delights in bringing us pain, or that every instance of weakness in our lives is caused directly by God. But periodically, God will step into our lives and reduce the size of our army, because he wants us to trust him—and that’s often the only way we will.

So when we hear a tragic diagnosis from our doctor…or when we suddenly find ourselves out of a job…or when our marriage is on the rocks…we should see those as our “army” being reduced. Those are moments of decision: will we rage against God, or lean into him like never before? We are so obsessed with grasping at strength that pain becomes something to avoid, not an opportunity to learn from. But what if dependence is more important than strength? If dependence is the objective, than weakness is an advantage.

I hate learning that lesson. I’m sure you do, too. But weakness forces us to throw ourselves in desperation before God, and that is the only place—and the only posture—in which we can learn the four words that transform our lives:God is always faithful. You and I may never know that God is all we need until he is literally all we have.

The Apostle Paul said it this way: “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor 12:9). You see, if we brag on our strengths, people may look at us and think, “I wish I were more like that … but I can’t be.” But if we brag on our weaknesses, that makes people think, “Wow, I have access to the same power that guy does!” Christians aren’t people who boast about their superior morality; they are beggars telling a bunch of other beggars where to find bread.

Beware your strengths. They are far more dangerous to you than your weaknesses, because your strengths keep you from hoping in God’s mercy. And boast in your weaknesses. Boast when God lets you fail. Boast when God reduces the size of your army. God isn’t withholding good things from you. In fact, he’s offering you something priceless. As Hudson Taylor said, “God wants you to have something far better than riches and gold, and that is helpless dependence on him.”

Always Limping

Walking With A Limp, a devotional commentary from D.E. Garland on 2 Cor. 12:9 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

If I had my druthers there are many days I would not be a pastor, preacher, or public pray-er!

I feel the need for a disclaimer here. I love my work. I have a great gig. It really is "the best job in the world." That said, it is taxing work. Pastoring is a job one never really leaves at the office. Preaching is a joyful burden. Sundays come with great regularity; with them the need for a fresh new message that is appropriately interesting enough and deep enough and practical enough. Then there is praying in public. At times it just puts me uncomfortably on the spot.

Truth be told, there are days when I would prefer a more quiet life. Give me the seclusion of my study. Let me read, learn, reflect, and then write about it. I'll even carry all that learning to the classroom. For me, teaching requires far less emotional energy than preaching.

I am thirty-five years into my work. At this point God has not granted me the quiet life of the secluded study. Instead, it seems he is always pushing me out of my comfort zone, exposing my weaknesses. He has been doing this for years.

I have framed poem I keep in my office that describes my pushy God and his deeper purposes.
“

I would rather

clutch my invitation

and wait my turn in party clothes

Prim and proper

Safe and clean.

But…

a pulsing hand keeps driving me over

peaks, ravines and spidered brambles…

so I will pant up to the pearled knocker

tattered

breathless

and full of tales

.— Janet Chester Bly

Bly describes the "pulsing hand" of God that drivers her. I have felt that same hand driving me over the challenging peaks and through the deep ravines and spidering brambles of my weakness.

Why? Why does God expose me to inward angst and potential humiliation? He does it so that I might know him. Were I left to my devices, choosing the "easier path," I would have little need for God. As it is, my weakness is actually the open door through which the grace and power of God enters. Jesus told Paul:

““My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Commenting on this verse, D.E. Garland writes,

We learn from the message given to Paul that God’s grace is not just the unmerited favor that saves us but a force that also sustains us throughout our lives. The modifier “my” in “my power,” is important. Paul is not speaking about power in general, but “the power of Christ” revealed in the crucifixion and resurrection.

Armed with that amazing truth, Paul decides to revel in his weakness. Like Jacob of old, Paul may walk with a proverbial limp, but every step is a reminder of the God who meets him, strengthens him, and sustains him with resurrection power. That is grace -- perhaps not the version I desire -- but grace indeed.

Paul knows this truth experientially. God wants me to have that same experience and he wants you to have it too. That means he will not always deliver us from our weakness. Instead, Jesus will show up in the midst of our weakness. We will feel that pulsing hand giving us a little push out of our comfort zone. And that is good . . . for God never pushes us without also supplying the power to take the next step.

"We learn from the message ..." from Garland, D. E. (1999). Vol. 29: 2 Corinthians. The New American Commentary (524). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Stop Fighting Your Brokenness

From Darryl Dash - The Benefits of Brokenness

I have a pastor-friend who is unflappable. I think it would be impossible to tell him something that would surprise him. I know, because I’ve shared some things with him that might have raised some eyebrows. His never moved; he responded with the grace and strength that I needed at the time.

It’s hard to surprise my pastor-friend, because there isn’t much that he hasn’t experienced himself. He’s had the parenting problems. He struggled with an episode of major depression and burnout. He’s failed and succeeded in ministry. He’s stayed faithful over the long term, but he’s battered and bruised. He’s got a credibility that only comes from those who have stayed in the battle long enough to know that it’s tough.

He reminds me of another older man I met through Serge, the ministry started by Jack Miller. “There’s nothing you could tell me that would shock me,” he said. “There’s no way that you’re a worse sinner than I am.” Some could say that as a platitude; he said it as a truth. When you have been around long enough to have been humbled, and are still walking with God, you have a grace and a strength that’s hard to fake.

The older I get, the less I’m surprised by the struggles and foibles of others. I no longer have the quick answers and the simple advice. I am accumulating the wounds that I hope will one day give me the credibility that is able to stand in the middle of suffering and to say much without saying anything.

I’m no longer fighting the process of being broken. I’m learning what I couldn’t have known when I started ministry over twenty years ago: “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply” (A.W. Tozer)
.

Real Strength

Lean On Him....

From Challies.com

Precious In Weakness

It;s Okay to Not Be Okay

To all my friends: I hereby give you permission to sometimes not be okay. I agree with Jared Wilson:

Sometimes it’s hard to express your feelings to the people around you. Not because you’re afraid of what they’ll say, but because our culture doesn’t seem to be very keen on being honest about their pains. The reality is that way too many people are putting on a facade of perfection in order to keep people from knowing how they are truly hurting. It’s as if everyone feels like showing pain is a sign of weakness. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok to not be ok sometimes. Remember, even Jesus himself wept.

1. It’s ok to cry. 

- There is nothing wrong with crying. Who ever said crying is for babies was a liar, and definitely not ever watched The Notebook. The reality is that even Jesus himself wept, and that crying can sometimes be the relief you need to move on and re-group.

2. It’s ok to get frustrated. - No one has the answers to everything, and even the smartest of people in the world find themselves frustrated sometimes. It’s ok to not know the answer, solution, or reason for things that have taken place. The light at the end of the tunnel is knowing that God has everything under control, even when we ourselves do not. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s wrong to get frustrated. Sometimes frustration is the breeding ground of change.

3. It’s ok to get stressed. 

- Let’s face it, stress is unavoidable. I’m not saying it’s going to consume your entire life, but stress is one of those things that all of us will eventually encounter in one way or another. When you come into areas of your life that are considered stressful, realize that it’s only going to last as long as you allow it to. Stress is unavoidable, but allowing it to control your life is not. It’s ok to be stressed sometimes, just don’t let stress become who you are.

4. It’s ok to not understand.

- Not everything is going to have an answer, but that’s where the beauty of faith comes in. There are circumstances and events in your life that you aren’t going to understand, but you have to realize that it’s ok to not know all the answers. There is humility in saying “I don’t know.” And frankly, sometimes admitting that you don’t know is the first step in finding peace and comfort in your situation. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s wrong to admit you don’t understand.

It’s ok to not be ok.

He Isn't Interested in Your Best Life

Jeff Dunn at IMonk hit a home run this week with "The Homily" 

...I hate to be the bearer of reality, but not everything in this life is going to go your way. Even more to the point, God does not have your best interests in mind. God has his own best interests in his mind. And at times, his interests make our lives miserable. You want an example? Look at Job. God wanted to prove to the Accuser that Job would still praise God even if all of his “blessings” were taken away. God’s glory was on display, not Job’s comfort or prosperity. Do you want another example? How about Mary? God chose this young, engaged-but-not-yet-married girl to bring his Son into the world. How did that “bless” Mary? Her life was forever changed from what she had most likely envisioned.

The Gospel of Jesus does not guarantee us to become winners. As a matter of fact, Jesus championed losers. In his parables, he presented God as one who is constantly seeking after what has been lost. A lost coin. Lost sheep. A lost son. Jesus came, he said, to seek and to save the lost, not the found, not the blessed. Not the winners.

As a matter of fact, Jesus said the greatest loss we could ever experience would be if we sought to save our lives, to become winners. Luke tucks an interesting verse into Jesus’ teaching on his second return: Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Winners become losers, and losers become winners...

....St. Paul tells us that God’s power is perfectly seen in our weakness. And that when I am weak is when I am truly strong. So I will rejoice in my sicknesses, in my distress, in my despair. I will rejoice when things are not going my way, when my life is turned upside-down by unforeseen circumstances. When I realize I am a loser, then I can take comfort in knowing Jesus has come to seek and to save me. This is the Gospel of Jesus.

This morning, remember that God is focused on his glory. And as hard as that may be to understand, and even harder to accept (for we are a very selfish lot), we are to be focused on God’s glory as well.

Valuing Weakness

From DashHouse.Com - The Value of Weakness:

I’ve seen a lot of values listed by churches. Most of them sound lofty. I’ve only seen weakness listed as a value by a church once. The church is Holy Trinity Chicago, and this is what they say: Irony of Weakness While common wisdom places a high value on strength, our church is learning to live in weakness. Why? Because when we are weak, we are actually strong. You might call it the irony of weakness: God uses humble, reliant people. Weakness is divinely intended for us by God.  Indeed, a life of dependence on the Holy Spirit, of devotion in prayer and a willingness to suffer for Christ is a beautiful life. So we value dependence on the Spirit rather than dependence on self. We value prayer, which is the opposite of pride and self-sufficiency. And though we do not seek out suffering we know that it is a part of a gospel-centered life.  Our true strength is in Jesus Christ! I love the three implications listed in this definition: Weakness implies dependence on the Holy Spirit. Ministry is not simply a matter of best practices. It is a spiritual enterprise. As Francis Schaeffer said, “And as Christians, we too must comprehend something of our need for spiritual power. If we think we can operate on our own, if we do not comprehend the need for a power beyond our own, we will never get started" (No Little People). Weakness implies devotion in prayer. When we comprehend that we are weak, we turn away from pride and self-sufficiency to our true source of power. A prayerless life is a life that fails to recognize my true condition. Weakness implies a willingness to suffer. The illusion of strength and an unwillingness to suffer go together. Weak people, it seems, are less surprised by suffering. Ajith Fernando writes, “In a world where physical health, appearance, and convenience have gained almost idolatrous prominence, God may be calling Christians to demonstrate the glory of the gospel by being joyful and content while enduring pain and hardship.” It’s been years since I noticed that Holy Trinity values weakness. I’m not sure if any other churches have included it in their list of values, but perhaps many more should.

Worth a Look

Links Worth a Look:

Not All Weakness is Sin

We Have Forgotten the Art of Dying Well

Happiness is Not Just About Doing Things You Like

A Dozen Things God Does With Our Sin

7 Unconventional Reasons Why You Absolutely Should Be Reading Books

Top 10 Books on Charismatic Theology

Continualist Christians: An Overview and Brief History from CT Magazine

I Follow Jesus Because.... (#2)

I follow Jesus because he does not break a bruised reed or quench a smoking wick (He keeps me around even when I am weak) Mt 12:20

I follow Jesus because He is a leader who knows my weaknesses.

I follow Jesus because He alone has the words of life!

I follow Jesus because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

I follow Jesus because He takes me to the Father.

I follow Jesus because He's the Man with the Plan.

I follow Jesus because He came looking for me when I was lost. 

I follow Jesus because there's no where else to go!

                  ....Why do you follow Jesus?

See also I Follow Jesus Because #1
  

Hope When Weak

“We have within us deeply rooted weaknesses, passions, and defects. This can not all be cut out with one sharp motion, but patience, persistence, care and attention. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that he will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received the force of habit. Only with the passage of time and with fervor will they be conquered. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope.”

                   – St. Nektarios of Aegina

The Advantage of Weakness

From J.D. Greear:

...Before God can use us, He must first break us. God was breaking Elijah as a way of preparing to use him, and he is often at work in the same way in our lives. Someone we trust betrays us; or we lose our job; or we have a sudden decline in health. In all of this, God is at work—removing our idols, those areas of false trust, false joy, and false hope. Because if dependence is the objective, weakness is an advantage.

Paul said it like this: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that power of Christ may rest on me” (2 Cor 12:9). On the face of it, that is just crazy. We do not naturally boast about being financially weak (poor), or occupationally weak (unemployed), or relationally weak (alone). But Paul boasted in his weakness because he knew that God’s miracles and his glories are found there, not in our strengths.

So rejoice in your weaknesses! And on the flip side, beware your strengths, because those are the areas you are most likely to forget God...

More at the link.

Links Worth a Look

Some links worth a look:

Our Unhealthy Obsessions With Pastors

John Chrysostom &  Justification by Faith

What Did Jesus Mean When He Said "Judge Not"

Weakness is an Advantage

Confession of Sin aa Idle, Lustful Babbling

A Primer on the Southern Baptist Convention, Part 1 and Part 2

Aware of Weakness

WOW!

RT @PastorTullian "The Holy Spirit's ministry is not to make us stronger so we need Jesus less but to make us aware of our weakness so that we need Jesus more."

Boasting in Weakness

 "A question that my wife often asks me is, “what does it mean to boast in your weaknesses in this situation?” This is a helpful gospel index for me. My default state is not to boast in my weakness. Its not even to feel neutrally about it. Its to fight it, conceal it, and fear its exposure. But this shows the gospel has not gone down deep enough into my heart and subconscious. As I learn to walk with Christ as my confidence, before God and people, I can relax into my responsibilities – my job, for example, or my studies, or my marriage – and trust that whatever God has called me to, He will enable me to do, and His power will shine through my weaknesses. Its not all up to me. My part is to do my best. Christ will fill in the gaps with His presence and power. Walking in the freedom of this is so rarely my daily reality! But even just seeing my need for it is an incentive to worship and pursue it."

From Gavin Ortlund At Soliloquium

Hat Tip: Vitamin Z