Maybe It’s Time For You To Do Something Besides Complain About Your Limitations
7/28/2019 1 Samuel 17:32-36 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Text Mark 10:46-52
As you have gone through your life, have you ever said “wait a minute that’s not fair? Have you ever secretly desired the success of others? The quickest way to discouragement is to compare yourself to those who have it better than you have it.
If we are not careful, we can become so consumed with envy and jealousy of others, we will miss out on what it is we are capable of having or doing ourselves. We also forget the very person we are envying is envying someone else. It might even be you.
We will always have a reason to complain. King Saul had offered every soldier in his army the chance to fight Goliath. All of them declined. When David said, he would do it, Saul complained he was too young and too inexperienced. Somebody is always going to think that you are not qualified to be where God plans to put you.
Life is always going to be unfair. Somebody is going to do less than you do and they are going to come out ahead of you. Some churches are not going to be nearly as faithful in teaching the Word of God as we are, and yet they will grow five times faster than we will.
The mere decision you make to become a Christian, means you are choosing an unfair lifestyle. You can’t get even. You can’t have it all. You can’t go everywhere. You can’t expect others to love you simply because you do good. You can’t expect to never have problems, because God has promised all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Even in the body of Christ, life is not fair from our perspective. You will receive some spiritual gifts from God and not others. God has something special and unique for you, because of who you are. We are all different with various strengths and talents.
Next month we are going to see why God has put us together in the way God has and why it’s important to accept what God has done. We are also different because of the limitations which we each possess. None of us are limited in the exact same way. The issue before us is, is will we do what we can do, and believe God to do the rest.
The bible says there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. There may have been a time for you to be where you are, but that doesn’t mean you stay there forever. Your limitations don’t always have to be limitations if you place them in the right seasons of life.
When asked about her success and the limitations she faced, Lucille Ball said, "Knowing what you cannot do, may be more important than knowing what you can do." Knowing what you cannot do may keep you from investing a lot of time and energy into something that’s not going to go anywhere.
It is sometimes better to accept your losses and change course, than it is to continue to pour resources down the drain. This past weekend we were seeking to know what it is New Life At Calvary can do and cannot do so that we can follow the leading of the Spirit. Next week we will share where we’re going.
Fred Smith said "A problem is something you can do something about. A fact of life is something you can do nothing about.”
There are at least four limitations which are facts of life that all of us need to face. There is the limitations of our days. We are all going to die, and we don’t have forever to do what we may want to do. Psalm 90:12 says teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom. Don’t plan on coming to Jesus tomorrow, when the opportunity is there today. Don’t plan on one day getting serious about God, when the time for it is right now.
There is the limitations of our gifts. We do not have all of the spiritual gifts and talents, nor do we all have the same ones. Nothing is going to change it, that is why we are the body of Christ We need each other to become all God wants us to be. In August we will be dedicating a Sunday service to understanding what our individual gifts are.
There is the limitations of our resources, we can’t have it all. There are financial limitations we have to accept until they change. Simply asking God for a million dollars is not going to pay our bills. Praying for God to increase the number of tithers in our midst is a good place to start. Until then, we need to live within the resources God has provided us at this time and seek God for ways to increase them.
The fourth is the limitation in relationships. We cannot please everybody and can’t make everybody happy. None of us can make anybody love us. Some people are going to reject us or leave us no matter what we do.
Now if we cannot accept these four limitations as facts of life, we are going to become very frustrated, envious and bitter people. That’s not what God has in mind for us.
It does not matter how long something has been holding us back, we have the example of a man who rose to the occasion at the right time in his life, to put his life on another course. We met this weekend to put our church on the course from mediocrity to excellence. Our is Mark 10:46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city.
The first thing I want you to notice here is that Jesus is leaving Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. There was a large crowd following him, but I know there were a lot of people in the town, that were too busy to go out and see Jesus on that day.
They complained about all the other things they had to do and the places they wanted to go first. They figured what’s the rush, I’m busy right now, but when he comes back through next week, I’ll set things aside and go see him.
They may have had the best of intentions of seeing Jesus, next week, but the fact of life is this was Jesus’ last trip through Jericho. He was on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Wouldn’t it be a great step forward if we could recognize when an opportunity was showing up for the last time or when we were about to give up something truly precious.
We don’t know when some simple decision on our part to show up, to not show up, to sneak out or to sneak in is going to cause us to miss a great opportunity, or cause us to give up something of great value.
Moses had no idea his striking the rock God told him to speak to, was going to cancel his ticket to go to the promised land. He thought it was just another rock. Yet the bible tells us, that Rock was Christ providing them with life giving water.
Saints do right, while you have the opportunity to do right, because Satan is determined to kill you, to steal from you, and to destroy you. Don’t let your limitations and complaints keep you from doing what God has told you to do.
As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Bartimaeus had some limitations in his life. He was at the bottom of the economic ladder with little prospect for the future and he was blind. Something tragic had happened in his life, and he lost his sight. He could hear the noise, but couldn’t see what was going on.
But he didn’t complain, “I’m sick and tired of people not telling me what’s going on. Can’t they see I’m blind.” Bartimaeus asked somebody, "what’s going on."
Somebody said "Jesus, the Son of David is coming by here." Bartimaeus said, are you talking about the one who they said, has been healing the sight of the blind and opening deaf ears, causing the lame to walk, and raising people from the dead.
The person said yes that’s the one. I want you to notice when he found out about this news, he didn’t sit back and say," well I hope he comes over here and does something for me, because I have just had it so hard. Life just ain’t been fair for me all these years."
My friends, Bartimaeus recognized a once in a lifetime opportunity was coming, and if he didn’t do something now, he might have blown it. He thought "I might not able to see how to get to him, but there’s nothing wrong with my vocal cords." He started shouting, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us."
When was the last time you were so bold enough to simply cry out to God and say God I need some help. I don’t care what others are thinking about me. I’m coming down for prayer because I need it, and I need it today. My friends when you get too excited about getting God’s attention just know that people are going to try to shut you up. They want you to know, it doesn’t take all of that.
Look at verse 48. Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Now the crowd was not going to do a thing for Bartimaeus. But they had the nerve to tell him, "man be quiet. Jesus doesn’t have time for you worthless beggar. You’ll never amount too much of anything, be content with the donations you’ve already received today. Here’s another dollar or two for your cup, not quit all that yelling."
This would have been enough for some of us to stop and be quiet. Yeah it was kind of stupid to think God would be interested in me. Do you know what Bartimaeus means? It means the son of honor. His life was not matching his name. Some of us our lives are not matching what God has called us.
God says we were created with a purpose in mind. Our lives need to reflect God’s investment in us. When Jesus died for us on the cross, he proved that we are of immense value to God. No matter our limitation, we are somebody.
Bartimaeus had reasons for feeling down. He even had reasons for complaining and giving in to his limitations. He could have said to himself, " Well I tried but I don’t want to keep making others upset.
God put me here in this situation, He knows where I am if He wants to get me out. I should be happy that I did get some extra money for getting quiet when they told me to ."
You see saints, Bartimaeus was not facing a fact of life when others told him to be quiet. He was simply facing a problem. There was something he could do about this thing. The problem was, “do I keep quiet to win the favor of others, or do I keep as much noise as possible until I get Jesus’ attention”. He chose the latter.
The negative discouragement of others he took and turned it around to his own advantage and started yelling all the more. He figured if those around them were telling him to be quiet, then those around them must have figured Jesus might be able hear him. Therefore he shouted it even louder. " Son of David have mercy on me."
I want you to notice something here. Just because you have a limitation in your life, does not mean others are going to try to help you. Those people around Bartimaeus, could have led him, by the hand to Jesus, but they didn’t. They didn’t even want Jesus to know he was there.
You see, in order to move beyond your particular limitation, you’ve got to decide to do whatever you can do for you. People are not interested in always seeing you succeed. They may see your success means they’re missing out on something they could have had.
Be prepared to go against the crowd to reach your potential. You might not have all that you need to complete the process, but you’ve you got you and God and that’s all you need to start it.
All Bartimaeus had at the moment was a loud mouth. That was all he needed to get Jesus’ attention. Verse 49 Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you."
When Jesus stops and calls you out, you may as well get ready for people to start acting differently around you. When others see you are finally on your way up and out of your situation, all of a sudden they want to be your friend. They wouldn’t do a thing to help you get started, but they want a piece of your limelight.
The same group that told him to close his mouth and be quiet, is now saying, oh cheer up. Jesus is calling for you. Let me help you over there. They forgot all the reasons they had given him why he should have kept his mouth closed.
Now just supposed for a moment what would have happened, if instead of Bartimaeus kept on calling for Jesus, he had started telling off those who told him to be quiet. Do you see you can miss out on God’s calling on you, by taking the time to fight with people who want to keep you in your place. Don’t go down to the level of others with name-calling. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Bartimaeus got the news that Jesus was calling, and just like he didn’t get any help when he was yelling out, he didn’t get any help on the way over. He didn’t wait around complaining about who would help him get to Jesus, or if someone would ask Jesus to come over to him, after all he had the limitations. No, verse 50 says Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
That cloak was the most important thing he owned. It kept him warm during the day, and was his covers at night. But he didn’t want to trip over it getting to Jesus. He threw it aside because he was not planning on going back to the life of being a beggar.
Once he got to Jesus there was going to be a change in his life and not just spiritually. Is there a cloak this morning that you need to throw to the side if you’re going to follow after Jesus.
51 "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." The words “I want to see are literally”, I want to regain my sight.
If you’re coming to Jesus, you ought to know why it is that you’re coming. If God said today, "I’m willing to give you what you ask for, what is it that you’re asking for that’s going to make a difference. As a church, we need to ask for the heart of Jesus for those who are lost.
Bartimaeus didn’t know it, but Jesus was looking for him. He knew where Bartimaeus was. We need a heart for those who don’t know Christ and what he has to offer. We need a new boldness to do what God has told us to do.
Bartimaeus could have settled for a lot less. He could have said, you know Jesus, I’ve fallen on some hard times financially, do you think you could make a sizable donation to my cup."
Isn’t that how we so often treat God. God has unlimited power to inject in our situation, and all we want from God is enough money to cover the bills. Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Life isn’t determined by the amount of cash donation God puts into our cups. Bartimaeus’s desire was to have Jesus better equip him to reach his full potential.
52 "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Bartimaeus got what he wanted, and noticed what he did. He followed Jesus. The temptation is to get what we want from God, and then go on about our merry way. Jesus told Bartimaeus his faith had healed him. This passage does not mean God takes away every limitation we face, in the way we desire it to be taken but that God is able to do it.
Every lost person in this room needs to understand that Jesus Christ loves you He died on the cross to save you and He will do just that today if you will only come to Him. However, He will not force Himself into your life.
If you do not receive Him, then you will never be saved. If God has been calling you to come to Him, I challenge you obey that call. If you refuse, then this golden opportunity will certainly pass you by
All of us face limitations, but we need not be limited because God still has a call, a plan, and a purpose for our lives. When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we find an unlimited power to save us from sin and to save us from ourselves.
In giving our lives to Christ, the Holy Spirit enters our lives and begins to change us day be day, until less of us is seen, and more of Christ comes to the forefront. Look not at your limitations, but to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.
