But I Am Not Enough, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Jesus' name literally in Hebrew is Yeshua, which means God, I am your salvation, and that means that all that I need, all that I lack, all that I could never be in myself, He is the great I am for me and in me. I'm not enough. You are not enough. Moses was not enough.

God has got enough for Moses and for me and for you, and that's the whole gospel. Welcome to Summit Life. I'm Molly Vidovitch. I don't know about you, but I felt confident and invincible as a kid. I wasn't afraid to try anything, and if I failed, I could laugh it off and try the next thing. But as we grow older, those insecurities set in and we start to question ourselves.

Should I try that? Am I smart enough to tackle that problem? Do people actually know what to do?

Are they actually like me or are they pretending? Today, Pastor J.D. explains that these types of insecurities aren't ultimately a reflection of ourselves. They're a reflection of our view of God. These biblical insights and more are included in Pastor J.D.

's current teaching series titled Not God Enough. Now here's today's message called But I Am Not Enough. I am not blank enough, and you figure out what goes in that blank.

In fact, just ask yourself, what most often goes in that blank for you? I am not good-looking enough. I'm not athletic enough.

I'm not young enough, smart enough, funny enough, spiritual enough. Maybe you just got hired for a job and now you're not sure you can do it. And what's worse is you're pretty sure nobody else thinks you can do it either. And so you're pretty sure that when you see other people gathered around the water cooler at work and they're laughing about something, you're almost positive that it's you.

That they're laughing about. Or maybe you just embarked on some new phase in your life. You just became a mom. Or maybe it's a new chapter in your career. Or maybe you're going into retirement and you're just not sure if you've got what it takes to really succeed in this chapter. Maybe you feel like God has called you to a ministry that you just feel utterly incapable for.

You just felt overwhelmed by the possibilities and impossibilities. See, all of us at some point experience insecurity. Well, see, Exodus 3 opens up with Moses as a pretty insecure man. He had started out life pretty secure. He was a good-looking guy with a lot of confidence.

He had a high-paying job. He was Pharaoh's adopted son. But then in his early 20s or so, he felt like God was calling him to do something. Namely, he thought God was leading him to deliver Israel out of Egypt.

And so when he tried it, things went bad. The Jewish people mocked him and rejected him. Pharaoh, his adopted daddy, disowned him.

And then he ended up killing a man. Well, Moses flees into the desert where he ends up marrying a nomad girl and spends the next 40 years tending the sheep of her father. Moses flocked to the far side of the wilderness, and he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it didn't burn up, so he turned aside to go see it. Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight.

Why? The bush does not burn up, and God called to him from within the bush. Moses, Moses. And Moses said, Here I am. Do not come any closer, God said.

Take off your sandals. For the place where you're standing, Moses is holy. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

I've heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians. So now, Moses, go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

Now hold on just a second. When did the conversation turn to Moses? Up until that point in the conversation there in verse 11, we've been talking about God and what God wanted to do. But now, Moses very subtly makes himself the point of the conversation. Commentators say that this reveals the deep insecurities that Moses was carrying around. from his previous failures. Verse 12, But God responded to Moses, Moses, I will be with you.

This is really important. Notice how God deals with Moses's insecurities. He doesn't do it the way that we usually do it in our day and age. He didn't pull Moses on a talk show and reinforce him with positive thoughts or help him discover his inner tiger. You see, that's because this, and write this down, that's because confidence doesn't come from a better assessment of your potential. Confidence comes from a clear view of God. Some of you have approached God trying to see how he can help you achieve your purposes.

You've gotten it all wrong. We were supposed to approach God surrendering to his purposes, and that's where a real sense of confidence comes from. Well, see, that's what God is trying to very patiently show Moses.

He's trying to say, I've got a purpose and I want to use you in it. And he drives this point home by introducing to Moses a name. And God said to Moses, I am who I am. All those places in your life, Moses, that you feel like you are not, I am. Walk forward in confidence, knowing that what I have called you to, I will supply you for. So Moses says, but God, I'm not good enough. And God says, I know I am. And God, I'm not skilled enough. I know I am. God, I'm not confident enough. I am.

So find your confidence in me. I told you that throughout Israel, Israel's history, God would re-invoke this I am name whenever Israel was in a time of great need. And then what God would do is he would attach to that name Jehovah or Yahweh. He would attach to it whatever it was that Israel lacked and whatever he planned to supply for Israel in himself. In fact, that name Yahweh, Jehovah appears in your Old Testament 6,519 times. In your Bible in English, it's written as capital L-O-R-D. That's always signifying it's the name Yahweh or Jehovah.

And they always attach to it whatever Israel lacks. And it's like the most beautiful truth in Scripture. What I'm about to share is the truth in Scripture that's like the whole meal. This is the Gospel that you come back to again and again and again because it satisfies your soul. God's use of the I am name throughout Scripture is the essence of the Gospel. So in Exodus, when the people of Israel are wounded and sick because of their sin, God reveals himself to them as Jehovah. I am Rafa, which means healer.

I'm your healer. In Leviticus, when Moses lays out the law, the law, that great description of how to walk uprightly before God. And the people say what we say.

How could you ever live up to all these things? God says Jehovah, I am Makedesh Kim. I am your sanctifier. In other words, I'm the God who will enable you to actually walk with me. I'm discouraged by Israel's persistent failures and how they've refused to walk faithfully before God. He looks at heaven and he says, God, how are we ever going to survive?

How can you not just destroy us? God says to Jeremiah, don't be afraid because Jehovah, I am Tizkidnu, your righteousness. I'm going to become your righteousness. I'm going to be your righteousness when you have no righteousness.

In Ezekiel's day, when the people of Israel felt scared and alone, and they felt besieged by their enemies all around, God said, don't be afraid. Jehovah, I am Shammah. I am the presence.

I am the presence of God with you. When David felt lost and confused with no friends left in the world, he called God, Psalm 23, Jehovah Ra, the Lord, my shepherd to Abraham, who faced an impossible circumstance with no seeming way out. God declared to him, Jehovah, I am Jireh, your provider. And to Isaiah, who wasn't sure that he would survive another day, God declared to him, Jehovah Sabaoth, I am God, your defender.

I am the God who will never stop fighting for you. You'll see in the New Testament, Jesus is going to take this I am name. He's going to take this I am name, and in Greek, it's ego ami.

It's how he would have, what's how it's written in your Greek New Testament. And he's going to attach it to himself. And he's not just claiming to be God.

He is doing that. But he's also going to apply it to the areas of brokenness that we most experience, showing how God will be the fullness and all these places that were empty. For example, to those who hunger, Jesus says, John 635, I am the bread of life. To those who thirst, he says, John 738, I am the living water. To those in darkness, Jesus declares, John 812, I am the light. To those who need a fresh start, John 10-9, he says, I am the door. To those who feel abandoned, John 10-11, I am the good shepherd. To those who feel lost, John 14, Jesus declares, I am the way. To those who feel confused, I am the truth. To those who are afraid of death, I am the life.

These are what Jesus wants to be to you. To the unrighteous, Jesus declares, I am your righteous covering. To the powerless, he says, I am your defense. To the empty, he says, I am your fullness. And to the dead, I am your resurrection. To the defeated, he says, I am your everlasting hope.

I promise to give you a future and a hope and to make you a blessing. The Bible's message, you see, is not about your self-actualization. The Bible's about God. It's about what God is for you and what God can accomplish through you. The gospel is not that given enough help, you could become righteous enough to earn heaven. The gospel was that Jesus came and was righteous enough in your place and then died to death that you'd been condemned to die in your place so that he could literally become your righteousness. The Christian life in the same way is not about moral self-improvement.

It's not about God giving you help to make you an awesome person. It's about Christ working the power of a new life in you and through you. Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live.

It's not even I who live anymore. It's Christ who lives in me. You see, only one person in all of history was ever able to live the Christian life successfully.

And y'all, he was so good at it, we named it after him. The Christian life, the Christ life. And now that Christ lives in you and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Why is it that I can stand confidently before God? Why is it that I can stand confidently before God? Because Jehovah to his kidney, Jesus has become my righteousness.

God made him who knew no sin to become my sin so that I could become his righteousness in him. Why is it that when I look at life, I'm not afraid that I'm going to be alone or abandoned? It is because Jesus is my Jehovah-Shama, God, my presence.

Why is it that I can face my trials with confidence? It is because Jesus is my Jehovah-Jireh. He is the God who always provides for me. Why is it that I can have hope that this body that is falling apart and this soul that feels plagued by all kinds of doubts and troubles and temptations is one day going to be with him in glory? It is because Jesus is Jehovah-Rapha. He is God, my healer.

How do I know that I'm going to be successful in the next chapter of my life? It's not because I'm awesome. It's not because I've learned a bunch of stuff. It is because Jesus is Jehovah. He is God, my sanctifier.

You see, Jesus' name literally in Hebrew is Yeshua, which means God, I am your salvation. He became my salvation. And that means that all that I need, all that I lack, all that I could never be in myself.

He is the great I am for me and in me. I'm not enough. You are not enough. Moses was not enough. But God has got enough for Moses and for me and for you. And that's the whole gospel. You realize that you're carrying around all kinds of deficiencies and worries and insecurities and feelings of inadequacy of your own.

Maybe it's because you're a new parent. Maybe you feel that way as a husband, as a worker, as a student trying to live the Christian life, whatever. Scripture says, are you ready for some discouraging news?

Are you ready? Christian says, you don't even know the half of it. You're so weak, you can't even guarantee you'll be around tomorrow. You're so small and pathetic that it is a sin, James 4, literally a sin for you to promise anybody anything about tomorrow because you don't even know that you're going to wake up tomorrow and don't have the power to make it happen. James says you're like a wisp of smoke, or James 5, like a blade of grass, the slightest shift in wind direction, the slightest change in temperature, and you're a goner. In the scope of the universe, he says, you're so small and insignificant and pitiful, you don't amount to a grain of sand on the ocean floor. You're so powerless that Jesus said apart from him, you literally couldn't do anything good. You're so wicked that he had to die to save you.

You're so evil that the book of Romans tells you that there's literally nothing good that dwells in your flesh, and if there is anything good in your flesh, it's only because God is working in you but the will and to do of his good pleasure. And I know at this point you're like, well, thanks. Thank you for making me feel small. I am not trying to make you feel small. I am telling you that you are small, okay?

There's a big difference in those two. I'm not trying to make you feel anything. I'm trying to make you realize something. You are small because only when you see that you indeed are not, are you ready to lean into the great I am. One of our pastors wrote a poem about this, one that I thought was worth sharing with you. We call the poem Enough.

It goes like this. Enough, the word so simple, so captivating, so full of promise, yet so full of deceit, beckoning me toward a paradise that ever eludes me, a beautiful garden whose fruits are always fresh but always out of reach because I am not enough. Not smart enough, not strong enough, not caring enough or good enough or successful enough or beautiful enough. Not enough to meet the simple challenges of today. Not enough for the weighty troubles of tomorrow. Not enough to feel at peace right now.

Not enough, not nearly enough to offer anything of worth to an infinitely worthy God. I am not, but he already knows, and he says to me, I am. I'm not smart enough or strong enough or caring or good or sufficient or successful or beautiful or God enough. I'm not God enough to satisfy the endless demands of that deceptive word, enough. I was never meant to be, but these lips of mine are bold enough to cry for help. These hands of mine, weak and empty, are ready enough to be filled. This heart of mine, deceived and deceiving, is still desperate enough to yearn for paradise. Only one God is God enough to give us that green and garden paradise.

The God of everything chooses to be the God of this nothing heart. He takes me as his own. This is enough. This is enough.

I am not. He already knows, and he says to me, I am. You see, when you realize that God has declared his great I am name over you in the midst of your insecurities, I told you that should make you read and understand the third commandment in a new light. You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. This was always taught to me growing up is don't use God's name as a cuss word.

Don't say, oh, my God or Jesus Christ or something like that. And that's true. You shouldn't do that.

All right. And that's included in this commandment. But that doesn't, that's not the fullness of this commandment. Notice specifically, it's not a command about how to use God's name.

It's a command about how to take God's name. And I described it to you like this. In times past, there was a beautiful girl who had the attention of all the guys whose name was Veronica Marie McPeters. And on the greatest day of her earthly life, she traded in that McPeters name and she became a career. Now on that day when she took my name, she became part of me. She became one with me. All that was mine became hers. It wasn't that much.

It wasn't that great of a deal for her. But nonetheless, that's what happened. Well, see, in the same way, when you became a Christian, you literally took the name of God to yourself. You took the name I am. And that means that all that he is, you now possess. The apostle Peter would go so far as to say that we have become partakers of the divine nature.

Literally, his nature has been fused with ours. Paul would say we've become inheritors of all the divine promises. All the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus, because even though you didn't deserve the promises, Jesus deserved them all. And now he's become one with you, so guess what you get when you get him?

You get all the promises of God. And what that means is that when I say no to God, or when I falter in courage because I think, but God, I am not blank enough, then I am taking his name in vain. Because even though it is true that I am not enough, he is enough, and I've become one with him. And he is now these things in me and through me. So when I say, God, I can't be a good parent, he says, I know.

I can. You say, I can't make it, he says, I can. You say, I am so doubtful, and he responds, but I am so faithful.

You say, but God, I'm so dysfunctional. He says, yep, but I am so complete. You say, I am so deficient, he says, but I am so sufficient. You say, I'm so sinful, and he says, yet I am so graceful. You say, I'm at the end of my rope, and he says, yeah, I got another one, and it's as long as eternity. And so when the pharaohs in our lives say to us, who do you think you are?

We respond now with Moses. I don't think I'm anything, but see, I know the great I am. And when the haters in our own hearts whisper, you are not, we shout back, you are right. But it doesn't matter who I am, it matters who he is, because I am one in him. So my challenge to you this week here at the end of our series is to name your insecurity, to write it out, to actually say, write it down, do this later. Say, I am not blank enough, and put whatever goes in that category most for you.

And then what I want you to do is write underneath it, I want you to write something else. I want you to say, yet in Christ, I am, and I want you to put in that blank the sufficiency of Christ's character, whatever Jesus is. I am not blank enough, but in Christ, I am fully supplied, I am sufficient, I am righteous, I am more than a conqueror, I am an overcomer, I am all that Jesus was, because he is in me, and now he does these things through me.

Feeling inadequate is a prerequisite to being used by God. Whenever you see God call somebody throughout Scripture, it's almost always the same. We see it with the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul was just, I mean, he was a destroyed hot mess in the book of Acts when God called him. What God said to Paul when he called him was eerily similar to what he says to Moses.

Acts 26, 16, Paul, rise up and stand on your feet, you're flat on your face. I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness of the things which you have seen and the things which I will yet reveal to you. And here's the question, who is the actor in that verse? Who's the actor, y'all?

Who's the one that is doing the stuff? Is it Paul? Is Paul beginning to realize his self-actualization?

No! Jesus is the actor. He's getting caught up in God's global purposes. I've got a plan that I want to use you for.

And when you discover this plan, you're going to have a sense of confidence that you never discovered. Arguably, y'all, one of the most powerful men in history, one of the most powerful men in history who's made the biggest change was a man named William Wilberforce. His efforts, historians say, in some ways single-handedly brought the slave trade in Europe to an end. But historians tell us he was one of the most physically unimpressive men you would ever imagine. He had severe scoliosis, so much so that he was a hunchback. You never see this in the pictures because they always just show them at an angle you can't tell, but he was severely hunchback. One of the history books that I was looking at referred to him as an elfish misshapen little figure. The kids at his school when he grew up, his high school, constantly mocked him. They called him a shrimp.

They would put him on the table because he couldn't defend himself, and they would just make fun of him. But sometime after college, William Wilberforce discovered who God was, discovered the purposes of God, and he took his little deformed life, if you will, and he put himself onto God's runway, and he felt heaven's wind at his back, and he literally changed the world. What he discovered in that moment was not his inner potential. He didn't self-actualize.

He didn't tap into his inner tiger. What he discovered in that moment was the purposes of God and that God can use very weak and broken instruments to do incredible things. Some of you are where he is. Some of you are like Paul.

You're morally flat on your face. And what God says to you in either situation is rise up and stand on your feet. Stop looking at your limitations and look instead at the power and the faithfulness of the Christ who is calling you.

That's where confidence comes from. You know, it's like I've said throughout this series, over and over and over and over again, all our spiritual problems go back to a view of God that is too small. You were created to find your identity and your sufficiency in the arms of an everlasting God. Stop trying to fit God into the margins of your life and reorient your life around his agenda. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. Maybe you don't know where to go or where to turn to begin surrendering to God's purposes.

Or maybe things are okay, but still, you wonder if there's more to life than what you have right now. As we head into the holidays, Pastor J.D. has a new resource to share with you. So, J.D., we're all familiar with the events of that first Christmas. The manger scene, shepherds watching the sheep, angels and wise men, right?

Yeah, sure. I mean, I had a manger scene growing up. There's something quaint about the manger scene and something that moves our hearts and makes us smell cinnamon and think about family.

But really, you know, there's deeper questions. And one of the things I love about Christmas is it makes people think there's a longing for what we experience. Maybe it's a longing for a family to be put back together.

Maybe it's longing for meaning in life. It's just one of those times that God has built into our calendar that reminds us that there really is more to life. So I wrote a book called Searching for Christmas, and basically it's an exploration of what God promises about His presence to us in very dark times. We've had a year that's been filled with a lot of darkness, and this book just explores promises.

It does it around the names that God gave to this Messiah that would come and how He would be the Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God, and the Prince of Peace and what those mean for your life. We'd love to give you two copies of this new book, one to keep and one to give away during this holiday season. You could reserve those at jdgreer.com.

You can see other things there. Just go to jdgreer.com and all that information is there. Not only will we give you one copy to keep and one to give away, but we're also offering you five books for a gift of $50 or ten books for $100.

It's the perfect gift for exploring the Christian faith and getting answers to some difficult questions about who Jesus is. So call us at 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220. Or give online today and request the books at jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Bidevich. Be sure to join us tomorrow when Pastor JD begins a new series called God and the Rest of the Week. That's Wednesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.