But I’m Not Enough, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Jesus' name literally in Hebrew is Yahshua, 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. But God has got enough for Moses and for me and for you. And that's the whole gospel. Welcome back to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. We've had a great week of teaching here on the program.

And let me tell you, we are finishing strong today. 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, at times I could laugh it off and try the next thing. But as we grow older, insecurity set in and we start questioning ourselves. Like, should I try that?

Am I smart enough to tackle that problem? Today, Pastor J.D. explains that these types of insecurities aren't ultimately a reflection of ourselves.

They're actually a reflection of our view of God. That's Pastor J.D. 's topic as we continue our series called Not Got Enough with a sermon he titled, But I Am Not Enough. Meet us again in the book of Exodus.

Here's Pastor J.D. Insecurity is that voice inside of you that whispers, 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. 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. Exodus 3, verse 1, that's what opens up this chapter.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. And he led the flock 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 ground. 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 am 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' 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 didn'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 are 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. Verse 13, Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and I say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they asked me, what is his name?

What shall I tell them then? God said to Moses, I am who I am. All those places in your life, Moses said, 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'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. Whenever you see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital 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. When Jeremiah was 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? And God says to Jeremiah, don't be afraid because Jehovah, I am tiz kidnu, your righteousness. I am 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, 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. Well, see, in the New Testament, Jesus is going to take this I am name. He's going to take this I am name. In Greek, it's ego ami.

It'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 in 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. That means to those of you who feel overlooked, if you've been cut from the team or passed over for promotion, what God says is, I am your way. I am the plan for you. And I plan to use you in a significant way in my kingdom.

And I have promised 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 the 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's 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-Raphah. 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-Mkereshkin. He is God my sanctifier. You see, Jesus's 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're listening to Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. As we take a quick pause from today's teaching, I want to share with you about a fantastic resource that's available to you free of charge each day. Our daily email devotional is a great way to develop a regular habit of keeping yourself grounded in the Word of God. These devotionals even follow along with the current teaching series here on Summit Life, and they include a scripture reading, a devotional thought, and a prayer prompt to help you start your day on the right foot.

It's completely free, and you can sign up today at jdgreer.com slash resources. We hope that these devotionals will be a source of encouragement and growth in your walk with Christ, so go sign up right away. And remember, our resources are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you.

And we say it a lot, but we mean it. Thank you for your partnership through giving to this ministry. Now let's finish up today's teaching with Pastor J.D.

Greer here on Summit Life. You see, I 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... You ready for some discouraging news?

You ready? You see, 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 as 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 both the will and to do of his good pleasure. Now 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'm 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. And I was never meant to be.

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. And that's included in this commandment. But 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 describe 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, you know, 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 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.

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've 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. 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. 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. So stop trying to fit God into the margins of your life and reorient yourself around his agenda. You were created to find your identity and your sufficiency in the arms of an everlasting God. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. If you'd like to access today's teaching or any other message from our entire sermon library, you can do that anytime for free at jdgreer.com. All thanks to the generosity of our gospel partners who give to support Summit Life so that we can keep sharing the life-changing message of the gospel. When you join us in that mission as a gospel partner, we'll say thank you by sending you a copy of our featured resource this month. It's a book called Scent, Living a Life That Invites Others to Jesus by Heather and Ashley Holliman. Today is your last chance to get a hold of this book as our featured resource.

So if you've been putting it off all month, now is the time to call. We'd love to send you a copy with either a one-time or recurring gift of $35 or more to this ministry. To donate, give us a call at 866-335-5220.

That's 866-335-5220. Or visit us online at jdgreer.com. While you're on the website, be sure to sign up for our email list to get ministry updates and blog posts from Pastor JD delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up when you go to jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Vidovich. Be sure to join us next time as Pastor JD returns for the second part of our teaching series through the book of Romans.

So much great teaching on the way. So we'll see you again soon here on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.