2 Corinthians 12:9-10

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Did you know that after Noah got off the ark, he was passed out drunk, one time in his tent, did you know that? And did you know Moses killed a man? And when God came to him to ask him to do big things, Moses kept turning down God and said, no, I’m not a good speaker. I don’t want to do this. I can’t! Ask someone else. Did you know David slept with someone who was another man’s wife and then had the man killed? And did you know, did you know that there was a time that Peter actually had to be publicly reprimanded by the apostle Paul in the New Testament? Do you know how I know all this stuff? It’s in the Bible.

God had the writers record those events for us. Apparently, God’s not ashamed of the flaws of his people. God’s pretty open about the fact that he chose some people who are pretty flawed to be people that he would do some pretty incredible things through. Because that’s how our God works, God chooses flawed people to be his own and to be the people that he works through. Which is something pretty incredible for what we’ve been talking about, we’ve been talking about imposter syndrome. That feeling that there’s something about me that’s just not good enough and that even if I can do some good things or achieve good things, that there’s still something that’s not good enough. And so we’re afraid someone’s going to find out that I’m not good enough. They’re going to find out about my flaws.

We have a God who is not afraid of our flaws, he’s not afraid of your flaws. I mean, look at sections like, say, Matthew, Chapter 9, Jesus is there. And with these tax collectors and sinners and the religious leaders, like, why does he eat with them? And Jesus, he says it’s not the healthy who need a doctor, it’s the sick. He was not ashamed to be seen with sinners. He came for people who weren’t good enough. He saw that we can never be good enough on our own, and so Jesus, God, the Son became the man Jesus to live the life we were meant to live, to lay it down, and die in the cross, and to rise again.

He came for us because we weren’t good enough. He knew our flaws and he loved us so fully that he came for us so we could be his. He’s not ashamed of our flaws. He’s not afraid anyone is going to find them out. He knew exactly what was going on when he came and he chose us and he loved us so much and how he loves us so much now.

He knows our flaws. And not only did he come so we could be his, but he, knowing our flaws, chooses to work through us just like he chose to work through Noah, to work through Moses, to work through David. Look at these words from the apostle Paul in Second Corinthians, Chapter 12, Paul said

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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)”

We might look and go, man, can God use me to do big things, look at this weakness here. God loves to work through flawed people. He’s done all throughout the Bible. The story of the Bible is God choosing people who don’t deserve him, but he chooses them anyway. God choosing to do big things through people, not because they are big and powerful and strong, but because he is. And actually sometimes it’s in our weaknesses that God shows his strength the most. If God knows our flaws, knows every one of our sins completely, and loves us so much that Jesus came exactly to take care of those sins, then what do we have to hide from God?

And if God loves to do big things through flawed people, then how, why would we ever limit what God can do through us? Why would we want to hide our weaknesses when it’s actually sometimes those weaknesses that give God the greatest glory as he achieves what he wants to achieve. His will and his plan through us? God knows our sins and he loves us. Yes, God knows our weaknesses. And sometimes that’s the greatest place where he works. How could we ever feel like we have anything we need to hide from him or anybody else?

How could we ever be, how could you ever be, an imposter?

Galatians 5:17, Romans 7:21-25, Romans 8:9

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Do you want to know what the hardest part is for me about being a pastor? It’s not sermon prep. It’s not working with people. It’s me. It’s my own internal struggles, you know, because I know God’s truth and I love God and I get to talk about it and I strive to live it, but yet I still struggle to live it. And I’ll give you an example.

Sometimes when it’s so hard as it was recently, I realized there is a part of my life where my thought process wasn’t glorifying God. And so I was thinking about that and praying to God to help me overcome that. And as I was doing so, I realized there was a part of me that did not want to do things God’s way. Like part of me felt like I don’t know if I want to do that. And it disturbed me, for a second. What’s wrong with me if I don’t want to follow God’s word, God’s law, God’s way? And that was hard. And I don’t like that feeling. Because I love God and I want to do things God’s way. What’s going on, that there is a part of me that didn’t?

That’s hard, when that happens, for me. How is it for you? I know it happens for you, too, because, I mean, if you love Jesus then you want to do things God’s way, but there’s also a part of you, just like there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to do things God’s way.

And I wonder if that struggle is part of why many of us often struggle with imposter syndrome. It’s that belief that there’s something about us that isn’t good enough and that even though we can do good things or say good things, we have this fear that there’s something that’s not good enough about us. And somebody is going to find out. We’re afraid that people are going to find out that there’s that part of us that isn’t good enough or in this case, that part of us that doesn’t want to do things God’s way.

Well, when I had that thought recently and when you have those experiences, those struggles, where there’s a part of you that doesn’t want to do things God’s way, I came across a verse when I was studying for our message I found to be very, very helpful for me. And it comes from the book of Galatians. And here Paul talks with how the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit.

For the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh. In fact, these two continually oppose one another, so that you do not continue to do these things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17)

You and I have a sinful nature, and that’s sinful nature does not want what God wants. So when I had that thought where like I don’t know if I want to do this, the fact is, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to do this. There wasn’t something wrong with me in that moment. What was going on in that moment is that I have a sinful nature and my sinful nature is wrong. The fact that a part of me didn’t want to do things God’s way doesn’t mean that I was a phony or that there was something wrong with me. It just means that I’m alive and I have a sinful nature. When you have a part of you that doesn’t want to do things God’s way, when you struggle to live out your faith, that doesn’t mean it’s your phony. It doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you. It just means that you’re still alive. And for this whole life that we’re living, we’re going to have a sinful nature, and like Paul says in Galatians, it does not want what the Spirit wants.

But while that sinful nature is still there in us, it doesn’t define us. In Paul’s letter to the Romans in Chapter 7:21-25, he talks about how, if this is going on inside of us, if I sin, if sin is taking place, that it’s not me who’s doing it, it’s sin working in me. That’s not who you are anymore. See, through faith in Christ, you are connected to what Christ has done. Christ went to the cross and he died for your sins and mine. He paid the price for them there. Through faith in Christ, through baptism, we are connected to Christ. Which means that old us, that sinful us, that is against God, died there with him. The sinful nature still works against us, but that is not who we are. That old us died there with Christ, he rose again to New Life and Easter Sunday and we have a new life where we are declared right with God.

And like Paul says, we’re led by the Spirit. If you go ahead in Chapter 8 of Romans, Paul talks about how in verse 9, he says,

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit. (Romans 8:9)

And a little bit later, he talks about those who have the spirit of God, are children of God. (Romans 8:16) So you have a sinful nature going on inside of you, fighting inside of you, but that’s not who you are. You’re right with God. You’re future is eternity with him. You’re looking forward to resurrection and you are led by the Spirit, now. If you look and you like, oh, but what about this part of me that doesn’t seem good enough. Jesus has paid for that. That part of you that fights against Jesus, that’s not who you are. It’s there, but it’s there just because you’re alive and that’s part of this life. But who you are as someone who is right with God through faith in Christ.

If you’re right with God, through faith in Christ, if that thing that’s against God is just it’s not who you are, but it’s just that old sinful nature battling against you, how could you be a fake? You’re right with God. You’re a child of God. You’re led by the Spirit. How could you be an impostor?

Deuteronomy 9:6, Zephaniah 3:17

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So I don’t know, I don’t know if I’m, if I should do this. Like I know, I know I made a lot of videos for church before and people tell me they’re pretty, they’re really good, but I just they don’t know, like, I’m not actually, it’s not, they’re not as good as people say they are. I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I shouldn’t make this video. Or if I do, I need to make sure I got to get it down. I got to get it, I got to get everything word for word, perfect before I can do this.

You ever thought like that? You know, if you have an opportunity in front of you and ever thought that, OK, I don’t know if I’m gifted to do it, even though, even though people have told you and you’ve had success. Or if you ever thought, OK, there’s an opportunity in front of me, but I just I got to make sure it’s perfect before I can do it. If you’ve had thoughts like that, you’ve had thoughts that are typically associated with something called imposter syndrome.

It’s this belief, this being certain that there’s something about me that isn’t quite good enough. And even though people have said or even though you’ve had great successes, you’re still convinced that you’re not good enough. Maybe you’ve been able to fool people into thinking that you’ve been pretty good, but you’re afraid that people are going to find out that you’re really not that good. Or you’re really not good enough. And so what happens with this often is, procrastination or you kind of hold back because you don’t want to try it. Because what if people find out you’re not that good or the other side is perfectionism, where you just have to have it be perfect because people can’t find out that you’re not perfect.

We don’t have time to get into all the details of what imposter syndrome is. But one of the great things about God’s word is that we can really get right to the core of some things. And so we’re going to spend here a few videos and we’re to have God’s word speak right to the core of what’s going on with imposter syndrome.

Why do we feel like there’s a part of us that isn’t good enough, that doesn’t measure up? Well, because naturally none of us do. When our parents, Adam and Eve, turn away from God, when they sinned, they started missing the mark. Missing the mark of what? Of God’s law. And why is God’s law what it is? God’s law is what it is because of God’s law tells us how we were meant to live, what we were created to be. And all of us now are born into sin, which means we born missing the mark of what we were meant to be.

Yeah, naturally we’re not enough. And so, like Adam and Eve, what did they do afterwards? They went, they hid from God, they hid from each other. Because when you know you’re not enough, you’re terrified people are going to find out. But when you realize that we’re not enough, here’s something to bring some encouragement. And it might seem kind of strange at first of a place to go, but we’re going go to Deuteronomy 9:6. God is talking about the people of Israel. And he says,

Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, because a stiff-necked people is what you are. (Deuteronomy 9:6)

It doesn’t seem very encouraging. It’s not because of your righteousness. You’re stiff necked. But here’s why I find it comforting. When God chose the people of Israel, he didn’t, he wasn’t fooled. He didn’t have some false idea that they were going to be this great people. He knew totally what he was getting himself into. He knew they would be stubborn. He knew that they would turn away, but he still chose them. And he chose them by grace. And these same stiff neck people, he also says in Zephaniah 3, he says,

The Lord your God is with you as a hero who will save you. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

See God is such a God of grace that he knows our flaws. He knows our sins completely and yet loves us fully. Now, if God knows you completely, could there be anything that you would need to hide from him? He knows everything about you and he loves you fully. He loves you so much. He delights in you so much that Jesus became one of us to live that perfect life. We were meant to live, but don’t. To lay down his life, to die on a cross, to rise again, to give us new life with God so we could be declared right with God.

If God knows you fully and God loves you completely, what is there to hide?

How could you be an impostor?