TD Jakes - Strengthen the Remnant
Why is God in love with remnants? Let’s start with the texts in Revelation. Are you with me? I love y’all. There is no other place I’d rather preach in the world than the Potter’s House. I tell you this: this is my church; this is my world. The Book of Revelation is penned by John but authored by Jesus. You must understand that the book is divided into three categories, and it divides itself when it explains itself by saying, «John, write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.»
So when John writes about seeing Jesus with His hair like lamb’s wool and His feet as if they had been burned, he is writing about what he has seen. When he writes to the churches, he is writing about the things which are, and when God says, «Come up hither, I will show you the things which shall be hereafter,» this is the syllabus from which Revelation is written. It is the masterpiece because it is Jesus responding to the question that the disciples ask Him: «When shall be the sign of Your coming, and what shall be the end of the age?»
He said that it is not given to the Son to know, but to the Father which is in heaven because He had not yet been to the cross. But the Book of Revelation is Him writing back over the balconies of heaven down to John to answer the question, though John himself is a remnant. John is a remnant because all the other apostles are now gone, and John is all that’s left. Jesus is talking to a remnant about a remnant. I wonder how many of you are the only ones left still standing with stubborn, bodacious faith and tenacity—unrelenting, unwavering—standing by yourself, standing in the integrity of who you are in Christ, even when other friends have gone in other directions. Yes, you have suffered some losses along the way, but you are still here.
You see, the text in Revelation 3 is largely a clarion call to strengthen the remnant because all that stood around the remnant had really fallen away. They had a reputation that they were alive, but they really were not. They had been so influenced by the culture and the world around them that they had lost their identity in exchange for popularity. If you’re not careful, you can lose your identity seeking popularity and lose sight of who you are trying to fit in with who they want you to be. The church had lost its way, trying to pursue the culture; they had to be relevant to the culture, and they were so relevant to the culture that they had lost sight of who they were.
The Book of Revelation says that only a remnant was recognizable. I want to be among the number of people who resist the trends and winds of fluctuation and know who I am so that I don’t get caught up in the current of who you want me to be and lose sight of who God created me to be. Even if I end up on the table, I would rather be few in number and know who I am than to be diluted and polluted by public opinion until I lose all sight, direction, and uniqueness of my own self. That means I’ll do it if I have to do it by myself. You don’t have to like me, but you do have to respect me. You don’t have to agree with me, but I refuse to let you discard me because I am willing to be a remnant, even if it’s at the expense of not being relevant to you.
Because God works with remnants, He says, «Strengthen the things that remain,» before the influence of the world has taken root. There are still a few people in Sardis that are holding on. The tolerance of sin has taken its toll. A deadly spiritual cancer known as complacency has unknowingly made its way into the church and sucked the spiritual life out of it without even a fight. But not the few; they were still holding on. While He rebuked the church at Sardis, He did not rebuke the remnant; instead, He revived it. The Lord said, «I am going to revive the people who are holding on.»
So you might be tired, and you might be winded, and you might be frustrated, and you might be alienated, and you’ve been asking God, «How long?» God said, «I am going to revive the remnant who are still holding on in spite of the storms and the winds.» And He said, «I want you to focus not on who left, not only on who you lost, not only on who walked away. I want you to focus on strengthening that which remains.»
Ah, this is good to my soul! The letter is harsh and straightforward; it is designed and written to the pastor to focus his energy—not to focus your energy on trying to get back people who walked away. Let them go! Let me say it louder for the people in the back: let them go! This is a time in your life when you can no longer continue to grieve about who walked away, who abandoned you, who forsook you, who left you. You’ve got to stand up and recognize that God doesn’t need anything that you lost to bless you. God will always use what you’ve got left. I’m talking to somebody; I don’t even know who it is. But the Bible said, «Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Strengthen what remains!»
Oh my God, this is challenging because the vast majority of the church had become victims of the societal culture. Yet there was a minority fighting to refrain from the gravitational pull ever downward because there is always something to pull you down instead of up and forward. The remnant wasn’t perfect; they were almost dead but yet holding on. The power of the remnant is, in fact, almost dead but not quite. God said, «Before death can get you, I’m going to strengthen what remains.» Can I talk to tired folk and weary folk and run-down people who are at the end of their rope—who have to fight their way through all kinds of storms and all kinds of tragedies and all kinds of adversity just to be who you are and get where you’re going? I’ve got news for you: God is about to strengthen you like you’ve never been strengthened before.
And let me challenge the thinking people because the great challenge in our lives is how we can be innovative, creative, and productive and move forward without losing what we had. Sometimes you become so addicted to what’s next that you don’t focus on what’s now. If you walk away from what’s now, trying to establish what’s next, then next will only replace now, and you haven’t really progressed at all. The reason you’re so tired is that you’re so busy getting to next and losing now that you’re still at home plate after all these years. You haven’t gained anything because you’re just swapping out next with now, now with next. All of a sudden, you’ve got to strengthen what remains before you can gain what’s next. So we’re stuck in between, and this takes two different dilemmas: one is not to try to get back what I lost, and the other one is not to fall in love with where I’m going at the expense of expunging where I’m at.
Let me work with this; I’m going to bring it on down home. It is like growing up in a home where the troubled child gets all the attention and the good child gets none because there’s so much drama coming from this kid that all the parent’s focus is on trying to get back what they lost, and they don’t strengthen what they have. If you’re not careful, the one who was the good child will start acting up for attention because you’re teaching them that the only way to get your attention is to be bad enough.
This is a hidden lesson in the prodigal son: it’s not just about the boy going and coming back; it is about the neglect of the elder brother. Because the father is so focused on what he lost that he neglected what he had. It’s hard to strengthen what remains because what remains becomes common, normal, ordinary, predictable, and so dependable that you take it for granted until it dies. If you are not careful, you will undervalue who stayed trying to get back who left or get who’s next.
Sometimes there’s nothing really appealing about being a remnant—about being dependable, about being stable, about hanging in there, about being by your side. If you’re not careful, you will neglect the people that stayed with you for the people who are next to you. But we serve a God who is talking to us in 540 texts that what He is interested in is the remnants. He always preserves the remnants. His promise is to the remnants; His prophecy is to the remnants.
Over and over and over again, the Bible tells us the value of people who stick it out, hang in there, and take a licking and keep on ticking. God has promises that you can only receive—come on, Bible class! —if you abide. If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, you shall ask what you will. I’m not gonna give you anything if you leave, but if you abide, I will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you won’t have room enough to receive. If you see me when I’m taken up, you will have a double portion of My spirit. But I can’t give this to people who are doing one-night stands because the anointing falls on people who stay.
Let me see: both texts were written by the Apostle John; both texts have a sinister overtone. Both texts have John reporting the words of Jesus. Both texts are at inflection points; both texts speak of separation; both texts have a sense of cynicism. Both texts are connected to a principle that I am sharing with you. The principle is profound and provocative: you need to focus on what you’ve got left—the child that stayed, the friend who’s stuck, the business you’ve got cannot suffer for the business you’re going after. Because if you make that mistake again, you are only replacing what you lost, which means you are not gaining anything at all. The real test of relationship isn’t when it’s easy; it’s when it’s hard.
The second text is interesting; can I pick it up for a minute and play with this piece of garment? The second text is interesting because it is undeniable that Jesus has changed His message from: «The kingdom of heaven is this…» and «The kingdom of heaven hath said…» and «The kingdom of heaven is likened unto this and that…» The scriptures might be fulfilled in your hearing and all of those things were palatable, enjoyable, and receivable. Even though the first season Sadducees resented Him, they could not debate against Him because He was the Word made flesh. It was all cool until He broke out and started talking about death, and they got quiet. Then He brings up this almost cannibalistic statement: «If you’re gonna be My disciple…» Imagine now if I say, «If you’re gonna be a member of the Potter’s House, you must drink My blood and eat My flesh!» You can understand why that would be disruptive.
Jesus started talking about cannibalism: «Drink My blood and eat My flesh!» To the carnal mind, it sounded like cannibalism. Jesus was actually calling for them to consume Him spiritually, not literally. But when you hear with carnal ears, you draw carnal conclusions. This was an inflection point to prove whether you are a fan or a follower. All the fans walked away, and what I found amazing is that Jesus didn’t chase them.
Stop chasing people who are leaving! Stop chasing people who are offended! Stop chasing people who don’t get it! Stop chasing people, trying to get back in your life, those that God is trying to take out of your life. Jesus simply let them go. He didn’t go behind and say, «No, you didn’t understand what I’m saying; you don’t get what I mean; you don’t know where I’m coming from. Hello, let me explain—no, don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go!» He turned to His disciples, the remnant, and said, «Will you leave Me also?» Because what I’m going to invest in is what I’ve got left, not what I lost.
You see, Jesus is bringing them to a place of inflection. The Lord told me, whoever I’m preaching to today, you’re at an inflection point. You can neither become so engrossed in your future that you do not feed your present, nor so grieved by your past that you’re reaching after what has walked away. The Word of God to you is to strengthen what remains. Who am I talking to today? This is not about a monologue about death, drinking blood, or eating His flesh. It’s much more than that. We’ve got to turn the page on that; we have to go to the next level on that.
We’ve got to understand that what God is trying to do is bigger than that. He is trying to create a methodology that resolves conflict, which is the test between opportunistic people and covenant people. If you can’t take a leak, we didn’t have a covenant in the first place. If you can walk away easily, you weren’t meant to stay. Come on! I remember I was sitting on the side of the bed as a pastor, crying over somebody who had left my church. I was crying because I thought they were going to be there. I was crying because I thought they were loyal. I was crying because they had promised my wife and me that they would take a bullet for us. You remember that? «I would take a bullet for you,» and two Sundays later, they were gone. I literally sat on the side…
Of the bed in West Virginia, I cried, and the Lord spoke to me and said, «Let this be your last day; let this be your last day of crying over who walked away.» Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying because all that left you could not stay, and all that stayed could not leave. Whoa, I feel something about to break loose in this place! I feel something about to break loose in this place! I don’t know who I’m talking to today, but I’m breaking the spirit of grief over your life. You cannot live in your history, and you can’t live in your destiny; you must live in your reality. I am here now. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. I gotta have it now! If I don’t strengthen what I have now, I can’t get to what I have next.