The Nobility of God's Nobodies

Introduction to the series

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

PSBC 8/13/00 AM

In a nutshell--God will use anyone with power and authority if he or she will make themselves available for His use.

I. Introduction

A. Jerry's definition of "celebrity"

I bought my first motorcycle from a fellow by the name of Jerry, who has been a motorcycle dealer in this area for a lot of years. Over the years he's sold a number of motorcycles to the celebrities who have frequented the Palm Springs area. If you'd walk into his office you would see pictures of older Hollywood stars (in their younger days) with their arms around Jerry, while sitting on their new bikes. Jerry gave me a great definition of a celebrity that bears repeating... "A celebrity is someone who works hard to become well known and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized."

B. Celebrity Christian culture

Because we live in a "celebrity culture", we are hearing, more than ever before, the testimonies of celebrities who have become Christians–celebrities who are recording artists, actors, politicians and professional athletes–and we're hearing their testimonies on radio programs, through books, and on television programs.

Don't get me wrong. I thank God for that! For instance, it was thrilling for me to hear Kurt Warner, the quarterback of the world champion St. Louis Rams football team, give glory to God on national television when he was interviewed by Jay Leno shortly after his team won the Super Bowl, and to hear him give his testimony at the nationally televised Billy Graham crusade that broadcast from St. Louis this past spring.

But having said all that, I want to caution us against a subtle message that's being communicated by these Christian celebrities to the body of Christ. That message is this, "Unless I somehow, someway, become outstanding in some job or some athletic contest, I won't be of much use to God."

And friends, nothing could be farther from the truth.

For the rest of this morning, I'd like to show you something from God's word that speaks to who and how God uses people in His Church.

II. The Few God Uses

A. Beginnings of Our Faith

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. And while you're turning there, let me tell you something encouraging...
-you may never be elected to office,
-you might not win any awards in your lifetime,
-you might not break any records,
-you might not play on a championship team,
..but none of those things will keep God from using you in a powerful way to advance His Kingdom. Because what we have in this passage of Scripture is a reminder all of us, of the kind of people that God normally uses.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things– and the things that are not– to nullify the things that are,
29 so that no one may boast before him.
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

B. Realize the Power

Here in these few verses, God's Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, teaches us one of the great paradoxes of the Bible–the power of God is wrapped up in human weakness.

In my 25 years of leadership in the church, I've found that there is nothing that God's people want more in their lives, than for the power of God to be there. Christians are always seeking for and asking for... more power in their personal lives, more of God's power in their family life, more of His power in their churches, and more of His power in the ministries that they do.

But Jesus says something very interesting in...

Matt. 28:18-20
18 "All " power," in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Now, I want you to understand what this teaches regarding this POWER that we all are seeking. ALL of this power has been given to Jesus. And Jesus promises, "I am always with you."

So here's the truth..., the power that God has to give, we already have, because we belong to Jesus. Not one of us needs more power than what we already have at our disposal. We already have everything that there is! What we need is to unleash that power which already resides in us.

That's where the 1 Corinthians 1:26ff, comes into play. Paul explains in these verses how to unleash ALL the power of God, that already exists in every follower of Jesus.

So this morning, I want to take you on a trip through these verses to find out how to unleash that power of God in our lives.

C. The Few

1 Corinthians 1:26
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

Illustration: In my hometown an obscure farmer by the name of Tunis Verduin died when I was in my early teens. He was my grandfather's older cousin. Uncle Tunis was the shyest man you would ever meet. When he talked, he squirmed, blinked his eyes rapidly, and smiled nervously.

Tunis never ran in influential circles. He grew onions and corn on the land left to him by his father. He was anything but an extrovert.

Yet when Uncle Tunis died, his funeral was the largest in the history of our little town. There were so many people that they filled even the balcony of the huge First Reformed church.

The newspaper in South Holland printed a story about the huge crowd at the funeral, and my mom saved it and I found it when I was going through some of her things, after she died. The article said this, "Why did such a shy man win the hearts of so many people? Simply because, for all his shyness, Tunis Verduin knew how to make friends. He had mastered the principles of caring, and for more than 70 years he had put people first. Perhaps because they recognized that his generosity of spirit was an extra effort for someone so retiring, people loved him back. By the hundreds."

That seems to be the way God works. The vast majority of the people he powerfully uses are from the ranks of just regular folks–like Uncle Tunis.

I like what Dr. David Jeremiah once said (front of bulletin), "What Paul is trying to get across to us is that in most ministry, its not scholarship that is important, it is relationships. Its not fame that is important, it's faith. Its not ability, but its availability. Its not who you are, but its whose you are that matters to God."

III. The Majority God Uses

So, what is it about just plain folk that God likes to use? The next two verses tell us five things that God likes to use. Look at verses 27 and 28...

1 Cor. 1:27-28
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify the things that are,

A. First, God chose the foolish.

The first thing God uses is our foolishness. If you go up a few verses in your Bibles and look at verse 20 you see an explanation of this...

1 Cor. 1:20
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

The word "foolish" in this verse is the word that we get our English word "moron" from. It literally means, non-intellectual. We could substitute the word, "simpleton" for "foolish".

This is something that is illustrated all throughout church history. Did you know that most of the movers and shakers of the Christian faith down through the years had no formal training in theology or church administration, or Christian education? Most had never been to seminary.

I look at men who are some of my heroes: men like Harry Ironside, Billy Sunday and Dwight Moody. These men were giants of the faith in the last 100 years, and none of them ever attended college or graduate school. Yet God mightily used them to advance His Kingdom.

Illustration: I've read a lot about the evangelist, Billy Sunday--I'll tell you, he was a real character. He was a man who wouldn't measure up to any ministerial standards of any church that you or I know. He was a YMCA clerk and a mediocre semi-professional baseball player. Yet it is estimated that during his lifetime he was responsible for over 1 million people coming to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

Some people used to say of Billy Sunday, that he was God's joke on the ministry. One writer described the way he preached as being hell hot; heaven sweet; sin black; judgment sure; and Jesus saves; and he preached it every time he got behind a pulpit. And that was all he preached.

One time when Billy Sunday was preaching in a great evangelistic crusade, he gave the invitation, and a stately old man with a flowing white beard came forward and knelt at the altar to pray to receive Christ. And when Billy looked down, all he could see was the shoulders of this man with his head bowed, and the white beard that hung from his chin. In the midst of that most important and solemn occasion, Billy was so overcome by the humor of the way that looked, that he walked from behind the pulpit, reached his hand down to that old man, grabbed his white beard, and went "Honk, honk." When I read that, I couldn't believe it. Imagine a preacher doing something that bizarre at an invitation.

Billy Sunday wouldn't fit into any theological or cultural box–he wasn't traditional, or progressive, or contemporary. He was just plain unique. Yet, we would all wish that our lives could measure up to just one percent of the effectiveness that Billy Sunday's life had for God during his lifetime.

Illustration: I look out at you all this morning, and I realize that in this group of people, God has already given the power to turn the Coachella Valley upside down with a revival of spiritual awakening. Friends, that's what Paul is getting at. God has chosen you and me to do His work, in this place, at this time!

B. The weak things

The next thing Paul lists are the weak things. The word in the Greek actually means feeble and impotent.

I think one of the great illustrations of this idea comes from the Old Testament in the book of Judges, chapter 6... Look at these words on the screen.

Judges 6:12; 14-16
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
14 "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Illustration: Here is Gideon, a weak, beat-up, wimpish man. He is hiding in the mountains, terrified of the armies of Midian who are devouring the crops of Israel below in the valley. And the angel of the Lord calls him Mighty Warrior. Mighty Warrior? This guy was terrified. He didn't know how to fight. He wasn't a leader. He was the youngest and weakest in his family. He was the most unlikely candidate to be a mighty warrior that there could be. Yet God used him to defeat the entire nation of Midian with just a handful of soldiers.... But, you see, he had the power of God working through him. God chooses the weak.

C. He chooses the lowly things

The next word Paul uses is the word, lowly. Lowly means the opposite of noble. In other words, lowly means ignoble. Have you ever seen the stuff that grows on the top of a stagnant body of water. We call that scum. That's what Paul is meaning–God uses scummy people.

Let me just give you one example from Scripture.

Illustration: If you look at Matthew chapter one, you'll read the genealogy of Jesus. So and so begat so and so. And this person begat that person. And it goes through the whole list of Jesus' ancestry.

But when you look closely at that list you see the names of four women listed there. It's a very colorful quartet! Two of them were prostitutes, one was born on the wrong side of the tracks, and one was an adulteress. Yet God used these women who were considered by the people of their day, as the scum of the earth, in His plan to bring His Redeemer into the world.

Isn't it great! No matter what your past or present, God can still use you. Because God uses the lowly of this world.

D. Despised things

Then the fourth thing Paul tells us that God uses are the despised things. The word despised means contemptible.

Illustration: In 1 Samuel 17 we read of King Saul trying to get young David ready to fight the giant Goliath, by putting his armor on David. He put a helmet of brass on his head, and he armed him with a coat of mail, and he put a breastplate of brass on him–he looked like Pastor Darrin wearing my leather motorcycle jacket. It just weighted him down!

David said, "I can't do this. These things don't fit. I can't move. It's just going to get in the way." So he took it off, and went out, with only his little sling shot. And when he stood in front of that huge giant, Goliath, nine feet tall of just plain MEAN...the Bible says that Goliath disdained him. He looked at David in a contemptible way. He said, "I'll take your flesh and use it for compost." In the eyes of giant Goliath, David was despised and contemptible.

But you know the story. David, operating under the power of God, dropped a nine foot, 560 pound enemy of God, dead to the ground, and secured a victory for the nation of Israel that day.

You see, God delights in using what the world despises. He uses the contemptible. He uses the despised people to advance His Kingdom.

E. The nothing things

The final thing Paul says is that God chooses to use the nothing-things of this world. The things that appeal so much to human beings–knowledge, rank and power–do not necessarily attract the attention of God. In fact, the Bible tells us that God created the world out of nothing. So if God is the one who created everything out of nothing, you don't need to have; or own; or do anything, for God to demonstrate His power through you.

My grandfather used to say, "God created the world out of nothing; as long as we are nothing He can do something with us, too." We don't bring anything to the table that God needs.

So, if you think you aren't useful to God because you don't have much, think again. When you come to realize that you have nothing that God needs, that's when He can unleash His power through you.

IV. Why God chooses us--His purpose

A. The Purpose

So those are the people that God chooses to use...
-the foolish,
-the weak,
-the lowly,
-the despised,
-the nothings...
–to do the greatest work every known to human beings...advancing the Kingdom of God into the hearts and lives of people and cities and territories.

But I want you to see one more thing this morning. It's found in verse 31. What I want you to see is how you can lose the power of God...

1 Cor. 1:31
31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

What Paul is saying that if we ever get to the point where we believe that our strength and effectiveness for ministry resides in who we are or what we've received through formal education, or business experience, or human abilities, we have lost the opportunity for God's power to show itself in our lives.

Don't get me wrong... We need to be grateful to God for what He has given us by way of education, experience and ability. But we must recognize that the power to do significant things for Him, does not come from us–it only comes from His power. The minute we begin to stand on our own ability and our own strength, we have lost the ability to influence people for eternity and advance the Kingdom of God.

B. The Plan

Last week, I outlined our plan to maximize your usefulness in this body of Christ. It's a series of 4 courses that we will offer on a continuing basis through our adult education program and other times that are convenient for individuals to gather, to prepare you to intentionally advance God's Kingdom:

1. Our 101 course teaches you about our purpose and vision for this church.
2. Our 201 course teaches you how to be an intentional link in the series of events that leads people you know, to personal faith in Jesus Christ.
3. Our 301 course will help you discover your Spiritual Gift, your God given passion, and how He's wired you for working with others.
4. Finally, our 401 course will be a one on one consultation with one of our pastors to help you identify the exact ministry of this church or in this area where you should get involved, if you haven't found it already.

Every person in our church, after taking these core courses, should be able to answer this question with a specific answer: How are you intentionally advancing the Kingdom of God?

V. Conclusion

And I hope you see from the Word of God, that no excuses are allowed. Don't tell me you're too old, or you've done your time, or you're retired, or you're too busy, or your family takes up all your time, or your work is too consuming, or you have such a long distance to commute, or you're only a part-time resident, or you don't have enough education, or you don't have enough money, or you're not healthy enough.

Because what you're saying with any excuses like these, or any others you might come up with, is that you are one of the -the foolish, -the weak, -the lowly, -the despised, -or the nothings...

And that's just where God wants you.

To reinforce this idea, during the next several weeks, on Sunday mornings, we are going to be looking at the lives of individuals in the Bible, who were the foolish, the weak, the lowly, the despised, and the nothings, and see how God used them to advance His Kingdom purposes.

That's why I'm calling this series of sermons, the nobility of God's nobodies. There is not a follower of Jesus Christ in this room that is not valuable enough–the way you are right now–for God to use to advance His Kingdom. All He wants is for you to be available to Him.
Amen.