A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF 1 CORINTHIANS
SERMON # 4
“What
God Can Do With Nobodies”
1 Cor. 1:26-31
It really is amazing when we stop to realize
just how profoundly we are impressed when someone famous makes a profession of faith in
Jesus Christ. When we see a movie star, or a famous musician or a professional athlete
acknowledge Christ, it thrills us to see that. Some where in most of us is the belief that
somehow God is able to use “that” kind of person more than he can ordinary
person like me! We think that God could do great things with people who have something
special to offer. Isn’t that right?
Somewhere deep down we
really believe that God will be able to use that professional athlete, famous musician or
movie star much more than he can just an ordinary person. We think to ourselves, “Man isn’t
that wonderful that a person like that made a profession of faith in Jesus and take a
stand for him. My God will really be able to use them! God can use someone like that much
more than He can a plain ordinary person like me!” The
truth is that this is almost exactly the reverse of what God says in his word. Starting in
verse twenty-six I want to bring you a message I have entitled “What God Can Do With Nobodies!” This is important because you may not win any
awards, you may not star in any athletic events, you may not break any records, or become
famous for any major achievements, but cheer up, you are just the kind of person God
wants. In fact you are just the kind of person God has always used to do his work. In the
text we are going to examine tonight we will see that God not only uses, but chooses to use
ordinary people to accomplish the majority of His work. In verse twenty-four
Paul says, “but to
those we are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
It is the “called”
that we will be addressing tonight. This is very fitting on Supper Bowl Sunday night, it
is the faithful that he is addressing and it is the faithful who have chosen to be here
tonight. Then in verse twenty-six he
picks up with the called again when he says, “For you see your calling, brethren…”
How do you see you calling? What
do you understand about God’s call upon you life
We want to note two
things tonight, the people of God’s choosing and the purpose of God’s choosing.
First, Paul
outlines The People of God’s Choosing
(vv. 26b-27) . Paul continues in verse twenty-six by saying, “…. that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” Please note that verse twenty-six says “not many”
it does not say “not any.”
In King James Version translation of James
2:1 believers are warned to “have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with respect of persons” (2:1). The phrase translated “with respect of persons”
literally means “to receive one’s
face.” When we first meet someone
how do we form our initial impressions. Generally speaking it is a snap judgment based on
appearance. The passage here in James is a reminder that since God is not a respecter of
person neither should we be as Christians. That means that how a person looks, how a
person dresses, what person has or does not have, should no enter into an evaluation of a
persons worth.
No matter who we are or how important we
think we are God is not impressed. If we look again at verse twenty-six we note that Paul
sets out how things really are within the church, “….not many wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called.”
First of all he tells us that God does not only choose the “wise.” God does not chose his children from among the
intelligentsia. Thank God you do not have a certain I.Q. or or have an advanced college
degree, in order to serve Jesus. The verse says, not many, not that there are none. There
are some very intelligent and educated people who have been believers.
An interesting study is Moses. His 120
He spent the next forty years of his life on the backside
of the desert learning to be a nobody
(Exodus 3, Acts 7:29-30). There in the desert of Midian Moses learned what it meant to be
a nobody. For forty long years in the most desolate of surrounding he learned what was to
just be a servant.
And
the final forty years God took him bring to Egypt to lead the children of Israel out of
slavery and across the wilderness (Acts 7:36) showing him how He can make a nobody into a somebody he can use. God can and will strip us to the very depths of
our souls if necessary to show us that all the power comes from him.
That is not to say
there have not been men and women of great intelligence and holding advanced degrees who
have been believers. C. S. Lewis one of the
most intellectual men of the 20th century, a man
who came to faith from skepticism, was a firm defender of Christianity.
Intellect does not have to keep us from servicing the Lord, but most of us can be thankful
that God does not choose only those who are brilliant.
Secondly he tells us that God does not only choose the “mighty.” “Mighty”
has to do with power, over people or kingdoms. God does not choose men, as men
would choose men. The example of how Israel chose its first king. Israel decided that
since all the nations around them had a king, they needed a king as well. That was not God’s
plan it was their plan. The Old Testament records that Israel continued to ask God and
plead with God to give them a king. Finally Israel chooses a king 1 Samuel 9:2 we
find who Israel chose to be their first king. It says that chose, “Saul, there was not a
more handsome person than he among the children of Israel,….he was taller than any of
the people.” The people
looked at Saul and said, “There is a man who looks like a king should look”
but he was disaster. The next time a king was chosen, even before Saul had relinquished
the throne, God chose his replacement. God sent the prophet to house of Jesse to pick out
the new king (1 Sam 16:1). Each of Jesse’s sons was brought before the prophet and
the prophet was once again tempted to choose according to outward appearance and so God
said to him, (1 Sam 16:7) “Do
not look at his appearance or his physical stature…for man looks at the outward
appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.” The youngest son, David would not have been the
prophet’s choice, but he was God’s choice. You and I have been chosen by God
because God can look beyond what were and even what we are to what we can be.
Third he tells us that God does not only choose the “noble.” Again it does not say that God does not choose any but that God does not choose many. “A
woman of noble birth once remarked to the great Methodist preacher John Wesley that she
was saved by an “m.” When Wesley asked for an explanation, she pointed him to 1
Corinthians 1:26, which in the King James Version reads, “For ye see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are
called.” “God did not say ‘Not any noble are called,” she explained,
“but ‘Not many noble.’ Were it not for that letter, I might be lost.” [Today in the Word, April 19, 1993]
God does not choose only the wise, or only
the mighty nor only the noble. Wouldn’t be a shame if God only chose only those of
noble birth to get His work done?
Beginning in verse twenty-seven list the three things that God uses to get his work
done.
· God Uses the Things that are Foolish (v. 27a)
“But
God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise,”
Two of the world’s greatest evangelists
of the past were not men of education nor known for their polish and poise. These two men
were D.L. Moody and Billy Sunday. “Billy Sunday was responsible for bringing one million souls to
Jesus in the days before radio. But some who knew him said, he was God’ joke on the
ministry. He murdered the King’s English and he never had a course on homiletics or
Bible interpretation. He was so unpredictable that he tugged on a man’s flowing white
beard and went ‘honk, honk’ right in the middle of the invitation.” [David Jeremiah. “Core Values of the
Church: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians” Vol .1 (1:1-4:5) (Atlanta:
Walk Thru The Bible Ministries, 1996) p. 50]
“One of the greatest
awakenings of the 19th century began in Cambridge University in England when
D. L. Moody and Ira B. Sankey, came to that center of learning…. an
Episcopal rector … who had been a member of that class in Cambridge when
D. L. Moody came …said that the whole University was outraged that this
backwoods American preacher would dare to appear and speak in the center of culture of the
English world. They well knew that he "murdered" the King's English. (Somebody
once said that D. L. Moody was the only man he ever heard who could pronounce
Jerusalem in one syllable!) So this man said that he and … his classmates who were
not Christians determined that when Moody spoke in the chapel at Cambridge they would hoot
him off the platform.
Now, Moody began by asking Sankey
to sing…. As soon as he finished, Moody stepped to the edge of the platform and
looking directly at the students who were gathered there, he said these remarkable words,
"Young gentlemen, don't ever think God don't love you, for he do!" This young
man said that he and his classmates were dumbfounded by that beginning. Moody went on and
in a few minutes he again said, "Don't ever think God don't love you, for he
do!" Something about the very ungrammatical structure of these words captured them.
The intense earnestness of this man spoke right to their hearts, beyond all the
superficial, external things. That young man said that that day he sought out Moody for a
private interview, and Moody led him to Christ. A great awakening came to Cambridge
University at the hands of that humble servant of God.” [Ray Stedman. “God’s Tools.” (www.pbc.org/library/files/1 Cor 1:26-31)
· God Uses the Things that are Weak
“…
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are
mighty.” The word
translated “weak” here means “sickly, or feeble or impotent.”
One such person
was a lady named Fanny Crosby. “The hymn writer Fanny Crosby gave us more than 8,000 Gospel
songs. Although blinded at the age of six weeks, she never held any bitterness in her
heart because of it. Once a preacher sympathetically remarked, I think it is a great pity
that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you.
She quickly replied, ‘Do you know that if
at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been to be born blind.’
“Why,’ asked the surprised preacher, ‘Because when I get to heaven, the
first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.” [Paul Lee Tan. “Encyclopedia of
7,700 Illustrations. (Rockville, Maryland: Assurance Pub., 1984) #652 p. 237]
· God Uses the Things that are Despised
‘“… and the base things of the world and the
things which are despised God has chosen
and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.”
The word translated
“despised” means contemptible. When we think of someone who God uses who
was ‘despised” the Old Testament story of David and Goliath comes to mind. You
will remember that there came a time when the nation of Israel faced a challenge in the
form of the Philistine giant named Goliath. Israel and the nation of the Philistines are
at war and the two armies are arrayed on opposite hillsides. Each morning Goliath came out
and challenged the army of Israel to select a man to fight with him and whoever won the
battle his army would be considered the winner (1 Samuel 17). No one seemed anxious to die
at the hands of the nine ft. nine tall giant. Finally David just a young man at the time,
goes out to fight Goliath. When Goliath saw David he was not happy, he despised him and he
said, “Am I a dog that
come to me with sticks. And Goliath cursed David…” (1 Sam 17:43). God
uses that which was despised to win a victory.
Secondly, notice
Paul outlines The Purpose of God’s Choosing.
(vv. 29-31)
The
first purpose of God’s method of choosing is in order that no man might glory in his
presence. (v. 29) “that no flesh should
glory in His presence. “
In Ephesians 2:8-9 the Apostle Paul
writes, “For by grace
have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. (9) not
of works lest anyone should boast.”
The second purpose of God’s method of choosing is that all glorying is done in the Lord (v. 30) “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption -(31) that, as it is written,“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah wrote (Jeremiah
9:23-24) “Let not
he wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the might man glory in his might, Nor let the
rich man glory in his riches;(24) But let him who glories glory in this, That he
understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the LORD.”
The late Dr. Adrian Rogers tells a story
about a woodpecker on a tree in south Florida. “As he was
pecking on the tree, a bolt of lightening hit the tree and split it right down the middle.
The woodpecker backed off and surveyed the situation and then flew away. He later came
back later with nine other woodpeckers and announced ‘There it is gentlemen, Right there. That’s is
what I did!’ Adrian Rogers then comments, ‘When
you do that God shuts off the lightening and you really are stuck with what you can do
alone!’ [As
quoted by David Jeremiah. Core Values of the Church. p. 52]
Let me conclude
with this statement and this illustration. Perhaps part of the reason that God wants us to
focus on him is relieves the pressure of believing that we must have some super kind of
faith to be used of God.
‘Gladys Aylward was a
missionary to
She was forced to flee when the
Along the harrowing journey she grappled with despair and, at times, a feeling of utter
hopelessness. One morning on that journey, after Gladys Aylward had had a sleepless night,
a 13 year old girl reminded her of Moses and how he had led the Israelites out of Egypt
and through the Red Sea. To which Gladys replied: “But I am not Moses”. Then the
little girl said, “Of course you aren’t, BUT JEHOVAH IS STILL GOD!”
When Gladys Aylward and those orphan children made it through the mountains to safety, they proved once again that no matter how inadequate we may feel, God is still God, and we can depend on Him.”