PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “The Flawed Giant That God Uses”.
Paul wrote a very interesting thing in his first letter to the Church at Corinth. He wrote, when it comes to the people that God uses to accomplish great things, He doesn’t choose to use the “gifted, glorious, and grandiose”…he uses the ordinary. “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called (to serve)…that no flesh should glory in His presence”. (I Cor. 1:26ff New King James Version). The Gospels bear that fact out. Look who Jesus called to start His world changing mission. Not the highly regarded elite of Judaism. Instead he chose fishermen, tax collectors, revolutionaries against Rome. Quite a motley crue! They hadn’t graduated Summa Cum Laude, nor were they listed in the Who’s Who In Judaism, and none had been voted “most likely to succeed”. They were in fact nobodies. They turned few to no heads in society. But…they were ideal for His cause. His objective…”that they might be with Him…and He might send them out” (Mark 3:14). That was His modus operandi for success. It worked! “Now when they saw the confidence of Peter and John, they clearly understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, (they weren’t stupid and no education-they had not been to Rabbinical school for training like Paul), THEY WERE AMAZED, and began to recognize them AS HAVING BEEN WITH JESUS!” (New American Standard Bible).
Stuart Briscoe emphasizes this truth in a sermon called “Ordinary Folks Make Great Disciples”. It is God’s Divine choice to “use ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary projects!” That is why Paul told the Corinthians in his second letter that God entrusted His precious treasure of the Gospel to be dispensed out through “common earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us!” (II Cor. 4:7). Howard Hendricks says “God dispenses his glorious Gospel through common peanut butter jars!” God has clearly shown us that is His choice. For all of us who feel unworthy and incapable of fulfilling the assignment God has called us to, that is assurance that we need. Remember, as someone said, “God does not NEED our ABILITY…only our AVAILABILITY!”
When It comes to the people God chooses to use, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation clearly reveals that God accommodates His choice of servants, by indicating that all of God’s saints are really aint’s! God could use perfect angels to do His bidding, but instead chose to use humans: humans who are very flawed. His partnership in the venture, by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, more than makes up for our inadequacy. That truth makes the venture and adventure! Paul reminded the Corinthians that all the biographies of saints that God has used were written in permanent inspired record for our growth and admonition. “These things that happened to them are written for our admonition” (I Cor. 10:11). The word things, i.e. experiences, are called examples. The word is “tupos”, from which we get our word “type”, and is best translated “patterns to follow”…to learn and achieve growth, both from their successes and failures. The word “admonition” is “nouthesia” is a compound word uniting “nous”-mind and “tithemi” –to put or store- so should be best translated “to be put in our mind for counsel and guidance”. So we look to Scripture for inspired guidance to renew our mind with, to give us clear understanding about the who and the how of God using us in His venture to make it a successful adventure. One good case in point is David. The name comes from two roots-“dawa”- meaning “weak” and ‘dod”- meaning “beloved one”. The clear meaning is “the beloved weak one that God has chosen to make His own”. Wow! We all could be named David, and have a very fitting name! We all are sinners, who have fallen short of God’s standard…but He loves us anyway, with unconditional love. Someone has said, “God loves us just as we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way!” So David is the perfect pattern to fill our mind with instruction about how God wants to use us, “His beloved weak one!”
Today in the Galleria dell ‘Academia in Florence, Italy is Michelangelo’s statue of David-eighteen feet tall! He purposely sculpted it at that height because, in the Biblical narrative David was a Giant of a Man. Most Bible scholars believe David was somewhere between 5’ to 5’5’’. Yet when partnered with God, endued with the presence and power of His Spirit…David became a giant of a man. Michelangelo saw him as such! Someone said, “David had the military genius of Alexander the Great,; the political savvy of Abraham Lincoln; the musical skill of Beethoven, combined with the literary skill of William Shakespeare”.-(David Roper-Psalm 23.). But in spite of all of his great feats, David was a weak and flawed man. When Samuel came to anoint him King, he was almost overlooked, because he was the least likely candidate among the sons of Jesse. It took Michelangelo almost four years of hard work to sculpt David’s statue. He was working with flawed marble that had been damaged during its extraction from the quarry. So it was with David. He was flawed in his origin, abused as a child, left all alone, and nearly ruined. But this weak one was God’s beloved, and his chosen weak vessel. The key to his success was, in spite of all of his flaws, he was a “man after God’s own heart”. Stephen, in his sermon before being stoned, gives us a jewel about David-He said, concerning God, “I have found David…a man after my own heart, he will do everything I want him to do!” (Acts 13:22). There is the key to success for every weak struggling Christian!
Henry David Thoreau said, concerning himself, “I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or as it is named a spiritual life, as do most men, and yet another instinct toward a primitive, rank and savage one, and I revere them both!” The key to David, and I might say you and I, is to revere the former the most, and set our heart on letting God partner with us to overcome the latter instinct, and become a giant of a person that He can use mightily. Ordinary people, who God can use in an extraordinary way. Not our ability, but availability. Are you available to God with all your heart? That is the only way to chisel a giant of a servant for God! Amen.