Mr. Irrelevant Series

What do you call the last player chosen in the annual draft of the National Football League? I know what some of you are thinking, “Pastor, I just don’t care!” That’s awesome! You obviously have a life! For many of the rest of us, who live and die by the sword of our favorite team’s record, two words pop to mind: Mr. Irrelevant. After each draft, the last player chosen - the new Mr. Irrelevant - and his family are invited to Disneyland, a golf tournament, a regatta, and a ceremony awarding him the Lowsman Trophy; looks like the Heisman, but shows a player fumbling a football. All done in fun!

What are the odds of the greatest player in the history of the N.F.L. ever losing to a Mr. Irrelevant? Zero, right? Two weeks ago the newest Mr. Irrelevant, quarterback Brock Purdy, led his team to a victory over Tom Brady, in the eyes of many the GOAT, greatest of all time! They didn’t just win; they slaughtered the GOAT! Blood everywhere! Mr. Irrelevant had a spectacular game! Go figure! Truth is, sometimes, strange things do happen…

2,000 years ago, in a backwater town, to dirt-poor parents, in a land enslaved under the thumb of a brutal regime, Mr. Irrelevant was born: Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary. Powerful people don’t come from circumstances like these. In the eyes of the world, this Jewish nobody would be the last kind of person ever chosen, drafted, to be a King. He would do what all Jewish irrelevants did: follow his father’s footsteps, learn carpentry, live poor, bow to the Empire, die a forgotten no-name.

But…sometimes, strange things do happen: Matthew 1:18 – “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” This was no normal baby. On the outside, perhaps: In fact, Isaiah did write, Isaiah 53:2 – “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” Jesus may have been a homely infant! Nothing special on the outside. But those six little words from Matthew change everything: with child through the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God was born in that manger. Suddenly Mr. Irrelevant becomes Mr. Indespensable. No other child, in all the earth, any race, any lineage, any religion, was like this One.

God the Father knew exactly what He was doing. His Son was the only one who could be the indispensable King the world desperately needed, born to save the world from sin by dying on the cross, in our place, suffering the punishment we all deserve. The angel said to Joseph, Matthew 1:21 -- “You are to give your Son the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” My parents gave me the name Steve after a comic strip character, Steve Canyon! That’s one way to choose a name. God told Joseph to give his son the name Jesus, meaning the Lord Saves, because it defined His purpose for being born: to save us from our sins. Jesus died, He rose, He ascended to Heaven to show you your glorious future. The best is yet to come!

God did it all because He loves you. You are not irrelevant. You are not alone; life is not a game of chance. Your life has purpose. Your purpose is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, by loving His Son Jesus and worshiping only Him, and to love your neighbor – feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those prison; do it all in the name of Jesus. You are not irrelevant! Think of it – 8 billion people in the world, God knows you personally; He knows your name.

Isaiah 43:1 – “Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze, for I am the Lord your God.” God knows you!

The night before Thanksgiving, a 28-year-old man fell off a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico; for 20 hours, somehow he managed to stay afloat, even for hours in the dark. He said at one point something with a fin sticking out of the water bumped into him! Talk about fear! Somehow, he was spotted and rescued. When you pass through the waters I will be with you. What waters are we passing through? Maybe we’re drifting tonight, wondering if God even sees us, if He does, does He care? Will He help? We see fins everywhere! Good News – God does see you, even in the darkness. He does love you. “For the sake of My Son,” God says, “I will send out an army, I will rescue you!” Don’t be afraid, don’t give up. Call on your Redeemer, the one who named you His child, through His Son Jesus. Repent of your sins, turn to the Savior, trust in Him alone, the only path to salvation. God is with us, in the waters, through the rivers, in the fire. Immanuel! God with us. You are not irrelevant. You are loved. You have a future, in Heaven, and a purpose, here on earth, one that goes beyond feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, as important as those things are.