Misfits Series

“What Are You Good For?”

Part 1 - The Misfits

So this morning I am beginning a new series that I have entitled “What Are YOU Good For?” This will speak to the very heart of becoming equipped. Over the next few weeks we are going to get very practical on how to find your place and to prepare yourself for service. This morning I want to set the stage or backdrop for this series by talking to you about Misfits!

I. Question

How many of you have ever been asked, “What Are You Good For?” It is that degrading question that is asked by a miffed parent or that hurtful person you encountered as a young person that simply wanted to draw glaring attention to your inability to do some task or activity. For some of you it rings just as fresh in your ears as if it was just asked this morning. You can still feel the sting, the shame, the pain of those words. It was usually followed up by some degrading remark about being good for nothing or never amounting to anything. It cuts to the very core of how we view ourselves.

Maybe you have asked yourself that question. Out of place, struggling to discover your niche or position in life you often ask yourself this question. It is a question that goes to the heart of who you are and what you were placed here to accomplish. It is usually asked with a tinge of frustration, aggravation, and with a healthy dose of self loathing.

In either case, there are more mornings than you would like to remember when you wake up thinking I am a reject, I am good for nothing, I have no use, and no purpose in life. There are more nights than you dare share that you went to sleep feeling like a square peg being forced into a round hole. Wandering through life, holding down a job, taking care of business, but feeling lost and unfulfilled. Years of searching. Years of questioning. Years of frustration.

The term that best describes most of us is “Misfit”. We just don’t fit anywhere. The two definitions of “Misfit” are:

1. Something of the wrong size or shape for its purpose.

2. One who is unable to adjust to one’s environment or circumstances or is considered to be disturbingly different from others.

We just can’t seem to fit in. We try and fail. We try to adapt and we can’t. We just can’t seem to come to grips with what we are good for. We are misfit. Overlooked.

I have felt like a misfit before. I will never forget when as a senior in college the president of the university called me into his office and made this statement to me, “You will never amount to anything in the kingdom of God and I will make sure of it.” The question began to flood my mind and my spirit, “What am I good for?”

II. Misfits in History and in the Bible

The good news this morning is that if you are a misfit, feel like a misfit, or have ever been called a misfit you are in good company.

Winston Churchill seemed so dull as a youth that his father thought he might be incapable of earning a living in England.

Charles Darwin did so poorly in school that his father once told him, "You will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.

G.K. Chesterton, the English writer, could not read until he was eight. One of his teachers told him, "If we could open your head we should not find any brain, but only a lump of white fat."

Thomas Edison’s first teacher described him as "addled," and his father almost convinced him he was a "dunce."

Albert Einstein’s parents feared their child was dull, and he performed so badly in all high school courses except mathematics that a teacher asked him to drop out.

Misfits, every one of them.

The landscape of Scripture is riddled with misfits. If you don’t believe that watch this:

VIDEO – The March of the Unqualified (Available at SermonSpice.com)

Enough Misfits to fill the pages of a book.

III. David’s Men

But perhaps the most interesting group of Misfits were those that were drawn to David.

Our text this morning gives a very clear picture of the men who David led. Listen carefully to the Word as it describes this group of ragtag, peculiar, questionable, unqualified men. By the way, like it or not it sounds a lot like most of us.

1 Samuel 22:2

(ASV) “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”