It is amazing how ordinary people sometimes rise above the masses to accomplish great things.
• Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin yet rose to become one of our greatest presidents.
• Michael Jordan was cut from his middle school basketball ball team because he was an ordinary player.
• Dolly Parton was born in poverty in the Smoky Mountains but has risen to become a household American name in the music industry.
Even more amazing is to see how God uses ordinary people. This is amazing because God does not need us. He can do anything he desires. He does not need any help. He does not need any supervisors. He knows where He is going and how to get there. Yet He has chosen to use ordinary people in His work.
• Billy Graham was born and raised on a dairy farm.
• Another famous evangelist, Billy Sunday, described himself. He said “I was born and bred in Iowa. I am a rub of the rubies, I am a hayseed of the hayseeds, and the odors of the barnyard are yet on me. I have greased my hair with goose grease and blacked my boots with stove blacking. I have wiped my nose with gunnysack towel. I have drunk coffee out of my saucer, and I have crept and crawled out from the university of poverty and hard knocks and taken postgraduate courses. I have said “done it” when I should have said “did it” and “I have saw” when I should “have seen”, and I expect to got to Heaven just the same.” (Billy Sunday. Lee Thomas. P. 11)
God’s use of the ordinary is evidenced in the pages of the Bible.
• David was an ordinary shepherd.
• Jesus disciples were a motley crew: some were fisherman; one was the equivalent of a terrorist and all were tainted with human qualities.
I want to examine a story that perfectly illustrates how God uses ordinary people. The text is taken from Acts 4:13. “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” This text is taken from the New Living Translation. This translation seems to clarify the thought better than any other. Follow the story. You will notice that verse 13 is divided into three phrases. I will address this subject by discussing the three phrases.
I. Notice the first phrase, “the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John.” Ordinary people can be used of God to make a difference. Peter and John had been preaching and teaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many people were turning to faith in Jesus. The religious and political leaders were upset that Peter and John were creating a stir among the people. They were threatened by the message. Even though they did not like the actions of Peter and John there was no denying their behavior. They could not deny what they saw. That is still true today. People may not like your message but they will notice your behavior. Ordinary people can make a difference. How is this so? We see this in the story.
A. We can make a difference when we display confidence in Jesus. The religious leaders noticed the confidence of Peter. Do you display a confidence in your faith?
Illustration: Some years ago, two teenagers with a long history of crime and delinquency robbed a YMCA on the lower East Side of New York City. On the way out they saw a young man at the telephone switchboard. They were frightened and assumed that he must be calling the police. They beat him savagely with brass knuckles and a black jack. Thinking that he was dead, they hid him behind a radiator near the swimming pool and escaped. Later that evening, a woman who came to swim, was walking by the pool. She slipped in the man’s blood, screamed, and then found Donald Tippet’s body. He lived, but one eye was so badly damaged that it could not be saved. Meanwhile, the two teenagers were apprehended and brought to trial. Their past records assured that both would get long sentences. However, Donald Tippet did an amazing thing—he requested that the judge allow the two young men be paroled to his charge. He wanted to give them another chance. He believed they could change. One of the boys blew his opportunity. He committed another crime, was caught and jailed. The other boy, however, was responsive to Tippet’s kindness. He went to college and then, eventually, to medical school. He became one of our nation’s leading surgeons—an eye surgeon. A reporter, writing about Donald Tippet’s amazing story of forgiveness, said of the surgeon’s accomplishments: “I wonder if he ever performs one of those delicate eye operations without thinking of that night in the YMCA and the young man whose confidence and forgiveness changed his LIFE!”
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Fred Sigle)
Confidence is contagious! We can make a difference by displaying a quiet confidence in Jesus. People need to know that faith is real and that God makes a difference. The best proof of this is a changed life.
B. We can make a difference though our character. Do people notice the character of Christ in you? Character is a supernatural gift. It comes from beyond. Peter and John were able to move beyond the ordinary because the spirit of Jesus bubbled up inside of them. In our text Peter and John faced anger and contempt. However, when Peter stood to speak he addressed these people with respect. Notice verse 8. Peter addresses them as “rulers.” He does not speak with contempt. He speaks with respect.
Illustration: Amy Biehl died a violent death in 1993. She was a 26-year-old American student who went to South Africa to help register black voters for their first free election. She was seeking to help the people of South Africa. One day while out driving, she was dragged out of her car, stabbed and beaten to death by a mob which was committed to violently overthrowing the apartheid government. Soon afterward, Amy’s parents, Linda and Peter Biehl, quit their jobs and moved from their Orange County, California home to South Africa — not to seek revenge, but to start a foundation in Amy’s name. Today, two of her killers work for the foundation. They call Mrs. Biehl “Makhulu,” or grandmother, because of the way she treats them. She says, “Forgiving is looking at ourselves and saying, ‘I don’t want to go through life feeling hateful and revengeful, because that’s not going to do me any good.’ We took Amy’s lead. We did what she would want.”
That is the picture of reconciliation. It forgives but also restores. It pays back good for evil. It is following the heart and character of God, for the Bible says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) (Contributed to Sermon Central by Rodney Buchanan)
When we display God’s character we will make a difference in those around us.
II. Look at the second phrase: “they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.” There is nothing wrong with being ordinary. Peter and John were ordinary men and they had no formal religious training.
A. The truth is, we are all ordinary. We are all human and are tainted by our humanity. I heard about two kids who were in Sunday school one day. The teacher had taught the lesson on Lot’s wife who became a pillar of salt. After Sunday school they were walking out and one of the kids said to the other one, "Do you really believe that Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt?" The other one said, "Yea, I believe it. My mamma went driving yesterday, looked back and turned into a telephone pole." That little boy knew his mom was human, just like Lot’s wife.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Larry Jacobs)
We are all destined to a life of futility and frustration unless we look to God for help.
I read an interesting illustration. If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6’ x 8’ and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10-12’. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and painfully until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. In many ways, we are like the buzzard and the bat. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up. Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up. (Contributed to Sermon Central by Jeff Powell)
B. You do not need formal training to be used of God. You do not need to dress a certain way to be used of God. When I enrolled in New Orleans Seminary I was dreading the experience because I thought you had to trade in your humanity at the front door. I thought you had to wear a tie every day. I was so relieved when I discovered that the students wore blue jeans to class. I was also relieved when I discovered there was a gym right behind my dormitory. All of a sudden I was feeling pretty good about being a “minister.” Many people feel this way. They think you have to dress a certain way, think a certain way or act a certain way to serve God. The truth is, God will use us as we are and where we are. You do not need a seminary education. You do not need to memorize the Bible.
III. Look at the third phrase. When people looked at Peter and John “they also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” Jesus is looking for ordinary people to work with. People tend to remember you by the people with whom you associate. Have you ever seen a child that cut lose with a string of profanity? You know that child has been hanging with the wrong group.
Illustration: When I first went to college I hated country music. My roommate was a country music fanatic. Guess what? I learned to love country music.
What happens when you associate with Jesus?
A. Jesus gives strength. Jesus gives strength to rise above the ordinary. The apostle Paul gave an encouraging word from God. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) In spite of our humanity, Jesus will work through us.
B. Jesus transforms. He transforms ordinary people into extra-ordinary servants of God. Consider this analogy. Someone has said: a bar of steel worth $5, when made into ordinary horseshoes, is worth $10; when manufactured into needles, the value rises to $350; and when made into delicate springs for expensive watches, it is worth more than $250,000. (Contributed to Sermon Central by Philip Harrelson) It is all in the hands of the manufacturer. An ordinary life in the hands of Jesus becomes an extra-ordinary life.
You may be ordinary; however, God is looking for people like you. God is looking for availability not ability. God is looking for willing hearts not high IQs.
