Insignificant: Nothing special. Unimportant. Taken for granted. To small to be noticed. Of no consequence, influence, or distinction. Without weight. Easy to overlook. Irrelevant. Meager. Nondescript. Of little value. Trivial. Exceptionally ordinary. Easily & often disregarded. Invisible. Meaningless...of little value.
There are no insignificant people, moments, words, or actions.
The world labels people as significant or not. Some people receive VIP treatment. Our world will judge you based upon your background, your neighborhood, your education, your failures or successes, the color of your skin, the size of your bank account, your title, your abilities, your looks, your handicaps, and a whole lot of other things. Even though we live in a world where some people are pretty much overlooked, forgotten, and completely disregarded...God never forgets, overlooks, or disregards anybody. No one is insignificant to HIM. People matter to God.
Isaiah 42:3 (MSG) - "He won't disregard the small and insignificant."
Psalm 27:10 - "Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close."
Psalm 68:5-6 (MSG) - "Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in his holy house. God makes homes for the homeless, leads prisoners to freedom."
Example: Hagar & Ishmael (Genesis 16 & 21)
Everyday...ordinary...normal...average...hurting...lonely...confused...forgotten...overlooked...little...not newsworthy...seemingly insignificant people...matter to God! And because they matter to Him...they must matter to us.
In Matthew 25, Jesus is speaking of what will take place at the final judgement. Read Matthew 25:31-45 (MSG)
#1 - No one you meet is insignificant to God. No word you speak, no moment you share, no action you take, no investment you make in another person's life is insignificant.
#2 - You are not insignificant to God. You matter to God!
Scripture refers to you as, "The apple of God's eye." Over and over again...The Bible makes reference to God having a specific plan and purpose for the individual. He formed you in your mother's womb. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows where you are at every moment. Not only that...He knows you by name. Isaiah 49:16 says that your name is written on His hands. He cares about you personally. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leaves the flock in a safe place in order to seek the individual who is lost. You my friend...regardless of what the world may have told you or how you may have felt when you got up this morning...you are not insignificant to God. You...your life...your abilities...your talents...your possessions...every breath you take...YOU are significant to HIM!
The world may look and see you as ordinary...average...and insignificant. They may see you as a failure. You may be overlooked, feel forgotten...and completely disregarded. But God...won't ever disregard you! In fact...you are the kind of person...He specializes in using!
God has a great track record of taking seemingly insignificant people and things and using them for His glory to accomplish incredible things!
slaves, prostitutes, drunks, fishermen, teenagers, the handicapped, the runts of several families.
Even Jesus came as a seemingly insignificant baby, with the most common of names, to an insignificant couple in an insignificant town, spending most of His adult life working as an ordinary insignificant carpenter, never traveling more than 200 miles from home. The Bible is filled with seemingly insignificant people who God used for significant things.
Abraham was too old.
Gideon had some serious fear issues.
Isaac couldn't focus...spent most of his time daydreaming.
Jacob was a big fat liar.
Leah was unphotogenic to say the least.
Joseph was abused...falsely accused...and ended up with a criminal record.
A whole lot of people were too young...Timothy for one.
David had an affair...and murdered the lady's husband.
Elijah was depressed to the point of contemplating suicide.
Jonah ran from the call of God on his life. He was a whiner.
Isaiah preached naked.
Naomi was a widow.
Job lost everything and went bankrupt.
Peter turned his back on Jesus.
Martha was a worry wart.
Mary was a busy body.
The Samaritan woman at the well was divorced...more than once.
Paul was a religious pain in the rump.
Lazarus was dead.
Jesus used an insignificant boys insignificant lunch.
He used His own spit.
God used an insignificant jar of olive oil.
An insignificant army of 300. (Gideon)
Jesus spoke to the multitudes while in a small little insignificant boat.
God took some desert shrubbery, set it on fire and spoke to Moses.
Jesus rode into town on an insignificant donkey.
He spoke of mustard seed, and made special note of a widows seemingly insignificant offering.
He took a rag-tag group of ordinary unschooled men and used them to turn the world upside down. (He's still doing that today)
He used a rugged old cross.
Was buried in a borrowed tomb.
I like what Paul said to the Corinthians, "Take a good look...I don't see many of 'the brightest and the best' among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses?"
All of those examples are great...but I want to take you back to the example of Moses.
D.L. Moody said, "Moses spent 40 years thinking he was a somebody, 40 years learning that he was a nobody, and 40 years seeing what God can do with a nobody."
When God spoke to Moses on the backside of the desert...He was a picture of insignificance. He stuttered. He was a murderer...a runaway...and in a lot of ways...a failure. Once a prince...He was now a shepherd...the very job he had been taught to despise. Once everything was done for him...now he had to do everything for himself. He'd missed out on opportunity 40 years later. He'd made a decision that robbed him of any worldly significance He may have had or hoped for. He was a foreigner. Forgotten. Irrelevant. He was insignificant. He was ordinary.
Not only was Moses ordinary...what He had to offer God wasn't much either. Even it seemed insignificant. A shepherds staff. But God used what was already in Moses' hand to perform miracles, to bring deliverance, and to bring provision.
Moses seemed insignificant and ordinary. What He had to offer was insignificant and ordinary. But God looked and saw something nobody else saw and used it to do things nobody could possibly believe.
What I want you to leave here with this morning is a reminder..no one you meet is insignificant & You are not insignificant. God takes joy in using ordinary people and ordinary things for extraordinary purposes.
So...THREE QUESTIONS:
(1) Who are the ordinary, seemingly insignificant people in your life & how does God want to use you to show them His love?
(2) What's ordinary about you? What about you seems insignificant?
It could be and is highly probable that what makes you seem ordinary and insignificant are the very things God may use for an extraordinary purpose.
God is not limited by your past...God is not limited by your failures...He's not limited by your income...He's not limited by your health...He's not limited by your education or lack of one...He's not limited by your age.
Maybe you're more like Moses than you thought. He felt inadequate to be used.
Maybe you feel un-talented or one-talented in a world of multi-talented people. Let me encourage you from His example and the example of countless others who have been used by God...Don't hide behind your inadequacies!
All He needs is enough faith for you to say, "Here I am...use me!"
(3) What Ordinary, Insignificant things do you possess that God can use? What insignificant thing is already in your hand?
A pen, a hammer, a shovel, a broom, an iPad, a computer, a camera, and instrument, a hobby, an interest, a van with a few empty seats, a back-hoe, maybe you act, do you enjoy talking on the phone, meeting new people.
What's in your hand?
Moses could have never imagined the power his insignificant staff would have when it became the staff of God.
It could be that God wants to use what's already in your hand...as insignificant as it may seem...to perform miracles...bring deliverance...or provide for the needs of people.
