This passage teaches us a valuable lesson: God calls and uses nobodies, those who are shunned by the world or overlooked.
Amos, Moses, and David were just shepherds. Joseph was just a boy with a dream. Ruth was an outcast, an outsider. Esther was just a regular Jewish girl. These people were nobodies.
God can also use great people, of course. Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, was very intelligent and highly educated. But did you know that God would much rather use a nobody than a somebody?
When Jesus called His twelve disciples, He did not look for elite individuals. He passed over the Pharisees and the intellectuals, instead gathering together a ragtag group of fishermen, hotheads, a tax collector, a political zealot, and least of all, a traitor. These nobodies would become the apostles and take the gospel to the whole world.
In his book Twelve Ordinary Men, John MacArthur gives this insight, “Many Christians become discouraged and disheartened when their spiritual life and witness suffer because of sin or failure. We tend to think we’re worthless nobodies—and left to ourselves, that would be true! But worthless nobodies are just the kind of people God uses, because that is all He has to work with.”
I Corinthians 1:26-29.
What an amazing passage! Let’s break it down. I see three important points in these verses concerning God’s use of nobodies.
1. The Preamble to God’s Choosing (v. 26)
First, these are the people that God often overlooks. He will certainly use these people, but only rarely. Here we have the wise (skilled), the mighty (strong), and the noble (of high or noble birth). In other words, these are the somebodies. God can certainly use somebodies, but He’d rather skip them.
Illustration: Remember being in elementary, and picking out teams for kick ball? Were you the kid that would be the last one to get picked? That was always embarrassing. Neither of the team captains wanted you, but one of them ended up getting stuck with you. You were the nobody that got overlooked.
But that’s not how God does it. When He’s choosing His team, He picks the nobodies first. He doesn’t want the most qualified. It sounds backwards, right?
II Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him…”
What kind of people is God looking for? This brings us to…
2. The People God Chooses (v. 27-28)
These verses tell us the five kinds of people that God wants on His team.
THE FOOLISH
Greek word moros, “without learning or scholarship.” You don’t have to be well educated for God to use you. Peter, Andrew, and many of the other disciples were fishermen. Fishermen often had very little education.
God wants to take these foolish people and use them to confound the wise. This is exactly what the apostles did all throughout the book of Acts.
WEAKLINGS
Greek word asthenes, “destitute of power among men.” You don’t need great authority to be used by God. David was the youngest and smallest of all his brothers, and yet God used him to take down a giant and breathe new life into his unbelieving countrymen.
God wants to take weaklings and use them to confound the mighty. Remember, one plus God equals the majority.
BASE FOLK (Lowlifes)
Greek word agenes, “inferior, those among men who are held of no account.” You don’t need a great heritage to be used by God. Jephthah was despised by his countrymen because he was the son of a harlot, and yet God used him as a mighty judge to defeat the Ammonites.
THE DESPISED
Greek word exoutheneo, “to make of no account, to despise utterly.” Even when everyone hates you, God can still use you. Joseph was despised by his brothers, so much that they sold him into slavery, and yet God turned it all around and used Joseph to save Egypt as well as his family.
NOBODIES
The world acts like you don’t exist, like you’re not important at all. And yet God can take a nobody and use him to nullify the plans and purposes of the wicked.
These are the people who God chooses to use. But why?
3. The Purpose of the Choosing (v. 29)
If God only used the wise, mighty, and noble, He wouldn’t get much glory (He might not get any). God doesn’t use people because He wants them to feel good about themselves; He uses them so that they might see how great God is.
Exodus 14:4, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD…”
I Samuel 17:46, “This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”
John 9:1-3, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
God often works for the purpose of one goal: His own glory. This sounds awfully selfish to us, but we need to realize something.
Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
We need to realize that God deserves glory. We do not. It’s a great offense to God when we try to steal His glory. That’s easy to do when you’re strong, noble, and smart (Ex: Nebuchadnezzar, Herod). So God delights in using unlikely candidates: foolish individuals, weaklings, lowlifes, despised people, and nobodies.
FALSE HUMILITY
Sometimes we say, “I’m nothing. God could never use me.” While it’s good to be humble, sometimes we might say this because we don’t want to be used by God. So this kind of false humility is actually sin.
Why would you not want God to use you? There is nothing greater in life than to be used by God!
GENUINE HUMILITY
The truth is, you ARE nothing. You’re a nobody. But God can still use you, and He wants to. Hopefully you want to be used. Martine Luther once said, “God created the world out of nothing, and so long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.”
It has been said that humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is not thinking of yourself at all. In other words, you are nothing. You’re a nobody.
Don’t live your life to become a somebody. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Keep a humble mindset, but desire to be used by God.
As God picks out His team, He is looking just for you.
“God can’t use me; I’m not talented or smart.”
“God doesn’t want me; my past is awful, I have too many scars.”
“God won’t want me; I’m too shy.”
“I’m too old, I don’t have good health.”
“I can’t seem to do anything right.”
None of these excuses work. God wants to use you!
CONCLUSION
Lance Wubbles and Terry McDowell wrote a book entitled "Bible Nobodies Who Became Somebodies." The book talks about 50 Bible characters who are often overlooked, people that you probably won’t recognize because they’re not that important. But God used every one of them because He delights in using nobodies.
The lad who gave Jesus his lunch was one of these nobodies. We don’t even know his name. And yet he has taught us a great lesson. Concerning this nobody, Charles Spurgeon writes, “No matter what you feel about your abilities or life, bring all that you are and possess to Jesus so that it may be joined to Him. Bring Him your mind, which can be associated with the teachings of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. Bring Him your heart, which can be warmed with the love of God to touch others. Bring Him your tongue, which can be touched and purified with the live coal from off the altar as Isaiah’s was. In association with Christ, your abilities will be sufficient for any occasion to which God has called you. Never dwell on the inventory of your deficiencies, which you probably have updated on a daily basis. Bring what you have, and let all that you are—body, soul, and spirit—be placed in God’s hands.”
The world might reject you, but not God. God is looking to choose you first to be on His team. You are just the candidate He is looking for. So the question is, are you serving Him to advance His kingdom?
