How God Uses The Ordinary
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Selected passages from the Life of Moses
by S. M. Henriques
Bethlehem Baptist Church
Benton, Mississippi
When you woke up this morning, you may have thought about the day ahead of you. It may have occurred to you that this was Sunday, and that it was probably going to be just another ordinary, hot, sleepy, August Sunday, like dozens of others before. But if you will listen carefully, I will show you how this ordinary Sunday can become extraordinary.
January 6, 1850, was bitterly cold in Colchester, England, a hard-biting blizzard keeping most worshipers at home. At the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Artillery Street only about a dozen showed up. When it became apparent that even the pastor would not arrive, an unlettered man rose and spoke haltingly from Isaiah 45:22, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. Then the crowd dispersed, thinking the day’s service a loss—not realizing that a fifteen-year-old boy had ducked into the room to escape the snowstorm, and, hearing the sermon, had been converted.
Years later that boy, Charles Spurgeon, wrote: “Don’t hold back because you cannot preach in St. Paul’s; be content to talk to one or two in a cottage. You may cook in small pots as well as in big ones. Little pigeons can carry great messages. Even a little dog can bark at a thief, wake up the master, and save the house.… Do what you do right thoroughly, pray over it heartily, and leave the result to God.” (Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations and Quotes)
Read with me from the Word of God:
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Yes, God uses the ordinary. We don’t always understand it, and though we might agree that we ourselves are ordinary, we hesitate when we consider that God could use us. We don’t picture ourselves as being another Apostle Paul or Billy Graham, so the idea of being used by God makes us feel rather uncomfortable.
How does God use the ordinary? Selected events from the life of Moses can show us some of the ways God uses what we consider to be ordinary.
1. GOD USES THE ORDINARY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF HIS PEOPLE.
While tending the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, Moses carried in his hand a rod, probably a shepherd’s staff. In Exodus, when we first discover that fact, that rod is referred to as the “rod of Moses.” But when God used that ordinary rod to teach Moses His plan, that rod is then called “the rod of God.” That ordinary rod was used by God to meet the needs of the Israelite people. Consider the ten plagues in Egypt, and remember that five of the ten occurred when Moses lifted that walking stick into the air.
Remember how the Israelites were fleeing from before Pharaoh and were trapped by the body of water known as the Red Sea. It was the rod of God which Moses lifted to part the waters so the people could cross. It was the rod of God which Moses held in his hand when he struck the rock in the desert so that water came gushing forth.
It was an ordinary rod, made of wood, fashioned for a specific purpose. It didn’t have any jewels on it. There was no elaborate ornamentation on it. It was never owned by a king or queen. But God used this ordinary rod to meet the needs of His people in their exodus from Egypt.
In the New Testament, it was an ordinary boy who gave the Lord five ordinary loaves of bread and two ordinary fish to feed the five thousand men. With this ordinary food, Jesus met the needs of the people gathered to hear Him teach. The wood used to fashion the cross on which Christ died was a common Roman cross, but after it was used by God, it became known as the cross of Christ.
When we were expecting the birth of our daughter, it became more and more apparent that the rickety, slippery, uneven steps to our mobile home were inadequate and unsafe for Mary Ann’s use. One of our neighbors needed a porch just as we did, and it was decided that we would help each other build the two porches. Our neighbor bought the wood for his porch, and the bill came to nearly $100. Since I was in seminary, Mary Ann and I did not have that kind of money, even for something so necessary. While we were building my neighbor’s porch, someone stopped by, and told me of a company which threw away the wood used for shipping crates. I could have it if I picked it up. I did, and what cost my neighbor $100 to build cost me $10.95, which included a new hammer handle and a fiberglass roof! God used an ordinary person, and ordinary shipping crates, to meet our need.
2. GOD USES THE ORDINARY TO PROVIDE AN EXAMPLE FOR HIS PEOPLE.
The Hebrew people had been enslaved in Egypt for many years. God heard their groanings, and decided to do something about it. Now who do you think He chose to deliver His people? He chose a hired hand, working as a shepherd, who had difficulty putting his thoughts together into sensible sentences, and who had fled into the desert to escape when he murdered an Egyptian. That man was Moses.
D. L. Moody once said that Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody, 40 years learning he was nobody, and 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody. This nobody was used by God to lead the Hebrew people from Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. This ordinary man was used by God in a mighty way, so that when Moses came down from his meeting with God on the mountain he had to cover his face with a veil because the glory of God shone so brightly. This ordinary man was used by God so effectively that when he died, the entire Hebrew nation mourned his death for thirty days. And this ordinary man was present with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration in the New Testament.
God used this ordinary man to provide an example to His people of how the Lord can use even an ordinary shepherd to accomplish His purposes. When the Apostle Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, he said, Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. And in the Philippian letter he wrote, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you. God used this ordinary man to provide an example for those who would follow after Christ.
Are you being used by God to provide an example to your children, to your neighbors, to your fellow Christians, to your Sunday School class, to your deacons, to your church?
3. GOD USES THE ORDINARY TO TEACH HIS PEOPLE.
When the Hebrew people were advancing toward the Promised Land, they approached the land of Moab. The king of that country was afraid of the Hebrews, so he called Balaam to come and curse the Hebrews. Balaam at first said he would not unless God told him to, but eventually gave in. He got on his donkey to go to the king. That donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with a drawn sword in his hand, and tried to turn to the side. Balaam became angry and began whipping the donkey. Finally, the donkey just lay down in the road, which made Balaam even more furious.
Then the donkey spoke! God used an ordinary donkey to speak to Balaam to warn him about going to the king of Moab. The angel then reminded Balaam to speak only what the Lord commanded him t o speak. God used the ordinary that day to teach Balaam what to say, and where to say it.
When Jonah was fleeing from the will of God, the Lord used a great wind to upset the boat he was in. God used an ordinary whale to swallow Jonah when he was thrown overboard. God used an ordinary plant to shade Jonah, and then used an ordinary worm to kill the plant. Then God used an ordinary east wind to remind Jonah of Who was in command.
Jesus used ordinary instances from everyday life to teach His disciples and other followers the truths of the Kingdom of God. Now 2000 years later, we remember and treasure those happenings as captured in the parables of Jesus. God uses the ordinary to teach His people. He did it then, and He does it today.
Are you being used by God to teach His people? You’re not too ordinary!
4. GOD USES THE ORDINARY TO REVEAL HIS PLAN TO HIS PEOPLE.
The Scriptures in Exodus tell us that while Moses was tending Jethro’s sheep on the mountain, he saw an unusual sight. He saw an ordinary bush which was burning, yet was not consumed by the fire! From that bush, God spoke to Moses and revealed His plan for him and for the Hebrew people.
Isn’t it interesting to note that the Bible does not tell us what kind of bush it was? It could have been a beautiful bush, or an ugly one, or a tall bush, or a short one—but that wasn’t important. What made this ordinary bush extraordinary was the fact that it was used by God for a specific purpose.
Jesus used twelve ordinary men to reveal God’s plan of salvation to the world. The disciples were not well-educated, or rich, or powerful, or famous, but they were used by God to transform the world.
Several years ago, there was an unfinished section on Interstate 10 between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The first time I drove that route, I had to trust ordinary road signs to lead me, and show me the way. In the same way, God uses ordinary circumstances, people and events to show us His plan for our lives.
5. GOD USES THE ORDINARY TO SET HIS PEOPLE FREE.
Think back to the plagues in Egypt. Out of the ten plagues which are recorded in Exodus, nine were ordinary things which God transformed in order to set His people free. The water was ordinary before it became blood. The frogs were ordinary before they were multiplied. The gnats and flies were ordinary before they increased. The death of the cattle may have been caused by an ordinary disease which God used for that purpose. The boils and sores which appeared on the skin of the Egyptians were ordinary, except that they were so numerous. The hail, and the locusts, and the darkness were all ordinary, before God used them to set His people free. There were no shooting stars, no UFO’s, and no fireworks. God used ordinary plagues to speak to Pharaoh about setting His people free.
The Cross of Christ wasn’t made of gold or silver, nor was it encrusted with jewels. It was made of ordinary wood and was a common method of execution. But God used it to transform the world.
No matter how ordinary you think you are, no matter how ordinary you think this church is, no matter how ordinary you think your preacher is, we can all be used by God to help set free people who are bound in sin. God delights in using the ordinary. In fact He deliberately chooses what the world considers nonsense to accomplish His purposes.
What about you? Are you an ordinary young person? Are you an ordinary husband or wife, parent or child? Are you an ordinary senior adult? Are you an ordinary Sunday School teacher? Are you an ordinary deacon? Are you an ordinary, soft-spoken Christian who loves Jesus but who finds it hard to express your faith? Are you ordinary?
Good! God will use you, if you are available for His use. Listen to our text from The Message:
26 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.
27 Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses,
28 chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”?
29 That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.
30 Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
31 That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”
By now, you’ve heard the word “ordinary” so many times in this message that you may have grown tired of hearing it. Some smart-aleck may even tell me afterwards that this was just an “ordinary” sermon! Listen, God can use even this, for I hope that every time you see, hear or speak that word that you’ll remember three very important facts:
1. You’re ordinary
2. God delights in using ordinary people to do His work
3. Never consider yourself too ordinary for God to use.
Henry Blackaby once wrote,
“When God was ready to judge the world with a flood, He came to Noah. When He desired to build a nation for Himself, He turned to Abraham. When He heard His children groaning under Egyptian bondage, He appeared in a burning bush to Moses. They were three of the most ordinary of men. But God had work to do, and He knew just who to do it with. God has always given His people assignments that are too big for them to handle alone, so that a watching world can see—not what we can do—but what God can do.”
Your name may not be Noah, Abraham or Moses. It may be Q. T., or Sissy, or Billy, or Carol, or Christine, or Joseph. But there is still something—a great something—which God has for you—and me—to do.
The key to it all is our willingness to be used by God. Don’t delay it another day. Make your commitment to Christ today. This ordinary day can become extraordinary as you yield yourself to God. Will you make your fresh dedication known to your fellow Christians? If you have never given yourself to God, won’t you do it today?
www.timothyreport.com
