THE POWER OF ONE
Joshua 23:10-11 "One man of you shall chase a thousand. For Jehovah your God is He who fights for you, as He has promised you. And take good heed to yourselves that you love Jehovah your God."
Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible.
INTRODUCTION: Often we are overwhelmed by a sense of personal insignificance. Often a person feels like an expendable commodity. We feel a sense of complete uselessness believing "I am just one--and what can just one do?" Understand God can use you if you will let Him. Helen Keller said, “"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." Throughout Scripture, we find example after example of the power of one.
I. One little Boy – instrumental in feeding 5000 (Availability)
A. John 6:9-13 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
B. "God uses what you have to fill a need, which you never could have filled. God uses where you are to take you where you never could have gone. God uses what you can do to accomplish what you never could have done. God uses who you are to let you become who you never could have been." – Five Loaves and Two Fishes. Philip Clarke Brewer in Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 25.
C. It is not based on one’s ability but one’s availability. God uses those who make themselves available to Him. He will use you, if you make yourself available to him. That is the key. Are you making yourself available to him?
D. Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ’Here am I! Send me."
E. Make yourself available to God to do anything He asks of you, seeking not the gifts, but the Giver.
II. One little Girl – instrumental in healing a world military leader (Boldness)
A. 2 Kings 5:1-3 “Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy."
B. It Takes Guts to Say "Jesus" This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago a USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God could not exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic.
For twenty years he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him (you’ll see what I mean later). Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to the class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" In twenty years, nobody ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove he is God, and yet he can’t do it." And every year he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God could not exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through; but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.
A few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally, the day came. The professor said, "if there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of three hundred people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the room. The professor shouted, "YOU FOOL! If nothing I have said all semester has convinced you that God does not exist, then you are a fool! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. And as it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken.
The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. Three hundred students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus.
C. Luke 12:8 “"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.”
III. One Woman – instrumental in saving a nation (Courage)
A. Esther 4:14 “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
B. "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." - Gilbert K. Chesterton.
C. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
D. "One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
E. Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
IV. One Man – instrumental in saving mankind from extinction (Faith)
A. Hebrews 11:7 "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
B. Genesis 6:5-8 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
C. On a gloomy day in 1857 a man in New York City by the name of Jeremiah Lanthier scanned the morning newspaper as he rode to his office. He was distressed to read that the depression gripping the nation was causing fear and panic among the people. Factories were stopping production and thousands were unemployed. Although Lanthier was not a big industrialist (but only a clerk), he had one important distinction. He was a man who had great faith in God!
Concerned with the grim economic situation, he sent a note to all his business acquaintances, telling them that each day at noon a prayer meeting would be held in his office. With high hopes, he arranged 20 chairs in a circle, but the first day no one came. All alone, he prayed fervently that God would bring about a great change in him and in America. The second day he was encouraged, for a few friends joined him. A short time later, a similar gathering was started on Wall Street, another on Williams Street, and finally a fourth on Broadway. Then like wildfire, the movement spread to all parts of the country.
The moral tone of the nation was affected, and there was a great upsurge in the spiritual life of the people. Some historians say that this effort of united prayer and faith was an integral part of the improvement in the economy, which soon followed.
D. Matthew 17:20 "So Jesus said to them, "because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."
V. One Man – foundational in redemption
A. Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
B. Through Adam, sin entered the world, and death as a consequence.
C. Romans 5:18-19 “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
D. "In God’s economy, one man redeemed the world by stretching out his arms and giving of himself a perfect sacrifice for us all. This was one man." - Abagail Nelson
E. "I’ve tried in vain a thousand ways, My fears to quell, my hopes to raise; And all I need, the Bible says Is Jesus. My soul is night, my heart is steel, I cannot see, I cannot feel; for light, for life I must appeal To Jesus. He dies, He lives, He reigns, He pleads, There’s love in all His words and deeds; All, all a guilty sinner needs Is Jesus. Though some will mock, and some will blame, In spite of fear, in spite of shame, I’ll go to Him, because His name Is Jesus." - (Author Unknown}
