26
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NIV)
Everyone wants to feel like he or she is involved in something that really matters. We all want our lives to count. We all want to make a difference in this world–– to someone. None of us wants to live our lives so that when we are gone we are quickly forgotten. In fact, most people that I know want to do great things. Don’t you?
Don’t you want to accomplish great goals? Don’t you want to achieve great success? Don’t you want to live a life that really counts–– a life that makes an impact for good in the lives of others? I know that I do!
The truth is that we have all been called to do great things! God has called us to accomplish great goals. We are to live lives that count. We are to make an impact upon this world for Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are involved in the greatest mission enterprise that the world has ever known. In the Bible, it is called the Great Commission. You can find it in Matthew 28. Jesus has commissioned us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person. He is called us to make disciples everywhere we go.
This great mission of ours is to build the Kingdom of God by transforming non-Christians into Christians, irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ. Of course, we can’t do this in our own power, but we don’t have to. We have been empowered by the power of Jesus Christ. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So, let’s get on with this job of reaching the world.
The first thing we need to do is to go out and recruit the key players for this team that will change the world. We need to find those unique individuals who will make this mission impossible into mission possible. What kind of people do we need? Who should we choose?
I remember that when I was a kid on the playground we would often choose teams to play a basketball game. When this occurs, it was great to have the first pick if you were the captain. You would always choose the best player–– the one with the most basketball gifts. In any event, the first players always chosen were the very best players. You never chose a poor player first, not even if he was your best friend. Even best friends knew that you had to choose the best player.
We use the same strategy even when we think of accomplishing the work of God. Somehow we feel that we need to go after those who are the most successful people. After all, if you want to be successful, you need to recruit people who are successful, don’t you?
You need to go after the gifted people, the talented people, the wealthy people, and the important people. If we plan to really accomplish great things, then we need the powerful people, the educated people, and the respected and influential people. This is the way we think, and it is very logical in terms of how things work in this world.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people speculate that if only so-and-so, some important or famous or wealthy person, would come to Christ, then great things could be done for the Kingdom of God. If only Michael Jordan would come to Christ. If only Bill Gates would come to Christ. If only this famous rock star, or that famous actor, or this famous athlete, or that famous scientist would come to Christ, then they could do great things for God.
Why do we think this way? We think that God could do great things with people who have something special to offer him. We think that God could do greater things through them than he can do through "ordinary" people, who do not have the fame or money or recognition. We have been taught to look to the beautiful people, the "in" people, the people that have "star power".
While this may be the thinking of the world, it is not the thinking of God. In fact, the wisdom of God is entirely the opposite of the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of the world is centered on what people can do. It is humanistic at its core. In other words, it only considers what can be done through our human resources. And it even looks at spiritual enterprises, like the church, in human terms. The church is seen much like a business, and decisions are made according to the acceptable business practices of the culture without necessarily factoring in any of the spiritual resources that God indicates we have in Christ. We even live our lives based on the wisdom of the world.
But does God really need those who are impressive in terms of the respect and adoration of the world? Are they necessary for God to accomplish great and mighty things? Does God pick the best, the most talented, the most influential, the most wealthy, the beautiful people, because he desperately needs their gifts, talents, connections, prestige and power? There is a simple answer to this. It is NO!!!
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NIV)
All we have to do is look at our text to see just who God does choose. Paul reminds the Corinthians of their situation in life when they were called to Christ. And God is still calling people of the same variety today. Not many of them were wise according to the standards of the world. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. In fact, many were considered foolish, weak, lowly, the despised. These are the kinds of people that God chooses. How odd of God!
This makes no sense to people who think according to the logic of the world. Obviously, God just doesn’t understand the principles of successful marketing. He has obviously never been the CEO of a large corporation, otherwise he would know better. You can’t build a successful business with these kinds of people. I mean, what kind of training program are you going to have to have? You are going to have to invest millions to make them effective.
Often, God does things that make no sense to the world. Take Gideon as an example. You can find his story in Judges 6 and 7. God called to Gideon to take an army and defeat the army of Midian. He started out with 32,000 men, but God told them that he had too many men to do the job. Too many men! The army he was going up against was like the sand on the seashore, the Bible records. Yet God instructs Gideon to tell those who are fearful to leave. When he did, 22,000 men left. God told him that the 10,000 were still too many, and by the time God had finished weeding them out, only 300 men remain. That was God’s army. That was God’s strategy. That does not make sense to the world!
No General in any army would think that this was a good plan. In fact, it seems to be sheer foolishness. But God had something else in mind. He wanted to manifest his glory and display his power. He wanted there to be no doubt that the battle was won through his power, not theirs. And by following his strategy, they did win the battle. God turned the Midianites on themselves, and in the confusion of the battle, they destroyed one another. By depending upon God, Gideon saw the enemy defeated before his very eyes. He saw God do something that no man could do.
How odd of God to choose those who are weak to do his work. But really, it is only odd to those people who do not understand the way God works. God desires to manifest his power and to display his glory, and the best way for him to do that his through weak and powerless vessels.
You see, God doesn’t need what we think we have to offer. We are not doing God a favor by giving him our puny little talents. He is not lacking anything. And God isn’t limited by our own weakness or inability. He can supply everything we need. The reason he does things in this way is so that no one may boast before him. God doesn’t want us pointing to the accomplishment and patting ourselves on the back as if we had done this great work in our power. He wants to show us what he can do in his power.
God wants to do things that are so great and so wonderful that we can point to them and say, "Look at what God has done!" And don’t you want that? Don’t you want to be involved in something that is so fantastic that only God could be responsible? Don’t you want to be involved in something where God channels his awesome power through you? Or do you simply want to settle for the small things you can accomplish in your own strength?
The wonderful truth is that God uses ordinary people just like you and me. In fact, he delights to use ordinary people like you and me. And so we do not need to wait for the superstar, or the famous, or the wealthy. God is able to take us and do great and mighty things through us because it does not depend upon us; it depends upon him.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30-31 NIV)
God desires to magnify Jesus. We are not the focus. God points us to Christ. He is the focus. He is the Lord. He is the Savior. He is at the center of all of God’s work in our lives. And so God points us to Jesus, who is everything we need.
Just look at Christ. Look at who he is. In Christ we have everything we need. Do you need wisdom? Christ is wisdom from God. Draw upon his wisdom. There is no greater wisdom in the universe. Allow him to lead you. Allow him to guide you.
Do you need righteousness? Christ has become your righteousness. The Bible teaches that his righteousness has been imputed to us through Christ’s work on the Cross. Because he became sin for us, we can now become the righteousness of God in him. It is not our righteousness. It is his righteousness given to us.
Do you need holiness? Who doesn’t? Well, Christ is now your holiness. You are made holy in him. You can’t be holy in yourself because you are imperfect. Your best attempts fail. But as you are now hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), God sees you in Christ. You are perfectly holy in him.
Do you need redemption? Christ is your redemption. He has paid the penalty for your sin and thereby satisfied the divine justice of a holy God. You have been set free from the eternal consequences of your sin. By his death on the Cross, Christ purchased your salvation. Indeed he purchased you! You are now his. That is what redemption means. It means that you have been "bought back" by God. You are his. You are not your own.
Everything that you need, Christ not only has but is. Look to Christ. Focus on him. Meditate on who he is. Think about what he has done for you. Draw upon his eternal resources. Ask him to fill you with his power. Ask him to use you.
God magnifies Jesus through working in and through us. He wants to do something great and use us in the process. But he doesn’t want us to boast in our own accomplishments, as if we had done the great thing he did through us. Rather, he wants us to boast in him. "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord" he says. He wants us to boast in Jesus. He wants us to boast in our relationship with him–– that we have been redeemed by the power of God.
In fact, this is a quotation from Jeremiah, in the Old Testament. Let’s look at what it says there, in Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV):
This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord.
It is not through our wisdom or strength or riches that the work of God is accomplished. It is through his power and presence that he works. That is what our boast should be about. After all, people need the Lord. They don’t need our wisdom; they need his. They don’t need our strength; they need his. They don’t need our riches; they need his.
As we boast in the Lord, we are pointing people to Jesus. We are magnifying him. We are declaring that he is the source for our very lives. And we are challenging people to commit their lives to him. We are not exalting ourselves; rather, we are exalting him.
Do you see that God can take anything and anyone and produce something wonderful? Do you believe that God can use you to make a difference in this world? He can. He can take the weak things and pour his strength into them and make them powerful. He can do that for you.
But will he? Will he use you? He will, if you make yourself available to him. That is the key. Are you making yourself available to him? Have you surrendered your life completely to him? Are you still holding back? Are there areas of your life that you refuse to surrender? If you will become available to God, then he will take the little that you bring to him and make it much. He will make your life count.
Copyright © 2002 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
Except for the use mentioned above, this data file may not be copied (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, or made available on the Internet without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.