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Sunday Sermons
Sermon: 3-2-08, Lent 4
Pastor Phil Lee
Title: "Blessed Is The Ordinary"
Text: 1Sam.16:1-13
Introduction
The story is told about a college football coach who was faced with the possibility that his star player might be declared ineligible for academic reasons. So he pleaded with the chemistry professor not to flunk the athlete. “Tell you what, coach,” said the professor. “I’ll ask him a question in your presence. If he gets it right, I’ll pass him.” So, the athlete was called in, and the professor asked him, “What is H2O?” “Water,” said the player. Frantically the coach pleaded: “Give him another chance, please!”
Obviously that coach had only average intelligence. Truth is, we’re all ordinary people!
In his book of poetic writings called Blessed Is The Ordinary, Gerhard Frost says: “I invite you to share with me in these [writings/poems] as we try to unwrap the hidden beauties in an ordinary day.”
There is hidden beauty in our ordinary lives, and God wants to develop our character and faith so God can use us to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.
Point
Review OT lesson: 1Sam.16:1-13
David was a musician at the court of King Saul, ruler of an area north and east of Jerusalem. But, David left his court and went to the Bethlehem area. Saul lost God’s favor by disobeying the prophet Samuel’s instructions, so God commanded Samuel to anoint a new king, a son of “Jesse.”
Samuel had to travel to Bethlehem through Saul’s territory, so he asked God how he was to make the trip (v.2). God told him to say that he came to “sacrifice to the Lord,” because that was part of his purpose. Finally, Jesse’s sons were paraded, one by one, in front of Samuel, who assumed that the tall first-born son was God’s choice for king (v.6-7). But God’s choice is not humankind’s choice – humans “look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
Instead, David, the eighth and youngest son, was God’s choice. When Samuel anointed David, the “spirit of the Lord” (v.13) came upon him, and his brothers were witnesses.
After this, Saul persecuted David relentlessly, but upon Saul’s death in battle David became the greatest King of Israel.
David was ordinary (youngest of eight sons, a shepherd) but God used him for extraordinary purposes.
Notice v.7 – God chooses the “ordinary” when we would focus on the extraordinary; God looks at the inner character of a person when we would focus on the outer appearance. (image management vrs. inner reality)
We are ordinary, too, but God wants to shape our character and use each of us for His extraordinary purposes.
Problem
The story is told about the conductor of one of the nation’s great symphonies who was asked to name the instrument he thought was the most difficult to play. After thinking the question over, he replied: “Second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists. But to find one who can play second fiddle with enthusiasm is often a problem. And if we have no second fiddles, there is no harmony.”
Are you willing to be second fiddle? Are you willing to allow God to develop your ordinary character and faith so God can use you to accomplish His extraordinary purposes?
Power
The Bible is full of testimonies of ordinary people whom God used for His extraordinary purposes:
»Moses – reluctant, couldn’t speak well, even murdered a man, yet God used Moses to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt.
»David, youngest of eight sons, almost passed over (today’s OT lesson), yet God used him to become the greatest king of Israel.
»Peter, just a fisherman, impetuous, earthy, a disciple who denied Jesus, yet God used him to be an apostle and a great leader in the early Christian Church.
»Mary, probably just a teenager when she became pregnant, yet God used her to become the mother of Jesus.
»Paul, a Christian-hater at first, yet God changed his life and used him to be a great missionary to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentiles.
All of these people, and many more, were called by God for extraordinary purposes because God got a hold on them and changed them by developing their character and faith. Blessed is the ordinary!
And the most ordinary of all? Jesus! His dad was a carpenter and his mom was a teenager. He was born before his parents were married, in Bethlehem, and he grew up in Nazareth – not very impressive. Pretty ordinary by worldly standards. Yet, look what God did through Jesus.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God… (John 1:10-13)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)
Conclusion
Blessed is the ordinary! David, Moses, Mary, Peter, Paul…and Jesus!
What about you, ordinary people? Will you allow God to get a hold on your ordinary life to develop your character and faith and use you for His extraordinary purposes?
Blessed is the ordinary, for by God’s grace and the Spirit’s power, they will serve God’s extraordinary purposes! Amen.
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