(I’m so very…ordinary…nothing special on my own. Oh I have never…walked on water and I have never…calmed a storm. But when I call on Jesus all things are possible. I can mount on wings like eagles and soar. And when I call on Jesus…mountains are gonna fall. Cause he’ll move heaven and earth to come rescue me when I call.) (Nicole C. Mullen)
Have you looked at something and thought it was just an ordinary thing but when you looked closer…you realize it’s something much more than ordinary…that it was something very extraordinary? For example…a Kaleidoscope...it looks like an ordinary tube but when you look inside…there are beautiful colors and designs that you thought could not be possible for something so ordinary looking. Think about the ordinary caterpillar. It looks like a fuzzy worm but in time…it cocoons itself and becomes a beautiful butterfly. It goes from ordinary to extraordinary.
In Acts chapter 3 last week, we read a story about two men who were very ordinary that did something extraordinary. Here is Peter and John…two ordinary men…who did something very extraordinary. They healed a crippled beggar! Now these ordinary men really shook-up the religious leaders because of what they had done. All the people who saw this man who had received this miracle were praising God because of it. John and Peter were brought before the leaders…they wanted to see these men for themselves. When they met together, Peter…the Rock…being filled with the Holy Spirit…spoke with boldness and authority. Well…Acts chapter 4:13-17 gives us a little bit of the conversation of these men. It reads (and I’m reading from the NIV Bible).
The religious leaders were afraid of these men…these seemingly ordinary men. I like the word that the Message Bible uses for these men. The message Bible calls them “laypeople”…ordinary, run of the mill, laypeople. Through these men…3000 people were baptized at Pentecost…5000 became to believe after this extraordinary healing. It was by the Holy Spirit that this “good deed was done” to this crippled man. The religious leaders knew these men meant trouble for them. They needed to suppress these men…they needed to “control the media” about what these men were doing. These Spirit filled apostles were making waves for them that eventually lead to the formation of the church we know today.
This is not the first time that ordinary laypeople were used to do the extraordinary…we see it all through the bible. We have Moses…he was an ordinary man who couldn’t speak well. God used them to free His people in Egypt. We have a woman named Rahab who was an ordinary woman who hid them men from Israel on the roof when the guards came to find them. She is found in the lineage of Jesus because of her extraordinary act of trusting in Yahweh, the God of Israel. And God even uses young ordinary people…look at David. He was a young shepherd boy who defeated a giant named Goliath with only a sling and 5 stones. Later David became a king that ruled over God’s chosen people.
Huntley and I were talking recently and he gave me an epiphany…and I am going to share this epiphany with you (you may already know this)…are you ready? One of the greatest ordinary laypeople in the Christian faith is our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not go through some Candidacy process…neither was He an Ordained Elder or Licensed Local Pastor. (Unless you want to think of Him being ordained at His baptism when God said “This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased”)Think about that for a moment...the perfector of our faith was a layperson. (Yes He was both human and divine but the human part was a layperson like you and me)The first church was founded by laypeople. The church grew under the guidance of laypeople. God used laypeople throughout the bible to fulfill His purpose on earth.
We here at Suncook are in a time of prayer and discernment. There are times when we may feel that we are too ordinary to do something extraordinary for God. We may even think that there is nothing special about us so how could God use us. But…that is so untrue. I have seen how extraordinary this church is first hand. I have seen how you welcome people, new and not so new, when they come to church. I have seen the extraordinary love that you have for the people around you. I have seen the way that you reach out to others through opening your doors to AA and NA meetings and through Our Family’s Table. God is doing extraordinary things with you and through you at Suncook. All we need to continue to do is to trust in God and put His will first and God will continue to use us to do extraordinary things.
Our faith was founded on a Carpenter, fishermen, a tent maker and a tax collector as well as other “Ordinary” laypeople. The church began with a few laypeople that went about sharing the Good News of the Gospel. Look at how the church has grown since. God still uses ordinary people like you and me to do His work in the vineyard. You know…I think I have figured out why God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. It’s the ordinary that knows who is the one who equipped them to do the extraordinary. It’s the ordinary who knows where their strength comes from. It’s the ordinary that “gives credit where credit is due.” It is people like you and me…you know…the ordinary… that knows that when we call on Jesus…all things are possible.
AMEN
Psalm 8,
Acts 4:13-17,
Call to Worship, from Book of Common Worship,
Unison Prayer, from The Worship Sourcebook, our offering,
and sermon, “Every Day People”
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Suncook United Methodist Church
All of my
poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray
Foss for usage. See all 38,160+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
No comments:
Post a Comment