Ordinary People, Extraordinary God

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you on this Sabbath. It's wonderful to have the opportunity to come down to Texas. Somebody told me in Oregon I should greet you all by saying, howdy, y'all, but I felt that was kind of cliche. Is that the way? Yeah, I hear no. I hear yes. Then howdy, y'all. Did I get it close? Good, good.

I bring you very warm greetings from your brethren in Western Oregon. I have the wonderful blessing to pastor the congregations of Salem and Eugene and Roseburg, Oregon, so they're all right along the I-5 corridor. Many of you that have read Mr.

Armstrong's autobiography recognize that's where a lot of this began. In fact, the congregation in Eugene that I pastor had its very first service in a small house off of 8th Avenue in Eugene in December of 1935, and they have been meeting continuously in that area. As first, the Radio Church of God that ultimately then became the Worldwide Church of God on down the line. So it's an incredible opportunity to be able to go and listen to some of the stories from a number of the older brethren that have been there for as long as they have been.

It's also wonderful to see so many faces that I recognize. We are very involved in the camp program, so we've been to High Sierra for a number of years, Southwest, this last year, Northwest, and even a couple of faces from Camp Davidson days going back but almost 30 years, hasn't it, Shannie? So I'm reminded consistently as I go to these various things that I am certainly getting older and older by the day.

Well, as I grew up as a young man, as many of you, I grew up on a very steady diet of Bible stories. Now, we did not, for those of you teens, this may come as a surprise, we did not at that point in time have Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, who helped to teach us the Scriptures. We did not have Superbook. My Bible stories came from Little Golden Books. Many of you remember the Little Golden Books.

They had a little biblical Little Golden Book series. And, of course, the six volume series by Basil Woolverton of the Bible study or the Bible story, I should say, which both inspired while at the same time as a young man scared me to death. Some of you remember Mr. Woolverton's artistic style was very expressive and he's fantastic artist, very, very expressive. But I remember as a young man being drawn to the characters of those stories in the Old Testament the most. I remember being drawn to people that God worked through to do these just incredible miracles.

People like Noah, like Abraham, like Moses, David, Daniel, and the like. And at that age, admittedly, in full transparency, I wasn't as drawn to the stories of the New Testament. Quite frankly, washing feet and getting beat up by Romans was not as much pizzazz as, you know, having a sleepover with a bunch of lions or parting the Red Sea or slaying giants. But I'm thankful, as many of you are, I'm sure as well, as we get older our tastes refine and we learn so much more from the stories that we may didn't appreciate as much as a young person.

But I remember looking at these stories of these individuals in Scripture and I remember just being in awe. These were men of legend. These were legendary figures. They were real-life superheroes. They were men of great strength. They were men of influence and leadership. They were larger than life. These were men who, at least at first glance, they weren't afraid of anything. Some ways they weren't anything like me. I was afraid of all kinds of stuff. I wasn't a leader.

I wasn't particularly strong. I wasn't fast. It wasn't athletic. I wasn't someone who could park the Red Sea or kill a lion with my bare hands. I could barely hit a fly with a fly swatter. I was no David. I was no Moses. I was no Abraham. I was no Noah. Have you ever had thoughts like that? Have you ever had time where you've sat and you've wondered or maybe even prayed to God and said, God, why me?

No, really. Why me? Out of all the billions of people on this earth, you look down from your throne and you said, that one. That one right there. That's the one I want to be a part of my family. That's the one that I'm going to call to be my son or my daughter. That I'm going to give an opportunity for eternal life in my kingdom. The person I'm going to work with and strengthen and complete in them the work that I have started so that they can become more like my son Jesus Christ. Have that moment where you think, you know, there wasn't somebody stronger or better suited in some way to do this?

Really? Me? What's interesting is when you dig into the lives of these individuals that I mentioned earlier and, of course, I think as you age and your perspective shifts a little bit, you recognize circumstances in Scripture for what they are. You begin to recognize that for all the larger than life nature of their stories, all the exploits and the amazing things that they accomplished, at the end of the day, these individuals were human.

Just like you and I, they experienced some of the same fears, some of the same doubts, concerns that you may have expressed in your own life. At times, we see that they struggled with faith, they were overwhelmed, they were uncertain, they made mistakes, and they experienced the consequences of their sins. In that capacity, they were no different than any of us.

They were ordinary men, ordinary women, who were in the hands of an extraordinary God. That's the title of the message today, ordinary men, extraordinary God. You see, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is full of ordinary individuals that God has used to do extraordinary things. We're going to take a little bit of time today to dig into the stories of three of those to help kind of build the background for where we're going. And all of these individuals, as we look through Scripture, all of them had very humble beginnings. God used them, He developed them, and He did incredible, incredible works through them. Let's start by going over to Exodus 3. If you want to turn over to Exodus 3 with me, we're going to take a look at an individual that God worked with in an incredible way, who, again, as many of the ones that we'll look at today, had humble beginnings. Exodus 3, we're going to go ahead and pick up the story of Moses. And by this point in Moses' story, by this point in his story, a great number of things have changed in Moses' life. By Exodus 3, we see that his circumstances have changed significantly. Moses was born to Levite parents. We know that he arrived on the scene in the midst of Pharaoh's attempt to reduce the Hebrew population through the killing of the male Hebrew children. Moses' mother places him in a basket in the Nile, ultimately saves his life. He's discovered by Pharaoh's daughter and is ultimately raised as her own. We know that Moses' mother, Uqbed, has a chance to go into be his nursemaid, so she gets to be with Moses as he's a very young man and spends some time with him before ultimately returning him to Pharaoh's daughter. Now, growing up, Moses would have been brought up in the palace. He would have been taught a number of things. He would have been fluent in Egyptian, probably both verbally as well as in writing. He would have been trained in warfare, diplomacy, civil, religious matters that would pertain to the royal court. And one day we see in Moses' story, he goes out to see the people. He goes out to experience what's going on in his own people, ultimately the Hebrews. And Moses witnesses the abuse that was taking place to his people.

He witnesses, in particular, an Egyptian taskmaster that was beating one of his fellow men. And we see that Moses, checking to see whether anybody noticed, kind of looking both ways to see whether anybody noticed, attacks and kills the Egyptian and buries the body in the sand. The following day he goes and he tries to break up an argument of his own people, and he went to break up their scuffle and one of them asks, what are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian? And Moses, at that point, realizes they know. They know. They're aware of what I've done. And so Moses flees Egypt. According to Stephen's sermon in Acts 7, Moses, at this point in time in his life, was 40 years old. He was 40 years old at this point. So a year younger than me. 40 years old.

So he flees through the wilderness. And when we catch up with him in Exodus 3, again, according to Stephen, it's been another 40 years. So this moment that Moses has this experience in Exodus 3, Moses is now 80 years old when these events take place. 80 years old. We'll pick the story up in Exodus 3 in verse 1. He says, Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert. And he came to Orib, the mountain of God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. And so he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, and why the bush does not burn.

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and he said to him, Moses, Moses, of course Moses says, Here I am. He said, Do not draw near this place, take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. The Lord said to him in verse 7, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So God explains to Moses his plan. He says, I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up from that land to a good and to a large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and all the otherites, right? The Parazites and the Jebusites and the Hivites. He says, verse 9, now therefore, behold, the cry of the children has come to me, and I've also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. And verse 10, God says, come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses says, thank you, Lord! Ha! Somebody finally recognized my greatness, my leadership, my abilities, my humility, my people skills.

No, that's not what Moses says. What does Moses say in verse 11? Moses said to God, who am I? Who am I? That I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. Who am I? He essentially tells God who? Me? Me? God reassures Moses.

We see, he promises Moses that he'll be with him. He shows him some of the examples that he'll work through him, declares, as God often does, the end from the beginning. But Moses continues to protest. Moses continues to express his concerns, Exodus 4, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 10, as God again is explaining to Moses, look, I got your back, Moses. We're good. You're just going to go down there. You're going to do this thing with the rod. You're going to do this thing with the hand. It's going to be fine. We're going to, it's going to work. It's going to work. You just go down there. Trust me, he says. Exodus 4, verse 10, Moses said to the Lord, Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and I am slow of tongue. He goes on and he says, the Lord said to him, so has, or who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing of the blind have not I the Lord. Now therefore, verse 12, go, and I will be with your mouth and I will teach you what you shall say. But he said, Oh, my Lord, please, please, he pleads with God by the hand of whomever else you may send. Moses basically tells God, anybody but me, anybody else. There's got to be somebody that is better suited for this than me.

God says in verse 14, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. Moses pushed back once too far. He's pushed it, pushed it, pushed it, and then he stepped over the line. Those of you that are younger people with parents, you know what that looks like. You know there's a line, right?

So he goes on and he says, the anger of Lord, again, verse 14, was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know he can speak well. And he says, Also, he's coming to see you. When he sees you, he'll be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. He shall be your spokesman to the people, and he's himself shall be a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. You shall take this rod in your hands with which you shall do the signs. Guys, this is Moses. Moses, this is the man whom God spoke with face to face, the man whose faith glowed as a result of those interactions so that the people were scared, so that he placed a veil upon his face. This is the man who wrote the Pentateuch, who led God's people from Egypt, received the Ten Commandments, and through whom God worked incredible miracles. Yet we see at this moment in Moses' life, his doubts, his concerns are foremost. And we recognize it's still early in Moses' life, in how God is working with Moses. He's still growing, he's still learning, but at this point in time, in Moses' life, God saw something.

He saw something that he could work with, something that he could develop.

And to be honest, the Moses that we see here in Exodus 3 and 4, it's not the same Moses that we see in Deuteronomy and Numbers. It's the same person, but he has changed.

He's changed significantly as he progresses through his ark. God saw that potential, he saw who he would become, and with God's help and development, who he ultimately would be.

Moses was not some great orator. He wasn't a person who could inspire and lead with his speeches and his words. He was just a regular guy whom God called to serve him.

We see other examples in Scripture. Let's turn over to the book of Judges.

Over to the book of Judges. The book of Judges chronicles a series, the whole entire book, a cyclical pattern in Israel's history, where the people of God did what was right in their own eyes.

You know, they would obey God for a time. They would prosper. They would begin to be pulled away toward idolatry. And when they did that, they would suffer. Ultimately, God would raise up a judge. He would deliver his people. They would prosper. And then, once again, the cycle continued. And that cycle went on and on and on for 400-some years. That pattern continued.

One of the judges that God had raised, Gideon, came at a time when Israel was under the yoke of the Midianites. The Israelites had disobeyed God. They'd forgotten about the miracles that God had done for them and had done for the people. And ultimately, they placed their trust in false gods.

So as a result, the Midianites warred against Israel. They destroyed their crops. They subjugated them. They raised the fields. They raised their buildings. It just made life generally terrible for the Israelites at that point in time. We'll pick the story up in Judges 6, verse 11. It says, The angel and the Lord came and sat under the Terribence tree, which was an ophra, which belongs to Joash, the Ebezriite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Why was he hiding it from the Midianites?

Because at that point in time, they would come in and they would steal the food. They would steal the crops. They'd destroy the winepresses. They'd destroy the area, the threshing floors, so that Israel was unable to do the things that they needed to do.

And the angel and the Lord appeared to him, verse 12, and said to him, The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor. Gideon said to him, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us?

Where are all these miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? He looks at the experience that they were having in the world around them at that time. He says, Where is God then, given all of these things?

Given all of these things that we're experiencing? Where is He?

You know, we've performed all of these miracles in the past. Why not now? Why is the Lord, he says, as he says in the end of verse 13, But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Verse 14, the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.

He says, Have I not sent you? Have I not sent you?

Verse 15, we see Gideon's response here. He says, Oh, my Lord, how can I save Israel?

Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. Gideon says to God, How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in the entirety of Manasseh. I am the least in my father's house. He tells God, I am a nobody. I am a nobody.

I am just a regular guy. I am not a leader. I am not someone who is powerful. I am not someone who has influence and can get people to do things. He says, I am just me. I am just Gideon. I am just a regular guy. You've got the wrong guy. Verse 16, we see God's response. The Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. God promises that he'll be with Gideon, that he won't be alone. He tells him to go and destroy the altars of the land, to tear down these places to these false gods, and to establish altars to God instead.

We see Gideon. He has ten of his servants go along with him. They follow God's orders. Note they did it in the dead of night, so no one would see them doing it. They snuck out and kind of tore these things down so that they wouldn't be seen in the process necessarily. They were a little afraid of what people's responses might be, but they followed God's instructions. They tore these altars down, and as a result, Gideon had a little bit of reputation in Israel after that. He was then known as Jerabel. He was then known as Jerabel.

As time passes, the Midianites, the Amalekites ultimately amass themselves to move against Israel. And on God's instructions, we see Gideon assemble an army. And, you know, Gideon puts together an army of 32,000 men. That's not nothing! You know, that's going out there and blowing the trumpet and making some noise and calling people in. But, you know, interestingly, even after all the things that God had already promised Gideon, all the things that he'd already done, Gideon asked God for a sign. For some sort of proof that God was who he said he was. That he was still going to be with him in that endeavor. And we're all familiar with it. He puts the police out. He asked for the police to stay dry while the ground is wet, and then vice versa, for the police to be wet while the ground is dry. And God provides that sign, and Gideon goes to work.

Now, it wasn't as simple as that. You know, God wanted to prove to Gideon and to Israel that it was him that was fighting their battles for them, that it was not them doing all this work. It wasn't the Israelites' strength and might of 32,000 valiant warriors that was going to route the Midianites and the Amalekites. It was God. God was going to route the Amalekites and the Midianites. So God provides this interesting test. And this is one of the more interesting stories in Scripture for me. I always like this story. So God, instead of saying, you know, how do we make sure these are the ones that we want, how are we sure these are the ones we want in the army, first off, he says to Gideon, he says, let those who want to leave leave. So Gideon goes out and basically says, look, if you don't want to do this, feel free, go home. And a bunch of people left.

22,000 people left. That's a third of the people he gathered together. Gone. Left with 10,000. Gideon's looking at that 10,000 thinking, okay, here they are. We can do this. There's 132,000 of us. I don't like my odds, but we can do this. And then God says, not yet. There's a stream down here, and I spilled water. I'm going to need everybody to go down and take a drink. He says, this is the test. This is what I'm trying to do. And this way that God sets this up is hilarious. I love this. Because imagine for a moment you're in Gideon's place. You're watching this process.

Again, you're human. You trust God. You have faith in God.

God has them go down and take a drink, depending on whether they got down on their hands and knees and lapped it like a dog, or whether or not they cupped it and brought it to their mouth. That was the test. So as Gideon is, you're getting ready to lead these soldiers into battle. He's thinking, have any of these people ever used a sword? Do they know how to swing a sword? Can they shoot a bow? Because I know how they can drink water now. I'm aware that they could drink water in a certain way.

But Gideon was left with 300 men. 300 against an army of 132,000.

For those that are quick at math, that is an outnumbering of 450 to one. 450 to one. Yet what do we see? What do we see? We see that God provided the victory. We see it in a miraculous fashion, the way that God provides the victory. Now Gideon was not some great general. He wasn't a famous soldier. He was just an ordinary guy who found himself in the circumstances and in the hands of an extraordinary God, who promised that he would be with him, that he would see him through these things if he went out in faith and trusted him. God said, I've got this. I've got this.

One last example here in the Old Testament before we move on to the New. 1 Samuel 16.

1 Samuel 16. Another regular guy, so to speak, that was put in the hands of an extraordinary God. 1 Samuel 16.

We see in 1 Samuel, in the preceding kind of chapters, we see the story of Saul.

We see that King Saul was rejected by God as a result of his pride, as a result of his disobedience and his sin. You know, while Saul remained little in his own eyes, while he was humble, you know, God was with him. He was in God's favor. But as Saul began to settle into his role as king, Saul's pride, we might even say Saul's arrogance, began to increase. He began to take on authority and roles that really were not his to take on. And we see ultimately that he sets up this monument to himself in Carmel. So we see Saul's kind of starting to step outside of his boundaries as God is placed upon him as king. Saul's heart, ultimately, we see, was not in the right place.

It wasn't set towards God. It wasn't set towards God's people. It was set inwardly upon him. But God, we see, was seeking a man after his own heart. 1 Samuel 16, we'll see that. God comes and speaks to Samuel. The Lord said to Samuel, verse 1 of 1 Samuel 16, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I've rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I'm sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons.

God tells Samuel, one of Jesse's sons, will be king, that he should go to Bethlehem. He should make a sacrifice. He should consecrate the sons and invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and then ultimately anoint the new king there. We see Samuel's concern for his life, rightly so. You know, in this situation, as things are going, it's a very human, very carnal thought process there. You know, concern that somebody's going to kill him in the process. We see in verse 4, skip down just a little bit, 1 Samuel 16 and verse 4. So Samuel did what the Lord said, and he went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably? We good, Samuel?

He said, Peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Verse 5, Sanctify yourselves, come with me to the sacrifice, and he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and he invited them to the sacrifice. So Jesse and his sons come. Samuel takes a look at the sons that were provided, and Samuel even, he sees Eliab and he says, There he is! That's the next king of Israel.

He looks like a king. He stands like a king. Maybe he flips his hair like a king. But he's just got that kingly look. He's got that kingly look. What does verse 7 say? Verse 7, The Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance. Do not look at his physical stature, because I have refused him.

For the Lord does not see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The Lord looks at the heart. So Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. So there's a parade of his boys before Samuel, and in each circumstance, God's like, Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, not that one, nope, not that one. And so we reach this point where Samuel realizes, Wait a second, God said one of his sons was going to be king. I've seen all the ones that are here. You got any other sons? Jesse, anybody you're holding out on? You like people up your sleeve or back in the back of the thing there? Jesse says, There remains yet the youngest, and there he is keeping the sheep. Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here. So he sent and he brought him in. Says he was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking. The Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is the one. Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers. We see the Spirit of God came upon David from that day forward. And so Samuel then arose and went to Ramon. Now, I don't know this was, I don't know if this was malicious. I don't know this was necessarily Jesse thinking there's no way David's kingly. Somebody had to stay back with the flocks. He was the youngest. You know, maybe he was the one that didn't show as much potential leadership or had those people skills. But either way, he was the one that no one expected. He was the one no one expected. But God saw something in David that he could work with. David's heart was in the right place. And you know what provided that's right? Provided that's in the right spot. God can take care of the rest. You know, God can take care of the rest. God can build on those things to have David become who he intended him to become.

We know David was courageous. We know he was faithful. But more importantly, his heart was in the right place. He wasn't what most men considered, maybe, when they thought about a king. Again, it's possible maybe not even his own father thought of him as kingly in that sense. But just like Moses and just like Gideon, all three of these men were ordinary men. They were regular Joes, so to speak. They weren't anything particularly special at first, but their God saw something in them that he could work with. God saw something that he could develop, that he could continue to build on, and as a part of that process, all three of these men received God's Spirit.

And the transformation began. You know, these began to become these men of legend at that point. You know, they began to become these people who we look at in Scripture, and we see their examples.

You know, we know Moses received God's Spirit at some point before the 70 elders did.

We know that it came on Gideon before Gideon assembled the armies, and we know that David was anointed by King Stalin, received it at that point. It was a critical step in the process.

Absolutely critical step in the process, because it enabled these men to move beyond their own misgivings, to move beyond their own fears, their own doubts, and ultimately to begin to place their trust fully in God to allow him to work his will in their lives. You know, you jot this Scripture down in your notes, Romans 8 and verse 28. It talks about the things that happen to those who are called, and everything works out for good to those who are called according to his purposes. You know, God sees things in each and every one of us that he can work with, that he can develop, that he can strengthen, so that he can begin to turn us into and begin to transform us into the servant that he needs. These were ordinary men, but they were in the hands of an extraordinary God, and that extraordinary God was now dwelling in him through his spirit, beginning to transform who they were at their core, beginning to help to build this heart of obedience and trust, this heart that was focused on fulfilling the will of their God.

Why are you here? Those of you that have been around a long time, you recognize that question.

Why are you here? And I don't mean that in an existential, like, why are we here in the universe kind of thing? I'm not trying to get super existential on you guys. I mean, why here? Why this weekend in Dallas? Why did some of you travel? I heard somebody said 16 hours on a plane!

It's incredible to be here, to be here gathered together with God's family. And the question is why?

Why the church of God? Why this faith? Why have you made the choice to live this way of life?

You know, you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher. What I'd like you to do is, if you have a second, on your notes, I'd like you to take a second. I want you to write the answer to that question. Why are you here? Why are you here? Why have you taken the time out of your very busy life to travel to Dallas, Texas to be a part of a weekend talking about the heart of a servant? Take a second, write it in your notes, write it in your phone, write it on your friend's forehead. Don't do that. I've got to explain it to their parents later. Take a second and jot it down. Really, truly. Take a moment. I'll stop talking for a second. Let you think.

Take just another 30 seconds or so. Jot down your thought process. Jot down your time.

So, I'm going to venture a guess that there's a lot of different reasons why people put their reasoning for being here. You know, obviously, I heard something. We're having a dance tonight. I hear something about that. There's maybe a dance. But there's a whole lot of reasons why people attend these kinds of weekends. There's a lot of reasons why people attend church camps. There's a lot of reasons why people come to church Sabbath after Sabbath after Sabbath. And I would venture a guess that the majority of your responses probably had something to do with learning to obey and to serve our God, and ultimately, through the process of learning to obey and to serve our God, that we would then learn to serve others in that process of learning those things. You know, the theme of this weekend is the servant's heart. It's a servant's heart. And the entire focus of this weekend, whether it was the Bible study that Mr. DeCampos gave this morning or the teen study on the other side, you know, the fellowship opportunities, the Sabbath service that we have today, all the different things that we're focused on for this weekend, they all relate and they rotate around this central concept. This idea of what it takes for each and every one of us to develop a heart of service towards others. And sometimes, I think in the day in and day out of life, we can lose sight of this. You know, the song leader that was up here just before I came up mentioned this. That it's really easy for us to lose sight of this concept of service sometimes because we can become self-absorbed. We can become inwardly focused. We can become less focused on other people that are around us. But yet, the example that we see in Scripture that is provided to us again and again and again is to esteem others as greater than ourselves and ultimately to serve one another as a result of that shift in the way that we think. So as we forward, kind of fast forward into the New Testament here, we're going to see a lesson that Jesus Christ imparted again and again and again. Matthew, just go ahead and turn over to the book of Matthew. You know, when it comes down to ordinary people, there's just about aren't too many people in Scripture that get much more ordinary than the 12 men that Jesus called to be His disciples. You know, when you look at, overall, these guys that Jesus worked with as He, you know, began to build this ministry while He was here on this earth, the 12 men that Jesus called to be His disciples were pretty regular folks. For those that are not aware, discipleship at that point in time in history, especially in that point in time in that part of Judea, was an incredibly competitive process. It was a very competitive process. You know, the people, the individuals that were there, they sought to be disciples of the most prominent rabbis. You know, they tried to end up showing that they were the right kind of student, that they knew the Torah, that they knew this. They knew this person's interpretation of the law and how that factored into this person's interpretation. They had to prove some form of degree of competency in some ways to even be considered for some of the more prominent rabbis. Very infrequently did a rabbi seek out his own students. The students sought out the rabbi. When you look at the lives of the men that Christ took on as disciples, they weren't those guys. They were not those guys. They were learned men. They, you know, they were learned men. They knew how to read, they knew how to write, they could speak and write in different languages. They weren't uneducated in that sense, but they weren't necessarily guys that were out seeking discipleship.

They were fishermen. One of them was a tax collector. One was a zealot. You know, one was branded by Scripture as a thief. And so you have these individuals who were not your typical students that took on discipleship roles with the rabbis at that time, but Jesus Christ saw something in these men that they did not necessarily see in themselves. You want to see an incredible character arc in Scripture? Start in the gospel accounts and work your way through 2 Peter.

And look at Peter's life from calling to the point of what he wrote in 2 Peter, and look at the change in that person's life. Look at how his arc shifted throughout the time that he was present with Jesus Christ and then after Christ's death. It's incredible! It's incredible to see that change. Jesus saw something he could work with. He saw something in these men that he could develop so that they could take this gospel message to the world. Let's go to Matthew 18. We see that even though, you know, they had opportunity to be with Christ, even though these men had a chance to learn from the Master, they didn't always figure it out right away. They always still struggled with the human part of themselves, and they still struggled with some of the issues that they experienced. Matthew 18, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1, says, at that time the disciples came to Jesus, so they approached their Lord and their Master, and they said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And at first, you know, you look at that question, it might not seem like that big of a deal. In fact, in Matthew's account, it's a little bit more difficult to get to the core, really, of what he's saying there.

But when you look at the parallel accounts in the Harmony of the Gospels, it becomes very clear.

What they were asking. You can jot this in your notes. I'll just read it. Mark 9, 33, and 34 gives us one parallel account.

Mark 9, 33, and 34 says, they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you reasoning on the way? Verse 34 says, they held their peace, for they had disputed with one another on the way, who was the greatest. So you see the disciples didn't really say anything. You know, he asked them, what were you guys talking about? You know, they kind of, oh, nothing, nothing.

Stupid. Stupid. Now it's fine. It's not important. Of course, Christ knew exactly what they were talking about.

Luke's version in Luke 9 verse 46 kind of drops the hammer here. No more vague statements. No more, like, what exactly are they getting at here? We see the core of what was really going on. Luke 9 verse 46 says, there arose a reasoning among them, which of them was the greatest. So this question isn't, who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom? Is it Moses? Is it Abraham? Is it, you know, whoever. No, this is which one of us, which one of us is the greatest? Which one of us has the preeminence?

Who's in charge? Who's your second in command, so to speak? Who has the authority?

And we continue on in Matthew's account, verses 2 through 5 of chapter 18. We see Christ's response to their jockeying for position. Matthew 18 too, Jesus called a little child to them, set them in the midst of them, and said, assuredly I say to you, unless you're converted and become his little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. It's probably a good time to remind you. My wife often tells me there's a difference between childlike and childish.

She's accused me of the latter before, so I'm trying to become childlike. There's a difference.

Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Verse 3, sorry, verse 4, therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one of these little ones in my name receives me. You know, it's interesting Mark's account records one little additional piece. Before he calls the child over to him, he tells the disciples in Mark 9 verse 35, if anyone desires to be first, if anyone wants that preeminence, if anyone wants that authority, all that goes along with it, he shall be last of all and servant of all. So Christ tells him, if you want to lead, you want to be in charge, you want to have that status, you better serve.

You better serve. You better have that right heart and that right reason for doing so.

And he goes on with the example of a child that we then see. And you can imagine, I mean, this is Jesus Christ. This must have been a powerful lesson. Man, they must have just got it right away.

Must have just gone right through and they figured it out immediately changing their behavior and following Christ's instructions. Folks, it lasted a page and a half. Literally a page and a half! Turn over to Matthew 20. Matthew 20 and verse 20. This is one of my other favorite accounts in the New Testament. I have so many, actually, so it's not fair to say I have favorites. There's a lot of favorites. But I love this particular account. Matthew 20 and verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him. Verse 21. And he said to her, What do you wish? And she said to him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your kingdom. So, mama Zebedee, Mrs. Zebedee, here comes to Christ and asked him, Would you give my boys the preeminence? They're good boys. You don't allow them to sit at your right hand. Allow them to sit at your left hand. They're good boys. Verse 22. Christ goes on. Jesus answered and said, You don't know what you asked. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to him, We are able. Of course, they had no idea what he was talking about at that point in time. So he said to them, You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with. But to sit on my right hand, to have that preeminence of being in that right hand position, and then to have the other preeminence of being in that left hand position, he says, It is for those to whom it is prepared for by my Father. Christ tells him, Look, it's not up to me to decide. But in the meanwhile, what happened with the rest of the disciples? Because the other ten disciples caught wind of this little end run that mama Zebedee did here.

And what happened? Matthew 20, verse 24, says, When the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. Why were they mad? What's to be mad about in this situation?

Because they assumed that the Zebedee boys got mama to go to Jesus Christ and get them in.

So they got mad. They got upset. They're trying to do an end run. They're trying to become the more important group here. What's going on? Jesus called unto them, and he said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

He says, Not so shall it be among you, but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister, your servant. And whoever should be first among you shall be your servant, even as to the son of man came to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

Christ says, if one is to be great, if one is to be, you know, someone who is a leader in that sense, there to be a minister or a servant. That word minister is diaconos. It's diaconos. This is where we get the word deacon from. It means servant. It means someone who serves other people. Christ says, if one wants to be first, they must first become a slave. Greek word doulos or bondservant. So God is seeking those individuals that will willingly choose a position of servitude and slavery to their Lord and their master. That's the slavery that's being referred to in this scenario.

A willing servitude. You know, Christ tells the disciples that Gentile rulers lord it over their people. You know, they don't serve them. They expect to be served. They expect to be served. He says, not so with you. Not so with you. He says, you need to serve others. Don't worry about the authority. Don't worry about who gets credit. Don't worry about the position. Just serve. Just serve. Just continue to serve. You know, disciples, message received. Yes, sir. Got it. Well, not so fast. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody and you realize they weren't listening at all? Have you ever had one of those where you're talking to somebody and you realize you're asking questions going, huh? Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. You know, you're like, hey, I was thinking we're going to go ahead and put this report together for this presentation on Thursday at 9. The person says, oh, man, Thursday at 9. I can't do that. I got a meeting with Jim on the Harrington account. Okay, 9 a.m. it is. Kind of this moment of like, wait, what? Did you just hear anything I said? I'm not available, right? Now, imagine that you've just had that conversation for three and a half years. Imagine for a minute you've had that conversation for three and a half years. We see examples of the disciples throughout who say, you know, ultimately who go through and they say, you know, get these kids out of here. Don't bother our Lord. Christ says, it's fine. Bring them. Bring them. Which of us is the greatest? Christ says, this kid right here. Oh, what do I do about that? Lord, would you like us to call down fire from heaven and consume them? Christ says, nope. No, I would not like you to do that. For three and a half years, Christ's patience and his love is incredible. It's incredible. Let's go to Luke 22. Luke 22.

So I want to see one more example here as we consider this concept of becoming the people that God is working with and learning what it takes to do that. Luke 22. We'll go ahead and begin in verse 24. Luke 22 and verse 24.

You know, from a context standpoint, as we look at this, the disciples have been with Christ now for three and a half years. They have literally followed in his footsteps for three and a half years. They have shared campfires. They have shared meals. They've been privileged to listen to the things that he has said and done. They've had all these incredible opportunities to be present for the teachings directly. They've had, prior to this, two specific individual instruction times on this very thing of jockeying for position. But here we are now, the Passover in 31 A.D., we're at Christ's final night on earth. This is his last night with his disciples.

Luke 22 verse 24. Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Three and a half years. Christ has got to be thinking to himself, seriously, again.

Like, again, you guys. You guys. Messiah is about to be betrayed. He's about to be arrested. He's about to be crucified. The disciples are relatively oblivious to this at this point.

They're more focused on who's going to have the preeminence, who's better, who's in charge, who does Christ love more. Luke 22 and verse 25 goes on. Says, he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. Says, but not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves? Says, is it not he who sits at the table, yet I am among you as the one who serves? You know, Christ took one last opportunity on that evening to remind them. You know, those words combined with an incredibly powerful example of the foot washing that he set that evening, sent the message loud and clear. If the Son of God, if the Messiah, the King of Kings, was willing to gird himself with a towel and to take on the job of the lowliest of servants in the house, washing the dirt off of their filthy feet, they too were expected to serve others in the same humility and in the same way. He says that you should do these things to one another.

You know, we see the disciples eventually get it. We do. We see the disciples eventually get it. We see them going out and serving God's people without any concern for their health, for their safety, for their well-being. You know, Apostle Paul was not here for these things necessarily, but we see him get beat up and thrown out of a city to the point of his near death to stand up and say, you know what? I've been thrown out of better places than this. Roll the sleeves back. I've been going right back into the town to go and to preach the gospel. These men served to the point of their deaths. They gave their lives for this truth that God has provided us.

And you know, they started out as regular Joes. They started out as regular people, but God saw who and what they could become. You know, early in the process, early in their lives, they struggled with the expectations. You know, they fought with human emotions and desires. They had fears and doubts and pride. But as they followed Jesus Christ for that three and a half years and as God's spirit ultimately worked with them after they'd received it, their perspective changed. And it changed significantly. They began to realize that it wasn't about them.

It was about the gospel message of Jesus Christ. It was about serving those people whom God had called. And we see, thankfully, from their examples in Scripture that they did it without fail.

These men faced down the Roman Empire. They faced down the Roman Empire. They faced down the Sanhedrin. They faced down heresy. They lived through the fall of Jerusalem. They pastored and brought the shepherds through these things or brought the sheep through these things.

They finally got it and they were servants to their core. Brethren, we've been called to the same role. We've been called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to develop the heart of service that enables us to lay down our lives, to lay down our wants and our needs and our desires to take care of the needs of others. You know, that's what we have been chosen for. That's what we've been selected by Jesus Christ to receive. Us ordinary folks. You know, there's a reason that we don't see too many examples of great individuals that God works with in Scripture. There's a reason it's regular Joes. God intentionally does this. He uses those who are not great, those who are not mighty for His purposes. And He does it for a reason. Let's go over 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. We'll see exactly what that reason is and exactly why God does this. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26.

We'll read through verse 31 here with the last Scripture we're going to look at here today. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. It says, 2. To bring to nothing the things that are. Ultimately, we see why in verse 29, 3. That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became 4. for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that it is His written, he who glories let Him glory in the Lord. Less, brethren, we think we are anything special.

I'm here to knock us down a peg. Myself, you as well. God has purposely chosen the lowly of the world. We're here because we are the lowly of the world. We are the regular Joes. We are ordinary people. There is no one in this room that are princes and kings, world economic powers.

You know, there are not anyone in here who are individuals that at the snap of a finger could direct an army. We are like those whom God used in the Old and in the New Testaments. We are meek and humble individuals developing a heart of service for others so that God can use us for His purposes, so that God can do an incredible work through us. If you think about that, politicians, kings, princes, those that are in power, they make the claim that it is because of them that all these wonderful things take place. It was their decision-making. It was their might, their strength, their power that caused everything to go right. All the while, ignoring the fact that God put them in power, that God has blessed their country as provided for their people. Truth is, it has nothing to do with them, really. And when those blessings are removed, you'll also see those individuals be the first people to point the finger at anyone else as to why it didn't work out. Right? The glory is God's. Because realistically, none of us could do the things that God is going to do through us on our own, not a one of us.

It is God who is doing the work in each and every one of us, provided again our heart is in the right place to receive it. I want to read an article here real quickly for you. It was an article that was written in the United News a number of years ago, and it shares a perspective I want to leave with each of you as we go forward from today. So I want to just quickly read through this. It was written in titles called Serving with an Attitude. It says, "...the privilege and a blessing to be able to serve in the Church of God." You know, as human beings, we don't always see it that way because serving is not always convenient. It may not even be fun. This person says, "...not too long ago, while thinking about my approach to serving, I found that I kind of had a bad attitude about it. I was serving, but I wasn't always happy about it. Over the course of time, I occasionally meditated on this in general, and I thought about what my approach should be." He says, "...I believe God revealed some things to me as I pondered His Word. There are a variety of physical things that need to be done to prepare for Sabbath services." There's hall setups. There's, you know, look at many of the things that took place, all the incredibly hard work that took place to make this weekend happen. There's a lot of work there. It says, "...I recognized I had a bit of a bad attitude about serving until I reflected on a story in the Old Testament. Naaman and 2 Kings 5 expected this incredible, incredible response when he went to the man of God. We know that he's an honorable man. He's been given leprosy here, but he had a pretty good-sized problem with that leprosy and had to go and get it taken care of. He goes to the man of God, and the man of God kind of opens the door, a crack, so to speak, and says, Go wash in the river. Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." That's not what Naaman expected at all. Naaman expected there to be pomp and circumstance, maybe a parade. I don't know what Naaman expected exactly, but it wasn't that. And so Naaman had a really bad attitude about it. He was upset. He wanted action. He wanted to be done right now. He wanted to be done, you know, fireworks, maybe a ceremony. He wanted Elisha to come out, wave his arms, call on God. So this is just something so trivial and menial. I am a general! I'm a mighty general! I'm a conqueror of cities and nations! So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. Thankfully for Naaman, he had a wise servant who came to him and said, my father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you have not done it? How much more then when he says to you, wash and be clean?

So Naaman calmed down. Verse 14 tells us, he went down, dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And sure enough, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. So as the story shows, Naaman then realized there's only one true God, stating he would forsake his previous idolatry and worship only the God of Israel. How does this relate to serving and to my less-than-stellar attitude? With this story in mind, I happen to think on a future time when I expect that God will call me to an account, as we see in the parable of the talents. And I saw myself saying, I would have done something great. God, I was ready.

I would have done something great. And he says, I heard the response. God told me, I just wanted you to set up some chairs. I just wanted you to set up some chairs. Or I just wanted you to encourage someone at services. I wanted you to pray for someone who was sick. I wanted you to, you know, get to know the people in your congregation. The little things that we don't always think of as being service. He says, physical things need to be done some week in, week out, less frequently. If we have the ability and opportunity, we should be willing and thankful to do them. What might seem simple to us may be something very important that we can contribute to the work of God.

There's a lot of different ways that we're able to serve. There's a lot of different things that we can do, and I hope that perspective can stick with us as we go forward from today.

Folks, I'm looking out at a congregation full of ordinary people, full of ordinary people who have got talents that have been provided to them by God. You know, some of you have incredible writing abilities. You know, some of you have incredible musical abilities. I mean, we had this phenomenal ensemble up here today. Incredible musical abilities. You know, some of you have the ability to comfort, to strengthen, to encourage, to pray for others. Everybody's got their talents, but we also have our fears, we also have our doubts, we have our self-limitations, the things that we put on ourselves. You know, we are called to serve. We're called to serve. Brethren, we need to step out in faith and use those talents in support of God's work, because all of us, while we're ordinary people, we are in the hands of an extraordinary God, and the possibilities in His hands are absolutely limitless.