Opportunities (cont'd): Renew Our Strength

Opportunities (cont’d): Renew Our Strength.  “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (1 Cor. 1:26). This is not a suggestion but a command to evaluate your calling deeply. Compare Christ’s calling of his people against the world’s selection of its VIPs.

The world selects its influencers just like Israel selected its first king. Saul was a son of wealth, handsome, young, and tall (1 Sam. 9:1-2), but he was never virtuous. The people’s selection of Saul and God’s calling of David diverge widely. While David was young and handsome (1 Sam. 16:12) like Saul was, he was neither wealthy nor tall, oddly called “ruddy,” reddish (1 Sam. 16:12; 17:42). Though imperfect, David was strong at heart. He was virtuous.

Perhaps no better showcase exists of the Lord’s calling of David versus the people’s selection of Saul than in the Valley of Elah. Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, shouted his challenge for a warrior to fight him. “Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me” (1 Sam. 17:8). The people had selected Saul precisely for that reason, “that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Sam. 8:20). Though Saul was head and shoulders taller than everyone else in Israel, he hid in his tent because Goliath was more than head and shoulders taller than him! When David arrived on the scene and showed courage to fight Goliath, Saul did a curious thing: “Saul clothed David with his armor” (1 Sam. 17:38). Maybe Saul wanted onlookers to think that he went out to fight Israel’s battles, but for sure Saul calculated that his expensive armor was David’s best defense and last hope against Goliath. But David “put them off” (vs. 38) because he had other armor about which Saul could not conceive. He was clothed in faith. Picking up five stones (vs. 40), the rest became history.

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29). What is our strength, Grace Community Church? What is our strategy for growth? What is our confidence? Do we trust in a killer sound system? Will we put on a personality, like Saul’s armor, that is not our own and does not fit? Should we dream up gimmicks and gadgets to motivate others to join through shame, guilt, or fear? No, no, and no! We already have in Christ all that really matters. Our weakness is our strength because it eliminates the option of leaning on lesser saviors in time of trouble. Our vulnerability is an asset because by it we know that we have no other hope than Christ. Our nothingness is a gift of God’s grace because it best prepares to give all the glory of God when he causes us to be faithful as representatives of Jesus in this corner of Wayne County. Our strengths, therefore, are considerable, though admittedly under-the-radar. Here we know each other deeply, serve together significantly, grow in grace in highly adaptable ways, and go out unified into the local, regional, and global fields as the Lord opens doors for ministry.