Nipate
Forum => Controversial => Topic started by: vooke on May 31, 2015, 08:26:39 AM
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Good morning church,
Let's look at God's modus operandi
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (KJV)
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1. The FOOLISH things of the world
2. The WEAK things of the world
3. The BASE things of the world
These God readily uses which is actually contrary to what we may expect. This is a fact revealed throughout history of the scriptures and I want to dwell on a few examples.
1. Jesus the Nazarene
John 1:45-46King James Version (KJV)
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
They had that much prejudices against Nazareth another ka-village in Judea that they never expected the Messiah, King of Jews to come from thence.
2. The Disciples/apostles
Acts 4:13 (KJV)
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus
They was a bunch of illiterates to the dot. This with exception of Rabbi Shaul. These are the guys Jesus entrusted his message. And they never disappointed
4. Ehud
Judges 3:12-30English Standard Version (ESV)
Ehud
12 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit[a] in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.
24 When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” 25 And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.
26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. 28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. 29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
I have been raised up to look down on left-handed guys. We used to mock them kids back when I was much younger, Lefties we called them. In high school I recall a boy who was beaten so badly in his primary school year somewhere in Nyanza till he learnt how to use BOTH hands to write. He learnt ambidexterity!
When I studied about Ehud, I realized that the prejudices against left handed people was rife even in Israel. What's funny, Ehud was of the tribe of Benjamin, a name which literally means 'son of my right hand'. The right hand signifies power. Jesus is seated at the Right Hand of the Father. So Benjamin the ridiculed but gallant man killed an enemy of Israel using his very 'weakness'.
That is how God works, in and with the weak,despised and base things. The reason is clear; than no man may boast that they did it by their strength.
A modern example I can think of is John Calvin (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin_bibliography). This is one man ALL Christianity owes. At the age of 26 he penned Institutes and turned the world upside down just like the apostles. he was not perfect and he was not infallible.
How does God use human weakness? The Bible says His strength is manifested in our weaknesses
2 Corinthians 12:9-10(ESV)
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
As I finish, I remember Joseph a former slave the man who preserved Egypt and Israel. When his father was blessing him as he died he said something powerful which reveals the secret of his success;
Genesis 49:24 (KJV)
24 But his bow abode in strength,
and the arms of his hands were made strong
by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;
I close with this prayer for you;
May the arms of your hands be strengthened by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob in Jesus name.
Your weaknesses, out of this shall God bring glory to his name
Selah!
Have a prosperous and peace filled Lord's Day and Madaraka Day tomorrow. And remember, don't let nothing stop you from praising the Root and offspring of David(Rev 22:16)