Significance in the Small Things

Douglas was supposed to be our home for 2-3 years tops. We were only going to pass through, it was never meant to be permanent. When I married a man who lived in Wyoming, all of my Colorado friends snickered a little. I grew up getting mad at the slow Wyoming drivers. We never thought much of our northern neighbors. Just the other day I was on the phone, trying to find out where a missing package was, and this young girl who was really helpful asked me in her sweet southern accent, “Is Wyoming as beautiful as the pictures?” And I told her that it certainly was. She then told me that she had never spoken to anyone from Wyoming. We are a rare breed indeed. Before living here, I was a city girl at heart, but here I am, so incredibly thankful that Jesus has planted us here in Douglas, Wyoming.

Most people know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem didn’t have the greatest hospital around, there was nothing about Bethlehem that would make a pregnant woman want to travel 90 miles on a donkey. The only reason Bethlehem was the location of Jesus’ birth was because God put into motion a plan to fulfill His prophecy.

Micha 5:1-2.

Marshal your troops now, city of troops,

for a siege is laid against us.

They will strike Israel’s ruler

on the cheek with a rod.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me

one who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

from ancient times.”

By the time this prophecy was written, Israel had experienced years of defeat. King David had been the greatest king they had ever had, and many were looking for another David to come and save them. David had a strong start. He was a man after God’s own heart. Even though his rule and reign was fruitful, it also had some pretty dark moments. He wasn’t perfect, and the generations that followed him never lived up to the standard he had set. The main hub for Jewish royalty had been Jerusalem. So when Micah prophesied that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, I am sure many were confused. What kind of king could possibly be born in Bethlehem?

But in these verses, God changes the narrative from on of defeat to one of triumph. The kings born in proud Jerusalem failed; the Messiah incarnated in lowly Bethlehem triumphs. God is taking the failed legacy of David and birthing a new perfect king who would come from the most insignificant place. The clause qualifying Bethlehem Ephrathah reads literally, ‘insignificant with regard to its existence among the clans of Judah’; that is, as David was the least of his brothers, so Bethlehem played only a very limited role among Judah’s clans. By choosing an insignificant location, God was able to shine a spotlight on His Son, who then gave Bethlehem significance. A place that had never been mentioned in any history book, is now the centre of pilgrimages from around the world.

Significance is found wherever Jesus is.

Jesus gives a place significance, but He also gives people significance. Mary was a young woman with no significance. Joseph was a carpenter from Nazareth who had no significance. Bethlehem was nothing special until Jesus showed up. This is how Jesus still operates.

You may feel like the most insignificant person on this planet, but you are extremely significant to the Kingdom. You have the Spirit of Christ residing in you. You hold a specific group of gifts that God has entrusted to you alone, and He has placed you in specific places to shine His light and offer His love to those around you. The One who lives in you has made your life significant. One of the greatest things you can do is believe that truth. Believe it for yourself, believe it for the people you are around all the time, believe it for our church, believe it for our community. Significance in found wherever Jesus is.

We don’t have to be born in a specific place, or into a specific family to have significance. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Maybe you were born into a dysfunctional family. A family of little means. A family who didn’t have much according to this world. Maybe you were set up for failure. These verses tell us that we don’t have to live the life the world has set out for us to live. We don’t have to be defined by our economic status, our family name, or our past. When Jesus shows up in our lives we are only defined by Him and all He has done. We can also live with hope for what He is going to do.

Jesus made Mary and Joseph’s life have significance. He also put Bethlehem on the map. But at the time, the trip to Bethlehem was extremely inconvenient for poor Mary. I can’t imagine a 90 mile trip on a donkey, let alone taking that trip while pregnant. They had to participate in the first census. It was something that seemed inconvenient. But what seemed to be an inconvenience to the mother of Jesus was a divine set up. The prophecies had to be fulfilled so that people would believe. Some people are born with the gift of faith, they don’t require proof. But the majority of others need proof. Especially the Jews who had been looking to see these prophecies fulfilled for a very long time. Our inconveniences may be God’s way of putting us into position to accomplish His will.

How often do we feel inconvenienced? Every time we have to wait a little longer, anytime things change and we are the last to know. Recently Taco John’s changed their hours, and I think I was the last to know. I sat at their speaker for well over two minutes waiting for someone to take my order for some breakfast burritos for my kids. I finally read the sign and pulled through, looking a little idiotic and feeling inconvenienced. We work so hard for convenience. We are so catered to in so many ways. Staying home the last two weeks from church has been very convenient. I didn’t have to get the kids dressed and ready before I left, I didn’t have to show up early, I didn’t even have to get dressed up. I could sit in a recliner and watch it from a distance. But the convenience of staying home was no match for the sadness my spirit felt because I missed you all so very much. Preaching to a camera is not very fun. You have no idea how many times I had to restart my message because I felt foolish.

One thing we can take from the Christmas story is, God is not concerned with convenience because convenience breeds minimal interaction with others. If Mary could’ve stayed in Nazareth for Jesus’ birth, the Shepherds would have missed out on seeing their Messiah for themselves. The wise men would have never been able to travel from afar and give their gifts to the newborn King. Mary and Jesus could have had peace and quiet, but they would have missed out on the unexpected blessing of community.

The new Safeway Curbside pickup is extremely handy for people who are in quarantine, but it is also very impersonal. This is not how we were created to live. We are meant to have interaction with others. This is how God designed us. And it is ultimately how Jesus lived His entire life.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and spent a short amount of time in Egypt, His family returned to Nazareth where Jesus was raised. But when Jesus grew up and launched His ministry, He decided to make Capernaum His home base.

Now, most of you might be familiar with the names of those towns, but I bet you don’t really understand their significance. That’s because, just like Bethlehem, there really wasn’t anything very significant about them. Notice the theme?

Matthew 4:13-17, 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Jesus didn’t need a grand stand. He didn’t need the temple, He didn’t need a big platform. He chose to live and minister among common people, in small towns. If a human were to write this story, say for hallmark, it would go something like this. Small town boy meets big city girl, they fall in love, but then there’s a miscommunication and the big city girls goes back home until the small town boy figures out that he made a mistake and decides to move to the big city where he can have the girl and make a name for himself. Pretty riveting isn’t it? You can call Hallmark later and tell them that I’m available for next Christmas!

Small towns have a quaintness about them, but most people are more interested in pursuing life in the city, where they can make a name for themselves and where things are more convenient. I rarely speak to a teenager from Douglas who plans to stay in Douglas. They want to get out as soon as possible because they think that the bigger cities will have everything their hearts’ desire. What they soon find is, while they have everything at their fingertips, they feel alone and lost in such a great sea of people.

It takes a lot of time to create community wherever you live, but especially in larger cities. You see, Jesus should’ve based His ministry in Jerusalem, where He could have taught at the Temple. He could have had a larger impact in Jerusalem because there were more people. He could have had the first mega church, but that was NOT His way.

Jesus was strategic in his choice of Capernaum as a hub for ministry. He more than likely lived at Peter’s house while in Capernaum, which was located a short distance from the local synagogue. In Jesus’ time, homes were built more like apartment complexes than stand alone structures. Families would live very close to each other, and close proximity lends itself to community.

Capernaum was also relatively close to many other towns in Galilee, and had a major trade route pass through it. This made Jesus’ travel much easier. It enabled Him to carry the Gospel to the surrounding areas.

It also made word of His works and wonders spread throughout the whole region. While people passed through Capernaum and experienced Jesus’ teaching and miracles, they inevitably took those stories with them on the road.

It also brought a wide variety of people right to Him. It was in Capernaum that Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. It was also in Capernaum that Jesus healed a Roman centurion’s son. Many different people from all different walks of life passed through Capernaum, which gave Jesus many opportunities to be a missionary in his own “hometown.”

There are times when we’re sent, then there are times when God sends people to us. When I attended college, our ministry had an outreach to international students. We decided that we would probably never have a chance to travel to the majority of the countries in the world, but God had deposited people from those foreign lands right onto our front doorstep. Our campus pastor’s wife worked with the international students so they could seamlessly transition into American culture and make sure they took the correct courses. This was an open door that we took. We basically adopted some of these students, invited them to our gatherings and bible studies, and offered them friendship while they were alone in America.

George Muller was a man known for his faith and generosity. In the 1800’s God called this man to move from Prussia to England. He had always thought that someday he would be a missionary to a far off land . But while living in Bristol, he had an encounter with a young girl that changed the course of his life. While he stared at the beggar girl, who was no older than five and was piggybacking her little brother, his eyes were opened to the desperate plight of so many young children who had lost their parents in cholera epidemic. He realized that God had given him a mission field right there, in the town he lived in. And he made the courageous statement that he would live and die in that mission field. God gave him the vision to open Bristol’s first orphanage. But he had nothing. He didn’t ask for monetary backing. He trusted that God would provide for all of their needs. And God did just that.

Sometimes we get so comfortable living here in Douglas that we forget we have people all around us who have never experienced the life changing love of Jesus Christ. Here in Douglas, we don’t have a lot of foreigners in our midst. What we do have are workers who come when the oil field is thriving. They come from all over. They are oftentimes lonely. Their wives often have the hardest time. They are left at home, possibly with children, and they don’t have anyone they can rely on to help them out. This gives us the greatest opportunity to reach out and be the Family of Christ they need.

The harvest in our own little insignificant town is plentiful. There are so many who are lost and lonely and afraid. They are looking for hope. And God has strategically placed us here in little old Douglas to do the miraculous work of the Kingdom. Because people here matter to God. It might feel inconvenient at times, but God has given you significance so that you can make a significant impact in our community.

The New International Version. (2011). (Mt 4:13–17). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

There’s something I’ve learned

Though Bethlehem was small, it birthed greatness. The Eternally Reigning King of Kings came from this small town.

The New International Version. (2011). (Mic 5:2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.