God’s Game Plan

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 ESV

26 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. 27 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; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

We have officially made it - SUPER BOWL sunday! In honor of the super bowl, I have a joke.

JOKE: A guy wins a free ticket to the Super Bowl and so he’s very excited.

However, he’s not so excited when he gets there and realizes his seat’s in the back of the stadium.

So he looks around him for a better seat, and to his surprise he finds an empty seat right next to the field.

He approaches the older guy who’s sitting in the seat next to the empty one and asks if the seat is taken.

The man replies, “No.”

The young guy is very surprised to hear this and asks, “How could someone pass up a seat like this?”

The older guy replies, “It’s my wife’s seat. We’ve been to every Super Bowl together since the day we were married but she’s passed away.”

“Oh, how sad,” the young guy says, taken aback. “I’m sorry to hear that, but couldn’t you find a friend or relative to come with you?”

“No,” the man replies, “They’re all at the funeral.”

I got to thinking about sports this week. Myself, I have never been a very talented player, but I can admire those who do play.

I’ve come to realize that you may be the most talented guy on the team but if the coach never puts you in then you’ll never live up to the talent you have. Same way with the guys who don’t have much talent. It’s amazing how the coach can bring out talents they didn’t even know they had.

Many of us in this room could probably tell some good ol’ football stories. Believe it or not I am one of those guys. My story might be a little different. I wanted to play football when I was a kid. My parents bought all the gear, my dad even coached the team. Oh, I can remember those glory days when I’d be riding to the game...crying in the back seat of the car because I didn’t want to play anymore! It was nice of my dad to coach, but we didn’t have a Patrick Mahomes. I am pretty sure our team never had a touchdown. I do think we won a game because the other team forfeited for some reason. Man, that was one of the best days of my life!

I really never applied myself because in my head I decided I didn’t want to play. That I wasn’t good enough, that our team wasn’t good. Plus I was thinking about the ice cream I was going to have if I just got through the game...

There is a lot of foolishness in the world—and that foolishness includes you and me. That’s right.

Paul calls us foolish.

I Corinthians 1: 26-29, “Brothers, 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. 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. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

He’s talking about us. We are the foolish things he’s referring to. He’s talking about people who make up the church.

Let me read it again, “Brothers 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. But God chose the foolish things of the world . . .”

Paul is saying, “Look, God hasn’t chosen celebrities or rocket scientists to proclaim His word. He’s chosen people like us farmers, fishermen, tax-collectors, housewives . . .”

Today we might say, “God’s chosen electricians and plumbers and sales people and teachers . . .”

That’s who God depends on. God uses everyday people to do His work.

This last week it was sad to hear the Kolbe Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash. I felt bad for the family and even said a prayer for them. But what was interesting to me was how much coverage was given in the media and how people reacted. Masses of people gathered to honor him. I was watching this on the news and couldn’t help but be amazed how people were coming out in droves to pay honor.

What really struck me was immediately after minutes and minutes of reporting on Bryant the new announcer almost casually mentioned. In other news, three soldiers were killed in afghanistan last night. And they broke for commercial.

How does that make sense? A basketball player is held in higher esteem than people who are risking their lives to keep us safe?

Just because you’re a famous celebrity doesn’t mean you are more important than other people. In our society we place high worth on famous people.

But it is not celebrities that God is depending on to change the world . . . or rocket scientists or the rich and powerful.

God depends on Sunday school teachers, greeters, worship leaders, people giving their time and resources . . . good people . . . not superstars, but solid responsible church people. That is who God is depending on. God uses common, everyday people to do his work.

That is what Paul is saying when he writes, “Brothers, 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. But God chose the foolish things of the world . . .”

Now to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have done it that way if I had been God. I wouldn’t have started at the bottom of society and worked my way up.

I wouldn’t have had my Son be born to Mary and Joseph in the stable of Bethlehem. I would have had him born in Caesar’s household. Then one day he could stroll out on his balcony and wave his hand and said, “From now on everyone will be Christians.”

But that was not how God did it. God started at the very bottom of society with very ordinary people and that is still how God is working today. Through ordinary folks like you and me.

We are God’s plan for saving the world. God is counting on us. “Who? Us?” Yes, us. God is counting on us to turn the world upside down. You can see why Paul says it sounds like foolishness to the world.

God’s game plan for The Church is to Accomplish His work in the world.

This is the primary reason Christ came into the world.

If you ask most Christians why Christ came into the world, they will say he came to die for our sins.

And that’s true, of course, but there is another reason Christ came into the world: it was to train an ordinary group of people to take his message to the world.

He started with a group of young people and now is using US His church!

The key reason Christ came into the world was to start the church. We are to be his body doing his saving work in a world that is lost.

Christ started with only 12 men and an unknown number of women. By the time he died, the group was still very small.

Then, after Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit came), that number exploded.

By the time Paul was preaching to the Corinthians, there were tiny churches planted in towns all along the Mediterranean.

Still, it seemed like a mighty stretch when Paul said that God was going to use this group of generally powerless people to turn the world upside down.

Of course, it was not long, relatively, before that tiny group of believers took over the whole Roman Empire, but at the time Paul was preaching it probably did sound like so much foolishness that God was going to do anything significant with the church.

Do you know that there are still people today who think it is foolishness that God’s game plan is to do anything significant with the church? And the sad thing is that some of these people are in the church.

Some people still don’t understand that the church is at the center of God’s plan.

Now I know that silly things happen in the church. I’ve seen them. Sometimes tragic things happen in churches. Some of the most unchristian people in the world are found on church rolls bigots, snobs, uncaring people; people who are an embarrassment to God. I’m very aware of that.

But I also know this and you know it too, the best people you can find are in the church.

They are people who care about their families, care about their neighbors, care about their communities and the reason they care is that once upon a time they stood at the altar of a church like this one and gave their hearts to Jesus.

There is really only one way to make this community a better community, one way to make this city a better city, one way to make this a better world and that is to bring everyone we meet to Jesus.

There is nothing else that will work. That is how God has chosen to turn this world upside down.

The work of the church is serious work, important work, life changing work. It’s work that God is calling you and me to do.

Now this means something quite obvious: If the church is God’s game plan to turn this world upside down, each of us has a part to play.

You are the game changer!

If this is God’s plan is to use ordinary folks like you and me it means that there is something for each of us to do. If you are home this week with “nothing” to do, then I’ll tell you, you aren’t understanding God’s gameplan! It’s time to get out of the ordinary and DO something for Him! Turn your world upside down.

There was a man named Charlie who joined a prayer group. Charlie wasn’t a joiner. So he was asked him why he had joined this prayer group.

“Well,” said Charlie, “I had problems and I was praying about them, but I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Then one day I read an article about bees. When it gets too hot in a hive, a group of worker bees all face in one direction, anchor themselves to the floor, and fan their wings rapidly. One bee alone wouldn’t make much of a difference, but a lot of bees can produce an air current strong enough to draw fresh, cool air into the hive and blow the stale air out.

“So, I said to myself, ‘If a group of bees working together can activate a healing current that changes everything for the better, maybe a group of people can do the same thing.’”

That’s a pretty good description of what the church is all about. We’re like those bees. On our own we can’t get much done, but flapping our wings in unison we can blow out the stale air of sin and oppression. But each of us must do our part.

I was talking with Dylan last night about a church we started in Oklahoma and it brought up a memory of how God did something pretty cool. We moved to a little town in Bixby, Ok and were part of a pretty big church. They had some 19,000 members. Kristen and I worked at the christian school, I the senior class bible classes and Kristen taught Art and Science. Well, one day I was walking downtown bixby and I walked past a building that was run down and vacant. I heard something “foolish” in the back of my head. That we should turn it into a coffee shop and start a church there.

I actually kind of brushed it off. I mean we didn’t have the money and we were happy serving in the church we were working. About a year later someone had bought that building rehabbed it and turned it into a coffee shop! We went in and had the worst cup of coffee we’ve ever had. The service was slow and the place wasn’t doing well.

Needless to say, in less than 6 months they were closed. I was riding a bike past it after they closed and I heard that little voice in my head again say, start a coffee shop and church in that building. I told kristen and she was on board. We only had $5000 in the bank at the time and decided to take a step of faith.

I promise you, one of the greatest days of my life was sitting outside that building on our first Sunday service. It was Easter. The sunrise was incredible. I didn’t know if people would come. Or if I had heard incorrectly, but I knew I was obedient. Come what may, I had peace knowing that God was in control.

As we got closer to service time, people showed up! Our first service in that little building we had 29 people come. Over the course of time in that ministry, I saw people get saved, lives transformed, and watched God move in amazing ways.

Now, you may say it was foolish to jump out in faith with $5000 to start a coffee shop and a church, but to God that’s exactly what He wanted to do!

We need to get something right in our heads. Listen to this verses in Matthew 19:23-26

23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This is a very important portion of scripture. You see we are all rich in our own ways. I’m not talking about money. I am talking about the status quo. We are rich in that we can float along our lives without making an impact. No one is going to bother you. We aren’t desperate.

See, poor people are desperate. They are looking for something to pull them out of where they are. They have nothing to lose.

When Jesus is talking here He is saying that people who have a comfortable life have a hard time stepping out in faith. They don’t want to attempt the foolish things of God because they might fail.

The disciples were confused at what Jesus was saying. They wanted to know how can you be saved if it’s so hard to enter the kingdom of God.

This is one of my favorite things that Jesus says in His earthly ministry...I mean it gives us hope that God can take the foolishness of us and do something. That we can have hope. He says that with God all things are possible.

I sure hope you understand the point of this message today. You are God’s game plan! If you are willing to stop doing the same thing day after day and hoping for different results, if you are willing to take a step of faith towards Christ, not only will you find salvation, you will find a new life.

A life that you never thought you could live. You can make a difference in the lives of those around you. This community could be changed.

One last story.

There was a man named Mr. Hauntz. Now, I don’t know much about this man and his life, but I had an encounter with him when I was a little boy. He was the first person to invite me and my sister to church. He was a church bus driver. He was driver this beat up, stinky old van around our neighborhood and pick up kids for sunday school.

This guy was kinda funny to me as a boy because you couldn’t understand anything that he said. He had some sort of speech impediment that as a kid I remember probably differently than it really was. But that didn’t stop him from making a major impact on my life.

I sincerely believe that without the service of that man that I probably wouldn’t be here today.

God wants to use the foolish things of this world. Don’t allow the things you think disqualify you hold you back.

You past is not your future, the way you look does not define you, your lack or education can’t stop you, your age isn’t the barrier!

There is no plan B in the kingdom of God. There are people outside these walls right now that you are supposed to be here. I don’t know how they are going to come, but I DO know that if all of us would believe that God wants us to be a part of bringing them in that with God all things are possible.

If you are willing to be a game changer, I ask you to stand to your feet today as we close in prayer.