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The Message for Jan 22, 2017

Matthew 4:12-23

God’s Grace

Rob Miller, Pastor

God prefers losers… That sounds so strange. It soundsso un-American too,but it’s true. God prefers losers. We don’t. We prefer winners.

General George Patton said,“Americans love a winner. America will not tolerate a loser.”

Coach Vince Lombardi said: “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.”

Personally, winning is a lot more fun than losing. Over the years I helped coach my son baseball team - I can say that without a doubt,winning is a lot more fun. Ask any player or coach and they’ll say the same thing.

We want to be on the winning team, don’t we? Nobody in their right mind strives to be a loser. When I watch a UL football game, I want UL to win… When I watch a Saints Football game, I want the Saints to win…

I enjoy watching professional football – it doesn’t matter who is playing. If my team isn’t playing – I’ll pick one of theteams and root for them. I do that automatically. I supposemany people are like that. We like to be on the winning side.

Jim Tresselwas the head football coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes from1986 – 2010. He wrote a book, “The Winners Manual.” In the chapter, “Handling Adversity and Success,” Tressel includes this thought-provoking quote from Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft:

“Success is a lousy teacher. It makes smart people think they can’t lose.”

Tressel then writes:

“I love that quote because it puts so many things in perspective. When ‘smart people’ think they can’t lose, there’s an upset brewing. That’s when David beats Goliath and the underdog triumphs” (p. 156).

That’s the problem with winning. Once you think you can’t lose, you feel invincible. At that point, you’re about to become a real loser. You just don’t know it yet.

You can win too much, too soon, too easily. And before long it’s just one smallslippery step from victory to defeat. That can happen to the best of us. For all the problems that losing brings, at least itcan cure the illusion of invincibility. And none of us are invincible.

God prefers losers. God prefers people who know their weaknesses, see their flaws, admit their mistakes, and turn to God for help.

If you don’t remember anything else I say here today - I hope you remember that…. Tweet that… Facebook that… Put that in your iphone as a daily reminder. Tell somebody this week that God prefers losers and works through them to do amazing things.

That’s what we find happening in our assigned gospel reading for today from Matthew chapter 4…

Read Text Matthew 4:12-23

This text reveals that God prefers losers… Jesus picked losers to be on his team. The disciples who were mending their nets werelosers. They were fishermen, learning the family trade. They were nobodies when Jesus comes along and picks them for his team.

Rob Bell says…

If they were learning the family tradethen they had not been chosen by a Rabbi to continue learning after the age of 13. By the age of 13 a young boy would have memorized the first five books of the Bible,The Torah written by Moses.

Only the best of the best would be chosen by a Rabbito continue learning from him and be like him. Chosen to pass on his interpretation of Scriptureeach Rabbi had his own interpretation of what the Bible meant. So he would pick potential disciples who had what he was looking for so they could pass on his teachings and his way of life to others.

These guys fishing with their father did not make the cut to continue learning from a Rabbi. They were the B-Team. Rob Bell says - If you were chosen by a Rabbi he would say,“follow me…” If you were not chosen by a Rabbi youwould go home and learn the family trade or family business…

I often thought that their father, Zebedee, would have been furious that a Rabbi called his sons to follow. But in fact he would have been overjoyed… proud as a peacock. He probably sent them with his blessings. “Go…be somebody and do something…”

The point is - the people that Jesus prefers to be on his team are the same people that God prefers - losers…

Question:Why do so many of the heroes in the Bible have serious flaws?

Answer:Because that’s all God has to work with.Allthe perfect people are in heaven. The only ones here in earth are people with serious weaknesses, and flaws, and mistakes.

That includes you and me too.

God works with flawed people, aka – sinners, because that’s all God has to work with in this world. We will be made perfect in heaven only by God’s grace. Until then, God continues to work through people - who fail and fall short in so many ways.

God picks the kind ofpeople that we would never pick... Consider these imperfect people who served on God’s team:

  • Noah was a drunk.
  • Abraham lied about his wife.
  • Sarah laughed at God.
  • Isaac wasa daydreamer.
  • Jacob was a liar.
  • Leah was ugly.
  • Moses was a murderer and stuttered.
  • Rahab was a prostitute.
  • Gideon was afraid.
  • Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
  • Eli failed as a father.
  • Jeremiah and Timothy were too young.
  • David was an adulterer and a murderer.
  • Solomon married foreign wives and turned to idolatry.
  • Elijah was suicidal.
  • Jonah ran away from God.
  • Peter denied Jesus three times.
  • The disciples fell asleep while praying.
  • Martha was worried about everything.
  • Paul argued with Barnabas and they went their separate ways.
  • James and John wanted special seats in Jesus’ kingdom.
  • All 12 of the disciples argued about who was the greatest.
  • Zacchaeus was too short.
  • Lazarus was dead.

When it comes to being on God’s team let me ask you this – Do you seriously think that God can’t use you?

By choosing flawed people with a bad past, a shaky present, and an uncertain future, God gets the thanks and the praise and the glory --as it should be. We can only accomplish amazing things by God’s amazing grace and by God’s amazing power at work through us.

We should get used to doing this when someone says we did a great job;we should point heavenward and say, “God gets the credit.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Saint Paulgives us some important things to consider when it comes understanding who we are and how God works through us...

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

There it is. When it comes to discipleship… aka following Jesus… aka fishing for people… this verse reminds us about three important things…

  1. The gospel is a treasure
  2. The treasure is hidden in clay jars
  3. The clay jars carry God’s power
  1. The gospel is a treasure.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the treasure of all treasures. Gospel means good news. We have this good news aboutJesus. That raises three questions:

First, what do you do with good news – you share it.

Second, what is this good news – it’s Jesus and what he has done for us and will continue to do for us.

Third, what does Jesus do for us – he makes forgiveness possible and he puts us in a right relationship with God and each other as forgiven sinners.

Jesus has chosen us to be on his team with a new identity and a new purpose… He makes it possible for God to be at work in us and through us. God treasures us. That’s the treasure found in the good news –Godis at work within us…

God loves us the way we are. We don’t have to do anything or change anythingabout us for God to love us. And yet - God loves us too much to leave us the way we are.

Which brings us to point #2

  1. The treasure is hidden in clay jars

Have you ever watched “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS?

That’s the show where people bring their knick-knacks, their family heirlooms, and things they found at a flea marketto an appraiser -- hoping to discover that that funny-looking ceramic clown turns out to have been made by some obscure Polish genius who lived for a while outside of Warsaw then moved to Buffalo, NY in the early1820s where he made only a few dozen of these very rare ceramic clowns. And you have one.

“How much did you pay for it?” The appraiser asks.

“Eighteen dollars.” She says.

“Well, Mrs. Jones, I have good news for you. At auction I would expect this ceramic clown to go for at least $45,000.”

The camera cuts to Mrs. Jones who looks like she’s about to faint. And all the viewers run to their attics to see if they might have one of those ceramic clowns stashed in a box somewhere.

Sometimes a vase turns out to be a “vahse” from the Ming Dynasty. Sometimes $18 becomes $45,000.Sometimes the greatest treasures come in ordinary pots.

In 1947 a shepherd found a clay jar containing ancient scrolls in a cave overlooking the Dead Sea. Since he could not decipher the scrolls, he had no idea what they said. Later more scrolls were discovered in the same cave and in caves nearby. The shepherd eventually sold three of the scrolls for approximately $30.

Only later was it determined that he had stumbled upon the greatest collection of biblical manuscripts ever found - the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those scrolls contained parts of every Old Testament book except Esther – all of them dated a thousand years earlier than any copy known at that time.

You never know what you might find in a clay pot. Sometimes the greatest treasures come in ordinary clay pots.

The word for “clay pots” that Paul uses in verse 7 in our Corinthian reading -- refers to ordinary earthenware. These clay pots were used by common ordinary people to store grain, hide valuables, or keep oil for their lamps. Paul is saying, “We are not like a vahse from the Ming dynasty. We are like cheap clay pots you can buy at Wal-Mart.”

Here are two things we know about clay plots:

  • They’re fragile.
  • They’re easily broken.

That’s us, folks. And it’s true of all of us all the time. We all have our limits whether we like to admit it or not. We can go and go and go but sooner or later, life catches up with us, and we are broken like everyone else.

  • We maylike to think we can handle anything. We can’t.
  • We may like to think we can go forever. We can’t.
  • We may like to think we can stand up to anything. We can’t.

Paul says -- we’re nothing but a bunch of ordinary clay pots. God formed the first human out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7), and we’re all made from the same dust - that same clay.

Earth to earth and dust to dust… When we die our bodies we will begin to decompose, returning back to the earth from which we came. No worries we get a new body in heaven.

In the meantime our true identity is this -we’re all just a bunch of cracked pots – I mean clay pots… No… truth is many of us are cracked pots. We’re not perfect…

Oddly enough this is where God “hides” the treasures of the gospel-in common, ordinary, fragile, clay pots. God hides the gospel treasure in ordinary everyday people like you and me.

Which brings us to point #3

  1. The clay pots carry God’s power

God blesses the world by “hiding” the gospel in “clay pots.” That doesn’t seem very impressive by our worldly standards. We wouldn’t do it that way. But God has a special purpose in mind.

God isn’t looking for successful people to be on God’s team. God is looking for faithful people so that God’s power might be reveal through them. A clay pot cannot produce any power on its own… but it can carry God’s power.

God is looking for people to carry a special kind of power in the world… A kind of power that:

  • unites people
  • tears down walls
  • restores broken relationships
  • rebuilds families
  • lifts up the downtrodden
  • healsbroken hearts
  • forgives the deepest sins
  • bringshope to the hopeless.

We can’t do those things on our own. We don’t have the power to do those things but God does and God can through us.

That’s why God has places the greatest treasures in us -- pouring God’s grace and love and mercy and forgiveness into us. That’s what we carry into this hurting and hostile world.

Those are the treasures of the gospel hidden within us to guide our actions and our attitudes. We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others.

God prefers losers who do God’s will. Amen.

God’s will is our topic for next week…