If someone you had never met before asked you to describe yourself, what would you say?  Maybe you tell them you were born into a royal family.  Or perhaps that you were born to the wealthiest family in the country?  Would you tell them about your many advanced degrees?  Would you tell them about the awards you have received?  Would you tell them about your great achievements that are already in the history books?

          Well, maybe not.  Let’s face it.  Most of us were not born to royalty or wealth; most of us have not achieved greatness in the eyes of the world.  We’re just ordinary people.  We’ve done a few things that we are proud of, sure.  But if we stack ourselves up next to the mighty people of the world, we know that we don’t seem to be all that important.

          We’re ordinary.  Not terribly bad, most of us, but certainly not very notable, either.  We’re plain folks.

          But here is the amazing thing.  Throughout history, God has chosen to use plain ordinary people like us, and he has entrusted the truth about himself to us.

          The more you think about it, the more incredible that is.  Have you ever had an important message you wanted to convey to someone, but you couldn’t speak to them yourself?  Wouldn’t you want the most trustworthy, intelligent person you could find to deliver your message?

          The amazing thing about God is that he doesn’t always do it that way.  More often than not, the people he has chosen to deliver his message have been pretty ordinary folks—people just like us.

          Remember Jesus’ disciples?  Mark tells us about Jesus calling the disciples in Mark 3.  It says,

 ¹³Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons. ¹⁶These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter) ¹⁷James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder) ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

          These twelve men accompanied Jesus during his three years of ministry.  Jesus did not go to the finest schools to pick great scholars to follow him, even though there were fine schools back then.  He did not go to the wealthiest families to choose their sons to follow him, even though there certainly were wealthy families.  He chose very ordinary men.

          We probably know the most about Simon, who Jesus called Peter.  Peter eventually became the leader of the church.  But throughout the gospels when we read about Peter, at least half of the time Peter is bungling something or the other.  Probably Peter is best remembered for the story of his denial of Jesus on the night Jesus was arrested and tried.  Peter is famous for speaking first and thinking later.

          Then there were James and John, the sons of Zebedee.  Jesus called them the sons of thunder, most likely because of their fiery tempers. 

          There was Thomas, who we remember as “doubting Thomas,” because he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he had seen Jesus himself, and felt the nail prints in his hands and felt the wound in his side. 

          Another of the best known of the disciples was certainly Judas, most remembered because he betrayed Jesus.

          We know a little bit about each of the rest of the twelve, but really, not very much.  What we do know is that they were all very ordinary people.

          But these were the ordinary people that Jesus called to follow him and to help spread the gospel to others.

          Jesus has continued to call ordinary people to be his followers down through the history of the church, and it is still true today.  Certainly there have been followers of Jesus Christ who were important people, for one reason or another, in the eyes of the world.  But for the most part, those who have followed Christ are ordinary people, just like you and me.

          I love the way the apostle Paul expresses this in I Corinthians.  He says,

 ²⁶Brothers, [and we know he also meant ‘sisters’ when he said this] 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. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰It 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. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

          God is simply not impressed with our human credentials. Paul himself probably had more human reason to boast than most.  He was well educated and he probably came from a family of some wealth.  If you have read his letters in the Bible, you know that he had a brilliant mind.  But Paul knew that none of that mattered in God’s eyes.  

          As Paul says, “It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”  Our righteousness, holiness and redemption all come from God, so there is no reason for us to boast except about the greatness of God.

          When Paul says “as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord, he is probably quoting from Jeremiah 9:24-25.  Jeremiah describes God’s position this way:

 ²³ This is what the LORD says:
       "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
       or the strong man boast of his strength
       or the rich man boast of his riches,

 ²⁴ but let him who boasts boast about this:
       that he understands and knows me,
       that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
       justice and righteousness on earth,
       for in these I delight,"
       declares the LORD.

          We, in ourselves, may never amount to a whole lot in the eyes of this world.  The important thing is that we do amount to something in God’s eyes.  Through Jesus, God demonstrates his love for us, and if God loves us, we are indeed valuable.

          Jesus takes us, exactly as we are—regardless of our very ordinary circumstances—and invites us to be part of his family.  We don’t need to be highly educated or wealthy or important or anything else—we only need to be willing to accept the gift he gives to us.  That’s what it means to be humble—it is to accept that we come to God, not on our own merits, but because of Jesus’ gift to us.

          Jesus called those twelve very ordinary men and made them his disciples.  Then he allowed them to follow him and listen to his teaching and to grow in their understanding of God’s ways.  Of course they didn’t always get it straight, and they weren’t always the best followers.  But with the exception of Judas, who turned his back on Jesus, the disciples grew in their understanding of God and in their maturity.

          We are also called to grow in our knowledge of God and become mature Christians.  We may not be mature important people when we come to Christ, but we are called to grow in our maturity as Christians.

          Have you stopped lately and asked yourself how you are doing in your Christian walk?  Are you becoming more like Jesus?

          What do you think it means to be like Jesus?  Earlier, Joel read from I Timothy about what is expected of someone who wants to be a leader in the church.  These are good things for all of us to aspire to.

          How do we become more like Jesus?  We need to know him, and in order to know him, we need to spend time reading the Bible and praying—and simply being in God’s presence.

          Last week I received this story from John Mendenhall, and I want to share it with you.  It gives us some thoughts about what it might be to be like Jesus.

            “A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.
          ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.
          He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.
          The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.
          The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
          When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
          As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister..." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.  “Mister,” she said, "Are you Jesus?"
          He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"

          Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.
          If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
          You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.”

          This beautiful story demonstrates the fact that we who know Jesus are his representatives—either for good or for bad—in the world.  Our neighbors do not see Jesus, but they sure do see us.  What we do or say, day in and day out, tells the world who Jesus is in our lives.  The way we live our lives matters, because the world is watching to see who Jesus really is.

          How do we become more like Jesus?  It’s simple.  We must spend time in his presence, every day.  If we claim to be his disciples, we need to spend time getting to know him, day in and day out.

Prayer:

          Lord, you have called us to be your people.  Not because we are good or smart or wealthy or important, but simply because you love us.

          God, we know we so often fall short in the way we live our lives.  Most of the time, we are not very much like you, Jesus.  As disciples, we know we must often be a big disappointment to you.

          Lord God, we ask you to forgive us for our selfishness, for our greediness, for our hatred towards our fellow humans.  Lord, we come to you with sorrow in our hearts over our own sinfulness.  Forgive us, and teach us to walk in your ways.

          Help us to grow in our love for you and our love for one another.  Remind us daily that we are the hands and feet of Jesus in this world.  May our lives lift up your name in this dark world.  May our lights so shine that people will see our goodness and glorify you, our Father in heaven.

          Amen