Calling the Least and the Flawed

Rev. Franklin M. Ruff

N/A • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Acts 13:16–23

Calling

Imperfection of Man

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Introduction

You know it's Interesting when we see the type of people that God calls to do amazing things. Throughout the Bible, And even throughout history. We see People that are unnoticed, They seem unimportant or insignificant, And yet they go on to do things that are very significant. In February 09 a boy was born in the back woods of Kentucky. As he grew there was nothing outstanding or miraculous about this boy outside of the fact that he seemed to be a pretty good wrestler. It was assumed that he would grow up, maybe get married, have a family, and work hard making an honest living just like everyone else, but fate would have different plans for this boy. He had different plans for himself. He didn’t have a lot of money for formal education, so he borrowed and bought books and he educated himself. He got so good at this self-education that eventually he would become a lawyer. This young man didn’t go to any fancy college like Harvard or Yale or Princeton. He didn’t sit at the feet of great legal minds. This young man who was born into poverty in Kentucky was now a self-taught lawyer. Eventually the young man would set his sights on political office. He would run for a local office. He had no money, no influence, and no powerful friends to help him in his campaign, and he would lose. He was not deterred by the lost. He did not give up he ran again and this time he won. Sometime later the young man had his sights set on higher office, national office. He would run for the House of Representatives, and he would lose. Two years later he would run again and this time he would win. Looking at this young man’s life no one could have seen the impact that he would have on his country. He was just a boy born to a poor family in Kentucky. There was nothing special, or extraordinary about him, but t God doesn’t need special people, he doesn’t need what we would see as extraordinary. Quite often God will call the least. He will call the flawed to do great things. TToday we are going to look at three people within the Bible that God called to do very important work. We are going to see how God calls the least and how God calls the flawed to do work that is very important. We will discuss how God called each of us with our flaws and imperfections to make a difference in his kingdom.

Gideon

After the death of Joshua Israel was led by different judges. During this time Israel is not a unified nation at best you could call it a loose confederation of different tribes. Each of the tribes had their elders, and the tribes pursued different goals. They did not act as one and over time they would fall away from God. When they would do this God would remove his hand of protection from them and allow for foreign powers to persecute them. Time and time again the pattern was the same, Israel would follow God, then they would fall away from God, then they would be oppressed by a foreign power, then they would call out to God, and he would send the judge to rescue them. Than the cycle would repeat. The people would follow God, fall away, be oppressed, call out to God, a rescuer would be sent. During a period when the people fell away from God a group called the Midianites came and attacked Israel. They stole the crops and livestock and impoverish the people of Israel. When this happened God sent a prophet to the people to remind them of all that he had done for them. He reminded them how he had brought them out of Egypt and how he had drove the people out of the land that they now lived in. He reminded them that they had not listened to his instruction, but he was going to send someone to rescue them. We see what God’s plan was in the book of Judges chapter 6 starting at verse 11.

Judges 6:11-16

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Him14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Gideon couldn’t understand why the angel would come to him and say that he was the one that would save Israel, after all. He was hiding on the threshing floor trying to get a little bit of wheat so that he and his family wouldn’t starve. I can imagine when the angel addressed Gideon as a mighty warrior, Gideon looking around to see who this angel was talking to. Gideon wonders out loud that if God is truly with them then why are all of these calamities befalling them. I’m pretty sure over the last few years there have been many of us that have felt much the same way. If God is with me then why is all of this stuff happening to me. As Gideon questions the angel he is told that he will be the one to save Israel from their current situation. Once again, I can imagine Gideon looking around and wondering who this angel is talking to because he cannot be talking to him. Gideon reminds the angel that he comes from the weakest clan in Manasseh and he says that he is the least in his family. In other words, he considered himself to be the most unqualified to go forth and save Israel. Fortunately for him the only qualification that is needed when God calls is the fact that God called you. Sometimes God calls the least. Gideon may have been the least of his clan, but he was exactly what God wanted. He would be obedient to God’s call and he would go forth and indeed he would free his people from the Midianites.

Saul

1 Samuel 9:21

Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”

Like Gideon Saul cannot understand why God would choose him. Saul is a Benjamite, and the tribe of Benjamin had been in conflict with several other tribes throughout its history. The tribe did not have a good reputation with the rest of the tribes of Israel. Benjamin was the smallest tribe according to Saul and Saul’s clan was the least in the tribe of Benjamin, but God sometimes calls the least. God also calls the flawed. All of us are flawed but in some cases those flaws become something that all can see. Saul begins his rule as King with humility. He knows that he comes from humble background, and he does not feel that he deserves the great honor in which he is been given,. The humble man who took the throne of Israel, became arrogant, self-centered, and most importantly of all he became disobedient to the will of God. It is because of this disobedience that God striped the throne of Israel from Saul and give it to another. Once again, we will see how God calls the least and how he calls the flawed

David

David was the least of his brothers. He was the youngest and although he was handsome there wasn’t anything that really stood out about him, yet he would be the one that God called to replace Saul as the king of Israel. Beyond being the least , David was very flawed. First off David was not a very good father. When his son Amnon raped his half-sister David did not discipline him. This would lead to his other son Absalom murdering Amnon and attempting to overthrow him. David would sleep with Bathsheba the wife of Uriah one of his mighty men. Bathsheba became pregnant and David tried to hide the pregnancy by attempting to convince Uriah to go home and have sex with his wife, but Uriah being an honorable man refused to go home to his wife while the armies of Israel were in the field. David attempted to get Uriah drunk and then send him home to his wife. This also failed, so eventually David would have Uriah killed. To add insult to injury when David sends Uriah back to the armies of Israel Uriah is carrying the letter that orders his death. Now there were consequences for all of these transgressions. The baby that that Bathsheba became pregnant with died. Absalom David’s very own son attempted to overthrow him and the great King spent his last days in discomfort. Yet this extremely flawed individual is the one that God called to be king. Why? Lets look a portion of today text. Lets look at versus 21 and 22

21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

The reason God called David is because David was a man after his own heart. He knew that David would do what God asked of him. Even with all of his flaws God still called David.

When you look at your life you may see someone who is flawed. Actually if you’re honest when you look at your life you will see someone who is flawed, you may look at your background and perhaps you come from humble beginnings and perhaps you still live in a humble way. You don’t see the value that God sees in you may be among the least, but God calls the least. Yes you do have flaws, but God calls the flawed.

Israel

Perhaps the best example given to us of God calling the least and the flawed would-be God’s call of Israel. When you look at the world that existed during the time of the Old Testament God many choices for his chosen people. Looking at it from the outside the people of Israel do not seem to be the best choice by far. You have to mighty Philistines; you had the nation of Egypt. You had the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians, and the Persians. There were many nations that were larger and more powerful than this ragtag family descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So why does God choose Israel. I believe he chooses Israel precisely because they are the least. They’re not the biggest nation. They’re not the strongest nation. Then at the most powerful nation. In fact, they are not truly a nation currently they are an extended family. Because God chose them to this very day God gets the glory. Israel could not say that it was their strength or their power or their influence that brought them out of Egypt. It was God. Israel could not say that they were so mighty that they were able to cross the Jordan and destroy the nations on the other side of the Jordan without God. And I would say if you looked at the history of the people of Israel even to this day through persecution after persecution. Throughout Holocaust and through being attacked and maligned to this very day the people have endured. The nation of Israel is in a place in the world where they are surrounded by people who do not want them to exist, yet they endure. How is this possible? It is possible because of God. God calls the least. God calls the flawed.

Your Call is Important

You may say I’m not like Saul or David God is not going to call me to be this great leader. You may say I’m not like Gideon God is not going to call me to save the nation, and chances are you’re right but know this whatever God called you to do it is important. Your call whatever it is it’s important.

Wayne was born on the east side of Detroit. It was the mid 20th century and it was a turbulent time in the city Lane was just one more black child born into a pretty large family. There was no reason to think that he was going to go and do anything special. In his teen years he almost died when he developed diabetes. With the smart child so he would eventually go off to the University of Michigan where he would graduate. He was gifted musically so he will eventually take that love of music and go into teaching. He will also coach women. Wayne would die young only 52 years old. Most of the world would not even note his passing, but in his time on this earth he would touch many lives. He would be a husband, father, mentor, a friend, a coach, and the teacher. He had a positive effect on the lives of many men and women that are alive today. He touched hearts, he inspired minds, he helped to turn around some who were going in the wrong direction. There are men and women in this world today that at least in part all Wayne a debt of gratitude. I am one of those people to me Wayne Quincy Owens was a father figure in fact other than my grandfather was the only father have really knew. None of you knew him but the fact is to know me is to know him because a great deal of who I am because of him. If you would have talked to Wayne my dad he would’ve told you that he felt that teaching was his calling, coaching was his calling, music was his calling. Was he a flawed man of course because we all are but God calls the flawed and he answered that call. When God calls you answer, he may not be calling you to be the next great world leader. You may not be calling you to be the next Savior of a community, they might be calling you to touch the life of a brother, have a sister, have a child within your community. He may be calling you to step in as a parental figure or big brother, or big sister to someone just when they need it. He may be calling you to be an example to that coworker of what it means to be a Christian your. Your call whatever it is, it’s important

Conclusion

Let’s finish today where we began with a young child born 09. A child born into poverty who would become a self-educated lawyer. A man who would run for state office and lose, but when he would run again, he would win. A man would run for the House of Representatives and lose but who would run again and win. He was flawed as all of us are. At times he suffered from depression, he was a people pleaser and sometimes this had disastrous results, and though he was a great leader he didn’t make some questionable decisions. Yes, he was flawed but when called he answered. This man from humble beginnings would go on to become the leader of our nation. He would lead it during the most turbulent time of our nation’s history. He will lead the nation through victory in the Civil War. He would lead the nation through the emancipation of slaves, he would answer the call and eventually he would be killed. Of course, this child born into poverty in Kentucky in 09 was Abraham Lincoln. 09 just so happens to be 1809. At the time of his birth, he might have been considered to be among the least, and a look at his life tells us that he was flawed, but sometimes God cause the least. God cause the flawed my brother, my sister answer the call.

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