Home | Site Map | Contact Us | Feeds

God Can Use A Character Like You

            People come in all shapes and sizes, with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  But basically we can lump everyone into two categories – those who are too “up” and those who are too “down,” those who think life is a bowl of cherries and those who think life’s cherry bowl is mostly pits, the over-inflated and the deflated.  Which are you, and how do we hit the happy middle?  How do we find a balance between the two extremes?

            We could roll along in life just trying to make it through each day with as little pain as possible and then after several decades slide under the sod to push up daisies.  But God did not put us on earth to soak up as many goodies as possible and then silently shuffle off this mortal coil.  He gave us purpose and focus and a reason to get up in the morning.  When Jesus withdrew his visible presence, he wanted to touch people’s lives so they can live with him forever, but he determined to do that through other people.  So, God has a purpose for a person like you.  First and foremost he wants you to know what a thrill it is to have a close connection with him.  But then, he also wants to use you to make that happen for others, and the best way to do that is to find the balance between the two extremes of being too “up” or too “down.”  We learn that from the characters in the first lesson today from the book of Numbers, characters who help us realize that God Can Use A Character Like You.

Moses

            There was a young man – you know him very well – who was fairly full of himself.  He had been an adopted child, and his adoptive family had big bucks.  It’s not that he forgot his biological roots, but he didn’t want to be laying bricks when he could sit on gold bars.  He was really “up,” until one day when it all came crashing down.  He was going to stop an evil taskmaster from beating up a common laborer.  He checked around to make sure the coast was clear, grabbed a shovel, and conked the foreman over the head.  The guy died.  He buried the body in the sand and hightailed it out of there.  But someone had seen what happened and ratted him out.  When the authorities came looking for him, he slipped out of town, in fact, out of the country.  So there he was, a murder rap hanging over his head, all alone except for the sheep he had to tend, a far cry from the pomp and pleasures of the Egyptian royal court.  He tried to forge a new life, trying to live in anonymity, but his conscience bothered him every day.  “What a mess!  How can God ever forgive me, much less use me?”

            Moses was quite a character.  He had been way “up.”  Now he was way “down.”  But then God came calling.  At first, his weaknesses and fears bubbled to the surface like boils on a leper.  “Lord, are you going to burn me with a fire-flame?  If not, why are you asking a rat like me to lead your people?  The people probably won’t listen to me.  Besides, I’d rather be covered in honey and planted by a nest of fire ants than do any public speaking.”  But God pulled him out.  In fact, that’s what Moses’ name means – pulled out.  He was pulled out of a basket in the Nile by the princess of Egypt and raised in the royal court.  When he got himself in trouble, God pulled him out of Egypt to teach him humility and patience.  God then pulled him out of seclusion and put him to work.  He had every type of weakness we do, but God still used him to proclaim his message to people.  Now at the end of his career Moses was ready to pass the baton.  He said to the LORD, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’S people will not be like sheep without a shepherd”.  How could God use a character like Moses?  God can and God does use all kinds of sinners.

            There are some assembled here today who know what it means to get knocked down a peg or two.  You had big plans.  You had big dreams.  But they never came true.  Or you were young and innocent, and people who should have known better, people who had positions of authority, overstepped their bounds and pushed you down, made you feel like scum, drained you of any last bits of self-esteem, and left you empty and alone.

            Guess what?  God Can Use A Character Like You.  If you’ve been knocked down a peg or two, if you’ve been taken advantage of unjustly, if you’ve been “down,” you have a heart for others whom you see sliding down that slope like an out-of-control skier flailing past you on the way down the mountain side, hurtling toward a crash, people who end up with broken dreams and a broken heart.  You are just the one God wants to use to sympathize and empathize, to say, “I’ve been there, but like Moses God pulled me up.  He reached down – no, better – he actually came down to earth, joined himself to my pain, took my pain and yours on himself, and guaranteed that whatever suffering, whatever lowering, we go through it is never, never because God is out to get us but because God wants to demonstrate his tender love in pulling us up and holding us in the safety of his palms so that we know beyond all doubt that he is the God of love.”  You see, God Can Use A Character Like You, using you to pull someone else up to bask in God’s love.

Eleazar

            There was a young boy – most of you have not heard of him – who was one of those quiet kids.  Didn’t say much.  Just watched.  And mostly he loved watching his dad.  Dad was a real hero in his eyes.  Dad could do almost anything.  I suppose you and I would say that too if we had a dad who could toss his walking stick on the ground, and it turned into a snake, or who stretched out his hand over the Nile River and made frogs jump out all over the bad guys, or who planted his walking stick in the ground and overnight it blossomed and produced almonds.  When the time came to pass the torch to the next generation, he didn’t feel up to the task.  He never pictured himself as much of a church worker.  He felt rather uncomfortable talking about God and religion with others, thinking, “That’s what guys like my dad and my brothers were trained to do.  I don’t think I can do that.  I never thought about serving God.  Who am I?  I don’t have my dad’s brains or ability.”

            Eleazar was an interesting character.  Yet as timid as he was and as unsure of himself as he was, God came and helped him.  In fact, that’s what his name means – God has helped.  God called him into service and equipped him with just the right amount of courage and gifts to carry out his job as priest in Israel.  He had every type of weakness we do, but God still used him, primarily to demonstrate God’s sacrificial love for his people but also to commission Moses’ successor.  Moses took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly.  Then [Eleazar] laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.  How could God use a character like Eleazar?  God can and God does use all kinds of sinners.

            There are some assembled here today who know what it means to feel like an average Joe or Jane, who know what it’s like to lack confidence and to wonder if they can fill the shoes of a parent or predecessor, who are downright scared of responsibility, much less having to talk to someone else about religion.

            Guess what?  God Can Use A Character Like You.  If you think you don’t know enough about the Bible, you can learn more.  If you think you don’t have the gifts, just wait.  God will help.  If you are scared, God will help you overcome fears.  You are just the one God wants to use to help others who are scared, to say, “I’ve been there, but like Eleazar God helped me.  He reached down – no, better – he actually came down to earth, not to be served but to serve so that we can serve others.” You see, God Can Use A Character Like You, using you to help someone else become empowered to be a messenger for Jesus.

Joshua

            There was a young man – you know him fairly well – who began service in the military at a young age.  He was a private in the Israelite infantry when he was chosen for a special black ops job.  “Sneak behind enemy lines and scout out their positions, their weaponry, and their terrain.”  He and his buddy set out with ten others in the squadron.  All came back in one piece, but those ten others disagreed with his buddy’s report and swayed the entire nation to tell God, “We don’t like following your orders any more.  You can take a hike.”  God responded, “No, you’re going to take a hike – for forty years – and every adult is going to die except Joshua and his buddy.  That must have made Joshua second guess himself.  “Maybe I didn’t speak up enough to back up my buddy.”  But sure enough, forty years passed, and now Moses was tapping him on the shoulder to take over leadership of the entire nation!

            Joshua was an interesting character.  Yet as much as his knees must have been knocking together, God saved him.  In fact, that’s what his name means – the Lord is the Savior.  “If God can forgive all my sins and save me from going to hell, then he can save me from my fears and use me in his service.  I’m going to lead these people in such a way that they know that God saved them, too.”  He had every type of weakness we do, but that “spirit” in him, his heart of faith in the Savior, came as a gift from God.  The LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him … Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him … At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in”.  How could God use a character like Joshua?  God can and God does use all kinds of sinners.

            All of us assembled here need rescue from something.  Some days we need rescue from pride that puffs us up.  Some days we need rescue from fears that drag us low.  Every day we need rescue from sin that dirties our thoughts and activities no matter how hard we try to be good.

            Guess what?  God can use characters like us.  When sin drags us down, we turn it over to Jesus and watch him bleed out so our sins go away from God’s sight.  He saved us from the consequences of our sin so we stand precious before God.  Because he did, we are just the ones God wants to use to save others, to say, “I’ve been there, but like Joshua God saved me.  He reached down – no, better – he actually came down to earth, to give up his life as a ransom payment for all of our sins, and if he did that for all, then he did that for me and for everyone I encounter in my life.”  You see, God Can Use A Character Like You, using you to save someone else from the flames of hell.

            Actually, there aren’t just two kinds of people.  There are three.  Those who are too “up,” those who are too “down,” and those who have found the balance in between.  Which kind of person are you?  You know, of course, that there can be some days when we’re all three.  You wake up feeling great, on top of the world.  Then you stub your toe on the way to the kitchen, you clip the car’s side-view mirror on the garage door frame while backing out, and your boss tells you that the project you just finished has to be redone.  But then a passage you read recently comes to mind, reminding you of the big canvass of your life which God has painted with you enjoying one foot already in heaven, or you recall what God did for Moses and Eleazar and Joshua.  He sent his Son to be the ultimate Prophet for a prophet like Moses, to be the ultimate Priest for a priest like Eleazar, and to be the ultimate King for a leader like Joshua.  Then someone asks you later that day, “How is possible for you to keep such a balance in life and cope with all the ups and downs?” and you tell that person how God pulls us up like Moses and helps us like Eleazar and saves us like Joshua, and right there God has used a character like you.  Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on June 8, 2008

Services

Sundays 7:45, 9:00 & 10:30 am

Mondays 6:30 pm

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

Home | Site Map | Contact Us | Feeds