February 3, 2008 Message

"I’m Nobody, Who Are You?"
1 Corinthians 1: 26-31 and Matthew 5: 1-8

Have you ever noticed how sometimes people just don’t get it?

I went to Taco Bell last week and ordered a taco with minimum lettuce. The guy behind the counter said, “Sorry, we only have iceberg.”

Then later, I stopped at Staples and after I had signed the charge slip at the checkout, the clerk looked at the back of my Discover Card and told me she couldn’t complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she said so she could compare the signatures. So I signed the back of the card. Then she carefully compared the signatures. Luckily they matched.

Those things didn’t really happen to me, but they’re true none-the-less – which goes to show, not all people are the brightest in the world.

In 1 Corinthians 1: 26, the apostle Paul writes, “Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, and not many from high-society families.” How could Paul write to the Corinthians and to me at the same time? You see, I was never the smartest, never the best at anything. My family was probably a notch or two below middle class and not many people really listened to me. Paul is right on target when he reminds me who I am – someone really quite unimportant.

A day or two ago, I ran across a blog on the Internet entitled: “I’m Nobody, Who Are You? - Where nobodies gather, because somebodies don't like us and anybodies ignore us entirely.” It’s a place where people, I guess nobodies, can post their thoughts and opinions. I don’t think this is quite what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? Paul was writing about a different place, a community of faith (the church) where nobodies matter. And he wants us to know God chose us. Not because of who we were, or because of what we could do, but so we would know – so that everybody would know – whatever was done was God’s doing and not our own.

Finally Paul reminds us never to get a “big head” or think we’ve done more than we have when he says: “Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God." On that blog I was telling you about – the one for nobodies - you can order shirts and all sorts of stuff with the IAN (I Am Nobody) logo on it and proudly tell the world you’re a nobody. Surely that’s not what Paul had in mind! It isn’t about me, a nobody - it’s about God.

An important lesson we can learn from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is that the Church is a place where ‘nobodies’ are important, a place where they are actually ‘somebody.’ That makes perfect sense, right? Someone once said, “When people don't have a sense of belonging, they're lost," That is so true. What do you do if you’re not involved in something, if you’re out there by yourself all the time, if there’s no one around to talk to? You feel lost! You feel alone! But if these ‘nobodies’ Paul is writing to, feel connected to the whole - and that's what Church community does, or at least should do - they have a sense of belonging, which is what people need most. They now become somebody. After all, life is about meaning. People want to matter. And they want to know that what they do matters.

Aren’t all of us, in the church, nobodies? Jesus said you are the ones truly blessed: those of you knowing God is near when you’re are at the end of your rope; when you’ve lost things most dear; when you’re happy with who you are; when you hunger most for God; when you care about others; when you have your priorities straight; when you’re able to ‘get along’ and aren’t fighting all the time; and when you stick by God’s truth no matter what. That’s when you’re blessed! When the feeling of being a nobody is transformed into a feeling of being somebody.

Paul claims that it is not the wise or the powerful or the good people of this world who get it, but the simple, common folk who believe it (1:21). It is not those seeking signs or wisdom who know the way, but those who know that the sign of wisdom is a crucified and risen Christ – something that makes no sense at all to anyone but nobodies.

Never mind that your friends and neighbors, those outside the church, may think you’ve got it all wrong; that you’re foolish going to church and doing all that ‘church stuff’; that you’re wasting your time. What do they know. They’re concerned with all the wrong things – money and success. They think they know, but they don’t. What could you tell them, anyway – you’re a nobody?

Never mind. Paul argues… it is better this way. Better to confuse them and leave them speechless – these people who are so "wise." Better to confuse the "strong." Maybe then they will realize it has been God’s doing all along. God is at work in the church. Think about it. God work - if it is God’s work - is done by nobodies. That’s different!

The church is a place to come to for a change. It’s the wrong place to be if you want to be comfortable. Paul points out that Christ has given the Church a counter-intuitive strategy that turns conventional thinking on its head. It’s a plan that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. You want to be great? Then be the servant of others. You want to be first? Then agree to be last. Want to save your life? You first must lose it. Want to be strong? You must learn to be weak. You want to be wise? Be foolish.

This takes some thinking outside the box or thinking ‘bigger box.’ In other words, the Church is a place for creative connections. We are to be the Church of Bigger Box Thinkers. It’s necessary to broaden our understanding of God and God’s kingdom. In our study on Wednesday mornings, Bruce and Stan, in Taking Life To the Extreme, have challenged us to consider God as a circle rather than a dot. When in our thinking God becomes a circle rather than a dot, our box becomes so much larger, doesn’t it!

Sometimes that box, expanded to include others not quite like us, can seem somewhat radical.
On Larry King Live, a little over a year ago, Jay Bakker, son of fallen televangelists Jim Bakker, said: "I think we get caught in this idea of pleasing God rather than trusting God. And I think once you learn to trust God, it's a lot easier to please God."

Jay Bakker, who preaches at the Revolution Church - New York City, is a 30-year-old high school dropout with a ring in his eyebrow and a tattooed cross on his arm. He stresses acceptance and the unconditional love of Christ, a gospel uniquely suited to young adults like him - who seem so terribly fragile and unable to fit in. His hope is that someday everyone will belong, (Katherine Marsh in Rolling Stone magazine, September 16, 1999, 69-74)

Jay Bakker is quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying. "The Bible isn’t about 'Don't do this, don't do that.' God is saying, 'You guys are accepted, and you are loved.' God is saying, 'My hands are open'"

And at other times, that box, we’re asked to enlarge, may not be all that different from what we’re used to. A church in Oklahoma periodically sponsors an eight-week series of evening events called "Soup for the Soul." These evenings begin with a light supper of soup, bread and fruit, and after the meal there is a short devotional, fellowship and sharing. These programs provide the opportunity to invite friends, neighbors and coworkers who might enter into the congregational life in this informal way before participating in the more formal Sunday morning worship service. In addition, they give the church members and their visitors the opportunity to consider how their faith connects with their work, travel, interests, hobbies and family life (Christian Century, April 21-28, 1999, 458).

The church is a collection of nobodies, who open themselves to the work of God so others - smarter, wiser, and more powerful – might know it can only be God that makes such marvelous things happen. Ask God to make your boxes larger. Allow God to enlarge this church. Erase the dot that has limited your God and draw the largest circle ever.

Tell God, “I am nobody, who are you?” And then let God go to work!