Extraordinary Ordinary - Part 9
July 24, 2022Today's message was given by Howard Haworth. A video of the message is here. "God makes the ordinary extraordinary." Today's focus was "Expecting Jesus." Click here for the Conversation Starter for the week that TimberCreek Church provided.
First, I think the Torah can amplify the importance of not waiting on miracles to shout God's name. One shouldn't really count on miracles for anything, especially in relation to believing in or promoting God. It is clear God has left enough ambiguity even in most of his miracles that we cannot be absolutely sure about them, are they really miracles. For instance, most of the plagues upon Egypt were toying with nature. Lots of frogs, hail, river turning to blood (or at least red), and the like. These could be explained by a wild swing of natural phenomena. Or, you could call it a miracle. Were the winds that parted the Red Sea just lucky coincidence or pure miracle? It's our choice today to make that call. When we see a beautiful sunset or a baby born, is it a natural consequence of matter and energy doing its thing, or a miracle. We have free will to make that call, in part due to the ambiguities God has set forth. Shout God's name anyway.
Another thing to note about miracles... It's pretty clear that the volume and intensity of miracles has fallen off since Biblical times. I think it's fair to say that there are no miracles of "Biblical proportions" these days. But this makes sense. The reference to the early Jews as "Children of Israel" was fairly accurate. In a religious sense, they were utterly children. Even in the sense of taking care of themselves, they were utterly children. They had been entirely taken care of with zero sense of self determination for 400 years. They had to grow up in the wilderness. And God had to teach them who He was. And it took great miracles to do that teaching, to get their attention, as it were. And as He was teaching them how great He was in the sense of power, he began teaching them how He wanted them to behave with respect to each other, beginning with the Ten Commandments. They were growing up, becoming adults. Today, we should be able to grow up on our own without the fireworks. We have everything we need, including instructions on how to behave. Just go do it.
Howard asked "Do you believe Jesus uses ordinary people?" My immediate reaction was, what other kind is there? It was a bit flippant, I know, but there is some truth to it. There are very few exceptional people by any standard you want to use. Out of the 7 billion or so, we're pretty much all ordinary.
On a little more serious note, it's quite clear that God uses ordinary people. You could even say less-than-ordinary in some cases. The Israelites themselves are the most dramatic example. Slaves for 400 years, they had been beaten to a pulp. In may ways, they were nearly worthless. Yet God took them out of Egypt to do His most important work - tell the world about Himself. How in the world could we ever claim to be less worthy than they to carry God's word?! So yes, God excels at using ordinary people.
Bonus
When delivering the Ten Commandments, God introduces Himself as the One who brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 20:2). Wouldn't you think it would have been more powerful to describe Himself as the Creator of the world? Here are a few reasons why "Liberator" may have been more impressive.
- It's more personal; this Liberator affected me
- Basing this description on a specific event rather than a purely conceptual notion of Creation more greatly establishes God's authority to demand rules of behavior
- Shows God cares about His Creation, not just created it
- Establishes a quid pro quo: I did this for you (including us today), specifically you, now you repay Me by doing this
- Provides a more direct reason for the Israelites to be grateful
- "I am the Lord your God" is too intellectual for a simple bunch of slaves; Liberator is much more concrete and easier to grasp
- Don't forget how bad it was; never romanticize where you came from
- A directive to us today to not romanticize where we came from
- It wasn't about geography, it was about being free
- With freedom comes responsibility; now that you're free, here are the rules (Ten Commandments) of personal responsibility to Me and to your fellow Man