ORDINARY PEOPLE

Dr. Richard J. Henderson July 19, 2009

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II Samuel 7:1-14a
Mark 6:30-44

Introduction

This past season Sheila and I enjoyed watching "The Biggest Loser." We started watching it because two of the participants were people who live in South Lyon. Ron and Mike Morelli are a father and son team who both lost enormous amounts of weight.

Mike came in second and he lost more weight than he weighed when the program was over. He started out at over 400 pounds and ended up weighing about 185. He lost well over 200 pounds in the nine months of the program!

We watched it every week, taping it on the evenings we weren't available. Part of the interest in this program is that it involves ordinary people like you and me doing extraordinary things. They aren't actors; they aren't professionals; they are everyday people who have taken on a great challenge. I think the fact that the program deals with ordinary people is what makes it so fascinating.

I

When Jesus chose his disciples, he didn't go to the best schools or contact the most accomplished scholars of his day. He didn't go to the most successful clergy of his time; he didn't call on the rabbis who had the biggest synagogues or the ones who were drawing the greatest crowds. Jesus didn't contact the experts on church growth or church organization. He didn't talk to the most successful evangelists of his day.

What did he do? He talked to a few fishermen, and they followed him. He called on a tax collector, who most likely had a tainted reputation. He went to ordinary people with ordinary jobs and ordinary lives and asked them to come with him. He didn't call on the elite of society but regular people like you and me. They had no credentials, no framed diplomas hanging in their offices - they didn't even have offices!

Jesus didn't call the best and the brightest, he called regular people. He simply said, "Come, follow me." And they left what they were doing and went with him. In our scripture this morning the disciples trusted Jesus enough to go ahead and try to feed 5,000 people with a couple of fish and few loaves of bread.

II

Actually, Jesus didn't have too much contact with the religious professionals of his day. You remember that as a young boy he stayed behind on a trip and spent a lot of time in the temple speaking with the leaders. They were astounded at his understanding and at the answers he gave.

But after that we don't see Jesus interacting much with the religious leaders, and when he does, it is almost never positive. Of course, at the end it's the religious professionals who are involved with getting him arrested and then crucified. While ordinary people pour out to hear him and learn from him, the religious leaders are plotting against him.

III

How different that is from our thinking today. We think if you are really serious about being Christian, you should pack up and head off to seminary to learn more about the Bible, theology, and the history of the church. If you take your faith seriously you probably should become a religious professional.

That's one option, of course, and an honorable one, but Jesus didn't send his disciples off to seminary before they could go with him. Jesus seems to have had a sense that the people who followed him had enough of what they needed in them and he would provide on-the-job training. They didn't need a diploma from seminary and they didn't need a certificate of ordination in order to be faithful disciples and people working for the Kingdom of God.

I can tell you as someone who has been a religious professional for more than 30 years that hardly a week goes by that I don't learn something about being a Christian from a member of the church. Sometimes it is about the Bible or theology or ethics, but mostly it is about how to live a genuine Christian life. I often wish I had the courage, the compassion, and the ability to demonstrate my faith that I see in the ordinary, faithful people of the church.

Jesus relies on regular people like you to bring about his reign in the world. Jesus calls ordinary people to live their lives faithfully and tell the whole world what they believe, even if they never say a word. God has given you specific gifts; God calls you to use those gifts in accomplishing God's will. The gifts are different for each one of us, but the call to use them is the same for all of us.

IV

Don't ever surrender your Christian ministry to a religious professional. You are a baptized Christian who has been called to serve God. You can pray as effectively as any pastor. You can visit the lonely and grieving as well as anyone. You can stop in a hospital room and lift a person's spirits without being ordained. You can demonstrate your faith everyday more effectively than clergy. You get credit for being good; clergy have to be good for nothing!

Studies have shown that if a layperson calls or visits a first time visitor after they have attended a new church, it is three times more effective than if the pastor calls. People figure the pastor is paid to do that kind of work, but if a layperson calls, they must really care about their church.

One thing that bothers me is when people always ask the pastor to pray at meetings or meals. All Christians can pray. I was very pleased when we were invited to a friend's home a few days ago. Before we ate the father said the prayer. Maybe people think that a pastor will be offended if he or she isn't asked to pray; to me it is a sign that I am doing my job - encouraging people to practice their ministry.

Don't give up your Christian ministry because you aren't ordained. Don't feel that your ministry is less important. If you read the New Testament you might find that it is more important than a religious professional's. And really, there isn't any certification you can get beyond what Jesus' disciples had - they heard Jesus say "follow me," and they went with him.

V

Like the disciples we will fail, say the wrong thing, mess up. I wonder if Jesus didn't wince a little when, in our scripture today, the disciples report to him "all that they have done and taught." I mean, so much of the time they say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, or Jesus gives them pure, brilliant truth and they totally misunderstand what he's saying.

Sometimes they fall short because they just don't get it, sometimes it's because of fear and lack of courage. Think about it: both Peter (often considered the finest of the disciples) and Judas (usually considered the worst) did the same thing - they betrayed their Lord. Judas betrayed Jesus by handing him over; Peter betrayed him by denying he even knew Jesus. Both disciples sold him out.

The difference between them is that Peter didn't give up. He had the courage to face his Lord after that betrayal and ask for forgiveness. He went on to be the rock on which the church is built. Judas gave up, and he went and hung himself.

There's a reason why we have a Prayer of Confession each week in worship. All of us will make mistakes - some minute, some monumental - and we all need to be forgiven.

I like what William Willimon said: "This bumbling ineptitude, this eternal amateurism, is a mystery at the heart of the gospel. This is the way God works. Jesus offers salvation, redemption, and participation in the Reign of God to a bunch of amateurs."

Sometimes we are amateurs when we are called to do things that seem to be beyond us.

Conclusion

Several years ago I attended a funeral for a man I didn't know very well. The funeral service was led by a man who was a good friend of his. In the middle of the funeral the leader said that the deceased man had requested that a solo be sung of his favorite religious song be sung at his funeral. The leader said he had contacted several church members who had wonderful voices to see if they could sing at the funeral. It turned out that none of them could. The leader had contacted everybody he knew who could sing, but no one was available.

So the leader, out of respect for his friend's wish, said that even though he did not have a good voice, he would sing the song himself. He was very humble about it. So he sang the song.

He often didn't hit the right notes; he was terribly flat much of the time; the performance was dreadful. It was the most awful song you ever heard.

It was the most beautiful gift you ever saw.

Amen

1. William Willimon, Pulpit Resource, Vol. 37 no. 3 (Inver Grove Heights MN: Logos Productions Inc. 2009) p 15.

© Richard J. Henderson 2009