DD: The Lowly Way
From 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
When Jesus was on earth, he didn’t hang out with the those that were considered the righteous in that day (the Pharisees, the Sadducees, among others.) but instead hung out with the despised — the tax collectors, the fisherman, the prostitutes, and other low-lifes. Some were even his disciples! Even when he was born, it was the dirty, smelly shepherds that visited him in the stable, not the high priest of the temple. Christ was here to do the work of his Father, so why did the Father “chose the lowly things” do to his work? Wouldn’t he have been more successful if he would have chosen the leaders of the day? Paul answers that question in 1 Corinthians 1:29: “so that no one may boast before him”. No one could say Peter, a former fisherman and a disciple that denied Christ three times, built the church on his own. No one could say that Paul, a murderer of some of the first Christians, decided to follow Jesus and preach the gospel on his own accord. No, those events could only come from God himself.
As Donald Miller writes in his excellent book, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality :
“I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man’s mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God.”
We American Christians tend to think we need to only read books from the Christian bookstore, listen only to Christian radio, not see movies rated PG-13 or higher, be friends only with other Christians, belong to the right political party, etc, etc. I’m not saying those things are bad, but are they bringing us closer to the heart of God? Do we do those things because we are convicted in doing them, or because “that’s what everyone else in the church is doing.” Are we so caught up in doing the “wise things” that they take us away from engaging God?
Jesus was not interested in doing the right thing from the world’s point of view — he was interested in doing things God’s way. The same goes for Peter and Paul. So what about us? Are we doing the things that our Father wants us to and that draws us closer to Him? Or are we just doing the religious things that everyone else is doing?