5th Sunday After Epiphany

Unlikely Preachers

Using the Ordinary to do the Extraordinary

We are full of excuses when faced with a challenging situation. Forget homework at home. Forget to mail a payment. Miss an important appointment.

One in five admit to making up fake excuses to explain their tardiness. Hiring managers provided the following 10 examples of the most unusual excuses employees offered for arriving late to work:

1. I dreamed that I was fired, so I didn't bother to get out of bed.

2. I had to take my cat to the dentist.

3. I went all the way to the office and realized I was still in my pajamas and had to go home to change.

4. I saw that you weren't in the office, so I went out looking for you.

5. I couldn't find the right tie, so I had to wait for the stores to open so I could buy one.

6. My son tried to flush our ferret down the toilet and I needed to tend to the ferret.

7. I ran over a goat.

8. I stopped for a bagel sandwich, the store was robbed and the police required everyone to stay for questioning.

9. A bee flew in my car and attacked me and I had to pull over.

10. I spilled coffee on my pants and went home to change.

We have met some of the excuse bearers in the Word today. Unlikely preachers. Unlikely leaders. They would of failed any call committees test. Certainly the bishop would see them as unfit for ministry. Moses wants to shift the work to Aaron who has better public speaking skills. Isaiah fears his own sins have stained him from being pure to proclaim the word of grace and peace. Peter stands in awe of the glory of God as it reveals his own humanness. Paul realizes that he is the least of all apostles, the last person anyone would expect to be a Christ bearer to others. Yet God works through all these men to bring about real change. Real transformation. The proof as they say is in the pudding. The proof that God is active and real comes out in how their lives mirror the Gospel itself. The revelation of God's pure light and grace come down in the ordinary revealing the extraordinary.

Moses

(Exodus 4)

¹⁰But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” ¹¹Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹²Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” ¹³But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” ¹⁴Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. ¹⁵You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. ¹⁷Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

Isaiah

(Isaiah 6)

⁵And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” ⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

Peter

(Luke 5)

And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Paul

(1 Corinthians)

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Applying the Word

Hearing the Call to Be Christ Bearers in and for the World

1. Hearing the call to preach good news begins with learning, knowing, and growing in the Word.
1. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.
2. Jesus teaches then seeks a way to practically apply the Word to daily life.
   
3. A friend was in front of me coming out of church one day, and the preacher was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands. He grabbed my friend by the hand and pulled him aside.
   
   The Pastor said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!"
   
   My friend replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor."
   
   Pastor questioned, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?"
   
   He whispered back, "I'm in the secret service.
4. How important it is to hear the Word weekly in worship, to participate in the life of this faith community, and to watch how God uses us to do the work of ministry in the here and now.
5. 5Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ²through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. ³For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures
6. Remember the good news - see how important then this weekly encounter with the Word is. That you and I may hold firmly to the message - "that Christ died for our sins in accordance to the scriptures."
2. Hearing the call to bear the Word begins with knowing who and whose we are.
1. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
2. A story about Josh McDowell (Evangelist and Writer) One day I was in Newport Beach, California riding on a motorscooter with a friend. We were zipping along having a great time, laughing, when two women pulled up beside us in a brand new Continental (that's a Newport Beach Chevy). After staring at us for about three blocks the woman on the passenger side rolled down her window and yelled, "What right do you have to be so happy?" Well, I couldn't see anything wrong with being happy. I love to laugh. What's wrong with wanting to be one of the happiest individuals in the whole world? Not only did I want to be happy and have meaning and purpose in life, but I also wanted to be free. See, most people know what they ought to do, but they don't have the capacity, the strength, to do it. They're not free. They're in bondage. To me, freedom is having the capacity to do what you know you ought to do.
3. Peter was aware of his own human nature. Often times I have said myself - 'Who am Lord but a man of unclean lips, a sinner - what right do I have to proclaim your Holy Word? I am the least of the apostles. Go away from me Lord I am a sinful man."
4. We proclaim - others believe.
5. Hearing and believing go hand in hand.
6. They were amazed!
3. Hearing the call and answering requires us to take up our cross and follow.
1. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
2. And I said, “Here am I; send me!”