Choosing Nobodies

26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence. (I Cor. 1:26-29 KJV).

Not many WISE. Not many MIGHTY. Not many NOBLE. God has chosen the FOOLISH. God has chosen the WEAK. God has chosen the BASE. And God has chosen the things that are DESPISED.

Why does God do this? To shame the wise and to nullify their reliance upon their own attributes. The advancement of the gospel is taken away from the world’s SOMEBODIES and given to the world’s NOBODIES, so that in the end no one can claim the credit (v.29).

Consider Jesus’ twelve apostles. Not one of them was important. They were ordinary. Not one priest among them. Not one rabbi, not one scribe, not one Pharisee, not one Sadducee – not one anything! Not even a synagogue ruler! About half of them were fisherman; the rest worked with their hands; one was even a insurrectionist who went around with a knife trying to spear Romans (Simon the Zealot); then there was Judas, the loser of all losers. What was the Lord doing when He chose this motley crew?

He picked people with absolutely no influence. And He is still doing it.

Consider John the Baptist. He had no formal education, no training in a trade or profession, no money, no military rank, no political position, no social pedigree, and no impressive appearance. Yet Jesus said that no one was greater than John the Baptist (Matt.11:11).

The person we least suspect to be used as an instrument of God, many times, is the very one whom God uses. God chooses the underdog, or the least esteemed among us, as vessels for His purposes.