Foolish Things - Excerpts from February 2, 2014 Sermon

Foolish Things:

There are some very strange laws on the books concerning churches and here are just a few:

• young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, Mississippi, unless it’s in a church. 
• In Blackwater, Kentucky, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather duster while she’s in church service carries a penalty of $10.00 and one day in jail. 
• In Honey Creek, Iowa, no one is permitted to carry a slingshot to church except police. 
• No citizen in Leecreek, Arkansas, is allowed to attend church in any red-colored garment. 
• Swinging a yo-yo in church or anywhere in public on the Sabbath is prohibited in Studley, Virginia.
• And, finally, turtle races are not permitted within 100 yards of a local church at any time in Slaughter, Louisiana. (2)

There is a lot of foolishness in the world—and that foolishness includes you and me. That’s right. Paul calls us foolish. He writes in I Corinthians 1: 26-29, “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.”

Paul is talking about us; you and me. We are the foolish things!

That’s right, God didn’t start with All-Stars, All-Pros, Nobel Prize Winners or CEOs. God started at the very bottom of society with very ordinary people and that is still how God is working today. Through ordinary folk like you and me. We are God’s plan for saving the world. God is counting on us.

If you ask most Christians why Christ came into the world, they will say he came to die for our sins. And that’s true, of course, but there is another reason Christ came into the world: it was to train an ordinary group of people to take his message to the world. Who was that group of people? Why us, the church. The key reason Christ came into the world was to found the church. We are to be his body doing his saving work in a world that is lost.

There is really only one way to make this community a better community, one way to make this city a better city, one way to make this a better world and that is to bring everyone we meet to Jesus. There is nothing else that will work. That is how God has chosen to turn this world upside down. The work of the church is serious work, important work, life changing work. It’s work that God is calling you and me to do.

God chose to do something foolish. God chose ordinary people like you and me, and God set out to changing the world one person at a time. Was God foolish to count on such as us? Only you and I and God know the answer.

There was this children’s TV show that started broadcasting in England in 1963. It was only twenty minutes in length and by today’s standards was a really cheesy and cornball. It was about this person who travels through time and space taking on the dangers and monsters he meets along the way.

He is accompanied by some human companions who assist him in his adventures. The name of the show was also the name of the traveler, Doctor Who. Within a short time, the show became one of the biggest hits in the United Kingdom.

After a few years though it became apparent that the older actor who played Doctor Who was suffering from failing health and unable to physically keep up with the busy schedule and long days of filming. The creators of the show did not want to end the show but knew that the old actor could not last. They came up with a clever plot point to save the show.

The Doctor, an alien who lived for hundreds of years would from time to time regenerate into a totally new person, a new actor, with a different personality, different fashion sense, but who retained the memories of his former self. They called it regeneration.

It was a wild gamble that was unheard of in the short history of TV to that time. Many in the business thought it was a fool-hearty move, an act of desperation that was doomed to fail. And it should. To this day, few if any popular show has been able to replace the “Star” and still find success.

It was a long shot and foolish to the world. But it succeeded! Last November, Doctor Who celebrated it 50th anniversary with a commercial free, world simulcast episode that broke world records. Over it's run, 14 different actors have played the role of the Doctor.

The plot point was by all measures a great success, but it was not really original; for God had invented regeneration at the creation of the world. And fulfilled it with in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and our regeneration.

God offers us regeneration, a new life, a new start! And entrusts us, you and me, as God’s agents in our world to be a force for change and renewal. Foolish! Wonderfully and Graciously, Foolish!