God chose the Lowly Things

“Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaiden” Lk 1:46 “Let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate” Jms.1:9

      The book of Mathew is the only gospel to record the story of the wisemen from the east who follow the star to Bethlehem. Once in Bethlehem, they encounter the prophesied child King who’s coming they had discerned by their study of the luminaries. To their amazement, they find a child born not in pomp and glory, but in lowliness and poverty. In the movie, “Jesus of Nazareth”, one of these kings in amazement declares “not in glory, but in humility”. 

            As Paul reminds us, “God choose those things deemed foolish by this world”, that being the humble, the lowly, and the simple things, to both declare and display what the Psalms calls “the splendor of His holiness” (Ps. 29). Mary acknowledge that He uses those like herself who are of “low estate” to bring about His eternal plan. Paul writes that God chose the “foolish things of this world” to accomplish that same purpose (1 Co.1:27). Of the many paradoxical truths surrounding the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this one may be that which is most difficult for present day natural man to comprehend.

            Mankind today places great importance on those things that appear grand and glamorous.  The present preoccupation with celebrities and the state of their personal lives is testimony to that fact. Those who live lives of glamor, athletic success, or material abundance, are often looked up to and esteemed as if they possessed a superior degree of wisdom than the common man.  Unfortunately, many ministries today have also followed this same worldly misconception, presuming that if its music is loud and dynamic, its church structure beautiful, its programs many, or its preacher charismatic, surely the Spirit of God is with them.

            This however is not the way of the kingdom of God, and is surely not the true testimony of spiritual life. Paul boasted that he did not depend on the eloquence or polish of professionalism in his ministry, but on his humble dependence upon the presence of the Holy Spirit. He said “when I came to you brothers, I did not come with eloquence or words of human wisdom to proclaim to you the gospel of Jesus Christ”.  In contrast, he declares that he came with a humbleness and lowliness that the world does not esteem nor understand saying “I came in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with the demonstration of the Spirit and in power”. He then reveals why he resigned himself to this method of ministry, a method the world neither understands, esteems, nor admires. He says he ministered in this manner so that “your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Co. 2).

            The spiritual powerlessness of so many ministries today can often be traced to their failure to recognize this biblical and well proven truth. It is not in our glamourous or dynamic presentations of the gospel that souls are brought into the Kingdom of God, or that those souls already in the kingdom are matured. Esteeming the outer appearances of the spiritual life only produces religious adherence or self-justifying devotion. The eternal souls of men are only eternally reached by the inner workings of the Spirit of God. As the scriptures have so clearly established, the Spirit of God moves in those of “low estate” and “humble self-esteem”, not in the prideful presumptions and entertainment inclined ways of natural man.  Paul writes “God chose the foolish things of this world” (1 Co.1:27).  He also wrote that it is “in our weakness” that His strength is revealed in this world (2 Co. 12:9).

            A number of years ago I tearfully came before the Lord asking what I was doing wrong. I had recently promoted someone in our missions church on an Apache reservation to a place of ministry, and they had responded by falling away in their faith. This was not the first time I had experienced this. As I cried out to the Lord for answers, the Lord responded with wisdom that entirely changed my way of discerning spiritual maturity. He told me I was looking for gifted and skilled people to carry out the various ministries in the church. He showed me that those He chose to do His work were those who were humble and lowly in their own eyes, people who others often overlook. Once I understood this, my problems with misjudging those I promoted in ministry certainly diminished.

            If we would use Paul’s admonitions on where the Spirit is moving and where the Lord would lead us to fellowship, the number of believers who today “church hop” from one ministry to another would be drastically reduced.  Many today follow the ways of natural man and esteem those things that appear dynamic and successful, even in their pursuit of spiritual life. Dynamic (loud and talented) worship services, beautiful buildings, successful and popular preachers, these are all too often what many today consider anointed ministry. In contrast, the Lord has declared that it is the humble, the lowly, the simple, the things this world does not esteem, that as He did with Mary, He uses to declare the “splendor of His holiness” in this world.

     What is your measuring stick that draws you to a ministry or messenger of God?  Do you need dramatic or sensational music to sense the Holy Spirit in worship?  Does a minister’s message need to be polished and eloquent for you to acknowledge it is anointed?  Do the furnishings of a beautiful or elaborate church building bring expectations within you of divine presence?  Does it take a large company of worshippers for you to experience the moving of the Spirit? What does your faith rest upon, man’s presentation or God’s power? 

God’s power resides within the anointing of His Word and in the power of His Holy Spirit, both of which are often displayed in this world by those things considered lowly and common by the standards of natural man.  Spiritual life is found by those who are willing to look past the trappings of the outer life, whether natural or religious, to listen in the inner man to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches.  This has been and continues to be the way of the Spirit; a way displayed through people and practices that are all too often despised in this world.  

Are you following the way of the Spirit of God, or the way of natural man in your understanding of what is holy and where the Spirit of God is moving ? Is your choice of church or ministry influenced by the entertainment mentaliy of natural man? If you are, is that really the Holy Spirit or is it the stirring of your carnal nature? We must learn to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church, and not be swayed by the glamourous and glorious things that natural man esteems.