No Little People . . . No Little Places!

I picked, out of my library, one of Francis Schaeffer’s books to read a couple days ago.  Its one he wrote back in 1974 and one that I read in the early eighties.  Opening it up again was like getting together with an old friend.  It’s a book of sixteen sermons he preached in the chapel services of L`Abri Fellowship in Switzerland.  The book is named after the very first sermon in it, which Schaeffer entitled No Little People, No Little Places.  I smiled as I read that first sermon because I identify with the concept Schaeffer raised, which is that many in God’s family, including me, struggle with their significance as God’s servants as well the importance of their service.

We sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, fall into the trap, as Christians, of believing there are little people and little places in God’s economy.  However, as Schaeffer points out and as I have had to learn and relearn over the years, often the hard way, there are no little or big people or places in God’s work.  There are only consecrated or unconsecrated people and places.  You see, when God is our point of reference in life, and we are fully "set apart", which is what "consecration" means, to Christ, then our abilities, talents, and service are quite significant regardless of whether our ministry is large or small.  The idea that the size of one’s ministry or even the results of a ministry indicate spiritual success or significance is more a reflection of our western Americanized “big business” and market oriented culture than it is a reflection of biblical teaching.  This should not be taken to mean that large ministries are not spiritual ones.  It simply means that the size, perceived impact, and results of anyone’s ministry is not the ultimate final nor necessarily accurate barometer of whether that ministry is a success story to God.

You see, if you are fully consecrated to the Lord, in other words, fully His, you will be involved in significant and successful ministry.  Your ministry is important not because of its results but because of your consecration and devotion to Christ.  Thus, in Christ, there are no little people and because of that there are no little places. Rockholds, Kentucky, (where I live), with its population of 292 people is no less important, when God is your point of reference, than Los Angeles is.  God desires to accomplish a work in towns of 100 as well as cities of ten million.  Where the child of God lives and serves the Lord is the most important place in the world for him or her to be.

With this in mind, I hope we will all see the importance of a life fully consecrated to God through Christ.  One example from the Bible of God taking something that really was insignificant and making it significant was a simple piece of wood.  Do you remember Moses’ rod?  The story of Moses’ rod begins when God tells Moses to go and challenge the greatest power of his day—the nation of Egypt and specifically, the Pharaoh of Egypt.  Moses raised several objections as to him being God’s choice for such an important assignment.  Finally in Exodus 4:1, God asked him, “What is that in your hand? And Moses said, ‘A rod’”.  Note that God focused Moses’ attention on the simplest and plainest thing imaginable—something Moses already possessed—his own shepherd’s staff.

To Moses, his shepherd’s staff was nothing special, just a piece of wood about four to six feet long used for some very simple and basic tasks, one of which was to prod unruly sheep.  And now God was telling him to go to Egypt and confront the most powerful man on earth with his rod.  Well, to make a long story short, Moses did finally go to Egypt, with rod in hand, to confront and prod a most unruly Pharaoh into letting God’s people go.  And despite the odds, Moses’ ministry was successful, because as Exodus 4:20 tells us, the rod of Moses became the rod of God.

You see, when we and our gifts, talents, abilities, and resources become God’s as we consecrate and devote ourselves to Him anew, each and every day, there is no limit to what He can do through us or with us.  If God can use a stick, wholly consecrated to Him, what can he do with you and me when we are fully giving ourselves to Him?  What will He accomplish through His people, who will renew their spirits toward the Lord and seek afresh to be wholly His, presenting their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, to the Lord?  There's simply no telling! 

  

So, remember, there really are no little people or little places in God’s Kingdom—only consecrated, set apart, renewed in their spirits, living sacrifice, fighting sin, looking to and loving Jesus kinds of people being used by God to produce consecrated places.