When The Ordinary Becomes Holy

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>When The Ordinary Becomes Holy</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id541.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gods Will, Gods Way"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id543.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="From a Great Expectation to a Great Less"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"When the Ordinary Becomes Holy," Genesis 28</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, October 23, 2005</B></div> <bR> <div>      Two ministerial students from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, were doing summer evangelistic work in a rural area near Montgomery. One hot day they stopped their car in front of a farmhouse and proceeded up the path through a gauntlet of screaming children and barking dogs. When they knocked on the screen door, the woman of the house stopped her scrubbing over a tub and washboard, brushed back her hair, wiped perspiration from her brow, and asked them what they wanted. "We would like to tell you how to obtain eternal life," one student answered. The tired homemaker hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Thank you, but I don't believe I could stand it" (Derric Johnson, <I>Easy Doesn't Do It</I>, Y.E.S.S. Press, 1991).</div> <div>      That is one perspective on life at home for a harried mother. Here's another: Author and preacher Tony Campolo said that when his wife, Peggy, was at home full-time with their children and someone would ask, "And what is it that you do, my dear?" she would respond, "I am socializing two Homo sapiens into the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the kind of eschatological utopia that God willed from the beginning of creation." Then Peggy would ask the other person, "And what do you do?" (John Ortberg, Ruth Haley Barton, <I>An Ordinary Day with Jesus, </I>Zondervan, 2001).</div> <div>      Much of life is ordinary. Our work, our travels, our families, our personal lives. Yet if we tune in, we can find God at work in some very ordinary and unexpected places. Please read <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+27:45-28:22" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Genesis 27:45-28:22</U></A>.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. God interrupts into ordinary places and situations, and he reaches out to ordinary people (vss. 10-12).</B></div> <div>      Jacob is on the run from his past mis-deeds, and he is looking for a wife, who will share the family's values and ultimately faith in God. (unlike Esau's wives). It is nighttime, a time of danger for travelers. This was not his finest of hours. </div> <div>      Jacob happened upon what appreared to be a no-name place, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Jacob took an ordinary rock to use around his head (as protection or a pillow). He goes to sleep and God shows up in the ordinary place, to this ordinary man, and gives him a dream.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. God transforms ordinary people by his kindness, promises, and presence (vss. 13-15).</B></div> <div>      The stairway with the angels signified a contact point between heaven and earth, and there was the Lord himself. This was Jacob's defining moment. The promises to Jacob and his family are given (passed along from Abraham). God promises to be with Jacob, to protect him, and to bring him back to the land. As he was going on this journey, God was going to watch over him and bring him back and keep his promises to him and his descendants (as was going to find a wife). </div> <div>       Jacob was vulnerable, asleep, and could not manipulate the situation – and yet God blessed him. Mark Cuban is the dot com billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks. NBA player Shaquille O'Neal one time attributed Cuban's business success to good fortune – he got lucky. Mark responded by saying, "Yeah, everything I've done is luck. But Shaq being seven-foot-two, 300 pounds - that was planned." (<I>Sports Illustrated</I>, 2002). We all have good things in our lives that we did not earn or work for. And God's blessing in our lives comes by <I>his</I> choice, <I>his</I> initiative. We cannot take credit for God's kindness, anymore than Jacob could.</div> <div>      In Jeremiah 29:11, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That is a promise to people who have made a mess of their lives, much like Jacob.</div> <bR> <div> <B>III. Ordinary people who have been transformed must remember God's kindness (vss. 16-22).</B></div> <div>      We figure out ways to remember special events and special people. Our dog's name is Champ, in honor of the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. Our daughter's middle name is <I>Grace</I> – her name is reminder of the goodness of God in her life and ours. </div> <div>      Do you remember when God first intervened in your life, your defining moment with God? Do you remember when you committed your life to him, or rededicated yourself to follow him? Do you remember when he was there for you in a special way, in a time and place that surprised you? And are you living in that reality?</div> <div>      We can be like Jacob in vs. 16 – “The Lord is in the place, and <I>I was not aware of it</I>.” We have the Spirit of God living in us, yet we are prone to forget God is with us. We need reminders of the kindness, presence, and promises of God in our lives. Remembering these things enables us to trust God, in times of difficulty and in times of prosperity (as Jacob would experience).</div> <div>      We are reminded through <B>worship</B>. The ordinary stone became a tool to remember and worship. The ordinary place was given a name, “the house of God,” a place where heaven and earth intersected and where God could be worshiped (turns out this no-name place was near a large Canaanite city, but it wasn't significant until God showed up and it became a place of worship). Jacob was transformed from a wanderer into a worshiper (in the words of Alan Ross, <I>From Creation to Blessing</I>). In our day, the intersection of heaven and earth is in Jesus Christ, and he deserves our worship through our thanks, our singing, our sharing in the Lord's table.</div> <div>      We are reminded through giving a <B>tithe</B>. When we give, we let God know that we remember where our blessings come from – him. Jacob had been a grasper, now he became a giver (in the words of Bruce Waltke, <I>Genesis: A Commentary</I>). Our giving is an act of worship, in appreciation to God.</div> <div>      God is the business of transforming ordinary people. He turns wanderers into worshipers and graspers into givers. Can you find your story of transformation in the words of this song?</div> <bR> <div> <B>Majesty (Here I Am)</B></div> <div> Here I am humbled by your Majesty</div> <div> Covered by your grace so free</div> <div> Here I am, knowing I'm a sinful man</div> <div> Covered by the blood of the Lamb</div> <bR> <div> Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine</div> <div> Since you laid down your life</div> <div> The greatest sacrifice</div> <bR> <div> Majesty, Majesty</div> <div> Your grace has found me just as I am</div> <div> Empty handed, but alive in your hands</div> <div> Majesty, Majesty</div> <div> Forever I am changed by your love</div> <div> In the presence of your Majesty</div> <bR> <div> Here I am humbled by the love that you give</div> <div> Forgiven so that I can forgive</div> <div> Here I stand, knowing that I'm your desire</div> <div> Sanctified by glory and fire</div> <bR> <div> Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine</div> <div> Since you laid down your life</div> <div> The greatest sacrifice</div> <bR> <div> Written by Stu Garrard/Martin Smith ©2003 Curious? Music UK </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2005, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>