Do you ever think about any of the things you used to be
able to do, and that you can’t do any more? Do you ever think about the way your
life used to be configured, when your life used to be freer, less limited by
age and time? Maybe it was back when you had your own house or you had a good
job…? Maybe you think back to when you used to have a big family around you all
the time or when you had people working for you or listening to you. Or when
you had a good income or a bigger living? And then you look at where are you now... and
how apparently “small” your life has become, measured out in trips to the
cafeteria, down to the lobby for your mail, or on the bus to Meijer. Sometimes
our lives here in Independence Village Care Facility can feel pretty small, a little meager, a far cry from where we
used to be or what we once were.
It
doesn’t help that we live in a time and a culture that celebrates big things –
big accomplishments, big incomes, big titles, big deeds. A former defensive
lineman for the Detroit Lions just signed a contract this week for $114 million dollars. But
today I want to remind us all – including me – that the God who is spoken of in the Judeo-Christian scriptures has
always favored little things. Have you ever noticed that about God or about Jesus
Christ? God always seems to have a soft spot in his heart for the little guy. God has managed
to do a heck of a lot with very, very little. I’d like to take us on a quick
tour of scripture and remind ourselves of some of the tiny little things that God
has used in some very big ways…
Moses…what do you picture when you hear that name?
Perhaps a handsome, burly Charlton Heston, parting the mighty waters of the Red
Sea with his staff? But let’s not forget that Moses was nothing but a
stuttering, orphaned shepherd boy, found in a basket floating in a river. And
God chose that little, insignificant shepherd boy Moses and said to him, “I am
sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Then there was David – that scrawny, runt of the litter.
He was the youngest – and by far the smallest - of 8 brothers. While his
brothers went off to seek glory by assisting King Saul in battle, David was relegated to tending
his father’s sheep near Bethlehem. But David knew and had come to believe in
God’s love for the little guy, and so David stepped up to Saul in the face of the
Philistine threat, saying, “Let no one lose heart on account of this giant Philistine.
I, your servant, will go and fight him. And so little David went and took on
Goliath, slaying him with a simple slingshot and single smooth stone.
And it isn’t only little people God has always used in
big ways; God has also found ways to use little offerings, little contributions
to help bring about his big plans. Think of the birth of Jesus. We always
remember with derision that innkeeper who had no room at the inn – a very
understandable situation given that census Ceasar Augustus had ordered that put
everybody on the road to be enrolled. But why don’t we remember and celebrate
that innkeeper, or whoever it was, who said to Mary and Joseph, “I may not have any room in my inn
or in my house, but I do have a little stable out back. You are welcome to that.”
What a precious gift that turned out to be, right? That little, tiny stable turned
out to be enough, didn’t it?
And what about that the little boy who was in that huge,
hungry crowd, when Jesus turned to his tired disciples and said, “You give them
something to eat.” The disciples couldn’t imagine how they were ever going to
feed so many. They didn’t have nearly enough money to buy everyone lunch. But
that one little boy came forward with his tiny little lunch and said, “I have
five loaves and seven fish here. You can use that to feed these people.” That
little boy’s meager lunch turned out to be enough, didn’t it?
We might live very little and limited lives here at
Independence Village. We might not have big houses and big jobs and big
families around us anymore. We might not have our cars or the freedom of movement
we once did. But we would be making a terrible mistake if we concluded that our
lives and our abilities were too small to be used by God in important, life-changing
ways.
How many of you can still write? If you can write a
letter, you can make a difference. You can encourage someone or brighten
someone’s day. Do you know how rare it is these days to receive a real, live,
handwritten letter? Here is a handwritten little card I received a month or so
ago. It is from a little old lady who heard a sermon I preached over in Harbor
Springs and wrote me because she appreciated it. This little card meant so much
to me and lifted my spirits so much that I keep this on my refrigerator. A
hand-written letter or card can do SO much. It can remind someone that they are
loved and thought of. With your letter you can remind your senator or
congressional representative of what he may have forgotten about.
How many of you can stand or sit by
a doorway and shake a hand? I saw a piece on the news lately about an awkward
15-year-old boy who didn’t like the meanness and coldness of spirit in his high
school. So he started going to school 15 minutes early and stood at the door as
all his fellow students arrived each morning. He held the door open for each
person and said a hearty good morning to his schoolmates and teachers each and
every morning. And that tiny, daily gesture made a huge difference in the
culture of that school. Could you stand or sit in the front lobby and be a
welcome or position yourself at the entrance to the dining hall and offer a
smile, a warm hello, and handshake to everyone who came to eat?
Can you still use a telephone? Who could you call today
just to say to hello, to say, “I’m thinking of you.” It feels SO good to be on
the other end of a phone call like that. Can you make a call or two like that
today? If you don’t know whom to call, your pastor, a deacon from your church,
or maybe even someone at the front desk here at Independence Village could you
give you a list of names and numbers each week. You could have your own phone
call ministry!
If you are still pretty mobile and get around these halls
well, even with walker or wheelchair, you could do what two special little
ladies did for my father –GW Jones – who lived the last year of his life right
here in Independence Village. Two ladies- who might even be in this room right
now - used to stop in on him every couple of days, just to chat, to let him
know that he wasn’t alone, and to invite him to their table in the dining hall.
My dad was a lonely, sad man, particularly in his later years. I bet he never
thanked those ladies for their many kindnesses to him. But, boy, did they make
a difference in dad’s life. And not just in his life, but in our lives as well,
because we knew that somebody was reaching out to him, even when we couldn’t.
Little things mean a lot! We worship a God in Jesus
Christ who understands the amazing significance of the small, the
transformation of the tiny. I want to close with a gospel story from Mark
12:41-44. Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and
watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich
people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small
copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him,
Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury
than all the others. They gave out of their wealthy, but she out of her
poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
And that little, tiny, hunched-over widow, limped quietly
to the temple with her tiny, pittance of an offering. A couple copper coins
were all she had. But it was enough. God not only saw that offering, but he saw
to it that it was enough.
May each of us have the faith to take what little we have,
at this late hour and final chapter of our lives, and offer it in faith to the
God of little things, the God of Jesus Christ, who has always proven that a
little is actually enough. Sometimes a little, once we put it in God's hands, is even more than enough.
