For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 (RSV)
Our confirmands are working their way through the Bible this year. We began in Genesis and will end with the 'Amen' of Revelation. We have so much to learn and so little time to learn it. I hope to impress on them that the Bible is not a once read-through book. It continues to reveal God's will and purpose each time it is read.
God surprises us at nearly every turn. We think we have Him pegged, and then He picks the most unlikely character to do His will. Abraham and Sarah were too old to be the parents of a great nation. Jacob was a liar and a cheat when God changed his name to Israel, the one who strives with God. Moses was an outlaw fleeing Egyptian justice for murder.
God calls the very ones we would never consider, and they do marvelous work for the Lord. The first disciples of Jesus were ordinary men, no more spectacular than the next guy. Jesus calls them nonetheless, and they become the core of the Church's witness.
God continues this pattern down to this day. He calls the most unlikely of people. He scours the farm fields, the dairy barns, the classroom, the office, schoolyard, college campus, and dozens of more places for the ones whom He can call. It is the ordinary believer whom God chooses to do the essential work of the Church. He chooses us to be His witnesses in the world.
True, every so often God raises up a Moses, or a Peter or a Luther to accomplish some marvelous work in the Church. These are few whose purpose the Father has laid out. As great as their labors are, the faith of the lease known of God's children is a far more wonderful witness to Jesus.