Unlikely Candidates

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In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was confronted with a dilemma. The North was not having a great time of it in the civil war. Lincoln had over 200 senior-level generals at his disposal, but only one - a flawed alcoholic named Ulysses S. Grant - was winning battles.

And so, Lincoln did something that many of his aides could not conceive of doing; he appointed Grant the senior general of the North's forces in the Civil War. It is said that when one aide approached President Lincoln and expressed concern about Grant's ability to lead the North's forces in light of his alcoholism, Lincoln replied, "Find our what brand he drinks and send a barrel to all our other generals."



Lincoln you see, was almost as practical as he was Christian. It is true that Lincoln's primary reason for wanting to stop slavery was to preserve the union of the states, but his foundational intention behind that very reasoning was profoundly Christian. Lincoln knew that if the unity of the states, much like the unity of the Body of Christ, were to be destroyed, Christianity would have little chance of existing or prospering in any faction that remained.

In spite of Grant's alcoholism and numerous other personal flaws, the profoundly prayerful President Abraham Lincoln sensed that Ulysses S. Grant was the right man for the job. Talk about choosing an unlikely candidate. Would we have made the same decision were we in his place?

It's Not So Strange, Biblically Speaking
When the Baby Jesus was born, one would think that the high priest of Israel would have wanted to be present. He didn't. One would think that the nation of Israel would have come in droves to worship a Messiah for whom they had prayed so long. They didn't. One would think there would be at least one prophet whom God would call to be present with that most special little boy. There wasn't.

Instead, God brought three "magis,” interpreted in some versions of the Bible as "wise men" for convenient reasons. The term "magis,” after all, is the root of the English word "magicians" and in translated in the New Testament's original Greek language as, in essence, "sooth sayers." We can understand why the translators might have chosen to substitute the term "wise men" instead, can't we? I mean, why would God have three heathen magis be the ones who were sent to welcome and first worship the new-born Messiah?

The reason rests in the fact that, while it is true that Jesus was being sent to the Jews, it is also true that He - after His coming rejection by his own people, the Jews - was actually and ultimately being sent to the heathens (me and you), as well as to them. That's why it was the heathens who were called, showed up at his birth, and proclaimed it thereafter.

Consider, too, the nature of most of the apostles when they were first called. They were a motley crew to say the very least. The only one out of the bunch who even seemed qualified and "normal" was - you guessed it - Judas Iscariot. So, throughout His Word, God has used "unlikely candidates" to do His work, even when it came to proclaiming the birth of His only begotten Son.

God's Recruiting Style
Where I live in the US, I work with a non-profit organization that provides food and personal care items. We provide for the needs of poor and disadvantaged people in our county and surrounding areas, and even internationally. Recently, our need for additional staff has grown dramatically.

Something of which the current staff is all aware is that many of the people who now work there first showed up in the strangest ways. Our staff list, including myself and the CEO, are the embodiment of the term "unlikely candidates." Everyone we know would agree that a bunch of people like us could have never done what's been done there. And it's true. We didn't. God called whom He wanted to work there. And then He did it.

So, as we sensed the need for additional staff, a natural thought might be for us to contact local churches for people who might be interested in serving at the non-profit. In spite of the fact that she had a list of churches and pastors to call, however, the personal assistant to the non-profit's CEO didn't call. It didn't feel right in her Spirit. At the very same time, I was in prayer, and God was telling me something wonderful and exciting.

He said, "Don't beat the bushes at the churches to find the people you need to help there. If they are there, they will come of there own accord as led by Me. But there are others whom you and the CEO and the personal assistant might not even recognize if I had not spoken this to you. I will bring them to you as you wait upon Me, and you will recognize that I have sent them. Know this, they are "unlikely candidates." Some of them are not even saved."

Not even saved? Get a load of our God. He's still using unlikely candidates.

Something New
Many of you reading this know in your Spirits that something "new" is coming. Just as God needed to use unlikely candidates when Jesus brought something new to this world, God is preparing to use unlikely candidates to do the next "new" thing He has purposed.

Call it whatever you like. People use all kinds of terms, accurate or not. An "outpouring." A "revival." A "move of God." Or maybe we should just call it what it may be and hopefully will be - a wave of many people turning their lives and souls over to God through Christ Jesus. Something "new" is coming. And yet it is something that happened before.

From Where Will It Come?
Doesn’t it seem unlikely that the coming "move of God" will come from within or out of any denominations or non-denominations that are lifeless, just as it did not in Jesus' day? The move of God in Jesus' day happened in spite of any denominations or non-denominations of that day that were lifeless, and in some cases in spite of bitter opposition from them.

Doesn’t it seem more likely that the coming "move of God" will come from out of the very place to which Jesus instructed His followers to go and love and teach and reap. Not in the temple building made with hands, not within that glorious structure of beauty in which God was not abiding. Not in the likely places, and not among the likely candidates. He told us where we will find the unlikely candidates, and so isn't it likely that this is where the coming "move of God" will begin?

12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luke 14:12-14

Doesn’t it seem more likely that the coming "move of God" - whatever it may be - will begin and spring forth amidst the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind?

16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:16-23

Again - doesn’t it seem more likely that the coming "move of God" - whatever it may be - will begin and spring forth amidst the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind? We will not often find them in our churches, but rather in the streets and lanes of the city, in the highways and the hedges. Jesus didn't invite people to church.

He went and found them where they were, as they were...Unlikely candidates found in unlikely places.

And so let us, as former unlikely candidates whom Christ found in unlikely places, share with one another so that we can learn and grow together in Christ Jesus. Let us encourage and exhort one another to strike out for destinations sometimes unknown to us, but where we will find Christ abiding among the lost. Let us help one another in love. We need each other.

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don't need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don't need you!”
22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
1 Corinthians 12:12-26

In Christ alone.