God's treasure in peanut butter jars

The need of the hour is for people to believe that God is God and that he can accomplish every promise he ever made.

Chapter one dealt with the worthiness of this goal, pointing out that if every class in America would do this we would reach America in just a few years. God has commanded us to make disciples of all nations. This is a worthy goal indeed. In chapter two we saw that to do this, a class of ten would only have to pick up one per quarter to accomplish this goal. I challenged you to thoroughly assimilate two per quarter. I believe this goal is both worthy and attainable. In the third chapter we looked at the important concept of giving people personal ownership of their ministries.

In this chapter, I want to remind you of two things: 

• You can do it! God delights in using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
• You must believe you can do it. God delights in using people of faith. The need of the hour is for people to believe that God is God and that he can accomplish every promise he ever made.

There are some fascinating verses in II Corinthians 4:1,2,4.

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart . Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God . On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God . . .But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us .”

Years ago, Howard Hendricks paraphrased this verse in a taped lecture, “We hold this treasure in common peanut butter jars.” I think that communicates the spirit of what Paul was saying. Not ornate glass ware. Not fancy vases. Common peanut butter jars.

The question arises, “Why put something as precious as the gospel in something as ordinary as peanut butter jars?” If the Gospel is the most important message known to mankind, if it is our most valuable possession, why put it in ordinary peanut butter jars?

One answer to this question is, “Peanut butter jars are all that God had to work with.” There is an old saying that God must love ordinary people because he created so many of them.

There is another answer, one that has deep theological significance. One thing that is very important to God is that people never confuse the jar with the content. He never wants people to look at the frame instead of the picture. And He likes using ordinary people, like you and me, because He is assured of getting the glory.

This is why His design was to use ordinary people, not professionals, to get the job done. The role of professionals is to help the people be effective in their ministry. God wants to take a world for Himself through unpaid ministers who are being trained by professionals.

 God specializes in using ordinary people and doing extraordinary things through them.

It may be hard for you to believe that you could be a part of a process that could result in reaching a city and then a country for Christ. If it is hard to believe, congratulations! You are a good candidate for the job. You see, God does not want people who see themselves as sharp enough to do God some good. He wants people who are humble enough to realize that without Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5)

The “catch” is, we must believe. Jesus said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” (Matthew 9:29) We will see it when we believe it, not the other way around. God needs people who are confident that He can use them. Without confidence in Him, it is impossible to please Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

We understand faith for salvation. We understand the kind of faith that believes that God can save and forgive us of our sins. We need to also believe that God can do through us what he told us to do: make disciples of all nations.

Consider James 5:17: “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.” If you really believe that Elijah was a man just like us, I invite you to embrace this kind of faith. God blesses people of great faith.

When God wants to have a great banquet and invite all the guests and make it a big gala affair, complete with all the trimmings, I am convinced he goes to the generic food aisle to pick up the ingredients.

This is what amazed the world about the early church, that God was using normal peanut butter jars to get the job done. “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

What do you dream of God doing? What do you dream of God doing through you? People of great dreams are people who are used mightily of God. People are attracted to great dreams. Dreams are the birthplace of all accomplishments. We often hear people say, “He probably never dreamt this would come of what he did”. I doubt that is often true. It is more likely that things happened precisely because someone dared to dream.

 When God wants to have a great banquet and invite all the guests and make it a big gala affair, complete with all the trimmings, I am convinced He goes to the generic food aisle to pick up the ingredients. That is just the way He works. And when God wants to bring a mighty movement of drawing men and women, boys and girls to Himself, He uses ordinary people with extraordinary dreams. He puts the Gospel in common peanut butter jars.