God's Choice for His Team

1 Corinthians 1:27

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

When I was a teen, my brother played pick-up basketball down at the local high school. When they picked teams, they chose their team by the best players first because they wanted to win. Nobody wanted to be that last guy standing because he knew he was only on the team by process of elimination.

God picks His team differently from how the world picks theirs. The people who are normally the last ones standing in line are the ones that God chooses first. When you look at 1 Corinthians 1:27-28, you see a list of people God chooses compared to how the world chooses people. The world wants the wise, the mighty, the likely to succeed, and the popular one on their team. The world feels these people are the best ones to help them spread their philosophy.

Let me illustrate. In politics, why doesn't a political party choose someone that nobody wants? The answer to this question is they want to win. Normally, political parties choose the person they consider most electable to represent their party because they believe they can win and that this person will best run the country.

In the sports world, each sport has a draft in which teams select the players they consider to be the best for their team. There's always those who are considered the top players, and they are the ones who are chosen first in the draft. I understand these teams wanting to choose the best player because they want to win a championship. Often, these high-ranked players do help the team they are drafted on become better, and some help their team win championships.

However, when God chooses His team, He does not choose the best in the world's eyes. According to the Scriptures, the people that God chooses for His team are the foolish of the world, the weak things of the world, the refuse of the world, and the unpopular in the world. Why would God choose these unseemly people to use on His team? The answer is in verse 29 when God says, That no flesh should glory in his presence. The reason God chooses these unseemly people is because He knows that He will get the glory when He wins. There are two thoughts I want to leave with you about God choosing His team.

First, God chooses what the world considers the worst so that He can show His power through their lives. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, …Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The only hope of the “worst” of the world doing something with their lives is by getting God’s power on their lives. If you qualify for God to use you by being the unseemly one, be sure to get God’s power on your life so He can use you.

Second, God will break you down to become someone who can qualify for His team. You may be wise, popular, the most likely to succeed, or strong, but the only way that God can use you is to make you the base of society by sending something in your life that crumbles your world to force you to rely on Him. The best way to keep God from having to do this is to humble yourself in His eyes and realize that you are nothing without Him. God wants to use you, but He will not use someone until they realize they are nothing, and that the only reason they can be used is because of God.