No Little People No Little Places
By
Francis A. Scheaffer

Those of us who understand that there are no little people or little places in the Kingdom of God, if we commit ourselves to Christ and live under His leadership and Lordship in the whole of life can by Gods grace change the flow of our generation


no little people no little places


As a Christian considers the possibility of being the Christian glorified (a topic discussed in True Spirituality), often their reaction is:

I am so limited.
Surely it does not matter much
whether I am walking
as a creature glorified or not.

Or, to put it another way:

It’s wonderful to be a christian,
but I am such a small person,
so limited in talents —
or energy
or psychological strength
or knowledge —
that what I do is not really important.

The Bible, however, has quite a different emphasis

with god there are no little people.

Moses’ Rod

One thing that has encouraged me, as I have wrestled with such questions in my own life, is the way God used Moses’ rod, a stick of wood. Many years ago, when I was a young pastor just out of seminary, this study of the use of Moses’ rod, which I called God So Used a Stick of Wood, was a crucial factor in giving me the courage to press on.

The story of Moses’ rod began when God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, telling him to go and challenge Egypt, the greatest power of his day. Moses reacted,
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” [Exodus 3:11]

And he raised several specific objections:

What if they do not believe me
or listen to me and say,
“The LORD did not appear to you?”
Then the LORD said to him,
What is that in your hand?
A rod, he replied.
[Ex. 4:1, 2]

God directed Moses’ attention to the simplest thing imaginable — the staff in his own hand, a shepherd’s rod, a stick of wood somewhere between three and six feet long.
Shepherds are notorious for hanging onto their staves as long as they can, just as some of us enjoy keeping walking sticks. Moses probably had carried this same staff for years. Since he had been a shepherd in the wilderness for forty years, it is entirely possible that this wood had been dead that long. Just a stick of wood — but when Moses obeyed God's command to toss it to the ground, it became a serpent, and Moses himself fled from it. God next ordered him to take it by the tail and when he did so, it became a rod again. Then God told him to go and confront the power of Egypt and meet Pharaoh face to face with this rod in his hand.

Exodus 4:20 tells us the secret of all that followed:

the rod of Moses had become the rod of God.

the rod of moses as the rod of god--part one

Standing in front of Pharaoh, Aaron cast down this rod and it became a serpent. As God spoke to Moses and as Aaron was the spokesman of Moses [Ex. 4:16], so it would seem that Aaron used the rod of Moses which had become the rod of God. The wizards of Egypt, performing real magic through the power of the Devil (not just a stage trick through sleight of hand), matched this. Here was demonic power. But the rod of God swallowed up the other rods. This was not merely a victory of Moses over Pharaoh, but of Moses’ God over Pharaoh’s god and the power of the Devil behind that god.


This rod appeared frequently in the ensuing events:

Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the rod that was changed into a snake. Then say to him, “The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.”
[Ex. 7:15-17]

The rod of God indeed was in Aaron’s hand [Ex. 7:17, 19, 20], and the water was putrefied, an amazing use for a mere stick of wood. In the days that followed, Moses stretched forth his rod and successive plagues came upon the land. After the waters no longer were blood, after seven days, there came frogs, then lice, then thunder and hail and great balls of lightning running along the ground, and then locusts [Ex. 8:1 -10:15]. Watch the destruction of judgment which came from a dead stick of wood that had become the rod of God.

Pharaoh’s grip on the Hebrews was shaken loose, and he let the people go. But then he changed his mind and ordered his armies to pursue them. When the armies came upon them, the Hebrews were caught in a narrow place with mountains on one side of them and the sea on the other. And God said to Moses, Lift thou up your rod [Ex. 14:16].

What good is it to lift up a rod
when one is caught in a cul-de-sac
between mountains and
a great body of water
with the mightiest army
in the world at his heels?
Much good, if the rod is the rod of God.


The waters divided, and the people passed through. Up to this point, the rod had been used for judgment and destruction, but now it was as much a rod of healing for the Jews as it had been a rod of judgment for the Egyptians. That which is in the hand of God can be used in either way.

the rod of moses as the rod of god--part two

Later, the rod of judgment also became a rod of supply. In Rephidim the people desperately needed water.

And the LORD answered Moses,
“ Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
[Exodus 17:5, 6]

It must have been an amazing sight to stand before a great rock (not a small pebble, but a face of rock such as we see here in Switzerland in the mountains) and to see a rod struck against it, and then to watch torrents of life-giving water flow out to satisfy thousands upon thousands of people and their livestock.

The giver of judgment became the giver of life. It was not magic. There was nothing in the rod itself. The rod of Moses had simply become the rod of God. We too are not only to speak a word of judgment to our lost world, but are also to be a source of life.

The rod also brought military victory as it was held up. It was more powerful than the swords of either the Jews or their enemy (Exodus 17:9). In a much later incident the people revolted against Moses, and a test was established to see whom God had indeed chosen. The rod was placed before God and it budded (Numbers 17:8). Incidentally, we find out what kind of tree it had come from so long ago because it now brought forth almond blossoms.

The final use of the rod occurred when the wilderness wandering was almost over. Moses’ sister Miriam had already died. Forty years had passed since the people had left Egypt; so now the rod may have been almost eighty years old. The people again needed water, and though they were now in a different place, the desert of Zin, they were still murmuring against God. So God told Moses,

“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him.
[Numbers 20:8, 9]

Moses took the rod (which 20:9 with 17:10 shows was the same one which had been kept with the ark since it had budded), and he struck the rock twice. He should have done what God had told him and only spoken with the rod in his hand, but that is another study. In spite of this, however, water came out abundantly [Numbers 20:11].

Consider the mighty ways in which God used a dead stick of wood. God so used a stick of wood can be a banner cry for each of us. Though we are limited and weak in talent, physical energy, and psychological strength, we are not less than a stick of wood. But as the rod of Moses had to become the rod of God, so that which is me must become the me of God. Then I can become useful in God’s hands.

The Scripture emphasizes that much can come from little if the little is truly consecrated to God. There are no little people and no big people in the true spiritual sense, but only consecrated and unconsecrated people.

The problem for each of us is applying this truth to ourselves:

is Francis Schaeffer
the Francis Schaeffer of God?
is [insert your name]
the [insert your name] of God?

no little places--part one

But if a Christian is consecrated, does this mean he will be in a big place instead of a little place? The answer, the next step, is very important:

as there are no little people in God’s sight,
so there are no little places.

To be wholly committed to God in the place where God wants him — this is the creature glorified.

In my writing and lecturing I put much emphasis on God’s being the infinite reference point which integrates the intellectual problems of life. He is to be this, but He must be the reference point not only in our thinking, but in our living. This means being what He wants me to be, where He wants me to be.

Nowhere more than in America are Christians caught in the twentieth-century syndrome of size.

Size will show success.
If I am consecrated, there will necessarily
be large quantities of people, dollars, etc.

This is not so.

Not only does God not say that size and spiritual power go together, but He even reverses this (especially in the teaching of Jesus) and tells us to be deliberately careful not to choose a place too big for us.

We all tend to emphasize big works and big places, but all such emphasis is of the flesh. To think in such terms is simply to hearken back to the old, unconverted, egoist, self-centered Me.

This attitude, taken from the world, is more dangerous to the Christian than fleshly amusement or practice. It is the flesh.

no little places--part two

People in the world naturally want to boss others.

Imagine a boy beginning work with a firm. He has a lowly place and is ordered around by everyone: Do this! Do that! Every dirty job is his. He is the last man on the totem pole, merely one of Rabbit’s friends-and-relations, in Christopher Robin’s terms.

So one day when the boss is out, he enters the boss’s office, looks around carefully to see that no one is there, and then sits down in the boss’s big chair.
Someday, he says, I’ll say “run” and they’ll run.

This is man. And let us say with tears that a person does not automatically abandon this mentality when he becomes a Christian. In every one of us there remains a seed of wanting to be boss, of wanting to be in control and have the word of power over our fellows.

But the Word of God teaches us that we are to have a very different mentality:
Jesus called them together and said,

“You know that those who are regarded
as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you.”

“Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first
must be slave of all.”
“For even the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many.”
[Mark 10:42-45]

Every Christian, without exception, is called into the place where Jesus stood. To the extent that we are called to leadership, we are called to ministry, even costly ministry. The greater the leadership, the greater is to be the ministry.

The word minister is not a title of power, but a designation of servanthood. There is to be no Christian guru. We must reject this constantly and carefully. A minister, a man who is a leader in the church of God (and never more needed than in a day like ours when the battle is so great), must make plain to the men, women, boys and girls who come to places of leadership that instead of lording their authority over others and allowing it to become an ego trip, they are to serve in humility.

no little places--part three

Again, Jesus said,

But you are not to be called Rabbi, for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
And do not call anyone on earth father,
for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
Nor are you to be called teacher,
for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
[matthew 23:8-9]

This does not mean there is to be no order in the church. It does mean that the basic relationship between Christians is not that of elder and people, or pastor and people,
but that of brothers and sisters in Christ. This denotes that there is one Father in the family and that his offspring are equal. There are different jobs to be done, different offices to be filled, but we as Christians are equal before one Master. We are not to seek a great title; we are to have the places together as brethren.

When Jesus said, He that is greatest among you shall be your servant (Matt. 23:11), He was not speaking in hyperbole or uttering a romantic idiom. Jesus Christ is the realist of all realists, and when He says this to us, He is telling us something specific we are to do.
Our attitude toward all people should be that of equality because we are common creatures. We are of one blood and kind. As I look across all the world, I must see every man as a fellow-creature, and I must be careful to have a sense of our equality on the basis of this common status.

We must be careful in our thinking not to try to stand in the place of God to other men. We are fellow-creatures. And when I step from the creature-to-creature relationship into the brothers-and-sisters-in-Christ relationship within the church, how much more important to be a brother or sister to all who have the same Father.

Orthodoxy, to be a Bible-believing Christian, always has two faces. It has a creedal face and a practicing face, and Christ emphasizes that that is to be the case here. Dead orthodoxy is always a contradiction in terms, and clearly that is so here; to be a Bible-believing Christian demands humility regarding others in the body of Christ.

no little places--part four

Jesus gave us a tremendous example:

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

“You call me Teacher and Lord,
and rightly so, for that is what I am.
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher,
have washed your feet,
you also should wash one another’s feet.”
“I have set you an example that you
should do as I have done for you.”
I tell you the truth,
no servant is greater than his master,
nor is a messenger greater
than the one who sent him.
Now that you know these things,
you will be blessed if you do them.
[John 13:3-5, 13-17]

Note that Jesus says that if we do these things, there will be happiness. It is not just knowing these things that brings happiness; it is doing them.

Throughout Jesus’ teaching these two words know and do occur constantly and always in that order. We cannot do until we know, but we can know without doing. The house built on the rock is the house of the man who knows and does. The house built on the sand is the house of the man who knows but does not do.

Christ washed the disciples’ feet and dried them with the towel with which He was girded — that is, with his own clothing. He intended this to be a practical example of the mentality and action that should be seen in the midst of the people of God.

taking the lowest place--part one

Yet another statement of Jesus bears on our discussion:
When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:

When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, “Give this man your seat.” Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, “Friend, move up to a better place.” Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
[Luke 14:7-11]

Jesus commands Christians to seek consciously the lowest room. All of us — pastors, teachers, professional religious workers and nonprofessional included — are tempted to say,

“I will take the larger place because it will give me more influence for Jesus Christ.”

Both individual Christians and Christian organizations fall prey to the temptation of rationalizing this way as we build bigger and bigger empires. But according to the Scripture this is backwards:

we should consciously take the lowest place
unless the Lord Himself extrudes us into a greater one.
The word extrude is important here.

To be extruded is to be forced out under pressure into a desired shape. Picture a huge press jamming soft metal at high pressure through a die, so that the metal comes out in a certain shape.

This is the way of the Christian: he should choose the lesser place until God extrudes him into a position of more responsibility and authority.

taking the lowest place--part two

Let me suggest two reasons why we ought not grasp the larger place. First, we should seek the lowest place because there it is easier to be quiet before the face of the Lord.
I did not say easy; in no place, no matter how small or humble, is it easy to be quiet before God. But it is certainly easier in some places than in others. And the little places, where I can more easily be close to God, should be my preference.

I am not saying that it is impossible to be quiet before God in a greater place, but God must be allowed to choose when a Christian is ready to be extruded into such a place, for only He knows when a person will be able to have some quietness before Him in the midst of increased pressure and responsibility.

Quietness and peace before God are more important than any influence a position may seem to give, for we must stay in step with God to have the power of the Holy Spirit. If by taking a bigger place our quietness with God is lost, then to that extent our fellowship with Him is broken and we are living in the flesh, and the final result will not be as great, no matter how important the larger place may look in the eyes of other men or in our own eyes. Always there will be a battle, always we will be less than perfect, but if a place is too big and too active for our present spiritual condition, then it is too big.

We see this happen over and over again, and perhaps it has happened at some time to us: someone whom God has been using marvelously in a certain place takes it upon himself to move into a larger place and loses his quietness with God. Ten years later he may have a huge organization, but the power has gone, and he is no longer a real part of the battle in his generation. The final result of not being quiet before God is that less will be done, not more — no matter how much Christendom may be beating its drums or playing its trumpets for a particular activity.

So we must not go out beyond our depth. Take the smaller place so you have quietness before God. I am not talking about laziness; let me make that clear. That is something else, something too which God hates. I am not talking about copping out or dropping out. God’s people are to be active, not seeking, on account of some false mystical concept, to sit constantly in the shade of a rock. There is no monasticism in Christianity. We will not be lazy in our relationship with God, because when the Holy Spirit burns, a man is consumed. We can expect to become physically tired in the midst of battle for our King and Lord; we should not expect all of life to be a vacation. We are talking about quietness before God as we are in His place for us. The size of the place is not important, but the consecration in that place is.

It must be noted that all these things which are true for an individual are true also for a group. A group can become activistic and take on responsibilities God has not laid upon it. For both the individual and the group, the first reason we are not to grasp (and the emphasis is on grasp) the larger place is that we must not lose our quietness with God.

taking the lowest place--part three

The second reason why we should not seek the larger place is that if we deliberately and egotistically lay hold on leadership, wanting the drums to beat and the trumpets to blow, then we are not qualified for Christian leadership.

Why?

Because we have forgotten that we are brothers and sisters in Christ with other Christians.

I have said on occasion that there is only one good kind of fighter for Jesus Christ — the man who does not like to fight. The belligerent man is never the one to be belligerent for Jesus. And it is exactly the same with leadership. The Christian leader should be a quiet man of God who is extruded by God’s grace into some place of leadership.

We all have egoistic pressures inside us. We may have substantial victories over them and we may grow, but we never completely escape them in this life. The pressure is always there deep in my heart and soul, needing to be faced with honesty. These pressures are evident in the smallest of things as well as the greatest. I have seen fights over who was going to be the president of a Sunday school class composed of three members. The temptation has nothing to do with size. It comes from a spirit, a mentality, inside us. The person in leadership for leadership’s sake is returning to the way of the world, like the boy dusting off the boss’s chair and saying, “Someday I’ll sit in it, and I’ll make people jump.”
One of the loveliest incidents in the early church occurred when Barnabas concluded that Paul was the man of the hour and then had to seek him out because Paul had gone back to Tarsus, his own little place. Paul was not up there nominating himself; he was back in Tarsus, even out of communication as far as we can tell. When Paul called himself “the chief of sinners, ... not meet to be an apostle” (1 Tim. 1:15; 1 Cor. 5:9), he was not speaking just for outward form’s sake. From what he said elsewhere and from his actions we can see that this was Paul’s mentality. Paul, the man of leadership for the whole Gentile world, was perfectly willing to be in Tarsus until God said to him, “This is the moment.”

Being a Rod of God

The people who receive praise from the Lord Jesus will not in every case be the people who hold leadership in this life. There win be many persons who were sticks of wood that stayed close to God and were quiet before Him, and were used in power by Him in a place which looks small to men.

Each Christian is to be a rod of God in the place God has for them. We must remember throughout our lives that in God’s sight there are no little people and no little places. Only one thing is important:


to be consecrated persons
in God’s place for us,
at each moment.

Those who think of themselves as little people in little places, if committed to Christ and living under His Lordship in the whole of life, may, by God’s grace, change the flow of our generation.

And as we get on a bit in our lives, knowing how weak we are, if we look back and see we have been somewhat used of God, then we should be the rod “surprised by joy.”