What I Learned From Larry Brabeck
Tom Shrader pauses his expository series through John to reflect on the memorial service of Larry Brabeck, a church member killed in a car accident, whose ordinary life produced extraordinary fruit among neighbors, coworkers, and children. Drawing from Ephesians 2:8-10, Galatians 5, and several supporting passages, Shrader argues that salvation by grace must result in visible good works, and that believers are already strategically placed by God in their workplaces, neighborhoods, and families to be salt and light. The teaching closes with an urgent call not to defer meaningful Christian living, reminding the congregation that life is brief and every moment of faithfulness counts.
“God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That's his business — God does extraordinary things through ordinary people like Larry, like you, like me.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 2005 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 48 min
Themes: good works, legacy, salt and light, everyday faithfulness, grief, mortality, urgency, neighbors, grieving a loss, feeling like your life doesn't matter, coworker, parent, neighbor, new believer, middle-aged adult, questioning your purpose
Scripture: John 10:22-42, Ephesians 2:8-10, 2 Corinthians 9:8, 2 Timothy 3:17, Titus 2:14, Philippians 2:12, Galatians 5:16-23, Matthew 5:13-16, Colossians 4:5, Ephesians 6:5-7, Colossians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, James 4:14
Theological Themes: soteriology, salvation by grace, sanctification, Ephesians 2:8-10, fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, common grace, missional living
Full Transcript
Introduction and Service Announcements
When we started, we had the six o'clock service, and then we added a four o'clock service. Those first two or three months, we just had this huge disparity between the numbers at six and at four. After a while, God was gracious to us and evened those numbers out. The reason we started this service is obviously to serve you, but at the same token, to provide some relief to the six o'clock service. As many of you know, most of you have probably been at six o'clock, and the room is so crowded and so filled. We sit up seven hundred and five seats, and a couple of weeks ago we had twelve hundred people in here. It is just really difficult and probably even a little hazardous — but we haven't told the fire department anything about it yet.
We have resolved the problem, and so now there is room. Hopefully there will be some room at six o'clock. We want that, because it is so important that you be able to invite your friends to this service and reach out to them. You now have the space. All you have to do is tell your friends about it.
If you happen to be with us for the very first time, please notice that we provided you a guest registry card. We would ask you to take a moment and complete this card in its entirety, then drop it in one of the boxes as you leave this afternoon. That card also serves double duty — it is the vehicle you use to communicate with us if you are here on a regular basis. It is a pretty important card.
Upcoming Church Events
Through the bulletin, I really want to highlight two things. Number one, Connect One. If you are newer to the church and you would like to know more about East Valley Bible Church, Connect One is the class for you. It is offered once a month — in this case on the twenty-third. I will buy lunch. We will come in at ten thirty on that Sunday morning, and when I am done with the ten thirty service, I will come over and buy you lunch. We will spend about four hours working through some really important basic material about the church, and when you walk away from Connect One, you should have a really clear picture of what East Valley Bible Church is.
The other event I would mention is Tuesday night over in the chapel at seven ten. It is a new ministry — this week will only be the third week — targeted toward college students and young single adults. So join us in the chapel at seven ten on Tuesday night.
Volunteers Needed
This is huge. With this being a new service, we have had to try to staff it before we ever had anyone to talk to. We need your help to staff ushers, greeters, and communion prep. We have all sorts of needs for this hour and the next. What we have tried to do is have people pull double duty, but if four o'clock is going to be the hour you are here, we would love to have you volunteer.
We need help with ushers, greeters, and Campus Connection. Right now we are in this room, but there are another four hundred and fifty people over there watching a video. We actually had a problem this morning — an alarm went off and I understand they evacuated everything. I was in the worship center and said, "Do not one person in here move. We are not going anywhere. That is a false alarm." I did not know that for certain, but I said, "If we perish, we will perish together." So I am not entirely sure how that video situation is going to work out, but we will see.
We need a whole bunch of volunteers for this service and for the next one. So if you are going to be here on a regular basis, we would love to recruit you to work as an usher, greeter, or in Campus Connection.
John Chapter 10: Jesus Teaches the Doctrines of Grace
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to John chapter 10. We have spent the last two weeks examining the first twenty-one verses. We took verses one through ten the first week, and verses ten through twenty-one last week. When you get to verse twenty-two through verse forty-two, you have a magnificent teaching time that Jesus provides for us. In this section, Jesus teaches us the doctrines of grace. That is really important.
Do a quick flyover here. Verse twenty-four: "The Jews gathered around him and they were saying, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.'" They are asking Him directly — if you are really the Christ, tell us. And He says, "I told you, but you do not believe." Then comes His commentary in verse twenty-six: "You do not believe because you are not my sheep."
They ask a question, He gives a response, and here is His commentary: "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me." That is what we have really looked at these last two weeks. Those who are truly God's will understand and hear the gospel. How do we know if you are one of those chosen by God? The gospel begins to make sense to you, and you know Him — and that word "know" carries with it an intimacy. Here is the Creator God of the universe, who spoke the world into existence, and you know Him in a personal way. And they follow Him.
Eternal Life and the Security of the Believer
He then says, "Here is what I will give them — I will give them eternal life." Let me ask you something: when does eternal life begin? That may have been more philosophical than I intended, but when does eternal life begin for us? In one sense it begins at birth, but the way He is using this phrase, it begins at the moment of conversion. That is when eternal life begins.
Let me ask an easier question: when does eternal life end? Never. What He is saying is that you have this relationship with Him that will never be broken. "They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
Did the Jews like this? Verse thirty-one: they took up stones.
The Ordinariness of a Life Well Lived
I told you last week that a week ago yesterday, there was a gentleman from our church, Larry Brabeck, who was killed in a car accident. Many of you know Larry and Kelly, and Friday was the memorial service. It was a wonderful time. The more I thought about that service that afternoon and the next day, the more I pondered it, the more I wanted to talk to you about it.
I think it's one of those pastoral teaching moments. I wasn't really certain whether to take a pause in the study to do it. Those are always tough calls. I asked Susan, and she said, "Tell me what you're thinking." I explained it to her, and she said, "Go for it."
What I want to do in the next forty or forty-five minutes is talk to you about what I learned, what I saw, what I took away from Larry Brabeck's memorial service. I will tell you up front, this will not likely be anything new to you. And maybe that's what makes it all the more significant to me — because of the simplicity of that moment.
What struck me, and you know my heart here, so I want you to hear this and really let it sink in — what struck me about Larry's life, as it was portrayed in his service, was how ordinary it was. How simple it was. And that captured my attention. To see this man, who was really just living life, to see that life and that legacy bring four hundred and fifty people into the chapel — that was something.
If you've been around when we do memorial services, most of the time we have a very structured time, but then we open the microphone where anybody can say whatever they want to say. That's what we had. Kelly spoke, which is somewhat unusual, and she did a magnificent job. In fact, I want to share some of her words with you. But what really struck me were the comments made by the people during the open mic time.
The Laboratory of a Christian Life
So often I'll use this picture — like a science class — where what we do when we study in here is like the classroom, but then, like a science class, we have another part of it: the laboratory. What we got last Friday was a glimpse into the laboratory of Larry's life.
And I guess this is another thing that struck me: how the Christian life simply works. Now, we can get dangerous here. It's not that we take this out, we see it work, and therefore we say it's true. That's not what we're saying. We're saying these things that God teaches us in His Word — these things that become an integral part of the follower of Christ and his or her lifestyle — all of a sudden they change a life, they transform a life.
My desire here is threefold. Number one, I want to pay tribute to Larry, and I think by this very conversation we will. Number two, I want to affirm probably many of you, because many of us are in the same place that Larry was. Number three, I want to challenge us all.
Saved by Grace, Called to Works
If you've got your Bibles, open them to Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8, 9, and 10. Some of you who have been around and are familiar with this passage will smile, because it is a terrific passage. We love it. It says this:
*"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast."*
For those of us who have been saved — God saved me when I was thirty — especially those saved out of a tradition that says you need to work out your salvation, you need to earn your salvation, we hear that we are saved by grace through faith, and those are magnificent words. They are words that provide great comfort. You mean I don't have to be good enough? I'm saved by grace through faith, and that is not of yourself. You didn't generate it. You didn't produce it. It's a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Not one of us can say that we saved ourselves.
When You Know the Truth, It Shows
God did not save you based on anything that you have done, or anything that you're doing, or anything that you would do. God saved you in a sense in spite of you. So we rejoice. Ephesians 2:8-9 — we love it. But sometimes we love it so much we don't really get to verse 10. Let's make sure we look at verse 10: "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works." We are not saved by good works, but because we're saved, there should be good works present in our life.
Paul writes to the church at Corinth that there should be an abundance of every good deed in their life (2 Corinthians 9:8). Second Timothy 3:17 instructs the believer that he is equipped for every good work. Titus 2:14 instructs the people that they are to be zealous for good works. And Philippians 2:12 says, "Work out your salvation" — what Paul means literally is, do the things that result from your being saved. Because you have been saved, now look like it. Now act like it.
As I listened to the people in that room on Friday morning, here was the first note that I made: when you know the truth, it shows. Who is the truth? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." When you know Jesus Christ, it is evident. You don't have to have a bumper sticker that says "Honk if you know Jesus." It just becomes clear to the people around you. If you are truly converted, there should be this change in your life. There should be these good works in your life.
When we did the open share time at Larry's memorial service, that room just came to life. So often it is so difficult to get that conversation flowing at a memorial service, but when we said, "Anyone can speak," it was one after another — I had to finally say that's enough. Person after person used the same phrase about Larry: "He was such a good guy." That's why I like to speak at the end — to make sure we all understand exactly what we are saying.
Is Larry in heaven? We all believe that he is. Because he was a good guy? No. Because he knows Christ. And when you know Christ — and this is the sobering part — you are supposed to become a good guy. You are supposed to be a good lady, a good student, a good person. Because when you know the truth, it is supposed to show. You are supposed to live a transformed life.
The Fruit of the Spirit Was Evident in His Life
Turn to the left from Ephesians 2 to Galatians 5. Paul is talking about being led by the Spirit or being led by the flesh. Verse 16: "I walk by the Spirit, and if I walk by the Spirit, I won't carry out the desires of the flesh." Verse 18: if you are led by the Spirit — well, if the Spirit indwells you and me as a Christian, there should be the fruit of the Spirit. There it is in verse 22: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
I love the fact that Paul does not say the fruit of the Spirit is doing this, doing this, doing this. He says it is not doing those things — it is being these things. That is what the fruit of the Spirit is. And right before that, in verse 19, are what I call the fruit of the flesh: "Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these."
In Larry's life, as testified by the people who lived with him and around him — his brothers and sisters, all eight of them, his 87-year-old mother, his neighbors, his co-workers, the people in his small group — it was testimony after testimony of the fruit of the Spirit in his life. And he is not to be the exception. That is your life and mine. My first point is this: when you know the truth, it should show.
People Are Watching You
The second thing to understand is that people are watching you. The minute you say you are a Christian, the minute you invite somebody to a Sunday night service or a friend to a Bible study, everybody is watching to see if your Christian faith is real.
One of the ladies involved in the foster placement ministry that Larry and Kelly were part of said this about him: his walk matched his talk. Why would she feel compelled to say that? Because so often it doesn't match — and everybody is looking.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works." How are they going to see them? They are watching. And Colossians 4:5 instructs us to conduct ourselves with wisdom toward outsiders. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Live accordingly.
Everybody's Watching
Because they're watching. The minute you say you're a Christian, people are watching you. They're looking at you. They're studying you. And they're holding you against their view of what they think a Christian should be.
I had been a believer for about a year, and I was at work at a coal banker. We had this big set of double doors — you walk through them into a room, maybe two-thirds the size of this one, with seventy cubes in it, offices, all the other stuff. I was standing at the door one day in a negotiation with this guy. We were going back and forth, back and forth, and he seemed to be winning. As his points were dominating the day, I found myself peppering my speech with a little spicy word here or there that was absolutely inappropriate. Just as I let out this one particular word, a young lady walked around the corner.
When I got saved, it was pretty radical, and everyone pretty well knew about it. She had just heard this sentence come out of my mouth, and she said, "Tom, I didn't know Christians spoke that way." I said, "They're not supposed to talk that way. I'm sorry." It was an important moment to me because I understood she was watching.
Everybody's watching everything you do, everything you say, how you say it, how you treat one another. Guys, you're a husband in these settings — people are watching you to see how you treat your wife. Wives, how you respond to your husband. Children, how you obey your parents. Fathers, do you provoke your children to anger. Everybody's watching, and you better understand that. There is no escape from it.
Not only that, ultimately God is judging and watching everything you do, but the people around you are looking at you as well. They were able to look at Larry and say, "Good guy." And the Scripture says that whenever they see your good works, you are to glorify your Father in heaven. That is the testament. That is the opportunity to share your faith.
What People Saw in Larry
Larry would say, before he became a Christian, he was the most selfish person that ever walked the face of the earth. People would look at Larry and say he was so humble, so sweet, so tender. He would say, "That's not me. That's the Christ that lives in me, the Spirit that dwells in me."
What I saw at that memorial service, and what I was reminded of, is that people are watching you and they are judging you. So often we say, "Well, that's not fair." It is the way it is, and you ought to be glad about it, because it gives you an opportunity to share your faith.
It Doesn't Take Much to Make an Impact
Here is the third thing. Sometimes it doesn't take much to make an impact. I was reminded by Larry Brabeck's memorial service that it is the simple things. Three different times someone said that one of his habits was to go around and pick up trash in the neighborhood — papers, bottles, whatever was lying around. Pretty soon everybody noticed it.
He was not setting out to have some profound impact. He was picking up trash. He was picking up bottles. You and I have a tendency to think of grandiose schemes and plans as the way God uses people. No — He uses ordinary people doing ordinary things. You don't have to mentor someone once a week for three years to have an impact on them. Should you do that? Sure. Is it an important part of this process? Absolutely. But it is not a requirement for making an impact.
If everybody is watching, and if when you know the truth it shows, then people should begin to see something distinct and different about you, and you become salt and you become light in their world.
There Is No Secular and Sacred — It's All Sacred
Here is the fourth thing. There is no secular and sacred. It is all sacred. I am talking specifically here about work.
As I stood and looked at the group gathered at the memorial service, over on my left were all of these postal workers, their supervisors, and their bosses. Larry was a postal worker. One of the women who worked with him got up and gave this incredible testimony — that he was a man of God, a man who loved Christ, and that it had infected the whole office. Another man got up and said, "I am a Christian now, and I understand that I have this opportunity to be salt and light in the place where I work."
Then Larry's boss got up. Here is the quote: "He was a hell of a guy." But then he said something you didn't expect. He said, "We didn't always get along. In fact, we used to clash over his workload. He would disagree with me about how much he needed to do, how he needed to do it, and in what time frame it needed to be done. But then you know what? Whatever I settled on, he did it — and he did it with joy, with thoroughness, with excellence."
If you don't understand that your work is a ministry, you will be eternally frustrated at work. This week in Priority Living, I did a whole week on why we go to work, and there are some really important reasons. One is simply because you want to eat. Paul says if a man will not work, he should not eat. Now, are there legitimate needs? Absolutely. But aside from those legitimate needs, if you and I are able-bodied, we are supposed to work.
Serving Wholeheartedly in the Workplace
Paul says in Ephesians 6, "Obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." In our lives, God has set up four superstructures: family, government, church, and work. He has placed us within these structures, and what He is saying is that if we are in rebellion against the authority over us, we are not ultimately rebelling against them — we are rebelling against God. If a husband does not love his wife, he is disobedient to God. If a wife does not submit to her husband, she is disobedient to God.
Ephesians 6:7 says, "Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not merely men." Colossians 3:23 says, "Work at it with all your heart, working as for the Lord, not for men." The man who gave his testimony at the share time didn't always get along with his boss, but when the boss said this is what it's going to be, he executed that with excellence and a joyful heart. That is the call to each of us.
Already Infiltrated: The Church Is Already in the World
Wherever God has placed you, it is strategic to His kingdom. I was with a group of pastors about a month ago, and they were talking about needing to infiltrate the city for Jesus — needing a plan and a strategy to turn the town upside down. Here is the reality: we have already infiltrated the town for Jesus. There are 4,500 people on this campus today, and thousands upon thousands more are in churches across the Valley of the Sun.
Those people don't sleep at the church. They leave and go into neighborhoods, and during the day they go to playgrounds, schools, businesses, clubs, golf courses. We have already infiltrated the world. The problem is we need the people who are already there to stand up and be seen as soldiers in the army of Jesus Christ.
We don't need to come up with some strategy to infiltrate — we have our soldiers already strategically located. We just need them to go and do something. And it doesn't have to be a big thing. It doesn't need to be a program, a concert, or a bring-a-friend event. It is you looking like Jesus until someone says, "Why are you so distinct and different?" — and you answer, "It's not me. It's the Jesus in me."
God has placed you where you are for a strategic reason, and everybody is watching. When you know the truth, it shows, and it doesn't take a whole lot. It took one man obeying his boss for that boss to say, "I saw a difference." We don't need to figure out how to infiltrate Intel — we have already done it. We have Christians at Intel, Motorola, APS, SRP, and all over. What we need now is to let our light shine and watch people respond to it.
Impacting the Next Generation
You can have an impact on the next generation. During the share time, four children spoke — the oldest was maybe ten or eleven. Each one said some version of: "Mr. Brabeck was my neighbor and he always had time for me."
I was watching *Leave It to Beaver* the other night, and Beaver is having this exchange with Gus — the old man at the fire station. Gus and Beaver are generations apart and yet Beaver is being profoundly shaped by that relationship. In the same way, these four children said Mr. Brabeck had an influence on them, not just in Sunday school, but in the neighborhood. One of the kids said he would go with him to pick up trash and bottles, just following along. I guarantee you that in those moments there were deep, Gus-and-Beaver-type conversations, and a life was being shaped.
I am not limiting this to children and students either — I would extend it all the way up to young marrieds. Some of you have been at this for a while, and when you get to forty, couples who are twenty-five think you are ancient. They are desperate to know: how did you get through the years with kids in diapers? How did you handle the seasons when there was not enough money, when you and your spouse were not on the same page with spending? They are dying for you to influence them.
We started a ministry about a month ago for newly married twenty-somethings, and when I walked into that room I was struck by how young everyone looked. They are meeting in small groups, and I will tell you plainly — we could use some of you. You don't need to be seventy. Those of you in your forties and older could take those small groups and run with them. We already have a wait list. You can impact the next generation.
We Need More Than DNA
We need a family other than those with whom we share a chain of DNA. We need one another. There was another row at that memorial service, over on one side of the church. It was Larry and Kelly's small group. Their message was clear: "We're here for you, Kelly. You can count on us."
Something is happening in this room — in the morning services and now at four o'clock, with people watching on video as well. Every once in a while you'll get someone who probably says what others are thinking: "Why don't I just stay home and watch this on TV? Why don't I watch it on the internet?" I'll tell you why. Because you don't need the teaching as much as you need all the other things that go with it — though the teaching is important.
You need the worship. You need the one another. You need to connect, to get out and serve, to pour your life into someone else. You need to be in a small group. You need to be in a church family.
You are going to have experiences that may not be identical to what Larry and Kelly experienced last week, but you are going to have those experiences in your life. And the people who are going to show up are not going to be the old high school friends — the ones where you made those little broken-heart pendants and said "friends forever." You've already lost all of them. They're gone. You can't even find them. It's not going to be those people.
It's going to be the people you hang with and share life with — not a chain of DNA, not a high school experience, not "we were the mighty Trojans" or whatever it was. It's going to be those who say, "We share a Holy Spirit." And you need that.
God's Grace Is Sufficient and His Timing Is Perfect
Just a couple more things. God's grace is sufficient and His timing is perfect. Let me talk about His timing first.
Larry was killed at around 7:00 or 7:30, a week ago yesterday. The day before, he called Kelly. Apparently, one of the things Larry loved to do was pose hypotheticals — if you were putting together your all-time all-star baseball team, who would be on it? Greatest rock and roll band of all time? He loved hypotheticals of all kinds. The design was to prompt conversation, to bring people together and make them think.
So he called Kelly, as he did virtually every day according to her, at about 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon. He said, "Get the kids together tonight. I've got a question I want to ask them." He never got to ask the kids that question. Kelly said, "Well, what is it?" And he said, "Ask them to imagine there was a car accident. Someone you loved was in the accident — someone very close to you. But they were a believer, and when they died, they would go to heaven. And there was also someone you didn't know, and they were an unbeliever — so when they died, they would go to hell. Who would you want to die?"
This conversation happened roughly fourteen hours before he died. The question never got to the kids. Why? Because my guess is, God wasn't trying to get it to the kids. He was preparing a wife for a phone call that was going to come about a dozen hours later — a phone call saying, "Your husband is dead."
It's an incredible thought. I understand the selfishness of our lives — we want to be here, we like it here, our friends are here, our kids and grandkids are here. But Larry is in heaven. There were tears and obviously a great deal of grieving at that service, but not for him. Nobody is sorry for him. He got the best of the deal — he's in heaven.
And here was a wife who had been given a few hours to ponder — without emotion, hypothetically, just a question — whether she could rejoice that God took the one who would be going to heaven. What great comfort is that? How perfect is that? That's almost beyond explanation. That is God's timing.
God's Grace Is Bigger Than the Grief
The other side is that God is sufficient. I would not share any of these things with you unless Kelly had told me it was alright to do so. I called her last night and asked her to email me her comments — she had spoken from a script at the service. I want to read a section of what she wrote:
"I'm thankful that God is comforting and will continue to comfort me and the kids and all of you in our sadness and grief. I have never known sadness like this, and yet God's comfort is even bigger than my sadness. God says He will never leave me. I feel like I have a hole in my heart as big as the earth, yet God's love is even bigger than that hole, and He will continually fill that hole with His love and His peace. Some people have said to me, 'You're so strong.' Well, I want you to know that it's not my strength you're seeing — it's God's strength. He's the one giving me strength. God Himself is getting, and will continue to get, us through this. If you see peace on my face or in my heart, it's God's peace. He is giving us His peace to calm our hearts and our souls and our minds."
God's grace is sufficient. There is no way to prepare for a moment like this. Some tragedies and heartaches come with at least some preparation — if someone has been sick and they die, you are braced for that moment. Nothing truly prepares you, but at least you have some warning. But when you kiss your husband goodbye, he walks out the door, and just minutes later there is a phone call saying he's been in an accident and he's dead — there is no way to prepare for that. And therefore, there is no way to prepare a response.
Suffering Reveals What Is Within
What you see at that moment in response is what is in there. You cannot fake that. She is saying, "I am not a strong person. It is the Christ you see in me. I am not this giant. It is God's grace and God's mercy." That is why suffering and pain is so important in our lives — because we grow closer to Him. There is no way you can talk about the peace of God that passes all understanding until you have been in those valleys, felt that pain, and then, all of a sudden, inexplicably, in the middle of it — not removing your feeling, not removing the sentiment — God gives you a peace that passes all understanding. The people around you are saying, "You are incredible," and you are saying, "I am not strong. It is the God living in me who is so strong."
Producing Faith Does Not Require a Title
What you saw in that room at that memorial service was fruit all over the place, and yet Larry does not appear on anybody's organizational chart. Why? It is 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning at about verse 26, where Paul says God does not use the mighty. God does not necessarily use the rich. God does not use the noble or the politically connected. He has chosen the foolish things of the world — and that is you and me, which is what Paul meant — to confound the wisdom.
Consider Israel needing a king. What do they do? They look for the biggest, strongest, sharpest, most handsome. They run through boy after boy and say, "No, not him, not him, not him." Finally they say they are all out, and someone says there must be one more. The reply comes: "We have a shepherd kid. His name is David. There is no way you would want him. He is a scrawny little ruddy kid." That is where we learn that God is not like man. Man looks at appearances. God looks at the heart, at the character.
I want to say it in the best sense of the word: Larry is an ordinary guy. There is nothing intrinsically in him that would draw your attention to him. He was not particularly handsome beyond any great measure. He was not necessarily charismatic. He said, over and over again, that the last thing he would ever want to do is stand up and speak in front of people.
This is really important. When you die — every one of us in this room, you and me — there will not be one inch of newspaper coverage. They will run an obituary, and if you pay for more, they will print more. The world will not stop for us. And yet I am afraid that too often we think, "I do not have the title. It does not say usher, or greeter, or elder, or children's worker, so I guess I am not anything." That is precisely my point. You do not need a title to have a profound influence and impact.
I was absolutely struck by the simplicity and ordinariness of Larry's life, and yet it reminds me of what God does. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That is His business. How does He do it? Through ordinary people — like Larry, like you, like me.
Life Is Temporary — Do Not Wait for a Convenient Time
Here is the last thing, and it is so obvious: life is temporary. James says it this way — life is but a vapor. It is here, and it is gone. We do not know how long we have. And yet my experience is that unless you actively, in a disciplined way, intervene, you will keep putting off the significant things in life.
You are getting the family started, everything is going, the kids are requiring all your time, and you do not have time for much else. Then they reach the teenage years, and I hear this from people constantly: "We do not have much time with them right now." Then they get to college, and it is expensive, so you work harder. Then they are gone, the grandbabies are coming, and you are spent. You are at the end of life. There is never a convenient time — not if what you are waiting for is convenience.
Susan Speaks for the First Time
Let me tell you about the first time Susan ever spoke in public. I was invited to speak to a Sunday school class for people 55 and older, at a banquet with hundreds of people. Susan and I went in the Sunday before, walking through the class, gathering information. Nobody knew who we were, other than that we were obviously too young to be there.
That week they called and said they would like Susan to speak. I told them Susan does not speak in public. They asked whether she could do something brief while I introduced her, and I agreed. I went to Susan and said, "Here is the deal — I will start, get things going, warm them up, you do your part, then I will come back up, fix whatever needs fixing, and handle the rest." She agreed.
So I went in and did my part, and Susan stood up. She said, "As Tom mentioned, this is the first time I have really spoken in public, and you may even have a hard time listening to me, so I just want to talk to the women if I could." She told them she had been in their class the week before — not to speak to anyone, just to listen. And she said she heard how many of them now wanted to travel, had always wanted to travel, and were finally going to do it. The kids were gone, and they were going to do this and that. They were spoiling the grandkids and handing them back. And here is what she heard over and over again — some of them had even said it outright: "I just want to live for me. Now it is time to live for me." And she held up her Bible.
A Challenge Without a Convenient Excuse
She said, "Find one verse in here where it says, now's the time to live for you." And she sat down. I said, that's why we don't bring her out very often — she cleans up nice, but she's going to offend people when she does it. But isn't that true? It's a magnificent truth.
That's what I hear. I hear the older people say, we like to travel, so we've got this 48-wheel thing we're going to drive around, polish rocks, and see how the rest of our life goes. And then I see the people with young kids say, the kids take time. It's exactly what I said — there's never a convenient time. What are you waiting for?
The Two-Minute Warning
Here's the criticism of the National Basketball Association — the rap is that you only need to see the last two minutes. They don't really try until the last two minutes. By the way, I don't buy that. But all of a sudden, in the fourth quarter, when it gets to two minutes, it does seem like it ratchets up a notch. There is a little more intensity there.
Here's what's amazing. Some of you seem to be living lives where you think there's going to be this moment where God is going to say to you, "Two minutes, two minutes," and then you're going to get it all done then. What are you waiting for?
I'm watching a football game and they'll say, "There's a missed opportunity." Who cares that he scored a touchdown? Some of you, if you don't get it going, are just living a legacy of missed opportunities. I don't want them to come to my memorial service and say, "He had a lot of potential." I don't want to hear that. I want to hear that God used him in a mighty way. And that doesn't just happen.
The Ordinary Person God Uses in an Extraordinary Way
It was an incredible memorial service for me because it reminded me of all those things we know. But it was that moment of intensity — there was the ordinariness of the person that God uses in an extraordinary way, and the call that says, get on a stick, my friend.
Every aspect of your life, whether it's here on campus or in the marketplace or wherever God places you, is strategic. You are a follower of Christ. I pray that Larry's going home is a great wake-up call for you and me.
Pray with me, would you please? Father, thank You for Your Son, Jesus. Thank You for His life, His death, His resurrection. Thank You that we can call You Father, and we praise You here this afternoon and worship You here this afternoon. In Jesus' name, amen.