Have you ever looked at someone God was using in a remarkable way and thought, “I could never do that”?

Perhaps you have watched a gifted Bible teacher and wished you could communicate like that. You have seen a Sunday School leader whose class is growing and wondered what he has that you don’t. You have watched someone lead people to Christ, disciple new believers, or build a thriving ministry and concluded that God must have given that person abilities He didn’t give you.

There is only one problem with that conclusion: God has a long history of using remarkably ordinary people.

That is the subject of chapter four of my book, You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less. The chapter is called “You Can Do It!” The title isn’t intended as positive-thinking motivational fluff. The point is not that we are capable of doing anything we put our minds to. The point is that God delights in accomplishing His purposes through ordinary people who trust Him.

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God Has Always Used Ordinary People

Paul gives us a wonderful picture of Christian ministry in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Years ago, I heard Howard Hendricks paraphrase the verse this way: “We hold this treasure in common peanut butter jars.” I have always loved that picture. God didn’t put the treasure of the gospel in ornate crystal vases. He put it in ordinary clay jars. Common peanut butter jars.

Why would God entrust the most important message in the world to ordinary people? One answer is that ordinary people are what God has to work with. There are a lot more ordinary people than extraordinary ones.

But I think there is a deeper theological reason. God doesn’t want anyone confusing the jar with the treasure. He doesn’t want us admiring the frame and missing the picture. When God accomplishes something extraordinary through someone obviously ordinary, it becomes clear where the power came from.

That ought to encourage every Sunday School teacher who has ever felt inadequate.

You Don’t Have to Be a Professional to Make Disciples

One of the dangerous assumptions in modern church life is that serious ministry should be left to professionals. We hire pastors to preach, ministers to lead, missionaries to evangelize, and staff members to organize the work. The rest of us attend, give, volunteer occasionally, and cheer them on.

That is not the New Testament picture of the church.

Ephesians 4:11–12 says that Christ gave pastors and teachers “to equip his people for works of service.” The job of church leaders is not to do all the ministry. Their job includes equipping God’s people to do ministry.

That is enormously important if we want to reach our communities. No church will ever hire enough professional ministers to personally reach, teach, love, disciple, and care for everyone who needs Christ. The job is simply too big.

In the book, I argue that God’s design is to use ordinary, unpaid ministers while professional leaders help train and equip them. A Sunday School teacher who works forty hours a week somewhere else isn’t a second-class minister. That teacher may be exactly the person God intends to use to reach people a pastor would never reach.

Your Weakness May Actually Be an Advantage

We usually think God could use us better if we were more impressive. If I were smarter, more outgoing, more educated, more charismatic, more creative, or more talented, perhaps God could really use me.

Paul saw things differently.

The whole point of the treasure being carried in jars of clay is that the weakness of the container makes the power of the treasure more obvious. The Christian leader who knows he is inadequate has already learned something the exceptionally gifted leader may take years to discover: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

In the chapter, I make the point that if you have trouble believing God could use you to accomplish something significant, you may actually be a good candidate for the job. God isn’t looking for people who think they are sharp enough to do Him a favor. He uses people who understand their dependence upon Him.

Humility doesn’t mean saying, “God could never use me.” Humility means saying, “I cannot do this without God, but I believe God can do this through me.”

Those are very different statements.

Faith Means Believing God Can Work Through You

Most Christians understand faith when it comes to salvation. We believe God can forgive our sins because of Christ. We believe His grace is sufficient. We trust Him to save us.

But sometimes we have more difficulty believing that God can actually use us.

Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29), and Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God. In the context of ministry, that means we need more than confidence in ourselves. We need confidence in God.

A Sunday School teacher may look at a class of eight people and see eight people. Faith begins asking what God could do through those eight people.

Could eight become twelve? Could twelve become sixteen? Could someone in that class become another teacher? Could the class eventually reproduce? Could someone they invite come to Christ? Could that new Christian eventually lead someone else to Christ?

Once multiplication begins, you have no idea where the influence will end.

Elijah Was a Person Just Like Us

James makes an almost startling statement about Elijah: “Elijah was a human being, even as we are” (James 5:17).

That seems difficult to believe when you read the Old Testament. Elijah confronted kings, challenged the prophets of Baal, prayed and saw remarkable answers, and became one of the great prophetic figures in biblical history.

Yet James seems determined to keep us from putting Elijah into a separate category of humanity. He was a person like us.

The same pattern runs throughout Scripture. God used Moses despite his objections about his speaking ability. He used Gideon despite Gideon’s sense of inadequacy. He used David, the shepherd boy nobody bothered to call in when Samuel came looking for a king. He used fishermen and tax collectors to become apostles.

The Bible is not primarily a collection of stories about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. It is a collection of stories about an extraordinary God working through very ordinary people.

That includes people like us.

The Early Church Was Led by Ordinary People

Acts 4 gives us one of my favorite descriptions of the apostles. Peter and John had been arrested after the healing of a lame man. When the religious leaders heard them speak, Luke tells us, “They saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men” (Acts 4:13).

The religious establishment couldn’t understand it. These weren’t the people who were supposed to be turning Jerusalem upside down. They didn’t have the right credentials or educational pedigree.

But the verse continues: “They were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

There was the difference.

They were ordinary men who had been with Jesus.

That remains a pretty good qualification for ministry.

What Do You Dream of God Doing Through You?

Near the end of the chapter, I ask two questions: “What do you dream of God doing? What do you dream of God doing through you?”

Those are worth thinking about.

Perhaps you teach eight people every Sunday morning. What would it look like if, two years from now, sixteen people were there? Better yet, what if the original eight had become two groups of eight, each reaching another circle of people?

What if someone in your class who currently sees himself merely as a participant became a teacher? What if a couple you invite to a fellowship this year becomes deeply involved in your church next year? What if someone you reach eventually becomes a missionary, pastor, deacon, children’s worker, small-group leader, or simply a faithful Christian who raises children who love Jesus?

We often underestimate the possibilities because we evaluate ourselves rather than God.

Don’t Wait Until You Feel Qualified

There will always be reasons to wait. You can wait until you know more Bible. You can wait until you become a better teacher. You can wait until your schedule settles down. You can wait until your church gets better organized. You can wait until you feel more confident.

You may be waiting a long time.

God has been using imperfect, inadequate, ordinary people for thousands of years. He doesn’t need you to become extraordinary before He can use you. He wants you to trust an extraordinary God.

That doesn’t mean preparation is unimportant. We should study. We should learn to teach better. We should develop our leadership skills. We should learn from people who are more effective than we are. The rest of You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less spends considerable time talking about practical things we can do to become more effective.

But skill must never replace dependence upon God, and inadequacy must never become an excuse for disobedience.

God Still Uses Peanut Butter Jars

I still love Howard Hendricks’ picture of the peanut butter jar because it describes most of us pretty well. We aren’t crystal vases sitting under museum lights. We are common containers that wouldn’t attract much attention by themselves.

But the treasure inside the jar changes everything.

When God wants to do something great, He has a habit of going to what I called in the book “the generic food aisle” for His ingredients. He takes ordinary people and gives them extraordinary dreams. He puts His gospel into common peanut butter jars and sends them into the world.

Maybe you aren’t the greatest Bible teacher in your church. Maybe you aren’t a natural evangelist. Maybe nobody is ever going to invite you to speak at a conference. None of that means God cannot use you to build a group that reaches people and makes disciples.

You can do it—not because you are extraordinary, but because God is.

The next section of You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less moves from the vision to the practical strategy. It begins with the first part of the TIGER approach: “Teach a halfway decent lesson each and every week—nothing less will do.”

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