OceanSide church of Christ

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I AM JUST A NOBODY

Victor M. Eskew

 

            The words that title this article are the title of a song this writer recently heard on YouTube.  The song was written by Doug Williams, Melvin Williams, and Leonard Williams.  The chorus of the song is as follows:  “I am just a nobody, tryin’ to tell everybody, about somebody, who can save anybody.”  Let’s take a moment and look at the four points that are made by these words.

            First, “I am just a nobody.”  Isn’t this true of all of us?  Each one of us is one human being in a world of almost eight billion people.  Most of us are hardly known to our neighbors much less to the entirety of the world.  One day we will be laid to rest in the earth.  Not long thereafter, we will be remembered by very few.  The contributions we will make to this world will be very insignificant.  We will not be world leaders.  We will not be professional athletes.  We will not make grand discoveries.  We will not be actors and actresses of the screen or stage.  We are just ordinary people who have been born, who live our common lives from day to day, then will pass from the face of the earth.  We will return to the dust from whence we were taken (Gen. 3:19).  In addition, we are not really “good” people.  All of us are sinners (Rom. 3:23).  “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa. 64:9).  Weak, sinful, and fragile are three descriptions of each of us.  Yes, we are just nobodies.

            Second, even though we are nobodies, we are “tryin to tell everybody” something very important.  We are trying to tell others because we have been commissioned to do so.  Jesus gave us our marching orders:  “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).  The message applies to everybody.  The message is needed by everybody.  The message will benefit everybody.  Not one human being needs to be omitted from hearing the message.  Because we have heard the message and have benefited from it, we are debtors to all men.  Paul understood this, and wrote:  “I am a debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.  So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also” (Rom. 1:14-15).

            Third, we are trying to tell everybody about “somebody.”  This is one very important somebody.  His Hebrew name is Jesus.  It was the name given to him by the Holy Spirit and his mother, Mary.  It is a name that indicates His importance to all who are in the world.  Joseph, Mary’s husband, was told:  “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:  for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).  Earlier, we noted that all of us are sinners.  But, there is a somebody named Jesus, who came to save us from our sins.  He was born of a virgin.  Mary conceived this child through the power of the Holy Spirit.  When He came into the world, He was a man, but He was more than a man.  He was also God.  “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:22-23).

            This somebody came to this earth in order to shed His blood for the sins of all men.  The prophet Isaiah wrote of Him years before His birth.  He pictured Him as a suffering servant.  In Isaiah 53:5, he writes:  “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  After a brief life and short ministry upon the earth, He was rejected by the Jews and sentenced to death by crucifixion by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  He was a perfect sacrifice and paid the price for the sins of the world.  “And he is the propitiation for our sins:  and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). 

Fourth, the atoning benefits of Jesus’ death can save anybody.  Remember, John wrote that Jesus is the propitiation “for the sins of the whole world.”  In Romans 5:18, Paul tells us:  “…even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”   The writer of Hebrews affirms that Jesus tasted “death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).  The saving benefits of Jesus’ death can be obtained by every human being who will render obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:9).

The four statements from the chorus of the song, “I Am Just A Nobody,” sums up the reason the OceanSide congregation chose the theme:  “We Will Go…I Will Go!” for 2020.  All of us nobodies need to be telling everybody about this somebody, Jesus, who can save anybody.  Not one person is beyond the scope of salvation through the blood of Christ.  The vilest of sinners can be saved by Him.  The apostle Paul understood how evil his actions had been in the past.  And, he set himself up as a pattern for others regarding salvation.  “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (I Tim. 1:15-16).  In essence, Paul was saying:  “If Christ can save me, the chief of sinners, He can save anybody.”  Dear reader, do you stand in need of the salvation found in Christ Jesus the Lord?  We are here to assist you if your answer is:  “Yes,” to that question.