Highs And Lows Series

CROWDS - here in verse 16, we see the crowds gather to have their loved ones healed.  Verse 13 - people are aloof from the disciples, but 16 the crowds gather.  No one wants to get “too close” - but they want the power that only comes through God being at work.

Realize that the more faithfully you live for God, you may find some others feel uncomfortable around you - because they know that the jokes they want to tell might not be appropriate in your company.  They realize as they talk about what they did over the weekend, they are ashamed for you to find out.  That is a GOOD thing.  We never want to look down on others and condemn them for a sinful life, but when our righteous life convicts them of wrongdoing, that is a good thing.

But the interesting thing about the crowds is their focus.  The healings and miracles were given so people would believe the message.  And in verse 14 we see that many men and women DO believe - but for many others their focus is on what the disciples can do for them.  Their focus is just on the physical.  But it was no different for Jesus.  He fed the thousands and then taught them, but as they followed Him around the lake, Jesus said I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

Some came for the message, some came for the healings, but the crowds gathered, and the disciples saw great success in their ministry.  But the danger of success is always pride.  When things go well for us, we never want to think that what we have is because of all our hard work and efforts.  Rather, we always want to give all the credit to God.  I’ll be the first to admit - I’d like to see more success in ministry - I’d like to have a problem with how we could find a seat for everyone - some churches have that problem.  Yet our numbers are few.  But the truth is that if we had that kind of success, it would be easy for pride to get in the way of what God was doing.  We would want to brag about our church and all we have going for us instead of bragging about our God and His faithful blessings!  So today I can humbly say, we continue on as a church only because God is gracious to us.  He continues to provide wonderfully, miraculously, and even though we are a small church, God has continued to help us have meaningful ministry.  And God uses your and my faithful giving each week to provide for that ongoing ministry.  We don’t have crowds here, so we need each one of you to faithfully join us in seeking to do the will of God.

But the second thing we see in the chapter is

COVETING - and that is always the danger when we are not seeing the nickels and noses that we want to see.  It is easy for us to covet the success and fame of another church.  We get jealous when we drive by another church and see a full parking lot.  We think, Why do they have so many cars there?  Their church isn’t nearly as good as OUR church!  Instead of coveting what God is doing there, we should CELEBRATE the blessings God is giving them.  Remember that the other churches in town are not the COMPETITION but they are our TEAMMATES!  We never want to be covetous when God chooses to bless someone else.  Rather we should pray for the other churches and Christians in town who are faithfully teaching the word of God and seeking to faithfully serve Him.