WHAT IF I GIVE ALL?
John 6:1-13
John 6:1-13
1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.
4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,
9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."
13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
(NIV)
Fifty years ago, a team of five young missionaries in the heart of Ecuador’s Amazon Basin endeavored to reach a fearsome tribe known as the Aucas. On an exploratory trip in their bright yellow Piper Cruiser, the missionaries flew over the tribe’s village and dropped baskets of gifts. Later they built a base along the Curaray River, a short distance from the Auca settlement. One day a small group of the Indians approached, appearing friendly and welcoming. To one curious tribesman—whom they called "George"—they gave an airplane ride. Thinking that an opportunity was opening, the missionaries started to map out a strategy to visit the village. But suddenly and without warning a large group of Auca men attacked. In a matter of minutes, the missionaries were dead, brutally murdered by the people they had been attempting to reach with the love of Jesus Christ.
The deaths of five promising young men was shocking, but even more astonishing was the response of family members of the slain men. They decided to continue the mission, reaching out and actually living among the very savages who had slaughtered their loved ones. Remarkably, the Aucas—known today as the Waodani Indians—received them and received the Gospel as well.
One of the missionaries, Jim Elliot, left a journal filled with spiritual insights. Most memorable is one statement that captures the essence of giving all:
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
Five young men—Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint and Roger Youderian—died violently, but not needlessly. And they were not fools, for they had their eyes fixed on the eternal, not the temporal. They gave what they could not keep, but they gained what can never be lost.
What would happen if we would give all?
Her name was Alexandra Scott, but everyone called her Alex. She was the founder of a charitable organization that has raised millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research. With a generous heart and a simple idea, Alex was the spark that set ablaze a movement that has touched lives in all 50 states and numerous foreign countries.
This is her story: Two days before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer. When she was four, Alex was so grateful for the care she had received she decided to set up a lemonade stand to raise money for her local hospital in Connecticut. Alex’s Lemonade Stand – and her formidable spirit – soon attracted the attention of her entire community. The lemonade stand became an annual tradition, and the idea began to spread. Hundreds of young cancer survivors followed Alex’s example and set up their own lemonade stands in cities across America.
On August 1, 2004, Alex died. She was just eight years old.
But in 2005, the year after Alex died, the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation raised over four million dollars to find a cure of cancer. Even though she was gone, the generosity of a thankful, little girl is still yielding huge dividends.
Jesus and the disciples are away for a little R & R. They went to the other side of the lake to regroup and recuperate. Then the crowds came, thousands of people, with more needs than there were people. And Jesus, never missing an opportunity to meet need, asks the disciples:
John 6:5
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
(NIV)
Matthew’s account of this event records Jesus telling the disciples:
Matthew 14:16
16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
(NIV)
The disciples were not rich enough to buy white bread and baloney for everyone on the hillside, even if they had pooled all their money together and even if they picked up Judas by his feet and shook him until the lint fell out of his greedy pockets! The crowd with them that day was hungry and tired and there were no hot dog vendors out in this wilderness. The twelve are keenly aware of the problem. Lots of mouths to feed and nothing to put in them. Flat broke! Have you ever been there?
Then Jesus tells them, “Feed them!” And the disciples start calculating and digging through their pockets again.
It’s tempting to say, “I can’t give all,” when all we see are needs looming over us.
John 6:7
7 Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
(NIV)
Did you hear Philip? Just five chapters ago, Philip finds Jesus and then finds his friend, Nathaniel, and says “We have found the Messiah! He is Jesus of Nazareth!” When Nathaniel says, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip’s faith replies, “Come and See”. Just five chapters later Philip has gone from living by faith to figuring finances! After his calculator or abacus has turned to smoke, he tells Jesus, “It can’t be done!”
Aren’t we like the disciples? We get aggravated with Jesus when He tells us to do something we believe cannot be done! But the scripture says that Jesus:
“… already had in mind what he was going to do.”
(John 6:6 NIV)
Then Andrew speaks up and reminds us:
Anything is possible when we give all!
John 6:8-9
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,
9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
(NIV)
When everyone is hungry, the richest person is the one who has something to eat! We are not told that anyone else there had anything to eat. These 5,000 families heard that Jesus was at this place and they jumped up and came where Jesus was, empty bellies and all! Verse 2 says:
John 6:2
2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
(NIV)
Philip saw the crowd, pulled out his calculator and said: “No way!”
Andrew saw the child, pulled him over to Jesus and said: “Way…too little!
It’s tempting to say, “I can’t give all,” when we are on a fixed income and it seems there is always more month than there is money.
Riches are not a requirement for us to give all!
A critical truth in the Christian life, is that Jesus needs what we can bring. We may not have much to bring Him according to the world’s standards or even according to our own, but He needs what we have. It may be that the world is denied miracle after miracle because we will not bring to Christ what we have and who we are.
‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is the name they use to refer to the part of New York City that has been rated the "most likely place to get killed." There is a Sunday School ministry there that involves the largest bus ministry in America.
One Puerto Rican lady, after getting saved in church, came to the pastor with an urgent request. She didn’t speak a word of English, so she told him through an interpreter, "I want to do something for God, please."
"I don’t know what you can do," he answered. "Please, let me do something," she said in Spanish. "Okay. I’ll put you on a bus. Ride a different bus every week and just love the kids."
So every week she rode a different bus -- they have 50 of them -- and loved the children. She would find the worst- looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: "I love you. Jesus loves you."
After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. "I don’t want to change buses anymore. I want to stay on this one bus," she said.
The boy didn’t speak. He came to Sunday school every week with his sister and sat on the woman’s lap, but he never made a sound. And each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday school and all the way home, "I love you and Jesus loves you."
One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, "I-I love you, too." Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug.
That was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. At 6:30 that night, the boy was found dead in a garbage bag under a fire escape. His mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash.
"I love you and Jesus loves you." Those were some of the last words he heard in his short life -- from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English. Dear friends – little is much when God is in it.
The only requirement for us to give all is to give what we have!
That’s what happened here. The little boy simply gave what he had.
John 6:11-12
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."
(NIV)
God is the Ultimate Economist! When we give all to Him, He makes sure nothing is wasted!
When we simply give, we may be tempted to give out of our plenty, out of our abundance, out of our riches, rather than out of our heart. When we give all, we choose to give without reservation or calculation, but out of love.
Unless love becomes visible, it is not love at all.
What makes your love for God visible to those around you?
