Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, which of the “What’s in your wallet?” commercial is your favorite? Mine is probably the one with the attacking Vikings. What’s in your wallet?
There is a familiar story in the Bible where the question could have been re-phrased to “What’s in your basket?” It was an account so momentous that it is recorded in all four Gospels – The Feeding of the Five Thousand.
People were drawn to Jesus. They wanted to hear His words, they wanted to be healed by Him, they just wanted to be in His presence. One time Jesus and His disciples wanted to get away and rest awhile in a remote area across the Sea of Galilee, but the people saw them and ran there on foot.
Jesus had compassion for the crowds for to Him they were like sheep without a shepherd. So, He taught them many things. It was getting late in the day and the disciples urged Jesus to send them away so they can buy some food in the nearby towns.
Jesus shocked them by saying You give them something to eat! Phillip quickly surveyed the multitude and answered, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough food for each to have a little bite!” Interesting calculation. Phillip was able to translate the need into a cost. Eight months’ wages – 200 denarii. Why is this significant? Because Jesus, a traveling preacher, and His mostly fishermen friends, would not have that kind of money anyway. It is doubtful there was 20 denarri among them, let alone 200.
Besides, the nearest towns were small. There was no Costco or Sam’s Club. I read somewhere that 200 denarii would have bought 4,800 quarts of barley or 1,600 quarts of wheat. But where?
So, the disciples were immediately faced with the logistic impossibility of this assignment.
Well, Christ had it all worked out already. Does that ever happen to us? Aren’t there times when we only focus on what we can’t do without allowing for what God can do? One of the biggest mistakes mission congregations make is building their new sanctuary too small. Why? Because they are afraid of a larger mortgage. Then, a few years later, they have to expand and it costs them twice as much.
Jesus already had a plan. He told the disciples to go out among the people and find out what they had. Doesn’t that remind you of the preacher who told his congregation, “I have a good news and a bad news. We have enough money for our building project. The bad news is – it is still in your wallets.”
Now another interesting character enters the scene – Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. What so exciting about Andrew is that whenever his name is mentioned in the Bible, he is bringing somebody to Jesus. Wouldn’t it be great, whenever our name is mentioned, we would be bringing someone to Jesus too?
Well, this time Andrew brought a young boy to Jesus. The boy is carrying a basket with five loaves of barley pita bread and two small pickled fish. This boy is the unsung hero of this story! This was the original Boy Scout. “Be Prepared!” He was prepared. He was the only one who brought provisions with him. This kid was not about to go hungry. And what is even more remarkable about this boy – he did not hoard his food! He was so excited about meeting Jesus that he gladly gave Him all he had.
Can you imagine such enthusiasm among all followers of Jesus? Christian congregations would be sizzling with excitement. We can all learn a good lesson from this boy. Let’s be willing to give Jesus the little we’ve got and see what he can do with it.
William Barkley, the biblical commentator, said, “Even little is much in the hands of the Lord.”
Jesus took the five pieces of bread and the two fish, gave thanks, blessed it – and you know the rest of the story. After the people had their fill, the disciples collected twelve baskets of scraps. The crowd got fed – and then some, without 200 denarii or Costco.
This story is a great lesson in faith, trust, and stewardship of resourced we have been blessed with. What’s in our basket? What is it that we can bring to Jesus? What can he lift up, bless, and multiply?
There is an offertory prayer we say at the 8 o’clock service, that reflects the right attitude as we share our gifts with God: “Merciful Father, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us: ourselves, our time, and our possessions – signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of Him who offered himself for us, Jesus Christy our Lord.”
The young boy brought to Jesus five pieces of bread and two fish in his basket. In our basket are time, talent, and treasure. I think of sharing our gifts with God in terms of glorifying the Lord with them. Throughout history there have been great artists who glorified God with their paintings and sculptures. There have been great singers, musicians and composers who glorified the Lord with the sounds of beautiful music. There have been great writers and poets who glorified God with their thoughts put into words. There have been great servants and generous givers. But the opportunity to glorify God with our time, talent, and treasure is not limited to these great ones. It is open to everyone.
What does it mean to glorify God? Most often, when we say we give glory to God, we take transfer the focus from ourselves onto God as the power behind our accomplishments. But there is more to it. The Bible teaches we can acknowledge God’s glory. We can ascribe glory to the Lord. We can praise His glorious name. But can we really add anything to God’s glory? I don’t think so. It would be like trying to deposit a penny into Fort Knox.
It is He who crowns us with His glory through Jesus Christ. So, how do we glorify God? By doing everything in life (including the practice of our stewardship) in the light of His glory; reflecting His glory, His attributes, His loving kindness, His creativity.
In other words, do everything in a celebration of God’s presence in our lives; including Him in all our endeavors. Proverbs 3: 6 says, In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
Today we will look at the gift of time from our basket that we offer to Jesus, and the blessings He can make out of it.
How many times we hear the phrase, “do you have a minute?” There are 60 minutes in one hour, 10, 080 minutes in a week, 43,200 minutes in a month, and over half a million minutes in a year. They do add up, don’t they?
The average person in his or her life spends 10 year watching television, 5.5 years driving a car (6.5 if you drive on Stockton Hill), 5 years waiting in lines, 4 years doing housework, 1 year looking for misplaced objects (no, it doesn’t get better as we get older). We spend at least 2 years on the Internet, 8 months opening junk mail, and 70 days reading the Bible. Seems rather odd, doesn’t it? A little over two months in a lifetime is what the average person spends in being spiritually nourished by God’s Word. Compare that with the 6 months we supposedly spend sitting at stop lights, not all of it glorifying God, I’m sure.
The number one answer to a question “What prevents you from growing closer to God?” is “I just don’t have the time.” I know how it is. I remember what it was like when our kids were growing up. Two jobs, kids in sports, homework, science projects, band concerts, not to mention quality time with the family – and the day only has 24 hours and a third of it we spend sleeping (if you have the luxury).
We appreciate every one of you here, but when I see young families at worship, when I see people with already busy schedules volunteering in various positions at church – I want you to know that we are so grateful for you. Your presence here is a testimony to all that God has an important place in your lives, and the time you invest in helping with the tasks at church is your offering to God, a reflection of His glory and grace.
We appreciate all of you and thank God for you – whether you are working, whether you are retired, or whether you are in school. And we would like to encourage you that the time you spend in worship, in reading and studying the Bible, in prayer, in helping in the avenues of service in our congregation – is a time well invested because Christ can take your gift of time and multiply it into a great blessing, for you and for others.
I know it would be great if we could stretch the day to have 27 hours instead of 24, but we can’t do that. Besides, something tells me that even if we could, before long we would be just as busy and complain there aren’t enough hours in the day.
All we can do is treat each day as a gift from God and make the best of it; be good stewards of the 1,440 minutes of it. When we wake up in the morning, let us make a conscious decision to live the day in the light of His glory. Do the best we can in our work, at school, in our retirement activities, in time spent with our children and grandchildren or great grandchildren, in leisure, and in nurturing of our spiritual wellness and our service.
A young boy brought to Jesus a basket with five loaves of pita bread and two fish. What’s in your basket? Amen.
