You’ve probably heard this story before, but I think it’s a good way to being our time together: A five-year-old was sitting with her grandfather in her room one day, and she asked him, "Grandpa, did God make you?"
"Yes, child," came the reply. "God made me." The child paused for a moment, and then asked, "And Grandpa, did God make me too?" Again the reply came back in the affirmative.
The 5-yr.-old looked in the mirror on her dresser for a while, and then looked her Grandpa in the face: "You know, Grandpa, God is doing a whole lot better work lately."
We’ve all done things or said things that make us look pretty stupid, and the moment those words came out of our mouths, we realize what we just said and wish we could just grab them back and forget we ever said them.
Perhaps you’ve experienced that. Or maybe you’ve been through something like I’ve been through. In our day and age, leaving a voice mail message is a common task and many of us have gotten used to it, but despite that, there are times when you’re distracted or you really think the person you’re calling will be answered, so when the voice mail kicks in, you’re not ready to leave a message.
So the result is usually, "uhh…dead silence…uh…Hi there…" and usually ended in, "Please don’t just my intelligence based on this message!" and then you hang up and then think, "Man, I could’ve just hit star and re-record that!!!". Life can be humbling at times.
But the greatest things about life is that despite our shortcomings and despite our flaws, God wants to do amazing things in our lives.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the mundane, day-to-day of life. It’s easy to lower your expectations for everybody, including God. Many times, we glorify God in the good times, but when the troubles come, we have trouble coming to God. Sometimes we just don’t think He would care enough to act on our behalf.
But Jesus has promised that He wants to work great things in our lives. In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus said to the crowd: Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
This evening, I believe that God wants to do great things in and through us. In that skit, Mike couldn’t comprehend that God had acted in his life, even before he had asked. And sometimes, we fail to grasp that God wants to do amazing things in our lives, as well.
If you have your Bibles with you, would you turn to the Gospel of John with me, and look to Chapter 6. Now, this evening, I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation. We’ll be reading verses 1-15 together.
After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)
Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
"Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
In this story, Jesus had been trying to withdraw from the crowds after preaching and healing many. He had gotten into a boat with His disciples and crossed the Sea of Galilee. But the people were so desperate to see more of Him, they followed him. By boat, on foot, whatever it took. They followed him across the Sea just so they could be near Him again.
It is at this point that Jesus asks the question of Philip: “Where are we going to get food for all these people?” Now, to most of us, that’s a valid question. You’ve got about 5,000 men following you (including women and children, we’re probably talking a good 10,000 people here). So, naturally you’re going to want to figure out a way to feed them all.
Philip responds saying, “Even if we worked for MONTHS, we could afford to feed these people”. The NIV says “Eight month’s wages wouldn’t be enough to feed these people”.
But Jesus already had a plan. He already knew what he was going to do. You see, in our lives, Jesus wants to do amazing things. And even in a situation that to us, seems impossible, Jesus already has a plan. Isn’t it comforting to know that no matter what your circumstance is, Jesus has a plan? Jesus knows what He is doing to do. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord declares, “I know the plans I have for you! Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future”. Even when your situation looks impossible, we can rely on the fact that Jesus has a plan. Jesus knows what He is going to do. Even when we’re looking out over a crowd of 10,000 people with no food that we can trust that Jesus has a plan. And it’s usually the thing we least expect. Who could’ve expected that Jesus was going to take this little boy’s lunch and feed a whole football stadium worth of people? He’s got a plan, amen?
You might be thinking, “what can we do to help us to see Jesus at work? How can we be people who sees God do amazing things?”
Well, I’m glad you asked. Those are good questions. Looking at this passage, I see three attributes we can follow that will allow us to see God doing amazing things.
The first attribute found in this passage is this: follow closely after Jesus. Follow closely after Jesus.
Look at the beginning of this chapter. Jesus gets into a boat to try to get some quiet time, but this crowd of people are so desperate to be close to Him that they follow Him all the way around the sea, many by foot probably for hours just to be close to Jesus.
What’s even more amazing is that Jesus, despite being tired and wanting to find some solitude away from the crowds, did not turn these people away. His love for them was so infinite that he would never have dreamed of turning them away.
When you look at the distance these people literally went to be close to Jesus, it begs the question: how far will we go to be close to Jesus. How far will I go to be close to Jesus? What lengths will I go to be close with Him?
Now, I understand that Jesus is always with us and always near to us, but there’s a difference between being near and being close.
Here’s an example: I could come up to Pastor Ryan and put my arm around him and I could be all up in his personal space. I’d be way near him, right? In fact, some would say, I’d be a little too close to him, eh? But just because I’m so close to Ryan doesn’t mean I’m close with Ryan. It sounds like such a minute difference but, it makes all the difference in the world. Even though I’m close to Ryan, doesn’t mean that I KNOW Him. It doesn’t mean that I love what He loves and know what he knows. I don’t have a deep, intimate spiritual connection with Pastor Ryan. I don’t really know him all that well yet. I can be close TO him, but yet not close WITH him.
In the same way, Christ is close to us. He is always near us and wants to be in close relationship to us, but often we don’t allow Him to get close with us. He don’t have to drive and desire that that multitude to follow closely after Jesus. We often don’t have the longing to see God do amazing things in our lives. Maybe we think that God wouldn’t want us getting so close to Him. But like with this crowd, Jesus loves us so much, more than we could ever understand, and he wants to be so close to you that you know His heart, so that you know what He knows and love what He loves. He wants us to follow closely after Him.
And when we understand this, we will then understand that it takes an effort on our part to be close to Him. He loves us so much and wants us to be close to Him, but we have to reach out to Him, too. A relationship has to be a two-way street. If you’re married, your relationship with your spouse won’t survive if one of you will not reach out to the other. In the same way, to be people who see God do amazing things, we have to be people who follow closely after Him!
The second attribute that can allow us to see God do amazing things in our lives is this: do what Jesus says. Sounds simple, doesn’t it: do what Jesus says.
In this passage, Jesus tells his disciples to sit everybody down. Now, it would have been real easy for one of the disciples to stand up and say, “Uh, Jesus, sir, there’s 10,000 people down there. What do you expect to do about that? What good will sitting them down do? We need to get them someplace to eat!” But instead, they trusted Him and obeyed what he asked them to do.
You see, when you trust in the Master and you put your life in His hands, then He is able to do infinitely more than you could ever do. On our own, we are weak. We are feeble. We are fallible. We are finite. We are limited. We are imperfect. But God is strong. He is infallible. He is infinite. He is unlimited. He is perfect. And when we allow our lives to be lived in obedience of Him, then suddenly, we’re allowing ourselves to be used by Him. And then He is able to do amazing things in and through us.
And sometimes He will ask you to do things that seem to defy reality. It seemed to defy logic to get all those people to sit down, but look how he was able to provide for the needs of the people.
When you put yourself in the master’s hands and live a life of obedience to Him, he is able to do abundantly more than we can…it’s all about who’s hands you are in. Who are you trusting? Who has control of your life? Who’s hands are you in?
You see, in my hands, a hockey stick might as well be a piece of driftwood. It’s useless, but in the hands of Wayne Gretzky, it because a work of art. A paint brush in my hand more than likely will make a mess, but in the hand of Picasso or DaVinci or Michelangelo, a paint brush can produce a masterpiece. A Nails in my hand might put together a bookshelf for my DVDs or computer desk for my desktop, but nails in the hands of Jesus bought my salvation.
It’s all about whose hands you are in. When you live a life of trust and obedience to the master. When you allow yourself to be held in the master’s hands, then you will see Him do amazing things in your life.
The third and final thing attribute to allow us to see God do amazing things is this: Bring your everything to Jesus. Bring your everything to Jesus.
In this story, there’s a little side-character that actually plays a major role: the little boy. He comes to Jesus and brings his lunch, everything he had to eat for that day and he offers it to Jesus. And really, he probably expected nothing in return. He could have had no idea what Jesus was about to do with his lunch. For all he knew, he was just offering a meager lunch to a great man so he could be satisfied.
What’s amazing about this story is it shows that no matter who you are or what you have to offer, Jesus can take that and make it even more than you could ever imagine. And thank God for that. So many times we come to God and we bring a meager offering. And we may feel that God cannot possibly do anything with it, but He honors our sacrifice and will multiply it in our lives.
It’s like the story of the widow’s mite. After watching men dump big bags of gold into the temple offering, Jesus proclaims that this poor widow giving everything she had as the one who is blessed because she gave everything she had for the Kingdom of God.
In the same way, we have been asked to give everything we have to Jesus, to allow Him to use it as He sees fit. Now, it doesn’t necessarily mean give up everything in your life and sell your possessions, but what it does mean is to give control over those things to Jesus. Our possessions, our stuff, our lives need to take a back seat to our relationship with and reliance on Jesus.
When Jesus asked the rich young ruler to sell all of his stuff and follow Him, it wasn’t an admonishment against having money, but a warning against allowing your possessions to take the place of God in our hearts.
To see God do amazing things in your life, you need to be willing to bring everything you have to Him, to sacrifice even our own lives for Him. We need to allow Him to have complete control of our lives, holding nothing back.
As we close this evening, I would encourage you to take a moment to consider where you are tonight. God wants to work in your life. He wants to do amazing things in all of us. But He will only do in our lives what we allow Him to. He won’t intrude in our lives. He has given us free will. He won’t force us to be close to Him. He won’t force us to obey Him. He won’t force us to allow Him to work in our lives.
God wants to use you. He wants to do amazing things in and through you. It doesn’t matter who you are. You may be thinking to yourself, “Not me, God couldn’t possibly use me. You don’t know where I’ve been”. You couldn’t be more wrong there. History is riddled with men that God used despite their pasts. The apostle Paul was a persecutor of Christians. He used to kill them, but when God got a hold of His life, look at the amazing things He did through Paul. God even used a young boy’s lunch to work a miracle and feed 10,000 people.
As we close this evening, and as you go about your week, I encourage you to take these attributes and make them real in your life. Follow closely after Jesus. Live a life of obedience to Him. Live your life in the master’s hands. And give your everything to Jesus. When you live your life in such a way, God will bless you and you will see Him do amazing things in and through you.
Let’s pray this evening.
