(Slide 1) It was only a few years ago that I learned to swim.
This was after the boys had already learned to swim.
Their joy and enthusiasm in the pool gave me a boost that I finally needed to say, “I am going to learn to swim!’
So with goggles on, I learned to swim… in a hotel pool… underwater… with a breast stroke… (actually more like a frog stroke)
When I was about 10 or so, my parents joined a private lake club that had swimming lessons. I hated learning to try to swim in a lake… yuk!
After several lessons (and I remember learning to float on my back) I refused to go… and so for nearly 40 years, I often sat on the sidelines (or in the shallow end) while others had fun.
I was afraid.
At first, I was afraid of the water.
I had several scary experiences (again at a lake) when I was knocked down by some waves.
Yet over the years, I tried to learn to swim on my own. I remember one time, 30 years ago this summer, when I jumped in the deep end of the pool at the Salvation Army camp where I was working. It was for… our staff swim test…
I failed…
Sputtering and flailing, a hand appeared (it was from one of the girls I was trying to impress and who happened to be the head lifeguard) and helped me get out. I worked hard that summer at trying to swim but ended up with pink eye and sat out the final weeks of the season along the side of the pool… out of the water.
As time passed, my fear of swimming changed. I was now afraid… of being left out by others who were in the pool… of being ashamed when others learned that I could not swim.
But, when in a hotel pool (and I cannot remember where it was), I simply gave myself to the water and dove in… I found my stroke and style and started swimming.
And, while I am not a great swimmer, one of my greatest fears, had been overcome.
(Slide 2) At this point in your life, what is your greatest fear? Why is it your greatest fear?
What have you done to overcome it? Have you overcome it? If not, why not?
For this Sunday and next, I am feeling very strongly led by God to focus on what we have already been given (time, talents, money) and the barriers (internal and external) (another name for ‘fear’) we daily face that often keep us from really stepping out in faith and living with and for the Lord.
I shared the story about swimming to illustrate a point – fear is a constant issue and a constant companion in life. In fact, John Ortberg reminds his readers that the most common command in the Bible is: (Slide 3) Fear Not.
I also want to make another point today. As we will see in our main text, (Slide 4) God calls us to give what we have not what we don’t. There is a relationship to our fears and giving what we have when Jesus invites us to give.
And our main text for this morning is Matthew 15:32-39 in which we read:
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the road.”
The disciples replied, “And where would we get enough food out here in the wilderness for all of them to eat?”
Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They replied, “Seven, and a few small fish.” So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.
They all ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over! There were four thousand men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan. (NLT)
One of my bad habits, which is being dealt with as I pay more attention to what I am reading as well as paying more attention to God while I am reading, is reading something into a text, from the Bible and other wise, that is not there. I have had this bad habit broken in this text, and its parallel, a chapter earlier where Jesus feeds the 4,000.
I had it broken while reading Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. He wrote a book entitled, The Hole In Our Gospel and in it he references the feeding of the 4,000 out of Mark 6 in which, as he does here, Jesus asks, ‘What do you have?’
Then, in light of Jesus’ question, it is Stearns’ remark that ‘turns the light on’ for me.
(Slide 5) He didn’t ask about magnitude or strategy or feasibility. He asked not how much it would take to solve the problem, but only how much they had to offer… Jesus did not ask the disciples to do the impossible; He asked only for them to bring to Him what they had… God never asks us to give what we do not have…But He cannot use what we will not give. (Some emphasis Stearns’ and some my emphasis.) Richard Stearns, The Hole In Our Gospel Pages 252 -253
Now let us go back for a moment and look at Matthew’s parallel account of Mark 6 that is found in Matthew 14:15-21: That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and it is getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”
But Jesus replied, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”
“Impossible!” they exclaimed. “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish!”
“Bring them here,” he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. And he took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and asked God’s blessing on the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave some of the bread and fish to each disciple, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand men had eaten from those five loaves, in addition to all the women and children!”
We have no indication, at least in Matthew’s account, how much time took place between these two incidents. It could have been a week, a few days, a month or a few months. But we do know this. The disciples still did not quite get it!
Notice they say in chapter 14 that it is ‘impossible’ for them to feed. Then in chapter 15, they say, “And where would we get enough food out here in the wilderness for all of them to eat?”
Not exactly the same but pretty close in attitude.
Jesus did not ask them to do the miracle of the feeding, he only asked them to provide what they already had available! He did the rest!
(Slide 6) “So what” number 1: So what would happen the next time you gave God what you did have and did not focus on what you did not have?
Moses had that problem didn’t he? I like how John Ortberg says it.
“God called Moses: Go to Pharaoh – the most powerful man on earth. Tell him to let his labor force leave without compensation to worship a god he doesn’t believe in. Then convince a timid, stiff-necked people to run away into the desert. That’s your calling.”
“And Moses said: Here I am. Send Aaron.”
Moses eventually went back to Egypt, with Aaron’s help, and led the Israelites out of slavery and toward the promise land.
But Moses was focused on what he did not have instead of what He did have. But what did Moses have? He had two things: fear and what I call a heart for his people.
Remember that he fled Egypt fearing for his very life. In a moment of anger, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, one of his own people.
Decades passed and I don’t think that a day went by when Moses did not think about what he had done. I just wonder if he wished some how he could make things right. And I think that it was out of this painful situation that he still had a heart for his people.
And God knew that he still had a heart for his people.
God also knew that Moses still had fear in his heart as well.
Now, I want us to go back to Stearns’ quote for a second
(Slide 7) He didn’t ask about magnitude or strategy or feasibility. He asked not how much it would take to solve the problem, but only how much they had to offer… Jesus did not ask the disciples to do the impossible; He asked only for them to bring to Him what they had… God never asks us to give what we do not have…But He cannot use what we will not give.
So often, I have recently realized, we so complicate the process of obeying and serving God.
“Well, we need to appoint a committee to make a recommendation to approve the expenditure.”
Yes, there needs to be accountability in our work. (I often do this because I think that it is one of the ways that we learn how to make good decisions together… and share the blame together when we don’t!)
But Jesus did not asked them to organize a “feeding committee” of 3 (1/4 of the disciples). He simply asked them, ‘What do you have to share?’
“Well, the pastor needs to be asked what he thinks about this.”
Granted the disciples did respond to Jesus’ question, but with a hint of (I think) sarcasm and incredulity. “What? Feed them? That’s impossible!”
Jesus did not care what was fed to them he cared that they were feed!
Is someone in need of phone call or a kind word? Make the phone call; say the kind word.
“Is this feeding expense in the budget? Can we do this?”
Who truly has the wealth of the world in His hands? The Lord does! Jesus already was prepared to do His part, if the disciples were to do their part.
(Slide eight) So what does this mean for us in the week ahead?
How do we overcome our fears that keep us from using for God what we already have? Scriptures says, to ‘fear not.’ That is a command of God, not a request.
John Ortberg recalls a scene from the movie Chariots of Fire, where one of the main characters, Harold Abrams, one of England’s leading runners of another generation, is moody and angry after losing to the Scottish runner Eric Liddell, who would later die in a Japanese containment camp during World War 2. It is the first time in his life that Abrams lost a race.
As he sulks his girlfriend, Cybil says to him, “Harold, this is absolutely ridiculous. It’s a race you’ve lost, not a relative. Nobody’s dead.’
Abrams responds in a moan, “I’ve lost.”
“I know. I was there. I remember watching you; it was marvelous. You were marvelous. He was more marvelous, that’s all. On that day the best man won.” She continued, “He was ahead, there was nothing you could have done. He won fair and square.”
“Well that’s that,” he replies.
“If you can’t take a beating, perhaps it’s for the best.”
“I don’t run to take beatings- I run to win!”
Then he shouts, “IF I CAN’T WIN, I WON’T RUN!”
Cybill pauses and then says, “If you don’t run, you can’t win!”
I believe, and I have seen in my life, that we are often afraid of two things: failure… and success!
Fear of both keep us from hoping, trusting, and believing in the Lord. It holds us back from moving forward.
It keeps us from giving what we already have to give when Jesus asks us.
So what is your biggest fear these days? How is it keeping you from giving to Jesus what you already have?
As with the disciples, Jesus asks us to give what we already have… not what we don’t.
And all of us have three things: time, possessions, and abilities that the Lord desires us to give to him and this brings me to our conclusion for this morning.
Three of your bulletins have colored dots located on the main right hand page. Take a moment to look. (One is red, one is yellow, and one is blue.)
(Slide 9) Now, I have three envelopes with the corresponding colors on them. (I do not know that what is which envelope.)
(Slide 9a) In one of them is a blank check for $5.00 with an assignment to take someone to lunch that does not always get to go to lunch. You are to write in your name and cash the check and bring me the receipt for our records.
(Slide 9b) In another one, is an assignment for you to use 60 minutes of your time this week to do something nice for a neighbor or co-worker. It could be some help with housework, to take them somewhere they need to go, or, simply, to spend an hour visiting with them this week.
(Slide 9c) In the third one, is an assignment for you to select either an article of clothing or something that you own, to give either to someone you know could use it or to one of our community agencies. It does not have to be something you need to keep (although…) but perhaps something, like an extra coat, that you can live without.
(Slide 10) Now before I give this envelope to you three this is what I am asking of you:
That you willingly will complete the assignment this week.
That you are here next Sunday and share the results of what happened.
Will you agree?
Hand out the envelopes…
I close with this quote for our reflection:
(Slide 11)
“Someone once said, “God does not call the equipped; He equips the called.” Saying that we are not clever enough, good enough, or talented enough to serve God is just making excuses. All of us have something God can use, even if it’s only a stick. {Think Moses}. The question is whether or we will offer whatever stick we have to His service.” Richard Stearns
What is the Spirit saying to you this morning?
Let us prepare to pray…
Sources: The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns; If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg
