When Little Is Much
“Then He said, ‘To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.’” - Mark 4:30-32
As we think about the trials, testing, and tasks we face, both in our church and personal lives, often we become disheartened feeling we have little to offer and what lies ahead is too great. But God will use our little in a great way if we will let Him. I want us to consider four times in the Bible when little was much as we look at a jar of oil, a small cloud, a snack pack, and one solitary life.
I. A Jar of Oil
A. 2 Kings 4:1 “A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”
B. The widow of most likely Obadiah was faced with a very difficult situation. Her husband had died and a creditor was coming to take her two sons from her. She had no source to pay her debts or of getting out of their problem without God’s help. Her situation appeared hopeless
C. According to the Old Testament Law, a person in debt and without the means of repayment or collateral could be forced into bondage as a servant (or his sons) until the year of Jubilee. The sons would have to work off their father’s debt.
D. She appeals for help. – How often we stew in our hopelessness ignoring James warning “you do not have because you do not ask” and the command of our Savior to “Ask”.
E. 2 Kings 4:2a “So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” Elisha asks her “what do you want God to do for you through me?”
• We need do ask ourselves, what does God want us to do for others through us.
F. 2 Kings 4:2b “...she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
• She knew what she didn’t have but she also knew what she did have. Some of you probably think that you have nothing at all but in actuality, everyone has something.
• “Oil in Palestine, during Elisha’s time, was used both as a luxury and as a
necessity. Oil was used as to anoint the body, cooking and in burial preparations.
• She had NOTHING – but a jar of oil.
G. 2 Kings 4:3-4 “Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors – empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones."
• She had to step out on faith
• Matthew 17:20 “So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
• The number of empty vessels brought into the house showed the woman’s faith, obedience, and her submission to God and His promise to her through the prophet.
H. 2 Kings 4:5 “So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out.”
• She had to obey
• The key issue here is to obey, even when it doesn’t make sense and when it’s not easy to do so
• Matthew 9:29 “According to your faith let it be to you.”
I. 2 Kings 4:6-7 “Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
• God’s supply would be and was as large as her faith and obedience, without greediness.
• If we find that the supply of God stops, then either the need has been supplied according to His will, or there are no more empty vessels.
J. God takes whatever gift or talent you may have no matter how great or insignificant you may feel it is and uses it in a great way but only to limit that we empty ourselves and allow Him to fill us.
II. A Small Cloud
A. 1Kings 18:41-42 “Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for [there is] the sound of abundance of rain." So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,
• He humbled himself before the Lord
• He prayed
• James 5:17-18 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
• He was sincere about his prayer
• James 5:17b “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
• Dr. A. C. Dixon; "When we depend upon organization, we get what organization can do - and that is something. When we depend upon our preaching, we get what our preaching can do - that is something. When we depend upon money—we get what money can do — and that is something. When we depend upon education, we get what education can do — and that is something. But when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do. And what all of us need is what God can do."
B. 1 Kings 18:43-45a “And he said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." And he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again," seven times. And at the seventh time he said, "Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea." And he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, ’Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.”
• "Expect an answer. If no answer is desired, why pray? True prayer has in it a strong element of expectancy." – R.M.
• Matthew 21:22 “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
• The servant had to look again, and again, and again—seven times. Then when he does see something, it’s just a little cloud that looked like a man’s hand.
C. It may not look like much at first, but little is much when God is in it. That cloud which looked so small eventually turned the skies black with a sea of rain clouds and the rain came. Sometimes we look again and we miss see only a small cloud and dismiss it because we think it isn’t enough, but look again, little is much when God is in it. Remember it’s just the beginning.
D. The ear of faith hears what the eye of flesh cannot see! When a man reaches the place where the din of the world is shut out, he can hear the caravan of God’s blessing before it ever appears in his sight. – copied
III. A Snack Pack
A. John 6:1-5 “After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"
• It was an overwhelming impossible situation.
B. John 6:6 “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. ”
• Jesus also knew how He was going to handle the situation, before the situation ever materialized. –
• The question from Jesus was, “How are we going to handle this?” v. 5.
1. There were four responses to that questions:
a. Let’s get rid of the problem - Mark 6:35-36 “When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat."
b. Let’s raise more money – John 6:7 “Philip answered Him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.’
c. We have a little, but it will never be enough - John 6:8-9 “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
d. Let Jesus have it – Matthew 14:18 “He said, "Bring them here to Me."
C. John 6:11-13 “Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.”
• Jesus took five small barley rolls and two small fish and fed the multitudes.
• God can use anything that is placed in His hands.
• God will always uses the instruments that make themselves available.
• Your ability or resources may be small, but God is still God and He can use anything!
D. The life story of the great missionary Gladys Alward, illustrates this truth. Gladys Aylward was born in London in 1904. She attended a revival meeting at which the preacher spoke of dedicating one’s life to the service of God. On a bus in England. Gladys Aylward, a poorly-educated 26-year old parlor maid, was reading about China and the need for missionaries there; and from that moment, China became her life and passion. She applied to the China Inland Mission Center but failed to pass the examinations and was turned down. Crushed with disappointment, she returned to her small servant’s room and turned her pocketbook upside down. Two pennies fell on top of her Bible. “O God,” she prayed, “Here’s my Bible! Here’s my money! Here’s me!” That’s all she had. But Gladys began working several jobs and saving every cent she could to purchase passage to China. She knew she couldn’t afford to travel by ship, so she decided to go overland by train right across Europe and Asia, though it meant slicing through a dangerous war zone on the Manchurian border. On October 15, 1932, a little bewildered party gathered at London’s Liverpool Street Station to see Gladys Aylward off for China. The journey was hair-raising and nearly cost her life. But eventually Gladys reached China; showing up at the home of an older missionary who took her in — but didn’t quite know what to do with her. And yet — to make a long story short — Gladys Aylward eventually became one of the most amazing single woman missionaries of modern history. Her mission’s career was so extraordinary that the world finally took notice. Her biography was made into a movie, “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” starring Ingrid Bergman. She dined with such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth and spoke in great churches. She even became a subject of the television program “This is Your Life.” But Gladys never grew accustomed to the limelight, for her heart was always in Asia. “I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China,” she once said. “There was somebody else... I don’t know who it was — God’s first choice. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing. And God looked down... and saw Gladys Aylward.”
E. God can take anyone who is willing to step out in obedient faith, persevere in prayer looking in faith for the answer to that prayer, giving Him whatever they have little or much.
IV. One Solitary Life
A. Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.
Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a home.
He never set foot inside a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.
While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends deserted him. He was turned over to his enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had — his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of a man upon this earth as powerfully as this "One Solitary Life." – Anonymous
B. It is through this One Solitary Life that salvation is offered to all.
C. Romans 5:12, 15 & 19 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned... But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many... For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
D. God took a little cross erected on a small hill called Calvary and built a bridge spanning all eternity.
