OPEN: (I had brought a large cardboard box on stage that my children had turned into a house)
I suppose some of you have wondered what this is.
Does anybody know what I have on stage with me?
That’s right - it’s a box. But, it’s not just any box. This is a marvelous box. This is the creation of my children’s imagination.
Notice the doors (Front and back) And the windows.
My kids have played in this thing for hours… even my cats enjoy playing in it.
And you know the most marvelous thing about this wonderful toy? It didn’t cost me a cent. It’s the box that my Christmas present came in (a Craftsman Project Center).
Now, we’re going to put this box aside for a moment and focus on our text this morning.
Jesus was a very popular teacher, because not only was He interesting to listen to, but wherever He went He would touch people – and he’d heal them and cast out demons and raise the dead
And so, here in Mark 6 we read that people have discovered where Jesus has gone to rest, and a large crowd has gathered because they had seen the miraculous signs he had performed among the sick and they wanted Him to touch them.
We’re told that Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them of the love that God had for them.
Now as the day went on and it began to get late, Jesus’ disciples encouraged Him to send the people home so they can eat. But Jesus surprised them by saying: “You give them something to eat!”
Now, the Gospel of John tell us a few more insights on this conversation. Apparently at about this point in the conversation Jesus asked Philip a question: “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” John 6:5
Now, this wasn’t an idle question.
John tells us that Jesus asked this question deliberately: “He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” (John 6:6)
Now Philip was apparently the accountant in the group because the Gospel of John tell us that (snap fingers) just like that Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" John 6:7
So, it’s obvious that Jesus was setting His disciples up for a “teachable moment.” And to drive His point home, Jesus asks His disciples to find how much food was available… and they round up a paltry 5 loaves and 2 fishes which John’s Gospel tells us was some little boy’s lunch.
Andrew - Simon Peter’s bro. - gave the food to Jesus with this discouraged comment: "… but how far will they go among so many?" John 6:9
But of course, Jesus knew how far it would go.
He blessed the food, broke the loaves and gave it to His to pass out to the crowd. And when all was said and done, the Disciples collected the leftovers and ended up with 12 baskets filled with broken pieces of bread and fish.
(Pause) Now that’s a fantastic story isn’t it? And, in fact, it’s so fantastic some people can’t quite believe it.
ILLUS: I remember reading of certain LIBERAL theologians who have speculated that the crowd had actually brought a fair amount of food with them that day… and that they had merely shared what they’d brought. These liberal theologians teach that God hadn’t multiplied the small donation from the child – the food collected afterward was simply what’d been left over from generosity of crowd who’d been moved by the unselfish gift of the young boy.
Now, why would these liberal theologians say that? Was there something in the text that lead them to that conclusion? Well… no.
Both Mark and John leave us with the impression that the disciples had already gone through the crowd looking for anyone who might have had food with them and all they could find was this little boy’s lunch.
But in addition, John’s Gospel goes on to tell us that the next day – the crowd came back. They wanted more food from Jesus! As John 6:26 tells us: Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. These folks were looking for a free lunch.
So then, if the text didn’t justify the teachings of these liberal theologians… why would they try to explain away this great miracle of God?
Well… because they’re pagans. They’re not Christians. They don’t believe in a god that can do anything spectacular. They have to have a god that works within confines and the rules they set up for him. They have their god in a box, and they only let him out every once in a while so they can examine Him and dissect Him and prove how clever they are in explaining away the majesty of God.
They’re pagans… you’d expect them to DOUBT that God could do anything in their lives.
But now, believers wouldn’t doubt - would they?
(pause…) Well, yeah, they would… we would… I would. At least sometimes.
But we can find some degree of comfort in the fact that disciples doubted too. They doubted… and they had Jesus right there in their midst. Every response they give to His questions reflect their doubt
Philip declares "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" John 6:7
Andrew presents the small boy to Jesus with the words: "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" John 6:9
To hear them talk – you’d think they’d never seen Jesus perform a miracle before! But they had.
• They’d seen Him heal the man who’d been taken over by a legion of demons. Mk 4:3ff
• They’d watched as a woman was healed who had merely touched his garment. Mk 5:29
• They’d seen Him raise the dead little girl to life. Mk 5:42
• And He’d even given them authority so that they themselves could drive out demons and heal the sick. Mark 6:6
So why did they doubt?
Well… you remember this box over here?
Kids love boxes like this. They can make them into anything they desire: a fort, a castle, a ship, a house, whatever. And they they don’t care WHAT WAS IN IT to begin with. They don’t care how expensive the gift was that was inside. They just like the box.
Many CHRISTIANS - look at their life - like my children look at this box. They see only the box – they see only their circumstances of their life. And they enjoy their box, they enjoy their circumstances in life… as long as everything goes well.
BUT if something happens to the box… they’re none too happy
ILLUS: You that have had kids, have you ever had to throw away a box like this? How do the kids respond to the fact that you’re going to throw away their marvelous creation? That’s right. Their response is almost Biblical: there’s weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!
And when Christians feel that box of their life is being torn apart how do they respond? That’s right: with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth! They cry and they mourn and they struggle because they’ve haven’t understood what really gave the box it’s value
The box my children played with had value because of what was contained inside.
And our lives have value because of what was contained inside.
The Liberal Theologian doubts God because he likes to keep his god inside of a box. That’s all the god he wants.
But, when we Christians experience doubt it’s often because we forgot that God was in the box to begin with. He was there all the time! He was in the box and outside the box and everywhere around.
And, when I forget that He’s always there… that’s when my life begins to fall apart.
THEN my box is empty.
There’s no hope there, no joy, no power, no potential.
What Jesus is attempting to do here in Mark 6 is get His disciples to answer the question: what’s in your box?
Philip… how much food do we need? (What’s in your box, Philip? Is God there?) And Philip answered “8 month’s wages…”
Andrew… how much food did you find? (What’s in your box, Andrew? Is God in there?) And Andrew answers: “5 loaves and 2 fishes… but what is so little… “
Jesus was bidding his men to look inside their box and answer the question: What’s in there? Is God there?
And, I”ll tell you, every Christian has to go thru that experience. At some point in our lives God will take us to the box and ask: What’s In Here? Is God in your box?.. or is it empty?
Every Christian has to learn this lesson
Every Christian has to come to the “box” and look inside and answer that question.
And to make the lesson more powerful, God always involves us in the learning.
Jesus could have called down manna out of heaven but He didn’t. He involved His disciples in every aspect of this lesson:
o They were asked to evaluate the problem
o They were asked to find answers to the need
o And when Jesus blessed the food and broke the bread – the disciples were the ones who hand the food to the crowd.
Jesus involved them in the learning of their lesson.
ILLUS: Sometime back a preacher friend of mine shared this story with me. A couple years ago, he and his family were going through some hard times financially and they did what most of us would do… they tightened their belts and cut back on expenses as much as possible. And one of the expenses he cut back on…was his tithe.
He told me “You know, Jeff, instead of getting better, my financial problems only got worse.”
What made matters even worse, was that he had committed himself to preaching a stewardship series every year. And as that time came closer, he realized he couldn’t preach a stewardship sermon series if he himself wasn’t tithing. So he went back to tithing, and when he preached his stewardship series, he shared his experiences with the congregation.
And then he told me “you know Jeff, once I began tithing again, my financial problems began to disappear. I still had the same amount of money… it just seemed to go farther. I am still in debt, but it’s getting less and less all the time.”
You see, even preachers have to go to the box and look inside once in a while.
CLOSE: I want to close with one of my favorite stories. At the last congregation I served, my predecessor had been a great leader. The church had grown under his leadership and he had convinced them that they needed to build a new sanctuary and a new foyer. But then he accepted the call to another church.
When I got there, you’d have thought I’d have experienced a great advantage. But I didn’t. While the previous minister had convinced MOST of the congregation the new building project needed to built… about a third were adamantly opposed. In fact, it almost seemed at times as if they might split over the issue.
They had collected about $100,000 for their project… which was basically all they needed to build the new foyer. And so, I convinced the leaders that they really didn’t need the new sanctuary right then. Why not simply build the foyer and promise not to spend any more money than they had on hand. That would meet the immediate need and give me time to attempt to work with those who had become so angry.
So the board voted to follow that plan. They promised that, in building the new foyer they would spend only what they had. And that seemed to diffuse the problem for the time being.
We broke ground in the Spring that our country first invaded Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. Things went well until about the first part of summer, when God decided to take us to THE BOX and ask us what was inside.
The Government came and tested our ground in preparation for our installing the septic system and they found that our ground didn’t “perk.” That simply meant that the ground didn’t absorb liquid very well and that meant that a simple septic system was out of the question. Instead of the $5000 system we had planned on… we now were saddled with a $25,000 technological wonder complete with a good sized red alarm light that would flash and gyrate if anything ever went wrong.
This new expenditure promptly put us about $10,000 in the red and the board was extremely uncomfortable. They had a made a promise that they wouldn’t go over budget… and here they were trapped with an expense they couldn’t pay without going into debt. What were they going to do?
During the board meeting, as we were discussing the problem, I mentioned that I had heard of something called a “Miracle Sunday.” The concept behind the “Miracle Sunday” was that a congregation would set a date several weeks in the future where the church would have a special collection. In the meantime, the congregation would pray and seek God’s will about how much they felt they should contribute. I suggested we set such a date and explain the need for the $10,000 offering. The Board was excited and urged me to begin preparing for the event.
Now, I have a spiritual problem as a preacher. I’m great at getting projects like this started, but occasionally I get distracted and can actually forget that I got them started in the first place.
That’s what happened with “Miracle Sunday.” I got distracted by a seminar that I attended in Indianapolis that focused on Prayer. It was a such a great seminar – it changed everything about how I viewed prayer – that I stole their sermons and began preaching them at the church.
So, the night before “Miracle Sunday” I’m preparing a sermon on Daniel 10 which tells of Daniel being disturbed by a great vision that he had received, and he had prayed 21 days for God to give him an interpretation of it. On the 21st day, an angel appears and tells Daniel that – on the first day Daniel had prayed, the angel was sent – but he had been delayed by what appears to have been demonic forces. Another angel had come to his aid and he was able to now come and explain the vision to Daniel.
It’s a great text and I had most of the sermon put together… but I lacked a good closing illustration. And so I was in deep prayer asking God for an idea of how to close the sermon. And then… it was like… I got nudged. It has only happened a couple of times in my ministry, but a thought entered my mind “What’s tomorrow?”
I had to think about it for a couple of minutes and then I said “Well, tomorrow’s Miracle Sunday.”
Again a thought came into my mind: “How much do you need?”
It suddenly occurred to me that if this was actually God – this could be the greatest sermon I ever preached! But, if it wasn’t – there were people in the congregation who would use this as a reason to run me out of town.
So, I called about 4 or 5 families – deliberately avoiding those who had “deep pockets” and told them what I had in mind and asking for their prayers.
Then I called our treasurer. “Mark,” I said, “I want you count the offering during the worship service tomorrow, rather than afterwards like you usually do. Because you’re going to be my closing illustration. I’m going to have told the church that I believe that God is going to supply $10,000 and that I’m so sure of it that I’m going to have you come in and tell them how much it is. Now, whatever the total is, you tell them the truth. But I’m so convinced that it’s going to that amount that I’m willing to go out on a limb and trust God on this.”
Well, the next Sunday, I was sitting up on the stage watching the people come in for worship. And it occurred to me that there weren’t as many people there that Sunday as there had been the Sunday before. I was half tempted to count heads to see if maybe I should cut my losses and just come up with a different closing illustrations. Just then, another thought came into my mind: “David counted heads… and you know what happened to him.”
Then I got up to preach the sermon. Preachers get a feeling for when a sermon is really cooking for them. Everything goes right and it comes out easy and smooth. That’s how this sermon was working for me. Then I got to the part where I asked the congregation what special day this was. They responded that it was “Miracle Sunday.”
“How much do we need?” I asked.
“$10,000” they responded.
Then I asked “How many of you have been praying that God would supply $10,000 for us this Sunday?” and about 2/3’s of the congregation raised their hands.
And I said “Because you have been faithful in your prayers before God, I am convinced that we’re going to have $10,000 in the offering today. In fact, I’m so convinced that we’re going to have that amount, that I’ve asked Mark to count the offering during the worship service and I’ve asked him to come out about this point in the sermon to tell you how much we’ve received. But I’m going to tell you right now… its’ going to be $10,000.”
Then Mark came out and my heart sank in my chest. He didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked a little like somebody had just shot his dog (I later found out it was because he was so nervous over the offering… he’d never handled that much money before).
“Mark, how much was the offering?” I asked.
“We have… (he paused and slowly enunciated his words) $10,999.96.”
The audience went wild. And they spoke of that miracle for the rest of my ministry there. But it wasn’t a miracle that showed off what a wonderful preacher I was. It was a miracle that had taken them to the box and asked them to look inside. For you see, the $100,000 they had collected up to that point had been their own personal stewardship. God really hadn’t been in that part of the offering. But when the chips were down and they actually needed God to come thru, they looked inside the box and found God there.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
· God of the Box = Mark 6:30-44
· More Than Enough Faith = II Kings 5:1-20
· Standing Up For God = I Kings 17:1-16
· More Than Enough Church = Isaiah 54:1-5
