Your Resources Are Insufficient. That's What God Intends.

As we consider the world that we live in today; as we watch the news on television, as we read the paper, or more likely, read the news online; as we look around us, and consider everything that is happening in our nation and in the world, it’s easy to become discouraged and disillusioned. Indignant. Upset. Angry, even. But also a bit helpless. Because everything seems to be spinning out of control, with little that you or I or anyone can do about it.

• Take COVID-19. What can one person do in the face of a worldwide pandemic? Yes, I can try to protect myself and my loved ones – get vaccinated, wear a mask, practice social distancing – but even doing all of those things won’t guarantee your safety. And the problem is global; there are billions of people all over the world who are at risk, and getting sick from this disease. What can one person do?

• Or take the political situation. It seems now that everything is a political issue, that every aspect of our daily lives now has political implications, and at the same time, political discussions are getting nastier, and angrier, and more divisive. Our nation, our world, seems to be in the grip of some kind of political pandemic, or social media virus, that makes enemies out of former friends and opponents out of family members. Everyone is shouting past each other but no one is listening to anyone else. What can you or I do about that? We can post on Facebook all we want, but no one is likely to be persuaded.

• Or take the state of the Christian church. It seems that every few weeks you hear of some prominent pastor who is forced to resign due to moral failure. Many churches have essentially abandoned preaching the gospel, the teachings of Christ and the apostles, in favor of more “relevant” topics. And religious commitment is declining. Over the last decade, in just ten years, the percentage of people in the U.S. who identify themselves as Christians in polls has dropped by 15%. Church attendance is down. Many of the fundamental moral and religious beliefs that have made our nation great are seemingly under attack. The best days of the church in America seem to be behind us.

Are you depressed yet? I could go on, and talk about the economy, or education, or foreign affairs, or the environment, or marriages and families, or a dozen other things. But you get the point. Lots of big, huge problems that it seems we can do little about. And as I said, it’s easy to become discouraged by all this. Easy to feel helpless. Easy to conclude that there is nothing you can do, nothing that will make a real difference; easy to believe that your meager resources are insignificant in light of the enormous challenges out there. And so the temptation is to just sit back and do nothing. Just focus on your own needs and let the rest of the world take care of itself. And that is exactly what our enemy, Satan, wants us to do. He wants us to feel overwhelmed, to feel that nothing we do really matters, to think of ourselves as lacking the resources to make a difference. He wants us to sit back and do nothing. Because the thing that Satan fears most of all is a Christian who understands the true power, and the vast resources, that are available to us in Jesus Christ. And that’s what I want to talk about this morning.

My text is Mark 6:30-44. I invite you to read along in your Bibles as I read aloud from the New International Version of the Holy Bible.

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”