THERE S A LAD HERE John 6:1-21 9th Sunday After Pentecost FUMC, Little Rock- 8:30, 9:00, 11:00 July 29, 2012

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1 THERE S A LAD HERE John 6:1-21 9th Sunday After Pentecost FUMC, Little Rock- 8:30, 9:00, 11:00 July 29, 2012 Theme: What have you to offer Jesus? It s happened to me at every church that I ve served, and to ever pastor that I ve ever known, and it breaks our hearts. We get the word second hand that a family has left the church and when in inquiring about the situation hear the reason: We like you but frankly, we re just not being fed there anymore. Those words make a pastor cringe. It s a devastating critique of our congregation or of the pastor s preaching. After all, what could be more appropriate to the purpose of the church, than to be the place where people are fed. And yet, it also strikes right to the heart of the issue of being a consumer of ministry rather than a provider! So consider this thought this morning, maybe the real way we are fed and transformed is when we give our loaves and fishes to Jesus to multiply? So the theme for this mornings sermon is: What have you to offer Jesus? Great crowds were pressing in to be taught by Jesus. How were they to be fed? There was no McDonald's nearby, no Wendy's or Burger King, no Kosher dely s, and the disciples were worried about it. After all, they knew it was their job - to feed the hungry throng. Jesus turned to one of his disciples and asked his advice on the matter. From Philip's answer it is clear that even if there had been a carry-out nearby, there wasn't enough money in the treasury to feed that large a gathering. Then Andrew spoke up. You remember Andrew, don't you? He was the one who brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. Andrew must have been working again as an evangelist in another way. He certainly was not the leader that Peter was, but he was gifted in that he had the ability to bring to Jesus someone who might be ready to listen to his call. Andrew spoke up and said, "There is a lad here..." Maybe no one else among the disciples would even have noticed this young boy among the vast throng. Children didn't even count when they

2 reported on attendance at their meetings. Of course neither did women. Jesus changed all that, but that s a different sermon. Yet Andrew noticed this young fellow. He saw something in him, and he knew that he had to bring him to Jesus. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves, and two small fishes..." These really are powerful words "there is a lad here... that we have just missed too often and contain what I think maybe a key theme in this story of the feeding of the Robert Moffat returned to Scotland after years of service in Africa as a Missionary. His main purpose was to recruit male workers to be missionaries like himself. Speaking at church one cold Sunday evening, he was discouraged to find only a small group of women, and one small male boy, a lad like the one in our Scripture, who was in the loft pumping the organ bellows for the service. Moffat left that evening service feeling that his words fell on deft ears and that nothing would come of his sermon that evening, but you never know. This morning I lift up ONLY two points for you as we think about what we have to offer Jesus. 1. POINT ONE: THERE IS SOME ONE HERE WITH SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT TO OFFER THE MASTER. The story of the feeding of the 5000, though about Jesus, is a story whose hero is a young person - just a lad, so lets start there. I know that there is some young person here this morning that has something special to offer Jesus. We, in leadership in the church are mindful of the fact that young people have a tremendous amount to offer, and can be very creative. Hence, we take our ministry to children and youth seriously. It is said that the eighteenth century discovered the man, the nineteenth century discovered the woman, and the twentieth century discovered the child - just look the number of commercials these days, that uses children. We believe in the value of all persons, and of all ages, and most especially our children and youth. Children and Youth are not just our future, they are our present. One of my first major gathering opportunities was to watch acted out by our young people the story of Daniel and the Lion s Den. I got to admit, my favorite characters were the Lion s, though I was a little concerned that Daniel was going to fall

3 down on top of them when he started climbing the ladder down from the balcony. What would we do without our children and youth? They are worth whatever effort, sacrifices, or cost we put into supplying them with a first-rate Christian education, mission and worship opportunities, supplies, and facilities. Some of them will become the Christian leaders of the next century. A five-year-old girl was asked by the minister how many children there were in her family. She replied, "Seven." The minister observed that so many children must cost a lot. "Oh, no," the child replied. "We don't buy 'em, we raise 'em." We are grateful that God has given us children in our church, community, and CDC to raise into disciples of Jesus. We are also thankful for the teenagers in our church that we are privileged to relate to and experience. We want you to become everything God has planned for you. We thank God for you. We see great potential in you. We know that God can work miracles with you, just assuredly as Jesus did with this young lad in our story for today, for you see, he does play a very key role in the story. I believe that St. Paul's words to young Timothy are very important when he wrote in I Timothy 4:12, "Don't let people look down on you because you are young..." (J.B. Phillips Translation) We are thankful for our children and our youth, but our potential for service to the Master does not decrease with age. We are also thankful for our young adults, and older adults too for there is no one too young or too old who doesn t have some fish or bread to place in the master s hands. Did you know that: Chaucer wrote his CANTERBURY TALES between the age of 54 and 61. Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil, knew little of Latin or Greek till he was past 50. Socrates learned to play on musical instruments at age 80. Pasteur found his cure for hydrophobia when he was 60. Columbus was well over 50 when he discovered America.

4 Grandma Moses achieved her fame and success after age 90. And the list goes on and on. We dare not let our cultural obsession with youth blind us to the fact that many persons have their most productive years late in life. "There is a lad here..." speaks of the contribution one young person made that gave rise to the miraculous feeding of the 5000, but the essence is that everyone has something to offer to the Master that he can work miracles with. It could be a child, a youth, an adult of 25 or 85. Indeed, everyone in this Holy Place has something to offer the Master - to become a provider of ministry and not just a consumer. Some gifts are obvious and exclusive. Our choir members have a gift that adds immeasurably to our worship. And oh, how I have missed organ music on Sunday. As an aside joke - Did you hear about the man who was questioned why he quit the choir? He answered, "I was absent one Sunday and someone asked if the organ had been fixed." It has been said, "Our life is God's gift to us. What we make of life is our gift to God." Every one of us has something to offer God. And you might notice the extravagant generosity theme in this story. The lad gave Jesus all that he had. He didn t give him a tithe. He didn t give him one biscuit, or just one fish. He like the Widow s might, gave all that he had. And look what happened when he did it. Jesus took the young man's five barley loaves and two small fish and blessed them and had his disciples distribute them to the multitudes, and thousands of people were fed and when they gathered up the leftovers, they filled twelve baskets. The effect of this miracle was electrifying on the crowd. They said, "A prophet has come into the world," and they wanted to come and take Jesus by force and make him King. Wow! And it was all because of a lad who was willing to trust to Jesus all that he had. Jesus didn't want to be an earthly king, however. He wanted to be the king of hearts. He wanted to find other young men and young women and aging men and aging women with 5 barley leaves and 2 small fish to offer and help them see miracles in their lives as well. That was his plan then. That is his plan now. I wonder how we missed it.

5 2. JESUS IS LOOKING FOR PERSONS WHOSE INFLUENCE HE CAN MAGNIFY AND MULTIPLY. That is how He has always worked. In 2007 the very powerful movie, Amazing Grace came to the big screen, and it is the story of the impact that one man named William Wilberhouse had on the society in which he lived. In the year 1787 a prosperous exporting business was being run by British ship captains. The cargo: human beings. Specifically, black human beings captured in Africa to be auctioned off to British plantation owners. Sometimes as many as 500 slaves at a time would be packed into the ships' hold. Barely able to breathe amidst the stench of human waste and vomit, they lay chest to back, legs drawn into a fetal position, feet resting on the heads of those in the next row. Many did not make it at all, and each morning on the ships the bodies of dead men, women and children would be thrown overboard to the sharks trailing in the slave ship's wake. William Wilberforce was one of the few men in Britain whose Christian convictions spoke loudly enough to tell him that this was wrong. Elected to Parliament at 21, Wilberforce took office in a London of decadence. Tired children worked 18 hour days as the industrial revolution began to churn its gears. Justice was a mockery, passions ran wild. Not surprisingly against this backdrop, nobody was too worried about the slave's rights. Actually, it was a basic British industry, known as "the pillar and support of British plantation industry in the West Indies." Wilberforce became a Christian during his early political years, and found himself, urged by converted slave-trader and writer of "Amazing Grace," John Newton, to pursue public office in order to abolish the slave trade. That he did, and by February of 1788 he had a bill introduced into Parliament on the issue. Slave traders were appalled. "Religion is a private feeling, not a public principle to act on" huffed the Earl of Abingdon, amazed that a Christian would try to have his faith affect Parliament's laws. But it was to be a rocky road. In 1789 Parliament defeated a proposal to abolish slavery and again in In 1792 Wilberforce turned to the people. The abolitionists began handing out pamphlets detailing the evils of slavery. They spoke at

6 public meetings and circulated petitions, and even spoke from the Madagazar, a slave ship that had just returned with slaves. Yet the Parliament still would not budge. And so it went, 1797, 1798,1800, Finally, on February 22 the House of Commons met to discuss an abolition bill that the House of Lords had already passed. After a tense opening speech, members, one by one, jumped to their feet to decry the wretchedness of the slave trade and to praise the men who had worked so hard to end it. As the debate came to an end, Sir Samuel Romilly gave a stirring tribute to Wilberforce and his years of work. Moved by his words, the entire House rose, cheering and applauding. Wilberforce sat bent in his chair, his head in his hands, tears flowing down his wrinkled face... The motion carried 283 to 16. (1) Can one person make a difference? William Wilberforce thought so. The un-named lad in John s gospel must have thought so too. How about you? Do you believe that just one person can make a difference? I do! What will you give to Jesus? What will you offer him? What will you place in his hands that he can multiply? Though bearing the cross of abolition was not easy, Wilburhouse saw his influence magnified and multiplied until finally all of human history has been affected by this one man's commitment to Christ. That is Jesus' plan for the redemption of this world. Each one of us - young and old - offering ourselves to Christ - finding that one gift we have to offer him and seeing it through until the day comes when we see His victory and we give thanks for having played a small part. Can you imagine how that lad with the five barley loaves and two small fishes felt when he got home? Can you imagine his excitement as he tried to tell others? I just wonder who he became! You and I can know that kind of excitement if we offer what we have to Jesus. What have you to offer that Jesus can multiply? Oh, do you remember the young lad, not in the feeding of the 5000 story, but the one who rang the bell in the bell tower for the missionary Robert Moffat, when he preached to a crowd of women one Sunday Evening in hopes of recruiting some missionaries for Africa. That young boy s name was David Livingstone! And in typical Paul Harvey tradition, And now you know the rest of the story.

7 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Theme Prayer: O God, sometimes the crowds of needy life overwhelm us. We cannot imagine what we can do in response- the needs are so great - the demands are so numerous. It s like having 5000 people here that are hungry and don t have anything to eat. We are overwhelmed, with this ministry of ours. We look out upon the world and feel powerless to change things that seem so far beyond the reach of our ordinary lives here in Arkansas, and we are bowed down by the task. How can our prayers and our actions make a difference to the peace in the middle east, the spread of aids in Africa, the hunger next door to the church? Stand beside us and look at the world and see what we see, loving Jesus. Then take our hands and lead us where you will that we may be the agents of your reign of justice and compassion and mercy. Give to us new ideas, O God. Grant us the imagination to break through apathy and cynicism that we feel with courage to step toward the local and global needs of our day. Lord, we ve only got 2 fish and 5 loaves. Help us to grasp a measure of the magnitude of your mercy and power. Help us to understand the extent of your care, and the boundless nature of your understanding. You have made an eternal commitment to bring your purposes to pass, no matter what the price. You have demonstrated this in the watershed sacrifice of Jesus. So we ask, O God, that you who are able to bring all things from nothing, you, in whom all things are possible, help us to trust your providence, and to rely upon your wisdom, and to give of the best that we have that your grace and glory may be multiplied. Help us rest upon the faith you place within us, and to taste life according to your intention. Help us recognize the reality of your grace, and so live our lives utterly dependent upon you. Thus may we be sustained in life, and also in life beyond life, that we may sing your

8 praises for evermore, and give you the glory for it is in Jesus name that the trust and pray saying Our Father, who art in heaven....

HOW CHRIST MEETS NEEDS

Pastor Steven J. Cole Flagstaff Christian Fellowship 123 S. Beaver Street Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 www.fcfonline.org HOW CHRIST MEETS NEEDS John 6:1-15 By Steven J. Cole October 20, 2013 Steven J. Cole,