8-2-09 Making A Difference

Big Idea: Everywhere Jesus went, he made a difference. The early church made a radical difference wherever they went. What about us? We were created in the image of a creative, difference making God. Jesus calls us to follow him in becoming a difference maker. We do small things. God does big things.

 

One of the most basic truths about human life is that people are made to make a difference. We are designed, wired, created for making a difference in our world.

 

                        Think of the motives of a great teacher – to make a difference in the life of a student

                        Think of the motives of a business great leader – to make a difference in the marketplace

                        Think of the motives of a great parent – to pour everything they have into their kids

                        Think of the motives of a great child – to take everything away from parents until they have nothing left…

 

We are made to be difference makers.

And this isn’t the result of living in a modern, high tech society. This goes way, way back to the very beginning things. To the fact that we are created in the image of a creative and active, great God, and we were made to reflect his image, his character, his heart? Why, so that we would have a good, creative, impact on the world.

 

So let me ask you a question… In what way did you experience that kind of a life this week?

Where did you break out of your routine? When did you take a risk on a need that you noticed? Where did you notice someone and increase the goodness in their life? How did you live out the kind of life you were made for?

 

You know, whenever I hear a question like that I kind of squirm a little bit because I struggle to live this way. Not too long ago, I was home one day and the doorbell rang. It was a young man late teens, looked like he had lived a hard life. He was selling magazines, working to get his life back on track. He even talked about earning credits to pay for college. He said that I could make a difference.

 

The problem was I didn’t want any of those magazines, and I really didn’t want to be bothered at home during the day. I had work to do. It had been a long day already and I had tried to be helpful, but part of me got really cynical about it, thinking what difference would this really make anyway? It’s just a couple of magazines… not a solution to world hunger. And so while I tried my best to be nice, I basically told him, “Sorry, there’s really nothing I can do for you.”  But we continued to talk for a while until one point when he asked me, “So what do you do for a living?” I cringed a bit, and I said, well actually I’m a pastor. And he said, “Oh really? Well, where do you work?” And I said, “At that Baptist church down the street.” I’m just kidding… I didn’t say that…

 

Now the point is not to make you feel guilty about turning away solicitors or that we are called to say yes to every request that comes to our door. The point is that I faced a moment when I had the time, the ability, the resources, and even a sense that I could actually do something for this person, but I let my laziness, selfishness, exhaustion and cynicism have the last word, and as a result, I felt further away from God and more frustrated with myself.

 

This pattern is part of our fallen human condition. It’s part of what happened way back in the beginning of things. And that would still be the case were it not for the person of Jesus.

 

While I was growing up, I always heard about Jesus’ mission from a negative perspective. – Jesus came to take away our sin. But the positive side of that statement is that that Jesus came to empower us to be difference makers. Jesus came to give us lives that would make a radical difference in this dark world. He came to give us the character and passion to fight for love and to fight against injustice and oppression and apathy – to fight against evil, to fight against hell. He gave us the ability to fight for heaven and see it come.

 

Jesus called us, and equip us to fight for love and for goodness. We are called to fight for up there to come down here, but the question is how… How does Jesus help us do this? And a significant part of the answer is found in a story in the gospel of John and, I believe this will reveal how Jesus invites us to be difference makers

 

JOHN 6:1-13

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Philip answered him, “It would take almost a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there—so if we were to include the women and children, there could have been over 10,000 people). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

 

For many of us, this is a familiar story, and yet in this miraculous event, Jesus does something that I find quite unexpected. The story opens with Jesus back in Galilee, exhausted from his work and travels, looking to find some R and R with his disciples, when he is approached literally by thousands of needy people.

 

After less than a day at work, I had trouble dealing with one young man at my door. Imagine ten thousand people showing up at your door needing help. But Jesus doesn’t get frustrated or impatient. Jesus doesn’t try to avoid the crowd or assume someone else will deal with it. Jesus feels compassion and that leads to an immediate response.

 

And that’s just when our minds go straight to the miraculous event. Jesus makes lots of bread and fish and solves the problem… Yeah God… end of story…

 

Isn’t that how we’d like God to deal with the problems on our planet? God, it would be so great if you would just snap your fingers and clean up this mess… AIDS – gone, world hunger – gone, at-risk children – gone, bacteria in half the world water supply – gone, evil – gone, that’s what we’d love to see happen. If God would you just zap these problems and make them go away things would be great?

 

It’s like a teenager who gets to drive their parents car and they feel totally invincible, like nothing can ever happen to them, but then they have a major accident, and they want mom and dad to take care of the mess and all the damage.

 

So it is that our hearts naturally cry out to God, “we need you to take care of this.” And that was probably just what Jesus’ disciples were thinking. But just when Jesus could have called on God to bring bread down from heaven – that’s what Moses did, instead, he turns to his disciples and asks an entirely unacceptable question: “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” In other words, “What are we going to do about this?”

 

And the word that needs to sink deep into our hearts is the word “we.” Because God’s response is always connected to this word “we.”

 

So when you see a victim of injustice, or when you find out your neighbor is going through a personal crisis, or when there is a housing crisis due to a financial meltdown… God is not being silent. He’s leaning towards you and asking, “What are we going to do about this?”

 

But this invitation to be part of God’s work in the world is often followed by a certain kind of response.

 

When Jesus asks Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip answers, “It would take almost a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Which is another way of saying, “There’s nothing we can do, Jesus.”

 

Philip is skeptical—and rightly so. There were thousands of people and the disciples had little to no resources, so it doesn’t take a PhD to know that there is no rational way this crowd is getting any food. And how quickly our skepticism turns to cynicism, where we see only what we lack. Where we see only what can’t be done. And we end up glued to our seats thinking, “There’s nothing I can do.”

 

As I was putting this message together this week, I heard God speaking to me concerning this issue. The church has a problem; we have a problem. In the same way that the church has focused on the half empty side of the glass – Jesus came to take away our sins – in that same way we tend to look at the negative side of the mission that God has given us to make a difference in this broken world. We tend to only see what needs to be done and the resources that we lack.

 

Last week we had the principal of Lawton Elementary School here sharing the need for mentors – for adults and older youth to mentor at risk children, but when I look at my own schedule, I say, “I hardly have enough time for my own kids!” How can I make a difference in those other children’s lives when I hardly have time for my own?

 

How can I make a difference in a local school that is struggling to resource their classrooms when my own checkbook is nearly at zero?

                         

How can I make a difference in a church that needs leaders and volunteers when I hardly have time to take care of my own stuff?

 

It is so easy to get stuck, saying, “There’s nothing I can do,” and yet these are the moments in life where our faith in God is truly tested, and where our faith in him has the ability to be stretched.

 

Remember, in the story Jesus knew what he was going to do, but he did what he did to test Philip… to test Philip, as if to say, “Do you really trust me? Do you really know who I am? And do you trust that I can use you?”

 

So what will happen?  Will my life suddenly get any less busy? No, but when I see God working in my life and in the lives of others, God somehow gives me enough energy and resources and time to do it again. Your life and mine were made to make a difference. And even more importantly, in the process, I grow more in love with God and other people. That’s what God’s mission is all about! I tend to think that I reach out to others who have needs so I can help them. But what I find to be true is they help me grow, maybe even more than I help them grow.

 

When I step out in faith, I learn that God can do a lot with just a little, which is actually the point of this story about Jesus feeding the hungry crowds. You see, in the middle of all the disciples’ fear and worry, something really remarkable happened. There was this little boy who was nearby. We don’t know where he was from; we never even learn his name. And he had nothing to fund the cause, but a few barley loaves and some fish.

 

Barley bread was the cheapest kind of bread… used only by the poorest of the poor. There was a Jewish philosopher named Philo who lived during this era who described this kind of bread in this way: “As a foodstuff it is of somewhat doubtful merit, suited for irrational animals and men in unhappy circumstances.” Imagine that posted on the window at your local bakery.

And the two small fish are likely bits of fish parts used to flavor the bread, kind of like a fish jelly. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? The boy is the poorest of the poor, he doesn’t have any resources to help, does he?

 

But this little boy brought what he had to Jesus and said, “It’s really not very much… but I trust what you can do with it.” And what happened? The crowds are fed… the need gets met… there’s more than enough… God uses what we have, as long as we are willing to give it, and he promises that no matter how insignificant we think we are, He can do a lot with a little.

 

Many of you will know the name Billy Graham. He is the world’s most influential preacher and evangelist in the last century. He has preached to over 210 million people in over 185 countries. He has given counsel to presidents and leaders around the world. His influence has been simply staggering.

 

But fewer of you may know the name of Henrietta Mears. She was not necessarily special in her appearance or personality. She did not preach to millions or give counsel to presidents. But in 1928, she decided to give her small gifts to God and ask him to use them for his glory. It wasn’t much, but God did something remarkable with it.

 

It was an encounter with Henrietta Mears in the early 1940s that a young Billy Graham discovered his call to ministry. It was because of Henrietta Mears that Billy Graham would later write, “I doubt if any other woman outside my wife and mother has had such a marked influence [on my life]. She is certainly one of the greatest Christians I have ever known!” And that means that every life that God saved through Billy Graham was tied to the faithfulness of a woman who was willing to a say, God, I don’t have much, but you can have what I have.”

 

I’m thinking of Heather and Chris. They love God and they have a passion for the next generation to know him too. They’ve never been youth leaders. They’ve never been trained to be youth leaders – they don’t have very much when it comes to expertise among our youth, but I would suggest that God has taken the little bit that they have a multiplied it. God is doing a great work among our youth – we can all see it – Why? Because a couple of people trusted God with a little something that they had, and we’ve all watched God multiply that in great ways!

 

God can do a lot with just a little, and once you get a taste of that kind of difference-making, there is nothing more fulfilling in the world. Where is God calling you to make a difference? Lawton Elementary, an hour a week to change someone’s life. Or is he calling you to make a difference in a child’s life in Guatemala?

 

Maybe you’ll decide that you can cut back on your spending, spend your money differently, and set aside $8 or $9 a week and make a difference in a child’s life that will change the direction and trajectory of that child’s life forever. And not just their life, but when they grow up, it will make a difference in their spouse’s life, and their children’s lives, and their children’s lives, and on it goes. It makes a difference. It makes you a difference maker. And to that person that you helped, it makes all the difference!

 

Maybe you’re a person who sets up New Community signs, and those signs made a difference one day, because they led a searching person to this community and it’s here that they were introduced to their Creator who loves them so much that he was willing to lay down his life, so they would truly live, and that person fell in love with Jesus, and it has changed everything for that person!

 

Maybe you’re the one who serves coffee and puts out desserts, and it was because of your warm smile and the coffee, that he felt welcomed and he stayed, and then came back and received more smiles and more coffee and something even greater, he began to know and understand the God who loves him and he received and embraced that love and that has made all the difference in the world.

 

Maybe you were scared, but you went to an outreach and though you handed out free Popsicles to lots of people, it made all the difference to one person – it changed the course of their life. Did you say a Popsicle? A Popsicle may change a person’s life? Yeah! God uses what we have – what we give. We do small things, God does big things. He takes what we are willing to give to another and his uses it to change people’s lives for the better.

 

So what do you have to give? Where can you make a difference?

                        Maybe you are great with young people… working with children or students…

                        Maybe you know someone who just needs a friend… a person who cares…

Maybe it’s spending regular diligent time in prayer for our schools, our community, our church.

Maybe it’s spending an hour a week being a mentor and journey partner for an at risk elementary school student.

Maybe it’s sharing your gift – time, talent, or tithe with this congregation.

Maybe it’s sponsoring a child from Guatemala and developing a long distance relationship with them.

Maybe it’s something else.

 

Your life can make all the difference. Your willingness to take that risk will make all the difference for you and for the others that you seek to love.

 

Yes, Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins. That’s true. But through the forgiveness of sins, Jesus made it possible for us to make a radical difference in this dark world. He came to give us the character and passion to fight for love and to fight against injustice and oppression and apathy – to fight against evil, to fight against hell. He gave us the ability to fight for heaven and see up there come down here.

 

And for the part of you that’s not sure, that’s not convinced… just think about what happened as the boy grew up.  Do you think he regretted his decision? Do you think he looked back wishing he had held onto his fish and barley bread? Do you think he would have traded what he learned about God and what he experienced in the presence of Jesus for any amount of food or wealth or status or standing?

 

Of course not…

 

He got to see God’s faithfulness with his own eyes, when he gave what he had and watched what God did with it. His life would never be ordinary again.

So what about you? What about you?

 

Life Link:

 

• What is your favorite season of the year? Why? Is there something particular that you like to do during this season?

 

• Invite each person to thank God for one thing as you open your time together in thankful prayer.

 

• Recap: What was the message about? Was there anything that struck you, challenged, you, or that you didn’t agree with in the message?

 

• Do you think of yourself as a difference maker? Why or why not?

 

• Do you think Jesus was a difference maker? How are we called to be like him?

 

• When big problems arise, do you tend to look at what you don’t have or what you do? Why is that?

 

• When big problems arise, do you tend to ask, “What am I going to do about that” or “What are we (God and I) going to do about that” or do you avoid the problem all together? Why? What does Jesus call you to do instead?

 

• In what way are you going to join God in making a difference this week?