Look Skyward

 Isaiah 40:26-27

            These are notes from two consecutive Wednesday night Bible studies.  I am including them to add a little variety—and because the message is always relevant.

            Twice we are invited to look skyward.  The first is an invitation to consider the evidence of God’s great power revealed in the sky.  The second invites us to imagine soaring in that sky.              

Look up at the sky!

Not long after we moved here Jerry Olds invited us to visit a well that was likely to come in soon.  I’m not sure exactly where we went but it was some distance outside the city.  I remember the experience in part because it was the first time, since leaving the Panhandle, that we could really see the stars.  In case you don't know, the stars really are "bright deep in the heart of Texas."

Living in the days before pollution and a street lights on every corner, Isaiah could look up to the sky above his homeland.  Like the psalmist (Psalm 19), he could point to the sky and say, “Let’s learn something about God.”

Who created all these heavenly lights?

While the text doesn’t use the word “stars,” it’s reasonable they are the “heavenly lights” Isaiah is referring to.  The question was asked with no expectation of any saying, “Well, they just happened” or “What do you mean created, they’ve always been there?”

His listeners would have known the words with which the Torah begins: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth….”  But God is not simply involved in their creation; he continues to be involved in their functioning.

He is the one who leads out their ranks;

Isaiah‘s listeners were not astronomers but they probably observed the stars, knew that some stars appeared in one place during part of the year and in another place during another part of the year.  Although mentioned only once in the Bible, they appear to have named some of these star clusters (constellations) and had assigned legends to them.

This phrase seems to picture God leading the stars out each evening as if they were a mighty army of light.

The Message carries the army imagery further in paraphrasing the passage this way.

Who marches this army of stars out each night,

counts them off, calls each by name

—so magnificent! so powerful!—

and never overlooks a single one?

he calls them all by name.

Each year when Christmas approaches you begin to hear the ads from the International Star Registry.  For a fee, you can name a star for someone; that name will be registered and the honoree will receive a nice certificate with a description of where to find his or her star on the stellar map.  All that implies that there are thousands of unnamed stars.  Yet, Isaiah says God calls each of these stars by name.  We may not know them but He knows them.

We think of Jesus describing the ideal or good shepherd:  “the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  This is because ““I am the good shepherd. I know my own….” The Good Shepherd knows you; he hasn’t forgotten you in your trouble or your challenging situation.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

Isaiah’s listeners knew nothing about supernovas or dying stars and that doesn’t change the imagery of God’s superintendence of the heavenly bodies.  Nothing happens in the heavens beyond his power or beyond his knowledge.  Better than the best carnival juggler, God keeps the heavenly bodies in motion.

But, so what?

 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

The prophet answers that question.  We don’t want to place too much emphasis on Isaiah’s used of both “Jacob” and “Israel.”  Historically, the two names applied to one person; nationally, both were used for the nation.  This may have just been a rhetorical device.

Still, it’s tempting to observe that “Jacob” tried to fulfill God’s promise according to Jacob’s time-table; he was willing to deceive to accomplish his goals rather than trusting God.  “Israel” was known for its complaints about God; again, failing in trusting God. 

These qualities fed the impulse to make the following complaint.

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me,

My God is not concerned with my vindication”?

The question assumes God to be both ignorant and indifferent.  But God is not like that.  The God who so carefully looks after the stars, doesn’t remain indifferent or ignorant of what is happening to the people he loves.

Jesus would ask, “Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they?”

Yet, despite being reminded of God’s power each evening, some began to question God’s love.  Some began to wonder if things had gotten out of control.

The implication is that God does care.   Here, Isaiah is speaking of God recalling the people’s cry for justice.  We may sometimes face other trials we believe God has overlooked.  But we should remember God is meticulous in his providential care. 

What prompts us to forget?  How can we better remember?

Isaiah 40:28-31 

           

Verse 28:  Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the Creator of the whole earth.

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom.

This verse helps us transition from one image to another.

The prophet has been extolling the power of God.  This power is portrayed in nature and in history as God providentially controls the very stars and promotes or demotes earthly rulers.  Such power is unmatched.

The pointed questions imply the prophet’s hearers should know.  If they had been paying attention, they would have known all this about their God.  Christians who have long heard the stories of the Incarnation, Easter, Jesus’ miracles should know about the depth of God’s love and power.  But sometimes we forget.  God’s great power is wondrous to think about; God’s wisdom is so profound we can never be in a situation he does  not understand.  That should energize us.

In fact, the prophet now says Yahweh shares his power with those who trust him.

           

            Verse 29:  "He helps tired people be strong.

    He gives power to those without it." (ERV)

           

              The Voice paraphrase speaks across generations:  "God strengthens the weary and gives vitality to those worn down by age and care."

              Not everyone in Israel was guilty of turning from God but everyone in Israel was experiencing the stress and strain of the judgement hanging over the nation.  Doubtless, it was wearying.  It must have also been draining for the godly to live in a culture that could be described as "a people of unclean lips." 

              But, the prophet says God helps the tired and the completely drained.

              Think of the parents of a wayward child.  They have done their best yet somehow the child went off "to a far country." It isn't the parents' fault yet they experience sleepless nights and tense days; they need strengthening to keep going.  Now, Isaiah says God provides it.

              He provides it because he knows us and knows such an experiences of powerlessness is part of being human.

              Vs 30 Even children become tired and need to rest, and young people trip and fall

              When we watched Kieren we were reminded of how much energy a child can have: it sometimes seems boundless.  He hits the ground running and after his nap--taken over protest--he hops up, renewed and ready to  go again. 

              The youth also seem to be filled with energy.

              But sometime the energy will run out.  The most energetic will need rest and renewal.

              Spiritually, Isaiah is speaking to those who have run out of steam.

     Vs 31 But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

            The prophet ends with the great promise to those who "wait on the Lord."  What does that mean?  The core idea is to trust in God the exiles might have grown weary in captivity but Isaiah insists their patience will be rewarded.

            Isaiah gives three pictures of how this renewal will manifest itself--flying, running, walking. 

            We might reverse the order to build to a better climax but Isaiah lists the most extraordinary activity first and the most commonplace last.  Why?

            --Sometimes we need energy to fly.  Maybe we need to escape some situation.

            --Sometimes we need energy to run.  We must move swiftly to deal with a situation.

            --Above all we need energy to keep walking, day after day, week after week.  We need the patience and the energy to keep going.

           

            What have these verses meant to you?

Picnic by the Lake

Textual Introduction:  The accounts in this chapter are interrelated.  They build toward a goal.  Yet, each story also has a crucial lesson.  Each of these lessons helps prepare us for the dramatic moment at the end.

*******************

John 6:1-15

Years ago, when I was serving another church, we often had a spring revival.  Some of you will know what I’m talking about; some of you may need a lesson in Baptist cultural history. 

A revival was an occasion when the church invited a guest speaker to come and challenge to them spiritually.  Often this guest speaker was the pastor of another church too far away for the congregation to have heard his best sermons and stories or to decide they’d prefer to hear him on a regular basis.  Though a pastor, for the week or two of the revival he was “the evangelist.”  Every night the evangelist would passionately preach to the church members who would come and to any guests they could persuade to join them.  There was a time when some evangelists actually devised contests or competitions to enhance attendance.  Although our church never had one, there were some churches that had a “pack-a-pew night” during their revivals.

The explicit goals of such revivals were twofold:  First, to try to reach those in the community who had never professed faith in Christ; and, second, to pump a little spiritual life back into a congregation which had grown a little sluggish over the winter.

Don’t misunderstan me; these revivals were often times of blessing for the church.  But they were hard work and it could be a tiring experience.  For example, the pastor and his wife, even if even if their children were school-aged were expected to have those children at each meeting and go to any pre- or post-service meals.  Remember, this was a farming/ranching community where the men didn’t think they could attend an evening service unless it began around 8:00 pm.

Anyway, we often found ourselves quietly looking forward to that final service on Sunday morning, a service that would be followed by a meal at the nearby community center and an opportunity for people to offer testimonies or stories of how they were blessed during the week.  Inevitably, one deacon named Ray would stand up and say, “I just wish this could go on for another week.”  I never recall Ray’s wife, who played piano each night after driving thirty-five miles each way to work and back, ever saying “Amen” to Ray’s comment.

What caused me to think about this as I was studying this passage were comments often made during the planning sessions for our revivals.  You see, we wanted as many people as possible to attend so we put always put a story about our revival in the newspaper that served our county.  That story would tell a little about the evangelist and include an invitation for all to attend.  Most people knew I wrote the story and so very often someone would warn me against mentioning the pot-luck on Sunday afternoon.  “Mention that,” they said, “and we’ll have more people than we can feed.”

Now, I’m sure those cautious people had read this story of the loaves and fishes.  But I’m also sure they knew their pastor couldn’t stretch Doris’s rolls or Arliss’s chicken as far as Jesus could have.  There might have been enough of Gena’s deer-heart sandwiches to feed everyone who wanted one but that’s another story.

Of course, the interesting thing about the story of the loaves and fishes is that it isn’t really about loaves and fishes. 

On one level, it’s about how we respond to problems, particularly those problems related to ministry.

On another level, it’s about who Jesus is.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the story.

Jesus was once again in Galilee.  Since this was near another Passover, He had been ministering for some months since the events recorded in the previous chapter.  He and his disciples were weary.  The disciples had only recently returned from a tour of preaching; Jesus had sent them out on their own to preach in some of the villages of Galilee.

So, Jesus took them to a remote place at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, near a village known as Bethsaida.  Archaeologists, during the last half of the twentieth century, discovered the remains of several small villages in this area.  It was a center for the fishing industry but most of the people were very poor, since they were heavily taxed by the Romans and since the Herod’s had confiscated much of the property.  In any case, this was not a wealthy resort area like Jericho. 

Jesus and his disciples hadn’t been there long before they were discovered.  Soon a large crowd had gathered, hoping he would heal the sick among them and, perhaps, share some of his teachings with them.  They weren’t disappointed.  The other gospel writers tell us that Jesus “felt sorry for them” and so began to heal their sick and “teach them many things.”  Specifically, he began to teach them about “the Kingdom of God.”  According to Luke, Jesus saw these people as “sheep that didn’t have a shepherd.”

Some of these people were so eager to see Jesus, to hear him, to have him heal their sick that they didn’t bring any provisions.  This fact provided Jesus an opportunity to teach is disciples a lesson.

Apparently, as the crowds were approaching, Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we buy some food for these people?”

Philip responds, “If we had 200 silver coins worth of food we wouldn’t have enough to let everyone have even a single bite.”

Jesus presses the matter.  This time some of the disciples say, “Send them away.  Let them find their own food.”

To this, Jesus says, “No, you feed them.”

Exasperated, the disciples say, “Look, there’s a kid here with a lunch—two fishes and five small loaves—but how long would that last?”

So, Jesus says, “Tell the people that dinner is about to be served.”

Once everyone was seated in an orderly fashion, Jesus begins to distribute the food.  We’re not told if the disciples ever thought, “Boy, I’d hate to be on that back row,” because they fully expected to run out of food before they finished the first row.  But it didn’t happen.  Each time they returned to Jesus for more food there was more food!  In fact, there was enough food for everyone to eat his or her fill.  The story says they “all ate as much as they wanted.”  

Over the years there have emerged several attempts to explain away this miracle.  One popular explanation suggests that the majority of the people had brought lunches with them but they selfishly refused to share them.  In fact, when the disciples set out to find how much food they had, they had hidden them.  Then, according to this version, when the people saw the little boy offer his lunch they were so ashamed  they quickly produced their lunches and began sharing.  Interestingly, this is a version held by a very popular Bible teacher whose writings are found in many Baptist homes.  Though not a Baptist himself, his commentaries are widely used.  He is an ardent defender of the Resurrection of Jesus.  He can believe in the resurrection but cannot believe this story.  Funny that he can believe God’s power can raise a dead man back to life but he balks at God being able to provide food for a few thousand people.

Another alternative explanation suggests that this was a kind of primitive Lords’ Supper meal.  Each man and woman received a small morsel of the food, like we would at a modern communion service.  Never mind that this was before the Lord’s Supper was instituted, this is just not what the text says.  It says they “all ate as much as they wanted.”

In fact, it may be this was the first time in a long time for some of these people to have eaten all they wanted of anything. 

Jesus felt compassion for these people so he fed them.  That much is clear.  It may also be that he desired to teach them more.  Perhaps he would have kept them there longer so they could continue to learn about what God was doing in their world.

In any case, drives home an important point we ought to remember whenever we face a ministry challenge.  To appreciate it we need to look a little further at the dynamics of what happened that day.

 

 

Responses to Need

As we examine this account in the four gospels we are reminded that there are several ways in which people can respond to ministry needs.

 There is the response of the escapist.

Remember how the disciples suggested to Jesus that the best solution would be to send the crowds away.  In other words, let them fend for themselves.

It reminds me of Linus’ philosophy.  The Peanuts character was known to argue, “There’s no problem so big or so complicated, that it can’t be run away from.”

For the disciples, who had spent so much time with Jesus, this was a seemingly heartless response.  True, once the crowds had dissipated feeding them would no longer be their problem.  It’s a pragmatic response but not one that took into account the late hour—opportunities to find food might have been limited. Nor did the suggestion take into account the poverty of some of the people, they may not have had money to buy food on the road.

Jesus found this approach to be completely unacceptable.  No, he said, “You, give them something to eat.”

When we face the sometimes difficult task of ministry we encounter the escapist response in a variety of ways.

When facing resistant people, the escapist says, “They know where the church is, let them come to us.”

When dealing with people filled with doubt and questions, the escapist says, “Well, they’ve hardened their hearts.  There’s nothing we can do.”

 When facing people who’ve embraced the shallow, materialistic mindset of our culture, the escapist says, “Our small church has nothing to offer that person.”

The ultimate result of an escapist approach to challenges is that those challenges remain unmet and believers fail to grow in their faith.

There is the response of the realist.

 When God challenges the realist to do some difficult ministry, the realist looks first at the checkbook or the church roll.   

The disciples told Jesus that 200 denarii wouldn’t be enough to buy a snack for each person in the crowd. I’m not sure why they chose that figure but it would represent nearly seven months of work.  Their conclusion, it can’t be done. 

You know, I sympathize with these fellows.  I know what it’s like to work with a limited budget.  Now don’t tell me that all churches are limited by their budgets.  I know there are budgets and there are budgets.  There’s a difference between a budget that only permits a church to buy two new vans instead of the desired three and a budget that forces a church to stop buying Sunday school literature. 

Still, I know the answer those men gave that afternoon by the lake was wrong somehow.

There has to be a place for realism in what we do, even in our churches.  Too many churches have gotten themselves into serious financial difficulty because they have tried to imitate the ministries of larger, more prosperous congregations.  They have played a kind of ecclesiastical Keeping Up with the Jones.  There has to be a place for realism but the disciples seemed to be embracing an almost secular viewpoint.  They seemed to be eliminating the power of God from the equation.

Remember, they have spent well over a year with Jesus.  The crowd had seen some of the miracles Jesus performed; the disciples had seen all of them. 

They should have held to a kind of Christian realism, a realism that takes into account the presence of Jesus.  The Christian realist understands the situation in all its detail, including the size of the bank account or the size of the church roll, but remembers that such matters do not bother God.

This brings us to the third response to a situation like that faced by the disciples on the lakeshore. 

There is the response of the super-naturalist.

The super-naturalist recognizes that God makes a difference when we face any challenge in ministering for him.

I’d love to be able to say that the super-naturalist position was represented among the disciples that afternoon, but I can’t do so with certainty.  Some have tried to see Andrew’s words in that light, but that’s probably reading too much into what he says. 

The super-naturalist response is a product of a vital faith, a faith that sees God’s power and God’s purpose. 

It is a faith that sees the potential of a partnership with God.  Someone has pointed out that enough zeroes to fill a page have no value; but when we add a single digit to the beginning of those zeroes, it makes a powerful difference.  There are times when we have to come to God and say, “Lord, here are my zeroes.  Make something of them.”

Missing the point.

            After everyone had eaten the disciples began to gather up the leftovers.  Perhaps Jesus planned on having the disciples take some of the bread with them for their own larder.  Perhaps he planned to give some of the leftovers to the poorest of the families.  The truth is, we don’t know what he had in mind.

A by-product of this activity was a reminder of just how great a miracle this was.  In the middle of nowhere, Jesus had taken two fishes the size of sardines and five pieces of barley bread and fed a crowd of probably eight to fifteen thousand people with it.  Just how much the crowd knew before the miracle took place isn’t clear.  What is clear is that they knew what had happened by the time the last of the leftovers had been gathered.

The crowd began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet…”  They were referring to the Prophet Moses had predicted, the one some believed would be the Messiah.  They were right; Jesus was the one Moses had said would come.  But instead of saying, “Let’s see what he wants us to do” the crowd said, “Let’s make him King.”  They were tired of Herod’s abuses and tired of tax-burden imposed by the Romans.  Any man who could feed this crowd with so little could take care of the Romans and provide everything they needed for a more comfortable life.

John alone tells us of this seditious plot.  And this information helps explain what Jesus did next.

Jesus, whom John had already said knew what was in the hearts of everyone, determined to forestall the effort.  

To do this Jesus did two things;

--He sent his disciples away.  It’s not clear why he did this but Herschel Hobbes suggests he did so because he knew the disciples had helped instigate the effort to crown him.  If this is true, Jesus wanted to eliminate their influence over the people.

--He sent the people away.  We’re not told what he told them but it was enough to make them leave.  Once they were gone, he sought the solitude of the mountains for a while.

Whether or not the disciples were helping to fan the flames of revolution, it’s clear the great majority of people at that lakeside picnic missed the point.

Despite the fact that Jesus had been teaching them about the nature of God’s Kingdom, a kingdom that was not political in nature, the crowd had missed the point.  Their response only underscored how much they wanted a Messiah who would fit their expectations.   They had rightly perceived him to be the Prophet sent from God in fulfillment of the Scripture but their own imaginations had shaped him into something very different than what they needed.

They missed the point—the goal of the miracle was not simply to provide bread—the goal was to extend their opportunity to remain with Jesus. 

The humble barley bread became more important than the Bread (a term Jesus uses of himself later in the chapter).  They wanted to make him King, not because he had touched their souls, but because he had filled their stomachs.

A few years ago, specialists in the field of ministry began to urge churches to become more sensitive to the “felt needs” of people.  Meet those needs, the theory goes, and people will come to your churches.  Now, I don’t believe any church should go out of its way to be irrelevant.  Too many people believe we’re irrelevant anyway. 

But I do believe that we can spend so much energy trying to meet these secondary needs that we lose sight of the greater need of helping people believe in Jesus Christ.   

The one great resource for ministry needs.

This is an important chapter because it brings us to an important moment in the relationship of Jesus and his disciples.  That moment included a startling declaration by Jesus regarding his identity and a crucial confession by Peter about the disciples’ commitment to Jesus. 

This miracle helped prepare them for that moment and for the greater ministrythat would grow out to that moment.  

The lesson learned at that picnic by the lake is a lesson about the one great resource for ministry needs.  It is a lesson churches always need to learn and relearn.  That picnic by the lake demonstrates that what Jesus asks us to do he enables us to do.

Jesus had asked his disciples to feed the crowd.  They may have thought, “He’s asking the impossible.”  If they did, they were right.  Humanly speaking, it was a task too great for their limited resources. 

But Jesus helped them discover they weren’t limited to human resources. 

If we believe Jesus is the one great resource for ministry needs and if we believe what Jesus asks us to do he enables us to do, our whole philosophy of ministry should be crafted in light of those beliefs.   Here are some implications of these truths.

1.  We need to be sure of what Jesus is asking us to do.

This is crucial.  I believe some churches get into trouble because they misunderstand what Jesus was asking them to do.  Please don’t apply this to every church which faces financial problems, but some churches have taken on crippling debt because they believed they could only do Jesus’ work in a magnificent building.  A building can be a great tool for ministry, but it is only that, a tool for ministry.

If we want to be sure of what Jesus is asking us to do, we need to take a hard look at the Bible.  When we do, we’ll discover Jesus wants us to call people to believe in him.  We’ll discover Jesus wants us to build a community of fellow-believers united by our common faith in him.  We’ll discover Jesus wants us to be a transforming presence in our culture.

Just how any group of Christians may carry out these tasks will vary from community to community, but I believe these are challenges Jesus places before every church.

2.  Once we realize what Jesus is asking us to do, we need to set out to do it.

Anyone who’s spent much time in a church where the Bible is taught and preached should be able to give you a fairly accurate summary of what Jesus wants us to do.  Often the real problem is not discovering what Jesus wants us to do, it’s resolving to do it.

Fear.  Pride.  Indifference.  These are all reasons why we don’t get busy doing what Jesus wants us to do. 

If we truly believe Jesus is who he says he is, if we truly believe Jesus is who we—the collective voice of believers through the ages—say he is, we will do what he wants us to do.

3.  When we set out to do what Jesus asks us to do, we should do so with an expectation that he will enable us to succeed.

We don’t know how long it took the disciples, as they carried the food to the waiting crowd, to begin to say, “Hey, this food should have run out by now.”  What a sense of awe and peace must have filled them.  They were—much to their surprise—doing what Jesus had asked them to do. 

When we set out to do what Jesus asks us to do, we can have that same sense of awe and peace.

Conclusion

The Gospel of John ends with a beautiful story of Peter’s reconciliation with Jesus and the other disciples; his re-commissioning.  The story depicts Jesus giving instructions to Peter—and by extension to all of us.

Jesus told Peter, “Feed my sheep.”

Jesus asks us to feed the spiritually hungry today.  The task may seem impossible.  Just remember, what Jesus asks us to do he enables us to do.