Jesus, The Master of Quantity

John 6: 5 – 13 (NIV): 5 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?" 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 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. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

Jesus had compassion on the huge crowd that had come out into the wilderness to hear and see him. He wanted to feed them, but there was no way he and his disciples could afford such a feast. But Jesus is supernatural. He is the master of quantity. He can take a crumb and turn it into a banquet. He is the God of more than enough. Notice there were 12 baskets of bread left-over after everyone had eaten his fill.

    The boy had five barley loaves and two small fish. This was a typical meal for a poor person. It wasn’t even wheat bread. But he gave it all to Jesus. If we will give him what we have, he will do the rest. God is more interested in our availability than our ability.

    This was a sacrifice for the boy, he gave up his supper, but Jesus turned his sacrifice into something great. We all have something we can bring to God; some talent or ability or gift. When we make a sacrifice to God we are showing him that we love him and that he is most important in our lives.

    Not only this, but we are never too young or old or rich or poor to be used of God. He can use us no matter where we find ourselves. And there is no greater joy than to allow God to use us for his purposes and for his Kingdom. It is a blessing to be a blessing to others. Give yourself to God and feel the joy that brings.

Jesus, the Master of Time

John 5: 1 – 9 (NIV): 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9a At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

John continues to build his case that Jesus is the Messiah. This is the third sign to prove that Jesus was exactly who he claimed to be. Here, Jesus heals a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years. That’s a long time, but it was especially long then since the average lifespan wasn’t much more than this.

    The man had no idea who Jesus was, he was just hoping Jesus would help him into the pool. But he would have been disappointed if he had been the first into the water – God doesn’t operate that way. This was clearly a local superstition.  He had tried his whole life to find healing in something that was never going to work.

    Jesus healed him on the spot. It doesn’t matter how long you have suffered, God can still heal you. It doesn’t matter how long you have been away from God, he will still welcome you back. Jesus created time. He is the master of time. To him a thousand years is like a day. The man had suffered a long time, but compared to eternity, it was less than a second.
    We become stressed when we believe everything must happen right now, but faith reassures us that everything will happen in God’s timing. If we will trust him and his perfect timing, we will exchange the stress in our lives for the peace that he alone can give.  Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.

Crucified With Christ

Galatians 2: 20-21 (NIV): 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Paul wrote this letter to combat a heresy that had come into the church there: that Christians were obligated to follow the Jewish law along with believing in Christ. Paul had brought the gospel to Galatia on a missionary journey, but someone had come behind him and told the new church that Christians must continue to follow the Jewish law in order to be right with God.

    Paul said no. He wrote to explain that faith in Christ alone saves us – there is nothing to add to that. We are saved by grace. If we could work our way to heaven by following the law, then why did Jesus have to die? God would never have allowed Jesus to die if that wasn’t the only way we could be righteous.

    So, do Christians have to follow the Old Testament laws in order to be right with God? The Civil and Ceremonial laws were given to the Jewish people. They came to an end when Jesus died and rose again. Remember how the curtain in the temple tore when Jesus was on the cross? That was to symbolize that now we can all enter into God’s presence. Peter saw a vision in Acts 10 letting him know it was okay to eat all foods. And Jesus became the one and only sacrifice that atones for our sins. The sacrificial system had come to completion.

    The Moral laws still stand however. These include the Ten Commandments and God’s edicts that we love one another. We follow these laws because we love God, not to earn salvation. We do these things to please God, but, because of Jesus, we do not lose our standing with God if we fail. Jesus has set us free from that fear and bondage.

    Paul said he had died to himself and now he lived by faith in Christ. He was free to please God and dead to the sins that enslaved him. He was a new person. He had been born again.