Be a blessing - boy’s Club Sunday
2 Corinthians 9:6-11
Show Video When Passion Meets Vision: The Ryan Hreljac Story
So – have you ever said to yourself, “I can’t do that!” “I’m too small!” “I’m too young!” “I’m too shy!” “I’m too weak!” I’m not smart enough – old enough – good enough.
Tell that to Ryan. What would he say? I’m guessing he would push you on that.
And Ryan isn’t the only one. There are lots of stories out there like Ryan’s. Young boys and girls who have made a huge difference just by offering what little they have to help out other people.
There’s actually a story just like that in the Bible.
Jesus is in the story – and so are his 12 disciples. And so are another 5000 or so people. 5000 hungry, tired people. 5000 hungry, tired, and likely a bit grumpy people. They had been listening to Jesus teach all day long – they hadn’t planned on being there all day, but that’s just how it goes when Jesus starts teaching. It’s not like school when you wish that recess would come. With Jesus as the teacher, everyone just wanted him to keep on teaching.
So they had been there all day – outside -sitting on the grass or a rock or wherever they could sit – and now it was the end of the day – and all of a sudden they were absolutely famished.
And no one had taken any lunch.
The disciples had an idea – just tell them to go home and get some food.
But Jesus didn’t want to do that. “You give them something to eat,” he said.
The disciples panicked – ah – we don’t have any food – we don’t have any money – how are we supposed to feed them?
And that’s when it happened. There was a boy in the crowd – likely around your age – for some reason – maybe his mom made him do it – but for some reason he had taken a lunch with him when he left home that morning.
“I have some lunch I can share.”
He had 5 small loaves of bread – and 2 fish.
It wasn’t much, but it was all he had – and he was willing to share it.
The disciples laughed. 5 loaves – two fish – sure, that’ll go a long ways with 5000 people.
But Jesus didn’t laugh. Jesus knew that it didn’t matter how little the boy had – God would make it enough – even more than enough.
So Jesus said to him, “Bring me what you have.”
And the little boy gave Jesus his lunch.
And Jesus took it – thanked God for it – handed it over to his disciples – and his disciples started handing it out to all the people.
And guess what happened?
No matter how much they handed out – there was always more. And more. And more. All 5000 people had plenty to eat, and there were seconds – thirds – and even after all of that, there were still leftovers.
All because one boy was willing to give Jesus what he had.
I’m sure the crowd was astounded.
But really, had they known that Jesus was God’s Son, they shouldn’t have been surprised at all.
After all – like Father, like Son – and that’s what God the Father does.
He makes things.
He created the heavens and the earth out of nothing.
He is the one who causes the grass to grow and the flowers to bloom and babies to be born from just a few cells.
God does that sort of thing all the time – of course he could multiply those few loaves of bread into enough food to feed 5000.
And of course God can take the little bit that you have, and multiply that over and over to bless many people.
That is the point of what we just read from the book of Corinthians.
Verse 8: God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God gives to us so that we will give back.
God blesses us with talents and abilities and resources so that we will share those talents and abilities and resources with others.
They are not just for your own use. They are meant to be shared.
The one who wrote this letter uses seed as a comparison. He says that sharing what we have is a bit like sowing seed. The more seed you sow, the larger the harvest you will reap.
I have a bag of corn up here. DeKalb corn. It weighs 22 kg. There are 80 000 kernels of corn in here. Enough seed to plant around 2 1/2 acres.
I can pick this bag up easily – but do you know what? When planted and harvested, this one bag of seed will produce enough grain to fill more than one large dump truck. That’s right – this one bag will produce around 9 tons of grain – that is crazy multiplication.
Well, Paul (who wrote this letter) says that this is what happens when we share what God has blessed us with. God multiplies it. Over and over again – just like the grain at the harvest –
“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
God multiplies what we give.
Sometimes we look at the problems in this world and think to ourselves
I’m just little. What can I do about something as huge as world hunger? How can I even begin to put a dent into the problems of racism when the issues are so complex and deep?
And as soon as we think that, we sit on our hands and don’t do anything.
We forget that God multiplies what we give.
One small act of kindness has a way of multiplying so that it spreads and increases and many people are affected.
One kind word has a way of spreading and helping many people.
One small gift can grow exponentially and impact many lives.
That’s really what Christmas is all about.
God gave his Son Jesus as a gift to us – one small baby in the manger – weak – helpless – tiny little baby – God’s gift who eventually would die on the cross to pay for the sin of the world.
That one gift has brought salvation to all who believe in him. That one small gift has grown and grown and grown to affect billions and billions of lives.
Well, none of us is Jesus, but I did read somewhere that each person – no matter how small or big or strong or weak – each person will influence 10 000 others in their lifetime.
I have no idea who figures out this kind of stuff or how they do it, but just think about it – even if each person affects half that number - 5000 people (like the little boy did that day when Jesus was teaching) – that’s a lot of influence that each and every one of us has on others.
I think that’s a reminder to all of us. We all impact the people that we meet. Sometimes that can be a positive impact. Sometimes it can be a negative impact. But we all impact others more than we think.
Today is Father’s Day– just a word for us fathers –
that is something to think about –
we impact the lives of our families more profoundly than we could ever imagine. Our words. Our actions. Our facial expressions. The way we treat others. How we spend our money – how we spend our time -
We have a lot of influence.
As fathers, sometimes we bless – and sometimes we curse. And I don’t mean curse by swearing – I mean curse as the opposite of blessing – you know – the negative stuff we can sometimes do - Sometimes we really shine – sometimes not so much …
All of this impacts our families.
And that’s why we need Jesus –
Because when we commit everything we do and everything we have to Jesus, he promises to multiply that over and over again to produce many blessings –
Like the 5 loaves and 2 fish -
Jesus takes what little we have – multiplies it – gives it back to us – so that we can continue to be generous with what we have so that many people can bring thanksgiving to God.
So, the next time you want to say – I can’t do that – I’m too small. Or I can’t help out – I’m too weak – – I’m too slow or too shy or too whatever
Just remember the boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish.
And remember that Jesus takes what we give and makes it stretch and stretch and stretch to bless many others.
One kernel at a time - one well at a time – one friend at a time – one kind word at a time – one good deed at a time – one blessing at a time.
So what are we waiting for? Get out there and be a blessing. You’re never too young, (or too old)
Never too short, or too tall. Never too weak – or too strong. Be a blessing, and you will be blessed.