David

Disobedience, Tears, and Death

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , ,

“Disobedience, Tears, and Death”
August 09, 2015

By John Partridge

Scripture: 2 Samuel 18:5-15, 31-33                         Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2                   John 6:35, 41-51

Close your eyes.

Do you remember when you were a young person and you did stupid stuff that got your parents to yell at you? Now remember when you did something worse, not everyone has that moment but many of us have, when you did something so bad or so unexpected, that your parents didn’t… couldn’t yell, or even speak. Remember how your heart broke when you noticed that this thing you had done or said, made them sit, with nothing to say to you… and weep. Some parents have hidden that moment simply by saying things like, “Go to your room,” or “I’m so angry I don’t even want to see you right now.” But you heard them talking from your room and later you noticed (although they wouldn’t admit it) that they had unusually red eyes like they had been crying.

Maybe you were a good kid and that didn’t happen to you, but maybe your children did it to you as a parent. Or maybe it happened to a friend, or someone from church, but I want you to hold on to that idea, that moment when the words or the actions of another individual, a person you love, are so disastrous, so hurtful, that you, yourself are brought to tears from the pain that you feel on their behalf.

Open your eyes but hold on to that feeling in your memory.

It is moments like these that we will be reading about, and talking about this morning. Once again rejoining the story of King David, now as his son Absalom has dethroned him, run him out of Jerusalem, taken everything that he had, slept with his wives, and now is literally at war with David, we begin in 2 Samuel 18:5-15, 31-33.

5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.

6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”

14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

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31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”

33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”

David has been attacked by his own son. Absalom has taken David’s throne, been crowned as king, and driven David into the countryside. But as David’s loyal friends, soldiers, and others rally to his side and he begins to fight back, David, even though he is now at war with his own child, still loves Absalom and orders that he should not be harmed, and in fact, that he should be treated gently.

But as David’s commanding general finds Absalom, he disobeys David’s explicit orders and kills the young man on the spot as he hangs, helplessly, from a low-hanging branch, by his hair.

And when David hears the news that his son is dead, David weeps.

David had every reason to be happy. His throne, his power, his wealth and everything else had been returned to him. The rebellion had been crushed. But David, despite the betrayal, despite the disobedience, despite the pain, still loved his son. And David went to a quiet place and wept.

The next passage of scripture doesn’t sound like it is related to the story of David that we just read, at least at first. But with a little thought and reflection, everything starts to fall into place. (John 6:35, 41-51)

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Jesus said, “I am the living bread.” And then, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” From this, and all of the gospel stories, we know that Jesus is the bread, which was given by God, so that the whole world could be rescued and given life. The gift of eternal life, the gift of Jesus, was given as a gift of forgiveness, a gift of wholeness.

The gift of Jesus was a gift of sacrifice.

And it was given because God witnessed our betrayal and disobedience. We have all done the very things that God knew would destroy us. We have done the things that God commanded us not to do. We knew that God was the king of the universe, but we chose to overthrow him. We wanted to sit on the throne. We wanted to make the rules. We wanted to do whatever we wanted.

And our betrayal and disobedience caused God so much pain that he wept.

But even in the face of our betrayal and disobedience, even in the face of his pain and sorrow, God never stopped loving us. In fact, just as David ordered his men to be gentle with Absalom, God still wanted to rescue us from our own mess. God knew that the penalty for our sin and betrayal was death.

But instead of making us pay, God chose instead to sacrifice his own son in our place.

Jesus came to earth to rescue us from the problems and pain that we created for ourselves. Jesus came to become the bread of life and said, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

That is an enormous responsibility.

We owe God a great debt.

But what can we do? How can we even begin to repay what God has done for us? What can we do to show God that we are grateful?

And in Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2, Paul answers us by saying…

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

5:1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Paul says that we are all members of one body, which to me is another way of saying that we all belong to the same family, but, more than that, it is, just what Paul said, that we are part of the same body. Some of us are hands, others feet, and so on, but anything that harms one of us, harms all of us. And so, Paul’s instructions are to speak the truth and to make sure that we don’t do foolish things when we are angry. We all know that when we get mad enough, something inside of us wants to react, to lash out at the thing that hurt or angered us, but in Paul’s mind, that action gives our enemy a grip on us. Instead of lashing out, we need to be thoughtful and loving like David. We need to offer second chances. We need to put aside all sorts of wrongdoing, like stealing. We need to use our speech to lift people up and not to tear them down. Our speech should bring glory to God instead of making dirty jokes, talking about Desperate Housewives, and other unwholesome talk. Unwholesome talk encourages sin. Paul says that all these things “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”

These are the things that make God weep.

Instead, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

5:1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Instead of living lives of betrayal and rebellion, let us live lives that are dedicated to helping one another, loving one another, forgiving one another, encouraging one another, and offering our lives, and everything that we do, as an offering, a sacrifice, to God.

Are We Mature?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“Are We Mature?”
August 02, 2015
By John Partridge

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13      Ephesians 4:1-16      John 6:24-35

How many of you wish that you could join Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and live in a place where you never have to grow up? How many of you sing along whenever you hear the Toys-R-Us jingle singing “I don’t want to grow up…”? Just this week I reminded someone in the office that although life requires that we grow old, there is no law that requires us to grow up. Many of us have discovered that growing up is a trap. When we were kids we desperately wanted to grow up so that we could be “free” of all the rules and restrictions of our parents, and everyday attendance at school. But we often discover that adulthood and being grown up is nothing at all like we imagined when we were kids.

But even considering all of that, we recognize that adults behave in certain ways. We go to work on time, we pay the bills on time, we get along with our co-workers (most of the time), we follow the rules of the road when we drive, the rules at work, and a whole lot more rules than we ever thought adults had to follow. Even when we don’t want to act our age, and even though we don’t always like (or follow) all of the rules, we are even more annoyed by other people who refuse to follow them. We have all met people who, although they were forty, or sixty, or older, they acted as if they never grew up. They were immature and behaved as if they were children.

When Patti and I were first married, we knew of a couple who could barely pay the rent and who worried about how to keep food on the table, well, let me be more specific, the wife worried about how to keep food on the table. The distinction is important, because even though they had a hard time finding the money for necessities, the husband would occasionally come home with expensive toys, like a new $400 shotgun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to buy grown-up toys, but when your family is worried about having enough food to eat, mature human beings set aside their desire for toys. Many of us can recall times when we cancelled family vacations, or postponed major purchases, or set aside our need for toys for ourselves, so that we could pay for a child’s braces, or school fees, or a class trip, or a host of other things that were more important to our family.

We don’t always have to act like a grown-up, but a mark of our maturity is that we are willing to act our age when we need to, and set aside our wants for the needs of others who are important to us.

In today’s scriptures we are going to hear three stories that all hinge on the maturity of the people in them. But as we consider them, we realize that the maturity of those involved is not just physical and emotional maturity, but spiritual maturity as well.

We begin once again with the story of King David in 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13 as he murders the honorable and noble, Uriah the Hittite and takes Uriah’s wife Bathsheba for himself.

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

\5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Certainly a part of David had known all along that what he was doing was wrong. It was that part of him that knew he messed up that caused him to try to cover it all up by making Uriah “disappear.” But once Nathan calls him out, David knows that the jig is up, that he has been caught in his sin and defiance of God, and he repents. Even so, even having repented and been forgiven, David still does not escape the consequences of his actions. God declares that David’s own family will turn on him, and that God will one day do to David almost exactly what he had done to Uriah. David’s own son would turn on him, take away his throne, his palace, his kingdom, and all of his wives and that son would sleep with all of those wives in broad daylight so that everyone would know that he had done it.

David got into trouble because he acted immaturely both as an adult and as a spiritual being. David did what he did because he was greedy and selfish, and because he chose to put his desires ahead of the needs of others.

In John 6:24-35, we hear about what happened after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus fed five to fifteen thousand people and then, instead of being grateful, they follow him so that he can feed them again.

24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus tells the people that he knows they followed him, not because they were impressed by the miracle that he performed, but because they wanted to be fed. He cautions them to work for food that endures to eternal life and not just to work for food that spoils.

Like a baby that cries when it is hungry, the people were being immature; in particular, they were being spiritually immature. They wanted food more than they wanted to do the will of God. They loved Jesus for what he could do for them on that particular day, rather than for who he was and for the gift of eternal life that he had to offer.

Finally, Paul again urges the followers of Jesus Christ, the church, to live lives of spiritual maturity. (Ephesians 4:1-16)

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
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11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Paul says that we should live a life that is worthy of the calling of God. God did not call us to be petty, judgmental, mean-spirited, short-tempered, narrow-minded, people. God called us to be humble, gentle patient, peaceful, and loving people who get along with others because of the love that we have for one another and the love that we have for God. When we act in ways that do not look much like Jesus, then our behavior is spiritually immature. Mature believers have grown in faith and in knowledge so that we are filled with the Spirit of God and become more and more like Jesus. It is our immaturity that allows us to be deceived by false preachers and bad theology. It is our immaturity that allows believers to be deceived by people who try to lead us astray. But Paul says the solution to all of these is to become mature, to grow in faith and knowledge so that together we can, as the body of Christ, do the work that God has called us to do.

We have all met people who, although they were forty, or sixty, or older, they acted as if they never grew up. They were immature and behaved as if they were children.

And, in the same way, we sometimes meet fellow believers who, although they are physically grown up, are still babies, immature, in their faith. Just because we are fifty, or sixty, or seventy, doesn’t guarantee that we act like adults, nor do we automatically become mature Christians because of our age. We grow as we speak, as we act, and as we hear the truth. We grow spiritually in the same way that children grow physically; we need to eat spiritual food. We need to spend time reading and studying scripture, and doing other things where we hear and act out, and exercise our faith so that we can grow in faith and in knowledge.

Our goal is not to fill the pews every Sunday.

Our goal is not to simply a body for Christ, but to become the mature body of Christ.

As such, it is often worth asking ourselves, “Am I mature?”

And to find out, the next question we need to ask is, “Do I look and act, like Jesus?”

Rising Above the Crowd

PastorPartridge Uncategorized , , , , ,

“Rising Above the Crowd”
July 26, 2015
By John Partridge

Scripture:

2 Samuel 11:1-15

Ephesians 3:14-21

John 6:1-21

Have you ever had an absolutely phenomenal day? One of those days that sounds like something from the movies when they say things like “It’s my time to shine” or “Seize the day” or a day when you “stand above” or “stand out” from everyone else? But most often, when people rise above the crowd it is because they have prepared themselves for that moment. Our astronauts do some amazing things, but nearly all of them are the very best in their fields. Some of them are among the very finest pilots in the world and others hold doctorate degrees in science. They stand above the crowd because they have the chance to do amazing work, but also because they invested much of their lives to prepare themselves for just such an opportunity. Likewise, our Olympic athletes shine in front of an international audience, but they have spent years, and countless gallons of sweat, preparing for that moment. This morning we are going to read three scriptures in which we see three people prepare themselves to do something extraordinary. The first of these is David, who makes a series of choices that prepare him for disaster, the second is Jesus who prepares a miracle that reveals to the world who he really is, and the third is you.

We begin in 2 Samuel 11:1-15, where David makes a string of bad choices that will cause him, and Israel, incredible pain.

11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”

11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

In this passage we can clearly see that David, despite his allegiance to God, made choices that prepared him for moral failure. First, although it was traditional for kings to lead their armies, and although David had built his reputation as a warrior, on this particular occasion, when the army of Israel went out to do battle, David chose to abandon his duty and stay home. One evening he went out on the roof to stretch his legs, and probably to cool off. Since stone and brick buildings accumulate heat all day in the sun, David probably wanted to get outside where he could enjoy the evening breezes and, most likely, the palace roof offered the one of the coolest spots in the city. But while he was there, he witnesses someone else doing the same thing. One of his neighbors was enjoying a bath on her roof, and again, this was probably not unusual. What was unusual was that David not only saw, he looked… and he made the choice to keep on looking. Granted, David was a man and as a man, if your beautiful neighbor is taking a bath on her roof, it was probably hard not to notice, but David didn’t just look. David didn’t look away. David didn’t walk away. David didn’t even just enjoy the view and go back inside. Instead, David looked, watched, and lusted in his heart. David wanted her.

And so, David not only lusted, he acted on his lust, first by sending someone to find out who she was, second by sending messengers to get her and bring her to him, but then again by choosing to spend the night with her. When she turns up pregnant, David makes the choice to cover the whole thing up but that doesn’t work either because Uriah is more honorable and loyal than David expected, and, honestly, more loyal and honorable than David himself. David even allows Uriah to stay in town for several days, perhaps hoping that Uriah’s willpower will dissolve as he sleeps on the doorstep of the king only a few steps from his home and his beautiful wife. But Uriah will not dishonor his king or his brothers-in-arms and so David again chooses poorly and plots to have this honorable man murdered.

David made a great many poor choices and each one brought him one step closer to disaster. This series of choices is one that caused David, and all of Israel great pain, misery, and death. David’s choices led him to stand out from the crowd… for all the wrong reasons.

But fast forward to John 6:1-21, where we find the descendant of David, Jesus, fully prepared to do something totally amazing.

6:1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

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, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to 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 they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 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.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
By this time, Jesus was well into his three year ministry and had spent countless hours in prayer as well and much of his life in the synagogue. It is apparent from scripture that Jesus, and most of the disciples, would attend worship in the synagogue whenever they were able. This preparation brings Jesus to the side of a mountain where they were far from everything. There were no nearby towns, no handy fast food drive-thru’s, no food trucks or even a hot dog guy with a box around his neck. And so Jesus sets out to feed ten to fifteen thousand people (remember that our scripture said that there were five thousand men). Just to buy bread for so many people would take six months of wages and would only give a bite to each one. But Jesus forges ahead anyway. Jesus begins with one sack lunch from one small boy, five miniature barley bagels and two sardines. Not much. But Jesus takes this small offering, gives thanks for what the boy has offered to God, and passes them out to the crowd with each person taking as much as they wanted. And when everyone was finished and had eaten all that they wanted, they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. We should especially note that John says that the baskets were filled, not simply with leftover bread, but specifically leftover pieces from the five barley loaves. I think John wanted to be sure that everyone knew that there was not some other source of supply, people had not brought their own lunches, but that all of the people had eaten, and all of the baskets were filled from the remains of what the boy had given and which God had blessed.

Because of this great miracle, everyone knew that Jesus was sent by God.

Finally, in Ephesians 3:14-21, we hear the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote this prayer for the people of the church in Ephesus and, in effect, all of the followers of Jesus everywhere.

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Here, Paul prays that God would strengthen his people through the power of the Spirit that lives within you. He prays that Christ might live in your hearts through faith and that each of you would be so rooted and established in love that you might fully understand how big, how great, and how powerful Christ’s love for you really is. Paul prays that you are filled with the fullness of God. That last part is a big deal. Paul prays that you (that we) would be filled with the fullness of God, but remember that little boy on the side of the mountain with Jesus. His sack lunch was filled with the fullness of his mother and that was enough to feed one little boy. But when that boy made the choice to give his lunch to Jesus, and when Jesus prayed that God would bless that sack lunch, it became not just filled with the fullness of his mother, but filled with the fullness of God. When that sack lunch was filled with the fullness of God, it not only fed that boy, but ten or fifteen thousand other people.

The fullness of God is often far more than it appears.

Something, or someone, that is filled with the fullness of God is capable of doing far more than they might appear from the outside. Someone that is filled with the fullness of God does not rely only upon their own strength and their own abilities but also on the strength and ability of the creator of the universe.

The choices that we make lead us to our destination.

If we make poor choices like David, we can choose our way into disaster, pain, suffering and death.

But if we make choices that lead us toward Jesus, if we make choices that allow us to be empowered by the Spirit of God and filled with the fullness of God, then God also gives us the ability to rise above the crowd as we do far more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Your “time to shine” may come after a lifetime of preparation and a lifetime of choices. Choices to pray, read scripture, attend church, to attend Bible study, to learn, to think, and to act like Jesus.

When that time comes, will you be ready?

What will you choose?

Who Watches the Supplies? – A Football Meditation

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    In the books of first and second Samuel we read the story of King David.  Many of us have heard stories about David, but there is at least one that we don’t often remember.  In 1 Samuel 30, we find David and 600 men who had just returned from fighting alongside Achish the king of the Philistines.  As they return home they discover that the Amalekites had raided their town, captured their wives (including two of David’s wives), their children, their livestock, as well as anything of value.  After consulting with their priest to find the will of God, David pursues the Amalekite raiding party.
    As they hurry to catch up to the raiders however, David finds that two hundred of his men are too exhausted to continue and so he leaves them behind with all their gear, supplies and what is left of their town.  David and the four hundred remaining men pursue the Amalekite raiding party and find them celebrating over all the loot that they had plundered.  David and his men attack and fight with the Amalekites from dusk that day, until the end of the following day, defeat them, and recapture every single animal, personal belonging, wife and family member.
    But when they return to their camp, the troublemakers began to stir things up.  They argued with David that the two hundred men who were left behind should not receive any of the plunder because they didn’t fight to get it.  They argued that these men should get their families back, but receive no share of the loot and plunder that they had taken from the Amalekites.
    David fights back.  David makes an argument that is important to every single one of us and one that is important to each of you on the football field.  David said:
“No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.
    It is important to remember that when you win, it isn’t just the superstars and the heroes that win the game.  Every member of your team had a part, Every coach, every water boy, every trainer, every teacher you ever had who helped you to earn the grades you needed to play ball, it took the guy on the sidelines who sprained his ankle before the season started, every football booster, every friend who gave you a ride home from practice, every relative, every parent, and every brother or sister that comes to watch you play.  As David said, these are the people who “watch the supplies” for you. 
    When you win, it isn’t just because of the guy who threw the touchdown pass, or who caught the interception, or who made the big tackle.  Your victory didn’t come because of the superstars; it took every single one of you. 
And that includes the people who just watch the supplies.

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