SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: November 21, 2010
Date Preached: November 21, 2010
Church: OPBC (AM)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Stewardship Series
Title: The Stewardship of Giving
Text: Mark 8:1-9
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away. 4 And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? 5 And he asked them, How many loaves do you have? They said, Seven. 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.
ETS: In this passage we can see that Jesus desired to teach His disciples on how they should give of themselves to the needs of those around them, even when it was not convenient.
ESS: This passage today tells us that Jesus will reveal needs to us… and Jesus expects us to follow thru on our commitment to those in need and then act on that commitment, and when we do this…He will give results that blow our mind!
Introduction:
Last week we saw how we are all stewards of God’s gift of time! We must always use our time for the best…because we all get the same amount of time, and it is a gift from God that we are responsible to use in a wise and productive manner for the Kingdom.
This morning I want to speak to you about the stewardship of giving… First the tithe and then the offering… which are 2 separate things! Now, I know how it goes, when the preacher steps up and starts talking about money… people have a tendency to shut down and NOT listen!
Well, the fact of the matter is… is that Jesus spoke about money FAR more than He did about heaven or hell… Jesus understands that our money come directly from the outflow of our hearts.
And I am not going to sugar coat this subject… our church has to have money to operate… money is a necessary things for our church to function. We need money for everything we do here in this church.
What I have found as a pastor over the past 13 yrs is that it is NOT the money that is the issue we must deal with, but it is the attitude of the one with the money! This is because many believers sit in these pews Sunday after Sunday with an attitude that is focused on themselves, their selfish thoughts and their self-centered ways. Their heart is NOT about the Gospel of Christ! Their heart is NOT about honoring God in ALL they do…
So this morning I bring you a passage of Scripture that may not seem to speak specifically about the giving money; but what it does speak about is the overall biblical and godly principle of giving… which applies to EVERY believer!
This morning I can see 4 points I want to address in this message:
First, we can see where a need is exposed,
Then we can see where a commitment is understood and,
Then there is an action that was taken, and
Finally we can see results are realized.
When we look at those 4 points I can see that is the progression of any ministry that we are going to tackle in this world today. We must first see a need, then understand our Christian commitment to meet that need, we then MUST take action toward that commitment, and finally we will see how God will use our obedience to further His kingdom.
Identify the need… listen to God: v.1:
I want us to go first to v. 1 where we can see the need is exposed to the disciples. [read v.1]
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,
Jesus saw the need laid out before Him. Jesus brought the attention of His disciples to this need. That is really how it works today as well. God always sees the need and knows of the need before we do, and it is God who points out these needs to US… His disciples!
The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 yrs, but as soon as they entered the wilderness God saw a need in their lives. God then provided for that need and called the people of Israel to a commitment of going out each morning to gather only that which they needed for that day and not store up any for the future.
God uses His disciple Moses to pass this message onto the people, and we see the children of Israel take action based on Moses’ command (which he received from God). Some went out and did just what God instructed them to do. Others tried to ‘improve’ on God’s plan and found out that it did not work. That is where we see the results of their actions… the manna they tried to ‘store’ was rotten the next day…
We have to realize that when God reveals a need to us… God knows what He is talking about. He reveals that need for a purpose and when He reveals the need, He will spark an action that will meet the physical need, but obedience to that action command from God will also fill a spiritual need for those involved.
Jane had been a Christian for many years, and she had always strived to do what God placed in her path. One day a young couple moved in next to Jane and Bill. They were a curious couple, nice and easy going, but they always seemed to be arguing and fussin’ over something. Jane began to wonder why God had placed this couple in the house beside her and her family.
Now as a believer, we must always be on the lookout for God’s revelation of needs around us. First the need must be identified, and for the believer God will identify the need and pass that need onto His disciples… However also in this passage we find Jesus also bringing His disciples to an understanding their commitment to meeting the need that God places before us.
We must understand our commitment to the need God places before us…v.2-4
[read verses].
2 "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4 And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?"
Now here we find Jesus showing great compassion to total strangers, in a strange land. Here we find Jesus reflecting His love for His creation. He understood the hunger they were feeling and He knew that there was NOTHING close by to satisfy their need.
There are many times when God reveals a need to us and that need goes unfulfilled because we fail to act. Most of the time the reason many of us fail to act on God’s calling on our lives is simply because doing what God wants us to do is not convenient for us and so we ignore it and try to rationalize it away!
We can see that the disciples were NOT willing at first to act on this need as Jesus wanted them to… They simply could NOT see a convenient way to meet this need and it was their desire to dismiss the crowd and send them home.
This was an attitude of sort of ‘each man for himself’, but Jesus refused to allow them to settle for that misguided and WRONG attitude! He was firm in His teaching and He insisted that the disciples focus in on their commitment to those who were in need.
Many times God reveals a need to us and we want to go the ‘convenient’ way, and if that is not available we simply want to dismiss the need. However, when God reveals a need to us we must focus on our commitment to those God has shown us who are in need.
Now Jane’s new neighbors began to have some serious marital problems and the young lady showed up at Jane’s door and reached out to her for some friendship and a shoulder to cry on...
At first Jane was reluctant to get involved, she knew that this would be very time consuming and she had commitments with her husband and family. God spoke to her heart and showed her a need she needed to meet. God called her to minister to this young lady and so Jane committed to God that she would reach out to this young lady who lived next door.
God will reveal the need, and God then calls for us to commit to meeting that need, however the 3rd point I want to make this morning is that seeing a need and making a commitment to meet that need means NOTHING if we fail to follow thru with the necessary action to meet that need.
Our Commitment Requires ACTION to mean anything… v.5-7
In our passage this morning we see that it was not enough for the disciples to know that the crowd was hungry and that they should do something about it. Christ called them to action! Let’s read v.5-7.
5 And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.
Jesus encouraged His disciples to put feet to their commitment… to take ACTION that would MEET the needs of those in need. He began to act, and they were obedient and listened to Jesus.
Like the disciples on that day… we have God revealing needs to us everyday, all around us. And like the disciples, many of us can see those needs and realize that our commitment to Christ and the needs of others is really important. However, if we do not act on that revealed need, it is all for naught!
Action is the key to this ministry to the lost world. Jesus took action and showed His disciples what needed to be done. His disciples followed suit and began to act on this need.
In our story, God has revealed a great need to Jane. Her neighbor’s wife has reached out to her for friendship and comfort in a time of trouble. Jane does not know her very well, and by befriending this woman Jane would have to cut back on her outside activities and friends.
Jane began to pray about this situation and she wanted to ignore it, as she hoped it would just go away. However, God kept on dealing with her and Jane decided to ask this young woman over for coffee every morning around 9am.
God reveals needs to His children, and then He expects His children to focus in on their commitment to meeting the needs of those who are in need. But not only that… God expects Christians to ACT on those commitments. Action is the key issue here!
Commitment + Action = RESULTS… v.8-9
Finally we come to the point and time in our story where we find that the results of their actions are realized. Let’s look at v.8-9.
Look at the results of Jesus revealing the need, seeking a commitment from His disciples and requiring an action toward that commitment in the face of the revealed need.
In our story from the Bible this morning the first and foremost result that we can see is that ALL those people who were hungry, were now satisfied and filled… their physical need had been met.
Today, in our world, when a need is revealed to us and that need is met by the full commitment and intentional action of faithful believers… the results are that needs are met and God is pleased with our obedience!
So often when we see a need, we think that there is NO way we can meet that need… because we cannot see what God has in store, but what seems to be impossible is made possible though God!! Paul tells us that thru Christ we can do ALL things! Jesus said, without God NOTHING is possible, but with God ALL things are possible!
In our illustration story this morning we find Jane beginning to meet with this young lady each morning. Jane discovers this young lady does NOT know Jesus and she has the chance to share the Gospel and what Jesus has done in her life with her.
This young lady comes to know Christ because of the witness of Jane and her family and she begins to share Christ with her husband, who then surrenders his life to Christ and the family is brought into the church fellowship, and discipled.
There was a great spiritual hunger… a great spiritual need, that was manifesting itself as an unhappy marriage and in fighting and arguing by this young couple! This young couple was crying out and God heard their cry and made the need known to Jane and her family.
We can also see that because of Jane’s submission to the need that God presented to her, because of her commitment and action toward meeting that revealed need…the results were that a family came to know Christ! An eternity was changed by her actions!
However, in our passage this morning we can find another result that the disciples possibly would have NEVER thought about… You see, after they fed the people on a mere seven loaves and a few fish…there were enough leftovers for the disciples to gather 7 LARGE baskets of leftovers...
Now, for us today, this may not seem like much, however, I can see 2 very direct benefits from this particular result. First the Bible tells us that these people had traveled a long way to see Jesus. There were no Denny’s or McDonalds in those days and these leftovers would serve as meals for these people as they journeyed home.
Second, I know that the disciples were very happy with the fact they would have some leftovers. They rejoiced in the fact that God had once again provided for them.
Soon after Jane had shared Jesus with this young woman and her husband gave his life to Christ, their marriage began to heal. After that Jane and her husband surrendered to the calling of God to teach young couples in their church about how to deal with relationships.
You see, when believers are committed to the seeing the needs God reveals, and then willing to take the action necessary to meet needs of others…THAT is then when results are going to happen.
We need to understand that the results are guaranteed, but WE are not guaranteed to witness the results. Some results will occur where NO ONE can see, but the results will still be there!
This morning you have heard how God presents the need and we are to respond in faith to commit to meeting the need God presents, and that we take intentional action toward meeting that need… when we do that results are going to be good!
Today I stand before you a pastor who knows that God has presented a great need to this fellowship… this community NEEDS Jesus! You may say, preacher that is just TOO much for our one church! You may say, preacher there are lots of churches, let them find a church and find God!
But I want to tell you that is NOT what God wants us to say… or how God wants us to react to the need He has revealed to us! God is calling us to commit to meeting that need…
God is calling us to take intentional action in order to see that need be met… God is also promising us that if we are faithful and obedient that this need will be fulfilled… we may never actually witness it, but God will deliver!
Today the need before us is a need of great and eternal significance… it is a need that cannot be overlook or ignored! There are people dying every day who do NOT know Jesus and will spend an eternity in hell separated from God… but we can do something about those who are still here…
We can commit as a fellowship to meeting that need for Christ in our community, we can commit in many ways! We can commit to pray, we can commit to going out into the community and we can commit to giving money to allow the ministry to be sustained and carried out!
Far too often we as believers are willing to make a verbal commitment to something, but we do NOT follow thru with intentional actions! I am calling on our fellowship to take that step of faith… commit and follow thru with action!
Commit to giving to our budget, commit to trusting God and following those He has placed here as leaders, commit to seeing that the work needed is work that is accomplished… Are you willing this morning to give as God is calling you to give…
In about a week you will be presented with a budget for our upcoming year… this budget has been constructed by our Stewardship committee and myself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to meet the revealed NEED that God has presented… to reach our community!
This budget is a budget that when you first look at it you are going to say, “Pastor, there is NO way we can do this!” Let’s let some other church take up the slack… But I am going to challenge you just like Jesus challenged those disciples when they told him ‘no way Jesus!’…
Jesus did not even consider NOT feeding the people but forged ahead with the resources at hand and trusted that God would bless those resources to meet the need He had revealed. I am doing the same… this budget will allow us to move forward in meeting the need God has presented… it is a step in the right direction…
I want you all to know that I see the need… I am committing to that need, and I am going to take an intentional step toward meeting the need placed before us! I am going to commit MORE than the usual tithe, but my tithe will be 15% this year.
I am moving forward… I am challenging you to step out on faith, commit to this budget and to our mission of reaching the community! Are you willing to take that step? But you must understand this… once you have committed to God… you will be required to take that step of faith and put feet to your commitment… you must take intentional action!
For us as a fellowship to see this need being met we are ALL going to have to step out and give sacrificially to see that the budget God has led us to adopt is met! We need to ensure that the ministries involved within that budget are going to happen! And that the people that are targeted are going to be reached and that the Gospel will be shared and that souls will be saved!
When we do this… we are obedient to God’s calling… we are honoring God and when we honor God, He is going to honor us… God is going to bless our fellowship! Are U willing today to step out on faith and meet this need?
Today you may be here and you may NOT know Christ as your savior… you are living on your own resources and you have your thoughts about eternity or the life after this one… You think to yourself… the afterlife and death are things I cannot face… I cannot deal with them because they are TOO overwhelming!
But I want you to know that Jesus has revealed the need you have… that need is HIM… YOU need Jesus! Jesus has revealed that need and Jesus has made the commitment to meet that need… his commitment is fleshed out in His birth by a virgin, His sinless life, His selfless sacrifice on the Cross and his sensational resurrection from the grave!
Jesus backed up His commitment with action, the action of teaching others, loving others and meeting the needs of others… Jesus backed up His commitment to US by submitting to death on a cross… Jesus is a man of ACTION and not mere words! Are you willing to follow Him today?
I call on you to follow Him and allow Him to change your heart radically and completely! Come as Bro Steven comes to lead us in our Hymn of Invitation… “I’d rather have Jesus” wont you stand as we begin to sing…
