The Third Voice
Scripture Reading: John 6:1-15
Good morning. My name is Bob Hostetler, and I’ve been married for twenty-three years.
That’s not an admission of a problem, mind you--
It’s not like saying, “I’m Bob and I’m an alcoholic.”
No, I just mention it because it’s important background for what I’m about to say. . . .
You see, when I first married my lovely wife, Robin, I was soon faced with what seemed like an insurmountable task.
Unbeknownst to me, on the day of our wedding, Robin had in her mind--I don’t think she wrote it down--a list . . . a long list.
Now, I want to ask some of the kids here if they can guess what was on that list Robin had in her head. What do you think it was a list OF? Anybody?
The list in Robin’s mind
was a list of all the things
--small and large--
she was hoping I’d buy her someday. It included:
a sewing machine,
a rocking chair,
a guitar,
an entertainment center,
and a piano.
Now, you may be surprised at this, because, of course, I thought I had already given her everything she could possibly want [ME!]. But, believe it or not, that was the case.
So I set out on this impossible quest. I scraped,
I scavenged,
I saved,
I sacrificed,
until, finally, the glorious day arrived when, on her thirtieth birthday--
--you can’t believe she’s over thirty, can you?--
I proudly presented her with a Baldwin spinnet piano . . . . . THE LAST ITEM ON THE LIST!!!
I was excited,
I was elated,
I was ecstatic with joy!
I had faced a seemingly insurmountable task,
and IT WAS FINISHED!!!
Imagine then,
the emotion that swelled my soul when she threw her arms around me,
kissed me
--that’s right, Andrew Holzworth,
on the lips, BUDDY!--
and said, in a voice dripping with gratitude and amore,
“Great! Now we can start on a NEW list!”
Well, I share that little story with you because it parallels in some ways the challenges we face here this morning.
You see, I fully believe that every one of us here this morning is participating in history, an historic moment.
Any of you who have attended the Cincinnati Vineyard Church with their hundreds of ministries and multi-million dollar facility--what my son Aaron calls “the mall church”--have you ever wondered what it was like when Steve Sjogren and 38 other people met for the first home Bible study that launched that church?
Or what it might have felt like to be there with Bill Hybels and Gil Bilezekian for the first Sunday service of their church at the Willowcreek Theater?
Or what the inaugural service of Moody Bible Church or the 700,000-member Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea, was like?
Well, YOU are here for the first worship service EVER held by Cobblestone Community Church!
But we have quite a challenge facing us...
What may seem like an insurmountable task.
After all, we’re starting from scratch here, folks!
We have a few dollars in the bank, but no building;
we own some nice sound equipment,
thanks to the help of Randy Tankersley,
but no nursery furniture, no office equipment.
We have no paid staff, only volunteers.
We have a temporary constitution and bylaws,
but no elders or deacons, no structure to speak of.
No Sunday school,
no small groups,
no youth ministry--
ALL THAT is yet to be formed.
We have a mission,
we have a vision,
we have clear core values,
and you’ll be hearing about all those things
these first three weeks of worshiping together,
but basically all we’ve got is the bandwagon without the band!
And in the meantime,
there are hurts to be healed,
gifts to be used,
and a myriad of details to be taken care of.
Looks huge, doesn’t it?
Seems insurmountable--right?
Well, that’s okay, because I believe God’s Word is going to tell us this morning exactly what our attitude should be WHENEVER we face an insurmountable task,
whether it’s starting a new church
or starting high school,
whether it’s shedding ten pounds
or saving a marriage.
And we’re going to discover that by directing our attention to the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel in the Bible. . .
If you have your Bibles with you this morning, turn there, will you? Just go to the New Testament and turn right . . . Matthew-Mark-Luke-John . . .
John, chapter six . . . Verses 1-15.
I point you to that passage of God’s Word because it tells the story of what happened when Jesus and his disciples--sorta like us this morning--faced a seemingly insurmountable task.
So, if you have your Bibles open to the sixth chapter of the book of John, I want to direct your attention to the three voices that are heard in that brief account, because we’re going to consider the first two voices in contrast to THE THIRD VOICE.
Let’s look at what the Bible says:
1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
And then, in the next verse, verse six, the writer explains that Jesus “asked this only to test [Philip],” perhaps because Jesus knew that Philip’s response to this seemingly insurmountable problem would reveal much about his faith.
And the three voices that were raised that day by the Sea of Galilee will help US discover a thing or two about ourselves, our faith, and our readiness to face the challenges that are before us. So, look with me at the next verse, verse 7, because there we’ll see the first voice, and that is . . .
I THE VOICE OF DESPAIR
Look at verse 7:
7Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Philip looked at the vast hillside of hungry people, saw an impossible situation,
and gave voice to despair!
In today’s vernacular, he would’ve said,
“Give me a break!”
“Fat chance!”
“There ain’t no way!”
“There’s not a snowball’s chance in--” WELL,
we might be tempted to give in to that voice ourselves.
After all, we’ve all been in offices,
and homes,
and churches,
even towns,
where the voice of despair is the rule, not the exception.
You’ve heard it:
“It’ll never work.”
“We’ve tried before.”
“We don’t have the help!”
“Where we gonna come up with that kinda money?”
“It’s useless.”
yada yada yada
You hear it from factory workers,
you hear it from politicians,
you hear it from men,
you hear it from women,
but one place you should never hear it is from the mouth of a Christian. . . Because for a follower of Jesus Christ, there is no such thing as an impossible situation!
Whether you’re talking about a job,
a marriage,
whether you’re talking about money,
or kids,
or health,
or happiness,
there is no such thing as an impossible situation!
And so there is no place for the voice of despair;
we don’t need it here--
and I hope you never hear it here--
at Cobblestone Community Church, that’s for sure.
But look a little further in John 6 and you’ll hear the next voice we want to notice, the second voice, and that is . . .
II THE VOICE OF DOUBT
Look at verses 8-9:
8Another 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?”
You see, Andrew did not echo Philip’s voice of despair . . . Instead, his was the voice of doubt. You can almost hear the whine in his voice when he says, “but how far will they go among so many?”
Andrew really should’ve known better . . .
After all, he had been there when Jesus had turned water into wine . . .
He had heard Jesus say to the nobleman whose son was dying, “Go, your son will live” . . .
He had watched as Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda and told him to pick up his mat and walk . . .
And yet, after all that, Andrew still voiced doubt as he handed the little bit of bread and two tiny fish to Jesus, saying, “but how far will they go among so many?”
But Andrew is not the only one . . .
We give in to the voice of doubt ourselves,
from time to time,
even though we’ve SEEN God do miraculous things!
We’ve seen him totally turn around a dope smoking hippie or two, haven’t we, Randy Tankersley?
We’ve seen him put marriages back together, haven’t we Bob & Lynette Holzworth?
We’ve seen him bring kids back from the brink, haven’t we, Jim and Anne Helwig?
We’ve seen him heal,
we’ve seen him answer prayer,
we’ve seen him blow us away
with his goodness and strength,
and yet we still look at our situation and say,
“Oh, man, how can we do this?”
“How can we make it?”
“How, how, how,” just like Andrew.
But the voice of doubt is not what fed the 5,000
in Galilee, and it’s not what we need to hear in our situation today, either, anymore than we need the voice of despair.
What we need is THE THIRD VOICE.
That is the one that leaps out at me from the pages of John’s sixth chapter.
Look at your Bible. Look at the third voice.
Notice that here, finally,
after the voice of despair,
after the voice of doubt,
the third voice is the one that made a miracle happen that day, and that is . . .
III THE VOICE OF DETERMINATION
Look at verse 10, and remember that Jesus had asked Philip what they should do about the needs that surrounded them.
Philip responded with the voice of despair: “What are you talking about, Lord? Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Andrew responded with the voice of doubt, saying, “Well, we’ve got a little fish, a little bread, but how far will they go among so many?”
But THE THIRD VOICE--look at verse 10--the third voice belonged to Jesus:
10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
That’s the voice of determination you hear!
Philip thought the task was insurmountable;
Andrew had to admit they didn’t have much to work with;
Jesus, however, knew something that those two men were still figuring out: GOD WAS AMONG THEM!
Jesus knew that despair was not in order,
doubt was totally uncalled for,
because GOD WAS IN THE HOUSE!
He said simply, “We’ve got a job to do; have the people sit down.”
And what followed was a miracle. Look with me at the rest of the story:
There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus 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.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
THAT is the voice this church needs!
Yes, we have a great challenge before us. . .
But “God is with us! He is our leader!”
(2 Chron. 13:12)
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
(Romans 8:31)
“Though an army besiege [us], [our] heart will not fear; though war break out against [us], even then [we can] be confident!”
(Psalm 27:3)
BECAUSE GOD IS AMONG US!
And I am convinced he wants to do great things
for us and in us and through us.
I believe that God is raising up
something new and distinctive right here,
in our midst. . .
And it is our desire for Cobblestone Community Church to always be a
community-oriented,
student-friendly,
seeker-aware,
outward-focused church
serving this community.
We want to be community-oriented because we believe it’s the “townies,” the year-round residents, the families that will form the backbone of a strong, thriving, complete church body.
We want to be student-friendly because we believe God is calling us to model for students how a strong, thriving, Biblical family church functions. We want this to be the kind of church where college students do more than “come to church;” we want ‘em to come to dinner, to join in on family nights, to be a true part of a true Christian community.
We want to be seeker-aware because we want every first-time visitor to Cobblestone--even if they’ve never been inside a church--to feel comfortable and “at home” rather than disoriented and mystified by archaic practices and Christian jargon.
We want to be outward-focused because we believe God calls us to exist NOT for ourselves but for others, not to have a weekly party for us inside these walls but to bring about parties in heaven by helping people experience eternal life in Christ!
And I want to say to you here this morning,
if you’re interested in the same kinds of things,
COME ON ALONG!
But let me tell you first what you’ll be getting yourself into, so there’s no misunderstanding.
I want to take just a few minutes to tell you what our vision is in the next three stages of this church: • the next seven months,
• the next couple years,
• and the indefinite and long-term future.
The current Cobblestone leadership team (the Holzworths, Hostetlers, and Lillibridges) began meeting together about two months ago, to plan, pray, and prepare for this day and beyond. It is amazing to us looking back now that in that short time, God has given a clear mission, vision, and values for this church, and those are in the programs you received at the door. We’ve been named, incorporated, insured, and organized under a temporary constitution and bylaws that’s available on the back tables. We’ve even rented a regular meeting place, acquired a full sound system, developed Powerpoint presentation capabilities--all in just two months!
But as I’ve already said, a lot remains to be done. The task of the next 7 months will be for this group--and any others who join us in the coming months--to coalesce around our mission, vision, and values, to make sure we’re all on the same page and heading the same direction;
then we’re going to focus on healing some hurts and try as much as possible to start this new venture with whole hearts, clear minds, and clean hands.
And then we plan to set about the task of identifying and using our spiritual gifts and getting systems and resources ready for a full launch on Palm Sunday, April 8, 2001.
At that time, we expect to have between 100 and 200 people forming the nucleus of this church and we hope to have in place as many of those things I mentioned earlier--elders, deacons, Sunday school classes, youth events, and so on--as possible.
But realize, folks, that we’re not interested in just doing the same old things the same old ways.
We don’t just wanna be a church that does “church things.” We wanna be a group of people that is focused and intent on loving people into life-changing encounters with God.
We don’t wanna wear people out trying to keep the church machinery going; we wanna be sure first of all that you know that we love you for you, and not for what you can do for us. So we want all of you, any of you, to feel free to help, to pitch in, to do, to make this YOUR church now . . . But PLEASE do it because it will be fun, because you’re dyin’ to use your spiritual gifts for the glory of God and the benefit of others, and not because you think you have to.
There are many decisions to be made and tasks to be performed, and we’re going to need help with it, but we hope to offer the kind of leadership that will make everyone’s participation possible . . . and rewarding!
Now, it may be that you’re here mainly out of curiosity, and if that’s the case, welcome--we hope you’ll stick around and catch our vision.
There are others who are just here to say, “We’re with you, we support you,” but you’ve got loyalties and responsibilities elsewhere, and to you we wanna say, “Thank you! Thanks for being here today!”
It may also be that you’ve come here this morning expecting something more. . . You were kinda expecting a Sunday school for your kids right off the bat, and maybe a little more of this and a little less of that . . . And if that’s where you are, then we want to say to you, “God bless you, there’s no pressure on you at all.”
If your family has needs that we can’t meet right now, you won’t hurt our feelings by going to a church that offers those things. Go with our blessing or stay with our blessing; either way, we’re still friends! And if you wanna come back and check us out next Spring, that’s great, too!
But if, on the other hand, you’re excited by our vision--and in the coming weeks you find you’re excited by our mission and values--then hang on, because it’s gonna be a WILD RIDE these next seven months.
SO what happens AFTER Palm Sunday, 2001?
Oh, I believe that God is saying,
“See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:19)
I believe that his desire is for a church that for the next couple years will meet right here, providing a Sunday morning service filled with worship that’s creative and contemporary, and Biblical teaching that is so strong and practical that you almost can’t HELP but grow in your faith if you pay the slightest attention!
I believe God’s desire is for this church to operate, for at least the first 2-3 years, on a fully volunteer basis. We imagine the day will come when we need to hire staff, but in these “startup” years, we have the opportunity to set in concrete the foundation of a church that is formed around the gifts of its people and the needs of its community, one that uses every available resource to fulfill its primary mission;
I believe God’s desire is for a church that will set the standard in finding intentional, innovative, and non-threatening ways to love people into life changing encounters with God!
I believe God’s desire is for a church that gets intentional about helping people grow. We plan to develop outreaches and programs that will help people progress on a spiritual scale from:
Skeptical---to----seeking,
Seeking---to----saved,
Saved---to----serving.
That may seem awful simple, but if we can do that much, we can move on to more complicated schemes, if you like!
I believe God’s desire is for a church--and this is not trivial--that’s fun to be a part of, one that makes worship a delight, service a pleasure, and fellowship a joy!
I believe God’s desire is for a church whose name will become synonymous in this community with words like love, quality, servanthood, grace, truth--and the American way--okay, just kidding about that last one. I believe God wants a church that, because of its members’ conduct, “win[s] the respect of outsiders” (1 Thess. 4:12).
AND WHAT OF THE MORE DISTANT FUTURE? What will this church look like 3 years,
5 years,
20 years into the future?
Only God can answer that, but I’ll tell you what we’re shooting for:
we envision, eventually, a church of around 2,000 people meeting for weekly worship in the largest auditorium in Oxford, which will become a center for Biblical preaching, vibrant worship, thriving fellowship, and effective outreach not just by its own members but by other churches, campus groups, Christian businesses, and like minded people all over the area, coming in and out, and enjoying the resource of a beautiful, flexible facility provided by the people of this church!
we envision--because unchurched people are nine times more likely to attend a new church than an established church--we envision planting other churches in the area at the rate of one every five years;
we envision a church that uses every method at its disposal--radio, T.V., the internet, and technologies yet undiscovered--to accomplish its mission;
we envision a church that transforms its community and casts a shadow the shape of the cross through the length and breadth of this area- and beyond.
DO YOU SEE WHY WE NEED THE VOICE OF DETERMINATION? Because God is among us and he has given us a vision that is WAY too big for us to accomplish without the determination that comes from experiencing HIS MIGHTY POWER!
And I want to suggest to you that that is the case not only corporately, for us as a fledgling church,
but it is also the case for you, whatever PERSONAL challenges you may be facing today.
I want this morning’s challenge to apply not only to us as a body, but to each one of us here individually.
You know what? I’m confident that you hear
pretty much those same voices in relation to the challenges you face in your life,
in your family,
your marriage,
your job,
your school,
your finances,
your health,
your relationships.
Have you been giving in to despair? To doubt?
Of course you have; we all have.
But wait a minute-- God is among us!
He can turn a few bites into a banquet;
He can turn a few crumbs into a clambake!
If that’s true--and it is--then what might he do for you this morning, if you respond to his Word with the voice of determination?
Whatever the answer to that question may be in your personal, particular case, you’ll only find out by seeking God,
drawing close to him,
experiencing his nearness,
and letting that truth fill your mind and heart with godly determination.
Is there something going on in your life that needs God’s miraculous touch this morning?
Is there some seemingly insurmountable challenge or task that no one but God can conquer?
If you are, then listen: God is among us.
And if you let him, if you ask him,
he will draw you close, he will let you know he’s near.
I encourage you to call out to him in the words of the song [sing] “Draw me close to you . . . .”
[Draw Me Close to You]
In just a few moments, I’m gonna pray for you as we conclude this service in prayer--but if you would like to seek individual counsel and prayer--if there’s anything that we can pray with you about- a few of us will be waiting up here in this circle for a few minutes after the service, so you can come and receive prayer and counsel for whatever is on your heart. You can even do it now, as we sing together . . . .
