Jesus and the Crowd of 5,000

In John 6:26-31, after Jesus fed the 5,000, the crowd told Jesus “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” 

From a ministerial perspective, this is a very interesting verse for me and I think it requires 2 qualifying statements:

1.    These are statements from an unbelieving crowd.

2.    "Belief" in John is the exact same word for "faith" used in the other gospels. The only difference is it’s the verb “to faith” so the translation is different because "faith" isn’t a verb in English.

I used to think this was really strange… Here are people who want to do the works of God but Jesus is saying don’t worry about it. However, I have since encountered many, many people who are interested in what you do, interested in your success but don’t want to pay the price. “I want to be a missionary” or “I want to make an app” or “I want to start a ministry” but after talking to them for a while you see it’s a passing interest and it’s not something they are willing to pay the same price you paid. Jesus is dealing with the same kind of people here. “That’s a cool miracle Jesus, how do I do that?”

Jesus’s response expertly does three things:

1.    He gives them the first step. Anyone who takes him seriously would start with the first step. Only then can you progress. I am surprised by how many people I talk to about things and I give them a first step but they don’t take it. I think only 5% of people who come to me for advice actually do even the first, most basic thing I tell them - it’s discouraging but if people saw Christ in the flesh and treated him the same way I should expect nothing less! 

2.    He takes the focus off of works and miracles and onto God. The phrasing moves from “we want” to “what God wants” - this is an important distinction; whose will are we actually doing? Do these people want to join the ministry because they have a call from God or because they think it would be cool to be respected and perform miracles?

3.    He doesn’t tell them it’s impossible but instead brings them back to reality without crushing their dreams: believe in Jesus. He could have just as easily responded with “you won’t; you are children of Satan (John 8:44)” but He gives them an opportunity. We need to do the same thing for anyone that comes asking for advice - show them the way and hide our disbelief because who knows who God will call.

 

Many of the first missionaries we talked to, upon meeting them 5 or 10 years later told us that they thought we wouldn’t last here. We were too idealistic, could have a better life somewhere else, and weren’t the rugged bush type. I am glad they chose to keep their opinions to themselves and give us advice as though we had a chance!

 

The Bottom

 

Carla and I realized there will only be $80 in our bank account and $50 in the Equip Mozambique bank account at the end of this month. Last month I was afraid, but not anymore. There is something freeing about hitting bottom, and knowing that all you can do is go up. Lord, use this time to wipe away the dross, everything that is extraneous and unnecessary.”

I also happen to be stuck in bed with a nasty neck ache. But my spirit is still on fire and alive as ever. God help me do the right things, purify me, let everything be stripped away that is not from you. I want to be white-hot for you. Burn away my excuses and the fat that can develop with plenty. Show me again the essentials, and your raw power for transformation.

 

Limited Bodies

We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing… While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us…. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.-- 2 Cor 5:2-5 NLT

If everything was already perfect, why would we be looking for new bodies and new homes? I long for the day where I don’t have pain in my back, where my foot fungus totally goes away, and when this body that has so little energy gets rejuvenated and doesn’t hold me back.

The thing that hits me as I’m reading now is the part about the guarantee being the Holy Spirit. Will our new bodies have the Holy Spirit? The way Paul is saying this - in some versions, he says a downpayment - it sounds like the Holy Spirit is a taste of our new bodies, and through it we get a glimpse of what it means to live in our new bodies.

That makes sense to me. Often it seems like the spirit in me wasn’t built for this earthly body. It doesn’t dream or have vision only of the possible, and doesn’t seem limited by the same constraints as the rest of me. The spirit sees and acts with the resources, energy and vision of heaven and I am stuck here; human, frail, limited and utterly incapable.

As Carla will tell you, I pace. I pace a lot. I wake up early in the morning, visions of what can be and what may be possible. I wake up in the middle of the night, interceding for the poor with a body that wants to go back to sleep and a spirit that thinks it can single-handedly change a country. While most people are doing their own thing waiting for God to give them orders, I am brooding how I only have 70 more years to make an impact for the kingdom. Only 70 more years to give poverty and darkness the biggest black eye I can muster.

The spirit in me doesn’t seem to understand the limitations of my body, or my bank account, or my team. It dreams. It groans. And I can fully believe it was created for another kind of body and reality - one without these paltry limitations.

 

Weakness and the Mozambique Church

What’s the circumstance or situation Paul is facing in 2 Corinthians? There are other preachers in Corinth, preachers that the church has believed are more powerful, anointed, or have new revelations. They are preaching that because they are close to God they never have issues - they are blessed and victorious every
hour. They end up giving sermons on themselves and how amazing they are. PS, oh, and God.

I am seeing this so clearly now because that’s exactly where the church in Mozambique is and what is going on. The TV evangelist message is 1000% worse in Mozambique than in the US. Why? Because most Americans have been to a church that’s not like that and they at least know not all churches are all health-wealth-1000s-of-people. Here they don’t know any better - they think the rest of the world is full of powerful, successful churches and that the bigger the church the more powerful the preacher. They end up thinking their own church is messed up and weak because it’s not a mega-church.

The Corinthians thought the same thing. Because Paul had issues and was weak, they thought he wasn’t as anointed or close to God as the other preachers. They wanted a powerful leader like Saul, not a “weak-in-words” leader who is open about his pain and suffering like Paul. They wanted strong leaders of metal.

But Paul is saying that’s not how it works: the weaker I am, the stronger Christ can be seen in me. If I was powerful, then people could think that the power was from me, but God chooses the weak and the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and strong (1 Cor 1). So we should have absolutely no shame in our weakness and issues because they are a better vessel for Christ in His power.