“And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.” John 6:11
When I hold a basketball in my hands, it is merely a basketball, but when the same ball is in the hands of Michael Jordan, it turns into collegiate and professional championships. Put a golf club in any of our hands, and it is merely a golf club, but when you place that same golf club in the hands of Tiger Woods, it turns him into the best golfer in the world. A paintbrush in my hands results in an average picture if I paint by numbers, but when a paintbrush was placed in the hands of Renoir, it turned into incredible works of art. How is it that the same instruments and the same tools can bring about such differing degrees of results? It all depends upon who is holding them and how they are being used.
In John 6:1-13, we learn what can happen when we place what we have in God’s hands. The Lord Jesus commands His church in Matthew 28:19 to “make disciples of all the nations.” We have learned so far that if the Lord is going to multiply disciplers of His grace and truth, we must admit that we have a need (John 6:1-7) and assess what we already have (John 6:8-10). Today, we will also learn that we must ALLOW GOD TO TAKE WHAT WE HAVE AND MULTIPLY IT (John 6:11-13).
This little boy’s lunch was not much (John 6:9). Five small barley loaves and a couple of sardine-sized fish – about the size of a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Now, I’m sure in a crowd that size someone else had a bigger and better meal. But it was this little boy who admitted his need to give, assessed what he already had, and then offered it to Jesus.
Let’s look at what happens when what we have is placed in Jesus’s hands. “And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.” (John 6:11). Imagine you are among those disciples distributing the food. You start handing it out on the front row. Just a token piece. But at the end of the first row you notice that nothing in your hand has gone away. You still have as much as you started with in your hand. As a matter of fact, it seems to be even larger.
As you get to the second row you are starting to give out bigger pieces. You are getting bolder now because the food in your hand is not decreasing. By the time you get to the third row, you are doing everything you can to get rid of the food and you cannot get rid of it. By the last row you have given away more than you could have carried, but you still have bread and fish in your hands. So you go back to the first row again and start giving everybody all they can eat. Suddenly, you realize that something supernatural is happening – for you can feed as many as you want and still the bread and fish will not go away! All you have to do is give it away to make it stay.
Imagine that Jesus sends you back into this crowd of twenty thousand people and you fill twelve laundry baskets with leftover food! How would you feel? Do you realize that is exactly what happened when Jesus’s disciples gathered the leftovers? “12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’ 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.” (John 6:12-13). If you were a disciple, what would you learn about Jesus by gathering up that much bread? He is One Powerful Person – powerful enough to meet everyone’s needs if we would give Him what we have. We can have little and it will remain little as long as we keep it. But if we have little and give it to Jesus — He will multiply it.
This miracle shows us what can happen when we place what we have in God’s hands. Young people, you may think, “I’m too young, there’s nothing God can do with me.” That is not true. What do you have that you can give to Jesus so He can meet the needs of others? Your time? Your talents? Your cell phone!?! God can even use you to introduce Jesus to people who do not know Him. Nor can you adults say, “Well I don’t have anything to offer,” or “What I’ve got isn’t very much.” Nonsense! This boy had a happy meal… a small lunch… five barley loaves and two sardines. That is not even potluck material at our home church, yet he was willing to place it in the hands of Jesus. He said, “Here, Lord, take it and use it.”
God does not expect you to solve all the problems in your church or in your life. But He does expect you to place yourself in His hands, and leave the rest up to Him. It is like the Greyhound bus motto, “Leave the driving to us.” Place it in God’s hands and let Him take care of the rest. Twenty thousand people went home that day challenged, renewed, and refreshed in part because of the faithfulness of one child. I want you to think about this — how many people will be fed, clothed, loved, encouraged, introduced to Jesus Christ, and discipled in your city or town and beyond because of your faithfulness to give Christ what you have?Sometimes all God wants is for you to be willing. Will you give what you have to Jesus?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, this is such a powerful reminder of what You can do with what we have if we will simply place it in Your hands! Some of us may think or feel that we have nothing to offer You to meet the needs of others. But if you can use a little boy’s lunch to feed thousands of people, you can use whatever we have to meet the needs of people around the world. Lord, I know I have blind spots in my life. If there is something that I have that You want to use to spread Your gospel message around the world and disciple those who believe in You, please show me so I can hand it over to You to multiply followers of You for Your glory! In Jesus’s matchless name I pray. Amen.