What’s in Your Basket? (Rev. Dr. Charley Reeb)
I want to talk to you today about how you can make a significant impact on this community. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, I am willing to bet that you desire to make a difference in this world – a world that is filled with so much pain and sorrow.
As I scroll through the news on my phone each day my heart breaks over and over again – corruption, abuse, terrorism, violence, human and drug trafficking, etc.
I recall watching the local news one night and within a span of about a minute there were these three stories: An infant left in a plastic bag next to a dumpster; an elderly woman shot and killed in her own home by drive by crossfire; a family who was swindled out of their life savings.
I see the pain on the faces of those who walk through our doors needing assistance and someone to just listen to them. My heart breaks.
I know many of you feel the same way I do. You want to see a difference made in this world. You want to see lives changed and people pulled up from the pit of life. And I know many of you have this desire to do something about it. You know that Christ has called us to not only pray for others but to be the answer to prayer for others. You know Christ wants us to let our light shine in a world of darkness.
But maybe you feel stuck because when you think of all the needs around you it is overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. Or maybe you want to do something, but you feel you don’t have the ability or the knowledge or the experience, so you just take a step back and hope other people will come forward and do something about it. You will pray and cheer them on, and you may even give the church some money to support their efforts, but you feel too inadequate to be involved. You didn’t go to seminary. You are not in expert in anything. You don’t have a lot of time. You have responsibilities at home or at work. You have kids to feed and bills to pay. Perhaps some of you who are older don’t feel relevant or useful to the world anymore and you feel powerless to do anything about all the needs around you.
And there is this great tension inside of you because you want to make an impact but you feel paralyzed by all the needs and your lack of ability to do anything about them.
I want you to know there is a way you can make a difference with the love of God in this world. There is a way you can make an enormous impact in this community for Christ. And it has nothing to do with ability. It has nothing to do with experience or knowledge. It has nothing to do with skill or education. It has everything to do with taking one simple step. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are. It doesn’t matter what you have done in your past or what mistakes you have made. All you have to do is take one small step and you can make a huge impact for Christ in this world.
Before I tell you what this step is, let me tell you why it is important. If every person who worshipped at First UMC took this step, we would have a different community. If everyone took this step, the impact we would make for Christ could make headline news. If everyone took this step, great miracles would happen in the lives of people who are suffering. If everyone in this church took this simple step, the healing we want so desperately for the world would begin in Lakeland, Florida.
What is this step? Well, the disciples took this small step one day and the impact it made was enormous. In fact, the impact was so big that the results of it appear in all four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I am talking about the feeding of the five thousand. What an incredible story! Revealed in this story is the small step that can make one enormous impact on the world.
If you are someone who has heard or read this story before there is a good chance that you have missed the world changing step I am talking about. Let’s take a closer look.
Matthew 14:13: Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
By this point in Jesus’ ministry, he was a superstar. Everywhere he went there were paparazzi. Well, maybe not. But everywhere he went crowds followed him. His sermons were captivating and he healed people and interacted with them unlike any other person. But Jesus was smart enough to know that he needed down time to pray and reflect. The only way he could get away from the crowds was to get in a boat and push off to a quiet place.
Matthew 14:14: When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
When Jesus came ashore from his little retreat, he found yet another crowd waiting for him. The text says it was a great crowd. It was great alright. Later in the text it says there were five thousand men, not counting women and children. Counting the women and children it is likely there were over 10,000 people in that crowd! And they were all waiting for Jesus. Can you imagine the demand on Jesus! How did Jesus respond to the crowd? He had compassion on them. He saw their wounds and he spent the whole afternoon healing them.
Verse 15: When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus had been healing the crowd all day. They were in the middle of nowhere. The disciples recognized it was getting late. The people had not eaten anything all day. They were hungry, but they didn’t want to leave Jesus’ presence. So, the disciples told Jesus to politely ask the crowd to leave in order to find something to eat.
Verses 16-17: Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”
I love Jesus’ response. He told the disciples that the crowd was not going anywhere – they were going to feed them. I can see the disciples laughing. “Jesus, have you lost your mind. There are over ten thousand people here! We can’t feed them! John, how much do you have in your lunch bag? Peter? Andrew? Lord, we have five loaves and two fish. That’s all we have!”
Does that sound familiar to you? “Lord, I know you have called me to serve you, but this is all I have! This is all I have to offer. This is not enough. I can only give this much. I only have this much time. I only have this much experience. I only have….” And that is when the conversation usually stops. We are paralyzed by how big the need is and how small we feel. We think someone more qualified will come along. We think someone with more resources will come along.
But watch what Jesus says next. This is the small step that makes all the difference. Ready? Here it is:
Verse 18: And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Jesus told them to simply bring what they had – the five loaves and the two fish – to him. All Jesus asked of the disciples and all Jesus asks of us is to bring what we have to him. It does not matter how small it is. It does not matter how insignificant we may think it is. The Lord knows how to use it. He knows what to do with it. We just have to trust him. We don’t have to figure it out. We don’t have to obsess if it is good enough. Jesus says, “Just bring it to me.”
This is what so many of us miss! Jesus does not ask us to figure everything out. He does not set a bar as to how gifted or educated we have to be in order to be used by him. So often we think we have to control everything and Jesus replies, “Who put you in charge? You are not in control!” All he asks is that we bring what we have to him. He knows what to do with it! He knows how to use it to make an impact. So, what’s in your basket? Jesus can do extraordinary things with it. Take a look:
Verse 19: Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Jesus asked God to bless what the disciples had. And then he did something interesting. Notice he did not take the food and distribute it himself to those in need. What does the text say? It says he gave the food to the disciples for them to serve those in need. What does this mean? Jesus always requires our participation when making an impact. Jesus will not serve others without our direct involvement. Jesus wants us to be his hands and feet in this world.
We need to hear this. So often we come to church, and we think praying for others is enough or throwing money in the offering plate is enough. We think that attending a worship service is enough or going to a conference is enough. What this text implies is that it is not enough. Through this text Jesus is saying, “If you are my followers, you are my hands and feet. If you are my followers, you will engage those in need and serve them. You will not be on the sideline; you will be in the game. You will see firsthand what I can do through you. I won’t do it without you!”
You want to know something that will blow your mind? There is only one incident in the Bible where God meets the needs of others WITHOUT using his people – God providing manna to the Israelites in the desert. Note that the manna stopped once the people reached the Promised Land. Every other time God wanted to help others he did it through his people. We are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world! When God wants something done, he counts on us to do it.
Here is today’s message: Jesus is not looking for ability. He is looking for availability. Jesus is not looking for perfect people; he is looking for caring people. He is not looking for those who have all the answers; he is looking for those who have a heart. He is not looking for those who are educated; he is looking for those who want to do something about the suffering in this world. He is not looking for those who have figured everything out; he is looking for those who want to be used by him.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, I don’t have that much to give. My life is busy and I have meetings to attend and kids to drive around creation.” Well, what have we learned today? If we simply give Jesus what we have, he can do miracles with it. If it is just one hour a week, give that to teach Sunday school. If it is just an extra 30 dollars, give that to the church. If it is just a few minutes to listen to someone who is hurting, those few minutes can make a whale of a difference! Every little bit the Lord can bless and do miracles with.
This is all Jesus wants. He simply wants us to be available to him. We just have to be willing to step up to the Lord and say, “I give you what I have. I make myself available to you. Bless me and bless what I have. Use me and use what I have. I put what I have in your hands Lord, and I trust you to do with it whatever is best for you and your Kingdom.” When we make ourselves available to God, miracles happen. Look at what happened in the story.
Verse 20: And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.
Wow! There were 12 baskets full leftover! The disciples provided what they had and God provided the increase! Jesus blessed the bread and fish and fed five thousand families with it. You see, God blessed and multiplied what they had to give away. The disciples had enough faith in Jesus to give him what they had and he multiplied it! That’s what God always does – when we give Him what we have He multiplies it so that there is more than we could ever imagine.
When we simply step up and make ourselves available to God, he moves like a tidal wave through us to change the world! We don’t have to be sophisticated. We don’t have to be skilled. We don’t have to be well educated. We just have to be available! Don’t look at what you don’t have to give. Look at what you do have to give. Then give it to God and watch him multiply it! Watch him do miracles with it.
And there is something in all our baskets that God can use to change lives. It is our ability to simply notice people.
I member of First Church shared a powerful story with me about a man named Roland. Roland is 70 years old and lives in a quiet town in Ohio. He said for years he never noticed people. He just rushed through life. Then one Tuesday everything changed.
It was raining. Roland was at the grocery store about to pay for his groceries. Ahead of him in the check-out line stood a young woman with two toddlers. One was crying, the other pulling at her coat. Her cart was full of cheap noodles and discount milk. She looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in weeks. She fumbled with her wallet and coins went everywhere. Roland bent down to help. “Long day?” he asked, handing her a quarter. She froze, then whispered, “You have no idea.” Her voice cracked. “My husband left last month. Just… gone.”
Roland didn’t know what to say. So, he pushed her cart to her car while she handled her kids. As he left, she called out, “Mister? Why’d you help?” He shrugged. “My wife says kindness costs nothing.” She nodded, tears finally falling. “No one’s asked how I’m doing in months.”
That night Roland couldn’t sleep. He said, “I kept seeing her face, the relief when someone saw her. Not as a struggling mom, but as a person.” The next morning, he decided to try something small. At the post office, he held the door for a man carrying heavy boxes. “After you,” he said. He blinked, surprised. “Thanks, friend,” he replied, smiling for the first time. At the pharmacy, he asked the cashier, “How’s your day going?” She lit up. “You’re the first person who’s asked!” She told me about her nursing classes. He bought her a candy bar from the checkout lane. “For your studies,” he said. She laughed, wiping her eyes.
Roland calls it “the invisible kindness.” Just tiny things, letting someone go ahead in line, waving to the mail carrier like he’s family, saying “thank you” to the bus driver. Just noticing.
Roland said, “Turns out, that rainy-day grocery trip sparked something. The young mom told her church group. They began checking on lonely seniors. Now, 200 people in his town do one “invisible kindness” daily, texting an old friend, leaving flowers for a neighbor, paying for coffee behind them. Nothing fancy. Just people choosing to see each other.”
Here’s what Roland has learned: “You don’t need money or a project to change the world. Just open your eyes. That cashier? She’s graduating nursing school next month. The young mom? She’s back at college, studying social work. And Roland? He is still holding doors. But now he knows every ‘hello,’ every ‘how are you?’ is a brick in a bridge. A bridge back to each other.”
Roland said, “We’re all invisible until someone looks. So look. It’s the easiest, most important thing you’ll ever do.”
Jesus is not looking for ability. He is looking for availability.