From Little to Much: Trusting Jesus with Our Gifts (Mark 8 Sermon)

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Well, grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I thought I'd preach from about right here today.

Balcony, you'll just watch the live stream later, I guess, because you all left like ten pews open in the front.

Is there...

Did I forget my deodorant this morning or something?

I just wanted to see if I could make you nervous.

Don't worry, don't you worry.

The parents of young kids in the room are like, Karl, get on with it.

Including my bride, probably.

That's better.

The sun beats down on Jesus and the disciples from high in the sky, and tummies start to rumble because this crowd is out of food again.

And Jesus looks out, and he feels another kind of something in his gut.

The Greek word for compassion, or to feel compassion, has to do with the Greek word for guts, which is splachna.

Isn't that nice?

It kind of sounds right, doesn't it?

Splachna.

I got a pain in my splachna.

Jesus is moved in his innards with compassion.

He feels it in his gut that these people are hungry.

Nice little bit of wordplay there by St. Mark.

Because they've been following him.

These people aren't even Israelites, probably.

This is that part of Mark's gospel right after he has entered the region of the Decapolis and that Syrophoenician woman...

You remember from my sermon on that back in March, right?

Syrophoenician is like an insult.

She's a pagan, a heathen, and she asks Jesus to heal her daughter.

And what does he say?

He says, I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

It's not right to give the children's bread to the dogs.

She says, yes, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall.

He's in this Gentile region, and there's this massive crowd of 4,000 men.

Probably each of them was married, you could safely assume, and each of them maybe had one kid.

So we've got like 12,000 people, and there's nothing to eat.

And there's no...

What are they going to do?

Jesus looks to his hand-chosen disciples, they'd had a front row seat to his ministry, and all of them, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, were going to be the first generation of leaders in the church, the first pastors with that special name of apostle.

And he says, guys, what are we going to do?

He involves them.

I feel sorry for them.

There are many ways we could take this pericope this morning, this passage of scripture, and especially on a communion Sunday, man, we could go right to Jesus satisfies the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat.

We could go right there.

He takes the bread.

It even says that he, what does he do?

He gives thanks.

He breaks it, and then has it all passed out again.

Eucharistic imagery is abounding here, but we're not going to go that way this morning, because there's something that's been on our mind lately as a congregation, something that's producing some anxiety, I would say, from my chair, anyway, and that is a building project.

Now, to be clear, I'm not preaching about a building project this morning, I'm preaching the gospel from St. Mark chapter eight.

But I've heard lately, I've heard for like the past year or so maybe, that we'll never be able to afford X, Y, or Z, or it's just not who we are.

It's out of reach.

It's impossible.

And in that way, I think we're a lot like Jesus' disciples in this morning's gospel.

So we're going to learn from them that when we give our little, when we give what Jesus asks, what do you have?

He makes it much, and in fact, gives it back to us to give away.

With the disciples, we're going to recognize the impossible need, we're going to give what we have in response to Jesus' invitation, and then we're going to watch in amazement as he works the miracle and stretches our gifts beyond what we thought was ever possible.

So first part here, recognizing the need.

The disciples, really, if you look at this in your bulletin, in verse four, they make a good point.

How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?

There's not really a good answer for that.

They know that Jesus is right when he says, well, we can't just send them home because they've come a long way.

Some of them might faint or die if we just send them away from here.

Saying, good luck.

But the fact remains that there was no corner store you could go down to or bread warehouse and buy enough to feed this crowd of, let's just say, again, 12,000.

In fact, I'd bet you couldn't even go down to New Ulm or up to Hutchinson and walk into Walmart and find enough bread to feed 12,000 people.

You'd have to arrange for that ahead of time.

You'd have to make plans for that.

You can't just find that somewhere, even today, much less 2,000 years ago.

And we find ourselves in similar situations today, but they don't always have to do with bread and a couple small fish and feeding people in the wilderness.

I've seen the annual reports from the last 20 or 30 years where expenses vastly outpaced giving.

I've seen the appeals from the unlucky person who was the financial secretary at the time.

Some of you in here maybe wrote some of those.

I heard about the 0% interest loans that members offered to the church so that the church could make payroll and keep the lights on through the end of the year.

I've heard you when you've said that this congregation has always been supported by small family farms and that the idea that we would somehow potentially raise seven figures and then borrow another six for anything is untethered from reality.

It's just not going to happen.

I've heard you.

It's just not possible.

That's what I've heard.

Even with, let's just say for the sake of argument here, with full support of the vision of ministry that we feel like the Lord has given our congregation to do, it still can seem unlikely that we would have enough to do a big building project.

Now personally, I happen to think that it's probable that we will raise that much, not unlikely or even possible, it's probable.

But I get that it seems so big that just how could it ever happen?

That's why we're going in this direction this morning because in impossible situations, what does Jesus do?

He takes what's there and uses it to meet the need in a way that none of us could on our own.

Look with me again here.

This is verse five.

Jesus asks them, what?

Just read it out.

Call it out.

How much do you have?

He doesn't explain how they're supposed to find enough food to feed them out in the wilderness.

He just says, well, how much do you have?

How much do you have?

We're not going to go find it out somewhere else.

How much do you have?

And when they say then, well, we've got seven loaves, from a certain perspective, this just appears to confirm that they're going nowhere fast.

How much do we have, Jesus?

Well, not enough, that's for sure.

So what does he say next?

Ah, you're right, guys.

I don't know what I was thinking.

All right, send them home.

Seven loaves isn't going to cut it.

No.

He instead has the people sit down.

The verb is like reclining at table, like you would in the ancient world.

Sit down.

We're going to eat now.

We're going to have a picnic.

He takes what little they have, what they're able to offer.

He gives thanks to God for it, and I think this is the best part, so don't miss this.

He breaks it, gives it back to the disciples, and has them distribute it to the crowd.

Jesus does this miracle where he invites them to offer something that, in their eyes, is not going to come close to meeting the need.

And he miraculously multiplies it, and then gives them the privilege of, you could say, doing the ministry, giving it back out to feed the people.

Also it's just good logistics, 12 guys handing out bread instead of one.

That just makes sense.

And I think, friends, Jesus asks the same question of us today.

How much bread do you have?

How much can you give?

And you say, well, it's Wednesday night before midweek service, and you've got a $10 bill that you throw in that little coffee can downstairs for the spy fundraiser, $10.

They're raising money for this trip to New Orleans, I think it was.

And Jesus uses that faithful gift.

He multiplies it, and lives of our young people here are changed forever, through $10, $5, a couple ones, a 20, a 50, whatever it is that you have to give.

You should hear the youth who went to New Orleans talk about that trip.

Going to a youth gathering, going to the two youth gatherings I was able to go to, I think is a big part of why I am standing in front of you today as a pastor.

And we are going to have the youth share with the congregation on a Sunday coming up here about that experience.

Little gifts that seem like they're not going to add up to much.

What's $10 going to do when they've got to raise how many thousands per kid for the food and the flights and the hotels and whatever?

Jesus says, how much can you give?

And he's the one who stretches it to meet the need.

He doesn't ask you to do that.

He just asks you, what do you have?

When we offer what we've got, we get to watch in amazement as Jesus makes that little into much.

And Mark, he does not explain the particulars of what it looked like, or what it sounded like, or what it even felt like to the disciples when Jesus multiplied what they had offered.

It's kind of fun to think, was the basket, they would just pass out a handful and go back and that same handful was still right here?

The basket never depletes?

Or the basket does deplete and then it fills right back up?

How do you break seven loaves into enough to feed 12,000 people?

And the couple of fish they find along the way, did they fry those things up?

Did they eat them like ceviche, raw?

I mean, what do they do with that?

How much time are we talking here?

There's a lot that Mark could have recorded that he doesn't, because I think he wants us to focus on something other than the ins and outs of how this was done.

He wants us to see that the disciples offered to Jesus in faith.

Jesus performed a miracle and gave them that offering back to feed this crowd.

Right after they said, where are we going to find enough bread to feed all these people?

And Jesus said, here's enough bread to feed all these people.

They all ate as much as they wanted to.

This isn't like when one person in your group is hungry, maybe it's one of your kids, or maybe it's just you, and you reach in a backpack or open up that center console in your car and, ah, you find one of those green wrappered, what is it, Nature Valley granola bars?

And you open that thing up and a puff of dust comes out, because they're always smashed into a million pieces.

And you think about, okay, am I going to eat this with a straw or pour it out into my hand and eat it like I'm a squirrel?

What's going to happen here?

And then it kind of holds you over for a little bit.

No, these people were stuffed.

They went back for more helpings.

And what did it cost the disciples when it was all said and done?

They were out, that seven loaves and the fish, right?

They gave everything they had, well, now they got nothing left.

Or do they?

Let's look at it again.

Verse 8, they ate as much as they wanted.

Afterward, the disciples picked up, how many large baskets of leftover food?

Seven.

Now, do you think that's an accident, or do you think that that number means something?

How many loaves did they offer at the start?

Seven.

Seven loaves.

What did they have at the end?

Seven large baskets.

When they trusted Jesus, gave away the food that they were going to eat, probably.

Jesus, we've got seven loaves for 12 guys, and we're hungry too.

And Jesus, what are you going to eat?

And he said, just give it away.

We'll be all right.

And they end up with kind of exactly what they started with, but more.

Jesus turned their little into much.

So guys, do you think that Jesus is ever going to let you suffer a net loss when you give what he invites you to give?

Ah, but if I give my loaf away, what am I, you know?

It does feel like a sacrifice at first.

He does ask you to give it up.

But when you give up seven loaves, you don't just get seven loaves back.

You get seven large baskets back.

The scriptures could not be more clear about this.

In John's gospel, Jesus says that he came to give us full and abundant life, principally in the new heaven and the new earth, where we will be free from sin and sorrow, free from the power of the devil, where there will be no more mourning or crying or pain or death anymore, for all those former things will have passed away.

That's what John says in Revelation 21.

But that life for us begins now, even in this age, full and rich and abundant.

Not wealthy, not living high on the hog, but we have enough.

He says that in his father's house there are many rooms and that he's gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us, to prepare our own mansion.

We are rich beyond comprehension, even now.

He gave his own life for us so that we would live eternally as heirs who inherit the riches of the kingdom of heaven.

If the God of the universe is your dear heavenly father and the prince of heaven gave everything to redeem you, do you think he's going to let you suffer want?

Do you think he's going to let you be poor?

Do you think he's going to leave you in a worse state than you were?

Do you think he's going to leave you worse off for following him when he's never lied to you and he's only ever promised that all of his riches are yours?

He's just not going to do it.

We'll never suffer a loss from giving to him.

Whatever it is that he asks of us.

Jesus tells elsewhere in Mark's gospel, a little bit after this, whoever gives up house or father or mother or family or goods in order to follow him, he says, first of all, we'll be repaid in this life and also much more so in the kingdom of heaven.

Seven loaves to seven baskets.

To who knows how much?

Seven warehouses.

Seven grain bins full.

So again, I ask, what do we have to lose by giving what Jesus asks us to give?

Not what your pastor asks you to give.

Don't mishear me.

Not what you think you should give compared to something you've heard about somebody else in the church.

Put all that stuff out of your mind.

The scriptures say the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

Between you and the Lord, when he asks you, how much do you have?

What do you have to lose by giving that to him?

Somebody say it.

Nothing.

In the end, nothing.

So where in your life does obeying Jesus' call to give of your energy or of your time or of your money appear to be just like a waste, nonsensical, like trying to put out a fire with a squirt gun?

Maybe it's setting up a recurring gift to the church, like you hear about or you read about in the bulletin, either from your credit card or your checking account, when, man, a recurring gift, what could I even do on a recurring basis?

Like $5 a week?

That's like not even worth it.

What is Jesus going to do with that?

A lot more than you think.

What is Jesus going to do through me teaching Sunday school?

A lot more than you think.

Ask Merle.

I didn't talk to him before I said that, so apologies.

But what is Jesus going to do through me saying yes to being on the ballot for church council?

What good could possibly come from that?

More than you think.

I'm talking about money today, but I'm not just talking about money.

I'm talking about stewardship, generosity, time, talent, or treasure.

Whether it seems impossible because the need just seems so big, and you have something you feel like you could give, but in order to get this done, if just I do it, what's that going to do?

If you're feeling that or if you're feeling like I see the need, but all I have to give, what can I even give?

If what you have to give feels so small, the message is the same for you this morning.

When you recognize that need and still respond to Jesus when he asks you, what do you have to give?

Yeah, I know, we're out in the wilderness.

I know.

I know.

Our denomination appears to be in some kind of long-term contraction.

There are like a thousand LCMS churches without a pastor, and there are churches that are trying to figure out how to survive and they're forming dual parish agreements and all other kinds of things around us.

I see the landscape, especially clearly now that I'm a circuit visitor.

I see the same things you see.

Now I'm asking you to see the same thing I see from our Lord, that when we give, even if it's a little, he is able, he is powerful to make it much according to his will, not ours.

As Luther says in the Catechism, he richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.

He's going to give you everything you need, every day.

As you pray, give us this day our daily bread.

So give your little and see Jesus make it much for his kingdom, and you will suffer no loss when you follow where he leads you.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.