By Pastor Greg
A guy driving a Mini Cooper pulls
up at a stoplight next to a Rolls-Royce. The driver of the Mini rolls down his
window and shouts to the driver of the Rolls, "Hey, buddy, that's a nice
car. You got a phone in your Rolls? I've got one in my Mini!"
The driver of Rolls looks over and
says simply, "Yes, I have a phone." The driver of the Mini
says, "Cool! Hey, you got a fridge in there too? I've got a fridge in the
back seat of my Mini!" The
driver of the Rolls, looking annoyed, says, "Yes, I have a
refrigerator." The driver of
the Mini says, "That's great, man! Hey, you got a TV in there, too? You
know, I got a TV in the back seat of my Mini!" The driver of the Rolls,
looking very annoyed by now, says, "Of course I have a television. A
Rolls-Royce is the finest luxury car in the world!" The driver of the Mini
says, "Very cool car! Hey, you got a bed in there, too? I got a bed in the
back of my Mini!"
Upset that he did not have a bed,
the driver of the Rolls-Royce sped away, and went straight to the dealer, where
he promptly ordered that a bed be installed in the back of the Rolls. The next
morning, the driver of the Rolls picked up the car. The bed looked superb,
complete with silk sheets and brass trim. It was clearly a bed fit for a Rolls
Royce.
So the driver of the Rolls begins
searching for the Mini, and he drove all day. Finally, late at night, he finds
the Mini parked along the street with all the windows fogged up from the
inside. The driver of the Rolls got out and knocked and knocked and knocked on
the window of the Mini. Eventually the owner stuck his head out, soaking wet. "I
now have a bed in the back of my Rolls-Royce," the driver of the Rolls
stated arrogantly. The driver of the Mini looked at him and said, "You got
me out of the shower for THAT?!"
Just about everyone I meet is
looking for more of something. We are never quite content. Somehow we’ve come to believe that something more will solve all our problems. This idea can even be found in the church. Even in the Church you will find the idea
that something more is needed. Perhaps it’s more youth or more people in the
pews. Maybe it’s more money in the
bank. Whatever it is, most Christians think it is necessary in order for their
church to grow and be successful. Oh, I
know there is always one or two that don’t want anything to change. They prefer things to stay the same, but for
the most part, just about every Christian wants something more to happen in their church.
Unfortunately, most Christians don’t feel it will happen because they need something more. They only see their
empty hands.
I’m not sure why we Christians
tend to look at our empty hands as a setback.
I don’t know when or how Christians developed the tendency to “doom”
something to failure without ever starting, but it sure seems to be a popular
trend. I mean, think how often you’ve
heard the words “That will never work”, or “We don’t have the money to make that
happen.”
Oh, I think every true believer wants something to happen in his
or her church, but of course, no one has the time to give. There are even people who want to serve the
church in some capacity. Some believers
actually have some terrific ideas on how to reach the Lost. Yet they give up their passion and desire to
serve the Lord because they assume they need something more. Like the rest of us, these people shrug their
shoulders in defeat without even trying.
That’s sad. It’s sad that all we
see are empty hands.
There is more in the empty hands
of a Christian than they can possibly imagine.
When a Christian’s hands are empty of worldly things, there is room for
God to display His glory and grace. And
honestly, only when our hands are empty can we learn to depend on the Lord. Just
consider a lesson Jesus taught to the Twelve.
From John 6:1-15, we read, “After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee,
also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A huge crowd kept
following him wherever he went, because
they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then
Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It
was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus
soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he
asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these
people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip
replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed
them!” 8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s
a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that
with this huge crowd?” 10 “Tell
everyone to sit down,”
Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered
about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to
God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward
he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After
everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now
gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and
filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the
five barley loaves. 14 When the people saw him do this miraculous
sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” 15 When
Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away
into the hills by himself.” [1]
This whole incident was used by
Jesus to test the twelve Apostles (verse 6).
It’s clear that all they saw were their empty hands. This is why Jesus asked them such an
impossible question; “Where can we buy enough bread to
feed these people?” The answer
was not by looking at their empty hands and lack of resources, but by depending
on the Lord to accomplish this feat. Notice their attempt to produce enough food
on their own. They found a young boy who
had packed a lunch for the day, but Andrew merely points out how little they
had in their hands. They needed more.
Of course, the lesson should be
obvious to you and me. We should learn
that Jesus is not limited by our empty hands.
Our lack of time and resources should never stop us from doing the
Lord’s work. Our empty hands should never stop
us from following the dreams and passions Jesus has placed on our hearts, but
they do. Many good Christian men and
women never follow the dreams of their heart – never follow the passions and
visions for ministry placed there by the Lord Himself. I tell you, this is not a problem in God’s
Church; it’s an epidemic.
I suspect the Apostles would have
loved to feed the great crowd of people.
So why did they object? It wasn’t
that Jesus made a bad suggestion. It was the impossibility of the task that
alarmed them – impossible, of course, because they only saw their empty
hands. They never saw what the Lord
could do with those empty hands. In the same way, far too many of us simply
see our empty hands, even though deep
within our hearts we desire to see the Kingdom of God grow, and desire to see
Jesus change the lives of those still living in darkness. The Lord has placed tremendous ideas in the hearts of Christian men and women. The Spirit has given Christian men and women the Spiritual gifts necessary to
accomplish incredible things for the Kingdom of God. Yet many Christians only see their empty
hands.
Be honest with yourself. Don’t you always feel the need for something more in
order to do as the Lord has commanded?
Most Christians do this. They
continue to sit in a church pew week after week never following the passions of
their heart because all they see are their empty hands. They see
what they are lacking, not what Jesus has already provided. They see their weaknesses, not where God has
strengthened them. They see all the
pitfalls and potential failures rather than trusting the Lord for the success. The Apostles did this. Many of us do this. The Christian’s in Corinth did this, which is
why Paul reminded them, 26 “Remember,
dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or
powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose
things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are
wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God
chose things despised by the world,* things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As
a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God” [2]
(1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
We don’t need more. We need to see what
God can do with our empty hands. When we
serve the Lord with empty hands, He gets all the credit, which, surprisingly,
is exactly the way things are supposed to work.
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