Doing More With Less – (Matthew 14:13-21)

 (Photo taken from Google Image Search)
Sermon Audio can be found here: http://goo.gl/zJhc6B

            I like this text; it is one of the passages regarding Jesus that is in all four gospels. Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-13. I have a bit of a fascination with the phrase “doing more with less” whether I hear it being used as a cliché to justify mass layoffs without the expectation of a reduction in production, or if it someone truly capable of getting more out of something than the average person is able to do. I think about our armed services veterans deployed in the field with M.R.E.s or meals ready to eat. The MRE contains:

Main course (entree)

Side dish

Dessert or snack (often commercial candy, fortified pastry, or HOOAH! Bar)

Crackers or bread

Spread of cheese, peanut butter, or jelly

Powdered beverage mix: fruit flavored drink, cocoa, instant coffee or tea, sport drink, or dairy shake.

Utensils (usually just a plastic spoon)

Flameless ration heater (FRH)

Beverage mixing bag

Accessory pack:

Xylitol chewing gum

Water-resistant matchbook

Napkin / toilet paper

Moist towelette

Seasonings, including salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, and/or Tabasco sauce

The MRE is designed for soldiers in combat out in the field who can’t just take a break to go back to the cafeteria or mess hall for food. Because the MRE is designed for lightweight packaging and has a shelf life of 3 years, they usually don’t taste too good. That being said, savvy veterans come up with little tricks to make the taste of the food more desirable. They will do things like mix the creamer and sugar with the crackers to make it taste like a sugar cookie. In 2011, the website www.supportourtroops.org put an effort together to send spices for the soldiers, oregano, garlic, red pepper, parmesan and other spices in little packets in an effort to help with the flavoring, trying to make more with less.

Another example I think of is prison; the food in prison I hear is not that great either. Archbishop Ashe spoke of his time in jail before he passed that he would rather eat food people threw away than jail food. I also heard an interview with boxer Bernard Hopkins and he spoke on his time in prison in a New York Times article:

“Not surprisingly, Hopkins hated the food in prison, all the powdered eggs, yeast and starch. The menu was posted at the beginning of each week, so he learned how to work around the worst meals, smuggling leftovers to his cell or drinking water to fill his stomach. He traded cartons of cigarettes and cases of cups of noodles for more desirable food. He could subsist on meals, sometimes for days, of peanut butter and bread. “You learn how to survive, buddy,” Hopkins said. “You learn how to make an oven out of batteries and aluminum foil and a shoebox. You become a farmer’s market, an entrepreneur.[1]

Bernard Hopkins made more with less, he is now out and as a champion professional boxer he doesn’t have to do that anymore unless he wants to.

I like to see people do more with less and that is what happens in the text that we read, Jesus does more with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread then most of us could have done with a team of chefs.

Rest-

First thing I noticed about Jesus in text was that he rested, in the 13^th chapter Jesus is teaching in synagogues and doing mighty works. Until he was rejected in his own hometown of Nazareth, Jesus went on to say that “a prophet is not without honor except in is own country, and in his own house,” and then he left, at the beginning of chapter 14 Jesus gets word that John the Baptist, his cousin has been beheaded as a birthday gift for the daughter of Herodias. Jesus had been working, he heard some bad news, and so he went away to rest. We ought to rest more, our body needs it, we can be so much more productive people if spend some more time resting. But notice I said Jesus did some work first, don’t use this as a reason to perpetually rest.

We often hear the term multitasking doing multiple things at the same time, but studies have shown that multitasking is actually not productive at all.

According to a published report:

More than one task splits the brain

Whenever you need to pay attention, an area toward the front of the brain called the prefrontal cortex springs to action. This area, which spans the left and right sides of the brain, is part of the brain’s motivational system. It helps to focus your attention on a goal and coordinates messages with other brain systems to carry out the task. 

While the right and left sides of the prefrontal cortex work together when focused on a single task, the sides work independently when people attempt to perform two tasks at once. Scientists at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) in Paris discovered this when they asked study participants to complete two tasks at the same time while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When the scientists told the group they would receive a larger reward for accurately completing one of the two tasks, they found that nerve cell activity increased in only one side of the prefrontal cortex. However, when the greater reward was associated with the other task, the other side became more active. The findings suggest that when there are two concurrent goals, the brain divides in half, says INSERM neuroscientist Etienne Koechlin, who led the study.[2]

So even if you think you are doing both tasks well, you still are really focusing on the one you think is more important or gives you more to gain. The article goes on to say that you don’t get better at multitasking with practice, in fact gets harder with age and people who multitask have a harder time ignoring external distractions. Multitasking defeats the purpose, rest.

Do what you love

Second thing I noticed when people are doing more with less is that they are doing what they love. In the text Jesus was resting, he wanted some time away he just heard some bad news, but the Bible says that he saw the great multitude and was moved with compassion for them. When you do what you love it seems easier to work, sometimes it doesn’t even feel like work. That compassion of Jesus is shown by how he tends to the multitudes needs by healing their sick. That word for compassion in the Greek also means to move. Jesus didn’t just say “I love you, be blessed” he did something, it also means deep as in dealing with the anatomy the inward parts. Not a superficial feeling but something that is deep on the inside of us. When you have compassion or love for what you do, the troubles of it don’t seem so bad. I am so glad that Jesus loves us.

Ephesians 2:4-5

New King James Version (NKJV)

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

1 John 4:9-11

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 

1 Corinthians 13 

New King James Version (NKJV)

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part.¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Prioritize

The third thing I noticed about the text and those who do more with less is that they prioritize. The disciples wanted to send the multitude home, Jesus wanted them to stay the priority was the work being done, not going home to shop for food. I also noticed in some of the other gospel texts, when the disciples say how much it would cost to feed the multitudes, no one ever says they don’t have the money, only that it would cost a lot. Decisions in the texts, right or wrong, were decisions made based on priorities. When you have the right priorities you will be able to get a lot more accomplished.

Ask yourself, what are your priorities? If you have some trouble answering the question, look in your checkbook, which will help you figure it out, check out a bank statement online or paper copy, whatever you see the most going to, I would be willing to bet that is a priority. If not money, look at what you spend the most time doing, where you spend your time and treasure will tell you what you consider a priority. Only what you do for Christ will last

Know where your help comes from

The text says that Jesus took the bread, looked to the heavens and blessed it. He knew where his help came from, notice also that the boy is not mentioned anymore after he hands over the food. You turn your problems over to the Lord and you don’t have to handle them anymore.

Psalm 121 New King James Version (NKJV)

A Song of Ascents.

121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Psalm 54:4New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

Romans 8:31-39

New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^[a]

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

---

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/sports/surviving-the-bernard-hopkins-way.html

[2] http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/awareness-and-attention/articles/2013/the-multitasking-mind/

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

I fancy myself a student of business, I ought to be, I have 2 degrees in the subject, but in business, and in other subjects there is something called the tipping point. A tipping point is defined as “the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change.” When water is heated to 99 degrees Fahrenheit, you don’t see much going on with the water, but add one more degree, you see the water boil. That single degree of additional heat could be considered the tipping point. 

The Battle of Britain in World War II was a tipping point, it was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, Germany failed to destroy Britain’s air defenses in that battle and gave Germany their first major defeat, showed that they were vulnerable, and that the allied forces could win the war, the battle of Britain was a tipping point. There have been several television shows that aired on television, got cancelled, but so many people watched the syndicated reruns, that the shows would be brought back with new episodes. The reruns would generate enough interest, a tipping point to get them back into popularity. The story of the Transfiguration, in my humble opinion is a tipping point; it is an event that happens after many other events that gets us heading towards the cross, and the Passion of our Lord and savior. What happens on that mountain sets us toward events of things to come.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, often called the gospel of the church, because it is favorable to the church. Jesus only explicitly talks about the church twice and you find them in the Gospel according to Matthew. In this gospel the disciples “get it” they understand what Jesus is saying, they comprehend what he is talking about all the time. Matthew is where we find Jesus fulfilling a lot of the prophecies of the Messiah from the Hebrew Scriptures, and that is why we hear of this transfiguration of Jesus. This event happens in the three synoptic gospels Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36 and the transfiguration is referred to in 2^nd Peter 1:1-18. This is a tipping point, or turning point in the ministry of Jesus.

The text says that Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, Jesus was a man of the people, sometimes he was with the multitude, sometimes he was with the twelve, but some other times he was with Peter, James, and John. Yes we ought to be Christians in community, but even Jesus had to get away with his inner circle from time to time. Furthermore sometimes-even Jesus would need to be alone with just him and the Father. Here Jesus is not with the multitude, or the 70, not with the twelve, it is just Jesus, Peter, James, and John. The Gospel according to Mark points out those four together often, but this is the first time we see it in Matthew. Who we keep close to us is very important. Many people believe that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with or the average of our five closest friends. Because of that I will be looking to spend some time with Bill Gates, Bob Johnson, Our nation’s President  (Barrack Obama), Michael Jordan, and Warren Buffet. Who we spend our time with is important, so is what we spend our time on.

That term transfigured literally means metamorphosed in the Greek, and we use metamorphosis often, we use it to describe a change. There are plenty of organisms that go through metamorphosis in their respective life cycles; tadpoles become frogs, some fish change from saltwater to freshwater, caterpillars become butterflies. The thing about metamorphosis that we may not understand is in our mind, that is the exact same organism, but biologically, parts, or almost the entire first animal had to die to go through the change and give you what you see in its changed state. The same thing is true about us in this walk with Christ, in order to get some real change, we have to do more than go to a conference, or listen to a song about change, some things in us have to die, we cannot be the same after experiencing Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NRSV)

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷ So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Jesus was changed when he was transfigured, the radiance and brightness that shined like the sun.

They show Jesus in the text with Moses and Elijah, that is important, Matthew thought about who was going to be reading and hearing this, the church, the more organized, those who were looking for Jesus to fulfill the prophecy, this is here to let you know, not only is Jesus in line with the prophets, but he is the fulfillment of the prophets. Just like the prophets Moses and Elijah, who were originally rejected by the people, then vindicated later by God, Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected and will become the chief cornerstone.

Then a voice came from the cloud and said, This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Where have we heard that before? Matthew 3:17, Matthew is about tying up loose ends in my opinion. Mark got right to the point, Matthew wants to stay and tarry a little while, Matthew likes to unpack the story of Jesus a little more he was telling the story of Jesus to those who knew a little something about scripture and would be looking to see some things from Jesus that spoke to their soul. Not only that, but with Matthew the way you start is the way you finish. If you didn’t hear God the first time telling you about his son, let me tell you again. We look at this differently then they did, we already know Jesus is the Son of God, but during their time, the disciples, and the people of the scripture, they are still learning.

While they are still learning, they are caught up in the glory of God; they are overcome fear the text says. But even in being overcome by fear, this is why I love Jesus; the text says Jesus came to them. If Jesus can come to them, then I think it is ok to think that Jesus may come to me. Who am I that he is mindful of me, who am that He might touch me and speak to me, and that I can form a relationship with him. Who am I that Jesus would think that much of me, I don’t deserve it but yet he did it just for me. We serve a God, a risen savior that is willing to come to us.

After the transfiguration, they came down the mountain; Jesus told them “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Jesus knew what was coming, he knew that he had to show his passion. He knew that he had to go through some pain

Isaiah 53:5-7 (NKJV)

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

He knew he had to be whipped all night long, he had to be whipped with a cat of nine tails just for you and me, he had to pierced in his side, be given gall for food and vinegar for drink. They had to cast lots (gamble) for his clothes, had to wear a crown of thorns, and carry a cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull, or Calvary, he knew he had to get on that cross, but not just him, our sins had to get on that cross too, and he had to die. He had to die, so that we could avoid death, hell and the grave, he did all that for us. For you and for me, but most importantly he got up, three days later he got up with all power in his hand, so that whosoever believes in him will not have death but everlasting life. The transfiguration was the tipping point, the tipping point that took us towards victory on the cross.