Jesus Needs Us!

Luke 9:11-17 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. (12) And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. (13) But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. (14) For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. (15) And they did so, and made them all sit down. (16) Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. (17) And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. 

This is one of my favorite miracles that Jesus performed, but for an odd reason.  First the context.  Jesus’ ministry has gotten so popular by this time that he is able to attract huge crowds,  So much so that we are told that over five thousand people has assembled to hear Jesus speak.  After the crowd had been with him all day, the disciples recommend to Jesus that he dismiss them so they can go and get something to eat. Instead, Jesus tells his disciples to feed the crowd.  Of course, they are stunned at that asking because they had only five loaves of bread and two fishes between them that they could offer.  Because they can’t, Jesus takes matters into his own hands...sort of!  He tells the disciples to make the people to sit down, he gave thanks for the small amount of food and then gives it to the disciples to pass out to the crowd.

So the important question is:  Did Jesus perform a miracle?  I think the answer is obvious.  He fed 5,000+ people with enough food to feed only two people.  There is  no other possible explanation for this event.  But here is the point and the reason this is my favorite miracle.  Jesus NEVER touched the bread or fish!  It was all done through the hands of the disciples.  Did they DO anything miraculous?  Absolutely not.  They simply waited tables.  But this miracle could never have been performed without the simple caring actions of the disciples.

I think God still works in similar ways today.  I think God’s love is best demonstrated when we show it through our own caring actions.  It does not take us signing over our entire paychecks or giving enough money to build a building.  Just a cup of cold water.  Just pat on the back.  Just a simple hug.  A simple, cheap card.  But when we do, we can warm someone’s heart and show God’s love.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Reflecting the SON, 

Dennis Hogan

dennis.hogan@icloud.com

Questions, comments or  further explanation?  Contact me at:  dennis.hogan@icloud.com

If you have friends, family, or acquaintances that you feel could benefit from RTS, please forward 

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Who is Wise?

James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 

More than once in the Bible, there is a distinction made between worldly wisdom and  godly or spiritual wisdom.  This passage is no different.  In the world that we live in, a person that is so-called “wise” will usually be great self promoter.  Others will know that he is wise because he will be the first to share that information in one form or another.

On the other hand, godly wisdom is just the opposite.  James gives us three separate characteristics of a person that is wise in God’s eyes.

1.  He Will Show it out of the Manner of his life!

Instead of grandstanding or bragging about his superior knowledge and understanding, the man of God will demonstrate his wisdom in the small things in life.  While the world nudges us and encourages us to “try” sin, a wise person will refrain because they will be able to sense the danger long before they suffer the consequences.  A wise person will also recognize that his life is on display and will live in such a way to be a positive example to the one’s that he is around

2.  He Will Show it by his Works!

If we are the kind of people that God wants us to be, we will be always open to seeing the possibility for service.  Wisdom helps us to understand that our purpose is to let our light so shine...

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

We let our light so shine by our good works.  But again, that is not for the purpose of our own exaltation, but the glorification of our Father.  Everything that we do should be done with the motive of making our heavenly Father look good.

3.  He Will Show it Through His Humility!

True wisdom does not need to be placed on a marquee or shouted from a mountain top, it will be noticed through the way that we conduct ourselves.  

All of us want to be wise.  If we want to be wise, we need to choose the right team. There is one team full of worldly wise people that are all fighting to be at the top.  On the other team is our choice to be spiritually wise.  If we want to be in that camp, our wisdom will grow with the asking.

James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 

Once we do that, we must start acting like one that is wise by following the characteristics that James lays out for us today.  Even if  we would not consider ourselves wise, let us act like we are, and we may surprise ourselves just how wise we feel.

Having an Effective Religion!

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

On the heels of yesterday’s discussion of keeping our religion from being vain or worthless, James comes back to discuss how that our our religion can be pure and undefiled.  We are told to visit the fatherless and the widows and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.  Let’s look at these teachings in two separate categories.  I think this verse breaks Christianity down into two main focuses.

1.  Living a Positive Life for God

2.  Refraining from Sin

1. Positive Living.  We may somewhat neglect this avenue of Christianity in our teaching.  I think there is a host of Christians that believe that as long as I don’t do any of those big sins then I am safe.  But the Bible and Jesus himself are VERY emphatic that if we neglect this aspect of Christianity, we deceiving ourselves.

Matthew 25:14-26 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. (15) And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. (16) Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. (17) And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. (18) But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. (19) After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. (20) And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. (21) His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (22) He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. (23) His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (24) Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: (25) And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. (26) His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 

When you compare this one talent man to the other two guys, Jesus is trying to show that they differ only in this one aspect of using their talents.  In other words, we should NOT assume that this one talent man was excessively more evil or sinful than the other two servants.  The only reason that he is rebuked is because he didn’t do anything.  James says that we ought to visit the Fatherless and the widows; two groups of people that typically cannot help themselves.  So we ought to use our talents to help them, comfort them and to enrich their lives.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

2. Refraining from Sin.  These two aspects of Christianity should not be viewed as buffet items, in that we have a choice between doing one or the other.  Instead, to have a pure, undefiled religion, we must do both.  The second thing that James informs us of is refraining from sin.  

Sin is what separated us from God initially (Isaiah 59:1-2) and all sin has the power to continue to separate us from God.  With that in mind, we need to avoid sin at all cost.

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 

For those of us that are Christians, we have made the commitment to abandon sin, In fact, the language that Paul uses in Romans 6 is that we have died to sin.  That should be the attitude that we have.  I have died to sin.  I am done with it.  I have put it behind me.

We must apply both of these aspects of Christianity in our lives. It is the ONLY way that we can have a religion that is effective and meaningful to God!.