YOU! That one little three-letter word that defines a living being, has caught my attention as I read my Bible and I am not sure I feel completely happy about it. In Exodus 3 God used that simple word to assign Moses two very difficult duties; first Moses was to confront the most powerful leader in the known world and challenge his authority to rule his own nation. Then Moses was to lead the million plus person caravan from Egypt into and through the desolate wasteland, back to the land he had promised Abraham. It reads so simply; God tells Moses that he has “seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering.” God went on to say to Moses, “I have come down to snatch them away from the hand of the Egyptians . . . . Now YOU go . . .”
Say what? God tells an 80-year old shepherd who is a wanted fugitive for murder to go back to where he committed the crime and speak to Pharaoh. Crazy!
It would not be so scary but God seems to repeat this sort of thinking with the very next guy he put in charge in Joshua 1. Moses has just died and God speaks to Joshua like a coach telling his team to get out there and play smart after their star player can no longer play; God basically says “get over it” Josh and start leading like you’re capable of leading. It is the YOU thing all over again but this time with the added caveat to be strong and courageous because “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Say what? God tells an 80-year old shepherd who is a wanted fugitive for murder to go back to where he committed the crime and speak to Pharaoh. Crazy!
It would not be so scary but God seems to repeat this sort of thinking with the very next guy he put in charge in Joshua 1. Moses has just died and God speaks to Joshua like a coach telling his team to get out there and play smart after their star player can no longer play; God basically says “get over it” Josh and start leading like you’re capable of leading. It is the YOU thing all over again but this time with the added caveat to be strong and courageous because “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
You! You go; You do; You lead; You provide; You say something.
Most Christians in America don’t like this sort of thinking since we have moved to the paid professional model of church. We have experts just like engineers or doctors, who have been trained for this sort of situation. We pay them to get out front and lead on, just like the point man in a combat platoon. It’s OK if these professionals do the real work of sharing with others since they have been taught just what to say and do under the most difficult situations. Unfortunately, in my life God keeps coming back to that YOU concept.
Take a closer look at Luke 9 where we find Jesus expanding the duties of the Twelve by assigning them the task of taking the Kingdom message of hope and compassion that he has been teaching, to the outlying communities. Christ wants his followers to speak about the hope we have in the promised arrival of God’s solution for a fallen world (Kingdom of God is at hand) with the demonstration of compassion for their blight of living in this world. Christ gave his followers power to touch peoples’ lives; to make a real difference by ordering them to mix practical ministry along with his teaching.
The feeding of the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two small fish was part of this outreach training since the disciples need to learn what they can do when they partner with Christ in ministry; feeding these very hungry folks demonstrated to the Twelve that they have access to his authority through his enabling. It is the same lesson that Moses and Joshua had to learn and yes, the YOU word appears again when the disciples express their concern about feeding that many people in such a desolate place, only to have Christ tell them: “YOU feed them!” I can just hear them in my mind saying something like: "Right, I will just run down to the corner store and pick up a few things for dinner. I will be right back next week sometime and can you lend me thirty thousand bucks to help cover the costs?"
Who is this guy named Jesus? Based on interviews with Joe Plumber, most Americans would place Jesus among the great religious teachers while questioning his miraculous power or his clam of deity. Did he really feed all those people? Liberal theologians teach that the real miracle was Jesus understanding human nature and placing the crowd in a position where they could relax (felt less threatened in small groups) and share the food they brought with them to those around them. Yet this event demonstrates Jesus’ compassion for the blight of mankind (v 11), his control over creation (vs.16 & 17) and his ability to make provision for life (vs. 12 & 13) while he continued the ministry of hope and compassion he had given the Twelve.
Jesus telling the Twelve “You give them something to eat” allowed them to participate in something they had never contemplated doing before. Each disciple of Jesus has to learn that he ministers by Jesus’ enabling that gives him access to Jesus’ power. This is an important lesson for each of us and for the church. Evangelism requires engagement with others and consists of both Word and Deeds. I believe that the Confessing Church in the days ahead will need to return to this model of engagement-oriented outreach. As our nation’s economic crisis continues to unfold, there may very well be a disintegration of the social and political safety nets that people have become used to counting on. This will create opportunities for the Confessing Church to minister to a lost and dying world in Jesus’ Name.
Keep in mind that any time you pray for the practical needs of someone Jesus might just say: “YOU . . . . “
Most Christians in America don’t like this sort of thinking since we have moved to the paid professional model of church. We have experts just like engineers or doctors, who have been trained for this sort of situation. We pay them to get out front and lead on, just like the point man in a combat platoon. It’s OK if these professionals do the real work of sharing with others since they have been taught just what to say and do under the most difficult situations. Unfortunately, in my life God keeps coming back to that YOU concept.
Take a closer look at Luke 9 where we find Jesus expanding the duties of the Twelve by assigning them the task of taking the Kingdom message of hope and compassion that he has been teaching, to the outlying communities. Christ wants his followers to speak about the hope we have in the promised arrival of God’s solution for a fallen world (Kingdom of God is at hand) with the demonstration of compassion for their blight of living in this world. Christ gave his followers power to touch peoples’ lives; to make a real difference by ordering them to mix practical ministry along with his teaching.
The feeding of the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two small fish was part of this outreach training since the disciples need to learn what they can do when they partner with Christ in ministry; feeding these very hungry folks demonstrated to the Twelve that they have access to his authority through his enabling. It is the same lesson that Moses and Joshua had to learn and yes, the YOU word appears again when the disciples express their concern about feeding that many people in such a desolate place, only to have Christ tell them: “YOU feed them!” I can just hear them in my mind saying something like: "Right, I will just run down to the corner store and pick up a few things for dinner. I will be right back next week sometime and can you lend me thirty thousand bucks to help cover the costs?"
Who is this guy named Jesus? Based on interviews with Joe Plumber, most Americans would place Jesus among the great religious teachers while questioning his miraculous power or his clam of deity. Did he really feed all those people? Liberal theologians teach that the real miracle was Jesus understanding human nature and placing the crowd in a position where they could relax (felt less threatened in small groups) and share the food they brought with them to those around them. Yet this event demonstrates Jesus’ compassion for the blight of mankind (v 11), his control over creation (vs.16 & 17) and his ability to make provision for life (vs. 12 & 13) while he continued the ministry of hope and compassion he had given the Twelve.
Jesus telling the Twelve “You give them something to eat” allowed them to participate in something they had never contemplated doing before. Each disciple of Jesus has to learn that he ministers by Jesus’ enabling that gives him access to Jesus’ power. This is an important lesson for each of us and for the church. Evangelism requires engagement with others and consists of both Word and Deeds. I believe that the Confessing Church in the days ahead will need to return to this model of engagement-oriented outreach. As our nation’s economic crisis continues to unfold, there may very well be a disintegration of the social and political safety nets that people have become used to counting on. This will create opportunities for the Confessing Church to minister to a lost and dying world in Jesus’ Name.
Keep in mind that any time you pray for the practical needs of someone Jesus might just say: “YOU . . . . “
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