The Secret is in the (Lunch) Bag! | Job 38:8-11, John 10:10

Narrator (00:02):

Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it bursts from the womb and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness for I locked it behind barred gates limiting its shores. I said, this far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop. That’s an excerpt from a conversation between God, the Lord of the universe and Job. He was a man who had questions. He suffered a lot in this life and he went to God with those questions and God answered in a powerful way. You can find that conversation in the Book of Job chapter 38 verses eight to 11, and God is still answering our questions today with himself. He is the answer. There isn’t a problem. You and I will encounter this side of heaven that is greater than our God. He’s going to help us through it.

(01:11)
This week on the Bible For Busy People we’re talking about when is enough enough? Do I work enough? Do I spend enough time with my family? Am I enough as a person? We’re exploring all of these things and looking at them through the lens of God’s word. So join me today in John chapter six beginning in verse one, because you and I are about to have lunch with the Lord Jesus and a few friends.

(01:36)
After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberius. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration. 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? He was testing Philip for He already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them. Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what good is that with this huge crowd? Tell everyone to sit down. Jesus said, so they all sat down on the grassy slopes. The men alone numbered about 5,000. 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. After everyone was full Jesus told his disciples, now gather the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. So they picked up the pieces and filled 12 baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed Surely he is the prophet we have been expecting. When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

(03:23)
I believe that there is something that you and I can glean from today’s story in the Bible. The boy with the sack lunch, the five loaves and the two fishes, that’s us. When we put something into the hands of Jesus, it becomes something greater. I don’t know about you, but I feel like my workday doesn’t end. There’s always another email coming in. There’s always something else for me to chase down or an idea that pops into my head that I want to send an email about, that I want to explore. It just feels like it’s never ending. Partly because we have smartphones now, right?

(04:04)
And we’re just always connected to our jobs and to everyone, and so often this is a good thing, but it can be a bad thing because work is always right there within reach. And so what I’m trying to figure out with the help of the Lord is when is enough enough? This boy had a sack lunch. That’s what he had. You might have eight hours at work to get your job done. At the end of those eight hours maybe it’s an act of faith. This is what I’m figuring out to say, okay, I’m going to leave this other thing till tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but I use the drafts folder in my email a lot because maybe I don’t have time to type out the whole email, but I’ll just put something in the subject line and it’s just a placeholder for the next workday.

(04:55)
I know that you are busy and that your to-do list is long and that honestly, no matter how many checks you put in the boxes, another box pops up. That’s my life too. But God has given us this beautiful life. Jesus says in John chapter 10, verse 10, the thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. Remember last week when we talked about the enemy and how he’s always out to get us, but Jesus says, my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. Another translation says, an abundant life. I’ve come to give you life and life abundantly. I actually wasn’t planning on sharing that verse with you. I feel like it’s something God just dropped into my heart. The Lord God made us and he has a plan for our lives, our job, our role is to bring the loaves and the fishes.

(05:55)
That’s our part. We are not Jesus. We can’t do everything and be everything for everybody. That is not how he made us. He gave us each other and we each have very unique gifts. I work at a radio station and Garrett, our engineer, has very different gifts than mine, and just today he came to help with a technical problem and he wrote some code to fix it, and I’m like, I could never do what you do. And he goes, well, I could never mess with buttons and talk at the same time on the radio like you do, and I thought, we each have our own individual roles. God made you and made me. He wired us in a certain way to bless others and to glorify him. Somebody once wrote these beautiful words, A person’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, and somebody else wrote, if we are to enjoy him forever, why not begin now?

(06:55)
Right? If you are living a life where there are no boundaries with work or family or friends or whatever it is, today is the day to put a flag in the ground and say, I am choosing abundant life. Lord, show me what to do and what not to do. Show me how to be a boundary setter. Show me what my loaves and fishes are and help me to offer them and to let the rest fall by the wayside. Because Lord, I know that I can’t do anything without you, but I can do all things with you. Help us Jesus, to understand these things and to draw boundaries in our lives, the ones that you have chosen for us. It’s in your holy name we pray, Jesus. Amen. Until next time, you are really loved.

(07:39)
Thank you for making time for the Bible for Busy People today.

(07:43)
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