Week of 3/24-3/30: His Life - The Power of His Kingdom

Day Two: John 6:10-14 Then Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. The men numbered about 5,000. Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were full, He told His disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” So they collected them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign He had done, they said, “This really is the Prophet who was to come into the world!”

Read the beginning of the story, John 6:1-9, in your Bible.

AS A CHURCH PLANTER, I have seen churches do many different activities in the community and for the community.In the name of full disclosure, I’ll admit that many of the things my church plant did were attempts to get our name out in the community.We wanted people to know that we existed and that they were invited to our church.

While this isn’t necessarily a bad motivation for our community activities, it seems as though Jesus’ motivations were a bit different.When I read about what Jesus did, I read about a singular reason for doing the things He did.His singular purpose in serving others was to show that He was sent from the Father in heaven.For example, consider the result of Him feeding the 5,000.We might expect to read that the result of the meal was full bellies and a wonderful nap.Instead, we read that people said, “This really is the Prophet who was to come into the world!”

What if that was the reaction we got from people when we did something for them? In all honesty, I can’t say that the sole purpose of some of my church plant’s community efforts were to point people to Jesus.Some of the our past efforts were simply to help meet needs of our community or promote the name of our church.While these motivations aren’t inherently bad, if we focus on these purposes and neglect the proclamation of the gospel, we miss our ultimate objective.Jesus’ ultimate objective was to draw people to Himself.Similarly, our ultimate objective must also be to point people to the love and grace of Christ.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷What are some ways that our churches can become involved in our communities?

▷▷Why is it important for our churches to be involved in our communities?

▷▷What ought to be the ultimate objective of our churches’ involvement in our communities?