When You’re Running on Fumes

“He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” – Luke 9:17

A football fan went to the Super Bowl one year. To his great surprise, the seat next to him was empty. At halftime, curiosity got the better of him, and he asked the man on the other side of the empty seat if it belonged to him. The stranger replied, “It was my wife’s seat, but she died.” The first man responded, “Oh! I’m so sorry to hear that. But I’m surprised one of your family members or friends didn’t jump at the chance to come to the game and sit in your wife’s seat.” “Yeah,” the other man said, “I thought it was strange too. But they all insisted on going to her funeral today.”

If we see an empty seat in the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, we’re pretty surprised. But if we see an empty seat at a Sunday morning worship service … well, that doesn’t surprise us at all. It’s just a reality in our nation today that people get more excited about watching a bunch of men chase after a pigskin than they do about spending time with Jesus.

But in Luke 9, we see a crowd of over 5,000 people go chasing after Jesus to have him minister to them on a hillside. These people went out of their way to be with Jesus. On that day, on that hillside, it was standing room only. Thousands of people came hungry for Jesus, even if it wasn’t necessarily for all the right reasons. But by the end of that day, everyone in that crowd would come to one conclusion: Jesus Christ really satisfies.

It all started soon after Jesus’ disciples returned from carrying out his marching orders. He’d sent them to heal the sick, cast out demons and spread the gospel, and they’d probably been gone for weeks if not months. Now the disciples needed some 12-on-1 time alone with Jesus to recharge their batteries. They were on a green hillside, the perfect spot for some R & R. But soon their retreat was interrupted by a tiny little crowd … of several thousand people. The disciples were probably dismayed. But verse 11 tells us, “[Jesus] welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.”

Mark says that when Jesus saw the large crowd, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). Jesus and his disciples were physically tired, emotionally drained and badly in need of some spiritual refreshment—but when Jesus saw thousands of needy people coming his way, his heart broke for them. So he put aside his own tiredness and tapped his spiritual reserves as he spent hours loving on these people.

As evening approached, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away so the crowd could get back to town and find food and lodging. Jesus replied with a command: “You give them something to eat” (v. 13). That was a tall order. In verse 14, Luke tells us that there were about 5,000 men in the crowd. But Matthew tells us that there were also women and children, so probably between 10,000 and 15,000 people had gathered there. Then Andrew stepped forward and said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9).

The apostles’ feelings of helplessness are understandable, but remember, they’d just spent the last month or so healing diseases, curing sicknesses and driving out demons left and right. These disciples had been doing the impossible on a daily basis. But on this day, during their interrupted retreat, they froze up.

But Jesus took the little boy’s lunch, lifted it up to heaven and prayed. Then he began breaking the bread and handing it out to the disciples. And as the bread and fish were passed out, the disciples looked down in their baskets and saw more. So, they handed out that new bread and fish. No matter how many times they reached into the basket and removed bread and fish, bread and fish were still there! Everyone in the crowd of 10,000 ate. And when the leftovers were picked up, there were still 12 basketfuls of bread and fish.

It’s one of Jesus’ best-known miracles. What can it teach us today?

Well, sooner or later, needy people will interrupt your R & R. When that happens, Jesus calls you to tap your physical and spiritual reserves and serve them with compassion. Most parents of newborn babies have to learn this lesson immediately. A newborn baby has to be the most needy creature on the planet. If a baby has a dirty diaper, he screams. If a baby is hungry, she screams. If a baby has nothing better to do, he screams! Parents, by giving us babies, Jesus has taught us a lot about having compassion, hasn’t he? And he has called you and me to share that same kind of compassion with other needy people who come our way at the most inconvenient times.

Also, notice that the disciples’ power to do the impossible could never be separated from their ongoing dependence upon their Master. Both for them and for us, Jesus is the supply, and we are his conduits. And through him, we have the spiritual reserves we need in order to do his work. Remember, you and I are powerless to heal or save anyone. But Jesus desires to heal and to save through you and me—even when we need a break. Even when we’re running on fumes.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 a.m.

Jesus Is the Bread of Life

“This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” – John 6:58

It’s one of Jesus’ most famous miracles. A huge crowd gathered on a remote shore of the Sea of Galilee to hear Jesus teach. And as their tummies began to rumble, Jesus prayed over a small boy’s lunch (five rolls and two small fish), multiplying it to feed 5,000 men along with the women and children who were with them. All four gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) document this eye-popping miracle, but only John records Jesus’ sermon to the crowd the following day.

According to John 6:24-25, the people who had experienced Jesus’ fish and bread buffet a day earlier tracked Jesus down and tried to subtly convince him to produce another meal. But Jesus recognized their duplicity and told them, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Well, the prospect of never being hungry again sounded great to the crowd, so they blurted out, “Sir, from now on give us this bread.” Clearly, they were so fixated on feeding their physical bodies that it didn’t cross their minds that Jesus was speaking of spiritual bread to nourish their souls.

So Jesus told the people plainly in verse 35 and reiterated it in verses 41, 51 and 58: “I am the bread of life.” Jesus emphasized to his listeners that the true bread from heaven is not a “what” but a “who.” The living bread is not a thing; it’s a person. Jesus claims to be the Bread of Life, but what does that mean? Well, it boils down to this: In order to ingest physical bread we use our mouths, and that bread temporarily nourishes our bodies. But when we ingest Jesus—the Living Bread—we use our hearts, and he eternally nourishes our souls. Every one of us desperately needs this Living Bread. And there are two vital truths that we must understand and embrace if we hope to possess it.

Truth #1: God provides the bread. Just as God provided manna in the wilderness to nourish the Israelites’ bodies, God provided Jesus Christ to nourish our spirits. God the Father is the Great Provider of the Bread of Life. In John 6, Jesus makes it clear that the Father draws us to Christ—the Bread of Life. Christ receives us, keeps us and raises us up to heaven. And no one, absolutely no one, can snatch us out of Christ’s hands once we’re there.

Truth #2: We must consume the bread. As Jesus revealed himself to the crowd as “the Bread of Life,” he said bluntly in verse 56: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” Now, over the centuries many Bible readers have been baffled by Jesus’ words. Just as the crowd in front of Jesus 2,000 years ago was fixated on physical bread, we tend to fixate on the physical as well. But Jesus clarifies his harsh-sounding teaching in verse 63: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”

In other words, Jesus is not advocating cannibalism. He is not telling the crowd to take a bite out of his arm or to start gnawing on his leg. He is asking them to—in faith—consume his teaching, ingest his offer of salvation and receive a vibrant, life-changing relationship with him that will never grow old or fade away.

But when push came to shove, most of the people in the crowd were not interested in spiritual food. They were hungry for breakfast, but they weren’t hungry for Jesus. John 6:66 is one of the saddest verses in the New Testament: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Ironically, the Scripture reference of this verse is John “666.” Over the years Satan has tempted Christ’s followers to perpetrate all kinds of evil (e.g., adultery, rape, kidnapping and murder). But all of these heinous sins can be forgiven by Christ. His grace is greater than our disgrace. But if we reject his grace by rejecting him, there is no other means to salvation. We either choose Christ (the Bread of Life) or we choose spiritual starvation. Sadly, the majority of the crowd in John 6 chose spiritual starvation.

I hope that you don’t make the same tragic mistake. Even if you gorge yourself at John’s Incredible Pizza for lunch and at the Golden Corral for dinner, you will still be hungry tomorrow. It’s a fact of life: Physical food only fills our stomachs temporarily. But the Bread of Life fills our souls permanently. Jesus’ word nourishes us today, tomorrow and throughout eternity. Jesus’ salvation never expires, and our relationship with Jesus Christ will never fail to satisfy our deepest hungers and needs. Yes, Jesus is the Bread of Life. So, let me ask you: Are you hungry for Christ? If so, dig in!

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.