Thanksgiving My Key to All Round Plenty by Pastor Olajumoke Olowokere. July 4, 2010.
Sermon Synopsis
Today, we’ll talk on “Thanksgiving, My Key to All Round Plenty.”
Our key text is John 6:1-14. In this passage a multitude came to Jesus in the wilderness. Immediately one is tempted to believe a problem of feeding the “great company of people” may be on the horizon. Why? Because Jesus seemingly asked Philip for solution in verse 5: “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But such fears are quickly dispelled by the following verse: “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.”
So what did He do? Verses 8-14 tell us:
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
First he made them sit down on the grass, and then Jesus took the “five barley loaves and two fishes” and gave thanks! And believe it or not that singular action turned the “but what are they among so many?” food into a multitude hunger-basher with leftovers to boot!
From the passage I find the following instructive. First, when He asked them to sit down on the grass, they obeyed without any fuss. They must have, like David, realized that when He asks you to sit, it is always in green pastures. Psalm 23:1-3 says
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Picture yourself in this gathering today and imagine someone lifting up five loaves and two fishes to feed a multitude. I can imagine the cynicism that would follow. Statements like “He must be a clown!”; “What does he think he’s doing?” would rent the air. But that multitude sat as he commanded. Obedience! Are you obedient when He asks?
Second, the multitude must have believed God worked in unconventional ways. So it was easy for them to obey Him. In Judges 7:1-7 God’s unusual way comes to the fore. Gideon was to lead an army to war and one would have thought numbers were important. Not when God is involved, apparently! God cuts the number of warriors to the size He wanted and with that smaller size Gideon led the army to victory. Are you open to God’s unconventional ways?
Genesis 8: 20-21 and 9:1 give us an example of how to follow after God’s unconventionality. Here was Noah after the Great Deluge. Genesis 8: 20:
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Conventional wisdom should have dictated that Noah preserved all the beasts and fowls that hadn’t died from the Deluge but he broke from that and followed God’s lead: he offered burnt offering of the little he had left. He didn’t let his need impede his thanks! How comfortable are you giving God that “little” in your hands? It may be what may radically transform your life as Noah’s was. Genesis 8:21 and 9:1 respectively reveal the reward for Noah’s action:
And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
As you move forward in July, our month of All Round Plenty, don’t forget to break from the usual to follow God’s lead. Add to that Thanksgiving, as we’ve seen, it’s the key to All Round Plenty.
