Kingdom Resources

August 23, 2013Brian Ingles

Jesus had been ministering to a multitude of people for a while, talking to them about the kingdom and healing the sick. The disciples had recently returned from a ministry trip and Jesus had seemingly taken them into the wilderness to rest, but a bunch of people (at least 5000 of them) had found them and spoiled their nap time. At some point, the disciples had finally run out of steam and were hoping to send the people away so that they could have a break. They said something to the effect of "we are in a wilderness and don't have enough food for these hungry people. Send them somewhere that they can actually get food." Jesus' response was to tell the disciples to feed them. The disciples then pointed to the small amount of food that they had, probably just enough to feed their own little group. Jesus then looked into heaven and turned what they had into enough to feed the multitude with more left over than they even started with.

10 And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” 13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. - Luke 9:10-17 NKJV

The really interesting thing in this story is that Jesus didn't just magically make new food from nothing. Instead He used the seemingly insufficient available resources. By looking into heaven Jesus was not limited by earthly boundaries. Jesus always lived from the resources of the kingdom. In the same way that God breathed into dirt to bring life, the kingdom of heaven is looking for a way to touch something of dust to bring life out of it. The combination of heaven and earth is the recipe for something awesome.

The encouragement here is that we don't necessarily need more natural resources whether it be people, finances, or whatever. Jesus wants to teach us to look into heaven in such a way that we can turn our existing resources into the very life of our ministry and have enough left over to give away. When we see a wilderness with slim pickins, it is the perfect environment for heaven to create a wellspring of life. The kingdom is at hand. We just need to learn to see and access it.