Exodus 4:1-7, 2 Kings 4:1-7, Mark 6:30-44 What I bring to the table.

What I Bring to the Table

Exodus 4:1–7 ESV

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

2 Kings 4:1–7 ESV

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

Mark 6:30–44 ESV

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

What I have to bring to the Lord is not enough. God can’t use someone like me. I don’t have enough to give. The gifts I have cannot possibly be of service to God. Do these sound like familiar statements? Some of us have said some of these very things. The truth of the matter is God can use anyone that is willing and anything that you are willing to give Him. Notice what I said there, anyone that is willing and anything you are willing to give to God, He can use.

I hope this morning to give you three simple steps that will encourage you to serve God and to show you what you bring to the table. The first step will seem so simple when you say it but lets be honest it can be hard to do. The first step is simply to surrender to God. Some people would think its to give something to God, however before I can give anything to God I have to decide that I will follow God.

In all three of these stories that we read here this morning that is what happened before they gave God anything they surrendered to God. See Moses had already started following God before he went to the bush. How do I know this you might ask? When he approached the bush and realized that he was face to face with God he hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. He knew who God was and and was aware of the what this encounter meant. In his heart before he gave God what he had he decided to follow Him. The widow was a following God before she was in trouble. The disciples certainly they were following Jesus before they needed to feed 5000 people.

I can’t give God anything until I decide that He is my God and I will follow Him. Most times in our lives we put the cart before the horse so to speak. We try to give God something before we have truly decided that we are going to follow Him no matter what. The issue with this is I start out strong but then the pinch comes I have not decided that what God wants for me is best and I falter or fall to the wayside. I quit when it gets hard. The reason this happens is because I haven’t fully trusted God and decided to truly follow Him no matter what.

See when I decide to surrender that is a moment where I tell God “That’s it, I am no longer in charge. All that I have is yours.” Now when I say all that I have, that is literally what I mean. I am giving you me, my family, my stuff, all of it. Everything, every decision I make, every thing that I do, all that I am is yours. That church is what surrender looks like. Not just I am a sinner and need you God, not just I’ll be here every Sunday. All that I am or could ever hope to be is in your hands. That is surrender. It’s hard I know. It is not a mindset it is a life changing moment. It becomes that I am living for God and not for me.

The second step where most people try to start. This step means that I will give to God whatever I have. All that I have and nothing less. In verse 2 of Exodus 4 we see this example played out.

Exodus 4:2 ESV

The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”

What is that your holding, what do you have, are willing to give it to me? All Moses had was a staff in his hand. He gave God what he had. I have to give God what I have, all that I have, not just what I am willing to part with for right now or the left overs of what I am not using. I have to give it all to God for his kingdom. My gifts that I possess He gave me to start with. There can’t be a condition placed on my service to God. Now this is where the fat gets in the fire. Most people want it be just money or stuff. God wants it all not just what you put in that plate but your time, your efforts for His kingdom, your devotion to Him, your love, your all. What you have is what God desires for you to give to Him without holding back anything.

In the second story we see where the widow went to the man of God and said I am faithful to God now what do I do. She was following God before she came to trouble. When the man of God asked what do you have she at first said nothing, then she said its just a jar of oil. She gave all that she had.

The disciples told Jesus the same thing, this is all we got. In two to these stories the person approaching God or God’s representative was sure it was not enough. What they had was insignificant. I am sure Moses thought it even though it was not included in his story. Let’s be honest if I was in the desert and God said “What’s in your hand?” My first thought would be “Are you serious you want me to storm the gates of Egypt and go up against Pharoah with a stick? Dude not no but no way man. I like to pretend I am Jackie Chan but that’s a lot of whopping for one staff.”

We do that to God all the time, I don’t have enough. What I am is not enough God. I am not capable of doing what you are asking of me. It’s too much I can’t give that. Lord I want to serve you but I don’t have enough ability, I don’t have enough money, I don’t have the gift of song, I don’t have the time to do what you are asking.

When I decide to serve God and I tell Him that I will serve Him, I have to prioritize that into my day to day life. The last thing I have to do is trust that God is capable of using the little that I have for the good of His kingdom. I say the little that I have because guess what to God what I have is nothing. I am nothing without God. If I think I am special I just need to go back and read the first chapter of Genesis. God spoke this all into being. Spoke it. He created light by saying let there be light. I have to trust that the same God that did all that is capable of using this guy right here. I have to say that God is able to use me and trust that this is a true statement.

In all three of these stories the end is beautiful. Moses lead the Israelites out of captivity, the widow kept her sons from being sold into slavery, and through Jesus the disciples fed 5000 with just 5 loaves and 2 fish. This is the proof that God is able to use you folks. God is not dependent upon what you bring to the table. God is not bound by your weaknesses and the abilities that you have or lack. What God requires is three things. Surrender, faith, and trust. These are all that is required to serve God.

Do you think that God does not know every single flaw that we have? Notice I said we there. Church if I can stand before you and preach the Gospel, if I can stand here and proclaim how good God is, if He lets me serve Him there is nothing and I mean nothing that my God cannot do.

God used a stick in the hand of moses to make snakes, to part the red sea, to bring water from a rock, He used it to win battles, the stick was just a stick it was God that did the heavy lifting. The jars the widow had were just jars it was God that filled them up. The loaves and the fish was just bread and fish, it was Jesus that provided the increase and not only that but the leftovers were more than what they started out with.

God can use you but first you have to surrender. Next you have to give Him all that you have and make Him the center of all that you do. The last part is to trust that God is capable of using what you bring to the table. God proved through these three stories that He will not only use what you bring and surrender to Him, He will provide an increase through your faith and service that is amazing and wonderful. He will do it for His glory and church that is enough for me. Wherever you are in life right now at this moment God has a plan for you. That plan cannot begin until you decide that you are enough to be used by the God of all gods, the creator of the universe, the only living God that loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us so that we could serve Him and have a relationship with Him.

Invitation……