Bring Your Wants Down To Your Needs

We all have our wants and our needs.  What makes you different is that you trust God to provide you with both!  You may want to only eat desserts, but we all need to eat a balanced diet.  You may want to only wear clothes from Oscar de la Renta, but what we all need to is wear clothes!  You may want to live next door to Jerry Jones’ $28 million dollar house in Highland Park, but what we all need is to live in a shelter. You may want to drive a Ferrari F80, but what we all need is transportation.  Yes, we all have wants and needs but we all know that we can’t have all our wants and really should bring our wants down into the shadow of our needs.

It would be really great if we could get all our wants, or would it?  You see, all too often achieving our wants take so much of our time, abilities and finances to get them, those wants will often get in the way of our love and devotion to God and our trust in him to provide.  Then instead of generosity and love for others the temptation is to become engrossed in our wants and needs that develop greed and get us into trouble with God. Yes, God makes it very clear that greed is a sin.

“For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils. By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains”

1 Timothy 6:10

Greed is also included in those awful sins listed up in 1 Corinthians 6:

“⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor males who have sex with males, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor the verbally abusive, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

That’s what makes the gospel account for this day so fascinating.  Jesus not only knows how sinful we are, but he gives us evidence of his desire to satisfy our needs, but he also brings our wants in line with our needs.  In fact, that’s the theme for today.

Bring Your Wants Down To Your Needs!

Reflecting on Jesus’ Guardianship for You

The Word before us today starts like this.

“¹³ When Jesus heard this.” 

Jesus heard that King Herod had beheaded John the Baptist.

“¹³ When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place to be alone.”

Jesus wasn’t running scared.  But he was running somewhere!  Yes, with a flick of his finger he could send Herod to the fires of hell.  Rather, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to pray.  Yes, he was concerned about himself and his disciples (Guardianship), but there was more.  Jesus was and is the greatest servant ever.  He knew that he needed strength to complete the task before him.  It was time to focus, time to pray.  He had one year to go before going to the cross … all for us (eternal guardianship).

I know what I want when something bad happens.  I want time off and endless vacations.  What I need is time to refresh my soul. How about you? Jesus brings our wants in line with our needs by caring enough to 1) refocus us on God’s words and promises, our relationship with him, and 2) the task he places before us, namely, the privilege of proclaiming his love to people.

I love this part of the sermon, when I get to think about what Jesus prayed about. “Heavenly Father, get me out of here”?  No way!  Don’t you think he prayed, “Heavenly Father, this world is not pretty.  The violence that lurks in the hearts of evil people is everywhere, and it is just around the corner for me.  But that’s why you sent me here.  My death at the hands of violent people will open the door for sinners to eternal peace.  Help my disciples see the big picture.”  Jesus cared about John the Baptist, he cared about world politics, and he cared about his disciples.  So he helped them see that John’s death was a reminder that this world is not their permanent home.

There are way too many times when I fail to Bring My Wants Down To My Needs.  It is reflected when my prayers focus on things I want such as global peace.  What I need are reminders that this world is imperfect and unfair and that heaven is our home.  So Jesus Brings Our Wants In Line With Our Needs by caring enough to give us a variety of reminders, some of them not so pleasant, to Guard Our Ultimate goal – heaven.

Matthew records for us,

“He withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Can you see the crowd?  A bunch of people with nameless faces.  But, Jesus saw more than that.  He saw the old man with hearing loss and heart problems.  He saw the grandma with the arthritic back and chronic bronchitis.  He saw Mom with her worries.  He saw Dad with his hang-ups.  He saw the single gal with no prospects of a partner.  He saw the naughty little boy and shy little girl.  He saw the baby with the birth defect.  He saw you, and he saw me.  He knows our pains and problems.  Jesus knows your name.  And Jesus has compassionate guardianship for us all! He Brings our Wants Down to Our Needs by pouring out his heart for us all!

“¹⁵ When evening came, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

I’m going to give the disciples the benefit of the doubt and say that they were just being practical.  There was no 7-11 or HEB around. Then  Jesus replied,

“They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 

Jesus was forcing the disciples to Reflect On His Guardianship for all people.  They wanted things done their way.  Jesus was using this difficult situation as an opportunity to bring their wants in line with their needs.  What they wanted was no people, but what they needed was to learn patience and trust in Jesus Christ!

It is too easy for us to make Jesus’ words come alive in our life.  Did you happened to look into the bulletin and see that our operating deficit is negative $12,000 again.  And then did you think, “We have only five loaves and two fish”?  We want to be practical.  We want to do things right.  But the problem is that we want it to go our way.  So Jesus brings our wants in line with our needs by caring enough to use the dilemmas of life to teach us patience that God will provide the right things at the right time and he might even use you to get it done!

 “¹⁷ They told him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he replied. ¹⁹ Then he instructed the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish. After looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves.” 

I suppose Jesus could have plopped fish sandwiches into the laps of all those thousands of people. But Jesus brought their wants in line with their needs by helping them Reflect on His Guardianship for them all! First things first.  First comes the recognition of the source of all good, including food.  They needed to learn that every act of giving and every result of giving is from above,

“Coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights

James 1:17

So, before he handed out food, he lifted his head and hands to heaven in a prayer of thanks.

“After looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves.”

Oh, Jesus, teach us to Reflect on Your Guardianship for us all!  Before I dive into a meal, before I deposit my paycheck, before use up all my time this week on everything else but serving in your kingdom, Bring My Wants Down To My Needs namely, remembering To Reflect On Your Guardianship For Us All.  Then

To Rejoice In Jesus Generosity For Us All!

The New Testament gospel writers record over 30 miracles of Jesus.  Then there are those that are not specifically recorded but covered with statements like the one here:

“He had compassion on them and healed their sick.” 

Of all the miracles by our Lord specifically recorded, this multiplying of bread and fish to feed a crowd of thousands is one of the more famous ones.  Did you catch his tone when the disciples said,

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

Jesus simply and calmly said,

“Bring them here to me.”  

Oh, I wish we could have heard his voice!  Was it harsh?  Was it quiet and calm?  Was it just easy?

“¹⁹ Then he instructed the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish. After looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. The disciples gave the food to the people.”

Jesus fed a crowd well in excess of five thousand people without help from caterers and without calling in an order to Pizza Hut or Subway.  Jesus was teaching trust as they Rejoiced in His Generosity for All!

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  “What was wrong with those disciples?  Why weren’t they trusting God to Provide?”  But then there is my lack of trust.  Will we get enough support to get a new LED church sign?  I know what I wanted.  God did much more!  Will we survive having lost a few Divine Peace families for various reasons?  I know what I want!  But. today Jesus says to me, “I’ll bring your wants in line with your needs by caring for you and by sharing with you at the right time and in the right way.  Then, just watch what happens.”

Just look what Jesus did today!

“The disciples gave the food to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were filled. They picked up twelve basketfuls of what was left over from the broken pieces.”

Twelve basketfuls!  Could Jesus be teaching us something here?  He always has his people in mind, and he gives not only what we need but more than we need.  He shares richly, abundantly, Generously!

And if you believe he is generously supplying our earthly needs and very often our wants, he is even more generous, especially when it comes to what we need most.  What we want is for God to make this life easier.  What we need is for him to make the next life a reality.  I want to be sure that I’ll end up in heaven. Dear Christian Friends, Bring your Wants Down to Your KNEES!  Then humbly look up and see Jesus on the cross bringing our wants in line with our needs by sharing not only what we need the most but sharing richly, abundantly and generously what we want the most!  Because of his life and his death for us we get our sins forgiven and eternal life in heaven!  Rejoice in Jesus’ Generosity for Us All!  Even more than twelve basketfuls so we can pass that forgiveness on to others.

Jesus Bring Our Wants in Down to Our Needs.  Let me say it plainly!  Because you know Jesus you Trust in God To Provide all your needs and very often your many wants.  But what makes the lasting difference in your life is Jesus.  Reflect on Jesus’ Guardianship for you.  Rejoice in Jesus’ Generosity For you and Bring your Wants and Needs in Prayer to Jesus Christ in the Shadow of the Cross!  Amen!