I remember years ago, as a volunteer in Hillbrow doing urban missions, I sat at a soup kitchen listening to testimonies from the local homeless population.
An older man got up and went to the front. The room fell silent as he started sharing. “I have never seen God give me bread or shelter…” He started. And I felt my heart jump. I thought to myself – this is not a testimony.
But the older man continued.
“But I have seen His children acting as his hands and feet to provide to our needs.”
Over the years this statement has stuck with me. This idea has shaped my ministry over the last 12 years. It is as Richard Rohr so beautifully puts it. Presence over preaching…
Peter shares the same kind of thought with us in his first epistle. In 1 Peter 2:9: he tells us that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation – a peculiar people – called out of darkness with the purpose of proclaiming his goodness to those who have not yet seen his love.
I like how the older translations put it – to shew forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness. Not just to talk about it – but to practically demonstrate the Kingdom – to be ambassadors rather than citizens.
The old homeless man had a point. God uses us to facilitate His miracles. God uses us to provide and see to the needs of those who need Him. God uses us to care for the poor and disenfranchised. He uses us to bring about change. Gd works in us, He gives through us – and if He is present in our hearts, we will see His Kingdom present itself around us.
As believers and children of the Most High God, followers of the teachings of Christ we realize that we have a mission. This mission is given to us in Matthew 28 – in verse 16 the 11 disciples (sans Judas) go to the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had instructed them to go.
Here Jesus tells them the following: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus gives us the great commission – this role is assigned to us as a body – the authority of Christ, and therefore also the responsibility that comes with it – is delegated to us.
We are to make disciples as Jesus had done.
I love the Gospel According to Mark. In the book of Mark Jesus is described as a man of action – He didn’t just preach – but came as a revolutionary. Shifting paradigms, shaking our way of thinking and showing us the way forward. We cannot simply tell the hungry man to find Christ. A roaring belly is not always open to the Gospel – we need to feed him. The naked man needs to be clothed lest he be distracted by the cold, unable to hear the good news being shared.
We need to actually do. Not just talk the talk, but actually walk as Jesus instructed us to. As Christ Himself demonstrated.
When His disciples wanted to send the crowds home to go and eat, saying: “We cannot feed them…”, Jesus rebuked them and multiplied what was there.
But God used a little boy and his lunchbox to do this.
Just like Moses was instructed to use the staff he had in his hand to demonstrate God’s power – just like David picked up 5 stones – God uses what we have at hand to change the world.
And as we give – as we pour out the oil – it is multiplied. As we fill the cups of others, our cup will be filled.