Hello, I am Captain
Michael Ramsay. My wife and I have 3 daughters: two are in high school and one
is in Grade 3. We are blessed to be Salvation Army Officers - I am from
Victoria originally and we have served in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba; Toronto
Ontario. We have seen many of God’s blessings in all of those settings.
We have experienced many
miracles first hand and today we are going to read about the miracle of the
feeding of the 5000 as recorded in Luke 9:10-20 (NIV):
10
When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he
took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida,
11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke
to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
12
Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so
they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and
lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
13
He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
They
answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy
food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.)
But
he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and
the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he
gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and
were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces
that were left over.
18
Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he
asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter
answered, “God’s Messiah.”
In our Scripture today,
I don’t think it is an accident that God and Luke put the story of Peter’s
confession of faith directly after the miraculous feeding of the 5000. Luke
leaves us to draw the natural conclusion from this miracle that indeed Jesus is
the Christ and that God is a God of miracles.
I don't know what you
know about The Salvation Army but we help out a lot of people in their time of
need with food and other things. I have done a lot of work with the Salvation
Army in Disaster Relief. I have helped out in Ottawa, Weyburn, High River and
Calgary after floods. I have helped out after fires and explosions in
Saskatchewan. I have helped out after hurricanes and other disasters all across
this country and beyond. Emotional and Spiritual Care and Feeding is a big part
of what The Salvation Army does to help those in disasters.
In 2008 I was privileged
to contribute to the hurricane relief effort in Texas. All of the power was off
when we were there – there were no open restaurants, no working stoves, no
fridges - in the area. We had around 30
food trucks from which we helped serve 75 000 hot meals every day; and many
people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all.
I heard more than one
account of a contemporary miracle paralleling that of the fish and the loaves.
Our canteens (food trucks) were instructed to make sure that they gave away all
of their food before they came in for the night. One canteen had some food
left. It was getting late so they were seeking someone to give their last
Cambro (container) of food to. They prayed. One person then saw a line of about
12-18 tired and hungry looking construction workers so they headed over to
offer them their food. They were really appreciative.
As they were feeding
these men, a number of school buses filled with people pulled up. It is my
understanding that they served over 800 meals at that location – no one went
away hungry. Feeling blessed by what the Lord had done, they started to clean
up. (Now there was a non-believer, a Red Cross worker on their canteen with
them today). Someone picked up the container from which they fed the 800 meals
and read from the side of it, ‘serves 90 meals’. The Lord fed more than eight
times that number and no one went hungry. The Red Cross worker who was helping
them on the truck that day, he began to cry. He said that he had never believed
in God – until now.
In our Scripture today,
I don’t think it is an accident that God and Luke put the story of Peter’s
confession of faith directly after the feeding of the 5000. Luke leaves us to
draw the natural conclusion that God is a God of miracles and Jesus is the
Christ. He performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 about two thousand
years ago and he performed the miracle of the feeding of the 800 about ten
years ago. He is still performing miracles today and in doing so, He is
providing us opportunities to know and to help others know Jesus as Christ just
like Peter, and just like the Red Cross worker.
In the Salvation Army we
often serve God through feeding people in need; our challenge when doing this
is to keep our eyes open to the miracles of God and to be willing to help
others come to know Jesus’ love through them.
As I was thinking about
the scripture this week my mind was flooded with memories of the emergency
disaster work with which I have been involved. One of the first was a fire in
northern Saskatchewan. When I lived and worked in Nipawin, there was an explosion
right behind our building that set the downtown ablaze.
We were blessed to be
able to shelter and feed displaced people; feed emergency responders, and
provide emotional and spiritual care. However, lives were lost and there were
injuries, lost businesses, and a lost home. Animals, our pets are often a
source of comfort in difficult times. There was a couple whose home was lost;
they were able to escape but their home, their belongings and their dog was
not. The building came crashing down on their dog and the fires raged for as
long as they did over the site. That night, in his distress, the pet owner
missed the comfort of his dog and he prayed, “God, please let me see my dog one
last time – if only just in Heaven.”
The next morning at just
before 7AM when I was delivering coffee to the people on site, I heard it:
barking. The SaskEnergy employees had heard it first. They told the
firefighters. The firefighters rescued him; he was pretty much unscathed. He
was saved. The dog was saved! Praise the Lord it was a miracle; it really was!
God is a god of miracles. God answered prayer and provided salvation that day.
I have been meditating
on Luke 9:10-20 this past little bit in the context of The Salvation Army and
the Lord’s ministry through us of feeding and helping people in their time of
need and how these real miracles providing real assistance often really lead to
eternal life.
And more too: Romans
12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn”. I was
meditating on verse quite a bit one year ago as I was trying to come to terms
with a tragic bus crash in Saskatchewan – the Humbolt Broncos bus crash,
#Humbolststrong. Do you remember that? It was just on the news again the other
day. This bus full of teenage hockey players from Humbolt Saskatchewan were
driving the highway between Nipawin and Tisdale when their bus was struck by a
semi. Many people were injured. Many people died. Friends of mine lost friends
and family members. My heart breaks for them. My heart breaks for the young
people and their families.
I was living in Toronto
at the time. As I led prayer just after this happened, I had to stop more than
once to regain my composure. Songs at the Sunday service would remind me of
people whom I knew would be grieving. Images would flash before my mind because
I used to live in Nipawin and pastor churches in both Tisdale and Nipawin. I
would drive that same highway where the accident happened every week, many
times a week. If I still lived there, I would in all probability been out there
helping in some way. But also a few years before, at about the same time of
day, at about the same time of year, I was driving that same stretch of highway
with my two young daughters in the car. Our car crashed and rolled over and we
were left dangling in the air. We were okay. I, disoriented, even wandered out
into the middle of the highway at one point. We were in shock but we were okay.
I can't imagine the
family members, friends and others standing recently on that same stretch of
road - and their loved ones aren't okay. But from a distance we can, Romans
12:15, mourn with those who mourn. More than that even we,
1 Thessalonians 5:18, we can give thanks in all circumstances; for this is
God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Also one year ago this week,
I represented the Salvation Army in Toronto as the city was supporting those
impacted by the terrorist bus attack that killed all those innocent people on
Yonge Street at the #TorontoStrong Vigil. Do you remember that? I lived by
Yonge Street. The event was hosted in collaboration with community groups Faith in the City and the Toronto Area Interfaith Council on which I was the
Salvation Army’s representative. It was a real blessing to be a part of. Many
people shared prayers, songs, words of encouragement and comfort.
One of the things that
really resonated with me as I was standing with community members and later
clergy from other denominations and faiths was a spirit of gratefulness. People
were grateful for the support of others. People were grateful for their
community. People were grateful for the response, the love, the giving, and the
forgiving of others. We were thankful. We were grateful.
This gratefulness, this
thankfulness to God is one thing we can offer as a community when our community
in need. We can offer comfort and support to those who of us are healing
through giving thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in
Christ Jesus.
Yes. One may say, I can
see that. We can mourn with those who mourn and we can be grateful for all the
support of those as we are in difficult times and we can even learn from all of
that but some even take that further to ask why, if God really is a loving God
why does He send disaster and worse why does He send people to hell?
The answer to the question
why does Jesus condemn people to hell is that He doesn’t. Listen carefully to
what I am saying here… Jesus doesn’t condemn people to hell. Hell is real but
Jesus does not send people there. Those who are going there make that decision
all on their own. Those who stand condemned, condemn themselves by denying what
is plainly obvious to everyone (Ro 1&2). I truly believe that God gives us
all we need to know in this life from our experiences and even creation itself
(cf. Ro 1:18-24) and indeed there will still be a time when every knee will bow
and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Ro 14:11, Philip 2:10) and then
some, some who believe in the Lord and obey His commandments will go off to
spend eternity with Him and some, some who deny Christ (Matthew 10:33) and do
not obey His commandments (John14:15), some who simply refuse His love will go
off to the hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mathew 25:31ff). This is
sad.
This is particularly sad
because we know that God loves us. John 3:16 says that He loves the entire
world. He loves us so much that He laid down His life for us (John 15). God
loves us so much that He sent His only begotten, his only natural, his only
sired Son to die so that we may live.
I can’t imagine how much
this must hurt God that some of us do actually perish. I am a parent. Many of
us are parents and grandparents here. Think about this scenario for a moment.
The house across the street is on fire; there are children asleep in that
house. Your child is able to save them. Your son or daughter – your ONLY son or
daughter can reach them so you encourage her “…Go, go, go! Save those people.”
Your daughter goes. She
goes. She suffers every peril in that burning house that everyone else in there
is suffering (cf. 1 Cor 10:14; Lk 4). There is the smoke – the deadly smoke,
there is the fire, and there are the falling beams. She is successful. She gets
to where the children are. She can see them. She is able to make an opening in
the wall. She points them to the way out. She yells for them to walk through
the opening in the wall. She has made a clear path so that all of the kids can
be saved - and then she dies. Your daughter dies so that all these kids can be
saved. Your child dies so that none of these kids need to die but – here’s the
kicker: the children did not want to be saved. They die. She died so that they
could be saved but – on purpose – they died. They did not need to die but they
chose not to walk through the opening. They chose to die. Your daughter dies
for them and they all die anyway; they refuse to be saved.
This is what it is like
for God when our loved one’s reject Him. He sent His son to this earth that is
perishing. He sent His Son to this house that is on fire – and His Son died so
that we may live but yet some still refuse His love for us and some still
reject His Salvation. He sent Jesus not to condemn us to burn in the eternal
house fire but to save us but some of us refuse to walk to safety. Some of us
simply refuse to walk through that opening that Jesus died to make. John 3:18:
“Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are
condemned already…” of their own accord because, 3:19, “people loved darkness
rather than light.”
It was the same with our
relief work on with The Salvation Army. When a hurricane struck Galveston
Island about a decade agao, there was plenty of warning. The early warning
system meant that no one needed to die. Everyone was saved who chose to leave
the Island. Some, however, rejected their salvation.
There is a story of one
19 or 20 year-old who stood on the waterfront, intentionally defying the storm.
He was swept away to his death. I met a man who lost his home and his business
and praised the Lord for his insurance but he wondered why his brother chose to
stay behind and die. How does he deal with the fact that his brother rejected
salvation?
This is the same for us
today. We praise God that the early warning for the end of times was sounded 2
millennia ago with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We praise the
Lord, that he gave his life so that everyone can be saved - but the sad thing is that some will reject
this salvation. Some ignore the early warning system. Some defy God. Some
refuse to be saved. But there is the good news. Many will be saved; as we share
the Gospel of salvation, many will be saved.
Jesus died and rose
again, and we, as long as we are still breathing have the opportunity to be
saved from the eschatological hurricane and the eternal house fire. As long as
we are alive we can still walk to safety through the path Jesus made through
His death and resurrection. We can walk from certain death to certain life. All
we need to do is believe, obey, and walk through that wall to eternal life
because “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). “For God
so loved the world that He gave His only [begotten] Son, so that everyone who
believe in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Salvation comes from
Christ alone and we who know that have a responsibility to share that news.
Just like Christ provided the food and asked the disciples to distribute it and
Peter then confessed Jesus as Lord; so we are asked to point people to that salvation
the Jesus provided for the whole world. And we are invited to share in that
salvation. Can you imagine if Jesus made the bread for all the people and the
disciples never handed it out?
Romans 1:16-17 states
that I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of Salvation for all.
Thinking still of our work with natural disasters; can you imagine if the news
announcers were so ashamed of the fact the hurricane was coming that they
didn’t share information? Can you imagine if the meteorologists were so ashamed
of the fact that they did not know the exact time and hour the hurricane was
going to strike that they didn’t tell anybody? Can you imagine if your
neighbour knew that the hurricane was coming and she evacuated but she never
told you because she was ashamed because she couldn’t explain exactly what,
why, where, how, and when the hurricane was coming? Can you imagine the horror
as you look up to see your life being swept away – and no one ever told you how
to be saved?
Well, an eschatological
hurricane is coming and it is a lot more dangerous than Hurricane Ike. There
are people in this city here today who are sleeping in their beds or watching
their TVs right now who have no idea that the end is coming. There are people
out there who are lost and just waiting for us to point them to salvation.
So today, let us do
that. Today let us point people to safety. None of us know when our lives are
going to end. We may be taken tomorrow. None of us know when the Lord is
returning and bringing with him the end to our world. But, like the weatherman
watching the storm, we do know that the things of this earth are going to pass
away (Mt 24:35, Mk 13:31, Lk 21:33, Rev 21:1) and it is our job to share with
everyone we meet the good news of the way to salvation so that they do not need
to perish.
It is our responsibility
to share the Gospel for, indeed, the Gospel is the power of God for all to be
saved both now and forever. To this end then, I encourage us all to look for
opportunities to share the good news of salvation in the upcoming weeks here so
that we may all turn to God and experience the full power of His Salvation.
I have one more story
for us from my time in Texas helping with disasters. I want to share the story
of Scott and the story of Paul. Scott was a canteen worker from central Texas
who had accepted the Lord not too long before coming to Galveston to help with
relief work and Paul was a twelve year-old boy.
Scott was working on of
one of our canteens. Paul lived in an
apartment with 10 other people and was familiar with the neighbourhood
activities of gangs and drugs. This boy
saw our canteen near his home and wanted to help. He approached Scott and volunteered to help. Scott welcomed him with open arms and very
quickly made an impression on Paul - he kept coming back. Scott even gave him
T-shirt and hat. The look on Paul’s
face was worth a million dollars or more.
The evening before Scott was to return
home from his deployment, I had the opportunity to give him his exit interview.
During this interview we began speaking about Paul. Scott told me that he had prayed with Paul on a number of occasions and
that Paul was asking about Jesus. I asked if Paul had asked the Lord into his
heart. Scott said ‘not yet’ and asked me to help him do that.
The next day, Sunday; Scott, Paul, and a
number of other volunteers working on the canteen eagerly awaited our arrival –
Paul was ready to ask the Lord into his heart.
We arrived and I encouraged Scott to lead Paul in the ‘sinners’
prayer’. After a simple confession of
sin and profession of faith, Paul was welcomed into the family of God. We then sang a verse of Amazing Grace and
Scott presented Paul with a Bible.
While we were
celebrating Paul’s proclamation of salvation, two apparent ‘good-ole boys’
rolled up in a pick-up truck with their radio blaring Hank William’s “I Saw the
Light.” They were angels. They were
messengers of God who had come to celebrate with us, then they were gone.
In the midst of all the
turmoil and all the suffering God was there. In the midst of all our troubles
and all our sufferings today, God is here. Ten plus years ago in Texas and 2000
plus years ago in the NT, when people were without food, Jesus was there. Then
and now in the midst of real troubles, Jesus offers us his real salvation; the
opportunity to make the same proclamation of faith as the apostle Peter in
Luke's Gospel and all those others in my testimony today.
Today we all here have a
choice or two to make. For those of us who are presently experiencing eternal
salvation we have the same choice as the disciples of our text, we need to
choose whether to share the bread of eternal salvation with all those gathered
around us.
And for those of us who
have not yet taken advantage of that salvation Jesus has already provided for
us, we have the same choice that faced the people of Galveston Island. We can
either defy the eschatological hurricane and perish or we can heed the warning;
we can see the light, choose to be saved; we all have that opportunity today to
turn our eyes upon Jesus and celebrate with the Angles sent from God in Heaven.
It is my hope today that
all of us will choose that salvation.
Let us pray
[1] Based on the sermon of the same name Presented to The Church in the
Village at Shepherd Village, Scarborough, ON, June 2017 by Captain Michael
Ramsay. Available on-line at https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/06/luke-9-ro-1-jn-316-and-miracle-of.html
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