There are two sides to sports: the players’ side and the spectators’ side. Let’s start off in the stands. As spectators, let’s unfold a story from Jesus’ life. It’s a classic found in all four of the Bible’s biographies about Jesus. This story includes the elements of any great sporting event. There’s a crowd to see Jesus, the most popular and well-known spiritual super star of his day. There’s a team on the field -- the12 disciples. Jesus also serves as coach, giving his players assignments and asking them to run plays. The story even has a few time-outs, when the disciples gather around Jesus to learn what he wants them to do next. Finally, there’s the must-have human-interest story, some kid who comes out of nowhere to be a key part in the miracle Jesus performs that day.

It’s the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with the remnants of one boy’s lunch -- pieces of fish and a few hunks of bread. The Gospel of John includes details about the role the unknown young boy played in miracle that Jesus did that day. I’m convinced Jesus included that boy to teach His disciples, and us, important lessons about how God does big things in our world and who he uses to get them done.

John 6:3 says, Then Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him. Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for him.

Jesus’ disciples had just returned from a mission. He had sent them out two by two to go into villages to tell people about God and heal the sick, the same stuff Jesus had been doing. These guys were pumped from what they had seen God do through them, but they were also exhausted by the experience. So Jesus suggests get away to some place where they can be alone to process things and get some rest. But when they try and sneak off, the people discover where they’ve gone and, like always, soon a crowd begins gather.

Jesus scraps the personal retreat plan and spends the entire day teaching the people about God and healing their sick. The crowd wouldn’t leave Jesus alone. They did everything they could to be where he was. Why? Because they knew wherever Jesus was, God did big things. Nice concept, but what’s that mean to us? Jesus isn’t walking around our world any more, so doesn’t that make it a little difficult to be where he is?

Jesus isn’t available in the same way he was back then. But think about this: the Bible describes the collection and community of Jesus’ followers on earth "the body of Christ." The Scriptures tell us the spirit of Christ lives is in every person who has made Jesus the forgiver of their sins and the leader of their life. If that is true, then as the followers and representatives of Jesus on earth, we have the ability to touch and change lives. That’s because Jesus IS among those who have committed themselves to follow him -- and where Jesus is God does big things.

That’s why among committed Christ followers you’ll find people overcoming the weights and worries of their lives. Where Jesus is alive among his people, you’ll see people coming back to life emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Hopeless people find hope and people in need find help. I see this happening around Heartland all the time as Christ followers surround and spiritually support each other and express Jesus’ love and compassion to each other.

Want to see God at work? Get close to the community of Christ followers. You join that community by making Jesus your forgiver and becoming a follower of him. I’m not talking attending church, I’m talking finding and attaching yourself to a group of people who are passionately devoted to following Jesus Christ. In those small circles of commitment, concern and care, God does some of his best and most amazing work in people’s lives. The crowd went where Jesus was to see God do big things.

Back to the story …Once Jesus had the people in a position to see God work, he started working his strategy. Jesus puts Phillip and Andrew, and the rest of his team, through a test that helps them clearly see their inabilities compared to God’s ability. When late afternoon rolled around, hunger became an issue. Jesus turns this situation into a teaching moment. John 6:5-9 describes the moment: Turning to Phillip, Jesus asked, "Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, "It would take a small fortune to feed them!" Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. "There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?"

The challenge is finding a way to feed the crowd. We’re told that Jesus already knew what He was going to do, but He first lets them take a shot at figuring things out.

Jesus had his men check their options and inventory their resources to see if they could come up with any solution to this huge need to feed. When they looked, they saw no to feed all the people. After looking around, all they could come up with was a kid’s lunch -- five little loaves of bread and two fish.

Andrew’s says what everyone is thinking, "…what good are a little bread and a few fish when your goal is to feed a crowd of thousands?" Did Phillip and Andrew fail the test Jesus set up for them? I don’t think so. I really don’t believe Jesus’ test was intended to be pass/fail. I think his plan was to use more of a look and learn approach. They looked and saw no workable solutions. But that was OK. What Jesus really wanted them to do was what he wants us to do in the face of a seemingly impossible task: get perspective.

Jesus wants us to learn to look at things in a new and different way, a way that includes God in the solution. And that’s what Jesus set out to do with these short-sighted disciples of his. As He starts to work the next steps of his plan, it’s like He’s saying, "Watch and learn, boys. Watch and learn!"

As the disciples watch, they learn that God uses little things to do big things.

Here’s how Jesus gets His point across. He says this, as recorded in John 6:10-11, "Tell everyone to sit down," So all of them—the men alone numbered five thousand—sat down on the grassy slopes. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate until they were full."

The miracle is big, but I think the lesson is bigger. God doesn’t need a lot to do something big. If we believe in a God who is all powerful, miracles are no biggie, multiplying some bread and fish is just the replication of atoms and molecules …not a problem for the creator of the universe.

The real point of wonder and importance for me is not the "what," but the "whom" of this miracle. The disciples didn’t think they had anything to offer Jesus that could help solve the problem of feeding the crowd. Somewhat sarcastically Andrew reports, "Well, we did find this kid with some bread and a few fish, but what’s that compared to the size of the crowd?"

That’s when Jesus does something big with a young kid’s little lunch. We’re never told when or how the kid’s food gets to Jesus. We don’t know exactly how old the boy is or if his parents are around or not, the one detail we do know is that when Jesus asks if he can have the food, the kid gives it.

Did he have a clue what Jesus was about to do? Who knows? He probably had seen Jesus do some pretty amazing things earlier in the day. Maybe he thought Jesus was hungry? Whatever the case, he hands over his lunch; Jesus prays over it and then turns it into something that feeds the entire crowd, more than 5,000 people, until they can’t eat any more.

This kid learned the second part of our lesson here, if God likes to use little, insignificant things to do big things: offer whatever you have to God.

The most ironic part of this story is that a young kid did what Jesus’ disciples couldn’t; he supplied Jesus with what he needed to teach everyone a big league level faith lesson. The lesson was about the kind of people God uses and how God can use whatever we have to do great things. To put it another way, the lesson is this: God prefers to work through people who don’t have it all.

Could Jesus have fed the people without using this boy or his lunch? Yes. He didn’t really need anything to create all the food needed. Jesus could have created it out of nothing. But I have to believe Jesus chose to do things this way because his plan included showing His disciples that childlike faith and obedience always tops adult rationality and reason. The boy did what Jesus’ disciples didn’t …he offered what he had to Jesus and didn’t worry about what he didn’t have. We all need to learn that lesson, especially when it comes to our thinking about our worth and usefulness to God.

The Apostle Paul wrote some interesting words about the kind of people God chooses to work through. He said, "Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful." (1 Corinthians 1:26-27)

The point is this: Learn to value your deficiencies -- God does.