by Gary Grey
We are certainly living in a time of rapid change. I do not believe that God would be honored if we were to throw our hands up and give up in discouragement because of the problems we face. We may have a new problem, but He is the same God!
In Matthew 14, the disciples of Jesus had a problem. John the Baptist had been beheaded and when Jesus heard of it from his disciples (Mark 6:30), he invited them to “come apart to a desert place and rest awhile.” Matthew 14:13-14 says, “they followed Him on foot out of the cities” and “he was moved with compassion toward them.” He taught them and healed their sick. The day stretched on until evening time. The disciples may have felt impatient with the demands of Jesus’ ministry. They came to Jesus to advise Him to send the crowds away because it was late, and there was no place nearby for the crowd to secure a meal.
They were simply saying, “Nothing can be done, Lord, it is an impossible situation.” They saw the crowd, they saw the difficulty, and they looked at the problem and not at the Lord Jesus. They seemed not to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God, that He was their Messiah. Therefore, they failed to recognize the situation as an opportunity for Jesus to do what only He could do — and that was to supply the need. They also grossly overestimated their poverty when they told Jesus they only had five loaves and two fishes. Their problem, simply stated, was: there is a demand for which there is no apparent supply. They were looking at the circumstances — not to the One who can control the circumstances.
Every miracle in God’s Word began upon the platform of a problem. Problems are situations engineered of God to bring us face to face with our deficiencies so we might view His sufficiency.
What did these disciples resolve to do? They resolved to escape and pass the buck. They did the very same things that we do today — by wanting to soak up all of the showers of blessing, but wanting someone else to bear all of the responsibilities. Many people today want to belong to a good church, but they expect someone else to pay the bills. Some in our Fellowship would say that they want a vital missions program, colleges on the move, and young men standing in line to start churches, but they let someone else supply the necessary financial support to pay for it! They, too, are saying, “Send the multitudes away. Whatever is done for these hungry men and women will have to be done by somebody else.”
Jesus told his disciples, “They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” Jesus knew what He would do! He was in charge! He assumed success and was ready for the results. His disciples underestimated his potential as well as their own part in the miracle. He used the disciples to reach the multitudes; each had their own assignment as do we! As His servants, we are distributors and not manufacturers. We have an awesome responsibility to give and to distribute. God gives us what we have, and we are managers and not owners!
The day that seemed destined to end in defeat ended in victory! God never calls us to do something He does not empower us to do. Whom God enlists, He enlightens. Whom God enlightens, He empowers. Jesus was present and fully adequate to take care of the situation. “All ate and had enough.”
The secret that broke the miracle open was: the lad gave; Jesus gave; the disciples gave. There was a contagion of giving. When giving took place, God moved within the affairs of men and released His resources! Our people have what we need and our preachers have what we need. I believe the Lord has enough money in our pockets to do anything He wants the Fellowship to do.
If we want our Fellowship to go forward, we must make Baptist Bible College and Boston Baptist College strong! If we want a strong missionary ministry, we must have strong colleges for the training of our missionaries. If we want teachers, pastors, youth directors, associate pastors, ministers of music, and others in Christian ministry, we must have strong colleges to continue to train these men and women!
Right now, Baptist Bible College in particular needs us. At the present time, 450 churches involved in our Fellowship support Baptist Bible College on either a monthly basis or in our May offering. Just think what we could do together if every church would raise their support $50 to $100 per month! We could raise from $200,000 to $400,000 per year, and this additional income could be used to make the monthly payment on our loan.
I believe that most of our churches could give this amount — which is about the same amount we would give to a new missionary for monthly support. We need to recognize the urgency of taking care of our “home base” to keep up the flow of missionaries.
As your president, I want to challenge you to help our beloved Baptist Bible College not only to survive but to accomplish more in the days ahead for the glory of our Savior!