Constantly Bring Forth Fruit unto God

There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches. – Proverbs 13:7

Give yourself to Christ, and when you have used yourself for His glory, you will be more able to serve Him than you are now; you shall find your little stock grow as you spend it. Remember Bunyan’s picture of the man who had a roll of cloth. He unrolled it, and he cut off so much for the poor. Then he unrolled it, and cut off some more, and the more he cut it, the longer it grew…It is certainly so with talent and ability, and with grace in the heart. The more you use it, the more there is of it. It is often so with gold and silver: the store of the liberal man increases, while the miser grows poor. We have an old proverb, which is as true as it is suggestive: “Drawn wells have the sweetest waters.” So, if you keep continually drawing on your mind, your thoughts will get sweeter; and if you continue to draw on your strength, your strength will get to be more mighty through God. The more you do, the more you may do, by the grace of the Ever-blessed One!

How is it that so many able-bodied and gifted Christians seem to be so slow in the Master’s service?…You go all the year round without caring even for the spiritual welfare of a little child. One of our friends gave a good answer to a brother who said to him, “I have been a member of a church now for forty years. I am a father in Israel.” He asked him, “How many children have you? How many have you brought to Christ?” “Well,” the man said, “I do not know that I ever brought anybody to Christ.” Upon which our friend retorted, “Call yourself a father in Israel, and yet you have no children! I think you had better wait until you have earned the title.” So do I. It would be better that we had no professors of that sort, but that all our members, even were they much fewer, should be men and women constantly bringing forth fruit unto God in the conversion of others. The Lord set you all to work with this object! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

Christ Magnified

The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear… – Deuteronomy 18:15

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” – John 6:14

The miracle of the loaves carried them back to the wilderness, and to the miracle of the manna; they remembered that Moses had said, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me.” For this Deliverer they longed, and as the bread increased so grew their wonder, until in the swelling cakes they saw the finger of God, and said, “This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world.” That little lad became, by his loaves and fishes, the revealer of Christ to all the multitude; and who can tell, if you give your loaves to Christ, whether thousands may not recognize Him as the Savior because of it? Christ is still known in the breaking of bread. But the people went further with reference to Christ, after they had been fed by the loaves and fishes: they concluded that He was a prophet, and they began whispering among themselves, “Let us make Him a king.” Now, in a better sense than the text implies, I would to God that you and I, though humbly and feebly, might serve Christ till people said, “Christ is a Prophet. Let us make Him a King.” Oh, that He had a throne in the hearts of many whom He shall feed at this time with the bread of heaven! Brethren, I know that you wish to glorify Christ. Here is the way. Bring your loaves and fishes to Christ, that He may use them in His divine commissariat, and then He shall be magnified in the eyes of all the people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

Used of God to Assuage Men’s Miseries

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. – John 6:11

A great deal of misery was removed by the lad’s basketful of barley cakes. Those poor people were famished; they had been with Christ all day and had had nothing to eat; and had they been dispersed as they were, tired and hungry, many of them would have fainted by the way; perhaps some would even have died. Oh, what would we give if we might but alleviate the misery of this world!…Perhaps I speak to some who never woke up yet to the idea that, if they were to bring their little all to Christ, He could make use of it in alleviating the misery of many a wounded conscience, and that awful misery which will come upon men if they die unforgiven and stand before the judgment bar of God without a Savior. Yes, young man, God can make you the spiritual father of many…Now, perhaps, these words come to some brother who has never yet laid hold of the idea that God can use him. You must not think that God picks out all the very choice and particularly fine persons. It is not so in the Bible; some of those that He took were very rough people: even the first apostles were mostly fishermen. Paul was an educated man, but he was like a lot out of the catalogue, one bow out of due time; the rest of them were not so, but God used them; and it still pleases God, by the base things and things that are not, to bring to nought the things that are. I do not want you to think highly of yourself; your cakes are only five, and they are barley, and poor barley at that; and your fish are very small, and there are only two of them. I do not want you to think much of them, but think much of Christ, and believe that, whoever you may be, if He thought it worth His while to buy you with His blood, and is willing to make some use of you, it is surely worth your while to come and bring yourself, and all that you have, to Him who is thus graciously ready to accept you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

What Christ Jesus Can Do

“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” …And Jesus took the loaves… – John 6:9,11

This boy gave all his loaves, and all his fish-not much, truly-but Christ multiplied it…when Jesus took the loaves, it was not only to multiply, but also to dispose of them. They were distributed by Christ. He did not believe in multiplication, unless it was attended by division. Christ’s additions mean subtraction; and Christ’s subtractions mean additions. He gives that we may give away. He multiplied as soon as ever the disciples began to distribute; and when the distribution ended, the multiplication ended. Oh, for grace to go on distributing! If you have received the truth from Christ, tell it out! God will whisper it in your ear and tell it in; but if you stop the telling out, if you cease the endeavor to bless others, it may be that God will no more bless you, nor grant you again the communion of His face. If we all would bring our loaves and fishes to the Lord Jesus Christ, He would take them, and make them wholly His own. Then, when He should have blessed them, He would multiply them, and He would bid us distribute them, and we could yet meet the needs of London, and the needs of the whole world even to the last man. Christ, who could feed five thousand, can feed five million. There is no limit. When once you get a miracle, you may as well have a great one. Whenever I find the critics paring down miracles, it always seems to me to be very poor work; for if it is a miracle, it is a miracle; and if you are in for a penny, you may as well be in for a pound. If you can believe that Christ can feed fifty, then you can believe that He can feed five hundred, five thousand, five million, five hundred million, if so it pleases Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

When Christ Blesses Our Offerings

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. – John 6:11

Christ gave thanks for these trifles because He saw whereunto they would grow. Do you not think that, having thanked the Father, He also thanked the boy? And in after years these words of gratitude would be ample recompense for such a tiny deed. Like the woman who cast in the two mites to the treasury, he gave his all, and doubtless was commended for the gift. Though high in glory to-day, Christ is still grateful when such offerings are made to Him; still He thanks His Father when, with timid trembling hands, we offer to Him our best, our all, however small; still is His heart gladdened when we bring Him our scanty store that it may be touched by His dear hand and blessed by His gracious lips…He blesses our offerings, not for their worth, but because His power will yet make them worthy of His praise. May the Lord thus bless every talent that you have! May He bless your memory; may He bless your understanding; may He bless your voices; may He bless your hearts; may He bless your heads; may He bless you all and evermore! When He puts a blessing into the little gift and into the little grace that we have, good work begins, and goes on to perfection.

When the loaves had been blessed they were increased by Christ. Peter takes one, begins to break it, and as he breaks it, he has always as much in his hand as he started with. “Here, take a bit of fish, friend,” says he. He gives a whole fish to that man, he has a whole fish left. So he gives it to another, and another, and another, and goes on scattering the bread and scattering the fish everywhere, as quickly as he can; and when he has done, he has his hands just as full of fish and as full of bread as ever. If you serve God you will never run dry. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

Give Jesus Your All

… Jesus took the loaves… – John 6:11

“Jesus took the loaves.” He has taken possession of them; they are His property. Oh, Christian people, do you mean what you say when you declare that you have given yourselves to Christ? If you have made a full transfer, therein will lie great power for usefulness…What is better still, as these loaves were given to Jesus, so they were accepted by Jesus. They were not only dedicated, but they were also consecrated. Jesus took the five barley loaves, Jesus took the two little fishes, and in doing so He seemed to say, “These will do for Me.” As the Revised Version has it, “Jesus therefore took the loaves.” Was there any reason why He should? Yes, because they were brought to Him; they were willingly presented to Him; there was a need of them, and He could work with them, “therefore” He took the loaves. Children of God, if Christ has ever made use of you, you have often stood and wondered however the Lord could accept you; but there was a “therefore” in it. He saw that you were willing to win souls: He saw the souls needed winning, and He used you, even you. Am I not now speaking to some who might be of great service if they yielded themselves unto Christ, and Christ accepted them, and they became accepted in the Beloved? Only five barley cakes, but Jesus accepted them; only two small fishes brought by a little lad, but the great Christ accepted them, and they became His own. 

The Lord bless every one of you, wherever you may be! We shall all meet in the day of judgment. May you and I meet without fear there, to sing to the sovereign grace of God, which saved us from the wrath to come, and helped us while we were here to bring our little and put it into Christ’s hands! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm