Sermon for Sunday January 18th, 2009

DINNER FOR 5,000 IS SERVED by Bruce Ball

John 6:1-6:13


One day in the middle of the woods, a hawk, a lion, and a skunk were arguing about which one was the most powerful. The hawk said it was because he could fly down and catch his dinner so quickly they could not get away.

The lion said he could run the fastest and had the bigger teeth to eat his prey with. The skunk said he was the most powerful because with one flick of his tail, he could chase them both away.

About that time, a large grizzly bear came out from the trees and ate them all; hawk, lion, and stinker.

It’s a good thing we aren’t planning an after-church fellowship dinner today, isn’t it? But I do want to talk to you about a meal that took place a long time ago. It was the meal where they feed 5,000 people with two small fish and five small loaves of bread.

We will center our attention on the meal, and especially the miracle that took place at that meal. First of all, out of all the miracles that Jesus performed, this is the only one that is documented in all four Gospels.

Jesus had gone to Jerusalem to participate in the Feast of the Jews. While Jesus was there, He had gone by the pool at Bethesda where he saw a man was blind and had been an invalid for 38 years. Jesus healed that man, and then the other Jews started condemning Jesus for doing it on the Sabbath.

At this point, Jesus began talking to them and when the Jews heard Jesus refer to Himself as the Son of God, they hated Him that much more. Now, Scripture says that some time after this, Jesus crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

Before we go any further, let’s read about it from our main text.

JOHN 6:1-13.

‘Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed Him because they saw the miracles He had performed. Then, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Passover Feast was near.

‘When Jesus looked up and saw the crowd coming toward Him, He asked Philip, ‘Where will we buy enough bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test Phillip, for He already knew what He was going to do.

‘Philip said, ‘It would take nearly a year’s wages to buy enough bread just so each person here could have one bite.’ Another disciples, Andrew, said ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but that isn’t going to very far.’

‘Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down. They numbered about 5,000. Then, Jesus took the five small loaves, gave thanks for them, and then had the disciples distribute them to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

‘When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered enough to fill twelve baskets with the pieces of fish and the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.’

Let’s stop for a moment and look deeper into this passage. Let’s look at;


1. STORY #1 - THE MIRACLE OF PROVISION

The Bible says there were about 5,000 of them. In those days, it was customary to count the men only. This number of 5,000 did not include the women and children. So, even a conservative guess would mean as many as 10,000 to 15,000 people may have actually been there.

Out of that great crowd, we can safely assume that not everyone there had come with a heart to follow the Messiah. There were some who came because they had heard amazing stories and wanted to see for themselves, and then there were some who were following a celebrity, kind of like today’s ‘groupies.’

In LUKE 9:12, we read where some of the disciples had come to Jesus and asked Him to send the people away because there was no food. They were looking at the problem, not the problem solver. There faith was firmly planted in the world and worldly solutions, not on Jesus and what He could do. Phillip was from that area, that is why Jesus asked him where they could buy enough bread to feed the crowd. Jesus was looking for a faith-filled answer, but again only received a worldly answer.

This shows what we do yet today. We look at the problems we are faced with and try our best to fix them using worldly means. The very first thing we should be doing in any situation is to run to God and ask Him to fix it. And then firmly hold on to our faith and expect Him to fix it.

And how much food did they have? They found a small child who had brought a sack lunch with him. It consisted of two small fish, each probably the size of a large candy bar, and five small loaves of barley, each probably as round as one piece of Wonder Bread is today.

We also read where Jesus told them to have everyone sit down because there was plenty of grass there. Jesus even provided a nice soft ground on which to have this lunch.

Then, the first thing Jesus did was to give thanks to the Father for this small sack lunch. And then Jesus asked the disciples to distribute what little they had. What do you think went through their mind? Did they think Jesus had finally snapped?

We are going to find out a little later that these disciples didn’t really have deep enough belief in Jesus’ divinity at this point to really believe Him, but they did as they were instructed and started handing out the fish and bread to the people.

Last week, in Diana’s Sunday school class, she shed some light on how these men may have felt.

Here they go, each one having only a few pieces of fish and bread, yet they are going down the line handing them out. One for you, one for you. And in their mind, they are thinking they are getting low and will run out. But every time they put their hand in the basket, expecting to find less and less, they actually find more and more!

That tells us two things: First, that God provides for our every need - even in ways that are impossible for us to understand. And secondly, He provides in abundance. Now let me explain that ’abundance’ does not mean so much ‘in excess’ of what we need, as it means ‘filling our needs - completely.’

When everyone had eaten their fill, Jesus told the disciples to pick up all the leftovers and they had twelve baskets full. The Lord provided enough abundance to feed those who needed fed then, with extra left over to feed others when they will need it again.

There is something else that I want you to see in this passage. It is so easily read over and ignored, but it is a very valuable lesson. It concerns the young boy who had the fish and barley loaves. He only had a little of each, barely enough to feed himself. But he offered all he had to Jesus. And Jesus multiplied it and used it with enough left to help others.

Abundance. When we have something in our possession, we have a choice as to what we do with it; we can give it to Jesus or we can keep it for ourselves. The Lord wants us to be willing to give everything we have to Him - in blind faith. And when we trust Him enough to do that, He will always begin working with us to make us more in His kingdom. Jesus takes the least and makes the most.

He took a stuttering shoe salesman named D.L. Moody and made him one of the most powerful preachers of his time, and God even let this man start Moody Bible Institute to teach others the Word of God.

Jesus took a man who only got fired up in Bible College to impress his girlfriend, and turned him into the most on-fire preacher of our time. His name is Billy Graham. He and a friend were in Bible College together, and Billy Graham considered dropping out because he knew he’d never be as good a preacher as his friend, but God had different plans.

His friend long ago quit the ministry and became a very prosperous businessman. Billy Graham, on the other hand, stayed in the ministry and has touched millions for Jesus Christ.

And just like the fish and bread, Jesus takes the meager that is given to Him, and works the miracles that produces the abundance that helps others for His glory.

Each disciple had a basket full of leftovers. They had hands on experience in seeing Jesus’ multiplying miracles. They should have believed with pure faith at this point, but we see later that evening they did something we still do today.


2. STORY # 2 - COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT

We would think that after seeing the miracle of how many were fed from so little food earlier in the day, the disciples would have believed in nothing but the power of Jesus. But we are going to find out that wasn’t the case at all.

Let’s turn over to MARK 6:45-52. This happened the same day as the miracle of feeding the 5,000-plus people.

‘When evening came, Jesus told his disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of him back across the lake. He stayed there, though, to send the crowed of people home. After sending them away, he went into the hills alone to pray.

‘That night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on the land. He saw his followers struggling hard to row the boat, because there was a storm and it was blowing against them.

‘Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. He wanted to walk past the boat, but when they saw Him walking on the water, they were afraid because they thought He was a ghost and so they cried out. But quickly Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.’

‘Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind became calm. The followers were greatly amazed. They did not understand about the miracle of the five loaves, because their minds were closed.’

It is interesting that in this passage, we find several lessons, too. Jesus sent His disciples on ahead of Him. He cared enough about the crowd of people that He stayed behind so as to make sure they were sent home in a timely fashion, and then He went to pray.

Mark says that during the middle of the night, the boat was halfway across the lake. John says they were over three miles away from shore. In Mark, we find that Jesus saw them from the shore and set out walking towards them. That should let every one of us know that even when we cannot see Him, Jesus can see us. And loves us enough to keep His eye out on us.

Again, according to Mark, Jesus was going to keep walking, but He knew the disciples were afraid and He had compassion on them, so he changed His plans and got in the boat with them. And when He climbed on board with them, the storm stopped. That, too, shows us that Jesus will be with us, no matter what we might be going through.

Jesus told them to go to the other side of the lake. That should have been their first clue that they would reach the other side of the lake. Jesus did not say, ’Get in the boat and see if you get to the other side of the lake,’ He said ’Go to the other side of the lake.’

But as the storm grew stronger and the waves grew higher, they let fear creep into their minds and that fear replaced any faith they had. And to top it all off, in the dark of night, hi-lighted by lightening, they see someone walking on the water coming near them. They thought it was a ghost and that was more than their already growing fear could handle. So Jesus had compassion on them and chose to get in the boat with them and make things calm for them.

In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus was teaching them something that would help them in the middle of life’s storms. The lesson was to depend on God for all they needed, and God would provide that which was needed. They were being given a lesson with hands on experience so they would remember; but they couldn’t remember the lesson because they didn’t understand the concept.

We have only begun to cover the great and in-depth stories found in these passages about the miracle of the 5,000 and how the disciples forgot the miracles of Jesus as soon as they ran into a storm.

But I want to take a few minutes and cover some of the things we did learn in these Scriptures and how they might be applicable to our lives today.

Let’s talk about;


3. LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES

When Jesus asked Phillip where they might buy enough food to feed everyone, Phillip looked at it through the eyes of the world. He said it would take nearly a year’s worth of wages to get enough bread for everyone to have just one bite.

APPLICATION - 1

Never try to solve life’s problems by depending on what you know of the world around you. Depend on God in everything you do, knowing He can do much more than you can even think of.

Someone in the logistics part of the military once figured out that, during the Israelite’s 40-years in the desert, they would have needed somewhere around 12 million pounds of food every day. And that is only the food. They said for them to have enough water for their bare necessities, it would have taken a train two miles long, loaded down with nothing but water tanker cars; and that was every single day.

We can see by these facts that it would have been just as impossible for man to provide the solution for the Israelites as it was to figure out how to feed 10,000 - 15,000 people on a hillside with 2 small fish and 5 pieces of bread. But in both cases, it was easy for God to supply the provision according to the need.

When we have a difficult situation, the first thing we do is try and figure out how we can solve it. Let us resolve to stop doing that because it never works. Let’s make a New Year’s resolution for 2009, that we will start training ourselves to go directly to God with our problems, even before we try to do anything about them ourselves.

Let me add this, too. It is not good enough to say, ‘I’m doing the best I can,’ because it never is the best you can until you allow God to get involved in it.

In 1 SAMUEL 17, we find that Israel’s King Saul had a problem with Goliath. He didn’t let God handle the situation, but brought a young shepherd boy named David in on it. When David went before Goliath, he brought God along with him, and it was God who gave David the power to slay the giant.

APPLICATION - 2

Never measure God’s capabilities using our standards. When they were up on the mountain, Andrew came forward to suggest they use the boy’s lunch to help feed the people, but then he says, ‘But, Lord, there are so many people!’ What seems like faith at first turned out to be a belief in man’s standards.

There is a Godly equation at work in our lives that we tend to never think about. This equation is at work in every area of every body’s lives, and if we used it, we could have so much more of everything than we have now.

Here is that equation: When we transfer something to God, no matter how little it might be, He transforms it so that it can be used for great things in His kingdom, by multiplying it as He knows is necessary.

Transfer plus Transform will always = Multiplied Provision

When I talk of transferring something to God, I am not talking about taking a little bit of what you have and hesitantly giving him that small portion. I am saying that when you take whatever you have and offer it all to Him with a humble and giving heart, He will take what He needs and give the rest back to you. And then He will take that portion you gave and He will multiply it into a powerful provision in His kingdom.

Do you remember the widow in 1 KINGS 17? There was a time of famine and she only had enough flour and oil to make one last small meal for her and her son. But when Elijah the prophet came through, she donated that for his dinner. In other words, she gave what little she had. In turn for her gift, God make sure that she never ran out of flour or oil. He used what she gave for His kingdom, and then God multiplied her provision.

Here is a biblical fact that each of us should really try to get down pat: What seems like a little to us can be used in abundance if God is in on it.

APPLICATION - 3

Only Jesus can satisfy your needs. Where did the disciples come up with enough food to feed everyone? The answer is Jesus. He multiplied what little was given to make a provision for everyone.

Again on the lake that night, they were experiencing heavy winds that created great waves. The Bible tells us that as soon as Jesus got in the boat with them, the winds became calm. In both instances, Jesus satisfied the needs. He satisfied the hunger and He then satisfied the need for peace rather than letting them stay in the boat, cowering in fear.

Now, let me ask you a question. Can you remember any time in your life that you needed something and prayed with all your might for it? Why did you pray for it? You prayed because you knew you could not fill your own need; that you had to rely on the Lord to fill it for you.

JOHN 6:35 lets us know that Jesus is our only source to fill our needs.

‘Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’

Too many people today are trying their best to satisfy the hunger in their souls by partaking of what the world has to offer. The trouble with this, is that it never works! You just get hungry again an hour later. Why? Because what you take from this world never fills you up, you always need to come back for more.

But with Jesus, He fills your soul and as long as your are in Him, He promises to remain in you. When Jesus is in your life, your life is complete.

There is another application we need to realize from these passages.

APPLICATION - 4

God allows us to have problems so that we can grow our faith in Him.

If God did not allow needs to come into our lives, we would become so independent and self-sufficient that we’d never feel the need to turn to Him. For God to bless us like he wants to do, he must send needs into our lives. But remember this; as God works needs into our lives, he also works the solutions to those needs into our lives as well.

And, as I close, let me hit on one other point.

APPLICATION - 5

There is another lesson we see when Jesus was walking on the water. It is a very short but very powerful lesson.

The sea was storm-tossed and dangerous winds came against the boat. As Jesus approached the boat, His object lesson was whatever is over your head is under His feet. No matter what the problem we face, Jesus has it all under control.

Let me quickly recap our lesson points.

#1 - Never try to solve life’s problems by depending on yourself. Depend on God – He’s the problem solver.

#2 - Never measure God’s capabilities using our standards. Little becomes much when let God get involved.

#3 - Only Jesus can satisfy your needs. What the world offers will only fill you temporarily but never satisfy you.

#4 - God allows problems in our lives so we can learn to depend on Him. When we depend on Him, He also gives us solutions to those problems.

#5 - Things that put us over our head are always under Jesus’ feet. Jesus has the power over everything ..... and we don’t.

But before we can receive all that He has for us, we must first learn how to fully rely on Him. And before we can learn to rely on Him, we must first put our full trust in Him. And we can only do that after we have chosen to live our lives for Him and not ourselves.

Have you done that yet? Have you asked Him into your heart, and told Him you are now ready to live for Him? If you want to be truly filled and satisfied, you need to invite Him into your heart.

May I ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes as we stand and sing. I am going to say a prayer for salvation, and I want you to say it along with me.