The Fourth of His Signs

Introduction

Illustration: Antiques Roadshow “doorstops” that end up being valued at thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Wouldn’t we all love to find something at a yard sale for 20 dollars and sell it for 10000? It’s sort of fun to have this fantasy of accidentally coming into a bunch of money. What if I told you that we’re all sort of sitting on a goldmine that we don’t know about? Not a financial one, but a spiritual one. Now some might be disappointed to get spiritual wealth over physical wealth, but the truth is that our spiritual health is so much more important than having material goods. Which will you take with you when you die, your stuff or your Spirit?

So what is this goldmine of spiritual wealth that I’m talking about? Where can we find everything that we need for all of eternity? If you’ve guessed Jesus, than my friend you are correct. In this chapter of John’s Gospel, we read about a moment where Jesus works a wonder in order to teach His disciples about how He is the one who can provide for all of their true needs. Let’s read starting at the beginning of John chapter 6:

John 6:1–15 CSB

After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand. Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Everything Jesus did while He was alive served a purpose. In this moment it wasn’t just about giving hungry people bread, although Jesus certainly cares a great deal about that. Jesus makes this a moment to teach His disciples that He is the great provider. I think if we look closely we can see that Jesus doesn’t just provide, but He collaborates with us in providing for the world and for His kingdom. Not only does Jesus provide, but He provides with abundance, more than we could think or imagine as Paul says in one of his letters. Finally we also see that Jesus provides for us, but not always in the way we would want or expect Him to.

Jesus Provides With Us

Illustration: Our kids love to help us. But they are little, and sometimes its easier not to have their help. But the value for them is worth letting them.

I don’t blame my kids for wanting to help. It feels good to really be able to help people, doesn’t it? I think that there is to some degree in all of us a God given motivation to help the people that we can, and we shouldn’t resist that inner drive if we have the means to help others. But what about when it comes to helping God? We know that God is all powerful, so we know that He certainly doesn’t need our help. What could we possibly offer to God that He doesn’t have the means to accomplish already? Well what if I told you that although God doesn’t need our help, He really does want it? He is after all our Father, and like any Father appreciates the heart behind His children looking up to Him and asking how they can help.

I think this desire to use our help is shown in these few verses of our passage this morning. We’ll be looking at verses five to eleven.

John 6:5–11 CSB

So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand. Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.

I want you to think about something for a minute. Did Jesus need to involve the disciples at all? After all we’ve hammered home the point a number of times already this sermon series that Jesus isn’t an ordinary man. He is “the Word made flesh” as John put it, or in other words God Himself come to earth as a human being. If He had wanted to surely He could have made the bread appear from nothing. He could have just said “let there be bread” and it would have appeared on everyones lap. What did He do instead? He turns to one of His disciples and asks a question. Where can we get some bread for these people?

Now it’s obvious that Jesus is in object lesson mode here, because John comes right out and tells us that He asked Philip this question “to test Him.” The Biblical concept of God testing us is not so that He can learn something about us in the testing, but that we can learn something about ourselves and grow. So Jesus is making this a moment to teach His disciples and the crowds something important. For the purposes of this test He wants to involve the disciples and use what they have to provide for this crowd.

What do the disciples find to provide for this crowd of people? Keep in mind that there are 5000 men, not counting the women and children. John leaves that part out but Matthew the Tax Collector has a more detailed representation of the numbers, surprise surprise. That’s a lot of people. Could have been as many as 10000. All the disciples can scrounge together is five barley loaves and two fish.

Now already this is very obviously not enough for 5000 just on a surface level reading, but let’s take a closer look at just how meager this offering is that they bring to Him. Of course quick shoutout to this anonymous “boy” for graciously donating His lunch. First of all, barley loaves were poor people food. Wheat was the preferred grain of choice for making bread, and so if you were eating barley it was probably because you were of little means. And the fish? Most commentators I read say they were probably sardines. Maybe not the smallest fish out there, but probably the smallest one we eat, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about that.

So how does Jesus respond? Does He say, “oh that won’t do, let me take care of this myself?” Does He send their small gift back to them and make His own bread? No, of course not. He takes what He gives them and He multiplies it. Now I’m far from the first pastor to make the connection here to our gifts today. Jesus wants to give the bread of life to the whole world. He could do it on His own. In fact there are cases where Jesus appears in a dream to someone who then becomes a Christian. He could just do that with everyone. Instead when Jesus left the earth He told His disciples to “make disciples of all nations.”

When it comes to make disciples we have this beautiful situation where God calls us to bring Him our meager bread and sardines so that He can take it and use it. So that we can say for certain that God wanted us involved, but we can also say for certain that God was the one who really made the difference, lest we get a puffed up ego.

So then my friends, are you bringing your loaves and fish to Jesus? In other words, are you taking the gifts and abilities that God gave you and using them for the sake of Jesus’ Kingdom? I don’t mean just here in our church, although we have lots of ways here that you can use your God given gifts, but also in helping people in need, and reaching people with the Good News that Jesus died for their sins and they can live forever in Him. Maybe there are some of you here who feel like you don’t have anything to offer. That the reason you haven’t been involved in ministry is because you think you aren’t capable enough. The one question I would ask you is this: can five loaves and two fish feed 5000 people?

Jesus Provides More Than We Need

Illustration: Anyone who has grown Zucchini knows what it’s like to have something in abundance.

No one likes to live just barely scraping by. To spend your paycheck as soon as you get it. To not be able to afford to take a sick day. To be one expensive car repair away from your financial house of cards falling down. Yet for a lot of human history and still in many places around the world it has been very common for people to work hard every day without much certainty that they’d have food for tomorrow.

Now a lot of what Jesus taught when He was walking the earth and doing ministry was centred around being content with what we have and trusting God to provide for us. But that’s for this life. Jesus wants to teach us through His signs not just about this life, and not even primarily about this life. He wants to teach us what the future Kingdom of God will be like.

So then, will we have to scrape by after Jesus comes back and sets the world right? Will we ever have to wonder if we will have enough? Let’s see what Jesus’ miracle in this passage has to say about that. Let’s read verses eleven to thirteen.

John 6:11–13 CSB

Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.

Think about this for a moment. Wouldn’t it have been enough to feed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish? Did there need to be leftovers? In fact it may even have been extra impressive in a way if He created exactly as much bread as everyone needed. So then Jesus must be saying something with this abundance that He provided, so much so that they ended up with more leftovers than what they started with.

It’s important here that we clarify something that sadly a huge number of people are mixed up about, and largely because of evil men who use verses like this to manipulate naive people. God doesn’t promise us riches and abundance in this life. He doesn’t. He promises enough, and that is all. So that Paul, a devoted and dilligent servant of Jesus doesn’t say that God will bless Him with financial gain, but that God has helped Him to be content with whatever He has. He writes in Philippians 4:11-13

Philippians 4:11–13 CSB

I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.

It’s not earthly wealth that Jesus is offering us here. It’s spiritual riches that Jesus is offering us, and a promise of a future Kingdom where we will have abundance.

So what does this abundant miracle mean for all of us today? It means that we can trust that God has the means not only to supply our need, but that He will bless us with every spiritual blessing and is preparing a place for us in a Kingdom where no one will ever have need. So in those moments where times are lean and difficult we need to remind ourselves that we serve a God who is more than able to supply us with what we need.

Jesus Provides In Unexpected Ways

Illustration: There’s always money in the Banana Stand.

If you’re a planner like some are, than you like to know what the plan is. Where are we going next? Where are we stopping for food. It’s comforting to have steps to follow, things to check off the to do list. Some of us have wished at certain points in our lives that God would do this with our life plans. I can’t be the only one, right? Where we have kind of wished God would just let us know what the next phase is. The thing is that throughout Israel’s history, God actually did let them know what the plan was. They were called prophecies, and even though Israel had the prophecies they still got a lot of things wrong about what God was planning to do in the future.

Sometimes we can get ideas about what we think God should do and how we think that God should do it. The Israelites for example read the prophecies about the Messiah and they figured that He would come as a King and conquer all the Gentiles and rule the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem. And you can’t blame them really, if you read the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament that’s what it really seems like. But God I think enjoys doing the unexpected. Revealing that He has a better plan. So then we don’t often get to know what God is doing ahead of time and even when we do He often surprises us with exactly how He gets there.

Jesus shows us this in the last couple verses of our passage this morning:

John 6:14–15 CSB

When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

The people who were gathered and received the bread quickly got an idea. As far as they were concerned the message was clear: This Jesus guy is the one we’ve been waiting for. When they say He is “the Prophet” they are referring to a prophecy found in Deuteronomy 18:18

Deuteronomy 18:18 CSB

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

There were differing views amongst the Jewish people about whether this person was the same or different than the Messiah. The crowd doesn’t seem to care about the nuance of this. They saw Him multiply their bread and now they want to make Him king. That’s what they expected from the prophecied coming one, right? So let’s go ahead and make Him king now. That would only make sense. These people were ready to take matters into their own hands and make God do what they expected Him to do.

But that was never Jesus’ plan. As He Himself says in Matthew 20:28

Matthew 20:28 CSB

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus didn’t come to rule on earth as King. He came to die for our sins and pay the ransom for us so that we could be free and live forever. Of all the theories about the Messiah that were around during the time of Jesus I can pretty confidently say that no one was predicting that Messiah would come and die on a cross to pay for everyone’s sins and then rise on the third day. In fact I think the purpose of prophecy in Scripture is not so that we will know exactly what will happen in the future, but so that when it does happen we can look back and see that it was God’s plan all along. Which is why I don’t much speculate about the prophecies of the New Testament about the end times. Chances are we’re all wrong and it won’t quite happen like we think it will, but we will be able to see plainly when we get there that this is how it was always supposed to happen.

The point is this: don’t assume you know what God is going to do. This is important because sometimes, consciously or unconsciously, we pray and act as if we know exactly how God is going to answer our prayers. We pray for sick people as if we already know that God won’t heal them, or if He does it will be through the doctors. We pray for finances as if we expect a raise at work. Or we pray for wisdom about the future thinking God’s just going to bless the plan we already have in mind. My friends, God has a better plan than yours in all these cases. In Isaiah the prophet encourages sinful people to give up their own will and ways and in doing so expresses a timeless principle about how God’s way is superior to ours, this is Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8–9 CSB

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In other words be humble enough to think that God might answer your prayer or guide your path in an unexpected way. Be open minded about how God might direct you and what He might ask you to do for the sake of His work in this world.

Conclusion

In the end I think the most obvious message that Jesus is sharing with us by multiplying the bread and the fish is that He is our provider. Yet we can also see when we look closely that Jesus chooses to invite us into His work and use our gifts to reach the world. Not because He needs to, but because He loves us and wants to work with us. We see also that Jesus is able to give us more than we can ask or imagine, that He is a generous God who will supply all our needs especially in the Kingdom to come. Finally we see that sometimes Jesus provides in ways we didn’t expect. That we might think we have His plan figured out but He always surprises us and that’s okay because His plan is so much better than ours.

At the end of the day although each of these points has its own application to our lives there’s one large application to all of it that we cannot miss this morning. Turn to Jesus. No matter what your need is or what you’re facing Jesus has what you need. That doesn’t mean we’ll always have money, or health, or success. But it does mean we’ll always have what we need to live righteously and serve Him and that we can eagerly anticipate a future world without need with Him forever.

So then my brothers and sisters as we sing one more song and then make our way why don’t we think thankful thoughts. Thanks Jesus for the way that He has provided for you before, and even thank Him for the way that we know He will provide for us. Most of all go out ready with the message for the world that our God can give you what you need for your soul.

Let us pray.