Questions of Jesus: How Many Loaves Do You Have (Matthew 15:32-39)

17 years ago, 3 months, 10 days. A moment that changed our lives. 17 years, 3 months, 10 days… I looked it up this morning. I had worked in an industry for the 25 years, and at the same company for the last 20. And that morning, February 29th, a leap day, 2008 all of that ended. I was working in an industry I loved, in fact at one time thought I would be doing it the rest of my working days. But that morning, because of massive layoffs with this company across the country, I was just a number on a spreadsheet that was zeroed out. There is still an article online that shows it. (I was shown the door)

We were raising four kids, had a mortgage, we were doing life, and in the course of about 7 minutes, all of that seemed to change. Now some of you might remember the news of the day in 2008 & 2009, not exactly a great time to be without a job or to have a mortgage, but as I sat there in the office of my boss and he was telling me the news, I honestly had a peace. Its hard to describe, because as I left that day at 10 o’clock in the morning and called Karen from the car to tell her, I knew that whatever was next, we were Ok. Not because of my work ethic or my skills, but because I believed that God was in it.

You see two years prior to this day, I had been feeling God’s call on our lives to ministry, full time ministry. I had no idea what that looked like, but I began to prepare the best way I knew how. While still working I began to work partime at the church where we were attending, teaching discipleship classes, and helping wherever I could. I remember after work on Monday evenings going to the church and calling the people who had filled out a visitors card on the Sunday before to thank them for visiting, seeing if there was anything I could pray about, or any questions about the church I could answer. I even began to take seminary classes. In those two years between the time we surrendered to ministry and that morning, 17 years ago, 3 months, and 10 days, I was waiting on God to show me what was next.

And now, here I was….no job. Was this the moment that God was about to move me out of that industry into his? Or was this still a time of waiting, and I was to simply go find another job in radio. Looking back, I believe the answer came in that moment when I sat in my bosses office, across from his desk, with the business manager sitting next to me with the severance package folder… and that peace came over me. A peace that said, “God my life, my career, my family…it is all in your hands. Do with it what you will. And he did. God did more with this radio guy and photography store manager than we could ever imagine.

But thats what happens. Thats what he does. For two years I held onto that position. The security of the paycheck, the pride of being in the industry, and when I finally released those things, God did something so out of this world.

This morning as we continue on with the series “Questions of Jesus” what I want to you to consider is this, What Do You Have In Your Hands, That You Could Surrender. Knowing That When You Surrender What You Have, You Can Watch Jesus Do More With That Than We Could Ever Imagine.

So before we jump into the question, we have something that we do as a church here at Temple and 7000 miles away in Nigeria at Cornerstone Baptist Church…we declare what we believe about this book.

But we are going to do this creed Nigerian style, so that means stand to your feet…….and lets declare this together

++++CREED++++

The Bible is the Word of God. The truth of the Bible Will Change My Life. Lord Open my heart and awaken my mind and give me grace to respond. Change me for your glory and my joy amen.

Open your Bibles to Matthew 15. Page number __________________

Now I know that the questions so far that Pastor Doug has focused on have come through the Gospel of John. But this morning, we are going to shift to Matthew’s gospel. Next week, Pastor Doug will be back in John with another question from Jesus.

This morning we find Jesus’ question in the account of the feeding of the 4000. Matthew 15, starting in verse 32. If you are there say hey Hey.

Matthew 15:32 ESV

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said,

Now verse 32 begins with an adverb…the word “then,” which would means “after that.” After what? What was going on before verse 32?

In verse 29, Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee and it says that he went up on the mountain and sat down, and people started to come to him. When they came, they were bringing people to be healed. Jesus was performing miracles left and right. He was casting our demons, healing the lame, the blind, and the crippled and this huge crowd had gathered to see Jesus, to hear his teaching, or to be healed. And we will find out later, but all of this wasn’t over the course of a few hours or an afternoon, This went on for days. So there is a point here in verse 32 where Jesus calls his disciples and they come and gather around him.

Matthew 15:32 ESV

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

Matthew 15:33 ESV

33 And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?”

Matthew 15:34 ESV

34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

Matthew 15:35–36 ESV

35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Matthew 15:37–38 ESV

37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

Did you see the question that Jesus asked? HOW MANY LOAVES DO YOU HAVE? I mean there have been so great questions so far. The last two weeks Pastor Doug brought up Jesus’ question DO YOU BELEIEVE IN THE SON OF MAN. Other questions from Jesus included DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED and WHO ARE YOU SEEKING? Great questions from Jesus, and I get HOW MUCH BREAD YOU GOT?

But seriously, this is great question for each of us to consider, and has nothing to do with gluton content. But what it does ask each and every on of us today, is WHAT ARE YOU HOLDING ONTO THAT YOU NEED TO SURRENDER TO JESUS AND LET HIM TAKE IT AND DO MORE WITH IT THAN WE COULD DO OURSELVES? Let me ask that again because it is a long question. WHAT ARE I HOLDING ONTO THAT I NEED TO SURRENDER TO JESUS AND LET HIM TAKE IT AND DO MORE WITH IT THAN I COULD DO MYSELF?

Everything from your past to your present, every situation, every hurt, every victory, every talent…Jesus can take that and do more with it than we could do ourselves, IF you will surrender it to him.

As we look at this event, the feeding of the four thousand, I think its important to see the spoken words from those in the story. Matthew actually only records the words of two different people: Jesus in verses 32 & 34, and the disciples in verses 33 & 34. The rest of the passage is a narrative surrounding the event of the feeding of the four thousand.

Jesus make a statement (32). The disciples ask a question(33). Jesus asks a question (34). Then the disciples answer his question (34).

So how do we get to this idea of surrendering something that we are holding onto and allow Jesus to do more with it than we could ever imagine?

It starts with a heart for helping others.

We need a heart for helping others.

Whatever good or bad thing that we have experienced in our life can be used for good. Jesus can use anything. And when we realize that why would we hold onto something that would help others. Why would we continue to tuck that away inside our heart. Did you see Jesus’ heart for others?

Matthew 15:32 ESV

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

Jesus looked around, this crowd of over 4000 people, cause remember that was 4000 men, not counting the women and children, so there could have been a crowd of over 15 thousand. This crowd had been there for three days, many of them trying to get to Jesus, for healing or to listen to his teaching, but whatever the case they were out in a place far from anything.

THEY WERE SO INTENT ON SEEING HIM, HEARING FROM HIM THAT THEY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE.

Do we get that way? Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness so much that we would abandon the things of life to find it?

Jesus had something that was worth sticking around for. He was teaching something that they had never heard, and maybe up to that point, his words and his actions were different than anyone else’s, because he had a heart for them, each one of them.

He had compassion on the crowd. In fact he didn’t want to send them away to go get food on their own because he feared that they would pass out along the way.

Whatever you are holding onto, whatever is in your past that you want to cling to, you will only get to the point of letting it go when you see that by giving that thing to Jesus and allowing him to do more with it than you can, that it will make a difference in someone elses life.

And you know what will drive that in you to give it to Jesus? Compassion for other people. When we can get our eyes off of ourselves, and our selfish desires, and our trying to control our lives, and look around us and see that what we are holding back would actually help someone else through the hands of Jesus, that is when God is glorified through our obedience.

Jesus had a heart from helping others, and for us to do the same we need to surrender what we have.

When Jesus showed his compassion for the people to his disciples, they seemed to forget who they were speaking to.

2. We need a remembrance of who he is and what he has done.

Matthew 15:33 ESV

33 And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?”

Now if your like me, I read this verse and say, Duh, don’t you remember. You know he did this before, right? And there were a thousand more men last time than this time. Even though it had been about six months before this and in a different region, how could the disciples forget? How could they even say, “Jesus I don’t know what we are going to do?” Or look at the present circumstances. Healing after healing after healing, and still the disciples say, WHAT ARE WE going to do?

But don’t we do that? Don’t we sometimes forget where God has brought us from and out of? We may have seen him do a powerful work in a situation that seemed impossible, and we get past it and forget, he is the one that got me through that. He is the one that gave me refuge in that situation. And then sometime later another situation happens and it takes time to get through our thick heads that he is our source for help. He has been the one who has proven that he is God. He is the one that has had compassion on us, and he is the only one who has made a way for an abundant life while we are here and an eternal life when we leave this world.

Why do we forget? Why do we doubt? Why don’t we remember when he has shone up for us before? Whatever the reason, Jesus is there to forgive and remind us that he loves us, he has compassion on us, and he continues to pursue us.

Then is verse 34, he asks the question, asking us release what we have

3. We need to surrender what we have to Jesus

Matthew 15:34 ESV

34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

He knew. He knew what they had. He’s God. Come on. He knew. And they gave it to him. They released it, they surrendured it to Jesus.

On that morning, 17 years ago, the conversation wasn’t about my future in radio, it was about, “How many loaves do you have?” I walked out of that office and the only thing I held onto was an envelope. I had given the rest to Jesus.

Some of you may need to walk out of this room today carrying one less thing that you have been holding onto. Whatever that “thing” is for you, let go of it, surrender it, put it is the hands of someone who can use it for his good and glory. What happened when the disciples did that?

The disciples gave him the loaves and fish…

Matthew 15:35–37 ESV

35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

Jesus took something so small, out of the hands of his disciples, and did something greater with it than they could do on their own. And I love the way that Matthew writes the narrative here. Not only did Jesus take something and make it greater and bigger they could ever imagine, but because the disciples put it in the hands of Jesus…thousands of people were SATISFIED.

You have the ability to let Jesus satisfy someone, when you choose to surrender what you have to him.

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About five years ago a transport driver came up to our door in Nigeria and told us there was a woman in the bus outside our compound who wanted to see us. As we walked out the door and got close to the bus we saw a young girl about 19 or 20 years old, holding a new born baby. I mean new born, one day old. As Karen began to talk to her, we learned that she was a student at our college in town and her parents lived far away in another state. While she was in school she had gotten pregnant and did not go back home during her breaks to face her parents. They had no idea that she was pregnant. She believed that if she told her family about the baby that they would disown her, reject her and the baby and then not pay for her school. In her mind, she had no hope.

So her plan that day was to come to this place that someone told her about A PLACE OF HOPE, and she was going to drop off that baby, as much as is pained her, she was going to drop off that baby and drive down the road and never look back.

As I stood there and watch as Karen began to talk to her, I saw compassion. Compassion from Karen even in the face of doubt from this young lady. Karen looked at her and told her “I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been there.” And Karen began to tell her things that she had carried for years, letting that young girl know that she was not alone. Talking to that young woman in that moment, she surrendured those things and gave them to Jesus.

Karen encouraged her to go back home to her parents, take her priest with her and let her family see the baby. She told her, if they don’t accept the baby, then yes, we will take that baby in, love it and raise it in the name of Jesus. That young lady called three days later and told Karen that her family was happy and they had welcomed the baby with open arms.

In that moment Jesus took those tough experiences and did more with them that Karen could have possibly done by hanging onto them.

What are you holding onto today? What do you need to release and give to Jesus so that he can take whatever it is and do more with it than we could do ourselves.

Is it a hurt? Is it a victory? Is it a calling? Whatever it is this is what I know…Jesus has compassion on people, and he wants to use you and what you have to do something even better with it, but first you have to surrender it to him.

I’m going to ask the band to make there way to the stage, and in a moment we are going to sing one more worship song.

What do you have to surrender to Jesus that you are holding on to? What can he take and use for his glory? Maybe this morning, as I have spoken… that thing…whatever it is… has been brought to your mind…let that go, surrender it to him. Give it to him so that he can use it for his glory. You are welcome to come down to this altar and release that this morning.

Or maybe the thing that you may need to give to Jesus is your life. If you have never come to a place of complete surrender to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, Pastor Doug is here in the front, Pastor Lance is here, we even have a prayer room in the back where people are there to meet with you and pray with you. And if you are watching online, simply text the word PRAY FW to ____94-000______.

Lets give it away, and see what Jesus will do.

(Pray) Stand in worship.