The Lord of the Broken Loaves
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· 9 viewsThe Feeding of the Five Thousand teaches us who Jesus is
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Scripture:
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
TOday we’re gonna see more of what Jesus did
Introduction:
The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of Jesus that appears in all four gospels.
The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of Jesus that appears in all four gospels.
Introduction:
Here is my outline for today:
Basket
The five loaves did not resemble large loaves of bread such as one might purchase at a bakery today. Rather the unleavened wafers of barley bread resembled small, flat pitas, each one, perhaps sufficient as one or two servings. The course barley bread, less expensive than wheat flour, made a staple for the poor. The two fish were probably dried sardines (who likes dried fish?) such as the fisheries from Magdala produced.
What Jesus did was actually a real miracle. Some people who dismiss the story as something that is impossible and not within the realm of Science tried to explain the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 by saying that Jesus encouraged everyone to just share their lunches.
Much like socialism, right?
But this is clearly a miracle, the 4 gospel writers recorded it as a significant event. John said that the people saw it as a sign, and Jesus perceived that they were going to take Him by force to make Him king.
Here is my outline for today:
The Feeding of the Five Thousand.
Image of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
I. The Background of the Miracle.
II. The Miracle in the Eyes of Jesus.
III. The Miracle in the Eyes of the Disciples.
IV. The Miracle in the Eyes of the Crowd.
V. Conclusion.
That God will provide us what we need, and He will.
That God can multiply little that we have if we turn it over to him. And He can.
Is it possible that we can focus so much on the need, and its provision. Or the lack of something and its multiplication, and somehow not have a relationship on the only Person Who can do both.
I. The Background of the Miracle.
A. The setting.
Luke in the gospel that he wrote mentioned where this miracle took place.Jesus was actually alone, most likely spending time in prayer and then the disciples joined Him,...
10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.
Luke 9:
So the miracle took place in a deserted place that belonged to the city of Bethsaida.
Image of the map of Bethsaida, here.
The background here was that the 12 disciples came back from a mission trip.
The background here was that the disciples came back from a mission trip and were tired, so Jesus wanted to bring them to a deserted place to have a retreat, a time to replenish. Jesus wanted to spend a time alone with them to minister to them.
In verse 2 of , we are told that Jesus sent the 12 disciples to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
So you can imagine that they were tired, so Jesus wanted to bring them to a deserted place to have a retreat, a time to replenish. Jesus wanted to spend a time alone with them to minister to them. A retreat.
“Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.” - Warren Wiersbe
But their plan was foiled, there were multitudes of people who followed Him on foot from the cities.
Bible scholars speculate that this is a massive crowd, most likely the biggest crowd that Jesus ministered to at a single time. How big? We know that 5,000 men were fed, why just men, women don’t feel left out. The feminists of our time would say: “See the Bible discriminates against women! “ No, it is very typical that the gospel writers counted families, the total number can easily be around 15,000 to 18,000 or probably bigger. Talk about a mega church.
Here we see that Jesus did not only impart truth
II. The miracle from the eyes of Jesus.
healing those who have been
II. The miracle from the eyes of Jesus.
You see the heart of Jesus, Matthew said in verse 14, that when he saw the great multitude, that He had compassion for them.
Jesus did not care that these people crashed His retreat. He saw the great multitude and He had compassion on them.
The New King James version says that He was moved with compassion for them. Which means that Jesus was stirred in the depths of His soul.
Lesson I: Jesus’ Ministry always put People, not Himself first.
Jesus did not demand for a “me” time. He cared about people.
Have you experienced something like planning a day off to relax and then suddenly a friend from out of town, suddenly calls, hey we’re in town let’s meet up.
Nothing wrong with that except that you haven’t called and I haven’t talked to this person and seen him for a long time and he chooses this time that I dedicated to myself. Perfect timing!
What would you do? If you’re the typical person, at first you would think about it, then begrudgingly you decide, ok I’ll see this person.. very few will say, sorry, I can’t do it I’ll see you the next time you’re in town.
You see, one thing that people nowadays are so possessive of is their time.
This is my “me” time. This is “my space”. I plan to soak in my tub the whole day. Earphones plugged in my ears. Be careful, there is actually an incident where a person was electrocuted because of defective earphones.
But Jesus wasn’t like that. His earthly life was about caring for and helping people.
You know, I have a full time job and this is the challenge of my ministry as a pastor. Because I have a full time job, I don’t have time off, except when I take vacations from work and ministry. Monday afternoon will be my typical free time. I enjoy it, I plan picking up a good book. But sometimes, as I am sitting back and just starting to open a book, the phone rings, oh its sister. This is now a confession.. no, I will have to pick up. Pastors are normally advised not to take calls during their time off, you’re gonna get burned out. I agree, it is God Himself Who designed one sabbath day rest.
But I pick up the call anyway, because you don’t know the seriousness of the need at that very moment.
Jesus didn’t think of His plans for a retreat getting foiled. He saw the need of this vast crowd and He ministered to them.
17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
III. The Miracle from the eyes of the Disciples.
Now what about the disciples?
You can imagine how tired these disciples were coming back from a mission trip, thinking that they will hang out with Jesus, drink some red wine and relax. All that was out the window when they saw these crowds.
They were probably looking at each other, would the master do this, He should send them away right?
Then they saw Jesus started healing them. The disciples were probably like: “Here we go..”
So Jesus was healing, the disciples, helping line up the sick to Jesus, but I think they were also counting, there are like a thousand sick people Jesus must heal at a rate of 500 people per hour before we can get out in like two hours. I have an idea, there is a better approach to this, Jesus can just say one word and they will all be healed, right? Why does He need to give them a personal touch?
Finally, the last sick person was healed, the disciples were probably like yay! We’re going home.
Then to their shock Jesus sat down and began to preach to the crowd about the kingdom of God. Here we go...
In verse 15, Matthew said, “when it was evening..”. I like Luke and John’s version better, Luke said: “When the day began to wear away..” Jesus was preaching the whole day and it seemed there was no end in sight, where is Jesus in His message? Is he about to end? John you say you are closest to him, do you have the outline of this sermon?”
Hey Matthew, go and ask him, this is gonna take forever, we now have to start planning how to send these 20,000 people away.. ok
Excuse me, sorry to interrupt:
Master, great preaching, I really like how you used that illustration to stress your point and how you decided to teach a whole sermon series on one Sunday, but I am planning to write a gospel, some of this they can read offline when I am done writing my gospel..
I am not making sense, he calls the twelve, come on help me out...
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
Matthew 14
Matthew 14
they were on the same page with this, they planned what they were gonna tell Jesus.
Jesus looked at them:
16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
Matthew
Ok master, cool. They gathered again...
At some point Jesus asked Philip: “Where shall we buy bread, that they may eat?” to test him.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
John 6:7
Philip is saying even if I work for a year it will not be enough to feed these people.
There is a test of faith here:
Philip failed: What he is saying is it up to me, I have to work to feed these people.
Lesson 3: Success in Ministry is never dependent on human works.
17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
John said it was actually Andrew who found a lad.
Image of the Loaves and Fish
The five loaves did not resemble large loaves of bread such as one might purchase at a bakery today. Rather the unleavened wafers of barley bread resembled small, flat pitas, each one, perhaps sufficient as one or two servings. The course barley bread, less expensive than wheat flour, made a staple for the poor. The two fish were probably dried sardines (who likes dried fish?) such as the fisheries from Magdala produced.
It didn’t matter to Jesus what it was, all they needed to do is give what they had to Jesus.
You think you have so little to give to the Lord? It seems so little to you but not to the God who can multiply.
Lesson 4: Don’t withhold the Little offering from A God Who is able to multiply.
I cannot give to the Lord’s work because I have little money, little income, little opportunities. I challenge you, believe first that God is able to multiply what you have!
This spoke to me this morning. Because I complain to God about the little time that I have for ministry because I work a full time job. And He impressed in my heart that if I am faithful with that time that I have, He is the One Who will multiply.
I’ll just bring what I have to Jesus:
Matthew 14:18-19
18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
groups of 50..
The amazing thing is this, the Bible does not say that Jesus multiplied the loaves in His hands. What did He do? He looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and listen - He gave the loaves to the disciples. (What happened to the two fish? Maybe Peter privately ate them..)
The multiplication did not happen in Jesus’ hands, He blessed and gave the loaves to the disciples, the disciples were probably doing the math… breaking this in two won’t cut it, you should break it into 20,000 parts to feed everyone.. but they just obeyed..
As they gave the loaves, they saw the multiplication happen in their hands.
Lesson 5: God will multiply His work in Your Hands if You have His blessing.
All we need is the blessing of God. We will see the multiplication happen, and experience the joy of experiencing God’s work in our lives.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 14:
Jesus did not only multiply enough bread to feed the crowd and satisfy their hunger. He even gave the disciples twelve basket fulls to take home.
I believe, in the Biblical principle of having enough for the day. “Give us this day our daily bread”. What is the lesson in twelve baskets of left overs?
There is a symbolism, those who study the end times, take it as a symbol of the regathering of the twelve tribes of Israel. But I believe, the lesson here is an encouragement to those who serve in ministry. Notice that the Lord did not give the left overs to the crowd, but to His disciples.
Lesson 6: God wants His workers to Serve out of His Overflow of blessings.
If you commit your life in serving the Lord, you will not only be satisfied.. you will get out of the rut of the cycle of focusing in your own self alone,, God helps you operate on the overflow so that you will be able to pour your life to others, just like Jesus did.
IV. The Miracle from the eyes of the People. (ending)
This is one of the greatest miracles of the Bible but it also carries a sad ending.
Read John’s version and you will see that the crowds were amazed by the miracle that they wanted to make Jesus King. Secondly, they looked for Jesus the next day. And Jesus told them you seek Me only because you ate the loaves and were satisfied. Don’t labor for the food which perishes..
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Lesson 7: Seek the Provider, not the provision.
My prayer today is that this story will not just remain in us as a story of a wonderful miracle.
That God will provide us what we need, and He will.
That God can multiply little that we have if we turn it over to him. And He can.
Is it possible that we can focus so much on the need, and its provision. Or the lack of something and its multiplication, and somehow not have a relationship on the only Person Who can do both.
Jesus said:
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:
