Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Well good morning Forest Glen! Good to be with you all this today.

If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan Osborn and I serve as the Pastor here at Park | FG!

LENT DEVO ANC

Today we’re starting a new sermon series called “I Am.”

We will spend several weeks in the Gospel of John talking about how we often look for satisfaction and fulfillment in life through a bunch of different things.

And yet, Jesus articulates a different version of finding fulfillment.

It isn't found in a multiplicity of places—but’s found in Him.

He is the one who satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart.

And he says so with just two words, "I am."

So we’re starting in John chapter 6. .

It’s on page 891 if you have one of the house bibles from underneath your seat. .

This morning we are going to starting in John chapter 6. .

It’s on page *** if you have one of the house bibles from underneath your seat.

—and we’ll be working our way through most of the chapter this morning.

What is enough?

How do you know when you have enough?

This morning we are going to starting in John chapter 6. .

It’s on page *** if you have one of the house bibles from underneath your seat.

—and we’ll be working our way through most of the chapter this morning.

Introduction

And while you’re turning there.

Something I learned this week is that it’s hard explaining the difference between a WANTS and and NEEDS to a 2 year old.

Have you been there?

I was making a mental list of things Evelyn regularly declare she needs from me—and for the most part, it’s the usual suspects.

goldfish…snacks…toys.

The other day we were sitting down just playing together; having this sweet daddy-daughter moment and she looked at me and said, “Daddy…I need some privacy.”

Privacy?

Where on earth did you learn that word?

And at this point—I’ve had it with all the “need, need, need” stuff and so I begin what can only be described as a fools errand…trying to explain to a two year old the different between wants and needs.

I can’t even describe how much she was not trackin’ with me!

But here’s the thing…it’s not just hard with kids…it might be even harder to navigate this when we’re talking about adults.

Because we can now justify why things are not just wants, but needs, right?! We can build a whole rationale around it!

And we end up saying things like

I need a vacation.

I need a new...

I need a better...

I need more space.

If we think for a moment that kids have a problem—man we gotta listen to ourselves and think about every time WE use the word NEED when what we really mean is something more like WANT.

And I’m bringing this up this morning because ALL OF US have a list of things that we think need—we have the reasons for WHY we need it, why we’ve earned it, and why we deserve it!

And yet in the passage we are looking today, if we really understand it, Jesus radically redefines what we need; and he does it in a way that’s going to make some of us feel pretty uncomfortable…in fact what he says in is so uncomfortable that after he says it, many of the people who were following Him, stopped.

Because they’re not about what Jesus is about.

And I’m bringing this up this morning because in the passage we’re looking at, Jesus directly addresses this idea of what we need.

[EPAND]

So finish the phrase:

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to ’ll pray and then we’ll get started.

PRAY

What the Crowd WANTS ()

Alright, let’s get started.

Let me give us just a little bit of context that will help us make sense of what we’re looking at this morning.

First of all-- up to this point in the Gospel John, Jesus has been attracting a significant following.

As He is moving from town to town, people are gathering to listen to him teach and see him do these miracles.

Look with me starting at .

People wanted to be around Jesus.

They’d heard all of these rumor about what he can do—they’ve seen sick people be healed by Him.

Feeding the Multitude

And by the time you get to , there is a pretty large group of people who are following him!

But something interesting happens this time.

Because when Jesus sees the crowd forming again, he looks to his closest followers, the twelve disciples, and says they should provide some food for the crowd that has gathered there.

John tells us that there are about 5,000 men—not mention the numbers of women and children who would have been with them!

So many scholars think there likely would have been upwards of 20,000 people gathered there to see Jesus.

So when He starts talking about feeding them, it’s almost like his disciples think it’s a joke—they don’t really take it seriously that Jesus wants to feed them!

And I think you have to read between the lines a bit in the story to see this, but they start ball-parking how much it would cost to go out and buy enough bread, not even to serve lunch but just for something like light refreshments…and it’s a crazy amount of money—not even a real option.

And guy, brings up a kid who’s got 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish—but it’s not really anything to write home about let alone begin to feed a crowd of 20,000—it’s his way of saying, ‘this is all we’ve got’!

5 Loaves and 2 fish.

Now, I know a lot of you have heard this story before, it’s one of the more popular stories about Jesus...and I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I think of this story, when ever I hear, 5 Loaves of bread and two fish, I always think of something like this.

Pull out the bread and fish from cooler.

Which, that would be a pretty good lunch for a kid—a little too much gluten maybe for my taste, but that’s a nice spread!

That’s what I think of.

But based on the words John uses in the original language, which is greek, to describe the food—I think we usually get the wrong image in our minds.

It’s actually much more like this!

Pull out the bag of Triscuits and Sardines.

You’ve got to think of it like a Triscuit or some other kind of glorified cracker—and then with the two fish—they are these tiny fish—like little Sardines which were typically used as a side dish.

here’s what we’ve got recognize…this food that Jesus is about to multiply…this is food that was very typical of the poor in that day!

It’s not this lavish meal.

Here’s what I want to you to see…this is food that was very typical of the poorer communities in that day!

Obviously, it’s not a lot of food to begin with, right?

It’s not some lavish meal.

But Jesus takes this lunch, prays for the food, and then begins to pass the crackers around to everyone in the crowd.

Now John doesn’t tell us how this happens, but what he does tell us that the food begins to multiply…as they pass the bread—each person taking as much as they need to be full—it multiplies…and the same with the fish; it multiplies.

So much so that John tells us everybody ate until they were full there were STILL 12 baskets of food left over!

And something clicks for the crowd.

They have just seen Jesus do something incredible right before them!

They were hungry and in a matter of moments, Jesus provided exactly what they needed!

And it it took no real effort at all for Him to do it!

But for us to really track with what’s about to happen and the conversation that Jesus will have with these folks in the rest of the story, we have to put our selves for a moment in their shoes!

What have the crowds seen?

Remember from v.2 (), the reason they have come to see Jesus in the first place is because they know and have seen him heal people who were sick—in other words, Jesus is doing stuff that NO ONE else has been able to do!

They don’t have medicine that can do what Jesus does…they don’t have doctors who can do what Jesus does.

They’ve seen people who, without a doubt, were on the verge of death, but when they have an encounter with Jesus—everything changes; they’re healed!

And now, they’ve seen him miraculously provide MORE THAN ENOUGH food like this!

So in their minds, they’ve found the one who can provide for their health AND their hunger, right?! Two of the most basic human needs!

If they have Jesus, they don’t need to worry about being sick anymore, because Jesus can fix it!

With Him, they don’t need to worry about going hungry because He can take care of it!

And who knows what else he can do!

And there is this collective understanding of ‘Just think of the benefits that come with Jesus!

And in v. 15 () Jesus knows what they’re thinking…he’s watching this unfold in front Him so He withdraws because he knows they are about to try and make a power play.

They want Him to be their king!

They Want More Signs ()

They Want Jesus to Meet their Needs ()