Sermon Tone Analysis

When We Follow Jesus...

The Gospel of John

John 6:1-13; Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - September 28, 2016

(Revised August 5, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 6. Tonight, we will study the Lord's great miracle of feeding the 5,000.

But before we begin, there are some interesting things to notice about how the Holy Spirit put the New Testament together.

*The Bible is the one and only inspired, infallible Word of God.

Human authors were led by God's Spirit to write exactly what they wrote.

Peter confirmed this truth in 2 Peter 1:20-21, where he said that we should be:

20.

knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,

21. for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

*God's Holy Spirit wrote this Book, and it's interesting to see how He put the pieces together.

For example, there's a time gap in John's Gospel between the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6. John simply described this gap in vs. 1 by saying, "AFTER THESE THINGS Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias."

*We don't know exactly how long the time gap was, but it must have been months, because all of the events in John 1-4 took place in the Lord's first year of ministry, the healing miracle in John 5 took place at the beginning of the second year, and here in John 6, we are near the beginning of the third year.

(1)

*That's pretty amazing to me.

Why did the Holy Spirit skip over that time gap?

God knows!

Praise the Lord.

*There is a similar gap in Matthew's Gospel.

This gap is in Matthew 4, and it's between vs. 11 and 12. Verse 11 took place at the end of the Lord's temptation and says, "Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Then vs. 12 says, "Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee."

*The gap between those verses is almost a year long.

The Holy Spirit led Matthew to leave out almost the whole first year of the Lord's ministry.

Then decades later, God led John to fill in the gap by writing John 1-4.

Praise the Lord for that too! (2)

*Another interesting thing to notice here is that this feeding of the 5,000 and the Lord's resurrection are the only two miracles recorded in all four Gospels.

The resurrection is understandable.

But of all the Lord's other wonderful miracles, this is the only one in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13).

Why did the Holy Spirit do that?

God surely knows!

*And there is a remarkable variety in the four Gospels.

Matthew starts with the Lord's birth.

Mark starts with the Lord's baptism.

Luke starts with John the Baptist's birth and tells us more about Jesus' birth.

John starts before the creation of the universe!

To sum it up, yes, there is a glorious harmony among the four Gospels but there is also an interesting variety that would be missing, if these books were written by mere men.

*With that background in mind, let's read about Jesus miraculously feeding thousands of people.

This miracle can help us be better followers of Jesus Christ.

So, please think about that as we read John 6:1-13.

MESSAGE:

*Some of us here tonight have been following the Lord for 50 years or more, and no doubt, you have learned a lot along the way.

But as long as we are in this world, there is always more to learn.

And tonight's Scripture teaches us a whole lot about following the Lord.

1. FIRST: WHEN WE FOLLOW JESUS, HE WILL STRETCH US.

*Jesus will stretch our faith.

That's what the Lord did to Philip in tonight's Scripture.

And we can see the stretch in vs. 1-7:

1.

After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

2. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.

3.

And Jesus went up on a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

4. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.

5. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?''

6.

But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

7. Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.''

*Jesus asked Philip that question in vs. 5 for one reason: The Lord wanted to "prove" Philip.

Jesus wanted to "test" or "examine" Philip, and Christians: The Lord will do the same thing to us.

*Why does the Lord do that?

It's not to condemn us or to give us a failing grade.

The Lord tests us to help us see where we are, so we can move ahead and grow.

Jesus wasn't trying to trick or embarrass Philip.

He was testing Philip to stretch his faith.

*And notice that the tests can be hard.

Jesus asked Philip to do a hard thing.

He wasn't asking Philip to go buy a couple of Big Macs and fries!

No.

This was a huge crowd of people: 5,000 men and possibly another 10,000 women and children.

*Matthew's Gospel makes it clear that Jesus was asking the disciples to provide food for all of those people.

Here's what happened in Matthew 14:13-17:

13.

When Jesus heard it (i.e. when Jesus heard about John the Baptist's death), He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.

But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

14.

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

15.

When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.

Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.''

16.

But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.

YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT.''

17.

And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish.''

*Jesus was asking them to do an incredibly hard thing, really, an impossible thing.

And, as if the Lord didn't already know it, Philip pointed this fact out to Jesus in vs. 7. "Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.'''

*We need to know that a denarius was the main silver coin of the Roman Empire, and it was roughly equal to the pay for a day's labor.

So 200 denarii was the pay for 200 days of work.

In other words: More than six months' wages wasn't enough to feed that crowd, with even a little bit of food!

Why did Jesus ask Philip to do such a hard thing?

Why does He ask us to do hard things?

*A struggling Christian once asked me, "Why does life have to be so hard?

God could make it easy for us if He wanted to."

Of course, the main reason why life can be hard is because we live in a lost and dying world.

It's a fallen, sin-sick world.

*But as I thought about that question and this Scripture, I can see another good reason why God asks His people to do hard things.

It's because He is making something beautiful and wonderful out of our lives.

*It's a little like cooking.

I can microwave a bowl of grits, and I make a great peanut butter sandwich.

That's easy, and I even like the taste.

But there's nothing really special about that.

Then, I think of a great Thanksgiving Dinner with maybe a fried turkey and sweet potato casserole and that cranberry salad Mary makes and dressing and rice and gravy and apple or pecan pie.

That's a feast fit for a king!

But it's hard to make.

*Well, God's not making a peanut butter sandwich out of our lives.