The All Satisfying Bread
Notes
Transcript
Continuing on our sermon series on “The Miracles of Jesus”
This is in line with our theme for this new year:
Behold the Son in 2021!
We are living in exciting times, this may be the year that Jesus returns.
We will talk of specific miracles of Jesus but what I hope we take away from this series of messages is “the miracle of Jesus” or the miracle that is Jesus.
Jesus is the greatest that can happen in our lives. (Encourage)
Going back to the purposes of Jesus’ miracles the last time I shared:
Purposes of Jesus’ Miracles:
a. To meet a need. (The obvious reason) - To authenticate His mission.
b. To prove Jesus is from God. - To authenticate His Person
c. So people will believe in Jesus. - To authenticate His message.
Last time we studied the miracle of healing of the sick man in the pool of Bethesda in John 5, today we move to the next chapter, chapter 6 to look one of the greatest miracles of all, the feeding of the 5,000.
Note that aside from His resurrection, the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus that is written in all four gospels. And if it is written in all four gospels, it must be really important and there are very important life lessons that we can learn from this miracle.
While we will be reading from John 5, we will also explore this account in the other gospels, specifically the Book of Mark, and do a parallel study.
1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
Background:
They went away to the other side of the sea.. in the book of Mark, the intent was for them to get away from the crowds, Jesus’ ministry was exploding and Jesus recognizes that his disciples needed to go to a desolate place to rest:
31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
But the crowd followed Jesus. What was Jesus’ reaction, weary and exhausted from many hours or perhaps many days of ministering..
34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Don’t you love Jesus. Talk of His compassion. Our tendency to retreat.. don’t pick up. So He taught them...
It grew late.. there are a couple of things at play here..
The disciples wanting to rest or probably thinking of their own dinner .. before that we have to send these multitude away.. they themselves are tired,, but stuck with this crowd.
Jesus did not seem to worry.
Who would bring it up? It’s getting late.. they are also tired and hungry.. THEY BEGAN TO GRUMBLE AS THEIR STOMACHS RUMBLED.
finally one of them told Jesus, from Mark 6:36
36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Jesus gave them a strange reply:
37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”
The next part of the conversation is interesting, in John 6, Jesus actually asked one of His disciples Philip:
“Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” (John 6:5b)
It was actually Philip who replied in verse 7:
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
In another translation, what was actually said was “it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of these folks to even have a bite!”
you see what’s going on here… Philip and the disciples are measuring the need based on what they can do, not what God can do.
But Hallelujah, all the while Jesus in verse 6:
6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
Jesus is ready to act and do a miracle...
Lesson 1:
1. Your predicament can be God’s next accomplishment.
Do not judge your situation by your limitation.
Your resource is not your only recourse.
God is Your ultimate source.
In verse 9, it appears one of His disciples Andrew had a possible soultion. Andrew said to Jesus:
9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
God actually wants to work with what you already have, in reality it was Jesus Who first asked,
in Mark 6 verse 38:
38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
Let’s see what you got.. Jesus can work wonders with what you already have:
Lesson 2:
2. Your participation leads to God’s multiplication.
This is important. God multiplies what You have.
Question: Could Jesus have created bread out of nothing? Yes, he is the creator God Who spoke the whole universe out of existence.
We have to step out with what we have and allow the Lord to multiply it.
To experience God’s constant blessing we have to participate in the greater blessing.
That is the principle of tithing. Christians are caught up with the percentage they have to give to the work of the Lord, should it really be 10%?
When we do that we think more of what we keep to ourselves instead of what we give and allow God to multiply.
People ask me does the New Testament require us to give 10%, I’m gonna reply with a question, how much do you want to see God multiply in your lives?
I’ve seen endless stories of people who struggle endlessly trying to budget what they keep to themselves.
I’ve seen stories of those who kept challenging themselves to give more and saw God’s multiplication. The blessing just came from God’s multiple sources.
Your participation leads to God’s multiplication.
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
Let us notice a key difference in the gospel accounts:
Mark put it this way:
39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.
The accounts from the two gospels appear to be very similar but there is a difference if you noticed:
In Mark: He divided among them all.
In John: He distributed as much as they wanted.
Which sounds better to you?
Mark, they divided what Jesus produced.. John portrayed the story like the food kept appearing and multiplying - as much as they want.
You see that the difference in how the gospel writers presented Jesus, Mark presented His humanity as a servant. John presented Jesus as God.
I talked about the miracles of Jesus have the purpose of filling a need.
“as much as they want”. I don’t think the Bible encourages us to ask for more than we need. And get us much as we want and be greedy.
The lesson is getting the greater blessing from God depends on how much you really want it.
Lesson 3:
Desire the source of the blessing, not the blessing.
We need food for the body, but it only satisfies for a while.
Desire the food that would continue to satisfy. John focuses of Jesus being God and the source of unending supply.
One purpose of Jesus’ miracle is to point people to Him.
That is exactly what He is doing through this miracle. Praise God for the lesson of God able to supply more than what we need.. 12 baskets of the fragments of the bread and the fish.. we believe in Jehovah Jireh.
But do not miss out on the greater blessing. The Greater Miracle. You can receive Jesus into your life.
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.
Sadly, they missed out on the greater miracle.