1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,400
Welcome to Trinity Sermons. Here at Trinity Church, Streetsville, we want to share with

2
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:13,420
you messages that inspire and encourage you in your faith journey as we learn together

3
00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:19,960
to love Jesus, to live like Jesus, and to lead other people to Jesus. This is our final

4
00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:25,540
episode of our sermon series, Jesus is the Question, and today we have Rob with us, where

5
00:00:25,540 --> 00:00:32,720
we will be exploring a very interesting question that Jesus asks, one about bread. Thanks for

6
00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:39,080
listening today. God bless.

7
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:45,760
A reading from Mark chapter 6 verses 30 through 44. The apostles gathered around Jesus and

8
00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:51,080
reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and

9
00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:57,080
going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, come with me by yourselves

10
00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:03,120
to a quiet place and get some rest. So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary

11
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:08,840
place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and

12
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:14,160
got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on

13
00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:19,280
them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many

14
00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:25,320
things. By this time, it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. This is a remote

15
00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:30,760
place, they said, and it's already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to

16
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:37,060
the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered,

17
00:01:37,060 --> 00:01:41,840
you give them something to eat. They said to him, that would take more than a half year's

18
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:47,600
wages. Are we going to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? How much

19
00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:54,840
bread do you have? He asked. Go and see. When they found out, they said five and two fish.

20
00:01:54,840 --> 00:02:00,080
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So

21
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:06,120
they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and two fishes and looking

22
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:11,320
up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples

23
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:17,120
to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate

24
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,520
and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread

25
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,000
and fish. The number of men who had eaten was five thousand. This is the word of the

26
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,000
Lord.

27
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,520
Well, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to each and every one of you this morning as

28
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,640
well, especially on this long weekend. We're glad to have you with us on long weekends.

29
00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:40,200
Sometimes people visit, other times people go away. So to one and all, we're so glad

30
00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:45,240
to have you here. My name's Rob, and I have the good, the great privilege of being the

31
00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,640
pastor here at Trinity Streetsville. And today what's going on is we are bringing to a conclusion

32
00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:57,840
a seven week teaching series, which we have entitled Jesus is the question. And the thing

33
00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:04,040
that we have been learning as we've gone through this series is essentially this, that when

34
00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:11,880
you come to Jesus with a problem, Jesus is not going to give you an easy solution and

35
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:17,740
he's not going to give you a pat answer. In fact, it's far more likely that Jesus is going

36
00:03:17,740 --> 00:03:25,360
to ask you a question in return. And in fact, if you read through the four gospels, the

37
00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:30,120
four biographies of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you will see that Jesus asked

38
00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:36,640
people over three hundred questions in those four books. But in those same four books,

39
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:45,040
Jesus only really gave answers, direct answers, like four or five times. Now, I am not really

40
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:52,440
sure how you feel about that idea, because a lot of us, I think we come to church because

41
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:58,520
we want answers. And a lot of us come to Jesus because we want answers. And so when we're

42
00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:05,320
told that Jesus is more of a question asker than he is an answer man, you might be confused

43
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:11,960
by that. You might be upset by that. You might be annoyed or you might find that even offensive.

44
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,160
In fact, I was looking this past week at some of the comments that people have been making

45
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,760
on our YouTube channel as we've gone through this teaching series. And if you look at those

46
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:26,820
comments, you can see the full range of emotion that people are feeling about this whole topic.

47
00:04:26,820 --> 00:04:33,560
So for example, one user by the name of Mr. Ahuapai, when we got started on this teaching

48
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:40,280
series, his comment was that all this talk about Jesus and questions was, quote, such

49
00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:46,860
a silly concept. And he's not alone. I think a lot of people here, a lot of people watching

50
00:04:46,860 --> 00:04:51,600
online again might be saying, yes, it's so completely silly. You guys are just being

51
00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,160
cute. You're just trying to find a cutesy way to talk about something different by doing

52
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:59,280
this thing with Jesus, who's always asking questions and never giving answers. So you

53
00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:07,320
might agree with Mr. Ahuapai. Somebody else asked this. This user was called Harry Hutchinson4410.

54
00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:14,000
He said, why would he, Jesus, have questions for me? Isn't he omniscient and know everything

55
00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:19,640
that has and will happen? That is a really good question too. That is the question of

56
00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:26,540
God's omniscience, of God knowing everything. In fact, another person said the same kind

57
00:05:26,540 --> 00:05:31,240
of thing. This one's a little hard to read, but Ali Jade said, I thought God was omnipotent.

58
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:38,240
And I think he meant probably omniscient and has an unchanging word because he knows all,

59
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:46,340
question mark. And I get it. If Jesus is God and if God knows everything, then Jesus should

60
00:05:46,340 --> 00:05:54,520
know everything. So then why is Jesus walking around asking all these questions? Now, other

61
00:05:54,520 --> 00:06:01,440
people online commented that they felt like they had every right to ask Jesus some questions

62
00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:08,360
and that they frankly deserved some answers from Jesus. Jesus, why do you condone slavery?

63
00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:14,240
They're talking about some, in the Bible, the Old Testament, some stories around slavery.

64
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,960
Or Jesus, why are people sick? Or Jesus, why is the earth such a mess? Or Jesus, what about

65
00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:24,040
cancer? Jesus, what about this? What about that? They really do feel like Jesus owes

66
00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:28,960
them an answer for some of these things. Some of them even had like kind of strange, you

67
00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:35,120
know, Jesus, why in the Old Testament was there a command against eating shellfish and

68
00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:40,280
shrimp and stuff like that? Right? So a lot of questions. Some of the questions, because

69
00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:44,360
it's the internet, some of the questions that we got asked were a little bit silly. This

70
00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,160
question, this question might not have been silly. It might've been a serious question,

71
00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:53,560
but we had a user by the name of Iron Raiden who asked, I heard Jesus really liked smoking

72
00:06:53,560 --> 00:07:02,760
weed. Is this true? Now, thankfully, Elizabeth, who is our online engagement director, she

73
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:07,480
responded to all these questions very sensitively and very quickly. She even responded to this

74
00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:18,240
one, very adeptly. Elizabeth said, hey, bud, hope you don't have high expectations because

75
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:30,760
to be blunt, we don't have a dope answer for you. That is why we pay her the big bucks,

76
00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,240
people. By the way, if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel, you really should

77
00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,000
do that because there's a lot going on there. These are really good questions. They're really

78
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:44,280
good comments. And I'm hoping that today as we wrap all this up, the last question that

79
00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,440
you're going to like it will maybe kind of help bring all this together because we're

80
00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,760
going to look at one more question Jesus asked. And the question is found in what I would

81
00:07:52,760 --> 00:08:00,760
say is probably the most popular story in all the gospels. You see, there is one story,

82
00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:06,520
the story of the feeding of the 5,000 that appears in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

83
00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:11,880
And it's the only miracle that appears in all four gospels with the exception, of course,

84
00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:18,560
of the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, Matthew and Mark actually tell an additional second

85
00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:24,320
story where Jesus fed a crowd of about 4,000 people. So you've got four plus two, so there's

86
00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:31,320
about six tellings of this miraculous feeding story that take place throughout the four

87
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,600
gospels. And at the heart of these stories is a question. We're going to get to that

88
00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:40,280
question in just a second. But first, let's get a little background and set the story

89
00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:45,920
up. The story starts with Jesus and his disciples, and they're exhausted. They're tired and they're

90
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:53,720
worn out because it's the early days of Jesus's ministry and they are busy. People are coming

91
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:58,760
to Jesus to hear his teaching. More and more people are coming to Jesus to experience his

92
00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:04,400
healing and the crowds are growing. The crowds are growing to the thousands and they're following

93
00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:09,000
him everywhere he goes. And so Jesus says eventually, hey, because there's so many people

94
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000
coming and going that they didn't even have a chance to eat. Jesus says to his disciples,

95
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:20,480
listen, come away. Let's get away for a little R and R. Let's go to a quiet place and get

96
00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:27,320
some rest. And so they get into a boat and they sail off to find a quiet retreat. By

97
00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:33,680
the way, I hope this summer you've had a chance to get away and get a little R and R yourself.

98
00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:37,680
If you haven't been able to get away or if you haven't been able to get a break, well,

99
00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:43,640
then you're in good company and Jesus knows how you feel because Jesus couldn't get away

100
00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:48,960
either because what seemed to happen is that Jesus got on the boat and went across the

101
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:53,520
lake and somebody in the crowd then said, hey, I think I know where he's going. Follow

102
00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:58,320
me everybody. And so they ran and they walked and they hobbled and they were on their crutches

103
00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:03,320
or whatever and they walked around the shoreline to the place where Jesus was going. So that

104
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,840
when Jesus and his disciples pulled into their little retreat, there they were. The welcoming

105
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:13,080
committee was there. Hey, Jesus, remember us? And I got to tell you, like if I were

106
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:18,240
Jesus and thankfully I'm not, that's a scary thought. But if I were him, I would be like,

107
00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:23,320
oh gosh, let's get back in the boat and let's try again. Let's go find another destination.

108
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:31,840
But because Jesus is way more compassionate than I am, he decided to say, no, guys, let's

109
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:37,280
park here for a while longer. And he began to teach them many things, even though the

110
00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:44,440
disciples were really tired and really hungry and really, really needed a rest. When I think

111
00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:49,240
of the disciples, I think of my own kids when they were younger, especially we would go

112
00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,960
to church on Sunday and we'd have two or three services at some of the churches we were at.

113
00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:59,080
And then there'd be coffee hour and they just wanted to go home. They just wanted it to

114
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,920
be over at some point. And Sally and I would usually stick around and we'd be chatting

115
00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:08,800
with people and drinking coffee and refilling our coffee and, hey, catching up with you.

116
00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,200
And we were usually like the last people to leave. And our kids would be like tugging

117
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:19,640
on us or like getting in our line of sight and saying, when are we going home? I want

118
00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:25,920
to leave. And I think the disciples felt a little bit like this. We just need them to

119
00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:33,680
leave. But the problem is Jesus and his disciples can't just leave because they're out there

120
00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:37,960
in the wilderness now, right? On a remote location, there's nothing to eat. Now the

121
00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:43,240
disciples say here, we've got an idea. Send the people away to some town, help them, let

122
00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:49,400
them go and find a town somewhere so they can buy something to eat. And in response

123
00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:55,560
to that idea, this is where Jesus asks the question. It's a bit of a confusing question.

124
00:11:55,560 --> 00:12:01,520
It's a irksome question. It's a kind of bizarre in some ways. But in that moment, Jesus says,

125
00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:09,080
well, how much bread do you have? How much bread do you have? Now, I don't know about

126
00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:13,120
you, but this question throws me for a bit of a loop. You're out there in the wilderness

127
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:18,080
surrounded by thousands of people who are hungry. And you turn to your disciples and

128
00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:23,940
say, well, how much, how much bread do you have? I spent a lot of time this week thinking

129
00:12:23,940 --> 00:12:30,520
about this question. And I feel there's probably only three possible ways we can understand

130
00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,560
what this question means. How much bread do you have? And I think you guys have all got

131
00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:40,880
to kind of decide for yourself what this question means. In my way of thinking, it's either

132
00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:49,520
a question for information, it's a question for participation, or it's a question for

133
00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,680
transformation, right? So how much bread do you have? Is that an information question?

134
00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:58,000
Is that a participation question? Or is that a transformation question? Let me explain

135
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,800
what I mean by each one of those. The first possible meaning of the question, how much

136
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:09,120
bread do you have? Could just be the face value. Just, you know, he's simply asking

137
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:16,360
the question, how much bread do we have? Because Jesus legitimately did not know how much bread

138
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:21,420
they had. It's just a question. Like this morning, for example, I got a text message

139
00:13:21,420 --> 00:13:25,600
from someone and they said, Rob, could you go check and see how much cream and milk we

140
00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:31,880
have in the fridge for coffee hour? Now I didn't say, what are you really getting at?

141
00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:36,240
You know, what's the real question behind your question? They would have been like,

142
00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,840
no, we just want to know is there cream and is there milk? And so I went and I checked

143
00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,960
and I said, there's not very much. You better go buy some more. They just wanted information.

144
00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:49,200
And maybe that's all that was going on here. Maybe Jesus just legitimately did not know

145
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,760
if they had enough bread. And I guess one thing this interpretation has going for is

146
00:13:53,760 --> 00:14:01,640
it definitely emphasizes the human side of Jesus. Maybe there are legitimately some things

147
00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:10,600
that Jesus just as a human being did not know. I mean, was part of Jesus giving up his divine

148
00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:18,800
privilege? Did that also mean giving up his divine knowledge? You heard the users on YouTube,

149
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:24,840
they were like, isn't Jesus omniscient? Doesn't he know everything? Or was Jesus just like

150
00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,560
you and me? And there were actually lots of things that he didn't know. How much, how

151
00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:34,200
much bread do you have? Right? Maybe Jesus just asked this question for information and

152
00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,520
when he got his answer, he said, oh, we don't have very much. We're going to have to do

153
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:43,680
something about that. Now that there's still something about that that doesn't sit well

154
00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,960
with me. It seems a little silly. I know there's no such thing as a stupid question, but in

155
00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:52,520
some ways that is kind of a stupid question because you're, you're surrounded by 5,000

156
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:58,440
hungry people. Some say it's 5,000 hungry families, right? And, and you know, as if

157
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:05,240
Jesus would, would think that there's a possibility that there's actually enough bread. I mean,

158
00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,800
did one of you guys, uh, guys, I'm just going to ask you a question just out of curiosity.

159
00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:13,880
Did anybody happen to bring like 750 loaves of bread with him? I did. I didn't know. Did

160
00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:18,120
anyone have a couple of wagon loads of bread that I didn't see? No, no, you didn't. You

161
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,160
didn't. Okay. I just thought I'd check. I was just trying to get some information. I

162
00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:26,320
just wasn't sure. But now that I know the answer, see, I didn't want to do a miracle

163
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:30,680
if we had the bread, but now that we don't have the bread, I'll look after it. Stand

164
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:35,280
back everybody. Ta-da, boom. And then the bread comes up. So yeah, there is something

165
00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:39,400
that doesn't seem right about this answer that Jesus was just asking for information.

166
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,580
It doesn't make sense. At least it doesn't make a hundred percent sense to me, but thankfully

167
00:15:43,580 --> 00:15:48,260
that's not the only possible way to understand the question. How much bread do you have?

168
00:15:48,260 --> 00:15:51,920
It might not have been a question about information. It might've actually been more of a question

169
00:15:51,920 --> 00:16:01,240
about participation, participation. Could it be that Jesus's great miracle of feeding

170
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:08,920
the 5,000 depended on the disciples participation? Could it be that before Jesus would do his

171
00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:16,680
part multiplying the bread and the fish, they had to do their part, which was bringing whatever

172
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:26,560
they had. Is that why he asked, how much bread do you have? Now on the one hand, I don't

173
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:31,760
think I can't think that Jesus absolutely needed them to have some bread in order for

174
00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,440
this miracle to happen. Because I think that if, if Jesus has said, how much bread do you

175
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,120
have? And they had said, we don't have anything. I don't think Jesus would have shrugged his

176
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:42,280
shoulders and said, there's nothing we can do then let's get out of here and walked away

177
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:49,280
disgruntled. No, I think Jesus still would have found a way to feed this multitude. But,

178
00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:58,440
but even though Jesus doesn't need us to accomplish his mission, maybe he still invites us to

179
00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:06,160
be part of that mission. God always has the victory. Yes. But he wants us to join him

180
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:16,920
in that victory. Could it be that Jesus just couldn't or wouldn't have done this miracle

181
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:24,680
without them? That he wouldn't have done the miracle if they hadn't brought the bread and

182
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:32,760
the fish and put it in his hands so he could bless it, break it and share it. It's kind

183
00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:37,920
of like math. It's like multiplication. Zero times anything is always zero, but even a

184
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:47,680
very small number can be multiplied to exponential size if need be. If the disciples had hoarded

185
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:52,560
all they have, yes, sure. They may have had enough for themselves, but nobody else would

186
00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:59,920
have had a thing. So I don't know. I'm a little bit torn by this explanation. I want to believe

187
00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:06,280
that Jesus could have fed these people without their help. But, but I also believe that God

188
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:15,240
can't work with what we're not willing to give. So what about you? If I ask that question

189
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:23,980
to you now, how much bread do you have? Are you willing to trust God with your possessions?

190
00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:30,080
Are you willing to participate in God's kingdom through generous giving? Do you believe that

191
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:36,320
God can take what you give, even if it's not very much, and he can multiply into more than

192
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:42,560
you can imagine in your life, in our world, even in our community here? Do you want to

193
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:53,080
participate in a miracle? Then how much bread do you have? Can you put it into God's hands?

194
00:18:53,080 --> 00:19:01,560
Our job is to give it. His job is to multiply it. So that would be a second way of understanding

195
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:06,080
Jesus question. How much bread do you have? Not about information, but an invitation to

196
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:11,900
participation. Still, I want to throw out a third possibility of what that question was

197
00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:21,040
all about. Not information, not even participation, but it was a question meant to affect radical

198
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:28,000
transformation in people's hearts and minds. Here's what I mean. Some interpreters of this

199
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:33,920
story suggest that perhaps all those people on the hillside that day with Jesus, they

200
00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:40,480
actually had some food with them. But because they were only thinking of themselves or fearing

201
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:47,340
that they wouldn't have enough, they hid their food from others. But only when Jesus asked

202
00:19:47,340 --> 00:19:52,240
the question, how much bread do you have? And only when the disciples brought their

203
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:58,680
meager amount of loaves and fishes, did the others start to do the same. And then when

204
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:05,760
people saw the generosity of Jesus and disciples, they opened up their own knapsacks and they

205
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:12,160
started sharing whatever they had brought. And all of a sudden it turned out that what

206
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:20,720
they shared was enough. It was more than enough. They even had leftovers after it. So now if

207
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:25,920
you believe this question, if you believe that this is what the question meant, then

208
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:30,520
Jesus isn't asking for information. How much bread? No, we've got two loaves, five fish,

209
00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,960
five loaves, two fish. And he's not even asking for participation. Jesus, I'll do my part

210
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:41,320
if you do your part. It's actually a question of transformation. He wants to radically transform

211
00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:49,620
people's hearts and minds. You see, like the disciples, even today, many people live and

212
00:20:49,620 --> 00:20:55,340
operate out of what you might call a theology of scarcity. Just like the people in the story

213
00:20:55,340 --> 00:21:00,720
who were on the hillside that day, they were sure they did not have enough. And we are

214
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:06,480
quite sure that we do not have enough either. Right. And we need to therefore protect whatever

215
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:14,360
we have. But Jesus wants to transform our thinking. What answer did Jesus really want

216
00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:21,200
to hear when he asked how much bread do you have? What did he really want to hear? Did

217
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,080
he really want to hear? Oh, we've got five loaves and two fish. No, I think what he really

218
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:33,560
wanted to hear was this. We've got enough. We've got more than enough. By asking this

219
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:39,040
question, Jesus is transforming their thinking from a theology of scarcity to a theology

220
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,320
of abundance. And a theology of abundance is an approach to life that says, you know

221
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:48,160
what? God is generous. There is enough. There's enough for our needs. And there's enough for

222
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:53,160
the needs of others, too. Just about everybody in this room could go home and look at their

223
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,900
life in one of two ways. You could look at your home. You could look at your apartment.

224
00:21:56,900 --> 00:22:00,220
You could look at your car. You could look at your paycheck. You could look at your dinner

225
00:22:00,220 --> 00:22:05,200
table and you could either say there is not enough or you could say there's enough and

226
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:11,520
there's more than enough. But that requires a transformation in your heart and in your

227
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:21,560
mind. So the third way of understanding Jesus's question, how much bread do you have is, is

228
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:29,120
he's trying to transform us full disclosure. I actually gravitate toward this third interpretation.

229
00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:34,720
And it's not because I'm a person of science and I don't have faith to believe in miracles.

230
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:41,460
I'm not skeptical of the supernatural. I believe Jesus could have multiplied fish and bread

231
00:22:41,460 --> 00:22:47,960
and done a miracle that way. But is it any less of a miracle when people are feared or

232
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:54,320
when people are freed from the grip of fear and scarcity and transformed into generous

233
00:22:54,320 --> 00:23:00,720
people that trust in God's abundance? I think that's a pretty big miracle too. If that happens,

234
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,840
you know what it means? It means that it's not that Jesus does a miracle. It's not just

235
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:14,000
that we participate in a miracle. It's that we become the miracle. And you know what?

236
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:20,200
Isn't that what the world needs? Not just for us to believe in miracles, not just for

237
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:26,720
us to pray for miracles, but the world needs us to be the miracle. The poor and hungry

238
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:32,080
need us to be the miracle. The lonely and lost, they need us to be the miracle. The

239
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:38,840
kids in Honduras need us to be the miracle. The people of our city need us to be the miracle.

240
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:43,040
With all the problems in our world and in our community, Trinity, let's not just watch

241
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:50,000
for a miracle. Let's not just wait for a miracle, but let's be the miracle. Let's be transformed

242
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:57,400
in our thinking, be transformed in our hearts and in our actions. So why did Jesus ask the

243
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:03,040
question, how much bread do you have? Was it for information? Was it for participation?

244
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,640
Was it for transformation? You can decide for yourself, but you still need to answer

245
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:17,400
the question as well. Because Jesus asks you and me, how much bread do you have? You could

246
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:22,080
say not enough Jesus, sorry. I don't have enough Jesus. I don't have enough time. I

247
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:26,760
don't have enough money. I don't have enough ability. I don't have enough faith. Or you

248
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:35,320
could answer, God, I don't have much, but what I do have, I give it to you. Or even

249
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:40,520
better, I hope we can get to the place where we can say, God, you know, I've got plenty.

250
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:50,080
I've got enough. I've got more than enough to share. Thanks be to God. Amen.

251
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,520
Thanks so much for joining us today and we hope that you enjoyed our sermon. If you enjoyed

252
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,760
the show today, please take some time to rate and review our podcast so that we can better

253
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:03,760
share our good news with others. Come back again next week where we will be beginning

254
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:09,960
a brand new sermon series. Thanks for listening. Today's sermon was taken from the September

255
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:22,440
3rd, 2023 service at Trinity Church, Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario.