Amen and let us take our Bibles now and open
up to John chapter 6. John 6 as we continue in
our sermon series through some of the miracles
of Jesus. We're gonna look at verses 1 through
15 and what we're looking at is a familiar story.
familiar miracle that actually I think isn't
really all that familiar to us. We think we know
this well, but there is so much to uncover in
the feeding of the 5 ,000. This is such an important
miracle, and I think the Gospels are screaming
this to us to take notice of this because this
miracle of Jesus is in all four Gospels. In addition
to John 6, you can find it in Matthew 14. Mark
6 and Luke chapter 9 and so let us give our attention
to this and pay careful attention Because there
is a lot here to see about our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ Listen to this for this is the word
of the Lord After this Jesus went away to the
other side of the Sea of Galilee Which is the
Sea of Tiberias? And a large crowd was following
him, because they saw the signs that he was doing
on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and
there he sat down with his disciples. Now the
Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
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? He said this to test him, for he himself
knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200
denarii worth of bread would not be enough for
each of them to get a little. One of his disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there
is a boy here who has five barley loaves and
two fish, but what are they for so many? 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 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 and when they'd eaten their
fill he told his disciples gather up the leftover
fragments that nothing may be lost So they gathered
them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves left by those who
had eaten. When the people saw the sign that
he had done, they said, indeed, this is indeed
the prophet who is to come into the world. Perceiving
then that they were about to come and take him
by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again
to the mountain by himself. This is God's holy
word. Let us pray. Father, what a miraculous
miracle this is. We see and hear the great care
of Jesus for his people. And so I pray that as
we study this, we would see the compassion of
Christ and know how much you care for us because,
God, you prove your love to us in the while we
are yet sinners. Christ died for us. Help this
truth to sink deep down into our hearts. These
things we ask, praying for understanding in the
name of Christ. Amen. The great reformer Martin
Luther wrote many things in his lifetime. Luther
was known for his commentary on Galatians. Luther
wrote many things about Genesis. Indeed, Luther's
writing ministry, it was impressive and prolific.
Anybody know what Martin Luther wrote? His last
words? It was found in his pocket after he died
that Luther wrote this. We are beggars. This
is true. We are beggars. This is true of all
that Luther could have said he could have written
something down about Justification by faith alone
and Christ alone to the glory of God alone He
could have written all kinds of things, but the
last thing that Luther said We are beggars This
is true It's been said many times. We're all
just beggars trying to tell other beggars where
to find bread Jesus tells us where. We look no
further than Jesus, because Jesus is the true
bread from heaven. As I said, this is a familiar
text that actually isn't all that familiar, so
let's look at some of the details here in verse
one. The location. The Sea of Galilee, also known
as the Sea of Tiberias. This is near some northern
Galilean towns like Bethsaida. And I think that
this is an important point, and I'll come back
to it later, that we should recognize that some
of the disciples were from this region. So you
have the disciples there with Jesus. You have
this crowd that has been following Jesus. He's
been teaching them. And verse two says that he
has performed many signs on the sick. And so
this is why they're following him. They've seen
him at work. Now, we're only in chapter six of
John, and if you go back through the first five
chapters, you actually don't see that many miracles
yet from Jesus, which tells us that Jesus has
performed many more miracles than are written
down. Matter of fact, that's what we see at the
end of the book of John, that if... If one were
to write down all that Jesus did, John says the
world would not be able to contain all the books
that could be written. And so there's a lot more
that Jesus is doing that we don't see. Jesus
goes up onto this mountain with the disciples
and then we get this fascinating tidbit of information
in verse four. Now the Passover, the feast of
the Jews was at hand. Why is this important?
Why is this important to know that the Passover
is coming? Well friends, what's really happening
in John chapter 6 is that the Holy Spirit is
communicating through the writer of John a retelling
of the Exodus. That's what's happening in John
6. In a way, it's a retelling of the Exodus.
Think about it. Why was Passover celebrated?
Well, it commemorates when God saved Israel from
Egypt. John six is reenacting this history because
as Israel escaped Egypt and went into the wilderness,
what did they need? They needed food. And so
what did God provide? He provided for them manna
from heaven, bread from heaven, right? Here in
John six, that's exactly what Jesus does. He
provides the bread. He provides. the meat. But
what else? As we see later in John 6, Jesus walks
on the water. Are we not here reminded of the
time that the Israelites walked through the parted
Red Sea, getting out of Egypt? Additionally,
the Israelites began to, in Exodus, recognize
that Moses was a prophet. And here, In verse
14, that's what the people say. This is indeed
the prophet who is to come into the world. The
whole point of this is to say that an even greater
Moses has come and an even greater Moses promises
a greater deliverance. And so we see Jesus provide
the bread. Now I think there's something important
to recognize about this. Who is the one who first
mentions the bread? It's Jesus, look in verse
five, about halfway through. Jesus said to Philip,
where are we to buy bread that these people may
eat? Jesus knows their needs, and Jesus knows
your needs too. It's a sad fact that sometimes
we reduce God to one who only cares for our salvation.
Of course, God cares for our salvation, but do
we believe that Jesus cares for us in every single
conceivable way? Do we trust that God cares for
us? Do you believe this today? Here, within John
6, we see Jesus is not aloof. Jesus is not insensitive
to the needs of his people. He's the one who
brings it up. We can also see this in the Lord's
Prayer. that we've already prayed today. Jesus
teaches his disciples, give us this day our daily
bread. Think about that for a minute. Of all
of the things that Jesus taught his disciples,
of all of the things that he could teach his
disciples to pray, he says, pray for your food.
And so before Jesus distributes this food here,
he prays in verse 11. Jesus again shows us how
much he cares for his people Jesus is the good
shepherd and what does a good shepherd do but
protect the sheep and rescue the sheep and provide
for the sheep and lead the sheep Jesus does all
of this for us and because the Holy Spirit has
this recorded for you you can look at this chapter
and know how much God loves you in Christ Jesus
And so Christian, don't hesitate to go to God
with every godly need, every godly desire, every
confession, trusting in God that he will meet
those needs in Christ Jesus according to his
will. I like how 1 Peter 5 -7 puts it, cast your
cares upon him because he cares for you. God
cares about every single need that you have.
God cares about this, and so he sends Jesus,
and Jesus is here on the mountain. The other
gospels tell us that Jesus has been teaching
the disciples, he's been teaching the crowd,
but he doesn't just teach them, he provides for
them. Jesus, as we have noted recently with Christmas,
is incarnate. He has a true body. Jesus is probably
hungry too. And so he's the one who brings it
up. He's the one who puts it into their minds
as if to say, hey guys, what's for lunch? I could
eat. But we should also note this, many of us
today will go from this sanctuary and we'll go
home. Many of us, most of us, I hope all of us
have food. We have food in the cabinets, food
in the fridge, food on the table. I hope that
that's the case. We should understand that's
not necessarily the case with this crowd, right?
Matter of fact, most of this crowd, they probably
don't have all that they need all the time. They
probably were hungry, right? Isaiah 55, one through
two, illustrates this point. Isaiah 55, one through
two, says, come, everyone who thirsts. Come to
the waters, and he who has no money, come buy
and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Why do you spend your money
for that which is not bread and your labor for
that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently
to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves
in rich food. Jesus, as we're starting to see
here, offers real food, but what he really offers
is himself. And so Jesus asks this question of
Philip. Where do we go to buy bread? As I mentioned,
some of the disciples were from this region,
and Philip is one of them. And so I believe the
reason that Jesus asked Philip, where do we go
to buy bread, is because Philip would probably
know. Not that there's a 7 -Eleven on top of
the mountain. But somewhere in the surrounding
area, there's a place to buy bread. And so he
asks Philip this question. But Philip highlights
what is in his mind a bigger problem. It's not
really about where to buy the bread. It's the
fact that we don't have enough money to pay for
enough bread for everybody. Look there, just
after Jesus asks the question. What Phillips
says in verse 7? 200 denarii worth of bread would
not be enough for each of them to get a little.
A denarius many of you know, and you may have
a footnote in your Bible that says this, a denarius
is about equivalent to a day's wage. It's payment
for work. And so some of your Bibles actually
go ahead and do some of this math for you saying
that it would take seven to eight months wages
to pay for enough bread for everybody to have
a taste. Now, I'm no mathematician, but if I'm
there with Jesus and Philip, I'm probably saying
to Philip, hey, Philip, that's really good math
there. He does this calculation, right? But the
problem was Philip did the calculation without
considering the great multiplier. He did the
calculation without the great multiplier. James
Montgomery Boyce says he calculated But he calculated
without Christ This is a bad error on Phillips
part, but before we criticize Philip We should
understand that we do this as well The disciples
have seen Jesus work. We've also seen Jesus work
Jesus has given us new hearts to love him Jesus
has done incredible things and do we not still
doubt him? This is Jesus who could do more than
we could ever ask or ever imagine. I like how
Psalm 78, 19 puts it when it says, can God spread
a table in the wilderness? And the implied answer
is, of course he can. Of course he can. And so
today, are you trusting in Jesus? Do you know
Jesus? Do you have doubts about Jesus? Last Sunday,
we looked at Mark chapter 9 and we looked at
how that father is concerned for his dying son
who's got the unclean spirit and what did the
father say I believe help my unbelief and as
I said this should be a prayer on our lips that
God would strengthen our faith that we would
not doubt the very power of God And so I think
that Philip here is doubting, well, what about
the other disciple mentioned in verse eight?
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. I'll be honest
with you, I was studying this passage this week,
and Andrew's statement puzzled me, and maybe
it puzzles you too. Why does Andrew even bring
this up? All right, this. five loaves of barley
bread and a couple of fish, I was truly stumped
by this. Because we should understand this, that
when we're talking about the feeding of the 5
,000, that's only including the men. And so let's
say that there's as many women as there are men.
Now we're up to 10 ,000. And let's say that some
of those men and some of those women are married
and they have children. Now we're up to 15 or
20 or even 25. thousand people on this mountain
to be fed, and Andrew's like, here's this little
boy, he's got a little bit of bread and a little
fish. Why does Andrew even bring this up? Additionally,
let's understand what kind of bread and what
kind of fish. The text mentions that these are
barley loaves. Friends, barley bread was the
cheapest bread that you could possibly buy. It
was poor people's bread. It probably didn't taste
all that good. And the fish that the boy has,
these are probably two small sardines. And so,
Andrew, what are you talking about? This is not,
this wouldn't make a dent in anybody's appetite
other than maybe one small boy. But as I thought
about it more, I thought, well perhaps Andrew
believes that Jesus can do a lot with a little.
Jesus can do a lot with a little. We see this
throughout Scripture. God routinely does this
kind of thing. God chooses the weak to shame
the wise. Jesus says that if you have faith the
size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.
And God uses unlikely people to be his servants,
just like we see with these disciples. God does
this time and time again. Matter of fact, he
did this with the Israelites. Listen to these
words from Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 7, 6 through
9. For you are a people holy to the Lord your
God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a
people for his treasured possession out of all
the peoples who were on the face of the earth.
It was not because you were more in number than
any other people that the Lord has set his love
on you and chose you, for you were the fewest
of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves
you and is keeping the oath that he swore to
your fathers that the Lord has brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the
house of slavery. from the house of Pharaoh,
king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your
God is God." God does this time and time again.
And Jesus does this as well. Jesus, as I said,
selects those disciples who aren't making a who's
who of anything, really, and he forms the church
from them. 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 9 reflects
on this passage and says that believers are the
treasured possession of God and God doesn't choose
you because of your good looks and he doesn't
choose you because of how smart you are and he
doesn't choose you because of your talents or
your wealth God chooses you and places his love
upon you simply because he loves you and he rescues
you from your enslavement to sin and the punishment
thereof. You see, friends, this miracle, it's
about bread and it's about fish and it's about
people up on a mountain. But it's about a whole
lot more than that. It's about rescuing. If this
is a recap of Exodus and the wilderness wanderings,
it's about rescuing. And as Jesus takes this
food here and he multiplies it, he does that,
but it's only temporary because Jesus is pointing
to something greater than that. Jesus is pointing
to a food that never perishes Jesus is pointing
to himself Look at John 6 just go further down
to verse 25 and on John 6 25 through 35 Because
this goes right along with what we're looking
at when they found him On the other side of the
sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come
here? And Jesus answered them, truly, truly,
I say to you, you are seeking me, not because
you saw signs, but because you ate your fill
of the loaves. 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.
Then they said to him, what must we do? to be
doing the works of God. And Jesus answered them,
this is the work of God, that you believe in
him whom he has sent. So they said to him, then
what sign do you do that we may see and believe
you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate
the manna in the wilderness. As it's written,
he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus
then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave you the bread from
heaven. But my father gives you the true bread
from heaven For the bread of God is he who comes
down from heaven and gives life to the world
and they said to him sir Give us this bread always
and 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 Friends Jesus
is the bread from heaven. Jesus is the manna
from heaven We need to understand this today
that Jesus he's on this mountain with the disciples
and he is the host of the meal But Jesus is also
the meal Jesus is the shepherd, but he's also
the lamb Jesus is God, but he's also man. He
is innocent but made guilty He is the way to
heaven, but he endured hell. You see, within
this text and within our theology, we understand
that the people here on the mountain are not
the only ones who are satisfied. Jesus satisfies
the Father, too. Because Jesus... who offers
himself as the bread of heaven and has his blood
poured out. God is satisfied with this because
he's the perfect substitute for our sins. Jesus
was nailed to the cross, enduring the pain and
the shame and the father's wrath was satisfied
because it was poured out on the perfect substitute.
God was satisfied. Isaiah 53 says, it was the
will of God to crush. him. Because it was the
only way. The only way was to have Jesus really
offered up on that cross for you and me, the
righteous for the unrighteous. Now perhaps I
should have saved this sermon until next Sunday
when we, Lord willing, will have the table before
us, but you remember what happens at that table.
You remember what the bread signifies the body
of Christ broken and the cup signifying his blood
poured out for the forgiveness of sins those
signs Point to something even greater and that's
what Jesus is helping us to see to look beyond
those simple things even as great as that miracle
was to look beyond the bread and look beyond
the fish and look to Jesus who truly satisfies
and so the bread of life takes this boy's lunch,
and I believe this boy who has the bread and
the fish, I believe he's trusting in Jesus more
than anybody else in the story. Jesus blesses
it, he distributes it, and everybody is filled.
Look in verse 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. And then you see 12 baskets
of bread left over. I don't see any fish left
over, so apparently these people aren't carb
lovers like I am, but the people see this and
they are completely stunned. They are completely
amazed. Like Moses in Egypt, the people are stunned
and they say, this is the prophet who is to come
into the world. You see what Jesus does here
in this text? He fills more than their stomachs.
Jesus fills their hearts. But friends, there's
also a warning here. These people in John 6 are
very, very similar to the Israelites wandering
in the wilderness. Those people grumbled before
Moses and before God. And so this is a warning
not to look to Jesus to do our bidding, but that
we look to Jesus to do His will. We should do
this. The people here in verse 15, they wanted
to make Him King by force, perhaps thinking,
if Jesus is on the throne, then we will always
have bread on the table. These people are concerned
about getting more barley bread when what Jesus
offers isn't even made in the same bakery. Look
in chapter 6, 41 and 42. So the Jews grumbled
about him, because he said, I am the bread that
came down from heaven. And they said, is not
this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and
mother we know, how does he now say, I have come
down from heaven? How quickly we forget. He has
just fed all of these people with five tiny pieces
of bread and two fish, and now they're criticizing
him. This is exactly like the Israelites in the
wilderness wandering about where it sounds like
they have amnesia or something, forgetting about
how God got them out of Egypt, forgetting about
the plagues of Moses, forgetting about walking
through the Red Sea with a wall of water on each
side. You see, these people here are only satisfied
when they're stuffing their faces. And yet, don't
we see this all the time within ourselves, that
we are satisfied by tiny, minuscule things when
Jesus offers eternal life? Children, did any
of you receive a good gift this Christmas that
came in a cardboard box? Do sometimes we play
with the box more than we do with the gift inside?
That's how we are. We can be like that. Jesus
offers eternal life that he lived for and he
died for in excruciating fashion, and we're still
wondering, hey, can I get some more of those
sardines and some more of that barley bread?
C .S. Lewis said it well when he wrote, It would
seem that our Lord finds our desires not too
strong, but too weak. We are half -hearted creatures,
fooling about with drink and sex and ambition
when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant
child who wants to go on making mud pies in a
slum because he cannot imagine what is meant
by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are
far too easily pleased. Church, you cannot imagine
what Jesus has in store for you. Try it now.
Try and imagine a world without sin. Try and
imagine a world without the curse of it. Imagine
a better promised land. Jesus rescues us from
something, but Jesus rescues us to something,
this better promised land that he calls paradise.
And Jesus cares for us all along the way to there.
Beggars, look no further. Jesus is the bread
of life. Believe in Jesus and you shall be saved.
For as Psalm 16 says, in his right hand are pleasures
forever. Philippians 4 .9, and I close with this.
And my God, supply every need of yours according
to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Let's pray.