OUR GREAT GOD
John 6:1-15
WELCOME:
Good morning! How’s everyone doing today. I hope you’re having a great weekend. We’ve had such beautiful “Pre-fall” weather.
Well, before we begin, I thought I might share a few humorous thoughts with you . . . to make you smile!
HUMOR:
I found these recently online — just a few brief letters from children to their pastors.
Patty, age 10 wrote, “Dear Pastor, I’m sorry I can’t leave more money in the plate, but my daddy didn’t give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a sermon about a raise in my allowance? Love, Patty”
Lorene, age 9 wrote, “Dear Pastor, I think a lot more people would come to your church if you moved it to Disneyland. Just sayin, Lorene”
Pete, age 9 wrote, “Dear Pastor, Please say in your sermon that Peter Peterson has been a good boy all week. I am Peter Peterson. Sincerely, Pete”
Alexander, age 10 wrote, “Dear Pastor, Please say a prayer for our Little League team. We need God’s help — or a new pitcher. Either will do. Thanks. Alexander”
Joshua, age 10 wrote, “Dear Pastor, My father says I should learn the Ten Commandments. But I don’t think I want to because we have enough rules in my house already. — Joshua”
And maybe my favorite — just because he’s so honest is from a boy named Ralph. Ralph, age 11 wrote, “Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was finished. Ralph”
INTRODUCTION:
Well, I hope you like this sermon today too — and not just when it’s finished!
This morning I want to take you back to a story that is probably very familiar to most of you. It’s a story about God’s loving kindness and His awe ness of our needs. And although you may know this story very well, I believe it still remains relevant and life-changing.
In fact, this story (like all of the others told within the gospel of John) has one primary purpose — and that is to lead you and me back to Jesus. Like bread Crumbs providing a trail to follow, this story purposes to lead us into greater faith and trust in Jesus.
John states this plainly towards the end of his gospel. When he says in John 20:31:
“…these (meaning these stories) are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John 20:31 (NIV)
John’s entire reason for writing his account of Jesus’ life and ministry was to help you and me discover the reality of who He was — that we might believe in Him. And so, with that being said — turn with me to John chapter 6 and we’ll look at one of Jesus’ greatest miracles.
Let’s seek to rediscover the power and the love of Jesus — as portrayed in this story.
John chapter 6 — beginning with verse 1. And John writes,
1 “Some time after this, (after he’d been ministering and teaching), Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip,“Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” (That’s a lot of people). 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said,“Have the people sit down.”There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”
John 6:1-15 (NIV)
What a story! It’s one of my favorites.
Jesus takes a little boy’s ancient happy meal and super-sizes it!
There’s actually something about this event that cannot be said about any of the other miracles of Jesus. Do you know what it is? This is the only miracle that’s recorded in all four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (Besides the resurrection of Jesus, of course). All four Gospels!
By this time in the ministry of Jesus, His popularity level was extremely high. He had been healing the sick and helping the hurting. He had healed a disabled man who had spent his life on the ground begging for help from others. After an encounter with Jesus — his life was changed.
And word got out. Good news travels fast. People were attracted to the thought that just maybe Jesus could help them the way He had helped others. And so, lots of people began following Him.
Besides His ministry of healing, Jesus had also become sought-out because of the things He was saying. His teaching had become incredibly popular. So it had gotten to the point where both He and his disciples were almost mobbed every where they went.
In verse 1, John tells us how Jesus had crossed the lake of Tiberias by boat — and the reason was to find some time to rest. He and his disciples were looking for a break to gain the rest they needed to serve.
But it didn’t happen-because people saw where they went; they followed on foot; and when the boat got there, the crowd was waiting for them! And instead of getting annoyed and sending them away, Jesus spent the day teaching them. And the whole time, more people kept coming, and the crowd kept growing.
And at some point in the evening, Jesus recognized that there was an opportunity to meet the needs of the people.
Jesus realized there was a problem. Not a life-and-death problem. But a crisis of sorts: the people had followed Him, but they hadn’t brought food with them. And they needed to eat.
(While we don’t look for problems in our lives — we would do well to recognize their potential for God’s power to be displayed through them.)
Where they had gathered was a bit remote. It wasn’t a highly populated area. There were no shops nearby; and the crowd was getting hungry.
So Jesus looks at one of his disciples — Philip-and asks, ”How are we going to feed all these people?” He had a plan — but He wanted to raise the level of trust and faith in His disciples.
He wants to do the same in you and me today. This story is here that we might BELIEVE!
So, let me show you three things within this story that teach us about the greatness of Jesus! First of all, in this story we see that…
1. He is a God of Compassion.
In Matthew’s telling of this story, he writes in Matthew 14:14, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
Compassion.I love this word because it’s an emotional word. It doesn’t just describe an action — though that is part of it — but it also describes a feeling.
When Jesus saw their hurts and their needs, he was moved with compassion for them.
Today, when Jesus sees your hurts and your needs, he is still moved with compassion. He cares about you. His compassion isn’t based on anything you’ve done to deserve it. He is compassionate because of who he is, not because of who you are.
As amazing at it may seem, our God is a God with feelings. He is a God who cares.
He cares. He has feelings. He’s a God of compassion — so run to Him! Cry out to Him.
Jesus knew that most of the crowd following him that day would not stay with him at the end of his life. He knew that he would be abandoned, that the crowds would turn against him, and that he would die alone.
Yet, he was moved with compassion when he saw the needs and the hurts of the people following him that day.
He hasn’t changed. He is still moved with compassion when he sees your needs and hurts. He’s a God of compassion.
Do you know what that means? He cares for you. He feels passion towards you.
The second thing we can learn from this story is that…
2. He’s a God of miracles.
I want to remind you that Jesus seemed to do His best work in crises and problems and hardships. He laughs at the thought of impossibilities. He can turn terminal into temporal.
He is the God of miracles.
I read this past week that this miracle or the feeding of the 5,000 was really an “unnecessary miracle”. The reason some think this is because the situation that the people were facing wasn’t desperate. It wasn’t life threatening. It was necessary.
As some have noted, the disciples actually proposed a fairly reasonable idea — just send the people away! And they could have done that — but Jesus has never been in the business of sending people away.
And so, He performed the miracle just as He wanted. He did the unnecessary!
John tells us this story to remind us that Jesus is able to do the miraculous.
- He can take a little and turn it into a lot.
- He can take our limitations and multiply them into excess.
- He can take our emptiness and fill our lives up to overflowing.
- He is the creator of all.
- He can take nothing and make something great out of it.
That’s exactly what He did in John 6 — He took a little boy’s lunch and fed an army.
Simply put, Jesus is in the business of working miracles in our lives.
But I want to show you an important point to this story.
Notice again what Jesus started with — the surrendered lunch of a little boy. He took what was offered to Him and made it great.
I wonder how ofter we ask for and expect Jesus to do a miracle in our lives — absent of our surrender in faith.
In this story, Jesus took the small lunch that the boy had surrendered to Him — and notice again what John tells us in verse 11. He says,
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
Jesus offered it up — He gave thanks for it — and then the miracle followed.
Listen, if you need a miracle in your life, this is a great pattern to follow.
Take the resources you have — even if they’re pathetically small — and offer them up to God — give thanks for them, and then begin using them.
Where do you need a miracle?
In your finances? I can’t tell you the number of people that I have met who have said, “My finances were a mess, there was never enough to meet my obligations, and when I began tithing God began blessing us financially — and my finances have straightened out and gotten better.”
This has certainly been the case in my own life. God opens the doors of blessing when we are faithful to give Him our little! Some say, “I don’t have enough to tithe — but I tell you, you don’t have enough NOT to tithe” He blesses you through your obedience to Him.
This principle works the same in other areas, as well.
Where do you need a miracle?
Is your marriage hanging by a thread? Then offer that thread up to God and begin using it so that he can perform a miracle.
If your marriage is hanging by a thread, then identify the thread — determine what it is that is keeping your marriage together and start by strengthening that.
Maybe its as simple as both of you like to travel, or you both like to cook, or you both like to watch reruns on the Hallmark Channel — or whatever it is, take it — offer it up to God, thank Him for what you do have, ask Him to bless it, and then being using that little and expect God to perform the miracle. And ask God to strengthen the ties between you — and believe that He can and will!
Where do you need a miracle?
Take the resources that you have — even if they seem too small to acknowledge — and offer them up to God and put them to use so that he can begin the work of multiplying your efforts.
He’s a God of miracles — so call out to Him! Trust in Him. Invite Him to work in your life!
He has the power to multiply whatever is given to him. He can heal broken marriages, broken families, broken lives, failing businesses, wounded hearts, desperate financial situations — in whatever area of life you need a miracle, God will provide.
He’s a God of compassion: He cares about what you’re going through. And he’s a God of miracles: he has the power to do something about it.
The third thing I want you to notice is…
3. He’s a God of abundance.
After the miracle had been performed and everyone had eaten till they were satisfied, the disciples began gathering up the food.
In verses 12-13, John tells us:
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
They began with 5 loaves of bread and ended with much more!
The disciples were probably snacking on the leftovers from that miracle for days. Because, when God provides, there’s more than enough to go around.
He’s a God of abundance — so depend upon Him! Welcome His blessings and favor.
Look for it. Expect it!
That’s the kind of God He is…He’s a God of abundance, and He wants to share His abundance with you.
Paul put it this way in Philippians 4:19. He said,
“God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
This applies to much more than just your wallet.
This can apply to every area of your life:
- Would you like an abundance of love in your marriage?
- Or an abundance of good will between you and your children?
- Or an abundance of friends who love and support you?
- Or an abundance of health?
- Or an abundance of accomplishment in your ministry, or in your career?
Then begin depending upon Him! Invite His blessings and favor. Look for it. Expect it!
John records in chapter 10 of his gospel that Jesus said to those who were following Him:
“I came that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 NKJV
Living the Christian life isn’t about just surviving, it’s about thriving. It’s about experiencing life to the fullest.
You don’t have to spend all your life being a day late and a dollar short. God has more than enough to provide for you, and when he provides there’s always more than enough to go around. He is a God of abundance.
CONCLUSION
This story is included in all four gospels because it gives us tremendous insight into knowing what God is like.
Are you hurting right now? Do you need God’s touch in your life? He is a God of compassion. He cares about you. To use a phrase that’s been used by someone else: He feels your pain.
But more than just “feeling” for you, he has the power to do something about it, because he is a God of miracles.
And I f you will give him what little you have, he will bless it and multiply it, because he’s also a God of abundance.
Whatever you’re going through right now, know this — God cares. And the best part about this is that He cares enough to do something about it — if you’ll just give yourself to him.
Closing Prayer
Invite people to come down for special prayer and healing.