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Lessons Learned While with the Master Teacher
The Math doesn’t have to add up with Jesus
John 6: 1-14
Dr. Dave M. Hartson
BalaChittoBaptistChurch
03/01/06
Introduction:
We have now come to our third classroom in our series “Lessons Learned While with the Master Teacher”. Today it is the math room that we are going to enter and especially two of Jesus’ disciples Philip and Andrew are going to get a lesson in God’s accounting system.
And so what I want us to look at tonight is what Jesus teaches his two disciples and what Jesus teaches us as He provides food for the multitude.
There are three things that are different about this miracle as compared to Jesus’ other miracles. First, this is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. So what happened on this mountainside had to have a great impact on every disciple. Secondly, this is the only miracle in which he asked advice before He performs the miracle. Thirdly, it is the only time that Jesus performed a miracle before such a large crowd.
Body:
1. God doesn’t have any problem solving our problem no matter how big our problem might be.
John 6:5-6 (NIV)
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.
a. First of all, it was Jesus who recognized that the great crowd was hunger. It was estimated to be 5,000 men and 20,000 in total. It wasn’t the disciples that recognized the problem. It was Jesus who had the answer even before He asked Philip his question.
b. The reason that disciples didn’t recognize the problem, and I am sure that they were hunger also, is because big problems bother us. We would rather ignore big problems rather than face them. Our thinking is if we ignore them that they will somehow go away. The disciples didn’t bring it up because they couldn’t do anything about it on their own and they just wanted the problem to go away.
c. Another reason big problems bother us is because we don’t want to bother Jesus with them. The disciples didn’t want to bring it up because they didn’t want to bother Jesus with it. It is interesting that we don’t want to bring our biggest problems to Jesus.
2. We have a problem accepting His unlimited resources.
John 6:5-7 (NIV)
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, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
a. Philip answered a question but not the question Jesus asked. Jesus asked “where do we buy the bread.” There was no limitation in Jesus’ question. Philip however answers with a limitation. Philip calculated how much food and how much money it would take to feed the crowd. Philip’s answer was limiting.
b. Here is our problem: God approaches our problems with His unlimited resources and rather than accepting God’s unlimited resources, we chose to limit God by our response.
c. For example, we pray for our family member’s salvation. But then we come back and tell ourselves God won’t save them. We ask God to help us with our finances and then we hold back what we owe God in tithe.
d. Our God has unlimited resources but by our actions we limit His resources in our life. There will always be people like Philip who will always have a reason why something can not be done despite how big our God is.
3. We have a problem thinking God can use something small and make it big.
John 6:8-9 (NIV)
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?"
a. Andrew obviously went looking for food among the multitude. All he could find was a little boy with 5 small loaves and two small fish. And Andrew’s comment “but how far will they go among so many” indicates that he did not believe that Jesus could do something with something so small. It was like it was not enough for Jesus to work with.
b. There are people who mindset is that they will not go to a small church because God can work better in the big church. And that simply is not true.
c. There are people who wouldn’t give God that little bit of talent that he has given them because God is going to work greater in the life of a person with a lot of talent. And that simply is not true.
d. Small can be transformed by Jesus into something very large.
4. We have a problem believing that the unlikely make the greatest spiritual heroes.
John 6:9-11 (NIV)
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 the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
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.
a. The hero in this story is not Philip or Andrew but the little boy with the five small loaves and two small fish. He is the hero because he willingly gave up his lunch to Jesus knowing that he did not have enough even for himself.
b. He has never seen Jesus do miracles before but He believed. The disciples have seen Jesus do miracles and they didn’t believe in this case.
c. The hero in this church might not be the preacher; it might be that person sitting in the pew tonight. God makes unlikely heroes. It wasn’t the Pharisees and Scribes that Jesus said were spiritual heroes. Rather, it was those ordinary people who needed a touch from God and believed by faith that God could heal them.
5. We have a problem admitting that our faith is sometimes weak.
John 6:12-13 (NIV)
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.
a. Jesus has the disciples pick up the leftover food. There were 12 baskets left- one for each disciple. But notice the disciples say nothing about the miracle. Notice that Philip and Andrew say nothing about the miracle.
b. But all the people in the crowd have something to say about the miracle. What’s the difference? Jesus didn’t test the people’s faith before performing the miracle; but He certainly tested the faith of the apostles and they failed.
c. Their silence tells us that they refused to admit their lack of faith.
Conclusion:
I think two things stand out as I studied this passage. Never doubt what God can do and never deny God whatever God asks you to give Him.
Tonight, I hope we have learned something from Jesus’ classroom.