February 11, 2018
Morning Service

Jesus displayed his deity in chapter 5 by healing the man by the pool of Bethesda.  He also revealed to us some of the inner workings of His relationship with His Father.  Though they are unified as One, he always is in submission to His Father’s will.  The chapter finished with Jesus explaining the four witnesses that testify of who He is and what He says is the truth.  He named how the testimony of John the Baptist, His own works, His Father, and the scriptures all point to His deity.  This discourse caused the Jewish leaders to seek to kill Him for His teaching which they felt was blasphemy.

John 6:1-7 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias.  (2)  And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on the sick ones.  (3)  And Jesus went up into a mountain and sat there with His disciples.  (4)  And the Passover was near, a feast of the Jews.  (5)  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes and saw a great crowd come to Him. He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy loaves so that these may eat?”  (6)  And He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  (7)  Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little.”

·        Jesus asked Philip this because they were close to where he was from in Bethsaida.  If anyone knew the human solution to this problem it would have been him.  He, like I would, immediately begins to calculate the cost of bread for this large group even if they could find it available to them. Two hundred denarii would equal about 8 months’ worth of pay in these times. Philip limited what options were available to them by assuming what was humanly possible (viewing from the physical realm not the spiritual).

·        How many of you admit that you would have initially answered the exact way Philip did?  We have become so wired to thinking strictly on the physical realm that we in fact show a lack of faith.  Our line of thinking needs to be less on what we are able to do and focus on what God is able to do.  “With Christ all things are possible.  If He be for us, who can be against us?”   Always believe if God calls you to a work, He will provide all you need to complete what He calls you to do even if it exceeds your ability or your budget.

·        A perfect example of limiting God was when Moses and the Israelites stood upon the border of the Promised Land.  Moses sent in 12 spies to check it out before they entered in to conquer the land.  10 of the 12 brought back unfavorable reports that the enemy was too large and the cities too strong for them to conquer.  It was only Joshua and Caleb that enthusiastically proclaimed that with God on their side they could conquer the land.  The people chose to think on the physical realm and doubt God, therefore they did not enter into the land.  That generation died in the wilderness (all except Joshua and Caleb) as they wondered around for another 40 years.  They trusted in their abilities more than they had faith in God’s.

·        I know sometimes God places a task before us that just seems over whelming to us, even impossible.  He does that so we realize we can’t do it alone and will have to call upon Him and rely upon His strength and not our own.  Our faith needs to be based on His strength and power not our own. We need to be more like Andrew than Philip looking more in anticipation of what God is going to do rather than what we can do.

 

 John 6:8-14 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 small fish, but what are these among so many?”  (10)  And Jesus said, “Make the men recline.” And there was much grass in the place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.  (11)  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who had reclined; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  (12)  And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing is lost.”  (13)  Therefore they gathered and filled twelve handbaskets with fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over to those who had eaten.  (14)  Then seeing the miracle that Jesus did, those men said, “This is truly the Prophet, the One coming into the world.”

·        Jesus could have provided this bread from nothing, but chose to use the barley loaves that were set before Him.  This reproduced a miracle God did through Elisha in 2 Kings 4 as He fed 100 men with 20 barley loaves with left overs that proved to those around him that he was the man of God.  My commentary estimated that since there were 5 thousand men mentioned here it could have been very possible that there were as many as 15 thousand people there including women and children.  It is easy to understand why Philip was so over whelmed.

·        Some other interesting points are that Jesus, the Good Shepard, led his lost sheep into the green pasture to feed.  I have to wonder about the story of the boy who shared his lunch.  It was also 12 baskets of leftovers reflecting both the 12 tribes and disciples.  When God is involved He always provides an overabundance (John 10:10).  Feeding the people also tied Jesus to Moses who was God’s man when He fed them with manna in the wilderness. The miracle fulfilled its purpose in that all those present believed that Jesus was indeed sent by God.

John 6:15-21  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they would come and take Him by force, that they might make Him a king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain alone by Himself.  (16)  And when evening had come, the disciples went down to the sea (17) and entered into a boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  (18)  And the sea rose up because of a great wind that blew.  (19)  Then having rowed about three of four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the ship. And they were afraid.  (20)  But He said to them, “I AM! Do not be afraid.”  (21)  Then they willingly received Him into the boat. And immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

·        In Matthew and Mark’s account of this event, Jesus had told the disciples to sail on without Him because He needed to pray.  The trip across the sea would have been 4-5 miles and the Sea of Galilee was well known for its sudden storms.  As the disciples struggled against the storm, Jesus walked up to them on the water.  When they saw Him they were afraid, and He addresses them again proclaiming His deity; “I am, don’t be afraid.”

·        Notice how with the absence of Jesus there was darkness and the turmoil of the sea which are often was used to represent evil and disorder.  Both disappeared upon His arrival.  It is the presence of Jesus in our lives than brings light, order, purpose, and peace.

 

What did we learn about Jesus?

·        He has no human limitation such as lack of money food or control of the weather.

·        When He hosts there are always leftovers (abundance).

·        He tests our faith by putting us in situations that we need to rely on Him (questioning Philip or placing the disciple in the middle of a storm).

 

What can we apply to our lives?

·        With God we must not limit what He can do by what we can physically visualize happening.

·        When we feel overwhelmed, know and trust that He isn’t.

·        When we find ourselves in the middle of the storm, do not fear for He is there with us.

·        It is in His presence that brings light, order, purpose and peace into our lives.

 

Lord, thank You that You have no limits to what You can do.  Please help us to rely on Your strength in the time of need instead of ours.