Sunday Gathering - John 6 : 1-15 - Liz Patten - Sermon Only

Amen. Thank you, Nick. Good morning, everybody. I hope you're feeling well today. Now, in

our journeying through John, we have come to chapter 6. And when I knew the passage

that was allocated for me this morning, I was like, oh, wow, this must be one of the

most well-known passages in the entire New Testament. And some of you will have heard

many sermons on this passage and I'm sure that some of you sitting here this morning will even

have preached on this yourselves and so I thought what can I say this morning you know there's going

to be new people here maybe they've never heard it before but there's going to be people here who've

heard this many many times and then I was encouraged by something that Jesus said it reminded me just

that encourage my heart, that every disciple who becomes a teacher of the law in the kingdom of God

is like a homeowner who takes out of his treasure house new gems of truth as well as old.

And so that encouraged me this morning, and I trust that God has got something for each and every one of us today.

So before we get cracking into this amazing miracle that Jesus did,

John chapter 6, verses 1 to 15.

I've just got a couple of announcements.

And the first one is that there is no PowerPoint.

Okay?

And that's not because I'm lazy.

It's because I want us to use our imagination this morning.

And friends, you know, if we can't use our imagination

for the feeding of the 5,000, I don't know when we can.

This morning we almost didn't put the chairs out

so we could all sit on the ground for the feeding.

But it's not the sitting on the ground, is it?

is getting up for some of us. Okay, the other announcement is that I'm not going to read the

passage straight off, but we're going to go through it together, and it's going to unfold before our

eyes one verse at a time. So, John chapter 6, Jesus feeds 5,000. After this, Jesus crossed over

to the far side of the Sea of Galilee,

also known as the Sea of Tiberias.

If you want to know what after this refers to,

you can go home at the end of this

and have a look in chapter five

if you don't remember from last time.

But the point is that Jesus crossed over

the Sea of Galilee.

John is grounding this narrative

in a geographical location.

This took place in a real location.

Some of you will have been privileged

to visit the Holy Land, but for sure we've all seen pictures or we've seen on the internet.

The far side of the Sea of Galilee, it would be eight or nine miles or 12 kilometers if you prefer

those. And a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went. A huge crowd. It's kept following him.

It's the present continuous tense for those of you who like grammar. They weren't following him

at this point but John is just telling us a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went

because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick and you know I want us to stop

right there this morning they followed him for a reason and this was the reason

they didn't follow him because of his great teaching they didn't follow him because they

already recognised that he was the Messiah, even though in the preceding chapter, eight or nine

times, Jesus had indicated very clearly that he was the chosen one of God. But no, they followed him

because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. And I want to ask us a question this

morning, those of us who are followers of Jesus, why are you following Jesus today? And if you're

not a follower of Jesus, I want to ask you this question. Why aren't you following Jesus today?

And maybe today is the time for you to answer that question in your own heart. People follow

Jesus for all kinds of reasons. Recently, I read a book. I'm a CLC, or I'll probably refer to three

or four books this morning. And the book's a biography. It's called The Girl with Special

shoes and I was very excited to find this book because it's a biography that's located in

Bamenda which is the not the capital of the northwest province of Cameroon in West Africa

you all knew that didn't you well I knew that because I worked there many years ago for a couple

of years with a missions organization so I was very excited to read this book and it's about a

lady called Hilda Bew Mula. So Hilda grew up in Bumenda but she had a very big challenge in her

life and that was that she contracted muscular dystrophy at a very early age. Now that is a

terrible thing in any place at any time but in West Africa at that time and probably a bit less

now today that was a very big social problem. Some people would think you were cursed

or that you would bring a curse on your family.

You were a girl, that was even worse.

You would never amount to anything,

so no point going to school

and certainly don't think about higher education.

But Hilda had something wonderful going for her.

She came from a very loving family

who were determined to do their best for her.

And so she went to school.

Her siblings would even carry her on their backs to school

when there was no money for transport.

And at some point during her school days, Hilda gave her life to Jesus.

She got saved, and she was filled with his joy and his peace,

and she received the gift of eternal life.

And then something else happened.

At a certain point down the line, Hilda became obsessed with one thing.

She wanted to be healed.

And so Hilda started going from church to church

and being prayed for by this person and the other person

and having hands laid on her.

She even went to the big crusade

with the famous German evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke.

I was at that crusade.

He healed for many sick people, and they were healed.

My next-door neighbor was lame, young boy.

When he came back, he could run.

But Hilda, despite going to those meetings more than once,

was not healed.

And so this thing became bigger and bigger and bigger inside her

until it was all she could think about.

Why am I like this?

Does God really love me?

why am I not healed and it came the focal point of everything and it ate away inside of her

until one day another book somebody lent her a copy of the biography of Joni Eareckson Tardar

famous North American artist paints with her mouth famous author quadriplegic since a diving

accident at the age of 17 also struggled and wrestled with why am I not healed is there a God

does he love me? Until one day, Joni was able to accept this burden. Joni was never healed,

but she's had a powerful ministry for decades upon decades. And that book changed Hilda's life.

Hilda went on to excel at university. She's now a famous radio broadcaster in the Cameroon,

and she is helping to change the narrative for people like her. I believe that Jesus heals today,

But we have to face the fact, we Christians,

that not everybody we pray for is healed.

And what I want to say to us this morning,

don't let one thing eat away at you.

You might want God to prosper your business.

You might be looking for a marriage partner.

You might want a particular door of opportunity

to open in your life.

But don't get fixated on this one thing

and let it become your reason for following Jesus.

Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.

It's a nice intimate scene.

At this point, it's just about to change.

It was nearly time for the Passover celebration.

We're not going to talk about the Passover today,

but I just want to say that just as John grounds his narrative

in a geographical location, he grounds it too in the calendar.

We know when it happened.

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him.

So here they come.

Imagine them streaming through the doors at every side,

coming from every direction.

Jesus looks at the crowd and, filled with compassion as he always is,

he anticipates the need.

And so he turns to one of his disciples, Philip, and he says this.

He asks a question, and I can imagine maybe there's a smile on Jesus' face.

Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?

Jesus isn't asking Philip, where is the nearest Gregg's?

Can you just nip over there and get 5,000 baguettes

and 300 croissants and the odd cinnamon roll?

No.

He was testing Philip, verse 6,

for he already knew what he was going to do.

And isn't that a wonderful thing?

Jesus knew what was in Philip,

but he was testing him to see if there was any faith,

to see if there was any expectation

that Jesus was going to supernaturally intervene.

And Philip replied in the only way he knew how.

He wasn't born again yet.

He was a disciple, a follower.

But Jesus hadn't been to the cross.

He wasn't raised from the dead.

He hadn't ascended into heaven.

Philip didn't have the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says that we as Christians have the mind of Christ.

Philip didn't have the mind of Christ.

And so he replied, the carnal man,

even if we worked for months we wouldn't have enough money to feed them

and then andrew simon peter's brother spoke up and you think oh maybe there's a hint of faith

in andrew because he says there's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish

and then he almost seems shrug his shoulders don't you but what good's that with this huge crowd

And then verse 10, tell everyone to sit down, Jesus said.

Jesus already knew, back to verse 6, what he was going to do.

And in your situation today that seems so overwhelming,

like the crowd of 5,000 hungry people,

Jesus already knows what he's going to do.

Maybe you're already feeling hungry and you're thinking,

is Jesus going to step into my situation?

Has he got a plan?

Jesus has always got a plan.

Tell everyone to sit down.

I always have a little chuckle inside myself

when Nick says, you may take your seats.

Because inside I'm thinking,

I wonder where he'd like me to take it.

If you were at the ladies' conference last year,

the MCF ladies' conference,

there was a great deal of talk about positioning.

Positioning ourselves to receive from God.

And sometimes there might be, I'm walking up and down, as you can see.

Sometimes we might like to walk up and down when we pray.

Some of us like to kneel when we pray.

Maybe you've got a favourite chair that you sit on when you pray.

Maybe there's a spot in the garden in the warm weather that you like to go to when you pray.

But we're not talking about a physical thing here.

They had to sit down to have ringside seats for this miracle that Jesus was going to perform.

But, you know, I believe Jesus wants us to sit down.

And it's not a physical sitting down.

Recently, a friend was at my house, and it was a Friday night,

so that's fish and chips.

And so we were having fish and chips.

Couldn't be simpler.

I wasn't cooking them.

Just shake it out of the box in the bag and put it in the oven.

Couldn't be easier.

Because it was so easy, I forgot things.

So I kept bobbing up and down.

Salt on the table, pepper on the table, napkins on the table.

Oh, tartar sauce, it's in the fridge.

I'm so sorry.

And at a point, my friend looked at me and she just said,

Liz, sit down.

And you know what?

I sat down because I needed to rest

and I needed to enjoy the food

and I needed to enjoy the company.

And Jesus wants us to sit down.

Now, in Ephesians 1, you know, Jesus,

after he was buried and he rose from the dead,

it says that he ascended into heaven.

Ephesians 1 tells us that he's seated

at the right hand of the Father.

Just imagine Jesus, his work is completed, it's finished,

to Telestai, he arrives in heaven.

I can imagine the father taking Jesus to his seat.

What a glorious moment.

He's earned that place.

We haven't earned anything.

Royal rogues I don't deserve.

And yet Ephesians 2 tells us what?

That we are seated where?

In Christ, in the heavenly places.

Used to sing it.

I have been lifted up, lifted up into heavenly places.

I have been lifted up, seated now in Christ.

It's not a physical being seated.

It's a spiritual position that God has put us in, in the heavenly places.

And it's the starting point for us as Christians as we sit trusting in Christ.

You don't sit on a chair with a wobbly leg.

You only sit on the chair that you can trust to hold you.

We are seated in Christ in the heavenly places.

And so Jesus, as everyone sit down,

they all sat down on the grassy slopes.

The men alone numbered about 5,000.

Echoes of Psalm 23 and the virgin pastures.

Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God.

Jesus will take what is offered to him.

Remember.

and he gave thanks to God

and if Jesus who is the son of God

saw fit for us

sorry to give thanks to God

for that provision

then how much more should we give thanks to God

you know we live in a land of plenty

I've been in Africa

I've sat and had a cup of tea with a pastor

who said let's just pray before we take this

thank the Lord for your cup of coffee in the morning

and then he distributed them to the people

presumably through the disciples

I'm sure there was some excellent administration going on here.

And afterward, he did the same with the fish.

And, you know, there's all kinds of symbolism

about why it's five loaves, why it's barley loaves,

why it's two fish,

Jesus bringing the new and the old covenants together.

But, you know, the main point I want to bring this morning

is that Jesus is the bread of life.

And when he took the loaves and he gave thanks to God

and distributed them to the people,

he's giving himself, he's giving himself the bread of life.

It's coming later.

Somebody else, another Sunday, is going to talk about that.

And they all ate as much as they wanted.

How much do we want?

You know, I can't imagine that Jesus was giving out the bread

and saying to the disciples,

by the way, just make sure nobody eats too much.

We might run out.

No.

Jesus gives everything.

When he died on the cross, he gave everything.

It's just up to us how much we have of Jesus.

We have as much as we want.

And these people, they all ate as much as they wanted.

And after everyone was full, see, they were satisfied.

Are you satisfied in Jesus this morning?

We used to sing in the Cameroon,

I'm satisfied in Jesus, I'm satisfied in him.

His love for me can never fail.

I'm satisfied in Jesus.

Are we?

Are we satisfied with Jesus?

And after everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples,

now gather the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.

And you might find this verse surprising.

After all, Jesus is the son of God.

He's just fed the crowd of 5,000 plus people.

Why bother about leftovers?

He can do it again if he wants to.

Don't need the leftovers.

it. He did do it again, as you can read elsewhere in the Gospels. I think at least three reasons

I'd like to underline this morning, why this was important. First of all, I cannot imagine

for a single moment that the creator and sustainer of the universe and this planet would want

litter left behind at his picnic. I don't think there's going to be crisp packets of

Mars bar wrappers on the streets of gold somehow.

Second, Jesus is clearly involving the disciples in this miracle.

He's working with the disciples.

He's got something to teach the disciples in this.

So he asks them to collect the leftovers, the scraps, the fragments, the small things.

Maybe it's because I'm small, but I think that small things matter.

I once worked in an office where there were lots of small people like me

and we had a notice on the door that said small wonders.

The fragments, the little things.

You know why the little things are important?

It's because a million little things happen in your life

every single day.

And the big things happen just very now and again.

Gather up the fragments, the leftovers,

so that nothing is wasted and that's the next thing.

Jesus wants us to be great stewards of everything

that he gives us.

Everything.

because everything that we have comes from him.

Nothing is wasted.

So they picked up the pieces, the disciples.

They didn't complain.

They picked up the pieces and they filled 12 baskets.

Sometimes people say, where do those baskets come from?

Well, they were fishermen and they came across the sea

so they would have had baskets in their boats.

I think it's reasonable to suppose.

They filled 12 baskets.

That's one for every disciple.

There's a basket for you if you're a disciple of Jesus

and you can fill it and you can give it to him

and you might be surprised what he does with it,

with your fragments, with your scraps, with your leftovers

that maybe you thought weren't worth bothering with.

You might just find if you give those fragments to Jesus

that all of a sudden there's an abundance going on.

And we don't know what happened to these baskets

But sometimes when we give our baskets to Jesus,

he graciously lets us know what he does with our fragments.

Amazing that there would be leftovers,

starting with just five loaves and two fish.

Sometimes Jesus will ask us to do the clearing up.

Might be at home, is your home a mess?

Might be your office, you want to see the kitchen after I've cooked.

Sometimes Jesus will ask us to do the clearing up.

It might be here, get the hoover out.

It might be our lives that need clearing up.

He might ask us to help clear up somebody else's life.

Are we willing to do the clearing up,

or do we think that that's beneath us?

And lastly, verse 14 and 15,

when the people saw him do this miraculous sign,

they exclaimed,

surely he is the prophet we've been expecting.

And just like Steve mentioned already,

the problem with that is that Jesus was not the prophet

that they were expecting.

The prophet he was indeed, the Son of God, the Messiah.

But as they were looking for liberation

from the aggressive and oppressive, brutal Roman regime,

Jesus came to deliver us from a regime that was far more brutal,

the regime of Satan and sin.

and the king of darkness.

And so here we are again.

They want to follow Jesus,

but they don't recognize who he was.

And you know, we can never make Jesus

into somebody that he is not.

He is the king of kings.

He is the Lord of lords.

He is the first and the last,

the beginning and the end,

and everything in between.

He is the great I am.

And so Jesus, in this situation,

he did the only thing that he could possibly do.

when Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king,

he slipped away into the hills by himself.

God is God.

We bow the knee to him, not the other way around.

The Bible says that his ways are higher than our ways.

His thoughts are wiser than our thoughts.

Thank you, Lord.

Let's pray this morning.

Heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus,

the most precious name that we've ever heard

and we bow the knee to you

and we thank you Lord that you are the bread of life

and that you feed us every day

with that which will nourish our soul

we worship you this morning

and Lord we pray that this word

would continue to work in our hearts

Lord maybe just a fragment of a word

here and there

but Lord that it would bear forth the fruit

that you are looking for

thank you for the miracles that you do in our lives Lord

We believe in you, Lord.

We believe in your power to save, to heal, to deliver,

because Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.

But search our hearts, O God,

and may we follow you, Lord, with all of our hearts

because of who you are

and not because of who, perhaps sometimes,

in our weakness and our fallenness, Lord,

we may want you to be.

In Jesus' name, amen.