WEBVTT 00:00:00.210 --> 00:00:09.770 Amen. Thank you, Nick. Good morning, everybody. I hope you're feeling well today. Now, in 00:00:09.770 --> 00:00:16.130 our journeying through John, we have come to chapter 6. And when I knew the passage 00:00:16.130 --> 00:00:21.810 that was allocated for me this morning, I was like, oh, wow, this must be one of the 00:00:21.810 --> 00:00:27.290 most well-known passages in the entire New Testament. And some of you will have heard 00:00:27.290 --> 00:00:32.690 many sermons on this passage and I'm sure that some of you sitting here this morning will even 00:00:32.690 --> 00:00:39.830 have preached on this yourselves and so I thought what can I say this morning you know there's going 00:00:39.830 --> 00:00:44.430 to be new people here maybe they've never heard it before but there's going to be people here who've 00:00:44.430 --> 00:00:52.830 heard this many many times and then I was encouraged by something that Jesus said it reminded me just 00:00:52.830 --> 00:01:00.130 that encourage my heart, that every disciple who becomes a teacher of the law in the kingdom of God 00:01:00.130 --> 00:01:07.150 is like a homeowner who takes out of his treasure house new gems of truth as well as old. 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:13.750 And so that encouraged me this morning, and I trust that God has got something for each and every one of us today. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.860 So before we get cracking into this amazing miracle that Jesus did, 00:01:20.340 --> 00:01:22.940 John chapter 6, verses 1 to 15. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:24.700 I've just got a couple of announcements. 00:01:25.380 --> 00:01:29.220 And the first one is that there is no PowerPoint. 00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:30.160 Okay? 00:01:30.740 --> 00:01:32.100 And that's not because I'm lazy. 00:01:32.820 --> 00:01:37.460 It's because I want us to use our imagination this morning. 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:40.080 And friends, you know, if we can't use our imagination 00:01:40.080 --> 00:01:42.720 for the feeding of the 5,000, I don't know when we can. 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:45.260 This morning we almost didn't put the chairs out 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:47.140 so we could all sit on the ground for the feeding. 00:01:47.520 --> 00:01:49.700 But it's not the sitting on the ground, is it? 00:01:49.700 --> 00:01:55.740 is getting up for some of us. Okay, the other announcement is that I'm not going to read the 00:01:55.740 --> 00:02:02.980 passage straight off, but we're going to go through it together, and it's going to unfold before our 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:18.160 eyes one verse at a time. So, John chapter 6, Jesus feeds 5,000. After this, Jesus crossed over 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:21.440 to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, 00:02:22.100 --> 00:02:25.040 also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:27.320 If you want to know what after this refers to, 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:29.080 you can go home at the end of this 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:30.340 and have a look in chapter five 00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:31.980 if you don't remember from last time. 00:02:32.600 --> 00:02:35.800 But the point is that Jesus crossed over 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:37.180 the Sea of Galilee. 00:02:37.380 --> 00:02:39.820 John is grounding this narrative 00:02:39.820 --> 00:02:42.420 in a geographical location. 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:45.760 This took place in a real location. 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:47.740 Some of you will have been privileged 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:52.220 to visit the Holy Land, but for sure we've all seen pictures or we've seen on the internet. 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:57.920 The far side of the Sea of Galilee, it would be eight or nine miles or 12 kilometers if you prefer 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:06.910 those. And a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went. A huge crowd. It's kept following him. 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:12.350 It's the present continuous tense for those of you who like grammar. They weren't following him 00:03:12.350 --> 00:03:19.290 at this point but John is just telling us a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went 00:03:19.290 --> 00:03:28.070 because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick and you know I want us to stop 00:03:28.070 --> 00:03:33.430 right there this morning they followed him for a reason and this was the reason 00:03:33.430 --> 00:03:40.360 they didn't follow him because of his great teaching they didn't follow him because they 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:47.060 already recognised that he was the Messiah, even though in the preceding chapter, eight or nine 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:54.210 times, Jesus had indicated very clearly that he was the chosen one of God. But no, they followed him 00:03:54.210 --> 00:04:02.760 because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. And I want to ask us a question this 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:10.190 morning, those of us who are followers of Jesus, why are you following Jesus today? And if you're 00:04:10.190 --> 00:04:15.570 not a follower of Jesus, I want to ask you this question. Why aren't you following Jesus today? 00:04:16.410 --> 00:04:23.480 And maybe today is the time for you to answer that question in your own heart. People follow 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:30.270 Jesus for all kinds of reasons. Recently, I read a book. I'm a CLC, or I'll probably refer to three 00:04:30.270 --> 00:04:35.050 or four books this morning. And the book's a biography. It's called The Girl with Special 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:43.030 shoes and I was very excited to find this book because it's a biography that's located in 00:04:43.030 --> 00:04:48.430 Bamenda which is the not the capital of the northwest province of Cameroon in West Africa 00:04:48.430 --> 00:04:55.100 you all knew that didn't you well I knew that because I worked there many years ago for a couple 00:04:55.100 --> 00:05:00.570 of years with a missions organization so I was very excited to read this book and it's about a 00:05:00.570 --> 00:05:07.380 lady called Hilda Bew Mula. So Hilda grew up in Bumenda but she had a very big challenge in her 00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:14.360 life and that was that she contracted muscular dystrophy at a very early age. Now that is a 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:20.500 terrible thing in any place at any time but in West Africa at that time and probably a bit less 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:26.920 now today that was a very big social problem. Some people would think you were cursed 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:30.480 or that you would bring a curse on your family. 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:34.100 You were a girl, that was even worse. 00:05:34.280 --> 00:05:35.660 You would never amount to anything, 00:05:35.960 --> 00:05:37.520 so no point going to school 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:39.460 and certainly don't think about higher education. 00:05:40.760 --> 00:05:43.040 But Hilda had something wonderful going for her. 00:05:43.820 --> 00:05:46.240 She came from a very loving family 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:48.140 who were determined to do their best for her. 00:05:49.020 --> 00:05:50.460 And so she went to school. 00:05:51.220 --> 00:05:54.260 Her siblings would even carry her on their backs to school 00:05:54.260 --> 00:05:56.120 when there was no money for transport. 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:02.780 And at some point during her school days, Hilda gave her life to Jesus. 00:06:02.940 --> 00:06:06.160 She got saved, and she was filled with his joy and his peace, 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:07.980 and she received the gift of eternal life. 00:06:09.810 --> 00:06:10.990 And then something else happened. 00:06:11.870 --> 00:06:17.860 At a certain point down the line, Hilda became obsessed with one thing. 00:06:18.650 --> 00:06:20.510 She wanted to be healed. 00:06:21.270 --> 00:06:24.130 And so Hilda started going from church to church 00:06:24.130 --> 00:06:26.490 and being prayed for by this person and the other person 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:27.810 and having hands laid on her. 00:06:28.640 --> 00:06:31.060 She even went to the big crusade 00:06:31.060 --> 00:06:33.740 with the famous German evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:35.060 I was at that crusade. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.240 He healed for many sick people, and they were healed. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.620 My next-door neighbor was lame, young boy. 00:06:42.700 --> 00:06:43.840 When he came back, he could run. 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.840 But Hilda, despite going to those meetings more than once, 00:06:48.960 --> 00:06:50.120 was not healed. 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:53.580 And so this thing became bigger and bigger and bigger inside her 00:06:53.580 --> 00:06:55.260 until it was all she could think about. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:57.080 Why am I like this? 00:06:57.320 --> 00:06:59.000 Does God really love me? 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:05.660 why am I not healed and it came the focal point of everything and it ate away inside of her 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:13.650 until one day another book somebody lent her a copy of the biography of Joni Eareckson Tardar 00:07:13.650 --> 00:07:23.030 famous North American artist paints with her mouth famous author quadriplegic since a diving 00:07:23.030 --> 00:07:30.420 accident at the age of 17 also struggled and wrestled with why am I not healed is there a God 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:40.540 does he love me? Until one day, Joni was able to accept this burden. Joni was never healed, 00:07:40.660 --> 00:07:47.480 but she's had a powerful ministry for decades upon decades. And that book changed Hilda's life. 00:07:48.260 --> 00:07:54.100 Hilda went on to excel at university. She's now a famous radio broadcaster in the Cameroon, 00:07:54.380 --> 00:08:01.320 and she is helping to change the narrative for people like her. I believe that Jesus heals today, 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:03.920 But we have to face the fact, we Christians, 00:08:05.020 --> 00:08:07.040 that not everybody we pray for is healed. 00:08:07.820 --> 00:08:09.300 And what I want to say to us this morning, 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:11.800 don't let one thing eat away at you. 00:08:13.070 --> 00:08:15.030 You might want God to prosper your business. 00:08:15.670 --> 00:08:17.530 You might be looking for a marriage partner. 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:20.170 You might want a particular door of opportunity 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:21.670 to open in your life. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.860 But don't get fixated on this one thing 00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:29.660 and let it become your reason for following Jesus. 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:36.360 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 00:08:36.940 --> 00:08:38.320 It's a nice intimate scene. 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:40.760 At this point, it's just about to change. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.540 It was nearly time for the Passover celebration. 00:08:45.400 --> 00:08:47.680 We're not going to talk about the Passover today, 00:08:47.920 --> 00:08:50.940 but I just want to say that just as John grounds his narrative 00:08:50.940 --> 00:08:54.760 in a geographical location, he grounds it too in the calendar. 00:08:55.400 --> 00:08:56.680 We know when it happened. 00:08:58.750 --> 00:09:04.450 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. 00:09:05.190 --> 00:09:06.010 So here they come. 00:09:06.370 --> 00:09:08.950 Imagine them streaming through the doors at every side, 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:10.230 coming from every direction. 00:09:12.150 --> 00:09:16.350 Jesus looks at the crowd and, filled with compassion as he always is, 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:18.110 he anticipates the need. 00:09:18.790 --> 00:09:23.190 And so he turns to one of his disciples, Philip, and he says this. 00:09:23.190 --> 00:09:27.970 He asks a question, and I can imagine maybe there's a smile on Jesus' face. 00:09:29.850 --> 00:09:33.190 Where can we buy bread to feed all these people? 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.280 Jesus isn't asking Philip, where is the nearest Gregg's? 00:09:40.620 --> 00:09:43.420 Can you just nip over there and get 5,000 baguettes 00:09:43.420 --> 00:09:45.660 and 300 croissants and the odd cinnamon roll? 00:09:45.900 --> 00:09:46.280 No. 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:52.280 He was testing Philip, verse 6, 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:57.430 for he already knew what he was going to do. 00:09:58.640 --> 00:09:59.960 And isn't that a wonderful thing? 00:10:00.520 --> 00:10:02.700 Jesus knew what was in Philip, 00:10:02.700 --> 00:10:05.860 but he was testing him to see if there was any faith, 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:08.040 to see if there was any expectation 00:10:08.040 --> 00:10:11.360 that Jesus was going to supernaturally intervene. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.460 And Philip replied in the only way he knew how. 00:10:17.590 --> 00:10:18.810 He wasn't born again yet. 00:10:19.230 --> 00:10:21.150 He was a disciple, a follower. 00:10:22.070 --> 00:10:23.590 But Jesus hadn't been to the cross. 00:10:23.730 --> 00:10:24.950 He wasn't raised from the dead. 00:10:25.330 --> 00:10:26.630 He hadn't ascended into heaven. 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:28.890 Philip didn't have the Holy Spirit. 00:10:28.890 --> 00:10:31.450 The Bible says that we as Christians have the mind of Christ. 00:10:31.950 --> 00:10:33.330 Philip didn't have the mind of Christ. 00:10:34.090 --> 00:10:36.010 And so he replied, the carnal man, 00:10:36.010 --> 00:10:40.090 even if we worked for months we wouldn't have enough money to feed them 00:10:40.090 --> 00:10:55.730 and then andrew simon peter's brother spoke up and you think oh maybe there's a hint of faith 00:10:55.730 --> 00:11:05.100 in andrew because he says there's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:13.920 and then he almost seems shrug his shoulders don't you but what good's that with this huge crowd 00:11:19.400 --> 00:11:24.430 And then verse 10, tell everyone to sit down, Jesus said. 00:11:25.770 --> 00:11:31.970 Jesus already knew, back to verse 6, what he was going to do. 00:11:32.670 --> 00:11:36.330 And in your situation today that seems so overwhelming, 00:11:36.530 --> 00:11:38.930 like the crowd of 5,000 hungry people, 00:11:40.140 --> 00:11:44.390 Jesus already knows what he's going to do. 00:11:44.390 --> 00:11:47.450 Maybe you're already feeling hungry and you're thinking, 00:11:47.730 --> 00:11:49.870 is Jesus going to step into my situation? 00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:51.090 Has he got a plan? 00:11:53.260 --> 00:11:56.530 Jesus has always got a plan. 00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:03.380 Tell everyone to sit down. 00:12:04.380 --> 00:12:06.380 I always have a little chuckle inside myself 00:12:06.380 --> 00:12:08.740 when Nick says, you may take your seats. 00:12:09.530 --> 00:12:10.630 Because inside I'm thinking, 00:12:10.730 --> 00:12:12.170 I wonder where he'd like me to take it. 00:12:12.910 --> 00:12:18.220 If you were at the ladies' conference last year, 00:12:18.260 --> 00:12:19.620 the MCF ladies' conference, 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.940 there was a great deal of talk about positioning. 00:12:25.180 --> 00:12:27.500 Positioning ourselves to receive from God. 00:12:29.350 --> 00:12:33.350 And sometimes there might be, I'm walking up and down, as you can see. 00:12:34.330 --> 00:12:36.670 Sometimes we might like to walk up and down when we pray. 00:12:36.810 --> 00:12:38.350 Some of us like to kneel when we pray. 00:12:38.470 --> 00:12:41.250 Maybe you've got a favourite chair that you sit on when you pray. 00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:47.520 Maybe there's a spot in the garden in the warm weather that you like to go to when you pray. 00:12:50.520 --> 00:12:52.600 But we're not talking about a physical thing here. 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:59.080 They had to sit down to have ringside seats for this miracle that Jesus was going to perform. 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:05.120 But, you know, I believe Jesus wants us to sit down. 00:13:06.260 --> 00:13:09.040 And it's not a physical sitting down. 00:13:10.140 --> 00:13:13.040 Recently, a friend was at my house, and it was a Friday night, 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:13.920 so that's fish and chips. 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:15.720 And so we were having fish and chips. 00:13:15.800 --> 00:13:16.440 Couldn't be simpler. 00:13:16.560 --> 00:13:17.320 I wasn't cooking them. 00:13:17.400 --> 00:13:19.680 Just shake it out of the box in the bag and put it in the oven. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:20.800 Couldn't be easier. 00:13:21.760 --> 00:13:23.860 Because it was so easy, I forgot things. 00:13:24.020 --> 00:13:25.180 So I kept bobbing up and down. 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:28.040 Salt on the table, pepper on the table, napkins on the table. 00:13:28.040 --> 00:13:29.460 Oh, tartar sauce, it's in the fridge. 00:13:29.540 --> 00:13:30.120 I'm so sorry. 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:32.220 And at a point, my friend looked at me and she just said, 00:13:32.260 --> 00:13:33.640 Liz, sit down. 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:37.700 And you know what? 00:13:38.710 --> 00:13:40.910 I sat down because I needed to rest 00:13:40.910 --> 00:13:42.410 and I needed to enjoy the food 00:13:42.410 --> 00:13:44.070 and I needed to enjoy the company. 00:13:44.650 --> 00:13:46.910 And Jesus wants us to sit down. 00:13:49.020 --> 00:13:52.120 Now, in Ephesians 1, you know, Jesus, 00:13:53.340 --> 00:13:56.540 after he was buried and he rose from the dead, 00:13:57.100 --> 00:13:59.180 it says that he ascended into heaven. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.760 Ephesians 1 tells us that he's seated 00:14:01.760 --> 00:14:05.020 at the right hand of the Father. 00:14:05.800 --> 00:14:08.760 Just imagine Jesus, his work is completed, it's finished, 00:14:08.900 --> 00:14:11.100 to Telestai, he arrives in heaven. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.300 I can imagine the father taking Jesus to his seat. 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:17.140 What a glorious moment. 00:14:18.630 --> 00:14:19.990 He's earned that place. 00:14:21.370 --> 00:14:22.810 We haven't earned anything. 00:14:23.090 --> 00:14:24.670 Royal rogues I don't deserve. 00:14:24.830 --> 00:14:26.690 And yet Ephesians 2 tells us what? 00:14:26.770 --> 00:14:28.910 That we are seated where? 00:14:28.910 --> 00:14:31.070 In Christ, in the heavenly places. 00:14:32.410 --> 00:14:33.370 Used to sing it. 00:14:33.370 --> 00:14:38.770 I have been lifted up, lifted up into heavenly places. 00:14:38.970 --> 00:14:43.090 I have been lifted up, seated now in Christ. 00:14:45.420 --> 00:14:47.500 It's not a physical being seated. 00:14:47.680 --> 00:14:54.310 It's a spiritual position that God has put us in, in the heavenly places. 00:14:56.390 --> 00:15:03.450 And it's the starting point for us as Christians as we sit trusting in Christ. 00:15:03.550 --> 00:15:05.770 You don't sit on a chair with a wobbly leg. 00:15:08.510 --> 00:15:11.870 You only sit on the chair that you can trust to hold you. 00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:16.680 We are seated in Christ in the heavenly places. 00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:20.100 And so Jesus, as everyone sit down, 00:15:20.560 --> 00:15:22.440 they all sat down on the grassy slopes. 00:15:22.580 --> 00:15:24.840 The men alone numbered about 5,000. 00:15:26.170 --> 00:15:29.070 Echoes of Psalm 23 and the virgin pastures. 00:15:29.230 --> 00:15:32.690 Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God. 00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:35.450 Jesus will take what is offered to him. 00:15:37.470 --> 00:15:37.890 Remember. 00:15:37.890 --> 00:15:40.590 and he gave thanks to God 00:15:40.590 --> 00:15:42.270 and if Jesus who is the son of God 00:15:42.270 --> 00:15:44.540 saw fit for us 00:15:44.540 --> 00:15:47.320 sorry to give thanks to God 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:48.460 for that provision 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:51.260 then how much more should we give thanks to God 00:15:51.260 --> 00:15:53.060 you know we live in a land of plenty 00:15:53.060 --> 00:15:53.820 I've been in Africa 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:55.520 I've sat and had a cup of tea with a pastor 00:15:55.520 --> 00:15:58.860 who said let's just pray before we take this 00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:02.650 thank the Lord for your cup of coffee in the morning 00:16:02.650 --> 00:16:06.860 and then he distributed them to the people 00:16:06.860 --> 00:16:08.580 presumably through the disciples 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:11.840 I'm sure there was some excellent administration going on here. 00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:14.640 And afterward, he did the same with the fish. 00:16:15.780 --> 00:16:17.560 And, you know, there's all kinds of symbolism 00:16:17.560 --> 00:16:20.720 about why it's five loaves, why it's barley loaves, 00:16:20.860 --> 00:16:21.840 why it's two fish, 00:16:22.260 --> 00:16:24.700 Jesus bringing the new and the old covenants together. 00:16:25.160 --> 00:16:27.560 But, you know, the main point I want to bring this morning 00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:30.040 is that Jesus is the bread of life. 00:16:30.400 --> 00:16:32.560 And when he took the loaves and he gave thanks to God 00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:33.840 and distributed them to the people, 00:16:33.900 --> 00:16:42.420 he's giving himself, he's giving himself the bread of life. 00:16:42.420 --> 00:16:43.380 It's coming later. 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:46.520 Somebody else, another Sunday, is going to talk about that. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.380 And they all ate as much as they wanted. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:51.540 How much do we want? 00:16:52.530 --> 00:16:56.710 You know, I can't imagine that Jesus was giving out the bread 00:16:56.710 --> 00:16:57.730 and saying to the disciples, 00:16:57.870 --> 00:16:59.790 by the way, just make sure nobody eats too much. 00:17:00.770 --> 00:17:01.790 We might run out. 00:17:02.530 --> 00:17:02.990 No. 00:17:03.990 --> 00:17:05.210 Jesus gives everything. 00:17:05.890 --> 00:17:07.930 When he died on the cross, he gave everything. 00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:11.170 It's just up to us how much we have of Jesus. 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:13.190 We have as much as we want. 00:17:13.510 --> 00:17:20.240 And these people, they all ate as much as they wanted. 00:17:21.780 --> 00:17:25.220 And after everyone was full, see, they were satisfied. 00:17:26.100 --> 00:17:28.340 Are you satisfied in Jesus this morning? 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.160 We used to sing in the Cameroon, 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.860 I'm satisfied in Jesus, I'm satisfied in him. 00:17:37.860 --> 00:17:41.300 His love for me can never fail. 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:44.280 I'm satisfied in Jesus. 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:45.940 Are we? 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:48.800 Are we satisfied with Jesus? 00:17:50.460 --> 00:17:53.520 And after everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, 00:17:53.820 --> 00:17:58.840 now gather the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:00.720 And you might find this verse surprising. 00:18:01.560 --> 00:18:03.720 After all, Jesus is the son of God. 00:18:03.820 --> 00:18:07.420 He's just fed the crowd of 5,000 plus people. 00:18:08.290 --> 00:18:09.530 Why bother about leftovers? 00:18:10.530 --> 00:18:12.450 He can do it again if he wants to. 00:18:13.590 --> 00:18:15.470 Don't need the leftovers. 00:18:15.470 --> 00:18:24.640 it. He did do it again, as you can read elsewhere in the Gospels. I think at least three reasons 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:30.180 I'd like to underline this morning, why this was important. First of all, I cannot imagine 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:35.100 for a single moment that the creator and sustainer of the universe and this planet would want 00:18:35.100 --> 00:18:42.700 litter left behind at his picnic. I don't think there's going to be crisp packets of 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:46.300 Mars bar wrappers on the streets of gold somehow. 00:18:48.540 --> 00:18:54.060 Second, Jesus is clearly involving the disciples in this miracle. 00:18:54.260 --> 00:18:56.100 He's working with the disciples. 00:18:56.280 --> 00:18:59.420 He's got something to teach the disciples in this. 00:19:01.060 --> 00:19:05.780 So he asks them to collect the leftovers, the scraps, the fragments, the small things. 00:19:06.100 --> 00:19:08.880 Maybe it's because I'm small, but I think that small things matter. 00:19:09.600 --> 00:19:12.360 I once worked in an office where there were lots of small people like me 00:19:12.360 --> 00:19:14.400 and we had a notice on the door that said small wonders. 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:19.310 The fragments, the little things. 00:19:19.570 --> 00:19:21.370 You know why the little things are important? 00:19:21.890 --> 00:19:24.630 It's because a million little things happen in your life 00:19:24.630 --> 00:19:26.210 every single day. 00:19:27.580 --> 00:19:32.840 And the big things happen just very now and again. 00:19:34.280 --> 00:19:36.180 Gather up the fragments, the leftovers, 00:19:36.340 --> 00:19:38.380 so that nothing is wasted and that's the next thing. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.000 Jesus wants us to be great stewards of everything 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:43.580 that he gives us. 00:19:44.650 --> 00:19:45.050 Everything. 00:19:45.050 --> 00:19:50.110 because everything that we have comes from him. 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:52.360 Nothing is wasted. 00:19:53.290 --> 00:19:56.150 So they picked up the pieces, the disciples. 00:19:56.430 --> 00:19:57.130 They didn't complain. 00:19:59.530 --> 00:20:05.050 They picked up the pieces and they filled 12 baskets. 00:20:05.330 --> 00:20:07.530 Sometimes people say, where do those baskets come from? 00:20:07.610 --> 00:20:10.470 Well, they were fishermen and they came across the sea 00:20:10.470 --> 00:20:12.270 so they would have had baskets in their boats. 00:20:12.430 --> 00:20:14.170 I think it's reasonable to suppose. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.660 They filled 12 baskets. 00:20:16.660 --> 00:20:18.180 That's one for every disciple. 00:20:18.300 --> 00:20:22.070 There's a basket for you if you're a disciple of Jesus 00:20:22.070 --> 00:20:25.600 and you can fill it and you can give it to him 00:20:25.600 --> 00:20:28.680 and you might be surprised what he does with it, 00:20:28.840 --> 00:20:31.620 with your fragments, with your scraps, with your leftovers 00:20:31.620 --> 00:20:35.660 that maybe you thought weren't worth bothering with. 00:20:36.510 --> 00:20:38.990 You might just find if you give those fragments to Jesus 00:20:38.990 --> 00:20:41.530 that all of a sudden there's an abundance going on. 00:20:42.650 --> 00:20:44.910 And we don't know what happened to these baskets 00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:48.430 But sometimes when we give our baskets to Jesus, 00:20:49.030 --> 00:20:52.970 he graciously lets us know what he does with our fragments. 00:20:53.860 --> 00:20:55.740 Amazing that there would be leftovers, 00:20:56.540 --> 00:21:00.420 starting with just five loaves and two fish. 00:21:02.980 --> 00:21:05.200 Sometimes Jesus will ask us to do the clearing up. 00:21:06.810 --> 00:21:08.350 Might be at home, is your home a mess? 00:21:09.610 --> 00:21:12.590 Might be your office, you want to see the kitchen after I've cooked. 00:21:13.750 --> 00:21:17.410 Sometimes Jesus will ask us to do the clearing up. 00:21:17.410 --> 00:21:20.920 It might be here, get the hoover out. 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:24.320 It might be our lives that need clearing up. 00:21:25.410 --> 00:21:28.470 He might ask us to help clear up somebody else's life. 00:21:30.350 --> 00:21:32.830 Are we willing to do the clearing up, 00:21:33.810 --> 00:21:35.590 or do we think that that's beneath us? 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.700 And lastly, verse 14 and 15, 00:21:40.820 --> 00:21:44.820 when the people saw him do this miraculous sign, 00:21:45.320 --> 00:21:46.100 they exclaimed, 00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:50.760 surely he is the prophet we've been expecting. 00:21:52.010 --> 00:21:53.710 And just like Steve mentioned already, 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.640 the problem with that is that Jesus was not the prophet 00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.820 that they were expecting. 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:02.620 The prophet he was indeed, the Son of God, the Messiah. 00:22:03.220 --> 00:22:06.140 But as they were looking for liberation 00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:10.960 from the aggressive and oppressive, brutal Roman regime, 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:16.140 Jesus came to deliver us from a regime that was far more brutal, 00:22:17.300 --> 00:22:21.110 the regime of Satan and sin. 00:22:22.130 --> 00:22:23.010 and the king of darkness. 00:22:25.310 --> 00:22:26.370 And so here we are again. 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:28.520 They want to follow Jesus, 00:22:29.740 --> 00:22:32.880 but they don't recognize who he was. 00:22:34.080 --> 00:22:36.380 And you know, we can never make Jesus 00:22:36.380 --> 00:22:38.880 into somebody that he is not. 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:40.920 He is the king of kings. 00:22:41.040 --> 00:22:42.160 He is the Lord of lords. 00:22:42.260 --> 00:22:43.780 He is the first and the last, 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:44.860 the beginning and the end, 00:22:44.860 --> 00:22:46.120 and everything in between. 00:22:46.620 --> 00:22:48.060 He is the great I am. 00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:51.720 And so Jesus, in this situation, 00:22:52.520 --> 00:22:54.980 he did the only thing that he could possibly do. 00:22:55.300 --> 00:23:01.780 when Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, 00:23:02.940 --> 00:23:07.820 he slipped away into the hills by himself. 00:23:09.760 --> 00:23:10.580 God is God. 00:23:11.020 --> 00:23:13.240 We bow the knee to him, not the other way around. 00:23:13.740 --> 00:23:17.380 The Bible says that his ways are higher than our ways. 00:23:17.860 --> 00:23:21.360 His thoughts are wiser than our thoughts. 00:23:22.370 --> 00:23:23.270 Thank you, Lord. 00:23:23.410 --> 00:23:24.430 Let's pray this morning. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:28.040 Heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus, 00:23:28.040 --> 00:23:30.840 the most precious name that we've ever heard 00:23:30.840 --> 00:23:32.800 and we bow the knee to you 00:23:32.800 --> 00:23:35.960 and we thank you Lord that you are the bread of life 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:37.640 and that you feed us every day 00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:39.660 with that which will nourish our soul 00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:41.940 we worship you this morning 00:23:41.940 --> 00:23:44.420 and Lord we pray that this word 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:46.540 would continue to work in our hearts 00:23:46.540 --> 00:23:49.140 Lord maybe just a fragment of a word 00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:49.940 here and there 00:23:49.940 --> 00:23:52.420 but Lord that it would bear forth the fruit 00:23:52.420 --> 00:23:53.380 that you are looking for 00:23:53.380 --> 00:23:56.720 thank you for the miracles that you do in our lives Lord 00:23:57.140 --> 00:23:58.220 We believe in you, Lord. 00:23:58.300 --> 00:24:01.200 We believe in your power to save, to heal, to deliver, 00:24:01.560 --> 00:24:04.720 because Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:07.180 But search our hearts, O God, 00:24:07.760 --> 00:24:10.460 and may we follow you, Lord, with all of our hearts 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:12.160 because of who you are 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.060 and not because of who, perhaps sometimes, 00:24:15.760 --> 00:24:18.420 in our weakness and our fallenness, Lord, 00:24:18.860 --> 00:24:19.940 we may want you to be. 00:24:20.340 --> 00:24:22.460 In Jesus' name, amen.