Sermon Recordings 2017-08-06am – Loaves and Fishes

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Theo Groeneveld

 

John 6:1-15

 

See sermon outline below….

Jesus feeds the five thousand

6 Some time after this, 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 those who were ill. 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 towards 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!’

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, ‘Make 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.

 

Sermon SE1745

Basic Stats

Date: 2017-08-06AM
Context: Grace – GRA
Series: (Our Father) Give us this day our Daily Bread
Title: Loaves and Fishes
Readings: Joh6:1-15
Cited:

Liturgy

Some time after this, 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 miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast 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, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
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 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.
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 miraculous sign that Jesus did, 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.

Intro to Readings

“Give us this day our daily bread…”
What kind of bread are we talking about?

  1. Actual physical bread – staple foodstuff of the day
  2. (The Jewish expectation – bread symbolised the Messianic banquet)
  3. God’s Word – “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt8:3 & Mt4:4)
  4. Jesus said “I am the bread of life” (Jn6:35)

Reading from John – two part sermon – next week continue into communion

Introduction

Picture: Michael Belk – a fashion photographer – wanted to bring 1st Century Jesus into our context

Give us today our daily bread.

Five points:

  1. It all comes from God
  2. God cares about our physical needs
  3. We must learn to be dependant on God
  4. We can work with God
  5. We must help feed others

Main points

  1. It all comes from God
    This is why we say grace – Story – saying grace over a bootload of groceries.
    Even Jesus said Grace – i.e. Gave thanks
    Every…..thing comes from GodSteven Curtis Chapman – Declaration of Dependence
    Now just the other day, I overheard a flower talking to the sky
    He said, you know that I would be nothing without you, oh, oh
    He said, you give me rain, you give the sun a place to shine
    You’re everything that my whole existence comes down to, oh, oh
    And then the flower started singing a song
    Before I knew it, I was singing along
    And we sang
    This is my declaration of dependence
    This is my declaration of my need
    This is my declaration of dependence
    On the One who gave His life to meJames 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
  2. God cares about our physical needs
    – Daily Manna in the OT
    – Elijah in the Wilderness
    – Feeding of the 5000 recorded in all four gospels.
    – Feeding of the 4000 recorded in Matthew and Mark.
    – The big catch of fish
    Jesus was concerned about the crowd:
    – “Where shall we buy food?”
    – Jesus had compassion on them – they were sheep without a shepherd.
  3. We must learn to be dependent on God
    One of the aspects of Manna – was that it was collected daily.
    We have an illusion of control.
    But it comes from God.
    Look at the picture – look at how uptight the businessman is.
    He could be sitting with Jesus.
  4. We can work with God
    The boy brings his lunch.
    The disciples hand it out.
    We earn our wages.
    We produce our food.
    We’re in partnership with God.
  5. We must help feed others
    Matthew, Mark and Luke: You give them something to eat.”
    John: Where shall we buy bread?
    Barclay – Give US this day our daily bread.
    Gather the pieces let nothing be wasted
    We can’t feed every one – but we can do what God helps us to do.

Conclusion

We can hold things too tightly.
The Lord’s prayer moves from a focus on God and the work of the kingdom to use and our needs.
Our needs are summarised quite simply:

  • Daily Bread
  • Forgiveness
  • Deliverance from Evil

Michael Belk’s story:
In 2008, Michael sensed God asking, “What are you doing with all that I’ve given to you?
Using it all for yourself, or sharing it with others?” It was time to make a move.

  1. Recognised God
  2. Recognised his blessings
  3. Recognised the need
  4. Made a move

Declaration of Dependence.