3/4 Sunday John 6:1-14, Bread of Life Sometimes the challenges we face in life appear larger than our meager resources, some demands far

Transcription

1 3/4 Sunday John 6:1-14, Bread of Life Sometimes the challenges we face in life appear larger than our meager resources, some demands far outweigh our ability to meet them, some answers are beyond our intellectual reach, and some problems are just too complex to solve. i When faced with these situations we get anxious, worried and stressed out. Words like can t won t work impossible leap from our lips. ii Webster defines impossible as incapable of being or of occurring insuperably difficult. iii Many of our circumstances seem hopeless when viewed from a human perspective. (a horizontal perspective) But from the vertical perspective, nothing is too heavy to lift when God holds the lever. The prophet Jeremiah makes that claim in his Old Testament book. iv Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. (Jeremiah 32:17 NIV) Nothing is impossible for God, yet we habitually think in terms of what we have to offer and what can be accomplish through natural means. v In John 6, the seemingly immovable object of human impossibility meets the irresistible force of divine power. vi A great crowd is following Jesus. John tells us it was 5,000 men but there were most likely a number of spouses and children as well. Imagine a packed house at the Kohl s center. 1

2 They are out on the far shore of the Sea of Galilee the middle of nowhere - when Jesus asks Philip, Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? (Jn 6:5 NIV) Now, John gives us a clue this is a test. Jesus has the situation under control but plots a strategy to build the faith of his disciples. vii Philip analyzes the situation and gives Jesus the bottom line in terms of dollars and centers dollars and cents they don t have. He sees the situation and declares it is impossible. Meanwhile, Andrew gets out into the crowd and at least seeks a solution, even though it is a human one. He finds a little boy, with a couple little biscuits and a few sardines. It s not much and when he compares it to the size of the crowd he declares it is impossible. Philip sees the impossible circumstances surrounding them and looks first at the budget. Andrew sees the same circumstances and checks the pantry. But they each failed to see the greatest resource at their disposal. Neither of them looked to Jesus. Seems kind of strange doesn t it? Particularly after all they have seen up to this point: Jesus turning water into wine (John 2), healing the official s son (John 4), healing the man who had been an invalid for 38 years (John 5) and as John 6:2 indicates all of the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Did any of the them pause long enough to think, Well, hmmm. Jesus healed the sick people, raised the dead girl, calmed the angry waves. I wonder, might he 2

3 have a solution we have not seen? After all, he is standing right here. Let s ask him. viii Did it occur to anyone to ask Jesus for help? The stunning answer is no! They acted as if Jesus wasn t even present. Rather than count on Christ, they had the audacity to tell the Creator of the world that nothing could be done because there wasn t enough money. ix How did Jesus maintain his composure? How did he keep from looking at the disciples and saying, Have you forgotten who I am? x Jesus responds by having the people sit down. then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted (John 6:11) I imagine Jesus calmly taking that meager offering, looking up to his Father saying Thank you Father for the food this large gathering is about to enjoy. Not only does the little boy s lunch box give everyone a little it is enough in the hands of the Lord to give everyone as much as they wanted. And not only that, there are twelve baskets full of leftovers clearly one basket of bread for each of the 12 disciples. Not one coin was spent and at the end of the day they had twelve baskets filled with leftover food. The people were fed, the bank account was untouched, and we have a lesson to learn: stress, anxiety and worry are needless, because Jesus is near. You aren t facing five thousand hungry bellies, but you are facing a deadline in two days.a loved one in need of a cure.a child who is being bullied at school.a 3

4 spouse intertwined in temptation. On one hand you have a problem. On the other you have a limited quantity of wisdom, energy, patience, or time. What you have is nowhere near what you need. You have a thimbleful, and you need bucketloads. Typically you d get anxious, xi worried, stressed out. But what if instead of starting with what we have, we start with Jesus. Start with his wealth, his resources, and his strength. Before you open the ledger, open your heart...before you lash out in fear, look up in faith. Take a moment. Turn to your Father for help. xii Max Lucado, in his book Anxious for Nothing, shares the following story told by Bill Frey in his book The Dance of Hope. Frey remembers the day he tried to pull a stump out of the Georgia dirt. He was eleven years old at the time. One of his chores was the gathering of firewood for the small stove and fireplace of the homestead. He would search the woods for stumps of pine trees that had been cut down and chop them into kindling. The best stumps were saturated with resin and therefore would burn more easily. One day [he writes] I found a large stump in an open field near the house and tried to unearth it. I literally pushed and pulled and crowbarred for hours, but the root system was so deep and large I simply couldn t pull it out of the ground. I was still struggling when my father came home from his office, spotted me working and came over to watch. I think I see your problem, he said. What s that? I asked. 4

5 You re not using all your strength, he replied. I exploded and told him how hard I had worked and for how long. No, he said, You re not using all your strength. When I cooled down I asked him what he meant, and he said, You haven t asked me to help you yet. xiii The seemingly impossible situations in life are a lot like pulling stumps out of the ground. Some of our worries have deep root systems. Extracting them is hard work. But you don t have to do it alone. Present your challenges to your Father and ask for help. xiv Will he solve the issue? Yes, he will. Will he solve it immediately? Maybe. Or maybe part of the test is an advanced course on patience xv to strengthen our faith. When we face a problem, instead of starting with what we have, let us remember what Jesus has. He is with us and will give us everything we need to overcome our difficulties. xvi i Charles R. Swindoll. Swindoll s New Testament Insights on John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 130. ii Swindoll, Following Christ, 1. iii m_source=jsonld iv Swindoll, Following Christ, 1 v Charles R. Swindoll. Swindoll s New Testament Insights on John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 130. vi Swindoll, Following Christ, 2. vii Swindoll, Following Christ, 3. viii Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 73 5

6 ix Lucado, 73. x Lucado, 74 xi Lucado, 74 xii Lucado, 75 xiii Lucado 76 xiv Lucado, 77 xv Lucado, 77 xvi Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing Study Guide (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 40. 6