I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 6:1-6
After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
Have you ever had someone that you respect highly ask you your opinion or solicit some advice? Doesn't that make you feel honored? You want to offer the best advice that you can muster and be worthy of the honor of this esteemed person's solicitation.
Here we have the LORD who "after these things" (that is, the healing of the lame man by the pool of Bethesda, the accusation of the Jews and their intent on destroying Jesus, His claim of Deity, the recollection of the witness of John the Baptist, formerly of Moses and the witness of all the miracles He performed up to this point) crosses the sea of Galilee with a huge crowd in tow. On the other side of the lake, He performs even more miracles on the needy, specifically in this case, the diseased.
He then goes to a mountain with His disciples as the Passover time drew near and here again, a huge crowd come to Him.
In MATTHEW it says the following:
MATTHEW 9:35-37
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Whether people want to admit it or not, we are like sheep - and sheep are naturally and definitely not the brightest breed of critters; they are the only animal created to be domesticated. Essentially, they're no good on their own, they crave leadership with the natural instinct to follow, and are very heavy-maintenance.
The disciples showed their lack of spiritual brilliance and insight (MATT 15:17; 16:9). Human beings have their spiritual understanding darkened because of sin, so that spiritual truth eludes our comprehension (EPH 4:18).
I remember a time when I was in training for the mission field; we were in Belgium at the time, at camp; I and a couple of my friends I met at the USA mission facility just finished class and decided to walk about the beautiful forested area and do a bit of exploring.
We meandered up hill and down, crossed small babbling brooks, saw some wildlife - and it wasn't until a good twenty minutes or so that I looked behind me and saw that the entire class that was just dismissed - about twenty others, were following us! They thought we were going back to the main camp! They saw people who seemed to know where they were going, and just . . . followed!
Spiritually speaking, that's what we're like. If you notice, where ever the LORD Jesus goes, He inevitably has a crowd following Him - for He is the Good Shepherd.
And like sheep, we have needs, predominantly spiritual needs that we can't fulfill on our own.
These people were diseased and were in need of healing; probably a good many of these couldn't afford a physician, but those that could obviously tried but had no success in getting cured. Yet no one leaves the presence of Jesus unhealed.
He is the Great Physician as well as the Bread of Life, the Living Waters, the Light and the Everlasting Word of Truth. Every need we may ever encounter in this life that pertains to godliness, we find in the knowledge - the experiential knowledge, not the intellectual - of Jesus!
2 PETER 1:3-4
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Now another need presents itself: these people are hungry - and this is where the LORD approaches Philip. Note that; He didn't approach Peter, or James or John (the 'big 3' we so often read about); He could have approached any of the twelve, but He singles out Philip.
Have you ever had the experience when a boss or church leader or someone in a position of authority has a job to do, and he doesn't approach those that you deem as highly competent and talented - but you?
You want to make sure you do the best job you can and not disappoint the one that has entrusted you with the task.
The LORD Jesus asks Philip, "Where can we buy bread for such a crowd like this?"
After assessing the numbers, Philip calculates:
Vs. 7 ". . . Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little." That would be a year's worth of wages, and such an amount would barely give everyone there a morsel to eat. It was then that Andrew approaches and offers what this lad has in his lunch bag: five small barley loaves and two little fish.
All such offers of advice and provisions aside, the LORD Jesus already knew what He would do. So why did He even bother to ask Philip, if He already had a plan? It says why: "to prove him" (vs. 6).
To test him, to see what was in his mind and how it would work out a problem. Philip figured it out on a purely natural level; seeing how many people were there, and calculating the price of bread vs. the demand, he concluded that even if one were to spend a years wages, it wouldn't satisfy the hunger of this huge crowd - and the disciples certainly didn't have those kind of finances! In other words, "LORD, it's impossible; it can't be done".
It would seem, after all the miracles he saw up to this point, Philip would have known better. What he should have said was the same thing that the aged apostle John said to the elder in heaven, when asked about this great multitude and who they were: "You know!" (REV 7:13-14).
Andrew even says regarding that boy's lunch bag and its meager contents, "What are they among so many?"
We are often bombarded with questions: "How can we get this done? How much is it going to cost? Why is this happening to me? How long is this going to last? Where are we going to get those kind of resources? How will we be able to endure this? And on and on and on -
But Jesus knows; He knows all things. Long before you ever encountered the conundrums and dilemmas of life, the LORD has "been there, done that". There is no trial or problem that can sneak into your life and catch Him off guard and perplex Him as to how He will meet those needs.
Jesus knows - He knows the problem, He has the solution; He knows how long to let that trial work in our lives before it's time to bring about the answers and alleviate us of those trials. The fact that He knows and we don't, is where faith comes in.
Simply knowing that He knows, that He understands, that He is the One that allowed these things into our lives for an expressed purpose - one that we may never know, but we can know that it's allowed in order to do a work that GOD intends that will bring about glory to His name, and a betterment to our spiritual condition; this in itself brings comfort to us!
There is just one thing He asks from us: trust.
JOHN 6:11-13
11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
The LORD took those meager elements of sustenance and blessed them and broke them - and the needs of that huge crowd were met. And not only them, but another meal for the disciples that served - who by the way, wouldn't have been able to meet the needs presented before them until they had first gone to JESUS Who alone is able to work through us to bless others.
Remember - time spent with the LORD in prayer and in the Word is not only time well spent but ESSENTIAL if we ever hope to minister to others!
The LORD can take us meager and insignificant folk and bless us with Himself, His Spirit of grace and peace, the very Holy Spirit Who alone enables us to live lives akin to the LORD's (1 JOHN 2:6) and bring about great and lasting blessing to huge crowds - or just one individual.
He can break us of our obstinancy, and pride, and self-centeredness and free us of all the things that interfere with the glorious work He intends to do in and through us.
One last point:
Something I learned from pastor Chuck Smith a long time ago: he said,
"Never trade what you know about GOD for what you don't know."
There are struggles and uncertainties and doubts and pains in life and we are tempted at times, not only to doubt GOD but even to accuse Him:
"God, You don't care! If You did, I wouldn't be in this mess or You would hear my prayer to deliver me from this! Why must I endure such pain? Such loneliness? Such heart break? I DON'T UNDERSTAND why You won't help me!!"
What does the Bible say? What do we know about GOD from the Holy Scriptures?
That GOD is love. He is all knowing and all powerful. That He is holy and faithful and true. That He chastens those that He loves. That He is intent on seeing the likeness of His Son shine so brilliantly and gloriously in our lives.
These things we know about GOD; but why He does some of the things He does, we don't always know. For myself, I'm clueless half the time why He does the things He does in the way that He does them. In my mind, if I was GOD I would handle this problem 'this way'.
But what else do we know about GOD?
ISAIAH 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Let us not doubt GOD or even accuse Him rashly, foolishly (I admit, to my shame, I have done this in the past, and it burns me to this day) for the things we don't know. Rather let us anchor our faith in those things that we do know - if He loves you enough that He willingly hung on the cross and took your sin, and the holy punishment that you deserved, upon Himself to spare you, and go even further as to bring you into everlasting relationship to GOD as your heavenly Abba Father - this is One Who for such love as this that can be wholly trusted with reckless abandonment!
Amen saints?
Next time, we will look at JOHN 6:5-9: From Few To Fulfilled - Part I.
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