Sunday July 25,2021
Welcome. Please open your bibles and follow along as we read together;
John 6:1-15 and Ephesians 3:2-13.
John 6:1-15.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
(1) 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.
Ephesians 3:2-6
(2) Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, (3) that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. (4) In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, (5) which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. (6) This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
(7) I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. (8) Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (9) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. (10)His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, (11) according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (12) In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (13) I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
In my studies for this week’s message ,one commentator stated it this way:
At first glance, Ephesians 3:2–13 appears to be a rather lengthy parenthesis vindicating Paul’s apostleship to the Gentiles. Paul has been discussing the unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ and how the Gentiles are legitimate heirs of God’s salvation (2:11–22); but for some reason he finds it necessary to define more precisely God’s secret and the human agent through whom it was revealed.
The commentary writer’s definition of; “the mystery of Christ”(vs.4),is God’s secret, and then refers to Paul as the secret’s agent. And that brought to my mind that old TV show, “Mission Impossible” and the movies that followed the same theme.
So our message this week I’ve titled:
”Mission Impossible?”
(With Jesus, no Mission is Impossible.)
As I started to write this week’s message, I remembered a story about a pastor who was making a home visit to one of the younger families in his church. A five-year-old boy answered the front door and told the minister his mother would be there shortly. To make some conversation, the pastor asked the little guy what he would like to be when he grows up. The boy immediately answered, “I’d like to be possible.” “What do you mean by that?” the puzzled minister asked. “Well, you see,” the boy replied, “just about every day my mom tells me I’m impossible!”
What seems to be impossible in your life these days? Some tasks you are facing in your personal life? Or maybe as you look out at our crazy world today, and you are prompted to ask, “Who is going to accomplish all the things that seem so impossible in our world today?”
In our Gospel reading in John, Jesus is asking his friend and follower, Philip, how to accomplish an Impossible Mission. Jesus says, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”. An impossible task, indeed!
Philip wasn’t the secret’s agent. He wasn’t yet ready or trained to be a “secret agent” of the “mystery of Christ”. For he lacked FAITH.
So, as we look at this question of Jesus in the Bible this morning, let’s try and take hold of the encouraging truth that emerges, and it is this: Christ never asks us to do the impossible unless he himself provides the power and resources to get the job done. So today let us faithfully work towards becoming God’s secret agents of the “mystery of Christ”.
As an example, I thought I would tell you about a young preacher who was going to preach his very first sermon, and he was going to preach from the text that I will be preaching on this morning. As he introduced it he said, “I want to talk to you about how Jesus fed five men with five thousand loaves of bread and two thousand fish.”
Well, there was a man in the church that loved to intimidate preachers and he jumped up and said, “Great day, that’s no miracle, I could do that!”
This young preacher was just shattered and couldn’t even preach the sermon. Well, the next Sunday, out of spite, he started over with the same sermon and announced this time correctly: “I want to talk to you today about how Jesus fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fish.” He looked down at the critical church member and said, “I guess you could do that too?”
The man said, “Great day, I could do that easy!” The preacher said, “How?” He said, “With what was left over from last Sunday.”
Every miracle that Jesus performed was a “Mission Impossible” a mighty and meaningful miracle. But there are several things about the miracle we are going to study today that makes it unique and especially significant.
First, it is the only miracle mentioned in all four gospels. Of all the miracles Jesus performed, this is the only one that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all felt should be included in their particular gospel. Second, it is the only account in which Jesus asked the advice of another person before He proceeded to perform the miracle. Third, it is the only time that Jesus ever performed a miracle before such a huge crowd.
Jesus had traveled all the way across the Sea of Galilee to get some rest and relief. A multitude had followed Him and had settled in for the evening. The sun was setting; evening was coming, stomachs were growling, because it was suppertime!
The disciples were faced with the unenviable task, you might call it a “mission impossible”, of trying to feed five thousand men (this does not include the women and children) with next to nothing.
The disciples were convinced this was indeed a “Mission Impossible” and it would have been, except for Jesus. But Jesus performed this miracle to prove that with Him no mission is impossible.
There were actually two things that were missing that day. One shortage was obvious, and one shortage was not.
The first problem was the crowds lacked food. There was a huge crowd gathered there on that grassy knoll just off the shore of the Sea of Galilee. John notes in verse 10 that the men alone numbered five thousand. Matthew tells us that there were also women and children (Mt. 4:21). Bible scholars conservatively estimate that at a minimum the crowd numbered at least twenty thousand people.
Many in the crowd must have been on their way to Jerusalem. “The Jewish Passover Feast was near.” (vs.4) It must have been late in the day and many had not planned on this delay in their journey. So probably with all that was happening few had remembered to pack a lunch.
Now the amazing thing about this situation is this: First of all, Jesus knew their need before they did. No one had complained about being hungry, but Jesus knew that they were hungry. The second thing that is so incredible is that Jesus knew how He was going to meet their need before they even knew they had one.
But there was a bigger problem than this. The major problem was not that the crowd lacked food, but that the disciples lacked faith. “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?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” (vv.5-6)
Jesus asked Philip a rhetorical question. He wasn’t really asking Philip where to buy food, because He already knew what He was going to do. He was actually testing Philip, and Philip flunked the test royally.
Philip gets out his calculator and begins to figure out how much food would be needed and how much money it would cost to feed this large crowd. In response (vs.7),Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Now in those days a denarion was a silver coin commonly used in the time of Jesus. It was usually equivalent to a full day’s work in the vineyard. So, Philip calculated that it would take two hundred days wages of an average working man to feed this crowd. In today’s money that would be roughly equivalent to $20,000.
Philip quickly figured out several things: First of all, there was no place to buy that much food; secondly, even if there was a place to buy it, he didn’t have the money to pay for it; thirdly, even if there was a place and he had the money, there wasn’t enough time; fourthly, even if there was enough time everybody would only get a little bit of food. So, Philip looks at the size of the multitude and the sum of the money, and he shrugs his shoulders and says, “Impossible!”
Well, Andrew did a little better. While Philip was running his fingers over his calculator, Andrew went off looking for food. He finds a little boy who brought a lunch of five loaves of barley and two small fish. (vv.8,9)“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Andrew looked at the size of the multitude, and then he looked at the source of the meal, and he says, “Impossible!” Now the reason why there was a failure in Philip’s faith, and a flaw in Andrew’s faith, was because both of them had made the tragic mistake of calculating without Christ.
We do the same thing all the time. When an unexpected bill comes in that can break our bank account, do you pray and lift it to Jesus, or do you say, “How am I going to pay?”
If your home were to burn down, would you pray and leave it to Jesus, or would you immediately start to worry and say, “Where am I going to stay?”
When an opportunity comes to witness to someone, do you pray and listen to Jesus, or do you avoid the opportunity because you’re worried about what going to say?”
I am convinced that Jesus was far more grieved over the lack of faith than He was the lack of food. A lack of food never stops God, but a lack of faith can stop him dead in his tracks. I believe Jesus was especially grieved because He had given them every reason to have faith, and no reason to have doubt.
They had seen Jesus turn water into wine; they had seen Jesus heal the nobleman’s son; they had seen Jesus heal a paralytic man, and yet they still needed the faith of a mustard seed. Their mind set wasn’t possible it was mission impossible.
If they’re to become, if we’re to become,” Gods secret’s agents”, to proclaim “the mystery of Christ” we must have faith.
Now even though all four gospels include this miracle, only John records the little boy who gave his lunch. I believe this little boy must have been very special to John.
You see that little boy had brought barely enough to feed himself. Now you say, wait a minute, he had five loaves and two fishes, that would feed a lot of people. Well, when you think about a loaf of bread, you think about the kind of loaf you see at a grocery store. But these were actually wafers, flat, hard, and brittle, about the size of a small pancake because barley was the bread of poor people. Furthermore, the word for fish refers to a little pickled fish much like a sardine. This was not a great sea bass or a big salmon. This was just a small little minnow.
So here were twelve full-grown disciples who had seen Jesus do miracle after miracle after miracle. Here was one little boy who had never met Jesus in his life; still had peach fuzz on his face, and yet he was the only one that dared to believe Jesus could perform a miracle when nobody else did.
If we are to become, “God’s secret’s agents”, there is one area in which every one of us ought to remain just like a little child, and that is the area of faith. You know what is wrong with many of us Christians? When it comes to faith, we have gotten too big for our britches.
This little boy was willing to share what little he had. Do you notice that what was transferred to Christ was transformed by Christ? Christ can only transform what is first transferred. What that little boy had was valuable because it was available. That’s “the mystery of Christ”. If the disciples were to become, if we are to become “Gods secret’s agents”, we must be available, have faith, be willing to give what we have to Christ. Christ can only transform what is first transferred.
Remember every problem that you face especially those that seem impossible is an opportunity for you to show your faith, to believe God, and for God to bless you.
The feeding of the 5000 teaches us that Christ is the sufficiency of life. It is estimated that it would have taken fifteen tons of food to have fed that crowd. In light of that, look at a phrase at the end of v.11, “as much as they wanted.” Do you see that? Nobody went away hungry. They got “all they wanted.”
Do you know what that tells me? Jesus is not only sufficient for all that I want, but also for all that I need. Now they got all they wanted that day, and I want to tell you likewise, that’s exactly how much of God you have right now. All you want! There’s no “Mission Impossible”, with Jesus all things are possible!
Also, remember Jesus is the satisfaction of life. Verse 12 says, “When they had all had enough to eat,”. That is, they were satisfied. They didn’t want anything else to eat. Their stomachs were full. They were totally satisfied. But they would not have been filled without Jesus Christ.
Mission Impossible? With Jesus, no Mission is Impossible! That’s the “Mystery of Christ”. Today you can be “God’s secret’s agents” like Paul. You need only to have Faith. Give your all to to Christ.
Whatever you transfer to Christ will be transformed by Christ. Christ is the sufficiency of life and the satisfaction of life!
In His Service, (one of God’s secret’s agents) Pastor Joe
Listen To Audio: Sermon 20210725
Listen To Audio: Service 07252021
Prayer of Confession: God of memory, how deep and wide is your fountain of grace. As we plunge into your bountiful ocean of mercy, we pray that we will share in the measureless forgiveness you have granted to us.
We admit our many sins and shortcomings to You. Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pastor Joe will be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4. If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at
570-267-4570 (cell) or Email: joe.s.travis@gmail.com
Loose change goes to General Fund
Sunday School starts at 8:30am
Due to weather conditions our worship service is in the church this morning and not out of doors in the Armstrong Park. We will have a covered dish luncheon following the service. Please join us if you are able.
Newsletter Deadline – Tuesday July 27, 2021.
Choir practice will begin Thursday, Sept. 2nd at 1:00!
Please come a join us in singing praises to Jesus!
Please sign up to host one of the social hours on the Sunday after Communion Service on the first Sunday of the month. Hosting only means setting out what is brought and cleaning up afterward. It does not mean bringing everything to share.
EMAIL address for the church has been changed to: fhpc400@att.net
