Thoughts Of Some Guy In Ohio
Thoughts Of Some Guy In Ohio
When What We Lack Becomes What God Multiplies
The miracle of five loaves and two fish stands as one of the most profound demonstrations of divine multiplication in Scripture. When a vast crowd follows Jesus to a remote area, hunger becomes an urgent concern. The disciples see only scarcity – Philip calculates that six months' wages wouldn't feed everyone, while Andrew skeptically presents a boy's modest lunch. Yet where human logic sees impossibility, Jesus reveals divine possibility.
Taking that insignificant meal – barely enough for one child – Jesus gives thanks and begins distributing food to thousands. Everyone eats until satisfied, with twelve baskets of leftovers remaining. This isn't just about physical hunger; it's about how God's economy of abundance operates in stark contrast to our scarcity mindset.
This miracle directly parallels God's provision of manna in the wilderness, reminding us that the same God who sustained Israel continues to provide abundantly through Christ. The disciples learn a crucial lesson: when we bring our limited resources to Jesus, He can accomplish what's mathematically impossible.
What makes this story so powerful for churches today is its practical application. We often hesitate to step out in faith because we see only our limitations – not enough people, finances, influence, or time. But God consistently asks us to bring what little we have and watch Him work multiplication that defies human explanation.
The miracle reminds us that kingdom impact isn't about the magnitude of our resources but our willingness to place them in Jesus' hands. Whether it's launching a new ministry, serving your community, or expanding your church's vision, the principle remains: when we surrender our "five loaves and two fish," Jesus can feed multitudes.
As one character in The Chosen series observes after witnessing this miracle: "He gave us more than we needed. You'll get used to that kind of math." That's the promise for anyone willing to offer their seemingly inadequate resources to Christ – He always gives back more than we could imagine.
What small offering might God be asking you to place in His hands today?
So we are going to get into our series next week on worship and Cody and I Cody is our worship leader, if you didn't know that, cody is also one of our elders Him and I are going to kind of tag team. I feel like it's appropriate to have the guy who leads worship to preach on worship. I mean, it seems like he probably has some idea of what's going on with that, and so we're. But before we get there I came out of, so just give me an idea. So our missions team got back Friday night so we sent a team down to the Dominican Republic this year and I wasn't able to go with them. I was actually in Indiana at a preaching summit conference and so basically I try to go there every year and I spend two days there and the hope is to kind of get some tools and help equip me. And you know I need some refreshing. You know sometimes it's good as the preacher to sit and listen to someone to preach because I don't have to do anything, like when they're done preaching I just get up and leave. You know there's no requirement, and so sometimes it's good and there's a lot of great teachers there and there's a lot of different workshops that we can do.
Speaker 1:And so I head out Monday morning and my wife, who I think she's a prophet probably not, but she asked me the day before. She's like do you think your car is going to be okay to get there? And I'm like, yeah, like clearly, my 2015 chevy trax has no problems. You know your 2009 honda odyssey. On the other hand, you know, and she's like your car is going to be fine. I'm like, yeah, it's fine. And and so I get about halfway there in cambridge and I I stop off to get something to drink and I notice, as I'm sitting in line, mind you, it's really cold out but there's like steam smoke coming up from underneath my hood and I'm like, okay, so I get out and I check it and so I have a radiator leak. So there's like coolant like hit my engine, my hot engine. So it's like, you know, making this steam, it's having kind of its own little party on its own.
Speaker 1:I'm about halfway there. I'm like I'm just going to drive the rest of the way there. So I do, I drive the rest of the way there. So I do, I drive the rest of the way there and I get there and I get in the church parking lot and my friend Haas Ridgeway he's a local minister in the area. He's about 20 minutes from the church that I'm at and I call him and I say, hey, do you know any mechanic people? He's like yeah, let me call you back. So he calls me back and he brings this guy by the name of Daniel Never met Daniel in my life, but daniel's pretty awesome and and daniel, he fixed my car and then he told me he don't. He's like don't tell anybody, I can do that. I'm like listen, I get it. Man. Like some people are really good at stuff. They don't need everyone else knowing they're good at stuff.
Speaker 1:So we get there and he takes the hose off in the parking lot and you know, and there's like a bubble, by the way, like in my radiator hose, and I know enough to know that that's bad right. So I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to make it home. But the downside is is I miss, like the first half of the summit because I'm in the parking lot making sure that I can make it home on Tuesday. By the way, the joy of this entire story is the fact that while we're in the parking lot working on my car it's 27 degrees, but the next day, on Tuesday, it's 65 and sunny, and I'm like, come on man, like why couldn't that have been? You know, just warm your hand in the radiator fluid, like you'll be fine, right.
Speaker 1:And so part of the reason why I think it's so important is and then I said this because someone was asking me as I kind of walked in you know, why are you here? I'm like well, listen, I'm here to get fed so I can beat others. He was like oh, that's good, I'm like right, like I don't know where that came from, Like I was like that's a good thing to say, right, but that's what it is right. So the idea is we just have this, we just want to be, we want to fill ourselves up, right. And so now we're diving into this is where this message came from, because I really kind of course, corrected and we're going to talk probably one of my and I always say like it's my favorite narrative I don't know how to say that about I love the whole Bible, it's all my favorite, right, but there's this moment in the life of Jesus that I think is really pivotal. There's this moment in the life of Jesus that, I think, is really pivotal, and not only for them, but I think that where our church is headed next, this particular text is incredibly necessary for us.
Speaker 1:So you're going to find this story. So you can actually find it in all four Gospels, but today we're going to be in John 6, 1-15. For those of you who take notes, I wrote down the other references. You can find it in Matthew 14, verses 13 through 21. You can find it in Mark 6, 31 through 44. And you can also find it in Luke 9, 10 through 17.
Speaker 1:This is one of the outside of the resurrection of Jesus. This is one of the only miracles that is actually recorded in all four Gospels and I think that's significant, that every author felt the need to include the account of what happens here. So let's set the scene a little bit before we get into this. So, based on the text, we understand that most likely this takes place in the springtime. We see in the Scripture that there's a lot of grass on the field and if you know anything about the area where they are in Jerusalem, there's a very short window of time where there's any kind of grass in the area. So it takes place around springtime. John's going to let us know that it's actually taking place near Passover. So it's around the time of Passover, which is significant.
Speaker 1:If you were Jewish, passover was a significant event for you. It goes all the way back to Exodus, when God protected the people with the blood over the doors as they came through and set them free from the Egyptians. So John establishes that it takes place over Passover. It's in the spring, it's in a large field and it's near some water. All of these things are necessary. So John, chapter 6, verse 1, says Sometime after this, jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is, the Sea of Tiberias, and a great crowd of people followed him because he saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick.
Speaker 1:And Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover festival was near, so right out of the gate, john establishes there's a great crowd of people that are following Jesus at this moment because of what they've seen him do. Passover's near, so even more of a reason. There's a ton of people around the area traveling and getting ready.
Speaker 1:Starting in verse 5, when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip. By the way, philip would have been from the area. So he says 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. By the way, I love Jesus, I love that line. Jesus already knows the answer to that question. He already has it all figured out. He's giving Philip a chance to be a part of the conversation, he said. Philip answered him. It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite.
Speaker 1:Another of his disciples, andrew Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. He said here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far would they go among so many? By the way, I brought my Lunchable today. Yeah right, I was thinking about it. We bought this yesterday. We were at the store and I had to buy this without my kids seeing it, because they're going to be like I want a Lunchable too. I'm like you can have one later, don't worry about it. So I brought my Lunchable today and I was sitting here thinking about this because when I was little, this was like a special treat for us In my whole life I have always thought that is not a lot of food for anyone ever.
Speaker 1:Like when you buy things and it says, like party size, that's a regular size bag of chips. Like when you buy things and it says, like party size, that's a regular size bag of chips, okay, and you buy a Lunchable, and I buy this. And there are times when Miles doesn't finish it and I'm like how there's so little there. Like this is a Lunchable, this is like a lunch, a snack for me, like, and even then it's gonna leave me hungry. But so I brought this today because so this boy comes up right.
Speaker 1:So this entire crowd of people, there's this little boy and I always wonder. I like to think that he went willingly. I don't know if he did, but he might have, but he has this little lunch five loaves of bread, two fish, probably just enough for him, maybe someone else. And Andrew says hey, listen, this boy has this lunch. But how are we going to feed so many people? How are we going to take so little? And that would be like me passing this around and saying alright, everyone, take your fill, come on. It would get past the first row. By the way, it's turkey, in case anyone wants to know that it's turkey. But that would be like hey, by the way, after church we're going to have a potluck. This is it. This is what I have, right. And so this little boy has this lunch. He comes up with it and, if you'll notice in the text, what's happening is, the question that Jesus asked is coming, I believe, from his spiritual understanding of who God is, whereas their response is coming from a very physical world. Philip says there's not enough money. How would we even buy enough food? Andrew looks at this little boy with his lunch and he says clearly, clearly, that's not going to be enough. And so Jesus so start continuing.
Speaker 1:In verse 10, jesus said have the people sit down. There's plenty of grass in that place. This is where we understand and where we kind of get the idea that it was happening in the spring. And they sat down. About 5,000 men were there. By the way, usually scripturally not just scripture, but a lot of times historically they would only count men because there was an assumption of family. So there's a good understanding that there's probably 5,000 men plus women and kids, which is probably somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 people were there.
Speaker 1:So Jesus then took the loaves, he gave thanks and he distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same thing with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples gather the pieces that are left over, let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. And after the people had saw the sign of Jesus' reform, they began to say surely this is the prophet who is coming to the world. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and to make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Speaker 1:So let's look at a couple of things that I think it's important to notice in the text, because John, the way John writes this, is significant. In verse 12, he says when they had all had enough to eat, establishing that everyone had been satisfied, establishing that everyone had been satisfied Prior to feeding them. Jesus prays over both things, asking God for his provision. And even going back to verse 10, when they question or they kind of doubt what's happening, jesus doesn't necessarily rebuke them. In the moment, what he says is okay, listen, everyone, sit down. Sit down and bring me what little you have. And then John continues to write that after everyone had eaten, they were completely satisfied. Jesus told his disciples to go and collect everything that was left over, and they filled 12 basketfuls. Can you imagine?
Speaker 1:Once again, I think about that little boy who brought his lunch, his little bag lunch, with very little, just enough, and I can imagine that after he ate, to see his lunch somehow multiplied into 12 baskets, he was probably like whoa. And I say that because I think about my kids, because my kids would be like whoa. How'd that happen? And I'd be like I have no idea, man. How'd that happen? And I'd be like I have no idea, man. And so when I think about how crazy it is that you and I, we come to God oftentimes with so little, but he's able to do so much with it, but he's able to do so much with it.
Speaker 1:And then John, when he finishes the narrative, he says Jesus realizes that because of the miracle that they were ready to come and force him to be king, and so he retreats and listen, part of that is it's a reflection of the heart of the people. Jerusalem was looking for a Messiah, but they weren't looking for eternal salvation. They were looking for someone to come in and overthrow the Romans, but Jesus knew that that wasn't the plan. So when we talk about this moment, we reflect back. So when John is talking about this moment, I can imagine in the mind of those who are there they're thinking about this story in Exodus 12. Exodus 16, sorry, exodus 16, verses 1 through 12.
Speaker 1:It said the whole Israelite community set out from Elm and came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, and the fifteenth day, the second month after they had come out of Egypt. So this is after God had delivered them. So this is after what is initially set Passover in the place God had brought them through the Red Sea, had brought them into the desert, was bringing them into the Promised Land In the desert. The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them if only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. I can't even like I can't even sometimes with their response. They would rather die in Egypt than to struggle a little bit in the desert. Said there we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.
Speaker 1:The Lord said to Moses have a rain down bread from heaven for you that you were to go out each day and gather enough for that day. And this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in and what is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days. So Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites in the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt In the morning. You will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we that you shall grumble against us? Moses also said you will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You're not grumbling against us, but against the lord.
Speaker 1:Then moses told aaron say to the entire israelite community come before the lord, for he has heard you grumbling. So so there's a moment when the israelites are in their desert, they're kind of lost, they're hungry, and god rains down manna from heaven and provides quail in the evening. I don't know about you, but that would be fascinating If, like, I walked outside my house and there's just like an Aldi grocery bag every morning, full of all right, of all the stuff I love to eat, and I pick it up and I ate it. Now it's gone. If you follow in the text, eventually God said don't hold anything because by morning it'll be ruined. But imagine, every morning you wake up and on your front stoop is all the groceries you need for that day. Imagine that kind of provision, right. And so we're going back to where John is talking in the text and he's talking about this miracle. And the people are gathered around, they're sitting down. There's 10 to 15 000 people. They have this little lunch of this little kid and and jesus takes it and blesses it and it feeds all of them till they're satisfied. That not just like a nibble, but until they're satisfied. And then they take over what's left and they collect 12 basketfuls.
Speaker 1:I was reading. This is a statement by NT Wright. There's a book, one of the commentaries I use by him is called the New Testament for Everyone. Nt Wright's one of my favorite current scholars because he writes stuff in very simple language at times. He says this. He's talking about the situation. He says Philip doesn't know what to do, andrew doesn't either, but he brings the boy and his bread and fish to Jesus' attention.
Speaker 1:The point is obvious, but perhaps we need to be reminded of it. So often we ourselves have no idea what to do. But the starting point is always to bring what is there to the attention of Jesus. You can never tell what he's going to do with it, though part of Christian faith is the expectation that he will do something we hadn't thought of, something new and creative. I love that he says listen, the point of the text is to realize that a lot of times, all you have to bring to Jesus is what you have, because that's what you do. That's what you and I do in this moment. He's not going to force us to do anything, but he asks us to bring what we have to the table, and then he takes it and he multiplies it and he grows it and he feeds 5,000 plus people.
Speaker 1:You know, I was thinking about it this morning, and maybe it's a lack of faith on my part, I don't know, but there was part of me that was like alright, god, I'm going to pray over this and pass this around, and I want you to give everyone their own Lunchable. I wanted to, and maybe that's me right. Maybe that's where I struggle a little bit. Because here's the thing. Let me tell you why I didn't do it. Because what if God doesn't? Then I'm going to look weird. What if God does? That's a whole other conversation.
Speaker 1:I don't know if we're ready there yet, but then I started thinking okay, god, but this doesn't make sense. There's no way this could feed all these people. God, there's no way that the little old me and following the US Virginia can make a difference in the world that you've created. There's no way that my sermons have an impact anywhere. There's no way that our church can change this community. Listen when we put things in the human perspective. You're right, it's impossible. But Jesus doesn't work based on us. He works based on Him.
Speaker 1:I love this narrative because this little boy had nothing else to offer and Jesus took it and multiplied it a hundred times over. Jesus took it and multiplied it a hundred times over. Twelve basketfuls of food left when they were in the desert. God gave them bread and quail every single day while they waited, and you and I oftentimes won't even bring what little we have because we don't think it's going to make a difference, or we do things relying on ourselves to accomplish it. We do all of this by human standards and then when it falls apart, we wonder why.
Speaker 1:But NT Wright says the point is to bring what we have to the attention of Jesus and then let him do with it what only he can do with it. You know we've already taken a step of faith as a church. Maybe you were here when we did it, but maybe you've heard that we brought jesse on part-time as a student pastor because we believe that that he's part of our future. We believe that investing in the teenagers of this community is a necessary thing and creating a place for them to come and find out who Jesus is in a way that makes sense to them is important. It's funny because I actually started out in his position and he used to be one of my students. To now see him doing that is incredible.
Speaker 1:He asked me this morning. He's like hey, do you think you and I could share the pulpit on Easter? I was like no, but I was like no, no, no. But I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding Because I believe, I believe in him and I believe that my hope is to watch what he's doing. And so he's been doing stuff on Sunday nights here and he just got back with Lydia, his fiancee, and and he just got back with Lydia, his fiance, and they're getting married in September. I'm excited for that. I get to be the best man and the minister. That's going to be cool. So I've done one.
Speaker 1:The other I still got to figure out, but we've already taken a step of faith. Because here's the thing when it comes to building the kingdom of God, it's not about you and I doing it anyways. It's about us showing up with what we have and offering God our little piece of life and saying God, it's not much, but I know you can do this. I know that you can bring this community to its knees. I know that you can bring this nation to repentance. I've seen it. I know that if we just give you our best, I have faith to take care of the rest. You know this is such an important moment in the life of not only his early disciples, because they had to see again and again jesus kept showing them listen, you're relying so much on you and not enough on me. And and when he died and he resurrected and he went back to heaven and they would have to rely on him to continue the ministry. And because of that reliance because they learn that j Jesus can even feed 15,000 people they realized that everything else for him was possible too. Here's what you don't know and I'm going to share this with you and I'm not going to go into a lot of detail.
Speaker 1:Last Friday, we met with a general contractor on our property. We're having conversations about where we're headed in the future. By the way, that's a great thing. We have someone who we believe is going to work with us moving forward. That's going to help us accomplish the vision that we believe God has given us for this community. But here's the thing it's going to be a whole lot of faith moving forward, because if we try to do this in the way that we rely on ourselves, it's never going to happen.
Speaker 1:Listen, I look forward to this man. A year from now, two years from now, five years from now, ten years from now. I want, from now, ten years from now, I want us to reflect back on this moment and think, and the only thing I want anyone to think is man. That's cool what God did there Not the preacher, not Jesse, not the worship team, none of it. That is really cool to see what God has done in that church, in that community, in that town. It's amazing to see in the Ohio Valley that God has showed Himself again and again and again and again.
Speaker 1:And all Jesus is asking is for you and I to show up with what we have, because sometimes what little we have is more than enough for Him to do exactly what he needs to do. But I'm also going to challenge you to. Maybe God is calling you to give more than you've ever given before. Maybe and I'm not just talking about finances, but maybe your time, maybe your effort, maybe serving in the church. Listen, as the church grows, ministries grow. We need more help. Marian sent me a picture last week and I don't know if you saw it, but I think she had 12 kids 12 kids downstairs in our junior church area. By the way, when that number gets to 24, it's going to feel like a lot for one person. It feels like a lot 12, with one person, right, but those are ministries that are growing and it's going to require you and I to give our best to serve in the nursery. You know the sound.
Speaker 1:I realize this seems kind of weird, but this is what I mean when I say we're giving God our best. We're going to show up every day and we're going to give God everything we have and we're going to trust that he's going to do something phenomenal. And we're going to trust that he's going to do it so much so that when we look back we're going to say look at what God did. Look at what God did and how he changed the community. Look at how he brought people, he healed them of addiction, he set them free. Look at how he fixed marriages. Look at how he helped other people understand that their identity is in Him, not what the world says about them. We're going to look back and we're going to realize that with five loaves and two fish, jesus can do anything.
Speaker 1:I was looking for illustrations this week and if you've ever seen the Chosen series, they actually depict this moment in one of their series and it's kind of cool to watch it unfold. And they take a little bit of artistic creativity with how they do it, which I understand, and so they kind of show this miracle as it kind of happens and unfolds, and I was going to show it but it's like eight minutes long. So if you haven't seen it you need to go watch it. It's a really cool series. But my favorite part of it is at the end of, as the clip kind of fades out and I don't know who it is. It doesn't say which apostle says it. I'm assuming it's Matthew it is. It doesn't say which apostle says it. I'm assuming it's matthew, based on the fact that matthews is a number guy. Right, he was a. He was a tax collector, so he would understand math pretty well. And so there's this moment, as they've collected all 12 baskets and they're all kind of rejoicing and how exciting this is.
Speaker 1:As the clip fades out, one of the apostles says he gave us more than we needed, and I can only assume it's Matthew. He says you'll get used to that kind of math. He says, listen, he gave us more than we needed. When you're a follower of Jesus, you'll get used to that kind of math. Five loaves and two fish don't feed 15,000 people.
Speaker 1:Unless Jesus is involved, man can't do that. But when you give your life to Christ, he can take what little you have. He can change the world. All he's asking us to do is be willing. Am I willing to give up what little bit I have in this world by the way, when I die, none of it goes with me anyways but am I willing to give up what little I have? And here's what I love about it At the end of the day, the little boy gave up his lunch and he still ate too.
Speaker 1:God didn't ignore him. Jesus didn't say well, not for you, he still ate. He sacrificed a little, and God gave them more than they could ever expect, and I believe, as a church, that's a math that we should get used to. Everything we bring to God. Every little bit matters, because it's not dependent on you and I anyways, I mean that when I said it Years from now. I want to look back at this moment. I want to see everything that God has done, and the only thing that I want to be able to say is man, look what God did. That's what it is to follow Jesus. That's what it is to sacrifice. Cody talked about this as a royal priesthood. Priests are required to sacrifice something, but when we sacrifice the little things Jesus is calling us to sacrifice, he always brings it back to us. That's who he is. That's what he does. I love it, and we'll end with this. He gave us more than we needed. You'll get used to that kind of man. Let's pray.