Summer Series '24: John 6

All right, good morning, we'll go ahead and get started in here this morning.

I do want to let you know, just so you know, what's going on.

So this is your chance to leave In here.

We'll be doing each week during the month of the summer there'll be a different teacher sharing with you their favorite chapter of the Bible, and then over in the small auditorium there is a singing class with Bryce.

So that is the other option.

There's two options.

So if you didn't know that, just wanted to let you know that there is singing taking place in the small auditorium, and then here, each week will be a different chapter from a different book in the Bible, and so I chose John chapter six.

I'll be honest, I don't know that it's my favorite chapter.

My favorite chapter in the Bible is Malachi 3, which I believe the last time I taught this adult Bible class I did Malachi 3.

So I didn't want to do that to you, so I did John, chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

And John chapter 6,.

John 6 · chapter mention

As we get into this, you'll kind of notice there's a lot that takes place.

There's a whole lot that's going on, and so this morning we're just going to briefly touch on some of the things that take place, and so if you have your Bible and you want to follow along, it might make it a little easier.

But I wanted to start off with this how many of you like or love when you hear something's free?

Right, everybody loves something that's free.

Gary Frame has both hands up, right?

Chuck is kind of giving me the because there's always a catch, right, there's always a catch when something is free, it's is it really free?

You know, you hear phrases like buy two, get one free, right?

Well, you know what they really did, right, they upped the price of the other two things and you're paying for that third one.

You just don't think you are right.

And then there's things like shop for $500 and get a free gift worth of $100.

Okay, that sounds great.

There's things like apply for a free membership today.

Well, to apply is free, but guess what?

You're going to get hit with that annual fee.

You're going to forget to cancel it.

We forgot to do that with Amazon Prime, like six years ago, and here we are, we still got it.

And then, would you like a free sample of the product, right?

What are they trying to get you to do?

That free sample is great, but then, when it tastes really good, you're going to spend $7.99 and buy it, right.

And so those are the things.

We ran into this about a month ago.

About two months ago, we were up in Canton.

Drew had a doctor's appointment and we were trying to, we were just trying to waste some time before the appointment.

And so we were walking around the Canton Mall and we're walking through and there was Lightning McQueen, a golf cart With a big old banner that said free giveaway.

And so, of course, there's a sign on the cart that says do not touch the hot boys did not read that.

They are all over that thing Asking.

Can we get that?

Because you know we need that in Pleasant City rolling around.

And so my wife never does this.

She's never this person.

She starts filling out the waiver.

She's filling it out and I'm trying to pull the kids off of the golf cart and she gets done.

She says oh, I put one in for you too.

We put both of our names in the free giveaway, didn't think anything of it.

About a month later she says I keep getting this phone call from this number which you never know.

Nowadays my phone rings like crazy.

Then you get the little boop and you know you're stuck.

But she gets this call and then they leave a voicemail and they say hey, we want to let you know you're one of the finalists for the giveaway.

She's like what giveaway?

I don't remember any giveaway.

So she calls back to just get some details.

I'm just going to get some details on what this is.

So she calls back and they say well, yes, do you remember the golf cart that is there in the mall?

You signed up and we wanted to let you know that you're one of the remaining finalists.

We're getting there.

So Morgan says what do I have to do?

And she said well, all I need is your mailing address.

We're going to send you the game prize, a game piece and then when you receive that game piece next Saturday, we need you to drive up here and you're going to put your game piece into this machine and it's gonna tell you which prize you win.

Morgan starts to get excited, because she's usually not the one that wins.

It's usually me when it comes to like giveaways and things like that.

So she gets pretty excited I've won this giveaway.

So she's like I'm gonna give him the mailing address.

So she gives them the mailing address.

They send in this little game piece.

It looks like a little ticket.

They call again Well, we've got to make the arrangements for Saturday, because you need to be here at Saturday by 2 pm.

Morgan's like okay, what do we got to do?

Well, we want you to come at 2 pm.

We're going to give you the tour of the campground.

We we're going to give you the tour of the campground.

We're going to give you all the prices for all the lots.

We're going to show you all the amenities.

Now you don't have to purchase anything.

And then we're going to take you into the prize room where you may win one of the prizes.

So I said, okay, it's not free because this place is three hours away.

So that's like $70 in gas.

And then they told us you can't bring kids.

So then it's like well, okay, then we've got to find a babysitter.

So she says what's the prizes?

And they say, well, you can win a tablet, you can win $500 cash or you can win $10,000 towards that golf cart.

So I don't have a clue how much that golf cart costs, but they only said $10,000 is going towards it.

So, needless to say, we didn't make the trip.

Morgan still thinks she would have won it.

So if you see her this morning, ask her how she feels about the Lightning McQueen golf cart.

My point is this, though they advertised it as free, but when you looked at all the details it wasn't necessarily free.

How many of you like to spend your Friday afternoons at Sam's Club?

Right, that used to be like a family field trip for us when we were kids.

You'd go to Sam's Club because it was free samples and you love the free samples, right?

You go around and you try everything and they are free.

Right, they are free.

Now they have a new machine it's called the FreeOSC, where you only have to talk to a human.

You just scan your Sam's Club card and something spits out at you.

Usually it's like a cleaning product or a granola bar or whatever it is.

But it's the a cleaning product or a granola bar or whatever it is, but it's a free ask and everybody gets excited, I get excited.

I walk around Sam's Club.

This is great, they're giving me free stuff.

But how do you get into Sam's Club?

Well, you've got to buy a membership, right, and I looked it up, the annual membership is $50.

And so is that free sample really free?

No, right, I don't mean to bum you all out this morning, but when you really think about it, it's not really free.

There was a Friday afternoon where I had Drew and Jordy Jameson was at school and I was looking for something to do and it was the home show at Pritchard Laughlin and I thought, oh, that'll be fun, we'll take Drew and we'll take Jordy and push them around and we'll kill some time and we'll get some free candy and you know it'll be fine.

So we're walking around the home show and I'm talking to all of the vendors because they're trying to get my business and I don't know why I felt obligated.

I think it was because he literally pulled out cookies from behind the table for Drew.

I was like here's a cookie buddy.

And so I was like all right man, tell me about the gutter guards.

So he starts to tell me about the gutter guards and he says, hey, we can come do a free estimate.

And he says, hey, we can come do a free estimate.

And I said, sure, let me put down my information.

We have one tree that maybe fills one-fourth of our gutter.

Don't really know that I need gutter guards, but you gave my kid a cookie, so I'll give you my phone number Worst mistake I ever made.

They called me every day for three weeks.

Sir, we'd like to come give you that free estimate.

We'd like to come give you that free estimate.

Finally, I was just like I'm just not going to purchase gutter guards.

I'm sorry, can you remove me from the list?

They still call.

I think the guy's angry because he gave me a cookie.

My point is this Not everything is free, right, but sometimes the word free draws a lot of people right and it gets a lot of people, and that's what the point is.

That's what businesses are doing.

They know they can advertise it as free and that's going to get people there.

They're not always going to stay committed, but it's going to get people in the room.

In John 6, we start to read that Jesus is really starting to introduce Himself to the world, and what I mean by that is he's starting to tell people that I am the Son of God, that you get to heaven through Me.

He's done some teaching.

He's done some teaching and he's done some miracles and he's done some things that have let people know that he's different, that, oh, maybe this is a prophet, maybe this is somebody that is working for God.

But then he starts saying things like no, I am, I'm the bread of life We'll get to that in a little bit and people are starting to want to be around Jesus.

And some people are wanting to be around Him because they want to see the next cool trick, they want to see the next free entertainment.

And some people are around because they have a need and they want to see if Jesus can fit that need.

But all throughout John 6, we start seeing that Jesus is going to start pointing to spiritual things.

He does some physical things, but he starts pointing towards some spiritual things.

So in John 6, we get the feeding of the 5,000.

And I will be honest, this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

The feeding of the 5,000 is one of my favorite stories and specifically the way that John tells it.

But it occurs in all four Gospels and you notice what Jesus is doing is he's just traveling through town and the large crowd starts to follow him.

This wasn't, I don't think, on the itinerary for the disciples that they were going to have this big event in the feeding of the 5,000, but Jesus just starts to.

They set sail to the other side the 5,000.

But Jesus just starts to.

They set sail to the other side and he looks back and he says, oh, look at all of these people, what are we going to do?

And so Jesus does exactly what he always does is he gets involved.

Jesus starts teaching spiritual things, starts telling them about the kingdom of heaven.

He's got this large crowd of people and he just starts teaching and sharing with compassion.

And we can kind of understand that the people are following Jesus at this point because they're consistently seeing Jesus do something cool or hearing Him say something really neat.

And so this large crowd is following Him because they're seeing Jesus work and Jesus has been feeding them spiritually all day.

But then, as he's kind of looking out into the crowd, he can see that these people have been here all day.

They're probably getting hungry, not just spiritually but physically hungry.

How many of you have watched the Chosen?

Have you watched the Chosen?

They show this scene in Chosen.

It's really neat to watch it unfold and I almost put the clip in there but I didn't.

But here's what happens, and I made this joke before because we've talked about this story.

We've all been in the class before or we've all been on the project at work where you don't want asked the question, right, like there is a question.

You did your homework but question 11, you didn't know the answer, so you just wrote something down.

And so you're sitting in class and you're saying please don't pick me, please don't pick me, please don't pick me.

And then all teachers have that sense of knowing that which kid doesn't know the answer and they call on that kid.

Right, that's Philip.

In the story there's all the disciples, there's all kinds of people following Jesus, and Jesus' 12 is right there and Jesus is trying to figure out how are we going to feed all these people, trying to figure out how are we going to feed all these people.

And he picks Philip and he says Philip, how are we going to do this?

Well, I learned something this week.

In John 1, verse 44, it says that Philip was from where Bethsaida right.

John 1:44

And it says, along with Andrew and Peter's hometown.

Guess where this miracle takes place?

It's right next to Bethsaida.

So I always thought and assumed that Jesus was just picking on Philip.

But you know what he's really asking him.

Philip, you're a local.

How can we pull this off?

You know all the local pizza shops, you know all the markets.

You know where Costco is, you know where Sam local pizza shops.

You know all the markets.

You know where Costco is, you know where Sam's Club is, where can we get the best deal?

And so I'm reading through this I've read this my whole life and thought, man, he's just picking on Philip, but really he's trying to ask the guy that might actually know how are we going to solve this problem.

Well, philip doesn't have the answer, because there's two problems.

Anybody know what the two problems are.

One is money What'd you say?

And time.

One, they don't have the money or the resources.

Two, they don't have the place to buy it in the bulk or the time to make it in the bulk.

And so if you read through the story, you know Philip just kind of fumbles through it.

He's like uh, uh, uh.

If you watch the Chosen, if you see the scene, he just kind of is like looking around, he's just puzzled, he doesn't know.

John, chapter 6 is my favorite.

John 6 · chapter mention

Telling of the feeding of the 5,000 is because this is the one where you learn of the boy.

There's a boy that has his little sack, lunch right, and we know he has how many pieces of bread, five and how many fish?

Two small ones, right?

Learn this week as well that barley was regarded as simple food.

Barley was oftentimes used to feed the animals, and so if we kind of piece this together, we learn that this boy probably doesn't come from much.

So here's an example of what he's carrying.

I don't know that, that's what it looked like, but that's a good example.

My point is this is he didn't have a lot, right?

One of my favorite things to point out in this story is he's a small kid or he's a young man, doesn't have the best thing to offer, but he has an understanding.

You know what that understanding is?

That understanding is that if I give that to Jesus, jesus can do something.

And so I love this story and it's a good reminder for you and I, because sometimes I feel like that little boy, I don't have a whole lot to offer, and sometimes I'm not as brave or courageous as that young boy.

Instead I just keep it to myself and say, well, I don't have anything to offer.

But instead this young boy gives this to Jesus and guess what?

Jesus does the unthinkable, he does the miracle, right?

Jesus doesn't need much, he doesn't really need anything, but he wants it Because Jesus oftentimes and God wants us to participate in the work he wants us involved.

As you read through this story they finally hand Jesus the five barley loaves and the two fish and they literally finish up by saying here it is, but what good is this going to be?

Or what use is this?

And if you've read the story, you know that Jesus takes it, prays and tells them to sit down.

And I've always wondered how this played out.

If you watch the Chosen, the way that they represented it was they started to tear the bread and put it in the baskets and put a lid on the basket and then, when they went to pick up the basket, guess what?

The baskets were full and heavy.

I've always wondered if that's how it worked, or was it just a little bit in a basket, but it just kept replenishing.

I don't know that's one of the questions I got.

If we get to ask them or if I remember I have that question, if I care to ask it anymore, but I want you to notice in a high, stressful situation, where is that coming from?

Nice, I love it.

I was like wait a minute, I'll sit down.

You got it.

I want you to notice in a high stressful situation where everybody else the disciples and everybody else is panicking.

How are we going to feed all these people?

What do you mean, jesus?

Jesus' reaction is very calm.

Hey, just tell them to sit down.

Just tell them to sit down, keep going throughout John 6.

The next story this event unfolds he feeds the 5,000.

The crowd is still kind of hovering around.

Jesus tells the disciples to go, get in the boat and sail across the Sea of Galilee.

We're going to go to the next town, but Jesus doesn't go with them.

He stays back.

He stays back, and so they get into the boat and they sail across the sea.

Jesus isn't with them.

They're sailing.

At nighttime, it gets dark and a storm kind of takes place.

The wind picks up.

When the wind picks up on the sea, what's the waves?

Do the waves start to picks up?

When the wind picks up on the sea, what's the waves?

Do the waves start to pick up?

Now I want you to think about this.

This is the disciples in the boat, many of which were fishermen.

So many of them would have experience being on a boat in a storm.

So it does tell us that they get afraid being on a boat in a storm.

So it does tell us that they get afraid.

So it tells me it's a pretty big storm, there's some pretty big waves, if it was enough to get them worried, and it wasn't uncommon for the Sea of Galilee to have violent windstorms.

If you read through this, it kind of tells you that the Sea of Galilee was 600 feet below sea level and it was kind of like sunk in between two hills, and so the wind would come in and would kind of create like a wind tunnel, and so there's a reason that it would kind of get that way.

You can kind of see there here's what I never really picked up on in this story.

There here's what I never really picked up on in this story it tells us that they've rowed three to four miles.

They fought the wind and the storm for three to four miles, but the issue is is they're rowing into the wind and so that makes it even more difficult.

And so not only would it be scary and it would be terrifying to be out on the sea and the waves and the storm, but also it's probably starting to get very frustrating because you're working hard towards something and you're not making up very much ground.

We've all been there in life.

You've strived and you've worked and you're trying to get to a certain place, but then it feels like there's all kinds of things kind of pulling you back.

That's where the disciples are.

They're in this boat and they're trying hard.

They know where they need to go, but it's just not really going.

Some commentaries tell us that they've rowed for six to eight hours.

So they're scared, they're frustrated and they're exhausted.

Now, when I'm scared, frustrated and exhausted, I get grumpy.

Right, you've all been on a road trip.

We're about to drive to Branson, missouri, in a week and a half.

I can't wait.

Three kids in a van it's going to be a great vacation.

No, she's going, I guess.

Yeah, she'll be in the van too.

I want you to think about this for a second.

They're scared, they're frustrated, they're exhausted.

They're also just not getting to the place they needed to be.

Like in their mind, they probably thought they were going to be there hours ago.

And here they are and the guy that they think could help the solution is not present in the moment.

Like they're probably thinking man, if Jesus was just here, this would be okay.

So it's the fourth watch of the night if you read through this, so it's now between 3 am and 6 am, so just put that in there.

They're frustrated as well.

All of the sudden, if you read through this story here comes this figure across the lake Right, and it's Jesus, right.

If you read through John 6, in this version, they just get real excited and they tell Jesus to get into the boat After he calms them down.

They're going through all of this frustration and he says hey, don't be afraid, relax, take some deep breaths.

I'm here, it's me.

Jesus gets in the boat.

Guess what happens?

They immediately reach their destination.

There's a miracle in there that I've never even noticed.

He gets in the boat, the storm stops, but guess where?

The boat ends up, right where they needed to be.

And so when I allow Jesus to get in my boat, maybe he's going to put me right where I need to be.

Just a little side point there.

I never noticed that, but if you read that, it says immediately you read different versions immediately the boat arrived at the destination.

I have no idea how that worked.

Maybe it was just so dark and cloudy that they didn't know they were so close, and just when Jesus stepped in, it was like oh yeah, there it is, we're here, that's what happened.

Then it gets a little deeper, john chapter 6 gets a little deeper Because, up until this point, Jesus has just done some really cool things.

John 6 · chapter mention

He's teaching, and he's teaching about being the Son of God, but he's also doing a lot of physical things that people get to see.

And it's teaching about being the Son of God, but he's also doing a lot of physical things that people get to see and it's really exciting.

The feeding of the 5,000 would have been amazing to watch.

It would have been the talk of the town for the next months.

He fed all these people.

It was crazy.

And so when people get excited about something all these people, it was crazy.

And so when people get excited about something, they start to follow it a little bit more.

Right, remember, like, think back when you first started enjoying something that you like Baseball, for example.

Think back when you first, when you went to your first baseball game.

Right, I can remember the first time I went to PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Right, I can remember the first time I went to PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Man, this is cool.

This is cool, this stadium is cool, the city is cool.

At the time the team was kind of winning, so that was kind of cool.

But you start to see all the coolness and then I started every night I would check the scores oh, the Pirates won today.

That's cool.

Then I started paying for the TV network to be able to watch them, because what I'm seeing is neat and I want to keep seeing it.

This is what kind of is happening here with Jesus.

Is he's doing these miracles and people are like, hmm, this is cool, this is like nothing I've ever seen before.

And so, even when Jesus goes on big trips, I want to go on the big trip Because I want to go see what he's going to do next.

And so the people that were at the feeding of the 5,000 noticed that Jesus left and they're searching for Him.

We want to find Jesus, we want to see what he's going to do next.

Well, they sailed across the Sea of Galilee.

So guess what that big group of people did?

They got wind, or they heard that Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.

So guess where they went?

They went across the Sea of Galilee.

We've got to go find Jesus.

They want more.

We want more.

So they set sail for Capernaum.

And when they find Jesus.

Their question is when did you get here?

Did you get here a couple days ago?

Have you done anything?

Did we miss anything?

Anything you want to tell us about did?

Did you make more food up here?

They're very interested in the physical things that Jesus is doing.

Jesus avoids the question.

He doesn't tell them when he got there, because he knows after the feeding of the 5,000, they wanted to crown him the physical king.

That's not what Jesus was here for.

He didn't want to be the physical king of that town and so he definitely didn't want to tell them about how he walked on the water and he definitely didn't want to tell them how that boat miraculously appeared on the shore.

Because if they hear of those two cool miracles, they're just going to want more and more miracles.

But Jesus was not just in the miracle business.

He wanted to teach them about everlasting life, eternal life.

And so he starts to tell them about this bread and he kind of has a hard conversation with them where he has to look at them and say I know your motives.

You're seeking after me because you just want more physically.

Your tummy's growling a little bit.

You want more bread.

You're missing kind of the big picture here.

I'm trying to teach you about eternal life, but you just want food and a show, like when you go to Gatlinburg and you do the medieval time thing and you get the show and you get the meal.

That's what you want.

That's not necessarily what I'm here to do, but I want you to notice.

That had to be a frustrating moment for Jesus, because you're teaching and you're trying to get them to understand the whole eternal life thing, but all they can focus on is the bread.

They're bringing up things like well, you gave Moses manna, manna fell from the sky and he said well, I'm not goingna.

Manna fell from the sky and he said well, I'm not going to do that.

I am the bread of life.

It's through me that you're going to have eternal life.

So then they ask him the question what must we do to do the works God requires?

What do we got to do to get more?

What do we got to do to see more?

What do we have to do?

What do we got to do to get more?

What do we got to do to see more?

What do we have to do?

And his response is you just need to what.

You just need to believe in me.

You just need to believe that I am the Son of God.

Not everybody could do that.

That's really small, so I apologize.

I'll just read the first part.

This is all.

I want you to notice what he says.

He says I tell you the truth.

Anyone who believes in me will have what?

Eternal life.

I'm not going to talk to you anymore about physical bread.

I'm not going to talk to you anymore about feeding you physically.

But here's what I want you to know If you believe in me, you're going to have eternal life.

You're going to have eternal life.

He has this big, long, deep conversation and in all of that he just leaves them with that.

One more story takes place.

Jesus is teaching this stuff and it's kind of difficult to hear Because they think he's a really awesome prophet, they think he's a really good miracle worker.

But some people in the crowd are really struggling that that man they're looking at is the Son of God.

They understand and they've noticed and they've watched and they can see that he does a lot of great things.

But they're struggling with the idea that Jesus, that dude from he's the Son of God.

We know His mom and dad, we know His family.

That's what they're wrestling with.

And so sometimes, when we struggle with something or we disagree with something, what's our initial reaction?

What's the easiest thing to do?

If you disagree with somebody, walk away.

Think someone said Now some of you like to argue, so you might stick around and argue for a bit, but then, once you get so heated, what are you like to argue?

So you might stick around and argue for a bit, but then, once you get so heated, what are you going to do?

Hopefully you're going to walk away.

Right, you're going to punch him in the face.

Don't get in an argument with Riggo.

But here's what I want you to do.

That's what happens when you get challenged sometimes and when someone makes you uncomfortable.

The easiest thing to do sometimes is to just walk away.

And so Jesus has been teaching them about this eternal life.

He's described to them that I am the bread of life.

It's through Me that you get eternal life, and there's just a group of people that's struggling with that.

So they leave.

They literally walk away.

It says that many of them left.

If you read John 6, it says many of them left.

It had to be so frustrating for Jesus.

Like I've taken care of you physically.

I've been teaching you, I I've been teaching you, I've poured hours into teaching you, I've given you all my time and energy, and you just walk away.

So then he asks the question to the remaining disciples.

The question is do you also want to go?

The question is do you also want to go Now?

Do you think Jesus wants them to leave?

No, right, right now he's really talking to his guys, the 12.

But he asked the hard question do you also want to go?

If you read through this and through some of the commentaries and through some of the Greek, the way that he worded the question is he was expecting a no, he wasn't expecting them to walk away, he didn't want them to walk away, but he felt like he had to say the question Do you want to go also?

And so to kind of wrap up John chapter 6, there's a lot that took place.

John 6 · chapter mention

There's four major stories that kind of take place.

We could have probably had a Bible class on each one of the stories that take place, but in all of it, jesus stayed calm, he stays calm and he stays patient.

John chapter 6 teaches me of the calmness and the patience of Jesus.

John 6 · chapter mention

Jesus stayed calm.

He stays calm and he stays patient.

John, chapter 6, teaches me of the calmness and the patience of Jesus.

John 6 · chapter mention

When everybody else was panicking about how we're going to feed people, jesus just said hey, have everybody sit down, it's going to be okay.

When the disciples are panicking in the boat in the middle of the storm, jesus says don't be afraid, I'm here.

I'm here when people are only wanting certain things from Jesus, not wanting the whole Jesus.

He stays calm.

When people start to leave, he stays calm.

When people start to leave, he stays calm and he stays patient with it.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Let's pray, god.

We thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for this morning.

God, we thank you for an opportunity to get together and hopefully be encouraged by some of the things that you have done in history.

God, we're thankful for the example of Jesus and just the way that he lived his life, the way that he did so many miracles, and so many miracles that sometimes we look past them.

God, I do pray that in our life, that we can learn from these stories, god, that we can be like that little boy and we take what we have to offer and we give it to you, knowing that, as the creator, you can do great things through that.

God, I pray that we will be willing to do that.

God, I pray that we will allow you into our boat, allow you into our life.

We read throughout history.

We read throughout the Bible.

When you're a part of things, things usually go the way you want them to go.

God, I pray that in my life, as I'm trying to row through life, that I'll stop and allow you to get in the boat, knowing that when you're in the boat, life makes a whole lot more sense.

God, I pray that we can focus on eternal things, that we don't get so caught up in the physical things in this world, but we can recognize and understand that through Jesus we have an eternal life and we're thankful for that.

And, god, I do pray that as life goes on and as we walk through our faith life and our faith journey and things get difficult, god I pray that we don't be people that walk away, god, that we be the disciples, that we be the people that stick with you and trust in you and have faith in you, even in the moments that are challenging, even the moments that are hard.

God, I pray that we stay with you.

Thank you for Jesus.

We pray for opportunities to see your love and to show your love to the people around.

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.