The Greatest Picnic Ever- John 6:1-15

Originally we were going to preach this message

on June 8th. That was not a possibility. And

so now we are circling back to it. But while

I've been gone, Mike preached on the second half

of John 6 as we saw Jesus walking on water. And

then we also saw Dennis preach out of John 9

talking about the man who's born blind who is

miraculously healed by Jesus. And now this week

we're jumping back to John chapter 6, verses

John 6:1–15

1 through 15, and we are going to see the single

greatest picnic in human history. I don't know

about you, I love a good picnic. One of my first

dates with Hope actually was a picnic. It was

our third date. We went to a park in Laramie.

We actually drove by the park when we were up

there a few weeks ago, and we went and we walked

around. We had this great picnic. It was super

sweet. But as good of a picnic as that was, It

was absolutely nothing compared to what we see

in John chapter 6. And what makes John chapter

John 6 · chapter mention John 6 · chapter mention

6 the best picnic in human history is this simple

fact. This picnic shows us that Jesus is our

perfect provider. John 6, 1 through 15 shows

us that Jesus is our perfect provider. And that

is our main point today. That Jesus is our perfect

provider. And so... As we dive back into John

6, let me just go ahead and kind of make sure

we're all on the same page of where we've been.

See, in John chapter 5, Jesus goes down to Jerusalem

John 5 · chapter mention

for the Passover. He goes down and he heals a

man down at Bethesda. And then afterwards, he

goes around and he teaches in Jerusalem. And

later on, he leaves Jerusalem, goes back to Galilee,

and begins to travel teaching people what's going

on, teaching people about the truth, about the

way to go to heaven. And then as we dive into

John 6, we're going to see kind of the context

of this specific passage in verses 1 through

4. We read this. After this, Jesus crossed the

Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias. And a huge crowd

was following him because they saw the signs

that he was performing by healing the sick. Let

me just stop us there for a second. Notice that.

A huge crowd is following Jesus, but why are

they following Jesus? They're following Jesus

because of the signs that Jesus is doing. Verse

3, Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there

with his disciples. And now verse 4, now the

Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. So as

we look at this passage, first we see where Jesus

is. See, at the end of chapter 5, Jesus crosses

the Sea of Galilee, and it ends with Jesus teaching

the Israelite people who he is. And Jesus teaches,

and he heals, and he does all sorts of things,

and here he is across the Sea of Galilee, or

across the Sea of Tiberias as the Romans called

it. And then verse 2 tells us that this crowd

has formed. Like I just stopped us to point out,

why has this crowd formed? There's a very specific

emphasis there. The crowd has formed not because

of faith, not because they're so attracted to

the teaching of Jesus. The crowd is formed because

of the signs. They like the signs that they see

Jesus do. They don't have real faith at this

point in time. They just want to see another

sign. It's another example, actually, of how

Jesus rebuked them in John 4, 48. In John 4,

48, Jesus says this. Unless you people see signs

and wonders, you will not believe. And this is

just another sign of that. Here they are. They're

following Jesus around. Jesus is teaching them.

And it's not the teaching that makes them believe.

It's the signs that make them continue to follow

Jesus. Day after day after day, they choose to

follow Jesus because of that. The people are

really on the lookout for signs. That's their

focus. They want to see one thing. They want

to see one more sign. one more cool sign, one

more cool thing that Jesus did, one more thing

that only Jesus could do. They're locked in on

that one part of what Jesus came to do, and in

turn, they're missing the bigger picture. That

should be a warning for us. Like I mentioned

earlier, Hope and I were just in Laramie over

our vacation, visiting the University of Wyoming,

which is where we went to college, where we met,

where we got engaged, all of the fun stuff where

I asked you on our first date. And we went out

to one of our favorite restaurants in Laramie,

and there in the corner of the restaurant was

basically a little shrine that was built to Josh

Allen. Now, if you know Josh Allen, now he is

the Buffalo Bills starting quarterback. He's

one of the highest paid players in the NFL. But

I remember Josh Allen when he first transferred

to Wyoming. See, my freshman year of college,

our football team went 2 -10. We lost our week

one game against the University of North Dakota.

Not North Dakota State, who's actually good at

football. The University of North Dakota, who

had just had their mascot taken away from them.

It was awful. And then in week two, we played

Eastern Michigan University. Now, if you know

much about football, you know that Eastern Michigan

University is not a football school. They are

absolutely awful at football. In fact, to try

to keep their program alive, they changed their

field to being a gray football field just to

try to make the news. It did work in the end.

But anyways, in week two against Eastern Michigan,

our starting quarterback was hurt. And so we

started this brand new kid on campus. No one

had ever heard of him. He was super big. He was

from California. His name was Josh Allen. And

in that moment, a legend was born. See, on our

first drive of the game, you went three for four

passing for 32 yards and two rushes for 16 yards,

and there's a third and five on the Eastern Michigan

44. For the record, I don't remember all these

details. I did look this up. But I do remember

this part. It's third and five, and Josh takes

off scrambling, and he's running straight at

the student section. And if you've ever seen

the Buffalo Bills play, you know that Josh Allen

does not slide to avoid hits. He always takes

every hit head -on. And right in front of where

I was standing in the student section, he met

a strong safety. And Josh decided he was going

to run through, but it did not work. Instead,

Josh broke his collarbone and he was out for

the season. Great, we're going to be good? Never

mind. So we proceeded to rotate through some

other quarterbacks. We lost a ton of games. Football

season just was not very fun. For instance, the

guy who came in after Josh that game went three

for 13 passing for exactly zero yards. That was

our football season. We lost by 20 points to

Eastern Michigan. Somehow it got worse from there.

But in the offseason, there was a tangible vibe

in my friend group. See, we didn't really care

about how bad our defense was or how we were

losing some key pieces of the offensive line.

We would say things like this. I don't even care

if we're bad next year. I just want to see what

Josh is going to do next. What is Josh going

to be like next year? Like with another year

of work in the weight room, another year of learning

the playbook, with it being his team, what is

he going to do next? Because that was the most

fun five minutes in. five seconds of our football

season. And that's all we could focus on was

just this one position, this one quarterback.

When we were watching that team that year, our

focus wasn't on the big picture that we were

a terrible football team. Our focus was on one

thing, that we're going to get a better quarterback

next year. In the same way, the Israelites were

fixated on one thing. They were missing the big

picture. They were fixated on Jesus is giving

us this sign. Jesus can heal your sick friend.

Jesus can do this miracle for you. And they were

missing the big picture, that Jesus didn't just

come to heal the sick, that Jesus came bringing

eternal life. And that is why we have to know

Jesus. It's this bigger picture, not just a sign.

So there's this crowd there following Jesus,

and Jesus goes up this mountain in Galilee. Galilee

is a very mountainous area. And Jesus sits on

the side of this grassy mountain, believed to

be a place called the Golan Heights. You might

have heard it in the news recently. And John

doesn't tell us exactly where Jesus is or exactly

who all Jesus is with. John doesn't list 5 ,000

names here. Instead, John tells us when. And

John says that it happens when the Passover is

near. Now, the Passover, if you remember, has

just happened in John chapter 4. So if you're

John 4 · chapter mention

thinking like, hey, John 4, there's the Passover,

so is John going out of order? What's going on

here? Well, here's the really simple. Simple

truth of this. At the tail end of chapter 5,

John gives a summary of what Jesus does. And

that summary encapsulates one year of Jesus'

ministry. And so Jesus is now going to be returning

to Jerusalem for the Passover. And in all likelihood,

this crowd of people was actually also headed

to Jerusalem for the Passover. The Passover was

celebrated with a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. So

these Galilean Jews are like, hey, we can follow

Jesus, see what cool signs he'll do. And also,

he's on our way down to Jerusalem to go celebrate

the Passover. Let's look at verse 5 with me and

6, and we'll kind of see what's going to happen

here. So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge

crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, where

will we buy bread so that these people can eat?

And he asked this to test him, for he himself

knew what he was going to do. So after sitting

down this hill, Jesus looks up, he sees this

huge crowd coming towards him. I actually love

how John says this. It's literally translated

as, Jesus raised up an eye singular, and saw

a multitude of people coming to him. That same

word for multitude is also seen in Luke chapter

Luke 2 · chapter mention

2 when the shepherds see a multitude of angels,

a multitude of heavenly hosts come to announce

Jesus' birth. And so picture this with me. There

are people everywhere. It's 5 ,000 men plus all

the women and the children who are with them,

and they're coming to Jesus to see who he will

help and who he will heal next. What is the next

thing he's going to do? They need to know, they

want to know, what will Jesus do next? And as

Jesus sees all of this, he turns to one of his

disciples, Philip, and he asks him a question.

Now before we talk about that question, let me

just remind us that Philip actually starts following

Jesus in John 1. Philip brings Nathaniel to Jesus,

telling him that they found the Messiah. Philip

has seen all of the signs that Jesus has done

at this point. Remember that first declaration

I just mentioned? Philip even says, this is the

Messiah, Nathaniel. This is the promised one

we've been waiting for. And so Jesus now asks

him a question to test him. Jesus asks him, where

will we buy bread so that these people can eat?

But Jesus already knows the answer to this. So

I think we leave that part out a little bit when

we teach this lesson in Sunday school. But don't

miss this. Jesus already knows what the answer

is. It's a rhetorical question really that he's

asking Philip. He's saying, hey, Philip, where

are we going to get bread for all of this? Because

Philip knows the truth. There's no Schnucks down

the street. There's no Walmart nearby. There's

no Aldi they can go get bread for, for all these

people from. And they don't have the money for

it either. But Jesus already has a plan. Instead,

Jesus is trying to prove a point here. So look

at John 6, 7 with me. It says this. Philip answered

him, 200 denarii worth of bread wouldn't be enough

for each of them to have a little. So see, Philip

does not know what's going on here. So Philip

looks at Jesus dead in the eye and says, listen,

200 denarii or 200 days wages is not enough to

feed all of these people. But notice he doesn't

say 200 denarii isn't enough to give everyone

a full meal or for everyone to eat as much as

they want. He just says a little. It's not enough

to give everyone even a little. The word used

in that phrase paints a picture of every person

just having one or two bites. He's saying, Jesus,

we don't even have enough money to give every

person one bite. Jesus, we can't even give like

the small amount of bread that we take for communion.

We just can't do it. It's nowhere near enough

money to buy food for everyone who's been traveling

all day. And he's not wrong. There's 5 ,000 men

plus women and children. 200 days wages is in

no way, shape, or form enough to buy everyone

food. And Philip does not see the solution here.

Philip's sitting here in the face of this impossible

situation and all he sees is impossibility. And

sometimes I think we do the same thing. We find

ourselves in a situation that seems really difficult.

We say, well, God, I'm looking at this from every

different perspective and I don't see a way through

this. But we forget the most important perspective,

which is God's perspective. See, Philip looks

at this situation and he sees no hope because

all he sees is a problem. But what do we learn

in John 2 and John 4 and John 5, later on in

John 6, even in John 9, like we'll see next week

in John 11? Miracles always address a need. A

miracle never just happens. Jesus did miracles

to proclaim who he is and to bring glory to God.

Jesus used miracles to show us who he is and

that nothing is impossible for him, much like

the angel said in Luke 1 .37. The miracles remind

us of the fact that Jesus is in fact God. So

for Jesus to do a miracle, there's going to need

to be something that seems impossible. But Philip,

despite seeing all of these things, despite being

at the wedding and seeing them run out of wine,

despite seeing the man who's been paralyzed for

38 years, despite seeing all of these things,

still doesn't see it. He just doesn't understand

what he needs to do. He's looking at the bank

account. And he's saying, we don't have enough

money for this. He's looking at the local vendors

and saying, they don't have enough bread for

this, Jesus. What are we going to do? Now, before

we move on, let me just address something. It's

kind of the elephant in the room when the disciples

come up around a miracle. I don't know about

you, it's really easy for me to look at the disciples

and just want to, like, grab them by the shoulders

and start shaking, like, how do you not see this?

How do you not understand after traveling with

Jesus and seeing him heal people for a long time

and seeing him make water into wine, how do you

not get this, that Jesus isn't held back by our

limits? But in all honesty, this is where I think

we do need to make a very real heart check. We

do the same thing all the time. All the time

we do the same thing. We look at that situation,

we say, it's too hard for me, God. God, why would

you put that in my life? Because there's no way

I can get through that. God, why wouldn't you

work this out the way I want it to be worked

out? Because God, I don't have a solution to

that. All the time we look at things and we say,

God, this is impossible. And from a human perspective,

a lot of times it does feel pretty impossible.

But so often, so often, if we just would take

a step back, and bring that thing to God, we

would be reminded that this is not impossible

for God. And so Philip here in verse 7 is really

caught up with this idea of what are we going

to do? Jesus, this is not something that adds

up. You know, and there's situations we're going

to deal with in life like that. Hey Jesus, my

rent comes due next week and I don't know what

we're going to do for food next week. Hey Jesus,

I just... lost my job, and I don't know how we're

going to get through this season. Hey, Jesus,

I just lost this loved person. I'm really missing

them. What am I going to do? Let me challenge

you. Slow down and look at verses 8 through 15

with me and see how Jesus meets Philip in this

need. And the first person who responds is actually

not Philip. It's actually Andrew, or actually

not Jesus, it's Andrew. It says this, one of

his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother,

said to him, There's a boy here who has five

barley loaves and two fish, but what are they

for so many? So Andrew has some more information

here in the picture. He knows that this one boy,

this one child has five loaves and two fish.

These loaves are not super big. Loaves at this

time were about the size of like a pita today,

so it's not enough for a grown adult to just

eat these five loaves and two fish. It's not

going to go very far. Maybe a few people can

have a light snack, but not many people. These

are small loaves, these are small fish. A little

boy is carrying this. And understand barley loaves

were not exactly a choice food. Barley was seen

as cheap. It was seen as the poor person's food.

In some ways, this would be like if someone came

up to you today and said, listen, I've got five

cups of ramen, and I've got two little bags of

ramen, and we're going to make a meal out of

this thing. So that's not enough for our entire

church to eat. That doesn't add up. It's that

same type of a thing. It's poor people food.

And he says, listen, Jesus, this is what we have,

but it's not enough, so what are we going to

do now? What are we going to do? Let's real talk

for a minute. How many times have the disciples

seen Jesus do something incredible, but they

don't get it yet? They don't see the hope here.

To them, everything is impossible. Jesus is asking

them to do something that's not possible for

them. But all hope is not lost, because when

everything seems impossible, Jesus is going to

move. And so Jesus is using these questions to

show the disciples that without him, everything

in this situation is impossible. but that what

he's about to do is more than possible because

of who he is. See, Jesus is using John 6 to show

that he is God, that he doesn't need someone

else to bring him bread, that he is God, the

creator of all things. So let's see what Jesus

is going to do in verses 10 and 11. Read this.

Jesus said, have the people sit down. There was

plenty of grass in that place, so they all sat

down. And the men numbered about 5 ,000. And

then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving

thanks, he distributed them to those who were

seated. So also the fish, and notice this last

phrase, as much as they wanted. We go from Philip

saying, listen, 200 denarii, I can't even give

the people a little, to now we see that Jesus

has done something, and all of a sudden they're

eating fish and bread as much as they wanted.

See, in verse 10, Jesus takes charge, and his

first step is to have all the disciples sit down.

Everyone sits down. All of the people around

sit down. And John tells us there's a lot of

grass. There's plenty of room for people to sit.

It's a comfortable hillside. So everyone sits

down because they're all waiting for the next

sign, right? Who's Jesus going to heal in front

of us next? But now all of a sudden, Jesus is

going to feed them. The 5 ,000 men plus the women

and children who are all hungry. They've been

traveling all day. I don't know about you, but

if you go for like a long walk, like a hike.

We did some hiking in Colorado. And after you

go for a nice long hike, there is nothing that

sounds better than eating a lot of food. And

that's this crowd. They want to eat a lot of

food. They've been walking all day long, and

they want to eat. They're hungry. And Jesus takes

these five loaves. He gives thanks, and he begins

to break them. And assuredly, the crowd, when

he takes five little barley loaves, is thinking

to themselves, this is insane. What is going

on here? This isn't going to work. And these

loaves begin to get... get passed out. That person

in the back saying, well, that's cool for the

people up front. They get to eat that bread that

Jesus gave them, but there's not going to be

any left for me. And then Jesus does the same

thing again with these two fish. He prays and

he starts giving out the fish. And as everyone's

eating, the food's getting passed around and

every single person has as much as they want.

Not just the first 50 people. You know, there's

a great pizza place in Laramie that was there

when I was in college. They did this giveaway

at one point where if you camped overnight, they'd

give the first hundred people in line free pizza

for a year. It was a pretty good deal. I did

not do it. I should have done it. But this is

not one of those, like, toppers, pizza, first

hundred people get pizza free for a year. This

is different. Every single person has as much

as they want, and they eat their fill. Philip

doesn't see how there's food for one or two people,

but Jesus comes through with plentiful food so

that everyone can eat until they're satisfied.

And how much food do they start with? Five little

barley pitas and two fish. That is not much food.

This right here is a miracle. Jesus takes the

impossible situation and makes it possible in

John 6. Jesus takes a light snack and makes it

into a feast in John chapter 6. Only Jesus can

John 6 · chapter mention

do that. Friends, this is an impossible situation.

I'm going to put this into another form of modern

day context for us. I love grilling. I love grilling.

I've got my smoker, I've got my blackstone, it's

beautiful. But if I was to stand here in front

of you and pull out one pound of ground beef

right now and say I'm going to make everyone

a quarter pound burger, you're going to laugh

at me because that's not possible. I can get

through the front row almost. Sorry, Josh. I

can almost make it through the front row. And

then I run out of food. It's impossible to do

that, but not for Jesus. See, Jesus does far

more than that. For Jesus, this miracle is nothing.

This is just another day. For Jesus, nothing

is impossible. Understand that. Understand that

this passage in John chapter 6 is emphasizing

John 6 · chapter mention

the divinity or the fact that Jesus is God. Understand

that that's what the miracles of John's gospel

record, is how Jesus is God. And each one of

these miracles shows us the divinity of Jesus

in a different way. And in John 6, we see how

Jesus is the great provider. And it's so cool

that Jesus shows us with food because one of

the greatest examples of God's provision for

anybody comes in Exodus chapter 16. In Exodus

Exodus 16 · chapter mention Exodus 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16 we read this, the entire Israelite

community departed from Elam and came to the

wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and

Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after

they had left Egypt. And the entire Israelite

community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in

the wilderness. That is the theme of Exodus if

you read through the Bible with us this year.

The Israelites said to Moses and Aaron in the

The Israelites said to them, if only we had died

by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, when

we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread

we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this

wilderness to make this whole assembly, all the

Israelites, die of hunger. So it's like people

who have been slaves are now saying, could we

just go back to being slaves? At least then we

had meat and we had bread. We had plenty to eat.

And God hears this. In verse 4 we read this.

Then the Lord said to Moses, I am going to rain

bread from heaven for you. The people are to

go out each day and gather enough for that day.

This way I will test them to see whether or not

they will follow my instructions. On the sixth

day, when they prepare what they bring in, it

will be twice as much as they gather on the other

days. That's to cover over the Sabbath. This

bread is called manna. And God provides food

for the Israelites until they are in the promised

land. Just as God can provide food for the Israelites,

Jesus provides food for this crowd. Was Jesus

concerned about the dietary impact of one single

missed meal? Absolutely not. Jesus wasn't really

concerned that skipping bread one meal might

be the problem. Jesus does this miracle to bring

glory and honor to God. Jesus does this miracle

to bring our attention to something that he is

the provider, that he is the Messiah, that he

is the Savior. And we'll talk about this more

in a minute because Jesus doesn't just provide

food. Jesus provides us with eternal bread. And

that's significant. Because see, in Greek, bread

was another way to say that someone was alive.

Jesus provides life for all of these people on

the side of the mountain in John chapter 6. As

John 6 · chapter mention

Jesus is doing this miracle, don't miss this.

Jesus is really saying, I give life to you. I

am the giver, the provider of life. He's making

a statement of who he is and showing the crowd

his power all at the same time. Now look at verses

12 through 14 with me because there's something

super cool that goes on in here. It says this,

when they were full, he told his disciples, collect

the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. So he

collected them and filled 12 baskets with the

pieces from the five barley loaves that were

left over by those who had eaten. And when the

people saw the sign he had done, they said, this

truly is the prophet, notice the capital letter

there, the prophet, singular, who is to come

into the world. Looking at these next verses,

we see that Jesus tells the disciples to pick

up these baskets. And I have always thought that

it's interesting there's 12 baskets left over.

I want to give you two reasons why I think it

matters that there's 12 baskets left over. Do

you remember what I just read in Exodus 16? God

provides for the 12 tribes of Israel perfectly.

And here is Jesus providing 12 extra baskets.

Very similar to how God provides for 12 tribes

of Israel. Jesus comes as the fulfillment of

Exodus 16, bringing us true life and the true

bread that we need. And secondly, Jesus provides

12 extra baskets. One for each disciple is a

reminder of what they just saw. They have just

seen this miracle. Now, each one of these disciples

is going to be carrying this basket of food as

a reminder of what Jesus just did. That Jesus

took five humble little barley loaves and two

small fish and turned into a feast. They went

from just one basket. to 12 leftover baskets

after feeding 5 ,000 men plus women and children.

And so often when we read this passage, we just

kind of stop there. I remember that really clearly

actually from Sunday school as a first grader.

And then they all picked up 12 baskets of food

and now let's go do our worksheet. But when we

do, we miss something. See, the crowd realizes

in these later verses that something is different

about Jesus. They call him the prophet, capital

P. See, the crowd's realizing that something's

so different about Jesus, they're on the verge

of using the fabled M word in the gospel, of

using the word Messiah to describe Jesus. There's

a progression of faith throughout John's gospel,

and here the crowd realizes that Jesus is more

than just some other man. But what they don't

understand is who Jesus is. They don't understand

who Jesus is yet. To them, he is still just the

prophet. who has promised to come into the world.

Now look at verse 15, because this is the other

part we leave out. And this sets up verses 16

through 24, and what happens when Jesus walks

on water. It says this, Therefore, when Jesus

realized that they were about to come and take

him by force to make him king, he withdrew again

to the mountain by himself. So Jesus sees that

the people of Israel don't understand who he

is, and he leaves. Why? Because Jesus knows that

they want to take him to Jerusalem, basically

throw a coup, start a revolt, and make him the

king of Israel. The crowds, and frankly the disciples

too, just think of Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane

when he cuts off somebody's ear. They all want

Jesus to be their earthly king. To them it was

awesome. It was a great thought to have a king

who could multiply barley loaves and feed them

every meal of the day. It was a great thought

to have a king who could heal them when they

got sick. Oh, you've got a fever? Let's take

you down to the king because he'll go heal you.

It sounded great to them to have a king like

Jesus who could rule over Israel. But Jesus didn't

come for an earthly kingdom. Jesus came to earth

to be the king of our hearts. And that's really

the key difference we see in this passage. It's

a paradox, really. We see it throughout John

John 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. The Israelite people and the disciples

see one thing and they want one thing. They see

that they're hungry, they want food. They just

want the bread. Or they see somebody who's doing

great signs and they say, you should be our king.

You'd be a better king than Herod. But then Jesus

comes bringing something else. See, the people

of Israel just want food to eat for dinner. But

Jesus comes bringing not only dinner, but also

the bread of eternal life. The crowd wants Jesus

to come as king of Israel. And Jesus doesn't

come as king of Israel. Jesus comes as king of

the world who will reign for eternity. And in

John 6, 33, the crowd catches up to Jesus finally.

Listen to what he tells them in John 6, 33. I

think this is... Such a perfect link right back

to what happens in verses 1 through 15. He says,

the bread of God, notice that language, the bread

of God, much like the bread he's just fed them,

the bread of God is the one who comes down from

heaven and gives life to the world. Right there

he's making that link. He is the bread of God

who comes down from heaven and who gives life

to the world. Even in the interim between the

crowd catching up to him. We see Jesus' perfect

provision. We see how Jesus is in total control.

We saw how the disciples said, Jesus, you know,

just help us get through this storm okay. And

Jesus does far, far more than that. There's an

emphasis throughout John 6. Here it is. The people

of Israel and people in general want Jesus to

fit their box. They want Jesus their style. They

want Jesus done their way. Hope and I were talking

about Burger King yesterday. It was a weird conversation.

But one of the things Burger King is known for,

right, is have it your way. However you want

your burger, just let them know and they'll do

it your way. The people of Israel want God done

their way. They want Jesus done their way. They

want the Jesus who comes giving them healing.

The Jesus who multiplies bread. The Jesus who

makes the really, really good wine at the weddings.

But they don't want the Jesus who calls them

to live differently. They don't want the Jesus

who tells them they need to die to themselves

and follow him. See, what they're trying to do,

what they've done in essence, is they've turned

their version of Jesus into an idol for themselves.

See, an idol is something that's made in our

image. It fits what we are looking for. And we

do this all the time with all sorts of different

things. Anything that gets in place of God. And

we take things all the time and are making them

idols. But God is not like that. So think all

the way back to Genesis. We see instead that

we are made in the image of our provider, the

image of our creator. We don't tell God, now

God, you're going to give me this food. Instead,

God says, I've already provided. You'll notice

in John 6 that nowhere in here is there somebody

who stands up and says, Jesus, I don't eat barley

loaves. I just don't like the look of them. Jesus,

do you have some jam for me over here? No, they're

just happy to be provided for. But friends, at

the same time, it is so easy for us, just like

the Israelites, to start to slip into this other

side. We start to look at God's provision and

say, that's not what I expected you to give me.

You know, God, I prayed for a new car. I was

looking for a Lamborghini. I wasn't looking for

a Toyota Camry. Like, God, I didn't just want

the family suburban. I wanted, like, the tricked

-out Rolls Royce. We have to check ourselves

on that. We have to make sure that we're not

like this crowd trying to fit Jesus into their

box or into our own box of Jesus. But instead

that daily we are being conformed closer and

closer to God. And that brings us into our first

point of application. And that is that Jesus

is our provider. We live in a fallen and broken

world. A world with a lot of pain. A world with

a lot of heartache. A world where, if we're honest,

things don't always seem fair. Just to be totally

honest. It's not fun to say. It's just the truth.

But all that brokenness has a purpose. See, all

that brokenness, all that pain, all that hurt,

it shows us that we have a need for something

different. We have a need for something more.

But why do we struggle with this brokenness?

We struggle with this brokenness because of sin.

We struggle with brokenness because sin is in

the world, because there is evil in the world,

because we don't live always according to what

God has designed. Sin is anything that we have

done that is not perfect in God's eyes. Anything

that's a thought, an action, a word that is not

perfectly holy, perfectly in obedience with God.

And that sin leads us to brokenness, and we need

some form of a sacrifice in order to be saved

out of that. And friends, that is why Jesus came.

Jesus came bringing eternal life by being our

sacrifice. By paying the price for our sin. Because

sin has a price. It's not like going to Walmart

where you see the price on the tag. It's a little

different. The price for sin is death. But Jesus

came and he gave his life as a sacrifice that

we could be saved. But salvation is not just

some far off thing that we see someday. I think

we've probably all seen some comedy movie or

some sketch or something at some point where

somebody's like showing up to heaven and they're

like, oh no, sorry, you don't qualify. That's

not what salvation is. It's not just something

at the gates of heaven. Salvation starts today.

It starts the day that you are saved. Because

when you are saved, you are made new in the image

of God. You are made new, you are transformed

as we read in the book of Romans. Now how are

you saved? You are saved. through faith. I want

to challenge you with something. I think sometimes

when we hear faith, we think this blind faith,

this faith with no proof, this faith with no

idea of what's really going on. That's not the

case at all. No. No, faith is a confident thing.

I'm not calling you to a blind hope or some hope

with no security or no foundation. Instead, I'm

calling you to faith and hope that's built on

what you're seeing in the gospel of John. I'm

calling you to understand that Jesus sees needs,

that Jesus saw our need for a Savior, that all

throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is consistently

meeting and exceeding needs, that Jesus is providing,

and I'm calling you to respond out of that, that

Jesus sees your need for someone to come and

to fix your brokenness, that Jesus will meet

that need, and that Jesus will exceed that need.

Let me challenge you with who Jesus is. That

our Jesus that we follow, that our Jesus that

we worship comes with power and authority, with

mercy. That Jesus who brings salvation brings

freedom. That Jesus provides for us. That's the

Jesus that we follow. That's the Jesus that we

worship. That's the Jesus that we rely on. Let

me challenge you to put your faith in Jesus,

not just some far -off, distant idea of something.

Friends, your faith is tangible. Your faith is

real. Jesus is real. Cling close to Jesus. And

if you are here and you don't know Jesus, let

me challenge you to look back at what we just

saw in John 6. Look back at how Jesus saw a need

and met a need and provided perfectly. And just

let me challenge you with this. What would Jesus

do in your life if you gave him that need? What

would happen in your life if you said, okay,

Jesus, I'm going to step back and I'm going to

let you take the driver's seat here. Friends,

I promise you I know what will happen. When you

put your faith in Jesus, you will be made new.

Let me just challenge you with that. Jesus is

our provider of salvation. It's not just in the

future, it's today also. Friends, here's our

second application today. I want to challenge

you with our loaves and fish. Our loaves and

fish. Let me summarize it like this. This is

where I want to challenge each one of us to bring

our not enough to Jesus and to let him do the

rest. See, on that side of the mountain, factually,

it was not enough food. Five loaves and two fishes,

not enough food. I don't know how large a loaf

you'd have had to have to feed a thousand men

plus women and children, but you'd have to have

five of those, and that's not what they have.

Factually speaking, the food given to Jesus is

not enough to do the job. But look at what Jesus

does. Look at what God does. He multiplies it.

He takes the little bit that's given and he makes

it spread out. He makes it enough. And see, we

each come with our loaves and our fishes. They're

the gifts that God has given to us. For some

of us, it might be a gift in hospitality. It

might be super welcoming to people. Maybe it's

a gift in music. Maybe it's being super relational.

It's a talent. It's any number of other things,

but we each have a unique gift that has been

given to us by God. It's what Paul references

in Ephesians 2 .10. For we are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works,

which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

We are created in Christ Jesus for good works,

meaning that God has equipped us for these good

works. And there's a reason that God gives us

these gifts. God gives us these gifts so that

we can use them. Because here's the truth of

it. These gifts aren't ours. These gifts are

from God. And we take these gifts back to God

and say, okay, God, here's the gift you've given

me, and I'm going to let you do with it whatever

that looks like. Whatever that is, God. Whatever

you have for me, I'm going to trust you with

it. That's exactly what the boy in John 6 does

with his food. Gives it to Andrew, gives it to

Jesus. And you'll notice there's nothing in here

about the boy going to Jesus and being like,

Jesus, I will give you my food if you give me

first dibs on all of the bread, because I'm real

hungry. We don't read that. So we just see that

the boy says, okay, here you go. Here's my five

loaves and my two fish. And what if we were that

way with ourselves? Not saying, what do I get

out of serving God, but instead saying, God,

Here I am. Whatever it is you have for me, I'm

going to give it to you now, God, and just take

it. Cornerstone family, God can use your gifts

in tremendous ways, but first we have to let

God use them. We have to get out of the way.

We have to say, God, here am I in all of my imperfection.

Here's my loaf. Here's my fish. Take it, God.

We have to let God take control and then direct

us on how to use them. Here's an example of that

that I want to give us today. When I was in fifth

grade, I read a missionary biography by a guy

named C .T. Studd. I'm going to be honest, I

chose the book because it was such a cool name.

C .T. Studd, that just sounded like a guy, like,

I want to be friends with that guy. And I started

reading it, and I knew nothing about this guy,

mind you. I started reading it, and it comes

out that C .T. Studd was like the LeBron James

of cricket players in England in the late 1800s.

He was the man. He was the GOAT. There was legitimately

conversation if he was the greatest cricket player

in the history of the world. And then C .T. Studd

came to know Jesus. And in the blink of an eye,

with a whole lot of influence and power and connections

from his career, C .T. gave it up. And instead

of trying to stay famous or stay in the limelight,

he went to China and then to Africa to serve

the Lord. And he began a legacy of missions,

using his platform not for his glory, but instead

to help raise money for other missionaries to

go. Or we could think about somebody like Charles

Spurgeon. I love this about Charles Spurgeon.

When I was on my campus tour at Midwestern Baptist

Theological Seminary, they took me into the Spurgeon

Library. It's kind of like their signature thing

there. They've got most of Spurgeon's library

from when he was alive, including his desk, actually.

And Spurgeon was a rather large human being.

And we always think of Charles Spurgeon as like

famous pastor and preacher and you know, oh man,

everyone's getting saved and he's talking to

like thousands of people. But there's another

side of Spurgeon. See, Spurgeon also dealt with

absolutely crippling anxiety and depression that

would launch him into super deep lows. So there's

records pretty often of his wife walking into

his office and finding him not hard at work on

the next sermon or hard at work on whatever's

going to come next, but instead curled up in

a ball on the floor. under his desk crying because

he just felt so overwhelmed and so insignificant,

so incapable of doing what it was that God had

positioned him to do. See, for Spurgeon, his

loaves and fish didn't feel significant enough.

It didn't feel like enough. But there's something

special he did do. He trusted God with it. He

didn't stay under that desk every day. Instead,

he would get back up. You go back to serving

the Lord. You go back to doing whatever it was

that God had for him. And some days that was

something super crazy. Some days that was like

going in for their equivalent of a sound check

back then. At one point he was preaching and

a guy heard him just say like, Jesus has forgiven

you. And this guy's on top of a rafter and gets

saved in the moment. It just strikes him so much

in the heart. Other times for Spurgeon, getting

out from underneath that desk looked like something

a little less glorious. It was like going into

a poor neighborhood during a cholera outbreak

to sit there with people as they died. But friends,

notice what he did. He took those gifts that

God had given him and he said, God, whatever

you have with them, I'm good with. Take me and

use me however you want to. Cornerstone, I want

to challenge you with that today. What are your

gifts? And are you willing to just say, God,

take and use what you've given me? Father God,

we are so thankful for your word, and God, we

are just so thankful for this chance to look

at John 6 together, God. Lord, we are thankful

for the fact that you are our great provider,

that on a daily basis, that you provide for us

so amazingly. But God, I also want to thank you

for the gifts that you've given us, God. God,

you have uniquely gifted and equipped each one

of us. Father God, I ask that you help us not

in any way to hold those gifts close, God. I

know it can be tempting, it can be really, really

attractive, God, to hold onto that gift and to

see what we can do with it, God. To see what

glory we can get from our gift. But God, I ask

that instead you would soften our hearts, God,

that you would help us to be open -handed with

our gifts. That God would say, listen, this is

not about me, this is about you. God, take and

use me however you would use me. Take me to wherever

you want me to be, God. God, help my life to

glorify you. God, I ask that you would work in

our hearts on that today. That God, whatever

our gifts, whatever our talents and our situation,

that it would be open -handed and willing to

let you work in and through us, God. Lord, I

just pray if anyone is here, God, and we are

struggling and needing provision, God, help us

to really just hold on to you. God, maybe we're

here and we're struggling with our mental health,

God. Lord, would you provide peace? Would you

provide peace like a river, God? God, if we're

struggling with physical provision, God, we know

that we can cling to you and that you will provide.

God, we just trust you with this. We are so thankful

that you are our great provider. We pray all

this in your name. Amen. If you'll please stand.