Where Are We To Buy Bread? (John 6:1-15)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Amen and let us take our Bibles now and open

up to John chapter 6. John 6 as we continue in

John 6 · chapter mention

our sermon series through some of the miracles

of Jesus. We're gonna look at verses 1 through

15 and what we're looking at is a familiar story.

familiar miracle that actually I think isn't

really all that familiar to us. We think we know

this well, but there is so much to uncover in

the feeding of the 5 ,000. This is such an important

miracle, and I think the Gospels are screaming

this to us to take notice of this because this

miracle of Jesus is in all four Gospels. In addition

to John 6, you can find it in Matthew 14. Mark

6 and Luke chapter 9 and so let us give our attention

Luke 9 · chapter mention

to this and pay careful attention Because there

is a lot here to see about our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ Listen to this for this is the word

of the Lord After this Jesus went away to the

other side of the Sea of Galilee Which is the

Sea of Tiberias? And a large crowd was following

him, because they saw the signs that he was doing

on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and

there he sat down with his disciples. Now the

Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large

crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip,

where are we to buy bread so that these people

may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself

knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200

denarii worth of bread would not be enough for

each of them to get a little. One of his disciples,

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there

is a boy here who has five barley loaves and

two fish, but what are they for so many? Jesus

said, Have the people sit down now. There was

much grass in the place So the men sat down about

five thousand in number Jesus then took the loaves

and when he had given thanks he distributed them

to those who were seated so also the fish as

much as they wanted and when they'd eaten their

fill he told his disciples gather up the leftover

fragments that nothing may be lost So they gathered

them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments

from the five barley loaves left by those who

had eaten. When the people saw the sign that

he had done, they said, indeed, this is indeed

the prophet who is to come into the world. Perceiving

then that they were about to come and take him

by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again

to the mountain by himself. This is God's holy

word. Let us pray. Father, what a miraculous

miracle this is. We see and hear the great care

of Jesus for his people. And so I pray that as

we study this, we would see the compassion of

Christ and know how much you care for us because,

God, you prove your love to us in the while we

are yet sinners. Christ died for us. Help this

truth to sink deep down into our hearts. These

things we ask, praying for understanding in the

name of Christ. Amen. The great reformer Martin

Luther wrote many things in his lifetime. Luther

was known for his commentary on Galatians. Luther

wrote many things about Genesis. Indeed, Luther's

writing ministry, it was impressive and prolific.

Anybody know what Martin Luther wrote? His last

words? It was found in his pocket after he died

that Luther wrote this. We are beggars. This

is true. We are beggars. This is true of all

that Luther could have said he could have written

something down about Justification by faith alone

and Christ alone to the glory of God alone He

could have written all kinds of things, but the

last thing that Luther said We are beggars This

is true It's been said many times. We're all

just beggars trying to tell other beggars where

to find bread Jesus tells us where. We look no

further than Jesus, because Jesus is the true

bread from heaven. As I said, this is a familiar

text that actually isn't all that familiar, so

let's look at some of the details here in verse

one. The location. The Sea of Galilee, also known

as the Sea of Tiberias. This is near some northern

Galilean towns like Bethsaida. And I think that

this is an important point, and I'll come back

to it later, that we should recognize that some

of the disciples were from this region. So you

have the disciples there with Jesus. You have

this crowd that has been following Jesus. He's

been teaching them. And verse two says that he

has performed many signs on the sick. And so

this is why they're following him. They've seen

him at work. Now, we're only in chapter six of

John, and if you go back through the first five

chapters, you actually don't see that many miracles

yet from Jesus, which tells us that Jesus has

performed many more miracles than are written

down. Matter of fact, that's what we see at the

end of the book of John, that if... If one were

to write down all that Jesus did, John says the

world would not be able to contain all the books

that could be written. And so there's a lot more

that Jesus is doing that we don't see. Jesus

goes up onto this mountain with the disciples

and then we get this fascinating tidbit of information

in verse four. Now the Passover, the feast of

the Jews was at hand. Why is this important?

Why is this important to know that the Passover

is coming? Well friends, what's really happening

in John chapter 6 is that the Holy Spirit is

John 6 · chapter mention

communicating through the writer of John a retelling

of the Exodus. That's what's happening in John

6. In a way, it's a retelling of the Exodus.

Think about it. Why was Passover celebrated?

Well, it commemorates when God saved Israel from

Egypt. John six is reenacting this history because

as Israel escaped Egypt and went into the wilderness,

what did they need? They needed food. And so

what did God provide? He provided for them manna

from heaven, bread from heaven, right? Here in

John six, that's exactly what Jesus does. He

provides the bread. He provides. the meat. But

what else? As we see later in John 6, Jesus walks

on the water. Are we not here reminded of the

time that the Israelites walked through the parted

Red Sea, getting out of Egypt? Additionally,

the Israelites began to, in Exodus, recognize

that Moses was a prophet. And here, In verse

14, that's what the people say. This is indeed

the prophet who is to come into the world. The

whole point of this is to say that an even greater

Moses has come and an even greater Moses promises

a greater deliverance. And so we see Jesus provide

the bread. Now I think there's something important

to recognize about this. Who is the one who first

mentions the bread? It's Jesus, look in verse

five, about halfway through. Jesus said to Philip,

where are we to buy bread that these people may

eat? Jesus knows their needs, and Jesus knows

your needs too. It's a sad fact that sometimes

we reduce God to one who only cares for our salvation.

Of course, God cares for our salvation, but do

we believe that Jesus cares for us in every single

conceivable way? Do we trust that God cares for

us? Do you believe this today? Here, within John

6, we see Jesus is not aloof. Jesus is not insensitive

to the needs of his people. He's the one who

brings it up. We can also see this in the Lord's

Prayer. that we've already prayed today. Jesus

teaches his disciples, give us this day our daily

bread. Think about that for a minute. Of all

of the things that Jesus taught his disciples,

of all of the things that he could teach his

disciples to pray, he says, pray for your food.

And so before Jesus distributes this food here,

he prays in verse 11. Jesus again shows us how

much he cares for his people Jesus is the good

shepherd and what does a good shepherd do but

protect the sheep and rescue the sheep and provide

for the sheep and lead the sheep Jesus does all

of this for us and because the Holy Spirit has

this recorded for you you can look at this chapter

and know how much God loves you in Christ Jesus

And so Christian, don't hesitate to go to God

with every godly need, every godly desire, every

confession, trusting in God that he will meet

those needs in Christ Jesus according to his

will. I like how 1 Peter 5 -7 puts it, cast your

cares upon him because he cares for you. God

cares about every single need that you have.

God cares about this, and so he sends Jesus,

and Jesus is here on the mountain. The other

gospels tell us that Jesus has been teaching

the disciples, he's been teaching the crowd,

but he doesn't just teach them, he provides for

them. Jesus, as we have noted recently with Christmas,

is incarnate. He has a true body. Jesus is probably

hungry too. And so he's the one who brings it

up. He's the one who puts it into their minds

as if to say, hey guys, what's for lunch? I could

eat. But we should also note this, many of us

today will go from this sanctuary and we'll go

home. Many of us, most of us, I hope all of us

have food. We have food in the cabinets, food

in the fridge, food on the table. I hope that

that's the case. We should understand that's

not necessarily the case with this crowd, right?

Matter of fact, most of this crowd, they probably

don't have all that they need all the time. They

probably were hungry, right? Isaiah 55, one through

two, illustrates this point. Isaiah 55, one through

two, says, come, everyone who thirsts. Come to

the waters, and he who has no money, come buy

and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money

and without price. Why do you spend your money

for that which is not bread and your labor for

that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently

to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves

in rich food. Jesus, as we're starting to see

here, offers real food, but what he really offers

is himself. And so Jesus asks this question of

Philip. Where do we go to buy bread? As I mentioned,

some of the disciples were from this region,

and Philip is one of them. And so I believe the

reason that Jesus asked Philip, where do we go

to buy bread, is because Philip would probably

know. Not that there's a 7 -Eleven on top of

the mountain. But somewhere in the surrounding

area, there's a place to buy bread. And so he

asks Philip this question. But Philip highlights

what is in his mind a bigger problem. It's not

really about where to buy the bread. It's the

fact that we don't have enough money to pay for

enough bread for everybody. Look there, just

after Jesus asks the question. What Phillips

says in verse 7? 200 denarii worth of bread would

not be enough for each of them to get a little.

A denarius many of you know, and you may have

a footnote in your Bible that says this, a denarius

is about equivalent to a day's wage. It's payment

for work. And so some of your Bibles actually

go ahead and do some of this math for you saying

that it would take seven to eight months wages

to pay for enough bread for everybody to have

a taste. Now, I'm no mathematician, but if I'm

there with Jesus and Philip, I'm probably saying

to Philip, hey, Philip, that's really good math

there. He does this calculation, right? But the

problem was Philip did the calculation without

considering the great multiplier. He did the

calculation without the great multiplier. James

Montgomery Boyce says he calculated But he calculated

without Christ This is a bad error on Phillips

part, but before we criticize Philip We should

understand that we do this as well The disciples

have seen Jesus work. We've also seen Jesus work

Jesus has given us new hearts to love him Jesus

has done incredible things and do we not still

doubt him? This is Jesus who could do more than

we could ever ask or ever imagine. I like how

Psalm 78, 19 puts it when it says, can God spread

a table in the wilderness? And the implied answer

is, of course he can. Of course he can. And so

today, are you trusting in Jesus? Do you know

Jesus? Do you have doubts about Jesus? Last Sunday,

we looked at Mark chapter 9 and we looked at

Mark 9 · chapter mention

how that father is concerned for his dying son

who's got the unclean spirit and what did the

father say I believe help my unbelief and as

I said this should be a prayer on our lips that

God would strengthen our faith that we would

not doubt the very power of God And so I think

that Philip here is doubting, well, what about

the other disciple mentioned in verse eight?

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. I'll be honest

with you, I was studying this passage this week,

and Andrew's statement puzzled me, and maybe

it puzzles you too. Why does Andrew even bring

this up? All right, this. five loaves of barley

bread and a couple of fish, I was truly stumped

by this. Because we should understand this, that

when we're talking about the feeding of the 5

,000, that's only including the men. And so let's

say that there's as many women as there are men.

Now we're up to 10 ,000. And let's say that some

of those men and some of those women are married

and they have children. Now we're up to 15 or

20 or even 25. thousand people on this mountain

to be fed, and Andrew's like, here's this little

boy, he's got a little bit of bread and a little

fish. Why does Andrew even bring this up? Additionally,

let's understand what kind of bread and what

kind of fish. The text mentions that these are

barley loaves. Friends, barley bread was the

cheapest bread that you could possibly buy. It

was poor people's bread. It probably didn't taste

all that good. And the fish that the boy has,

these are probably two small sardines. And so,

Andrew, what are you talking about? This is not,

this wouldn't make a dent in anybody's appetite

other than maybe one small boy. But as I thought

about it more, I thought, well perhaps Andrew

believes that Jesus can do a lot with a little.

Jesus can do a lot with a little. We see this

throughout Scripture. God routinely does this

kind of thing. God chooses the weak to shame

the wise. Jesus says that if you have faith the

size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.

And God uses unlikely people to be his servants,

just like we see with these disciples. God does

this time and time again. Matter of fact, he

did this with the Israelites. Listen to these

words from Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 7, 6 through

9. For you are a people holy to the Lord your

God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a

people for his treasured possession out of all

the peoples who were on the face of the earth.

It was not because you were more in number than

any other people that the Lord has set his love

on you and chose you, for you were the fewest

of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves

you and is keeping the oath that he swore to

your fathers that the Lord has brought you out

with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the

house of slavery. from the house of Pharaoh,

king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your

God is God." God does this time and time again.

And Jesus does this as well. Jesus, as I said,

selects those disciples who aren't making a who's

who of anything, really, and he forms the church

from them. 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 9 reflects

on this passage and says that believers are the

treasured possession of God and God doesn't choose

you because of your good looks and he doesn't

choose you because of how smart you are and he

doesn't choose you because of your talents or

your wealth God chooses you and places his love

upon you simply because he loves you and he rescues

you from your enslavement to sin and the punishment

thereof. You see, friends, this miracle, it's

about bread and it's about fish and it's about

people up on a mountain. But it's about a whole

lot more than that. It's about rescuing. If this

is a recap of Exodus and the wilderness wanderings,

it's about rescuing. And as Jesus takes this

food here and he multiplies it, he does that,

but it's only temporary because Jesus is pointing

to something greater than that. Jesus is pointing

to a food that never perishes Jesus is pointing

to himself Look at John 6 just go further down

to verse 25 and on John 6 25 through 35 Because

this goes right along with what we're looking

at when they found him On the other side of the

sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come

here? And Jesus answered them, truly, truly,

I say to you, you are seeking me, not because

you saw signs, but because you ate your fill

of the loaves. Do not work for the food that

perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal

life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

For on him, God the Father has set his seal.

Then they said to him, what must we do? to be

doing the works of God. And Jesus answered them,

this is the work of God, that you believe in

him whom he has sent. So they said to him, then

what sign do you do that we may see and believe

you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate

the manna in the wilderness. As it's written,

he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus

then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you,

it was not Moses who gave you the bread from

heaven. But my father gives you the true bread

from heaven For the bread of God is he who comes

down from heaven and gives life to the world

and they said to him sir Give us this bread always

and Jesus said to them. I am the bread of life

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever

believes in me shall never thirst Friends Jesus

is the bread from heaven. Jesus is the manna

from heaven We need to understand this today

that Jesus he's on this mountain with the disciples

and he is the host of the meal But Jesus is also

the meal Jesus is the shepherd, but he's also

the lamb Jesus is God, but he's also man. He

is innocent but made guilty He is the way to

heaven, but he endured hell. You see, within

this text and within our theology, we understand

that the people here on the mountain are not

the only ones who are satisfied. Jesus satisfies

the Father, too. Because Jesus... who offers

himself as the bread of heaven and has his blood

poured out. God is satisfied with this because

he's the perfect substitute for our sins. Jesus

was nailed to the cross, enduring the pain and

the shame and the father's wrath was satisfied

because it was poured out on the perfect substitute.

God was satisfied. Isaiah 53 says, it was the

will of God to crush. him. Because it was the

only way. The only way was to have Jesus really

offered up on that cross for you and me, the

righteous for the unrighteous. Now perhaps I

should have saved this sermon until next Sunday

when we, Lord willing, will have the table before

us, but you remember what happens at that table.

You remember what the bread signifies the body

of Christ broken and the cup signifying his blood

poured out for the forgiveness of sins those

signs Point to something even greater and that's

what Jesus is helping us to see to look beyond

those simple things even as great as that miracle

was to look beyond the bread and look beyond

the fish and look to Jesus who truly satisfies

and so the bread of life takes this boy's lunch,

and I believe this boy who has the bread and

the fish, I believe he's trusting in Jesus more

than anybody else in the story. Jesus blesses

it, he distributes it, and everybody is filled.

Look in verse 11. Jesus then took the loaves,

and when he had given thanks, he distributed

them to those who were seated. So also the fish,

as much as they wanted. And then you see 12 baskets

of bread left over. I don't see any fish left

over, so apparently these people aren't carb

lovers like I am, but the people see this and

they are completely stunned. They are completely

amazed. Like Moses in Egypt, the people are stunned

and they say, this is the prophet who is to come

into the world. You see what Jesus does here

in this text? He fills more than their stomachs.

Jesus fills their hearts. But friends, there's

also a warning here. These people in John 6 are

very, very similar to the Israelites wandering

in the wilderness. Those people grumbled before

Moses and before God. And so this is a warning

not to look to Jesus to do our bidding, but that

we look to Jesus to do His will. We should do

this. The people here in verse 15, they wanted

to make Him King by force, perhaps thinking,

if Jesus is on the throne, then we will always

have bread on the table. These people are concerned

about getting more barley bread when what Jesus

offers isn't even made in the same bakery. Look

in chapter 6, 41 and 42. So the Jews grumbled

about him, because he said, I am the bread that

came down from heaven. And they said, is not

this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and

mother we know, how does he now say, I have come

down from heaven? How quickly we forget. He has

just fed all of these people with five tiny pieces

of bread and two fish, and now they're criticizing

him. This is exactly like the Israelites in the

wilderness wandering about where it sounds like

they have amnesia or something, forgetting about

how God got them out of Egypt, forgetting about

the plagues of Moses, forgetting about walking

through the Red Sea with a wall of water on each

side. You see, these people here are only satisfied

when they're stuffing their faces. And yet, don't

we see this all the time within ourselves, that

we are satisfied by tiny, minuscule things when

Jesus offers eternal life? Children, did any

of you receive a good gift this Christmas that

came in a cardboard box? Do sometimes we play

with the box more than we do with the gift inside?

That's how we are. We can be like that. Jesus

offers eternal life that he lived for and he

died for in excruciating fashion, and we're still

wondering, hey, can I get some more of those

sardines and some more of that barley bread?

C .S. Lewis said it well when he wrote, It would

seem that our Lord finds our desires not too

strong, but too weak. We are half -hearted creatures,

fooling about with drink and sex and ambition

when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant

child who wants to go on making mud pies in a

slum because he cannot imagine what is meant

by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are

far too easily pleased. Church, you cannot imagine

what Jesus has in store for you. Try it now.

Try and imagine a world without sin. Try and

imagine a world without the curse of it. Imagine

a better promised land. Jesus rescues us from

something, but Jesus rescues us to something,

this better promised land that he calls paradise.

And Jesus cares for us all along the way to there.

Beggars, look no further. Jesus is the bread

of life. Believe in Jesus and you shall be saved.

For as Psalm 16 says, in his right hand are pleasures

forever. Philippians 4 .9, and I close with this.

And my God, supply every need of yours according

to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Let's pray.