A Picnic With Jesus

A Picnic With Jesus

John 6:5-14, 25-36

We are in the midst of a Lenten series on the “signs” of Jesus in John. 

Began with “water into wine” of John 2.  Then, the nobleman’s son healed, Jn 4.  Last week, the healing of the cripple by the pool, John 5.

Who likes Anchovies? Those little fish that people put on pizzas. You either love them or hate them.

Okay, who like sardines? I remember one Sunday when Vi had some of those here for a Children’s message, and no one wanted to try them.  She was the only one who ate them.  If memory serves, she said that they “taste like chicken.”  Just kidding.

Now, as we get started today, I have another question for you. It’s sort of a final Jeopardy question.  I’ll give you the clue and you give the answer in the form of a question.  OK?

Besides Jesus’ resurrection, this is the only other of Jesus’ miracles recorded in all four Gospel accounts?  The answer:  What is the feeding of the 5,000?

I ask you these questions, because there was once a little boy who was going out for a walk around a lake and he took for his lunch 2 little pickled fish like sardines and 5 little bits of bread – they were flat little pita bread, but were hard and brittle. They were made of barley. A simple lunch – actually it was a very basic lunch – the barley bread wasn’t the nicest bread – it was the cheapest bread you could make and was considered the food of poor people. But this little lunch became famous because God did something miraculous with it.

Turn with me to John 6  and read this account with me about this little boy’s lunch and a picnic with Jesus …

The Problem (vv. 5-9)

The Provision (v. 11)   and

The Proclamation (vv. 25-36)

1. Body
1. The Problem (vv. 5-9) — Jesus was testing his disciples
1. Philip — the need is too great - It’s impossible— He’s just getting real about what they lack
2. 200 denarii May have been all that the disciples had in their shared purse.
3. Apparently Philip did not pass the test. He estimated the size of the crowd and said, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little ” (John 6:7). The other disciples agreed with Philip’s assessment: “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” (Mark 6:37). A laborer earned a denarius for a day’s work. Two hundred denarii represented more than half a year’s wages.
4. Did the disciples actually have two hundred denarii to spend, or was it a hypothetical, round number? They did share a common purse, and they received support from donors. They might have collectively had two hundred denarii. In that case, they objected, saying, “Even if we spend all the money that we have, it will be insufficient to feed such a multitude.”  
5. Andrew - We don’t have enough— evaluating your resources 
6. This conversation sounds similar to the time Moses objected to promising the people of Israel meat. He said, “Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?" (Numbers 11:22). The LORD replied, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true or not?” (Numbers 11:23).
7. Philip had enlarged on the greatness of the difficulty; Andrew insists rather on the smallness of the resources for meeting it.  
8. Before we get to critical, I would suggest that you and I often have the same doubts. We too have experienced the mighty hand of God in our midst and yet we often view our situation as an impossibility. We view our situation from a human standpoint, depending on our abilities and resources, and never see the Lord’s power and ability through the eyes of faith.
9. How often do these two things trip us up?
1. The problem too great
2. We are (or what we have) is too small
2. The Provision (v. 11)
1. Jesus took - 
1. Jesus takes it into his hands 
1. That means that we have to give it to him — he is not thief
2. That shouldn’t be a problem - as Job says, we came in with nothing and leave with nothing.  
2. This little boy had come prepared. His mother had packed his supper for him. He was the rightful owner of those fish and loaves. He could have snuck off behind a rock and enjoyed his food privately. The text doesn’t say whether Jesus asked the boy for the lunch or if the boy just offered it to Jesus. Regardless, the little boy handed ownership of his lunch to Jesus.
1. God already owns all the wealth in the universe. You and I don’t own anything. He has just allowed us to manage a part of His wealth for a short period of time. But God wants us to transfer ownership of ALL we have back into His hands.
2. Consider all your assets and your abilities. Have you come to a place where you say, “God this all belongs to you. I transfer ownership of my treasure, time, and talents.” It’s almost like declaring a form of spiritual bankruptcy. When the devil comes and says, “I’m going to take away everything you have.” You can smile and say, “Go ahead, I don’t own anything. God owns it all.” Or when the devil says, “Follow me and I’ll give you everything you want.” You can smile and say, “No thanks, my Father is meeting all my needs according to His riches in glory.”
3. Come on, give it up. The little boy didn’t say, “Jesus, I’ll give you one fish and two muffins; I need to keep some for myself.” He gave it all. Will you say,” All to Jesus I surrender?”
2. Jesus prays - 
1. he thanks the father for what we have 
2. and for what he is doing 
3. and for how the one works in conjunction with the other
4. Jesus looks up
5. What’s he praying?  Remember Jesus’ prayer — “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
   
3. Jesus gives -  
1. he distributes out of god’s abundance 
1. Jesus took the loaves and fishes and turned it into an all-you-can-eat buffet. It fed 5,000 men and their families and the Bible says they were all filled, satisfied. If the little boy had kept his lunch to himself he would have only had two minnows and five muffins. That might not have filled up a growing boy. But because he gave it to Jesus, he got to eat all he wanted.
2. Here’s what Jesus does when you surrender everything you have and are to Him. He takes what you give Him. He blesses what you give him. He multiplies what you give Him, and then He gives it back to you, but now it has His power in it.
2. Out of just a handful there are leftovers.
1. And the leftovers were put into the disciples’ baskets. 
2. Which, I suppose, is Christ’s clear statement to you and to me that if you give to Jesus, there will still be enough left over for you.

1. The Proclamation (vv. 25-36) - The crowd questions Jesus
1. V. 26– when did you get here? 
1. searching for the wrong things, 
2. God has given you all you need 
2. V. 29- what must we do? 
1. doing the wrong works
2. Just believe 
3. V. 32- what will you do? 
1. asking the wrong question
2. what do you have in Jesus?

1. Conclusion
1. Have you ever been just overwhelmed by the things demanded from you. 
1. The boss walks in – “I want those reports – Tomorrow” “I want your stats to rise, and he gives you a plan of action based not on your own personality and skills but something he pulled out of the blue. 
2. The spouse says that he/she wants to move and do something that you thought was just a memory. 
3. The teacher comes into the class room as asks for something you didn’t think was due. And the thoughts that could run through your mind could possibly be just short of overwhelming. 
4. Who do you go to when you are overwhelmed? When things seem just impossible, way out of your league, or beyond your natural abilities…who do you move towards?
5. When you’ve examined all of your resources and determined that they are not enough, where do you go?  To whom do you turn?
2. Jesus wants His disciples to learn that they are not to number their resources neither by the size of their bank accounts nor the number of coins in their purse.  Neither are they to weigh the enormity of the problems against the few possessions at hand.
1. Instead they (and we) are 
1. To look up
2. To think God-sized thoughts and dream God-sized dreams
3. To cast all of our cares upon Him
4. To prayerfully commit it— whatever it is— to His hands
5. And then watch what God does.