STUDY GUIDE: ONE SOLITARY LIFE: THE LIFE OF JESUS 3-25-01

UNIT 4: NO ONE ELSE LIKE JESUS: "GIVING MY ALL.

JOHN 6: 1-7, 8-9, 10-14. MARK 6:45-52.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO JOHN 6.

John does not record the period of six months or more that took place between John 5 and 6. He merely refers to it in Vs. 1 as "After these things", which is a vague way of describing when the feeding of the 5,000 happened. The Synoptic Gospels indicate that it occurred after the mission of the twelve and the death of John the Baptist. Thus it was in the latter half of Jesus 18 month Galilean ministry. Jesus was looking for a time alone with the disciples to report and rest.

If you have found Ch. 6 of John’s Gospel let’s discover some of the lessons that Jesus was teaching His disciples. If they were important for the early disciples to understand, then it’s also important for you and I to grab hold of them. If we can learn those lessons, then when we stand in need we won’t panic and fall apart.

1. PLEASE READ JOHN 6.

The disciples had just returned from a successful ministry-trip that Jesus had sent them on. They were tired and weary from the pressuring and demanding crowds and sought rest on the N.E. side of the Lake of Galilee. Jesus desired to spend time with his people. They had shared with Jesus all the things they had done and what they had taught. They were exhausted and needed rest. Jesus suggested they all depart by ship to a private place for that rest.

In Vs. 1 Jesus departed with his disciples across the sea of Galilee to the area near the village of Bethsaida. His intention was to escape for a brief period away from the thronging multitude, but to no avail for they simply followed Him. They walked the 9 miles around the N. end of the lake.

In Vs. 2 John points out to us that many followed after Jesus simply because of the miracles. It wasn’t that they were that interested in following and obeying the teachings of Jesus. A number followed because of what they could get. They "oohed" and "aahed" at his miracles, but their hearts remained unchanged. Some of their kinfolk still attend church services today.

Notice in Vs. 5 that even though some followed after Jesus for the wrong motives, Jesus still loved them. Mark said that Jesus was moved with compassion toward them. Jesus’ heart still beat toward the multitude that followed out to a desert place. /They had traveled a great distance. It was now late in the afternoon. They were very tired, very hot, and very hungry and they were out on a side of a mountain.

In Luke 9:12 the disciples had come to Jesus saying, "Lord, we don’t know what to do. It is getting late and the people are hungry and some are even growing faint. We’d better dismiss this meeting and send them home so they can eat." It’s at this point in John 6:5 that Jesus looks at the weary multitude---turns to Philip and says to him, "Philip, what are we gong to do? Where are we gong to get enough food to feed all these people? Now Philip was the logical one to ask this of because Philip was from this area and he would know where to go and buy food.

Vs. 6 points out that Jesus had asked Philip this question to test Philip to see what his answer would be. Jesus already knew what He Himself was going to do about the problem. Jesus not only knows the problem, He knows the solution. He is never surprised or unprepared during His ministry. Jesus had asked Philip, "What are we gong to do?" Philip takes out his little calculator (at least he would have if this happened today) and begins to work it out mathematically. Philip
adds it all up and says, "Lord, according to my figures, if we had a whole years wages, we still wouldn’t have enough to buy bread to feed this group." And that was true.

Let me stop at this point and give you the first lesson that Jesus was going to teach His disciples.

Never Assess A Difficulty In The Light Of Your Own Resources. Simply put, this means---Never look at a problem and then try to work it out depending entirely upon your own resources. Someone in the logistics section of the army was once asked how much food it would require to feed the Children of Israel one day in their travels from Egypt to Canaan. The answer was that it would take 12 million pounds of food daily. This was and unbelievable amount of food to come up with each day. But the source of Israel’s food was not themselves, but God.

Philip, like so many of us do, tried to solve the insurmountable problem in the light of their own resources. Philip, up to this time, had left Jesus totally out of the picture. But we do the same thing so many times, don’t we? We figure--sweat--we agonize about something that we can’t do anything abut in our own strength, and finally in desperation we let God in on it. So many, when they try to do it themselves, call it "moving in faith." They take on the role of "Super Saint" and say, "Well why should I pester God about this? I’m just going to exercise my faith for it. I’ll just confess that I have it and I will."

Listen to me very carefully. Faith is not a synonym for wishing, which is usually what most people are doing when they talk like that. Faith and wishing are not even related even though some people think they are. To them, if you wish real hard, sweat a little as you do, then in response "Tinker Bell" will come and sprinkle a little magic dust and everything will work out just he way you want it. That simply is not faith. Faith is in a response to the Word of God. Jesus wanted a faith response from Philip. Lord this problem is too big for us, but not for You.

Let me add this also. It is not enough to say, "Well, I’m doing the best I can." The truth is, you are not doing the best you can until you bring God in on it. Philip is the classic example in the N.T. of someone facing a difficult problem who looks at it discouragingly, but does not bring God in on it. King Saul and Israel in 1 Samuel 17 is an O.T. picture of the same type of failure. They had a problem with Goliath and the Philistines that seemed insurmountable. They left God out of the picture. Young David, as he surveyed the same situation, brought God into the picture and went forth to claim the victory.

So lesson # 1 was Jesus teaching the disciples that when you face a problem do not face it in your own strength and resources. Include God in that situation and it will change the circumstances.

Lesson # 2 begins in Vs. 8-9.

2 PLEASE READ JOHN 6: 8-9.

Here another disciples is brought into focus. He is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. At first, Andrew seems to speak with the voice of faith. What he says at first is good. Vs. 9, "There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two fishes." Now he should have stopped there, but he added these words, "but what are they among so many?" And with these words he blew it.

Consider again Andrew’s first words and look at the little lad. "Lord all we have are five loaves and two fishes that some little boy has thought to bring along." Now I don’t know about you, but I believe he had those loaves and fishes because of a concerned Mother. I picture a caring Mom packing a bag lunch for her boy. I want you to know that those loaves were not five Wonder Bread loaves, but five small barley loaves. Also, those fishes were nothing at all but small sardine like dried fish. In fact what the boy had was one soggy sardine sandwich. In Children’s Bible study, the lad is pictured as offering his lunch to Andrew and thus to Jesus. His lunch was small in quantity, but God will use it to perform a miracle.

I want us to notice at this point two important things that take place when the lad surrenders his lunch to Jesus. First---what he has is transferred to Jesus. Secondly--what he has is transformed by Jesus. This is a good example of the principle of dedication that is given to us in Scripture. It may be small in quantity. It may even be small in quality. But if you transfer it to Jesus, it will be transformed by him. You do have a part even as the boy did, if you are willing.

I take a moment here and I ask you; have you don this yet. Have you said to Jesus, "Lord, all I have and all that I will have I give to you." When you do this, a wonderful thing happens. We find that we are no longer concerned about the loss of material things that once were so important to us because they are no longer ours but His. We have transferred ownership to Him.

Here is some good advice. We can have little and it will remain little as long as we keep it. But if we have little and give it to God--God multiplies it. Remember the widow of Zerephath in 1 Kings 17? She surrendered her little crock of meal and oil to God through Elijah and God multiplied it.

It is a solid Biblical fact that "Little Is Much if God Is In It."

Notice in Vs. 10 what happens when Jesus was given the loaves and fishes.

3. PLEASE READ JOHN 6: 10-13.

Mark states that Jesus had all sit down by companies of hundreds and fifties. Matthew tells us there were 5000 men besides women and children. Jesus had committed Himself to do something when He had the people seated in front of Him. Possibly up to 15,000 people were waiting and watching to see what Jesus was going to do. During our times of need God offers us rest and peace. "He makes me to lie down in green pastures."

Jesus takes the bread and blesses it and breaks it into twelve pieces. He then breaks the fish into twelve pieces and distributes it to the twelve disciples. I can picture Peter’s hand completely hiding the part given to him. One swallow and it would be gone and the fish were even smaller. It suddenly all seemed so ridiculous. And it was even more so when Jesus sort of shrugs and turns around saying to them, "Go and feed them." Now I don’t think the twelve disciples were really ready for that one. I mean--there wasn’t hardly enough in their hands to even feed themselves.

Even though it all seemed so ridiculous, they figured they might as well get this over with quickly. So they went with a tiny piece of bread and fish. I’d like to think that at this point Peter remembered the time when Jesus had asked him to let down his fishing nets again after Peter had fished all night and had caught nothing. That had seemed ridiculous to Peter also, but he obeyed saying, "Nevertheless at Thy Word I will let down the net. The catch was so great that the nets broke. But I seriously doubt if Peter remembered.

At this point, let us imagine that we are among those disciples passing the food out. We start handing it out on the front row. Just a token piece. But at the end of the first row we sort of notice that nothing in our hand has gone away. We still have as much as we started with in our hand. As a matter fact, it seems to be even bigger. As we get to the second row we’re starting to give out bigger pieces. We’re getting bolder now because the food in our hand is not diminishing. By the time we get to the third row, we’re doing everything we can to get rid of the food and we can’t get rid of it. By the fifth row we have given away more than we could have carried, but we still have bread and fish in our hands. So we go back to the first row again and start giving everybody all they can eat. Suddenly we realize that we hold in our hand a miracle piece of bread and fish, for we can feed as many as we want and still it won’t go away. All we have to do is to get rid of it to make it stay. It multiplies in our hand as we give it away. Jesus can take a little and make a lot. God took Moses little stick and made it a lot. God took David’s small stone and killed a giant.

Let me state the first and second lesson again.

Lesson one--Never assess a difficulty in the light of your own resources.

Lesson two--Little is much when God is in it.

Our society teaches the bigger the better. That is not necessarily God’s way. He can use little things and produce Big Miracles.

Lesson 3---Only Jesus can satisfy.

In Vs. 12, notice the words, "When they were filled." Jesus Christ had totally met the need of every person there. He fed them and He filled them. They couldn’t hold anymore. They were satisfied with the miracle bread. Jesus fills the cup so much, we can drink from the saucer.

We need to remember that Jesus only increased the amount of bread and fishes, not the contents. They were still only bread and fish. Jesus never meant for them to be more than that. They were used to fill and satisfy the hunger of the people for that day only, just like the manna did for Israel in the wilderness. The people became hungry again and the next day they looked Jesus up. They came for another buffet lunch, but Jesus was not to be found. He had gone to Capernaum.

When the people found Jesus in Capernaum He said in Vs. 26-27 "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, you seek Me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were full. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed."

Jesus was telling these people--you come to me for fishes and loaves, but that’s not what you really need. It’s not your natural physical needs that are the most important in your life. It’s your spiritual needs, and that need cannot be met with the bread and meat of this world. As I satisfied your natural hunger, so can I satisfy your spiritual hunger.

He continued in Vs. 35 "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Today, many people are trying to satisfy the hunger in their lives with what the world offers and they are discovering it just doesn’t satisfy. The hunger remains. I don’t now what each person here is looking at to bring satisfaction into their life, but I do know this, if it is not Jesus Christ then that person is going to come up hungry every time. Only Jesus can Satisfy the Soul.

Lesson 4 is this: Every difficulty is allowed or given by God to enrich and enlarge us. God uses every difficulty that comes in our life for our benefit. God uses them to develop us. Let’s go back to Mark 6 to conclude our lesson.

Having looked at John’s version of the feeding of the five thousand, we need now to go to Mark’s story in Mark 6 of what happened afterwards when Jesus walked on the water in the midst of a storm. Of all the miracles that Jesus performed in Galilee, John saw fit to only record two: The feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on the water. Some would include the resurrection of Jesus as a third. The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of the Lord that is recorded in all four Gospels.

4. PLEASE READ MARK 6: 45-52.

This is the story of what followed the miracle of the loaves. The disciples enter into a boat to cross over to the city of Capernaum. Jesus was going to meet them there. When out in the lake, a storm arose that threatened to capsize the boat and endanger their lives. Fear and anxiety gripped the disciples hearts and they began to panic in the throes of the strong wind and waves.

Now notice in Vs. 52 that Mark tells us that something that had happened that afternoon should have helped them that night on the sea. Vs. 52 reads, "They considered not the miracle of the loaves." I strongly suggest to you that in the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus was teaching them about storms. When Jesus performed this miracle, it was not for show, nor was he performing to impress the disciples. He was teaching them. They were being give a lesson in God’s School of Higher Learning. Where Jesus is, there are miracles.

Did Jesus know a storm was coming when He sent them forth on the sea? Sure He did. Who controls the winds? God does. God even gave them something to jog their memory during the test time. Remember there were twelve baskets of fragments left. There were twelve disciples. Each would have had a basket when told to get in to the boat. Each had a reminder of the power of God. So get this picture fixed in your mind. Here’s a boat with twelve men in it. Each has a basket of miracle food between their feet. In the midst of the storm they are crying out, "Oh, what are we going to do?"

It is so very important that we understand that when God allows a difficulty come into our life it is never to harm us, but it’s intended to help us. The chief goal of the difficulty is to bless, enrich and develop us. God creates or allows a need to come into our life so we will be forced to turn to Him and say, "Lord, I really need your help." If God were not allowing needs to come into our lives we would become so independent and self-sufficient that we’d never feel the need to turn to Him or rely on His power to help us. For God to bless us like He wants to, He must send needs into our lives. But remember this; when God works needs into our lives, He is also working the solution into our lives as well.

Lesson 5 is this: In walking on the water, Jesus is saying to them, "Boys, whatever is over your head is under My feet. I’ve got all under control."

One last time, let me give you the lessons Jesus taught in the miracle of the loaves.

1. Never assess a difficulty it the light of our own resources.

2. Little is much if God is in it.

3. Jesus alone can truly satisfy.

4. Every difficulty is allowed or sent by God to enrich and enlarge us.

5. What is over our head is under His feet.

6. Rest assured Jesus can meet your every need.