Mt. Zion Church of the Holy Spirit - Sermons
And Jesus Took the Loaves and Gave Thanks
Philippians 4:6,7 — "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Needs rise up in all of our lives at various times, and if we are not careful, it is easy to become fearful and full of worry. If the need is severe, it is easy to become so focused on and consumed by that need that fear takes a strong grip upon our hearts, and we find ourselves captivated by it.
In Philippians 4, the Lord instructs His people that in time of need they are to let their requests be made known unto Him through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. In a personal time of prayer, the Lord spoke this scripture into my heart and made it very real as to why our prayers of petition should be founded upon giving thanks to the Lord. When we begin our prayers by focusing on the goodness of God, it changes our focus and the way we pray. When we begin our prayers by thinking upon God’s goodness, a faith begins to arise in our hearts, and before we know it we are praising and thanking Him for His faithfulness. Then, when we start making our petitions to the Lord, we are not so much focused on the problem, but on the goodness of God. When we are making our petitions, we are not praying out of fear and worry but out of a confidence in God and His faithfulness.
LET US SEE THIS TRUTH DEMONSTRATED THROUGH A LIFE CONFRONTED BY A NEED
John 6:5,6 — "When Jesus lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, ‘Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do."
In John 6, Jesus is confronted by a great need. A great multitude followed Him up to a mountain to hear His teaching and to be healed of their diseases, and now they were in need of food. In one of the other Gospels Jesus said He would not send them away lest they faint. These were a people weak with hunger. It is in this time of need that Jesus looks at Philip, His disciple, and asks him where they can buy bread so that the multitude can eat. Jesus asked this question to prove him, to see what was in his heart. What Jesus was really asking him was, "In time of need, where do you look for your resources? Where do you turn to for provision?"
It is no coincidence that Jesus asked Philip. Philip’s name means "one who is fond of horses."
The root word in the Greek is Hippio, which literally means "horses". What we have to understand is that in the Bible the word "horses" always refers to the strength of the flesh.
Psalm 20:7 — "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."
Isaiah 31:1 — "Woe to them that go down to Egypt to help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots...they look not unto the Holy One of Israel..."
In essence, Jesus is asking Philip, "Where are you going to go when the strength of the flesh is unable to meet your own needs or the needs of others? Where are you going to look for your provision?"
We also know that Philip is from the city of Bethsaida. John 1:44 — “Now Philip was of Bethsaida...” Bethsaida comes from the Chaldean word Banah, which means “to build a house.”
Remember: in everything that Jesus did He was not only meeting needs, but also was using it to teach His disciples a spiritual truth. In John 6, Jesus is speaking into Philip’s heart, "In building God’s house, which is a spiritual house, where are you going to go for your resources? Where are you going to turn your eyes to for provision?"
In answer to Jesus' question, all Philip could do was stand there perplexed, absolutely aware of how inadequate the strength of the flesh was in meeting the need before him.
Then Andrew comes and says to Jesus, "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" (John 6:9). Andrew was looking at the little they had and comparing it to the need before him, and was saying to Jesus, "We have five barley loaves and two small fishes, but compared to the need before us, what impact can so little possibly make?"
IT IS THEN THAT JESUS TAKES THE BREAD AND FISH AND REVEALS A SOURCE AND A STOREHOUSE THAT KNOWS NO LACK OR INSUFFICIENCY.
Matthew 14:19 — "…And Jesus took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven…"
Here, Jesus is acknowledging that His source of provision is His heavenly Father; that when He is in need of provision, He turns His eyes upon God to meet His need.
The issue with the disciples is simply that they believed in God; that they believed He existed and that in the past He was to Israel what the Law and the Prophets declared Him to be and to do. They did not know the availability of God. The disciples did not know how personally involved God was in their lives and that God had made Himself available to them to help in time of need.
IN LIFTING HIS EYES TO HEAVEN AND REVEALING THE SOURCE OF HIS PROVISION, JESUS IS TEACHING HIS DISCIPLES THE AVAILABILITY OF GOD — THAT GOD IS WITH HIS PEOPLE, AND THAT HE IS A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TIME OF NEED.
Through this story, Jesus is teaching us that He is with His people, and that He is concerned about what is going on in our lives. He is not some great "spiritual being" way off in the cosmos somewhere, but He is here dwelling with His people.
John 6:11 — "And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would."
Because Jesus knew that God was His supplier to meet His needs, Jesus never despaired over His insufficiency; He never fretted over the little He had to work with. He simply took the little that He had and gave God thanks for it, knowing God could multiply it one hundred-fold.
Another wonderful truth that this Scripture teaches us is this: a grateful heart is the key to God’s storehouse. When you walk before God with a grateful heart, you walk under an open heaven with all of its resources at your disposal. Meditating upon the Scripture, God once spoke clearly to my heart, "to walk before Me with a grateful heart is to walk upon miracle working grounds. In doing this, you put yourself in an atmosphere in which miracles can take place, because My heart is so blessed by a people who are truly grateful for everything I am doing in and through their lives."
LOOKING AT THIS STORY OF THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES, WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES? WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JESUS AND THE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE THAT SURROUNDED HIM?
John 6:4 — "And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh."
This miracle is the "backdrop" of the Passover. To understand the importance that it plays, we need to reflect upon the Jewish Passover. In Exodus 12, God told Moses to inform the children of Israel who were living in slavery and bondage to the Egyptians that He was going to smite the firstborn of the Egyptians in all of Egypt. He said that the Israelites were to take a lamb, slay it and wipe the blood on the doorposts of their house, so that when the death angel saw the blood, he would pass over that house and the firstborn would be spared. When God brought judgment upon the Egyptians by slaying their children, there was a great cry in all of Egypt, and Pharaoh liberated the Israeli people. God then instructed the people that once a year they were to remember God’s miraculous deliverance out of Egypt by keeping the Passover: that is, once a year they were to slay a lamb, eat it and tell their children about God’s wonderful deliverance from bondage.
REFLECTING ON THIS, WHAT WAS AT THE VERY HEART OF THE PASSOVER WHEN GOD LIBERATED HIS PEOPLE FROM THE EGYPTIANS? WHAT WAS THE VERY LIFE AND HEARTBEAT BEHIND IT ALL?
Deuteronomy 7:7,8 — "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you…hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt."
The very heart of the Passover was the redeeming love of God! God redeemed His people because He passionately loved them! My point is this: in time of great need, Jesus was able to look to the Father and let His requests be known with thanksgiving. There was a wonderful truth alive in His heart, that truth being, "God passionately loves His people." Jesus knew that God was His provider, because the love of God was so real and alive in His heart.
Jesus ultimately knew that He was the Passover, the lamb slain in Egypt, and its redeeming blood simply foreshadowed the work He would accomplish on Calvary. Looking over the hungry multitude standing before Him on the mountain, Jesus knew that the Father loved them so much that He sent His son to die for their sins. Jesus could petition on their behalf, asking God to meet their need in a prayer of thanksgiving, because He knew God loved them deeply and was concerned about their every need.
We, as the Church, have to take this story to heart. Our salvation is founded upon one thing — the love of God. God saved us, because He loves us. In time of need we can take our need to the Lord with the assurance in our hearts that God loves us and is concerned about our need.
DOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES, THE JEWISH PEOPLE FAITHFULLY KEPT THE PASSOVER BUT NEVER GRASPED THE VERY LIFE BEHIND IT — THE LOVE OF GOD — AND SO THE PASSOVER JUST BECAME ANOTHER RELIGIOUS CEREMONY.
In John 6, the Israeli people were celebrating the Passover, but they did not truly understand that God passionately loved them and wanted to be a Father who provides for the needs of His children. In time of great need, looking to God for provision wasn’t even a thought that entered their hearts. We, as Christians, have to understand that church becomes just another dead ceremony when we take the love of God away from the cross and do not take the love of God into our own hearts. There are so many Christians who sit in pews, but the love of God has never really taken root in their hearts. In time of need, there is no real turning to the Lord in faith and in assurance of His love.
WHY COULD THIS GENERATION OF JEWS NOT BELIEVE THAT GOD DESIRED TO BE TO THEM A LOVING FATHER WHO WOULD PROVIDE FOR THEIR NEEDS?
It was because they were under such a heavy oppression of the Law that the testimony of the love of God was not able to take hold of their hearts.
John 5:5, 8-10 — "And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years...Jesus saith unto him, ‘Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.’ And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, ‘It is the Sabbath day: it is not LAWFUL for thee to carry thy bed.'"
You can just hear the horrible oppression of the Law that the Jewish people were under. Here, Jesus healed a man who was crippled for 38 years, and yet the Jewish people were so perplexed because He had broken their Law.
The Bible says that this man was crippled for 38 years; 38 years has a strong significance. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is talking to the generation of Jews who are about to go in and possess the promised land. He is reviewing with them their years in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 2:14 — "And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them."
Moses is telling the people that from the time they failed to cross over the Jordan because they saw and were afraid of the giants, until the place where they are now, was 38 years.
We know they wandered in the desert these 38 years because of their unbelief. It was because of their failure to trust the Lord that the Jewish people first failed to enter into the land promised to them. God redeemed them out of Egyptian bondage because He loved them, but the revelation of the love of God never took hold of their hearts. The root of their unbelief was simply that they did not believe that God truly loved them, and so they failed to enter into the rest and promises that were theirs to have. With this understanding in mind, in John 6, when Jesus looks at the man who had been crippled for 38 years, and asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" what Jesus was asking him, and all of Israel, was simply, "Will you finally allow the revelation that God loves you to take hold of your heart? Will you finally believe that because God loves you, He wants to heal you, to deliver you, and wants to meet your needs?" Beloved, whatever needs we have, let us not lie crippled in our unbelief, but let us truly know in our hearts that our God and Father passionately loves us and is concerned about our needs. Church just becomes another dead ceremony when we sit in God’s house with needs and fail to realize in our hearts that we are loved by our heavenly Father, and not one thing that concerns us escapes His eyes. He says that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without Him, and that we are of more value than many sparrows.
OVERALL, WHAT IS THE SIMPLE TRUTH THAT GOD IS SPEAKING TO OUR HEARTS?
In time of need we can present our prayers and supplications to the Lord with thanksgiving, because we know God truly loves us and longs to be a faithful Father who provides for the needs of His children.
LET US END WITH THIS TRUTH: SOMETIMES WHEN WE BRING OUR NEEDS TO THE LORD, HE DOES NOT ANSWER OUR PRAYERS OVERNIGHT, AND SOMETIMES THINGS MIGHT EVEN APPEAR TO BE GETTING WORSE. HOWEVER, GOD STILL BRINGS AN ASSURANCE TO OUR HEARTS THAT HE HAS HEARD OUR PRAYERS AND PETITIONS.
Going back to the very beginning of the message, the Word says to be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God. When we do this, what happens? "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." What happens? God sends His peace to our hearts, and this peace is God’s way of assuring us that He has heard our prayers. God sends the peace to let us know that He is going to answer our prayers according to His time and His will, thus comforting our hearts.
Things may not change overnight or not seem to get better after we have prayed. However, the peace tells us that our prayers have not fallen on deaf ears, and God is working. Oftentimes we have to be consistent in our prayers and pray things to fulfillment. Each time we pray, the peace comes and encourages us to keep praying, because God is hearing.
When we walk in intimacy with God and in obedience to the Lord, He will always answer our prayers with peace, assuring our hearts that He has heard our prayers and is answering our prayers.