JESUS IS ALL YOU NEEDWhat is the only miracle that Jesus performed that is recorded in all four gospels? This miracle must have been especially significant since Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all felt they should include it in their gospels. This miracle, more than any miracle of Jesus, illustrates the truth that Jesus is all you need.
Jesus had traveled all the way across the sea to try to get some rest and relief. The multitude had followed him for various reasons: some to listen, some to learn, some to look, and a few to love. The sun was setting, evening was coming, stomachs were growling. It was supper time!
John 6:1-14 (NIV)
Twelve disciples were faced with the unenviable task of trying to feed five thousand men. They disciples were convinced this was "mission impossible". Jesus used this situation to teach one of his greatest lessons.
I. A Serious Lack
There was a shortage of two items that day. One shortage that was obvious the other not so obvious.
1. The Crowd Lacked Food
There was a huge crowd gathered with Jesus and His disciples. John notes that the men alone numbered five thousand. Matthew tells us that there were also women and children. (Matt. 4:21) Some scholars estimate that the crowd numbered at least twenty thousand. Everyone of them was hungry.
This crowd is a picture of every person without the Lord Jesus Christ. Knows it or not, there is hunger in the human heart that only Jesus can satisfy. We are looking at a world today trying to satisfy that hunger with synthetic food. Some try pills, some try possessions, some try status, some try popularity, some try prestige. But that hunger can only be satisfied by a person, and his name is Jesus.
2. The Disciples Lacked Faith
Jesus asked Philip a rhetorical question. He wasn't really asking Philip where to buy food because he already knew what he was going to do. He was testing Philip, and Philip flunked the test. Philip gets out his calculator and begins to figure out. He was thinking about: food, money, and How. Philip calculated that it would take two hundred days' wages of an average working man to feed this crowd. Philip looked in the benevolence fund quickly figured out that they did have enough. Also, there was no place to buy that much food.
Can you imagine going to McDonald's and ordering 20,000 Happy meals? Even if there was a place and they had the money, there wasn't enough time. How would you get it back to the picnic? Even if there was enough time everybody would only get a little bit of food. So Philip looks at the multitude and the money needed, and says, "impossible!"
Andrew did a little better. While Philip was running his fingers over his calculator Andrew went off looking for food. He finds a little boy who had brought a lunch of five loaves of barley and two small fish. But he wasn't too proud of his catch. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" (v.9) The reason for their failure was a flaw in Andrew's and Philip's faith was because both of them had calculated without Christ.
Jesus was far more concerned over the lack of faith than he was the
lack of food. Because nothing pleases God like faith. Nothing pains God
like doubt. Jesus was especially grieved because he had given them every
reason to have faith, and no reason to have doubt.
They had seen Jesus turn water into wine.
They had seen Jesus heal the nobleman's son.
They had seen Jesus heal the man at Bethesda's pool, and they still didn't
get it.
It is frustrating to perfectly illustrate a point time after time and still people be so slow to understand. Now I want you to remember something. The next time you think something is impossible remember the words of Jesus: Luke 18:27 "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."
When you say something is "illogical" remember: Isaiah 55:9
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher
than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Every problem
we have is an opportunity for us to believe God and for God to bless you.
II. A Selfless Lad
All four gospel writers include this miracle, only John records the little
boy who gave his lunch. This little boy is very special.
1. He Shared
That little boy had brought just enough to feed himself. When we think about loaves we think about a loaf of bread such as we would buy at a grocery store. But these were actually a cracker. This boy obviously came from a poor family because barley was the bread of poor people. What this little boy had brought was five little barley wafers and two small fish about the size of sardines. But he shared it.
Notice that what was GIVEN to Christ was GIVEN by Christ. What that little boy had was valuable because he made it available.
2. He Cared
He didn't have to give it. Nobody forced him. He could have said, "I'm poor boy and I need my lunch" It was his caring that led to his sharing. You can share without caring, but you cannot care without sharing.
III. A Sovereign Lord
John did not record miracles just to tell a story. Jesus never performed miracles just to show off. The lesson of the loaves runs much deeper than feeding twenty thousand people and having twelve baskets of leftovers.
That bread Jesus blessed at the feeding of the five thousand was a picture of Jesus himself. Jesus performed this miracle to illustrate that He is the bread of life. I know that to be true because of what he says later on in John 6:35 "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
This miracle is not just about material bread baked in an earthly mother's oven to meet physical needs. It's about spiritual bread prepared by a Heavenly Father to meet spiritual needs. Jesus as the bread of life.
1. He Is The Source Of Life
Jesus did not perform this miracle to satisfy physical hunger. This was more than just a picnic. They didn't understand that Jesus had not just come to keep their stomachs from growling. He wanted them to understand that He is the source of all true life.
2. He Is The Supply Of Life
It wasn't the lad that fed the crowd, Nor was it the disciples. It was Jesus that fed the crowd. The disciples had to keep coming back to Jesus to get more loaves and to get more fish. Because He was the source and the supply of the food. Jesus Christ is the source and the supply of true life. Why do you think Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
Jesus is not interested in just adding years to your life. Jesus has come to add life to your years.
3. He Is The Sufficiency Of Life
It is estimated that it would have taken fifteen tons of food to have fed that crowd. That's amazing! They ate "all they wanted." No one went away hungry. Jesus is sufficient for all you want, and all you need.
4. He Is The Satisfaction Of Life
V. 12 tells us that the crowd "were filled." They were satisfied. But they would not have been filled without Jesus. Remember, nobody could eat another bite and yet there were still twelve baskets left over.
Jesus is not only all you need. He is more than you need.
There is not a problem He cannot solve.
There is not a hunger He cannot satisfy.
There is not a thirst He cannot quench.
There is not a hurt He cannot heal.
There is not a question He cannot answer.
Jesus has a name for every need you have:
To the hungry He is the Bread of Life.
To the thirsty He is the Fountain of Living Waters.
To the sick He is the Balm of Gilead.
To the dying He is the Resurrection and the Life.
To the darkened He is the Light of the World.
To the outcast He is the Friend of Sinners.
Jesus is all you need.