God Will Provide - John 6:1-15

The feeding of the five thousand is just one of those passages that sticks with you. You never really forget about it. It’s one of the great feel-good stories of the Bible. Even if you didn’t grow up in church you’ve probably heard this story at some point. This story is prominent in part because it’s recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In fact, this is the only event outside of the crucifixion that all four of the gospels record.

And it’s because of the fact that it’s recorded in all the gospels, along with the fact that it’s a great feel good story about the Lord providing for the physical needs of a crowd, that it’s become one of the most familiar passages in the whole Bible.

But have you ever stopped to simply ask: what’s the point? Is Jesus simply a charity worker that wants to fill people’s bellies or is there more to the story?

We’re actually told an important detail in the passage: this wasn’t a charity project, rather it was a test. And specifically, Jesus was testing his disciples. Where will they turn in midst of impossible circumstances?

And it’s there we see the key component of this passage for us: We must depend on God in the midst of our difficult circumstances.

We see really two things in Jesus feeding the five thousand: first, we should expect to have our faith tested (vv. 1-10). Second, we should look to the Lord and expect him to provide for us abundantly (vv. 11-15).

Expect Your Faith to Be Tested. (vv. 1-10)

There’s a subtle lie that I think most of us believe that if we do things just right, we’ll have an easy life. We can eliminate all challenges simply by “doing the right thing.” But we all know that’s not true, because so many of you have had incredible challenges in your life through no fault of your own.

Sometimes what someone else does, presents a challenge in your life. Sometimes it’s someone else’s sin that creates difficult circumstances in your life. Every one of us has faced hardships. Because life is hard. It’s challenging.

And the Lord will use circumstances to test us. That’s a well-documented Biblical fact. We don’t know when, how, or even if we’re being tested, but nevertheless, the Lord tests.

And obviously, it’s a major component of this passage.

Our passage opens in the middle of Jesus’s Galilean ministry. There’s likely been a large passage of time between Jesus healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda and him feeding the five thousand.

What seems to be assumed by the Apostle John is the reader’s familiarity with the signs and wonders he performed in Galilee. In fact, the other gospel writers record in much detail Jesus’ Galilean ministry.

And it’s important that we understand this detail because it helps us understand the origin of the crowd. Obviously, these people knew of the miraculous signs and wonders that Jesus had performed.

This explains what John tells us in verse 2. The crowd was, “following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.”

And so what’s quite clear is that the crowd is only interested in what he can physically do for them. They’re following him out of selfish motives. They’re not looking for a Savior from sin, they’re looking for a man to cure Grandma’s bunion.

But Jesus understood all of this. He was keenly aware of what was going on. He knew they were following him for the wrong reasons, but what does he do? He sits down and waits on them.

We don’t even like it when an unfamiliar car pulls into our driveway. Have you ever had an unfamiliar car pull into your driveway and you run throughout the house turning off lights because you don’t want them to know that you’re home? I think everyone did that when door-to-door salesmen were more prominent.

None of us enjoy looking the guy from Omaha Steaks in the face and saying, “Sorry. I’m not interested.” One time growing up our family dog barked at a salesman and he refused to get out of his car and eventually just left, so we rewarded the dog with treats.

Often, we try to avoid people that just want something from us - but our Lord didn’t do that.

This crowd followed him for all the wrong reasons and rather than running away from them and hiding, he sits down and waits on them! His kindness, his compassion, is on full display but really this whole thing is a set up to test his disciples.

We’re also told in verse 4 that the Passover is near, which is significant because the Passover was a day of great nationalistic zeal. The Passover was like July 4th.

And so no doubt, how the Lord had miraculously freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt would be on their minds. And Jesus would have certainly been aware of this as well.

It’s a great reminder how the Lord spared the people from death through the blood of a lamb that had to be smeared on their doorposts. Which points to Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!

But everything in this passage is setting up verse 5 where Jesus sees the crowd coming and asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Verse 10 informs us that there were five thousand men. Obviously, this doesn’t include women and children. Some scholars speculate that this could mean there are somewhere around 20,000 people in the crowd.

A crowd of 20,000 people is approaching and Jesus looks at Philip and says, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Can you imagine the look on Philip’s face? Where are we to buy bread?!

But verse 6 helps us round out our understanding. “He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do. He wasn’t asking Philip because he genuinely needed help. He asked Philip in order to see what he would say. Jesus knew he would provide for the crowd, but the disciples didn't.

You can almost hear the panic in Philip’s voice, “...“Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” In other words, Philip’s response was that nearly a year’s salary wouldn’t be enough for everyone to have a crumb because a denarii was a day’s wage.

And that’s when Andrew pipes up, ““There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish…” You can really hear his doubt and skepticism when he says, “...but what are they for so many?”

But do you see the problem with this whole situation? How did they respond to Jesus’ testing? I like the way one commentator described Philip and Andrew’s response. “They all calculated, but failed to exercise faith.”

One time growing up, I can’t remember exactly what my sister and I were doing but somehow we ripped the skirt off of the couch in our living room when my parents were away… sorry Mom and Dad.

We didn’t know exactly what to do. We scrambled and ran into the garage looking for anything to fix it. And we found exactly what we needed: a staple gun.

Next thing you know, we stapled the skirt back onto the couch: boom, you would never know any different.

But to be fair, fixing the skirt on the couch is easy, but feeding five thousand men, not including women and children… that’s hard.

This is precisely what the disciples did, isn’t it? They immediately jumped into problem solving mode. They were trying to take matters into their own hands. They were looking to themselves. They were trusting in their own strength!

So, Philip’s self-reliance is all of our natural inclination? We typically ask ourselves, “what am I going to do?” Instead of asking God, “what are you going to do? I need your help.” The Christian’s perspective should be less self-reliant and be more God-dependent.

But our reflexive self-reliance is exactly what Jesus is challenging. Why are we so self-reliant?

And one of the glaring ironies of this passage is that Jesus feeds the five thousand in the middle of his Galilean ministry. His Galilean ministry was full of miraculous signs and wonders. The disciples would have seen, heard, experienced, the miraculous signs and wonders of Jesus!

Philip shouldn’t have defaulted to self-reliance when Jesus asked him where they should go to buy bread.

Instead, he should have said, “Lord, we can't feed these people… but you can!”

Because that’s the point isn’t it? This is mission impossible! There is no way for them in their own strength, using their own resources, in such a short period of time to feed something like 20,000 people!

And this is precisely what Jesus wanted Philip, Andrew, and all the disciples to see. They needed Him! In order for these people to get fed, Jesus was going to have to do something!

It’s easy to go about your day-to-day life and not once think about God.

And it’s so easy to jump straight into crisis management mode the moment something doesn’t go right.

This is all in spite of the fact that we all sense our own weakness, frailty, and sin on a daily basis. We forget about the Lord, or worse, we live like He isn’t there.

We all know that each and every day presents an opportunity for challenging circumstances. How many times have our lives taken wild left turns on days that were supposed to be boring and normal?

The question is never “will we face difficult circumstances?” The question is always, “how will we respond to different circumstances?”

Will you look for guidance and help from the Lord? Or will you try to fix your circumstances like God doesn’t exist?

It’s easy to live like the Lord doesn’t exist when you believe that you’ve earned everything that you have.

We tend to forget that everything we have is a glorious gift from the Lord. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. It’s simply a fundamental truth that we all must believe as Christians.

The Lord Provides Abundantly (vv. 11-15)

And so, as we look at verses 11-15, it’s no surprise that once Jesus has the five loaves and two fish, which is by the way a poor person’s meal, he gives thanks to God for it. He deliberately stops to acknowledge the Lord's provision, which ironically was extremely insufficient.

It’s impossible for five loaves and two fish to feed 20,000 people? But obviously, we know what happens! The five loaves and two fish miraculously multiply! Miraculously it becomes more. We don’t know the exact mechanics of the miracle. We don’t know exactly how the boy’s small meal multiplied, but it really doesn’t matter.

The clear point is, there was enough for everyone to eat their fill. There was plenty of food for everyone. In fact, there was more leftover after feeding everyone than there was at the beginning. They took up 12 baskets worth of food. I think there’s a subtle nod there to how the Lord took care of and provided for the 12 tribes, all the people of Israel.

I’ll never forget one Sunday at the church plant I worked at in South Carolina, when we had a Lord’s Supper crisis. Before the service we had prepared the elements and everything was all systems go, and by God’s grace we had a pretty large turnout that Sunday. We had a similar practice there as we do here where everyone formed a line down the center aisle and it was pretty clear that we weren’t going to make it. We were going to run out of bread and juice before everyone was served.

A few other folks had noticed the same thing so we ran to the back and started scrambling so that we’d have enough bread and juice for everyone. We barely had enough. We pulled it off by the skin of our teeth. We scraped by.

That sort of thing happens to us, but it’s not the way the Lord works is it? He’s never barely getting by. He never has just enough to get the job done. There’s never been a situation where the Lord is in the back of the room holding his breath saying, “I hope this works out!”

When the Lord provides, he provides abundantly! He always exceeds our needs! Isn’t that true for all of us spiritually? There is always sufficient and abundant grace to cover our sin.

You probably already picked up on this from our passage, but the important takeaway is just that: the Lord provided abundantly.

But isn’t that all of our experiences? Just looking around here, I’m pretty sure all of us rode in a car to get here, have a roof over our heads, and eat three square meals a day. Wouldn’t you agree that your needs haven’t simply been met, that the Lord has provided abundantly for you?

I think we’d probably all agree that we have plenty of stuff. What’s really interesting is that I’ve heard stories about people living in the bush of Africa, walking for miles to get water and being exceedingly happy. If they were here with us, they’d be nodding along, “yes, the Lord has provided abundantly for me too.”

Obviously, the amount of stuff you have isn’t what makes you content. Who do you think gave you your stuff? How do you believe your needs are being met?

Is it all you and your creativity and intelligence that got you where you are? Or did the Lord give you your creativity and intelligence to get you where you are? One view is entirely man-centered while the other is God-centered.

And there is an eternal difference between the two.

Jesus’s own disciples missed the point that they needed to look to him to provide. The crowd likewise missed this point too.

All the crowd saw in this miracle was their physical needs being met, which is precisely what they were looking for in a Messiah. They wanted a king that would meet their physical needs by giving them food to eat, like Moses did with the manna in the wilderness, and Moses led the people out of slavery to the Egyptians, and they wanted to be freed from their bondage to the Roman Empire.

All of this would have certainly been on their mind around Passover, which commemorates their freedom from slavery to the Egyptians and how the people of Israel were provided manna to eat.

The crowd even said that Jesus was, “...the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Which was a reference to Moses’s Messianic prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15.

All of this helps us understand why Jesus would flee the people. His kingdom was not of this world, because he came to save people from their sins.

But again, the physical always points to the spiritual. If God provides for each of us physically, then we should expect him to provide for us spiritually.

Here’s what I think we need to remember: there is sufficiency in the Lord’s provision. Because not only does the Lord provide, we can always trust that it will be enough. In fact, what the Lord provides is always more than enough. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6?

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Or remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4? “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

There is a direct correlation between trusting that the Lord will provide and your personal contentment. The more you trust that the Lord will provide, that was he has given you is enough, the more content you will be.

So that when difficult circumstances inevitably arise, you have an incredible opportunity to demonstrate and live out your dependence on God.

There will probably be a day where the Lord will look at you and say, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” May each of us respond with, “Lord, I can’t do it, but you can!”