April 14, 2003
LifeWay Family Bible Series for April 27
The Bread of Life has come so none will hunger
___ John 6:5-13, 24-27, 32-25
___By Tim Owens
___First Baptist Church, Bryan
___The opening verses of John 6 teach some timeless lessons regarding the human impossibilities of life.
___Jesus and his disciples went up on a mountainside to try to get some rest. They were tired from ministering to the crowds, but their rest was cut short. A great crowd came to Jesus because they had heard about the miraculous works he was performing.
___When Jesus saw the crowd, he asked Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" Philip knew this was a humanly impossible situation. This was a crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people, including women and children. Where were they going to find enough food for these people to eat? In feeding the crowd, Jesus taught his disciples nothing was too difficult for him.
___Often God will send into the lives of his children humanly impossible situations for the purpose of revealing the vastness of his wisdom and power. John 6:6 says Jesus "already had in mind what he was going to do." This would suggest that God lets his disciples struggle through a menu of human solutions in order to bring them to the end of themselves.
___Mark tells us the first solution presented was to send the crowd away. How often do Christians pray: "Lord, just remove the problem. Lord, if you would just take me out of this impossible situation, everything would work out just fine."
___Philip presented the human solution of buying enough food for the crowd. Even Christians can think money is the answer to every need. The lesson seems quite simple: When a humanly impossible situation arises, God does not want his people to start with their own solutions--he wants them to start with Christ. Drawing oneself into the person of Christ for the sheer delight of fellowship with him has a way of reducing unnecessary worry and clarifying the nature and purpose of those situations that appear "impossible."
___The disciples also learned that a little given to Christ can become much. Philip looked at the impossibility and concluded the problem was too great. Andrew looked at the impossibility and concluded they had too little to meet the need. One looked at the enormity of the problem, the other looked at the meagerness of human resources, and both of them missed God's perspective.
___Andrew almost had it right when he said, "Lord, here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish" (John 6:9). He should have stopped right there. He should have said, "Lord, here is the little I can give you, and I am trusting you can somehow take this and use it to glorify yourself." Instead he continued by saying, "But how far will they go among so many?" In performing this miracle, Jesus was teaching his disciples that no challenge is too difficult for him and a little given to Jesus can become much.
___Two questions Christians need to ask themselves regularly are: "What have we decided is too big for God?" and "What have we decided is too little for God to use?" On one hand, problems have a way of stripping human resources down to almost nothing. On the other hand, problems give God an opportunity to reveal just how powerful he is, and they give the faith of God's people an opportunity to grow.
___After Jesus fed the crowd, he strangely disappeared. When the crowd found him, their question seems to be: "Why did you leave us? Don't you know that we like you?"
___Jesus responded by challenging their motivation in seeking him. He said to them in John 6:26: "You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." Jesus was attempting to turn their focus away from the physical needs the world can satisfy to the spiritual needs only he can satisfy. Jesus was making the claim that because he comes from heaven he is altogether unique and qualitatively different from anything the world can offer.
___The crowd asked him, "If you are so special, demonstrate a miracle as a sign" (John 6:30). Jesus did not respond to their demand. He had just miraculously fed thousands of people. Instead, he claimed, "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" (John 6:35).
___It is a special work of the Holy Spirit to zero in on the dissatisfaction present in the heart of every individual. The materialism and secularism of this world do not satisfy the deepest part of the human heart. The psalmist says: "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him" (Psalm 34:8).
___ Jesus is saying: "I am the only One who can ultimately satisfy the deepest longing of the human condition. One can venture down the avenues of materialism, sensuality, even religion, but no one will be truly satisfied until he embraces me exclusively as the meaning and joy of life." May this forever be both the experience and the message of God's people.
___Questions for discussion
___ How is the Bread of Life like the manna given to the Israelites. How is he different?
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