John 6:1-15: God's Power for God's Mission

John 6:1-15: God’s Power for God’s Mission

Please take your Bible and open it to John 6. If you’re using the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 739. For those of you who are visiting with us this morning, we’ve been systematically working our way through the Gospel of John passage by passage. And this morning, the text we come to is John 6:1-15. Here’s what it says: “After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

If you were to go back in time to the 1730’s and visit the town of Northampton, Massachusetts, you would see a town that was in many ways spiritually desolate. Now that may surprise you since we typically think of New England during that time period as being dominated by the Puritans. And Puritanism certainly did dominate the landscape of Northampton, but by this point, a lot of people pretty much just gave lip service to Puritan beliefs and practices. Jonathan Edwards, the town’s pastor, records how this was the case especially among the younger people of the town. They barely cared at all about true devotion to God and mostly just went through the motions of church on Sundays because their parents made them go. Edwards writes that it was “a far more degenerate time than ever before.” He notes that these youth were incredibly calloused toward spiritual things and were very much wrapped up in other cares and pursuits. Not only that, but they were also behaving very immorally even though this was a Puritan town. They were going to the tavern and having all these parties that lasted late into the night and were being very promiscuous afterwards. Edwards refers to that promiscuity as “company-keeping.” So youth culture in Northampton was pretty bad at this point. And maybe some of you parents can identify with how difficult it must have been for many of the parents of that town. Maybe you’ve done everything within your power to do to teach your children about the Lord, but as they’ve gotten older, they’re just not interested. You’ve said everything you can say, but they just don’t care. That’s probably one of the most difficult situations to be in as a parent. That’s a heavy burden to carry. But that’s the burden that many of these parents in Northampton were carrying. 

But then, something happened. Towards the end of the year in 1733, Edwards notes what he calls an “unusual flexibleness” and a “yielding to advice” among the young people of the town. A little while before that, Edwards had begun an initiative to encourage the parents of the town to be stricter about keeping their children at home at night, but now, he records, the youth just did that on their own even apart from their parents even having to tell them. Not only that, but they started being saved and turning to God in incredible numbers. Edwards talks about one young lady in particular who had a reputation around town for being especially promiscuous coming to him and describing the glorious work God had done in her life and how God had given her a new heart that was truly broken over her sin and that desired Jesus more than anything. And she wasn’t the only one. Pretty soon, instead of meeting for parties, great numbers of the young people began to gather together for Bible studies all over town. 

And as I think about what happened in Northampton in the 1700’s, here’s what sticks out to me. What Jonathan Edwards and the rest of the devoted Christians in that town couldn’t accomplish in their own strength or by their own efforts, God accomplished just like that by his power. And that’s just one example of the truth we see demonstrated in our main text of Scripture this morning, John 6. In John 6, we learn that God’s mission only moves forward with God’s power. That’s the main thing to get this morning. God’s mission only moves forward with God’s power. And there are two things you can expect when you’re trying to be faithful to God’s mission—the mission of spreading the gospel. And we’ll spend the rest of our time this morning talking about these two things. 

Expect Situations that Are Beyond Your Ability to Handle

The first thing you can expect when you’re trying to be faithful to God’s mission is this: Expect situations that are beyond your ability to handle. Expect situations that are beyond your ability to handle. Look again at verses 4-6 of John 6: “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” Now that last verse is key. This whole thing was a way for Jesus to test his disciples and specifically Philip. He was testing them so that he’d have an opportunity to teach them an important lesson about ministry. And the first thing Philip and the other disciples had to understand about ministry is that when you’re on mission for Jesus, when you’re trying to spread the gospel, you’ll encounter situations that are beyond your ability to handle. 

And we see how Philip and another disciple named Andrew came to realize that the situation was beyond their ability handle. Look at verses 7-9: “Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?’” So it’s obvious to Philip and Andrew that they face an impossible situation. There’s no way for them to acquire enough bread for everyone in the crowd to even have a little, much less a full meal. Philip calculates that even two hundred denarii, which was about eight months’ wages back in that day, wouldn’t be nearly enough money to cover even a fraction of what was needed. It was truly an impossible situation. And that’s the way a lot of situations feel if you’re truly engaged in God’s mission. You encounter a lot of situations that are far beyond your ability to handle. 

I remember when Becky and I first moved to Pittsburgh two and a half years ago with the intention of starting a church. Many of you know that we came without much of anything. We had zero experience starting churches, we had zero money in our church planting budget outside of my personal salary, and perhaps most significantly we literally knew zero people in the community. We knew the name of our realtor on the other side of the city, but that’s about it. So you can imagine how we often wondered whether we should be questioning our sanity because of our desire to start a church. From a human perspective, it seemed like a crazy idea. And that continued throughout the first year. We started off with a Bible study that had three adults in it, and two of them were my wife and I. There were a lot of weeks when we wondered if we should be questioning our sanity. 

And maybe you can identify with that if you’re a Christian. Maybe you still feel that way now about helping us start Redeeming Grace Church. This is definitely a church that’s still in its infant stages. Or maybe there are other situations you’ve encountered as you’ve tried to be involved in God’s mission that have seemed rather overwhelming to you and far beyond your ability to do successfully. Maybe you’ve encountered someone who was going through an especially difficult time, and you wondered, “What can I even say to them that would be helpful?” After all, you didn’t want to say the wrong thing. Or maybe you’ve had an opportunity to talk to a non-Christian about Jesus, but the thought of even attempting something like that made you very fearful. Again, what if you say the wrong thing? Or what if they ask you a question you don’t know the answer to? Or maybe the situation that was way beyond your ability to handle involved personally discipling someone. We talk a lot about how God calls every Christian to make disciples who make disciples, but when you finally had an opportunity to do that, it seemed like such an overwhelming thing that you didn’t even know where to begin. Or maybe, you’ve known a Christian brother or sister who has fallen into sin. And you knew God wanted you to say something to them and lovingly call them to repentance, but you just weren’t sure if you had the kind of boldness in you to actually do something like that. It seemed like something far beyond your ability to handle.

Whenever you encounter situations like these, you stand at a crossroads. You have a choice to either trust God or trust yourself. And so often, we trust ourselves. We lean on our own strength and try to draw from our own resources. As crazy as it sounds, we approach the situation as functional atheists. We say we believe God exists, but then we try to minister as if he doesn’t and as if it all depends on us. And I suspect Philip may have had at least an inclination toward this kind of mentality in John 6. Remember how Philip answered Jesus in verse 7? When Jesus asked him where they would get bread to feed the great crowds that had gathered, Philip responded, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” I can just see Philip there, whipping out his calculator and frantically trying to figure out how in the world they’d be able to feed so many people and then eventually coming to the conclusion that it just wasn’t possible. He sounds like quite the strategist. I wonder who in here would be doing what Philip did, trying their best to figure out how to make it work. Nod your head if that would be you. I know that’s exactly what I’d probably be doing. But here’s the thing: when it comes to accomplishing the mission Jesus has given us, we have to come to the end of ourselves. We have to realize how desperately we need God’s anointing and God’s power if we’re going to accomplish anything of eternal significance at all. 

I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:9. He describes the severity of the trials he faced, saying that “we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.” But then he says “that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God.” Notice that the reason God allowed him to experience the difficulties he experienced was to teach him to rely on God. Listen: when you’re engaged in Jesus’ mission and you find yourself facing a situation that’s far beyond your ability to handle, and you clearly recognize that it’s beyond you, that’s not a bad place to be. When you come to the end of yourself, you’re actually exactly where Jesus wants you to be. Because what you can’t do, Jesus can do through you. Regardless of whether you’re trying to start a church, ministering to someone in the midst of intense suffering, sharing the gospel with someone, personally discipling someone, or calling a Christian brother or sister to repentance, Jesus is able to enter into your overwhelming situation and work through you to do more than you ever thought possible.

Expect Jesus to Come through in a Big Way

And that leads us to the second thing we should expect when we’re trying to be faithful to God’s mission. Not only should we expect situations that are beyond our ability to handle, but we should also expect Jesus to come through in those situations in a big way. Expect Jesus to come through in a big way. Look back at John 6, verses 10-13: “Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” 

So Jesus took an impossible situation and came through in a big way. Now, there were several reasons why he did this. One was that he simply felt compassion for the crowds that were there and wanted to bless them by feeding them. Another reason was to give what verse 14 calls a “sign” to the people. He wanted to give them undeniable evidence that he was the true Messiah sent from God who would provide not just for their physical sustenance but also for their spiritual sustenance. We’ll talk more about that next week. But Jesus also had a third purpose for performing this miracle, and this third purpose is related to a lesson he wants to teach his closest disciples. Remember how it says back in verse 6 that the reason Jesus asked Philip where to get the bread was in order to test him? Jesus is using this whole situation as an opportunity to teach his disciples an important lesson about ministry. And that lesson is that even though ministry will be filled with situations far beyond their ability to handle—like we just talked about—they should look to him and expect him to come through in a big way. That’s the lesson for his disciples to learn. Expect God to come through in a big way.

And again, to use this church as an example, I could share with you story after story of God coming through in a big way for us. For example, as Becky and I were trying to get everything together in order for us to move up here, we had no idea how we were ever going to raise enough money to make this church planting endeavor possible. The numbers just didn’t seem to be working. But we continued moving forward in our plans to come, not knowing how it would all work out. And not too long before our moving date, one of our funding sources informed us they would be giving us three times as much as they had originally said. And that made the numbers work. God came through for us in a big way. And he continued to come through for us in other ways. When we bought our house, we traveled up one time to look at the house and then did everything else long distance. And we had a very tight time frame in which we needed things to be done. It was very tight. But it all worked out. The mortgage officer actually told us that it was the smoothest mortgage process he had ever seen in his twenty year career. Then when we came, God provide three very solid families within that first year, the kind of families you need to start a church from scratch. And I believe he provided those solid families because he knew we needed encouragement. Then when we were ready to start meeting for public worship services, we needed a meeting place but hardly had any money. However, God provided. He provided this place that you’re sitting in right now, located right at a major crossroads, with adequate parking, an appropriately-sized sanctuary, and even something we didn’t think we would ever get using another church’s building: an open time slot for Sunday mornings. How common do you think it is for a church to have an 11:15am time slot available on Sundays? Not very common. But it was available. And it’s being given to us for only $150 a month in rent. That’s unheard of. And these are just a few examples of how God has come through for us and for Redeeming Grace time and time again. And if you’re faithful in trying to serve God, you can expect him to come through for you as well. Regardless of what situation you face, expect God to do that.

And notice that Jesus didn’t just provide. He provided abundantly. Verse 11 records that everybody was able to have “as much as they wanted.” This wasn’t a snack; it was a feast. Then verse 13 records that after everyone was done eating, there were enough leftovers to fill up twelve large baskets. One commentator notes that there was more left over at the end than they had started out with at the beginning. So don’t just expect God to come through with the bare minimum; expect him to come through abundantly. Don’t limit how you think he’s able to use you to move the gospel forward. And that goes for us as a church as well. We may not seem like much. We may still be small—still in our infant stages. But don’t doubt that God can do incredible things as we move forward—things we never thought possible—in order to bring greater gospel influence to this area. Someone might wonder whether that’s really possible since so many in our society seem to be growing increasingly disinterested in organized religion, but that disinterest is no challenge for God. Others may worry about postmodernism dismantling the very idea of absolute truth, but God’s not intimidated by that either. Still others might point to other churches all over this area closing their doors and merging with each other and wonder how we can expect our church to grow and multiply, but we know that the God we serve is more than able to bless this endeavor in a remarkable way. So for those of you who are a part of the church, let me encourage you as your pastor not just to expect God to come through for this church a little bit but to expect him to come through with the same abundance we see in John chapter 6. Expect him to do something big, and let your prayers be guided by that sense of expectancy. 

Conclusion

And for those of you who are here today and have difficulty relating to all this talk about being engaged in God’s mission and perhaps haven’t even come to embrace Jesus yet, this passage of Scripture in John 6 has something for you as well. Because just like Jesus’ disciples, you also face a situation that’s far beyond your ability to handle. The Bible says you and me and everyone else in this world have sinned against God. We’ve done things God’s told us not to do and failed to do things God’s told us we should do. And because of our sinful rebellion, we’re alienated from God and fully deserving of God’s eternal punishment. And no matter how hard we try to fix ourselves or what we try to do to remedy our situation, the Bible says there’s actually nothing we can do. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that even our most “righteous acts are like filthy rags.” But even though there’s no way we can rescue ourselves, that’s okay, because Jesus had provided for our rescue—just like he provided bread in John 6. In fact, as we’ll learn next week, the larger point Jesus was making from his miracle of providing bread is that he himself is what he calls the “bread of life”—the bread that provides spiritual life to those who need it desperately. And reason he can function as that bread is because he died on the cross to take the penalty for our sins and then rose again to secure our salvation. And because of his substitutionary death and his victorious resurrection, Jesus is able to do for us what we could never do for ourselves—if we’ll simply put our trust in him to do that. Jesus has already provided everything that’s necessary. The bread is sitting right in front of you. The only thing you have to do is receive his provision.