The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Introduction and Review of the Prelude

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, September 29th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the 6th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, as we continue our consecutive expositions of this account of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark's Gospel, chapter 6, and follow as I read the very familiar record of the feeding of the 5,000 to which allusion has been made in the hymn we have sung. May we attempt to hear it as though we were hearing it for the first time. Mark, chapter 6, I begin the reading at verse 30 and conclude at verse 44. And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and they told him all things whatsoever they had done and whatsoever they had taught.

1:17 And he saith unto them, Come yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many coming and going. And they had no leisure so much as to eat.

1:33 And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart. And the people saw them going. And many knew them, and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and out went them.

1:50 And he came forth and saw a great multitude. And he had compassion on them, because they were his sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. When the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, The place is desert, and the day is now far spent.

2:16 Send them away, that they may go into the country and villages round about, and buy themselves somewhat to eat. But he answered and said unto them, You give to them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred shillings' worth of bread? Perhaps a paraphrase here would be helpful.

2:40 Shall we go and buy the equivalent of two hundred days of a working man's wages' worth of bread, and give them to eat? And he said unto them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five.

3:01 Five and two fishes. And he commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. And he took the five loaves and the two fishes.

3:20 And looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. And he gave to the disciples to set before them. And the two fishes divided he among them all. And they all ate, and were filled.

3:36 And they took up of broken pieces twelve basketfuls, and also of the fishes. And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men. Let us again seek the face of God in prayer, that God will indeed do what we've asked him to do in the singing of our previous hymn, that the Lord who broke the loaves, as recorded in this passage, will break open his word to our understanding today. Let us pray.

4:13 O send your spirit, Lord, now unto me. Unto me, O Lord, as I attempt accurately to open up and pastorally to apply your holy word. Send your spirit to every boy, every girl, every man, every woman in this place. That each one sitting under the ministry of the word will know that he or she is not simply listening to a fellow sinner, a fellow mortal speaking words, but that together we will be made conscious that the spirit is present, taking of the things of Christ and making them real to us. O Lord, we come in conscious dependence upon you. We cannot fear. We need men's hearts with the bread of life.

5:10 This is your prerogative. Do your gracious work in our midst, we pray, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

5:25 Now, last Lord's Day morning, after an interlude of some six weeks, we resumed our studies in the Gospel of Mark. And as we did, we examined Mark chapter 6, verses 30 through 34. Verses which contain a description of what I call the general setting or the prelude to the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men. In our study of those verses, we noted the very clear divisions of the various actions and activities of our Lord, of the twelve, and of the multitude.

6:05 That prelude begins with Luke's, a Mark's account, the count of the return, and the report of the twelve. And then he tells us of the response of Jesus to their report and to their immediate circumstances, which is to come apart and rest a while. And then they actually began their retreat, the Lord and the twelve. But then Mark records the reaction of the multitudes to that attempted retreat, which was to go before the Lord and his disciples, so that when they come to the shore, some few miles away from where they were, they find the multitude there waiting for them. And then the prelude concludes with the response of Jesus to this intruding multitude. As he comes forth, he has compassion upon them, because he regards them as vulnerable as sheep without a shepherd, and in that stirring of his inner being, he gives himself to the activity by which divine compassion most fully finds a conduit to men's greatest need. He began to teach them many things.

7:28 Their greatest need was to know the mind of God, about themselves, about God, about sin, about grace. Their greatest need, as sheep without a shepherd, was to have the true shepherd set forth to them the mind and will of God in his authoritative teaching and preaching ministry, a ministry which, according to Matthew's record and Luke's record, was validated by occasional healings in that very context. And in this prelude we noted last, Lord's Day, we have a wonderful revelation of the heart of our Savior to men, a powerful confirmation of the priority of proclamation as the divine method of meeting the needs of men, and a searching illustration of our Lord's own words that we should seek first the kingdom of God. Our Lord was prepared with his disciples. To lay aside their planned period of R&R to give themselves to more arduous ministry to the needy multitudes. Now this morning we come to the consideration of verses 35 to 44,

The Evident Need and Disciples' Suggestion

8:54 the details of the actual miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men. And I say 5,000 men because our text says the number, 5,000 pertained to the men. And in the parallel passage in Matthew, we learn that there were some women and children also fed who are not included in that number. And we'll follow the general outline that we have often followed in our expositions.

9:27 First of all, we'll seek to grasp accurately the contents of the narrative, and then we shall seek to examine the abiding, the present, the personal message of this narrative to our own hearts. Now as we come to the narrative itself, you will notice first of all in verse 35 the evident need of the multitude. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, the place is desert or solitary, away from the general run of those places where shops and markets are found, and the day is now far spent. Here was the evident need of the multitude. Put the pieces together as we move from the prelude into the very heart of this story of the feeding of these needy men, women, and children. The passage studied last Lord's Day indicates that many of these people hastily left their own places of dwelling probably early in the morning, made little if any preparations

10:51 for a midday lunch, let alone a lunch and a supper, and the text tells us that as Jesus was teaching them many things, and also according to Matthew and Luke, was teaching them many things, and also according to Matthew and Luke, was teaching them many things, and also according to Matthew and Luke, was performing a ministry of healing, the entire day had gone without a lunch break, without a coffee break, and now it was coming on toward evening when most of these people would be having their evening meal, and the disciples are deeply concerned that people who have expended tremendous energy running from the area of Capernaum all the way over to the area of Bethsaida, of people who had expended energy in attending eagerly upon the words and the healing ministry of the Lord Jesus, are at a point of hunger where some of them, no doubt, could begin to be faint, especially if there were some hypoglycemics amongst them, and they were deeply concerned as the need of the multitude is evident to anyone who has eyes, and who has eyes, to see. Now this need seen by the disciples was also seen by our Lord and was fully known

12:16 by our Lord. But the evident need of the multitude stands on the surface of the record as we have it in verse 35. Then from describing the evident need of the multitude, Mark goes on to record the strong suggestion of the disciples, verse 36, send them away that they may go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves somewhat or something to eat. Now according to John 6 and verse 6, early in the day before our Lord ever came forth to teach them, He knew that they would not be able to eat. He knew that they would not be able to eat. He knew that they would not be able to eat. He knew that they would not be able to eat. He knew that they would not be able to eat. He knew that as the day

13:04 drew to a close, there would be need for food and physical refreshment. You can read that section in John's Gospel at your leisure. Furthermore, John tells us that as our Lord speaks to one of His disciples about that need, the Scripture tells us, for He Himself knew what He would do. So that everything that transpires in this passage was already laid up in the purpose and in the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.

13:41 However, the disciples, as though they were the ones who alone were conscious of the need, come and in an attitude that at best can be called undisciplined impetuosity, and at worst

13:59 unsanctified cheekiness, they come and and there is breathing between the lines an assumption that the Lord Jesus has become a bit irresponsible in His teaching them many things. So they do not simply say, by way of a suggestion, Master, could it be that the time has now come that your teaching ought soon to come to an end, and we ought together to see what can be done? No, they go beyond that. The text tells us that they spoke in the imperative mode. Disciples are commanding their Master, and they say, send them away. They don't say, Master, there's a need. Do you think that it could possibly? No. They come giving orders to their Master.

14:58 Send them away in order that they may go into the country of the Lord Jesus Christ. They go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat. Well, there's an awful lot of presumption as well as assumption in their cheekiness. First of all, they are presuming to dictate to the Lord how He should meet the need of the multitudes when all along they've seen that He does that job very well by Himself without their advice. Furthermore, there is not only presumption, but also presumption that they are assuming that at that time of the day, shops would still be open, food would still be available, that the multitude had sufficient money to buy sufficient food. There was an awful lot of presumption and assumption in their cheeky directives to the Lord, which I have tried, putting the best construction upon it, to call the strong suggestion of the disciples in verse 36. Now then, in the next two verses, 37 and 38, Mark gives us an account of the interaction between our Lord and the disciples concerning this need.

Jesus' Impossible Command and Disciples' Response

16:17 Notice the progression. There's the evident need in verse 35. Then there is the strong suggestion of the disciples as to how the need should be met in verse 36. Now in verses 37 and 38,ần we have the record of the interaction which Urban God is performing in новыхia.

16:32 I'll turn to this, I like to go out on غد and say this way to them and state how they interaction between our Lord and the disciples concerning this need. And first of all, we have His simple but impossible command to the disciples. Verse 37,

16:47 But He answered and said unto them, And there's no rebuke. Who are you to give me orders?

16:56 Who are you to act as though I'm unaware and insensitive to the needs of the multitudes? There's no rebuke. There's no exhortation. There is a simple but impossible command.

17:08 Look at it. But He answered and said unto them,

17:13 Give ye them to eat. And the reason the older versions say give ye and they add the word ye is to try to convey what is very clear in the original. There is an additional word for emphasis that we could well paraphrase. You fellows!

17:33 Even you give them to eat. You've come to me with a command. Send them away. I answer your command with a contrary command.

17:47 You, even you, give them to eat.

17:53 You have told me to exercise my authority over them in sending them away to provide for themselves. But I will exercise my authority over them in sending them away to provide for themselves. But I will exercise my authority over them in sending them away to provide for themselves. But I will exercise my authority over them in sending them away to provide for themselves.

18:04 But I will exercise my authority over them in sending them away to provide for themselves. But I will exercise my authority over them in sending them away to provide for themselves. authority by commanding you to provide for them. You give them to eat. Now, we note in the next place their natural but calculating response in this interaction. Verse 37b. Their natural but calculating response. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred shillings worth or denarii of bread, and give them to eat? Embracing the what, give them to eat, they now draw upon some previous calculations made by Philip in John 6 and verse 7 to address the how. For earlier in the day when our Lord spoke to Philip, Philip had made some calculations. And if we put those calculations into modern figures, they would roughly be something like this. An ordinary laborer's wages for a day was a denarius. You find this clearly taught in Matthew 20 verse 2, Matthew 20 verse 9, and Matthew 20

19:17 and verse 13. So if we convert that into what we call the low end of the scale, a common laborer getting fifty dollars a day here in America at this stage in our economy, they say two hundred of those. What would that be? Well, you figure it out. Two hundred times fifty, you come up with ten thousand dollars. Now, they said by figuring this out, and remember they were drawing on Philip's previous calculations. I doubt he had one of the watches with the little calculator there, but I would also doubt if some of you are not checking my figures on yours. They said with that amount of money, the equivalent in our day of ten thousand dollars, if we had ten thousand dollars, could we go and buy bread with that and give them to eat? And the bread that they

20:16 had in mind would be equivalent to our hard rolls. They would end up with twenty-five hundred hard rolls in how many bags? I don't know. Now, assuming they could find that many hard rolls and they could carry them, they said even at that, we can do our arithmetic. That would mean only half a hard roll for the five thousand men, and what's going to be left for the women and the kids? So their natural and calculating response is one in which they say, all right, Lord, if you command us to give them to eat, the only alternative we see before us, and it's hard to ascertain if there was something here of incredulity, if there was something here of unbelief, and we must be careful of what we read between the lines. One thing is clear. They had made their calculations, and they said the only way we can fill the command, if we are to give them to eat, is to go into some of the

Jesus' Inquiry and the Disciples' Discovery

21:19 nearby villages and come back with this many, twenty-five hundred hard rolls and split it up among this mob. Now then, notice in the next place, Jesus' subsequent inquiry or inquiry, and both pronunciations, are correct in current English, verse 38b, and he said unto them, and again, he doesn't rebuke them and say, look, don't you see what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to show you my command was impossible, and I long for you to turn to me and say, Lord, we can't fulfill that command unless you do something to make it possible. No, they take the command and say the only way to fulfill it is for us to come up with the money, for us to buy the bread, and then do the best we can. So the Lord Jesus makes another inquiry to begin to draw them into the orbit of thought that all along was in his own heart, for he himself knew what he would do, John tells us, and he said unto them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. In other words, Jesus tells them to make an inquiry. How many little barley

22:37 cakes are at hand? Make an investigation. Perceive reality with reference to that. And the scripture tells us in 38b and c of their inquiry and the results of it. And when they knew, so they obviously went through the crowd, you've got some bread, do you have anything to eat?

23:01 Do you have anything to eat? They came back together, and they said, Lord, all we've been able to scrounge together, is five loaves and two fishes. Now it's interesting that though Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record the miracle, only John says that they found the loaves and fishes from the hand of a lad. And all of our children's Bible stories are built around this noble little boy.

23:32 It may not have been a boy. The word used for a lad could well mean a young man who was a slave. He may have been, in the midst of that crowd, huckstering food earlier during the day. Any of you who've been in the Middle East or any of the third world countries, it's one thing you get used to is wherever you go, somebody's huckstering something.

23:54 Somebody's selling something. Somebody's selling food or trinkets. It could well be that here was someone who went out at the beginning of the day with a batch of loaves and a batch of fish. And moved through the crowd.

24:05 It could well be. So the real emphasis is not upon the little boy where we have often placed it, for only John even mentions him. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. The emphasis is upon the fact that our Lord is saying, I've commanded you to give them to eat.

24:22 Now I command you to see what you have at hand. And all there was at hand was five loaves and two fishes. And so they come back and they present to the Lord the fruit of their inquiry, of their search for existing food. Now at this point, one wonders what was going through their minds.

24:51 Could it be that little seeds of faith began to germinate? Could it be that a little sense of anticipation began to be born in their hearts? Can it be? They might have thought that the Lord, who could speak a word to angry, heaving, tempestuous seas, can do something to multiply five loaves and two fish.

25:19 Could it be that the one who speaks to the legion of demons there in Gadara is the one who will now speak a word of creative power? One wonders. One can only wonder. All the text does is tell us of our Lord's simple but impossible command, their natural but calculating response, Jesus' subsequent command and inquiry as to what was available, their inquiry and their obedience to their Lord.

The Actions of Our Lord: Order and Miracle

25:54 Then we find the actions of our Lord there in verses 39 to 41. And this, of course, is the apex of the story. Verses 39 to 41, the actions of our Lord, and there are basically two. He gives an orderly arrangement to the crowd.

26:18 An orderly arrangement of the crowd is effected. And then an amazing miracle is performed. Let's look at them. And he commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon the green grass.

26:36 And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. The first action of our Lord was to take this vast throng of people and to effect an orderly arrangement in groups of a hundred and fifty. According to Luke 9.14, he did not perform this arrangement himself, but through the activity of his disciples.

27:04 Now, remember. Their R&R had been interrupted as well. Those of us who've been on a church picnic, you know what it's like to get just 25 people and organize them into two groups to have a softball game?

27:20 To try to get everybody together and then to get the number off, one, two, one, two. Can you imagine the activity when a mob of 5,000 has to be divided up into groups of a hundred and fifty? That was our Lord's clear command. And according to Luke, that command was administered, through the disciples.

27:39 And again, try to use your imagination. Have a sanctified use of that wonderful faculty. Can you picture the twelve as they penetrate through this vast thronging multitude? And first of all, try to get the idea across that before anything's going to happen around here, everybody must be in groups of fifty and a hundred.

28:00 Once they get the idea across, then you've got people who don't want to be separated from their friends, and lo and behold, there's fifty-one. And one can imagine them growling, yeah, but this is my friend Harry, and I don't...

28:13 Yes, but for now, Jesus says groups of fifty, groups of a hundred, and others who don't want to be a scene. Just use your imagination. You can imagine what kind of a scene was there when Jesus commanded them that they should sit down, literally recline. The posture in which they ate, they knew that He was getting them ready for a meal.

28:37 He commanded them to sit down by companies, and only Mark tells us this, upon the green grass. Lovely little touch by Mark. And according to our calculations, it was that time of the year when the grass was indeed at its greenest. And one can only imagine that scene with all of the varied colored robes of the Middle Easterners, with the backdrop of the bright green grass at that period when it was at its greenest.

29:09 And when our Lord issues the command, and it is administered through the disciples, we find them in groups of one hundred and of fifty. And you say, why did the Lord do that? Well, you may want to ask Him that when you see Him, but I do believe it is evident there were at least two reasons. First of all, to make the serving possible.

29:33 Just like with our communion, we have to have some divisions, so we can pass the plates with the elements. So our Lord was concerned for the practical necessity of having aisles through which the men could pass to serve, and also because this was a peculiarly significant miracle, so that they could count the number who were fed in order to validate the magnitude of the miracle performed. So the actions of our Lord, according to Mark, first of all, are described in terms of effecting an orderly arrangement of the crowd, but then secondly, an amazing miracle is performed. And you Greek students who wonder what use is there in trying to learn this language, may I urge you, press on in it, because there are little touches that come through in the original that most English translations miss. And when the miracle is described, it is described first of all in terms of two participles, and then the main verbs. We find that in verse 41. And taking the five loaves, or having taken the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, and now the main verbs,

30:59 he blessed and he broke the loaves, and he gave to the disciples, literally was giving to the disciples to set before them, and the two fishes divided he among them all. What artless simplicity Mark uses in the description of that miracle. He says, taking he looked to heaven, having done that, he pronounced a blessing. He gave thanks to God for the five loaves and the two fishes.

31:37 And then an imperfect is used, describing action in the past of a continuous nature. He was continually breaking. He was continually giving. And then it simply summarizes in what's called the historical heiress, he divided the two fishes among them all, the implication being he probably went through the same process.

32:02 Now all kinds of questions arise in our mind. Did the food multiply in his hands? Did it multiply as they went to take the first portions, and as they gave it multiplied in their hands or in their baskets? I don't know.

32:19 But the weight of evidence seems to be tipped in the direction that it was as he was breaking that it was multiplied. He was continually breaking and continually giving, so that it appears as though this miracle of multiplication went on with the focus upon our Lord's hands. So can you picture this vast multitude reclining in the position of an Easterner prepared to eat, and the Lord gives thanks in the presence of 5,000 plus people, thanking the Heavenly Father for providing their meal, and all they see in his hands is five hard rolls and a couple little salted covalta fish. That's all they see. Can you imagine how their attention must have been riveted upon those hands that held that bread, and those hands that held that fish, and having blessed, having looked up to heaven and given thanks, he begins to break, and he breaks, and he breaks, and he breaks, and he breaks, and he breaks, and he breaks, until we read in verses 42 and 43 the result of his actions. And there are two again.

The Results: Satisfaction and Leftovers

33:47 What was the result of this activity of our Lord? They ate and were satisfied, verse 42, and they all ate and were filled. Now that word filled does not mean gorged. To gorge yourself is gluttony, which is sin.

34:05 It's the word that means to be comfortably filled so that your hunger pangs are sated. It's the word Paul uses in the familiar text, Philippians 4, 12, I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound, I know what it is to be filled. So it says the hunger pangs that were gnawing at no doubt many of them by that time of the day, the Lord gave them sufficient, not simply to tide them over so they wouldn't faint, so they would have that wonderful sense of satisfaction that comes when we've had a good meal, we've eaten just so much as to be filled and not so much to have a bloodied conscience in gluttony, and we push ourselves back from the table and say, thank God for a good, full meal. Now that's the result of our Lord's miracle. They were filled, they were satisfied, 5,000 men plus some women and children, and then verse 43 says, there was another result of His action, the leftovers were gathered up, and they took up broken pieces, 12 basketfuls, and also of the fishes. Another little stroke that only Mark gives us.

35:29 And that's why we're convinced Peter's influence was there. As a fisherman, Peter wasn't going to let anybody forget. That the fruit of his past labors, fish that were his livelihood, they were also gathered up. No demeaning of the smelly dried fish.

35:43 Not with Peter's influence, and that seems to be another Petrine touch upon the narrative. But with wicker baskets. Some of you don't even know what wicker baskets are. This is the age of plastics.

35:55 But some of us can remember if you went on a picnic as a kid, your mom and dad filled up a wicker basket. Well that's what they did here. They had wicker baskets about the size of a shopping cart. The size of a shopping bag.

36:06 And they went around and took up all the broken pieces of the bread, probably that which was left in various places, and then also some of the pieces of the dried fish, until they filled 12 basketfuls. Now that's the narrative. I've simply attempted to stick by the text, lay it out before you clearly and logically as it comes to us. Now then, what is the message?

Message 1: Uniqueness of Christ's Person

36:33 The message in all of this? Why did Mark, by the Holy Spirit, record this? Why did the Spirit move both Matthew, as well as Mark, and Luke, and John, all of the Gospel writers, the only miracle recorded by all four, unless we include the resurrection as a miracle? Well, first of all, in supremely, this passage is a convincing, declaration of the uniqueness of our Lord's person.

37:10 It is a convincing declaration of the uniqueness, the one-of-a-kindness, of our Lord's person. And how do we know that? Well, for the simple reason that in chapter 6 and verse 14, this miracle is called a sign. When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth, the prophet that cometh into the world.

37:45 And you remember that John tells us at the end of his Gospel that he recorded the particular signs that he did that men might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, they might have life through his name. And so though our Lord was moved with compassion upon men in their temporal need, though there was a genuine, living, non-artificial response of his heart to valid physical need, there was something bigger, something larger, something more glorious at stake. And it was that our Lord, the Lord seized this opportunity to declare to men that though when they looked upon him, all they saw was a humble Galilean peasant, when they did not accept his ministry, they could say, Is not this the carpenter's son? Are not his brothers and sisters with us? And yet our Lord in this situation is demonstrating that he is something more than what meets the eye when they look upon his physical appearance, that he is none other than the mighty God who can create by an act of his own will.

39:14 For that's precisely what he was doing as their eyes were riveted upon them. He was creating bread and fish. The very God of whom it is said in Genesis 1, 1 in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and God created all of the dwellers of earth and sea. It is this very God who in the presence of these five thousand manifests creative power, and by the act of his own will, he multiplies the loaves and the fishes.

39:58 No effort, no beads of sweat, upon his brow, none of the incantations of those magicians and those who by slight of hands seek to dazzle and amaze people, and certainly nothing of the mesmerizing influence of those who in cahoots with demonic powers might perform that which appears miraculous. But here the Son of God before the open sight of five thousand riveted eyes exerts creative power because Mark tells us he is presenting good news concerning Jesus Christ, God's Son. And oh, my sinner friend, what those thousands learned or should have learned that day on the shore on the hill slope near Bethsaida that Jesus of Nazareth is God and they had need of a Savior who was nothing less than God, a Savior full of compassion, yes, a Savior who looked upon them as sheep without a shepherd, yes, but a Savior who could perform no saving function towards them if He were a mere man,

Message 2: Uniqueness of Christ's Work

41:22 but who because He is God can perform every saving function that needy sinners stand in need of. And so the message of this miracle is first of all that of constituting a convincing declaration of the uniqueness of His person, but secondly, it is a striking illustration of the uniqueness of His work. It is a striking illustration of the uniqueness of His work. Those of you familiar with the Gospel record will remember that after John records this incident, he records one other parallel incident, but then he gives us the lengthy discourse of our Lord in which He calls Himself the Bread of Life. And referring to this miracle, the Lord picks up on this miracle and then gives that amazing discourse in which He says, as surely as you ate the bread and the assumption the fish is well, though He makes no direct allusion to the fish in the Bread of Life discourse, as surely as that bread that was multiplied from My hands you took and you bit into it and masticated and swallowed it, He said, I and the bread

42:51 come down from heaven. If a man will eat of Me, he shall have everlasting life. And then He goes on to talk about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And then He says that it is His own flesh which He gives for the life of the world.

43:10 What was our Lord doing in this miracle? According to His own subsequent discourse, He was giving a striking illustration of His unique work on behalf of sinners as those with growling tummies and weakened bodies were nourished not by the sight of food and certainly as the woolly-headed liberals say, not by the thought of food. For they say here the people were so taken up and enamored with the wonderfulness of Jesus' teaching they just thought they were filled. Well, how do you gather up twelve basketfuls of thought?

43:49 When I've got a hungry belly, you can have the most profound thoughts and it doesn't satisfy my tummy. I need food. And it says they ate and they were filled. And our Lord picks up upon that very real eating and that sating of the appetite and He says the appetite of the soul cannot be met and satisfied in any other way than by an assimilation of Me, an assimilation of Me as crucified for sinners.

44:27 My flesh is the bread which I give for the life of the world. This bread that came down out of heaven. And then He goes on to speak about eating His flesh and drinking His blood until people are utterly offended and they go away because in their crass materialistic relationship to His words they didn't see what He was seeking to convey to them. But oh, may God give us eyes to see this striking illustration of the unique work of Christ.

45:00 My dear sinner friend who feels all of the gnawing hunger pangs that a sinner feels when he doesn't have a seared conscience. When he allows himself enough time to think those hunger pangs that cannot be filled with pleasure and things and human relationships. It is Christ crucified who alone is meat and drink to your soul. And in this miracle there is given to us this striking illustration of His unique work as the one who in dying for sinners offers Himself as the bread of life. But then thirdly, the message of this passage is not only one in which we have a convincing declaration of the uniqueness of His person. A striking illustration of the uniqueness of His work. But it constitutes a manifold demonstration of practical godliness.

Message 3: Manifold Demonstration of Practical Godliness

46:06 A manifold demonstration of practical godliness. Now you men in the academy let me speak to you directly for a moment. When you come across in your studies a critique of the so-called biblical theological method of preaching you will find that those who would put people in a straitjacket that the only proper message of a passage is its pointing to Christ such people would say amen to my first two points of application. But from here on in they would say I was moralizing.

46:39 But you see if we do not learn morality from Jesus Christ where are we going to learn it? For the scripture says he that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked. So therefore when there is that in his walk which is exemplary it is to be highlighted and those who feed upon him as the bread of life as their only savior are then to imitate him in the strength and in the power of his spirit. And so there is no disparity between seeing in any given passage what it says objectively of Christ as the provision for sinners and what it says of Christ as the pattern for his people. And so there is a manifold demonstration of practical godliness. Look at just three aspects of practical godliness. First of all in his concern for the whole man.

47:41 If you will turn over to John 6 I have been alluding to this but now in my application I want you to see it with your own eyes. Long before the people were hungry Jesus was anticipating that hunger. Verse 3 of John 6 And Jesus went up into the mountain and sat with his disciples. Now the Passover the feast of the Jews was at hand Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him said unto Philip Where are we to buy bread that these may eat?

48:24 For this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do. Then Philip gives his calculations and then verse 8 One of his disciples Andrew Simon's said to him The Lord Jesus anticipates their need He is not insensitive to their need He manifests a concern for the whole man Why? Because Jesus is the perfect image of the Father and the Father who made us is concerned for the whole man We do not regard the body as some kind of a necessary evil in which to house the real important part, the soul No, that's a pagan concept We regard the whole of our humanity in spite of its fallenness as that which reflects the image of God When God created mankind male and female in his image he created a body, soul, entity and he is so committed to the dignity of the body that the redemptive work of Christ will not be complete for any one individual in the human race until it's complete for all of them at the same time at the resurrection of the last day We are to reflect our Lord Jesus in his concern for the whole man But you say pastor

49:52 is there not a relative priority? Yes, he came forth and he taught them many things Our greatest need is to have our minds concentrated concerning the great issues of life This is why we do not preach a social gospel This is why this pulpit will not take up specific social issues and hammer away at them week after week and month after month This is why our prayers will not focus predominantly upon such issues Do we abominate the evil of abortion? Yes Some of us write letters continually irritating some of our legislators We cry to God We pray from this pulpit about that issue But we are not going to turn this pulpit into a place where a continuous diatribe against abortion marks the emphasis of the pulpit That would be to have a distorted view of the relative importance of issues That can be said of any other issue But having said that we are not like our Lord unless we manifest a concern for the whole man I heard an incident recently that underscored this for me A couple who had profited for some years under the ministry

51:20 of a certain individual said that one of the things that initially convinced them that he was something more than a professional preacher was when they gave him a phone call and apprised him of the fact that this child, only 18 months old or so was quickly dehydrating and they had to rush into the hospital and the young preacher showed up at the hospital to talk with him, to pray with him The thing they remembered was not his prayers or that he came to the hospital but that he showed up with a sandwich in each pocket He had calculated that they would not have had time to eat in caring for the needs of their little sick child For this individual it's when he came to the hospital not to just go through the ritual of a reverend but manifested a sensitivity to the wholeness of our need that we were convinced he was a man of God Now, were they right to think that way? Yes, because you see the mark of wholesome piety is that which is manifested in our Lord concern for the whole man There is another demonstration of practical godliness in his orderliness in feeding the multitude

52:46 The scripture tells us that God is not the author of confusion Let all things be done decently and in order and if anything marked the original creation it was order God spoke and it was so God saw and it was good Well, here the Creator is the bread and fish and He will not do it in the context of chaos and disorder Can you imagine the confusion if He had begun to multiply the bread and those nearest could grab it as the disciples went out The horrible confusion Jesus would have no part of a confused mob Confusion is the work of darkness and of error and of the devil Orderliness That's the image and likeness of God perfectly reflected in our Lord Jesus Now you children you know my mommy and daddy are so persnickety Our English friends say pernickety I had one of them get on me and say why do you say persnickety it's pernickety and I looked it up in our dictionary and it's persnickety and in theirs it's pernickety

54:13 But why do mom and dad get on you and say son, dear I will not tolerate that messy room I will not tolerate you going through the playroom and leaving it look as though Gloria had done her job in the playroom That's the hurricane Gloria I will not Why? Well if they are doing it out of godly motives this is their reason They're trying to teach you that the God in whose image you were made is a God of order and confusion and disarray and disorder are the results of the fall and redemption always moves us in the direction of orderliness and structure You remember that demoniac in all of his frenzy when he's restored to sanity he is found sitting clothed and in his right mind and I'm convinced if he had various items of clothing they matched aesthetically they did not reflect the disjointed illogical frenzied life of his demonic past That's why we as Christians must be concerned about our external appearance It is not a matter of pure Christian liberty in terms of how I appear

55:40 It's a matter of reflecting the lightness of God as reflected in the face of Jesus Christ And then we see practical godliness manifested in his action with respect to the excess food Why does God record this? Well, I don't know all the reasons but surely this must be one of them He that saith he abideth in him ought to walk as he walked As one commentator has said polluting the countryside would have been irresponsible He simply threw the stuff out Littering would be condemnable and waste would have been sinful You want to be like Christ? Don't you throw gum wrappers out the window of your car when you're driving along the highway A thousand people going by during the day and a thousand gum wrappers and you've got a mess on the highway Jesus would have never thrown a gum wrapper on the highway He wouldn't have littered Jesus would never have wasted the food that he himself had made Whatever the other purposes may be and here people can spiritualize to the point that they miss what is obvious The Lord is demonstrating what we are to be like when in the goodness of God we have more than necessity laid upon us We are to store it up

Message 4 & 5: Confirmation of Christian Principles and Ministry

57:08 and seek responsibly to use it for its intended purpose and I'm personally convinced it was out of those wicker baskets that they had their own meals for the next couple of days and they could never forget the miracle by which it was provided Dear people, we're to be like our Lord A full demonstration of practical godliness But then there's a fourth application I'll touch on it briefly It's an encouraging confirmation of a vital principle of the Christian life This whole miracle is an encouraging confirmation of a vital principle of the Christian life Jesus had taught, no doubt many of these same people earlier Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things we call them, will be added unto you. Seek first the kingdom. God will never be better to you in temporal needs. And here were a people, granted a mixed multitude, soon afterwards, especially after the discourse on the bread of life, many go back and walk no more, but in the midst there was a remnant who felt that hearing the word of Jesus was of such importance that they ran away from other issues to get there to Bethsaida before the boat landed that they might attend upon the words of Jesus.

58:34 They were seeking first the kingdom and what did they get for it? Thank God they didn't get what the disciples said. Send them away.

58:43 Send them away! That's what we in our hardness and insensitivity at times may do, but never the Son of God when He beholds any one of His children seeking first the kingdom of God and in the midst of it and in the pursuit of that kingdom in His own life, in His family, in His work, wherever He is, sees that person in a place of need, when tummy begins to play to tune upon the backbone,

59:12 God will intervene many times in ways we could never predict and in ways that calculating disciples can never, never figure out. Shall we go and buy? He says no. See what is there in the midst.

59:30 And I say it is an encouraging confirmation of a vital principle. And as in days to come the challenge of Christian education will more and more be brought before the minds of some of you parents while continuing to underscore that this is a matter of individual liberty that every parent must wrestle through before God. As more and more parents become convinced of their duty, one of the issues that some of you must remember is, is this, if it is my duty, God will make provision and I must not calculate in such a way as to rule out the intervention of my Lord in ways unpredictable. And then finally, this passage is a forceful illustration of a vital principle of Christian ministry and how it is spoken to my own heart as I've reflected upon it. It's a forceful illustration of a vital principle of Christian ministry. And what is that principle? He commanded them to do for needy multitudes what they couldn't do.

60:40 But what they failed to see that that command was really a demand upon Himself. He said, give them to eat. And they did with bread that was multiplied in His hands. And they distributed.

60:57 And they did give them to eat. When we see in Scripture what we, who are in the ministry, are to do, we know something of our own limitations, our own resources of mind and spirit, the paucity of our own experience of God and knowledge of His ways. And we hear the word coming, give them to eat! Feed my sheep!

61:20 Feed my lambs! Tend my flock! What do we do? We cry out with Paul, who is sufficient for these things, Lord, all I've got is five little loaves and two fishes.

61:33 And what are these among so many? How can I, Lord, fulfill the task that You've commanded me to do? And the great principle is, when He commands it, that very command is meant to drive us back to Him. To say, Lord, if I'm to do what You've commanded, You must give me what I need to do it.

61:54 Had they done that, He Himself knew what He was to do. I believe the same miracle would have been performed. And they would have been a wonderful example. Of the pattern of faith.

62:05 Oh, whatever that ministry is, as a father to your children, a mother to your children, as a workman in a place where you long to be a witness, you look at the demands of Christ upon you and say, Lord, I have no more power to fulfill them than those disciples could have fed the 5,000! That's right. But Christ has the power. Go to Him.

62:29 And say, Lord, what You command, You will give to Your believing disciples. Lord Jesus, I come empty-handed, but Your hands are full. Your hands are creative hands. Nail-pierced hands are creative hands joined to a compassionate heart.

62:48 Lord Jesus, for the sake of my children, those needy people at work, those people at school, in the university, Lord, give me what I need that I may give to them that bread without which they will starve. Oh, what a forceful illustration of this vital principle of Christian ministry. And what is true of individuals in ministry is true of a church. And may the spirit of this principle pervade our life together.

63:19 We're called upon to be light as a church in our corporate identity. We're called upon to love one another, to bear with one another, to keep the unity of the Spirit. We're called upon to take the gospel, to the ends of the earth, all of those demands utterly impossible with what we've got in our own hands or in our own pockets. But the things impossible with men are possible with God.

63:47 And may we ever be found coming to our blessed Savior and saying, Lord, what You've commanded, give. And then, as I pass it on to others, it will be an attestation, not of my cleverness, but of Your power, that men may know that You are in the midst of Your people. Let us pray. Oh, our Father, we do thank You for our Lord Jesus Christ.

64:20 We thank You for all that He is as God, all that He has manifested Himself to be as the one and only Savior of sinners, the true bread come down from heaven. We thank You that He is our perfect pattern of life. We thank You that He is who has shown us in His own life that those who seek first the kingdom and Your righteousness will have all things added. And we thank You that He has set for us this great pattern of ministry.

64:54 Write these things upon our hearts that we may not only be thrilled and fascinated as we relive the amazing account of His mighty works, but that gazing upon Him, we shall be transformed into His likeness, from one stage of glory to another, even by the Lord the Spirit. We pray for those who are still trying to meet the need and satisfy the hunger of their souls with the husks of this world. Oh, give them such a sight of Christ that they may feed upon Him and feeding find true satisfaction alone in Him. Seal, then, Your word to our hearts and dismiss us with Your blessing resting upon us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.