Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

1) Don’t get stuck at the sign

This is how John saw it.

Imagine you are driving down the highway because you are trying to get to the Grand Canyon.

All of the sudden you see a sign that says Grand Canyon 50 miles away and it has a picture of the Grand Canyon.

You are so blown away by the sign that you stop to pull over and take pictures of the sign.

You take all of your selfies and then you get in your car.

You turn around and you leave.

As you are driving you are talking to everyone you came with and mentioning how cool the sign was.

In reality it might have been a nice sign, but you are missing the majesty, beauty, and wonder of the actual Grand Canyon.

This is how John saw it.

Imagine you are driving down the highway because you are trying to get to the Grand Canyon.

All of the sudden you see a sign that says Grand Canyon 50 miles away and it has a picture of the Grand Canyon.

You are so blown away by the sign that you stop to pull over and take pictures of the sign.

You take all of your selfies and then you get in your car.

You turn around and you leave.

As you are driving you are talking to everyone you came with and mentioning how cool the sign was.

In reality it might have been a nice sign, but you are missing the majesty, beauty, and wonder of the actual Grand Canyon.

This is what John was trying to show when he used the word sign and in this particular instance John states that this crowd of people was following Jesus and they were stuck at the sign instead of getting to the awe and wonder of who Jesus was.

Give an illustration

If I can share a personal experience with you over the last week that I have put into practice.

I read over this portion of and I allowed it to sink into my heart and I simply prayed.

Jesus I want you to be my satisfaction in everything in my lows and in my highs.

You be my fullness.

Give Timothy Keller’s take on praise

2) Our Faith doesn’t determine His power.

Our praise will produce reliance on Him.

I absolutely love how John sets this portion up right here.

Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do but yet he asked His disciples anyways.

The disciples had no idea what Jesus was about to do and when Jesus asked them they showed a big time lack of Faith.

I mean looks at Phillips answer.

“It will take more than half a years wages for this Jesus”.

Don’t you think Phillip sounds like us a lot of times?

That will never work.

We will never see God do this or that it just doesn’t make sense.

That will take forever.

We can probably think of a few quotes ourselves.

Phillip is trying to use his logic to make sense of the situation and probability.

I like to speculate that this is maybe why Jesus asked Phillip in this situation because Jesus knew Phillip was always the logical one.

Always the one trying to make sense of things, but Jesus wanted to show them what the Son of God was truly capable of.

You know what amazes me is that the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000 wasn’t determined by the faith of his disciples because in reality their faith was not up to par in this situation but yet Jesus demonstrates his Godness over nature anyways.

At the end of they day no matter my doing, no matter your doing.

Jesus is still on the throne.

I am absolutely thankful that my lack of Faith, because sometimes I do show a lack, doesn’t stop God moving.

In fact it makes me want to praise him more because it is nothing that I can do on my own but only with Him, but yet as in this story Jesus wants you involved.

He wants you to be part of it.

Isn’t that a comforting thought.

He absolutely does not need us, but He wants us to be a part of His work.

Phillip was very similar in his thinking to that of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman.

They were thinking on the earthly plane.

Jesus wanted to show them the heavenly mindset.

He was saying I want you to begin thinking differently.

I want your thoughts of heaven to drive your thoughts of Earth not the other way around.

The Holy Spirit wants to change the way you think.

He wants to give you a heavenly mindset.

He wants to fill you with His thoughts.

3) Jesus truly is our satisfaction and fullness

I love Jesus response to Andrew’s statement here.

Jesus is like “watch me”.

Jesus had compassion and He felt it was His responsibility to feed these people because they came out here wanting to listen to him so His compassion drove them to provide for the people and so he does.

Did you notice here that the people ate until they were satisfied?

It wasn’t just a little snack to tie them over but until they were full and then there was even some left over.

What was Jesus showing with this miracle.

He was showing that He was enough.

The Bread of Life

At the very end of Jesus begins to talk about Himself being the bread of life.

I can only imagine that what he did with the 5000 was still fresh in everyone’s mind so Jesus saw this as an opportunity to tell them that just as the bread fed them until they were satisfied he would be the bread of life that would fill their lives with satisfaction.

What does it look like for Jesus to be our satisfaction?

Are we satisfied with just Jesus or do we need more?

Are we satisfied with just Jesus or do we need His blessings until we are “satisfied”.

Are we satisfied with just Jesus or do we need His miracles until we are “satisfied”.

Do we take Jesus at His words when He says He is enough?

After all of this the people still missed the point.

When Jesus performed the Miracle the people immediately thought of Deuteronomy 18:15.

They were still thinking about their earthly problems and Jesus was trying to show them did I not just show you I am God even over the daily needs of life?

That I am your fullness that I am your satisfaction.