Trust and Obey Pt. 2 - The Disciple's Dilemma
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Introduction
Introduction
Last week, we began a series of messages centering around the subject “Principles of the Christian Life.”
That’s the larger series, but last week, we looked at the thought of “Trust and Obey” - That’s an extremely important part of the Christian life, and we began last week looking at the trusting and obeying of salvation using the perfect illustration of Naaman over in 2 Kings chapter 5.
I mentioned that there were three places in the Bible we would look at concerning “Trust and Obey” and so we will look at a passage tonight from the lives of the Disciples...
I mentioned last week that “Trust and Obey” isn’t just for salvation…It’s for the everyday life of the Christian, and tonight, we will see that...
The Disciple’s Dilemma
The Disciple’s Dilemma
In all four Gospels, we read about a time when Jesus had been teaching a large crowd of people—five thousand men plus women and children—all day.
(In addition to the passage we’ll look at in a moment, this story is also found in Matthew 14, Mark 6, and Luke 9.)
In the evening, Jesus told the disciples that He wanted to feed the crowd that was gathered. The only problem? The disciples had no food and no money. They thought this was the end of the story. But Jesus had a different way of thinking.
1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
The Test of Faith
The Test of Faith
4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
At the time of this passage, the roads would be very crowded, with more traffic than usual, because of the worshipers heading toward Jerusalem for the Passover Feast.
Looking upon the needs of the people, Jesus asked Philip where the grocery store was located, “Where can we get bread?”
He asked Philip because he was from Bethsaida and would have knowledge of the local area. Jesus asked the question to test Philip’s faith.
The Lord already knew what He was going to do. Beloved, God allows predicaments to test our faith and show His power.
Would Philip respond in faith?
Would he say, “Wow, I have no idea how we could buy enough bread, but You tell us what You want us to do, Jesus, and we’ll do it”?
Instead of a faith-filled response, Philip pointed out that there was no way they could come up with the money. After all, even “two hundred pennyworth” would not be enough to give everyone just a little bread...
Philip basically saw a hopeless situation and felt that nothing could be done about the needs of the crowd. He felt that the problem was too big! Have you ever felt this way?
We can limit what God does in us by assuming what is and what is not possible. Is there any impossible task you want God to do or He wants you to do?
Don’t underestimate His power, intervention, ability, or His strength in helping you. Trust Him to do the impossible.
Which brings us to the next point...
The Little Provisions
The Little Provisions
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
The penny Philip referred to was a Roman denarius, equivalent to one day’s wage.
Thus, the amount Philip mentioned was eight months of wages. And even this wasn’t enough to feed the multitude.
Andrew must have gone into the crowd looking for food, because he knew that there was one person there—a young boy—with a small lunch. Or perhaps the boy volunteered his lunch for Jesus.
Here is a boy who basically said, “I’ll give what I can. It’s not much, but you can use it!”
The boy was most likely poor because barley was the food of the poor. It was fed to the livestock.
And when Andrew mentioned this to Jesus, he even made the comment, “But what are they among so many?” In other words, “What will this little lunch do to feed this great multitude?”
The disciples were up against an impossible situation.
Something to notice here though is Jesus didn’t tell them to do something impossible. He give them a simple command...
The Crowd
The Crowd
10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
He simply told them to seat the crowd. Mark 6:40 tells us the disciples had them sit in groups of fifties and one hundreds, which made for easy counting and distribution. Then, Jesus broke the bread and fish and with those five loaves and two small fish, He fed the entire multitude until they were filled.
Jesus used that small offering to meet the need and more! And what had the disciples done?
They certainly didn’t produce the miracle—they could not have done that. They simply obeyed Jesus’ instruction.
They trusted and obeyed.
Could Jesus have rained down manna from Heaven? Of course. But in doing what He did, He taught us all a lesson.
Though we may not understand what Jesus is going to do or how it will be done, we need to trust Him and obey Him. He will do for us what we cannot do ourselves.
There was nothing the disciples could do to meet the need of the people, and Jesus knew that. But His desire was to show them that He could meet the needs if they would give the little they had to the Lord.
If they had refused, they would not have seen the power of God at work in this great way.
What can God do with the little that you have? God can multiply it, if you will give it to Him. He can multiply your money. He can multiply your influence. He can multiply your witness and use you to meet the needs of the many lost around you.
When we find ourselves up against greater needs than we have the resources to meet, we don’t have to do miracles. God does the miracle. We simply need to trust and obey.
The Teaching From Abundance
The Teaching From Abundance
12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Here we find some lessons from the leftovers. The people were “filled.” They were fed to the full. God takes our time, ability, and resources and multiplies them beyond our expectations. Little is much when God is in it.
Jesus tells the disciples to gather up the fragments and let nothing be lost. The word “fragments” refers to the broken pieces of bread that were left over.
God doesn’t like wastefulness. He will pick up the broken pieces of our lives and use them for His glory.
Don’t waste your life. Don’t get discouraged and think that all is lost if you have failed. Gather up opportunities to serve the Lord. Use your time to live for God.
One of the unfortunate experiences at the Bema Seat of Christ is the realization of how much of our lives we have all wasted and the fact we could have done much more for Christ.
The fact that twelve baskets of food were gathered up reminds us of God’s abundant provision. He multiplies what we give to Him.
They ended up with more than what they started with...
Conclusion
Conclusion
How did they get to this point?..by trusting and obeying.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Sometimes while we are looking for something great to do, we are neglecting the things God has placed in front of us.
22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to hearken than the fat of rams.
God says that obedience is so important to Him that He would rather us obey than do great works of sacrifice, particularly when the sacrifice is at the expense of our obedience.
Do you look at the things you face in life and say, “There’s no way!”
Let me tell you tonight, as long as there is a great God Who sits on the throne of Heaven, there is a way!…He is the way!
He simply calls for each of us to trust and obey HIM!