Sermon Tone Analysis

Our theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”

It time to begin again to do the things that we stopped doing.

In this series called, “Believe Again” John calls us back to a living and vital relationship to God first, and then through God to others.

You may have already believed the gospel, but it is time to believe again.

We began with “Believe in Jesus”

Jesus came to be like us, so that we could become like Him.

Then we talked about believing in spiritual reality.

We are seated with Christ in heavenly places which means that we live in both realities.

Last week we said that Jesus is the Savior.

We l see Jesus interacting with people and as these people encounter Jesus the Savior, they make the choice to receive Him, to believe him and to respond to Him.

Believing must lead to transformation.

What does transformation produce? - Life!

It makes sense, because Jesus is the Word who was also the Creator.

When Disney released The Lion King in 1994 we all became aware of the great circle of life.

Death leads to life and life leads to death.

Our atoms come from the ground and then they go to the ground and help sustain future life, just as our life is sustained from that of the past.

The meaning promoted by the movie is to recognize the greater purpose of life and to find our place in it.

Simba needed to recognize that his father had lived and served his purpose and it was time for him to do that same.

Of course, the movie talks about nature in terms that really belong to God.

Life has meaning because God gives it meaning.

You have a purpose because God knows you and created you for a purpose.

Until you find out who you are and begin to live the life that God has given you, you are just surviving - wandering around in existence without really living.

Just as in life, we are born, we grow up and eventually find our purpose and calling.

It is the same with spiritual maturity.

We first learn to depend on God.

Then we learn how to work with God in carrying out His work.

This leads to close fellowship, communion with God and with others.

Maturity then, is when God’s initiation and our response become an almost automatic cycle where is difficult to distinguish what is God’s part and what is our part.

To live is to follow Jesus and let His life flow through us.

Jesus takes care of you.

John chapter six opens with two stories of Jesus meeting the needs of people.

Jesus feeds the five thousand and then Jesus comes to his disciples walking on the water.

John says it was Passover time, marking the second year of Jesus ministry.

But instead of heading for Jerusalem, Jesus is heading away from the action, but the people are still following him.

Commentators point out that the imagery here is reminiscent of Israel coming out of Egypt and meeting with God in the wilderness.

Jesus is on a mountain teaching the people - like God meeting with Moses and Israel on Mount Sinai.

Jesus miraculously feeds the people with bread that he multiplies - just like God giving the people manna in the wilderness.

Jesus then walks on water showing mastery over the forces of nature - Just as Moses parted the Red Sea so that they could escape the Egyptians.

What do we learn from all of this? - God takes care of His people.

The first thing that any child learns when they come into the world is basic trust- simply resting in the fact that they are loved and cared for.

How does God care for us?

He multiplies your provision.

Jesus and his disciple think they are getting away from the crowd, but from their hillside perch, they can see the crowds coming toward them, following the shoreline.

In Middle-Eastern culture, even today, it is rude to refuse guests.

You must immediately offer them a beverage and begin preparing food to eat.

Some traditions state that you must allow them to stay up to three days, even if they are strangers.

So they see the people coming and they are starting to weigh their options.

Send someone out immediately to buy food.

Or examine what you have and start with that.

Have you ever been in the situation where you know that what you have is never going to be enough?

Even if they could buy food, it a lot of money!

A denarii is roughly equivalent to a day’s wages.

It would take someone the better part of a year to pay for this party!

Jesus told them to be seated.

That’s what you tell you guests when you want them to relax and enjoy your hospitality.

Jesus gives thanks for what they have - five barley loaves and two small fish- and God multiplies it.

The other gospels say that Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes.

John says that he gave thanks.

The Greek word for giving thanks is eucharisto.

It likely that John chose this word because its going to tie together some of the other things that John will be sharing.

One other thing that I want to mention is the numbers that appear in this story.

Five thousand men is significant because five is the number in the Bible which symbolizes God grace.

There are five sacrifices, five books of Moses.

Five human senses, five fingers and toes.

It is a picture of God’s response to our human frailty.

Five thousand would mean “abundant grace.”

In this story, seven became twelve.

Seven is the number of completion.

You get it by adding three (the divine number) and four (the number of earth and nature).

It begins with completion - heaven and earth coming together.

Twelve is the number of God’s government.

You get it by multiplying three and four.

When heaven comes together with earth it moves from addition to multiplication.

Numbers may not be important to our modern intellectual mindset, but they were important to John and to the way that the early church interpreted these stories and part of the story that John is telling is reflected in the numbers.

Jesus, (the connector of heaven and earth 3+4=7) is multiplying God’s response to human frailty (abundant grace) and establishing God’s government (3 x 4+12).

Does that mean that these numbers are figurative and not literal.

No I think we have every reason to believe that John is telling exactly what he saw happen.

But he is also writing many years later with the benefit of hindsight - and he sees in that this story is part of a much bigger story that God is unfolding.

God is multiplying the provision of His grace.

We can look at Jesus walking on water the same way.

He is with you in the storm.

Wow that was fast - other gospel writers tell the story in much more detail.

John focuses all of his attention on the moment that Jesus comes to them - and that they receive Him into the boat.

What is he saying?

- Watch for Jesus to come to you in your darkest moment and when He does, don’t hesitate to take him into your boat -it will make all the difference!

Jesus is with you in the storm - he is Lord even over nature.

Yes, all of that is true, but there is more.

When Jesus comes to them, what does he say?

“It is I” - in the Greek it is simply the words “I am!”

Don’t be afraid - “I am!”

If you remember the story of Moses and the burning bush, this should sound familiar.

Remember how we said that Jesus is God, and knowing that changes everything.

That is how John tells the story about Jesus coming to them on the water.

They are in darkness - like most people are in spiritual darkness.

They are being blown about by wind and waves - like all of the spiritual forces of evil and chaos at work in the world.

When you have come to the end of your own effort and are terrified - that’s when you see Jesus coming to you.

And Jesus announces that He is “I am.”

He is greater than the darkness.

He is greater than the storm.

He is greater than our own efforts.