A Little Goes A Long Way

A Little Goes A Long Way

JCC 07.02.10 pm

John 6:1-13

The odds were 5,000+ to five ‘small’ loaves and two fish

With Jesus the odds don’t count

These people would not normally be in Galilee but on their way to Jerusalem because it was Passover time

Why were they here?

They had seen Jesus do miracles etc

Jesus left the people and got into boat

They didn’t give up but ran over rough country until they found Jesus again

Jesus had a Passover meal with the people

Let us look at the situation from the viewpoint of the boy, the disciples and Jesus

The boy:

He is not named, we are not told who he is or where he is from or how old he was

We know he had a lunch with him

He had come prepared to hang around for a long time

Not only had God ordained the lunch, but he had prepared the boy to be his provision

The Lord is never in need, he always has somebody at hand to supply the need

We are told that he was willing to give what little he had to Jesus

Sometimes we think we have to offer all the big things to the Lord and the small things in our lives are insignificant

Nothing is too small for Jesus to use

You may not have much to offer him in your own eyes, but everything you are, everything you have he is interested in, no matter how small

This child trusted Jesus with everything he had

Like the woman who cast in the two mites to the treasury, he gave his all, and doubtless was commended for the gift

He didn’t hang on to it

‘It’s mine and I’m eating it’

He was a giver

But most of all, he was willing to help if he could

All the Lord wants from us is a willingness to help where we can even if it is only in a small way

The disciple Philip:

They had been with him for 2 years while he healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons

They themselves were also being used by the Holy Spirit to do great things

Yet here they were faced with 5,000+ people and Jesus asks Philip to feed them

Why Philip?

To test him

Examination time

Perhaps most advanced

Peter was loud and mouthy, most of the time his feet were in his mouth

James and John were ambitious, fiery and lost their tempers easily

That’s why Jesus called them sons of thunder

Philip was quite and deep

He hung around in the background

He would most likely understand what was happening

When Jesus asked him, he knew what he was going to do

He set him a predicament that had no human answer to

Have you been there?

What was his reaction?

Jesus was thinking of ministry, Philip thought of money But we don’t have enough money

There is a Philip in all of us

Not only supply the people physically, but spiritually

The church is in the world to speak truth that they may find real food

The difference between the supply and the demand would have struck us much more intensely if we had been there, in that crowd at Bethsaida, than it does sitting here, two thousand years after, and just hearing about it

It’s the sharing of the word that this area needs

We must communicate the message

Not television but telaperson

Everyone whether Christian or not would have reacted the same

The disciple Andrew:

All he could find in the crowd was the boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish

They were judged insufficient for the purpose; for Andrew said, "What are they among so many?"

Satan may say to you, "You have not much ability, or talent or resources; what can you do?"

Or about the church, what can you do with so few?

He is afraid of what you can do and the church

If you will only do what you can do, God will help you to do what now you cannot do

But the devil is afraid of even the little that you can do now; and many children of God seem to side with Satan in despising the day of small things

"What are they among so many?"

So few, so poor, so devoid of talent, what can any of us hope to do?

Is it a small wonder if we are held in contempt by the world?

The things that God will honour, man must first despise

But we are all God desires, we are all he needs

And that meal was all Jesus needed

We may be a small church but it is enough

Though we are not many, the Lord can use us