Matthew 14: 13 – 21 / Loaves And Fishes A Plenty
Intro: A business man needed $1 million to clinch a deal. He went to a church and knelt in prayer beside another man. He overheard the may praying for $100 to pay an urgent debt. The businessman took out his wallet and pressed $100 into the other man’s hand. The man left thanking the businessman and praising God. The businessman turned back to his prayers, “Lord, now that I have your undivided attention . . .” (No, It’s No Picnic by Marilyn Murphree – SermonCentral.com)
I. The problems of others never seem to us as important as our own.
A. The disciples saw they had a problem. They didn’t feel it was their responsibility to feed all these people. Let them fend for themselves.
B. VS. 15b “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” The disciples come to Jesus asking him to send the crowd away.
C. Get rid of them! It’s not our problem. We need to worry about where OUR next meal is coming from.
II. VS. 16 – “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” The same story is recorded in the gospel of John with the added comment by Philip. JN 6:7 – Philip answered Jesus, “Eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
A. Philip wasn’t concerned about where to find food for all these people. He wasn’t as concerned for the crowd as he was the state of the disciples treasury?
B. VS, 17 – “We have here only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.”
C. There was once a competition between horse owners to see whose horse could pull the most. The winning horse pulled 450 slabs. The runner up pulled 400 slabs. Both horses were owned by the same man. He wanted to see what the horses could pull together. Amazingly, when the 2 horses worked together they pulled 1,200 slabs, 350 more than they could pull individually.
III. VS. 18 – “Bring them here to me.”
A. Jesus says, “Come to me as you are, however ill-equipped; bring to me what you have, however little, and I will use it and you greatly.
B. VS. 19b – 20 Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied.
C. Jesus worked through the hands of his disciples that day, using what meager resources they brought to him. Working together with Christ Jesus, the disciples had enough to feed everyone!
Conclu: We are called to be disciples of Christ Jesus working together to accomplish God’s purpose and plan. We are called to work together as part of this congregation following where God is leading. We are called to be in partnership with each other and with God. As disciples of Christ Jesus, we are called to listen to God, to trust God and to shine God’s light in the world by sharing, even it that share is small by the world’s standards. When we partner with each other and with God, nothing is ever too big; nothing is ever impossible.
We often give up because we feel we don’t have the resources or we have little to offer. We limit the potential God places before us because we don’t think we have enough or we can’t see how things will work out. Rather than work with God, we decide to stop things from happening because we can’t do them ourselves. God has a habit of achieving amazing things in our lives just so others can experience God’s power and compassion. What God leads you to God will lead you through and there will be loaves and fishes a plenty.
