This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 3rd August 2011: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Summary: “Ye canny change the law of Physics”!!! Here in the story of the loaves and the fishes, Jesus did. Recorded on all four gospels, it is a miracle with more powerful than credited; a miracle that is the basis of our lives being changed.
Genesis 32:22-31 Psalm 17: 1-7, 16 Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:13-21
Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts and our minds to your message this morning that we may hear you speak into our hearts words of encouragement for the future. Amen
Gospel reading
Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew’s Gospel chapter 13, verses 1 to 9 and 18 to 23: “Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"
"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty“.
Introduction:
That was a very familiar gospel reading this morning, the story of the loaves and fishes but what is truly unique about this story is the fact that it is recorded in all four gospels. It is one of the few stories where Matthew, Mark, Luke and John testify, and this therefore signifies great importance. So let us dive straight in and see what treasures are laying there.
At first you are probably saying, this is simply the old story where Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes to feed the multitude, so what, but it is the story that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and his true nature as God.
In fact, there were three distinct reasons as to why this miracle was performed:
1. It illustrates Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life, the one who was to be broken for the sin of humanity on that cross.
2. It is used to show that the man who was prophesied as the Messiah; (the one who was to be declared greater than Moses), was actually in their presence. This was necessary because the Jews revered Moses; as because Moses delivered the slaves from Egypt and in doing so had given the Israelites bread in the wilderness. Now Jesus in John 6:32 sets the record straight by reminding them that God gave the Hebrews the manna in the wilderness and not Moses, and that He, Jesus was the true bread of God about to be broken.
3. And thirdly, this miracle demonstrates Jesus power as the Lord of all creation.
This great miracle, (and earlier, the miracle of transforming water into wine), are the only miracles recorded in the bible where Jesus actually used His power to actually create something. Now, I don't know if you noticed that in all the other miracles that Jesus performed, He used resources that were already present.
Here Jesus creates something from nothing, and that totally changes the laws of physics. Mr Scott said in Star Trek, ye canny change the laws of physics; yet according to the bible, Jesus did and the law I am talking about is the law where you cannot create nor destroy matter.
Anyway, this was a tremendous miracle, and there are stories within this story; but today I would like to show you the resulting effects of this great miracle and how it affects our lives.
Now I won't for one second try to suggest how Jesus did it, although there are many theories going round, but I do not think we do not need to worry about it, as it is not relevant; all we need to know is that Jesus took a small amount of bread and fish and greatly expanded its potential for usefulness. The conclusion being that if he can do that with small biscuits loves and fish, just think what he can with other things.
Just imaging those few pennies we have in our pockets suddenly being magnified, what a thought. Well this story says it is possible; and it has coined the phrase, excuse the pun, the Ministry Of The Master's Hand.
You may be feeling small and insignificant this morning; you may feel like your life and our church are small, and limited in what we can accomplish, but placed in our masters hands, whether it be yourself or a project or a whole church, this can and will be used by Him in mighty and remarkable ways; and although our numbers are few this morning, I am still thrilled at the thought of what mighty works God can do in us.
What Jesus did with the bread and fish, he can surely do with us; and he will do it in three different ways:
1. Firstly The Master Blessed the Bread.
Mathew tells us that Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed the bread.
Now the Jews were always very careful to render their thanks to God for His blessings.
They always prayed over their food at mealtimes and often the prayer went as follows: "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, who has produced this food and this drink from the earth and the vine”.
Just as Jesus blessed the bread and fish that day, He blessed the lives of His people!
Think about His blessings upon you since the day He placed His hand upon you; and think how has your life has changed as a result; if not think about what your life would be like, had he not.
Remember your prayers which have been answered, remember the one which were not. Are you glad that some of your prayers were not answered?
Remember the mountains He has moved for you; and mountains he has let you climb.
Remember the needs He has met, and remember the times He came near to you and held your hand.
His blessings are wonderful and He deserves to be thanked for them!
2. Secondly; the master broke the Bread.
After He had blessed the bread, Jesus used his same hands to break the bread before sharing it with others; strangely the bread had to be broken!
One of the hardest truths for us to grasp is the great truth that those God would use greatly, He hurts deeply! We have all been there; but a period of brokenness always proceeds a time of usefulness and blessings.
You can see this principle at work even in the life of the Lord Jesus Himself. Before He could provide salvation to the world, He had to be broken on the cross! We love His blessings, but we shrink from His breakings or times of testing! However, while the blessings of the Lord are great, and although I hate to say it, the breakings we receive are necessary!
One of the clearest examples of this truth is in the story of Job. God blessed the life of Job, and then God hurts Job deeply. And the bible says that this was necessary in preparing him to receive greater blessings; far greater blessing that he had before. Job like us, for some reason, needed to go through the valley of despair.
The reasons for God breaking us, is for his and our glories, it is always the same. He does it to prepare us for greater usefulness in His kingdom here on earth.
It is never pleasant, but the results are always worth the pain. The bible is full of such examples: we have just mentioned Job; there is the furnace of Daniel; the flood of Noah; the constant torment of the disciples; the Widow in Zarephath who made her last meal and was about to die with her son; there was Elijah by the dry brook, fed by the ravens, (have you seen what ravens eat); what about the Widow of Nain whose son had just died; and Lazarus to note but a few.
There are many in the bible to quote, but every one went through trials of testing, and every single one experienced great victory and great blessings.
If you are going through times of testing just now, do not worry, you are not being punished, you are being prepared for the victory at the end.
The methods god uses for breaking us vary greatly, and the analogy of metal in a furnace is often used, along with the analogy of a potter moulding something from clay. In both cases, God takes His people, and breaks them down so that they become more like Him. Then he builds them up..
I do not want to scare you this morning, but I just want to remind you that the Lord knows exactly how to break you but, he is not doing it to punish you, he is doing it in order that you may grow according to his plans for you knowing that it is for your benefit, and thereby ultimately his. Do you see the difference, it may feel like you are being punished but in reality you are actually being transformed into something better.
2 Sam. 14:28-33, “God knows where your barley field are and if need be, He will set it on fire to get you where He can use you in a greater way”! God wants to use everyone that is here today, but He wants you be fashioned to him, and not half cocked on a wild goose chase.
If you are in one of those breaking periods of life right now, let me point out a great truth; did you notice where the bread was while it was being broken? It was in the Master's hands!
When the Lord is breaking you, (or testing you), it isn't to damage you beyond repair, He does it to prepare you so that He can use you in a far greater way. The bread was never closer to the Master than when He was breaking it. If you are in a time of testing, you are not alone; you are in the master’s hand!
3. and finally, the bread was multiplied.
The five small loves and two small fishes were just enough to feed one little boy, but totally insufficient to feed a vast multitude, yet when they were blessed, and broken by the Master, their ability was magnified.
He took what was designed for one and used it to feed as many, and it is estimated there was 25,000 present that day. That is what the God can do, He blesses, he breaks and he multiplies.
Do you remember Elijah by the dry brook; he went on to have a great ministry. Think of Moses on the backside of the desert for forty years, and how great a man he became. Think of Paul in prison, Paul that wrote 2/3 of the New Testament, and was one of the founding fathers of the new church, if not the founding father.
Remember Joseph rotting in prison only to be prepared to be the second in command to the throne of Egypt.
And finally the cup of pain that Jesus endured for Christianity, which resulted in him being broken, blessed and made the name above every other name. Can you name something, then Jesus is the name above it.
If you have been blessed and broken for the Lord, then get ready, He has a plan for your life that is glorious beyond imagination. He will lead you, and deliver you through the Valley of despair onto pasture new.
That bread and those fish were greatly used of the Lord. God does exactly the same with us, he takes us in his hands; he blesses us; he breaks us; and then he multiplies our usefulness, but he does so for both our glory, and his.
Amen.
Let us pray.
We thanks you father for Jesus.
We thank you for blessing him; we thank you for breaking him on that cross; and we thank you most of all for raising him up to sit beside you on the throne of grace.
Father life can be a struggle for us at present in these times, and it is made worse if we are going through a time of trial and testing, where hope just seems to leave us.
Father give is the strength and patience to endure to the end. Give us that hope of victory and the confidence that we will end up stronger and much better off than we were; strength not only to face the future, but strength to handle the future according to your will and glory.
And father, as we are asking in Jesus name, this is an easy prayer for you to answer.
Amen.
