The Multiplier
Series: The Grave Robber
Text: John 6:1-13
When I hold a basketball in my hands, it’s just a basketball. But if you put that same basketball in the hands of Lebron James, it multiplies into two NBA Championships, four league MVP’s, and two Olympic gold medals.
Place a golf club in my hands, and it’s just a golf club. Place that same club in the hands of Bubba Watson, you end up with multiple major championships.
A paintbrush in my hands my turn into a pretty decent picture, it it’s paint by numbers. But a paintbrush in the hands of Picasso produces multiple works of art.
How is it that the same things can bring about such dramatically different results? Simply put, it depends on who is holding them and how they are being used.
As we return to John’s gospel this morning, Jesus is at the height of His popularity. We left off with Him healing a crippled man of 38 years on the Sabbath. This didn’t sit too well with the Pharisees but after the series of miracles that we’ve seen so far, large crowds are starting to follow Him to see what He will do next. The miracle we are looking at this morning is perhaps very familiar to many of us and perhaps the greatest miracle Jesus ever performed as it’s the only one told in all four gospels. I’m talking about the miracle of Jesus multiplying a little boy’s lunch to feed 5,000 men plus their families.
Many times we may feel like the little boy in our passage this morning. We may feel like we don’t have anything of significance to offer God. Some may feel too young; some too old. Some may feel that they don’t have enough time, talent or tithe to offer God.
Here’s the truth I want for each of us to walk away with this morning: If you give it, God will multiply it. Let’s look at this story in three separate sections:
Read vv. 1-6
Don’t focus on your limited ability.
One of the reasons we don’t see God performing miracles in our lives is because we spend all our time focusing on our inabilities rather than His abilities. Answer this question in your mind this morning: If money weren’t an option; if you had all the talent in the world, what one thing would you do for someone else? That’s how you should think when it comes to serving God, because it’s not about you, it’s about Him.
There will be times in our lives and in our church when God is going to speak. There will be times when He’s going to call us to do something that is bigger than ourselves, something that seems impossible.
In this case, Jesus turns to Philip and says, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This was more than just a question, it was a test of faith. Think about this situation for a second. It was an impossible task; there’s no way Philip was going to pull it off, none. And yet Jesus was asking him to do it.
What is He asking us to do today? What impossible task is He calling us to do? This is where faith comes in. This is where trust comes in. This is where we truly live what we say we believe.
Read v. 7
Philip kind of missed the point, didn't he? He was trying to solve the problem on his own. He looked out at the crowd, he figured up the cost and then he turned to Jesus and said, "It can't be done”. We do the same thing, don't we? God calls us to do something and we immediately start coming up with reasons why we can’t.
What Jesus wanted Philip to say was, "I can't do this, but You can”. And when He calls us to do something that we know we can't do, He wants us to do the same thing. He wants us to turn to Him and say, "We can't do it, will You do it through us?”
Y’all are probably tired of hearing this but I’m gonna tell you again anyway! When I was called into the ministry I was an uneducated, unordained paint salesman. God was telling me to do something that was impossible. My initial response was, “I can’t do that, I’m just a paint salesman. I can’t speak to people, I’m afraid to speak in public.”
It wasn’t long after that I realized something…it’s not about me, it’s about God! And let me tell you something, if God can use me He can use you too! We need to just surrender ourselves to Him and say, “Send me! Use me! I’m here today all because I realized, “I can’t do it, but God can.”
Don’t focus on your limited ability. When you look around at the needs of others in this community is your first response, “there’s nothing I can do about it”, or is it, “what can I do about it?”
Read vv. 8-9
Don’t limit God by doubting His abilities.
I read this and I just feel like encouraging Andrew along. I mean, he’s on the right track. He’s looking at the possibilities; he knows that the only way this is going to happen is through Jesus. He even goes so far as to say, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish…” and you just know that he's going to go all the way and tell Jesus, ”multiply them and feed the crowd, perform another miracle”.
Keep in mind that Andrew had been with Jesus from the start. He saw Jesus turn the water into wine, He saw Jesus heal the man who had been cripple for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda. He knew what Jesus was capable of.
But then Andrew says that little three-letter word that changes everything…”BUT”. “Here’s the bread and fish, BUT.” Andrew once again falls into the trap of the impossible. In this case, Andrew is limiting God's ability to work. He got so close; he knew where to turn. But truth be told, Andrew's faith in God was too small. In essence, what Andrew was really saying was, "We've got these five loaves of bread and two fish, BUT not even You can do anything with them”.
"BUT" is a ministry killer. ”BUT" is keeping our churches from being faithful to God's calling. ”BUT" is keeping us from doing the impossible through God.
Someone asked me not long ago, “If God is real, then why don't we see miracles like the ones in the Bible?”
Let me tell you something, God’s not the problem. We are! God’s always at work all around us; He’s always calling us to join Him in His work. He’s always calling us to do the impossible. But we limit God. We limit His ability to do miracles through us. Not because God can't do them, but because we won’t allow God to work through us. It’s because when it comes down to it, we don’t have the faith that we claim to have.
If we want to live out the kind of faith that we say we have, if we want to experience the miraculous, then we've got to get off our “BUTs" and start trusting God.
Read vv. 10-13
Trust God to use what you give.
In the eighth chapter of Mark, after Jesus fed 4,000 people in a similar way, Mark tells us that the Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked Him for a miraculous sign -- and Mark says that Jesus “sighed deeply”.
I just love that picture; I think that's probably what Jesus did after testing Philip and Andrew. I think He listened to them and heard their doubts and their lack of faith and just sighed deeply. You see, Jesus knew what He was going to do. He just wanted Philip and Andrew to be the ones who trusted in Him enough to suggest it.
I think He does the same thing with us, too. When He calls us to do something that seems impossible and we reply by saying, “BUT", I think He sighs. And then He either turns to someone else or He does it on His own, and we're the ones who miss out. In this case, Jesus took over and He fed the crowd Himself and He showed us what could have been.
Jesus wasn't asking Philip and Andrew to feed the people. He knew they didn't have the resources; He knew they didn't have the ability; He knew it was impossible for them. What Jesus wanted was for Philip and Andrew to come to Him with what they had and say, "This is it, this is all we have. We know it’s not enough, we’re not enough. But we know that You can take what we have to offer and multiply it and do a miracle through us”.
Jesus takes what we give and multiplies it by faith, producing a miracle every time.
As I close this morning, I want to make one thing clear: God has called us to trust that we can do all things through Him. Jesus said that we would do even greater works than Him, but sadly we're not…just look around. The problem is not with Jesus, the problem is with us. We’re still walking around by sight and not by faith. We’ve come to the conclusion that if we can’t understand something, then there must be something wrong with God.
Church, there’s nothing wrong God. He wants to take our inabilities and He wants to multiply them together to do miracles in our lives, in this community and in the world around us. Anyone can multiply with God, it just takes trust, faith and obedience.
What is God asking you to do today? Trust Him by responding to His Word. Give Him your “I cant’s” and leave here saying, "with You Lord, I can”.
Let's pray.
