Last week we asked the question, "Am I Good Enough?", and saw that "in Christ", indeed we are good enough.
Today we want to digest Christ’s answer to the question, "Do I Have Enough?"
This is the second sermon in the series, "Living Life On Purpose, Christ’s Answers to Man’s Questions."
Christ’s ability to live life on purpose aroused the curiosity of His friends and foes alike. His life inspired imitation from His followers and indignation from His enemies. One group wanted to learn and the other wanted to spurn, but both asked questions of Jesus.
His benevolent answers teach us beneficial truth about what life is all about and how it can be lived to the fullest.
Today’s question is from His disciples and is found in verse 33 of our Bible text:
"Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
The miracle recorded here is not to be confused with the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21. They are clearly distinguishable.
The feeding of the 5,000 took place in Galilee, near Bethsaida. The feeding of the 4,000 in The Decapolis, an area composed of ten cities on the east side of the Jordan River.
5,000 - 5 loaves, 2 fish; 4,000 - 7 loaves, a few small fish.
5,000 - 12 baskets left over; 4,000 - 7 baskets left over. (Even the Greek words used for "baskets" were different in Matthew 14 and Matthew 15 - which we’ll investigate further in a few minutes.)
5,000 - Crowd with Jesus 1 day; 4,000 - 3 days.
5,000 - Spring of the year; 4,000 - Summer.
5,000 - Tried to make Jesus king; 4,000 - Didn’t.
But perhaps the most interesting and pertinent difference between the two events is that the feeding of the 5,000 was to a primarily Jewish congregation and the feeding of the 4,000 primarily to a Gentile congregation.
That’s the reason the gospel writers used two different words for "baskets" in Matthew 14 and 15. The first is the Greek word for the small Jewish hand-basket, and the second for the large Greek hamper-sized basket. The Word of God is distinctly marking these as two separate events on purpose.
Christ reduplicated the miracle of feeding a vast multitude among Gentiles to demonstrate that He is The Bread of Life to the entire world - not just to one people group!
When we come up against great needs in life, Christ wants every one of us, no matter what our background, to be able to say, "God loves me and wants to meet my needs."
The question of the disciples is a question we all ask ourselves sometimes. "Do I have enough?" ("Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?")
The disciples were tired and spent from the three-day encampment and all the healings and the constant throng pursuing Jesus.
They made the mistake of viewing the need of the crowd on a material and earthly plane when Christ wanted them to view it on a spiritual and heavenly plane.
Listen to what He says to them in the next chapter to understand this principle more clearly.
Matthew 16:5 - When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread.
6 - "Be careful," Jesus said, "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
7 - They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn’t bring any bread."
8 - Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?
9 - Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
10 - Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
11 - How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
12 - Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducess.
How is it we don’t understand?
Our problem in times of great need is not God’s inability or unwillingness to help us - it is our own puny faith.
My wife was out of town for a few days this week to take some of her students to All-State Choir, so I had to cook for my self.
So I went through the drive-up window at Burger King...and ordered a medium-sized cheeseburger meal.
The young lady taking my order repeated it through the microphone on her headset: "One kid’s cheeseburger meal."
I said, "Wait a minute, I didn’t order a kid’s meal."
She replied, "It’s the same thing, only we don’t put it in a box, and we charge you more money."
I had to chuckle because I appreciated her candor, but at the same time I felt cheated.
We cheat ourselves when we think God can’t help us with the big problems. It’s just as easy for God to tackle a big problem as it is a small one only He doesn’t charge us more. Of course, He doesn’t charge us anything at all.
Our problem is we need to "super-size" our faith.
This miracle increases our capacity for faith because it shows WHAT Christ can do. It also shows WHY Christ does it. It shows us the purpose undergirding His purpose-driven life.
Use your imagination to picture the setting of the miracle. The crowd had been around Jesus for three days in a remote setting. Mark’s gospel account says many of them had traveled some distance to see and hear Jesus. (Mark 8:3)
For three days Christ teaches and heals. Cries for help were mingled with shouts of joy. It must have been a righteously raucous occasion. Such healings don’t take place in an emotional vacuum.
Will you try to imagine bringing a crippled or blind loved one to Jesus and witnessing them immediately being transformed to wholeness? Can you imagine the feelings of anticipation giving way to joy as Christ’s compassionate power is transmitted to those in need?
What if you were the deaf person receiving the gift of sound, or the blind person receiving the gift of sight? Would you then turn around, go home and act like nothing ever happened? Of course not!
The Bible doesn’t tell us what the specific reactions of the people were but it does tell us the general response of the crowd in verse 31.
"The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. (Who wouldn’t be amazed?) And they praised the God of Israel."
Now hold on to your religious bias. These were Gentiles praising the God of the Jews!
What kind of power causes people who don’t yet know God TO WANT TO KNOW HIM and praise Him?
The power of love!
Christ loved these people. That’s why He wouldn’t risk sending them on a long trip home with empty stomachs.
Verse 32 - Jesus called His disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."
Christ could have sent them home without the food miracle and nobody could have complained. They had witnessed plenty of great things already. But love goes the extra mile.
Love motivates you to give when you feel you have nothing left to give. Love creates a door where once a wall existed.
The miracle of the mass feeding illustrates this point. The more the disciples gave of the original seven loaves, the more was left for others.
Do we have enough? Let’s yield what little we do have into God’s hands because of our love for Him and because of our love for others and see if something supernatural doesn’t occur.
With God - giving doesn’t deplete our resources - it replenishes and multiplies them! They began feeding the crowd with seven loaves and ended up with seven hamper-sized baskets left over!
Listen closely and you will hear some Christian single say, "I need a good Christian mate, and the woods ain’t full of ’em either!" But not to worry, there is a God on the throne of heaven, who, since He can make blind eyes see, can certainly make the right marital candidate look good to you and vice versa!
Listen closely and you will hear someone say, "We need God to enter into our financial situation and help us clear up the mess we’ve made." Well, since God can feed 4,000 with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, He is certainly able to multiply what you have!
Someone else needs a better home, a better car to drive, or perhaps a better attitude to deal with a bad situation. God can take our crippled lives and straighten them out for us again.
Our needs are great. God is greater!
He is not limited to providing what we need according to conventional methods either. He can whip a giant with the sling of a committed shepherd boy. He can feed millions with manna. He can make water come out of rocks. He can make the sun stand still. He can transform a terrorist named Saul into a teacher named Paul. He can take care of the needs of widows and orphans with jars of oil and barrels of meal that are almost empty.
The qualifying factor is our yieldedness to God. "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asks us. Do we trust God enough to place what little we have into His hands?
Do we trust His love for us enough to yield ourselves completely to Him?
If we do, we will have more than enough!
