What can God do with your fish? – Luke 9:10-17
Gladstone Baptist Church – 4/12/05 pm
I’ve got a question for you tonight? Who likes Anchovies? Those little fish that people put on pizzas. You either love them or hate them.
Okay, who like sardines? When I was a kid, a typical Sunday lunch consisted of sardines or herrings with salad. But not too many people eat sardines now a days.
I ask you these questions, because there was once a little boy who was going out for a walk around a lake and he took for his lunch 2 little pickled fish like sardines and 5 little bits of bread – they were flat little pita bread, but were hard and brittle. They were made of barley. A simple lunch – actually it was a very basic lunch – the barley bread wasn’t the nicest bread – it was the cheapest bread you could buy and was considered the food of poor people. But this little lunch became famous because God did something miraculous with it.
Turn with me to Luke 9 :10 and read this account with me …
10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.)
But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Last week we talked about the training regime that Jesus was putting the disciples through. He sent them on a preaching mission and they went out and went through all the villages teaching about the Kingdom of God. After they had had returned, Jesus gathered them up and listened to their stories of how God had blessed them and then they withdrew for some well earned R&R – well that’s what they thought.
John’s account of this miracle tells us that they jumped into a boat and headed across the lake of Galilee. He was heading to a town called Bethsaida. He knew the disciples needed some time away from people, but the crowds that were still gathering around him in Capernaum, saw them leave and the crowds walked the bank of the lake following the disciples. They were hungry for more of Jesus. Such that when they arrived in Bethsaida, they were welcomed by the crowd and so Jesus sat down and began to teach them again and heal many. Remember last week we said that preaching and healing were Jesus’ primary ministries – here they are again (vs 11).
By late afternoon (3pm) the disciples were starting to get a bit tired. They knew many of these people had a 7km walk home and so they suggested that Jesus send them away so they could find some food and somewhere to stay as it was unlikely that many would walk home at night. But Jesus turned and said “You give them something to eat”.
It is fascinating that Jesus turns the question back on them. He is wanting to start giving his apprentices more responsibility and more accountability. They’ve just survived I don’t know how long – probably weeks, if not months on a preaching trip. If you were here last week, you would have remembered that they were told to take nothing at all – no food, no money, no spare clothes. They had to learn that God would provide and would supply all their needs. And he did – He was faithful to them. But had they taken to heart the lesson that God would provide? Jesus wasn’t sure, so he tests them …. He tells them “You give them something to eat.”
This took them by surprise. It was one thing to trust God for their own needs – the needs of one person, but Jesus, haven’t you looked around you – there must be 5000 men here and that is not even counting women or children. How did the disciple respond?
1. The disciples took their EYES OFF JESUS.
This is the disciples first blunder. They took their eyes off God and looked at their own resources. Their pockets were empty. And even if they had a bit of spare cash, to feed that many people, it would take close to 200 denarii which was 8 months wages. In todays money this is something like 25,000. I mean think about it. For 10,000 people say, The most basic food would cost something like $2.50 per person – that is about $25,000. Where were a couple of everyday disciples going to get $25,000 to buy food. Let alone find a bank that was open, a shop that had $25,000 worth of food, a way to transport it to the people. They were out in a remote place for crying out loud.
The disciples had proved that they could trust God – but this was just too big – it was too different. It was impossible in their eyes. But they forgot that JESUS CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE. This is a lesson for us to learn also. But from what we’ve learnt over the last weeks and what the disciples had learnt, we need to know that Jesus can do the impossible.
Let’s look back over the past couple of chapters of Luke even … Chp 8 vs 22 – Jesus calmed the storm. Chp 8:26ff – He cast a legion of demons from a demonised man. Ch8:40ff – A bleeding woman was healed by touching his cloak and then Jesus raised a dead girl. Then last week, Jesus provided for their needs.
The Disciples had to know that nothing was impossible for Jesus. They had witnessed it with their own eyes. They’d experienced it first hand. But I don’t think they were considering Jesus’ power here. They were thinking about their own power. When Jesus said – “You feed them,” their eyes moved from the powerful Son of God, to their powerless selves. They were right – they could not do anything on their own, but unfortunately that is where their reasoning stopped.
How often are we like the disciples and forget that Jesus can do the impossible. Someone suggests that we start a new ministry and we say “No I don’t think we can. Not now, we don’t have any money to fund it. I don’t know where we’d get people to resource it. We’ve never done anything like this before and personally I think it is impossible”
You know, the hunger of those people on the mountainside that day is very much like the hunger of lost people in our community and the world. When we are faced with reaching all the hungry people in Gladstone with the gospel we say “Impossible. We don’t have the people, the money or the ideas to do it. It is just not realistic to expect that we can do that. We have to be realistic in what we plan to do. Let’s start small with just a dinner party of 8. That would be achievable, but feeding 5000 – you have got to be kidding.”
Rather than saying “We can’t” … The better answer would have been to say, “Lord, I have no idea how we’re going to feed these people, but since you are the Lord I trust you that it will be possible. Tell me what I have to do.”
The first thing we have to do is recognise that Jesus can do the impossible. When faced with impossible situations, get your eyes off your belly button and fix them on Jesus.
2. The disciples UNDERESTIMATED THEIR RESOURCES
The second mistake the disciples made was to underestimate their own resources. The disciples obviously went away and investigated what it would take to feed this crowd though, because their next response was “Uhh Jesus … We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” And if we did that – they said in Mark’s account “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
$25,000 is a lot of money to spend on one meal. But Jesus wasn’t asking them to take out a loan, just to see their own resources in the perspective of Jesus’ power. If we took Jesus out of the equation, the disciples had just
- 5 loaves of barley bread. As I said – small loaves – hard brittle bread – more like a large water cracker.
- 2 pickled fish – similar to a sardine.
A little boy’s lunch and nothing more. That is what we see from a human perspective.
But when we see it in the perspective of Jesus’ power, we see it as a feast for 10000 odd people. Through our eyes it’s nothing. But through Jesus’ eyes it is just right. The disciples forgot to VIEW THINGS THROUGH JESUS’ EYES.
Jesus took this small offering and gave thanks and then began to break it up and kept breaking it apart. The disciples started to distribute it and everyone ate and kept eating until they were satisfied. John’s account records that Jesus then told the disciples to gather in what was left over because he didn’t want any to go to waste and there were 12 baskets full left over. 12 – one for each of the disciples.
How many fish and loaves do you have at your disposal? The disciples had a seemingly insignificant amount and it was pretty poor quality food. When you look at your gifts and talents, do they look like that small boy’s lunch that day. Fairly insignificant. Fairly bland, boring and unappetizing. That is what they look like through your eyes. But have you stopped to see what they look like through Jesus’ eyes? LOOK AT YOUR RESOURSES THROUGH JESUS’ EYES.
What did he do with 5 loaves and 2 fish. What could he do with your small offerings?
But you say, I don’t have much money – fine, but you have some. I bet those 5 loaves and 2 fish cost all of about $1.50 in our money. Who here tonight does not have $1.50 to their name. Straight off the bat you are in a better situation than these disciples.
But I can’t sing, I’m not a good public speaker, I get nervous meeting new people. That’s okay – what can you do? Can you smile? Can you shake someone’s hand? Can you fill a pot with water? Can you open a packet of biscuits? Well you know, you are fully qualified to server after church cuppas.
Don’t underestimate your resources. God can use anything you are willing to give him.
What do you think can be accomplished with a mere .57 cents, you say not much, well let me just share with you a true story.
One day there was a sobbing little girl called Hattie Wiatt standing near a church from which she had just been turned away because it was too crowded. It was a small little church, and couldn’t hold all that wanted to go to it. People had to book tickets to go to church sometimes weeks in advance. Hattie was outside with her Sunday school books and a little offering and was unsure about whether to go home or try to squeeze in. The pastor, a man named Russell Conwell, came by and seeing the predicament, lifted Hattie onto his shoulders and made his way into the crowded Sunday school room and found a place for her to sit in a corner.
The next morning as the pastor walked to church, he passed Hattie going to school and said "Hattie, we are going to have a larger Sunday school room soon", and she said: "I hope you will. It is so crowded that I am afraid to go there alone". "Well", he replied, "When we get the money with which to erect a school building we are going to construct one large enough to get all the little children in, and we are going to begin very soon to raise the money for it".
Though the pastor made this promise, it was only a distant dream he had but there was no real expectation of it coming to reality soon. A little while later, the pastor heard that Hattie was very sick, and they asked him to come and see Hattie and pray with her. He did this, but Hattie Wiatt died.
After the funeral Hattie’s mother handed the Pastor a little bag in which Hattie had saved a meager 57cents towards the cost of building a new Sunday School building.
The Pastor took this offering to the church the next Sunday and stated that they had received the first gift toward the new Sunday school building - little Hattie Wiatt, had left behind her this gift towards it.
The pastor changed the 57 cents into 57 pennies and sold each one to people who were inspired by Hattie’s story. He raised $250. 54 of the 57 pennies were returned. And these and the $250 raised was again changed into pennies and sold to more people inspired by Hattie’s gift. The money raised was enough to buy the house next to the church.
When this building became too small, the legacy of a little girls meager offering inspired more people and today, this little church has grown into the Temple Baptist Church in Philedelphia and has a 3300 seat auditorium and which established the Temple University which has 33,000 students on 10 campuses around the world. All of that was made possible through just .57 cents.
See, the point I’m getting at is that it don’t matter how big you see your resources are, with God’s power, they are just the right size.
I think it is also wonderful that when everyone had finished, 12 basket full of leftovers were collected. 12 baskets for 12 disciples. One for each disciple to carry home – what a powerful reminder of God’s power. I think it is also significant that Jesus asked for the leftovers to be collected. Why? Because even though they were poor men’s food, he didn’t want any of it to be wasted. Jesus is interested in everything you have to offer him. Nothing is ever going to go to waste in his hands.
Sometimes we think that our intellect is of far greater value than my hands. Sometimes we think that what we can do with our hands are of far greater value than a simple compliment. Sometimes we think that our words are of far greater value than a simple smile.
God doesn’t look at our abilities and resources like this. He doesn’t rate one better than another. Not one scrap of dry hard barley bread was wasted that day – It was all important and it was all going to go and feed someone.
In a similar way, not one bit of your life is going to be wasted, not one bit of your training is going to be wasted, not one gift or talent is going to be wasted, not one experience is going to be wasted, not even hurtful experiences, not one opportunity is going to be wasted by God if we offer them up to him. GOD WANTS TO USE ALL OF YOU TO FEED HUNGRY PEOPLE.
As I look around our city of Gladstone, I see a lot of hungry people. In fact in this world, there are billions of hungry people. I’m not talking now about physical hunger, but about people who are spiritually starving. They need to hear about God. But how do we satisfy their hunger. The job seems too big for us to tackle. It seems impossible.
3. The Disciples FORGOT TO ASK JESUS FOR HELP
The last blunder the disciples made was that they didn’t ask Jesus for help. He was standing right there. But they didn’t ask him to step in and to use them in a miraculous way. They didn’t ask him to use his power to perform a miracle. They just looked at each other and said “we can’t”
So often, we fail to include Jesus in our planning or activities. We think that we have to do everything on our own. But that is not the case, Jesus was waiting for his disciples to say, “we can’t but we know you can.” And this is what we need say today. God LOVES TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS, unfortunately we often don’t ask.
Have a look at this video clip of some people who asked God for help.
God wants to answer our prayers. We have needs, but there are also an aweful lot of people around us who have needs, who are hungry to know God. I wonder whether we ask God to help us to feed these hungry people. He is there with the power. He knows we have enough resources to make it happen, but he is waiting for us to ask him.
What an amazing story this is for us. So much to teach us. It shows me that Jesus has the power to make something which seems impossible into something that is possible. When we can’t, He can. Though we believe we haven’t got what it takes to make things happen, God has all the resources He needs. It doesn’t matter how insignificant our talents or our abilities are, God can take them and multiply them and feed literally thousands of hungry souls if only we are willing to give all that we have. And you know what, God won’t waste a bit of you – he’ll use everything you offer him. So what is stopping Him from turning this world upside down and feeding all the hungry people in this world? Willing people who ask God to use them. Just like the little boy, we have to be willing to place our bread and fish in the hands of Jesus and say – take me and use me.
What do you have in your life today which God wants to perform a miracle with. Nothing? If you say that, you are just like the disciples. Take to heart these 3 truths tonight.
And if we give ourselves whole heartedly to God, it will be recorded that … They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
What can God do with your fish? Will you let him?
