John 6:7-15

⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Last Wednesday, we looked at the contrasting faith between Philip and Andrew as well as the contrasting faith between the boy and the 5000 men.

We learned that one disciple (Philip) had faith in Jesus and even saw that he was the Messiah, yet still held on to the specifics of Jesus being human and doubted by the way he answered Jesus’ question, thinking that it was practically impossible to feed the 5,000 with what they currently had. Meanwhile, Andrew displayed more faith by bringing forward the boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.

We can see in that moment that whatever Jesus might do, Andrew did not bother with the specifics but believed that Jesus would perform a miracle.

The type of faith we Christians today should have, which will in turn result in us bringing someone to Jesus.

We also looked at the faith of the boy compared to the faith of the 5,000. Are we Christians who are prepared to answer the call of our Lord, or the bystanders who will watch on the sidelines while others with a servant’s heart continue to serve, whether it be in the different church ministries we have or even as simple as inviting someone to come here.

Tonight, we will be looking at the faith of the needy men and the able men.

3.  The Needy Men

Most of the time, whenever we hear a sermon from the feeding of the 5,000, it is all about miracles. It’s pretty obvious that would be the main focus for this passage since this is one of the 7 miracles recorded by John.

This passage gave my father many intriguing thoughts.

He wondered why Jesus was very accommodating to the 5,000 when they were hungry, but when they planned to make Him king… Jesus distanced Himself or withdrew to the mountain by himself.

Jesus withdrawing doesn’t make sense if we follow the logic that God performs miracles primarily for His glory, and if Jesus became a king, then wouldn’t he have loyal subjects that will glorify Him? We’ll take a look at this thought later, but for now, let’s go back to our initial analysis of the faith of Needy men.

Whe n Jesus saw the hungry 5,000 men, He thought about their well-being and gave them food.

Jesus did not just create food out of nothing. Though… He can do that… but at this point in time… He was giving us a lesson to learn.

He wanted to involve a simple faith like that of Andrew.

He wanted to involve a child-like faith like that of the boy.

And He wanted to teach Philip that nothing is impossible for Him.

Jesus wants us to be involved. To work together for the furtherance of His kingdom. If the church is the body of Christ, and if we look at the human body with every part working together to function as one healthy body, then as a church we too should work together to function as one healthy body of Christ, as mentioned in

Romans 12:4-5, ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

There were 5,000 people waiting, hungry in our passage tonight, and there are many more who are hungry for spiritual food out there.

The idea of bringing all of those who are hungry for spiritual food out there requires collective faith… a cooperative and united faith of being in need of the help of the Lord Jesus.

Perhaps you are one of those hungry people with maybe not physical or material hunger but spiritual hunger.

Jesus is compassionate enough to accommodate your needs: material, physical, or spiritual.

Keep praying that the Lord of Harvest will lead you to that hungry person for Spiritual Truth.

Jesus will accommodate you if you need Him.

In contrast… let’s take a look at the faith of the able men…

 4.  The Able Men

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

This action of Jesus is truly puzzling.

I thought Jesus wanted to be King?

I thought Jesus wanted to be Lord?

Why is it that when the people intended to make Him king… Jesus withdrew… and left the crowd.

Do you think Jesus wants to be your King?

Do you think Jesus wants to be your Lord?

Why is it that He did not want the chosen people–the Israelites to make Him King?

You heard preachers preach that the people who witnessed the miracle of feeding 5,000 men wanted Jesus to rule like the rule of David to free them from the suffering they were experiencing from the Roman Government at the time.

Yeah… perhaps, but the passage did not mention that. That is just a logical interpretation.

Here is another…

When you make a King… who is greater than the king?

When you make Jesus king… who is greater than Jesus?

You are greater than Jesus because you are the one who would make Him king… You have the power to make Him king… and If you have the power to make Jesus King…You also have the power to remove Him as king…

You can dictate to the king what you want because… you make him king.

Thailand’s King, Thailand’s Prime Minister

In Thailand… They have a King and a Prime Minister. When the people are not satisfied with their Prime Minister… they have a Coup d’état… The people’s power can dislodge the Prime Minister but… The people’s power cannot dislodge the king… why?

The Thai people chose their Prime Minister while the King was installed by heritage. Nobody installed the King but his father, the previous king.

Jesus does not need people to make Him king.

He can rule at His own will. Making Jesus king is removing from Him the power to act on His own will.

The people who plan to make Jesus king have faith not in Jesus but in themselves.

Jesus accommodated the faith of the needy people.

Jesus withdrew himself from the faith of the able people.

You might say… kuya Louie… I thought… preachers are preaching for us to make Jesus the Lord of our lives.

That is your problem because you depend so much for your spiritual life on the person behind this pulpit… Time and time again… the challenge is for you to read your Bible to know the truth, not depending solely on the preacher.

Jesus is more interested when we are listening to Him than when we are making Him King.

He is more interested in what we can trust Him for than what we can do for Him.

Coming to Him in need is believing that only He can satisfy our needs, while serving Him should be the overflow of our gratitude, not trying to impress Him with what we can do or how we can perform.

Here are examples of the present way of how we are making Jesus as King.

… Lord, here is my tithes and offering… use it for the furtherance of your Kingdom… I do not need to come early to attend Sunday School, I am exempted—I have given my tithe.

…Lord… I am very much involved in the church project… I do not need to listen to sermons that are hurting me.

I need sermons that can counsel… sermons that point out the good things I do… I don’t like sermons that reveal my weakness… who doesn’t have weaknesses anyway?

Lord… I am very much involved in every ministry in the church… I do not need to read one chapter of the Bible… I am very attentive when the pastor is preaching.

Can you see the doer of the action… Can you see who is doing the work for Jesus… it is the pronoun “I.”

When Jesus becomes the Lord of our life…

The Lord Jesus wants things to be done His own way…

That is the reason… I challenged you to ask the Lord Jesus to fill you with that desire… ask the Lord Jesus to give that plan… ask the Lord Jesus to give that longing, aspiration, yearning.

You might still reason out… but kuya Louie… everything I am planning is taught in the Bible…

… If your plan is taught in the Bible… is it really God’s plan?… or that plan of yours is likened or comparable to the teaching of the Bible, but not necessarily God’s plan for you to do.

We need to ask the question… are we really… in every way… letting Jesus be Lord over our plan, our life, our relationships, our ambitions?

Remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus?

In Mark 10:20-21, the rich young ruler answered Jesus…. ²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” ²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

 The rich young ruler wanted to be in heaven, but also wanted to be a ruler in his own way. He did not want to follow Jesus.

Test yourselves now. Just for testing your faith in Jesus…

Imagine yourself now… Jesus is telling you…

Sell everything you have and go study in the seminary…

Can you imagine yourself without a car? How about being without a house? Or when you don’t know where to get food for supper? Would you trust that Jesus will give you a brighter future than you have right now?

If, for example… you cannot imagine yourself in that situation… then… I challenge you to… keep praying that Jesus will give you faith like that of the boy… that you are not afraid to go hungry because Jesus is with you…

Keep praying that Jesus will give you faith like that of Andrew… that you do not need to compute how much money is needed to feed the 5,000 but to just bring to him an individual whom He can use as an instrument for any ministry.

Keep praying that Jesus will reveal to you your need to keep hungering for His provision and desiring to do miracles in your life…

Earlier I asked you the question… Have you ever experienced God doing a miracle in your life?…

Here’s what you are going to do when you go home…

Before you go to sleep… ask God… Lord, what do you want me to ask you that you have prepared for me?

Then write down those ideas that will come to your mind… anything that will come to your mind… financial, material, emotional, intellectual, spiritual things…

Keep it for your future references…

Here is how you test that the things that you want to ask Jesus are worthy to be prayed for…

Send it to my pastor’s e-mail or give him a printed copy… and he will pray with you… regularly.

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