Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (John 6:1-15):
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Do you believe that God provide for your needs?
If there’s one thing that makes an unbeliever out of a Christian, it is that people don’t believe that God will actually provide for our needs.
Most of us in Australia, even though we might think that we’re poor sometimes, are still among the richest people in the world. God has blessed us with so much abundance, so much wealth – but there are so few people who actually thank God for it.
But it is so easy, when in our journey through life we reach a crossroad, not to follow the road that says “God will provide.” In fact, it’s fine to justify just about anything when we don’t believe the fact that “God will provide.”
Everything that you need God has provided for you. But the problem is not so much that people don’t believe that God doesn’t provide, the problem is that they don’t believe that he’s got anything to do with the world at all.
People don’t believe that he created it. And if he did, people think that he might as well have wound it up like a clock and left it to tick by itself.
But it isn’t like this… God did in fact create the world. He did create you. And if he creates you, it means that it’s also his business to look after you. And he does. Even those who are financially poor in the world, God also looks after, and provides for them.
There are two temptations though – one is that rich people will waste everything they have, and carry on as if they will always be wealthy. But the other temptation is for those who are poor to try and get things in a bad way, and steal, for example. Both the rich and the poor in these ways are worshipping money and rejecting God.
But the alternative to both of these scenarios is actually to trust in God to provide for your needs.
And a sure-fire remedy to make sure we don’t become worshippers of money, is actually to thank God for providing for us.
St Paul gives a great example of this in Romans 1, when he says:
Although [people] knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
When we don’t give thanks to God for providing for us, we become “futile”, “foolish”, “darkened”. So beware of this.
But St Paul also gives us an example when in beginning his missionary work he says, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”
St Paul shows us here how to be thankful. He thanks God that he has provided the Romans to listen to him.
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Now in our gospel reading today, we read about Jesus feeding the 5000. And it is easy to spiritualise this text in such a way that we say, “Yes, Jesus feeds us spiritually.”
Yes, he does feed us spiritually, and in other places Jesus talks like that – but here in this reading we should not just simply gloss over the fact that Jesus actually feeds the people -- bodily, physically, with bread and fish.
Jesus didn’t say, “Man does not live on bread at all,” but “man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God!”
Every piece of food that you eat is a gift of God. And you should never forget it. There are plenty of people in our midst who know what real hunger is. And if it is not a regular practice for you to give thanks to God for your food and say grace before you eat, today is the time to start a new habit. Thank him for it now, because there may come a day when you will need to ask him for it. Remember, people who do not thank God become “futile in their thinking”, and their “foolish hearts are darknened.” So start today: turn over a new leaf, and thank God for your food.
The needs of your body are just as much a part of your spirituality as anything else. Romans 12 says, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Spiritual worship means presenting your bodies. That means that your spirituality has to do with everything to do with your body. Spirituality has to do with clothes, food and drink, house and home, your health, everything. It even has to do with your physical urges and your sexuality. And as we’re particularly talking about it in our reading today, it has do with the very food that ends up on your table.
And so we read in our reading today:
After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
Notice that Jesus gives the people as much as they want. Even though it is a long way for people to travel back home, even though they are nowhere close to bakeries and shops, even though they are stuck on the other side of the lake, Jesus still gave the people as much as that they needed, and as much as that they wanted.
He doesn’t feed a crowd who is already satisfied. He feeds a crowd that is hungry.
The Lord provides. He daily and richly provides you with all that you need to support this body and life.
We need the Word of God – we need the church. And Jesus provides it.
We need food and drink – and Jesus provides it.
We need good health and happiness – and Jesus provides it.
We need encouragement – and Jesus provides it.
We need to especially remember that God provides his church. The church belongs to God, and it is his job to provide it. He is in charge of the world’s finances as well, and if there is ever a time in the life of the church when he withholds what we think are our financial needs, it is not a call from God to fundraise and beg unbelievers for money, but it is a call for us to repentance and faith. It is a call for us to pray.
If we want to make food, we should cook it for the hungry. If we want to sew clothes, we should make them for the naked. – We don’t need to do these things to raise funds for God, who holds the whole world and all its fullness and all its money in his own hands. As one great theologian said: “The problem with church finances is not getting people’s hands into their wallets, but getting the gospel into people’s hearts.” (A C Piepkorn)
There is a temptation in the church as well to say: We have a shortage of pastors in the church. No problem – we’ll just put untrained, unqualified people in the job, who have trained for two weeks. Now, we are so blessed in our own church to have a good seminary which trains good pastors. Many churches throughout our country are groaning under the yoke of badly trained clergy, who shouldn’t even be there.
We are always standing -- individuals, married couples, families, pastors, missionaries, churches, all of us -- at a crossroad. On one sign it says: “God will provide”, and on the other it says, “Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times.”
Now have a look at our reading today, and look at the needs of these people. 5000 people at the end of the day, far from their homes, with no food. And Jesus didn’t even turn the stones into bread, like Satan asked him to do. He gave thanks for the little bit of food that was there, and in a miraculous way, the food became plenty for such a great company of people.
And so Jesus says:
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satified.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
God will provide. Jesus does provide.
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Now there’s one last part of our reading, which says:
And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
What does Jesus get them to do after the meal is finished? He gets them to gather up all the left-overs.
Waste nothing! Nothing is do be thrown away, but it is to be gathered and kept, and treasured.
This is what happens: when we have nothing, we don’t look to God for anything. And when we have everything, we throw it away like it’s nothing.
So there are plenty of people who have so much food, and never think to share it with the person who doesn’t have any. There are plenty of people who have so many clothes, and never think to give some away to those who really have to count their money to buy something nice to wear.
When we waste food, wealth, clothing, money, church, pastors, friends, family, they will be taken away.
As Jesus says:
Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
God provides. He provides your food. He provides you clothing. He provides you a house and a home. He provides you everything you need. He provides you a church. He provides you a pastor. He provides you water to be baptised with. He provides you with the body of Christ to eat, and the blood of Christ to drink.
So thank him for it. Otherwise he will take it away and give it to someone else.
For “it is truly fitting and right and for our lasting good that we should at all times and all places give thanks.”
And the most important thing that God provided is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of world. He provided a cross, because we needed Christ to die on it. He provided a tomb, because we needed Christ to rise out of it.
God does provide. He will provide. Let’s set our trust and our hope on that.
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for all the many things that you have given us. Help us daily to receive all that you give us with thankful hearts, and never take anything for granted. Send us the Holy Spirit, and keep us safe in your care, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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