Feeding The Five Thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. ²⁰ So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. ²¹ Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

One of few events in Christ’s life which is recorded in all four gospel accounts. After hearing about the death John the Baptist, He departs to a deserted place to be by himself. Multitudes follow Him He teaches them many things including the Kingdom of God and confirm it with miracles of healing.

³⁴ And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:34)

¹¹ But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. (Luke 9:11)

He shows compassion because their leader has been killed. (They were like sheep without a shepherd.) His disciples asked Him to do a very natural thing, to send the people into towns to buy food. Remember they had a very long day seeing Him perform miracles. Jesus tells his disciples to feed the people, a test. They only have  five loaves and two fishes.

⁵ Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” ⁶ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

⁷ Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

Taking them by surprise, He tells the people to sit down on the grass in groups fifty to one hundred. Christ blesses and gives thanks for the loaves and fishes. He multiplied the loaves and fishes into enough food to feed the multitude. When the apostles gathered the leftovers, they had more food than they had before the meal.

Become more like Christ. What can we learn about Him from this account?

1.      A Willingness to Teach

He used this occasion to teach people many things. We must develop this desire as well. May be many of us avoid becoming a public teacher because of James 3:1

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. (James 3:1)

This verse does not discourage people from becoming teachers, but from being an unqualified one We need teachers badly, but not ones that are unprepared.

⁵ Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, ⁶ from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, ⁷ desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. (1 Timothy 1:5-7)

They wanted to be teachers but didn’t understand themselves. Ignorant! Ambition to teach is a worthy one and we should encourage others to do so. But the person must be willing to make adequate preparation first. Failure to do so brings displeasure from God.

¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. ¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. ¹⁴ But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

Not everybody should be, nor should aspire to be teachers. They may not have the talent or ability—God may have given them other abilities. But if he has given you the ability, you must exercise it, develop it. Prepare yourself. You have an obligation. Jesus was the Master Teacher, never called a preacher. The few times He preached; He was never called a preacher.

All of us has the responsibility to become more knowledgeable of God’s word whether or not we become public teachers.

“We must answer in the judgement, not only for what we know, but for what we could have found out by reasonable effort.” —G. N. Woods

2.       A Life Filled with Compassion

He literally “suffered with” showing His deep lave and concern. Our God is a god of love.

⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

If we desire to be like Christs we will develop this attribute of showing compassion to others. This love causes us to act.

¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1John 3:18)

Jesus looks beyond his own feelings and feels the pain of others.

The Good Samaritan

²⁵ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. ³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ ³⁶ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

³⁷ And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37)

3.      A Thankful People

We should be continually thankful.

²⁰ giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 5:20)

God is able to supply all our needs.

¹⁹ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

With this idea of being thankful is the idea of being good stewards of all we have. The physical blessings we receive should not be wasted or abused.

¹ He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. ² So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

³ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

⁹ “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. ¹⁰ He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

¹³ No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

He teaches us to be good stewards of our natural resources. All He has entrusted to us. Don’t squander them: time, money, influences, abilities, would all be included here.

¹² While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Judas, the son of perdition or son of waste, had the greatest of opportunities and threw it all away for money that was only good while he was alive.

If we desire to be like our Savior, we will be a thankful people who are good stewards of all we have.

Jesus offers pardon to all who come to Him in obedience. He shows His mercy and compassion to us. Your life—son of waste? If you miss heaven, you will have missed it all!

 

 

Sermon Outlines on All Topics: