SERIES: The Gospel of John
The Way to a Man’s Heart is not Necessarily through His Stomach, or A Mid-Term in Faith
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: We come this morning to one of the best known and best loved stories in the Bible—the feeding of the 5,000. One of my seminary professors, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, entitled his sermon on John 6, “The Feeding of the 15,000,” and he’s probably right, for Matthew indicates there were 5,000 men, besides women and children. This is the only one of Jesus’ miracles that is recorded in all four Gospels and the one most often referred to in other NT passages. It is a story that captures the imagination, and most of our children probably know it better than we do
The mistake we often make in approaching a familiar story like this is to treat it as an isolated eventer. However, a careful analysis of John chapter 6 makes it obvious that this miracle, though consuming just the first 15 verses of a very long chapter, serves as the springboard for everything that comes after. It sets the stage for Jesus’ walking on the water, it elicits the great discourse on the Bread of Life, and it serves as the backdrop for the enigmatic teaching of Jesus on the necessity of eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood. So, to understand the true significance of the Feeding of the 5,000 we must relate it to the context in which it is found.
Obviously, we are unable to adequately cover all 71 verses of John 6 in one message. But I do want us to consider the first 29 verses, which I believe teach us that the way to a man’s heart is not necessarily through his stomach. In fact, his stomach may well get in the way of his heart, creating a dangerous heart condition. We begin, then, with the fact that
Jesus provides food for the multitude to teach them faith. (1-15)
The setting for this miracle is the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee immediately following the first missionary journey of the Twelve Apostles, as we learn from the other Gospels. It is time for their first furlough and Jesus takes them to a retreat spot across the lake from Capernaum for some well-deserved R & R. It is Passover Time and there is considerable Messianic fervor in the air. Jesus’ identity has become a subject of much debate and His disciples are constantly being hounded by people seeking healing—so much so that they don’t even have time to eat. A vacation on the isolated north shore near Bethsaida seems an ideal solution.
The disciples have just kicked off their sandals and spread their sleeping bags out on a lush green meadow overlooking the lake when one of them spots a crowd of people rounding the northwest shore on foot. You can almost hear the groans that arise from these exhausted interns. By boat it was a short trip for the disciples from Capernaum to Bethsaida, perhaps 4 or 5 miles, but the trip by road was at least ten miles. Despite the distance, the road is clogged with excited people as far as the eye can see; thousands of people are coming to see and hear the miracle-worker. Is it any wonder the disciples show irritation and suggest to Jesus that He send the crowd away, as recorded in Mark 6?
Jesus, however, feels compassion on the multitude, and seeing them as sheep without a shepherd, He welcomes them, teaches them, and heals them (according to Mark and Luke). Finally, as the day drags on Jesus broaches the subject of food. If you wonder how so many people would have allowed themselves to walk at least ten miles from home without taking sufficient food, I suggest to you that most of them hadn’t planned this trip—they just got caught up in the excitement and dropped whatever they were doing when they heard that Jesus was in Bethsaida. The time got away from them and before they knew it, the day was nearly gone.
Still, this was not a major catastrophe in the making, for these people could get home in a few hours, a very average walk in those days. But Jesus doesn’t want to send them home hungry, and besides He wants to teach them and His disciples some important spiritual truths. So He speaks to Philip in verse 5 of our chapter: “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip was the natural one to approach with this question, since Bethsaida was his hometown; he would know all the shopping malls in the area.
Of course, Jesus’ question is not really for information. The next verse tells us clearly that Jesus asks the question to test Philip. Jesus knew exactly where the food was going to come from. These disciples must come to know their inability, in order to fully appreciate His great ability.
Well, Philip failed the test, as did all the disciples, for they calculated without the incalculable Christ. Philip suggests that 8 months’ wages wouldn’t provide enough food for everyone to get even a bite, while Andrew succeeds in producing one brown bag lunch but judges it totally inadequate to meet the needs at hand. Before we rebuke the disciples too roundly, however, let each of us ask ourselves, “What would I have done under similar circumstances?” Or better, “What have I done under similar circumstances? How often have I failed to consider an impossible situation as a disguised opportunity for God to demonstrate His mighty power?”
Jesus, however, is not to be hindered by the lack of faith in His disciples. He orders them to have the people sit down on a grassy knoll, takes the lad’s lunch, gives thanks for it, and distributes it by means of His mind-boggled disciples. The miracle apparently occurs in the hands of Jesus, as He multiplies and transforms that one sack lunch into food sufficient for a huge multitude. Everyone has as much as he wants and is satisfied.
There are many curious features in this story that beg for a godly imagination to probe them, but we will pursue just two. Think with me first about the lad whose lunch was requested. Every child’s Sunday School lesson on this miracle focuses on the availability of this boy and what Christ was able to do with his lunch when he unselfishly surrendered it to Him. Frankly, this is a message many of us adults need to hear as well. Overwhelming odds make cowards of us all, but when we exercise child-like faith, God often unleashes His resources in strange and marvelous ways.
You know, God never asks us for what we don’t have—only for what we have. And He doesn’t ask us to help everyone—only someone. I look at the enormous needs—spiritual, emotional, relational, financial—of a growing congregation and think, “How can I meet these needs? How can I shepherd 800 people when I don’t even know some of their names? How can I even accomplish the task of equipping others to shepherd them?”
Perhaps you look at your job, which is taking 60 or 70 hours a week, doesn’t pay what it should, and which you could lose any moment due to some corporate decision over which you have no control. And you think, “How can I do this and be a good parent and an active church member, and still have a quiet time?”
Or perhaps you’re a homemaker with two or three or more children, and you’re trying to educate them, and keep them from maiming one another, and communicate godly moral standards, and monitor their TV, and protect them perverts. And on top of that, you want to be involved in a women’s Bible study, teach Children’s Church, keep house, and somewhere find time to be a loving wife.
Friends, it is exactly when we are facing overwhelming odds like these that we need to realize God has not gifted us for everything, only something, and if we’re willing to surrender that something to Him, He is able and willing to multiply it.
We must quit looking at the enormity of the task and start pouring our time and energy into the people and the place God has called us to minister—our personal family, our family of believers, our work, and a few unsaved friends He has laid on our heart. Peace of mind will come when we realize that our touch can make a difference, even if it is only in one life here and another there. That kind of thinking is illustrated vividly in a story I read this week.
“A businessman and his wife were busy to the point of exhaustion. Both were committed to each other, their family, their church, their work, their friends … almost too committed at times. Needing a break, they escaped together for a few days of relaxation at an oceanfront hotel …. a long-overdue relief they had been dreaming about for months. One night a violent storm lashed the beach and sent massive breakers thundering against the shore. The man lay there listening, thinking about his own stormy life of never-ending demands and pressing deadlines. The wind finally died down.
He slipped out of bed about dawn and took a barefoot walk along the beach to see what damage had been done. As he strolled, he saw that the beach was literally covered with starfish that had been thrown ashore by the great waves the night before. Most were several feet from the water and the tide was on its way out, leaving the little creatures helplessly stranded. Once the morning sun burned through the dissipating clouds, the starfish would dry out and die. The man looked up ahead and saw an interesting sight. A young boy, who had also noticed the plight of all the starfish, was picking them up, one at a time, and flinging them back into the ocean. His sympathy was commendable, but there was no way the boy could get all of them back before the sun took its toll.
“Why are you doing that?” the man asked the lad as they got close enough to talk. “Can’t you see that one person will never make a difference in getting these starfish back into the water? There’s just too many.” “Yes, that’s true,” the boy sighed as he bent over, picked up another and tossed it into the water. Then as he watched it sink, he looked back at the man, smiled, and said, “But I sure made a difference to that one.” [i]
One person cannot beat the odds. There will always be more to do than there is time or energy to do it. But little is a lot when God is in it. Keep tossin’ those starfish. Keep fixin’ those lunches.
A second curious feature in this story is the order Jesus gives to His disciples to gather up all the leftovers, “that nothing may be lost.” I believe that in doing this Jesus wants to teach them something about the superabundance of His grace, as they compare just the leftovers with the little lunch He started with. In addition, however, perhaps Jesus is saying to us that infinite resources are no excuse for waste. We must learn to be good stewards of God’s bountiful supply, and we Americans have not always been good stewards. In fact, we are probably the most wasteful people on earth today. Just because we’re Christians we should be concerned about ecology and conservation, we should avoid all littering, and we should abstain from wastefulness.
Now let me ask you, “Why did Jesus perform this miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000?” I believe He did it primarily to teach the multitude and His disciples about faith. Can they trust Him to meet their needs? Is He reliable? Is He sufficient? Is He the God of the impossible? The food was a means to the faith He desired to inculcate in them. But sadly …
The multitude is attracted to Jesus by the food but misses the point of the faith. (22-26)
We pick up the account down in verse 22. It’s the next day after the Feeding of the 5,000, and much of the crowd had apparently stayed camped out on the shore of the lake. Not, however, the disciples. Right after the Feeding they got into their boat and headed back for Capernaum, presumably to find some peace and privacy. But a fierce storm had come up, and after fighting the waves for most of the night, the frightened disciples were astonished to see Jesus come to them walking on the water.
In the parallel account in Mark 6:52 we are told that their amazement was because “they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” (NASB) Imagine it! They saw with their own eyes as Jesus fed perhaps 15,000 people out of one little boy’s lunch, and they gained no insight from it. In fact, they probably had the twelve basketsful of food leftover from the Feeding of the 5,000 in the boat with them (their waiter’s tip, so to speak, for helping feed the multitude), but still they gained no insight—not even enough to keep them from nearly dying of apoplexy when the very same Jesus hours later walks across the lake on top of the water to save them from drowning!
But once again I must suggest we look inside our own hearts to see how often we too have failed to gain insight from God’s activity in our lives. How often has He answered prayer in a remarkable, or even miraculous way, but still, when the next crisis comes, we persist in worrying, or try to solve it by our own human ingenuity, instead of turning it over to the One who has always proved Himself to be totally adequate. We are such slow learners.
Well, the disciples let Jesus into the boat and are soon at their destination. The multitude, however, knows nothing of this incident. They had seen the disciples leave without Jesus, but now that morning has arrived, they are unable to find Him, so they, too, head back to Capernaum. There they find Jesus and ask Him (verse 25), “Rabbi, when did you get here?” But instead of answering their question Jesus chides them for their motivation in seeking Him. In verse 26 He says, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
Jesus knows their hearts and He knows that their motives in following Him are suspect. They are after Food Stamps. They want Messianic Medicare and Medicaid. They want to see Jesus become King and, as a revolutionary political leader, declare independence from hated Rome.
That’s really what we read back in verse 15, isn’t it? “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” But do you see the irony? He who is already King has come to offer His kingdom to them; but in their blindness they try to force Him to be the kind of king they want; and in the process, they fail to get the king they want and lose the far better kingdom He offers.
According to Jesus in verse 26, these people aren’t even following Him because of His miracles. Had they come even on that basis, it would have demonstrated some faith, however inadequate. Faith which rests on miracles is not the highest kind of faith, but it is certainly better than no faith at all. But these people are crass materialists. They are moved not by full hearts but by full bellies.
How often we too must admit to being attracted to Jesus by the benefits while failing the test of faith. When we want comfort in sorrow, strength in difficulty, peace in turmoil, help in face of depression, there is no one so wonderful as Jesus. But when He comes to us with some stern demand for sacrifice, some challenge to meet, some cross to bear, we have more important things to occupy our attention. When we honestly examine our hearts, we may find that we, too, love Jesus for what we can get out of Him. [ii]
The multitude and the disciples have both failed to appreciate the purpose for which Jesus performed the great miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000—i.e., to generate faith. So, thirdly, He speaks bluntly to them:
Jesus puts food and faith in proper perspective. (27-29)
He does so by informing them that …
The only food worth working for is spiritual food. Look at verse 27: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” When Jesus tells them not to work for the food that perishes, I think we must not take Him literally. He doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t work for a living. Elsewhere in the NT we are told that “if a man will not work, he shall not eat.” He is using a Hebrew figure of speech to set up a contrast in priorities. What He means is that our chief goal and purpose in life must not be simply to satisfy our physical and emotional needs and desires. Sure, a man must work to meet those needs, but he must not work exclusively or even primarily to meet those needs.
But how many professing Christians, to say nothing of unbelievers, are doing just that! There are many who, while ignoring the deepest spiritual needs of their families and their own lives, devote themselves exclusively to material pursuits. One of the saddest things to me is to see a home break up and then hear the husband say, “I can’t understand what she wanted—I worked 70 hours a week until I reached the top of my field and now that I’m financially secure, she tells me to take a walk.” Or worse yet, to hear a parent say, “I can’t understand what happened to my child—I gave him everything a child could want. I didn’t enjoy being out of town so much, but you can’t live in that neighborhood and send kids to that school for peanuts.” Probably in both cases the wife and the child would gladly have traded the luxuries provided for a greater share of the parent’s time.
And I wonder how often God feels the same way. We perhaps rationalize our mania for job advancement on the basis that as our income goes up our tithe also goes up. But perhaps God is saying, “I’ll gladly trade some of your tithe for some of your time. Besides, I don’t need your money—I own the cattle on a thousand hills, and I can ship a few to the stock yards anytime. But your time and commitment are entities without a price.”
But it is not just in our personal lives that we tend to work for food that spoils; we do it also in our worship. Thousands are flocking to evangelical churches today to have their “felt needs” massaged, and they change churches sometimes with no more thought than they give to changing grocery stores or gas stations. If the entertainment is better, the sermon shorter, and the crowd friendlier somewhere else, they’re gone. Michael Horton, in a new book entitled, Made in America: The Shaping of Modern Evangelicalism, takes John 6:26, where Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill,” and paraphrases it as follows: “You are not converts, but consumers. You’re like stray cats that follow, not out of any attachment to a new owner, but because they remember who fed them last.”
Jesus, unwilling to gather a crowd of consumers then delivers one of His most unpopular sermons—the one about the Bread from Heaven, which will be our text next Sunday. Just glance at the result of that sermon in verse 66: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” The crowds dwindled but those that were left were committed. Horton goes on to say,
“’A significant part of selling today’s gospel is the appeal to the sensational. It not only has to come with a money-back guarantee that it will work; it has to dazzle the audience. The call to die to self is replaced with the invitation to add Jesus to the other products we use for self-fulfillment.’ Then he concludes, ‘We are not selling a product to a consumer but proclaiming a Savior to a sinner.’”
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” The food Jesus wants us to seek first is spiritual food. And just what is that food? Well, first, it is food which doesn’t perish—it endures to eternal life. Secondly, it is a gift of the Son of Man. You can’t earn it and you can’t buy it, but you must want it. He will give it to you if you seek it. I believe the spiritual food Jesus is talking about is a personal relationship with Him. Should we wonder whether such an offer is a legitimate, bona fide offer, Jesus adds at the end of verse 27 that God has placed His seal on it. The seal in ancient times was a sign of ownership and a mark of approval. And the God they professed to worship had put His seal on Jesus Christ. They could trust the food He provided.
Jesus has made it clear that the food that should be our highest priority is spiritual food. Now He adds the very important truth that …
The only “work” God accepts is the “work of faith.” As was so very often the case the Jews miss the point of what Jesus is saying in verse 27. They hear the word “work” and fail to assimilate the rest. Jesus’ emphasis has been this: “Do not work for the food which perishes but for the food which endures.” They, on the other hand, hear it this way: “Do not work for the food which perishes but work for the food which endures.” He emphasizes the kind of food; they emphasize the kind of work.
And I think the reason why they hear it that way is because people have always desired to work for their salvation. I don’t believe there is a single religion anywhere, apart from biblical Christianity, which teaches that salvation is a gift and cannot be earned. But Jesus has said clearly that the Son of Man would give it to them. Nevertheless, they respond in verse 28, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” This is not unusual, of course. The rich young ruler said to Jesus, “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Philippian jailer likewise said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? The human mind is always flattered when it is conscious of doing something for God. But the essence of Christianity is this: it is not what we can do for God but rather what God has already done for us.
That is, in essence, what Jesus tells the multitude in a rather enigmatic fashion in verse 29: “If it’s work you want to do, I’ll tell you what to do. If you want to work your way to Heaven, I’ll explain what kind of work is necessary. The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” The only thing Jesus changes in their question is the term “works.” They ask about works in the plural; Jesus tells them about work in the singular. There is only one acceptable work—the work of faith. Of course, the only sense in which believing is a work is that some action must be taken to receive salvation. No man may expect to get to heaven by osmosis. Rather he must decide in his will to trust in Christ. [iii]
Conclusion: Friend, why are you seeking Jesus today? Are you looking for a food stamp outlet, a crisis manager, a trump card when the game of life swings against you? Or are you looking for a Savior to forgive your sins?
Fellow Christian, are you caught up in the consumer mentality when you come to church, hoping that the musicians can stir your emotions and the pastor challenge your intellect? Or do you come to give honor and glory to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ? Worship in the evangelical church is anemic; so is our outreach; so is our theology, and it’s largely because too many of us are working for food that spoils rather than for that which endures to eternal life.
Let’s all take a moment to examine our own hearts before God. Perhaps we need to recommit ourselves to Jesus in true discipleship. Perhaps some need to receive Jesus as Savior for the first time.
DATE: January 17, 1993
Tags:
Faith
Spiritual food
Work
Work of faith
[i] Chuck Swindoll shared this story in his church newsletter, Newsbreak, Vol. 12, Number 22, June 7-13, 1992.
[ii] William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Volume 1.
[iii] For a truly amazing illustration of the futility of human “work” in the plan of salvation, see the quotation of W. R. Newell in Donald Grey Barnhouse, Romans, Volume 2, 234.