The Goodness of Jesus

I want to share three phrases with you: “We can’t do that.”  “No one’s ever done that before.” “God has closed that door.”  What do these phrases have in common?  For one, they’re negative.  They throw cold water on the possibility of doing something extraordinary.   Second, they lack faith.  They are short-sighted and refuse to take into consideration that God might be able to help us do something that’s not been done before.  Thirdly, they lack vision.  They allow human reasoning hinder our sight.  They let human capacity put limitations of what God might do if we just let Him.

Now, I bring this up today because one of the things we’re really good at is putting limitations on God.  And one of the reasons we do this is that we’ve become so accustomed to trusting in human ingenuity to solve our problems, that we think if we can’t solve them, no one can.  If we don’t have the resources, if we can’t come up with manageable solutions, then we just can’t do what we we’re hoping to do.  So, we borrow a convenient line from Scripture and tell ourselves, “God has closed the door.”

And I wonder how many times we do that, not just in ministry, but in our personal lives?  How many times do we look at a predicament we can’t solve, that we don’t have answers for, and just conclude that God doesn’t want us to go there:  God doesn’t want me to keep putting up with my toxic neighbor.  God doesn’t want me to go on a mission trip at my age.  God doesn’t want me to give beyond my means. God doesn’t want me to start a street ministry in Eloy.  You fill in the blank.

So let me ask you something: Have you ever put limits on what God might want to do through you?  Have you ever said, “I can’t do that” or “God’s closed that door?”

Well, if you’re honest with yourself, then your answer should be, “Yes.”  Because that’s basic human nature.  We are naturally limited in what we think is possible.  But God is not.  Because God is not just infinitely powerful, He is infinitely good.  And sometimes His goodness is only discovered when we’ve run out of options and think God’s closed the door.  Sometimes God allows us to face impossible situations so He can step in and reveal His goodness in ways to us we never thought possible.  So today as we return to the Gospel of John, we’re going to look at one of those impossible scenarios and see what Jesus does to reveal His goodness to His disciples. So, if you have your Bible with you this morning, let me encourage you to open them to John 6:1-15, where we’re going to look at four reasons God allows us to face the impossible:

And the first reason is this: God allows us to face the impossible to test our faith:                                                    Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is,        the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed Him because they saw          the miraculous signs He had performed on the sick.  Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. John 6:1-6

John begins this portion of the Gospel with the little phrase, “Sometime after this.” Now, this is John’s way of saying, that since the end of chapter five and this journey to the hill country of Galilee, a great deal of ministry has taken place.  And now Jesus has brought his boys to a secluded retreat in the forests of the Golan Heights to get a little R&R. In fact, John gives us a hint about how long they’ve been going at it by saying, “the Jewish Passover Feast was near.”  This means John’s left out about a year of Jesus’ life and ministry between chapters five and six.  Now the good news is that the other Gospel writers didn’t.  So, to get us up to speed here’s some of what’s transpired during this year between chapters five and six:

Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)                                                                                        Jesus healed the Roman Centurian’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13)                                                                                 Jesus raised a widow’s son to life (Luke 7:11-17)

Jesus sent demons into a herd of pigs (Mt 8:38-28-34; Mk 5:1-20; Lk 8:26:39)                                                                   Jesus healed a bleeding woman and restored a girl to life (Mat 9:18-26; Mk 5:21-43) Jesus sent the twelve out on a mission of their own (Mt 10:1-16; Mk 6:7-13)

King Herod killed Jesus’ cousin: John the Baptist (MT 14:1-12; Mk 6:14-29; Lk 9:7-9)

So over this past year, Jesus ministry has continued to bless and change lives, but he’s also experienced a personal tragedy.  Now he and his disciples are ready for a well-deserved break.  And that’s where we pick up the story. Even though Jesus is trying to take a break from the crowds, He looks up and sees the crowds are still coming to Him. But rather than avoid the crowds, Jesus turns to Philip and says, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  And then John slips in this editorial comment:  He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do.

Now, don’t jump ahead.  We know what Jesus wants to do.  Jesus wants to show Philip that He can do the impossible.  But don’t miss this.  Jesus asks this question to test Philip’s faith.  He asks him about feeding these people to awaken him to the reality that it’s simply not possible.  So, he passes the first part of the test by saying: “Eight months wages wouldn’t be enough to give this crowd a snack.” And that was true.  John tells us there are five thousand men in this crowd.  They were there with their wives and children.  And since Jews like to have lots of children, the crowd could have included anywhere from 20 to 30 thousand people. So notice, Philip is the first guy to say, “We can’t do that!”  “We can’t feed all these people. No one here has deep enough pockets to make this happen. Even if we had eight months wages, we couldn’t buy enough to them a snack!”

Now, it’s a good thing the story doesn’t end there.  But that’s where it often ends with us.  We see the impossible and we say, “We can’t do that.”  Or “I can’t do that.”  So, we give up; we don’t go forward.  But have you ever stopped to consider that what you see as an impossibility, God sees as an opportunity?  Have you ever considered that God may put you in an impossible scenario, so He can test your faith? That’s exactly what Jesus was doing with Philip.  Philip was learning to follow Jesus.  He’d seen him heal, experienced him raising a widow’s son to life.  He’d heard him give some incredible teaching – but Philip still needed to learn who Jesus truly was.  So Jesus gave him an impossible scenario so he could teach Philip something about Himself.

And sometimes God will do that with you.  Sometimes He does it by allowing you to face something you can’t handle.  Sometimes He puts you in places that are uncomfortable.  And sometimes He puts a challenge in front of you that just seems ridiculous.  But here’s the deal: IF God never puts you in impossible situations, it won’t be possible to teach you something about His greatness.  That’s what He’s about to do for Philip.  And that’s what He will do for us.  God allows us to face the impossible to test our faith – so we can learn about how great He is. That’s the first reason God allows us to face the impossible.  Here’s the next:

God exposes our limitations so we might learn to rely on Him:   So now faced with this impossible scenario, Philip answered Him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” John 6:7  Philip’s answer shows the immensity of the problem. Even if they were to spend eight month’s salary on bread, it wouldn’t be enough for each person there to get a bite.  They didn’t have the money to feed the people. And even if they did, where would the bread come from? Philip looked at an impossible situation and immediately jumped to the conclusion that what Jesus was asking was ridiculous.  What Jesus was asking was out of the range of human possibility. He looked at the problem from a human perspective and concluded, “We don’t have the resources, so we can’t do what you’re asking.”

Jesus’ question exposed Philip’s limitations.  Sometimes God will do the same with us. Again, this is the beauty of the goodness of Jesus.  He sometimes allows us to run out of options, so that He becomes our only option.  What was happening with Philip, Jesus wants to happen with us.  Think about where we are in the world right now:  Rising inflation, out of control gas prices, a ridiculous shortage of baby formula. Our politicians are struggling to find answers, struggling to fix our economy, and people are going hungry.  But we keep trying to find solutions with human resources.  Maybe it’s time we remember who owns cattle on a thousand hills.  Maybe it’s time we recognized our limitations and remember who’s standing next to us.

You see, sometimes God allow us to come to the end of our resources, so we will learn to trust in Him.  Maybe what’s happening in our culture is akin to Jesus exposing our limitations so we will learn to trust in Him.

One of the common myths of our day is that we mistakenly think that God owes us a good life here and now – a life where everything works out, a life with no difficulties, no problems, no difficult people.  We mistakenly believe that God’s blessing us means we get to enjoy a comfortable, stress-free life. So then when something does goes awry, or we face an insurmountable health issue, or collapsing finances, or a broken relationship –  rather than rely on God, we get mad at God or even blame God.  But once again, if God never exposesour limitations, we will never learn to rely on God.  So, what Jesus did here with Philip was a good thing. He exposed his limitations so he would learn to rely on Him.  Learning to rely on God doesn’t come natural to us.  We want to fix things.  But sometimes God gets us to the place where all we can do is throw up our hands in surrender and trust Him.  That’s what He did with Philip; and now Philip was in a place where Jesus wanted him.  For now he’s ready to learn what it truly takes for God to do the impossible.  And that leads us to the next reason why God allows us to face the impossible. And that is this:

God takes what little we have to do more than we’d ever imagine:  At this point, Andrew, who’s been listening to this exchange between Jesus and Philip, approaches Jesus and says, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” John 6:8  Now what’s going here?  I used to think that Andrew was taking a step of faith in bringing this boy to Jesus.  But upon further reflection; it’s not Andrew who took the step of faith – it’s the little boy.  I can see it now.  Andrew is sitting with the other disciples listening to this conversation between Jesus and Philip, and suddenly he feels a tug on his cloak.  He turns and sees this little boy.  The boy hands his lunch to Andrew and motions to him – “give this to Jesus.”  He wants to help feed the crowds with what little he has!

This isn’t just a sweet gesture – it’s a beautiful picture of childlike faith.  This boy took what little he had and offered it to Jesus.  And Andrew complies. He knows what the boy offers won’t do the trick, but he brings the boy and his lunch to Jesus anyway.  So, what does Jesus do? 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). 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. John 6:9-11

Here’s the miracle that’s often missed in this passage:  It’s not that Jesus feed the 5000, but it’s that this boy believed Jesus could use what little he had to offer.

This is what Jesus is looking for from each one of us. This boy had little to offer, but what little he had he put in the hands of Jesus.  And Jesus took what he gave, gave thanks to the Father and then did the impossible: He fed everyone. This was no snack.  All those who were seated ate as much as they wanted.  They ate till their stomachs were full, till they were satisfied.  There was not one person seated who would say, “Oh I wish I had another piece of bread.” No, Jesus met their need for hunger completely.

This a beautiful picture of the goodness of God: Jesus took what little was offered and He did with it way more than we’d ever imagine. And that’s what Jesus wants to do with you:  Jesus wants to take whatever you’re willing to offer and use it to bless those in need.

Here’s the tipping point of this passage:  Do you believe God can use you? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t feel like I have much to offer God.   And sometimes we feel like what we have to offer won’t really make that much of a difference.  Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel like what you have to offer won’t make much of a difference?

If so, then look at what this boy’s childlike faith accomplished!  What he offered was enough for Jesus.  Jesus took his loaves, and when He had given thanks, he distributed them, and also the fish.  And everyone had as much as they wanted.  You talk about going above and beyond what you would ever imagine!  I don’t think this boy imagined that Jesus could feed 20,000 people with his gift.  But that’s what happened.

God majors in taking what little we have to do way more than what we ever imagine.  Do you realize what this means?  It means, that when you put your life in the hands of Jesus, he might just do the impossible through you!  But you’ve got to be willing to give him what little you’ve got.  And that takes having childlike faith.  So maybe, it’s time we stopped trying to do so much in our own strength or out of our own resources, and give what little we have to Jesus. He loves to take what little we offer and do so much more than we ever thought possible.  That’s what makes Him so good. That’s why He allows us to face the impossible so he can teach us to trust in Him.

And as we learn to trust Him, there’s one more lesson He wants us to grasp.  And that is this: God gives us more than we need:   When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.  After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. John 6:12-15

You see, once everyone had had their fill, Jesus told his disciples to gather the leftovers.  Why?  Why pick up the leftovers?  Well, remember, Jesus knew what he was going to do.  First, he was testing Philip.  He was discipling him and part of his training was to help Philip understand His ability to do the impossible.  To help Philip to understand His power and His goodness.  So he gave him a question that would not just expose his limitations, but teach him what it means to trust in Jesus.  Then we saw how Jesus responded to one act of childlike faith and multiplied one small meal to feed thousands.  So, now with everyone basking in the glow full stomachs, Jesus is about to hammer home the point of His goodness.  For at the heart of His goodness is His abundant generosity: God is able to supply all our needs in Christ Jesus!  God is able to give us more than we need.

So then, as they gathered the leftovers, Jesus gave them a visible symbol of His provision, not just to the thousands, but to them personally.  For when they finished gathering the leftovers, there were twelve baskets full of loaves and fishes.  There were twelve disciples. This symbolism was not lost on them. For they now knew that what Jesus had just done for them, God had once done through Moses to feed His people in the wilderness. This miracle and these leftovers revealed to His disciples that Jesus was their all-sufficient Lord.  This miracle teaches us that not only is Jesus powerful, not only is Jesus generous, but that our needs and problems are not obstacles to Him.  For His abundant goodness and power transcends any need or problem we place before Him.

So, the next time you are faced with an impossible scenario… the next time you are tempted to say, “We can’t do that.”  Or “God’s closed that door.”  Instead of giving up, give what you have to God, surrender your obstacle to God and then see what He will do.

For our God is abundant in His goodness and power, and He always responds to childlike faith.