THE UNIQUENESS OF THE LOAVES AND FISH MIRACLE

John 6:1-15

“Jesus is God’s satisfaction for your desire.”

On the day that Jesus fed the Five Thousand, no one went away hungry. Why is that so? Jesus was there and He supplied the need. This I can promise you today, if you have come into this chapel with a spiritual hunger you can leave this place spiritually filled. Why? Because Jesus is here. He is here to meet your need as seen in the uniqueness of the loaves and the fish miracle.

The uniqueness of the loaves and fish miracle is, first...

I. AN UNSUSPECTING LAD WAS USED GREATLY OF THE LORD. The Bible says “Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish...”(v. 8). One writer said, “John’s unique emphasis include the timing at ‘the Passover Feast,’ the ‘testing’ of Philip, the presence of the lad with the lunch, and the response of the satisfied crowd.”

Out of these unique features of the loaves and fish, I want to focus on the presence of the lad with the lunch. The first thing that I would have us to see is that...

1. He gave all that he had. He did not say, “Jesus, I will give you two loaves and a half of a fish.” No! He gave all that he had. The lesson here for us is obvious. In order for any of us to be used greatly of the Lord, we must give all that we have to him.

Did not Jesus say to the young man who was rich, “One thing you lack; go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me?” (Mark 10:21).

2. You and I must give Him everything that we have. In fact, if we do not, we will ultimately lose that which we have been given. Did not Jesus say...

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it” (Mark 8:35).

The unsuspecting lad gave Jesus all that he had and do you think for a moment that he went away hungry? Definitely not! You have heard the much used saying, “You cannot out give God.” In fact, the Bible goes so far as to give us this promise...

“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38).

It was the late Charles H. Spurgeon, who said, “It is the teaching of Scripture that the Lord enriches the liberal and leaves the miserly to find out that withholding leads to poverty.” The unsuspecting lad gave all that he had to Jesus. With five loaves and two fish, He fed a multitude of people.

“Are you withholding something from someone when you have it in your power to meet a need?” Will you give all that you have to Jesus? The lad did and Jesus performed a miracle. When you give all you have to Jesus, you can say, in the words of this hymn, “Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling.”

The unique feature of the loaves and fish miracle is, second...

II. AN ORDINARY NEED CALLED FORTH JESUS’ EXTRAORDINARY POWER. This, as I see it, is another unique feature of this particular miracle. His extraordinary power was held in reserve for this miracle. Does not the Bible say, “ ...He already had in mind what He was going to do” (v. 6).

The Bible also says...

“Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” (John 6:5).

We sometimes speak in terms of ordinary blessing and extraordinary blessing that come down to us, in the words of James, from “The Father of lights.” The ordinary blessing like food, shelter, clothing, transportation, we receive rather matter-of-factly. We live as though these blessings will always be there. We then look to Jesus for the more extraordinary blessing, which may sometimes call for a miracle, if we are to receive it. Such as healing, deliverance in a crisis situation, finances to purchase some big item that we need, or merely desire, etc., etc.

The question is, however, does Jesus concern Himself with our ordinary needs. According to His teaching in The Sermon on The Mount He does...

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26).

On the occasion of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Scripture reveals that Jesus is very much concerned about our ordinary needs. A staple item such as bread, one of the most ordinary human needs, must have been on the mind of Jesus, as He observed the multitude on this particular day. From an Old Testament perspective, was not God the Father concerned about the Israelites in the Wilderness when He sent down Manna from heaven? On this occasion, Jesus used an ordinary human need to call forth His extraordinary power. Notice how all this unfolds...

“Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted” (John 6:10-11).

Note the phrase, “As much as they wanted”(v. 11). What is the lesson here? In the words of Adrain Rogers, “Jesus is God’s satisfaction for your desire.” Or in the words of the Apostle Paul...

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Not only does He supply our need, there was in this case a surplus ...

“When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten” (John 6:12-13).

Has Jesus ever called forth His extraordinary power to meet an ordinary need in your life? Needless to say, if you are alive He has. He does it every day.

Third, and finally, the uniqueness of the loaves and fish miracle is that...

III. A HUNGRY CROWD WAS FED BUT ONLY TEMPORARILY SATISFIED. It is at this point that we discover the miracle in the message. Watch for it as my message moves toward its conclusion. As one writer said, “Miracles are ‘signs’ pointing to God, but they must be correctly interpreted.” Therefore, let us properly interpret the following passage to discover the message in this miracle.

The Bible says ...

“So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone” (John 6:14-15).

In this case, they would get hungry again because they missed the whole point and meaning of the miracle, as seen in John 6:14-15. As one writer says, “When the crowd saw the ‘sign,’ they confessed Jesus as ‘The Prophet.”

They were right in this respect. Jesus was a prophet, but He was, and is, more than a prophet–more than a bread man, if you please. This is where we must go beyond the miracle, i.e., the ‘sign’ to find the message. We go beyond the miracle to find Jesus Himself. My dear friends, they missed it, and so will we if we desire only what Jesus can give us. We must have a desire for Jesus Himself. When we go beyond the miracle to find Jesus, we have discovered the message in the miracle.

Jesus would later explain the message in the Feeding of the Five Thousand when He gave His discourse on the Bread of Life in John 6:25ff...

“Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:35).

In order for us to experience the supply and satisfaction that only Jesus can give, we must:

Ø Seek Jesus preeminently

Ø Seek Him purposefully

Ø Seek Him perpetually

Ø Seek Him by praying this prayer . . .