SERMON: ANYONE CAN MULTIPLY WITH GOD

ANYONE CAN MULTIPLY WITH GOD
24 August 2008

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 6

1. Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
2. and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
3. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.
4. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5. 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?"
6. He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8. Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up,
9. "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10. Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
11. 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.
12. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."
13. So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14. After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
15. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

-- one day Ms. Johnson, the elementary school math teacher, was having her students do problems on the blackboard that day -- but no one seemed ready and no one wanted to get up before the class
-- Ms. Johnson asked, "Who would like to do the first problem, addition?" -- No one raised their hand -- so she called on Tommy, and with some help he finally got it right.
-- 'Who would like to do the second problem, subtraction?' -- all of the students hid their faces and wouldn't look at her -- finally, Ms. Johnson called on Mark, who eventually got the problem right
-- 'Who would like to do the third problem, division?' -- once again, no one looked at her and the teacher had to call on Suzy, who got it right
-- finally, Ms. Johnson said, 'Who would like to do the last problem, multiplication?' -- once again, Ms. Johnson didn't expect anyone to volunteer and started looking around the room for someone she could call on -- but, to her surprise, Tim's hand shot up -- Ms. Johnson was shocked but finally regained her composure and asked, "Thank you, Tim -- Why are you so excited about coming up here and answering this question?"
-- Tim replied, "Because God told me to" -- "God told you to?" -- "Yes, God said, 'Go fourth and multiply'"

-- well, this morning, we are continuing our series on God as our math teacher -- and since this is the fourth sermon in this series, we are going to go forth and talk about multiplying -- specifically, we are going to talk about how anyone can multiply in God's kingdom with God's help
-- so, if you would, please look with me at the very familiar story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 -- a story that most of us have heard before some time in our life -- and let's try to look at it with fresh eyes this morning -- as we go through this ask yourself, "What is God telling me today in this passage?"

II. Scripture Lesson (John 6:1-15)
-- before we turn to this passage in John 6, let me give you the context of this passage
-- as this passage opens, Jesus has just been teaching and preaching in the streets of Jerusalem -- in John 5 we read the account of how Jesus healed the paralytic man next to the pool of Bethsaida
-- John tells us that when the Pharisees heard of Jesus' healing of this man on the Sabbath and Jesus' claims to be equal with God, they began to persecute Him and question His authority
-- Jesus responded by appealing to their faith -- He told them that they had the testimony of John the Baptist -- they had the testimony of Moses -- and they had the testimony of God the Father Himself through the Holy Scriptures -- all of these, He said, point to me and to my purposes
-- but, if you don't believe in them -- if you don't have faith in them -- how are you going to believe in what I say?
-- which brings us to Chapter 6 -- this is a chapter about faith -- this is a chapter that asks the question, "Are you going to believe in what Jesus says?" -- it is a chapter that questions the faith and the belief of all those around Him, even that of the disciples

-- with that in mind, look back at verse 1

1. Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
2. and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
3. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.
4. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5. 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?"
6. He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.


-- there will be times in our lives and in our churches when God is going to speak -- when He is going to call us to a task that is greater than ourselves -- a task that seems impossible
-- in this case, Jesus turned to Philip and said, "Here's a crowd of 5000 men -- we don't know how many women and children were there -- there could easily have been over 10,000 people there that day -- we don't know for sure -- but Jesus said, "Here's this crowd -- here's this multitude -- where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
-- This was more than a question -- it was more than a test of faith -- it was a call to mission -- Jesus was telling Philip, "I want you to feed this people -- now how will you do it?"
-- take a moment and just think -- this was an impossible task -- there was no way that Philip could do it -- none -- and yet Jesus was asking him to do it
-- what is He asking us to do today? -- what impossible task is He calling us to do? -- this is where faith comes in -- this is where trust comes in -- this is where we truly say what we believe about God

-- verse 7

7. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

-- Philip missed the point, didn't he? -- Philip was trying to solve the problem on his own -- He looked at the crowd, he figured up the cost it would take to feed them, and then he turned to Jesus and said, "It can't be done"
-- we do that too, don't we -- God calls us to do something and we immediately start coming up with reasons why we can't do it -- "We don't have the money" -- "We don't have the people" -- "We don't have the resources" -- "We don't have the programs" -- "We don't have the time" -- "We don't have the talent" -- "It can't be done"
-- Philip missed the point -- this was a test of faith -- Jesus wanted Philip to say, "I can't do this, but you can" -- when Jesus asked Philip, "Where do we go to feed these people," He wanted Philip to say, "to You"
-- and when He calls us to an impossible task -- to something that we know we can't do -- He wants us to do the same -- He wants us to turn to Him and say, "We can't do it -- will you do it through us?"
-- Dwight L. Moody was a poorly educated, unordained, shoe salesman who felt God calling him to do the impossible -- God was calling him to preach the gospel -- and Moody heard that call and said, "I can't do that -- I'm only a shoe salesman -- I can't speak to people -- I don't have any talent -- it's impossible"
-- but then he went to hear the great Charles Spurgeon speak, and as he listened to the message from Charles Spurgeon, Moody realized something -- "it was not Mr. Spurgeon, after all, who was doing the work -- it was God -- and if God could use Mr. Spurgeon, why should He not use the rest of us -- and why should we not all just lay ourselves at the Master's feet and say to Him, 'Send me! Use me!"
-- Moody went on to become one of the world's greatest evangelists -- and the ministry that he started continues to this day -- all because he realized, "I can't do it, but God can"

-- verse 8

8. Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up,
9. "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

-- don't you just feel like encouraging Andrew along -- I mean, he has the right idea -- he is looking at the possibilities -- he knows that the only way this is going to happen is through Jesus -- he even goes so far as to say, "Here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two fish..." and you just know that he's going to go all the way and tell Jesus -- "multiply them and feed the crowd" -- "do a miracle and feed everyone we see"
-- you just want to stand back and say, "Yes, Yes, you're going the right way, Andrew, you're responding in faith -- you're not letting the size of the task keep you from moving forward -- now just ask Jesus to do something"
-- keep in mind that Andrew had been with Jesus from the start -- He had seen the water turn to wine -- He had seen the sick healed -- He had seen people released from demonic possession -- He knew that miracles happened when Jesus was around
-- but then Andrew says that little three-letter word that changes everything -- "BUT" -- here's the bread and fish...BUT
-- Andrew once again falls into the trap of the impossible -- in this case, Andrew is limiting God's ability to work -- he got so close -- he knew where to turn -- but, truth be told, Andrew's conception of God was too small
-- In essence, Andrew was saying, "We've got these five loaves and bread and two fish, BUT not even you can do anything with them"
-- "BUT" is a ministry killer -- "BUT" is keeping our churches from being faithful to God's calling -- "BUT" is keeping us from doing the impossible through God
-- a friend of mine asked me the other day, "Why don't we see miracles like the Bible describes? -- if God is real, then why don't we see miracles all over the place?"
-- the answer is because of our "BUT" -- it's because of us
-- Jesus said that God is always at work around us and He is always calling us to join Him in His work -- He is always calling us to do the impossible -- and when we hear His call, we add up our money -- we count up our resources -- and we say, "This is all we have -- we'd like to help, BUT it's not enough"
-- we limit God and so we limit His ability to do miracles through us -- not because God can't do them -- but because He only works through our faith
-- What does this tell us? -- if we want to live lives of faith -- if we want to experience the miracle of God doing the impossible through us, then we've got to get off our "BUTs" and start trusting God

-- verse 10

10. Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
11. 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.
12. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."
13. So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

-- in Mark 8, after Jesus had fed the 7,000 in a similar way, Mark tells us that the Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked Him for a miraculous sign -- and Mark says, "Jesus sighed deeply"
-- I just love that picture -- I think that's probably what Jesus did after testing Philip and Andrew -- I think He listened to them and heard their doubts and their lack of faith and just sighed deeply -- you see, Jesus knew what He wanted to do -- He knew what He was going to do -- He just wanted Philip and Andrew to be the ones who trusted in Him enough to suggest it
-- and when it didn't happen, I think Jesus sighed -- I think He does that with us, too -- I think when He calls us to do something impossible -- when He calls us to a new task or a new ministry and all we do is say, "BUT," -- I think He sighs -- and then He either turns to someone else or He does it on His own -- and we're the ones who miss out
-- in this case, Jesus took over and He fed the crowd Himself and He showed us what could have been
-- Jesus wasn't asking Philip and Andrew to feed the people -- He knew they didn't have the resources -- He knew they didn't have the ability -- He knew it was impossible for them
-- what Jesus wanted was for Philip and Andrew to come to Him with what they had and to say, "This is it -- this is all we have -- it's not enough -- we're not enough -- but we know that you can take what we have to offer and multiply it and do a miracle through us"
-- Jesus takes what we have and multiplies it by faith and produces a miracle every time -- the key to God's multiplication is knowing that you have to have both factors -- you have to bring your resources and you have to bring your faith
-- your resources aren't enough to get the job done -- you have to have faith, too
-- on the other hand, your faith is not enough -- God wants us to offer up what we have -- our time and our money and our gifts and our talents
-- why do you think God asks us to tithe -- why does God want your money? -- He doesn't need it -- He owns everything -- so why does He tell us to bring it? -- because He wants you invested -- He wants you to offer your money and your time and your talents and your gifts as a sacrifice in faith
-- it takes both resources and faith to produce a miracle
-- and when God multiplies our resources by our faith, the world changes

-- verse 14

14. After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
15. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

-- the people saw what Jesus had done and they responded in faith -- they recognized Him as the promised one -- the Prophet who Moses had said would come -- the Messiah who would be king
-- when we respond to God's call to do the impossible and bring our resources and our faith -- God multiplies it and does a miracle -- He produces a response in the lives of those around us -- people see the hand of God and they turn to Him for salvation and eternal life -- and we experience the power of God working through us

III. Closing
-- After the flood, Noah opened the doors of the Ark and released the animals -- God told them, "Go forth and multiply" -- and all of the animals in the ark -- all of the living creatures there rused off the boat and to freedom, except for two snakes who lingered in a corner
-- Noah asked them, "Why don't you go forth and multiply like the rest?
-- "We can't," sighed the snakes. "We're adders!"

-- as I close this morning, I want to make one thing clear to all of you -- God hasn't called us to be adders -- He's called us to go forth and multiply -- He's called us to get off our "BUTs" -- to get off our "We can'ts" -- and to trust that we can do all things through Him
-- Jesus told His disciples that they would do even greater things than Him -- He told us that we would do even greater things than He did on earth -- but we're not -- just look around
-- the problem is not with Jesus -- the problem is with us -- we're still walking in sight and not in faith -- if we can't see how something can be accomplished, then we don't even try
-- God wants to take our limited resources and our limited faith and He wants to multiply them together to do miracles in this place and in our lives
-- anyone can multiply with God -- it just takes trust and faith and obedience

-- What is God asking us to do today? -- What is God asking you to do today? -- what ministry are you refusing to do because you think you don't have enough? -- trust God -- trust Jesus -- and let Him multiply your ministry and your life
-- as I close I want to invite you to respond to God's word -- give Him your BUTs today -- give Him your "We can'ts" -- and leave here saying, "with You, I can"
-- let's pray