Sermon Central
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Giving Christ Credit For The Incredible
Contributed by Richard A. Bradley on May 3, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: When what we have is not enough Christ will take what we have, if we give it to Him, and make the incredible possible.
GIVING CHRIST CREDIT FOR THE INCREDIBLE
1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.
3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
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."
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him,
9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"
10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."
13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."
Webster’s defines the word “incredible” as “something that is so extraordinary as to seem impossible.” Using the word “incredible” doesn’t mean we think something is impossible it just means that we can’t see how that thing can be possible. When we consider all the angles and possibilities we just can’t see a way to do something.
This is where Christ comes in. When something is so incredible to us as to seem impossible Jesus makes the seemingly impossible possible. Just because something appears to be impossible for us it doesn’t mean it is for the Lord. Ask the Apostles. Jesus gave these men an “incredible” task. He posed to them this question, “Where will we get enough food to feed 5,000 men plus women and children?” Yikes!!
If nothing else this passage teaches us that nothing is too hard for Heaven and in the hands of Christ the incredible becomes conceivable.
1. JESUS POSED AN INCREDIBLE QUESTION (v. 5):
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?"
Jesus posed this question in order to test the spiritual depth of His disciples; not so He would know because He already knows all things. He posed this question so the disciples could test their own level of spiritual maturity.
How we view the incredible problems that arise in life is a great test of how much we’ve grown as believers; how much we really trust Him. This was a great pop quiz for the disciples. How would they react? How would you if you were suddenly faced with an incredible dilemma?
2. PHILIP MADE AN INCREDIBLE CALCULATION (v. 7):
7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."
Philip fed the data he had available into his human calculator and came up with an impossible answer. A denarius was a man’s expected wage for each working day. Basically, Philip concluded that he could work for six months and still not be able to give each person a mouthful. Since Jesus asked Philip the question Philip obviously felt it was his responsibility to come up with an answer.
When God’s people are dealing with incredible problems we cannot restrict ourselves to using completely human calculations. They will never be adequate in finding solutions for incredible problems. Philip’s human calculation was not the answer Jesus was looking for.
3. ANDREW SUGGESTED AN INCREDIBLE SOLUTION (vv. 8-9):
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him,
9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"
No doubt Andrew was standing near when Philip told the Master that there was no answer for this incredible question. Look at what Andrew suggested instead. We look at the word “loaves” and we think “loaves of bread.” Actually this loaf was really more like a cracker. The fish were likely two small pickled fish from the Sea of Galilee. Since this meal would not have fed a grown man what we probably have is a small boy’s lunch.
