EAT IT
“Feeding of the 5000”
Luke 9:10-17
10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. 12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Questions:
1. Where were the Disciples when this miracle took place?
2. Where did the baskets come from?
3. Did Jesus bless the food? Should we?
4. How many did Jesus feed?
5. Who are you feeding?
Answers:
1. The Where. Technically, the disciples were with Jesus in Bethsaida (there’s some research on this city, but not the focus of this answer here). But there is a key phrase that needs to looked at and remembered forever. The phrase is “IN THIS REMOTE PLACE.”
The disciples were in an area that was uncomfortable to them. Without question, they didn’t really care to be where they were at, and seemed to want to leave soon (which doesn’t demonstrate a whole of love for the people they were ministering too, but I don’t want to be too critical).
“IN THIS REMOTE PLACE” to us would be like those of us who say “WE ARE IN REDNECK COUNTRY,” or “SURROUNDED BY A BUNCH OF HICKS,” or something negative in line with that. There is a sense when someone says things like that, though it is usually in the act of fun, they are speaking negative words towards them. The whole thing is ironic, because in a general sense, in the United States, the people that live in the country are a whole lot more Biblical, a whole lot more patriotic in general, than those who reside in the city—so it doesn’t make sense to speak like that (unless…the issue is really money versus no money, leaders, whaddya think?)
Questions to answer for the group:
A) What types of people make you uncomfortable (emo kids, Arabs, Spanish-speaking, etc).
B) What types of people do you act like/make fun of when they are not around?
C) (After having some fun with the first two, here comes the biggie) Does Christ approve of those actions?
2. Baskets. I was told a long time ago, a really, really cute (but wrong) answer to this parable. The church leader told me that the crowd, after seeing this boy give up his lunch, person by person came forward and gave up their lunch. Then, after everyone gave, they had this grand buffet, and everyone had enough to eat. Yeah! This is so happy-happy. Except for the fact that the 5000 people were all hungry. Seriously, if they all had food, why were the disciples concerned about food? Personally, I hate dumb, human answers like that.
What we know is that a boy had 5 loaves and 2 fish. It’s safe to assume that he carried it in a basket. But where did the other 11 baskets come from? It came from God, just like everything comes from God. The people came with nothing, and left full—which is exactly what is supposed to happen to us when we enter into the presence of Christ.
Time for a church testimony: please take some time out to ask your youth about their church attendance (now, we all know some don’t attend, but we have to bring it up…after all, our goal is NOT to create a person who spends 40 years of their life outside of church). Feel free to share a personal testimony of how church has impacted your life. Please share about your commitment to church (you come rain or shine, sick or well). If your testimony isn’t strong, then share the Jon Wagner testimony of missing part of a Rams game to play the drums. As believers, we need to commit.
Question: How come is always seems that the message of the pastor is directly made for you? (for a youth who doesn’t feel this way, ask them why they feel messages are not for them…or more importantly…what’s wrong with their soul that prevents a quality spiritual feeding).
*Sidenote, for the boy that gave his 5 loaves and 2 fish a way. Does a boy usually eat 5 loaves of bread? No way! More than likely, he had enough food for his family for the day. When he decided to give a way his food, he probably had a hard decision to make—for he did not know what his family would eat for the rest of the day.
3. The blessing. Let me put it this way: In the hands of Jesus, 5 loaves & 2 fish can feed thousands, in our hands we can feed nobody. WE NEED TO PUT THINGS IN CHRIST’S HANDS.
“The Lord wants great things for us, but we must remember who we are. At our best we are only going to be a little boy’s lunch. Five loaves and two fishes, not enough to feed one hungry man. When we begin to think that we are great, that we can do our work without the Lord’s input, it’s then that we set ourselves up for failure.” -Barney Hudson
DO WE NEED TO PRAY BEFORE MEALS? Yeah, the precedent for praying a blessing over the meal comes from Jesus here in the feeding of the 5000. Jesus replicates this prayer later on when he provides a meal for 4000 (yeah, you read that twice, the feeding of a large quantity of food is actually done twice by Jesus as recorded in the gospels—both times the disciples use the phrase “in this remote place”). Jesus also blesses the food prior to the last supper. When Jesus was resurrected, he was having a meal near the road to Emmaus, yet again he blessed the food. Paul follows this example in Acts 27 right after an almost boat crash when the men were finally near land. So in my opinion, asking for a blessing before a meal is absolutely the correct decision, and those who would wish to argue otherwise would have to have a good explanation as to why Jesus did it (there is a more specific answer in the EXTRA section of the Bible Study).
4. How Many. This is simple, and doesn’t have much of a discussion attached to it. But since Jesus fed 5000 MEN…he probably actually fed closer to 15,000 to 20,000 PEOPLE. Remember, only the men were counted, there were also women and children there. So the miracle is actually a lot larger
5. Who. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where it all matters. Listen carefully. Jesus fed people, disciples fed people, apostles fed people, every spiritual leader fed people. Your youth workers feed people. So, as a youth, I need to ask, who are you feeding?
Simulation: Ask the students to jot down all the names of the people they are spiritually training up. Leaders, we might get some blank stares here (and there may not be a MS application here), but our students are way connected. Students, we spend all our time calling, texting, twittering, facebooking, emailing….so WHO ARE YOU FEEDING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST TO?
Of all the other data we uncovered in this lesson, this question may have the largest significance. Youth leaders, as for at least the older HS students, we need to make the real life impact of witnessing and feeding others spiritually a real necessity. People who lead seldom fall a way. And that’s the truth, let’s develop our youth—all our youth—into leaders in this area.
EXTRAS:
Question: "Why do we pray before eating meals?"
Answer: Christians frequently pray before meals, giving thanks to God for the food we are about to eat. Pre-meal prayers can be a simple “thank-you” to God for the meal or lengthier prayers of thanksgiving for all of His provisions in our lives. In praying before meals, we are following the example of the Lord Jesus, whose prayers on several occasions are our model. In the two instances where Jesus miraculously fed multitudes of people with a few loaves and fish, He “gave thanks” (Matthew 14:19-21; 15:34-36). In the first instance, He fed 5000 men, plus women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish. In the second, He fed over 4000 with seven loaves and a few fish. At the Last Supper, Jesus again set the example of thanksgiving. When He passed the cup and the bread to His disciples, telling them to eat and drink these elements which were symbols of His body and blood, He gave thanks. When He appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, He stopped briefly to eat with them, and “took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them” (Luke 24:30). The apostle Paul continued this example of praying before eating, as recorded in Acts 27. In this instance, Paul was on a ship with 276 other people when a hurricane battered the ship. After fourteen days of not eating, Paul exhorted the sailors and other passengers to eat something in order to survive. He “took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all” (Acts 27:35). Even in spite of the danger and terrible circumstances, Paul paused to give thanks to God before the meal. When we thank God for providing our daily bread, we are acknowledging that all things come from Him (Ephesians 5:20; Romans 11:36). He is the source of everything we have, and praying before meals as a habit helps to remind us of that truth. Praying before we eat with a thankful heart brings glory to God and centers our minds on His great love for His children and the blessings He bestows on those who belong to Him.
RANDOM QUESTION ABOUT HOW/WHEN TO LEAVE A CHURCH (REMEMBER, FAR TOO MANY BELIEVERS SIN IN THIS AREA THAN WE EXPECT, SURPRISINGLY, THERE REALLY ISN’T A GREAT BIBLICAL ANSWER.
Question: "When is it right to leave a church?"
Answer: Perhaps the best way to discern whether one has grounds to leave a church is to go back to the basics. What, after all, is the purpose of the church in the first place? The Bible is clear in its teaching that the church is to be the “pillar and ground (foundation) of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Everything in the church structure, teaching, worship, programs and activities is to be centered upon this fact. In addition, the church should recognize Jesus Christ as its one and only head (Ephesians 1:22, 4:15; Colossians 1:18), and submit to Him in all things. Clearly these things can only be done when the church clings tightly to the Bible as its standard and authority. It’s hard to see how one would want to leave a church such as described above, but sadly, few churches today fit this description. Believers who feel a desire to leave a church should be clear on their reasons. If the church does not proclaim truth, cling to the Bible and revere Christ as its head, and there is another church in the area that does, then there are grounds to leave. A case can be made, however, for staying and working to bring about changes for the better. We are exhorted to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). If one is strongly convicted of the need to move the church in a more Bible-based, Christ-honoring direction, and feels he/she can do that in a loving and non-divisive manner, then that would seem to be the better course of action. The Bible does not outline a procedure on how to leave a church. In the early day of the church, a believer would have to move to another town to find a different church. Sadly, in our world today with a church on seemingly every corner, many believers leave one church for another instead of working through whatever problem there was. Forgiveness, love, and unity are to be the marks of believers (John 13:34-35; Colossians 3:13; John 17:21-23), not bitterness and division (Ephesians 4:31-32). The most crucial thing for a believer to do should he/she feel led to leave a church is to do so in such a way that does not cause division or unnecessary controversy in the church (Proverbs 6:19; 1 Corinthians 1:10). As described above, an important question to answer is why would any person want to leave the church? If the answer to this question is because of the lack of biblical teaching, then the course is clear. However, many people are dissatisfied with their church because they are not involved in any way in the church’s ministries. It is far easier to be spiritually fed by the church when one is an active part of “feeding” others in the church. The purpose of the church is clearly outlined in Ephesians 4:11-14. Allow this passage to be the guide in choosing and finding a church.
REAL SALVATION? HERE ARE SOME CHECKS!
Question: "What are some of the signs of genuine saving faith?"
Answer: This is one of the most important questions in the Christian life. Many believers doubt their salvation because they don’t see signs of genuine faith in their lives. There are those who say we should never doubt our decision to follow Christ, but the Bible encourages us to examine ourselves to see if we are truly “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Thankfully, God has given us ample instruction for how we can know for sure that we have eternal life. The first epistle of John was actually written for that purpose, as it states in 1 John 5:13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." There are a series of tests in 1 John that we can use to examine ourselves and our faith. As we look at them, remember that no one will perfectly fulfill all of them all the time, but they should reveal a consistent trend that characterizes our lives as we grow in grace. 1. Do you enjoy having fellowship with Christ and His redeemed people? (1 John 1:3) 2. Would people say you walk in the light, or walk in the darkness? (1 John 1:6-7) 3. Do you admit and confess your sin? (1 John 1:8) 4. Are you obedient to God's Word? (1 John 2:3-5) 5. Does your life indicate you love God rather than the world? (1 John 2:15) 6. Is your life characterized by "doing what is right"? (1 John 2:29) 7. Do you seek to maintain a pure life? (1 John 3:3) 8. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? (1 John 3:5-6) [Note: this refers to not continuing in sin as a way of life, not a total absence of sin.] 9. Do you demonstrate love for other Christians? (1 John 3:14) 10. Do you "walk the walk," versus just "talking the talk"? (1 John 3:18-19) 11. Do you maintain a clear conscience? (1 John 3:21) 12. Do you experience victory in your Christian walk? (1 John 5:4) If you are able to truthfully answer "Yes" to these questions (or a majority of them, and are working on the others), then your life is bearing the fruit of true salvation. Jesus said that it is by our fruits that we are known as His disciples (Matthew 7:20). Fruitless branches—professing believers who do not display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) are cut off and thrown into the fire (John 15:2). A genuine faith is one that not only believes in God (the devils themselves do that - James 2:19), but leads to open confession of sin and obedience to Christ's commands. Remember, we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but our works should display the reality of our salvation (James 2:17-18). Genuine saving faith will always produce works; a faith that is perpetually without works is no faith at all and saves no one. In addition to these confirmations, we need to remember God's promises and the reality of the war we are in. Satan is just as real as Jesus Christ, and he is a formidable enemy of our souls. When we turn to Christ, Satan will look for every opportunity to deceive and defeat us. He will try to convince us that we are unworthy failures or that God has given up on us. When we are in Christ, we have the assurance that we are kept by Him. Jesus Himself prayed for us in John 17:11 that the Father would "protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one." Again in verse 15, He prayed, "keep them from the evil one." In John 10:27-29, Jesus said "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." If you hear and obey the voice of Jesus, then you are one of His sheep, and He will never let you go. Jesus gave a wonderful word picture here of Christians securely held within His loving hands and the Father's almighty hands wrapping themselves around His, giving us a double assurance of eternal security.
Sources:
Gotquestions.com What are some signs of a genuine faith?
Gotquestions.com. When is it right to leave a church?
Gotquestions.com. Why do we pray before eating meals?
Hudson, Barney. Care Givers of the Cure Giver. St. Timothy Cumberland Presbyterian, Sermon Topic: Giving, June 18, 2001.