180108

Offering Message - 170108

John 6:4-12
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[a] 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.”

Now, this is a familiar passage which some or even all of us know, that this is Jesus feeding the 5000. It is mentioned in the 4 gospels and is widely known throughout the world. It is even mentioned in the movie, "The Warlords." However, today I am going to talk about these two characters, Philip and Andrew.

Philip is a calculative person, a mathematical person, a logical person. He, like some of us, when confronted with a problem, will think of the steps to solve a problem. So when Jesus asked Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?", Philip was thinking to himself. Hmm... I have 5000 men. They each have 1 wife each and 1 children. So that will make it 5000 women and 5000 children. That will make it to hmm... 15000 people altogether. Wow, it is a big logistic problem. Hmm... If I give each one of them a burger king meal, which costs $5 each, that will sum up to $75000. Wah... Do we have so much in the Treasury, Judas? Obviously, it is a no. So Philip was thinking, what can I do? What can we do? And even if I can cough out the money, it is so late a night, and is deserted in the wilderness. Can I find such a supply for all these people? After Philip has exhausted all his options, he and the disciples turned to Jesus, saying that they have to turn the multitudes away, so that they can find food for themselves. Of course, Jesus don't agree with that solution.

At that moment, which is the main point tonight, Andrew came, introducing a small lad to Jesus. Now, Andrew has faith. Small faith that he might have. But Jesus has said it, though your faith might be as small as a mustard seed, say to that mountain, and that mountain shall move. Yes, Andrew has doubts. Because he said to Jesus, what are they among so many? But this is a case of faith being stronger than his doubts. Friends, let's all have this kind of faith. Our faith should be stronger than our doubts. God's ability to use a gift is not determined by the size of the gift but by the sacrificial faithfulness by each one of us.