When Tired People Believe -- John 6:1-21 • Anderson Shore

We'll be continuing our sermon series on Vintage Jesus as we look at what makes Jesus Jesus. What is it about Jesus that makes him so attractive, that puts us in awe of who he is? What is it that makes us believe in him? Today, I'm excited to look at John 6 and share what I have learned about Jesus and what he is calling his disciples to.

So we have looked at the Pharisees and how Jesus interacts with them. We have looked at how Jesus interacts with those that are sick and how he heals them, and also how he ministers to their families. And today, we will look at the poor old disciples. The disciples kind of remind me of Charlie Brown, every time he gets the football pulled out from under him by Lucy. You know it's coming. You know it's coming where they're about to fall into unbelief or say something not very smart. But the more we look at the disciples, the more I think we see ourselves.

I feel like being a disciple in 2020 has revealed many unknowns of how we're to live, of how we respond to everything that's happening around us. It has felt like we have entered into the unknown. I pray that today I will bring clarity for you on what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Before we read John 6 together, I just want to give credit where credit is due. I listened to a sermon from Eric Mason on John 6. And I'm so thankful for his wisdom and amazing teaching of this text. Some of what I preach today is from Eric. So together, let us read John 6:1-21. We will read this together as we have been doing for a few years.

After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing of the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000 in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat. And they were frightened. But he said to them, "It is I. Do not be afraid." Then they were glad to take him into the boat. And immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. — John 6:1-21

Father, you are good to us, and you are a powerful God that can change lives. Thank you so much for your word, Lord, that it is a beautifully written story about Jesus, that we get to see more of him this morning, that we get to be revealed to us once again of your amazing power and grace. Lord, would you soften us this morning that we would be able to see that you are a God to tired people. In your name we pray, Amen.

What a story, right? What a story. Both of them. It's really cool because the account of the feeding of the 5,000 is actually in all of the Gospel accounts—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the walking on the waters in three of the four of them. These stories we remember them from Sunday school, if you attended Sunday school as a kid, because they're so amazing. You kind of have to pinch yourself to make sure that you're actually paying attention to what Jesus is doing. I mean, it's amazing. 5,000 people being fed. It's actually 5,000 men that are being fed, which means that it's almost 20,000. Some people have said it's 20,000 people being fed including women and children. 20,000 people fed. Think about that. So 20,000 people fed. And then Jesus walking on water?

I mean, raise your hand if anybody walked on water before? Alright. 0% got that. So Jesus walking on water. As I read through this text, it's hard not to think about the times as a kid that I tried to run across water just to see if I could do it. Didn't work, I sink a lot of the times. But if you're new to the Bible, you're trying to wrap your head around this idea of feeding 20,000 people and walking on water. I mean, is that true? Is that even humanly possible to do? How many times do we read this story and not see what Jesus is doing? Yet we see that many people are following after Jesus for all the miracles He is doing. These stories are easy to remember and at times they're easy to question because in truth, they are hard to believe. And that is what I want to focus on today. Sometimes it is hard to believe. We will look at the disciples and their Charlie Brown tendencies as they forget who Jesus is and what he can do. And through this, my prayer is that we will be able to see more of ourselves.

And that is hard to believe when we are tired. It is hard to believe when we are tired. The note takers out there, here are the main points. Tired but on mission. Tired but presence, and then we are going get the right person for the job. All right, first up, tired but on mission.

I want us to immerse ourselves into this story. Adults and kids, go ahead, let's put on our imagination hats and let's wonder together about how these disciples were feeling. Let's wonder together about what these disciples and this crowd were seeing. So it's the time of the Passover when the Israelites would celebrate the culmination of the Exodus, celebrating the new life that God gave to His people, releasing them from the grips of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And the disciples are just getting back from this long journey. They were healing in Jesus' name. They were teaching in Jesus' name. And they get back and they just want to spend time with Jesus. But they see this 20,000 person crowd coming to them.

Now, can you imagine this? You've been away from Jesus, you're tired from all the work that you had been doing in His name, and then these followers come up wanting to spend time with Jesus. Kids, I bet you can relate to this. You want to spend time with a friend, you want to spend time with a sibling or your parents, and they get taken away because they have a project to do or some other people to spend time with. That's a little bit frustrating, right?

And students and adults, we can all relate to the disciples, right? Tired. Tired people. Raise your hand. I want a 100% participation on this one. Raise your hand if this week someone asked you how you're doing and you said tired. I see that hand in the living room. I see the hands here. We are all tired people. We are tired of our jobs. We are tired from staying up late with a newborn. We are tired from chores, from schoolwork. We're even tired sometimes from doing ministry. We're tired because we're trying to do too much for God.

But we need to look closely at these tired disciples and even a tired Jesus. Jesus was going up to the mountain to rest and we see it later on in John that he goes again to rest. I can just picture Jesus in verse five lifting up his eyes, seeing a large crowd coming to him and in that moment, I would pull up my phone, pretend that I'm busy, maybe have something else to do just to avoid these people. But Jesus is different. Jesus is ready to serve these people because in the Gospel of Mark of this story, verse 34, it says:

When Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them things. — Mark 6:34

He had compassion on them. How often do we show compassion to others when we are tired? I doubt we are 100% in that area. But Jesus lovingly started to spend time with the crowd. He began to teach them about the kingdom of God. He was teaching and teaching and teaching and at this point, the disciples are probably getting a little annoyed. Right? They're probably getting a little annoyed. They were wanting to spend time with Jesus. They were wanting to rest, maybe have a glass of wine. And dinnertime was approaching.

So it's dinnertime and one of the disciples, I can kind of picture it, was probably going out to Jesus. Hey, hey, Jesus. Great teaching. Love your teaching on the kingdom of God. Really good. We might need to send these people away. It's dinner time. We might need to send them away so that they can get something to eat.

And this is what I love about Jesus. He asked a question to invite them into something, to see what they are believing. He asked a question to His disciples to see what they are believing. Here it is. He asked Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? Philip responds by thinking in worldly ways.

He replies by saying that not even eight months of wages would be enough to buy all of these people bread just for them to have a little bit of snack. Now it's not just like budgeting out all of the things that you have to pay for. It's eight months wages to buy just bread. And it still wouldn't be enough for the people to have a little bit of snack. Right away we see that Philip is looking to money to solve the problem. There also seems to be a little bit of anxiousness in Philip, right? Like he's thinking, how are we gonna feed all these people?

The crazy thing is that Philip and the disciples had just seen Jesus do so many miracles. They'd seen him turn water into wine. They'd seen him heal the sick and he's right in front of them and they still respond in worldly ways. They had seen the power of Jesus, but they forgot that he could feed all these people.

But Jesus is patient with Philip and He sees another opportunity. Jesus sees another opportunity to show the power of God and show that He is the one that was sent by God. He is finding a way to show the power of God so that people would believe.

So what does He do? I love this. Jesus is so cool. He tells the disciples to go get the crowd to sit down because He knows He's about to do something, right? He gives thanks for the bread and He starts distributing it. He reaches in the basket, distributes some bread. He reaches in and grabs another. Then the fifth loaf, He grabs another. But after the fifth loaf, he reaches in again. In faith he reaches in again and grabs another loaf. He grabs another loaf. He grabs another loaf.

Can you imagine how tired his arm might have been? Like Eric Mason brought that up to me and even more. Can you imagine how smelly His hand was? I mean, He did this also with the fish, all those sardines. He distributed all that bread, He distributed all those sardines and the people were full.

The beautiful thing about Jesus is that even when he was tired, Jesus was willing to compassionately go to people. He was compassionately willing to get more tired, to get more smelly because these people needed to be fed. He loved the disciples. He loved the crowd. He loved these sheep so much that he had to feed them.

Our Response as Tired Believers

How often are we like the disciples? When we answer Jesus' question to us to enter into mission with excuses, with looking to the world's means to feed rather than realizing that Jesus is right there. Jesus is with us. Forgetting the amazing things He has done for us and for others, He's right there, yet we answer in worldly means.

We are a tired people. Absolutely. There is anxiousness in us. And I feel that anxiousness when I feel Holy Spirit encouraging me to share the gospel with somebody. My hands start getting sweaty, my heart pounding. Because I don't know how Jesus is gonna take my five sentences and feed someone for eternity. I just don't know. I don't really trust that.

But Jesus wants to feed people and Herman Bovingk brings some truth to us. He says, "Sometimes we do not want to be shocked by the bewildering idea that there are still many hundreds of millions of people who have never heard the gospel." We are worried about how we are going to feed all of these people when really, Jesus just wants us to check into the game so that He can be the star.

Listen to this, Jesus does not get tired of showing how compassionate and fulfilling He is. And the good news is that He is inviting tired people just like you, just like me into the family business. He doesn't guarantee that you're going to be less tired. He doesn't guarantee that you're gonna get maybe a little bit smelly, but He's inviting you to feed those that are physically and spiritually hungry. He wants you to be a part of the family business of distributing the bread of life. He's gonna do the heavy lifting. He's gonna do the heavy lifting.

Jesus on the Water

We got to get moving to this amazing scene on the water. We need to see that even when we are tired, there is presence. There's presence.

There are a couple little details that we need to look at in this story of the disciples going out to the sea to Capernaum. First off, this area is known for being rough. Even today, like they encourage boats to stay tied up to dock, motorboats to stay tied up because the seas are just that rough. So you can imagine what it's like for a wooden boat with rows and with sails to go out into the seas.

The text describes this to us. It says a wind picks up. But these disciples have probably experienced these waters before. I mean, they expected themselves to be able to get through this storm in order to reach Capernaum. I mean, they were fishermen after all. So Jesus sends them out and the disciples have been rowing and rowing, fighting the wind, fighting the rough seas for about three or four miles and it says Jesus shows up. He walks on water to these disciples.

Real quick, I always think about this like Jesus is parting the waves as he's walking, like I part automatic doors, kind of like a Jedi. So sorry, just had to get that in.

The text describes this to us. I mean, it's so cool. Jesus walks on water to these disciples. And by looking at it, we must see that disciples had to be tired. I mean, Jesus caught up to them by walking across the water. So that means they had been rowing and rowing and hadn't been getting very far. But also, the disciples are afraid—not before they see Jesus, but after. Do you all see that? They weren't afraid of the waters. They were rowing through it and they were afraid when they saw Jesus, not necessarily before.

So what do we think about this fear? I mean, it has to be shocking for a fisherman to see someone walk on water. You don't really forget or unsee someone walking on water, right? But it's so cool because in the Old Testament when people would see God or see a messenger from God, they were startled because of the glory and the power that was being revealed to them. And just like the Old Testament, Jesus responds to that same fear by saying:

It is I, do not be afraid.

Another detail that's easy to skip over is that immediately they arrive at their destination. With Jesus in the boat, with Jesus in their lives, they are able to receive what they had been striving for—to get to Capernaum, to get to their destination.

How We Relate to the Disciples

You know, we have to look at our lives and see how we relate to the disciples in this moment. We know that this year we have entered into the choppy waters. We were sailing along, nice little breeze, and then bam, we get nailed with twenty twenty. The wind picks up, the white caps have come, and the boat is rocking. We've experienced a pandemic. We have experienced trying to get used to the new normal. We have lost loved ones. We have lost jobs. We are tired people. We are in a country with so much political and racial unrest. We are tired.

Not only that, we're tired of overthinking everything, right? I've got a scratchy throat, so I've probably got coronavirus. I mean, parents, I have a two year old and a three month old, and I haven't had to deal with Wake County Schools yet, but I know that that's tired. Trying to figure out what it's like to deal with the emotions of sending your kid to school—we are tired of overthinking everything. We are tired from what culture expects from us. Or even more, we are tired of the comparison game and the expectations that we put on ourselves to be perfect, to have all the right answers to all the problems in the world. We are tired and we are not getting very far. We're rowing but we're not getting very far.

We can get through this though, right? We're strong. We're strong people. We can do all the things on our to-do list. How many times have you heard this? How many times do you say this to yourselves? Frankly, I think we are like the disciples in the sense that we are seeing ourselves as fishermen, as people that can get through this, but the tide is rising. We are still trying to row our way through the waves that life is throwing at us.

And I think that it has been humbling to walk through this time of life. You know, there's a humility in us having bodies and us living through these waters. Because as we know, we have to feed our bodies with good food. We can't be perfect. We have to get a good amount of rest. It's humbling to have bodies. It's humbling to walk through this. And the point of that is to point to the fact that you are not God. All of the voices that we are listening to, all of our expectations, all of the ways that we are trying to get the approval of others—what we really need is someone to come to us. We need someone to walk on the water to us. We need someone to get in the boat. We need someone to speak to the storm of our souls. Someone who can give life.

The Frozen Two Connection

It's very much like Frozen Two. Anna, Elsa, and the whole gang are on a journey to find the truth. You see, Elsa, the one with the magical powers, Frozen abilities and stuff, she's hearing this voice in her head. And Anna, her sister, says something that's really telling. She says, "Our goal is to find this voice, to know the truth so that we can get home." Do you hear that? The goal is to find the voice, to know the truth so we can get home.

And they finally figure out where this voice is coming from. They finally find out that the way to find this truth of who they are as a people and to help Arendelle and the Enchanted Forest—to find this voice, to find the truth, to get back home—was to go to Ahtohallan. Ahtohallan, a magical glacier said to hold all of the answers to the past. So Elsa tries running across the ocean to Ahtohallan. She uses her magical powers and tries to walk across, run across, but the waves capsize over her.

She does it again, but she plunges deep down to the sea because the sea is too rough. And then she's greeted by this other magical figure, this horse that is made of water. At first, she's startled. She tries to harness it. She fights with it a bit. But after some time, she is able to use the power of this horse and rise it to the shore of Atahalen.

In Frozen Two, Anna is frightened and startled by seeing this water horse. Before that, in John 6, the disciples are frightened and startled in the moment of seeing Jesus because there was a revelation of power. There's a revelation of His glory and how sometimes He does things that we just can't explain.

How have you responded to 2020? Have you fought with Jesus? Have you tried to convince yourself that you can get through it, that you can get through the waves?

John points in verses 16 and 17 that it was evening and it was dark. And he does this intentionally to show the state of the disciple's heart, to show that they weren't maybe believing in Jesus in that moment. They've been around Jesus, they listened to His teachings yet in this moment, there's an absence of holding on to Him, of reminding themselves of His power.

Is there a darkness in your life? Is there an absence of Jesus? Maybe even thinking that you can do this all without Him? Today is an opportunity for Jesus to once again reveal himself to you. To once again reveal his power, his compassion to you. He has walked with you in the midst of this crazy storm that we are trying to swim through. Will you let him into the boat? We need to listen to the voice of Jesus. We need to hear the truth of his presence.

Come to me all who are labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. — Matthew 11:28-29

He will provide rest. He will refine you. He will preserve you to your destination. He will walk with you to eternity, to eternity with him.

Application

Maybe this week you develop a little phrase to help you remember to enter into mission or to know that he is present. Something like "little faith in a big Jesus" or "I believe in his presence." Something to remind you of his power.

From this story, do you see how much grace and patience Jesus is showing the disciples and the crowd? Can this be one thing that we learn from our Lord? To show grace and patience with those around us, with our brothers and sisters, with fellow man? No matter who they vote for, no matter how woke they are, no matter the expectations you have on them for the way that they should live their life, can we be gracious? Can we be patient? Because maybe God is calling you to do those things so that they can see the power of Jesus. That you can reveal him to them.

Here's our last point. We are called as disciples of Jesus Christ to have a little bit of faith in the right person for the job. A little bit of faith in the right person for the job.

We see how Jesus was compassionate and serving the people when he was tired and revealing himself to the disciples and being patient with them. We serve a compassionate Jesus. But there's one more way that He shows us His compassion. He's the right person for the job. You want to believe in the right person for the job, right? I mean, you're having surgery, you don't want to trust somebody that stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. You want the right person for the job, right?

John mentions that it is the Passover time intentionally. He's trying to show that there's a mountain where people are receiving truth. There is bread that is needed to be fed to God's people. There's a man that has control over the waters and delivers his people to the other side to safety. Do you see where John is going with this?

There's gonna be a prophet raised up by God like me, like Moses. — Deuteronomy 18

But there is more to this prophet. There is more to Jesus. When Jesus confronts the disciples on the sea, he says, "It is I." But the Greek here can actually be translated to "I am. I am." The same title that God gave to himself when he spoke out of the burning bush to Moses. Jesus is God. John is trying to tell us something.

Jesus does not give people bread that spoils after one day but he gives people bread that feeds them for a lifetime. Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea but not into the promised land. Jesus will walk through the rough waters of life and will get you to Capernaum. He will preserve you to the promised land of eternity with Him.

God is the Creator and giver of life. Jesus will give eternal life to all that are given to Him. John is trying to show us something: Jesus is the better prophet. Jesus is the better Moses.

Jesus is the great I am. Jesus is the right man for the job. Will you believe in Him? Have you believed in Him?

Jesus did all of these signs in the presence of His disciples that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing in Him, you may have life in his name. — John 20

Jesus is graciously still doing this. He is doing signs in your life. He wants to feed you with the bread of life. He wants us to walk with him through the storm. There is full life in his presence. Belief in him brings eternal life.

Just as God called Moses to a new life and to deliver his people from the hands of the Egyptians, Jesus is calling you to be a part of the family business. To go in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and to help deliver people from their sin.

The amazing thing about these stories is we get a picture of what a little bit of faith looks like. We have Andrew at the feeding of the five thousand coming to Jesus, and he doesn't seem like he's coming very confidently. "Hey, Jesus, I found this boy. He has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" And even in his doubting, Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.

In the Matthew account, Matthew 14, of the walking on the water, Peter asked Jesus if he can come to him, if he can walk on the water to Jesus. If he could display just a little bit of faith, he walks for a little bit, but he sinks. And Jesus saves him. He reaches out his hand and takes hold of him. A little bit of faith and some doubt—the salvation and grace of Jesus is revealed and brought to memory once again.

Church of Jesus Christ, will you have a little bit of faith? Our God wants us to trust Him in mission. He wants us to trust Him in the midst of the storm. This is a storm, baby. Hear this: Jesus is gentle with you. He has taken the heavy load. He knows you are tired. But He wants you to listen to His voice and in faith respond in little ways.

There is an unknown of what is going to happen for the rest of this year. There's an unknown of what's gonna happen on election day. There's an unknown of what the rest of this life on this earth is gonna look like for us. But some things never change. Some things never change.

God wants to display his power. The Holy Spirit wants to be with you in the boat of this life. And Jesus wants to use tired disciples, tired people to give life to others. Will you believe in this Jesus? He wants you to. Will you trust him?

Father, we are a tired people, but you say to us that you are with us wherever we go. That as we hold to your words, we hold to your scriptures, we hold to the beautiful words that you speak to us and the compassion that you show in Jesus, we can know that you are with us. Lord, would we just have a little bit of faith in a big Jesus so that you will feed people for eternity? Be with our people. It's your name we pray. Amen.