God’s Inexhaustible Grace

John 6:1-15

Scripture Readings

Exodus 16:2-21
Acts 2:41-47

Hymns

550 V:1-6, 151, 347, WS 738

Hymns from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) (TLH) unless otherwise noted

WS - Hymns from the Worship Supplement 2000

Sermon Audio

Prayer of the Day: O Lord Jesus Christ, Bread of Life, You know our needs before we ask and graciously provide more than we deserve. Teach us to trust not in the things of this world, but in Your inexhaustible grace. Feed us with Your Word, forgive us our sins, and strengthen our faith, that we may look to You alone for life and salvation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

After this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Sea of Tiberias). A large crowd followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he was performing on those who were sick. Jesus went up on the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” But Jesus was saying this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to have just a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for so many people?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. There were about five thousand men. Then Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed pieces to those who were seated. He also did the same with the fish—as much as they wanted. When the people were full, he told his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

When the people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, “This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.” When Jesus realized that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (EHV)

Can you remember the best meal you have ever had? This seems like a simple question, but it really is harder than it may seem. We eat a lot of meals… It can be hard to know in the moment, “this is the best meal I have ever had…”

I can think of two best meals that come to my mind. One time for my birthday, my wife and I went to a steakhouse in which my uncle was the manager. It was normally above our budget, but we got a discount, and I remember it being delicious. The other best meal ever was normal takeout pizza. I had been moving the entire day, and because of time constraints, I hadn’t eaten anything. When I finally ate, I was very hungry. That pizza really hit the spot.

Many of the people in our text this morning would probably list this event as the best meal they ever had. I don’t know how great that meal tasted, but I don’t think they would remember this day because of the taste. Rather, it was the fact that they ate something miraculous here. Here, Jesus fed more than 5,000 people from five loaves of bread and two small fish. It was a miracle.

We see several things from this event. He can, with seemingly little, provide for the needs of a great number of people. When you put something into His hands, it becomes inexhaustible. He can do things that no one else can do. Jesus is Lord.

Our God gives us everything that we have. When He gives, He gives more than what we need. We are unworthy of receiving, and yet He gives anyway. Today, we will focus on God’s Inexhaustible Grace. That grace covers our needs, and even more importantly, that grace covers our sins. We pray: MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND THE MEDITATIONS OF OUR HEARTS BE ACCEPTABLE IN YOUR SIGHT, O LORD, OUR ROCK AND OUR REDEEMER, Amen.

So, what is it that you NEED? We all have “needs,” which are different from our wants. It can be hard sometimes to differentiate between what it is that we truly need and what it is that we simply want.

The people that came out to see Jesus had a very basic need. It was one that Jesus Himself was going to address. Jesus sees the huge crowd, and He can see that they are going to have a problem. There were so many people, but there was nowhere to eat. What to do?

So, Jesus throws this question out to Philip. “Where can we buy bread for these people?” What is the answer to that question? Philip’s answer is “nowhere”. Clearly, there is nowhere for them to go to buy food to feed these people. But that wasn’t the case. Jesus knew what He was going to do. But He wanted His disciples to know Him. They should’ve by now. His other disciple, Andrew, throws his two cents in: “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for so many people?” Now that’s a little closer, but that answer of “it’s not enough” was still not enough of an answer.

So, what is the correct answer to Jesus’ question of “Where can we buy bread for these people?” It is how John would answer in Revelation, “Sir, you know.” (Rev 7:14) That was the real answer. It is “well, I don’t know Jesus, but I know that You do!”

And aren’t we disciples just like those disciples? How many times had Jesus come through in miraculous ways for these guys in the past? And yet, still, they forget. How often has Christ come through for you in the past? Over and over again. Time and time again. And yet we forget. We go around wondering, “is He going to come through for me?”, after that is all He has ever done! We need to remember whom we are dealing with. Nothing is impossible for God!

Are you needy? This is not a very kind term, is it? Someone who is needy is not very independent. Someone who is needy is insecure. Someone who is needy is annoying. A pest. Are you needy?

Yes! Maybe that is a bad thing within human relationships, but it’s never a bad thing to be needy with your Giver God. All it is is an acknowledgment of the truth. There are those who don’t think they are needy and those who know that they are. Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32)

Yes, we are needy. Not just physically. We are spiritually needy. We need someone to do things for us. We need a Savior to save us from our sins. We need someone to heal us, for we are sick with sin. We need someone to not just give us what we want, but what we need. Basically, we need Jesus.

And there He is, ready to give the impossible.

There are some modern “Bible scholars” who want to explain the feeding of the 5,000 like this. After the boy gave up his lunch of the five loaves and the two fish, the rest of the crowd who had been previously hiding their lunch reluctantly also gave it. Thus, everyone pooled together enough food to feed everybody. But not only is that just terrible doctrine, insisting on something that is clearly not in the text. It also wouldn’t explain the leftovers or the crowd’s reaction to all of this. When the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they said, “This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.” When Jesus realized that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

The people who were there fully understood what this all meant. They knew what had happened. They saw that each of the twelve disciples had their own huge bag of leftovers after every person ate until they were full. Twelve full bags of leftovers! They had more leftover than what they had started out with! They were set on making Jesus their king, whether he wanted to or not. This guy was a meal ticket! Jesus left them because His time had not yet come!

This clearly had gone off the rails. When Jesus returned, He used that lesson of the bread and fish to point the people back to the truth. “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:35)

What was Jesus trying to get at? It wasn’t just about the fact that Jesus was able to give these people bread to eat. Rather it was about the fact that He can give all people living bread, which satiates all hunger. It is like what He told the Samaritan woman a few chapters earlier. “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13-14)

Do you have physical needs? Of course you do. And you should take these needs to Jesus. That is why He instructed us to pray in His prayer. “Give us this day our daily bread.” But we need much more than just bread. As we heard Him say a few weeks ago, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

He has better than just bread to give. Yes, He covers our physical needs. But Jesus is Lord because He does more than just that. He covers our sins. He fed these people. They didn’t deserve it. But He looked out for their needs. In the same way He has taken care of our sins. We didn’t deserve to have our sins paid for by the Holy Blood of God. But He did so anyway. Not only does He take care of our needs physically, but even more than that, He takes care of our most desperate need, our spiritual needs.

So, what is the best meal you have ever had? That’s tricky. We have had so many meals. Which one can you remember as “the best”? But whether you can answer that question or not, it doesn’t really matter, does it? At the end of the day, you ate!

Let me ask it in a different way. What is the best sermon you have ever heard? That may be as hard, if not harder, to answer than the previous question. But again, it doesn’t matter either. At the end of the day, you ate! How many sermons at all can you remember? Well, how many meals can you remember? Just because you can’t remember them, that doesn’t mean that you weren’t nourished.

That is the beauty of the Bread of Life. It nourishes us. And it inspires us to give. Imagine being one of the disciples, handing out this unending bread and fish. After the first few people were fed, and they still had food, they probably were quite liberal in handing it out. They kept on having more and more to hand out. They were not able to give it all out. It kept on coming and coming.

You cannot outgive God! I dare you to try! Why? Because His grace is inexhaustible. It keeps on giving and giving. It covers what we need on a day-to-day basis. And, more importantly, it covers what we need on an eternal basis. This truth is just simply undeniable: THE LORD WILL PROVIDE! He provides for us primarily in Jesus Christ. Our sins are covered, our salvation is secure, and our hope of heaven is now certain. Praise be to God! All your sins have been forgiven.

At the end of the day, what is it that we truly need? It is Jesus. He is ours, now and always. He gives us what we need. And He gives it to us in abundance. There is nothing more than we could want or need than what God has already given to us. Jesus Christ has saved us. We are redeemed. We are His. What more do we need? It is already provided! All praise and thanks be to Jesus Christ, our Bread of Life, and the answer to every single one of our needs. Amen!

—Pastor Ben Libby

Redeemer Ev. Lutheran Church
Cheyenne, WY

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