Feb 14 2021 Living with an Eternal, Heavenly Perspective

We are drawn to miracles

John 6

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). ² A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick. ³ So Jesus went on up the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover was near.)

⁵ Then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?" ⁶ (Now Jesus said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.) ⁷ Philip replied, "Two hundred silver coins worth of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little."

Jesus’ focus in the book of John is to preach the kingdom and to go to the cross. On His way – even from the earliest chapters we see that Jesus is on the way to the cross. – He is able to have compassion and care for the people he comes into contact with. He is not oblivious to the needs of others – and He has a holistic, balanced approach. Physical and Spiritual must both be part of our approach.

The others are focused on earthly solutions to their problems Philip is only looking for an economic solution to the problem. Jesus focuses on spiritual solutions.

⁸ One of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹ "Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish (the great discovery! – but then he catches himself: ), but what good are these for so many people?" ¹⁰ Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." (Now there was a lot of grass in that place.) So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

The point of all this – keeping with John’s writing – the human natural answer given is always insufficient to solve the problem. Trust in Me – not in your solution.

We, in our society – because we have so many resources, it is a great temptation of ours to trust in those resources and not in Jesus and God for the solutions to our problems.

Like Andrew, Simon’s brother, we don’t just have the poorest of bread for the poorest of people.

But as we find out, with all of our technology, sometimes it just crashes!

¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed the bread to those who were seated. He then did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were all satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples, "Gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing is wasted." ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by the people who had eaten.

Jesus is not only concerned about the physical needs, but He meets it in an overly generous way – there were 12 baskets leftover – (and yes, there are probably some theological implications of 12 baskets, to either the apostles or tribes of Israel).

Like the wine at Cana – it was critical to have enough food – and to not would be a disgrace – but having more than enough was real hospitality.

For Jesus, what does it matter that there are 12 baskets leftover? For those there, it was important.

¹⁴ Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, "This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world." ¹⁵ Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone.

So we see in vs. 14 here – it looks like the people are making some progress – “certainly He is a prophet”
- Their eyes are being opened! But look at Jesus’ response – it is almost negative. Jesus understands that they are looking for a human solution to their problems. What they are wanting is for Jesus to become a political, military solution to the Roman oppression – and they are expectitng Him to come in as a king and reestablish the earthly Kingdom of Israel.

Jesus makes it clear – His kingdom is not of this world – it is a heavenly Kingdom!

He does not want His people to try to establish an earthly kingdom! He wants them to engage His other-worldly kingdom here on earth! His heavenly kingdom. In chapter 17, He will pray for the disciples – that they would be in the world but not of the world. There is a sharp difference.

From what I understand of church history – it bears out the reality that when we try to establish an earthly kingdom, it always competes with His heavenly kingdom.

Jesus said he would meet them in Capernaum… - the people wake up – see He is gone and they head to Capernaum too…

²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."

He rebukes them – and they are like – what do you want? They do not understand the purpose of the signs. They had not learned to value or seek things that are spiritual, eternal, and heavenly. They had a temporal value system – and that is important, Jesus provides them with food, and heals, but as He does that – that is the only focus they have and are unable to turn their minds to those things that are eternal. This will carry out through the chapter – He continues the same point over and over – you are looking at the temporal, not the eternal.

And at the end of Chapter 6 – all these people leave Jesus. He asks – will you leave too? Where else can we go, they respond.

³⁰ So they said to him, "Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

Their mind is on FOOD!

³² Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.

³³ For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." ³⁴ So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread all the time!" ³⁵ Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.

He is making it plain – this is about Me! And the people are like – give us this bread – JUST LIKE THE WOMAN AT THE WELL!

You get this sense of frustration!

³⁵ Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.

I’d like to carry this into two applications – the first is this – in the form of a question:

Do you live with an eternal, heavenly perspective?

IF I ask myself that – I would say, I try to, but often do not.

It is so hard in our world – things move us to the earthly and off our mind of the heavenly. We are so susceptible to this problem – that it is hard.

The question that follows:

Why is this so difficult in our context? There are answers that help. There are genuine reasons that is difficult.

I think our advancement in technology, industry, and science have unlocked so many things that in the past were viewed as mysterious and secret – and we have lost what Walter Bruggeman calls “The prophetic imagination” – the ability to see what is right in front of us into the divine realm.

That was the job of the prophet – to look beyond this realm.

Practically, a prophetic imagination allows us to see kingdom activities even in our small routine…

That is what it did for Jesus – He went to a wedding – a normal Saturday – going to a wedding – and He turns it into an extraordinary opportunity for the kingdom.

He is traveling and stops at a rest-area to get a break – what does it turn into? An entire Samaritan town believing in Him.

When the disciples came back to the woman at the well – they say among themselves – what is He doing talking to her.

We have food!

I’ve already eaten, He says

Where did He get food? There are no bags here!

My food is heavenly food! Do not say there are four months and then harvest – look up and see that the fields are now ripe for harvest. In the normal day – if you lift up your eyes, you’ll see a harvest that is ready.

Like I shared a couple weeks ago – going into a Starbucks, getting coffee with a friend – showing kindness and conversation can show love to a transgender person. God can provide opportunity for heavenly work. I think our lives are filled with those opportunities – for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Another big reason we don’t have this imagination – like Philip, we depend on natural solutions to all of our problems. We believe in heaven – but practically, by the way we live – we deny its existence. We can think that the right strategies and programs will grow the kingdom of God. We believe that the right policies will change the world.

They have only limited value in accomplishing kingdom work! Real kingdom work is done in trust in Jesus and in nothing else. Like Jeff said about the Holy Spirit this morning – it is the Spirit who must act – not our stuff or resources! It is not them, but Him!

I made this one up myself: I think it helps:

There is a big difference between trying to create heaven on earth and bringing heaven down to earth.

I think about it when I go to the Rocky Mountains – it is a slice of heaven. Beauty/comfort, safety – it is all good – but in Jesus, heaven came down to earth – and He made an awful lot of people uncomfortable and He made some people feel unsafe. He came down with a different purpose.

Our problem – we have mixed the kingdom of this world with the kingdom of heaven – and that makes us of the world, not in the world.

If we define ministry success by the world’s standards – we have mixed the two.

A little example of this – it is confusing – but here is an innocuous example – not too controversial

Education – our education system – how are you of the world but not in it?

2 appropriate responses

Education is an important aspect of being in our world as witnesses. A system of education is critical to being in this world as witnesses, however, some of our public systems of education can have negative influence over children, so some have chosen Christian schooling or homeschooling.

That is an appropriate response.

Education is an important aspect of being in our world as witnesses – therefore, we engage to have influence – as witnesses, within the world – knowing and understanding that there are negative influences, so we engage with caution and care.

Those are appropriate responses.

Here are the inappropriate ones:

Isolation – using our isolation to create a Christian bubble that prevents engagement.

The second – trying to seize control of the public system in order to bring God’s kingdom to earth in the public system.

In my opinion – that is a misunderstanding of the theological…

When we try to take over those systems, we become OF the world, not just IN the world. That is not how one brings heaven to earth. Jesus could have taken control of Israel – but His plan is so much bigger! Why would our minds think that is something heavenly?

I will close on this positive note – the boy’s lunch.

Most preachers talk about the boy’s lunch – how God will take what we have and multiply it when we give it to Him. I have done that – it is a great lesson! But in its context, what this passage is telling us – his lunch was wholly insufficient – and our resources, on all levels, are insufficient to accomplish God’s purposes! God’s grace, however, is wholly sufficient.

Our lack of resources, power and influence will provide our greatest opportunities for kingdom work and will provide for His will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Thank You, Lord. Help us to be content in our weakness, knowing that in our insufficiency, the power of God is made manifest, revealed, perfected. Not our resources, not our power, not some human power – but we desire the power of God to be made perfect through our weakness and insufficiencies.