Jesus Unfiltered - Follow - Jesus, Miracles, and You, Part 1

Let me ask you, if God could do a Grade A supernatural miracle in your life right now, I mean the kind that can't be explained away by skeptics or scientific reasoning.

If God could do that for you, what would it be? A relationship? A health issue? Finances?

Well, have you got it? Today we're going to talk about Jesus, miracles, and you. Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Drouy, and in just a minute, Chip will begin the second volume of his Jesus Unfiltered series, titled Follow. Over the next several programs, Chip walks through the Gospel of John chapters 6 through 10, revealing what it really means to follow after Jesus wholeheartedly. But for this message, Chip reminds us that while God performed fantastic miracles throughout history, he's still the God of miracles today. With that, if you have a Bible, turn now to John chapter 6, and let's join Chip for his message, Jesus, Miracles, and You.

Well, welcome to Jesus Unfiltered. We're in a journey through the book of John, and in the first five chapters, we looked at what does it mean to believe? In chapter 6, there's a big shift. Jesus' popularity is its absolute apex. And in chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, the shift is going to be from not will you believe in me, but will you follow me? And one of the big things that's going to turn is a miracle.

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle that all four Gospel writers write about. It's the most important miracle of all that he does, save the resurrection. As we get started, I remember as a little boy, I didn't grow up in a Bible teaching church, and you know, you kind of wonder about God, and I had these problems with my knees and would get injections in them, and then they would swell up, and I remember, you know, wondering if God exists, if he could still really do miracles, and I remember praying, you know, I remember looking down and just praying, God, if you would just make my knees work again, then, you know, I could believe in you. Or I wonder what it would be like if I could walk on the earth when Jesus was on the earth, then maybe I could believe there's really a God, and this is all really true. You ever thought about what it would be like if you could have been back then, or maybe better, let me ask you a very personal question. If God would do a great, a supernatural miracle, I don't mean like a little help, I mean a break the laws of nature, intervene in your life personally, that there's no explanation except God supernaturally intervened for you, what miracle would you want him to do?

It might be a health issue, it might be a relationship, it might be finances, what would you really want him to do? What is that maybe one thing that you would say, boy if God did that, then, because we're going to learn what it looks like to follow, and we're going to learn that miracles are really important, but they have a very clear purpose, and sometimes we don't know what the purpose is. I'm going to ask you to do something, we're going to jump right in, if you would open your Bibles to John chapter 6, I'm going to read, here's the structure, it's a very very long passage, and we're actually going to go through it. The passage goes something like this, miracle number one, feed 5,000. Miracle number two, Jesus walks on the water with his disciples. Major rebuke by Jesus to a large multitude about why they're following him, and then it's followed by a very long and important message that part of it is really hard to understand. So let's start with the miracles, and by the time you see it all, you'll begin to understand what it really means to follow Jesus.

Notice the context here. John 6, sometime after this, Jesus crossed the shore to the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberias, and a great crowd of people followed him, why? Because they saw miraculous signs that he performed on whom?

The sick. Then Jesus went on the hillside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw the great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat?

He asked this only to test him for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered, eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, here's a little boy with five barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go with so many? Jesus said, have the people sit down, there's plenty of grass, and so they had the men sit down, 5,000.

Other gospel writers let us know that there's 5,000 men, so there's probably somewhere between 10 and 20,000 people, if even a few wives and children are along. Jesus then took the loaves, he gave thanks, he distributed to those who receded as much as they wanted, and then he did the same with the fish. When they all had enough to eat, you might underline that in your mind, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces of bread that are left over, let nothing be wasted, so they gathered them and they filled 12 baskets with pieces of barley loaves left over by those who'd eaten. Notice after the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, surely this is the prophet who is coming to the world, and Jesus knowing what they intended to come and by force make him king, he withdrew into the hills by himself. Now what he's going to do, literally, imagine this crowd, maybe 15, 20,000 people, they've seen this miracle, this is the prophet, they're thinking Deuteronomy chapter 18, where Moses said God will raise up another prophet like me, and Moses brought manna in the wilderness, Jesus in the wilderness, they see the parallel, and they're starting to rush toward him to make him king, a political king, the Messiah, and as they're doing that, he says to the disciples, okay, pick up all this stuff, he's going to send them away, and then he goes up on a hill to pray.

Notice what happens. When evening came, the disciples went down to the lake, where they got into the boat and they set off a cross for Capernaum. By now it was dark and Jesus had not yet joined them, and a strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they rode three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, miracle number two, walking on the water and they were terrified.

But Jesus said to them, it is I, don't be afraid. Then they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. Context, the next day the crowd that stayed on the opposite side of the lake realized that only one boat had gone, and that Jesus had not entered that boat with his disciples, but they had all gone away. Even some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks, and once the crowd realized neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and they went to Capernaum. Notice this, in search of Jesus, miracle, miracle, in search of Jesus.

Jesus does this miracle on purpose. Jesus has been teaching. Before he's over in Jerusalem, the Jewish rulers are giving him a hard time. He's declared clearly he's the Messiah. He's taken the disciples off, they went on a little trip over here to Caesarea Philippi, and it's a place where there's all these different gods and false religions, and there Peter, months earlier, very shortly before this event, said you're the Christ, the son of the living God. So the disciples believe he's the Messiah.

Crowds and throngs, now he gets out of Jerusalem because it's getting dangerous because they're trying to kill him, if you remember. And now he looks out and there's throngs of crowds, and I mean, he's a rock star of rock stars. It is crazy, he's gone viral. People are tweeting about him. He's Facebooked everywhere.

I mean, literally, of his day. And now they're crowding and crowding, and they've got this expectation. The king has come, and in their mind that means he's gonna overthrow Rome. We'll make him our king. He'll pull down the Romans. He'll set up a utopian society. This is their mindset of what they want in a Messiah.

He's going to make my life work out now. Now he's gonna talk, and he's gonna have his disciples understand who he is. And you'll notice on your notes, there's some different reasons why miracles occur, and I want to just give you these sort of theologically, because God still does miracles, but he does them for a purpose.

Miracles are never an end in themselves. Jesus performed miracles to authenticate his identity. Remember, he claimed he's God. These kind of miracles, healing of the sick, raising people from the dead, it authenticated his identity. It authenticated his teaching.

He had wild teaching. The Father and I are one. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

I'm the only way, the truth and the life. And then he raises someone from the dead, or he feeds 4,000 over here and 5,000 over here. Miracles also revealed Jesus' heart. He had this power, but how did he use it? The poor were helped. The lame walked.

The blind would see. A destitute parent's in agony. Their little girl has died, and he speaks and raises her from the dead.

A widow is going through a town with her only son, and he's in a coffin, and he's died. And Jesus, moved with compassion, touches the coffin and raises the boy from the dead. These miracles reveal a heart of compassion and concern. Or he's with his disciples, and there's a storm, and they're ready to capsize, and he speaks to the wind, and he speaks to the waves.

Or there's a demoniac filled with power, and no one can restrain him. And Jesus speaks his words, and he's clothed in his right mind. Miracles authenticate his identity, his teaching, his heart, and his power.

And it did this one last thing. Did you notice in the opening passage, a great multitude, they drew crowds. Even today, right? When people hear about something supernatural, everyone flocks to know, could this really be God? And so he has these large crowds, but now what we're going to find is he's been teaching, teaching, teaching, teaching, and if you could study this entire chapter very carefully, there'll be grace, truth, grace, truth, grace, truth. And now what he wants them to understand is not everyone is following Jesus for the right reason, and not everyone really gets what it means to be a follower.

Let's get a couple of lessons from the miracles. The sign in the feeding of the 5,000 is 5,000 adults and families are fed. The barley loaves really don't think of a loaf of bread, think of a little piece of pancake about this big. The two fish don't think of like a couple big ones.

This word is maybe a little bit bigger than a sardine, it was probably pickled and dried. And so he takes the resources of one tiny little boy, feeds 5,000 plus their families. And then he has the disciples do something that's very important.

The word for basket here isn't a small basket, it was a large basket with a top like this and they often carry it with them. After he does this miracle, those followers who will change the world are each carrying a basket full of pieces of bread, and all of them hours before saw these three little pancakes and a couple little fish. And they're learning something about Jesus. And it probably didn't miss their thinking that there were 12 baskets full and he's the Messiah to Israel and there's 12 tribes and he's the bread of life, he's the source, he's the answer.

All these claims are true, not only for them but to fulfill all God's promises for the nation of Israel. Now I don't know if you've ever been a leader but if you're a leader and thousands of people are following you and these are your key 12 men that are gonna take it on and they start to take you by force, this is not a healthy situation for your followers. And so you send them on ahead. Now what you need to understand is that the sea of Tiberius, they call it a sea, it's not really very big and there's mountains around it and when the sun goes down the cool air and the water often will cause very very choppy high strong winds. These are professional fishermen and notice it says they're rowing. And so their back is there, here's the map right, here's North Capernaum is over here and there's a synagogue where he's gonna give a message. Over here, it's about four miles across the lake this way, he's just fed 5,000 people. They've been about six or seven hours rowing and they're making no progress. Jesus is up on the hill and he sees them, notice he sees and he cares.

And they're in a struggle. Notice the lesson of the 5,000 is that if we bring our limited resources to Jesus, he has the power and desire to meet our need. That's what it means to be a follower, it's not just intellectually believe. Here's the lesson, if you bring your limited resources, I don't have enough time, I don't have enough courage, I don't have enough money, I don't know how to address this situation, I don't have the resources to be the kind of parent you want me to be, I don't know how to live this way as a single person. If you bring your limited resources to Jesus, he has the power and the desire to help you. Being a follower isn't just eating the bread or the fish or him doing things for you, it's bringing your needs to him.

He wants to help you, it's an engagement, it's a life journey. Notice the response as they try to make him king. In the next section, the sign is Jesus walks on the water and you'll know from the other gospels that Peter actually says, if it's really you, ask me to come. And Peter walks and he does well until he begins to look at circumstances and waves and he begins to sink. And then immediately Jesus gets in the boat and you have sort of one of those Star Trek moments, right?

He gets in the boat and immediately they're there. Now what do you think he's, why is he preparing them? There's going to be 11 of these 12 men that are going to blaze a trail that is so counter-cultural, that will be so difficult, they will go through such suffering, every single one of them will be martyred and will not waver for their faith because they understand who he really is. The conviction of following someone is you can't follow them unless you can trust them and you can only trust people that you can believe their word.

They have the power to do what they say they can do and you can only trust them if you really know they care about you. And Jesus sees their struggle and Jesus walked on the water purposefully to let them know that whatever comes into your world and your life, I want you to know even the very powers of nature are not a limitation for me. And so here's the lesson from miracle number two, if we invite Jesus into the storms of our life, he'll rescue us. And by the way this isn't hypothetical, I still remember I was a very very young Christian and a good friend of mine was in an accident, he broke his body, he severed his spinal cord, they gave him no chance to live, we were all young Christians, we really didn't know what we were doing and the doctor said we're sorry, there's internal bleeding everywhere apart from a miracle and we went to a little chapel on our campus, about 30 of us and we prayed for about a day and a half or two days, we didn't eat, we just prayed and we begged God and we didn't know any better and I still remember when the girl came in the chapel and said the doctor's actual words is it's a miracle, some reason, some way the internal bleeding everywhere stopped, if it stays stopped he's gonna live.

And Frank lived. And Frank later actually not only lived but he was in a wheelchair the rest of his life and he had an amazing attitude, he became a science teacher, a wrestling coach, he actually later got married, I mean it was a miracle, it was my first time to see a miracle and it revealed God's heart and that he would actually listen to us. I remember as a young pastor in a little church of about 35 people and the first year or two and I was just beginning and I didn't know anything about being a pastor and I was in the hospital visiting one of our people and there was a lady, a young mom, maybe 30, 32 years old and a little toddler and she had a brain tumor the size of about an orange and I just felt a prompt and we got some people and we prayed for her and this was the first time I'd ever seen anything like this happen, I mean I believe the Bible, I believe God can do supernatural things, I just hadn't seen much of it and we prayed for that woman and like three days later she came back, the doctors can't explain it, it's completely gone. Now I want you, let me give you some perspective here, I've anointed people with oil, with elders, I've prayed for many people and buried them two weeks later. So there's no claim, there's no special powers or anything, all I know is that at certain times God intervenes in supernatural ways to authenticate his identity to us, to reaffirm his teaching to us, to give us faith and encouragement for his heart of compassion and that we can remember he has power and that in the circumstances of life that he sees our struggle and he wants us to cry out to him and have a relationship with him that's not about what we can get from him or what he can do for us but to understand he's God.

Invite him into your struggle, invite him into the storm of your life. This is gonna be a big shift here, the response of the disciples, first they're terrified then they're overwhelmed right? When's the last time you were terrified of who God really is? I mean not because you were afraid of him like he would hurt you but terrified just how powerful, how unapproachable how light, how holy, how magnificent. I think somehow Jesus is stuck in our minds as meek and mild and sort of has a pale complexion and isn't the kind of person if you had a big job to do you wouldn't want him to help you because he's pretty weak and you probably can't pick up anything and he's probably really sweet and just kind of hangs out with women and little kids and really you know he's a little flannelgraphing or like the pictures you know been to the Christian bookstore Jesus.

It's not the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus of the Bible is strong, he's powerful, he's supernatural, he cares, he loves, he's for you. I'd like you to stop right now, I'd like you to stop and think of what's the biggest storm in your life for someone you love okay? Think of someone you know that you love they've got cancer, think of someone you love and their marriage is not going well, think of someone you love that has a child who's just far from God, think of someone you love that is single or divorced or in the midst of deep personal pain or depressed, have you got him?

Have you got it in your mind right now? Ask God, maybe that person is you, ask him to come into the storm of that person's life or you right now. Oh God you are not a, you're not a God of a book of thousands of years ago. Lord you are with us where we move and live and have our being, you are personal and you are intimate. Lord you take all of our tears and you put them in a bottle, your heart grieves for us, you long for us to come and pour out our heart and share our needs and our hurts, you long to enter in and help and so we ask in the name and the power of Jesus himself, our holy father that you would do miraculous things, that you would intervene, that you would give grace, that you would give courage, that you would restore relationships, that you would even choose to heal bodies and we would commit in advance that we'll give you credit and honor and glory in Jesus name, amen. The shift now happens where they're learning to trust because these miracles are affirming who he is and then at the end did you notice that the people were searching for him, now get this in your mind how it really works, I mean it was just yesterday and you know you were with one of your buddies and you were supposed to go fishing, he goes no no let's go fishing, have you heard about this new young rabbi Jesus guy? Yeah, well did you hear about all the people that got healed and all that stuff in Jerusalem?

Yeah, I heard he's gonna be over you know over in that Galilean area, yeah let's go see him and you went and it was like all these people got fed and you went back and said Bob no Mary, Uncle Herb, you gotta see this guy, in fact we're going back, maybe get another meal and so you go over there and it's like wow he's gone, where's he at, where's he at, we one boat left, he went up the mountains, we're not sure what's happening, I already went to Capernaum, okay get the boats, everybody goes get some boats and they're searching for Jesus, Jesus popularity is now gonna change because he's given them ample evidence like he has us to believe, now he's gonna talk about our motives and what it means to be a follower, pick up the text with me, verse 25, when they found him on the other side of the lake they asked him rabbi, when did you get here, like what miracle did you pull off lately, Jesus answered I tell you the truth you're looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill, do not work for food that spoils but food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you, on him the father has placed his seal of approval, how, through the miracles, translation don't just follow me and want to use me, I'm not a self-help genie, I didn't come to the earth just to make your life work out, my goal wasn't that you know I could be sort of like a spiritual vending machine to make your life what you want it to be, I am God, I provided the food and I did the miracle so that you could see who I am so you could follow and have relationship not use me, you didn't even come because of the miracles, you came because I met some material physical needs and you wanted more, command, do not work, don't give your energy, don't give your life for stuff that spoils or perishes or stuff that it never lasts, don't give your life for success, don't give your life for money, don't give your life for houses, don't give your life for jobs, don't give your life for where your kids get into school, don't give your life for impressing people, don't give your life for anything that is here today and tomorrow, instead give your life for the food, the truth that leads to eternal life and then this favorite phrase about himself, the son of man and what he's saying is, are you ready, jot this in your notes if you would, he's exposing the air of spiritual consumerism, the rebuke is their motives, he says you're not searching for me for me, you're searching for me for what you can get, the lesson is don't give your life for things that are temporal but for that which is eternal and in just a minute they have a question because see in their mind, their mindset about what it means to have a relationship with God or believe in God is so fixed about what you do in your performance, the Pharisees did this, this and this, it was all about do, do, do, do, so he's done the miracles, yes you're special so what do we need to do, I mean do we read more of the Bible, do we go to synagogue more often, what's the formula, everyone had a formula, tell us the four things to do, the three things to do, the two things to do so our lives can work out and we can control this little God and get what we want, he says this is the work of God, verse 29, that you believe on him whom he has sent, it's not about your working, it's not about your doing, it's not about your religiosity, it's not about getting God in a box so you can use him to make your life and your relationships and your finances and your kids and your singleness and your education and all your stuff, it is about believing and trusting and having relationship with the God who made you so you could discover his purpose and live out of his fullness and know that you're loved just for who you are and know that he has forgiven you and he will place his spirit in you and he's deposited gifts in you and he has a purpose for you that the greatest and deepest joy in all the earth and the byproduct of some of these things will be very wonderful relationships and the byproduct may be financial blessing in seasons and other seasons not financial blessings and the byproduct may be kids that turn out very wonderfully and actually get into some very nice schools but if that's the goal you'll miss this one and you end up empty. My experience has been people who have devastating life experiences or people who actually make it are the people who most quickly break free from materialism. By the way, materialism has nothing to do with how much you have.

Some of the poorest people in the world are shot through with materialism because what they do is they falsely believe that if they just had and you can fill it in then life would work. Chip will join us here in studio with his application in just a minute. You've been listening to the first part of his message, Jesus, Miracles and You, which is from the second volume of his Jesus Unfiltered series titled Follow. When Jesus called his disciples he used two simple words, follow me, and that phrase has since changed the lives of countless people throughout history. So what does it look like to follow Jesus today? In the second volume of Chip's series, Jesus Unfiltered, we're continuing our study of the Gospel of John. In chapters 6 through 10, Chip dives into topics like living without shame, understanding the miraculous, and finding true contentment, and how those subjects relate to the practice of following Jesus. You're not going to want to miss a single program. For complete information about our resources or to check out the other volumes of our Jesus Unfiltered series, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners tap special offers. Well, Chip, we've just started the second volume in your series, Jesus Unfiltered. And in this next section of John, you're tackling the subject of following. Now explain why this concept is foundational to our Christian faith and what you're hoping our listeners will learn through the series.

Well, I hope they learn a lot, Dave. And one thing I hope they learn is just to think their way and actually have exposure to the biblical text. In other words, we're going to look at chapter 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and we're going to study it in context about the life of Jesus. And I think one of the downsides of so much Christian information and, you know, it's a message here and a podcast there and a television program here, and there's value in all of that. But there's something powerful about studying the life of Jesus in context of what he said over a period of time. And this is about the following.

And it's interesting. It starts in chapter 6 where, you know, people have been very excited about the meals they're getting, the healing they're getting, and the demons that are cast out. I mean, like, hey, man, we love this Jesus. And then he begins to talk about what it really looks like in obedience to be a follower of his and the cost of that and where he's going. And so that you understand, chapter 6, near the end, it'll say, after he sort of raises the bar of the cost of following, it says, from that day forward, a great many of his disciples no longer followed him.

In other words, you know, we want the product, but we don't want that process. And Jesus, you know, would say to his close disciples, are you going to leave too? And Peter has that great line, to whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life. And then we'll walk through chapter 6, 7, 8, 9.

And when you get to chapter 10, there's this great reward. And he'll tell them, I've came that you might have life and you might have it to the fullest, or you could have it abundantly. And that actually the process of following is what creates and allows us to experience that life. So I know that's God's will for every one of us who are believers and followers of the Lord Jesus. So I cannot wait for people to go through that experience and begin to see their life and what it means to actually follow Jesus in the world that we live in so they can experience the life that is really life. Thanks for that, Chip. Well, we hope you'll make plans to be with us for this entire series.

And if you happen to miss a program, you can always listen on the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge.org. As we wrap up today's program, let me ask you, if you could ask God for a miracle, I mean a bona fide grade A supernatural miracle, what would you ask Him for? You know, I think sometimes we think very subtly God becomes this sort of impersonal force and there's these principles and everything is just cause and effect and we do this, God does that, but we don't believe He'll break into our world and do a miracle. Now, a miracle is rare, okay? I get that.

But what would you really ask Him for? And you know, I've seen a handful of times where I have seen God intervene in ways. There is no scientific, rational explanation. It is just an intervention of God. I remember one lady was listening to the radio and I was teaching similar to this and she had this health issue that had been going on and on and on and on and on and she just heard it and faith kind of met the Word of God and she said, God, I'm going to ask you for this and God intervened. He healed her miraculously. So all I want you to know is that God does intervene, ask Him, seek Him, but you can't manipulate Him. The very chapter that you study here is a place where people were following Jesus to get the miracles and get the food. In other words, what they wanted is to use Jesus. He's not a self-help genie.

He's the God of the universe. But let me encourage you to plead your case, seek Him with all your heart, and then entrust that He may deliver you out of something with a miracle, He may deliver you through it and give you grace just to keep on going, or He may teach you something that He really wants you to learn. But I think God is pleased when we come boldly in faith and ask. As we wrap up this program, just a quick but important thought. Living on the Edge depends on listeners just like you to help us continue to encourage Christians to live like Christians. So would you consider partnering with us on a monthly basis so others can benefit from the ministry of Living on the Edge? To set up a recurring donation, call us at 888-333-6003, or go to livingontheedge.org. Have listeners tap donate, and thanks in advance for doing whatever God leads you to do. We'll join us next time as Chip continues with our study of the Gospel of John. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.