Meals on Wheels!

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for 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 him, "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 is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

John 6:5-9

When Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed the crowd He presented Philip with an impossible dilemma. And the dilemma was openly declared to be a test for Philip. Jesus asked Philip where they could buy more bread than they had money to buy. The financial planner courses Philip had taken must have rushed to front of Philip’s mind as he responded to Jesus. When Philip said it would take eight months wages to buy enough bread he obviously knew the price of bread and had counted, at least approximately the crowd.

The bottom line is that Jesus asked Philip to do something that was beyond his ability to accomplish. Andrew spoke up next. Andrew was focused not on how much they needed, but on how little they had. Andrew had not counted the cost or the crowd. Andrew counted the fish and bread that they had. So Philip knew that they didn’t have enough money to accomplish the task given to them by Jesus and Andrew knew that they didn’t have enough fish and bread.

“But Jesus already had in mind what He was going to do.”

Those words are crucial. When Jesus presents you with a task that is beyond your ability it is a test. It is not a test of your resourcefulness or your ingenuity. It is not a test of your understanding of finances or organizational expertise. When Jesus gives you a task like “GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE” it is a test of whether or not you will trust Him to accomplish that task.

Philip and Andrew did not have to buy the fish and bread or make the fish and bread, but they did have to pass it out after Jesus miraculously created it. When it comes to preaching the Gospel to the entire world all I have to do is pass out the fish and bread.

When you go to a world famous eating establishment that serves gourmet food you don’t proclaim that the best part of the experience was the man who brought the food to the table.

Jesus makes the food; all I do is deliver the meal to a starving world. Jesus even empowers me to deliver it. Taking the bread of heaven to a starving world is the original “Meals on Wheels!”