1) Listen to Podcast
2) GG Questions
10/27/2019
Ordinary Men: Philip, the Bean-Counter
1. The Middle-man : On a couple of occasions in the gospels, Philip served as a bridge between people and Jesus. What did Philip believe about Jesus in John 1:43-51 and what motivated his bridge making? Who has been a bridge-maker in your life? What about the incident in John 12:20-26? What kind of a person did Philip have to be for those Greeks to feel safe approaching him? What can you do to be ‘approachable’ to unbelievers?
2. Feeding the 5K : Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand is one of the few gospel stories recorded in all four gospels (Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14). But the account in John includes a few details the other authors leave out. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus tells his disciples, “You give them something to eat” (Matt. 14:16), but in John Jesus’ focus lasers in on one disciple – Philip. Read the account, John 6:1-14, and consider why did Jesus single out Philip in this way? What did Jesus want to teach him? What was on the “test”?
3. Counting the 5K : Philip has been called the ‘bean-counter’ because of his response to Jesus’ question, ‘Where will we buy bread?’ (John 6:4) After a little quick mental arithmetic, Philip exclaims, ‘two hundred denarii (or eight months’ wages) wouldn’t be enough!’ Did Philip operate out of a scarcity or abundance mindset? Do you have any two hundred denarii problems in your life you’ve given up hope on? If Philip were here today, what do you think he would teach you about living by faith and not by sight?
4. Show us the Father : A mark of a good teacher cannot be that his students have no questions, because Jesus’ disciples had tons of questions. Observe first Thomas’ and then Philip’s confusion in John 14:1-10.
Summarize the exchange between Jesus and these disciples in your own words. What does this teach us
about our posture as learners and God’s posture as a teacher?
