Matthew 14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

This was the results of Jesus blessing five loaves of bread and two fish. Twelve full baskets were left over after feeding five thousand men, plus an undisclosed number of women and children. Much has been said about this event. Many different teachings have been produced from these passages.

I could focus on the five loaves, or the two fish. Good teaching materials there. I could mention the number twelve. That one never gets old. I could mention the endless bounty of the Lord, His inexhaustible His storehouse. But something new struck me today about the progress of how the blessing got from five loaves and two fish to twelve baskets.

The increase came from the sharing. The baskets were not full at the beginning, they were full at the end. No mention was made of the increase until after all had shared in the blessing.

This is the perfect example of how the gospel of Jesus Christ works. The increase come from the sharing of the gospel. You take, you eat, you are filled, and then you pass on the blessing. The increase comes from the sharing.

We talk about miracles and would love to see some of those memorable moments talked about in scriptures. Some say the days of miracles are over. Maybe for them it has because they have not done the one thing that produces the greatest increase, they have not shared the gospel.

Want to see a miracle?

It is in the sharing.

John 19:33-35 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

The Roman soldiers knew Jesus was dead. One of the Roman soldiers pierced His side just for good measure. Sounds a little like making doubly sure doesn’t it. John knew it but was more intent on telling of the breaking of the legs. This was prophecy come true. This was one of the prophetic signs that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. The last act of Jesus Christ might well have been His first act of foreshadowing the life of those who believe on Him.

Romans 6:2 How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Jesus bore all mankind’s sins for all time and died. Jesus took our sins to the grave with Him. When He returned in His resurrected form, He came back incorruptible, perfected, eternal. The demands of sin, death, have been satisfied. We who believe by faith in Jesus Christ are baptized into His death and therefore we too are dead to sin.

We are no longer judged by our sins.

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The new standard of measurement is love.