Jesus Provides

Something that I have a particular conviction about and a little persnickety sometimes about is making sure we use words the right way. I do not like it when we as a culture will take a word and kind of ruin it by applying that word to something that's less deserving than it. I believe we've done damage to words like epic, awesome, and one of my favorites, rad. Today's rant is on the word miracle. So we use this word and we apply it to things that are really just improbable, right? Coming to mind immediately is the US hockey team beating Russia in the 84 Olympics. That is the miracle. While I'm very thrilled that we beat the Russians in this improbable match, it's not a miracle. We need to think through what a miracle actually is. Some of the definitions I saw, really they speak of just a divine act of God. That implies that God isn't always working in and through every moment and every place in our world. A miracle is more than just a divine act. It's, it's God doing that which is impossible. We have to make sure, we believe God is super, we live in the supernatural. We believe God is always at work. God is always doing that which is difficult. That God is always helping us. But miracle, we need to reserve for those things that would otherwise be impossible. God doing that which is not normal. To take it into a more fun realm, it'd be like Mary Poppins snapping her finger and everything going in place. That's impossible. Or, or, we think about the virgin birth. A child is not conceived in any other time by the Holy Spirit hovering over the womb. With God, all things are possible. That, that seemed impossible. This morning we speak of miracles because we're looking at two that, that are uniquely identified with Jesus. The feeding of the 5,000, and walking on water. These are two miracles that are often associated with Jesus alone. The feeding of 5,000 is a unique miracle in that it's the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. That is not the cross and the resurrection. That is before Jesus enters Jerusalem. And they demonstrate his power and protection in unique ways. This morning as we look at this text, here's our simple summary statement. Jesus' miracles meet our needs and build up our faith. His miracles meet our needs and build up our faith. If you're following along, our outline is going to be satisfaction, safety, salvation. Satisfaction, safety, and salvation. Will you pray with me? Father, as we open Your Word, as we look to it now, Lord, speak. Show us Your power to truly satisfy our needs, to save us from our sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. First is satisfaction. And Jesus has sent out his disciples to participate in his mission. They're, they're going out proclaiming the gospel. He gives them authority even over demons. They come back and they give a report. And he says let's, let's go away by ourselves to a desolate place. And if you heard it read, desolate place was repeated over and over again, that is a very important setting for what's going to happen, because when you're in a desolate place, there's not a lot of food. That setting is important for what's going to take place, for how God, Jesus, is going to show his power. We know from verse 44, there's 5,000 men. That means 5,000 males. And then women and children as well. There's a large gathering, a six-figure gathering most likely. They're far away. There's very little provision. And what you see here, let me read the text. And he said, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. The ministry was busy. People were pressing in. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. The idea here is they want isolation in a desolate place. But the people saw them. How many saw them going and recognized them? And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw the crowd. Numerous times now in the Gospels, we've seen Jesus see people. He sees them. He sees their need. And notice what it says. He had compassion on them. He looks at us, and He has compassion. He sees the people who are running out to this desolate place, and He has sympathy. One of the questions we keep asking as we walk through this gospel is, who is Jesus? He's our compassionate Savior. Hebrew says He, He suffered on us in every way so they could sympathize. He's a God who sees us in our need. He sees us in our struggles. He sees us where we are and He, He cares. This is good news in a world that seems to not care about anyone. But Jesus, He sees us and He has compassion. He had compassion because these people were like sheep without a shepherd. At one level, this brings us to that beautiful picture of Jesus the Good Shepherd. But I wonder here if Mark is actually alluding to Ezekiel 34, which the Good Shepherd promise of Jesus actually also alludes to. In Ezekiel 34, there's a condemnation for the priests and the religious rulers of Israel, because they are not feeding the sheep as they're supposed to as shepherds, but they're only feeding themselves. To say that Israel, these thousands of people who are coming out to Jesus are a sheep without a shepherd, it sounds like a judgment on those who are supposed to be feeding them in the synagogues and in the temples. They were supposed to have been fed, but now they're rushing out to Jesus. And notice the first meal Jesus gives them. He began to teach them. He gives them the spiritual bread. He, he gives them the truth of God. He, the, the message of Jesus is repent and come to me. He's pointing to them who God is, who they are, what, what God's law means. He's, he's telling them his name and revealing the grace. This is the first way that our shepherd shows compassion and that he, he teaches his truth about who we are. Sinners who need to repent. He teaches us who he is. He is the, the great shepherd who comes to lay down his life for his sheep. If you look back and we, we saw earlier the, the passage where Jesus tells the disciples, go into the towns and if they do not listen, if they do not repent, walk away. The proper response to Jesus' teaching is to listen, so that we might repent. Look at verse 35. And when it grew late, okay, so the, the sun's going down. It's, it's, it's, it's, we, we, we continue to be reminded that there's a desolate place. Disciples come to him and they, they say, it's good we see this care from the disciples, the, the, the first apostles, the, the apostles. This is a desolate place. Again. And the hour is now late. Send these people away to go to the surrounding countryside and villages And by themselves something to eat So they they recognize there's a need But they think that people need to go and take care of themselves Notice how Jesus responds you give them something to eat We see the shepherd mentality of Jesus, and we see how he's trying to train up these shepherds. You don't go send sheep out to feed themselves. No, you are supposed to be participating in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus is the shepherd. He's feeding the sheep the Word of God, and now the disciples, they rightly recognize they need bread, they need food. They think they need to go out and feed themselves, and Jesus puts it on them. You give them something to eat. The disciples respond, not quite understanding something. Shall we go and buy 200 nari worth of bread and give it to them to eat? They're worried about logistics. How are we going to get this much money? Are you telling us we want to spend this much money to feed this amount of people? They're thinking of the technicalities and the logistics of what this means. They're missing something very important. Jesus is Lord. They're missing the, the emphasis of who Jesus is in this passage. The great shepherd who can feed their sheep. They're thinking logistics. They're not really looking at the Lord. Verse 38. He doesn't answer their question. It's, it's interesting how Jesus doesn't get bogged down by bad questions. He keeps pressing in to actually care for the people. How many loaves do you have? Go and see. So he gives them instruction. They come back. When they have found out, they said, five loaves of bread and two fish. Okay, we see here Jesus, he needs organization. Jesus is a man of, of goodness and order. He, he commanded them to sit down in groups on the green grass. He, they sat down. By hundreds and by fifties. taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven and he gave thanks. He said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and sat before the people." I want to pause here and see that there's a pattern of prayer that's helpful. He's obviously asking God to bless this food, but there's a thanksgiving, and then the request, let's feed these people. We really see the same pattern in Philippians 4, verse 6. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. I believe this is modeling and even teaching here from Philippians what James says. Asking in faith. Already thanking God for the work he's going to do. There's an expectation in the prayer. He's modeling for us what Paul instructs us here. He gives thanks, he breaks the bread, and he divides the food. And verse 42 is really the key declaration for this passage that we're gonna think about here for a while. They all ate and were satisfied. For six figures of people, 10,000 plus people, with five loaves and two fish they all ate and were satisfied." We need to think about these two key words. And the two key words are all and satisfied. All stands out because if you're a Jew in this day, and remember the idea here being there are sheep without shepherds? There might be a judgment here on the religious leaders. The allness of this passage would go over and against, would be an offense to those who have taught and upheld kosher laws. Kosher laws say food has to be prepared a certain way. It needs to be prepared in a clean way. It also says only the clean can come and eat this food, and clean cannot eat with unclean. The kosher laws were very exclusive. They distanced. They created boundaries. When Jesus is the shepherd, and Jesus is providing, it is a welcoming, inviting to everybody. He provides for all. He welcomes all. Now I want to be very clear. This is the most exclusive meal on the earth at this time. God just created food and gave it away so that he could eat with God. Jesus. It's an exclusive meal that has an open invitation to all who are present. You don't have to go through any kind of cleansing to come to Jesus. You simply have to come to the invitation. The other key word here is satisfied. All were given food, and everyone who partake of that food, they all are satisfied. And I believe this takes us back to the Exodus. There's lots of allusions to the Exodus throughout Scripture, but here I believe there's an allusion where in Exodus 16 the, the people are hungry. They're complaining. Remember over and over again, every time something seems wrong, they would like to say something like, oh, if only we'd have died in Egypt, where there were graves. Or, oh, if only we were still in Egypt, where we got to eat so much food and we were always so satisfied. Oh God, if you hadn't have taken us out of there, Pharaoh did so much good for us. He provided for all of our needs. In response to the grumbling, If only we had died in Egypt where we were full and satisfied. God rained down bread. Here I believe Jesus is showing he's that same God who provides that same food. He is the good shepherd who's in the wilderness, the desolate place of his people, and he's raining down the bread that truly satisfied. He's present with his people. He's welcoming his people, he's feeding his people. All are welcome. Now it also, that all, that offense of the kosher law, maybe Jesus is putting a line in the sand. Because we're in Mark 6. Does anybody know what comes next? Well, Mark 7. If you look over to Mark 7, it's Jesus confronting the Pharisees and the teachers and the scribes about how they're upholding their traditions over the law. This is maybe a first strike against the upholding of tradition over feeding the people God's true word. I believe by inviting all, Jesus is protecting his people from false teaching. That limits how far you can come close to God. That limits you in thinking if you're clean or not. He's protecting his sheep, and he's providing for his sheep. It's really a beautiful picture. He's not inviting us to be a lawless people, a licentious people. No, he's teaching. us, as the Good Shepherd, who we are, who He is, how much we need Him, and how to be satisfied if we come to Him. As we apply this before moving on to the next section, let's think about the key questions. Who is Jesus? He's the Good Shepherd. I want you to notice something about what it, what it said there in verse 42 and 43. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces, and of the fish, and And of those who ate were 5,000. What's amazing is not just that they were satisfied, but then there were that many leftovers. Jesus is no miser with mercy. He gives abundantly. He is a generous giver of all good gifts. There's 12 baskets left over of food. How much more has his mercy poured out on us constantly? His grace is not just sufficient, it's abounding. Where sin abounds, grace abounds. Here we see a picture of Jesus who gives generously, and what he gives is himself. We can look at this passage from the Father's perspective. He who did not withhold his own Son. Will he not give you all things? Jesus is the Good Shepherd who, who gives us what we need in provision and protection. He's the one who gives it abundantly. So how do we respond? The question I just keep pressing into my, that's pressing on me is, am I a good sheep? He's a good shepherd. Am I a good sheep? Why do I grumble like the Israelites in the wilderness? Why am I not more grateful for all the abundant gifts Jesus gives rather than grumbling? Which points me more right back to how generous he is. It's amazing how patient he is, how persistent he is, how quick he is to show merciful, mercy. Everything about a response, gratitude, faithfulness. How can we be better sheep so that we can enjoy our good shepherd? Our next section is tied. We see this key word, verse 45, immediately. Mark is constantly drawing our attention with that immediately, and it's interesting. Jesus kind of, he seems to be getting the disciples out of his way. He made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, and he dismissed the crowd. He took care of everything. You guys just go. Go on over. In verse 46, after he had taken loaves, a leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. It is interesting how Jesus has to constantly get away to pray. He, He constantly has to set aside this time to, to re-engage specifically, without distraction, His, His Father. Verse 47, when evening came, the boat was out to sea and He was alone on the land. Okay, we have a new setting that's very important. Before, it was a desolate place. There's no food. That sets up the miracle of feeding 5,000. Now, the disciples are in a boat. There's a storm. They're getting stuck in the storm. And Jesus is back in the land. Verse 48, and He saw they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. Now, we saw the imagery, I believe, earlier of the good shepherd. That's something from common life, right? Shepherds, sheep, that was a common metaphor that would be used. We know of the offices of Christ, the prophet, priest, king. These are things that would have been known in communities and taken by Christ as a way of showing who He is. Here, I think we're seeing something more unique happening. He walks on water. There's not a real precedent for this. This is a unique act of the God-man showing his power as the creator over creation, but this has been spoken of. See, in this day, the waters, the seas, they represent in many ways chaos. The, the, the seas were, were a scary place. It was a, it represented chaos and danger. And this is why in Revelation it says there is no more sea. That, that the chaos is over. God's goodness and order has been re-established. You see in Job 9.8. Who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea. Jesus is showing His power, who He is, by being able to walk over the water. He is Lord even in the midst of the storm, but even more so the sea. He's the Lord over chaos and danger. Now let's see how the disciples respond. But when they all saw Him, they were terrified. This is a trembling kind of fear. They do not understand what they are seeing. Notice again, but immediately, a key transition, drawing our attention in. Jesus speaks. And he said to them, take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. If you're going to memorize one phrase, one line from today's passage, that's it. Jesus is standing on the water. The disciples are battling a storm. Again, these are, many of them are experienced fishermen. This is not an, this is an unusual, difficult storm. They're fighting the storm. They see this figure coming. They're afraid of what it is. He comes and stands there next to them and declares three statements. Take heart. Be of courage. It is I. Do not be afraid. We need to spend some time to think about these three statements and how they function together. Simple observation. The first and the third focus as bookends. They're exhortations. They're charges. And they're really different sides of the same coin, aren't they? Be courageous. Do not be afraid. Those two things come together. The positive and the negative. Do not have fear. Be of courage. He's drawing them to have a faith. Not relaxing, not resting, but an embracing act of trust. Now notice the middle statement. The why for the charge. The foundation for why that charge is something we do and should have confidence in. It is I. Another way you could translate the statement here, I am. This is the covenant name of God from the Old Testament. When Moses asked, who are you? Who should I tell Israel you are? He says, I am with you. Do not fear. I have a mission for you. I have delivered you. I am who delivered you from Egypt. I am who will separate you from the nations. I am who will take you into the promised land. I am that who, when standing at the Red Sea with the army of Egypt pressing in, I am who will show his power over the sea there by separating to give you a way through the chaos and the danger so that you will walk through the dry land into safety. Jesus is identifying himself As the I Am who saved Egypt, or saved Israel from Egypt. The I Am who parted the seas. And now He's the I Am who's standing on the water. Saying, do not fear. Be of good courage. Trust me. I'm with you. I am for you. Do not be afraid. Now, now the disciples response. is mixed here. It's somewhat confusing. He got into the boat with them. The wind ceased. It's the second time they've seen him just stop a storm. And they were utterly astounded. The word here is actually kind of befuddled. They had no idea what to make of this. They were not embracing him with great courage. They were not without fear. They're just confused. Standing back, we should be able to think, all right, you've seen him, he'll paralytics. You've seen him get, he'll leprosy. You've seen him interact with Pharisees and scribes with great authority and teaching. You just saw him feed 5,000 people with five loaves. Why are you befuddled? Why are you astounded? Notice verse 52, it tells us. They did not understand. They didn't get what happened with the 5,000 loaves, and it actually goes deeper. Their hearts were hearted. They weren't embracing the truth of who Jesus is, even though they were with Him for all this time, seeing all these things. Yeah, it's interesting how hard it is to understand the 5,000 loaves, apparently. A lot of Bible scholars have taught that what happened there was Jesus started sharing his five loaves, and well, that miraculously then led to everyone else sharing all their food, and when everybody saw Jesus' example of sharing, they all shared, and when we all share, we all are satisfied with leftovers. That seems like a lot of work to try to answer that particular event. But it shows a hardness of heart, doesn't it? a refusing to acknowledge what the text clearly says. You've got to do some serious theatrical or some serious work to just make that make sense. When the plain reading of Scripture makes it clear. Five loaves fed 5,000 men, plus whatever women and children are there. How do you, how do you make of the, what do you make of the walking on water? Well they all had the same hypnotic dream. That Jesus walked on water. You see, there's a hardness of heart. They're refusing to want to acknowledge. I'm a sheep without a shepherd. I need a shepherd. Jesus is a shepherd. There's a hardness of heart that, that wants to cling that, no, I, I can still be the captain of my own boat. I can still make my own way. I can still figure things out. I can still do this on my own. I am not a sheep without a shepherd. I do not need Jesus. Therefore, I'm going to dismiss whatever this pressing declaration is, whatever the pressing evidence is, away with the most ridiculous explanations in order to protect my sin. That's hardness of heart. Jesus has come to soften hearts. Jesus has come to save us from that very sin that rejects Him. Are we listening? As we consider this passage, we now ask, who is Jesus? Well, He's fed 5,000. He walks on the water. He makes the storm stop. He declares, I am. I am with you. I am for you. He settles fear. He satisfies all. He keeps us safe. He is the God who is sovereign over chaos, danger, and hunger. How will we respond? There's two options. You can be heart of heart and just resist. We can rejoice. Say, behold our God. This is who our God is, and this is what He does for us. We can take heart and throw off fear because we know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He has laid down His life for us. He has risen again. And now He's at the right hand of the Father, ordaining all things and in control of all things. Again, this is a verse to memorize. That the sea represents chaos. What's amazing is how throughout Scripture, I believe, and I think throughout church history, it was recognized, Christ reveals him most clearly in chaos. That's just how God works. Martin Luther called this the theology of the cross, that whenever you want to see who God is, it's hidden in the midst of the suffering. If you want to see who Jesus is, you look to the cross. Too often, whenever chaos and danger and things that should make us fear come, what it does is it should reveal sin. So they turn to Christ. For me, sadly, too often, it squeezes what's inside, and my impatience and my frustration come out, not a rejoicing in Jesus. But this was supposed to happen. Well, we're in the midst of chaos. We are to turn to Christ, and then hear His Word. Take heart. Get his eye. Do not fear. Can you imagine if we would practice this regularly? In the midst of our fears? In the midst of our scare? In the midst of our chaos? In the midst of whatever terrifies us? If we're to turn him and actually just listen to this and, and let it penetrate our souls and give ourselves counsel from it. Jesus says, take heart. It is I do not fear. Our last section is salvation. It's a less detailed story here, but it's a conclusion. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Jennerset and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him. Again, they see him. His reputation is going about. And unlike his time in his hometown, they come out to him. They ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds, wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came in, in the villages or the cities or the countryside, wherever it may be, They laid this sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. It's this beautiful picture of the shepherd inviting all kinds of sheep. Anyone who has problems, come and he will make you well. He makes himself available in the villages, the cities, wherever he goes. The people are recognizing him and bringing those who need help. Now that last declaration is important as we conclude here. And as many as touched it. As many who came to Him, they're made well. We've seen this word a number of times. The Greek word is sozo. It's a word that has a range of meaning, from healing to salvation. And oftentimes it's implying both, because the people who are coming, they're coming and they're being made whole again. Jesus heals. physical and spiritual needs. He comes and He feeds us the Word of God and He feeds them bread. It's amazing that all who come to Him are made well. They're made whole again. Now, in sickness we desire to be healed. We pray already for members of this church who have ailments. We pray for Jesus to heal them. When you realize the number one reason Jesus came was to heal our relationship with His Father. He came to live the life we cannot live as a sinless human being. He came to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, suffering the wrath we deserve, so that when we believe in Him, we, we're made well. We're made well because we receive a foreign righteousness. We're made well because we're reconciled to the Father. We're made well because we're now whole again. Notice, as many who touched it were made well. As many who would come to Jesus will be made well. As you sit here, if you're not a Christian, why are you rejecting Him who walks in the water, feeds 5,000 with five loaves, and tells you, if you come to me, I will satisfy you. I will make you well. Is it because sin is that satisfying? Everyone here can testify. When we've tried to be satisfied with sin, we're left just hungrier. Sin does not satisfy. The life we try to lead when we're trying to be our own shepherd, it does not satisfy. But when we come to Him who feeds us with the very Word of God, with His very life, with His very presence, We're more than satisfied. He is abundant in grace. Come to Him and be saved. Believer, the same question is for you. Is there some sin that is so satisfying that you're sticking to it? You know, you like the entanglement because it's been so satisfying. Are you ready to come to Jesus? To set aside that sin that hinders you, that entangles you. Be made well. Be made whole. Being in sin doesn't mean you've lost your salvation. It just means you don't get to enjoy it. Because you're trying to enjoy sin. We can rejoice. Jesus is the one who satisfies with what He gives us Himself. He is the God who comes and says, take heart in His eye. Do not be afraid. He invites us, come and be made well. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your kindness, that you have not left us alone to wander about in our own sin. We thank You, Jesus, for coming to be our Good Shepherd, to be a guide to help us see our sin, a guide to help us see Your grace, our Savior, who gives Himself over to us. Help us, Lord, to repent. Help us, Lord, to set aside that hardness of heart. Help us to trust You, because You do provide. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.