Lessons From The Miracle of Loaves | Mark 6:33-44 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Mark chapter six, and meet me there in verse 30. We'll give some people more time before we begin to read the scriptures. Mark six thirty. Perhaps I can say this because I didn't I don't think it hurts, but recently I've been disturbed. Disturbed by the amount of false teaching that is being uploaded and shared, the things that are going viral, the things that are being propagated, and it's it's almost overwhelming.

I'm not online much, but just a few weeks ago, I had the chance to scroll through, and I am curious to see what's popular from time to time in evangelicalism. And it's just bad. It's just so bad. And Jesus told us in Matthew 24 that one of the prominent signs of the end times is that there will be deception, increasing deception. Believer, please be careful what you watch.

Be careful who you listen to. Be careful of sensationalism. Be careful of people who present testimonies with their doctrine and even present signs and wonders behind their teachings. Be careful. Cling to the word of God.

Hold tight to your Bible. Read it, study it, saturate your mind with it constantly because it's only going to get worse. Even the Lord himself said that there will be such sweeping deception in the lands that perhaps the elect. Right? He even said it can be so persuasive, so magnetic that the elect would be even tempted in some sense.

So be extremely cautious with what's going out there, and you'll be safe as long as you are close to the word of God. And that's why we love the word of God. Not because it just protects us from deception and false teachings, but because it is the word of life. To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.

So Mark six thirty, the words of eternal life. Before I read these verses, I wanna tell you ahead of time that the miracle that you and I are about to survey together is one of the most notable and one of the most remembered demonstrations of Christ's majesty in all of the gospels. And perhaps its familiarity to many of us is because of the originality and the memorability of this particular demonstration of power, but maybe also because of its emphasis in the word of God. What do I mean by that? This particular supernatural occurrence is the only miracle that is found in every gospel account.

Many of Jesus' notable miracles have been shared by the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, but there is only one, unless you count the resurrection. There is only one miracle that you will find in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And that is the miracle that is before us today. Now, it is believed among most that 90% of what John the Apostle writes in his gospel account is unique. 90%.

Meaning 10% is something that you might find in the other gospel accounts. This miracle is within that 10% bracket. And it is a powerful story. It is something that, again, you and I are very familiar with. And if you haven't already peaked at your Bible, then let me tell you what it is.

It is the feeding of the 5,000. That might be a misleading title because we are just told that there are 5,000 men who were present when Christ did this awesome work of multiplication. But if you think about it, if you include women and children, there could be anything between 10 to 20,000 people that Jesus fed miraculously at one time. And so this this glorious moment is something that we know, but my prayer is that we would look deeper beyond the obvious surface level truth. Clearly, this event is significant enough for the Holy Spirit to include it in every gospel account And that as you read through these gospel accounts, you would come again to encounter this testimony.

And my prayer is simply to go through these verses because I am fully convinced that there is no way that in one single session, you can get all that this text has to offer at least in-depth. But we will prayfully trust that as we come before the word of God today, that the Lord will provide exactly what he has designed to provide us through these verses. Because as much as we believe in going through the scriptures, verse by verse, right, chapter by chapter, we need the Holy Spirit to still help us and speak to us, and even in moments like this, to speak particularly to our own hearts, lest this just become a lecture week after week. And so join me in prayer before we come to this word. Lord, we do thank you for the word of God.

And Lord, we do look to you with absolute faith and hunger in our hearts that this word is indeed the true word. The only truth, the truth that sets free. And Lord, with absolute reverence and desire for your name to be glorified, we ask that this presentation, this declaration of your word would not be mixed with any error, any personal opinions, any confusion in how we hear it. Lord, let there be absolute clarity. And more than clarity, we pray for power.

We pray for conviction. We pray for comfort. We pray that you through this word today would speak into our lives, even into some situations that we might have answers for. Lord, we lean into your bosom, and we trust that we will hear your heart. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. We read Mark six thirty. The apostles returned to Jesus and told them all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 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.

And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now 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 a great crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. I read the verses that you and I heard from last week to bring you to remembrance about why it is that the disciples and Jesus are heading towards a specific direction. We know here that the Lord has organized a retreat for his men.

They have come back from a preaching tour and they are exhausted, understandably so. And the Lord, seeing their need, wants to help them escape to a desolate place for some private rest. And the disciples who just returned from sharing also had it fresh in their minds, the news of John the Baptist's death. And this also might have been a blow to their own hearts. And the gracious savior here recognizing all that they needed says, let's go.

And with that goal set before him, you and I just learned, we just saw that there are people who have been watching them, who constantly watch Jesus, who who who are longing for a touch, who might have mixed motives but are helplessly drawn to him. They learned about their departure. And so with their own calculations, they figure out where they might go. Maybe they heard where they exactly were going to go. And so they having their eyes on that boat from the shore began to walk on foot and news started to spread and a huge crowd began to make their way to this place that Jesus and the disciples were planning to be alone in.

And as they got there, they waited on the shore and there was a multitude of people. And you would think now, after all that happened, all the recent events, that the last thing, if you put yourself in the shoes of those disciples that you wanna see, is a bunch of people waiting for you to serve them for who knows how long, who knows what, taking Jesus away from you, taking you away from your disciples and your friends and your ministry partners. Put yourself in their sandals for a moment, would you? There you are on this boat promised some kind of repose. At least it was planned.

And as you approach the dock, there you see people and you can't make out what it is exactly because it can't be it can't be people that are covering those hills. And sure enough, you begin to make out faces in different clothings and everything is interrupted. Everything is sabotaged. And you were anticipating this time to recharge. You were just finishing, serving people, bouncing from city to city, worn out by recent travels, and here you are thinking that this place is gonna be desolate, but in fact, it is populated.

What about the Lord? What about the Lord? Who is the one who organized this trip? How would you feel if you were the the planner behind your ministry leaders Getting away from the hustle and the bustle so that they can receive natural rest for a while in order for them to return back to their service. And no matter what your feelings might be, I can imagine if we're honest, things would be bubbling up inside and they won't be the probably nicest feelings.

Regardless of what you might confess, how strongly would they contrast with the feelings that Jesus felt when he saw this sight because the spirit tells us explicitly here that when Jesus saw them, he felt compassion. Not irritation, not disappointment, not angst. Deep, sincere, heart stirring compassion. And I'm not sure about you. When I read this the other day, the mention of the deep compassion of Christ challenged me deeply.

You know, what you and I would see as an interruption, Jesus saw as an opportunity. What you and I would probably interpret as self centeredness, Jesus viewed as helplessness. What you would feel to be a burden, Jesus esteemed as a blessing. And, you know, we look at the text and we look at just the holistic view of Christ, and we know as Christians that we are supposed to be like Jesus. That should be our ambition.

I don't know what people mean by that though when they understand walking and following in the steps of Jesus. Is it to preach like Jesus? Do miracles like Jesus? Know the scriptures like Jesus? Are you challenged by the compassion of Jesus?

It's these simple things that don't really attract us, but it's the very things that make who Christ is. And if you are a person in this place, and I pray to God that you are, that you long to be molded and shaped to be like Christ in your context, Christ in your context, you might not be able to raise the dead, but you can surely be patient and loving. If you long to be like Christ, aren't you blessed this afternoon to know that the Holy Spirit gives us an insight to bring us that much closer to the compassion of Jesus, at least to reflect it at least to reflect it as closely as possible because we are told not just that Jesus was compassionate. We are given the reason, at least a strong reason why he was compassionate. And the reason why Christ was overwhelmed with pity for these people was because we just read it here, because in verse 34, they were like sheep without a shepherd.

This is how Jesus perceived people and his perception of people produced a level of compassion. And that tells me something about how I can see compassion grow in my own life, in my own heart, in my own world. Do I see people the way Christ sees people? And the way Jesus perceived these people is like we just said here, sheep without a shepherd. Sheep are extremely vulnerable creatures and they're exposed to so much danger when they don't have a supervisor over them.

They are defenseless. They are directionless when they don't have a shepherd guiding them, providing for them, protecting. They are obviously set up for being malnourished and being led astray and getting lost and losing sight of where they're supposed to be next. And and filth accumulates because a shepherd is required to regularly clean them and to take care of them. And the realities, the physical realities of a sheep without a shepherd is exactly how the Lord and the Holy Spirit here tells us what people are like without Christ.

They're just like that wandering, confused, exposed, susceptible to so much problems and so much danger. No matter how they clothe themselves, no matter their riches, no matter their education, People without Christ are like sheep without a shepherd. And when Jesus saw this, it moved him. It moved his heart. And I think that is critical for us believers in this time.

Do you know why? Because it's very understandable. So don't hear me saying anything wrong here or or minimizing the emotions that we should feel about what's going on in our world. It's very understandable to be angry, to be disgusted, infuriated, especially with all the agendas and all the narratives that are being pushed, not just on people, but on children, and all the deception, and all the lies. I get it.

Righteous indignation is is totally valid and totally understandable, but you gotta be careful. Believe you, you gotta be extremely careful because you and I, even feeling those feelings, can feel it and allow it to bring us to a place where we prefer judgment over mercy. Where where we feel this anger and truth seekers and truth speakers can end up like Jonah believers. If you don't think it's possible for a servant of God to be hardened by by not the my not the church, by the world and their standards and their behavior and their actions and their convictions, the whole book of Jonah is about that. Where you can allow yourself to actually find greater pleasure in seeing wrath poured out instead of grace poured out.

And Jonah is an incredible book for a people who are in a in the midst of a corrupt people. And when he was told to go out to the city of Nineveh and to preach, he was so reluctant because of the history of those people and what they did to others and what kind of crimes they committed against different nations. This man who represented God was was more willing to see again judgment than anything else. And and God teaches him as much as he teaches the Ninevites about his character. Do you remember how the book of Jonah ends?

It ends with a question, and there is no answer following it. And I believe the reason one reason why it ends with a question is for the reader to answer for themselves. Let me remind you how the book of Jonah ends. God speaks to Jonah in Jonah four eleven, and it reads, and should I not pity should I not pity Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than a 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle. What a compacted verse filled with compassion.

Should I not pity the Ninevites, Jonah? Should I not? And I there's so many things about this verse. The first thing is how he he knows the number of the citizens. He could've just said the great city, Nineveh.

He said, no. There are there are a little bit more than a 120,000 who occupy that city. Do you know why the number is mentioned? Because he cares for each one of them. The city of Chicago hosts close to 3,000,000 people.

Do you doubt for a moment that God has compassion and pity for each one of them? He's the same God. He he mentions the number because he numbered them, and he cares for them, and he longs for them to be rescued from their sin, which brings us to the next point. He he not only mentions the population, but their moral condition. They have no sense of guidance.

They don't know their right from their left. And the idea there is that they have no revelation. There's natural revelation but they don't have the personal understanding of how to be in the will of God and how to walk in the fullness of the will of God. And this moved God's heart. Well, didn't God wanna judge them?

He did wanna judge them. And he will judge all men, but that's not his primary desire, now is it? If that was his primary desire, he wouldn't have commissioned Jonah in the first place. The very reason why he sends Jonah to this ignorant people, this vicious people, is so that they would be warned and in being warned they would respond and then repent and that's exactly what happened. And so the Lord, when he looks upon a vile people, a vile nation, his primary feelings toward them is I long to heal them from their spiritual blindness.

I long to give them the leading that can rescue them from their depravity. That's God's primary desire. No matter how perverted, no matter how dark, no matter how ugly they may be due to their sin, God's primary longing is for them to be totally transformed by his love. And the comfort that comes from this verse convicts me. You say, why does it convict you?

Because of what he said to Jonah before it. In verse 10 of Jonah chapter four, look what he says. And the Lord said, you pity the plant. You pity the plant for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. So you know the story, I hope.

That there's Jonah waiting, looking over the city perhaps thinking that God's gonna change his mind and actually blow it all up. God doesn't change his mind, but he gives Jonah an object lesson because sometimes you have to treat adults like children. And so he does this object lesson. Right? He he creates this plant to grow and it gives him shade there and the desert heat.

And then in twenty four hours, it withers and dies and his beautiful head is exposed to the sun again and he's frustrated because he's uncomfortable. And and the Lord brings that out of Jonah to show him something, and it's something that actually speaks of some believers, unfortunately. You are upset about this plant dying more than people dying? Think about that. That is that is precisely what is being taught here.

And again, it points to the potential of the believer. What do you mean? Believers can be so invested and so concerned with the materials of this life, even more than about the faith of men's souls. That convicted me. I I can get more concerned and moved and lose sleep at night about things that will perish one day, things that I'm not taking with me.

Those things can actually occupy my energy, my thoughts more than the fate of people's eternal destinations. And the Lord says, how can that be? Well, it's possible. And when I see Jesus here showing compassion, feeling compassion, it's supposed to cause you to say, oh, god, make me like you when I see a lost world. Help me desire.

Help me live. Help me be bold enough to pursue people's reconciliation with you and not to give up on them. And not to just give them over to their own sin without doing something about it. It's really easy to preach this stuff. Right?

Like, okay, you're preaching it. May God help us to do it and I include myself in that. So he felt compassion. But we read in verse 35 of Mark six and he began to teach them many things. That's the end of verse 34, which is interesting.

Jesus, having compassion, taught them the truth. Remember that. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. So here the disciples now, this turned into a crusade.

This turned into a conference. Thousands are sitting there and the disciples, which I believe here are are being very understandable and and compassionate in their own right, recognized the lateness of the afternoon and realized where these people came from and understood that we might have a problem here. And here's the problem. If we keep these people long enough, they're not gonna be able to get back to the towns enough quick enough and then purchase the food to have dinner. They probably haven't eaten all day, and so we need to make sure that they arrive on time.

And so they bring this problem to the Lord. And they were right in bringing this problem to the Lord, but they made a mistake that often we make when we bring problems to the Lord. And when we try to seek for a solution, genuine matters, genuine issues that we want to see come to succeed. They told the Lord, this is a desolate place. I'm sure the Lord knew that.

And the hour is now late. I'm sure he knew that too. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. They approached Jesus, and I was right, but they approached Jesus with a preconceived already prepared prescription and they expected Jesus to honor it. This is how we pray sometimes.

Sometimes, if not a lot of the times, our prayers are not getting counsel from God, but giving him counsel. And, we want that specific opportunity or we want that specific person or we want this kind of future and we tell God exactly how to do it, not just that, when to do it. And we think this is what prayer is. Should prayer be specific? Absolutely.

But be open to how God would answer it because God will always answer it better than you think. So they're giving counsel, but I believe there's more going on here. Could it be, could it be that the disciples here are telling Christ to dismiss the crowds and to have them leave and go back their own way because they, in their limited faith, don't really understand how he can solve it? Healing the sick, we've seen Jesus do that. Casting out devils, he can cast out many of them at the same time.

Raising the dead, oh, raising the dead, the Lord can raise the dead. Feeding the multitudes. Feeding the multitudes? Making food come out of what? Where?

I believe the disciples at this point in their walk with the Lord had a category in their minds that they could not understand Christ occupying. They could see and they can believe Jesus doing many things, but when it came to this specific issue, they could not see how Christ was relevant. They could not see how his will, his word, his wisdom, his power could be applicable. And you think this is just the disciples. Hold on there.

My dear brother, my dear sister, it's not just the disciples. How many of us oh, yes, we I surrender all. You can do all things. Okay. Good.

Good. Wonderful. Beautiful. Hold on. How many of us, practically speaking, spiritually speaking, have categories in our own hearts where we really don't see how Christ can really bring solution to?

Saying brother, what do you mean? Maybe it's because throughout ministry you see different issues and you see people's approach to it. Yeah, Christ can save my soul, but I don't see how the bible and how the Holy Spirit can really bring solution to my marriage. And you have people fleeing to secular psychologists, fleeing to worldly wisdom, because Jesus is good for Sunday, but he's not really, this is real life here. We need real, real, tangible ideas.

Not just Sunday school stories, and so I gotta take care of my business the way I think I need to take care of my business. This is money here. This is not lessons for how you can you can do better in life. And so whether it's business or whether it's my marriage or whether it's my children and their waywardness, and with all these advancements and all these new ideas and these new technologies of evil, How is a 2,000 year old story gonna help my kid get out of drugs? How is a 2,000 year old story gonna deliver my kids from gangs?

And so it's just kinda like fluff to us. It's just like, you know. And the point of this miracle, it's one of the many important points, is that he can solve anything. He can raise the debt and he can make bread appear out of thin air. The whole idea of this miracle is the disciples have reached a ceiling in their understanding of Christ's capability and now that ceiling is about to be extended.

And so they come to the Lord and they say, why don't you just send them away and let them deal with this on their own? And Jesus here says, you got it all wrong. In one of the gospel accounts, he says, they don't need to go away. They don't need to go away. They can stay right here.

And I think that's something for us to consider. Does Christ apply to everything? Or are there some things that just seem irrelevant to your faith? Learn to pray about everything. Learn to trust God for everything, big or small, complicated or simple.

God cares. He really does care. Oh, I wish I can tell you stories of how God cares about your furniture, and he cares about the shoes on your feet. Yes. He cares about your soul being saved and escaping hell and all that wonderful things, but he also cares about what you're gonna eat that night.

So what happens? Well, they come up to him with this problem. And look what Jesus says in verse 37. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. You give them something to eat.

And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said, five and two fish. I love this interaction between Christ and the 12 because it really sheds light on how prayer works.

This may shock you. I alluded to prayer earlier, but let me bring it up again. That prayer, when it is brought to God, does not promise this might this might sting, this might shock you, but it's important. Prayer before God does not promise that Christ will solve it without your participation. Bear with me.

There are things that only God can do. Right? There are things that only God can do, no doubt, but there are also many things that Christ expects us to actively be involved in as we seek and wait for him. How many miracles include human participation before Christ came through and sometimes even after Christ came through? You wanna see wine come to this wedding?

Fill those jars with water. Did Christ fill them with water? No. The servants did. The servants had to get water and fill those ceremonial jars with it and then he turned it into wine.

Lazarus was there was there trapped in a tomb. What did Jesus say? Stone, move. Lazarus, elf. Cloths, unbind yourselves.

Did he do that? No. Take away the stone. They took away the stone. Lazarus, come out.

He came out. Unloosed his cloths, and they did. And now we have Christ ready to multiply food, but he asked them to find some food first. And he's gonna ask them to to give them seats to sit on, so to speak, before he comes through with his power. And the idea is very important for you and I to consider in life That when we pray and we expect Christ to come through supernaturally, it does not mean that we are not serving, doesn't mean that we're not organizing, doesn't mean that we're not planning, doesn't mean that we are not doing things in the process.

And there are moments that prayer will bring about inexplainable testimonies, but it also means that sometimes when you pray, God will give you the wisdom and instruction that is required for you to take the next step. And sometimes what prayer will do is energize you and give you the grace to perform what you already knew you need to do. How are they gonna eat? Well, why don't you find whatever food we have here first? Could Christ have made fish and bread appear in his hands?

Absolutely. But he invites us. He invites us by faith. He invites us in service to him to participate and be part of the equation from time to time. And that's exactly what's happening here.

And And so they go and they find. They find some loaves. They find some fish. We know that from John's account, this came from a little boy who obviously brought lunch, was smart enough to ask mommy to bring lunch for that day. The little boy gives up what he had, and it was multiplied to feed thousands.

But notice what happens here. Five and two fish. Verse 39. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties.

You know if you've been here long enough that no verse is random. No verse is insignificant. Let me read that again. After they found the food, he commanded them all to sit down in groups on green grass. More than that, so they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties.

Mark is the only one who gives this detailed organization in comparison to the other gospel accounts. The only one that comes close to it is Luke where Luke says that they were organized in groups of fifties. Mark goes beyond that. He says hundreds and fifties. Why would the Holy Spirit inspire this gospel account writer, this witness, to include in our minds that they were told to have them sit on green grass and then to organize them in different groups and rows of hundreds and fifties?

Well, do you remember what the purpose of the gospel of Mark is? To portray Jesus Christ as what? The perfect servant of God. And Jesus Christ here commanding for this to take place says something about how he serves the father. And it's for our instruction and our example.

The kind of minister Jesus was is the kind of ministry we ought to be and the kind of Christians we ought to be. Jesus ministered attentively and orderly. Attentively and orderly. You know, there's a verse that Christians often quote, and when they quote it, they usually apply it for a situation where a believer might be confused about a certain thing or a certain decision, and they are comforted with this apparent verse that brings some kind of clarity to that fogginess of mine and it is this, God is not the author of what? Confusion.

But is a God of peace. He's a God of order. Right? Can you turn there with me? Because I know what people mean by that verse, but it's not about when you have difficulty making a decision.

I'm sorry if I disheartened you, but there's context. Go to first Corinthians 14 very quickly in verse 33. I want you to see what Paul meant by the spirit when he said that God is not the author of confusion, but is a God of peace or order. First Corinthians fourteen thirty three. There is the verse, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.

And we take that verse out, and we apply it as we see fit. And, yes, it is true that it has a broader application and meaning concerning God and his work and his ways with us, but its primary function, why Paul said it at this point in first Corinthians 14 is because he was speaking about the orderly worship service that Christians ought to have when they meet together. I don't know if that inflated you or that deflated you. What God is saying here through the apostle Paul is that in our worship, what we're doing here in this very afternoon, this very room, whenever you gather with believers in our worship, we ought to reflect the nature of God. And God is not a God of confusion.

He's not a God of chaos. He is not a God of disorganization. He's a God of peace. He's a God of order. He is careful, and we ought to be the same.

You know, when I was growing up early in my faith, I had people in my life that associated spirituality with strange spontaneity. What do I mean by that? That let me say what I don't mean by that. What I don't mean by that, and I I don't think what they meant by that was that, we believe that we should be open to God's leading. That whatever we had hoped or planned or even prepared for, God can make it very clear that he wants a different direction.

Amen? We should. That is not what these people that I knew and I observed meant by this idea of spirituality being synonymous with spontaneity. What they meant is that there is no need for preparation, there is no need for organization, and that for whatever reason, if it's chaotic, if it's spontaneous, if it's unforeseen, then it must be the spirit of God. And that's dangerous for many reasons.

And there are still churches today that operate in that fashion, where you enter into a meeting and it's more confusing and unclear than anything else. And let me say this, many of those assemblies would claim that such an experience, such an atmosphere is because of the Holy Spirit. And that is contrary to the mind of Paul who is the apostle of God. I remember when I went to a conference once and I was sharing this, it was many years ago and I met different believers and one believer introduced himself, we were getting to know each other and he was talking about how spirit filled his churches and what God is doing in that church. And I was listening and he had made certain comments and then he said something that never left me and I think it speaks to exactly what Paul meant here.

It's a very extreme example, but it's out there. He said, you know what? In the middle of the service, if the Holy Spirit told somebody to paint the wall in the church, they would do it. And that's a that's supposed to be apparently spirit led and Holy Spirit inspiration. That's exactly what Paul is speaking about.

God is not a God of confusion. He's a God of order. And so to enter into an atmosphere that is eerily disruptive and unorderly can actually be saying something that the Holy Spirit might not be in operation here, at least to some level. But what God wants to see is peace, but not just peace because don't now here's the other extreme, you have people that want peace and order, but they're dead. And you don't want that either.

Lifeless. I don't know why in our evangelical world we have two extremes. You either have to be chaotic and that's synonymous with passionate, but you're not you're not Bible based, or you're Bible based, but you're dead as a stick. Why not be Bible based and be alive, and be passionate, and be filled with the spirit, and be excited. You have the truth.

Back to Mark chapter six. In Mark chapter six, we are told that Jesus commanded them to sit down in groups on the green grass. I love that. Even the green grass is mentioned. Why?

It's comfortable. I know it's not deep. Hey, there's a lot of green grass here. Let's make sure that they are cushioned as they sit. You know?

Because some people think spirituality means that you have to inflict pain on yourself and make things uncomfortable to show just how serious we are about serving God, that we will suffer for his name. Well, you don't have to suffer if suffering is not God's will in this season of your life. It's okay to think about these things. And I love how Jesus thinks about these things. There's some green grass there.

That will make people more comfortable. And let's sit them down and organize them because this can get like a mob and we don't wanna do that now, do we? Let's have them orderly, and we'll have the disciples wait on them and it'll be it'll be beautiful. Christ is so practical. He thinks about these things.

It's okay to think about these things. K? So avoid extremes here. And I love how it's in Mark of all the gospel accounts,

but

I think there's something else about these green pastures. There are a lot of things, and I think one of the reasons why this miracle is in every single gospel account is because it alludes to many Old Testament pictures. Right? Especially in John chapter six, which parallels this account, where you have Jesus doing this miracle and the people concluded this is the prophet that we've been waiting for. And it it mirrors the Moses like who provided manna in the wilderness.

He's the greater one than Moses. Right? He's the greater Moses. But I think there are even more than that. There there are there are future prophetic implications of this, of how the Lord, right, will come and bring a feast to his own.

That's Isaiah. There's so many, so many, so many, so many pictures. And I think one of them is something that you and I know very well. Let me let me recap this for you. Here you have Jesus coming into the scene, and he feels compassion because they're like sheep without a shepherd.

And now as he enters in, he teaches them and he feeds them, and then he places them on green grass. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down on green pastures. Yeah.

The Lord Yahweh is my shepherd. Jesus is my shepherd. Jesus is Yahweh, and he makes me lie down. I love the wording of that. He makes me lie down.

You know why? Because he knows what you need more than what you know. And so he takes these people and he places them and he not only feeds them with the truth. The truth is about the kingdom of God, but he feeds their belly and energizes their bodies. He's the all encompassing shepherd who's not just concerned for your soul, but concerned again about your frame.

And he makes me lie down. Right? He knows exactly when to put me, where to put me, and how long to put me there. He knows what to provide for me, what to remove from me. He is the perfect leader of my life.

And so you have Christ here in some way fulfilling Psalm 23 in a very real way. And what's happening here is he's not just shepherding he's not just shepherding their souls, he's shepherding all that they are. When Christ is your Lord, that's what you can expect in your life. That's what you can really believe God for. And I think what makes us more worried than anything else is not about our souls getting to heaven, it's about how we're gonna pay our bills in the next few months, or what we're gonna wear to the wedding.

And that's precisely what Jesus taught about. Don't get caught up with the food and with the clothing. Right? It's not the big things that often worry us that so that is the case. It's often little things that occupy our time and keep us up and make us run around.

When Christ is shepherd, he's shepherd over all, absolutely everything. And these people would know it, and I'll tell you in closing who's gonna really, really know it, his own disciples Hold on to that thought. But what happens? Verse 41. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all.

And they all ate and were satisfied. You know, this miracle is impressive for many reasons and one of the things that impresses me is that we're not given the mechanics behind it. He just multiplies it. I don't know how that looked. I don't know what happened.

Did he pull it out of a basket? Did it just appear in his hands? I don't it doesn't say and there's reason for that. Right? We're supposed to just trust in this.

But what's incredible here is the principle that out of nothing can come something. And this is not just for these people. This is not just for a moment's time where the people would receive something. This is a lesson for all time. I'm gonna prove that to you in closing.

But what I want you to see here is just that the Lord the Lord is completely aware and completely present and completely capable of providing. And as these people are sitting there and enjoying all that is being provided for, something happens. You know what makes me so blessed by this story is the disciples. The miracle, yes. The prophetic illusion, sure.

All these connections are wonderful, but it's the disciples. We started with the disciples and we end with the disciples. They were supposed to come here for a retreat, and they ended up becoming waiters. This whole thing was planned so that they could rest, and now they are running around organizing people, answering questions. When is the food coming?

When is our turn? I'm sure those were asked. And then serving them. And it makes you wonder because Jesus' idea in verse 31 was come away

by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

Catch your breath. Desolate place and rest a while. Catch a breath. Pause. Rejuvenate.

And what I see in the

following verses is everything but rest, and but taking a breath. Did Jesus forget about them? Did Christ lose sight of his own? You know, you have a lot of servants of God who feel that way. They just give and give and give and give and they don't perceive what what they get out of it.

Or they don't know if if God will take care of them. And yet, something happens at the end. This is the way the story ends. It's verse 42. And they all ate and were satisfied.

A picture of physical satisfaction, but something that Christ gives us of himself, spiritual satisfaction. Verse 43, and they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces and the fish. And those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men. When you go to John six and you read there in verse 12, we are told that the disciples, that they are the disciples. The disciples were instructed at the end of this glorious banquet to go and get the pieces that were untouched and to gather them together.

And people look at this and teach about how God is not wasteful and how we should not be wasteful with the the leftovers of our lives and that's all true. But is it a coincidence that there's 12 baskets? Coincidence? 12 baskets for how many disciples that were called to pick up the fragments? 12?

Coincidence? No. No. No. Perfect provision.

That in gathering these 12 baskets, I have a hunch it was for the 12 servants. Brother, I may may be reading too much into that. No. I'm not. And I'll prove it to you.

Because there was a time when the disciples again were without food. They only had one loaf, and they were traveling again, and they began to talk about their their need. And go there, Mark, to see what Jesus says to these 12, the same 12 who gathered up this set of leftovers. Mark eight sixteen, And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

Now look at this. When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, 12. And the seven for the 4,000, which is another miracle coming down the line. How many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?

And they said to him, seven. We'll explore the seven when we get there. And he said to them, do you not yet understand? Understand what? That I can feed thousands of people?

No. Understand this, that I can feed you. They were talking about how there was no bread and Jesus looking at them as a teacher would after not giving two sermons about it, showing in two amazing ways how he can actually provide. He you don't get it yet? You don't understand it yet?

How notice, he could have said, how many people did I feed out of nothing? And they would have said 5,000 and then 4,000, but he doesn't say that. He says, how many pieces, how many baskets did you pick up after the miracles? 12. Seven.

Why would he bring up the baskets? Because the baskets were for them. And so when these disciples who yet again sacrificed another day to serve the Lord and yet again had another interruption to their schedule and yet again gave more of themselves, Jesus, through this miracle, intentionally calls for the leftovers to be picked up because Jesus, yes, Jesus perfectly knew that 12 baskets would be the measure and that each of them would have a basket in their name. Proving what? When you serve him, he takes care of you.

When you serve him, he will take care of you perfectly. And sometimes you see that at the beginning, sometimes you see it in the middle, sometimes you see it at the end of the matter, but one thing is for certain, he has you in mind. You know what this tells me? As much as Jesus had compassion for the thousands, Jesus had compassion for his servants. He cared about those who serve.

You can guarantee this for yourself if you serve God. He will show up. He will never ever let his servants down. He might make you wait a little bit. He might make you serve in a manner in which you might not immediately perceive it, but it is coming.

And the Lord will come through and you will know his compassion for you, not just his compassion through you. I love that. And I can testify today of eight years of serving the Lord Jesus, my basket has always been full. And as you serve the Lord Jesus, you can guarantee that you will know his fullness, and he will make you lie down by green crashers, and he will bring you by still waters. Does that mean that you will go through life as some would propose without testimonies and without trials and without the need to call upon him?

No. The very same people who experienced the 12 baskets came to a point in Mark eight where they felt like they had nothing. Why? Because God forgot? No.

Because God wants your faith. And he's not just gonna endlessly supply without interruption everything that you ever need so that you don't have to worry and you don't have to wink. Yes. You should never worry. But to bring you to moments where you actually have to pause and trust and call upon his name, he will do that frequently.

But every single time, he will come through. This is what it's all about. And I wanna encourage the servants of God in this house today. As the example of Jesus Christ is in this chapter, Christ was a compassionate minister. He actually loved the people that he served, and especially the lost.

Yes, the lost. He had compassion towards them. But Christ was also a orderly minister, which is important for us as a church growing up and wanting to see God do many things. Remember that the spirit of God is a God of peace, not a God of confusion. And he is a God who helps his servants as they seek to help him and serve him and honor him.

If you're in a place today where you are in need, I wanna close this time by praying for your faith to sustain you, for God to come through because he will come through. And that you can worship and trust him as you wait on him. He is faithful. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this text.

Thank you for what it teaches us. Lord, we know that there is so much more in these verses that we can understand and apply and worship you for. But for now, we have eaten and we are satisfied. Lord, as we said before this prayer, we wanna we wanna seek you for the various needs of this house. Specifically for those who give their time, their resources, their energy to honoring you and glorifying you.

If there is a particular want, if there is a dilemma in their lives, Lord, we just pray that this story would infuse enough faith for them to continue to serve and believe that you will come through at the right time. And Lord, as perhaps some might be waiting for a miracle, believing you to come through for something that they can't do on their own, may they be sensitive enough to your spirit to know what you ask them to do in this particular situation. And And so Lord, even as a church, as we're believing you for many things, as we're believing you for the future of this place, a new building, growing ministries, whatever the case may be, Lord, we will we will we will continue to serve you in the midst. And we will continue to pray as we wait. And we will continue to sing and rejoice for the season that we are in believing that those baskets will come.

And believing that you have not forgotten us as we have faithfully served you. You are a good God. Lord, we worship you. We worship you because you have spoken to our hearts this afternoon. We thank you for Angie's baptism.

May your hand be on her life. We thank you for every saint in this place. May your hand continue to be on their lives. For the person in this place that doesn't know you, may they see the compassion of Jesus Christ that it is not just for them, it is for them now here today. That they would respond by surrendering to you as the Ninevites then.

And repenting and turning from their sin, realizing that you are the one who gives life and life abundant. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's stand church and worship.