Does Jesus Matter?
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Intro
Intro
Forget it! That can be descriptive, or prescriptive.
There are many things we want to forget, or really should forget, that seem to hang us up. When we fixate on those things I hope we have a friend who comes along beside us and in love tells us, “For get it! Move on!” When it comes to things we ought to forgive, things that draw us back to where we came from instead of encourage us to where God is taking us. Forget it!
But there are things we forget we shouldn’t.
The flashing school zone sign.
The chicken in the trunk after grocery shopping.
Your keys IN the car when you’re locked OUTSIDE the car.
Time change!
But maybe most importantly, do we forget what God has done?
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
God desires tremendous blessing for us not only in eternity, but today. That blessing wont look like the blessings of the world (he doesn’t want to preclude those) but are blessing of joy and contentment and belonging and purpose.
But when we look at God’s heart for us then forget it, we’ll miss so much of what He would give us!
Pary
1 About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, 2 “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?”
5 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
“Seven loaves,” they replied.
6 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. 7 A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them.
8 They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. 9 There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. 10 Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.
This passage
“I have Compassion” - Jesus
“I have Compassion” - Jesus
v. 1-3
Jesus Speaks the Words of life.
Those words draw them/us into faith.
Faith leads to loss of control.
That loss of control leads us to a place of need.
Jesus asks us to trust Him, that He might prove to be our provision.
Our Response Makes the Difference
Our Response Makes the Difference
Our response to what we’ve seen and know.
History Speaks.
History Speaks.
The disciples seem unsure how to respond. Were they at a loss? were they confident Jesus would handle this situation?
Biblical History
Biblical History
What did Jesus do recorded in scripture? What hearts/lives/nations did He change?
World History
World History
What has Jesus done in the world? In our context? In your family?
Your History
Your History
What has He done in you Life? Can you look and see the New Creation? Do you remember what He saved you from?
Was there a time when your current state would have seemed unbelievable?
Do you respond to Jesus in light of what He has already done?
Compartmentalized or Transcendent?
Compartmentalized or Transcendent?
Do we trust Him in all things or only “Spiritual things”? Matt 6:25-29
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Jesus asks us place real dependence on Him not only with the state of our souls but also the for our food, clothing, and finances.
In those areas, do we pray for provision or miraculous provision?
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
When we pray for provision, we seek from God what is reasonable within our reach.
When we pray for miraculous provision, we pray for what only He can provide.
We compartmentalism our faith when we trust Jesus in some areas, but don’t even seek him elsewhere.
Hardware store. Your go the the electrical isle and talk to a very helpful person about your project. He gives you advise, ideas, expertise. But then you ask a question about gardening. He can tel you what isle to go to, but has no expertise in that area. Oven if he gave you advice, you likely wouldn’t follow it.
This is how we treat God sometimes. I’ll listen to Him how to pray or have the right attitude toward my neighbor. But when it comes to parenting, or finances, or entertainment - what does God know about it anyway? We’ve compartmentalized God.
If we respond to God in this way, we will not receive the abundance He desires to provide.
That means YOU!
That means YOU!
Compare again to feeding the 5,000. They were Jews, these mostly gentiles. That might not be a big practical deal for us today, but it was then. The Jews were (and are) God’s chosen people. But God’s mercies are bigger than that.
Sometimes we think we aren’t high on God’s priorities list. “God saved me, I can’t expect much more than that! He’s got bigger fish to fry.” That sounds humble, but it’s really a lack of belief about what God says.
God wants to bless you! He wants you to rejoice in His goodness to you? When God says He wants to fill your cup with blessing, most of us bring one of those little communion cups and not a napkin!
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
And HOW does God say He want’s to supply this all??
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
According to His RICHES and GLORY! Do you know how much that is? It’s certainly bigger that a communion cup. Bigger than a soup bowl.
Back to the text…
To the Jew first, and then the gentile
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: The Servant-Teacher (Mark 7:1–8:26)
There were even two different kinds of baskets used: for the 5,000, small wicker lunch baskets (kophinos); for the 4,000, large hampers, big enough to hold a man (spuris, see Acts 9:25).
The small baskets for the jewish audience of the 5,000 (the remnant, yet complete), the large baskets for the mostly gentile audience in the Decapolis (fullness of the Gentiles).
God’s basket of overflow is large enough for you to hide in! If that’s the overflow, how much he has blacked before you!
Have you taken you fill of God’s miraculous blessing? Are you responding to God’s overwhelming goodness? To His proven track record of faithfulness? Are you forgetting what lies behind, yet remembering where He saved you from? Are you pressing forward in response to His overflowing love?
In short, does your life show that Jesus matters? That is our call, that is our testimony.
Pray