Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 7:31-8:26

 

! Introduction

When we moved to Rosenort there were some things we worried about.

Of course there were the concerns of wondering if we would fit in and be able to make a contribution, but there was another concern as well.

We had just lived in a rented house where we had not unpacked all of our boxes for 7 months.

We did not want to live in a temporary place again.

We looked at a few houses which might eventually have been available and there was one that we liked because of its location and the features it had, but we weren’t sure if it was available.

So we were concerned about these things.

Did we trust God to look after us?

Were we free of concern because we were confident that God would provide a place for us?

Yes, we believed, but we still worried.

Now it is over 10 years later and we have lived in the house we liked for all of that time.

In hind sight, we can see that God provided a place for us that was better than we could have expected.

We like our house, I particularly enjoy that it is on the river and we can look back and see that God provided abundantly.

At the time, however, we were not that confident and that seems to happen with every new thing that comes into our life.

We wonder, “Where is God?” “How is He going to care for us this time?”

“Will He care for us?” God has given us so much reason to trust Him and yet we struggle to live in confident faith.

Do you ever worry about the future?

Do you ever fear circumstances?

What are you afraid of right now?

What do you think Jesus is doing about it?

Do you think Jesus is doing anything?

Why do you doubt that He is doing anything?

We have often heard young people tell stories of what happens to them at camp.

They tell about how they have grown in faith when they were at camp.

Because of the concentration and the prayer, amazing spiritual victories often take place at camp.

God’s presence is so great and many commit themselves to living by faith and to being faithful.

On the last day of camp they are filled with a powerful sense of how great God is and how they want to follow God when they get home.

But after camp it doesn’t take long and life gets in the way and routine and temptations happen and pretty soon they aren’t so confident in God any more.

Where is our faith?

Why can’t we remember?

Why does doubt come?

The disciples of Jesus had a similar experience.

They had been in the presence of Jesus and saw Him do all kinds of amazing things and teach wonderful truths.

It was like being at camp all the time, but there were still times when they weren’t all that confident about Jesus.

There were times when they were not aware of His love or His power.

There were times when they struggled with worry and fear.

This morning we will look at the stories in Mark 7:31-8:26 in order to think about these things and be encouraged that God is at work building us up in faith and helping us to see Him at work.

I hope that these words encourage you in whatever is causing you to worry and doubt.

!

I.                   Spiritual Blindness

The key phrase in these verses is Mark 8:17, 18 where Jesus asks the disciples, “Do you still not see or understand?

Are your hearts hardened?

Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?”

Why did Jesus ask this question?

How was it answered?

!! A.                 Feeding 4000 People

In these verses, Jesus did a lot of traveling.

We read, in 7:31, that he was in Tyre and that he went up to Sidon and then down to the Sea of Galilee and crossed it several times.

The story in Mark 7:31-37 took place in an area that was inhabited mostly by Gentiles, so the audience was likely mostly not Jewish.

He had been with this crowd teaching and doing miracles for 3 days and realized that the people were likely running out of food and getting hungry.

He perceived that their hunger was serious.

It is interesting that they were so interested in Jesus that they were willing to stay in a remote place to listen to him and willing to undergo some hardship to hear Him.

The story reminds us of a similar miracle story in Mark 6:30-44 where Jesus fed 5000.

Once again it is the compassion of Jesus which prompts him to recognize their need and desire to feed them.

Once again the disciples do not possess the resources needed to feed such a crowd.

Once again the disciples witnessed an amazing miracle of Jesus’ compassion.

The stories look similar, and some have suggested that they refer to the same event, but there are enough differences between the two stories to help us realize that they are two different stories which happened on two different occasions.

In the first story there were 5 loaves of bread available and in the second 7.

In the first story there were 2 fish and in the second, a few fish are mentioned.

In the first story 5000 people were fed and in the second, 4000.

In the first story 12 baskets remained and in the second 7.

The most significant difference is that the first story happened in a Jewish area and the second in a Gentile area and it seems that the purpose of including both stories is to show that God provides for both Jews and Gentiles.

Geddert comments, “As early as Augustine of Hippo, interpreters of Mark’s Gospel have seen the two feedings in Mark as for Jews and Gentiles…The first shows how God fulfills Israel’s hopes; the second shows how God also intends to give grace to the Gentiles.”

The text says in Mark 8:8 that “they ate and were filled.”

Through this experience the disciples once again saw God at work and realized the power and provision of God through Jesus and also the compassion of Jesus.

Following the feeding, Jesus left in a boat to go to the other side of the lake.

!! B.                 Conflict with the Pharisees

As He came to the other side, he met some Pharisees.

They had one purpose.

They did not want to know Him or listen to Him, they wanted to test Him.

Their attitude was one of challenge.

Jesus was deeply moved by their obstinate unbelief.

They had seen so much, but remained blind to the truth about Jesus.

Because of their attitude, Jesus refused to respond to them and left and crossed the Sea of Galilee again.

The problem with their attitude was that they wanted proof.

Jesus doesn’t work that way.

He demonstrates God’s power and teaches, but offers truth to those who have faith and insight, not to those who demand a sign.

!! C.                 Can You Hear?

Can You See?

When they got back into the boat, we have a rather interesting interchange between Jesus and the disciples.

It is a puzzling conversation, but in the end it reveals hearts and invites us to examine our hearts.

We are told at the beginning of the story that the disciples had forgotten to stow provisions aboard the boat and that all they had along was one loaf of bread.

While this was a matter of concern weighing on the minds of the disciples, Jesus was talking about something else.

He began to talk about the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.

The disciples responded to each other referring to that which had been on their minds.

They were concerned that they didn’t have enough bread.

It seems as if their worries were so great that they didn’t have the capacity to think about anything else or to hear what Jesus was talking about.

What was Jesus talking about when he mentioned the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod?

Yeast is something that influences.

When it is put in dough, it permeates the entire lump of dough.

In Mark 6:14 we read that, Herod had heard about the miracles of Jesus and speculated that John the Baptist had been raised.

He did not realize the divine source of Jesus power or position nor inquire more about who Jesus was.

The Pharisees had seen the power of Jesus and should have recognized its origin, but refused to do so.

Both of them were unbelieving.

They did not accept Jesus and they did not respond in faith.

Such unbelief, if permitted to enter into one’s heart permeates and has an influence which destroys faith.

Jesus was warning the disciples that they should not be unbelieving, like the Pharisees and Herod.

But they didn’t get it.

They were confused about what Jesus was talking about.

They were worried and in their worry they expressed unbelief.