41 Preaching Teaching/ Mark 6:30-44: Satisfaction Guaranteed

SERMON BRIEF

Rhetorical Sermon Outline

Name: Nathan Law

1. Sermon Title (in quotation marks; headline capitalization style): “Satisfaction Guaranteed”

2. Text:Matthew 6:30-44

3. Subject (in one or two words--or as a short phrase, but not a sentence): Satisfying Faith/Multiplication

4. ETS (Essence of the Text in a Sentence--state in the past tense):

The great shepherd builds his disciples faith while revealing himself through the feeding of the 5,000.

5. ESS (Essence of the Sermon in a Sentence--also called the Proposition; do not state in the past tense): You can deepen your faith in the savior who satisfies every need.

6. OSS (Objective of the Sermon in a Sentence--state in terms of what hearers will do as a result of this sermon): Hearers will be challenged to deepen their faith in a savior that is able to supply their every need.

FCF-We are like the disciples who have seen the satisfying savior but still settle for allowing things of the world satisfy our deepest needs that only God can ultimately satisfy.

Discipleship Practice-Multiplication

B. Formal Elements

Introduction

1. Have you ever noticed how much people settle in life. A pastor of mine had a family and there kids was doing drugs. He was smoking weed. The parents wanted the pastor to talk to him. So he told the kid to smoke all the weed he wanted the parents were shocked. Now why do I share that story because this kid was settling. But this is not the only way we settle. I love our great country but we settle when we place the American dream ahead or our relationship with GOd. You see we are all looking for the most satisfaction possible. Some people look for it in there families, others look for it at there jobs. Other look for it in making a ton of money. Some look for it in relationships. We could go down a huge long list. But no matter where we look for it we want to be satisfied.

2. Our problem is that we settle for satisfaction. God wants to satisfy us more than anything in this world. However many of us think God is this kill joy. But our problem much of the time is we settle for so little in our relationship with God from the satisfaction God wants to give us. “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses

3. Most Christians I know have faith. But they don’t have a satisfying faith. Why do most Christians, I include myself in this, are willing to spend hours looking forward to and participating in their hobbies but when it come to worshipping at Church it feels like a chore.

4. Jesus calls us to have faith in improbable situations because he is the great shepherd.

Body

It’s crucial in having a satisfying faith to:

I. prioritize intimacy with God. (Rest) (30-34).

30 The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.31 And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)32They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

Explanation:

a. Setting: We need a time to Celebrate Ministry (30)-Earlier in this chapter Jesus sent out his. They had preached and healed and cast out demons. These guys were like rock starts.

Jesus had a training Program-he was only going to be on earth for 3 years:

He taught his disciples, he sent them out, they returned and they reported and evaluated.

Illustration: We do this after Gospel explosions. Remember a time when I had a 7th grader lead a mom to Christ in Lowe’s.

That God provides rest for his people within the wilderness is a recurring theme in the Scripture.[1]

God has created us for intimacy with him. As a matter of fact: God created us to enjoy him and glorify him forever.

Why do we need to prioritize time with God?

a. We are prone to pride.

I wonder if the disciples were getting a little to big for their britches. Man I cast out demons, led this guy to Christ. Ministry is awesome and believe it or not if we get disconnected to Jesus we can get prideful.

Ministers are the worst at pride. We compare ourselves to other churches.

The crowds were rushing to them and there was plenty of work to be done. Let’s get away.

These disciples needed rest. You need rest. They were like rock stars now.

God tells us to rest in Genesis and we see it in the ten commandments as well. The most important thing we can do is be close to God. We just had a mission trip and our church did a great work. But you know what was the most important part of that work was. Rest.

God called his people to rest even in the middle of ministry. There was more work to do but Jesus knew that their priority needed to be is relationship.

Why do we need to prioritize time with God?

b. We think we are self sufficient

Illustration-First time I shared the gospel to getting better at it. There are times when I don’t feel like I need to God.

Application:

1. Get away: Secluded place (31-32)

It seems like we have two extremes. Some people never rest they are always going, going. Technology does not make this any easier we are always doing something on our phones. But then the other extreme is people who are just lazy and never do anything. “Some people “rust out” in ministry because they are lazy. Others “burn out” because they never take a break. Vance Havner says, “If we don’t come apart, we will come apart.[2]”

2. Un plug for a day and turn your phone off.

3. After your quiet time listen to God

Why do we need to prioritize time with God?

c. Only the real shepherd satisfies

Notice Jesus meets their most important need first, he meets their spiritual need first. Jesus knew that even more important than physical food was the correct teaching about God. You see when we go on mission trips as important as it is to heal people physically the greatest need is people to be healed spiritually. Jesus went to the heart of the matter.

Sheep are stupid and will die without a good shepherd the Bible calls us sheep.

People all around you are hurting, they are the crowds. Some are coming from abusive homes, some are seeing there parents go through a break up, some are addicted to drug and alcohol, some are turning to relationships for satisfaction and because of this there are so many who are like sheep without a shepherd.

“Bonhoeffer eloquently describes the plight of the people without a shepherd. “There were questions but no answers, distress but no relief, anguish of conscience but no deliverance, tears but no consolation, sin but no forgiveness.”[3]

Explanation- The shepherds at this time were doing a poor job. The problem wasn’t that there were not any the problem was that they were bad shepherds.

Today there are bad shepherds: there are churches that are preaching that works get you to heaven. there are churches that teach that there are other ways to Jesus. There are shepherds who want to own your life. A question we have to ask is why were these people sheep without a shepherd. The people leading them were not good shepherds they were hired hands (John 10:12-13). They were not leading them closer to God they were leading them far away. They were not leading the people closer to God.

[What are some false shepherds that are not religious}

Shepherd-Jesus is the only true shepherd. What defines him-Compassion.

Throughout scripture we see the importance of a great shepherd. Psalms 23 is probably the greatest picture of this. In the Pentatuch we see that Moses was the shepherd of God’s people. We see in Luke 15 that God wants to shepherd his people by going after the lost sheep. John 10 Jesus lays down his life for his sheep and in 1 Peter 5:4 Jesus is the great shepherd. In Revelation 7:17 Jesus guides his sheep to living Water. God is the great shepherd in scripture.

You see a good shepherd would be the difference in sheep living or dying. A good shepherd would lay his life down for the sheep.

Do you realize that we all need the good shepherd. Sometimes as believers we forget the seriousness of our plight the seriousness of our need of a shepherd.

This is a great description of how we all are without the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today there are a lot of hired shepherds. Churches are not teaching the truth of the word of God they are teaching self help.

The crowds greatest need was intimacy with Jesus.

Application:

How are you prioritizing intimacy with Jesus?

Do you listen to God?

What changes in your life do you need to make to make intimacy your greatest priority?

Transition-So we have seen that Because Jesus wants us to have a satisfying faith we must:

I. prioritize intimacy with God. but we are also going to see that we also have to.

It’s crucial in having a satisfying faith to:

II. Realize God desires to use us in his plan to show God’s glory (35-44).

35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late;

36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred bdenarii on bread and give them something to eat?”

38 And He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.”

39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.

40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.

41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.

42 They all ate and were satisfied,

43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.

44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Explanation:

The disciples were most likely tired and wore out and now they are telling Jesus what to do. They were not recommending this they gave this as a command. Send them home. This does not sound like the heart of the good shepherd.

The disciples tell Jesus what to do (35-36).

I told God his plan for my life. I was going to work with College students. Guys it is great to have a vision for your life and to want to do great things for God but one of the things is that make sure you vision for your life is connected to God.

What do we have to realize in order to be a part of God’s plan?

1. God does not need us (38)

***The gospel states that nothing we can do earns his favor in other words no good work or no good deed will get us into his presence. Nothing we bring to the table will earn his favor. That is why Jesus died and the cross and if we will place our trust in him he will forgive us and heal us and gives an eternal relationship with an eternal god.

These disciples were looking at this situation and they had to of been saying there is nothing we can do to feed these people. This is not only improbable it is impossible.

All our money is not the solution, even if it was we don’t have enough. We are putting our heads together and this is not going to work out. God is God and I am not and he has to be on the throne.

Illustration: Peter was fishing, one time and he was a fisherman. All night he had not caught anything. Then Jesus shows up and he tells him to fish on the other side and all the sudden he catches so many fish that his boat is about to sink. He turns to Jesus and says get away from me I am a sinful man. Peter realized Jesus is who he says he is. God is God and he needs to be on the throne.

What do we have to realize in order to be a part of God’s plan?

2. But God delights to use our resources (broken pieces)

But even though God is God he wants to use our stuff.

Illustration: Houston vision of planting 100 churches in 25 years I am sitting here thinking to myself how is this going to happen. I have no job I have no sponsorship yet. But God is saying go see what you have, Are you willing to trust me with everything you have. With your Wife and family, with your future, are you willing to give me all of your stuff.

Application:

Are you trusting everything you have over to Jesus? Is everything you have on the table available to his disposal or are you holding back?

There were a group of students who started a revival and prayed this:

God we will go anywhere, do anything anytime for the cause of Christ.

The world changed because of a group who was willing to give their broken pieces to Jesus.

What do we have to realize in order to be a part of God’s plan?

3. God’s Math doesn’t make sense

Jesus + (your broken Pieces) = The glory of God being displayed

Multiplication vs addition

Example

You have heard me share about multiplication before. But here is the example

I reach 1,000 people a year for 33 years = 33,000 people

Or I reach 1 person a year and disciple him the next year we do this again but the other person reaches someone. Over 33 years 8.6 billion people will be reached.

Not only were the disciples satisfied, the crowds were satisfied.

We just had thanksgiving and I know how you guys eat so I know you were satisfied. Isn’t it a great feeling. I remember I thanksgiving I ate and then I sat and watched the NFL game. Man it was nice.

Jesus satisfies us eternally.

‘Who is Jesus?’ He is not merely the healer of afflicted individuals or the rescuer of endangered disciples; he is one who is not bound by the rules of normal experience of what is possible and impossible.[4]

Is Jesus the satisfier of your sole.

Are you allowing Jesus to multiply your broken pieces?

Or are you keeping them to yourselves?

He wanted to teach the disciples and the multitudes to look to Him for their needs. He was the ultimate source of all they needed.[5]

Conclusion

1.God wants to be our ultimate satisfier. His heart breaks because we settle for so little when he is offering so much. In what areas of your life are you settling for little of God. Jesus wants to teach you that he will satisfy your every need.

2. Maybe you are not satisfied because you have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. What would happen today if the Church got a fresh view of God and the world looking on would say we want what they have, there is something different, because we are feasting on the Lord Jesus Christ.

C. Notes

1. The number of points may vary within the formal elements from the numbers shown above.

2. All main points (i.e., I, II, etc.) in the sermon body outline must be referenced to the text (e.g., I. The Motive of Salvation, John 3:16a; II. The Means of Salvation, John 3:16b).

3. Write all sermon body main points in headline capitalization style (e.g., The Motive of Salvation). Write all lesser points under the main points in sentence

[1] Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 225). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

[2] Page 137, Christ Centered Exposition: Mark.

[3] Page 258, Garland. The New Application Commentary: Mark.

[4] France, R. T. (2002). The Gospel of Mark: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 263). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.

[5] Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Mk 6:35). Galaxie Software.