Are You a Fanatic?
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
Good Morning
I want to thank all our veterans again. Even will all the issues we have in our country, it is still the greatest country! That is because of our military. Again thank you!
What do you give a sick lemon?
Lemon-aid
Today we are going to be in Mark 8, verses 1-10.
Last week we saw Jesus return to the region that had the man with the legion of demons in him. Last time Jesus was here, they implored Him to leave. This time, they implored Him to heal their sick and lame. What a difference one person can make. When Jesus left last time, the man he cast the demons out of wanted to go with Him. He did not let him go with Him. He told him to stay and tell the people what Jesus did for him. That is what he did and it made a huge difference in how the people viewed Jesus. He didn’t have 4 years of seminary school. He didn’t have years of sitting under a pastor teaching him about Jesus. All he did was tell people what Jesus had done for him. We don’t need tons of training to tell people about our King. All we have to do is tell them what He has done for us. What we were like before and what we are like now. People can’t argue with you when the story you are telling them is what happened to you. We should be ready to give our testimony. I recommend if you haven’t to write it out on paper. It helps when you sit down and write out your testimony to get it organized. Once it is written down, you can go over it multiple times so that you are ready when the opportunity arises.
Today we are going to look at Jesus feeding the 4,000. This is a similar event to when He fed the 5,000. But there are several key differences. We are going to see Jesus have compassion for the people, and again we are going to see the disciples not get it.
Please stand as we read God’s Word.
1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned His disciples and said to them, 2 “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me for three days already and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4 And His disciples replied to Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”6 And He directed the people to recline on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve, and they served them to the people. 7 They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He told the disciples to serve these as well. 8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9 About four thousand men were there; and He dismissed them. 10 And immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
Let’s pray
In those days refers to the days Jesus was healing all the sick people and the lame people. He was still in the region of Decapolis. We can see that almost everywhere Jesus went, a large crowd was sure to gather. His fame had grown. He had been in His ministry now for a little over 2 years. He is less that a year from the passover and His death and resurrection. Now this was an extremely large crowd that had gathered. We are told that they do not have any food, that is the crowd. I am sure that they had not planned on staying with Jesus for that long. They had probably just planned on getting their friends healed and then leaving, but there is just something about Jesus that once you meet Him, you can’t just walk away. He was teaching and healing. People were amazed and couldn’t get enough of what He was saying and doing. Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said that He felt compassion for the crowd. This is the only time that Jesus said that He had compassion. We are told many times that He had compassion or was compassionate towards people, but this is the first time He said it in the first person. He didn’t want to send them away without food for they would have fainted and possible died. Some of them lived a great distance away. They had been there with Jesus for 3 days without food! How many of you have gone 3 days without food? You can survive much longer than 3 days without food, but I don’t want to try it! I have gone 1 day without eating and that was hard enough. These people wanted to be with Jesus so bad that they were going without food to do it.
It makes me think about football games. People will go to games when it is freezing outside. They will sit in the cold weather for hours and cheer on their teams. They are fans of their team. Fan is just short for fanatic. Would you sit outside in the freezing weather for Jesus? How uncomfortable are you willing to be for our King? People will spend hours at a sporting event, but can’t find 1 hour to come to church. It is a sad state of our world. If people were to watch you for a while, would they consider you a fan of Jesus? Could they tell what team you are on? Remember there are no undercover Christians! We are called to be a light in this dark world. Is our light shining, or is it hidden? Are we like these Gentiles who all that mattered to them was to be with Jesus? If we are ashamed to tell the world about Jesus, He will be ashamed to tell God about us. Let’s make sure that if being a Christian were illegal, there would be enough evidence to convict us!
We see again that the disciples were clueless again. Had they already forgotten about the 5,000! They don’t get smart with Jesus this time, but they tell Him that there is not enough bread in the area to feed all these people. The bread of life is standing before them and they can’t see Him. They don’t understand. Their faith is still the size of a mustard seed. It hasn’t yet grown to full maturity.
So Jesus asks, how many loaves do you have? They had seven loaves. That is 2 more than the last time. Jesus has everyone sit down on the ground. Jesus blessed the food and then broke it and gave it to the disciples to serve to the people. This would have been very different for the disciples. They are not serving their fellow Jews. They are serving Gentiles. They had been taught their whole lives that they were not allowed to eat with Gentiles. The Gentiles were considered unclean. The Gentiles were beneath them. They were better than the Gentiles. Now Jesus is having them serve them! This is foreshadowing of how once He is gone, they will be taking His good news to them and serving them in His name. I imagine that this would have been difficult for them to do with a smile on their faces. They also had a few small fish that Jesus blessed and served to the people. And again they all ate until they were satisfied. They were full and didn’t want anymore. No one left and said I wish I had another piece of that bread. When Jesus provides, He provides enough to satisfy everyone.
There were 7 baskets full of food left over. Besides that fact that this feeding was largely Gentile, the other main difference between the 5,000 was the size of the baskets. In the feeding of the 5 thousand, there were 12 small baskets. These baskets were the size of a lunch box. The baskets they filled at the 4 thousand were large baskets. They were baskets the size of laundry baskets. This is the same word used in Acts 9:25 for the basket that they lowered Paul down to escape from the Jews who were plotting to kill him. So even though there were less baskets full of food, there would have been more food left over. Non of it went to waste though. The disciples and those following Jesus had to eat. This is the food that they ate.
Mark tells us that there were 4,000 men. So there was probably somewhere around 10-15 thousand people there! And they all got satisfied from 7 loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. We serve such an awesome God!! I can’t image what it would have been like to be there! He wasn’t feed Jews, He was feed us. If we would have been alive back then, this could have been us. We are Gentiles. Even though it wasn’t time for Jesus to come to the Gentiles, He had compassion. He was moved by the compassion He had. He supplied their needs. He fed them when they were hungry. He will always provide what we need. Not what we greed. There is a big difference between need and greed. I think that point has been lost in America because of our prosperity. We have way more than we need.
Then Jesus dismissed them. After dismissing them, He and the disciples headed back across the Sea of Galilee to the region of Dalmanutha. This region is located on the NW coast of the Sea of Galilee. They are headed back into Jewish territory. We are going to see next week that as soon as He gets back into Isreal, the Pharisee’s are back after Him.
The main point I want to focus on from these verses is that following Jesus can be uncomfortable at times. It isn’t easy. Just like I’m sure it wasn’t easy for the crowd to go 3 days without food. It is funny the things that we will be uncomfortable for. Sporting events, hunting and fishing, black Friday shopping, standing in line to get tickets to a concert. The list is endless. Are we willing to be uncomfortable for the one who died so we could live? It is funny how many people have left churches because they sang the wrong type of songs, or the pastor’s sermons went to long. The carpet is the wrong color. It is sad that people are not willing to be uncomfortable for Christ. Why are we here? Are we here to please ourselves? Or are we here to worship and learn more about our King? Are we here for self or are we here for Him? Following Jesus is not easy, but it is worth it. It is worth whatever it costs. Eternity is a long time to be comfortable. It is also a long time to be wrong. There is a reason that the path to Christ is narrow and the gate is small. Not many people take that path. It is the most expensive free gift! It will cost you everything but the gain is so much more. I know that it will suffer what ever He has for me because I know that He has compassion for me and will provide all I need. I know that on that day when I stand before Him, it will all be worth it. If you have not decided to take the narrow path and repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ, it is not to late. You can do that today. Are you tired of trying to be good enough. Stop trying and let Jesus be King. We can’t be good enough. Our best are like dirty rags to Him. He doesn’t want our good deeds. He wants our hearts. When we start singing if you have yet, come and give your heart to Him. The one who has compassion for you.
Let’s pray
