Contentment in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Invocation: Rom 6:4
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Text: Matthew 14:1-21
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.
10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Main Point/FCF:
Application:
The Cost of Christ
The Cost of Christ
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.
10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
Following Christ cost John the Baptist his life.
Following Christ cost John the Baptist his life.
Not long before, John had weighed the cost of proclaiming Christ.
2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
John preached the message of the kingdom, and he spoke the truth to some very powerful people who didn’t want to hear it.
John called out sin as sin, and it got him thrown in prison.
3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
Following Christ is costly.
Following Christ is costly.
We talked about this last week, and it’s a recurring theme in the book of Matthew.
Jesus commanded his followers not to be devoted to material things, which runs totally against our culture.
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
He said that following him and his kingdom was worth more than the sum total of all your possessions.
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
He called his disciples to be willing to suffer rejection and persecution.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
And he called his disciples to be willing to lay down their lives for him.
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
There is no health, wealth, and prosperity promised in this life for followers of Christ. In fact, there is tribulation, persecution, and deprivation promised for followers of Jesus.
But, Christ is not unsympathetic to our suffering. He does not callously call us to suffer for his sake and say, “Buck up and suck it up.” In the midst of our suffering, Christ has compassion.
The Compassion of Christ
The Compassion of Christ
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Christ has compassion for those who suffer.
Christ has compassion for those who suffer.
When Christ calls his disciples to lay down their lives, as John the Baptist did, he does not do so callously.
Time and again we see that when those around him suffer, Jesus feels their pain. When John the Baptist was executed, Jesus had to get alone to grieve his death and suffering.
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself...
When his friend Lazarus died,
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
35 Jesus wept.
The Bible does not dismiss death as “just a doorway,” as if it were insignificant.
Death is terrible. Scripture describes it as “the final enemy” of God
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
While it is true that “death is a doorway” into eternal life for those who die, for those of us who are left behind when a loved one departs, it’s the greatest pain and suffering we can experience in this life.
Christ is not a compassionless, emotionless slave-driver. He cares deeply for us and only asks us to sacrifice and suffer when it is ultimately for our benefit.
So yes, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a german pastor who was executed for standing up to Hitler, once said,
When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Lutheran Pastor)
But, he bids him “come,” not “go.”
The beautiful promise of Scripture is not that Christ will spare us any suffering in this life, but that he will be present with us and have compassion with us in the midst of it.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
So, knowing the compassion of Christ in the midst of our suffering...
There is Contentment in Christ
There is Contentment in Christ
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Jesus’ provision of food for the multitude pictures the spiritual satisfaction of those who trust in him.
Jesus’ provision of food for the multitude pictures the spiritual satisfaction of those who trust in him.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
This echoes back to the Exodus, when God was leading his people out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land.
They wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years because they wouldn’t listen and stop complaining to God.
But, all throughout that time, God fed them with manna and provided them with water whenever they needed it.
35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
The point of the manna and the point of this miracle when Jesus feeds the 5,000 is not merely that Jesus can do the miraculous. Obviously, this points to the fact that he is God.
But, beyond that, it points to the fact that just as God provided for and satisfied the needs of his people in the Exodus, Christ provides for us in our times of wandering, in our times of hunger and thirst, in our times of suffering. He is our manna, and those who desire him will be satisfied.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
John’s gospel tells us, though, that many of the people didn’t get the point. Right after Jesus performs this miracle, they follow him, asking him to perform more signs.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
When Jesus says, “I AM” the bread of life, he uses a phrase in Greek that isn’t strictly necessary. Greek verbs are inflected, much like in Spanish and many other languages, so that the verb for “am” also contains within it the subject “I.” But, here in John 6, Jesus uses both subject (ego, “I”) and verb (eimi, “am”) in such a way that it echoes back again to the Exodus story, when God reveals his name to Moses.
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Jesus is saying, “The same ‘I AM’ who satisfied your forefathers in the desert is standing before you now. I want to satisfy your deepest need.”
The people, unfortunately, didn’t get Jesus’ point very well. They thought that their greatest need at the moment was food and water.
But, for those who realize that their greatest need goes much deeper, Jesus offers true, lasting satisfaction.
Jesus is the bread of Heaven and he is the water of life. To the woman at the well, Jesus said...
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Where are you looking for contentment?
Where are you looking for contentment?
Yes, Jesus calls his disciples to sacrifice a great deal in this life. But, he promises to be with us through all of it, and he promises that what we give up in this life will be far outweighed by what we gain.
Some of you are searching for something. Maybe you don’t even know what you’re searching for. You’re looking for purpose, meaning, satisfaction, contentment. You’ve tried work, but can’t seem to find contentment or purpose in that. Maybe you’ve tried drugs, alcohol, sex, and relationships, but those always leave you empty, hungry and thirsty for more. They never really satisfy.
“Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise...If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
—C.S. Lewis
1 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live...
