The Kingdom Ministry Model

Welcome

Intro

As we continue through our Journey Through Matthew I want to remind you of the change in the ministry of Jesus after Isreal’s leadership officially rejects him in chapter 12.

He shifts from Kingdom Now to Kingdom Program.

He begins a fast track of Teaching His Disciples (Talmid) how to be undershephards…….These guys have no formal education and never planned to go into ministry……One is a Child………Known of them could possibly grasp at the time what would be required of them.

Pastor Stephen Armstrong puts it this way: “ Never the less Jesus’ plan is to hand over the leadership of the Church to fishermen, a tax collector, and a teenager.

He forgot to mention a Religious Zealot.

However as Jesus is Teaching them we are going to see important themes as Jesus prepares His Disciples to Serve Him as Kingdom Ambassadors…… Talmid

Jesus will teach these men many things about ministry and about recruiting others to do the same

His work will be made all the more difficult because so much of what these men thought they knew about ministry was wrong

They grew up under Pharisaic Judaism, and so their training focused on the Mishnah and the rituals of Jewish life

Which lead to a very legalistic and unloving approach to ministry

Secondly, I want to remind you that as Jesus has walked the Earth and stepped into ministry He is not operating under His own Godly Power.

While He is “Immanuel, God with Us!” He walking the Earth Fully as a Man.

He did So Sinlessly

The Only Power He is operating under is the Power of the Holy Spirit.

All Miracles, Signs, and Wonders done by Jesus are Done Through the Power of the Holy Spirit.

This leads us into the todays section of Scripture and training lesson

Body

Matthew 14:13–15 CSB

13 When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick. 15 When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

Matthew says that after Jesus heard of John’s death, He withdrew from there

“There” refers to somewhere on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, but we don’t know Jesus’ exact departure point

We know He had just been in Nazareth

And we know that later when He returns, He walks back to Capernaum across the water

So perhaps He departed from Capernaum

In any case, the reason for His departure according to Matthew was at hearing of John’s death

But Jesus takes this journey for more than just an opportunity to mourn over John privately

Jesus travels to perform the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand

We know this because we have the benefit of considerable context for this moment given in the other Gospels

Matthew says that after Jesus heard of John’s death, He withdrew from there

“There” refers to somewhere on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, but we don’t know Jesus’ exact departure point

We know He had just been in Nazareth

And we know that later when He returns, He walks back to Capernaum across the water

So perhaps He departed from Capernaum

In any case, the reason for His departure according to Matthew was at hearing of John’s death

But Jesus takes this journey for more than just an opportunity to mourn over John privately

Jesus travels to perform the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand

We know this because we have the benefit of considerable context for this moment given in the other Gospels

This miracle is unique in the New Testament, because it’s the only one of Jesus’ miracles reported in all four of the Gospels

Which tells us what an impression it made on all the disciples…truly this was a lesson none of them every forgot

And because it’s recorded in all four Gospels, we have a lot of background information to help us understand why it happened

First, Mark tells us in Chapter 6 that Jesus and the disciples were exhausted from ministering to so many people

Mark 6:31–32 CSB

31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place,

MARK 6:31 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.)

MARK 6:32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

So the Lord told His disciples they would get away for a while to rest from the burdens of ministry

That’s why they chose to sail to the eastern side of the Galilee

It is important to understand that the territory around the Sea of Galilee was divided into Jewish and Gentile regions

The Jews occupied the western side of the lake while the Gentles occupied the eastern side

We last saw Jesus in this region when He visited Gerasa and freed the man in the tombs from the demons

Jesus ventured periodically into the Gentile region primarily to escape the Jewish crowds that pressed on Him 24/7

Jews rarely if ever ventured into the Gentile territory, so when Jesus went there by boat, the crowds wouldn’t follow

But this time Jesus chose to journey to a spot located on the border between the two regions

Luke tells us that the secluded place Jesus went was located near a small fishing village called Bethsaida

Bethsaida was the dividing point between Jew and Gentile communities on the northeastern corner of the lake

Which meant the crowds were willing to follow Him this time

Assuming Jesus departed from Capernaum, He sailed about 3-4 miles

Which means the crowds walked about 5 miles, which took about 2 hours, meaning they probably arrived shortly after Jesus

That wasn’t much of a break for Jesus and the disciples, and it suggests Jesus wasn’t trying to avoid the crowds entirely

He’s working a different plan…He’s preparing to teach His disciples a lesson

We get confirmation from John’s Gospel because John tells us this happens at Passover which is our final clue to explain why Jesus took this journey

Passover is a memorial of the Exodus, when Moses led a group of Jews through the Red Sea and into desolate territory without food or water

When they arrive, Moses ascends a mountain, leaving the people down below

Eventually the people required food, so Moses called down manna from Heaven and the people were fed miraculously

So now Jesus takes this journey so He can use these circumstances to establish a picture showing Himself as the fulfillment of the Passover

Like Moses, Jesus will cross a body of water to reach a desolate Gentile territory with a large crowd of Jews following behind

Jesus also retreats up a mountainside leaving the crowd gathered below

And when they seek for food, He will feed them miraculously with bread from Heaven

So Jesus made this journey to invite comparisons to the Exodus

Jesus orchestrates this experience like a living parable to show the people He is the bread of life come down from Heaven

And Jesus sets this scene to teach His disciples that they must come to Him for their supply in ministry

So knowing all these details, let’s understand Jesus’ lesson

In v.14 we’re told that Jesus sees the large crowd below and has compassion on them and healed their sick

This is one of the few times after Chapter 12 where we will see Jesus do Mass Miracles following the Rejection of the Leadership.

The statement “Jesus had compassion” will be Matthew’s clue to us when Jesus is going against His normal practice

Matthew 14:15 CSB

15 When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

The Disciples see that Jesus has a problem so they offer a solution.

They suggest that Jesus should make the crowds go into the nearby towns to buy food for themselves

Notice their choice of words: they say “send the crowds away…”

Order them to leave

Their thinking reflected the attitude of Pharisaic Judaism in that day which is not to far off from the attitudes of many Christians today.

Stephen Armstrong Puts it ihis way, the disciples were saying, “Look at all these people…they’re so much trouble”

“They are a burden upon us…help us Jesus…tell them to stop being a burden and to go find their own food”

Who were the disciples thinking about when they said those words?

At first it may sound as if they have concern for the people but the truth was they only had concern for themselves

They were forgetting why the crowds were even there in the first place

They had come hoping for Jesus to minister to them in one way or another

They did nothing wrong…they came with hope and desire and needs, and that’s what all good ministry is founded upon

Nevertheless, the disciples could only see a crowd of people bringing burdens and getting in the way of Jesus’ ministry

Their attitude reminds me of those rude clerks who treat customers as if they are an intrusion or interruption in their day

The clerks should recognize we are the very reason they exist

It’s because of the customer that a business is even in business

And it’s because of the flock that shepherds have reason to shepherd

But Jesus is about to teach them an amazing lesson

If we are going to Become like Jesus and Do What Jesus Did

We must cultivate inside ourselves the Heart of a Shepherd

A shepherd’s heart doesn’t hold a flock’s weaknesses or needs – or even their mistakes – against them

Shepherds recognize those weaknesses as the very reason we have opportunity to minister

The Bible teaches that the more needs exist in our body, the better it is for us?

Paul says it this way:

1 Corinthians 12:21–24 CSB

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. 23 And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, 24 which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable,

1COR. 12:21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

1COR. 12:22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;

1COR. 12:23 and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,

1COR. 12:24 whereas our more presentable members have no need of it.

Paul says those members of our corporate body that seem to be weaker than us are actually the most “necessary”

Weaker refers to brothers or sisters who are hard to love…the less spiritually mature, those who carry a lot of sin baggage

They may irritate us, or they always seem to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, or they have messy lives

Paul says they are not problems to be sent away…they are necessary and they are due even greater honor

Receiving greater honor means receiving a greater share of ministry service within the body

It’s an honor to have someone minister to us, because they are investing self-sacrificially in our spiritual growth

And that investment will pay us dividends in eternity because it brings us into the Kingdom with greater opportunity for reward

Those weaker members of the body are necessary, Paul says, because they give purpose to our spiritual gift

The weaker members in our body are our customers and we’re the clerk assigned to serve them spiritually

They aren’t a burden, they’re the reason we’re here…they are the ones who need our service the most

They may seem to be weaker, but they are actually God’s gift to us, and He will use them in our lives to teach us

In fact, we will gain far more from serving those weaker members than they receive from our service

Because when you minister to people who have rough edges, you truly learn how to love someone the way Christ loves you: self-sacrificially

And I need to share a little secret…sometimes we’re the unlovable person with rough edges that others have to serve

So let’s all be grateful that Christ required his ministers be servants who lovingly care for those who bring burdens

This is not how Pharisaic Judaism perceived their role as ministers to the people

A Pharisee saw his job this way: he said to himself, “I am the model Jew”

“I sacrifice, I study, I tithe, I devote endless hours to purity and holiness

“I’m God’s representative to the Jewish people”

“Just as men are blessed to receive God’s fellowship, so are the Jewish people privileged to receive my ministry”

“Just as the Lord receives praise and honor for His glory and wisdom, so should I receive praise and honor among the people”

The Bible calls this attitude “lording” over people

Close Here with Communion

The Lesson Jesus is about to teach brings this into focus.

Matthew 14:16–21 CSB

16 “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.” 17 “But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces. 21 Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus opens with an astonishing rebuke telling the disciples the people do not need to go away…you give them something to eat

A more literal translation of the original Greek would read, “They have no need to go away – you feed them!

Jesus puts the burden right back where it belongs: on the shepherds of this flock

Now in fairness to the disciples, how could they have expected to feed so many people?

As we heard in v.21, there were thousands of people present that day

In fact, the disciples tell Jesus there were only five loaves and two fish available

In John’s Gospel we learn that Peter’s brother, Andrew, was the first to notice a young boy selling the loaves and fish

But just as quickly Andrew says they could not possibly satisfy the demand with so little

Jesus wasn’t expecting them to come up with the solution by themselves…He was asking them to set their minds on ministry

If our first response to a ministry need or opportunity is to ask “how?”, then we are doing ministry completely wrong

Our first question when considering any ministry opportunity should be “does the Lord desire for us to minister in this way?”

If the answer to that question is yes, then we move ahead in confidence that the Lord will direct us in the “how” over time

If we begin every ministry effort with the question “how?”, we will never do anything worthwhile for the Lord

Ministry is fundamentally about doing things that are impossible, humanly-speaking!

So when we try to answer the question “how” before accepting the challenge, we inevitably substitute our own plans for God’s plan

Just as Andrew searched for a supply of food in a vain effort to find a human solution to the problem

When he couldn’t find enough he threw his hands up and declared, I guess we can’t minister to these people

Jesus didn’t save us and call us into serving Him so that we could solve problems for Him

Jesus gives us ministry opportunities so He can solve problems through us…and in us.

Because as we obey Him and allow Him to do the heavy lifting, not only does the work get done but He also grows us

And then the Lord rightly receives glory for both accomplishments

The disciples were so focused on solving the problem in their own power that they forgot Jesus was standing next to them

So Jesus sets to work reminding them of how shepherds are supposed to work…shepherds feed sheep

The sheep aren’t supposed to locate their own supply of food

If sheep were capable of feeding themselves, there would be little need for shepherds

So shepherds are supposed to feed sheep, but at the same time, shepherds aren’t required to produce food for sheep

Shepherds don’t cause the grass to grow on the hillside

Shepherds lead sheep to the places where the Lord has already prepared fields with grass

Likewise, we are not the source of another person’s spiritual supply

We shepherd people by feeding them, yes, but our source comes from the Lord

We are conduits bringing the Lord’s supply to the people

And the Lord orchestrates this well-known miracle to make that point clearly

And notice, once Jesus set the disciples’ minds on feeding the crowd, Jesus begins to show His disciples “how” to do it

First, Jesus instructs the people to sit in the grass

In Mark’s Gospel we’re told they sit in groups of hundreds and fifties, which simply means into small, manageable groups

We can easily imagine practical purposes in why Jesus asked them to sit down

If hungry people see food coming their way, they tend to rush toward it to make sure they get a share

Making them sit ensures orderliness and also imparts confidence that there is a plan to ensure everyone is fed

But those practical reasons are not the main reason Jesus seats them down in grass

The main purpose relates back to Psalm 23

The Shepherd is the One Who causes His sheep to lie down in green pastures

The Shepherd cares for His sheep and makes sure they receive their rations

So Jesus’ instructions were part of testifying that He is the Shepherd of Psalm 23, the One who cares for us

Next, Jesus gives thanks for the food and the miracle that’s about to follow, then He begins to break the bread and divide the fish out

Jesus then begins to distribute the food through the hands of the disciples

Jesus handed the food to each disciple who then carried it down the mountainside to the people in a basket

And as this process continued, the groups of people ate their fill, no one was left wanting

You have to wonder what was going through the minds of the disciples as they moved up and down the mountain filling their baskets

They knew Jesus started with only a little food, but because they are acting as waiters, they aren’t present to see the miracle

They can’t see the food miraculously reappearing

They just return each time to Jesus, to have their baskets filled and go back down

Jesus was teaching His disciples what serving Him in the Kingdom Program will be like every day

First, Jesus taught that He supplies miracles to His people through the hands of His servants

That’s why Jesus required each disciple returned to Jesus many times to refill their baskets

If Jesus’ priority had been efficiency, He would have walked down the mountainside and miraculously produced a buffet line

He is intentionally distributing the food in an inefficient way, through the hands of His disciples, to make His point

Secondly, each disciple’s personal success in ministry depended on continually returning to the Lord so He could fill the basket

If the disciple returned, he had came back with something to offer the people

If he didn’t return to Jesus, he would soon run out and have nothing and be useless to the people

So not only were the disciples unable to find a solution on their own in the beginning, neither could they sustain the ministry once it began

We go to Him to receive that which is valuable, and then we bring it back to the people one nugget at a time

Thirdly, in the course of our service, the work we do in serving Christ won’t seem like a miracle in the moment

Each time the disciple’s basket was filled by Jesus, it didn’t appear miraculous to that disciple

The sense we get from all four Gospels is that Jesus multiplied the food out of the sight of the disciples

They just saw Jesus putting food in their basket…a very ordinary moment

The miracle was that it happened over and over again

Likewise, when we serve someone in a moment with a prayer or a teaching or an encouraging word, it won’t seem like a miracle took place

But when we step back and see the cumulative effect of all those moments of service, we will see a miracle

We will see a multitude the Lord fed through our hands, and Jesus will rightly receive the glory for it

Fourthly, Jesus was teaching the disciples that ministry is hard work

How many times did they have to walk up and down that hillside that day?

Do you supposed that some of them might have been complaining under their breath?

Can you hear Peter suggesting to Jesus, “Why don’t You come down here so we don’t have to make this climb so much?”

Ministry is hard work…and there are a lot of days when you wonder to yourself why am I doing this? There has to be an easier way to live

Serving Jesus in ministry is a great privilege, and generally speaking, it’s a joy

But there are times when it’s very lonely and difficult and gut wrenching just plain hard work

And if you aren’t prepared to give Christ your best effort and to endure the challenges, then don’t put your hand to the plow and look back

Finally, there was one more lesson for the disciples and the people

After the crowd had been fed (which must have taken several hours), Jesus ordered the disciples to collect the excess food from the people

The Lord could have simply multiplied more food for each disciple

Instead, He insisted that the disciples’ food come from what had already been handed out to the people below

The Lord had literally given away the disciples’ food, and then He required disciples to go back to the people and ask for it back

I imagine some in the crowd probably wanted to keep those extras for themselves

Which means the disciples probably had to do a little petitioning, a little begging, and a little fund raising so to speak

The disciples’ provision came in the form of excess given to the people, so they could be blessed by blessing those who served them

Notice that the amount collected was exactly twelve baskets, reflecting the 12 apostles who had served the people

Everyone is being blessed through the hands of someone else yet the supply is all from the Lord

Matthew ends his account with a punchline: there were five thousand men in the crowd plus women and children beyond that

That number puts Jesus’ miracle into perspective

Who among those disciples would have supposed in advance that they could find a way to feed so many people?

The number 5 in the Bible is the number of Grace

The fundamental difference between how Pharisees ministered and how Jesus wants us to minister

Our service to Christ begins and ends with Grace

It begins by the grace of God in our salvation and our equipping and call into ministry

And then it continues in the way we minister to others, not holding their faults against them, not viewing their needs as unnecessary burdens

Rather we seek out the weak because they give us the blessed opportunity to serve in our spiritual gift

And we serve in grace that Jesus supplies to us, knowing we only have something valuable to offer someone else if we obtained it from Jesus

And we ourselves depend on the grace of God through your hands for our own supply

Think about the power and reach of a Christian community that truly lived out that style of grace-oriented ministry?

It would truly be a miracle

That is why we Must:

Practice the Ways of Jesus

By Spending Time with Jesus

Becoming Like Jesus

Doing What Jesus Did

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Offering

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