Plugging In
Notes
Transcript
Most months, I am able to meet with a group of pastors in the surrounding area, good, solid Bible-preaching pastors, and talk about life and ministry. Most of the time there is laughter. Sometimes, there is tears. I think each one of us has cried sometime during those meetings. Sometimes there is energy. Other times, we are leaning on our elbows, dragging ourselves to be there.
By the end of our time together, we walk away encouraged. Yes, because we have been able to talk and be heard. But, more than that, God has supplied our needs, emotionally, spiritually, through brothers in Christ.
God is the one who supplies the needs of his own. I think of the outline of prayer which Jesus taught:
Give us this day our daily bread.
That is an acknowledgment that God has the ability to to supplies the needs of the one who asks and a statement of trust that God will fulfill that promise.
We as humans don’t willingly give up our independence to rely on God to supply our needs. We don’t want to trust in anyone or anything besides ourself.
Well, in our passage, we see that the King supplies needs, so we should ask the King.
Let’s read the passage:
When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
“Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Before we dive into this passage, will you pray with me?
1. The King Supplies
1. The King Supplies
First, in this passage, we see that the King Supplies.
What does he supply? Well, we could give the Sunday school answer: everything. But, let’s flesh it out.
A. Physical Needs
A. Physical Needs
The king supplies physical needs.
Our passage contains the only miracle of Jesus that is repeated in all four Gospels. This was a big deal. Over 5000 people are fed with only five loaves and two fish. No other miraculous feeding had occurred since God provided the manna and quail in the wilderness.
And here, Jesus provides bread and meat to those in the wilderness. The significance is not lost on those in attendance. We read in John how people followed him because he provided them bread, just like Moses.
The King supplies physical needs. We read about this truth in Philippians.
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
David writes:
I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
God provides for our needs.
Some might say: I have seen the righteous poverty stricken. I have seen their children in want. And yes, I have been in those places myself.
However, even in those times, God provides what is needed.
Our problem is we mix wants with needs. That’s another sermon.
Our problem, too, is that we do not want to ask for help.
We are like the disciples. They don’t go to Jesus and say: There are tons of people who are hungry, do something, Jesus!
No, they try to take matters in their own hands:
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
God’s given us brains right, so we need to figure it out. Why trouble God with the problem: he’s got wars and floods to deal with. We can handle it.
But, the King has promised to supply for our physical needs.
B. Emotional Needs
B. Emotional Needs
The King supplies for our emotional needs too.
After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus sends the disciples across the sea in a boat. And in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm, he comes walking out to them:
When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
I would be scared at that. This is not normal.
Jesus tells them:
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
He calms their fear and then he calms the storm.
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
We all go through storms of life. We go through times when we feel so many things. And our heart is an emotional cocktail that we can’t make heads or tails of. We feel buffeted by the winds around us and the winds within us. And we don’t know what to do.
Well, we look up and we see Jesus walking on the waves. He experienced the storms, just like we did, but he did not succumb to them.
As the author of Hebrews wrote:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
He knows our weaknesses. He knows our hurts. And he walks through the storms.
One of the most powerful images that I see in Scripture about Jesus is at the tomb of Lazarus.
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.
He didn’t weep because of Lazarus dying. He knew that Lazarus was going to come back to life. He wept at the grief he saw around him. He entered into that emotion and wept for them.
Jesus supplies our emotional needs. He is there, walking with us through the storm, hurting along with us, and giving us the emotional strength to walk through the storms until they are stilled.
C. Spiritual Needs
C. Spiritual Needs
Finally, the king supplies our spiritual needs.
Before Jesus walked on water, after he fed the 5000. He had an important several hours.
He was physically tired and spiritually tired, and he withdrew alone up on a mountain.
After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,
He didn’t sleep on that mountain. He didn’t journal his emotions. Both of which are really good things to do. He prayed. He sought spiritual rejuvenation, because he was spiritually tired and found those needs met at the only place they can be met, with the creator of the universe, the author and perfecter of our salvation.
After spending time in prayer, he walks on water, cares for the emotional needs of the disciples, but in a way that touched them spiritually:
Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
They needed to see that he was the Son of God, the savior destined to die for the sins of the world.
Then, they beach their boat, and he cares for the needs of those on that side of the lake.
And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
His caring for the physical needs was based on their spiritual needs, calling them to have faith in himself as the promised Messiah.
There are times that we are worn down, depressed, wanting to throw in the towel on ourselves, our family, our friends, our lives, our ministries, so many things, not because we are physically tired, or emotionally tired, but we are spiritually tired. We have spiritual needs that no one else can meet, only our creator, only the author and perfecter of our salvation. Only by spending time with God in prayer and Bible study, with other believers, can these needs be met.
And the king has promised to provide for those needs.
2. So, Ask the King
2. So, Ask the King
So, if the king has promised to provide, why don’t we ask him to provide? It’s so hard for us, for several reasons, but we need to ask him. Which requires three steps:
A. Stop Our Pride
A. Stop Our Pride
We first need to stop our pride.
As I said, we are like the disciples: we can provide the answer to this problem. We’ve got it all worked out Jesus. These people are hungry, let’s outsource the problem to that village over there.
We think that we can figure out the problems so often. We don’t need God to supply.
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
Sometimes, in our pride, we know we are at the end of our rope. But, we are scared to give up. We’ve been independent so long, we have been the strong one so long, unlike our friends or our family members. And that is our identity.
So, we are scared to give up that identity. We are scared to say that we cannot figure it out. We are scared to admit our inadequacy.
I think about the disciples. Jesus told them that they were all going to run away.
“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:
“ ‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’
Then, in the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus told them to pray for strength that night, to seek to have their needs met by the King, through prayer:
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But, they didn’t. In their pride, they said with Peter:
Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
So, they didn’t pray. They didn’t seek to have their needs met by the King, but instead they slept and then they ran.
We need to stop our pride. Stop our independence, our saying that we can do it.
B. Admit Our Need
B. Admit Our Need
And we admit our need.
What our we lacking?
Do you need a job? Is your car not working? Are you worried about finances for college, or how you are going feed all those mouths in your house?
We admit the need and that we have no idea how to provide for it. Sometimes that is really hard, but then we have to go back to the pride discussion.
What are we lacking?
Are we going through a hard time? Maybe it is grief because of a sudden death recently, or recurring grief because we are constantly reminded of someone we lost. Maybe we are having trouble in our marriage or with our kids. Maybe our choice in following Jesus has caused us to lose friends and we don’t know how to handle it.
We admit the need and that we have no idea how to provide for it.
What are we lacking?
Maybe we are struggling with sin. We know what we are doing is wrong, but we keep going back to it, because we believe, deep down, the lie that it will provide what only God can. Maybe we have gone through a hard season, and we feel distant from God, numb, and our spiritual life is just going through the emotions. Maybe we have never turned to Jesus in faith, and we are trusting in so many other things instead of him, and we convince ourselves that this is best, but our heart has been aching within us.
We admit the need and that we have no idea how to provide for it ourselves.
Jeremiah, the prophet, presents two illustrations about humanity, the first is about those who refuse to admit their need for God, and tries to provide for themselves:
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
They will perish in their need. They will never be satisfied.
But the one who admits, who turns to the only one who will provide:
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
We give up our pride, we admit our need.
C. Bring Our Request
C. Bring Our Request
We bring our request.
I love the portion of our text that I skipped over before.
Peter is in the midst of the storm with the rest of the disciples. He is scared because of the storm, but even more, he is scared of the ghost of Jesus.
Jesus tells the disciples:
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Peter isn’t sure whether it is Jesus or not, because it is physically impossible for someone to walk on water.
So, Peter’s solution is not to run away, or to reason himself into truth, or to self-talk himself out of his anxiety. His solution is to walk to Jesus, to get close to him.
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
Jesus tells him to come and he starts walking on water. But, then , he takes his eyes of Jesus, sees the storm, remembers his fear, and starts to sink.
But again, his solution is not to remind himself why he shouldn’t be afraid. His solution isn’t to brush off his olympic swimming skills to get back to the boat. His solution is to cry out to Jesus, for Jesus to help him.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
When we have a need, we cry out to the only one who can provide for us, we pursue that relationship that he bought for us by dying on the cross, we spend time with him daily, in prayer and in the Word, and we beg him to provide.
And the king, who has promised to provide for our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs will.
Especially as we pursue those spiritual needs:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
We experience the sweetness of his presence, the strengthening of our spirit, the organizing of our needs and wants, and we start seeing him provide for us emotionally, and we start realizing what our needs actually are, and he provides for those as well.
Jesus is truly amazing. He proves himself to be the Son of God over and over again. Will we trust him, taking our hands off our lives and allowing him to be God, for his honor and his glory.
