Jesus the Provider

Mark 6:30-44

If you brought your bibles turn with me over to the gospel of Mark chapter six. The Gospel f Mark chapter six and in a moment we are going to read verses 30-44 of the Gospel of Mark chapter six.

When I was growing up men took great pride in being providers for their families. Being a provider meant he is a selfless man, who lived to please and take care of the people he loved.

It meant he was willing to work hard and do whatever it took to put food on the table and pay bills and keep his family safe.

 Now I know a lot has changed, and many times today, it takes two incomes for families to survive and pay bills, and more women today have careers outside of the home. (necessary)

But, when I was growing up the Father of a home was the provider. And it was very important to him that he be a good provider, because he believed he was never being more Godly, than when he was providing for his family.

Throughout the bible God is referred to as our Father and our provider. It started all the way back in the book of Genesis, when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Isaac on mount Moriah. God provided a ram in the thicket. Abraham called Him Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider.

 The same theme continued through the book of Exodus. God provided for the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. He provided them with manna from heaven to eat and water from a rock to drink.

In the New Testament we are referred to as the children of God and Paul calls Him Abba Father and tells the church at Philippi that My God will supply all of your needs according to His riches and glory.

The bible teaches us what it means to be a provider from the providential care of God Himself.

So it shouldn’t surprise us to read in these passages this morning, Jesus providing for His people.  He is the shepherd that provides and the lesson we learn from this passage is about trusting in the providence of God.

Mark 6:30–44 KJV

And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

Mark 6:30–44 KJV

And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

Mark 6:30–44 KJV

And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

Mark 6:30–44 KJV

And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

Lets pray together,

Heavenly Father we thank you for your Word. We pray this morning for wisdom and understanding from your Word. We pray You would accompany Your Word with Your Spirit and teach us this morning. And Lord I pray we would have the courage and ability to apply what we learn to our life.

If there be any lost among us my God I pray you would draw them to you by Your Spirit, In Jesus Name, Amen!!

Throughout the life and ministry of Jesus there were two different groups of people He was teaching.

There was the world at large. The crowds of people who would seek Him out and gather around Him for the miracles and the healings He would perform.

Then there was His inner circle. The disciples, who spent three and a half years with Him personally. They followed Him and He spoke with them and taught them privately and intimately.

What we see in this story is that neither one of these groups understood what Jesus was teaching them here.

They did not understand that He was teaching them that He was their provider, and they could trust Him. The crowd at large, appeared to be oblivious to their needs. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

The disciple thought they knew exactly what they needed, they thought they needed rest, and what they learned is that they needed trust. What we learn from this passage is; Jesus is able to provide everything we need in life.

This story has an Old Testament parallel. It is a parallel of God feeding the children of Israel in the wilderness with the manna from heaven. It is no accident that Mark tells us this takes place in a secluded place. It is all symbolic of the Exodus from Egypt.

Jesus is not only the Son of God who has come down from heaven for the redemption of mankind, but He is symbolic of Moses. The deliverer who has compassion for the people and prays for them and wants to lead them to the promise land.

 This miracle is so important that it is the only miracle other than the resurrection that is included in all four gospels.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all teach this, because It speaks of the sufficiency of Christ and His ability to satisfy our deepest needs.

In John’s version of this story, after Jesus feeds the five thousand, He is teaching the crowds and in John 6:35 He says, “I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst.”

There are four things I want to show you about Jesus as the shepherd who provides for His people.

The first thing I want you to see in this story is;

I. Jesus is the Shepherd who is Concerned for His People Vs. 30-33.

If you remember from the previous passage of scripture, we talked about last week; The disciples have been out on the mission trail.

They have been ministering to the people. They were going through the villages, in pairs, calling men to repentance, healing the sick and casting out demons.

The work that was taking place through them was so powerful King Herod heard of it and was afraid. Now, they come back together, and they come to Jesus to report what God was doing.

 Notice in Vs. 30 they have been given a new title now. They are called apostles. This is the first and only time in the gospel of Mark they are called apostles. Why? What is significant about this change?

Well, a disciple is a student. One who learns from the teacher, and an apostle is one who is sent. One who takes what they have learned and goes out and teaches it himself.

An apostle is an ambassador who carries the message of the king, and that is what the disciples have done. They have sat under the teaching of Jesus and now they go out and teach the message themselves.

This is an example of what we are supposed to do.  We are supposed to be growing in our knowledge of God. Everyone who is a learner of Christ is meant to graduate one day. We are meant to be thrust out of the nest and to go out and give away what we have received.

The question is; where are you at in the process? Are you still in the developmental stage as a learner or are you one who is ready to be sent?

(Pause)

  I want you to see that Jesus was concerned for the disciples. Vs. 31 He says, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while”

He says, lets go take a break. We will go over to the other side of the sea where nobody is at, so we can get some rest.

And then Mark wants us to know just how tired and difficult it has been. He adds the fact they were so busy they did not even have time to eat. Can you imagine that?

The disciples must of thought this was a good idea. Lets go get some rest, that sounds exactly like what we need.

From the moment they had met Jesus approximately two years earlier, they have been going non-stop. They have been working around the clock, and taking care of the needs of everyone else and they have not had a chance to take care of themselves.

But then something interesting happens. As they are rowing along in the boat, they notice the people on the shore are following them.

Vs. 33 tells us, they are actually running ahead of them. These crowds of people are going to get to the other side before the disciples can even get there. They cannot get away. The demands of the people are too great and it is overwhelming.

 Doesn’t that remind you of life? The demands of life are never ending. If you are a mother, a father, or a grandparent you are always taking care of someone else.

If you work a job to provide for your family the pressure of life can be overwhelming, and the image you have of your life, and the image you have of God can become very small.

Sometimes the ministry of the church can be the straw that breaks the camels back. Sometimes we can feel like we have so much to do how can we possibly fit one more thing into our schedule?

I want you to know, Jesus sees that. He sees what is going on in your life. He knows and He cares how you serve your family, your church and the world.

And He invites us to get away with Him. He invites us to get alone in His presence. To spend time in His Word. To pray and enter His rest. And that is a choice we can make every day.

When we are overwhelmed in life, we need more of God not less. We need more of His Word, we need more of His peace, and we need more of His fellowship in our heart. And that is what the disciples are getting ready to learn in this story. I pray that we could learn that same lesson.

 So, the first thing we see in this passage is; Jesus is the shepherd who is concerned for His people. The second thing we see is,

II. Jesus is the Shepherd who has Compassion for His People Vs. 34

Vs. 34 says, “And Jesus when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things”

 Notice Jesus was moved by what He saw. He goes ashore and He is met by a large crowd. But how large? Well, we are told in verse 44 that there were five thousand men.

What I want you to consider is men are always less spiritual than women. There may have been twice as many women there as men. There may have been fifteen thousand people there and that is not including children.

I say all of that because, I want you to see how miraculous this really was. I want you to see how incredible this miracle is. That is why it is included in all four gospels.

Then, we are told in Vs. 34 “He felt compassion toward them.” This word compassion in the Greek means more than He cared about them. It means He had a deep pity for them in His inner most being.

In other words, His heart was broken by what He saw. He saw how desperate they were. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

 This describes the way Jesus felt when He stood at the tomb of Lazarus, His friend who had died and He wept with his sister Mary, even though He knew He was going to raise him from the dead. His heart was broken because her heart was broken. He had compassion on her.

This describes the way He felt when the woman caught in adultery runs to Him for her life because they are getting ready to stone her and He says, “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” He had compassion on her.

That is the kind of compassion He has on the people in this story. He sees them as lost, forgotten and rejected by their leaders.

Their dead religion had left these people so far from God they were like sheep without a shepherd. And we all know the metaphor. We all understand what that means.

Sheep are helpless, that can not protect themselves, they can not provide for themselves, they are easy prey. But Jesus, wants to meet their deepest need.

Look at what He does at the end of Vs. 34, “He began to teach them many things.” He teaches them.

He teaches them how much God loves them. He teaches them how important they are to God. He is ministering to them. He is invite them to become a part of the family, apart of the kingdom.

Jesus doesn’t see these people as an obstacle, He sees them as an opportunity. He looks at this crowd and He sees them through the eyes of grace. And He teaches us an important lesson about how we should view the people of the world.

When we see someone, who is struggling with sin, someone who is lost and don’t know what to do or where to turn. That is a moment of grace, never an obstacle.

 Not only is this a moment of grace for the person who is trapped by their sin and struggles, but it is a moment of grace for you and me.

It is a moment of grace for us who have overcome those struggles to learn about the provision of a Savior who loves the world and loves people and wants to forgive and to redeem.

Jesus doesn’t look at these people and see an interruption. He sees them as sheep without a shepherd.

So, the second thing we learn here is; Jesus is the shepherd who has compassion for His people. The third thing we see in this story is;

III. Jesus is the Shepherd who Commands His People Vs. 35-40

What we see in these verses is; Jesus saw the crowd with compassion, but the disciples saw the crowd as a problem.

This crowd was not going to let them get the break they so desperately desired. This crowd was not going to let them get the rest Jesus had promised them. This crowd was an obstacle.

These we’re the same people Jesus had sent the disciples out to go and minister too, and now, they were coming to them. The disciples were tired. They were hungry and they have had enough of this.

So, they came up with a plan. It makes sense. It’s getting late. We need to send these people away so they can get something to eat. It’s logical.

They did not expect what happened next. Jesus says, “you give them something to eat.” What? Wait a minute. Are you kidding me? We have been taking care of these people all this time and now you want us to feed them.

Not only was what Jesus asking them to do not practical, but it wasn’t even possible. They didn’t have enough food or money to feed all these people.

Two hundred pennyworth was a Denarii, and that was a days pay. It would take at least two hundred days pay to feed these people. We don’t have that.

And I love how Jesus responds in Vs. 38, He says, “What do you have, go look.”

 It is important we recognize that Jesus wanted them to give Him what they did have. Jesus knew what He was going to do. He knew He was going to feed these people. He loved them.

But He wanted the disciples to participate. He wanted them to chip in and give up what they had and be a part of this miracle.

I want you to know that God will do the same thing in your life. He wants to use you to participate with Him in being the miracle in someone else’s life.

What the disciple learn from the command of Jesus is, you don’t need rest from the work, you need rest from your weary heart. We do not get tired from serving God and serving our families. We get tired and frustrated because we are not serving ourselves.

And the selfish nature inside of us responds the way the disciples did. What about me? When do I get served?

Hebrews 12:2-3, “Fix you eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising it’s shame and is sat down at the right hand of God. Consider Him who endured such hardship from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

In other words, When you begin to get tired of serving God and serving people consider Jesus.

Jesus is the Shepherd that Commands His people. The final thing we see in this passage is

IV. Jesus is the shepherd with an abundant supply for His people Vs. 41-45

     After Jesus sets the crowds down on the green grass, which by the way is another metaphor for how He was leading the sheep. Psalm 23:1–2 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”

He takes what the disciples have given Him. He blesses it, He breaks it, and He gives it away. And what is so amazing is that He does it again and again and again. Vs. 41 says, “He divided it among them all.”

This is an example of what are lives are supposed to be in the hands of Jesus. We are to be just like this bread, blessed, broken, and given away for the Kingdom of God.

And if we are, we will never run out of supply for what we need. We will be just like our Savior who gave Himself for the sin of the world.

 The lesson the disciples learn in this story is just when they thought they had given all they had to give, Jesus says, “No, what else do you have.” And He took it and He gave it away until the sheep were satisfied.

This whole event is symbolic of the last supper, and an example of what Jesus would do when He gave Himself for the sin of the world.

1 Cor. 11 tells us, “On the night He was betrayed He took the bread and after He gave thanks, He broke it and said this is my body which is broken for you. Take it and eat it and as often as you do this do this in memory of me.”

This whole event is symbolic of what Jesus would do on the cross, by giving Himself completely for us.

The lesson in this for us is, God is not satisfied with what we are willing to give, He wants all of us completely. He wants you resemble His Son and to be blessed, broken, and given for Him. To become the bread of life in the hands of God.

But, I don’t want you to miss the reward the disciples recieved, Notice Vs. 43. “And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.”

The disciples not only got to share in the sacrifice, but they got to share in the blessing. They each walked away with their own basket.

Twelve baskets for twelve disciples. Imagine that, imagine Phillip saying, “Hey Peter did you get your basket? Yea, I got mine. Hey John, did your get your basket? I got it, but it is so full I am going to need some help carrying it.

You see, not only did the people, this enormous crowd get to eat of God’s provisions and be satisfied, but the disciples were rewarded for their service.

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That is the lesson the disciples learned and I hope it is the lesson we have learned today as well.

Many of us are working as hard as we can at trying to be the best Christians we can be. We put in overtime in our effort.

We come to church, we read our bibles, we say our prayers. We are sincerely trying to grow in our faith and sometimes it doesn’t seem like we are making any progress.

Sometimes the problem is we are so focused on ourselves we miss out on what God is really looking for. God wants us to serve Him by serving others. That’s what Jesus did.

We can never be more conformed to the image of God as we are when we are serving people. Jesus is the shepherd that provides for His people.

Lets pray together,

Heavenly Father, we thank You that you are the ultimate provider. You are Jehovah Jireh!!

Lord, thank you for using us to participate in Your provisions. Encourage us, strengthen us, and empower us to do Your work in the world.

In Jesus Name, Amen!!