God with Us - Part I

Good morning church family.

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan and I am the preaching pastor here at Harvest.

Let's take out our Bibles and open them to Matthew 14.

Whether it is a physical Bible, a Matthew Scripture Journal, or a device, let's all have our eyes on a copy of God's Word this morning.

We picked back up in our series through Matthew last week, and from the beginning of his Gospel, Matthew wants us to know that with the arrival of Jesus, the Kingdom of God has come.

The King has arrived.

And as Jesus continues his earthly ministry, his Kingdom continues to advance.

And so, throughout the fall, we are going to be in Matthew 14–16 as we see what it looks like for the Kingdom of God to advance.

And that context is important because over the next two weeks we are going to encounter two of the most well-known miracles Jesus ever performed:

The feeding of the 5,000.

Jesus walking on water.

And because these stories are so familiar to us, there is a danger that we might disconnect them from their context and simply look at them as incredible things Jesus did.

Like:

“Wow! Isn’t it amazing what Jesus can do?!”

But Matthew is not simply trying to impress us with what Jesus can do.

He is revealing to us who Jesus is.

Because remember what has been happening up to this point in Matthew's Gospel.

People are making statements about who Jesus is, and getting it wrong

Back in Matthew 13, the people of Nazareth look at Jesus and say:

“Isn't this just Mary and Joseph’s son?”

Then last week we saw that Herod hears about what Jesus is doing and says:

“This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead.”

Everybody is trying to answer the same question:

Who is Jesus?

And over the next two weeks, Matthew is going to show us that Jesus is exactly who Matthew told us he was at the very beginning of this Gospel.

Remember Matthew 1?

When the angel tells Joseph that Mary's child has been conceived by the Holy Spirit, Matthew said this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

“They shall call his name Immanuel”

Which means: “God with us.”

That's who Jesus is.

He isn't just a teacher sent from God.

He isn't just a prophet empowered by God.

He isn't even just a Savior sent by God.

He is God with us.

And this week and next week we are going to look at the two miracles that make explicitly clear that Jesus is God with us

Starting with the feeding of the 5000 in Matt. 14:13-21…

So let’s give these words our full attention

Matthew 14:13–21 “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. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 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.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 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. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them

Big Idea: The God who saved His people then has come to save His people now. [6:00]

This is going to be the big idea for both this week and next week because the two miracles each tell the same truth

That the God who saved his people then has come to save his people now

Now, before we get into the sermon, I want to make sure we are on the same page about a few of things

You have heard me say many times that the Bible is one story that is revealing the truths of who God is, who we are, what is wrong, and what God is doing to make it right.

Jesus does not show up in a historical vacuum

He comes at the proper time in history as a fulfillment of everything that came before him to bring to completion everything that God has been doing

In fact, that is exactly what Matthew’s Gospel is meant to show us

That what was foretold in the Old Testament and what was patterned in the Old Testament are made visible and accomplished in the coming of Christ.

Now, why do I bring this up?

Because in the feeding of the 5000 this week and in Jesus walking on water next week, we are being shown two ways that Jesus fulfills events that foreshadowed him in the Old Testament

Back in Exodus 16, God had rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt

But while they were in the wilderness, they had no food

And God miraculously provided bread for them

And now in Matt. 14, you have a multitude in the wilderness that has no food, and Jesus miraculously provides bread for them.

So Matthew is drawing a direct link from the Exodus narrative to Jesus, showing that Jesus is the God who provided back then, and is providing now.

But it doesn’t stop there.

What Jesus is doing in his ministry is pointing to something even greater

Jesus’ work is meant to teach us about the Kingdom of God and how we are brought into the kingdom of God through faith in him.

So in this narrative, we have three layers:

The Exodus story that sits in the background

The feeding of the 5000 that is in the foreground

And the kingdom of God through Christ that sits over the whole thing

That is why we cannot just reduce this down to “What an amazing miracle!”

No, this miracle is teaching us not just about what Jesus did to provide food, but also how Jesus provides salvation

And if you don’t believe me, just look at John’s account of the same miracle in John 6

John tells us there that Jesus used the miracle to teach the people the nature of salvation in him

That he is the “bread of life” - And by believing in him you will never hunger again but have eternal life.

And all of it makes the point that the God who saved his people then has come to save his people now.

[Bridge] So, what does this passage teach us about how Jesus provides for our salvation?

We are going to see three truths of how the God who saves provides…

And we're gonna say "the God who provides" and then we will see these three truths

The God who provides…

Sees what we need (13-14) [12:00]

Look with me at verse 13:

Matthew 14:13 “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.”

Remember, this is actually where we ended last week.

Jesus has just heard about the death of John the Baptist.

And so he withdraws.

But notice what happens:

“But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.”

Jesus is intentionally withdraws… in a boat… to be alone.

The crowds follow him around the water, and when Jesus gets out of the boat, Thousands of needy people are waiting for him.

Imagine that is you wanting some time away from the crowds… and you get to the other side of the sea, and you see a crowd waiting for you

What is your attitude likely going to be?

“Are you serious? Can I just get a few minutes to myself please?”

But not Jesus… look at verse 14:

Matthew 14:14 “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Two important phrases here

He saw. He had compassion.

Jesus does not meet their need with frustration… He sees their need and he is moved to act

and then.. “He healed their sick.”

Do you see the movement?

He sees.

He is moved.

He acts.

And this is exactly how God is described throughout Scripture

In Exodus, God tells Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people… I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them.”

He saw

He was moved

He acted

And the God who did that back then in Exodus, has come to embody that truth here in Matt. 14 to teach us about how he provides for our salvation.

I think it is so easy and common for us to think that God looks down at us with disappointment that we struggle with sin.

Like he is looking at us thinking, “Give me a break - Could you just figure it out?”

But Jesus shows us here…

He sees our need

He is moved with compassion

He acts on our behalf

The provision of salvation through Christ begins with the compassion of Christ toward us.

The response of Jesus to these sick people in needd is patterning for us the response of Jesus to us in our deepest need

Just like they could not solve their sickness on their own, we cannot solve the problem of sin on our own.

And…

He sees

He has compassion

And he acts for our salvation

And when you belong to Jesus by faith, you have to understand what this means about the heart of Christ toward you.

Because I think some of us believe that if Jesus really saw everything about us, he would want nothing to do with us.

If he saw all of my sin…

If he saw all of my weakness…

If he knew all of the thoughts that I don't tell anyone about…

If he knew how many times I have failed in the same way…

If he knew how far short I actually fall…

He does.

That's the point.

Jesus does not have an incomplete picture of you.

All of the things that you think you’ve kept hidden, they aren’t hidden from him

All of the ways that you try to paint a veneer over yourself to look as good as possible, he sees right through it

He sees your need more clearly than you do.

He is keenly aware of our sin and our need for him

And what we see in this passage is that the need does not move Jesus away from people.

It moves him toward them in compassion.

Now, don't misunderstand that.

Jesus is not indifferent toward our sin.

Sin is precisely why we needed him to come.

But when Jesus saw us enslaved to sin, he did not stand at a distance and tell us to figure it out.

He acted.

He saw that we could not produce the righteousness God requires, so he took on flesh and lived in perfect righteousness for us.

He saw that our sin placed us under the judgment of God, so he went to the cross and bore that judgment in our place.

He saw that we were far from God and could not bring ourselves near, so through his death and resurrection he did everything necessary to reconcile us to God.

He saw our deepest need.

He had compassion on us.

And he acted to save us.

That is why being a Christian does not begin with you getting yourself together so that Jesus will receive you.

It begins with admitting: I am in desperate need and I can’t fix it.

I cannot heal myself.

I cannot make myself righteous.

I cannot remove my guilt.

I cannot reconcile myself to God.

I need Jesus to do for me what I cannot do for myself.

And when we can admit that, he provides himself to meet that need.

[Transition]

But seeing our need is not enough.

Compassion without the ability to provide what we need would leave us exactly where we are.

But Matthew shows us next that the God who provides not only sees what we need…

Second, the God who provides…

Supplies what we lack (15-18) [21:00]

Look at verse 15:

Matthew 14:15 “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.””

Now, there is nothing necessarily wrong with what the disciples are saying here.

In fact, their solution makes perfect sense.

It is getting late.

They are in the middle of nowhere.

There are thousands of people who need to eat.

So: Send them away so they can buy food.

The disciples see the problem, look at the resources available to them, and come to a perfectly reasonable conclusion: We don't have what these people need.

But look at what Jesus says:

Matthew 14:16 “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Can you imagine being one of the disciples?

“Us?”

“Jesus, there are thousands of people here.”

Matthew 14:17 “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

Now, when we hear “five loaves,” we picture like a big loaf cut into a bunch of slices

It really just means “5 breads” - So small… we are talking about a meal for a couple of people.

The point is… It is an absurdly inadequate meal

And remember, verse 21 tells us that 5,000 is only counting the men. Once you include the women and children, the crowd is significantly larger.

Likely 10,000+

What is going on here?

I think Jesus is intentionally putting the disciples in a position where they have to recognize:

We cannot do what you are asking us to do.

We cannot supply what these people need.

And that's when Jesus says in verse 18:

Matthew 14:18 “Bring them here to me.”

Notice… Jesus doesn’t say, “Yes, you have enough. You just aren’t believing in yourself.”

Never forget… you are enough. Don’t let these limiting beliefs get in the way.

You can do it!

No, that’s not what he says.

He says, “You’re right, that’s not enough. But bring them to me… I am enough.”

Listen to the way one commentator puts it: “The command ‘You give them something to eat’ seems intended to expose the disciples’ inability to share anything with the crowd unless Jesus provided. Anything that the disciples offered on their own would be terribly insufficient to meet the enormous need.” Charles L. Quarles

The problem facing the disciples is not simply that there is a need

It is that they have no ability to meet the need.

This is the problem for every human being

Our problem before God is not simply that we are needy.

Our problem is that we lack what we need to do anything about it.

We need righteousness - We don't have it.

We need a payment sufficient to cover our sin - We can't make it.

We need spiritual life - We cannot produce it.

We need reconciliation with God - We cannot accomplish it.

And every human attempt to solve the problem of sin…

“I'll try to be a good person.”

“I'll go to church.”

“I'll clean up my life.”

“I'll do more good things.”

“I'll become more religious.”

… every attempt ultimately amounts to holding up five loaves and two fish and saying:

“This is what I have” and being made painfully aware of the fact that it is terribly insufficient

And Jesus looks at us and says, “That is not enough. Come to me. I am enough”

In Christ and Christ alone is the provision that supplies what we lack

You lack righteousness? - Christ provides his righteousness

You have guilt that you cannot remove? - Christ provides his blood to pay for your guilt.

You are spiritually dead and cannot make yourself alive?- Christ provides his life.

You cannot bring yourself to God? - Christ provides the reconciliation that brings you near.

Everything necessary for your salvation that you and I lack… Christ provides through himself.

But while this is a beautiful truth, it is also a stumbling block that keeps many from Christ.

Because we don't like being insufficient for our own needs

We want to be independent.

We want to contribute.

We want to take credit

We want to be able to point to something in us and say:

“See? That's why God should accept me.”

I heard one theologian years ago say, “The Gospel does not call you to give up your mind. It calls you to give up your pride.”

Because the gospel says:

What you bring to the table is terribly insufficient.

So stop trying to prove that you are enough.

You need to come to the One who is enough and place your faith in him and him alone to supply all that you lack..

And when we come to Jesus, aware of our need for him and we depend on his perfect life and his substitutionary death…

He supplies his righteousness to us

He supplies payment for our sin

He supplies newness of life

He supplies what we lack.

The God who saved back then by supplying what his people lacked has come to save his people now, by supplying in himself what we lack.

[Transition]

And just in case we think that God’s provision is stingy or barely enough…

truth number three about how God provides through Christ…

The God who provides…

Satisfies us completely (19-21) [30:00]

Two things I want us to see in these final verses.

First, look at v. 19 and see how the scene of the miracle is described

Matthew 14:19 “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.”

He has the crowd sit down - So they are simply observers and benefactors of what Jesus does

He took the bread and fish, prayed a prayer of blessing which always preceded any meal, he then broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to give to the crowd

The way that this miracle happened is described in the most benign and normal terms

We are not told how he multiplied the food

We are not told what it looked like

We are simply told that it happened and that the entire event was accomplished by Jesus and Jesus alone

The second things I want you to notice is the result

Matthew 14:20 “And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.”

A large multitude of people - Fed to the full. They ate until they were satisfied.

And there were enough leftovers that each of the twelve disciples filled a basket full.

They had left-over more than they started with - So there can be no denying that Jesus did miraculously provided for the multitude in the wilderness

But here is how we know that this isn’t just about the bread…

They didn’t stay full.

In John’s depiction of this same miracle in John 6, the people come back because they want more food.

And Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life - Anyone who comes to me will not hunger.”

The feeding was pointing toward the bread that will satisfy forever - Christ himself.

There is a physical hunger that food can satisfy, but there is a deeper hunger than nothing in this world can satisfy.

We spend so much time trying to find the things in this life that will finally satisfy and will finally leave us not needing anything else

But the problem is that we spend so much of our time looking everywhere except for Christ for those things

The people ate their fill of bread and fish and came back hungry the next day

Because they missed the point that Jesus is the bread that satisfies forever

That when you have him, you need nothing else

That does not mean that when you have him you will have everything you ever wanted

No, but it does mean that when you have him you have everything that you will ever need

Because you and I were made to be satisfied in God alone - And when we have Christ, the God who provides himself, we have the one thing that will satisfy our hearts.

[GOSPEL CALL]

And maybe you are here this morning and you have never come to Jesus in faith.

You have spent your life trying to satisfy that hunger with everything this world has to offer.

If you could just make enough money…

Find the right person…

Have the right family…

Be successful enough…

Be respected enough…

Then you would finally be satisfied.

But eventually you get hungry again.

Because none of those things can give you what you were made for.

You were made for God.

And the greatest problem in your life is that your sin has separated you from the only One who can truly satisfy you.

And you cannot fix that problem yourself.

You need what you cannot provide.

But the good news of the gospel is that God has provided it for you in Jesus Christ.

Jesus lived the righteous life you could not live.

He died the death your sin deserves.

He rose from the grave so that you could have eternal life.

But Jesus says - “Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

So stop trying to satisfy your soul with things that will only leave you hungry again.

Come to Christ.

[If there is time - Notice how Christ involves his disciples in the entire process - Mission: Go connection]

Now, for all of us who have received salvation in Christ, I want to conclude by noticing together how this provision was entirely the work of Christ, yet he involved his disciples in the whole process.

God does not need you and I to accomplish his mission of salvation, but he chooses to include us in what he is doing

And as he was doing his miraculous work, he gave the loaves to his disciples who then gave the bread to the crowds

He doesn’t say, “Because you didn’t have enough, you get no part in what I am doing.”

He says, “I am enough for this need and you can be the one to take what I offer and spread it to those who need it.”

When we see clearly that Jesus is the God who saved back then who has come to save his people now

And that he provides all the is needed for salvation

We can then see ourselves rightly, as his disciples, who take what he provides to those in need.

[More? - Compassion for people’s needs, Jesus as meeting the greater need, etc.]

[Conclusion - 38:00]

Matthew shows us in this miracle that Jesus is the God who provides for his people in the wilderness, in both the Old and the New Testaments

And he is the God who provides for you and I

He provides by…

Seeing what we need

Supplying what we lack

And satisfying us completely with himself.

He is truly God with us - And may we be a church who looks nowhere else for what only Christ can provide.

[And may we be a people who take the message of what he provides to all who need him.]

Amen.