Jesus Still Feeds the Four Thousand

Introduction:

Vision of Redemption Church - We exist as a local church in Roseville, CA to submit all of life to our King and to bring hope to all (hurting, lost and broken) people through the love and grace of Jesus. (; ; )

1. Worship – trusting and treasuring Jesus with informed minds and inflamed hearts.

1. Week 1 – Worship – trusting and treasuring Jesus with informed minds and inflamed hearts.

2. Fellowship – treating each other life family, with love.

3. Discipleship – teaching others that the Gospel saves us and teaching each other that the Gospel shapes us.

4. Servant Leadership – taking initiative to serve our neighbor and stand for the marginalized in our society.

We have structured our church documents this way because we want to be a church that is making disciples and planting churches.

Today we are commissioning each of these servant leaders to lead in specific areas of ministry.

In God’s design of the Church, every member of the body has been given a gift and is expected by God to use their gift for His glory.

But for the sake of clarity, these are not the only ministers at Redemption Church. In fact it’s probably not wise to think of these men and women as ministers, but as equippers. According to , those who are being commissioned are being commissioned so that you could be effective ministers.

Ephesians 4:11–12 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Ephesians 4:11–15 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

First, we are commissioning several ladies as deaconesses. Each of these ladies are passionate about serving the Church and reaching the lost for God’s glory. This is very exciting!

Ephesians 4:11 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

Gen Azzarello - Lead Kid’s Ministry

Paula Bennett - Mercy and Prayer Ministry

Amy Harris - Ladies and Prayer Ministry

Sharon Johnson - Administrative and Prayer Ministry

Janis Schmenk - Administrative and Prayer

Sonia Vasquez - Ladies and Mercy Ministry

Next, we are commissioning three men as deacons. We have gone for several years now with one deacon, and he has served faithfully. But we are excited about the expansion of this team as each one of these men have a desire to serve the people.

Dan Azzarello - Student Ministry (camp this week)

Richard Crumley - Mercy and Prayer Ministry (Gospel Fellowship)

Fidel Garcia - Music Ministry and Prayer (Gospel Fellowship)

Lastly, we will commission three men as elders. As many as 8 out of 10 church plants fail within the first five years for a number of reasons, but more often than not it’s because there is no shared leadership. We are embarking on our 7th birthday in October and we have much to be thankful for. God has been so gracious to sustain us—and while we have not arrived, we are certainly reaching a milestone today. To have men who are not only qualified but willing to answer the call to oversee a local body (of any size) is nothing short of miraculous. None of these men are perfect. None of these men have reached full Spiritual maturity. But each of these men know Jesus and they’re humbly seeking Him. Each one of these men will pastor the congregation. Each one of these men will oversee ministry. But as God has gifted each of these men uniquely, we will seek to learn and grow towards that end.

David Bennett - Teaching Ministry and Financial Oversight

Mario Vasquez - Oversee Sunday Ministry’s and Worship Services

Why are we going through all of this? Because we want to be a church that is making disciples and planting churches.

How many of you believe that is a worthy goal?

I admit I struggle.

I don’t always see God’s power in my life

I read about OT and NT

I read about Spiritual Awakenings in world history, but don’t see it here and now

Reading and hearing those things inspires me to desire for that to happen right here in Sac.

The negative that comes from that desire is that the Church has sought to manufacture the experience so we could say, “Look at what God did!”

Preachers have done massive damage trying to create revival - a movement of God so big that only he could get the credit for it.

We start to scheme and plan “Revival meetings” believing that we are the “X Factor” - and I know, nobody thinks they’re the X-factor, but how many of you have thought, “I just don’t feel capable of ministry?” I’m not capable of leading or serving.

In other words, “If I just knew more, had more experience, read another book, took another class, listened to another podcast, THEN I’d be ready.” So, yes, you believe you are the X-factor. The secret ingredient.

So I wanted to spend a little time looking at Scripture that sets us straight when we’re thinking that way.

Text:

Turn with me to .

Matthew is one of four biographies of the life and works of Jesus.

Matthew is written to a Jewish audience and up to this point, Jesus has done his ministry to the Jews.

But there is a shift that happens mid-way through chapter 15, Jesus ideologically and geographically walks away from the Jews.

Jesus is weary from his fruitless ministry to the Jews, so he does something unthinkable for a Jewish Rabbi to do, he turns to the Gentiles.

Not just any Gentile group, he interacts with a Canaanite woman…

This Canaanite woman is crying out for His attention, “O Lord, Son of David, have mercy, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

Jesus says nothing. But he feels something incredibly strong within.

But his silence would not be acceptable to the Canaanite woman, so she keeps crying out and begging for his attention.

And as the Jewish disciples had done with the children who cried out for Jesus’ attention, they try to dissuade Jesus from talking with this Canaanite who was a woman. Jewish men did not interact with women who were not their wife or mother.

And as the disciples are pushing him down the road, he turns and says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And that’s when time stood still as the Canaanite woman came before Jesus and got on her knees and said, “Lord, help me.”

Jesus had one more rebuttal before he could contain himself no longer, he said something that would have made any Jew stand up and walk away, he said, “It is not right to take the children’s (Jews) bread and throw it to the dogs.”

And I know it sounds extremely rude, all I can say is that Jesus wasn’t seeking to insult her as much as he was seeking to give her a word picture to illustrate that the time for the Gentiles (who were largely in rebellion to God) to come to repentance.

But instead of taking it personal, she actually got the word picture and because of her persistent faith, she responded with, “Hey, even the dogs get the scraps.”

Joy welled up in the heart of Jesus and he couldn’t help it, but he explodes with, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

The Lesson is...

This story reveals that there are still people who have been awakened who want to hear the message of Jesus. This woman did not seek only for healing for her daughter, this woman sought a new King.

Her first words directed at Jesus were not, teacher, not healer, not friend, they were, “O LORD.” And those words were only followed up with words that informed those around that she was not hoping that he was some Gentile version of the Messiah, but she knew her history, she knew the OT prophecy, he would be of the line of David.

She believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and she was courageous enough to let Him know that Jesus was her KING!

This story reveals that the ministers of Jesus don’t always understand the mission of Jesus. What were the ministers of Jesus doing? They were trying to prevent Jesus from giving this woman what she was asking for.

How often are we informed about the mission of Jesus from the media, or politics, or religion, to the point that we actually stand in the way of the work of Jesus instead of working with Jesus?

Don’t let anyone convince you that some group is beyond the transforming message and love of Jesus. I have had to repent of thinking that I actually could predict if someone was going to receive or reject the message of the Gospel.

I’ve actually said before, “I wish that guy would become a Christian, because they’d make a great Christian.”

This story reminds us, that we’re not the X-Factor. The ministers of Jesus aren’t the X-Factor.

So what then is the role of ministers?

The Role of Ministers...

Matthew 15:32–39 ESV

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them 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 seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Just before this happened hoards of people start showing up with their friends and family members who were lame, blind, crippled, deaf, and many others… and Jesus healed them...

You’ve got to picture this assembly line of people who looked liked they were waiting for the mall Santa only when they would be seen Jesus was lovingly healing and speaking to them like there wasn’t another thing in the world more important than giving of himself for the marginalized people of that society.

This goes on for three solid days...

And instead of people leaving, they just hung around this man who treated them humans with dignity and care and love.

And Jesus looks out now at the whole crowd and his heart again is just overcome with emotion for everyone who he knew he couldn’t send away without offering them something to sustain them physically so they could make it home.

So he looks at his disciples again and his disciples very logically say, “Jesus, where are we going to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed such a big crowd?”

Look around Jesus, you’ve done a lot of good things, I think they’ll make it home ok. Come on, you’re tired, we’re tired...”

Now, rewind your Bible one page and about the middle of the page look for . Is there a heading in your Bible? What does it say? Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand. Obviously, I don’t know how much time lapsed from then until now, but certainly they don’t all have late stages of dementia.

The main difference between events is that one crowd was Jewish and the other Gentile. The disciples just couldn’t fathom Jesus revealing his power to THOSE people in THAT way.

And how often is this line of thinking repeated today? This group of people, this country, these people are really bad, so obviously Jesus can’t do anything really great, here.

But Jesus is about to blow their minds… How many loaves do you have? And I can just hear them going, “Are you serious, no.” Finally, one of them says, “Seven saltines and a few sardines.”

And Jesus did the miracle again and this time for the Gentiles.

And everybody had more than enough food.

The Lesson is...

We are commissioning men and ladies today to lead Gospel ministry here at Redemption, in this community, for the Church globally, and for the nations.

These men and ladies all want to see a movement so great and so powerful that it could only be described as a pouring out of God’s Grace.

Many if not most of you here are on board with that, but all of us are a bit fearful at the same time.

But the reality is that when we look out just at our area, we see so much hurt and so much sin and we are tempted to say, where is our little church going to get so much bread, in such a desolate place, for so many people?

None of us feel fully equipped, none of us believe we have it all together, we’re all a bit rough around the edges so what can we do?

Matthew 15:36 ESV

he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Matthew 15:36

We Can Remember

Jesus is the Chef

It would be a mistake to think that if we could just be a little smarter, and a little more charismatic, or a little more gifted that God could do something great through me.

I want to call you to resign from that thinking this morning and remember that Jesus is still feeding the four thousand

We Are the Servers

You might be thinking “I have nothing to give” and you wouldn’t be wrong, but remember that everything that we see and feel and taste and hear and touch is the result of a Creator who takes nothing and makes something breathtakingly beautiful.

You might be thinking on another note, there are no crowds here… those crowds gathered because they were attracted by the life of Jesus.

“The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.”

1 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976), p. 28.

God didn’t need the disciples to give out the meal, but he wanted to include them on the blessing of helping people find life and flourishing.

God doesn’t need us, but He calls us to partner with Him in bringing that same life and flourishing to others through Gospel ministry.

The best place for us to be right now when Jesus asks us “How many loaves do you have?” is to respond with the truth:

We don’t have a whole lot to offer, but we’ve heard the stories and we’ve seen little movements and we know that there are people in nations and the community who would love to hear about you and be satisfied by you, where you lead me I will follow.

Discouraged with outreach initiatives. Text messaged Jesse. He responded, our car needed repair. He had the idea to serve the needy, the single mom, the struggling family…

What would happen if we all brought our little saltines and sardines to Jesus?

Commissioning:

Let’s have those who are being commissioned today come up to the front and I would like to pray over you.