How To Have Effective Ministry

Matthew 14:13-21

Intro:

Proposition: Since spiritual ministry can never happen apart from Jesus, we must minister through His provision and power.

Only when we work along with Him can our ministry be considered effective. This parable is a prime illustration of what happens in effective ministry, so let’s look at the feeding of the five thousand.

When the disciples of John the Baptist brought the news of John’s death to Jesus, He withdrew from the area of Capernaum so that He could be alone with His own disciples. Jesus was not afraid for His life, because He knew no one could take it from Him unless He permitted it. He withdrew to avoid premature confrontation with Herod, to be alone with His Father, and to explain the significance of John’s death to His disciples.

Jesus also needed refreshment. Even if all the reaction to Him had been positive, He would have been physically drained after such a rigorous schedule of teaching and healing. The growing opposition of His enemies, the fickleness of the multitudes, and the continued misunderstanding and immaturity of His disciples made the drain immeasurably worse.

As Jesus went ashore, He saw a great multitude, whose men alone numbered five thousand, “aside from women and children”. Children were considered a great blessing from the Lord, and most families in those days were large. It is therefore not unreasonable to estimate that the total crowd exceeded twenty-five thousand.

Splanchnizomai (to have compassion) means literally his insides were stirred up, which is where the ancients considered the emotions and feelings to reside.

I. Effective Ministers Have a Heart of Compassion (13-14)
Jesus always was focused on two things: the glory of God, and the needs of people. He was deeply moved by the suffering, confusion, despair, and spiritual lostness of those around Him. Jesus felt pain, experiencing genuine anguish for the suffering of others, whether they were believer or unbeliever, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, young or old, wealthy or poor. He must have felt much as He did when He approached Lazarus’s grave and wept.

Jesus also felt compassion because of His perfect perception of hell and the torment those would face who did not receive Him. Even as He lovingly healed their bodies, He had infinitely greater concern to heal their souls. Even after Jesus healed a body, it could become sick or crippled again. But when He heals a sin-diseased soul, it is forever freed from sin’s dominion and penalty. Jesus postponed His rest, His privacy, His time alone with the disciples, and even His time with His Father in order to meet the needs of those helpless people who suffered.
For the follower of Jesus Christ the motivation is no different. Effective ministry begins with compassion. This is the motivation for soulwinning.

II. Effective Ministers Recognize Human and Earthly Limits
Since we are flesh and blood, there are limits naturally placed upon us. In order to effectively minister we must recognize these limits, but not use them as excuses for indolence or lack of effort. The disciples unfortunately at this time chose to use them as excuses.

A. Personal Fatigue (13)
The normal inclination would have been to ignore the people and keep going or to have dismissed the multitude, telling them that no healings or other signs would be performed. It would have been easy to go so far into the hills that most of the people could not have followed or to go back into the boat and head for a location where they would not be discovered.
But Jesus did not follow the usual human inclinations and, although He was exhausted and in great need of rest, He was drawn to them because He felt compassion for them.
John 6:5-9 records that immediately, when they came on shore Jesus asked Philip, "Where are we going to get bread to feed all of these people?" Philip and the disciples must have struggled with this problem, meanwhile the whole time Jesus "Knew exactly what He was going to do." The disciples were at a loss in spite of all the miracles they had witnessed. Instead of an answer here is the set of limits that they saw.

B. Remote Location (13)
When the disciples were confronted with the task of trying to feed the crowd, they noted the remote location, by telling Jesus that they should send the people to the surrounding villages. However; with a crowd this size, there was probably no way for the villages to feed them.

People still like to use the remote location or location excuse today. Today we have efficient transportation and multiple methods of communication. The remote location excuse is just not valid.

C. Limited Finances (15)
Philip was from that area and would most likely have known what food would have been available; but Jesus was hoping Philip would look to Him rather than to human and earthly resources. Unfortunately, Philip was more awed at the magnitude of the crowd than the magnitude of Jesus’ power, and he responded incredulously, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little”. A denarius was the normal day’s wage for a common laborer, but it was obvious that nearly six month’s of such wages would not be enough to feed the thousands of people that were assembled. Philip knew they did not have a fraction of the money needed to buy enough food, even if they bought the cheapest bread available.

ILL: Mid-America

D. Limited time (15)
Verse 15 says, “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past;” We only have so much time on this earth, and we are commanded to “redeem it” or make the most of it. Jesus made the most of his time, always focused on the Father’s will and the need of people. Jesus made time for what was important.

Many Christians say they don’t have time to serve God or to minister to people, but a close examination of their time reveals that the extra time they have is used for personal pursuits. What they are really saying is, “I have set my priorities, and this is not high enough on my priority list.”

God already knows you intimately and knows how fatigued you are, your resources and location, and he also knows what you do with your time. His way is perfect and will never ask you to do more than you can handle with His infinite Divine resources at hand. This leads us to the third principle:

III. Effective Ministers Respond to Jesus’ Call to Act (16)
After hearing the disciple’s request to send the people away, Jesus responded in Matthew 14:16, “They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” The word “give” is an imperative. It was not optional; he commanded them to feed the people. Jesus was probably testing them to see if they would turn to Him instead of relying upon their own resources and abilities. While they should have asked Jesus to meet the need, they did what most people do and focused on their own resources.

And now we come to the point of tension, that confronts every person who listens to Jesus call to serve. Will we trust God or will we do it on our own? Whenever problems come our way we don’t look above our own meager provisions. We are naturally programmed by our culture to “pull ourselves up by our boot straps.” In America when we encounter a problem we just throw money at it or say it can’t be done. That is not pleasing to God. What God wants is His glory, and He gets glory whenever the impossible is done.

How will you respond when God gives you an opportunity to teach Sunday School? Or tell someone about Christ? Or take a mission trip? Or go into the ministry?

Let me give you some timeless principles that will make possible, the impossible:

A. Start with what God gives you (17)
Can you imagine being a disciple standing in front of a bunch of hungry Jews with loaves and two fishes? They were probably thinking, “This is it; I know how I am going to die.” What you have can never be enough to serve God. That is why you have to do the next step.

B. In faith, give it to Jesus (17-19)
That is all Jesus wants. He wants your life. He gave you your talents and abilities. He can do the rest.

C. Obey completely (19)
The other gospels record that He had them sit down in 50’s and 100’s. Just do what God wants you to do.

D. Allow God to display His power
Verse 20 says, “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.” And that’s the way God does it. Everyone was full. The word “filled” is used of animals that have enough at the trough that they do not want more to eat.
Jesus taught the disciples that, in meeting the physical needs of others, they were also to minister the truth of the kingdom. He taught the disciples to do things in an orderly and careful manner, just as God does. Along with the lesson of orderliness was the even more important lesson of obeying the Lord even when the reason cannot be seen. The twelve were told to divide the multitude into groups of fifties and hundreds before they knew the purpose for doing it. And after Jesus blessed the loaves and fish and handed them to the disciples, the food probably did not begin to multiply until it was distributed. The miracle became effective only as the disciples obeyed Jesus’ command.
Jesus also demonstrated God’s great generosity in providing enough food for every person to be fully satisfied, yet with an economy of stewardship that allowed no waste. Ours is a God of abundant providence, who does not give stingily. The ministry of God’s servants should also be characterized by giving without reserve or measure, considering the needs of others before our own. Before the disciples knew that food would be left for them, they obediently gave all they had to the multitudes. Just as the food did not begin to multiply until after the disciples started to distribute it, their own needs were not met until they had met the needs of others. The little bit of food Jesus handed to the disciples was far short of enough to feed even twelve men. It was one little boy’s lunch. But in obedience to Jesus, they gave away even what little they had.

The supreme lesson for the disciples was to learn to trust God to supply what seems impossible. Even after pondering all day over Jesus’ instruction for them to feed the crowd themselves, the thought of turning to Him did not enter their heads. Like most of us, they were still inclined to look everywhere but to Him, even after having experienced so many previous miracles. And within that lesson was the lesson that, although God is perfectly able to do His work without us and without what we have, He chooses to use us and our meager resources to magnify His goodness and His power.
God’s plan of redemption involves the witness, the work, and the means of those who belong to Him. In His infinite wisdom, the Lord most fully manifests His power through our weakness and His abundance through our poverty. God often uses the small things to greater effectiveness than the things that are thought to be the greatest and most promising.
God used a boy and his slingshot to slay Goliath and rout the Philistine army. He used a poverty-stricken widow to sustain Elijah and a young girl to lead the leprous Naaman to Elisha. He used Balaam’s donkey to teach His truth and the jawbone of another donkey to slay a thousand men. He used a little child to teach His disciples humility, and He used one boy’s lunch to feed twenty-five thousand people.
And He can use you to glorify Him in ways that you never dreamed.