The Gap
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever had an event that has drastically impacted your life?
Last month while our family was on vacation one of the places we happen to be by was the flight 93 memorial
Which was where one of the planes crashed on 9/11
And so we decided to go to this memorial which was extreamly well done.
But one of the things that was amazing is there was one part that told how the event actually impacted the lives of the family members who lost loved ones on that day.
Because you would think they would just be done and unconsolable considering the hurt they would have felt
but what is amazing is that there were some people who actually ended up becoming fire fighters because of loosing a loved one,
There were some that decided to become a flight attendants to honor family that were lost
And it was really interesting to hear how this tragic and terrible event impacted some of the family.
But you know whenever there is some sort of tragic event that takes place in our life, something that is painful and hurts it provides us with a chance to respond to the tragedy.
And really in the story we are in today it takes place right after a tragic loss in Jesus’s ministry. Because Jesus just found out that John the Baptist had been killed
And if you knew who John the Baptist was he was a person who not only was family to Jesus, but he actually prepared the way for Jesus’s ministry to take place.
And so this was a really hard loss for Jesus and so the passage we are in today takes place right after Jesus hears about the loss of John the Baptist and we are actually going to be looking at how Jesus responds to this.
So we are in Matthew 14:13-21 and really how Jesus responds to this and I think we are going to be a little supriesed about what happens.
So once again we are in Matthew 14:13-21 and we will just be starting in the first couple verses because Jesus hears this new about John the baptist and this is what happens:
13 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. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
So Jesus gets word while He is teaching of this tragic news and He actually does what a lot of us would do if we found out a loved one passed away.
It says that he withdrew and went to a place where He could be alone.
It is 100% okay to mourn.
When somthing tragic or somthing awul happens in our life it is actually healthy to mourn.
But something that hard for Jesus is he gets to where He is heading and there is actually a large crowd of people waiting for Him to teach and heal them
And you think He would say I am sorry but I need a little bit just to process what has happened
But it actually says He see’s this crowd and he actually has compassion on them.
His heart is breaking for them.
And instead of Jesus saying sorry, It actually says He goes out and heals people.
And you are probably thinking Jesus you need to lay low
And I would agree, but you know I think whats amazing here is that instead of the brokeness of this situation breaking Jesus it actually fuels Jesus in His ministry
And this is what I want you to get.
Because we live in a broken world; dont we?
I mean there is death, sickness, evil, people have bad motives, things will seem chaotic occasionally.
And we should mourn that the world today is different then how God has called it to be.
Because there is a gap between where things are and where they should be.
And so often we get discouraged by this gap. We say whats the point.
Why would God care about me if there is a gap between how I live and how I should live
why would God care about the world if there is a gap between how things are and how they should be.
But heres what I want you to get because while this gap can be discouraging, it actually should fuel us to do God’s will.
Because our mission as a church is actually fueled by the fact that the world is not as it should be.
Think of it this way do we have any people here that love home improvement projects?
Can I ask you why do you improve something in your home?
Is there a reason?
Its because it needs to be improved right?!
Your walls are ugly so you paint it
Something is falling apart so you fix it
I mean whenever we fix something it is always because it could be improved
And really thats what God wants us to do when we look at the broken world we live in and really even our lives
He wants that to fuel us, because there are lives that are hurting, that might not have hope, but if you are a Christian then you posses the ability to share the hope in the middle of the broken world we live in.
And look at what happens next in verses 15-16 because it says
Matthew 14:15–16 (NIV)
15 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.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”because Jesus is healing people and doing some amazing things but His disciples interrupt Him
So Jesus is healing people and lives are being changed, but then the disciples come up to Him and go excuse me Jesus,
I don’t know if you have noticed this but we are currently in the middle of no where and it is dinner time.
And in other accounts that tell the same story just from another point of view they mentioned there are about 5000 men there.
And a lot of people believe that there are actually a lot more because back then they only counted men.
So they believe there were probably between 15,000-20,000 people with Jesus.
And so the disciples are looking at this and they are going we need to get these people home because hangry people are not fun.
And so they tell Jesus and He looks at them and says well why don’t you feed them?
And you can imagine them going “Are you kidding me?” Do you realize the amount of food that would require?
Because the disciples recognized there is a problem here, but instead of saying lets do something about it they say the problem is to big.
And can I just say church people do this all the time. We love to do this!
And you might be thinking well yeah because its the logical thing to do!
I mean its easy to relate to the disciples because we are people who see an issue or this gap and we start to see how big it is, instead of seeing how big our God is!
And this is why the diciples want to start sending people away.
But this next part is my favorite part because look at verses 17-19 and it says this:
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 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.
So the disciples get together and you can picture them going well lets see what food can gather together and they go and check and it turns out they have 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed thousands of people
But whats amazing is in these three verses that I just read the only thing Jesus says to the disciples (in red letters) is “Bring them Here to me.”
And I imagine this was a little difficult for the disciples to do because if they give Jesus this food everyone in this crowd would start to realize that they are going to get dinner because they would be preparing for the meal and they would see Jesus blessing it.
And they are probably thinking what if Jesus can’t actually feed everyone.
He’s healed people
He is an amzing teacher
He’s done this, but there is no way He can make food.
And this is using my imagination a little but they are probably thinking if we give the food to Jesus there is a chance that this crowd will think they are getting a free meal. And if that doesn’t happen they will be hangry at us and then they get to go the night without food.
But I think there is something important here because if we want to see God move (If we want to see Him fill in the gap) we need to trust Him with the small and ordinary resources we have been given.
Because when we trust God with our small amount of ordinary resources God blessed it and He transforms our things that seem insignificant and transforms it into something that glorify’s Him.
Its almost like this: who here when they were a kid would give there baby teeth to the tooth fairy?
All of us right?
Because who would not trade their baby teeth for money
What else are you going to do with them? Right?
It would be kind of silly and weird to keep your own.
But so often Christians do that with the small resources we have been given.
Because God has given us these resources but instead of saying God use this, we hoard them.
because we think we can use our resources better then how God can use them.
And what God wants us to do is say “Here you go God!” Take it and use it!
And look what happens when the disciples do this in the last couple verses starting in verse 20 because it says that:
20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
God used the extreamly ordinary to not just fill the gap but the make it so that gap was so overfilled that there were left overs.
Church can I ask you this morning what Gap do we have in our life, in our church, and in our world.
Some of us probably have gaps in our life where we are saying how could God move in a place like that.
Others of us might be looking at our community and or even the world and going there is clearly a gap between where God desires this world, where God desires Buchanan or St. Joseph and where we are.
and we might hate to admit it but somtimes when we look at our gaps we might feel like its a lost cause.
And maybe this makes me a little overly optimistic, but I believe when we say God here are the resources we have take and use them how you see fit (which might be extreamly hard) but when we do this:
I believe God can fill in the gap that is to big.
This morning as we close I want to ask you do you believe God can close the gap in your life?
Do you believe God can close the gap in your marriage
Do you believe God can close the gap between your kids
Do you believe He can do that with our community
Do you believe He can do it with this world?
Will you pray with me.