Feeding of the 5000 (2)
Notes
Transcript
Don’t Go Away Hungry
Don’t Go Away Hungry
Good morning all....
Let me ask you a question this morning - Are you blessed today?
In what ways?
There are so many ways my friends.
If we start with the natural man, we recognize that we are alive today. We have our families, our spouse perhaps, or maybe you might say, oh my children are alive, healthy and saved. Then we are blessed.
We were feed today, clothed, and provided for in so many was.... We are blessed
We had shelter, warm and or cool depending on the time of the year. We are blessed.
But most importantly my friends, we have Jesus. We are sinners saved by grace. We are blessed.
I remind you of all this my friends to remember just How Good is our God!
Today we come back to the Gospel of Matthew and we are moving to chapter 14 and we are going to look at the “Feeding of the 5000.”
This miracle is one of the most well known of all that Jesus does, in fact the Lord has allowed it to be the only miracle that is recorded in all 4 of the gospels outside of His death, burial and resurrection.
So lets open the text and look at this passage....
13 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. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 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.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 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. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Just a little information to set the stage if you will my friends, Jesus has just found out that his mothers cousin, John the Baptist has been killed.
Herod who was over the region of Galilee, was living with His brothers wife. And during a party, His girlfriend’s daughter danced in such a way that Herod told her he would give her what ever she wanted...
She asked for the head of John the Baptist… So Herod had him beheaded and his head brought to her on a platter.
So verse 13, Jesus hearing this withdraws from the crowds, He needs time to reflect, to pray, to be in have time with the Father.
And the crowds hearing where Jesus was, went to him.
S0 what can we see from Jesus here in this miracle? Well I want to share 3 things with you here in this passage. # points that will speak to our lives...
1. Savior’s Compassion
Compassion is a wonderful word and work my friends....
Compassion is a wonderful blessing, Compassion is what is extended from deep inside of a person and given freely to anther.
And my friends this is How God looks on those in need, He doesn't ignore them, He doesn’t brush them aside, instead He loves them and pours himself out in front of them.
Go back to our text, verses 13-14
13 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. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
As you examine the Scriptures, there is a consistent truth, people wanted to see Jesus. And friends that is still our need today, We long to see Jesus, to have Him show up in our lives in a powerful way.
As Jesus withdrew after hearing the news of John the Baptist, we find out that as soon as the people find out where He is, they go to Him
They wanted to see Him. They understood Jesus was different, He was totally different than the religious leaders who taught them. Jesus taught with authority and power.
And come to him they did, the crowd is enormous mostly likely the largest that every turned out to see Jesus in one setting.
As Jesus came back to the shore, landing the boat and seeing those there, we see two responses of our Lord.
A. He has compassion on them and B. He healed their sick.
First off, A. He has compassion - Now looking at the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6 and verse 34, we see that Jesus had compassion on them for Jesus says “...they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
Now that is an important description. It is not just pity that is being expressed here, not just sorrow for their condition.
No! Jesus is heart broken over their lostness. They were people who had no spiritual leadership in their life. The religious leaders had abdicated their responsibility and they wrote people off as lost causes.
Having abandoned the people, they were wandering lost..... and Jesus recognizes this fact
Jesus said i am the Good Shepherd, the one who is lost I will find...
Are you glad He found you my friends.... Praise the Lord, Jesus found us.
B. He Healed them.... In contrast to the religious leaders who were only interested in placing those heavy burdens on the back of the people. Jesus tended to their needs.
Think of a lost sheep, the shepherd wouldn’t just find it. He would care for it, tend to its wounds, make sure it was feed and given water. He would want the sheep to be healthy and blessed.
Jesus ministers to the crowds and the needs they brought before him. God desires to help His children, to bless and to see them better for the days ahead.
He does so because He has compassion on them, the sheep of His pasture...
Now what about us?
If you are in Christ, understand you are His sheep my friends. And if you are not saved today, know that He wants you to know His compassion, His love and His mercy. All you need is to ask, Lord Save me a sinner.
He will save you.... Do you realize today God isn’t interested with your past, He is interested in your future.
The savior has compassion and loves us....
And this brings us to a second thought....
Savior’s Challenge
Now, Jesus has been teaching and healing those who came to Him, and the day is passing away, its starting to get late. Evening is approaching … and you know Galilee, 6 pm and they start rolling up the side walks.....
And because of this, the disciples come up to Jesus....
Lets look at the text.... Verses 15-16
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.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
I can just imagine that its been a long day. The disciples have seen so many people, so many needs and I’m sure they are exhausted… and I would imagine the physical nature of Jesus is tired as well, so the disciples come to Jesus.
Master, evening is here… We are in a remote place and there is nothing here for the people to eat. Master send the away to the towns/villages to buy food for themselves.
And I suspect there is another thought perhaps, the disciples need need something to eat as well. Now that is only my speculation, but regardless, they have needs as well.
And Jesus hearing their request, He has a challenge for them. Look again to verse 16
16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
The crowd is enormous, 5000 men, not counting women and children… and Jesus places the challenge before them… You give them something to eat.
This challenge would test the way the disciples think and will challenge what they believe.
And pay attention here my friends, for every challenge in life does the same to us, it will test what we think and it will challenge what we believe.
And as Jesus gives that challenge,- But What is the disciples response?
Verse 17 shares with us a portion of their response. Matthew 14:17
17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
Their response according to Matthew says, this is all we have, a few loaves of bread and 2 pan fish.
Now when you look at the gospel of John we see that Phillip says Master 200 pennyworth of bread will not even provide a little bit for everyone.... John 6:7
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
Now 200 penny worth is close to a years wages and it wasn’t enough among so many
Phillip says Master, we don’t have enough money to even go buy a little for everyone.....
Do you see the real issue at hand here?
So the disciples missed what Jesus was doing, they followed the easy path of were their mind would lead them… it led them to self.
You see we have been taught our whole life to take are of self, to look to self and to depend only on that… Here Jesus promotes a new paradigm and it teaches us to look to Him first.
I want you to know my friends, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It is hard to break the old ways, the old attitudes but one can change as they live for the Lord. But… it takes effort as you walk with God.
Now we know that there was an additional find, Andrew comes up with 5 loaves and 2 fish that a young boy gave to the disciples.
Now a loaf of bread was big enough to feed 3 people , so comfortably there was enough food for 15 people, to have a little bread and some fish to go with that bread.
But listen to Andrew’s here in John 6 and verse 8 Andrew says, “What what are they among so many.?”
My friends when we look to self we always have questions, uncertainty, where as Jesus gives us hope.
Jesus posted a great challenge before them.......
BUT… realize the challenge is also before you my friends.... its not how will you feed so many. But the true matter is where and what will you look to when you face the great challenges of life.
Do you look to self, to the world for answers or do you look to God.
The challenge my friends is trusting God and not self. The devil will lie and tell you “You’ve got this” when in truth you need God’s help, His direction and His answers.
I am not able in myself, But I cam certainly able in Him.. and so are you.
Where will you put your trust my friends when Jesus calls.....
And when we look to Jesus we find the abundance of His answer and provision my friends.
My last thought for today....
3. Savior’s Abundance
I am reminded that trusting God for each day’s challenge unlocks an abundance of His help, His provision and His care...
Why? Because He has able to do abundantly more than we can think or ask....
The disciples seem to be lost in this enormous request that Jesus has made.
And we would be too..... Think of this group: 5000 men, and with women and maybe children present as well, the numbers might be as many as 15 to 20 thousand people there in a solitary place away from the towns and villages.
And Jesus challenges the disciple, we can feed them!
And as we have already seen, they fail to look to God the Father and they certainly haven not looked to the Savior.
They have simple shared their resolve..... We don’t have enough money and there is not enough food....
So Jesus begins to work...
Lets look at verses 18-19
18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 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.
So two things right off the bat...
1st....Verse 18 Jesus calls for the disciples to bring the food to Him.... The bring those 5 loaves and those 2 small fish.... like blue gills for your perspective.
Jesus will reveal to them ( and us here) that when placed in His hands a little is always more....
God can always take our little and make it much.... and let me share this...
Those items had to come into His hands.... there is a lesson of submission here my friends. You cannot hang on to self and expect God to bless you and use you to do much for the kingdom of God. You have to place yourself in His hands
2nd.... Jesus has the people to sit down. Order is always important in the kingdom of God.
People sometimes say they are organized chaos. They can’t seem to calm down, tons of energy and enthusiasm...but they are able to direct that energy in the right direction, in a planned effort to accomplish what is in front of them.
Once the people were situated and ready to receive a meal, Jesus took the bread and broke it and blessed it.
Now there is a thought here that according to the meaning of the word, bless or give thanks....that Jesus is alluding to the last supper, the breaking of bread and meat to point to he sacrificial death of Jesus in the days to come....
In either point, Jesus did the most common of tasks first and foremost, Jesus thanked His Father for the many blessing of that day, including this simple meal that would mean so much to so many.
Here is a question… are you giving thanks to God for your meals, you life, your family, your salvation
Then Jesus distributed the bread and the fish to the disciples, who in turn went among the people and gave the bread and fish to those present.
Now lets look at the last two verses of our passage.... Verses 20-21
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
My friends this evening no one went away hungry!
Now I want to point out something for you here.
Verse 20 begins by saying they all ate and they were all satisfied. And thus Psalm 132:15 is brought to light.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Jesus is the one who sustains life, physically and spiritually, Jesus is the one who is able to satisfy our lives with good and pleasant things.
Jesus declares in the Gospel of John, I am the Bread of Life....
David, King of Isreal said this
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Why.... because like a shepherd, Jesus will lead us in good pathways in life if we allow Him too..
Now as the crowd is satisfied with what they have eaten, along with the disciples, Jesus brings another request to the table.
Listen to this request.....
Collect the left overs.... and then Jesus says that nothing be lost or wasted as the NIV states in John chapter 6, verse 12
Now gathering the food is important, of course the miracle itself reminds us that as Jesus blessed the food, broke it and passed it out it just continues to multiply.
Food is something that is precious, it was the provision of God to his children and here, it has come directly from the Savior’s hand.
God has always feed his people, from the garden to the wilderness wanderings, God blesses his people
And here, Jesus wants noting to be wasted, or lost.
More importantly, He wants no one to perish.
But my friends people are perishing each day. Death comes and visits our homes and our families and Jesus wants us to know that just as he would save the food for future use.
He would save man for future use, for future blessings...
Jesus will remind us in Verse 27
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
And then later on again, verse 39 John 6:39
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
The 12 baskets represent the 12 disciples, and the churches of believers that will develop through their sacrificial work as Jesus sent them out.
Jesus wants them to endure, and He wants believers, the church to endure as well.
John would remind us in 2 John 8, watch yourselves, that nothing be lost.
Jesus desires that we all be productive and useful in the kingdom, He wants us all to be gathered, that we know Him, that our spiritual hunger and thirst be satisfied. And then you can work that His kingdom might be fulfilled in the days to come.
Don’t go away hungry, Jesus is here for you. Will you put yourself in His hands to take you, use you and make your life fuller and freeer.
Lets pray