"A Desolate Place"_Matthew 14 Feb 13 2022

Intro

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Bibles: Matthew 14

I read through this chapter over and over

I always ask the Lord, “What’s the message for me to preach in this passage - what’s the application?

It wasn’t obvious right away

After praying over and over - finally he showed me the application: Fix our eyes on Jesus

I want to get right into this…(pray…)

Recap

Last time, in chapter 13, we looked at our first introduction to the parables of Jesus

Jesus gives us many wonderful parables - it is the another long discourse by Jesus where he taught the disciples and he teaches us

Of all the short parables in chapter 13, there are two main ones:

The Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Weeds

Jesus graciously explains these two

The Parable of the Sower begins: “A sower went out to sow.”

The sower is us

The seed is the Gospel - which is thrown indiscriminately on to different soil types

All soils are bad, except for one: the good soil

The soils represent the hearts of the listeners of the Gospel

Notice that many soils are bad - and notice that the sower bears no responsibility for the condition of the heart of the listener

The job of the sower is to just do his job - to sow the seed of the Gospel to as many listeners as possible

In the end of this parable, the seed finally falls on good soil - and something wonderful happens

It bears fruit - and multiplies

The heart of this listener is soft - his heart-soil is fertile and he responds to the Gospel

In turn, he responds to what he heard - he becomes another sower who goes out to sow

That’s the Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Weeds

In this parable, there is another sower

In this case, the sower is Jesus

He sows “good seed” in his field

This seed grows up to be healthy wheat

But his servants observe something strange - among the healthy wheat, there is also weeds in this field

When the servants ask their Master about it - he tells them that the enemy did this

Jesus says that in the end, the reapers will first eventually gather the weeds to be burned - and then the wheat will will be gathered and be brought into his barn

Jesus gives us a picture of his Kingdom

It is a picture of not only what will happen in end times

But it also tells us about his Kingdom right now - that his Kingdom is partially obscured -

And that those who are part of his Kingdom are among those from the evil one

I mentioned that Jesus accurately refers to his “Kingdom,” and not his church

In other words, the church contains people in his Kingdom, but it also can contain those from the evil one

Churches, by nature, are fairly open to the public - and so it’s always possible that not every person sitting in the pews is a Christian

Make sense?

In the end, Jesus makes a wonderful statement about the true Christians who believe in him

It’s found in verse 43 and nowhere else in the Bible - look at it with me:

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father!”

If you remember some basics about the Gospel of Matthew

Matthew is known as the Gospel of the Messiah

It was written to a Jewish audience

Out the four gospels, it is the most structured

When you look at its structure, there are five “books”

We are currently in Book Four

Book Four: Church Administration (14-18)

Each book ends with a long discourse by Jesus - there are five major discourses by Jesus

The next long discourse we will see comes in chapter 18

Sermon Message

Today we will look at three stories:

The Death of John the Baptist

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Jesus Walks on the Water

Again -

The Death of John the Baptist

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Jesus Walks on the Water

I want us to look at these stories and see if there’s a connection that links these stories together

And, is there a connection between all three

And then finally, the application: Fix your eyes on Jesus

The Death of John the Baptist

In my Bible, I have not much underlined or highlighted for the first 12 verses of Matthew 14

It is one of the saddest stories - in the Gospels - and in the entire Bible

It tells the story of John the Baptist getting beheaded - it is sick and depraved and graphic

The setting is the birthday of Herod Antipas (the son of Herod the Great)

Herod the Great tried to kill Jesus as a young child

But now his son will kill John the Baptist

My Bible has the heading, “The Death of John the Baptist”

My own subtile is, “A Sick and Disturbed Birthday Party”

Herod the tetrarch had John the Baptist in prison

Herod’s brother was Philip - Philip was married to Herodias

Without going into too much detail, he married his half-brother’s wife

In God’s eyes, this was incestuous

And John the Baptist repeatedly called him out on it by saying, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

This is the reason Herod had John in prison - he didn’t want to be called out by the truth

The Bible says that Herod was afraid to kill John because he feared the people - because they held him to be a prophet

The Gospel of Mark makes it a little more clear: Herodias was the one who wanted to kill John, but Herod was afraid

This is important for later in the story

That’s the setting - got it?

Herod’s brother Philip was in an unlawful marriage with Herodias

Herod (or should I say Herodias) wanted to kill John - but for now, he was just holding him in prison

And now comes Herod’s birthday feast

The daughter of Herodias came and danced before everyone at the feast

We are not given the name of the daughter, but the Bible says that her dance “pleased Herod”

It does not explicitly say so, but the implication was that the dance aroused Herod

So here is Herod - excited by this dance - and not in his right mind - decides it would be a good idea to give an oath to this young girl

Aren’t men foolish?

Especially when it comes to pretty girls - men have a tendency to not make the best decisions

So, Herod tells this young girl, by oath, that he would grant her anything she would ask

So the girl goes and asks her mom, “I don’t know what to ask - what do you think I should ask for?”

And Herodias tells her daughter, “I’ve got a good one - why don’t you ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter?”

Can you imagine that?

This poor young girl - probably prompted by mom to take part of this scheme - goes to her controlling mother because she doesn’t know what to do

Actually, Herodias personalized the request. Even though the promise was made to the daughter, the mother said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

What a sick woman. Everyone there was part of what happened

The Bible says, “And the king was very sorry...” - that’s the only line I have underlined in my Bible

Isn’t this a sad story? The king gave an oath to this young, under-aged girl because she pleased him with a provocative dance

When he promised her anything, he probably thought she’d request a new iPhone - something in line with what a teenager would want

But I’m sure when he heard about John’s head on a platter - his heart must have sunk

And not to give him a total pass - because he did exactly what they asked him to do

He had the executioner cut off his head and bring that head on a platter

Can you imagine the twisted smile on the face of Herodias when she saw that head?

This was all because she didn’t want the truth told to her - that she shouldn’t be married to Philip

Think for a moment what sick and twisted things the world still does today in order to avoid the truth

It usually starts with them complaining that Christians are too “preachy” - but all we want is for everyone to know the truth - because we know the truth will set us free

Anyhow, the Bible says that John’s disciples came and buried his body - and then they went and told Jesus

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

The next section is the story of Jesus feeding the Five Thousand

This miracle story is found in all four Gospels - the only miracle (besides the resurrection)

This miracle is an obvious reminder that the Israelites ate manna when they were in a desolate place

The story starts off saying, “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.”

We can conclude that what Jesus heard - was the news that John the Baptist had been murdered

Some scholars suggest that Jesus went away so that he could be at a safe distance from Herod - but verse 23 makes it clear that he wanted to be alone with his Father to pray

Can we just take a moment and let Jesus be human during this time?

I know he’s the Son of God - He was fully God and fully man at the same time

But when he walked on Earth, he was also human - I think sometimes we forget that

I think Jesus took the death of John the Baptist as a great loss, personally

Jesus edified John to others - Jesus had a great love for John

In Matt 11 Jesus told the crowds just how he felt about John the Baptist

He said that John was a prophet “and more than a prophet” [v.9]

He quoted Malachi

English Standard Version Chapter 11

Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.’

Then he said that among everyone in the world who has been born of a woman (that means everybody) - John was the greatest of all

Jesus knew how important John the Baptist was - and how important he was to make way for the ministry of Jesus

And now John is dead -

Jesus felt the need to get away - to be alone and pray to his Father

Have you ever felt like this?

Let me give some random quotes from this chapter that describe what Jesus was attempting to do:

“he withdrew” [v.13]

“a desolate place by himself” [v.13]

“a desolate place” [v.15]

“he dismissed the crowds” [v.22]

“he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” [v.23]

Jesus felt the loss - and he needed to be alone

It’s okay to want to be alone for a time when you experience pain and loss

And please understand that fact if you’re trying to comfort someone else - they may also feel the need to be alone for a time

So Jesus goes out on a boat to be alone - but the crowds hear this they leave their towns and try to go follow him

There is a contrast of reactions in verse 13:

When Jesus “heard it” he withdrew

When the crowds heard it, they denied his withdrawal - and they went and followed him

Jesus heard the news about John the Baptist

The crowds heard the news that Jesus was heading out to be alone

And when Jesus goes ashore, he sees the crowd and has compassion on them - and he healed their sick

If you were an important leader in First Century Palestine - it would be normal for you to “look down” on the masses - but what does Jesus do here?

Jesus pours out his compassion and heals their sick

By now, the disciples are among the crowd

The disciples tell Jesus, “This is a desolate place.” - Which is a pretty obvious comment

But it’s in a different context

“A desolate place” to Jesus meant no one around - completely by himself

“A desolate place” to the disciples meant, “There’s a huge crowd here - and we’re way out in the boonies - and there are no restaurants nearby”

So the disciples tell Jesus, “Get these people out of here, Jesus! Send them to the nearby villages so they can grab some food for themselves”

Jesus: “They don’t need to go away. I tell you what - how about you give them something to eat?!?”

Disciples: “Only five loaves and two fish is what we gots”

Jesus said to his disciples: “Bring them here to me”

I wonder where I heard Jesus say that before:

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And now he’s ministering to this hungry, tired crowd

He pauses his solitude and commands the complete opposite

He commands his disciples to bring crowds to himself

He sees their need first and he ministers to their need first

Jesus performs a beautiful miracle - he took the loaves and fish and blessed it - and from that small amount of food, he fed thousands and thousands of people

Imagine what’s going on here - the strength and the compassion and the love of the Lord - that he performed this amazing miracle

The Bible says - out of all those thousands of people - it says, “And they all ate and were satisfied.”

He met the needs of every last one of them

And then the Bible says this:

Matthew 14:22–23 ESV

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

Jesus eventually got his alone time with the Father

He made sure he had his quiet time

Don’t ever get so busy with life that you no longer have a daily quiet time with the Lord

That’s especially true if you are “too busy” doing ministry

Serving the Lord should never replace being in the presence of the Lord

If you’re “too busy” doing ministry to have quiet time with the Lord - you have no business doing ministry

Nothing in the world should hold you back from your personal time with the Lord

If you’re life is too busy - you need to force yourself to make time with just you and the Lord alone

Let me put it this way - if Jesus needed alone time with the Father - shouldn’t all of us?

Jesus Walks on the Water

So he sends his disciples away into their boat - and by nighttime, their boat was a long way away when he’s finished with his quiet time

So what do you do when your disciples are in the boat, far away from land - and they’re in a storm - and you’re Jesus and you got no boat?

You walk on water

We all know the story:

It’s the fourth watch of the night - it’s sometime between 3am - 6am

It’s always darkest before dawn - right?

They’re in the middle of a wind storm and high waves

And here comes Jesus - walking on the water

As far as we know, the disciples had never seen this miracle - the last thing they were expecting was to see Jesus walking on water

Everyone knows about Jesus walking on water - but to them, this had never happened

And the Bible said they were terrified - they literally thought he was a ghost

By the way, we forget - the entire reason Jesus walked on water was because he made the disciples go away on a boat - and then he dismissed the crowds - so he could go up on the mountain to pray

And the reason he did all of this is because he got interrupted at his first attempt to get alone back in vs. 13

He tried to withdraw and pray to a “desolate place,” but the crowds gathered at the shore waiting for him and he felt compassion for them (vs. 14).

All of this because he needed to be alone with the Father in prayer because John the Baptist had been murdered.

Two famous miracles performed because Jesus went to be alone to pray

This is how these stories are connected

And somewhere as Jesus was getting closer and closer to the boat - let’s say, 20 feet - Peter cries out: “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water”

By saying, “on the water” - Peter was saying: “I want to walk to you, on the water, in the same way you’re walking on the water”

And Jesus said one word - he said, “Come.”

Are you seeing a pattern - how Jesus wants us to come to him?

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

And when the disciples wanted to send the crowds away - Jesus said, “No. Bring them here to me.”

Remember when he said, “Let the children come to me?”

And now, Peter’s crying out: “Command me to come to you.”

And Jesus says: “Come.”

But Peter got afraid and began to sink in that water

You know the story:

Peter actually begins to walk on water

And then he begins to sink - and says, “Lord, save me.”

And Jesus reaches out and grabs him and says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt”

And most sermons conclude that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus - which is the same conclusion in this sermon, btw

Let me ask - Do you remember why he got afraid?

The Bible says that Peter “saw the wind”

Question: How do you see wind?

There’s nothing there to see - right?

You can see the results of wind, but you can’t actually see wind

There’s Jesus on the water - and if we can carry an analogy that everything around Jesus is the world

And Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and literally looks at nothing

Because to us, the world is nothing

There’s nothing there to see - you with me?

If you’re struggling with fear and doubt in your life?

There is no room for fear in the life of a Christian - none. Period

I’m not talking about fear of the Lord - which means a reverence and love for the Lord

I’m saying there is no place in the Bible that ever excuses fear

God never says, “Well, you’re dealing with some big issues - so it’s okay for you to go through a period of worry and fear.”

He never says that

He understands what we’re going through - and he knows we’re not perfect

But isn’t that interesting - God never says to go ahead and worry - ever

Is worry or fear holding you back in life?

If so, you don’t have your eyes fixed on Jesus

I’m not preaching this because I’m perfect - I need this reminder more than anyone else

When we have anxieties, what are we supposed to do with them?

1 Peter literally tells us to cast them on God

It’s the only place and the only thing I can find in the Bible that literally tells us to throw something on God

When we worry about stuff and have anxiety - we are to throw all of that garbage on God

Just give it to him

Did you know that when you hold on to fear, the Bible calls that being arrogant?

You say: “How is that arrogant?”

It’s because you’re looking at yourself and your circumstances and you’ve taken your eyes off Jesus

Here’s Peter - he’s the one who took his eyes off the Lord and began to sink in the water when Jesus called him to himself

He’s the one, in his final instructions in 1 Peter - he’s the one who said, “casting all your anxieties on him.”

But what’s the context of 1 Peter 5:7?

Let me go back a couple of verses - starting in verse 5:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

There was not a reason in the world for Peter to look at the wind

When Peter wrote this letter, he came to the conclusion that being humble actually includes throwing all that fear and anxiety to the Lord

Just throw it at him - it doesn’t say “give” it to him, or “lay it before the Lord” - it says throw it all to him

We can’t throw it at him if we’re not fixed on him

And if you’re holding on to your anxieties, it means you have pride because in the end, you think you have to handle it yourself

I’m not saying this is easy - I’m saying there is a solution

And the solution is Jesus

I’m not saying Christian therapy is bad - or even medication is bad, in the right context

But the ultimate focus needs to be on Jesus

Reach out to others - talk it through - do what you need to do - find alone time

Just as long as Jesus is the focus

If you’re struggling with anxiety everyday - you need to throw that anxiety on him everyday

I’m not saying that any of this is easy - It’s very hard to walk on water!

I’m just revealing what the Bible says

Conclusion

I told you that today’s application was to fix our eyes on Jesus

And not just because you might have fear or anxiety

At all times - we need to fix our eyes on Jesus

I want to to meditate on who Jesus is - even if just from this passage

Jesus was hurting from his loss

He immediately withdrew to be alone with the Lord

Then he saw others and ministered to them - he had compassion on them

He healed them and he fed them

Jesus asks all to come to him

He saves Peter from drowning and he taught his disciples about having faith

I want us to pray and fix our gaze on Jesus

How he first loved us and how he died for us

How he saves us

(Pray…)