Sermon Tone Analysis

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Pastoral Prayer

INTRODUCTION

We’re going to read about one of Jesus’ most well known miracles today, “The Feeding of the 5,000”.

This is the only miracle that is found in all four gospels, which means it must have made a profound impression upon the disciples.

What I want us to consider today as we read this is: “Ministry and Jesus”.

Ministry in the Bible is simply “acts of service to others”.

And as disciples of Jesus, we are called to minister to other people.

In fact, ministry is a bridge to the gospel.

We will see today that Jesus cared deeply about the needs of other people, and He called His disciples to be directly involved in the ministry of meeting people’s needs.

Matt 14:13-21 “Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”

They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.

They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.

There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.”

Jesus cares about people’s needs and so should we

Matthew 14:13-14

Explanation

John the Baptist had just been martyred by King Herod.

When Jesus heard the news He left that area in a boat to find a secluded place to be alone.

And we read that Jesus was looking for a secluded place to be alone.

But the crowds saw Him and began to follow Him.

And whether they heard where he was going or watched him as he left in a boat they began following him.

No respect for Jesus, no respect for his loss and desire to be alone.

These were a people who more concerned with their own desires than they were about Jesus.

Principle

ILLUSTRATION: Put yourself in Jesus shoes

You had just heard that your forerunner for the gospel John the Baptist had just been murdered by the evil king.

And rightfully so, you wanted some time by yourself to pray and heal.

And so you get in your boat and head out to a private location just to get away from the world.

Anyone ever feel like that?

Anyone ever want to just sit by themselves and talk to God.

And when you arrive at that secret place, you pull up to shore only to find thousands of people wanting something from you.

What is your response to those people?

Most of us would begin to think of an escape plan.

Im sure there would be frustration and anger that these people would not leave us alone!

They even knew that Jesus was trying to be by Himself yet still refused to allow Him this small token of freedom.

What does Jesus do?

HE HAS COMPASSION ON THEM

He begins meeting their needs.

He heals them, and takes care of them, and loves them, and demonstrates that He cares about them.

He doesn’t get angry and send them away.

He doesn’t run from them.

He has compassion on them.

And the gospel of John reveals this same story and tells us these people did not even believe in Him, yet He loved them anyway!

Now the emphasis in this verse is on the compassion of Jesus toward a self-centered crowd.

It is showing the depth of the heart of Jesus and how much He truly cared for people.

Application

And I think one point we should not overlook is that Jesus cares for us like this.

Jesus is concerned about our needs, and our lives, and the even the small details that we think are so insignificant.

And what we often hear are the whispers of the enemy who tells us that that Jesus is not for us!

That He does not care about the things that we need.

That He is not concerned about some of our deepest needs that most people are not even aware of!

That Jesus only cares about His will and His purposes and that is simply not true!

You’ll never find another relationship in this life that has compassion for you like the Lord Jesus Christ.

You’ll never find another who cares for you so deeply as God does.

What is a need you have in your life right now?

What is it that you deeply long for?

A child to be saved?

A health problem?

An addiction or sin that you struggle with?

When is the last time you brought it to Jesus?

When is the last time you put off every other responsibility you had and sat down at the feet of Jesus?

The second point if that if Jesus cared for these people, shouldn’t we care too?

John tells us, that we “ought to walk as Jesus walked”

That means we ought to live as Jesus lived, do what jesus did, so that we can reflect Him to this world.

And much of K Jesus’ ministry is about meeting needs of other people even if there is no return for us.

Jesus did not heal people to get something out of it, He healed them because they are made in the image of God.

God uses His disciples to meet other’s needs

Explanation

Here are the disciples, trying to figure this thing out on their own.

They tell Jesus to send the people back home so that they can get some food for themselves and have a place to stay.

I mean how can Jesus and his few followers feed thousands of people?

This makes sense is the only thing that makes sense!

But Jesus does not want them to be sent away, He says, “you feed them”.

This is not a suggestion, but a command In the Greek.

Jesus knows what He is going to do, but He will not do it apart from the disciples!

It is part of their calling as a follower of Christ to be directly involved in ministry.

It is the disciples who are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and Jesus wants them to know and us to know that it is our responsibility as well.

Bridge

Times have changed, but the needs of people have not.

And the church still has a responsibility to go out into the communities to meet the needs of others.

Now this does not mean that we hand out hotdogs to people who need no food.

This means that we specifically recognize what people’s needs are and make every effort to make a difference!

This takes two things from us:

A Compassion for people

If we do not love people, then we are going to care about helping them out.

And if we do not love people then we are going to shrivel up and die.

We must be people who love others, and I mean the lost people of this world who desperately need Christ.

A REAL Commitment to Christ

If we are not committed to Christ, then we will not be committed to meeting needs of others.

It is only when we truly love Jesus, that we will truly love others in deed.

Application

Why is it important for this church, and for us as individuals to meet the needs of others?

Because ministry is a bridge to the gospel.