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Empowered to Serve
22 Plays10 days ago
Series: Discernment of Jesus' Person
Mark 6:32-56
Recommended
Transcript
Recognizing Inadequacy in Spirituality
00:00:01
Speaker
I want to begin this morning by talking about your inadequacies.
00:00:11
Speaker
Imagine if that's how your boss started your next performance review. Hey, let's talk about your inadequacies. How many of you would be comfortable having that conversation? I would dare say most of us would be quite uncomfortable because inadequacy from a worldly perspective is seen as being incompetent or less than or lacking. But from a spiritual perspective, my friends, knowing your inadequacy is not only essential, it is also a requirement.
Relying on God's Power
00:00:50
Speaker
In other words, when it comes to the things of God, we must recognize that we are woefully inadequate.
00:00:59
Speaker
to do things on our own, to accomplish anything worth any real significance in the kingdom, we can't do it on our own. We must rely on the power of God. Is he not the creator of all things? Is he not all powerful? Is he not all knowing? Is he not over and above all things? Has he not empowered us with the same Holy Spirit that he empowered the disciples?
00:01:30
Speaker
Why is it then that oftentimes we look at life's events through worldly lenses and we see events as being impossible? When all God really wants is for you to depend upon Him and to trust Him to provide for those things you think are impossible.
Empowerment by the Holy Spirit: Real-World Problems
00:01:52
Speaker
This is what we're going to look at this morning as we continue our journey in Mark 6. What does it look like to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for ministry, to serve others in ministry? And we're gonna look at the scriptures and we're gonna see two seemingly impossible real world problems. If you have your outline, you'll see. The very first problem is this hungry crowd. And the second problem is this angry sea. We're gonna look at the cries of the hungry crowd and the cries of the angry sea.
00:02:24
Speaker
Second, we're gonna look at the solution to that problem, and that is the empowerment of God to meet the demands of those needs. And third, we're gonna ask ourselves, what specifically does it mean to act in God's empowerment to meet the needs of his people? So if you have your Bibles, turn with me, Mark chapter six, Mark chapter six beginning in verse 32. By the way, if you don't have a Bible or you're visiting, there are brand new Bibles just on the outside of that door.
00:02:53
Speaker
Before you come in, there's if you if you missed one on the way in, feel free to grab one on the way out. um They are the New Living Translation. That is what I preach from. It's just a little easier to listen to. You're free. People have asked me all the time, what's You know, what's the best translation to get? And i I say, yes, that translation. Whatever you feel most comfortable, some people are only King James. I won't hold that against you. I just know from an audience perspective, I had sat under somebody who taught from the NLT and it is just a little bit easier to listen to. So those Bibles are free for you in the back as
God's Provision in Opposition
00:03:31
Speaker
well.
00:03:31
Speaker
Mark chapter six, if you remember last week, if you joined us for that sermon, either you were here in person or you were online watching us, ah it was all about God's provision in the face of opposition. You'll remember Jesus ah had sent off his disciples on their first missionary journey. They had some initial success, but we saw some hints, some breadcrumbs we said, that there was gonna be some opposition that they faced.
00:03:59
Speaker
And we knew that by this inner story about the death of John the Baptist, to which my loving mother, when I talked to her this last week, she said, I love when you went like this.
00:04:14
Speaker
She said, she said, more people need to have visuals when you talk about John the Baptist. So indeed, right? We said he was beheaded and his head was on this platter, quite literally delivered to Herod's banquet feast.
00:04:31
Speaker
And so, we're going to move on from last week in this banquet feast of Herod to a different kind of feast this week.
The Miracle of Feeding 5,000
00:04:40
Speaker
And and I'm just going to give you a ah hint right off the bat. This might be one of my most favorite passages of all the Bible. And it's this feeding of the 5,000, which, by the way, is the only feeding miracle in all four of the Gospels.
00:04:58
Speaker
each of the gospel writers in their own unique and different perspective found this miracle story worthy of your attention. And so that's where we're gonna start today. Mark chapter six, starting in verse 32, if you have your Bibles read along, if not, you'll see it up here on the screen.
Compassion as a Force for Action
00:05:17
Speaker
Verse 32 says, so they left by boat for a quiet place where they could be alone.
00:05:29
Speaker
along the shore and got ahead of them there. Now verse 44 says, third Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And so he began teaching them many things.
00:05:46
Speaker
And it was late in the afternoon his 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 by the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat. So the first problem at hand is what? We have this really large
Significance of Feeding 5,000
00:06:08
Speaker
crowd.
00:06:09
Speaker
Now, we know what size it is because if you jump down to verse 44, it says, this is about 5,000 men, your Bible say, right? In biblical economy, they almost always distract the men. So 5,000 men could easily be, if women were there, 10,000. If kids were there, maybe 10 to 15,000 people. So I don't want you to miss the immensity of this problem. They're out there,
00:06:38
Speaker
in the wilderness. It's late in the day. They're no doubt hungry. And it says, Jesus, looking out upon this crowd, he sees them as a sheep without a shepherd. And it says he has, I love this, compassion.
00:06:56
Speaker
right The number one response, by the way, of Jesus to the needs of his people all throughout the Bible is that of compassion. I love compassion. Just even saying that word makes you almost feel compassionate, doesn't it? Jesus felt compassion. It's not so pretty in the Greek, if I can. Splancho nitsomai. Do you really feel that way today? I felt splancho nitsomai. It's this deep inner calling.
00:07:30
Speaker
The Greek actually says it's it's the bowels, if you will. It's the innermost being. It's it's a feeling that compels you to do something. You don't just feel compassionate and not do something. Compassion drives you to do something and it says, Jesus sees this huge crowd and he's moved to compassion so he begins to teach them.
Connecting Hunger to Exodus
00:07:54
Speaker
And like any good pastor, he goes on way too long. hungry people out in the wilderness, right? Your translation may say a deserted area. Mark is real intentional here. Verse 32,
00:08:16
Speaker
And verse 35, he mentions the wilderness. A large crowd of people out in the wilderness who are hungry, who who don't have a leader, who are searching. What does that remind you of, anybody? Exodus, you guys are just studying right now, right? Who else is this large crowd of people wandering out in the wilderness, hungry, leaderless? Mark's the only one, by the way, who makes this connection to the wilderness.
00:08:46
Speaker
He says there's this large group of people who are hungry, and they in it's and it's late in the day to which the the disciples say, hey, you know, and if I can paraphrase it, hey, Jesus, do you know what's going on? There's a lot of people out here hungry. What are you gonna do about it? Right, if you if you read it that way, that's that's what's happening.
00:09:13
Speaker
And I love this, I put just in a note here, The R-L-T translation, which is the ransom literal translation, by the way, might read something like this, Jesus responding to his disciples. Hey, don't come to me with this problem. Why are you coming to me with this problem?
Disciples' Challenge in the Miracle
00:09:33
Speaker
Why don't you handle this problem? You've been taught. You've seen the miracles. You've been empowered. You've been commissioned. You've been sent. You have the authority. Why are you coming to me?
00:09:48
Speaker
Go out and demonstrate to me that you know how you can feed my people.
00:09:55
Speaker
And I thought to myself this week as I read this, how often are we like this with God in our prayers? Lord, you know what I'm praying for. You know the need that I have. Why don't you just stop up and answer that? And you have to think, Jesus is probably thinking to himself,
00:10:19
Speaker
Why don't you go handle that? You're equipped. I've equipped you. You're indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Do you not know that? Would you just go out, step out in faith and watch me meet the needs of my people?
00:10:40
Speaker
I don't want you to miss this. This this part, I think, is amazing.
00:10:48
Speaker
Jesus says to them, you, the emphatic you, you go out and feed them. And what he's really telling them is you have the capability to feed them. You do. We do. we We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to do this. Would you please just do this? Now, let's see how they respond to that test.
Testing Faith in the Storm
00:11:14
Speaker
No, I'm gonna hold off on that. I want us to go look at the second problem. The second real world problem is seen right here in verse 45. If they can change here to verse 45, please. Verse 45 starts this way. It says immediately after this. This means immediately after this feeding miracle that we'll get to. It says, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Basseta.
00:11:41
Speaker
And while he sent the people home, it said while he sent the people home, after telling everybody goodbye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Now here's the story. Listen, it unfolds, verse 47. Late that night, the disciples were in the boat in the middle of the lake and Jesus was alone on the land and he saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and the waves. And about three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. All right, now I wanna pause right there. What's the real world problem? They're on the water and the seas have gotten rough. That's that's what's happening right here. And Jesus is not with them. So they're by themselves in a real world problem, and how do you think they respond? Well, we're gonna see how they responded in just a second.
00:12:37
Speaker
Does it seem like an impossible problem when you're out, has anybody else been out on the water before, when the storms get really rough, and the waves get really rough? Boy, I'm gonna tell you what, I've been out there, it is scary. And you feel really small, really quick. I love this, it says, Jesus compelled them.
00:12:57
Speaker
to go alone. He's doing this on purpose. Get out on the boat and go out on your second test. I want to see how you do against the waves in the wind. Who, by the way, is over the waves in the wind?
00:13:11
Speaker
Jesus is. We've already seen him speak quiet to the waves and and the wind and it and it goes silent and calm. Do you remember that? This is the the creator of everything. This is the one who owns the wind and the waves. This is the one who's empowered these guys to go out on the boat. Will you just show me that you know what to do when you get out there in the in the storms of life?
00:13:33
Speaker
that's That's what's happening here, folks. They're out there in the waves, and and it's and I like the New Living Translation kind of softens this. It says, Jesus sees them, and boy, they're in serious trouble. Boy, they're just paddling away as hard as they can go, and they're not going anywhere. there They're fighting against the waves, and it's preventing them to get to their destination. I like what author Susan Henderson, she writes this book called Christology and the Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark.
00:14:03
Speaker
This is what she says about this passage. She says, I believe this passage hints to some type of demonic forces that are acting behind the scenes, if you will, that are stirring up the waves, that are animating what's going on. And it says the disciples are literally tormented in their rowing.
00:14:22
Speaker
There's something else behind the scenes preventing them to do what Jesus requires them to do, which is exercise the authority He's already given them. Imagine if you will, they're out on the boat and the waves start getting super rough and they just simply said, hush, and the waves stopped.
00:14:41
Speaker
right How proud do you think Jesus would have been in that moment? Hey, they get it. Hey, I've empowered them with the Holy Spirit. Hey, the Holy Spirit is is ah over these waves and over the wind. Imagine if they would have just stepped out in faith and spoke that. But they don't. How do they respond to the big waves? We'll get there. um I know I'm doing that on purpose today.
00:15:10
Speaker
Let's look at how they respond to this feeding miracle.
The Miracle of Loaves and Fish
00:15:13
Speaker
I think I want to start there. Look with me here, verse 38. 38, if you will, go back. So he's just told them, you go out and feed them, to which the the disciples respond with what? What are we supposed to feed 15,000 people with?
00:15:36
Speaker
What am I supposed to do, go out to the nearby villages and and and spend you know basically six months worth of salary on bread to feed these people? By the way, they most common dare say, they would not have that type of money. It's literally an impossible situation and and the disciples get it. Jesus, how do you expect us to go
00:16:07
Speaker
How much bread do you have? Show me what you got. Bring it to me. To which they respond, we have five loaves of bread and two fish. And if that doesn't strike you right now as five loaves and two fish, let me explain that to you. Five loaves, two fish. 15,000 people. Go on. Go on and feed those people. How many people do you think that that that five loaves and two fish would have fed?
00:16:37
Speaker
The first 10, maybe. But what does Jesus do? It says, this is this is the miracle part of it, right? Jesus gives them explicit instructions, verse 39. He says to the disciples, have these people sit down in groups on the green grass and they sat down in groups of 50 and 100. Now look, Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and he looked up to heaven and he blessed them. Also something kind of like we do at the Lord's Supper, right?
00:17:06
Speaker
He blesses them, breaking the loaves into pieces, and he kept giving the bread to the disciples so that who could distribute it? I don't want you to miss this. The disciples go out and participate in this miracle. This is not just Jesus feeding 15,000 people. This is Jesus in this fabulous miracle allowing the disciples to participate. Can you imagine if you're the disciples? I mean, just think logistically. If you're carrying around the baskets, let me break off a little bit to you.
00:17:36
Speaker
Let me break off a little bit to you. And somehow the baskets just keep filling up. I mean, is that mind blowing to anybody else? And they're feeding.
00:17:48
Speaker
Think about it, even if there are 100 people sitting in a row, I mean, think about how many rows that is. All over the wilderness, they're walking out discontinu people and It's mind-blowing to me. What seemed like the very impossible thing from the worldly perspective is very possible when you get God involved.
00:18:11
Speaker
You're like, boy, that pastor, he's hyped up today, isn't he? I only had one cup of coffee. I can just tell you, I really love this because this passion speaks to us on so many different levels today.
Applying Miracles to Real Life
00:18:25
Speaker
I put down, what does this look like in your life and in my life? just Just the feeding miracle, if you will. If we're acting like the disciples looking at a real world problem with worldly lenses, we will probably say to ourselves,
00:18:43
Speaker
Look at all these AC units that are failing here at the church. How in the world are we ever going to pay for that? It seems impossible.
00:18:54
Speaker
And you're like, how did the pastor hear about that? Oh, I hear about everything. How in the world are we going to get young people with this church? Seems impossible.
00:19:07
Speaker
We have a whole nursery and young kids program right over here that we can't even fill. Where are all the kids in Cameron? Seems impossible.
00:19:17
Speaker
Real world problems looked at through real world lenses equates to a nearly impossible task to accomplish. But friends, I don't want you to miss this. Jesus knew that the disciples were capable of doing it just not on their own. As long as they worked within his power, he continued to provide the miracle.
00:19:38
Speaker
He's just asking, will you trust me to provide for my people? Will you cooperate? And if you do, friends, he abundantly blesses more than you could ever imagine. How do I know that? Well, it tells us right here. They fed all these people in what was left over. 12 baskets of leftovers.
00:19:57
Speaker
He's not describing a Baptist potluck, by the way, where there's no leftovers. He's saying they kept feeding and kept feeding. The miracle was that immense that everybody was, say it, satisfied. Another word, which is beautiful when you say it, right? Oh, I ate to my heart's content and I was satisfied. In the Greek, tortazo.
00:20:23
Speaker
Oh, I'm so tortazzoed right now, right? You know what that same word is in Exodus? The manna came down in the morning and they collected the manna and they ate that daily portion and they were satisfied. Same word, same word.
00:20:45
Speaker
There's no reason, no specific reason why Mark had to include this here, but he's letting you know there's some connection back to this wilderness adventure. He's saying, trust me, I'm here to provide as long as you trust me to provide. I'll provide abundantly.
00:21:06
Speaker
And I don't know about you, but if I'm a disciple and I'm constantly handing out bread to 10,000 people, maybe 15,000 people, I might not have believed at the beginning, but I'll tell you what, I sure believed at the end, hearts were changed, right? Well, we know they didn't quite get it, did they? Because friends, they were just in the boat immediately after this, it says.
00:21:36
Speaker
and they're in the boat and the waves get rough and their response is what? They see Jesus walking by and they're terrified. They cry down terror. They thought he The one who is over and above it all, the one who can calm the waves, who can calm the seas, do you not think he can walk on the water? You bet he can.
00:22:06
Speaker
Why are they doubting that? Why are they questioning that? Why are they terrified on that? It's the same reason you and I get terrified when we look at a problem with real world lenses and we think that's impossible. There's no way we can do it. Jesus is saying, don't be afraid, take courage. Verse 50, I am here.
00:22:31
Speaker
And it says, and he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped, and they were totally amazed. So they went from being totally terrified to totally amazed, just like that. And he's probably thinking to himself, you should have been amazed all this time. Why were you even terrified? You know who I am. You know the power I've given you. But it says that they were totally amazed, for they did not understand the significance of the miracle of the lows. And their hearts were too hard to take it in.
00:22:59
Speaker
It's like they couldn't spiritually understand what was going on here on the water. And I often think to myself, sometimes we're a little bit like that. Sometimes we can just look at a real war problem and we can logistically go, I know God can get us out of this, but we still worry about it. Hey, I lost my job. I'm not sure I'm going to get another job. Have you seen the job market? How in the world am I ever going to get a job? This looks so impossible.
00:23:30
Speaker
Or do we go, you know what, God is the one who's over all those jobs. God has the perfect job for me. I trust him. I'm gonna get out there and I'm gonna get after it and I'm gonna put my resume. I'm gonna cooperate and step back and watch God bless that sit situation.
00:23:48
Speaker
All right. What does this mean for you and I today? I already told my wife before I even got here, I said, this this sermon's gonna go along today unless I start cutting some stuff out. but
00:24:00
Speaker
Before we apply this, I just want to make one quick observation, and I think it's worthy. If you flip back to the very beginning of this story, verse 32, it says, so they went out by the boat to a quiet place so they could be alone, but many people recognize Jesus. So this whole passage starts with,
00:24:21
Speaker
people that are following Him that don't really know Him, they recognize Him. Hey, there's Jesus. We know Him. This is the guy that heals. All we gotta to do is bring our sick, right? Flip over to the end of this section. It says, verse 53, after they had crossed the lake, they landed to Garena Set, and they brought the boat to shore, they climbed out, and what? The people there recognized who Jesus was at once.
00:24:44
Speaker
It's like they're bookending this story at the very beginning and the very end with these outsider people who shouldn't have known Jesus, but they recognized him. And in the middle, we have the disciples who should have known him, but who didn't. And friends, I'm just gonna tell you, if you've ever spent any quality time studying the Bible, it's very, very easy for us to look at the disciples and go, what was their problem? Why did they not get it?
00:25:10
Speaker
I just want you to know that as soon as you do that, the Bible becomes a mirror and it reflects back and you go, oh yeah, I'm that type of disciple too. I'm that same way. I should have gotten it.
00:25:26
Speaker
I should have known the power of Jesus. Why do we worry about finances? Why do we worry about the music ministry? Which, by the way, is fabulous now. Did it not sound fabulous today? A full group of choir people. But I'm going to tell you, we have so many more chairs we can fill up here. So if you have just the slightest bit of harmony and tune, we we want you. All right, how do we apply this today? This is what I want to land with.
00:25:51
Speaker
What does this mean specifically for you and
Human Limitations vs. God's Power
00:25:53
Speaker
I? How are we to act in God's empowerment to meet the needs of other people? Just quick quick three things. I just want us to put, you'll see on the slides up there, recognize our inadequacy. I also just said we're limited. And I think you you and I need to know that. On our own, you and I are limited. When it comes to meeting the needs of others, we need to understand we are limited. How do I know this? If I ask you to show me your bank account today,
00:26:20
Speaker
And if you would just contribute all of that money to the church, I bet you people would be getting up and leaving here right of away. But friends, you and I have a very limited resource, a limited amount of money, a limited amount of time, a limited amount of talent, right, the three T's, time, talent, and treasure. We have a limited amount.
00:26:43
Speaker
And what our fallenness, our humanness says is, I wanna help out. I know they need choir members up here. But man, my musical skills are just not really up to par. I can play the guitar, I can play the drums, calm down. We don't have anybody to play the drums. I don't wanna start a riot. But imagine if there were, and all you needed to do was step out in faith and say, hey, I i really wanna be part of something up here.
00:27:11
Speaker
Do you not think God will bless that and bless that commitment and bless that faith that you'll step out? We didn't recognize many of us have this five lows and two fish mentality. I just don't have enough. I want to help out, but I don't have enough time. Guess what? You can find enough time. You just need to stop doing something else.
00:27:35
Speaker
I want to help out with the children's program. I want to help out with the youth program. I want to help find new, younger families join. But quite frankly, I'm old. And I don't know how to connect with those people. I've heard that, by the way. Do you not think that God can use you, who are a little bit more mature in age, to reach a younger generation? It might seem impossible, but it's not impossible for God.
00:28:05
Speaker
He just simply wants us to depend on Him and realize that by ourselves, we are inadequate. All right, second, if we are inadequate, we need to recognize He is adequate, meaning He is unlimited. And I just put a note to myself, because I did this just the other night, how often have we paused and admire God's handiwork outside? The other night I was standing outside, it was freezing.
00:28:33
Speaker
It was dark, it was clear, and there was just this fabulous cascade of stars all over the canvas of the sky. And I just sat back and I thought, Lord, how fantastic are you? How beautiful is that? And I feel like in that moment, we have to realize he he's created it all.
00:29:00
Speaker
He's over it all, he sustains it all, he's all-powerful, he's all-knowing, he's ever-present. What is possibly too big for him to handle? And if you can find out what that is, will you come and let me know? I would love to know what problem you have that is just so big that God can't handle.
00:29:20
Speaker
If you're taking notes, I simply want you to to write this down. God takes our little and he makes a lot. He takes our little and he makes a lot. He takes you a little bit of money and he makes it a lot. He takes you a little bit of time and he and he multiplies it. He takes that little bit of talent that you have that you think, they will laugh at me if I come up on the stage and I play the guitar or I play the drums or I sing out loud. That's what the enemy wants you to think. God says, trust me and watch how I abundantly bless that situation.
Stepping Out in Faith
00:29:53
Speaker
Third, act in his power and provision.
00:29:56
Speaker
So I just put a note here. If that is the case, if indeed in his hands our limited resources become unlimited, why do we not just step out in faith and trust him with those? And I just put a note saying, this week I challenge you in your quiet time, in your prayer time to simply say this prayer. Lord, I'm willing to step out and serve your people in this capacity. Fill in the blank, whatever that is for you.
00:30:27
Speaker
Maybe it's up here with the audio visual guys. Maybe it's a greeter out front. Maybe it's with this men's group that we're trying to spin up, which by the way, it was a fabulous turnout for the men's breakfast, by the way, if you weren't able to make it. I've been praying ever since we've got here for the men to step up. I really have. The women haven't figured out in this church. The men were but about five steps behind.
00:30:57
Speaker
But it's not impossible. My prayer for you this week as you sit down, Lord, I'm willing to step out and serve your people by serving in this capacity. I know I'm woefully inadequate. Will you please take this little bit of whatever I have and multiply it?
00:31:20
Speaker
Will you show me this week how I step out in faith and you'll take a little bit of money that I contribute, the little bit of time that I can contribute, the little bit of talent that I can contribute to serving your people and see what God does with that. And I put, you'll be surprised how abundantly he not only blesses you, but he blesses everybody around you. This is just the way God works. Imagine what he could do here at First Baptist Church.
Vision for Community Action through Faith
00:31:47
Speaker
A revival on a scale like we've never seen before. 100% Bible study attendance. 100% church attendance. 100% of us giving our resources. A renewed sense of joy in serving his people. Imagine the new missions he'll give us to reach the lost and hurting people here. He just needs you to step out. He just needs me to step out. The possibilities are endless when we put our trust in him.
00:32:18
Speaker
May we be a people transformed from helpless and cynical disbelievers, those who see a problem and think we're just inadequate to solve it, into a people who are empowered to be God's agents, to meet the needs of his people and watch him abundantly. Blessed. Amen.