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Daily Bread
9 Plays2 days ago
Series: Discernment of Jesus' Person
Mark 7:31-8:26
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Transcript
High Faith in Good Times
00:00:00
Speaker
Our faith is at an all-time high when life is going well. When your health is good, when you have a job, and the paychecks are coming in, you're able to pay your bills, life is good. And we say things like, praise the Lord, God is good. He is our provider. Or perhaps if you're a little bit holier than your neighbor,
00:00:30
Speaker
You might quote a Psalm like Psalm 107, give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His steadfast love endures forever. Friends, when life is good and things are going well, our faith is indeed at an all-time high. Our trust in Him is at an all-time high.
Faith Challenged by Adversity
00:00:51
Speaker
But what about when that job that you had suddenly gone?
00:00:56
Speaker
And that paycheck that you so desperately depend on to pay those bills that never seem to stop coming, what then? What about when you have that health scare that seems to come out of nowhere? Is our faith at an all-time high? Is your faith at an all-time high? Are you still dancing around your living room, singing the lyrics to Phil Wickham's song, God is so good?
00:01:25
Speaker
Or are you sitting at the foot of your bed with your hands in your head? Your head in your hands? Trying not to panic. Trying not to worry. Thinking to yourself, can God be trusted with my daily needs? and Church family, this is what we're going to look at today because when times are great,
00:01:49
Speaker
Boy, our faith is an all-time high. But when things get difficult, do we really trust God to provide for our daily needs? Can he be
Exploring Disciples' Panic vs. Jesus' Calm
00:02:01
Speaker
trusted? This is what we're gonna look at, Mark chapter seven, the end of seven and the beginning of eight today. You'll see from your outline where we're going. We're gonna see that when it comes to the daily needs of the disciples, they they are just like you and I. They panic when things seem impossible.
00:02:18
Speaker
We're also going to see that Jesus doesn't panic. He doesn't despair. He just simply provides. And three, what do we do with this? If we rightly trust God as our provider, that is the capital P provider, which ways can we demonstrate that we indeed trust Him to provide for our daily needs? That's what we're going at this morning. If you have your bibles, go ahead and take them out.
00:02:42
Speaker
Mark, end of Mark, Chapter 7, beginning in Chapter 8. You'll remember last week, if you've been following with us as we've taken this journey, last week or the week before we talked about the feeding of the 5,000. You remember that? And just what a fabulous miracle that was.
00:03:01
Speaker
This morning's passage is the feeding of the 4,000. And as you listen to me read, there will be a lot of similarities. You'll say, yeah, I think I've heard this story before. There are indeed a lot of similarities, but there are a few crucial differences of what Mark wants us to see with this particular passage. Simply by the way it's structured, the the feeding of the 4,000 you'll see is indeed Mark chapter eight.
00:03:32
Speaker
But right before the this feeding miracle, we have two other healings that go on. There's a healing of the deaf man, and at the very end, there's a healing of the blind man. So sandwiched on either side of this miracle feeding, we have two miracles of perception. and And Mark is doing this on purpose, and he's letting us know the focus should be on the the feeding miracle, but to understand the feeding miracle, we also need to have right perception of who Jesus is.
Compassion and Provision in Feeding Miracles
00:04:04
Speaker
And so this is what we're gonna look at today. Mark chapter eight, if you will, we're gonna start right at the very beginning with this feeding of the 4,000. It starts here in verse one, it says, about this time another large crowd had gathered and the people had ran out of food, yet again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, I feel sorry for these people. or Your translations may say, I have compassion for these people.
00:04:29
Speaker
where they have been here with me for three days and they have nothing left to eat. Moreover, if I send them home hungry, they will likely faint along the way for some of them have come from a very long distance." To which the disciples replied, how are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?
00:04:51
Speaker
Just if we pause there, a lot of similarities, right? A lot of the same things going on. We have and yet another large crowd. 4,000, we're told here. So you can easily say 8,000 if it's men and women. Maybe 10 to 12,000 if you also have kids included. they're They're no longer in Jewish territory, but now they're in Gentile territory. So we have that little bit of difference going on. But there's a real need You'll remember in Mark chapter 6 when we had the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus looked out upon the crowd and and he had a very similar reaction. He had compassion on them. But you'll remember in Mark chapter 6 and that first feeding, the reason he had compassion on them was what? They were seen as sheep without a
00:05:40
Speaker
Sheppard, right? And that was indeed that issue. That's why he had compassion. That's why he began teaching him. We said compassion is a feeling within you that compels you to do something. it's not When you have compassion on somebody, you simply cannot not take action, that you're forced to do something. Jesus here in this instance says he sees the people and the reason he has compassion isn't because they're lost and shepherdless, it's because they're hungry. They don't have food. Friends, the issue here is you have a large crowd and they're hungry. It's a real world problem. They've been here with them for three days and they have nothing to eat. Jesus says how severe this could possibly be. He says if I send them home, they're likely to faint. That's how hungry they are.
00:06:26
Speaker
I've been there. I've been that hungry before. And then somebody says, well, you have to go to Temple to eat Chinese food. And I thought, really? I have to drive 30 minutes to get decent Chinese food around here? I'm starving. A lot of similarities going on from the first the first account, right? Real world problem, large crowd out in the wilderness, and they're hungry,
00:06:54
Speaker
And you just got to love the disciples. Look at look at verse 4. How do the disciples respond? And really, the New Living Translation, I don't think does this justice, right, if I can give you a more literal translation. You know, from where will anyone, basically they're saying, where in the world could anyone go out and satisfy these people with bread in the wilderness?
00:07:20
Speaker
And you have to think to yourself, weren't you just with Jesus when he fed into 5,000? You know, I wish my translation had parentheses, you know, where Jesus shook sense into them. You read this sometimes, ah and we laugh, and I said this a couple weeks ago, we laugh at the disciples sometimes. How obtuse can you be? Weren't you just with them? Don't you know what he's capable of?
00:07:46
Speaker
And yet they go right back and ask the same question. What in the world are we going to do? It's a real world problem.
00:08:00
Speaker
Put a pin in that. That's the first problem.
Disciples' Struggle with Understanding Jesus' Power
00:08:04
Speaker
Look with me here after this miracle. Let's go to verse 13. It says, so he got back on the boat and he left them and he crossed to the other side of the lake, but the disciples had forgotten to bring food or bread with them. And the only they only had one loaf for these disciples in the boat. And as they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned, watch out, beware the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. Verse 16 says, but the disciples were arguing among each other because of the lack of food that they basically brought.
00:08:37
Speaker
And I know what you're thinking, how many sermons are we going to talk about bread? I feel like this is the third or fourth week that we've had sermons that have all dealt with with bread, right this this feeding issue. So it's a real-world problem. They have all these hungry people to which the disciples say, how in the world are we going to feed these people?
00:08:56
Speaker
And then they pick it up and they just they completely don't have any clue about what's going on to the point where they're in the boat after this miracle that Jesus is getting ready to perform. And they're still arguing about their portion, their daily portion in the boat.
00:09:15
Speaker
it's It's an interesting take on the daily needs. And I thought to myself this week, what various daily needs do you and I come in contact with every single day. This passage deals specifically with food, but I would doubt that you and I have food needs. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. But food probably is not one of the ones that are high up on our priority list.
00:09:39
Speaker
But it makes me think just just a couple weeks ago when we were in Wes's class, and he's talking about they're in Exodus, and Jesus provides manna for that day, right? And they go out, and he's providing them for that day. Collect what you must for that day. Don't stockpile it, because it'll go bad. And he's doing that as an example for you and I to know when it comes to daily bread, he provides us daily bread.
00:10:07
Speaker
daily provision so that we are dependent upon Him, that we are trusting Him to keep providing. It's not like He gives you a month's worth of food and says, stockpile it. And I know I'm going to get a bunch of emails from the angry preppers on Monday. There's a reason and a point behind why God is doing this, why He's only providing a meal for these people for that particular day, and it is so that they when they, when they face this need, they realize he can indeed provide. Okay, so how does Jesus provide? Let's look real quick, verse five. Let's start in verse five. Chapter eight, verse five says this. Jesus answered his disciples in parentheses, shaking them. How much bread do you have?
00:10:56
Speaker
Seven loaves, they replied. And so Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. That should sound familiar. And then he took the seven loaves, which should sound familiar, thanked God for them and broke them into pieces. And he gave them to disciples who distributed the bread to the crowd and a few small fish were found too. So Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute distribute them.
00:11:18
Speaker
And then they ate as much as they wanted. Afterwards, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftovers. There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. Right? A lot of similarities. A lot of similarities of the first account. What does Jesus do? hed He takes what seems to be the impossible, this very little limited resource, and he says, that's not impossible for me. And the supernatural, I'm goingnna i'm going to show you what I can do. And he feeds all these people. It's not five fish and two loaves. It's seven fish and a few fish or seven loaves and a few fish. this is and I'm going to say this with as most pastoral love as I can possibly do. I can completely tell if you do not know your Bible, if you ask me a question, why is there seven fish or seven loaves and not five fish and two loaves? Whatever.
00:12:15
Speaker
You get so tied up in the details. The author is not wanting you to get tied up in the details. He's wanting you to look at it and go, there's such a small portion. I don't care if it's five. I don't care if it's seven. How are you gonna go feed 4,000 people? that That's what the message is. That's what he's telling you. It's impossible and the natural for you to do that. You must depend on Jesus to provide. The question is, will he provide?
00:12:42
Speaker
And he does, right here. You know why he provides? He provides so much. It's an abundant blessing. There's seven baskets left over. To which I hear often, well, what happened to the 12 baskets? You're missing the point. There's leftovers.
00:12:59
Speaker
Now I get it, I reminded and I kind of chuckled to myself today as I sat in Wes's class and it was all about details. Sometimes as you're writing reading your Bible and you're studying your Bible, the details are really important to what's going on. Today's message, please don't get lost. Don't miss the forest from the trees. you know Doesn't matter if there's 12 baskets left over or seven baskets left over. What we should understand is this is a miracle of abundance. Jesus is the one who does this.
00:13:29
Speaker
The NLT here, I think, smooths this reading over. Your transition translation be a slightly bit more accurate because your translation probably doesn't really say the disciples were all that involved. They really took a more passive role this time around. If you'll remember, in Mark chapter 6, what happened? They took the baskets, and as they went out to feed,
00:13:50
Speaker
You know, the miracle was they were cooperating with Jesus, who's doing the miracle, and they keep handing it out, and the fish keep multiplying, and the bread keeps multiplying. We're here. It basically says he he lays it out on the ground, Jesus blesses it, and the multiplication comes, and the people come and grab it. Right? The NLT kind of... smooths that out a little bit. I think the point is Jesus is the one doing this. Jesus is the one who's providing the miracle. It's not the disciples. It's not their cooperation. Jesus alone is the one who can provide. He's the one who can provide for your daily needs. And so the question is, do we let him provide for our daily needs? Do we trust him to provide for our daily needs?
00:14:33
Speaker
I'll just put a side note here. I think it's interesting the territory that he's in this
Provision for All: Jews and Gentiles
00:14:38
Speaker
time. He's not in Jewish territory, he's in Gentile territory. Why is that important, you might say? Well, the first miracle was for the Jews, the second one is for the Gentiles, and it and it says, you know, who were the people who Jesus is gonna bless abundantly, not only just the Jews, but also the Gentiles. It's those who trust in him to be that provider, that capital B, capital P provider. He's the only one that can provide for our daily needs. And I put, if you're hearing well this morning, he's the one who's allowing you to hear well this morning. And I'm one of those ones on borderline needing a hearing aid. So as I read this this week, I thought, wow, that gift of hearing,
00:15:22
Speaker
He's the one who provides that good hearing. If you're able to read your Bible without glasses and you have got great eyesight, He's the one who provides you with that great eyesight. Can't you see that? No, there's a few people who caught that corny corny pun.
00:15:43
Speaker
It really comes down to a matter of perception. It comes down to a matter of how you and I see the person of Jesus. who He is, not necessarily what He can do, but who He is. It's a matter of perception. And that's what that's what Mark is letting us know here, just simply by the structure of this passage. Let's look here real quick at these these two miracles of perception. I love this. Go back Mark 7 starting in verse 31.
00:16:13
Speaker
It says, Jesus left Tyre and he went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee in the region there of the 10 towns. A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd so that they could be alone and he put his fingers into the man's ears. And then spitting on his own fingers and he touched the man's tongue and looking up to heaven,
00:16:38
Speaker
He sighed and said, ah ehoho them which ah which means to be open. Instantly, the man could hear perfectly and his tongue was freed so that he could speak plainly. Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to tell, the more the news spread. Proof that there was social media back then, by the way.
00:16:59
Speaker
They were completely amazed and said again and again, everything he does was wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and he gives speech to those who cannot speak. So what's happening here? You have a deaf man who can't hear, can't speak. And yet Jesus goes and just like this, he he he does probably something that's foreign to us, right? Spits on his fingers, puts him in the ears, blesses him, instantly healed.
00:17:26
Speaker
perception has changed for this gentleman. He now can hear, he now can speak, so much so that he's going out telling everybody about it, okay? Put your finger there, then go down to... Chapter eight, verse 22, here's the second, here's the second healing.
Healing Miracles and Understanding Jesus
00:17:40
Speaker
It says, when they arrived in Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus and they begged him to touch the man and to heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village and then spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and said, can you see anything now? The man looked around and said, well, I see people but I can't see them very clearly and they look like trees walking around. And then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again and his eyes were open and his sight
00:18:05
Speaker
was completely restored and he could see everything clearly, Jesus sent him away saying, don't go back into the village on the way home. Another miraculous healing, this guy can't see, Jesus similarly spits in his hands, puts it on his eyes, guy would gain sight. The same people who ask me why there's seven fish or seven loaves,
00:18:30
Speaker
or however many baskets are left over are the same people that ask, why didn't Jesus heal this guy in the first time? Why did it take two times for him to try to heal him? You're missing the point. The point is he healed this guy. So he not only heals the deaf and the mute, he heals the blind. Two healings of perception, people two different people who didn't know Jesus now can fully discern who he is.
00:18:58
Speaker
And right in the middle of these two accounts, my friends, is the story of the disciples. Who what? Who can't see, who can't hear, who can't discern who Jesus is. Do you see the irony in that situation? And friends, this is why Mark structures this passage this way.
Trusting Jesus for Daily Needs
00:19:18
Speaker
That he lets you know there is a right perception of who Jesus is, and it makes all the world a difference in how we see him as the provider.
00:19:26
Speaker
If he will indeed provide for you in your daily needs, do you see him as your provider? And if so, how can we demonstrate that? That's where we're gonna end today. How do we apply this to your life and my life specifically? Three quick ways that we can demonstrate that we trust Jesus for our daily provisions.
Demonstrating Trust through Giving
00:19:50
Speaker
I had ah somebody ask me the other day What does it look like to give it over to God? you know Unfortunately, this is a statement that Christians have picked up and they love to just throw this as the go-to answer to any problem you have. Hey, I'm really struggling with wayward kids. You better give that to God. I can't make my rent this month. You better give that to God. And this person in their truest of hearts asked me, what in the world does that really mean to give it to God? I thought I gave it to God.
00:20:22
Speaker
What does it mean to give it to God? It means that you realize your dependence on Him and you stop trying to fix it, whatever that problem is. I put the very first way we can demonstrate this trust that we have in Jesus to provide for our daily needs is to honor Him with the first of all that you have.
00:20:44
Speaker
God honors those who give Him the first of all that they have. He expects us as His followers to demonstrate and be good stewards of all that we have. Material possessions are only one portion of that, right? We also have time and we also have our talents.
00:21:02
Speaker
We acknowledge everything that he's given us and that he abundantly blesses us, and we let him know that we trust him in that provision by giving back something, giving back our firsts. I also have heard, is that giving back of your gross pay or your net pay? To which I go, yes.
00:21:26
Speaker
If you're asking that question, you're missing the point. You're somehow stuck on seven loaves or however many baskets are left. You're missing the point altogether. He wants us to give back freely and graciously our time, our talent, our treasures, and to go above and beyond. Brother P so eloquently says, you cannot out give God.
00:21:52
Speaker
Second.
00:21:55
Speaker
This might be a little more difficult for some
Stressing Indicates Lack of Trust
00:21:57
Speaker
of y'all. Don't stress about your day-to-day needs.
00:22:02
Speaker
What does that signal not only to your family and your church family, but even more if you go outside of these walls, what does that demonstrate to those who are watching you who know that you're a Christian and you're worrying about what God is going to do today for you? Does that show trust?
00:22:25
Speaker
or doubt. ah put This one took me many years to learn, but I finally had to face one obvious truth. If a loving God can take care of my eternal needs through the sacrifice of His Son, He surely can take care of my daily needs.
00:22:44
Speaker
I'm truly believing that means not stressing about all the things we don't have. Because you have a ton of stuff, you really do. in In the big picture of who lives all across the world, I watched somebody the other day, this economist, he said, you are the top 1% if you make how much money ah this year? do yeah Does anybody have a guess what that number is? In the world, you are the top 1% if you make so much money a year.
00:23:16
Speaker
How much? Too high. $32,000 a year. If you make $32,000 a year, y'all, you are in the top 1% of everybody across the world. Is that mind-blowing? And I think to myself, is that, do I factor that in? Is that part of the lens in which I look at my finances? Or I look at, do I need that new pair of shoes? Or do I need, you name it. My wife's like, you don't need those new pair of shoes.
00:23:52
Speaker
This is why I had Brother Conley so eloquently read today, Matthew 6, right? Do not worry about your life or what you will eat or drink or about your body or what you will wear. Look at the birds in the air. They do not sow or reap or store away anything in the barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. He gives them their daily provision. And are you much more valuable than those birds?
00:24:20
Speaker
Sounds pretty clear to me, do not worry about it. Do not worry about that daily thing. Don't stress about it. He has it all under control. And if you're stressing about it, I just, I put like a note and then I put ha ha next to it for just my own my own reference, right? If you're stressing about this, this tells me, because I've done this in the past, that somehow I think I have control over that situation.
00:24:50
Speaker
That's an illusion. the The sooner you let go of that and realize you don't really have control of that situation, that God is really that one in control, it helps with the stress level. It really it really does. Third, rest peacefully when it comes to your finances, meaning don't strive.
Resting Peacefully in God's Provision
00:25:08
Speaker
Although God wants us to be productive and to have a good work ethic, He doesn't want us to work like we're on our own when it comes to finding out and developing our own provision. He's not saying go out and make all the money you possibly can. It's all on your shoulders. Psalm 127.2 tells us that we are wasting our time getting up before the crack of dawn and going to sleep past midnight toiling and striving to make things happen.
00:25:34
Speaker
because the God of the universe gives to his beloved even while you sleep. Have you thought about that? God is providing for you even while you're sleeping. He loves you that much. He cares for you that much. So the next time you think you have to go work all night, worry through it or panic about that one thing you just happen to need, that financial need that's looming over your head,
00:26:05
Speaker
He says literally, rest. Rest in him. He has it under control. Don't panic. He's the ultimate provider.
Call to Trust God for Daily Needs
00:26:15
Speaker
Honor him with the first that you have. Don't stress and leave it everything else and rest. Is that not good advice? Is that not biblical advice? May we be a people who trust God to provide for our daily needs and all his people said,