SCRIPTURE: Mark 6:30-44 (ESV)
DATE: 7-16-17
Please turn with me to Mark chapter six. We’ll be looking at verses thirty through forty-four together today.
And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do here at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text your question to the number on the screens or you can submit it on the Gateway app.
And as you’re finding Mark chapter six, let me explain what’s going on. If you’ve been with us for the last few weeks you know that we’ve been studying the book of Romans. But we’re taking an unexpected break today as our local circumstances warrant a change of direction. We’ll pick Romans back up again next Sunday, but for now I want to help show us that the Bible speaks to all of life’s circumstances — even the unexpected ones — like the flooding that’s been happening here in our area the last few days.
By a show of hands, how many of you have been impacted by the floodwaters?
Now of those hands, how many of you have or had water in your home — probably in your basement?
And how many of you have lost things due to the water — you couldn’t get it out in time?
So does the Bible speak to you — does it speak to us and this situation we’re facing? Regardless if our home has been impacted by the flooding?
I believe it does.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
So let me set the stage for our text as we’re jumping right into the heart of a story from the life of Jesus. Earlier in Mark chapter six, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples on their first adventure without Him. Jesus sends them off on their own and — in doing so — Jesus multiplies the reach of His ministry as the disciples are sent to do what Jesus has been doing — but now they’re spreading out and covering more territory.
Then comes a story that teaches us that following Christ comes with a cost. It’s the story of John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod. And Mark puts these two stories together deliberately so we see that even as we obey Christ’s command to go — there’s a cost that comes with our obedience. And for many of our brothers and sisters around the world, the cost is their life.
And then comes our story. It’s a story of a great feast. It’s a feast that Jesus hosts. And the feast is important for us because it shows us the compassion of Christ during a difficult circumstance.
RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT
Here are the words found in Mark chapter six. Beginning in verse thirty.
“The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. (Remember they’ve been out doing ministry without Him.) 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he (that’s Jesus) went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.” (Mark 6:30-44 ESV)
SERMON INTRODUCTION
No animal is as dependent upon someone to care for it as sheep are with their shepherd. Without a shepherd, sheep wander aimlessly and get lost. They don’t eat unless a shepherd shows them the good places to find food. They’ll die of thirst if a shepherd doesn’t lead them to water. They’re defenseless against wolves and other predators without a shepherd to protect them. In order to survive, sheep need to experience the compassion of their shepherd.
So — as you can imagine — being a shepherd is hard work. It’s a job that leaves you tired at the end of the day. So it’s a job that requires much rest — for without it — the shepherd won’t be able to keep up with all that the sheep need.
And something interesting — about the work of a shepherd — is that it’s a job that comes with great emotion. From the joy of the birth of a baby lamb, to the anxiety that comes from an attack of wolves, to the sadness and grief that come with the death of a sheep under his care — being a shepherd is a job full of emotion.
And that’s what it means to be one who shows compassion. It means hard work, it means much needed rest, and it means the experience of emotion.
And in our story, Jesus views the crowd as sheep who need to experience the compassion of a shepherd. But not only are the people in this story to be thought of as sheep — all people are — because Jesus views all people — including you and me — as sheep who need a shepherd. All of us need to experience the compassion of Christ — who is the Good Shepherd.
And if you’re a follower of Jesus, you’re a sheep under His care. And Jesus — our Chief Shepherd — has appointed under-shepherds to represent Him to His people. We call these shepherds pastors — or elders — in our church. Pastors are sent to churches to make sure Christ’s compassion is experienced by the people. And beyond pastors — in many ways — all Christians are to show compassion to one another.
This is just one reason why being a Christian and not being part of a local church is very dangerous. Because in separating yourself from a local church you separate yourself from the care, protection, and compassion of your Chief Shepherd as displayed by His under-shepherds — His pastors — and His people.
This is why most Christians who abandon the local church end up wandering aimlessly and getting lost spiritually. It’s why many end up following false teachers — wolves — who lead them to believe crazy things. They’re sheep who’ve abandoned the care, protection, and compassion of their Shepherd as displayed through His under-shepherds and His people.
But even if don’t consider yourself to be a Christian, you’re still in need of the compassion of Christ. You still need someone to protect you, and guide you, and lead you. Especially when the unexpected moments in life — like floods — happen. And Jesus wants you to experience and know His compassion today.
PROPOSITION
The lesson for us is this.
“Because people are like sheep without a shepherd, we must show them Christ’s compassion.” Because people are like sheep without a shepherd, we — followers of Jesus — must show all people Christ’s compassion.
We see this in verse thirty-four. And when you see a word in all caps, yellow, and underlined…say those words out loud with me. In verse thirty-four we read…
“When he (that’s Jesus) went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had COMPASSION on them, because they were like SHEEP without a SHEPHERD. And he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34 ESV)
Because people are like sheep without a shepherd, we must show them Christ’s compassion.
Every person needs to experience the compassion of Christ. We need His guidance, His care, and His protection. We need Him to feed us and lead us to water. And for many people this is kind of offensive because we don’t like to think of ourselves as dependent upon anyone or anything.
“I don’t need any help” and “I can take care of this myself” are mantras very popular today — even among Christians with flooded basements. But this picture — of us being sheep — shows us that we’re utterly hopeless on our own. Sheep need shepherds. And to be a Christian is to be a sheep who needs a Shepherd to guide, care for, protect, and lead you.
And very practically — if you need help because of the flood, you can sign up at the What’s Next Wall in the lobby or on our website and we will do our best to coordinate folks to come and help you. You don’t have to do it alone.
But there’s a word that’s really exciting for me in verse thirty-four. Because — let’s face it — being called a sheep is kind of humbling — it’s not that exciting. But the word that excites me is the word compassion — specifically the compassion of Christ.
Jesus’ compassion is one of the most beautiful things we discover in the Bible. In fact, the Greek word — that’s translated as “compassion” in verse thirty-four — is only used to describe Jesus in the New Testament. This word is reserved for Jesus alone. No one else in the New Testament gets this word — again the Greek word — associated with them.
Let me show you two examples of Jesus’ compassion that are found in Mark’s gospel. In chapter one we read that, “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. 41 Moved with COMPASSION (there’s our word), Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” 42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.” (Mark 1:40-42 NLT)
And in the ninth chapter we read about a boy who is demonized. And no one can do anything about it, “So they brought the boy (to Jesus). But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. 21“How long has this been happening,” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have MERCY (that’s the same Greek word translated earlier as compassion. The father says, “Have mercy…) on us and help us, if you can.” (Mark 9:20-22 NLT)
Which Jesus can and He does — He has mercy on the father and son — He drives out the demon.
You see, the compassion of Christ moved Him to touch someone with leprosy — someone who was considered untouchable by society. And this same compassion moved Jesus to help this desperate father and son.
And in our story, it’s the same compassion towards people that we see again. And it’s Jesus’ compassion — His beautiful, mesmerizing compassion — that we’re to show people who are in need. Yes, we’re to teach them about Christ’s compassion, but we’re also to show it to them through our actions.
So how do we do this? How do we show people Christ’s compassion — even as the floodwaters continue to recede? That’s the question we’re going to answer today. And we see three ways we can show people Christ’s compassion in our story. The first is this.
MAIN POINT 1
“We must work tirelessly for Jesus.” To show people Christ’s compassion, we must work tirelessly for Jesus. Look with me in verse thirty.
“The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had DONE AND TAUGHT. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to EAT. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.” (Mark 6:30-33 ESV)
Because people are like sheep without a shepherd, we must work tirelessly for Jesus as we show them His compassion.
So the apostles — the twelve disciples — are back. Jesus had sent them off to multiply His ministry work and now they’ve returned. And the first thing they tell Jesus is, “We did what You told us to do and we taught the people what You wanted us to teach them.”
But did you notice the cost of their obedience? In verse thirty-one we read that while they were doing what Jesus had told them to do, they were so busy that they didn’t have time to stop and eat. They had no leisure time. They worked tirelessly in obeying Jesus because their work expanded the reach of His compassion towards people.
And I don’t really know how I can help us comfortable — and I’m talking to myself here as much as to you — I don’t know how to help us comfortable American Christians realize that there’s a tireless work that’s expected of every follower of Jesus because we love our comfort here in the US.
But part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus is that you work tirelessly for the accomplishment of Christ’s mission — all people experiencing His compassion through His people — even if it means you don’t get time to do leisure things like stopping to eat.
And I know that some of us are tired. But what’s made you tired?
- Working tirelessly for Christ or working for your boss?
- Working tirelessly for Christ or working for the American dream?
- Working tirelessly for Christ or working to give your kids a better life than you had growing up?
Working hard for your boss isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not ultimate. And the American Dream isn’t the worst thing to live for, but the American Dream and Jesus’ mission rarely go hand-in-hand. And wanting to give your kids a better shot at life than you’ve had is admirable, but not at the cost of being too tired to work with all your might towards the accomplishment of Christ’s mission.
And part of this tireless work that we’re to be doing is showing people how great the compassion is that Christ has for them.
- And we show them His compassion by serving them and by telling them the truth.
- We do this by giving them a glass of water and by offering them a drink of the Living Water of Christ.
- We do this by caring for the poor, the orphans, the widows, the single moms and dads.
- We do this by sacrificing the amount we spend on ourselves so we can support those who are going to share Christ with those who’ve never heard of Him.
- And we work tirelessly not just by being thankful that my basement is dry, but by lending a hand to people in our city whose basements are ruined.
And I’m thankful to have heard many stories of you showing the compassion of Christ to people who’ve been affected by the floodwaters.
- I’ve heard of teenage boys — from our youth ministry — helping families carry things up from basements to higher ground.
- I’ve heard of Gateway women coming to the aid of a family by helping them dry out pictures from their baby books.
- A man from our congregation was delivering pumps all morning long to neighbors to help them get water out of their basements.
- These kinds of acts — working tirelessly for Jesus — show the compassion of Christ to others in a time of need.
Don’t ignore the exhaustion of the disciples. They’re tired. They’re hungry. They’ve worked hard for the Lord because the people He sent them to were like sheep without a shepherd — the people the disciples were sent to needed to experience Jesus’ compassion through them. And the people in our community need to experience Jesus’ compassion through you.
In the lobby — at our What’s Next Wall — you can sign up to help people in our congregation and community who are in need. Don’t sit on the sidelines while people need to experience the compassion of Christ through you. Show people Christ’s compassion. To do so, we must work tirelessly for Jesus.
There’s a second way we show people Christ’s compassion. And it’s this.
MAIN POINT 2
“We must rest fully in Jesus.” To show people Christ’s compassion, we must rest fully in Jesus. Look with me in verse thirty-five.
“And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 (Basically the disciples tell Jesus, “Look Jesus. You told us to get some rest and the only rest we’ve gotten was on the boat ride here. And the crowd was waiting for us when we got here so — guess what — we’re still exhausted. So before it gets too late, we need to do something about dinner for these people.” Then in verse thirty-six they ask Jesus to tell the large crowd to do what? They tell Jesus to…) SEND THEM AWAY to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to EAT.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” (Basically they tell Jesus that this is a ridiculously impossible thing You’ve told us to do. Two hundred days worth of wages won’t even begin to cover the cost of food for this large crowd.) 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.” (Mark 6:35-41 ESV)
Because people are like sheep without a shepherd, we must rest fully in Jesus as we show them His compassion.
Now we’re finite creatures so there’s only so much tireless work we can do before we need to rest. In fact, sometimes we go beyond what God’s asked us to do and we reach the point of burnout. And I think that the disciples are close to that point here — I find it kind of telling that earlier Jesus sent them away in order to do ministry work and now the disciples want to send the crowd away so they can stop doing ministry work — at some point, we all reach a breaking point.
And Jesus is aware that the disciples need rest, so it’s His turn to do the work. But don’t miss this…even though Jesus does the work, He still does it through His disciples.
They’re exhausted. They’ve worked tirelessly. And now they have to rest fully in Jesus even as He tells them to do more work. They don’t have the strength, ability, or resources to feed the crowd on their own, so they have to rest in — think trust in — Jesus’ power to provide food for the people — even as they obey Him.
And the best opportunity to rest in Jesus — to trust in His power — is when He commands you to do the impossible. And that’s exactly what He does to the disciples.
“You give this crowd of thousands something to eat.”
“But, uh, Jesus. We don’t even have lunch for ourselves. And, by the way — I’m sure You’re aware of this — but it’s going to take a lot of money to buy these people dinner and You told us to leave our moneybags at home when we left on that journey You sent us on. So, yeah…we’re not going to be able to do this on our own. It’s impossible.”
And that’s the thing about Jesus’ commands — sometimes they are impossible. Yet in the Bible — and in church history — we see people do impossible things because 1) Christ commanded them to and 2) they trusted that God would do it — whatever it was — through them.
- Some have sold all of their belongings and given the money to the poor.
- Others have left their home country to go proclaim the gospel in countries where Christ is not known.
- Others have learned difficult languages in order to translate the Bible for the people who speak that language.
- And others serve in the nursery here at our church, which for me is the most “I need You to be with me Jesus” serving opportunity we have.
But that’s what it means to follow Jesus — you obey His commands. Even the ones that are impossible. Because when God commands the impossible it means that He must show up and do a miracle through you in order for it to be accomplished.
So the disciples rest — they trust Jesus and divide the crowd up into groups of fifty and hundreds — which brings us to another important lesson: Faith in Jesus always requires obedience. And obedience to Jesus’ impossible commands always requires risk.
And when God commands the impossible it means that He must show up and do a miracle through you in order for it to be accomplished. And the size of the risk that you’re willing to take is based on the size of your faith in Jesus.
And that’s exactly what happens in our story. In the whole crowd of a few thousand people, there’s one kid who’s got something to eat. And through this boy’s lunch, Jesus does the impossible. And the disciples get to rest in His power as He performs the miracle needed to accomplish the impossible task — the feeding of thousands of people with only a few pieces of bread and two small fish.
But don’t miss the important application for our lives. No matter how insignificant you think you are — Jesus can do the impossible and multiply what you bring to Him so that thousands upon thousands of people are affected by His compassion through you. If He can take a little boy’s lunch and miraculously feed thousands, what might Jesus do through you if you were to rest fully in Him — all so that others experience His compassion?
People are like sheep without a shepherd, so we must rest fully in Jesus — we must trust that He will show them His compassion through us. And a time of crisis — a time of uncertainty — a time like what our community is going through — is a great opportunity to rest in Jesus as you do what He commands you to do so others experience His compassion.
A final way we show people Christ’s compassion.
MAIN POINT 3
“We must display that our satisfaction is in Jesus.” To show people Christ’s compassion, we must display that our satisfaction is in Him.
Look with me in verse forty-two.
“And they all ate and were SATISFIED. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.” (Mark 6:42-44 ESV)
Because people are like sheep without a shepherd, we must display that our satisfaction is in Jesus as we show them His compassion.
Now before we get to our satisfaction in Jesus, let me briefly explain a doctrine that we see here. The doctrine is what theologians call “God’s common grace.”
Now common grace is different from God’s saving grace. God’s saving grace is the grace we mean when we talk about God saving someone from their sin. It’s the saving grace of God that rescues.
But God’s common grace is different in that all people experience His common grace. Common grace is found in the Bible in places like Matthew chapter five, where Jesus says, “For he (that’s God) gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” (Matthew 5:45b NLT)
So God’s common grace is seen in how He allows both the just and the unjust — both the righteous and the wicked — to experience His favor and blessing through the rain that waters the earth and the sunlight that gives life and warmth.
God shows His grace — and His love, and mercy, and kindness — towards people who are in rebellion against Him by allowing them to experience things like the love of a spouse, the birth of a child, and the beauty in hearing one of Mozart’s masterpieces.
The wicked don’t deserve these things — no one does — yet God in His common grace allows all people — even those who are in rebellion against Him — to experience these blessings. And in our story we see God’s common grace in how Jesus feeds everyone in the crowd and not just His disciples.
Now we might not marvel at this because we think, “Well of course Jesus would feed everyone. Who wouldn’t do that?” And the reason why we think like this is because we don’t really fathom the depth of our rebellion and wickedness towards God. We don’t see ourselves as His enemies. We see ourselves as innocent sufferers who deserve God to do good things for us — like feed us when we show up somewhere without lunch.
- Or to lower our cholesterol even though we keep eating those fatty cheeseburgers.
- Or to do a miracle in our bank account even though we continue to make poor financial decisions.
- Or to fix our marriage even though we keep being a jerk to our spouse.
That’s just how skewed our view is of God and of ourselves. We’re quick to blame God for bad things in our lives that we’ve caused to happen — and then we expect God to fix our problems — like showing up some place with nothing to eat — we just expect that God has to feed us.
And even though not one person in this crowd deserves to be fed, every person experiences the common grace of God. Everyone eats. They’re all full — their physical appetite is satisfied.
And not only that, but the disciples collected twelve baskets full of bread and fish so they’d have something to eat for lunch the next day. There’s twelve of them and twelve baskets — that’s the compassion of God as seen in His common grace.
Now how does this connect to our satisfaction in Jesus? Well the only way that you and I will work tirelessly for and rest fully in Jesus — so that others experience His compassion…is by finding our satisfaction in Jesus.
- Not in what’s accomplished by our working tirelessly for Him as we help those with water in their basements.
- Not in getting to kick our feet up after we’ve worked all day helping our neighbors dry their basement.
- Not in seeing Jesus come through with some sort of miracle because we’re resting in Him.
- Your satisfaction — and my satisfaction — is to be found solely in Jesus because He is with you as you work, and with you as you rest. He is with you when your basement is dry and with you when it’s flooded. Your Shepherd is always with you. And our satisfaction is to be found in our relationship with Christ. In a life that can bring the unexpected at any moment — the constant for the follower of Jesus is that their Shepherd is always with them.
And being with Jesus is what should matter most to the Christian. Being with Him is what gives you hope. It’s what gives you peace. It’s what gives you joy. Because you know that you’re nothing more than a sheep who wants to experience the compassion of your Shepherd who’s promised to always be with you no matter what you’re going through.
And this kind of satisfaction — satisfaction that’s found in Jesus — is contagious.
- It’s a “what’s going on in your life that you’re so different from everyone else who’s basement is flooded” kind of satisfaction.
- It’s an “I can work tirelessly for Jesus as I show others His compassion” kind of satisfaction.
- It’s an “I can rest fully in Jesus when He asks me to do the impossible” kind of satisfaction.
- It’s a “connecting people to Jesus Christ and to one another” kind of contagious satisfaction in Christ.
CONCLUSION
For many of us, this week has brought the unexpected. My hope is that the most unexpected thing you experience this week isn’t the flooding, but the experience of Christ’s compassion. That you would experience His compassion through this church. That you would experience the compassion of Christ — the Shepherd — who will always be with you.
Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I pray that everyone who hears my voice will receive what You’ve said to us through Your Word today. I pray that You will remind us often that Your Son, Jesus, is the Good Shepherd. And all of us are like sheep and we desperately need to experience His compassion.
Father, just as Jesus sent out the twelve, all of Your people are sent ones. We’re sent into the world to show all people Christ’s compassion. We do this as we work tirelessly for Jesus, for there are many people You love who’ve yet to experience His compassion. We do this as we rest fully in Jesus when He commands us to do the impossible. And we do this as we display that our satisfaction is found in Jesus, so people who are dissatisfied with life see that what they’re looking for can be found.
Holy Spirit, if there’s anyone here today longing to experience Christ’s compassion — I ask that You would do the work You do in people’s hearts. May they see the compassion, hope, and life that’s being offered to them in Christ.
And Jesus, to You we say thank you. Thank you for Your compassion, Your never-ending love, Your patience with us, the hope You give us, and Your presence with us.
It’s in Your name we pray. Amen.
BENEDICTION
Receive this prayer of blessing.
“Christ desires that all people experience His compassion. May you go showing others His compassion as you work for, rest in, and display that you are satisfied in Him. Amen.”
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.