WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.320 Okay, now we're going to return for a little while before celebrating the Lord's Supper 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.400 together. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:13.439 To this passage in Luke's, in Mark's Gospel. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:20.400 And we're going to continue with the same kind of thinking that we've been working 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:24.679 through all the time in Mark's Gospel. 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:29.719 Because I think this passage is intended by Mark, by the Holy Spirit, through Mark, at 00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:35.799 least to trigger two questions in our lives that might not be immediately obvious when 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:40.600 we think about this miracle, which we probably know so well, many of us anyway. 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:45.879 But these questions really fit in well with the account and with the intention, I believe, 00:00:45.879 --> 00:00:53.679 of the author as he wrote this account of Jesus' life for us. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:58.560 And it's very linked actually to chapter 8 as well, and the lessons from chapter 8, 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.560 where there's feeding of the 4,000. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.679 So we'll come to that in the future, we ask God willing. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:07.560 But so there's the feeding of 5,000 and also the feeding of the 4,000. 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:13.840 But really both of these events and also many of the other miracles that Jesus performed, 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.079 I hope will trigger at least two questions today in our minds. 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.280 One is, who is it that you listen to? 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:20.760 Who's your authority? 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:21.760 Who do you respect? 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:22.760 Who do you trust in life? 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:24.840 Now each of us can ask that question. 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:29.280 As believers, we know what a Christian answer is to that. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.560 But think through that. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.800 Who is it that we respect and who is it that we listen to? 00:01:33.800 --> 00:01:39.800 Who is it that we follow and who is it that we have authority over our lives? 00:01:39.800 --> 00:01:44.400 And if we're absolutely honest, it might end up just, we might just say, well actually, 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.840 it's just me. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:51.400 Not me, but you and me. 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:57.800 It might just be that we rely on our own authority and significance. 00:01:57.800 --> 00:01:58.800 That's the first question. 00:01:58.800 --> 00:02:03.000 The second question is, who do you look to for care and attention in your lives? 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:09.759 Who do you look to for that protection and care and love and oversight of your life? 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.640 Now our answers, even at a human level, and I know there's human answers to that as well, 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:17.159 sort of everyday answers, societal answers. 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:21.439 But even at a human level, I think our answers as Christians to that reflect our understanding 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:28.879 of Jesus Christ and of his significance and of his centrality to us in our lives. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:37.800 And to develop our thinking about who he actually is for us, a day-to-day basis. 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:44.199 And there's really one overriding message that I want to get across from this chapter. 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:50.280 And you may think this is contrived, but it's not contrived, just because I'm preaching 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:52.599 the day after the coronation. 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:56.639 But the one message from this chapter, and I hope you'll see why it fits into the passage, 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:01.479 the wider passage, is that Jesus is the true King. 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:03.560 Jesus is the true King. 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:04.560 He's the King of Kings. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.479 Now that is relevant, I believe. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.560 The Spirit is always bringing us relevant truths at relevant times in our lives. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:15.000 So many of you, some of you may have watched the coronation of King Charles yesterday, 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:16.800 outstandingly long. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.120 So you may have had to depart for a cup of tea or something at some points. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:31.840 I didn't watch all, but the ceremony, the crowning of the King of the United Kingdom, 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:37.159 the British Isles, is different from anything we're speaking about today, really. 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:42.199 And I don't want you to compare the two, because apart from anything else, even from a political 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:50.280 point of view or a leadership point of view, King Charles, as the Queen was before him, 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:56.960 is a ceremonial head of state as part of a constitutional monarchy. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:01.359 And so his power, and there was much illusion yesterday to power and authority, which is 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:08.040 really, in all honesty, quite vacuous, because he doesn't really have power and authority. 00:04:08.040 --> 00:04:14.720 But that power is allocated, it's delegated to government and to the judiciary. 00:04:14.720 --> 00:04:18.879 And so that makes the constitutional monarchy different from what I'm speaking about in 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:20.879 terms of kingship. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:28.720 And for many people, and we saw that maybe increasingly today or yesterday, is that the 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:34.640 ongoing life of the King is fairly irrelevant to most of us. 00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:41.560 It's not a literal position of power and authority, whereas decisions will impact our lives every 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:42.560 day. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:47.720 There's a general irrelevance, I don't mean that disrespectfully, but I've just been in 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:51.400 terms of the position. 00:04:51.400 --> 00:04:58.560 So when we think of the King who was made King yesterday, I want you to disabuse yourself 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:07.199 of that notion and think about the King of kings and also who it is that you listen to 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:08.199 in your life. 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:10.399 Who has the authority? 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:15.879 Who has the admiration, the envy of your life? 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:22.480 Who is it that you respect to the point of following and obeying? 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:24.680 And we all have that. 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.959 And we all have that desire to be loved and cared for, and these are good things. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:30.680 There's nothing wrong with these things. 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:36.639 But I want you today to take stock and ask what place, even as Christians today, does 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:44.920 Jesus Christ actually hold in your life as you walk away from church this morning? 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:46.639 Does He have the authority? 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.680 Is He the King of kings? 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:55.959 Do you entrust yourself to His care and to His love and to His protection as a different 00:05:55.959 --> 00:06:01.519 King, a King different from the one that was coordinated yesterday, but who has a rightful 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:08.480 claim on your life and on mine, as our Creator, as our sustainer, as our Savior, and as our 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:09.560 judge? 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:14.879 He absolutely has a rightful claim on whoever you might be today coming in, whether you're 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.680 a believer or not. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:22.879 And the reason that we can speak about Him as being the true King today in this passage 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:25.280 is because of the context. 00:06:25.280 --> 00:06:31.800 And I think the context reminds us that He is nothing like Herod Antipas, the King who 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:38.720 Cori preached about last week from the previous chapter in verses 14, or not the previous 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:43.480 chapter, but the previous section of chapter 6, verses 14 to 30. 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:49.800 And here we have Mark revealing to us a very different kind of political King who absolutely 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.600 abused His authority. 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:59.400 He abused the authority He was given, and there's a complete contrast to the Jesus who 00:06:59.400 --> 00:07:02.560 is revealed in the Feeding of the Five Thousand. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:10.080 When He was opposed morally by John the Baptist for taking His brother's wife Herodias to 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:17.560 be His own, and John questioned that and opposed that, rather than speaking into it, rather 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:23.680 than accepting it or thinking about it, He simply crushed that using His authority. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:30.759 He in His folly and in His corruptness and in His desire for power and His lustful immorality, 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:37.639 His selfish, weak, confused nature, He used His power to annihilate John the Baptist, to 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:47.120 get rid of the opposition, to crush the moral challenge that was made to Him. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:52.919 And rather than caring for and loving His people, what we find is that He provided a 00:07:52.919 --> 00:07:53.919 feast. 00:07:53.919 --> 00:07:59.519 It wasn't like the Feeding of the Five Thousand, but He provided a feast, but it was very much 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:02.519 a feast for His own elite. 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:11.959 We're told in these verses that He had a feast for the leaders of His day and the military 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:14.079 leaders as well. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:21.359 And so it was a self-interested feast where He expended His wealth on those who would 00:08:21.359 --> 00:08:28.159 secure His own position, His own power and His own security. 00:08:28.159 --> 00:08:30.000 It was opportunistic. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:35.279 It was greed-filled, and we know that that was the motive of His heart. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:39.120 His generosity was inward-looking, really. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.240 It was to protect Himself. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.840 Jesus calls Herod in Luke 13, that fox. 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:52.000 Jesus knew and understood His heart, and He leaves the scene of time exiled and a fruit 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.480 note in history. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:00.159 And so we have that immediately before this account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:06.720 We have the account of Herod Antipas, and then we come to Jesus, and there's clearly 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.080 a contrast being made by Mark. 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:15.000 He's saying, there's a king, but here's the king of kings, and he's completely different. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.200 He's not like Herod, and he's not like earthly kings and earthly power and authority. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:24.759 He is different, we recognize that the people came to Him. 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:31.040 He was tired, the disciples were tired, they went to get some time on their own, and Jesus 00:09:31.040 --> 00:09:35.360 by this stage was so popular that even though He went to the other side, the people legged 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:40.520 it from all the towns and ran round so that they could be under His teaching. 00:09:40.520 --> 00:09:45.400 And we're told that when He saw them, verse 34, He had compassion on them because they 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:49.279 were sheep of that shepherd, and He began to teach them many things, and Mark's very strong 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:50.279 on that. 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:54.759 And in chapter one, he tells us when he's describing who Jesus is, twice he says that 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:58.959 Jesus taught with authority, not like the scribes and Pharisees. 00:09:58.959 --> 00:10:05.240 And that is what's coming across here, that Jesus attracted people by the strength of 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:08.720 His teaching, by the power of what He was saying. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:16.240 And it was unparalleled, unparalleled to the point that He couldn't even eat His dinner 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.240 because people were so desperate to hear what He had to say. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.240 And He spoke with authority. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.040 And in this passage, this king not only spoke with authority, but he served a feast with 00:10:28.040 --> 00:10:29.040 authority. 00:10:29.040 --> 00:10:31.440 And it was very unlike Herod's feast. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:37.840 It was a feast where He gave, He provided miraculously from scant provision with His 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:47.120 power and with His authority, He fed everyone who was there using His glorious character 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:52.160 to provide not just a spiritual feast for them with His teaching, but also a physical 00:10:52.160 --> 00:10:59.560 feast generously giving them a banquet where they had plenty and more enough to eat, using 00:10:59.560 --> 00:11:05.940 His riches and using His power and glory to nourish other ordinary people who were there. 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:11.880 And Mark is contrasting the two, reminding us that there is only one real king. 00:11:11.880 --> 00:11:16.640 And it's never going to be Herod, it's never going to be me, it's never going to be you, 00:11:16.640 --> 00:11:21.600 even though we like to think we're kings of our own and queens of our own destination 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.520 and our own destiny. 00:11:23.520 --> 00:11:27.120 And He's providing this great contrast. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:33.920 And I believe that that contrast goes further, not so much in contrast, but in further revelation 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:39.719 of who Jesus is by comparing Him, it would have at least been, I think, evident to the 00:11:39.719 --> 00:11:46.079 original readers of Mark's gospel, those Jewish people who knew the Old Testament, that here 00:11:46.079 --> 00:11:54.319 is someone greater than the Old Testament Moses, who also fed and nourished His people 00:11:54.319 --> 00:12:01.639 and had great authority as it were their Old Testament Savior who redeemed them by God's 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:08.799 grace, strength and power from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.299 into the Promised Land. 00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:16.759 Now we've seen that before in Mark, that there's a lot of comparison with Moses, with Jesus 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:21.960 being the greater Moses, even we saw that most clearly, maybe on the Sermon and the 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:22.960 Mount. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:29.000 And in Deuteronomy 15, Moses prayed to the Lord as God and He said, Well, you raise up 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:34.360 a prophet like me from among your own brothers, you must listen to him. 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:41.519 This was an Old Testament longing of Moses to see the Redeemer who would come. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:47.679 And there's little glimpses of that comparison between Moses and Jesus in this feeding of 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:49.179 the 5,000. 00:12:49.179 --> 00:12:54.720 I think it's not without significance that we're told that the people gathered to a desolate 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:59.960 place for a while in the same way that the Old Testament people were in the wilderness 00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:06.720 and Jesus provides for them food, bread, in the same way that God provided through Moses 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:08.360 manna in the wilderness. 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:13.200 Now there's a great comparison between the manna of the Old Testament, the feeding of 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.040 the 5,000 and Jesus being the bread of life in John chapter 6. 00:13:18.040 --> 00:13:20.759 We'll see a little bit more about that in a moment. 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:25.919 But there's clear comparisons between it all that Jesus is not just feeding them and 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:33.559 doing a miracle, but He's bringing spiritual lessons to them about who He is, about His 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:36.759 provision for them. 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:43.519 We know too that Moses in Numbers 27 prayed, May the Lord the God who gives breath to all 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.080 living things appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:53.879 will lead them out and bring them in so that the Lord's people will not be like sheep without 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:56.480 a shepherd. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:02.520 And Jesus here in the ultimate fulfillment of that is the one who looks on the crowd 00:14:02.520 --> 00:14:06.240 as a sheep without a shepherd. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:13.160 And He's there to feed and nourish and protect and care and love them, the greater Moses 00:14:13.160 --> 00:14:15.800 that Moses himself considered. 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:20.399 And He loves and cares for them not just in a spiritual way, but in a very down to earth, 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.719 very practical way. 00:14:22.719 --> 00:14:28.039 Many commentators also see a link between the organizational structure that Moses set 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:34.959 in place for his people in Exodus 18, where he put them into hundreds and fifties in order 00:14:34.959 --> 00:14:42.479 for them to be judged and looked after, and in a much smaller way the way that Jesus divided 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:51.080 the crowd into smaller groups in order to be fed by the disciples. 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:57.560 And also the very prayer of thanksgiving, the prayer that He gives before He serves 00:14:57.560 --> 00:15:08.320 the bread, surely points towards the Passover thanksgiving meal and the breaking of bread 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:15.440 and indeed His crucifixion, His exodus, His departure on our behalf. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:22.640 So in this great miracle of provision where He feeds the 5,000 men, probably double that 00:15:22.640 --> 00:15:30.760 number, great number of people, we learn a great deal about Jesus himself and who He 00:15:30.760 --> 00:15:31.760 is. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:38.919 That He is a king of kings, He's not like Herod, and He is greater than Moses. 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:43.679 These things, the great continuity of old and new as it points towards and points forward 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:48.600 to the fulfilling of all that happened in the Old Testament in the coming of Jesus in 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:55.439 His life, but most significantly His death, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, of 00:15:55.439 --> 00:16:01.000 which we will recall soon, which is a great thing as well at the Lord's Supper. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:11.679 But I want just in conclusion to allow, seek that this truth would soak into your heart 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.159 and my heart today. 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:15.159 That's what we need. 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:21.399 You're not here to listen to a treatise, you're not here to listen to a message that is just 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:25.320 intellectual or even spiritual. 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:31.800 You're here under the living word of God to hear His voice into your heart, and I have 00:16:31.800 --> 00:16:33.680 to hear it into mine. 00:16:33.680 --> 00:16:42.320 And that is always how we come to God's word, not in an intellectual pursuit only, not even 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:51.720 in a religious pursuit only, but in a personal spiritual searching and listening and responding 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:52.720 to God's word. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:54.320 So there's a couple of things really. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:01.200 Just as in this throughout the gospel, there's a call to trust in the true King, the King 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.200 of Kings. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.920 What we call the shepherd king, the shepherd king, because that's what we have here, don't 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:08.920 we? 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:15.400 Mark's describing the shepherd king, the one who sees the sheep that are lost and alone, 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:19.680 and yet who is the king unlike Herod, and he's this great shepherd king. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.920 And in many ways, in some ways, I hope this is not too fanciful, but in many ways, it 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:35.840 does, the feeding of the 5,000 does look like an illustration of Sam 23 in many ways, in 00:17:35.840 --> 00:17:36.840 some ways anyway. 00:17:36.840 --> 00:17:42.920 It's a great picture of Sam 23, which is the great shepherd Sam, the great king shepherd 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:45.840 Sam of David. 00:17:45.840 --> 00:17:47.080 The Lord is my sheep. 00:17:47.080 --> 00:17:49.200 That's a great declaration of it, isn't it? 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:50.519 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:56.080 It's a call to trust this great God, this great Creator, Savior and judge. 00:17:56.080 --> 00:18:02.240 He is a living God, and He is the Lord of all, not just in words, not just in ceremony, 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:08.360 but in reality, because we will all face Him, the one who cares and provides like no one 00:18:08.360 --> 00:18:09.360 else. 00:18:09.360 --> 00:18:15.160 I wonder if it's interesting that in this chapter, we're told that the people come to 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:22.320 a desolate place, and then in verse 39, we're told that He commanded them all to sit down 00:18:22.320 --> 00:18:28.680 in groups on the green grass. 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:36.279 Because we can see there the green pastures of Sam 23, as He provides, as He cares, and 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:41.560 He's still waters, as they listen to His teaching, guiding them into all truth and into all righteousness 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:48.919 with His message, that great restoring of their soul as they come under His nourishing 00:18:48.919 --> 00:18:54.720 leadership and provision and care, even maybe. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.879 And I think that comes across very clearly in John chapter 6. 00:18:57.879 --> 00:19:05.639 If you have time, go home and read that, because John chapter 6 comes after John's version 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:12.600 of the feeding of the 5,000, but it's much more detailed in the way Jesus applies it 00:19:12.600 --> 00:19:13.720 to Himself. 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:17.480 You know, He says to the disciples, yeah, you just wanted a miracle because you wanted 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:18.480 to be fed. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.360 He said, but there's something much deeper than that. 00:19:20.360 --> 00:19:26.080 He said, He links it to the manna from heaven that Moses provided, or God provided through 00:19:26.080 --> 00:19:30.160 Moses, and then said, but He said, I am the manna from heaven. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:31.800 I am the bread of life. 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:37.720 And He links it, He gives a great I am statement that I am the bread of life, and He links 00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:42.519 it so powerfully with the nourishment and the feeding spiritually that He brings into 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:50.159 our lives, that really every meal that we have, every Lord supper that we partake in, 00:19:50.159 --> 00:19:57.279 but every time we drink and eat, we're reminded of a spiritual nourishment that is also ours 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:02.399 because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. 00:20:02.399 --> 00:20:06.920 And maybe with the giving of thanks and the breaking of bread, thinking of the future, 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:11.799 maybe not the people, but Jesus was thinking of the future and the dark places of sin and 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:16.720 death where He could look at His people, say, they don't need to fear any evil, because 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:19.319 I will be their redeemer. 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:25.599 I'm going to that place of darkness and death in their place, and I'm the one who provides 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:27.519 a banquet. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:29.599 I'm the one who provides a feast. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:36.159 And I think that the overflowing 12 basketfuls of bread and fish are just a reminder of the 00:20:36.159 --> 00:20:43.319 provision that He gives us spiritually, but also into the future that we can't even imagine. 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:50.439 You can't imagine from five loaves and two fish, you can't imagine 12 massive big basketfuls 00:20:50.439 --> 00:20:51.439 of leftovers. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:55.960 You can't imagine it, how does it happen, because it's a miracle. 00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:02.160 But so the provision for us in eternity and the feasting that we enjoy with Him in eternity 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:06.080 is beyond our imagination. 00:21:06.080 --> 00:21:09.799 Every time we eat and drink, we're to be reminded of that. 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:16.960 He's an incredible King, powerful, generous, loving, forgiving King as we come and recognize 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:17.960 Him. 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:23.799 So there's a picture here, a developing picture of the King of Kings that we have in Mark. 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:30.240 And so I'm just asking this morning, who is it you're listening to? 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.840 Who is that rightful place of Lordship? 00:21:32.840 --> 00:21:38.279 Who do you obey in terms of the moral injunctions of your life? 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:44.240 Who you're looking to for ultimate care and provision in this life, but also eternally 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:51.519 taking you through that valley of the shadow of death, because He says we lack nothing 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:54.240 if we trust in Him, because He is with us. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:22:01.799 I will be with you in the valley of the shadow, and He provides so that we lack nothing that 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:06.480 we need to live life to the full as we follow in self. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:12.839 So I'm asking myself very deeply, and you also, who is it that you are trusting in your 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:14.599 day-to-day life? 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:24.119 Who is it that you go to and have relationship with, and who has authority and who has significance 00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:30.559 so that you will follow Him before any of the other myriad of voices that there are that 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.079 we may trust and follow? 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:38.639 Call it trust, because Mark is always revealing to us the person of Jesus. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:44.560 But then lastly also, we need to understand discipleship from this passage, because Mark 00:22:44.560 --> 00:22:53.120 is always about relating Jesus to us, and then encouraging us to understand our discipleship. 00:22:53.120 --> 00:22:54.920 And just a few things here. 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:59.920 First of all, the call is for Jesus Christ, it's for us to recognize as disciples that 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:02.360 He is our King. 00:23:02.360 --> 00:23:04.360 He has priority. 00:23:04.360 --> 00:23:06.200 He's first. 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:08.920 He can't be a bit player in our lives. 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:13.480 He's not just someone we have a nodding acquaintance with on a Sunday morning, and then ignore 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:17.279 and forget the rest of our lives as we just live to please ourselves. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:24.480 He isn't even to play second fiddle to anyone in governing our heart and our life. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:29.720 And last week, Corey brought that out very powerfully from the previous section, which 00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:33.720 says the great cost that is involved in following Jesus. 00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:37.960 The gospel is free, grace is free, but it's never cheap. 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:43.400 And he requires that preeminence in our lives and in our hearts. 00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:45.440 He is God, we are not. 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:52.200 The temptation is always to relegate Him to some bit play of our lives, submitting to 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:58.640 other teaching and other thinking, and trusting in other people to satisfy our love and our 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:00.519 care. 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:02.079 Which we know is important. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:06.559 I'm not saying we don't be loved and cared by people, but ultimately to recognize and 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:13.119 see His provision for us where nobody else can provide in this life for our heart and 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:15.439 through the valley of the shadow of death. 00:24:15.439 --> 00:24:19.000 No one else can do that for us. 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:24.240 He provides peace and nourishment and satisfaction and abundant love. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:31.039 He calls you a day to be His King, and you may need to repent, and I know I need to 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:36.399 repent, there's many times, and then you ask for forgiveness where He's not in that place. 00:24:36.399 --> 00:24:39.079 But let's move on and be encouraged. 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:40.559 It's a struggle. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:41.559 Hallelujah. 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.319 It's a struggle. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:47.039 You've got to love the disciples, don't you? 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:49.559 Because they just haven't a clue what's going on. 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:52.359 And they don't really get it in so many ways. 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:55.119 Not just in verse 30, he said, wow, are we going to feed this crowd? 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.159 Did St. Jesus do all kinds of miracles? 00:24:57.159 --> 00:24:59.559 And He still couldn't really believe Him that He could do it. 00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:03.200 How are we going to take eight months' wages? 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:09.519 And then Jesus goes on later on, I think, in chapter 8, after the feeding of the 4,000 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:13.159 in verse 18, he says, you know, do you still not understand? 00:25:13.159 --> 00:25:14.159 Do you not perceive? 00:25:14.159 --> 00:25:15.159 Are your hearts hardened? 00:25:15.159 --> 00:25:18.119 Do you not remember when I broke five loaves? 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:23.960 Do you not remember when I broke seven loaves? 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:25.599 Do you still not understand? 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:30.240 They didn't get it, they didn't understand that it was speaking about His kingship, His 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:31.839 authority, His Lordship. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:36.919 It wasn't just a kind of bit of magic that He did for them to entertain them or to give 00:25:36.919 --> 00:25:37.919 them a bit of food. 00:25:37.919 --> 00:25:40.480 It was far deeper than that. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:47.679 We're not looking for Jesus just to snap His, we snap our fingers and Jesus, bam, does 00:25:47.679 --> 00:25:50.079 an amazing miracle for us to make our lives easy. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:56.559 It's to understand the deeper truth of His Lordship, of His authority, and of His sovereign 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.799 care spiritually and materially for us. 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:03.159 So it's a struggle, we know that. 00:26:03.159 --> 00:26:06.439 It does also involve sacrificial service, discipleship. 00:26:06.439 --> 00:26:10.359 We see that throughout the New Testament, we can't get away from it. 00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:16.679 And this section starts with the disciples where Jesus says, I want you to come away 00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:23.519 with me because you're tired and you haven't had any food, and you need rest, and they 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:26.640 go there and then the crowds follow. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.480 And they don't really get that rest that they require. 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:36.320 And I think Jesus is, well, maybe this is, I would go to say, but He says, you'll get 00:26:36.320 --> 00:26:41.680 rest, but you'll get rest on the move because you're not in heaven yet. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.560 We'll get rest, but we'll get it on the move. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:47.679 You know, Christ is a great example, He sees the people. 00:26:47.679 --> 00:26:53.599 He hasn't eaten Himself, He sees the people, and He sees their need, and He sacrifices 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:56.119 His own rest in order to provide for them. 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.519 And it's a great example. 00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:03.480 And I know the Bible speaks about rest, and I don't deny that, we need our rest. 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:07.919 And I'm sure the disciples get rest at some other point with Jesus. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:17.200 But here, the needs of the crowd prioritized over their need for rest, and even for food, 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:22.000 although they would have been provided for with food as part of that great picnic, which 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.480 is not something we should forget. 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:37.440 Isn't it better to spend for Christ Jesus, spend and be spent, and die a year or two 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:47.200 earlier, than live out a life of selfishness and self-indulgence into ancientness, to live 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:52.559 to 110, but really in a self-centered way. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.360 Christ knows what we need. 00:27:54.360 --> 00:28:03.240 Christ will give us His rest, and we will be able to carry on as we serve Him. 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:05.160 Grace, another lesson briefly. 00:28:05.160 --> 00:28:07.519 Grace triggers generosity. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:14.360 Jesus out of His riches gave absolutely, it generously, it's a great picture of generosity, 00:28:14.360 --> 00:28:16.680 the feeding of the 5,000. 00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:22.759 And I think that's a lesson for us too, as we serve and follow Jesus Christ. 00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:26.800 And all the gifts He's given us, we're generous. 00:28:26.800 --> 00:28:32.440 We're a generous congregation, generous in love, generous in time, generous in the use 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:36.519 of our gifts because it reflects the grace that we've been given. 00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:42.680 And then lastly, and this is my favorite lesson of all from this passage in Mark's gospel. 00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:47.559 I love this in terms of discipleship. 00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:51.400 Our nothing is enough. 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:55.759 Our nothing is actually enough for Jesus. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:00.120 You know, I don't think it's insignificant in that same chapter when He sends the disciples 00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:04.159 out, He sends the 12 apostles out in verse 8. 00:29:04.159 --> 00:29:08.559 We're told that He charged them to go out with nothing for their journey except to 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:09.799 staff. 00:29:09.799 --> 00:29:13.199 No bread, no money. 00:29:13.199 --> 00:29:18.959 The two things that were needed at this juncture, they were told, don't go out with bread and 00:29:18.959 --> 00:29:20.519 don't go out with money. 00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:28.559 And I think there's a spiritual message that comes across in what Jesus was doing. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:31.720 They were commanded to go out with nothing. 00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:35.119 And then they came to this situation where they had nothing to give. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:42.079 In fact, we learn in, I think it's John's account that it was actually a wee boy they 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.839 had to go to who had a picnic. 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:46.519 How humbling would that have been for them? 00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:48.039 The disciples, the followers of Jesus. 00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:50.879 They had to go to a little boy, the only boy that they could see with a picnic. 00:29:50.879 --> 00:29:53.240 And you know what little kids are like with food? 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:57.200 Well, a bit of a challenge that would have been, oh, it's okay, it's for the master. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.200 We're going to feed. 00:29:58.200 --> 00:29:59.200 10,000 of them, yes. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:01.559 Will there be any left for you? 00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:02.559 Not sure. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:04.480 How difficult would that have been? 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:12.680 How humbling to go and ask a little boy for his food for the master. 00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:16.039 Even didn't have their own bread and fish. 00:30:16.039 --> 00:30:21.080 But isn't that a great lesson that our nothing is enough? 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:28.519 We can come with our nothing and we can trust Him that He will provide all we need in His 00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:33.679 service and He will use us for His glory. 00:30:33.679 --> 00:30:38.000 And that's a great thing. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:48.000 It's not kind of having a simplistic or irrational or unwise use of our gifts and our resources, 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:55.440 but it's recognizing that spiritually nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:59.000 I cling that we don't bargain with God. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:01.680 We don't sit with God and say, I've got these kind of gifts. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:08.640 If you use me in this way, maybe we'll partner together in serving Jesus, serving the kingdom. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.559 We come with nothing. 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.400 We're giving everything. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:20.120 And we use that everything for His glory and for His good because He's the loving King 00:31:20.120 --> 00:31:22.920 of kings and lords of lords. 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:23.920 Let's pray. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:32.200 Father, God help us to understand You more clearly and help us to serve and follow You 00:31:32.200 --> 00:31:35.000 more delightfully. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:41.640 May we have that counterintuitive faith that we wrestle with so much because we feel we 00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:42.800 need to be kings. 00:31:42.800 --> 00:31:48.680 We feel we need to be those who are in control, those of authority. 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:55.640 And yet we're called here like children to trust with a childlike faith that is both 00:31:55.640 --> 00:32:04.880 deep and powerful and life-changing and not in any way simplistic or any way a dumbing 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:11.800 down of our minds or our reason or rationale but looks to the Christ who is revealed in 00:32:11.800 --> 00:32:21.960 Scripture as the living one and the one who has come to provide light and darkness and 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:27.480 break the back of evil and of death and of sin and of guilt. 00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:33.920 And so we come in the name of Jesus and we pray and give thanks for You today. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:40.080 And we thank You that we can now enjoy just for a few moments the Lord's Supper together 00:32:40.080 --> 00:32:45.080 which will enable us just to meditate and think on these things for a minute or two 00:32:45.080 --> 00:32:48.360 longer in this great sacrament You've given us. 00:32:48.359 --> 00:33:05.399 May we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.