Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me to Mark chapter 8?
Our sermon text today is Mark chapter 8, verses 1 through 10.
You can find that on page 792 in the Pew Bible.
Mark chapter 8. Let me pray for us, and then I'll read.
Amen.
Our Father in heaven, we ask that as we come to your word now, your spirit would come and guide us into all truth.
Lord, help us to see clearly who you are and who you've revealed yourself to be and who you've called us to be in your word.
Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, Mark chapter 8, verses 1 through 10. Let me read for us.
And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?
And he asked them, How many loaves do you have?
And they said, Seven.
And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground.
And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people.
And they set them before the crowd.
And they had a few small fish.
And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.
And they ate and were satisfied.
And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
And there were about 4,000 people.
And he sent them away.
And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
Well, if you've been following Mark's gospel up to this point, his account of the life of Jesus,
this particular story probably sounds familiar.
There's a great crowd in a desolate place.
Jesus is teaching them.
The people are hungry.
And miraculously, thousands are fed with just a meager amount of food.
Very similar story to what we heard back in chapter 6.
Some lessons, it seems, have to be learned more than once.
And so again, we see the compassion and the power of Jesus to work savingly and satisfyingly for the hungry crowds.
We're told again, they ate and were satisfied.
But if we are careful readers of the gospel of Mark,
we realize that this isn't just a retelling of the same story that we heard before back in chapter 6.
There are differences.
There, the crowd was 5,000 men.
Presumably plus women and children on top of that.
Here, the total crowd is 4,000.
There, the disciples raised the issue of the hungry crowds.
Here, it's Jesus who takes the initiative.
There, the leftovers filled 12 small knapsacks,
which is what the word basket means in chapter 6.
Here, the leftovers fill seven large bins.
It's actually a different word for basket here in this story.
But perhaps the most significant difference between the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000
is found when we consider the context.
In chapter 7, verse 31, remember,
we learned that Jesus has been ministering at this part of his ministry in the region of the Decapolis.
That is an area on the northeastern side of the Sea of Galilee
that was known to be a largely Gentile region.
And as chapter 8 begins, Mark says,
So consider then what Mark is showing us.
And it's something that's actually been brewing all of chapter 7.
Remember, in chapter 7, Jesus was debating purity laws with the Pharisees,
and then he was commending the faith of a Syrophoenician woman,
and then healing a man in the Decapolis who was deaf and unable to speak.
What we see here is the compassion and the power of Jesus
extending beyond the boundaries of Israel
and reaching to the nations.
Of course, this is just a foreshadowing of what was to come.
You know, the Gentile mission won't begin in earnest
until after Jesus' resurrection and ascension to the Father's right hand.
Then the risen Jesus tells his disciples to carry the gospel,
the good news of the forgiveness of sins,
to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
But that mission to the ends of the earth is seen even here.
Jesus is the Savior for the whole world,
not just for Israel.
The bread he came to supply wasn't just for insiders,
for religious people, for folks who knew their Bibles
and lived what seemed to be a good life.
No, Jesus had come for everyone,
for the outsiders too,
for folks who didn't know much about religion or God,
for folks who couldn't find their way around the Bible
unless someone gave them a page number, right?
For folks whose lives were mixed up and broken
and in obvious need of help.
Jesus came for everyone.
He's the Savior of the whole world.
So consider what this means for us today.
You don't need me to tell you that we live in a city
where most people aren't really that familiar
with Christianity or with the Bible
and not really familiar with what it means
to live a life in line with the truth and goodness
of who God is in Christ.
And maybe that's you this morning.
Maybe you're just beginning to explore spiritual things
and maybe you're not sure what to make of God
or Jesus or any of it.
Well, if you get nothing else
from your time this morning,
I hope you see this from Mark chapter 8.
That Jesus sees you,
loves you,
has compassion on you,
and is willing to feed your hungry soul
if you come to him.
It doesn't matter where you're from,
which side of the lake or tracks
or what side of the educational spectrum you're from.
Whether your life has been good or bad or in between.
Of course, if there is a God,
he sees everything about you.
Everything that's beautiful
and everything that's selfish and petty and broken.
And you know, the truth is,
we humans,
we're actually much worse
than we think we are.
But what we see in Jesus Christ
is that we're also much more loved
than we think we are.
Jesus knew how far away
some of these people had come to be with him.
And he knows how far away you've been
and how far away I've been.
And how does he view us?
With compassion
and with mercy.
You see, this is the great truth
that every follower of Jesus
learns sooner or later
and that all of the apostles
came to learn in time, certainly.
That what puts someone right with God
isn't their pedigree
or their family history
or their law-keeping
or their moral record
or their religious fervor.
It didn't matter
if you were from
the heart of Jerusalem
or from the pagan cities
of the Decapolis.
None of that
put them in a right relationship with God.
At the end of the day,
the most devout, law-abiding Jew
and the most pagan, immoral Gentile
were both utterly and equally lost.
Both had sinned against a holy God
and both needed a radical rescue
that only God could provide.
Now, that's hard to wrap our minds around, right?
I mean,
does our moral record
really not make any difference
in getting us right with God?
I mean, imagine a swimming contest, right,
between me and an Olympic athlete
like Michael Phelps or something.
I know Michael Phelps is retired,
but he would still like
totally trounce me
in the swimming pool, right?
Obviously, he would blow me
out of the water.
But what if the contest
was to swim, you know,
not a few laps in the pool,
but from New Haven Harbor here
all the way to London, England?
Well, on a good day,
I might make it to East Haven, right?
Maybe I'd hit Lighthouse Point.
Probably not.
But maybe a really great swimmer
would go like 50 or 60 miles
to Mystic, Connecticut.
And yet,
neither of us
have even made it
out of Long Island Sound.
If the goal is getting to England,
we're both dead in the water.
Spiritually speaking,
it's the same.
The good swimmer,
the bad swimmer,
everyone falls short.
You know, the real danger,
the real danger
is that sometimes
if we think
we're a good swimmer,
we don't realize
how much trouble
we're really in.
If we think
we can make it
across the ocean
without any help,
well, we're actually
in worse trouble
than the person
grabbing for the lifeline
the first chance they get
because they know
they don't have a chance.
In other words,
perhaps the worst place
you can be spiritually
is thinking
you have it all together.
Better to be like
these crowds.
Better to be just hungry
for the words of Jesus.
Better to know
you need something
you don't have
and to look for it
in Him
than to think
you have to perform
and pretend
to try to be accepted.
real salvation
is always
and only
by grace
through faith
in Jesus,
not by works
and not by
your ethnic background
and not by anything.
He's not asking you
to come to Him
with a cleaned up life
and a moral record.
He's asking you
to come to Him
hungry
and to let Him
feed you
with the living bread
that only He can give.
Jesus is the Savior
of the whole world
and that means
you too
if you'll come to Him.
Of course,
this was God's plan
all along, you know.
God's plan was always
to bring His salvation
to the ends of the earth.
So what we see here
in Jesus
is really the fulfillment,
the beginning
of the fulfillment
of what God had planned
all along.
It started all the way
back with Abraham
and Abraham's family.
You know,
the salvation story
began with Israel
but the goal
was always
to rescue
the nations as well.
Consider the promise
even to Abraham
at the very beginning.
Remember,
God tells Abraham
in Genesis 12,
I'll make you
a great nation
and I'll bless you
and I'll make your name
great so that you'll
be a blessing
and in you
all the families
of the earth
will be blessed.
And when Isaiah
foresees the coming Messiah,
he hears God say
of this coming servant
of the Lord
in Isaiah 49,
it is too light a thing
that you should be
my servant
to raise up
the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back
the preserved of Israel.
I will make you
as a light
for the nations
that my salvation
may reach
to the end of the earth.
God's plan
was always
for his salvation
to reach
to the end
of the earth.
To be not just
for Jews
but to create
a Jew plus Gentile
people of God
around the one
Savior and Lord,
Jesus the Messiah.
The bread he came
to offer,
the people he came
to create,
the forgiveness
and new life
he came to purchase
is for everyone
who believes.
And so consider
what Mark
is telling us
also here
about the majesty
of this Jesus.
In the ancient world,
you know,
every nation,
every people group,
they had their own gods.
You know?
And if you were savvy,
like the Romans,
for example,
you would be quite
pluralistic about it all.
You know,
you would say,
well, that's fine.
You worship your gods
and you worship your gods
and just make sure
you acknowledge
the Roman gods
and we'll all be fine.
But Mark is hinting
at something quite
different here.
Jesus isn't just
one more
cultural god
to be placed
alongside
all the other gods
that might have been
worshipped in the Decapolis.
In fact,
those so-called gods
were just lifeless
idols
who will only
leave you hungry.
but there is one
who can satisfy
the hungry soul,
one who is great enough
and powerful enough
and compassionate enough
to meet the deepest
longings of every culture
in every nation
in every human heart.
And this is exactly
who Jesus proves
himself to be,
majestic
over all gods.
Jesus is the savior
of the whole world.
You know,
it was just a few months ago
that many of us
were glued
to our screens,
our TVs
or our phones
or our laptops
or our tablets
or whatever
watching the World Cup,
right?
And as each round
went by,
we eagerly waited
to see who would
come out on top,
who would be
the world's best,
who would get
the glory
of being crowned
the World Cup winner,
who would rise
victorious
above all the rest.
But notice the difference here.
Notice that with Jesus,
he shows his worldwide
majesty
not through conquest
but through service.
He shows up on foreign shores
amidst Gentile cities
and how does he demonstrate
his majesty
and greatness.
Is it a military campaign?
Is it a political takeover?
No.
He has compassion
on the crowds
and he feeds them.
He demonstrates
his glory
through service.
Of course,
the service he renders
is miraculous.
Thousands are fed
with just seven loaves
and a few small fish.
But even the miracle
is surprising
by its simplicity.
He doesn't wow
the crowds
with a fiery display
of cosmic power.
I mean,
come on.
If you had
the kind of power
of the living God
and you showed up
on earth
and you wanted
to demonstrate
your greatness,
you'd find some
pretty awesome ways
to do it.
Right?
I know I would.
And how does Jesus
do it?
He serves them
their daily bread.
And if we can start
to see this,
then we're starting
to see the biblical Jesus
in all his majesty.
The one Lord
of all the nations
powerful enough
to make kingdoms rise
and kingdoms fall.
And yet he comes
not to be served,
but to serve.
And as Mark
will go on
to show us
in his gospel,
to give his life
as a ransom
for many.
Jesus is the Savior
of the whole world
who came to display
his glory
in compassionate
service.
And if this is true
of Jesus,
then it ought to be true
of his followers.
Our glory
as the people
of Christ
will not be seen
in acts of power
and deeds
of conquest.
No,
our glory
is shown
through Christ-like
service
and compassionate
love.
And notice,
this service
is not just
for those
who love us
and who are like us,
but compassionate
service also
for those
who do not love us
and who are not like us.
Many Jews
consider the Gentiles
their enemies.
And yet,
even to our enemies,
we must show
compassion
and mercy
and service.
This is greatness
in the kingdom of God.
That is real
glory
and majesty
because this is what
no other God
has done.
Plenty of gods
tell a story
of conquest
and victory,
of enemies slain
and campaigns won.
but what other God
sends his only son
not to destroy
his enemies
but to die
for them?
What other God
lands in outsider
enemy territory
and gives himself
to be broken
so that those
very rebels
might be made whole?
Behold the majesty
of the one true God
in Jesus Christ,
the Savior
of the whole world.
And so we see then
that the feeding
of the 4,000
isn't just a repeat
of an earlier story
but a demonstration
by Jesus
that he is the Savior
not just of the Jews
but of the Gentiles too.
He's not just Israel's king
but also the world's
true Lord.
And yet how often
are we like the disciples
in Mark 8?
We look at the size
of the crowd,
the depth of the need,
the limitation
of our own resources
and we think
there's no way
we can feed this crowd.
How could we possibly
see spiritual renewal
in our day?
How will our friends
and our neighbors
and our co-workers
ever come
to know Christ?
I mean look at
how far away they are.
Look how stiff
the cultural headwinds
blow
against the biblical gospel.
After all,
a lot of people
don't just think
Christians are weird,
they think Christians
are the problem.
How could we ever hope
to see our city
one for Christ?
How can one feed
these people
with bread here
in this desolate place?
We shake our heads
at the disciples
because just a couple
chapters earlier
Jesus had done
just that.
You read the story
and you think,
come on guys.
In fact,
Jesus fed
an even bigger crowd
with an even smaller
amount of food
just two chapters ago.
How could they be
so forgetful,
we think?
Don't they remember
who they're with?
Don't they remember
who they're with?
And in fact,
this is exactly
what Jesus will ask them
in the coming verses.
Pastor Matt will
take a look
at this next week.
But if you look ahead
at verse 18,
Jesus says,
do you not remember
when I broke
the five loaves
for the 5,000,
how many baskets
full of broken pieces
did you take up?
And they said to him,
12.
And the seven
for the 4,000,
how many baskets
full of broken pieces
did you take up?
And they said to him,
seven.
And he said to them,
do you not yet understand?
Is any mission field
too hard for the Lord?
Is any cultural moment
too irreligious
for the gospel of grace?
Brothers and sisters,
when the apostle Paul wrote
that the gospel
is the power of God
for salvation
to those who believe,
to the Jew first
and also to the Greek,
he was not writing
to a comfortable church
in a nice moral city
where everyone held
mostly Christian beliefs.
The city of Rome
in the first century
celebrated violence
and sex
and power and greed
in ways
that would make
even the most libertine
among us
more than a little uneasy.
And yet,
did that stop the gospel?
As those Christians
prayed and preached
and took bread
Sunday after Sunday
and gave thanks
and broke it
and shared it,
could even the Roman Empire
stand up
against the Savior
of the whole world?
Could all the armies
and the wealth
and the decadence
of Rome
stand a chance
against the risen Lord Jesus
whose power
is made perfect
in weakness
and who's made known
to us
in the breaking
of the bread
and in the proclamation
of the cross?
how quickly we forget.
How quickly we forget.
Time would fail
to tell us
of great awakenings
and revivals
and movements
of the Spirit
that God has done again
and again
and yet how quickly
we forget.
do we not remember
who we are
with?
The Savior
of the whole world.
And so Jesus
is asking us again
how many loaves
do you have?
Show me
what little you have.
Give me
all your weakness,
all your failures,
all your fears
and doubts.
Surrender it all
to me
and then
like those loaves
I'm going to bless you
and break you
and send you out.
And then you'll see
in the words of Zechariah
that it's not by might
and it's not by power
but by my Spirit
says the Lord of hosts.
And then that verse
from Isaiah
that spoke first and foremost
about the ministry
of the Messiah
now it will become
true of you as well
just like it became
true of the disciples
in Mark 8.
I will make you
as a light
for the nations
that my salvation
may reach
to the ends
of the earth.
And if you think
that's a stretch
in applying that verse
that way
the Apostle Paul
does the exact same thing
in Acts 13.
That he sees
that in and through
the church
we're extending
the mission of Jesus
to be a light
to the nations.
Are we forgetful?
Yes.
We must confess
that too often
we are.
We are forgetful
but the Lord
never forgets.
The Savior
of the whole world
will not forget
his promise
or his word
and he will not
forget his people.
For as the Lord
said to Paul
in Corinth
so he says to us
today
I have many
in this city
who are my people.
And so as we look
at the crowds
in this seemingly
desolate place
friends let us
remember who we are with.
The Savior
of the whole world
the crucified
and risen Lord Jesus
and let's pray
that what was true
that day
in the Decapolis
might be true
in ours too.
That they all ate
and were satisfied.
Let's pray.
Our Lord Jesus
we pray
that by your Holy Spirit
you would come
and you would encourage us
with this text.
Lord for those
who feel like
they are far off
would they be encouraged
by your compassion
and your love
to draw near.
Holy Spirit
for those of us
who are feeling
weary
and weak
and battered down
by the battle
Lord would we remember
who we are with.
The mighty one
who can feed crowds
and who can bring
renewal
and who can bring
deep and lasting change.
Lord Jesus
we pray
that you would be known
in our midst
as the Savior
and as the Lord
and we pray
that many would come
to taste and see
that you Lord
are good.
We pray this
in your holy
and mighty name.
Amen.