Blessing, Breaking, and Finding Rest in Christ

Mark 6:30-44

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 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. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he 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. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 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?" 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." Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 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. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

(see also Matthew 14-13-21 & Luke 9:10-17)

    The disciples had just returned from their mission. Jesus had sent them out two-by-two into some pretty intense spiritual warfare with nothing but His authority, their faith, and each other. They saw amazing things happen but now it was time to rest and recharge. Jesus saw the need for them to pull away from the crowds, from the demands of life, from the distractions of the culture and just be with Him. Also, it was around this time that John the Baptist, their beloved former mentor, was executed by Herod. That had to come as a grievous blow to an already exhausted bunch of disciples.

     But the crowds got wind of it and literally outran their boat. They were waiting for them on the other side when Jesus and His disciples arrived for their retreat. Scripture says that Jesus “had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew records a similar reaction of Jesus to the crowds: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36) He then followed it up by telling His disciples that the harvest of harassed and helpless souls in need of Him was far greater than the number of laborers available and willing to bring them the hope of the gospel. “There’s more shepherdless sheep than there are shepherds, boys! Too much wheat to harvest for the few laborers we have.” And it moved Him to “compassion.”

     The original Greek word translated “compassion” is a very visceral word. It literally means His bowels churned at the intense emotion He experienced at their plight. It effected Jesus deeply with gut-wrenching pity and an overwhelming desire to rescue and redeem these wandering, helpless, shepherdless sheep.

     Scripture says Jesus began to teach them, and to heal the sick among them. Luke specifically says He “spoke to them of the Kingdom of God,” where there is no more sickness, pain, or death, and all things are made new in Him. Apparently, this lasted late into the afternoon. And as it began to be late, the disciples saw the problem and came to Jesus with their suggestion for a solution: “Send them away so they can get something to eat.” Jesus responded with a suggestion of His own: “You give them something to eat.”

     Jesus was training His disciples in what would one day be their calling: You are my answer to their great need. The church was to be the primary vehicle for bringing the hope of the coming Kingdom to the harassed and helpless sheep of the world, wandering in the wilderness without a shepherd to guide, feed, or protect them. I can’t remember where I first heard it, but someone once told me, “Never pray a prayer that you are not willing to be the answer to.”

     Note the almost sarcastic response of the disciples: “You expect us to buy enough food to feed all these people? That would cost thousands of dollars, which we do not have. And even if we could afford it, where would we be able to buy that much food?” In other words, the disciples were saying, “Jesus, you are crazy! What you are asking of us is impossible!” I can imagine Him smiling at them, as if to say, “That’s the idea, fellas.”

     According to the synoptic gospel accounts, Jesus then gave them a set of instructions:

• “Go and see.” (Mark 6:38) Stop fretting about what you don’t have and take inventory of what you do have. What resources are available to you right now?

• “Bring them to me.” (Matthew 14:18) Take what you do have and offer it to Jesus. Let Him take it from your hands -- out of your control, beyond your limited power – and make of it what He will. Don’t limit God’s activity to what you think is possible, rather trust Him to do what only He can do.

• “Have them sit down in groups…” (Luke 9:14) Jesus gave the commands (authority) and enabled them to be carried out (power), but He entrusted the actual ministry to the disciples. (Both Matthew and Mark say that Jesus commanded the people to sit down, but Luke says He told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups. Most likely, He issued the command and the disciples carries it out. “Jesus says to sit down in groups…”) Jesus gave the Word, but the disciples delivered it to the people. They didn’t brainstorm or form a committee or call a meeting of a focus group to decide what was the best way to handle the situation. They walked with Jesus daily, trusted Him implicitly, listened to Him intently, and obeyed His instructions fully.

     What did Jesus do in response to their obedience? (Mark 6:41)

• He blessed it. “…he looked up to heaven and said a blessing…” Jesus took what the disciples brought to Him and consecrated it to heaven for the glory of the Father. In blessing the bread, He set it apart as holy. It was no longer “just bread.” 

• He broke it. “…and broke the loaves…” Jesus began to tear the loaves apart. While they remained whole, they could not be used to feed the crowds. Bread must be broken to fulfill the purpose for which it was made. I can’t help but wonder if Jesus thought of His own body to be broken on the cross to rescue and redeem the harassed and helpless sheep of the world.

• He gave it to the disciples to distribute. “… and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.” Even though it was His power that made it possible, He entrusted the administration of the bread to His followers. In this way, He enabled the to fulfill the seemingly impossible command He had given them earlier.

     Go back to Mark 6:13. What was Jesus’ original command to His disciples? "You give them something to eat."

     What was their initial response? “We can’t. It’s impossible!” And they were absolutely correct! But Jesus never told them to meet the need from their own resources or abilities. They had to first acknowledge their utter powerlessness to do what Christ had commanded them.

What was the end result?  “And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.” (Mark 6:42-44) The disciples did exactly what Christ has commanded of them: They gave the people something to eat! Not only did all eat and not only were all satisfied, but each disciple had a basket full for himself. Jesus not only provided for the crowd though the, but provided more than enough for them as they carried out His commands!

Don’t miss this! Remember, they had originally come to this desolate place because they needed rest from a season of intense ministry and spiritual warfare. They were quite possibly grieving the loss of their former mentor, John the Baptist, who had been killed around that same time. Christ gave them the rest they needed in the faithful obedient ministry of compassion. Their rest was not found in self-contemplative meditation (though there is a place for that); they found their rest in joining Jesus in the ministry of His compassion in His power and provision!

What’s the take away for us?

• Christ calls us to follow Him into impossible situations and commands us to do things we could never do in our own strength.

• Everything we need to obey Him is already there. It may seem like nothing. It may seem insufficient to the need. But in Christ’s hands it is more than enough! 

• Instead of taking inventory of what we don’t have, take what we do have and bring it to Jesus. Surrender what we have to God in faith. Trust Him with it. Let go of it. For our little to become more than enough, it has to pass from our hands, out of our control, and into His hands. As long as we insist on holding on to it, it will remain insufficient. 

• Let us yield our own best thinking, your human wisdom. Let us not set limits on what God can do based on our ability to figure things out. Instead, let’s acknowledge our desperate dependence on Him and trust that He will enable us to do what He called us to do.

• We need both Christ’s blessing and His breaking. Brokenness is what makes ministry possible. If we insist on remaining unbroken, we are useless to the Kingdom. The blessing is Christ’s favor: He chooses us for His purposes, sets us apart for His ministry, He makes us His own. He consecrates us to heaven as vessels of the Father’s glory. Then He breaks us – breaks us of selfish pride, selfish motives, selfish ambitions and agendas. We must die; nothing of the self can remain. We must allow the breaking process to make us fit laborers for the harvest.

• Christ supplies the power but He entrusts the actual ministry to us. We are the hands and feet of Jesus in ministering the Bread of Life to the harassed and helpless sheep without a shepherd. We are the response of Christ’s gut-wrenching compassion for the world!

• If we yield in obedience, we will see the impossible command that Christ gives us become a fulfilled reality through us to the glory of God. We get the privilege of participating in God’s redemptive mission in the world.

• The fruit of our faithful obedience is total transformation (not enough becoming more than enough), total satisfaction in Christ, and Jesus glorified.

• Jesus supplies more than enough to sustain us as we supply His bread in ministry. He will meet our every need as His obedient followers in the process of service to Him.

The Day Jesus Came to Church

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The Day Jesus Came to Church

Mark 1:21-34

Jerry Davison

Mark 1:33 is one of my favorite verses in all of scripture. In one short, simple sentence, Mark captures the profound effect that the presence of Jesus can make when He "enters the house."

So why don't the majority of churches in North America & Western Europe experience this phenomenon? Why doesn't "the whole city gather at the door" of our meetings? To answer that question, we have to understand why this particular town had gathered at this particular door...

Jesus was there!

Back in verse 21, Jesus "entered the synagogue." The first thing that happened is that Jesus showed up to church! Unless we are gathering specifically and intentionally to meet with God, then church is a waste of time. If Jesus is not there, don't bother coming. Yet how many so-called “Christian” churches do not experience – nor would they welcome – the present, active intervention of Christ Himself?
In our current church culture, we have become so good at "doing church" -- with all its programs and strategies, carefully marketed to specific demographic subsets -- we have no need for God to show up at all. I fear that most churches don't even miss Him! A gathering of believers exists for one reason only: to encounter the living presence of a Holy God in corporate worship. In other words, to experience His glory.  As Matt Chandler says, "Church is a lousy hobby." If we are not meeting with God, let's lock the door and turn off the lights and go home. But let's don't pretend we are actually a church if Jesus is not there.

The Word is the Ultimate Authority

In verse 22, Mark says that the people there were "amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching as one having authority, not as the scribes." The root word of authority is author. Who knows more about a book than the one who wrote it? Who has the final say about the plot, the characters, the setting, and the ending? Who is the authority? The author! Standing before them was The Author of THE Story. The Word Made Flesh was teaching His own Word to them. No wonder it carried such weight! As oppose to the scribes, whose job it was to meticulously copy the text, paying careful attention to every line, letter, and punctuation. Could it be that they could not see the Word for the words? They were merely copiers of a manuscript; Jesus was the Author, the source, the very Word Himself.
If our churches are to attract the whole city to gather at our door, Jesus must be there, and His Word must be the Ultimate Authority over every area of our lives. It must be taught without our own thoughts and opinions mixed into it. It must be allowed to speak with its full voice and take us to the mat with its full weight, every single Sunday. Only the inspired scriptures have the power to teach, reprove, correct, train us in righteous, and equip us for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16)

True Spiritual Need is Exposed, Confronted, and Dealt With

Inevitably, the unapologetic preaching of the authoritative Word of God will flush out the Enemy's hidden activities. In verse 23, a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit cried out, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God!" Ironically, the demon recognized Jesus when the religious leaders did not! Jesus then rebukes the demon and casts him out of the man. This simple confession from a demon should be the foundation of all our repentance – “I know Who You are -- and I understand what that means!” What else do the scriptures mean when it says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”? (Ps. 111:10, Prov. 1:7 and 9:10)
Now, am I suggesting that we have demon-possessed people attending our churches today? I don’t know; maybe we do! We may even have a few as pastors from what I have seen in some churches! But the principle here is that when Jesus shows up at church, and His Word is preached with full authority, then the true spiritual nature of our deepest needs is exposed, confronted and corrected. Our struggle is not against mere flesh and blood, Paul says. It is spiritual in nature, not merely physical, mental, or emotional, and therefore requires a spiritual solution. (Eph. 6:12-18)

Our churches are filled with people who live under the oppression of dark spiritual forces who constantly discourage, deceive, diminish, distract, and seek to destroy any work of God in them or through them. We have to stop relying on the wisdom of the world’s best thinking, stop applying merely superficial approaches to deep spiritual problems. This is so important that God mentioned it twice to the prophet Jeremiah in 6:14 and 8:11: “They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when all is war.” Felt needs preaching and programs will not cut it. We will have to recognize that we have a very real Enemy and stand ready to do battle in spiritual warfare, through prayer, the Word of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

God is Glorified

When Jesus’ presence is in a church, God’s Word is preached unapologetically and authoritatively, and people start getting set free and lives start changing, word is bound to get out. Verse 28 says that “His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region…” Notice it was Jesus’ fame, not the synagogue’s. We must be more interested in building His Kingdom than drawing a crowd. We never want to make the mistake of the citizens of Babel in Genesis 11 and try to “make a name for ourselves” at the expense of God’s glory. When a church is more interested in God’s glory than its own, it’s time to order more chairs!

Homes and Families are Transformed

From the church, it moves into the home and the family.  In verse 29, Mark tells us, “Immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.” Now follow this progression: The glorious presence of Christ is manifested at the church meeting, His Word is boldly preached with authority, it exposes the true spiritual nature of our deepest need and satisfies it, lives are radically changed, word gets out and begins impacting the surrounding community… then the presence of Jesus moves from the church house into OUR house. Once Jesus entered the synagogue, He then moves into the homes of His followers and begins healing and changing their families! It is important to note, it was the men of the house who brought Him in!

One significant phrase to notice in this story is in verse 30. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick and feverish, “and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her.” Once Jesus moves into our homes and families, prayer takes hold and Jesus’ power is released and activated in response. “And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them.” (v. 31) The sure sign of a life that has been touched and healed and changed by Jesus is joyful, willing, service to Him and to His followers. No one asked her to serve them. Jesus didn’t demand it: “You’re healed! Now go fix me a sandwich!” No! The text is clear, her grateful, voluntary response to His healing touch was to place herself at His disposal, and to lovingly serve those who follow Him.

People Bring Others to Jesus

What happens next? “They began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.” (v. 32) The people began inviting their family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates… ANYONE! People began bringing others to Jesus. No clever church marketing. No expensive mailers or billboards. No gimmicks or circus antics to attract those who want to be entertained. The people were the invitation. “Come and see what Jesus did for me! He can do it for you to!” When Jesus is in the house and His Word is clearly preached, lives get changed and word spreads, and the church members themselves begin bringing the lost, the broken, the desperate to Jesus without a marketing strategy or intensive witnessing program. But listen… this is key… Evangelism was NOT the primary focus; it was God’s glory! When God is honored and worshipped authentically, people cannot help but hear about Jesus. Evangelism isn’t a program or an emphasis; it is the inevitable overflow of God’s manifest presence in a community of faith!

The Whole City is Impacted

Which brings us full circle back to Mark 1:33: “And the whole city had gathered at the door.” Not to build our church, or draw a crowd, or make a name for ourselves, but because Jesus is there, His Word is boldly and uncompromisingly proclaimed, lives were transformed by His power, and His name was glorified! Forget the latest trend in church planting. Forget the strategies, the marketing, the conferences that tout the latest model. If we want to see a city changed by the power of God, Mark 1: 21-32 tells us how.