Mark 6&30-44-Sermon-manuscript-final-class
The Gospel According to Mark
Jesus the Total Servant
Jesus the Servant Leader
Jesus the Commanding Servant
Jesus the Suffering Servant
(MANUSCRIPT)
Four people- Joanna, Pastor Phil, Darrell and Delores were flying alone in Darrell's private airplane when engine trouble arose and Darrell said to his three passages this plane is going to crash so we've got to bail out, but there is only three parachutes for four people. He grabbed one and went out the door before anybody could stop him. Joanna a computer wiz said to the other remaining two passengers that " she had to get back to Professor's Marks class to set up PowerPoint presentations", so she grabbed one and jumped out. And this left Pastor Phil and Delores. Pastor Phil said to Delores: "you are a rising young female Pastor and your life is ahead of you, I'm ready to die, so take the last parachute, I'll go down with the plane. And Delores said Reverend that's not going to be necessary, there's two parachutes left. Pastor Phil said, "What do you mean?". Delores said the computer wiz just jumped out with my knapsack on her back
PPT#1
Observing the right thing is very important in life and situations like that and in our spiritual growth as well." WHAT WAS MOST IMPORTANT, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT JESUS KEPT TEACHING HIS DISCIPLES". The most important thing.
It was not to trust in Him, which might be our initial response to that question. So as we pursue our study in Marks Gospel beginning at verse 30 this evening; ask yourself "what was the most important thing that Jesus was trying to communicate to His disciples."
Mark chapter 6, verse 30 we'll in this section of Mark's gospel our Lord Jesus is consecrating on the preparation of His disciples for His impending death. He is training the twelve in particular, and we have seen in this chapter that he has sent the twelve out to various cities and towns around the Galilee (PPT#2) where they were teaching and performing miracles as he empowered them. In verse thirty we find them returning to Him after they had completed this assignment.
Mark 6:30 "Then the apostles gathered to Jesus (in Galilee) and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught."
Remember that Jesus sent them out to teach and perform miracles. We read about this commission in verse 7 of this chapter through verse 13, and they were basically duplicating what Jesus said and did. That was their responsibility and now they were done, so they come back to Jesus to give Him their report. This is one of only two times in which Mark calls them Apostles, 3:14 is the other. This was a common title for them in the book of Acts, but here he uses the term in its non-technical, general sense. The term Apostle mean a "sent one", the one who is sent out, on a mission, with a message. And its used in a technical sense in the book of Acts also to describe the twelve Apostles, plus Paul, who was as he described it "one born out of time" or a special case. The word occurs in both of these senses in the book of Acts, for example in Acts 14:4 and Acts 14:14 Luke uses it to describe Barnabas. But he of course was not one of the twelve, but he was one whom Jesus had sent out. And in this sense we to are apostles. There is one sense in which the apostolic office ended in the first century, but in the general sense of apostleship- being sent out to serve Jesus Christ- there were more that just the twelve in the first century and all of us who seek to follow Jesus Christ can identify with this type of apostleship. Mark didn't normally call them that because apparently they were still in the learning stage of their experience- learning from Jesus primarily.
Mark 31 "And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat."
One of my best friends feels that inactivity is a waste of time; she has to be constantly busy every moment. There are some I my church who also feel this way but, they stay busy because they think it is a way to merit Christ's approval. But that is not necessarily the case, we see here that Jesus took these disciple aside. Jesus took His disciples to a secluded place so that they might rest after their labors and to be restored for future service. He wanted to discuss their ministry with them and prepare them for their next mission.
From nature we learn a lesson about the importance of rest. Built into the life of every tree are stages of dormancy. In the northern climax the dormant phase is in the winter, in southern climates, the tropical regions it is in the hot, dry season. And we will begin to discover in a few more weeks that dormancy is not death, as the trees and shrubbery all around us will again begin to burst out with new growth as life will again springs forth vigorously. They may appear to be dead because there are no leaves on them at the present, but they are very much alive and at rest. This dormant phase will be followed by active growth. It is a time of rebuilding, a reconditioning phase. Perhaps you are in one of those dormant stages now in your spiritual growth. You may be troubled by the inactivity in your life. Learn the lesson of the tree, and welcome the rest that is offered to you.
As Vance Havner has said, "If you don't come apart and rest, you will come apart." Even God's Servant-Son needed time to rest, fellowship with His friends, and find renewal from the Father. We all need rest and recreation. A time to recharge our spiritual batteries, that was certainly in the process of discipleship that Jesus was conducting here with His followers.
"So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves."
The boat of course is referring to this boat that we have come upon so often in our study of Mark - evidently a fishing boat, a large boat that transported Jesus and His twelve disciples across the sea when ever necessary.
PPT#3
In view of other geographic references and the other gospels and this passage, they were evidently moving in this direction from north-west to north-west. Going from Capernaum to Bethsaida.
Verse 33 "But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him."
Jesus was trying to get some rest and the people beat them to where they were going on foot.
"And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things."
Jesus was in many respects the Son of David, and in no less a respect was He that, than in His compassion for people as sheep. David was of course a real shepherd of sheep. But God used that background of David's life to develop qualities within him that made him a good compassionate leader of people and he became a shepherd of people just as he was a shepherd of sheep. Jesus likewise, referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd, you remember in John chapter 10. And we see him functioning this way in this verse. He feels compassion for the multitudes who appears to Him as he approaches the shore in this boat. They appeared as so many sheep and lambs scattered out in the foot-hills before Him; wandering about, trying to get help, but not really knowing where to go and with no one to give them lasting permanent guidance and subtenant.
Jesus' compassion of course is something that recurs frequently throughout the Gospel accounts. Pity arouses sympathy, but it can quickly evaporate. Compassion on the other hand triggers action; it seeks to relieve suffering. Pity said I sympathize, compassion says I sympathize, let me help you. A close fried of mine is hooked on crack cocaine. My mother-in-law, my wife and myself have being trying to help him shake that demon for years. He frequently heaves abusive language at us, especially my wife and appears to be totally uninterested in being helped. But we haven't given up, we haven't abandon him, we keep coming back week after week; proving that compassion persist in finding a way to help. Nowhere in the NT do we find where Jesus took pity on the needed, the outcaste, the demon-possessed, but we often read "He was moved with compassion". What a difference. Likewise "EVERY CHILD OF GOD CAN DEPEND ON THE SAVIOR'S LOOK OF LOVE. NO MATTER HOW PAINFUL THE PROBLEM, HOW DEEP THE SORROW, WE KNOW THAT HIS EYE IS FIXED UPON US. WHILE THE WORLD MAY TURN ITS EYE FROM SUFFERING, WE CAN BE ASSURED THEY'RE AWAYS UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE GAZE OF A COMPASSIONATE SAVIOR."
Verse 35 "When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat." 37 But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat." (HE STRESSED THE YOU, YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT) And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?""
A denarii was what a working man or a soldier in Palestine made for a day's wage. So this would have been over a half of a year's income, the disciples quickly calculated to satisfy the hunger of all of these people. Jesus' purpose of course was to get them to thing about the need and their inability to meet it.
"But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? (loaves at that time was like large cookies, a person could eat several loaves of bread in one meal and not be filled up) How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."(fish would have been small dried salted fish, that people often ate as a garnish really with their lunch) "
See how Jesus is focusing the disciple's inability to meet the needs of these people. This is an important thing for them to observe and to learn as His disciples, they couldn't do it. They couldn't do what needed to be done. But he was also focusing their attention on what they did have, inadequate as it was. Because God usually uses what he has already given us to satisfy the needs of others. While that is never adequate itself, it is what God multiplies to bring adequate blessings to other people. We look the commission that Jesus Christ has give us. We look at our neighbors, our coworkers our family members and friends and we say 'how can I ever serve Jesus Christ effectively, I just don't have the equipment personally that I need to do this". That good! When we recognize that, because that is very true. "....None of us are adequate in ourselves....", Paul write in 2 Cor 3, but he also write that "...our sufficiency is of Christ..."
Jesus Christ usually takes what He does give us in terms of our gifts, our abilities, our talents, out time, our treasure and miraculously multiplies these so that many, many people are helped. And isn't it amazing how that happens from day to day as we go through life. 19min mark
I. Introduction (include synopsis & intro to sermon, vv. 6:30-44)
Met me in the book of Mark, chapter 6 verses 30-44. Most of us probably believe that the most important thing Jesus was trying to teach His disciples was to trust Him. It is true that He wanted His disciples to trust Him, but I do not believe that is His most important point in this section of scripture. So ask yourself, as we pursue our study this evening 'what was the most important thing that Jesus was trying to communicate to His disciples'?
Even though Jesus gave ample evidence that He was more than a mere man (4:35-5:43) those who knew Him best on the physical plane, in His hometown still refused to believe in Him, we see this in (6:1-6a). This refusal led Jesus to turn increasingly from the multitudes to the training of His disciples (6:6b-8:30). We can see the increasing in hostility of Israel's religious leaders and the rejection of the multitudes starting back in chapter 3:7 and culminating here in 6:6a; thus leading Jesus to concentrate on training His disciples.
In this first section after the rejection (6b-30) of Mark's Gospel, he shows how Jesus set the stage for the training of His disciples. While Jesus gave his disciples increasing responsibility for ministry in this first section, the focus of Jesus' instruction was still His own identity, which the disciples had great difficulty understanding (6:31-8:30). This will become clearer as we progress. The main event in this first section (6b-30) is Jesus' sending of the Twelve on a preaching and healing mission that extended His own ministry.
In the second section, the section that we are interested in, beginning with 6:30; it marks the conclusion of the apostolic mission of the Twelve that the writer introduced in verses 7-13 of this chapter. With that phase of Jesus' training of the Twelve completed, He moved on to the next stage.
II. Discussion
In verse 30 we find them returning to Jesus......
Mark 6:30 " Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught."
A. Define
1. Apostle
b. cf Mark 3:14 & 6:30
This is the only time Mark called the Twelve apostles (Gr. apostoloi, lit. sent ones). The 12 apostles now returned to the One who had sent them out. They reported to Him regarding what had transpired. Mark used "apostles" in the general sense of missionaries (cf. Acts 14:14; et al.) rather than as a technical title (cf. Eph. 2:20; et al.). These men, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, later became the official apostles. They evidently presented their report to Jesus somewhere in Galilee, possibly near Capernaum.
(Barclay)
Mark 6:32 "And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat."
Jesus want them to be alone, we know this by the Phrase "by yourselves". We see this same suggestion of Jesus for His disciples in Mark 3:20 "Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread."
This was necessary also because so many people were coming and going that they had no time to eat (cf. Mark 3:20). They were to come by themselves (kat' idian; cf. 4:34) to a quiet (eremon, "remote"; cf. 1:35, 45) place (cf. 6:32). (Walvoord) WE ALL NEED REST! That was apparently part of the training our Lord also gave to his disciples.
Mark 6:32-34 "So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. 33 But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things."
B. Map (PPT) of route the crowd took to beat Jesus & the disciple to the other side. (Garland) & (Barclay)
C. Jesus 'The Son of David' ...compassion for people as sheep......Shepard of real people, The Good Shepard John 10.....
In verse 33b they were able to skirt the northern end of the lake on foot and met
the boat when it landed. But in verse 34 instead of feeling frustrated, Jesus felt
compassion for the multitudes. He saw them as sheep lacking a shepherd who would
provide for their needs (cf. Num. 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron. 18:16; Ezek. 34:5). As
David had done, Jesus provided for His sheep in a remote area (John 10:1-21; cf. Ezek.
34:23-25). He began to teach them and apparently did so for many hours (v. 35).
Teaching was their greatest need, though healing was what they craved.
Jesus' compassion of course is something that recurs frequently throughout the Gospel accounts. Pity arouses sympathy, but it can quickly evaporate. Compassion on the other hand triggers action. It seeks to relieve suffering. Pity saids I sympathize, compassion saids I sympathize, but let me help you. That was always Jesus' response.
Mark will go on to arrange up to chapter 8:30, selected events in Jesus' training of His disciples to show how He brought them to a deeper understanding of whom He was and to a deeper commitment to Himself. The feeding of the 5000 and walking on water are two such events that we will cover today.
Read vv35-37
35. When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. "Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat." But He answered and said to 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 them something to eat?"
In verses 35-36 the disciples assumed that Jesus wanted the people to provide
their own suppers. They reminded Jesus of the time so He could dismiss them. Jesus had
something else in mind. He wanted to teach the disciples and the multitudes to look to
Him for their needs. He was the ultimate source of all they needed. (Walvoord)
A. You Give Them Something To Eat! (v37a)
In verse 37 Jesus said to 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 them something to eat?"
Jesus suggested that the disciples feed the people because He wanted them to
realize their inability to do so. The word "you" is emphatic in the Greek text. Jesus is stressing the 'you' in this phrase.
Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii .....A denarii was what a solder in Palestine made for a day's wage, so this would have been over a half of a years' income. That was quick calculating on the disciples' part. Having admitted their inability, Jesus' ability would make a greater impression on them. It would teach them that He was different from them. (Garland)
The disciples' response shows that they had not yet learned to look to Jesus for all
their needs. Instead of asking Him to provide what the people needed, they calculated the
cost of the food and concluded that they could not afford to pay for it.
1. They couldn't do what needed to be done........
2. They will learned to look to Jesus for all their needs....
Read v38
Mark 6:38 But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? (loaves at that time was like large cookies, a person could eat a half of dozen of them and still not be filled) Go and see." And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."
John is more precise and full: "One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" (Jn 6:8, 9).
A fish would have been small, dried salted fish that people often ate as a garnish with their lunch. You see how Jesus is focusing the disciple's attention on their inability to meet the needs of these people. This is an important thing for them to observe and learn as His disciples. They couldn't do it. They couldn't do what needed to be done. (Barclay)
B. How Big Is Your God?
Jesus asked them how many loaves of bread they had because He would use what
they had to feed the multitude. Normally Jesus uses what His disciples have to meet the
needs of others. While the loaves were inadequate, they were still essential elements in
this miracle. Likewise disciples need to realize the inadequacy of their resources, but they
also need to understand that it is those resources, as inadequate as they are, that Jesus
uses. The barley loaves in view were small and flat (cf. John 6:9). One person could eat
several of them in one meal. The two fish were probably salted and dried. (Garland),
(Barclay)
1. feed the multitude.....and 'they ALL ate.....
2. Jesus met the needs of people in innumerable creative ways. It is important for disciples to focus on the source of the provision, God, rather than the means and methods
Read vv39
"Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass."
Mark alone noted the green grass thus dating this miracle in the late winter or
early spring. John dated it more specifically as near Pentecost, which fell in late March or
early April (John 6:4).(Hoehner, 143)) In the summer the grass turns brown in Palestine.
Read vv 40
"So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties."
I don't really know why this arrangement of seating was chosen, there were several suggestions but they were too fetched to even mention. But for sure the orderly division of the people at least facilitated the distribution of food.
Read 41
"And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all."
By praying Jesus gave God thanks for the food and reminded the people
that it came from Him. Giving thanks before meals was a common Jewish
practice. Jesus blessed God for giving the food. He did not bless the food itself. (I
find myself saying God bless this food often times, but no where in the Bible did I
find things being blessed, its always people that was blessed whom God blessed
and also when Jesus prayed.
Looking up to heaven further clarified that it was God to whom He was praying.
1. God is the source of all blessings.....we shouldn't bless the food, etc, but God who provided the food, good health, etc
2. By looking to heaven the people would recognize that God is the source of blessings associated with the miracle to follow....
3. This act reflects common biblical practice. We, too, should request God's blessing on people rather than on things when we pray.....
Read 41b
".....broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all."
Mark did not record how Jesus performed the miracle, though evidently the multiplication happened in Jesus' hands....as well as the disciples.
Mark stressed that it was Jesus who did it. This was the most important point to him. Jesus met the needs of people in innumerable creative ways. It is important for disciples to focus on the source of the provision, God, rather than the means and methods He uses to provide. By thanking God for the food and then providing it miraculously for the people, Jesus was presenting evidence that He was God.
Jesus served the people through the disciples who presented what He had provided to the multitudes. The disciples served as waiters. This is the work of servant disciples. This was another lesson in discipleship. (Wilkinson)
Read vv42-43
"So they all ate and were filled (satisfied)."
"And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish."
The word used here for basket represent a large basket and because there was twelve of them, it very well could be that each disciple was circulating among the crowd with a large basket and they was putting what they each did not want into the basket. We do not know what happened to that food, but obviously there was an abundance and probably without waste. God provides generously, but not wastefully for the needs of other people.
They picked up twelve full basket of the broken pieces and also of the fish.
Read v 44
"Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men."
Plus women and children, more or less 12,000 people were fed by these meager reasons as God bought supernatural blessings out of these inadequate resources. What a lesson for the disciples, what a lesson for us. (Barclay)
C. Jesus Others
The abundance and adequacy of Jesus' provision were obvious in the amount of food that remained uneaten. The baskets (Gr. kophinoi) were large wicker ones, though there was not much food left over. Jesus provides generously, but He does not provide so extravagantly that there is needless waste. (Garland)
1. Jesus served the people through the disciples who presented what He had provided to the multitudes..........12,000 or more fed...
2. The abundance and adequacy of Jesus' provision........
3. The miracle took place in His hands, not in theirs; for whatever we give to Him, He can bless and multiply. We are not manufacturers; we are only distributors.
III. Conclusion
PPT#12
John tells us that Jesus used this miracle as the basis for a sermon on "the bread of life" (John 6:22ff). After all, He did not perform miracles just to meet human needs, though that was important. He wanted each miracle to be a revelation of Himself, a sermon in action. For the most part, the people were amazed at the miracles, appreciated the help He gave them, but failed to get the spiritual message (John 12:37). They wanted the gift but not the Giver, the enjoyment of physical blessings but not the enrichment of spiritual blessings.
This miracle revealed the person of Jesus to the multitudes, but it was its effect on the disciples that Mark stressed. As noted, the incident contained many lessons about discipleship as well as revelations of Jesus' identity. The disciples served as waiters. This is the work of servant disciples. This was another lesson in discipleship.
IV. Application
As Jesus focused His disciples' attention on their inability to meet the needs of those people we to are inadequate to do what He has commissioned us to do. However, as inadequate as it may seem God usually gives us enough to do what He has commanded us to do. Jesus in this passage was also focusing the disciples' attention on what they did have, as inadequate as it was in its self. God usually uses what He has already given us to satisfy the needs of others. While that is never adequate in itself, it is what God multiplies to bring adequate blessings to others people. Take the "Great Commission" that Jesus Christ has given us. We look at our neighbors, at the people we work with and we say how in the world can I serve Jesus Christ effectively. I just don't have the equipment personally that I need to do this. That's good! When we recognize that, because that is very true- none of us is adequate in ourselves Paul writes, 2 Cor 3. But he also said "....our sufficiency is of Christ..."
Jesus Christ usually takes what He does give us in term of our gifts, our abilities, our time, our talents, our treasures and miraculously multiplies these so that many, many people are helped. And isn't it amazing how that happens from day t day as we go through life.
I said something kind to a neighbor many years ago and forgot about, but they approached me maybe last year and reminded how it was comforting at the time. God has used that little word to encourage her; that's usually the way God works. He uses what He has already given us and multiplies that for the blessing of many.
***** extra?
All of us are inadequate, yet God can provide abundantly out of very meager resources and provide great blessings for multitude of people if we would just release what we have to His control....
1