Message preached Sunday, October 4, 2015 from Mark 8:1-9
Theme: Our Lord’s ways of working may seem strange to us at the time; but if we will trust Him, we will end up praising Him in the end.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We come this morning to a story in the Gospel of Mark that may sound familiar. In fact, if you have been following along in this study, you may think at first that it is a ‘re-run’—that it’s a story we’ve already covered.
But it’s not the same story at all. It’s a new story of something that happened in the ministry of our Lord; but that is almost an exact ‘repeat performance’ of something that He had done just a short time prior. It was as if He had miraculously met a challenge in the sight of His disciples, and then—without their knowing that it was coming—allowed them to experience a very similar challenge and meet it again for them in much the same way just a short time later. And rather than thinking of it as a pointless ‘re-run’ of another event, I suggest we see it as a sort of spiritual ‘pop-quiz’—one that required His disciples to go back in their thinking, recall how He had proven Himself before, take those truths about Him into their present situation, and trust Him again!
And if I’m right about that, then this passage suggests that there are probably a lot more ‘pop-quizzes’ that the Lord Jesus allows in our lives as His followers than we tend to think!
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Let’s read the story of this new event. It’s found at the beginning of Mark 8; where we’re told,
In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” Then His disciples answered Him, “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away . . . (Mark 8:1-9).
Now; another similar event did occur. It’s found in Chapter 6; and we studied from it not long ago. About 5,000 men—along with their wives and children—had gathered together to hear the Lord Jesus teach. And by the end of the day, they were hungry. Our Lord fed that vast crowd full with only five loaves of bread and two small fish. When it was over, there were twelve small baskets of leftovers—one basket for each disciple.
But there are some important differences between that story and this one. For one thing, the locations were different. That first feeding was of a crowd that was primarily Jewish. It had occurred at Bethsaida Julius—on the northeastern side of the Sea of Galilee. But this second feeding occurred in the northwestern wilderness country of Galilee, and was to a crowd that was primarily Gentile. Do you notice how our passage begins with the words, “In those days . . .”? That speaks of the days in which He had withdrawn from the Jewish people for a while into the regions of Tyre and Sidon and the Decapolis; and was ministering in Gentile regions. Here, I believe that our Lord was showing that He had compassion not only for His Jewish kinsmen, but also for the people of the Gentile world.
Another difference is seen in the circumstances. That first feeding occurred in a situation in which the people could have gone out and fed themselves. The apostles pleaded with Jesus at first to send them away into the towns and villages to buy food for themselves. But in this second feeding, the people could not have done so. We’re told that it was in a “wilderness” or “desert” area; and there was no food to be bought; and some of them had traveled long distances to be with Him. In that first feeding, the people had only been with Jesus for about half a day, and had only missed lunch. But in this second feeding, they had been with Him for three days and had been a long time without food. Jesus was concerned that, if He had sent this second group of people away as they were, some of them would faint along the way. I would say that, in some important ways, this second feeding was an even greater miracle than the first!
And there’s another difference to be found in the results. In the first feeding, 5,000 men—along with women and children—were fed with only five loaves and two small fish. And the results were twelve small baskets of leftovers. But in this second feeding—though the numbers were slightly smaller; being only 4,000—the leftovers were greater. Mark uses a different word for basket in this second feeding. It’s a word that refers to a large basket. It’s the same kind of basket that was used in Acts 9 to let the apostle Paul down from a window in a city wall—a basket big enough to carry a man. And in this second feeding, seven loaves of bread and a few small fish resulted in seven large baskets of leftovers—a much more abundant supply! There may even be significance in that number—the perfect number of seven loaves resulting in the perfect number of seven baskets-full! Ours is a perfect Savior who gave a complete provision!
So this was no accidental re-telling of the same story. We are being told these two stories in the same Gospel account deliberately! Both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark do this. And I believe that the reason is to teach us an important spiritual lesson about the instruction of our Lord.
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The other day, I had an interesting conversation with my wife. We talked about the providential sovereignty of God. It’s a doctrine we both love. Somehow in the conversation, we talked about how far reaching that doctrine is—that our God graciously rules over every detail of His universe, and causes all things to perfectly accomplish His will. We wondered if there was anything that we should not or even could not attribute to God’s sovereignty. We agreed, of course, that God is never guilty of evil. But we also agreed that He sovereignly allows evil to occur in such a way as to accomplish and serve His good purposes; so that in the end, there really is literally nothing in this universe that is not touched by His sovereignty.
I find that to be a very comforting and encouraging doctrine from Scripture. And as we talked, I wondered aloud if there was any way that someone could make too much of the sovereignty of God. Could we give too much credit to it? I’m convinced that—by definition—it’s impossible to make too much of God’s sovereignty. His providential rule over all the details of our lives is absolutely unlimited and universal and always purposeful for our good and His glory.
And I thought about that conversation as I thought about this passage. In it, I see our Lord Jesus exercising sovereign rule over the events of this story. He permitted His apostles to encounter yet another multitude that was hungry, and without the resources of food, in order to accomplish the purpose of teaching His apostles something about themselves. They—and we—are just like children in a school. We may be taught a lesson; but we need to be taught it again, and again, and again, before it will really sink in. And our Lord knows how to repeat the needed lessons in our lives in just the right way in order for them to be learned by us in the way they need to be learned.
And I believe that means that you and I can take it for fact that everything that ever happens to us—the trials, and the challenges, and the difficulties, and the disappointments; along with the blessings, and the joys; and even the regular times of life where the routines are in place—is meant to teach us about Him. He means for us to learn, in all of it, that He is all that we will ever need; and that if we rely on Him completely in trust and obedience, there is no problem in our lives that He cannot solve or no need that He cannot meet.
He is our teacher; and He teaches by repetition. He even gives us ‘pop-quizzes’, to make us go back to what we’ve learned and put it to use. I see that illustrated for us more clearly in the story of this second feeding than in just about any story I can think of in the Bible. In it I believe that we can see how the Lord allows us to have challenges in the present that require us to put to use the things we’ve already learned about Him in the past.
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Now; let’s look again at this passage and draw out a few principles. These principles—as I have stated them—are a little wordy; but please bear with me. I hope they will make sense as we examine this passage more deeply.
The first principle I would point to is this:
1. EVERY NEW CHALLENGE IS UNDER JESUS’ CONTROL, AND IS DESIGNED TO TEACH US SOMETHING ABOUT HIS SUFFICIENCY IN OUR LIVES.
I see this suggested to us in the first three verses.
By this point of the story—after that first feeding—the disciples had seen the Lord prove His power as the Son of God in several important ways. After that first feeding, for example, He walked across the Sea of Galilee to them in the midst of a storm. He came to the shore, and a great number of people ran to meet Him and He healed them of all their diseases. When the Pharisees and scribes—the religious and intellectual leaders of the day—challenged Him, He answered wisely and put them in their place. He cast an unclean spirit out of the daughter of a Gentile—a Syro-Phoenecian woman—from a distance with just a word. And He healed a man who was deaf and mute; and gave him back his hearing and his speech. The apostles had already learned a lot about Jesus—and even more after that first feeding.
But it may be that much of what they had learned had not yet sunk into their lives in such a way as to cause them to trust and depend on Him as they should. And so; as the multitudes gathered around Him, and a large crowd again had collected to Him that had nothing to eat, He used this experience as a teaching opportunity to His apostles.
We’re told in verse 1 that He gathered His disciples to Himself. Perhaps He made them look over the vast crowd with Him. Consider the impact that it must have had on them as He said to them in verses 2-3; “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” Do you notice that He does not say to them, “How would it be if I miraculously feed them again—just like I did that time before?” He simply presented the need to them—and then, let them ponder about it for a moment.
May I ask you to turn for a moment to the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel? In that chapter, we see John’s telling of the story of the first feeding. And in verse 5, we see something that He uttered to the apostle Philip. We’re told;
Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” (John 6:5).
That’s a lot like in our passage this morning. Jesus let His apostle Philip feel the need—but didn’t give an explanation of what He would do about it. But look at verse 6:
“But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do” (v. 6).
Was Jesus really trying to find out where enough bread could be bought for such a crowd? Of course not! He was testing Philip to see what Philip would do. Would He trust in Jesus? And I believe Jesus is doing the same thing in this morning’s passage. He said what He said to His apostles in order to test them. He wanted for them to say, “Well, Lord; we already know that you can feed them if you wish. This’ll be exciting! Tell us what You want for us to do, and we will do it!” He Himself, of courses, already knew perfectly well what He was going to do.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I believe that the Lord Jesus is doing that with you and me in every trying circumstance of life. He has already proven Himself over and over. There’s never a problem of resources with Him. There is no challenging situation He cannot resolve. There is no need He cannot meet! And I believe He allows those trials and challenges in our lives in order to test us. Will we remember what He has already done in the past? Will we trust that He can do the same in the present?
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Now; the apostles were just like you and me. They didn’t respond with such confident faith right away. They needed to have the lesson taught to them again—just like we very often do.
Look how they responded in verse 4. They said, “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” Back in that first feeding, their initial idea was to send everyone into town so that they could go and buy themselves food. It certainly didn’t come to their minds that they should have to feed all those people. But now, they’re out in the wilderness! There are no restaurants or grocery stores! The people are so hungry that they’re ready to fall; but where could enough food be found to satisfy their need? And yet, there was the Son of God in human flesh—an all-sufficient and complete Provider—standing right next to them!
We shouldn’t blame them too much, though. We ourselves tend to forget God’s past faithfulness whenever we encounter a new trial. And I would like to suggest to you that this is a way that we can know that a new circumstance is meant to be a test for us:
2. WE’LL OFTEN BEGIN THIS NEW LESSON BY INITIALLY
I believe that’s a great indication that some new situation is a test—and that it is given to us by God in order to teach us and train us in the school of Jesus. When your first response is to fall back on old patterns of unfaithfulness and unbelief—when you find yourself grumbling and complaining about your circumstances or your lack of resources; when you begin to wring your hands in fear and doubt—that’s indicating to you that you still have some progress to make in your understanding of who Jesus is and how sufficient He is for your every need. It shows that we have not yet settled in such a faith in Jesus—in this particular kind of circumstance—that we’re able to say, “Well, Lord; I don’t know yet what You’ll do. But I believe that You can do anything! And so, I love You, thank You, and look forward to seeing how You will glorify Yourself this time!”
May I suggest to you that, if you find yourself falling back at first on those old patterns of doubt and fear, you shouldn’t get down on yourself too much. Even the apostles did that. But once you recognize it, immediately repent of it and change. That’s what the test is for! In times past, you probably wouldn’t have even noticed that you were responding in doubt and unbelief. But now you do notice it! That means you’re growing, and that the Lord Jesus is changing you.
Let’s grow to remember what Paul wrote in James 1:2-4;
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).
We’re all in process in the school of Jesus Christ.
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And that leads us to a third principle we see from this passage; and that’s that . . .
3. WE GET AN ‘A’ WHEN WE RECALL WHAT JESUS DID FOR US IN THE PAST, AND CONFIDENTLY ENTRUST WHAT WE HAVE TO HIM IN THE PRESENT (vv. 5-7).
I see this in verses 5-7. Look at how Jesus responded to their question. He responded by asking them a question: “How many loaves do you have?” (v. 5). I wonder if that question didn’t begin to trigger in their minds a recollection of what had happened before. And perhaps it began to be even more clear to them when they said, “Seven”. Perhaps what Jesus had done before was beginning to come back to their memory. Perhaps they thought, “Why; seven loaves!—that’s more than the five we had before! And we’ve already seen what He can do with five! What can He do with seven?”
I think it is a great victory in our growth in the school of Christ when we can go back in our minds and recall once again the things that He has already done. It changes our prayers in times of trial. I’m still an undergraduate in the school of Christ; and I’m just beginning to learn this. But I’m finding that when a challenge comes, I am turning to Jesus more often and saying, “Well, Lord; I thank You for this trial. I’m not going to worry about it. You’ve already got a wonderful record of faithfulness in my life! I won’t even try to tell You what to do. I’ll just thank You; and ask You to show me what You want me to do! And please, Lord, glorify Yourself again!” I don’t pray that way every time. But I’m learning.
It must be that the disciples were learning a little too. Look at what they did. We’re not told that Jesus commanded them to bring the bread to Him. It must be that they had already learned to do that. Instead, Jesus commanded the crowd to be seated; and He took the bread and gave thanks for it, and distributed it to the apostles—just like before; and they distributed it to the crowd. And do you notice something else? They found a few small fish. These weren’t big salmons. They were little, tiny, sardine-sized fish. But once they found them, they didn’t just simply throw them in with the bread. They brought them first to Jesus; and Jesus also blessed them and said to set them before the people also.
And here’s another way we get an ‘A’. Once we recall what Jesus can do, we give all that we have to Him. We don’t try to put it to use ourselves; but turn it over to Him for His use. It doesn’t matter the amount of our resources—much or little. All our meager supply become sufficient once we turn it all over to Jesus.
May God help us learn to turn it all over to Him; because as He Himself said,
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
So; they gave what they had to Jesus—which was an active way of saying that they trusted Him. And look at the results! We’re told that everyone was “filled”—that means that every member of that vast crowd of 4,000 went home completely satisfied. And when it was over, they gathered up seven large baskets-full of leftover scraps. How could it happen? I’m sure that even the disciples didn’t know. But I do believe that it means that these twelve men would never forget the remarkable experience of carrying these baskets on their shoulders—perhaps two-disciples to a basket—and seeing for themselves the amazing sufficiency of Jesus!
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What a lesson! But there’s one more principle; and that’s that . . .
4. THE LESSON ISN’T COMPLETE UNTIL WE TAKE TO HEART HOW JESUS HAS PROVEN HIMSELF ONCE AGAIN.
There’s a sad element to this story; but it’s an element that shows how much we are like these poor disciples. A little while later, our Lord had another confrontation with the Pharisees. Look with me a little further in Mark 8 and see what happened. We’re told;
And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread” (vv. 13-16).
But our Lord wasn’t angry with them because they had forgotten bread. Hadn’t He already proven to them that bread is no problem to Him? Instead, if He was displeased at all with them,it was because they had forgotten the lesson!
But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.” So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?” (vv. 17-21).
Do you notice how Jesus’ rebuked them? They weren’t thinking. They didn’t use their eyes and ears. They didn’t put their memory to work. They didn’t reason out that, if He could feed a multitude with seven loaves, He could easily feed twelve men with one.
May God help us to take to heart the lessons we learn about Jesus; and bring them to bear in the ‘pop-quizzes’ He allows to come go us! That’s how we grow in the school of Jesus Christ!