From Solitary to Solidarity: Jesus' Mission Expands

You know, up to this point in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' mission has largely been a solitary one.

With the exception of some complimentary preaching from John,

Jesus has been the only person preaching the good news of the kingdom.

We saw that back in Luke chapter 4, verse 43, and in chapter 8, verse 1.

Luke 4:43

And he was performing powerful signs of the kingdom's arrival.

We saw that back in chapter 7 and 8. But now, today, in this passage,

a change is ushered in as Jesus summons the 12, as we see in verse 1 of chapter 9.

And he sends them out in verse 2 with a twofold mission that mirrors Jesus'

own actions up to this point.

Look at verse 2 and also verse 6 to see this. He says, to proclaim the kingdom of God.

And also, as we look in those two verses, in verse 2 and 6, to what? To heal the sick.

To proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

The one-man show just became a group enterprise, so to speak.

So come is the call, so you may go.

Come, so you may go. The order here is important, Eastwood. it,

the disciples are first summoned to Jesus and only then, this is important for

us to know, only then as we look in the text are they sent out.

Nothing that we've seen so far would actually make us think that the disciples

are prepared or qualified for such a mission.

How many of you feel unprepared sometimes, right? I'm not qualified.

I don't know if I could do this, right?

But Jesus here, it's important to see this in this passage.

Jesus gave them power and authority.

Come on. I want to hear some shouting off of that, right? Jesus gave them power and authority.

That they would need in order, according to verse 1, to drive out all demons and to cure diseases.

Thankfully for them, church, and for us, the power for ministry and mission

comes not from something within us, from in the ones who are sent, but from who?

Who does it come from? The Lord himself.

The Lord himself. And we'll see that again in chapter 24, verses 47 through

49 of Luke. But Jesus's instructions here for the 12 begin with what they should not bring with them.

I was thinking about this trip this week, Brother Aaron, and I'm thinking,

you know, well, don't, no staff, no bag, no luggage, don't bring a change of

clothes, don't bring anything to eat, no money, no extra shirt,

right? I mean, it's like, wow.

I mean, according to verse three here, in fact, in short, Jesus denies them

all of the things that someone would normally depend upon on a long journey.

And as the disciples go, guess what, church?

They will be continually aware of their need and dependence.

Their mission will require them to act on their faith in who? Jesus. Amen?

Surely their debrief with Jesus upon their return in verse 10,

as we see and heard read in this passage, contained many examples of the Lord's

provision for all of their needs.

We're going to see that God does provide all these things for them.

But there are also specific ways that Jesus would have the disciples interact

with the people that they meet along the way.

Once they get to town, guess what? They should be gracious guests staying in

one house, if possible, he says in verse 4, rather than looking for an upgrade,

in other words, in their accommodations.

You know, it's like, I don't like my room. I want an upgrade, right?

If they don't receive a welcome, though, in a certain town, a certain location,

they should treat that town as if it were an unclean heathen village,

in other words, shaking the dust of the town off their feet, it says in verse 5.

And, you know, lest it follow them, is the point here, and pollute the next place to which they go.

And if we see this, church, failure to respond to the proclamation of the good

news has dire consequences, doesn't it?

I mean, God calls out in his mercy, does he not? We see that today.

Calls out for us to repent.

Calls out for us to be made whole. Calls out for our sins to be forgiven,

for us to turn from them and turn to the only one who can save us.

But yet, how many people today don't respond? They reject that call. They reject it.

They don't want anything to do with it.

But one day, one day, there's going to be some dire consequences.

Well, there's also a little interlude here, I would call it.

It's the confusion of a king. We're not going to skip it. We're going to look at it.

But Luke's already warned his readers that John, if you remember,

has been imprisoned by who?

Herod. And now we discover through his passage here, what he writes in Scripture,

that those private musings that John has been beheaded, that he's entertaining,

right? And we see that in verse 9.

But when Herod became aware of all that was going on, it says in verse 7,

he was perplexed by the opinions about Jesus that were being shared around the villages.

The three lines of speculation we learned in this short interlude here,

that Jesus might be John returned from the dead, or that he might be Elijah

or another prophet of old.

So Herod's got all this going on in his mind. They're reflected here in Peter's

response to Jesus's question about who the crowds say that he is in verses 18 and 19.

But Herod's question, I want you all to see here, about Jesus boils down to

one that's familiar, I think, with us by now. We've probably seen it a lot.

Who is this? Who is this?

We see it in verse 9. We saw it back in chapter 8, verse 25.

And in order to answer that question, Herod actually tried to see him,

it tells us in this passage.

A wish, by the way, that would be fulfilled in that final scene of Jesus's earthly life.

We'll see that on down the road here in chapter 23.

And at that time, it would become clear that Herod's interest in Jesus is limited

to seeing a sign from him, right?

A desire that Jesus would not

indulge and that that would result in Herod treating him with contempt.

Jesus was not going to do those things. and speculation about Jesus had reached

even as far as the palace, in other words.

But even the ruler of the land lacks clarity about who he really is.

And so by including this brief digression, if you will, in this passage,

I think Luke prepares us to appreciate Peter's clear confession about Jesus as the Christ.

In the coming section we're going to look at next week in verse 20.

So we see that brief digression there and that Herod's got all this stuff going

on in his mind about who is Jesus.

I hope today you know who he is.

You know who he is. Well, now we see something that is very familiar to all

of us in this passage, and that is the feeding of the 5,000.

The feeding of the 5,000, as we see on this next slide, and with his disciples

having returned to Jesus from their stint as itinerant preachers,

they all, what did they do in verse 10 when they got back? What did they do?

They withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida.

Just to the north of the Sea of Galilee, They were not by themselves for long though, right?

Because the crowds discovered their plans and followed them.

Boy, it was like, I need a break, right? I want a rest, right?

But no, the crowds followed them. Far from being exasperated by the crowds though,

I want y'all to see this, Jesus welcomed them.

And following the pattern that we have to come to expect from Jesus's ministry,

he actually taught them and he healed those in need of help.

It tells us that in verse 11.

So the presence of so many people means that Jesus' little band of disciples

have no hope of being by themselves right now.

But it turns out that there's a far more pressing concern. What is it?

Yeah, I mean, as the day goes on, a potential crisis is brewing.

There's no way, it talks about in verse 12, to provide food for a crowd this

size in such a remote place.

The 12 actually suggests that Jesus should dismiss the crowd into the surrounding

area to find food and a place to stay, you know?

Like, you know, we think today, hey, everybody go to McDonald's,

grab a hamburger and come back in a few hours, you know, whatever.

And a perfectly logical suggestion on the face of it, but Jesus' solution, look at verse 13.

You, this is an emphatic command, by the way, you give them something to eat.

It seems much less reasonable in the face of the scarcity of the resources,

because what are the resources? What?

Five loaves and two fish would not make a dent in the hunger of 5,000 men.

Man, I mean, you know, we're sitting down at supper, Brother Aaron,

and it's like, I mean, come on, we can eat the two fish easy, right?

I don't know about the five loaves, but I mean, we might eat a few of them,

Brother Ronnie, I don't know.

But man, the point is, it's just not enough for these 5,000 men.

And compare this passage to 2 Kings 4, verses 42 through 44.

2 Kings 4:42–44

The cost of buying food for that many people would be prohibitive.

In fact, the Greek word in Luke 9, verse 14 has the sense here,

Luke 9:14

I want you all to realize this, of males that it's talking about. There's 500 men.

And there may well have been women and children present in addition, likely were.

Yet again, and that's in addition to the 5,000, yet again, Jesus has brought

the disciples into a situation. You getting the pattern there?

Where the needs of the moment far outstrip their resources and abilities. Wow.

Church, I hope we see this pattern here. Jesus is looking for his disciples

to depend completely on who?

On him for what they need.

All the resources they need to do what he has commanded them to do.

You know, how many times do we look at situations and say, hey,

we can't do that because we're too small, or we can't do that because we don't

have enough money, or we can't do that because we don't have enough workers,

whatever the situation may be.

But if God has commanded us to do something, he will provide the resources,

the ability, and the authority to do it.

And boy, I need an amen out of that, Not for me, but for God's word.

Amen. Because God is faithful.

God is faithful to provide. And just as in previous situations,

Jesus uses this difficult circumstance to display his divine power.

And he also uses it as a teaching moment for the disciples.

And if you think about it, Jesus surely could have fed the crowd by himself, couldn't he?

I mean, you could have just seen fish popping out of his bare hand if he'd wanted

it that way. but in his kindness church, he involved the disciples in the work.

And as a result, guess what? They got the joy of service and a lesson about Jesus's power.

Aren't you thankful that God has chosen to include the church,

every one of us sitting here, in his work, in his mission?

Y'all, otherwise there'd be no reason for us to sit here this morning.

We've been given a task. We've been given an assignment. We've been given the Great Commission.

And in the same way, Jesus still involves his people in the work of ministry.

He gives us more resources than we need so that we can have the joy of caring

for other people, of reaching out to other people.

I don't know about y'all, but I have seen this time and time again.

And just as the disciples could only go out to preach and cure diseases and

cast out demons because Jesus gave them the power and authority to do it,

so they could only obey his command here.

You give them something to eat to feed the crowd if, what happened?

Jesus himself miraculously provided the bread, right?

In fact, verse 16, that's exactly what happens. Jesus gives thanks for the bread, right?

Then he gives it to the disciples to distribute among the people.

And they minister to the people, but why? Only because Jesus has given them.

This is important, church. Don't miss this. Jesus has given them everything they need to do so.

As we see in this next slide, the pattern holds true for the disciples of Jesus today.

That's you and me. We have nothing to give away to others unless Christ has

given us the power and resources that we need.

I would hate to think that we've manufactured something on our own because it

would not be worth giving away. Amen.

So just remember that we have nothing to give away to others unless Christ has

given us the power and the resources that we need.

And as we piece together, church, our understanding of who Jesus is,

remember it goes back to that question Herod had, who is this?

The miraculous feeding here of the 5,000 men, probably women and children in

addition, it's an important clue, isn't it? You know, there's a scholar that

Edwards, I believe he writes a commentary on this.

And he told us that he notes in three places that in Luke's gospel,

where we're told that Jesus takes bread, thanks God for it, breaks it,

and then gives it to people in three different places in Luke.

And the first of those is found in this passage in verse 16.

The second one occurs at the Last Supper in chapter 22 that we're going to see

a little bit down the road. and the third one takes place at the meal at Emmaus.

And we see in chapter 24 down the road.

Each of those is a point, he says, in Luke's narrative where there's a profound

recognition of Jesus' identity and ministry. Listen to what he says, and I quote.

He says, Luke thus employs the formula, took, blessed, broke, give.

In three critical and calculated contexts, in each instance of which the breaking

and dispensing of bread to the disciples and dispensing of bread to the disciples

is a revelatory symbol of Jesus's self-giving for the church and his passion

and resurrection through which his disciples recognize him.

And that's Edwards' gospel according to Luke.

The point is here, church, I want you all to get this. We're going to be satisfied.

We're going to be satisfied if Jesus gives it. Amen. the world is going to be

satisfied. And that's what this next slide talks about.

Luke's account of this miracle is rich. If y'all seen it, if you look and read

the passage with Old Testament echoes, right?

The command, first of all, to split the crowd into groups of how many?

50 each. That's reminiscent of the ministries of Moses in Exodus 18 and Deuteronomy

1 and Elijah in 1 Kings 18.

The provision of bread in a remote place is reminiscent of the Lord's gift of

manna, if you remember, to the Israelites' flight from Egypt back in Exodus 16.

And a story that's going to be brought to the forefront here a little bit later

as we study Luke is the transfiguration narrative that we're going to see in

verses 28 and beyond in this chapter.

So the 12 basketfuls that were left over, that were gathered up,

according to verse 17, what do you think that reminds us of?

The 12 tribes of Israel. The point is here, church, that Jesus is the one who

is able to provide richly for Israel.

And that's the same with us. Amen.

Isaiah had seen a coming day when the Lord would provide for his people.

Listen to what he says in Isaiah 25, a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines in Isaiah 25, verse 6.

Isaiah 25:6

When Jesus provides a feast for his people, guess what?

It's abundant. I like that, Brother Ronnie. I mean, when Jesus provides,

he goes all out. You know what I'm saying? It's abundant.

I mean, we're satisfied, in other words. It's not like you're waiting for someone

like, have you ever been in a position where, I don't know if you've been out

eating or if you've been at somebody's house and it's like,

you really want that last piece of meat, but you don't want to get it because

you think that's, you know, kind of, you know, I don't know,

somebody else may want it.

And so you might leave a little, you're satisfied, but you're not right.

I wanted that extra shrimp or I would have loved to have had another piece of this or that.

That's not going to be the way when the Lord throws the party.

Amen. It's not going to be the way when he does the banquet.

It's abundant. And that's not the way it was here with the feeding of the 5,000.

They had their field church. Get this. They were satisfied.

I mean, been satisfied eating before, but you know what? We're going to talk about this in a minute.

Yeah, there's physical hunger, But Brother Ronnie, even more importantly,

there's spiritual hunger.

You see, Jesus satisfies both. But Luke stresses again that everyone who was

there ate and they were satisfied.

And even after everyone ate as much, like I said, as they wanted,

there was plenty left over.

And Jesus's resources were not close to being exhausted.

Let me ask y'all, do we have to worry about anything that God calls us to do

as a church here at Eastwood as far as the resources to do it?

Come on, do we? Not if God calls us to do it, because he is going to provide it all in abundance.

Eating food is a universal and intimate experience. I got to do a quick survey.

How many of you like to eat?

All right. Some of us may be a little too much. I'm talking to myself. All right.

But it's no wonder that food and feasting and eating are so frequently used

as spiritual metaphors in scripture, is it?

Spiritual blessings are sometimes described in terms of physical food.

Isaiah, Luke, John all do this.

In fact, Mary understood that God is the one who has filled the hungry with

good things. That's all the way back in Luke chapter one.

And here we see the truth of this enacted.

Jesus calls himself the what of life?

The bread of life. That's in John 6, 35, and even demands that we feast on him

if we would be his disciples.

You see how important spiritual food is?

When we see Jesus providing bread for the masses, y'all, that should be like an alert.

We should be alerted to the fact that there's a deeper truth being illustrated in this passage.

Even in places where food is abundant, don't miss this, there is a spiritual

hunger that abounds in every human heart.

Everyone has that spiritual hunger. Our souls all long for peace and meaning

and purpose that can only come from who?

From knowing God, right? Being known by him. And in the absence of those things,

what are people going to do?

What are people like us going to do? We're going to look in any number of places

to find deep soul satisfaction.

You can think probably of a handful of those this morning. Success,

money, entertainment, relationships, sex, family, even religious performance.

Didn't think I'd share that one, did you?

Sometimes we even think that our religious performance is somehow going to give

us satisfaction. We missed the whole point.

All of those things can be very good in their proper context,

but none of them, I want y'all to get this today, can bear the weight of our

soul's longing for Jesus, amen, for the bread of life.

None of them can satisfy the hunger of our hearts. Like a thirsty man,

think about it, drinking seawater.

Y'all are going gross right the

more we consume of those things get the picture here

to quench our soul's longing the worse

the problem becomes the problem is not primarily with our desire for satisfaction

church but rather where we look for it i promise you today the only place that

you are going to find satisfaction is in christ alone when you're made right with your creator,

when you're forgiven of your sin,

when you put your faith and trust in his finished work on the cross,

that's when you are satisfied.

You are satisfied. In fact, it's an expression of our fallen nature,

I think, that we look for fulfillment in very unsatisfying places.

But the great news, again, is that Jesus can feed our starving souls until they can't eat anymore.

Have you ever been to that point physically where you said, I just can't eat another bite?

Anybody, I'm done. I have this little ritual.

I don't know if I should share this or not, but you'll probably see me doing

it down the road if you hadn't figured it already.

Like if I'm at that point, I'm done. I can't eat no more. You know what I do?

Hopefully, usually it's to an empty plate, right? But let's just say I have

a little bit left and I'm at that point.

I do this anyway. I will take a napkin and I will cover the food just like I'm

putting it in the grave, right?

Okay, you'll be watching for it down the road, right? It's like, I'm done.

Sharon can testify to this. And then I'm going to take the napkin,

lay it on top of anything that's left. Or if it's empty, it's going to be on

top. It's just a sign, subconsciously, I guess, saying, I'm putting it to rest,

putting it to bed, right?

That's true. But he's promised, though, here, get this, that those who hunger

in Luke 6, 21 will be satisfied.

And in that remote place here that we looked at in this passage, everybody was hungry.

And there, with no other means of provision, every single person who looked

to Jesus for help was able to eat until they were fully satisfied.

God's not going to let you down. He's provided a way for us to be made right with him.

There is hope for us that we can come to Jesus with our seemingly insurmountable need.

And our biggest need of all is forgiveness of our sin, right?

We need the righteousness of Christ and find that he can satisfy us completely, Brother Jimmy.

He can give us that in abundance. You know, can you feel the hunger of your

soul is the question today, Eastwood.

Can you feel the hunger of your soul? Hear God's invitation today,

even through this passage to you to come to Jesus and eat your fill.

Some of us probably have been looking for satisfaction in so many places.

And in church to us, some people may just be a place you come because that's

where I should be today. That's wonderful.

But coming to church alone, just coming to church to show up,

to ease your soul, so to speak, is not the answer.

You say, yes, It's great to be in church. Yes, we should be faithful.

But if you haven't tasted of the bread of life of Jesus Christ,

if you've never put your faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross on your behalf,

the bread of life that was broken for you, and you've never feasted upon that, you're lost.

You're dead, scripture says, in your sin still today.

Y'all, I can think of nothing worse, and I can see this happening so much in

the South, But I can think of nothing worse than coming to church most of your

life and spending an eternity in hell because you never repented of your sin.

You never trusted in the finished work of Christ.

You were depending upon those things you look for for satisfaction,

like your religious performance or like you're giving to the old ladies across

the street or helping people with their groceries. All those things are good. Don't get me wrong.

But none of those will satisfy your greatest need.

What is your greatest need the righteousness of Christ because scripture tells

us plainly and you'll hear me say this and I hope you never forget it your righteousness

my righteousness as his filthy rags.

But only Christ's righteousness is the righteousness that will allow us to enter into his glory.

You see, if you've never been clothed in his righteousness, today could be your day.

If you've never experienced that, if you've never had your soul,

the spiritual hunger in your soul filled by the bread of life,

Jesus Christ, today can be your day.

And I'm going to invite you to shut everything out for a moment.

Stand with us if you would.

Close your eyes just a moment. I don't want any distractions.

Don't get to fiddling around too much. Just think for a moment.

Don't let Satan rob you of this.

If you need Jesus today, I don't care how many times you've come to Eastwood

Baptist Church, if you have never repented,

turn from your sin and turn to Christ alone, realizing that He alone,

His righteousness alone, can deliver you from death.

Today, why don't you call out to Him? Because right now, even His Holy Spirit is calling you.

If you feel him tugging at your heart today, why not say, yes, Lord.

Lord, I don't care what other people think. I know I need you.

I'm going to step out in faith today, Lord. I need you.

I want to turn from my sin and put my faith and trust totally in you today.