The Creator in His Fallen Creation

Father, thank you so much that we, your people, can gather in your church, in your city, in your world,

to listen to your word directed to us that comes to us for our good, for the salvation of many, and for the good of this world.

We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would open and prepare our hearts for your word to have its role in our lives,

to bring the repentance and healing and strengthening and hope that we desperately need.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So I'm going to take a bit of a risk with you and with you watching online.

And sort of a, it's a confession, actually.

I know that some of you, maybe many of you, pray for me, and I'm very grateful for that.

And I desperately need your prayers because I am a fallen human being.

And I actually, I'll begin to work on my next, the next sermon a week from now.

I begin to work on that on tomorrow, tomorrow morning.

I'll start to work on it.

I work on my sermon a bit every day.

But a week ago Friday, I was sat down to get some work done on my sermon.

I'm doing this, and I'm doing this, and I'm doing this.

And then, and maybe it's because one of you were praying for me, because I'm not the world's, I'm a guy,

which means I'm often not very self-aware, right?

I can often get hangry.

Angry because I'm hungry.

But I'm trying to work on the sermon.

And then I realized I'm not getting anywhere in the sermon.

And the reason I'm not getting anywhere with the sermon is that I was so irate.

I was so irate at what the government had done.

This is just give me some mercy to declare the Emergency Measures Act.

I was so irate.

I could not work on the sermon.

And, you know, pray that I never preach out of anger.

That I never compose or design a sermon out of anger or deliver it out of anger.

Pray that I never do that, because that would not honor Christ.

And I just had to stop.

And it took me well over an hour of just wrestling with it in prayer

to be able to get to a point where I could just begin to work at things.

Some of you are writers.

Some of you are in positions of authority and influence.

And it might very well be your vocation to write about what happened

and to give counsel about what happened.

And that's good and proper.

It's hopefully many of you are in positions in government and business

or the press or the media to write about it.

But it's not the vocation of the pastor of the church

who's going to come up and open the Word of God.

I'm going to give you a lecture on my view about the Emergency Measures Act.

It's not my vocation.

Christians in good conscience can come to different conclusions and nuances about that.

It's not my role.

It isn't my role.

So, you know, I struggled with it in prayer for an hour.

And I came to a place of peace where I just...

Not that I didn't still have moral judgments, but, you know, anger,

for those of you who ever are at all attracted or have a problem with anger,

anger is intoxicating.

Anger is intoxicating.

Those of you who don't get angry or get very afraid of it don't know what I'm talking about.

Those of you who do, you know how intoxicating it can be.

And so I came to a place of peace and was able to work on my sermon.

And I think if you listen to the sermon next week,

I don't think anybody would say that it came out of anger.

And, you know, I was thinking about that this week because, I mean,

there's a variety of biblical texts.

And it wasn't this text that I thought about as I'm trying to wrestle with the whole issue in prayer.

But, in fact, if I had of, this is a very profound...

The text that we're going to look at today is a very profound resource

to help you to, in fact, come to a place of compassion.

Compassion doesn't mean you don't make moral judgments anymore,

but compassion is the context within which you make moral judgments

and judgments about justice,

which is going to actually lead in a direction

where there can be real justice and peace at the end of it.

So I'd like to invite you to look at the text again

and see how this is, in fact, a very profound text to aid us in compassion.

So it's... I'll give you a little bit more context in a moment.

It's Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Hopefully you take your own Bibles and you can follow along with me as you look at it.

It's Mark chapter 6, verse 30.

Mark 6:30

And I'll give you a bit of context as we go into the text.

But the one thing I'd like to tell you about this miracle,

because it's the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000,

it's the... other than the death and resurrection of Jesus,

which is in all four of the Gospels,

this is the only other miracle which is recorded in all four of the Gospels,

just the resurrection of Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000.

So it obviously made a huge impression on the apostles and the early church,

and it got put, recorded in this ancient biography of Jesus.

So here's how it begins.

Verse 30.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

And if you just go back sort of the beginning of the...

like about 20 verses earlier,

Jesus had sent them out to teach and to heal and to deliver.

And so now they've returned.

And that's what's happened.

Verse 31.

And Jesus said to them,

Come away by yourselves to a desolate place or a solitary place.

That's another very good way to translate it.

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,

a solitary place by themselves.

Now, this is going to be very important,

and it's one of the things which you can't notice in the English,

but it's there in the Greek.

And if you know the Greek, the original language,

you'll understand a little bit about the significance of what's going on.

And up until now, every time there's been mention of a crowd,

there's a particular word that was used in the original language,

except in one occasion, and this is the second occasion so far.

And the word is hoi polloi.

And that, of course, as we know,

not many people know that term anymore,

but it's a term of dismissiveness used by the elites against ordinary people.

The hoi polloi.

What are the hoi polloi?

They're just the hoi polloi.

Well, that's the word which, all the way through this,

when it's talking about the crowds or the many,

that's the word they're using, the hoi polloi, the many.

That's the context.

And this is going to be very, very,

and here, those of you who remember what happened just before this,

it's very, very significant.

Remember, Mark didn't just sort of give you this little,

it's not like he sent you a tweet with no context,

and that's the tweet.

I mean, this would be too long for a tweet.

But he just gives you, you know, an Instagram, you know,

with five different little pictures,

and each one of them has some of this,

and it has no context to anything else.

What's just going on before this is the complete opposite, right?

Herod has met, and who's invited to Herod's birthday party?

Well, the people invited to the Herod's birthday party aren't the hoi polloi.

Who's invited to Herod's birthday party are the leading,

and they're all men, only men,

and they're the leaders of the military,

the nobles, and the rich people.

And probably with included, and that would have been, of course,

yeah, I mean, they're the key influencers,

the people who matter.

So just before this, there's going to be a meal,

but the meal is restricted for only men,

and only those who are military leaders, nobles, and rich.

Jesus is with the hoi polloi.

Jesus is with the hoi polloi.

And the difference between the two stories

is a very, very interesting thing to meditate upon.

I'm just going to point out a few point of things about it as we go on,

but it's a very interesting thing to meditate upon.

How we know what happens to the hoi polloi

in the story with Herod.

Herod kills one of the hoi polloi.

What does Jesus do when they disrupt his plans?

Look at it in verse 33 and verse 34.

Now many, the hoi polloi,

saw them going and recognized them,

that's Jesus and the disciples,

and they ran there on foot from all the town

and got there ahead of them.

And when Jesus went to shore,

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.

Now, once again, the contrast is very important.

In the story, you might remember,

and if you go back and you read it,

Mark records what goes through,

you know, they're probably drunk,

there's a sensual dance.

The person who's done the sensual dance

is a 12 or 13-year-old girl

who's both Herod's stepdaughter and his niece.

It's a sensual dance that arouses him and the others.

He makes a foolish promise up to half your kingdom.

She asked for the head of John the Baptist.

And Mark records what would have gone through Herod

in his term of self-awareness.

And by his self-awareness,

he can't break his oath in front of all these powerful people.

But the fact of the matter is,

as we all know, that's not true.

Because if Herod's stepdaughter had asked

for three of your fortresses,

he would still have been drunk,

slightly inebriated,

but his eyes would have gotten steely,

his face would have gotten steely,

and he would have said,

honey, you better reconsider what you just asked for.

And given that the political leaders of those times

were not adverse to murdering family members,

she would have probably looked back at her mom,

and her mom would have done this.

And she probably would have said,

could I go back and ask my mom what I should ask for?

But John's part of the hoi polloi,

and the powerful people can kill the hoi polloi.

That is often what life is like in the world.

Putin believes he can take over the Ukraine

and nobody will stop it.

It doesn't matter how many people he kills.

He doesn't want to kill a lot.

He just wants the property and the resources

and the spiritual significance,

and he does.

It's the way of the world.

It's the way of the world.

But Jesus sees the hoi polloi

and has compassion on them and teaches them.

Now, this is a compassion story.

But what you're going to see

is that it's not just a story,

but a window, like a true picture

of what reality is actually like at the deepest level.

Just before the service here,

I use my phone as a timer.

That's why I'm looking down.

I'm not checking new tweets or anything like that.

I'm checking the time.

And if you came and it was off,

you know, when it turns on,

there's a picture of Louise,

and Shane was commenting on it.

And if you saw the picture,

some pictures, you know, you could take it,

and, you know, a police could take the picture,

and they'd be able to find the person.

But it's just a picture.

But some pictures actually communicate

who the person is.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, it actually communicates who they are.

And if you were to see this picture of my wife,

you'd say, that's Louise.

That captures Louise.

The way she smiles, the way she looks,

it just captures her grace and her beauty.

It captures her.

And this story isn't just sort of like Santa Claus for kids,

but in terms of importance of compassion.

And this story captures God,

who's created all things and sustains all things,

and who alone can redeem the world

and will bring in a new heaven and a new earth.

And it reveals that compassion

is deeper than violence and hate,

just as we long for,

that it's deep in the created order

and in the future.

Let's see how that works out.

And just before I say anything else,

before we look at the text,

the way it sets this up

is it's very interesting

that the story,

all these little tiny details in the story

set up the reality of the miracle.

It sets up the reality of the miracle.

So we've already seen it.

Like the first way that it's done it

is that John and Mark hasn't put the God,

like he hasn't sort of said,

I'll just throw a whole pile of miracle stories together.

And then, you know,

but no, no, what actually has happened

is just before this

is the story of Herod killing John the Baptist.

And as I shared last week,

Herod killing John the Baptist,

we know a whole lot of other things about that story.

I shared with you some of the things

about what happened in the subsequent months and years

and everything like that

because one of the most important ancient historians,

Josephus,

was basically writing just after this

and he records a whole pile of things.

Like Herod's an historical person,

John the Baptist is an historical person.

Read Josephus.

Josephus will tell you that Herod has

John the Baptist killed.

This is a story,

a telling of history.

And Mark,

if you just look at it,

Mark goes right from telling you

this historical event

to this historical event

and there's no change in language.

It's still the language of historical reporting.

It doesn't go into,

oh, by the way,

once upon a time

or into language of analogy

or there once was a time

when this happened

or anything like that.

It's the same type of historical language

which is being used.

And it emphasizes

that Jesus and the disciples

go in a boat.

The boat would have carried,

I mean,

there would have been 13 of them

and from what we know of boats

at that time,

it's probably a boat

that would have carried

about 15 people

and there would have been

some room for nets

and everything like that

but it wouldn't have been

in something that would have had

like a big pile of bread

and fish

that could go from here

to the wall.

It wouldn't have had that.

It would have just had room

for them

and for some of their gear

and they go to a solitary place

and they keep saying

they go to a solitary place,

a solitary place,

a solitary place

and it's emphasizing

all of these things

and it's going to continue

on with the rest of the story.

Look how the story goes

and in a sense

it doubles down

on the miracle.

Look at verse 35.

And when it grew late

his disciples came to him

and said,

this is a desolate place,

a solitary place

and the hour is now late,

probably an hour or so away

from sundown.

Send them away

to go into the surrounding

countryside and villages

and buy themselves

something to eat.

You know,

so the,

and note one of the things

that's going to be important

in a moment,

when I try to bring

some of this home

in terms of what it means

for us

and,

but Jesus doesn't rebuke them

for saying this.

The disciples are showing

compassion.

They don't have any food.

There's no food here.

The people are hungry.

The food's run out

and it's going to take

some time

and they're going to

probably have to finish

the journey in the dark

and they're not,

it isn't,

the story isn't taking place

in an orchard

or a vineyard

or a grain field

where people could

take food from it

and so,

once again,

there's compassion

and they're never rebuked

for it by Jesus

and look what happens

in verse 37.

He answered them,

you give them

something to eat.

Now,

it's not a rebuke.

It's one of those times

when the disciples

are thinking,

okay,

that this is how

the story's going to go

and all of a sudden

Jesus does this like this

and it's going

in a completely

different direction

and they said to him,

shall we go and buy

200 denarii worth of bread

and give it to them to eat?

Now,

200 denarii is

about nine months.

If you take

Canadian dollars,

you take what

an average worker

would make in Canada,

it's nine months

worth of wages

approximately,

just a little bit less,

less than nine months.

So,

that's a lot of money.

I don't know

about any of you,

but you probably

don't have

nine months worth

of your pay

in your pocket.

But,

I bet we couldn't,

maybe I'm wrong,

maybe a couple of you

have a lot of

hundred dollar bills

on you.

We probably couldn't

take all of the pockets

in the room

and come up with

the equivalent

of nine months wages

for an average

working person.

So,

the disciples

don't have

those resources

and it's going

to take a lot

to eat.

They just pick

out a number.

And verse 38,

he said to them,

how many loaves

do you have?

Go and see.

And when they found

out,

they said,

five and two fish.

Now,

I would say

that for a group

of guys

in our day in world,

five loaves

and two fish,

because they weren't

loaves like this,

they were probably

loaves like that,

wouldn't feed us.

But,

you know,

everybody in those

age were a lot

smaller and they'd

be way,

way skinnier.

And maybe that was

enough for them

to have their meal

so they could worry

about breakfast

the next day.

But it wasn't

that much food.

And so,

once again,

you see,

the story is

emphasizing that

they don't have

any resources

to handle this.

Okay?

I mean,

that's separate

from the fact

that they said,

well,

even when we had

the money,

they could have

gone on and maybe

that's what

happened originally.

Like,

even if we went

to a place

and we could

buy all the

things,

we don't have

wagons to bring

all the bread

and fish,

like,

we just,

we don't have,

it's just impossible,

Jesus,

we just don't have

the resources.

So then,

Jesus does

something here

which is very

significant to

the miracle.

It,

once again,

really emphasizes

the miracleness

of the miracle.

Look what happens

in verse 39

and 40.

he commanded

them all

to sit down

in groups

on the green grass

so they sat

down in groups

by hundreds

and by fifties.

Now,

this is going

to be very,

very important

to the miracle.

If you had

5,000 plus people,

we don't know

that number

until the end,

but nine months

worth of wages

tells you

that they're

estimating,

this is a lot

of money

to feed this group.

This is a very,

very big group.

But if they're

all standing

and milling around,

that if Jesus

did the miracle,

people,

I mean,

the disciples

might know,

but apart from

the disciples,

the crowd

wouldn't know

because they

might just think

there's a couple

of wagons

of food back there

they can't see

very well

or there's a big

hall of,

a couple of boats

have come in

with lots of fish

and they've been

cooking,

like they can't see.

But when you have

them all sit down

and all sit down

in order groups

and Jesus has done it

and now they're

looking at Jesus,

they're expecting

Jesus to do something,

there's going to be

a very,

very clear view.

There's no pile

of food.

There's no pile

of fish.

There's nothing.

There's only Jesus.

There's only Jesus.

And what do they see?

Verse 41,

taking the five loaves

and the two fish

he looked up to heaven

and said a blessing.

A blessing here

doesn't mean that he

asked God to do a miracle.

The blessing is

probably a two-fold blessing.

You know,

we bless you

and praise you God,

the Father,

creator of all things,

sustainer of all things.

You alone are God,

there is no other.

And bless these,

your people

and your children.

But it's not a prayer

for God to do a miracle,

it's a prayer of blessing,

it's a prayer of adoration

and praise.

And then he broke the loaves

and gave them to the disciples

to set before the people.

And the disciples,

and he divided the two fish

among them all.

And we don't know

if the disciples

were doing this,

rolling their eyes

or with anxiety.

It gives you no emotional

thing going on.

But what they do

is they do it.

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.

So it would be interesting,

you know,

if you think about it,

how would you want to film this

if you were making

a movie of it?

So you have this

five thousand plus,

maybe ten thousand people

all watching,

quiet,

maybe chatting

amongst themselves,

but quiet

when he says

the words of blessing.

And they would have seen,

I don't know,

maybe they had

some type of bowl

or some type of basket

or some type of bag

and you would have seen

Jesus take off a hunk

and divide it

amongst them all.

And they would have just seen

that it's not very much.

And you can well imagine,

I mean,

I probably would look

at the faces

of the apostles.

That's probably

what I would film.

As they walk

first here

and to there

and I would take off

just a tiny little bit

and I'd probably be red

faced with embarrassment

and I give

that little bit

and a little bit

and then another little bit

and another little bit

and then another little bit

and another little bit

and then I look down

and the bread

hasn't decreased

and neither is the fish.

And then I give

a little bit

and a little bit

and a little bit

and a little bit

and the bread

and the fish

haven't decreased.

And then I go back

to the beginning

and then

at some point

point in time, there would probably be this joyous, gobsmacked excitement as you give

hunks and hunks of bread and fish to the person after person after person, and the bag never

diminishes, and the bag never diminishes. And not only does the bag not diminish, the

bag is fuller as you go, so that by the end of the whole thing they can gather up 12 baskets

full of fish and bread, and everything about the story emphasizes that there is a miracle.

To be very clear, there is more matter in the universe after the miracle than there was before.

There is more matter in the universe after the miracle than there was before. Only God,

only God, only God can create out of nothing. Only the true and living God described in the

Gospels described in the Old Testament can create matter out of nothing. In fact, one of the reasons,

if the conversation was able to turn to it, one of the reasons a Christian should say to their

Muslim friends, and as many of us know, many of our Muslim friends are vastly more, I was just in a

conversation with a Muslim man just at the end of last, or at the beginning of this week, and gosh,

I mean, he's just very devout and very prayerful. Like, he really is probably a vastly better man than I am.

But one of the things we would say to our Muslim friends is, if God himself walks amongst the created

world and speaks, why would we need to wait six centuries for him to merely send a prophet?

If God himself, God himself comes and walks amongst his creation and speaks and acts,

why on earth would anybody want to wait for a prophet to come later?

Now, obviously some of you are going to say, well, this is completely and utterly impossible,

George. It violates every scientific law, to which I'd say it does not violate a single scientific law,

not one. It does not violate a single scientific law. It violates a misunderstanding of science,

but it doesn't violate science. Well, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. What does the

scientific method say? The scientific method and scientific theory always works on the principle

that you do the experiment and nothing extraneous comes into it. Like, the first law of thermodynamics

is that in a closed system, there's neither, my mother is neither created or destroyed. But that's

the whole point of this, is we Christians, this miracle shows we don't live in a closed system.

I mean, the scientific research is based on the idea that we're just, we're going to work,

we're only looking at natural causes. That's what we're going to look at. We're going to look at

natural causes and natural processes, and we're going to see how things naturally react.

And what this is saying is that it doesn't say, I mean, the second the bread is created,

it can be eaten. The second the bread begins, is created, it begins to get dry at whatever rate

bread gets dry in that type of environment. And if the bread is left on the ground, the bread will

get merged with the ground, and eventually it will go moldy. All of the scientific law is completely

and utterly practiced, but all that happened is that God himself has walked amongst, and he's

created more matter. The second the matter comes into the world, it acts according to it. I mean,

I've shared with you this analogy before, but it's a very important analogy to help you understand it.

I mean, money works in very, very obvious ways, you know. I mean, one of the problems,

I mean, one of the problems is, for those of you who maybe, you know, you check the money at the end

of the service, and you do your bank balances, it can't just be within a dollar. Like, it has to be

correct to the penny. I mean, that's just how, that's how numbers work. Like, you can't have one

person say, oh, you know, I got, you know, $400, I got $350. That's close enough. No, it's not close

enough, because that's not the way money works, right? And so, you know, money just works. You know,

I have a 20, and you add a 20, you add a 20, it gets you sick, it gets you three $20 bills,

that's $60. That's how it works. And so, imagine, you know, that I had far more financial resources

than I have, and one of my children wants to buy a house, and they can't buy a house because they

don't have the financial resources or the credit rating, et cetera, et cetera, to do it. So, my wife

and I decide that we will, I mean, all the money will, in a sense, come from them, but we will,

in effect, become a co-signer on the mortgage. And we say to our son, or we say to our daughter,

that part of the condition of that, by the way, is that, you know, the bank account that you have

the mortgage on, that we have a sign and authority that too, right? And then one day, and money works,

just by money works, they're making X number of dollars, and X number of dollars, you know,

works on the mortgage, and it works on the fractions, and the percentages, and all of that,

and that's just how it works, and we can see by looking at that and another thing that our son

or daughter is in some type of financial distress. And so, one day, Louise and I, we talk about it,

and we decide that we just want to bless our kids, so we put $10,000 extra in the bank account.

Well, has that violated the rules of math? No. Has it violated the way money works? No.

That extra $10,000 is now in there. All of the other equations all just instantly change, right?

And that's exactly what's going on here. In fact, if you could help the first point,

here's the thing which is going on in the story, okay? Especially, I'm going to say it,

and then I'll explain why I put it in this way. And I'm just going to add, up there,

it doesn't say strong hand. I realized afterwards I should add that, because it's actually even better.

The strong hand of love that made the world is the same strong hand of love that sustains the world,

is the same strong hand of love that was nailed to the cross to redeem his fallen world,

and is the same strong hand of love that will beckon and welcome his redeemed children

into the new heaven and the new earth.

I mean, that's what you're seeing when you look at this, because it's going to be the same hands

that breaks the bread and distributes it. It's the same hands that will be nailed to the cross.

Very same hands.

And by God, the creator of all things, because only God can make something matter out of nothing,

only God can do that. What we are actually seeing. Remember I said that this story,

you know how Shane looked at the picture of Louise and said,

that's a good picture of Louise, like that captures Louise.

And what this story is telling us is this story captures God,

and it captures the deeper, deepest reality.

The world came into being not as an accident,

not as a tragedy, and not because the gods wanted slaves,

or because God needed somebody to praise him.

It was God's strong hand of love that created the world.

And I know there is famine in the world, and there's hunger in the world,

and we all know that those things are wrong, and that the world is broken.

And that's a different part of the story as to how the world became broken,

but it wasn't broken by God, it was broken by human beings,

and continues to be broken by human beings.

But the fact of the matter is, is that whenever we eat,

and whenever there's a good harvest,

and whenever we have the clean rivers, and the rain, and all of that type of stuff,

what you are actually seeing is the strong hand of love sustaining all things.

The same strong hand of love that created all things

is the same strong hand that sustains all things,

and provides for us today the coffee, and the tea,

and the milk, and the cereal, and the bacon, and the eggs,

and the veggie bacon that we ate today.

And it's the same strong hand of love that is nailed to the cross.

And it will be that same strong hand of love

that if we die before he returns,

those who are redeemed in Jesus will close their eyes

in the sleep of death,

and wake in the new heaven and the new earth

to the same strong hand of love,

waving in welcome, and beckoning you in.

You see, compassion

is deep.

It is deeper

the violence of an invasion of Ukraine,

the persecution of Christians

in Nigeria,

the persecution of Christians

in many other groups in China.

Our basic intuition

that that looks strong

but is ultimately doomed

is shown to be true,

a true intuition

in light of the gospel.

True and living God

has compassion on the hoi polloi

and gives them the dignity

of feeding them

and caring for them.

In fact, that's actually one of the things

which is so important about this story.

See, I think many people

will look at something like this

and say,

well, George, I mean,

that's really a nice story.

But if you were to know my story,

you would know that

I am always the left out.

I am always the forgotten.

I am always the butt of jokes.

I am always the ignored.

I am always the lonely.

I am always the one

who does not matter.

One of the things

which is so wonderful

is what does this

whole story focus on?

Apart from Christ,

it focuses on the hoi polloi,

the people who don't matter.

And all I can say is

that Jesus looks at you

and he says,

you matter to me.

You matter to me.

And this good news

that George is just talking about,

that good news is for you.

Your days have been the forgotten.

I mean, that might not end

on this earth,

but I can tell you

that from all eternity

you matter to me

and you will matter

into eternity with me.

And for us,

just a couple of points

in closing

in terms of what it means

for us to hear this story

and to receive it.

If you could put up

the next point,

that would be great.

We're to receive

the good news

about the person,

work, and promises

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as we receive it,

and as it becomes

a deeper part of who we are,

as it becomes clearer

and clearer

what Jesus,

who he is,

and the significance

of the fact that

you see,

if you think about it,

it's only if the creator

of all things,

only the creator

of all things

could die

for the whole creation,

could die for the rich

and the poor,

the gay and the straight,

the black and the white,

the Asian,

the people from India,

from all the different cultures,

people living in feudal times

and pagan times

and remote tribes

and powerful people

and unpowerful people

and handicapped people

and people with spectacular

physical and mental abilities.

It's only the creator

of all that could die

for all.

And it's only the creator

of all who knows all

that his death for all

could be for all

of who you are.

That by the time

you go from this story

to the cross

and then the resurrection,

you realize that Jesus

has done it all.

and that all we can do

is begin to live out of

the truth

of what he has done for us.

Not live to attain

something from him

but to live out of the truth

of his compassion for you.

The truth that he looks

at George and says,

George,

I am not weighing your merits.

I never weighed them

for a moment.

I mean, George,

how could I weigh your merits?

Didn't you just tell everybody

how irate you were

a week ago

that you couldn't

even function?

You should be so glad

that I do not count

your merits

because, George,

you would,

you'd be up a creek,

you know,

the type of creek

you go up without a paddle.

That would be you, George.

But no,

I've done it all.

I'm calling you

to live out of

what I have done

and what I have promised.

And so receive

the good news

about the person

and work

and promises

of the Lord Jesus Christ

and be formed.

and his compassion

for the hoi polloi.

We are to be formed

by Christ,

not by Herod.

The world will try

to form us

into Herod.

But as the gospel

becomes more real,

it should lead us

to have a great compassion

for the hoi polloi

and not just the hoi polloi

for our own city,

but the hoi polloi

in Guatemala.

Hoi polloi,

the forgotten refugees

and the forgotten wars.

And then one final thing,

if you could put up

the final point.

There's a profound question

in this text

and a profound thing

that takes place

in this text.

And, you know,

often it's when we think about it,

we see it and go,

oh yeah,

but you see,

part of what the gospel does

and the Bible does

in forming us

is it forms us

without us necessarily

realizing it.

But in a sense,

this question is given

to us all the time.

We see a need,

like I see a need.

We're hoping to bring

John Owen as an intern

and part of what we want to do

is try to reboot

our ministry

to the university

and we can look

at the university

and say we would love

to begin to have

a ministry once again

to university students

once they really open up

and not just Ottawa,

you down the road

for Carlton.

And you know,

at the other hand,

where we meet

on a Sunday morning,

we could also say,

and maybe he at some point

in time said,

we need to have a heart

for all the embassies

or we need to have a heart

for all of the new Canadians

and all of the poor

and those afflicted

and in danger

of gang violence

or maybe he's calling us

to have a heart

for the arts

and entertainment

and bar world

or maybe he's calling us

to have a heart

for Parliament Hill

and all the civil servants

which will eventually

return at least occasionally

to the office.

And we can look at it

and say,

we don't have the resources

to do any of that.

And Jesus said,

yeah, that's what

the story's about.

You don't.

You don't have the resources.

You never,

you're never going to have

the resources.

Like in a sense,

stop thinking about

your resources.

I mean,

we have to pass budgets

and I'm not saying

we should pass

a $10 million budget.

That would be called

presumption.

But you see,

you do not have

the resources

to feed the hoi polloi,

but you can trust

and do what the one

who can feed

the hoi polloi

tells you to do.

See,

isn't that what's going on

in the story?

The disciples

don't have the resources

to feed the hoi polloi.

What does Jesus

ask them to do?

Take what I've given you

and just start

giving it out.

And the disciples

had nothing to do

whatsoever with the miracle.

It was all God.

It was all Christ.

It was all his grace.

It's always only his grace.

All things come of you

and of your own

have I given you

and there is no other way

to live the Christian life.

All things come of you

and of your own

have I given you.

And that's the means of grace.

You trust him at his word

and you take those

small steps of faith,

maybe with faith,

which is this,

the distance between

my finger and my thumb.

You know,

but taking a thing

off of Nightbird

who died over the last week,

some of you know

who I'm referring to

and if you've seen that thing

in America's Got Talent,

I'm sort of playing

with what she said

when afterward she said

she only had a 2% chance

of survival

but she says

with this big smile

2% is not nothing

and I wish you all knew

how wonderful it was.

And all I can tell you

is if you have faith

this much,

that much faith

is in nothing

and I wish I could only

tell you how wonderful it is.

It's the difference

between heaven and hell.

It's the difference

between being used by God

and not.

Your faith can be this small

but it's wonderful.

Please stand.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

And if there's anyone here

or any who are watching,

if you feel a bit

of a pressure

that maybe

you're not quite sure

but you know

it's directed towards Christ,

I can tell you

that what it is

is if you've never

actually just acknowledged

that you want to belong

to Christ

then that's Jesus

calling you.

And all I can say

is there's no better time

than just to turn to him

in prayer

and say,

Jesus,

I want you to be

my Savior and my Lord

and I thank you

that you will never

let me go.

And you know

how terrible

and crummy I am

at keeping my commitments.

I just give myself

into your hands.

Never let me go.

There's no better time

than today to pray that.

And there's no better time

for us to recommit to that.

Not that we have to become

Christians over and over again

but every one of us

needs to recommit

and say,

yeah,

I've had an angry week

or I've had a self-indulgent week

or I've had a greedy week

or I've had an envious week

and I am so glad

I can come and be

in your presence,

God,

and receive grace

from you again

because I need it again

and again and again.

And I need to know

my weakness

and I need to know

I need to be formed

in compassion.

I need to be formed

in compassion.

So let's pray.

Father,

thank you for Jesus.

Thank you that God,

the Son of God,

came and walked

among and amid

his fallen creation.

Thank you that he is

truly Emmanuel.

He was truly Emmanuel,

God with us.

That he came,

Father,

and revealed

at the depths

of your compassion

and love and care

for us.

That he died for us

as our Savior.

That he is the one

who is our hope of glory.

That he alone

is the one

who has done everything

that has to be done

to make us right with you

and fit us for heaven.

And Father,

we ask that these stories

and Jesus

and who he is,

that they would become

more and more real

to our hearts

so that they would form us.

Father,

we don't want to be

people of anger.

We do want to be

people of compassion.

We want to be people

whose compassion

doesn't overwhelm

their justice

or their truth

or the sense

of right and wrong.

But Father,

we want to approach

these things

out of compassion

and out of being

just resting in you.

And Father,

we ask that your Holy Spirit

would move and work

in us as individuals

and us as a congregation

that that would be true of us.

And Father,

help us to be attentive

to how you would have us

minister to the hoi ploi

of the world

for your great glory,

trusting that you would

provide the resources

as we step out in faith.

And we ask all these things

in the name of Jesus

and all God's people said,

Amen.