"The Shepard and His Sheep" - Mark 6:30-44

You got a Bible, be in Mark 6. We continue walking through the book of Mark.

If you don't have a Bible, there's a blue Bible on the table.

I'll make it easy for you, page 933.

I can't speak for all the other Bibles, but that Bible is 933.

Before we get into this story, let me do a quick recap. It's been a minute since

we've done this. Mark begins this way.

Mark 1, 1, the beginning of the Gospels of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark is writing this as a proof text to say that Jesus is the one and only Son

of God, the Savior of the world, the fulfillment, the promised Messiah that

has been spoken of since the beginning of human history.

Mark's making a point. This Jesus deserves your worship.

He deserves your allegiance. He deserves your life.

This is the case that Mark is making. And I think it's important,

especially as we get to this story today, that we remind ourselves of that.

Because of course, we're going to talk about Jesus feeding the 5,000 men,

which means it's probably more than that. Thousands upon thousands of people.

And I think if we're not careful, like we can do a lot of times,

like Jesus walking on the water, which we'll talk about and things like that,

we tend to be miracle focused, right?

We just want to take that miracle and we want to explain it.

And we want to talk about how amazing it is.

When the purpose of those things is not that we would look at the miracle and

go, man, can you believe how awesome that miracle was?

The purpose of those things is to look at the one that's doing the miracle,

right? That's the point that Mark is making.

That's the point the gospels are making. We're first introduced to Jesus and

Mark through the ministry of John the Baptist.

Last week, we talked about how John was beheaded by cowardly and evil men and

women of the world because he was a courageous man of God, right?

That's what cowardly men and women do.

Anytime you're around a cowardly man or woman, you can be assured that there

will be not good things to come out of that.

And if they have enough power, inevitably it'll be death and destruction as

John experiences. But God really is sovereignly moving John out of the way as

Jesus' ministry takes off.

It's as if God is saying, okay, Jesus' ministry is getting ready to take off.

He sent out his disciples, right? People are really getting to know this Jesus

guy and John or Jesus is known to the people, but there's also John, right?

John's been there day one, if you will. John started all of this.

And I think God is sovereignly moving John out of the way at the hands of evil

men and women so that Jesus's ministry can take the forefront of those who might

still be tempted to say, Jesus is great,

but I've known John longer, right?

John baptized me in the river, right? I know this guy.

So now John is out of the way. And this week, again, we're met with a story that everyone knows.

It's a miracle that's recorded in every single gospel.

In fact, it's the only miracle that's recorded in every single gospel minus

maybe the resurrection if you want to consider that one.

But again, I think the purpose of this miracle is to make clear to those that

would read it or to see it, that Jesus Christ, again, is the true son of God,

the savior of the world, the promised Messiah, right?

And a pantheon of gods that they have options for and the pantheon of options

that we have of where we can place our time, where we can place our trust.

Mark is saying clearly over and over again, Jesus is the one that deserves those things.

I think, too, one thing that's missing when I've heard this story quite a few

times is the amount of Old Testament references.

And I would say Old Testament imagery that Mark uses.

Remember that Mark is really writing Peter's memoirs.

In a lot of ways, this is Peter's gospel. This is a lot of Peter's words,

Peter's experiences that Mark is writing down.

And Peter, as he does in his own penned letters, uses the Old Testament over and over and over again.

I think one of the reasons we miss this is, again, just our Western minds tend

to be a little more works focused.

We like the work. We like the doing.

And so there's a miracle that takes place and our minds immediately go,

that's the most important thing because that's what's happening.

That's the work that's taking place.

We can miss out on so many of these things. So let me just encourage you to

kind of warm up your Bible fingers a little bit.

We're going to be jumping back and forth between the Old Testament, New Testament.

But as we get started, let me just read this familiar passage.

In fact, I'll just read the first four or five verses and we'll walk through

it verse by verse as we love to do.

This is Mark 6, verse 30. Remember, John has just died. John's disciples go

Mark 6:30

and get his body and they go lay in the tomb.

And that story of the death of John the Baptist is kind of put in the middle.

So you've got Jesus sending out the 12 and then Jesus feeding the 5,000.

And again, I think there's some logic to that where Mark is going,

okay, Jesus sends out his 12 apostles, John gets beheaded, and now we're back on Jesus. Right.

He kind of puts the bracket into John's ministry there.

So it says the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.

Right. Jesus wants to rest. He's been going and going. The disciples have been

going and going. The crowds are pressing in on him. Remember so much so that

he had to get in a boat and push away from the shore.

But Jesus knows their frame. He knows his disciples. He knows they're tired.

He knows they're hungry.

And he wants them to have some rest. And he's not exempt from that.

He doesn't say, well, you guys go get some rest. I'm going to do some ministry.

He says, listen, we're all going to go rest. We need to rest.

The problem is the people catch on to this plan.

So they get in a boat, they start taking off. That's what it says.

And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Now, many saw them going and recognized them.

And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

This would have been the most frustrating thing in the world,

right? They get on a boat. They're like, hey, we're going to sneak away a little

bit. We're going to get some R&R, a little mini sabbatical here.

And the people from the shore see them.

And so what do they do? They're like, well, the boat's going that way.

So they run around this lake and they meet them on the other side.

This is literally like, hey man, I'm getting in a boat. I'm going to the other

side. I'm going to go take a rest.

And the people that you left are waiting for you on the other side.

Like, hey, hey, we heard you were coming over here and we just knew you would want us to be here.

Incredibly frustrating. Now, what's Jesus' response? Of course,

it would be just like ours, right? Man, get out of, can't you see what we're trying to do?

Isn't it the most frustrating thing when people won't take a hint?

Like if you're trying to get out of a conversation, you're doing the whole like,

yeah, man, that's yeah, cool.

All right. Well, I've got to I've got to be this thing. I've got to get out

of here. I think my kids are calling me.

You know, oh, is that Bigfoot over there like you're doing anything you can

to get out of this conversation?

And no matter what you do, they just keep coming back with. Oh,

there's one more thing I need to tell you. Oh, have you heard about this?

Have you heard about that?

So your natural response to that would be like, hey, can't you understand that

we're trying to get away from you?

I need you to leave me alone. What more can I do for you? What more do you need?

I just want to take a break.

This is not at all Jesus' response.

It says in verse 34, when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion

on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

He began to teach them many things, sheep without a shepherd.

That's how Jesus responds to the crowd. Not frustration, not anger, not indifference.

He describes them as sheep without a shepherd. Now, Now, oftentimes when we

think of sheep, you may think of like a Scottish hillside, right?

And there's just sheep dotted, just kind of there, and it's peaceful and it's calm.

That is not necessarily the picture that is painted in this passage.

This is more of a spiritual emergency, that these sheep are running around in

the wilderness, right? They're literally running around bodies of water to try

and get places because they're looking for direction. They don't know where to go.

They don't know what to do, but they think that Jesus has the answers to their problems.

And so Jesus' response is not frustration, but it says it is compassion.

This is a Greek word that's only used to describe Jesus in the New Testament.

This phrase, this Greek phrase is only used to describe Jesus.

And I'm going to butcher this pronunciation. So if you go home and learn it, congratulations.

But it's splagidzomai, splagidzomai. I hope I'm close.

Slogidzomai. And it's again, used only about Jesus.

And the literal interpretation of this is to have one's bowels yearn,

to have someone's insides yearn.

Maybe you've seen this, whether you have a kid or you have a good friend or

something that when something happens to them, it's not just a head thing of, you know, I should help.

You know, I should probably help out. They look like they're in trouble.

They look like they could use some help. No, it's every fiber in his being.

It's every bone crying out.

And what is the cry? Not anger, not frustration, not indifference.

It is compassion that flows out of Jesus, even though these people have chased him down.

The compassion flows out. Why? Because they're like sheep without a shepherd.

They're wandering in the wilderness. Sheep are not known for their independence.

They're not known for their ability to fix their own problems. They need a shepherd.

Here's your first Old Testament reference. If you have a Bible,

you can turn over to Ezekiel 34. If you're in the Blue Bibles, it's page 805.

Ezekiel foresaw this problem. I should say God foresaw this problem and expressed

it through his prophet Ezekiel.

This is not a new problem for the people of God. This is not a new problem that

they are like sheep without a shepherd.

Ezekiel 34 8 We should start doing sword drills again Just like middle of the

sermon Just alright everybody hands up Thumbs on the outside Okay I have a PTSD.

All right, this is Ezekiel 34, eight. As I live, declares the Lord God,

surely because my sheep have become prey

and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd

and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have

fed themselves and have not fed my sheep.

Why do God's people wander in the wilderness without a shepherd?

Because the people that are supposed to be shepherds are feeding themselves.

He says, they don't seek them out.

That's literally the words that God uses. They have not searched for my sheep,

right? They've fed themselves.

This is a reference to not only the Old Testament priesthood,

not only the Old Testament leadership, but this is exactly what Jesus sees in his time.

These people are so wandering in such a way that they're running around lakes

and rivers to try and find someone, specifically Jesus, to give them some direction.

The church is always at its weakest when its shepherds look more like sovereigns,

when its shepherds look more like those who rule over people instead of serving people.

They don't exist to serve the sheep. In fact, the sheep exist to serve them.

All the leadership in Israel cared about is that the sheep, the people of God,

gave their taxes, came to the temple when they were supposed to,

and did what they were told.

Once those three things were done, the Pharisees could care less,

right? The temple priests could care less. They don't care about the people.

Now, what's God's remedy for this? Surely it's just some managerial reform,

right? You just need some new priests, need some new Pharisees,

need some new leadership. And the truth is he's done that already, right?

He's sent a king. Those kings failed. Right?

He sent judges in the Old Testament. They ultimately failed.

He sent prophets and they were ignored and murdered.

So what is God's plan? Ezekiel 34, verse nine.

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God,

behold, I am against the shepherds.

You see that in Jesus's own ministry, as he stares down the religious leaders

of the day, I am against the shepherds and I will require my sheep at their

hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep.

No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue them from their

mouths that they may not be food for them.

This is how the Bible pictures people that are running around in the world as food.

Every single person you know that doesn't have Jesus as their shepherd,

the Bible describes as food, as prey, right?

The devil is easily able to conquer

someone who has no shepherd or whose shepherd cares nothing for them.

Jump down to verse 23 in Ezekiel 34.

The Lord says, I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.

He shall feed them and be their shepherd. Now, Ezekiel is written about 400

years after King David, right? This isn't about King David.

This is about the promised king from David's line.

And so what is God's plan? My sheep are like prey.

Their shepherds are like evil men who care nothing about the sheep. So what is he going to do?

I will set up them over, I will have one shepherd, my servant,

the one that I'll send. He'll feed them.

He'll feed them and be their shepherd. Jump down to verse 28.

They shall no more be prey to the nations, nor shall the beast of the land devour them.

They shall dwell securely and none shall make them afraid.

Verse 31. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.

God. Ezekiel 34 should be ringing in our ears when we read Mark 6.

That's the way that Mark writes it. That's what Peter wants us to think about.

He doesn't just want us to come up with our own picture of who a shepherd is.

And we can do that. And I don't necessarily think it's wrong to say,

well, what do you think a shepherd is? And what do you think shepherds are good

for? When you think of a good shepherd, what do you think of?

When you think of a bad shepherd, what do you think of?

You can do those things. The issue is the Bible has already given you the answer

to all of those questions.

You don't have to wonder what kind of shepherd Jesus is. Ezekiel 34 has told you.

Jesus is the embodiment of Ezekiel 34 in the flesh.

You're seeing it before your very eyes in Mark 6, that these people are like

prey to the nations, that there's nothing that these people have to keep them

from being devoured by sin and death.

And here is Jesus, The shepherd sent, promised shepherd sent by God to do what?

To bring them in, to love them, to care for them.

While their worldly shepherds use them to get what they want,

God's son, the sent shepherd, exhausted, hungry, tired, what does he do?

He has compassion on them. From his innermost being, he has compassion on them.

Do you know Jesus this way?

Do you think of Jesus this way? Or do you push away from the notion that he

has compassion for lost, dumb sheep.

I'm astounded at how many people can have really good quote unquote theology,

but still not know that Jesus cares for them, has compassion for them,

loves them, right? It's all intellectual.

You ask a question, they give you an answer.

You want to know a church history answer, a theology answer,

you want to talk about a specific thing, right?

We have all the answers, but those do not endear you to Jesus.

They just make you someone who knows everything about him. And there's nothing wrong with that.

But here's the deal. These people in Mark 6, they have no idea who Jesus is.

We're going to find out real quick.

The disciples still have no idea. They still don't trust him.

They've had him in the boat. They've seen what he can do. They've seen him heal

people. They've seen him bring people back from the dead. He has sent them out.

He has sent them out. He gives them power over demons. and they're still going,

this doesn't make any sense.

Jesus is a compassionate shepherd. He sees you.

He is not deterred by your lack of understanding, your innate inability to obey

what he says, your sense of unworthiness that you have, your past or current sins and struggles.

He has compassion on these people as they seek him.

And what does the compassion drive him to do? This is a really important question.

What does the compassion drive him to do first? Not a miracle.

His compassion does not cause him first and foremost to do a miracle.

It doesn't cause him to be really, really kind and do really,

really nice things and try and make them feel better.

No, his compassion drives him to teach.

Verse 35, sorry, the end of verse 34, and he began to teach them many things.

He begins to do what he came to do to proclaim the gospel.

We've seen this in almost every chapter of Mark, but it's laid out perfectly in chapter one.

He came to preach the gospel of repentance and faith.

His goal is not a spiritual experience, though there will be one.

Everyone's going to experience something very spiritual, but that's not his goal.

Listen, his goal for you this morning and for every single person that has come

to church all over Tower this morning is not a spiritual experience.

It's not. It's not that you would feel a certain way, that you would

feel something different, that you would experience something that would change

your life in such a way that you would think, man, I will never be the same

until Tuesday when someone cuts you off in traffic and you're like,

nope, feel exactly the same as I did the Tuesday before.

That's what we're chasing so many times is I wanna feel a certain way.

I don't like the way I feel, so I'm gonna go do something different.

That's not Jesus' goal. His goal is to teach.

And this should not surprise us. When Jesus is being tempted in the wilderness

is by Satan himself. What is his rebuttal to Satan?

Man does not live by bread alone, but from every word that flows from the mouth of God.

Jesus knows that he's going to feed these people, but he knows that even miraculous

bread and miraculous fish won't satisfy them. They'll need to eat tomorrow.

They'll need to eat something else. And this is why so many people chase spiritual

experiences because guess what?

You need another one and another one and another one.

And really you need a bigger one and a bigger one and a bigger one,

right? You need more emotion. You need more tears.

You need more hands. You need more dance. You need louder music. You need whatever it is.

You need bigger incense, right? You need more smoke.

You need brighter lights. You need more stained glass. The Gaithers need to

be louder, whatever, pick your thing.

But we're always looking for an experience. And in and of itself, that's not a bad thing.

Jesus never bemoans people for asking him for miracles or for things.

That's not, he has no problem with those things.

The issue is when those things become the main thing, when those things become

what you're seeking after, there's a reason that you'll never get enough.

You've probably heard this language before. I hate it. Just so you know,

let me put my cards with it. I hate this language.

If you've gone to a church or a conference or whatever, and they call them worship experience.

Kareth will know this probably because I probably had to like vent to her during this moment.

We were at a camp one year and that's what they called the worship nights.

6.30, worship experience.

And I probably didn't say it out loud because I realized real quick,

like I'm becoming kind of old and crotchety at 27 and I probably need to like,

like my trajectory is not good. If I'm this mad about things now.

But why do I hate that? Because this isn't an experience. This isn't supposed to be a moment, right?

These are moments. These are times right now, even, where we can open the word

of God and do what Mark is telling us to do, to see more clearly the person of Jesus Christ,

to see more clearly that he is who he says he is, that he did what he said he

was going to do and that he will do what he says he is going to do. That's the point.

That's why you're here. That's why you go to church. That's why you read your

Bible. That's why you worship in the car. That's why you pray.

Jesus knows, right? He's going to give them some bread, but they'll be hungry again.

Remind yourself also, as we're reading Mark, for Peter, what does Jesus tell Peter?

Remember, Peter denies Jesus, and they have this moment where they're sitting

by the lake or eating breakfast, and Peter is still feeling the weight of that denial.

He's still waiting on Jesus to tell him, like, hey, just so you know,

hadn't forgot about how you failed.

Hey, just so you know, you were a front runner for the leadership position,

but now you've taken a back seat because of that failure.

What does Jesus tell Peter when he reinstates him?

Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. He's not telling Peter to go from town to town and start a bakery.

He's not telling Peter to go from town to town and start a seafood restaurant

where he serves fish and bread just as a reminder of the fact that he's not

telling Peter to do that.

What's he telling Peter to do? Feed them the word.

Peter, everywhere you go, feed them the word. Give them the word of God.

Preach the gospel. People are saved when the gospel is preached and God's people

are built up when the word of God is proclaimed.

It's what saves people. It's what grows people. Jesus knows that.

And now Peter knows that. And now we know that.

Your job is not to go out in the world and try and do miracles.

Your job is to go out in the world and proclaim the word of God. Feed his sheep.

We say this often here, but the word of God does the work of God in the people

of God by the power of God.

Feed my sheep. This is why we are the way we are at Trinity.

If you haven't caught on, we open our Bibles a lot. We read our Bibles a lot.

All right, we don't do a lot of topical stuff. We don't do a lot of topical

lessons. We open our Bibles.

We read our Bibles. We study our Bibles. Not so that we can go in the world

and go, I know my Bible better than you.

But that's so we can go in the world and say, listen, I know Jesus in such a

way. I want you to know Jesus that way.

Well, how do you know Jesus is who he says he is? Because he tells me right here.

So that's the first thing. The first thing that we see in this passage is the shepherd.

The second thing we see is the crisis, the crisis moment.

Verse 35, and when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said,

this is a desolate place and the hour is now late.

Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages themselves

to get themselves something to eat.

Now, I love this because this is the most disciple thing you can ever do.

If you've ever worked for anybody that you know, if you go over there and say

like, hey, we're done, they're going to be like, no, work harder.

So what do you do? You find another reason. Hey, it's getting late,

right? It's getting late. They're getting hungry.

I think the compassionate thing to do Jesus would be to send them home so they can eat, right?

Maybe we can just get them out of here. You know, they're all looking at Jesus

and like, they don't have watches, right? They're looking at their sundial watches

and they're trying to figure out what's going on.

And you know, all the disciples are like, all right, man, land the plane,

land the plane. You've said in conclusion 19 times, right? Jesus was a great

pastor. I'm sure he did that.

And the disciples are like, hey, listen, we came out here for a retreat.

You said, you the one that said we needed rest. and that we needed to eat. You said that, not us.

Then we show up and there's 5,000 people here and you got off the daggum boat

and started talking to them.

The disciples say, hey, let's get back on the boat, man. I'm tired. I'm tired of this.

I think it's safe to say that the compassion that Jesus has for these people.

The disciples don't have yet.

The disciples do not have that yet. I say that in some ways as an encouragement.

If you have a hard time with compassion, If you have a hard time with grace

and mercy and showing that to people, you're in good company.

The disciples have seen a lot of things and they're still having a hard time with that.

It doesn't mean not to strive for it. It does mean that you're in good company.

What is Jesus' response?

The worst thing that they could ever hear. But he answered them,

you give them something to eat.

And they said to him, sarcastically, well, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth

of bread and give it to them to eat?

So the disciples have lost their patience.

They believe in Jesus. They know who Jesus is. Again, he's given them a lot

of things. They've all just gone out.

Ministered, cast out demons, right? This is obviously going really well for them.

I think there's a small part of the disciples that are still fighting this idea

that he chose me because of how awesome I am.

And that manifests itself in, Jesus, you're kind of stupid.

This request makes no sense. In fact, this request is outlandish.

Do you not remember at the beginning of chapter six, they wouldn't have said

that, right? I remember at the beginning of chapter six, when you told us to

go out in the world and take no money, right?

You want us to buy 5,000 people plus a bunch of food. We don't have enough food to buy 50 people bread.

What's the point? The point is, yeah, you can't do it. That's the point.

If you want to understand your Bible, this is a point you have to get.

If not, you will turn into someone that's constantly trying to live a perfect

life, even though you can't.

The commands don't reveal our abilities. They reveal our duty.

And the two things are not the same.

The commands that Jesus gives you and the commands that Jesus gives them do not reveal our ability.

They reveal our duty. You go, well, how is that fair? I have said it was fair.

Luther has a quote in his famous book, The Bondage of the Will,

and this is a little bit paraphrased, but it says, some think that man is mocked

by an impossible commandment,

whereas I maintain that by this means man is admonished and awakened to see

his own impotence or his own inability.

All right, Luther makes this argument that when you see an impossible commandment,

that our response to that should be, I can't do that. And that's good to know. That's good to know.

Because from Genesis to Revelation, the incapable are commanded to do precisely

the impossible so that the God who enables them would get all the glory and

they would receive all the joy.

This is the story of the Bible. This is how this works.

When God comes to Abraham and says, I'm going to make you the father of many

nations. He goes, I don't think you know who you're talking to.

And he goes, I know exactly who I'm talking to.

He comes to Moses. He says, hey, I'm going to use you to free my people from,

slavery. And Moses goes, I have a stutter.

This isn't really working for me. I can't really do that.

Over and over again in the Bible, pick your story. In fact, there's multiple

stories like Gideon where God thinks the odds are too good. And so he comes

to Gideon and says, hey, I need you to parse down this army a little more.

So why? So that when you win, people will know that I'm the one that won.

Augustine famously has the quote, give what you command, O Lord,

and command whatever you wish.

In other words, Lord, enable me to do the things that I can't do on my own.

Listen, you hear this command more than you think you do in the gospels because

it comes like this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is a command that you cannot do in and of yourself. Did you know that?

That command, believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ is even more outlandish than, hey, feed 8,000 people.

We don't have anything. Go feed them anyway.

The Bible over and over again speaks of your inability to do those things.

No one comes to the Father or no one comes to God unless the Father draws them.

Ephesians 2, you're dead in your trespasses and sins.

And so we see these two things that seem to be opposed to each other.

Well, how can I be dead in my sins?

Which means throwing me a life preserver doesn't matter if I'm dead at the bottom of the ocean.

Giving me CPR doesn't matter if my heart has gone cold.

So how can that be true? And then the other thing be, well, believe in the Lord Jesus.

Call on him. Dead people can't do that What's going on here What's going on

here Is the exact same thing That's happening in Mark 6.

Commands of God are not meant to make you think that you're able to do them

on your own. The commands of God are made for you to realize that you can't, that you can't do them.

When you call on God and you say, and I have no ability to do these things.

I have no ability to accomplish these things. It's as if God looks at you and goes, now you get it.

Now you get it. Now you're starting to understand.

And he's teaching that lesson to his disciples. Remember, I've said it multiple

times. I think it's important. The disciples are not some random guys at this point.

They've got some stars on their sleeves. They've got some pendants on their

robes. They've accomplished quite a bit at this point for Jesus.

And yet what thwarts them? A meal.

Cast out demons, hey, feed these people, Jesus, can't do it. Can't do it.

When God has commanded you something that feels insurmountable,

that's a good place to be.

The worst place you can be is like the rich young ruler where he comes to Jesus

and says, hey, what do I need to do to be saved? And Jesus gives him a list.

And he walks away sad because he doesn't understand that list is not meant for

him to be something to do. It's meant for him to say, I can't do those things.

And Jesus goes, yeah, that's right.

You can't. You can't do those things.

And I don't know what that is for you. You can make a list 900 things long,

right? Forgiving something or someone that has done something to you that you

feel like is unforgivable.

Loving someone in a way that's incredibly uncomfortable for you,

right? Showing compassion and mercy and patience in a way that you don't like to do.

Or the flip side of that, stepping up to lead and saying hard things,

having hard conversations.

Maybe that's hard for you. Maybe the compassion comes easy, but the boldness comes hard.

Laying aside a sin that you hold so dear because you feel like if you gave up

that sin, if you gave up that thing, you would lose out on so much,

right? All of these things are insurmountable tasks for every person in this room.

And the point of all of those commands is, go to Christ.

That you feel the incredible weight of God's commands to you so that you would

run to the one person who can enable you to complete them.

Charles Spurgeon says it this

way, I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me upon the rock of ages.

What's the hardest command you have? What's the thing that you have been putting

off doing for the Lord forever because you feel like there's just no way,

I can't say that. I can't do that.

I can't have that conversation. I can't forgive that. I can't give up that sin.

I can't get rid of that bitterness. I can't do that.

Throw yourself on the rock of ages.

And that's what the disciples are forced to do. Jesus says, listen,

feed them. And they say, listen, we can't do that.

We have no ability to do that. So we've got the shepherd, we've got the crisis,

and of course, the feast.

Let me just read this last bit here.

He said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see.

And they found out, they said five and two fish. Now there's more to this story in other gospels.

I've heard whole sermons on the kid that gives the loaves and the fish.

We don't even know his name. Mark doesn't, so we won't spend a ton of time on it.

In 2037, when we go through John, we'll do it. Okay. But that's what they have.

That's what they come back with, some loves and some fish.

He said to them, sorry, and when they had found out, they said five and two

fish. Then he commanded them to all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down.

Let's just stop there for a quick second. Again, so much, so much Old Testament language.

What's the first thing Jesus has them do? He divides them in groups,

just like who in Exodus 18?

Moses, right? This is what Moses does.

They're in the wilderness and Moses divides the people up into groups.

Why? Because Jesus is the better Moses.

He's the better Moses who has not just delivered his people from temporary slavery

to the Egyptians, but eternal slavery to sin and eternal death.

What else do you see? The grass is green.

Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd.

Shall not want. What does it say? He makes me lie down, where?

In green pastures, right?

What else do you see? Well, you're going to see the bread is plentiful.

Just as God provided manna in the wilderness to his people in the Exodus,

now God in the flesh and blood is going to provide bread for these people in

their own wilderness, these lost sheep.

Over and over and over again, Mark, and ultimately I think Peter is trying to

get you to see, listen, this Jesus is who he says he is.

And you're thinking, you think Moses is great? Look what this guy's going to do.

You think King David was great? Listen, the shepherd that David talks about

in Psalm 23 as being so great is the one who sits in flesh and blood 2,000 years ago in Galilee.

You think manna from heaven is a cool deal? Listen, Jesus came in flesh and

blood. He takes bread and multiplies it over and over and over again.

This is the nuts and bolts of it. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and

fifties and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven.

He said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set

before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.

And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces of the fish.

And those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

Now, I don't know the logistics of this operation.

I know they divided them up into

groups. I imagine how this worked is the disciples would go back to Jesus.

They would get their fill in baskets. They would go to these different groups.

They would feed them fish and bread. And then guess what? They would run out. Where would they go?

Back to Jesus. And I don't know. I have no idea.

Every time they come back, is he just sitting on the bread? Does he have it behind it? I don't know.

But what we do know is that there is enough bread that every time they come

back to get more, every time they come back and need more to provide for God's

people, he provides it for them. He gives it to them.

Over and over and over again, right?

He is the shepherd. He is the better Moses. He will lead you to green pastors

and he will provide for your every need. He is the one.

He is the one. And there's a point here for the disciples to learn that we can

also learn, right? Every single time they ran out of bread and fish,

they had to go back to Jesus. They had to.

And I think most of the time when I hear people say, well, I'm just kind of burnt out.

You know, I got burned by the church. I got burned by this. I got burned by

that. I've just been working too hard.

And I know people who would say that that's not true of them.

But then when you meet them at church, it's pretty obvious. They may still go

to church, but they're bitter and they're angry and they hate everything that's

going on. And if everyone would

just listen to them, everything would be better. It's the same spirit.

The reason that that takes place is because they've stopped going back to Jesus to get fed.

When you stop going back to Christ, when you stop letting him satisfy you and

you let the things of the world, and I would say even the church itself try and feed you by itself,

you're on a one-way ticket to bitterness and anger and hurt.

The beauty of this is this shepherd is not just a shepherd.

He is a king and he is a Messiah. He will not only provide them bread,

but his body will be broken for them and his blood will flow for them and for us.

What is Jesus' ultimate command at the Last Supper? We did this last week.

Eat of my flesh, drink of my blood.

He has not come just to fill their bellies, but to save their souls.

And to do that, they will not need to eat the bread that comes from his hands,

not even miracle bread, but they will need to eat of the body that's been broken for them.

This is still true of you and me.

There's so much left over here that the disciples are able to take home some from themselves.

Again, I think that's one of the easiest practical applications from this thing,

is if you're in service, if you're serving the Lord, which I hope in some way,

shape, or form you are, and you get burned out and you feel like,

man, I've just been used and abused and.

Went away to get rest, was met with 5,000 plus people, met them with compassion.

His disciples were the ones that were trying to fight that compassion.

And what does Jesus do? Hey, I'll give you enough to handle this. I'll give you enough.

Whatever it is that I call you to do, I'm going to let you do it.

I'll give you the strength. I'll give you the words, right? If you feel,

and someone's asked you to do something, your first inclinations go,

man, I'm just not worthy to do that, good.

That's where you're supposed to be. But trust the Lord.

Biblically speaking, ultimately, this culminates where? Revelation 19,

the marriage supper of the Lamb, when all of God's people will sit around his

table and they will eat and have their fill for eternity. Why?

Not because of something they've done, because of something he's done for them.

We are invited to the table and we eat and drink until we have our fill forever.

And think of it every single day, that will be your existence.

To eat the food and drink provided to us by our King, our Messiah,

our shepherd, who has had compassion on us.

As we close, just three quick questions. Do you know the shepherd?

This isn't just a question about salvation. I think most of us in here,

I mean, I know everyone in the room.

I think most everyone in the room would say, I know who that shepherd is.

I'm saved. I believe in the Lord.

Do you know him as a shepherd?

Do you know him as someone who has compassion on you, who's patient with you, who's kind with you?

But no matter how long you've struggled with a certain sin, how long you've

struggled with a certain feeling, how much you've messed up things,

that his response to you when he sees you is not, look at this dumb sheep,

man, they just can't figure anything out.

But his response to you is one of compassion. Compassion.

Of grace and mercy. Don't just believe in who he is.

Trust his heart for you. This is the sovereign Lord of the universe that could

be anywhere he wants at any time.

And we just read a story of him being in Galilee 2,000 plus years ago,

tired and hungry, but having compassion on people.

That same Jesus lives to make intercession for you.

Do you know him as the shepherd? Number two, do you trust him in crisis?

Do you trust him in crisis? Do you scoff at his commands?

Is there certain commands that Jesus gives you that you look at and go,

that one's just not for me, right? That call to compassion, that call to be

bold, that call to forgive, that call to lay aside every weight and hindrance, right?

There's just certain things I can't do. And Jesus loves me and he knows my frame.

He knows that he would never ask me to do that.

This story is a reminder. He does know your frame and he is asking you to do

it. He is asking you to do it.

A reminder, his command to you does not reveal your ability.

His command to you does not reveal your ability, but his willingness.

Christ is willing to save to the uttermost any that would draw near to him.

Will you entrust yourself to him and say, Jesus, I can't do these things,

man. I just can't let that go.

I can't get rid of this bitterness. I can't get rid of this anger.

I can't step up and lead. I can't have that conversation.

Well, you just lay that at his feet and say, listen, I can't do these things,

but you've called me to them.

And if you've called me to them, I trust that you'll give me the ability to do those things.

Do you trust him in crisis? Last thing, are you feasting with him?

Are you feasting with him?

All right. We live in a place, it's funny, we were talking about Cuba this morning,

but we live in a place that's the exact opposite.

We were able to get our fill of just about anything we want.

Even if you don't have a ton of financial means, you can still have a whole lot of something.

You can get on your phone and be entertained for hours upon hours upon hours.

Maybe your thing is reading. Maybe your thing is movies. Maybe your thing is

music. Maybe your thing is sports. I have no idea. Maybe it's hunting and fishing. I have no clue.

You aren't careful, what you will do is you will snack so much on the things

that the world offers you that when Christ puts a feast in front of you,

you go, you know, I'm just kind of full.

I'm just kind of full. I just don't really have any room for this.

You go, well, if Jesus put something in front of me, I would always eat it, right?

If Christ was here right now and he put food in front of me, I would always eat it.

Well, it's a pretty easy way to diagnose that in your life. I mean, how's your prayer life?

How's your Bible reading, right? Are you discipling someone?

Are you making disciples?

Are you being discipled? Are you doing the thing that God's called you to do?

Because oftentimes the reason we don't do that, the reason we don't feast on

the things that God puts in front of us is because we're just so full of everything else.

I think too, we tend to live in the past. We get lost in the future.

We say things like, you know, my life just hasn't gone the way I want it to go.

My goals and dreams just seem kind of lost. I wish I would have done that differently.

I wish I would have had that conversation differently. I wish I wouldn't have made that mistake.

Looking for fulfillment. And when we don't find it, then we look back in our

lives and think, what could I have done differently to have more fulfillment?

I think Satan loves nothing more than for you to think that way.

Man, if I would have done that, if I wouldn't have done that,

if I would have invested this way, I wouldn't have said that,

if I wouldn't have left that job, if I would have taken that job.

This is incredibly not the best pastoral way to say this advice,

but that's a dumb way to think.

And the reason I say that is this, it's a dumb way to think because you have

no ability to change those things.

Zero ability to change those things.

The thing that you did that you hate the most, that you wish you could go back

and change, that you wish you could change, the investment you wish you would

have made, the change in your parenting or the change in your life,

the decision, whatever it is,

whatever it is, you sit around and go, if that would have been different, my life would be better.

That is Satan's way of getting you to go.

Well, God can't take care of it now. There's no way that God could give me fulfillment

now because of that, because of what I did, because of what mistake I made or didn't make.

There's no way that God could do that. And man, I think Mark 6 is a case study

on who are you to tell God what he can and can't do? Who are you?

God is able to do more than you could ever ask or think.

And that starts with, and will ultimately end with Revelation 19,

feasting with him, spending time with him, eating his bread,

drinking the wine of his blood, like doing the things that he has called you to do.

Not doing something for him, but spending time with him.

All right. Do you know the shepherd? Do you trust him in crisis?

And are you feasting with him? Let's pray.

As always, thank you for your word. Thank you for the chance to open it freely,

for a place like this, where we have chairs and air conditioning and coffee

and donuts. God, this is, it's almost too easy.

I pray that it's not lost on us. What a blessing it is to be here week in and week out.

God, not only that, but with people who love each other, that love to sit around

and talk to each other and get to know about what's going on in each other's lives.

Incredible blessing. But God, all that is for naught if we don't remind ourselves

every week that we have not come simply to enjoy each other's company or to

have a spiritual experience.

We have come to know more about who your son Jesus Christ is,

to get a clearer picture of who he is.

God, that's what the miracles were for. That's why he stopped and had compassion and taught people.

Jesus wanted people to know who he was.

God, as we get a clearer picture of that, as we see him more and more clearly,

maybe this morning as we see him for the first time in a long time as someone

that has compassion on his sheep,

who is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 made in flesh and blood.

God, maybe we need to trust him in crisis. Whether that's a crisis of something

we need to do or something we need to believe, receive a command that you've

given us that we have failed to keep because we think there's no way I can do that,

will we trust you in crisis?

Be reminded that your commands to us are not meant to give us a list of do's

and don'ts. They're meant to drive us to the feet, to the foot of the cross,

to be reminded, you're right, I can't do those things.

Do we know the shepherd? Will we trust him in crisis? God, will we just feast?

Will we feast with the Lord? Will we eat of his bread?

Will we remind ourselves of his broken body and his blood poured out for us?

Or will we sit and meditate on the past or on the present or on the future?

What could have been, what might have been, what things would be different?

God, would you break us of that?

Would you break us of that foolish way of thinking and help us to rest in the

one who feeds us every single day?

That the bread of life comes from the words of God. we thank you for that Amen.