Our Provider (Mark 8:1-21)

I wanted to pray for Afghanistan this morning.

Just everything that's going on over there.

But it kind of ties into our message.

So I want to talk just a little bit about that before we actually pray for them.

In our text today, and actually, sorry, we're going to be in Mark chapter 8, starting in verse 1.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

If you need a Bible to raise your hand, we'd love to bring you one.

But in our text today, we're going to see Jesus face insurmountable odds.

He's going to encounter thousands and thousands of people in need.

He's going to face a lack of faith from his followers and from his critics.

And then he's calmly going to provide and meet each person where they are.

And I hope that we can relate that to what we see happening around us in Afghanistan, in our own country with COVID numbers going back up, with the anger and the hate over masks and vaccines, facing a recall right now in our own state and the divisiveness that's coming from that.

We look at all of that, and I don't know about you, but for me, it's really easy to lose hope too quickly.

You know, when I see what's happening in Afghanistan and how Christians are on a hit list.

You know, how mothers are throwing their children over barbed wire fences, just hoping that they'll have a better life in the arms of soldiers.

But it's really easy to lose hope when you see things like that and you hear about things like that going on.

But we need to remember that Jesus sees the need.

That it's not too big a thing for him.

When we feel overwhelmed and when we feel helpless, maybe even hopeless, we have a God that sees and he cares.

He has the power to do something, just like we're gonna see in our texts this morning.

And we need to remember that all of this does not put the church in danger of being wiped out in Afghanistan.

It may change the way that they're gonna have to do things, but the church through history has flourished in times of persecution, and God has done miraculous things to protect his people over and over and over again.

You know, so in all of this, I think we need to realize that God can work all things together for good for those that love him in Afghanistan.

And we need to be in prayer as believers for those people.

You know, I think of 2 Corinthians 10, 4, it says, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

You know, right now in our our spiritual weapon that we have that we can use right now is prayer.

So we're gonna be praying as a church.

We're gonna be praying that God would use this for revival in Afghanistan, that those Christians can be a light in a very dark place right now.

We're gonna pray that God would shield them from the Taliban and from the enemy.

We're gonna pray for the Afghan nationals, uh, and we're also gonna be praying for our government officials as as uh scripture tells us to.

So let's do that right now.

Lord, as we look at what's happening um so far away, Lord, it's easy to become numb to those things.

But Lord, I pray that we wouldn't.

That we would know that our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering, are hiding, are running or being hunted down right now.

So, Lord, we pray that you would strengthen them, that you would fill them with your spirit, that you would provide for their every need, that you would shield them from everything that they need shielding from.

And Lord, that your divine hand of power would come and would stop the nonsense that's happening over there right now.

But we pray for our government leaders that are in decision-making places, that have the power to do things about this, Lord, that you would lead them and that you would guide them, even if they don't know you.

Lord, we know that you can go you can guide and direct the heart of kings and leaders and presidents and senators and congress people.

Lord, would you do that right now?

And would you provide an amazing work, Lord?

We know that you can work all things together for good.

And we pray that you would do that now for your kingdom, for your glory, but that you would bring revival in Afghanistan.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Everybody said.

Amen.

Okay, so like I said, we're gonna be in Mark chapter 8, starting in verse 1.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

So would you please read uh stand with me if you're able for the reading of God's word.

It said, In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat.

He called the disciples and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they've already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat.

If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way.

And some of them have come a long distance.

His disciples answered him, Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed these people?

How many loaves do you have?

he asked them.

Seven, they said.

He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.

Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples, and set before to set before the people.

So they served them to the crowd.

They also had a few small fish, and after he had blessed them, he said these were to be served as well.

They ate and were satisfied.

Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces, about four thousand were there.

He dismissed them, and he immediately got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, demanding of him a sign from heaven to test him.

Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, Why does this generation demand a sign?

Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.

Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side.

The disciples had forgotten to take bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

Then he gave them strict orders.

Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread.

Aware of this, he said to them, Why are you discussing the fact you have no bread?

Don't you understand or comprehend?

Do you have hardened hearts?

Do you have eyes and not see?

Do you have ears and not hear?

And do you not remember?

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?

Twelve, they told him.

When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?

Seven, they said.

And he said to them, Don't you understand yet?

You may be seated.

So I want you to know before we get started here this morning that I never want to really make fun of the disciples, even though sometimes they can be a very big target.

But I want us to understand that we wouldn't have behaved any differently than they would have.

You know, we have to realize they didn't have the Bible in their hands like we do this morning.

They didn't have the Holy Spirit living inside of them to counsel them and instruct them and direct them in everyday life.

But even still, we read texts like this, and they do some real head scratching stuff, you know, where you're just looking at it and being like, really?

Can you be, you know, really that dense, even though they didn't have those things?

So instead of making fun of them, when we come to a part in our passage today where they do something head scratching, I'm just gonna go like this.

Because there's gonna be a lot of opportunities for that.

But with that, I was actually meeting with Luke earlier in the week, and he was saying that he heard from a pastor one time that if you read the gospels and we're reading it and picturing ourselves in the shoes of Jesus, we're reading the gospels wrong.

We need to picture it from the perspective of the disciples or from the Pharisees or from the scribes.

We're the dense ones in the story that's doing the head scratching stuff.

We're not reading this from Jesus' perspective.

So let's jump in with that in verse one.

It says, In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat.

So right there, this should be jogging our memory of something that we saw a few weeks ago.

It's the same setup that we saw for the feeding of the five thousand.

There's a large crowd, there's nothing to eat, and they're in the middle of nowhere.

Look at the second half of verse 1.

It says, He called the disciples and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they've already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat.

If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way.

And some of them have come a long distance.

So again, we see Jesus has compassion on the crowd, just like the feeding of the five thousand, proving again that Jesus wants to provide for his sheep.

And he wants to especially provide for these sheep that are before him without a shepherd.

And it says that they've been with him for three days.

So at what point the food ran out, we're not exactly sure.

But hunger has become a noticeable issue that Jesus is looking at.

Um, and something that's interesting is these people have been with them for three days and they're hungry, yet they haven't left yet.

They're willing to go without food because they're enthralled with Jesus, and they're enthralled with his teaching.

So, as practical application today, I'm gonna teach through lunch, and then we're just gonna see how that goes.

No, I'm just kidding.

See the first person to exit this.

No.

Um, but some of these people may have not eaten for three days because they heard about Jesus and they just took off and they wanted to go be with him.

And it says that Jesus even said, if I send them home, they're gonna collapse on the way.

So some of these people, it's not just like, oh, I missed lunch.

Like, they've gone a couple days without food and they're starting to lose strength.

So there is a real need.

Jesus recognizes it, and he brings it up to the disciples to kind of see what they want to do about it.

Verse 4 His disciples answered him, Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed these people?

So, I just see Jesus kind of going, you know, a little bit like that.

Now, I want you to pretend that you've never read through the gospels before.

And you're reading through Mark like this is the first time.

And in chapter six, we see the feeding of the 5,000.

So we've just read that.

Go through chapter 7, we hit chapter 8, and it says, In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat.

What would your first thought be?

Or what should our first thought be?

Oh, you know, I wonder if Jesus is gonna do the same thing that he did last time and multiply the food, right?

Which you'd think would be the disciples' first response, too.

But no, their response is that it's almost as if they don't remember the feeding of the 5,000 at all.

Almost like it never happened.

You know, there's some differences that we're gonna see between the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 that we're looking at today.

You know, the 5,000 is the disciples, uh, it's the disciples that recognize the need for the food of the people.

Jesus tells them to feed them, and they say, basically, we don't have the resources.

We don't have the money to feed all of these people.

Now, in contrast, today with the 4,000, it's Jesus that presents the dilemma to the people.

And I almost wonder if Jesus is intentionally like throwing them like the softball question, you know, thinking, surely they're gonna know what to do this time when we have this huge crowd of people and they're hungry.

And the disciples respond with, Where can we even find food in such a desolate place?

And I read this and it's like, okay, I know these guys didn't have the Holy Spirit yet, but really, like they've already completely forgotten about this.

They didn't think, you know, for a second to say, hey Jesus, you know, let's see what the resources are that we have that we can give to you so that you can multiply the food, which I think is what Jesus was hoping would happen, that they would recognize the situation again and just know what to do.

But we see again that instead they look at what stands against them as opposed to Jesus' faithfulness in the past.

Last time it was the resources that was standing against them, and this time it's the location that's standing against them.

And remember, in this story, we're the disciples.

You know, I think Jesus was hoping that his disciples would remember his past faithfulness and apply that faith and that confidence to their current situation.

But instead, they looked at what stood against them.

And don't we do the same thing?

Jesus' disciples here today.

You know, we're faced with a dilemma, or God calls us to do something that's stretching, and instead of saying yes and stepping out of the boat, so to speak, we look at what stands against us.

We look at timing, we look at resources, we look at location, or we look at the wind and the waves that might be surrounding us.

And sometimes we we don't usually actually come out and say this, but what we're actually saying is, you know what, God, it's just not a good time for me.

So my answer is no.

To whatever you're asking, whatever it is, my answer is no.

And like I said, we don't say that outright because how ridiculous would that be to doubt God's timing when he knows the beginning from the end.

But in essence, that's what we're doing when we say no to God, or when we have doubt of his faithfulness, or we look to our own resources or our own strength.

But thank God he has patience with us, just like he has with his disciples.

Look at verse 5.

Jesus responded, he said, How many loaves do you have?

He asked them.

Seven, they said.

You know, and I wonder at this point, do they start to remember what Jesus did in the past?

You know, it's the same question.

Verse 6 He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.

So maybe it's at this point, you know, where they start to see the similarities of the feeding of the 5,000 to today and the feeding of the 4,000.

Look at the second half of verse 6.

It says, Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people.

So surely at this point, they must recognize the differences, right?

Or the similarities, I should say.

So they served them to the crowd.

It says at the end of verse 6.

Verse 7, they also had a few small fish, and after he had blessed them, he said these were to be served as well.

You know, at this point in the story, it's almost as if we're reading the same exact story from the feeding of the five thousand.

Verse eight.

They ate and were satisfied.

Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces.

So it says they ate and were satisfied.

That means nobody desired any more food.

Everybody was full and had everything that they needed.

And that they collected seven baskets full of leftover pieces.

So in the feeding of the 5,000, they had 12 baskets left over.

Feeding of 4,000, there's seven baskets left over.

And some people will really get into the numbers and really, I think, kind of over-spiritualize them.

But I think the only spiritualization we can do with these numbers to be safe is that both times they ended up with more than what they started with.

That God's provision was in abundance.

That we bring the resources that God's given us, and that he takes care of the multiplying, and he takes care of the rest.

And this kind of ties in with verse 9, and verse 9 is something that I just love about Jesus.

So look at it.

It says verse 9, about 4,000 were there.

He dismissed them, and he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

What I love about this is that Jesus didn't feed them to keep his numbers up.

He didn't feed them so he could keep them there longer.

He fed them because they were hungry.

And being the good shepherd that he is, he wanted to feed his sheep.

So he feeds them.

And to prove that he didn't do it to keep the crowd around him, it says he immediately went to the district of Dalmanutha.

So he just gets in a boat and he crosses the sea.

And Dalmanutha is in the northwestern corner of the Sea of Galilee.

If you can picture that map or want to look at one in the back of your Bible.

And this, like I said, northwestern corner of the Sea of Galilee.

Now, when I read this story, I'm thinking about the disciples' perspective.

You know, think about this.

Everything Jesus just did is almost exactly like the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter 6.

And it was right after the feeding of the 5,000 that Jesus tells them to get in the boat, cross the Sea of Galilee.

They get caught in the storm, they struggle at the oars for over eight hours.

Jesus walks on water, Peter walks on water, Jesus calms the storm.

That all happened right after the feeding of the 5,000.

So here they are.

Jesus just multiplied food.

He feeds thousands of people, and he says, get in the boat, let's cross the sea.

You know, if I was a disciple, I'd be thinking, you know what, Jesus, I'll just walk around this time.

You guys go on ahead.

I'm just gonna go the long way and play it safe.

You know, that's how I imagine it in my head.

But they obviously went with Jesus and they arrived safely across the sea in Dalmanuta.

And that's where we pick up in verse 11.

It says, the Pharisees came and began to argue with him, demanding of him a sign from heaven to test him.

So the religious leaders, they're back on the scene.

You know, we established two weeks ago that a good number of these religious leaders that are recorded in these interactions that we see with Jesus were trying to test him.

And as we saw, some were flat out doing it just to try and find fault in Jesus.

But now we see that they're actually demanding a sign from him.

And remember, the reason Jesus did miracles was not to become famous.

He didn't feed the 5,000 to keep them.

He fed them and he left them.

He didn't do miracles to entertain people, he did the miracles to add weight behind the words of truth that he was saying.

To prove his authority over the natural so that they would also believe the spiritual.

But look at the end of verse 11.

It says that they did this to test him.

And that word test is the same word in the Greek that was used to describe Satan tempting, same word for tempting, when Jesus was in the wilderness.

And this word has a malicious undertone in its definition.

So this was not an amicable conversation back and forth just to see if how their theology is compared.

This was a test.

Now let's look at Jesus' reaction, verse 12.

Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, Why does this generation demand a sign?

Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.

So this phrase, sighing deeply in his spirit, this tells me that Jesus truly cared for these people.

Not just the people that he's feeding, not just his disciples, but he truly cared for these religious leaders that had come to test him.

It was deep in his spirit.

You know, this is a sigh because of the hardness of their hearts that Jesus is seeing.

Jesus has been trying to till up the hardness of their hearts.

But so far there's been no tangible difference that we can see in the hardness of their hearts.

So Jesus goes on telling them that they aren't going to get a sign.

You know, and there's no doubt Jesus could have done a sign if he wanted to, but do you think if Jesus did a sign right there, that it would have made a difference in their hearts?

Do you think they would have said, you know, oh, truly you are the Son of God.

Forgive us and let us follow you.

Jesus knows that that's not where their hearts are.

They're too hard in this moment.

And as long as their hearts were hard and were like the hard path that we saw in the parable of the soils, it wasn't going to, he, or Jesus wasn't going to cast seeds of truth out onto this hard path, so to speak, his gospel.

He wasn't going to perform a miracle for them as well.

And as David Guzik puts it, he said, Jesus did miracles to show the power of God in context of mercy.

I'm going to read that again.

Jesus did miracles to show the power of God in context of mercy.

If Jesus would have performed a miracle, this would have been in the context of pride.

So as we'll see, he's simply going to move on.

He sees these hard hearts and he simply just says, I'm going to go find people that I can truly put compassion on and show mercy.

To and I'm not going to waste time with the hard hearts.

I'm going to move on and find some good soil where I can cast out my seeds of truth.

Look at verse 13.

Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side.

So they're back in the boat again.

The disciples had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat.

Now we're going to talk about the bread in conjunction with verse 16, but we're going to look at verse 15 first.

It says, Then he gave them strict orders, watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

So verse 15 is really a pay attention moment.

It says strict order when Jesus says, Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

So here's Jesus.

He's coming fresh off his interaction with the Pharisees, right here in our text this morning.

And seeing the interaction with the Pharisees and the scribes in chapter 7, you know, where he called them hypocrites, holding human doctrine above God's word.

And then now he throws in Herod into this whole mix, who's also a huge hypocrite, and he's the guy that murdered John the Baptist.

So at this point, I think Jesus has had it.

You know, he wants to make sure that his disciples really understand what's going on, that they really see the issue at hand.

And that issue is with the religious leaders.

And I believe Jesus wants to do this because he's talking to the future religious leaders of the church.

He wants them to recognize not only the pride of the religious leaders of the time, but the pride in their own heart.

And the legalism on both sides, and the hypocrisy, and the hard hearts, so that his disciples don't fall into the same thing once Jesus is gone.

And he compares the influence of these leaders, as we see in our text this morning, to leaven.

Now, there's a common misconception that every time we see leaven in the Bible, that it equals sin.

But Jesus actually uses the comparison of leaven in Matthew 13 and also in Luke 13 to liken leaven to the kingdom of God.

So I don't think we can do that all the time of one equaling the other.

But in those texts, he uses it as in regard to the kingdom of God about how it's spreading and how the kingdom of God is growing.

So the analogy here is actually referring to how the influence of the religious leaders and of Herod is spreading and growing.

Any bread breakers here?

Nobody bakes bread?

I mean, okay, yeah.

I figured there had to be a couple, right?

Then you know that it only takes a little bit of yeast or leaven to affect the whole lump of dough.

Paul actually references this in 1 Corinthians 5 6 when he's telling the church to purge out a man for sexual immorality.

And he says, Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?

Jesus is telling his disciples that just a little bit of sexual immorality, just a little bit of legalism, pride, hypocrisy can spread and infect and influence all that are going to be listening to their teaching.

You know, in not too long, these disciples were going to be the religious leaders of the church as we know it today.

Some would be authors of the Bible that we're holding here today through the word of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants to warn them about how their actions, words, and teaching are going to spread and influence everybody that they're coming into contact with.

So he's telling them don't be like the Pharisees.

Don't be like Herod when it's your time.

And you know how I said I didn't want to make fun of the disciples?

Well, verse 16 is a big reason why.

Jesus finishes this strict warning with all of this significance toward their future, filled with all of the spiritual meaning.

And look at how they responded in verse 16.

They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread.

So again, it's one of those.

And this whole time that Jesus is giving them the strict order, all they can think about is, we forgot bread.

I think we just upset Jesus.

Look at verse 17.

It says, aware of this, he said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?

Don't you understand or comprehend?

Do you have hearden hearts?

Do you have eyes and not see?

Do you have ears and not hear?

And I'm just picturing Jesus being baffled at this time.

They just asked Jesus where they could get bread in such a desolate place before he fed the 4,000.

That happened after witnessing the feeding of the 5,000.

And we see Jesus just multiplied bread again for the 4,000.

And what is their biggest concern?

Bread.

In verse 18, Jesus says, Do you have eyes and not see?

Do you have ears and not hear?

You know, this is a quote from two places, Jeremiah 5.21 and Ezekiel 12.2.

And they're both in the context of God talking to the nation of Israel regarding their impending judgment.

That they had eyes and they didn't see, that they had ears and they they didn't hear.

So these are serious words that Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

You know, considering all that the disciples had seen and heard, not only in the last couple hours, but this whole time that they've spent with Jesus.

And Jesus is asking them if they've seen or heard any of it.

Basically saying, Have you guys been paying attention as you've witnessed everything that you've witnessed?

So Jesus reminds them, look, at the very end of verse 18, it says, And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand?

How many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?

I imagine the disciples at this point, 12, you know, kind of like some kid getting in trouble.

In verse 20, when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?

Seven.

He said.

And he said to them, Don't you understand yet?

So their biggest concern is still not having bread.

Yet they're in the boat with Jesus, the great multiplier of bread, that can feed thousands basically off of crumbs of food.

He's in the boat with them, and all they're worried about is not having enough bread.

It would be like, I was trying to think of a good analogy for us today.

It would be like going to Niagara Falls with a friend, and you're there and you're witnessing you know everything that's amazing, and your friend's looking at you, and you just go like this, and you're like, and the friend says, Hey, you know, what's wrong?

Like, I'm almost out of water.

And he says, What?

I can't hear you over all the water, you know, and he's like, No, I'm I'm almost out of water.

You know, it's like that just doesn't make sense.

You're in the presence of this huge waterfall, and you're concerned that you don't have enough water.

And that's the same issue, I think, here today.

God's speaking, he's teaching, and he's calling.

And our biggest concern is our provision.

Do we have enough bread?

You know, it's like praying, you know, oh God that has the power to speak all of creation into existence.

I don't have enough resources to do what you're asking me to.

That's basically what's happening here in our text this morning.

God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He multiplies food, he pays taxes by catching fish and pulling coins out of the stomach of the fish.

He turns water into wine.

And what do we worry about as disciples?

About his provision.

So much so that we can miss his calling altogether.

We could miss his direction or his teaching, and we end up missing out on his faithfulness when we do those things.

And just like the disciples, we're worrying about provision when we shouldn't be.

When Jesus has something so much bigger for us, and He He has a calling for us that's so big, and He has something that's so much better than we can imagine.

So often we end up just saying no because we're concerned.

We're worried about the provision, or we're worried that we don't have the resources, we're not in the right location for what he's calling us to.

Now it's my prayer that we would see him as our provider.

That provision and location, that wind and waves would never be a reason for us to say no to God.

Or maybe not even say no, but be so distracted that we don't even hear the calling in the first place.

We don't hear the direction in the first place because we're so concerned.

When we're in the boat with the great multiplier of bread, we're in the boat with the God that's so powerful that He spoke all of this into existence, and yet we can become so paralyzed in fear and in doubt that we for no reason.

If he's calling us to something, he is going to provide, he is going to take care of.

So I really hope today what we can take home with us is just a comfort and a peace that we worship the God of great provision, the multiplier of food, the one that is never concerned about it, that owns not a thousand cows on a hill.

He owns a thousand hills with cattle on them.

And it's nothing for him to provide whatever we need.

So my prayer is that we would just be so in tune with the Holy Spirit, that we would be listening to God's every word, and that doubt and the word no wouldn't even cross our minds because we just know, like, oh, we're worshiping the God of provision.

Would you pray with me?

Lord, we thank you that you are the God of provision, that there is nothing that's too big for you or too grand for you, and that as your children, Lord, we can trust that you are the good shepherd that's gonna take care of every need.

And Lord, sometimes it's gonna seem like it's not in our timing, a lot of times.

Help us to trust in your timing and to just be able to take steps of faith into your calling, to take steps of faith into the into the things that we need faith in, Lord, that we would remember your past faithfulness, that we wouldn't forget about the feeding of the 5,000 when we're faced with the feeding of the 4,000.

Lord, give us that deep in our hearts, that trust.

And when we start to doubt, when we start to lose hope, Lord, remind us of your past faithfulness in those moments.

And may we depend on that, knowing that you care about our every step, you care about every moment of our life.

You are so good in so many ways, and we thank you that you are a great provider.