Lord, we do thank You this morning that in life and death, Jesus is our hope.
Lord, we can say thank You that Jesus is our hope in the midst of sickness, in the midst of political turmoil and so much division in government and so much wickedness in government and so much going on in our time that makes us scratch our heads, Lord, and just wonder what’s happening, Lord, we can know that You’re in control and Jesus is King and Jesus will return. So thank You for that enduring hope we have as believers.
Lord, I do lift up those sick among us. I lift up Kay’s daughter, Lori, who was just diagnosed with coronavirus. We pray for a quick healing for her and her family. We would remain healthy as well, Lord. So we just pray You would be with those who aren’t with us this morning, Lord.
Father, we pray that You would take our tithe, our offering, our offering to You. Our offering, everything that You’ve given to us, Lord, we would with open hands. Lord, give back to You.
And know, Lord, that in all things You are our keeper and You are our provider, Lord. So we just pray You prepare us to further hear from You, further be changed by the power of Your Word. We pray that in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, good morning. It’s good to be with you. It’s good to see you. We’re going to be in Matthew this morning, Matthew 14. Matthew 14, verses 13 to 21.
Matthew 14, verses 13 to 21.
Very popular passage. I want us to consider it as we keep pressing on here.
It says, Now, when Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself.
When the crowds heard it, they followed Him on foot from the towns. When He went ashore, He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over. Send the crowds away. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.
But Jesus said, They need not go away. You give them something to eat. They said to Him, We have only five loaves here and two fish. And He said, Bring them here to Me. Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, taking five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
If you read anything in the news lately, you’ve seen what’s happened with Hurricane Etta in South America, especially in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. Some of them, their home, their livelihood, completely wiped out. It was the worst hurricane in 22 years in South America. I was listening to a news reporter say, Because the water is standing and it’s not going away, the risk of cholera and yellow fever is very likely to start spreading. And he said, Really, for a lot of these people, the only thing they’re going to be able to do is migrate north, to Mexico, and just see if they can start a new life. So there’s no one there to help them. And I think that feels very foreign for us as Americans. It’s like, well, we’ve got government and money and stuff, and people helping, things like that happen in America. But could you imagine being one of a large crowd, and there’s no one there to help? There’s really no one there to show compassion. You’re literally destitute. And the crowds come. They come to Jesus, I want us to see in this passage this morning. They come because they need.
And you need. You may not need as badly as those in South America right now, but you need. You have needs. We talked about that in our prayers this morning. People are sick. People are hurting.
Deeper beyond your physical needs, you have spiritual needs and hurts. Probably, usually, even the ones we don’t realize we have, we need help in body and soul. So what kind of Christ will they find? Will they find a Christ who can help? Will you and I find a Christ who can help for all that we need? For all that we need?
Back in verse 13, it says, Now when Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him on foot from the towns, and when He went ashore, He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, and healed their sick. Now what’s the this? When Jesus heard this? Well, what had just happened is John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, has been beheaded by King Herod. So if you know that story, King Herod got into an adulterous relationship with his brother’s sister. John the Baptist condemned it. Threw him in jail. And King Herod, I suppose in their wife, figured out a way to have his head chopped off. So John the Baptist is freaked out. He thinks, Is this John the Baptist raised from the dead? If not, who is this Jesus? So he’s getting really worried about who Jesus is. He’s getting curious. So that’s one reason that when Jesus hears this, it says He goes out to the desolate place. Here’s the second reason why Jesus goes out to the desolate place. And we’ve talked about this before. The beauty of the desolate place for the Christian. The beauty of the desolate place is that there are no distractions there. There aren’t the pressing needs of the day. There’s not the troubles of others who need our assistance. There’s not the worries of life in the desolate place. There is in the desolate place time to regroup with the Lord and be strengthened and empowered. So Jesus is tactfully staying away from King Herod’s dominion. But He’s also leading His disciples to do what Christ Himself needed to do often in ministry. And that was get in the desolate place. Get in the desolate place alone with the Lord. Surely they were all exhausted from such great ministry. But they don’t get the rest. They don’t get it. Jesus and the disciples went by boat to this desolate place. But the crowds found out they went there and they go by foot. So they had a much more strenuous journey going by foot where Jesus surely went easier and quicker by boat. Why would they do that?
It’s because they have a deep need. They have deep desires. And all they know is I think what I’ve heard is this Jesus is somebody who can help.
They have great needs. And when they come, what do they find? Have they found an unwilling Jesus? A sleeping Jesus? Y’all don’t understand. I’ve been doing ministry for, gosh, days now. And they’re walking. Just come back tomorrow. I’m tired now. I need my rest. Don’t you know the dastardly villain? King Herod. King Herod is trying to get me. Come back tomorrow. You’re a nameless, faceless crowd. But that’s not what they find. What they find when they come is a compassionate Jesus.
What they find is a Jesus ready and willing to help. It says when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion.
He had compassion. This very Greek word for compassion that’s used here, it’s used often throughout the gospel accounts. And you know why it’s used often? Because it’s often apparent if we take Jesus seriously from the gospels, he is compassionate. It’s a very real and present part of who Jesus is. And when we talk about compassion, we’re not talking about reading the news about people in Guatemala and think, well, that’s terrible. I’m sorry for their troubles. It’s not what it is. This compassion that Jesus has, it’s a deep undercurrent in one’s gut that just can’t stop thinking about the plight of someone else. It’s an undercurrent that forces me to do something about someone else. It’s an undeniable pity that moves me to help. Thus we read, Christ healed their sick. And in Luke and Mark’s account, it says, He also taught them. He taught them about the kingdom. So Jesus is doing the most that Christ can do for these people, though Christ himself is exhausted. There’s a world’s difference, isn’t there, between compassion that seems to be deserved and unmerited compassion? You know, I think we all have the first one, a general inclination to that. We see, oh, there’s a family in need. There’s this person who no fault of their own. There’s disaster relief. There’s someone who’s just gotten into trouble, and I’ll give some money to that, or I could come help on a Saturday with that, especially around Christmas. We get real sentimental, and the spirit of Christmas, and we want to give, especially financially, and it gives us those warm and fuzzy feelings, which should make us wonder, why are we doing it in the first place? Because you don’t get those warm and fuzzy feelings, do you, when someone needs compassion,
but they don’t quite seem to deserve it? It seems like the reason they would need said compassion. It’s because they put themselves in that situation.
Well, of course he’s broke. He spent all his money. Well, of course he can’t hold a job, and he needs help. He’s a hothead. Nobody can get along with him. I’m not making up with them. I’ve tried already, and it’s their fault they’re lonely. It’s their fault they’re in that position. Let them help themselves.
Pity, compassion, mercy. It dries up real quick. It dries up real quick when we think, when we perceive, it’s your fault that you need it.
But friends, I want you to see, and this is a hard lesson. It’s a very hard lesson. It is not so with Jesus.
Jesus didn’t just give up rest for the day to help these people. Jesus gave up heaven to come and help deserving people.
No, because there’s not any deserving people. No, because there’s not any deserving people. Christ came to exclusively help undeserving people who need compassion. Hebrews 4, 15 says that Jesus, He came to do what? To become a sympathizer with us. He’s a great high priest who put on flesh, and He came down to your level and mine so that what can happen, He could sympathize with us, and He could be a help to us. Jesus saw sinners. He saw sick people. He saw suffering. Mark’s Gospel in this account says, He saw sheep wandering around with no shepherd. Here are these people who are lost. They’re harassed. They’re helpless. They have no aim. Everything they’re doing is wrong.
But Jesus doesn’t say, it’s your fault you’re in this situation. You’re sinners, you know. The reason why you have physical ailments, the reason why you’re poor, it’s because the whole lot of you, you’re sinful. And this world is broken because of, the human race, and you’re sinful. Your fault. Your problem. It’s not what Jesus does. Jesus’ heart breaks for these physical ailments. How many times can you find in the Gospel, Jesus healing people, and healing people, and healing people, and being with the poor, and being with the poor, and being with the poor. I’ve heard said, if you took all of the emotions that Jesus showed throughout all the Gospels, compassion is by far the one that Christ most exudes. His heart breaks for the hurting. His heart breaks for the sinner who simply does not deserve compassion.
And friends, let me tell you something. That’s you. That’s me. You and I, we all have spiritual deformities that leave us not worthy of God’s help. We are contributors to that. Unless, you know, you know something I don’t know, and I don’t think you do. You know, we’ve all broken. We’ve all broken God’s law. We’ve all sinned against God. But God doesn’t stand far off with the good riddance on His tongue, does He? Now what has God done about your sinful plight and mine? He’s come close in the person of Jesus. That’s what He’s done. He’s come close, and He’s shown us compassion. And He’s loved us. And He’s washed us. And He’s cleaned us. And He’s healed us. And He’s done it through His cross. So yeah, I’m looking forward, and you should too. You know, and I think the older you get, the more you start to feel it. Like, I’m looking forward to the day when Jesus comes back and He gives me a new body. But man, I’m looking forward right now. I know in my heart, because I can feel in the Spirit the fact that my soul’s been saved. And God’s had compassion on me, a sinner. And I want to say, I honestly think that the force of Christ’s compassion, the blunt force of it, is the force of God’s compassion. The blunt force of it is lost because of, I guess, what I’ll call bumper sticker theology. Or t-shirt theology. You know, how many times have you seen it? Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. It’s very true, but it’s very fragmented. Jesus loves you, a sinner. That’s why His compassion is so amazing. That’s why it’s so amazing. If Christ came to show compassion on people who deserved it, wow, could we be grateful. But to consider the fact that, friends, we are the least deserving in God’s sight of nearness of Christ, much less His spilled blood, that should lead us to absolute worship every day. I mean, if we began, which we don’t do, if we could begin to even scratch the surface of how sinful we are, of how deserving we are, oh, how we could really begin to worship God in amazement at how compassionate He has been to us.
Jesus has revealed the boundless compassion of God that we may receive it. But I want you to see this. Jesus did not do a fly over Jerusalem when He came to earth, did He? And He just sprinkled compassion over Jerusalem. Who gets this compassion?
Well, I think it’s the people that come running. How do we receive this undeserved, rich, mercy and compassion from God? We come and ask for it. And Jesus, you know what Jesus cannot do? It’s weird to say Jesus can’t do something. Jesus cannot shut up His own heart. He cannot stop compassion from flowing to those who say, Jesus, I don’t deserve it, but I’m sick. Jesus, I’ve made a mess again. I need it. Jesus, help me.
And I want you to see this. Jesus doesn’t just allow it. He doesn’t just allow for it. If they find me out here in the wilderness, I guess I will have to, because I can’t stop my heart. That’s not it.
Jesus desires and pleads with you and I to come. In Matthew 11, verse 28, Jesus says this. He says, come to Me, all you who labor in the heavy laden, I will give you rest. Come to Me. He doesn’t say, well, if you find Me, if you draw the lottery and you win, Jesus’ heart, it beats for people who have messed up a hundred times, for people who don’t deserve it. I mean, the ones you think of like, well, yeah, I mean, I know God forgives, but I’ve never done something like that.
I mean, I’ve heard of sinning, but that’s a whole new level of sinning, you know? I mean, they deserve what’s coming to them. Jesus has a heart for the great, great sinner, friends.
Dane Ortlund has a book called Sinners and Sufferers, and in it he says, when we sin, we are encouraged to bring our mess to Jesus, because He will know just how to receive us. He doesn’t handle us roughly. He doesn’t scowl and scold. He doesn’t lash out the way many of our parents did. And all this restraint on His part is not because He has a deluded view of our sinfulness. He knows our sinfulness far more deeply than we do. Indeed, we are aware of just a tip. We are aware of the tip of the iceberg of our depravity, even in our most searching moments of self-knowledge. His restraint simply flows from His tender heart for His people. He deals gently with us. Jesus has a tender heart for the sinner, friends.
And we think, I don’t know, that sounds too good to be true. Well, let me give you some good news this morning.
Jesus indiscriminately hates all sin. He doesn’t discriminate. So if He equally hates all sin, know that His cross completely atones for all sin. Alright? If you come to Jesus, you will not get what you deserve. You will get what you don’t deserve. You will get compassion, because Christ is so strong and powerful, and God hates sin so much, He saw to it that the blood of Christ covered over all sin. So all the sin you think would keep you from Christ, and all the compassion you don’t deserve, Jesus already paid for it on His cross, You want justice? I think sometimes we want, well, I want justice. Even for me. I don’t deserve to get away with nothing. Okay? Look at the cross. And there you see justice. You see God put the weight of everything you deserve for all your sins on Jesus. Here’s something interesting. In Hebrews 5.2, it says that a high priest, in Old Testament times, a high priest could deal gently with the ignorant and wayward sinner. So there were, sacrificial laws for, okay, if you committed a sin accidentally, you didn’t realize you did it, there were sacrifices for that. But then there are wayward. Now that word wayward in Old Testament vernacular, it means high-handed. So like when David, after he had sinned with Bathsheba, he says, Lord, keep me from presumptuous sins. Same words. It means intentional.
So in other words, the Hebrew writer is saying, Jesus is a perfect high priest. He doesn’t just know how to deal gently, with people who sin accidentally. Jesus knows how to people who sin and do it on purpose. He knows how to deal with hardcore sinners. He loves them in their wandering. He loves them in their waywardness. And he calls them and welcomes them back if they would come. And you go, I don’t know. That’s something that I don’t know. Friends, grace is a scandalous thing. That’s why it’s the scandal of the cross of Christ. Because you and I, we are forgiven and treated as if we never once sinned and Christ bared the weight of it. And all we can say is that’s amazing grace. That is amazing grace. I told you that word is all over the New Testament. You know, in the story of the prodigal son, when that son had sinned hard, right? He didn’t just go off. I mean, he sinned hard. He blew it all. And yet, it says when he’s coming over the hill and his father sees him, what is it? It says his father’s ready to browbeat him, give him a good talking to. It’s not what it says. It’s the very same Greek word. It says he felt compassion
for this gone-too-far, sinned-too-much son.
I want to ask us this morning, are we compassionate?
Are we compassionate? And boy, could we just sit and think about that in the context of so many relationships, starting in our homes? Are we compassionate with our children when they don’t listen the 17th time? Are we compassionate with co-workers who drive us crazy and, you know what, maybe I don’t know this person well. Maybe this person deserves a little more pity. Or maybe they don’t deserve a little more pity. Do we bear with? And honestly, this reminds me, I think it’s very akin to Paul in Corinthians saying, love is not easily offended. You know, I think a compassionate person can just let hurts like, okay, I see what you’ve done there, but I see how God in Christ Jesus, boy, does He bear with me. So you know what? Because I have been loved that way. I have experienced that kind of compassion. And I always will, no matter what I do. So I think Jesus is calling me to be that compassionate with other people. And it’s difficult. And I’m not talking about, okay, well good, there’s no consequences. It’s for doing wrong. And I’m not saying that. And the Bible’s not saying that. I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is, Jesus has shown you and I compassion we don’t deserve. And I think if we’ve really experienced that, we’re going to want to have that kind of compassion and pity and mercy and help for all people, especially people who don’t deserve it. Second thing I want to say to you is this. Do you, in your worst of sins or small sins, run to Christ? Because I think we have a way of like, oh, no, I shouldn’t do that. And I know I shouldn’t do that. And I hate that about me. And there I’ve done it again. And what we don’t do is immediately just run to Jesus. Like, okay, I lost my temper there. Small, whatever. Jesus, I just did that. Jesus, I need help. Because He’s not going,
again, again, again. He’s not doing that. You and I are really good at creating a straw man Jesus. And He just has like this big wooden stick in His hand. And you do it again. See what I do. Do it again. See what I do. And Jesus is not doing that.
The Scriptures say Christ lives to make intercession. As you sin, Christ is living to go before the Father on your behalf. He loves you. Will He discipline you when you need it? Yes, but Christ is not this bitter, angry master lording over you. He has compassion for you. He loves you. So run to Christ for all your sin because you will find a welcoming,
compassionate Savior.
And third, I would say on this point to you, and again, I’ve said this before, this is something I am constantly releasing to the Lord. Shame is a very poor substitute for grace. I can’t believe I did that. And you just beat yourself up. And God is not saying, wow, you’re beating yourself up. You really feel bad for that one. Jesus already got beaten up for it.
Feel the conviction of the Spirit. Recognize it. There’s something wrong.
Let’s move on.
Let’s live in the grace that Jesus has won for us on the cross.
Verse 15.
It says, Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and to buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, They need not go away. You give them something to eat. And they said to Him, We have only five loaves here and two fish.
And He said, Bring them here to Me. Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven and said, Blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied.
So the disciples aren’t wrong. It’s a desolate place. Have you ever been somewhere? Maybe you’ve gone out hiking for the day or somewhere, and you’re like, Man, I’m hungry, and there’s not a restaurant around. I would eat at a gas station right now if there was one here. They’re not even in that situation. They’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s getting dark. It is a desolate place. It’s a wilderness place. There is nothing there. There are no provisions. And so they rightly think, Well, we really can’t do anything about it. But as poor as their resources were to help, you know what was even poorer? Their solution.
Let them figure it out. Let them figure it out. But Jesus says, Really, an impossible thing. An impossible thing.
He says, You feed them.
Well, how could they feed them? They don’t even have enough food for themselves to do that. But in fact, that’s the answer, isn’t it? Because disciples of Jesus, they are not ministers, partners alongside Jesus as independent agents. Disciples of Jesus always first look to their Master for their provision and plan. The moment you and I as disciples begin to say, How am I going to do this for God? What resources do I have to do this for God? We immediately say, Cease to be disciples. Disciples say, Jesus, you’ve said this to me. I’m looking at you now for your perfect provision. I’m looking at you now for your plan. What would you have me to do?
So the answer for the disciples, friends, it’s the same answer for the masses. You remember Jesus’ first miracle? What did He do? He multiplied water into what they said was good. Good wine. Good wine. He didn’t go out back and put some like red dye and this is wine. He turned it into really good wine. Surely they haven’t forgot that miracle. Surely they wouldn’t think, Well, I mean, that’s wine’s one thing, but food. I don’t know how He could possibly do that. He’s raised people from the dead. So what they’re doing, it was what you and I do so often. We forget how able we are. We forget how able Christ is to do anything. We quickly take our eyes off of Christ, don’t we? And say, how in the world could I do this great thing for God? And friend, the answer is you absolutely cannot.
But we see what a perfect provider Christ is. And I think it’s a beautiful picture of Psalm 23’s shepherd here in this passage. He says, command them to what? Sit on the grass. You know, make them lie down in green pasture. Christ is going to be a good keeper. Christ is going to be a very good provider. But see this, and this is really the amazing thing. Wasn’t it Jesus that did this miracle to feed all these people? It was.
But who put the food in their hands, actually?
It was the disciples. And Jesus is Jesus, so couldn’t He just snap His finger and the food just, you know, the food showed up in their hands or better than that, He just snapped His finger and their stomachs were full. And He didn’t need to go through the whole thing of doing the miracle. That’s not what happens. As great and as powerful as Jesus is, Jesus lets you and I have a hand in the work of the kingdom. As His disciples, He says, here, you have the great honor of carrying my food and my drink to those. Here, you go and do this in my name. Isn’t that an amazing thing?
He allows us to pass on the food. The food and the drink, the needs that we have. He heals so many people, but He would use small, weak vessels like us. So Christ is compassionate, but Christ, secondly, here we see, is able. Jesus is our source for all life. Jesus is our bread. Jesus is our wine. Jesus is our good shepherd.
We can always know that. And it’s true in temporal matters. I don’t want to… I don’t want to quickly rush to the spiritual. Let’s spiritualize this. Because I think, let’s talk about it at first. This is the physical elements here. These are people who are blind. These are people who are deaf. These are people who are starving. These are people who need help. And I think very much so. This is a call for you and I as Christians to say, one, amongst ourselves, Lord, am I, with the stuff you’ve given me, am I being a good steward? Lord, to be a blessing to the house of God. The Apostle Paul says, do good to one another, comma, especially to the household of faith.
So I’m very leery ever, and I want you to use the word own, possess. I don’t think you and I own or possess anything. I think you and I are very much so stewards. Lord, you’ve given me what you’ve given me so I can turn around and say, Lord, how would you have me? Use what you’ve given me to be a blessing to my local church where I see need there. How can I care for the widow and orphan here in our space? I think that’s the most important thing. But then secondly, it doesn’t negate the world around us. I think that, and we’ve talked about that. How is the church powerful in the community it’s in? It’s when the church sees how well it loves one another and how well we can be salt of the earth. So we should, in the midst of loving one, turn out and say, okay, Lord, in this community where we live, what does it look like to be the hands of Jesus here? Where is their hurt? Where is their darkness? Lord, where is the desolate place? And how can we be a blessing in that place, Lord? Show us. And if you show us, it’s probably going to be something we really can’t do. So Lord, if you’re going to tell us to do it like Moses, Lord, I don’t want to go if you’re not going to go with me. Remember when Moses said that? Lord, I don’t want to go if you’re not going to go with me. Because he knew he was too small for the task.
But God does call us to do that. He calls us to love people with what we have.
But secondly, and it can’t be left out, friends, what is it that man ultimately needs? What is the greatest need of the soul? It was salvation. What people ultimately need is the word of the gospel. And as much as you and I go, and we bless with what we have, and we bless with money, and we bless with time, and we bless with help, and we should do that, and we’re going to do that, what is the very best way that you and I can carry the food and the drink of heaven to people? It’s the word of Christ. It’s the word of the gospel. Here, literally, here. Here in the gospel is the body of Christ. Here is the blood of Jesus. Here is the gospel. Here is salvation.
Have I received the gospel? Have I heard that by faith? Did I deserve that? No, but God sent someone into my desolate place. And so what am I doing? What are we doing? Just like the disciples did here. We’re saying, Lord, where is the desolate place? Where is the desolate place? I want to go, and I want to not save anybody because I can’t do it, but Lord, in these weak hands, if you could just use them to pass along, the body and the blood of Christ, use these hands, use this mouth to preach the gospel.
Do you look upon Jesus truly as the answer for every problem in life? Because I think that we’re going to have a really hard time doing that, preaching the gospel, living in Christ’s name, if we think, well, Jesus is my solution, but He’s not everybody’s solution. I mean, yeah, I love Jesus. That’s my thing, but I’m not going to press that on anybody else. Friends, you better wake up. Jesus is everything or nothing, He’s the answer to a broken government. He’s the answer to broken relationships. He’s the answer for all of your sin problems. Jesus solely alone is the answer. And until we are convicted, convicted, convicted of that, we are not going to go into the desolate place and share that gospel message. We’re not going to sacrifice the way that we need to to get into the mess and the muck of other people’s lives and say, eat this, drink this. This is what you need to be truly satisfied.
Jesus is satisfying. His love, His grace, His mercy, His compassion. Knowing Him, that’s what will satisfy your soul.
What’s the distance between you and that desolate place? I think it’s different. I think for some people, it’s probably getting on a plane and going across the world. It might be going across states. It might be you just opening your front door and going across the street to your neighbor. It looks like so many different things. But believe you me, there’s a desolate place in your life. There are desolate places in our community. And as willing, and grab this, as willing as Christ is and as desirous as Jesus is to give out His compassion, His food and drink, friends, He needs disciples who are willing to carry it. Are we willing to go where Christ would have us go? And preach the gospel? Preach the kingdom?
We talked about it in group this past week, if you were there. I really want the Lord just to show us, you know, here we are at Providence. Here’s who we are. Here’s what we have. Lord, what does it look like to love our community well? I wish I did. I don’t have the answer for that. And I’m not going to say, we’re going to be a church that does this. So everybody get on board with that. We are. That’s not the Holy Spirit. That’s Chad, you know. And that’s not what anybody needs. So what I want us to do is just pray like, Lord, help us love our community well. What does that look like? Help us share the gospel well. Help us be a light. Help us be salt where we are for Your glory. It doesn’t matter how small we are. It doesn’t matter how much money we have. It matters how powerful God is. And He’s more than able to use us for His purposes, for His glory. Are we willing? Are we willing to go? Because He’s able to use us and He wants to use us. And that’s an incredible thought to think about.
I went up to Kentucky this past week
to buy a guitar. It was a good deal. It was in Cincinnati, so he met me and whatever. So we met way up there. And so we’re going up there and, you know, I was like, shit, I don’t know. Should I? Should I? I will. So I was like, hey, before we leave in, I just want to ask you, do you know who God is? Do you believe about God and Jesus? Do you know? He said, honestly, man, I just don’t think about that stuff. He said, my mother passed away last year. And he said, I just was sitting in the funeral, just lost. He said, I don’t know what to think about any of it. He’s like, I know I need something, but I don’t even know what it is. He’s like, I know I should probably believe in that stuff.
You know, and so I try to share that. And you’re like, are you going to eat that now? Or will you drink that now? He’s like, let me see, can you do it? And he’s like, well, thank you for sharing that with me. I’m like, are you hungry? Aren’t you hungry? Like, I want you to be hungry. Like, I want, I want people to be hungry. And I drove home like praying, like, Lord, I don’t want to just tell people. I want to see people eat and I want to see people drink. And I want to see people get satisfied. And I have to constantly remind myself, it’s not my business to save people. You know, and that’s hard. Cause like, Lord, I want to see that. I want to see so many people come to faith. But here’s what I’ve got to do. I’ve just got to carry the bread and the wine. I’ve got to carry that message and just preach it and preach it and believe that, hey, God’s going to save and God’s timing and He’s doing His work. Am I faithful, you know, to do mine? Am I faithful to do mine? You know, that’s my encouragement to us this morning. Jesus is enough for all that we need. He’s compassionate for you. He’s compassionate. He’s compassionate for every sin. He’s able to save us. He has saved us. And He wants to use us to go and to offer that to others, friends. Jesus is more than enough for all of our needs. He’s more than enough. Did you notice in verse 20 and 21, it says they took up 12 baskets.
How many disciples are there?
And it says those who ate, were about 5,000 men, besides women and children. So Jesus satisfies. It’s the paradox of love, if you’ve ever heard that. I’m entirely satisfied, but I can’t get enough. Entirely satisfied, but I can’t get enough. I found it, but I’m still looking for it. I can’t get enough of it. Have you ever gone to an expensive restaurant? And it’s good, but man, you don’t give very much. And you’re like, I’m still hungry. It doesn’t happen like that with Jesus. Jesus satisfies us, but He’s constantly giving us more of Him. He’s constantly giving us more of Him. He’s more than enough. He’s enough for us. He’s enough for the people in our lives. He’s enough for all the nations. And guess what it is? It’s all the nations that Christ wants His body and His blood and His gospel message to go to. Jesus is more than enough. So, let’s pray together.
Father, we just pray that You would…
Lord, first, I pray we would just take it like a sweet savor in our mouth, a healing balm to our hearts, that You’re compassionate.
Father, You are not like us and how short-tempered we are and how quick we are to cut people off, how quick we are to want to execute judgment. You’re quick to love and You’re quick to call back and You’re quick to have open arms. So, Lord, I just pray for us who are wrestling with that, believing You could still love us, believing You still desire us, Lord. Lord, let us know in the Spirit. Let us be convicted by this Word. It is so. It is true.
But, Lord, I pray at the same time we would have a heavy burden to be bearers of the gospel message. We would have a heavy burden to be lights in the desolate place, to offer food in the desolate place.
Lord, we’re around people all day, every day with no hope.
Lord, we just desire that You would use us. You would use us, God. And we would be found faithful servants, faithful disciples to look at You and see how in Jesus there is enough. Lord, there is enough. And You are the delight. You are the satisfaction. You are the joy of every soul, Lord.
So, we just love You this morning. And we just pray all these things. Amen. Amen. In Jesus’ name. Amen.