Serve Like Jesus

Serve like Jesus

Mark 6: 30 – 44.

 

Introduction

Since October of last year, we have been working on a strategy and have been aiming for Easter Sunday…March 31, 2013.

Our strategy is called One Focus.  As a church, we are going to have One Focus for the next year.  We want to see a spiritual awakening take place in our community—men and women will place their faith in Jesus as Lord.  As an individual church member, we are asking you to have One Focus.  We want you to identify one person who is not a Christian.  We want you to pray for that one person, to love that one person, to serve that one person, to invite that one person to church, and to share your faith with that one person.

If you will invite your One Focus to come to church with you on Easter Sunday, I can promise you two things.  First, I promise that they will hear the Gospel and the significance of the Resurrection of Jesus in church on Easter Sunday.  Second, I promise not to embarrass you.

In the Sundays leading up to Easter Sunday, we are trying to put resources in your hands to help you share your faith with your One Focus.  One resource is the Invitation CD.  We still have copies in the foyer.  Please pick up one or more.  Listen to it as a way to help you to present an intentional and intelligent argument for the historical truth of the Christian faith.  After you listen to the CD, give it away, and come back for another copy.

Another resource is what we are doing in Sunday School and worship each Sunday.  Our Sunday School lessons are about the biblical mandate to share our faith with others and practical ways we can talk about faith with other people.  In worship, I am preaching about the different ways different people shared their faith in the New Testament. 

Confrontational Evangelism…Intellectual Evangelism…Interpersonal Evangelism …Invitational Evangelism…Service Evangelism…Testimonial Evangelism…

 

 

 

Mark 6: 30 – 44.

This is the only miracle which appears in all four Gospels.  There must be something special about feeding the five thousand.

I think it is special for two reasons. 

First, this miracle is significant because it is the opposite of the first temptation Jesus faced when Satan approached him in the desert.  After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry.  Satan came to Jesus and said, “IF you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread.”  This was a real temptation, because Jesus was hungry and wanted to satisfy his own needs.  Jesus never used his miraculous powers to serve his own selfish desires.  BUT, Jesus did use his miraculous powers to meet the needs of a hungry crowd.

Second, this miracle is significant because it fulfills a prophecy Moses made about the Promised Messiah.  In Deuteronomy 18: 15, Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.  You must listen to him.”  In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul picked up on Moses’ prophecy and connected it to Jesus.  Of course, Peter and Paul were not the first or the only Jewish interpreters to believe Moses’ words were about the Promised Messiah.

By the time Jesus came on the scene in the First Century, most Jews expected the Coming Messiah to be just like Moses.  The Messiah would lead God’s people out of their slavery and oppression.  In Moses’ day, God’s people were slaves to Egypt.  In the First Century, God’s people were a part of the Roman Empire.  The Messiah would establish a new People of God and meet all their physical needs.  This parallels the story of Moses’ leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt and providing Manna from Heaven.  The Messiah would also give God’s people a miraculous supply of bread.

In verse 34, we read two statements which describe WHY Jesus fed the five thousand…He had compassion on them…He saw them as sheep without a shepherd…

 

 

Mark 6: 34, “³⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

 

 

He Had Compassion on Them

 

Jesus fed the crowd, because Jesus had compassion on them.  I think this is important for two reasons.

First, Jesus had compassion on the crowd, because Jesus noticed their needs.  Jesus saw the crowd and noticed they were hungry.  How often do we go through life without paying attention to the needs around us?  Hunger…Finances…Broken Relationships…Grief …Doubts.  Some needs are easier to notice than others.  Some people have the spiritual gift of mercy and are able to notice things that others do not notice.  Even if you do not have the spiritual gift of mercy, you should still notice when someone you love / care about.

Second, Jesus had compassion on a crowd of people who did not deserve his compassion.  Jesus did not give a spiritual test to see who deserved to eat that day.  Jesus did not even set a requirement that the people had to sit through church before getting bread and fish—or fill out a questionnaire to prove that they had been paying attention.  No.  Jesus met physical needs without asking for anything in return.

 

 

 

Sheep without a Shepherd

 

Mark also indicates that Jesus thought the crowd seemed like sheep without a shepherd.  This is significant, because the Old Testament often refers to God’s people as sheep and the LORD as our shepherd.  Mark is making a spiritual statement here.

In other words, Jesus noticed two needs among the crowd.  First, Jesus noticed the crowd was hungry…they had physical needs.  Second, Jesus noticed the crowd had lost their way spiritually…they were like sheep without a shepherd.

It was not enough for Jesus to feed a hungry crowd.  Jesus also spent time teaching the crowd and investing in them spiritually.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

DO vs. DONE…

 

Morality Ladder…

 

Cross Bridge…