Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I want to pause for just a moment and pray. We've been encouraging you to pray about this for a while now is the proposed building project that we've been talking about for some time. But we've been asking you to pray about this, to be seeking the Lord's will for you and for us as a church and how God is leading and guiding and directing you and us. And this is something that's important. It's no small endeavor. And so I would just like to spend a moment as we're all together as a body, corporately, and offer this before the Lord. I hope that you have already been praying about this. We encourage you to be asking questions and letting us know what those questions might be. And then next week, you know that we'll have a meeting and a time to discuss this together. But if you would just join me as we pray specifically about this, and then we'll get into God's word this morning. Lord Jesus, we come before you and we recognize that you are a God who is sovereign over all things. You are in complete control of what happens in our minds. Lord, you can shift and adjust our agendas. You can shift and adjust our hearts. You actually give us new hearts. And we praise you for that.
[00:01:04] We desire here at this church, Lord, to honor you, to serve you, to proclaim your name in the community that we live in, in this country that we live in and around the world, Lord, we want to be your vessels of the truth and the power of the gospel, individually in our life and publicly, as we interact with others. And as we have been thinking about this project for some time and we've been talking about it, we desire as a church to submit it to you. You are the one who knows what the future holds and what the best thing is for us as a church. And so we ask you, Jesus, to shift our hearts and our minds to be in line with what you desire. And, Lord, that you would provide a way, if this is your desire, to.
[00:01:48] To make this happen, and that you would be glorified in the midst of it, Lord, that we would be able to serve and honor you, even perhaps greater, because of what we're able to do with this building. And if not, that you would shift our minds and our attention to what you would like to do in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:04] Today we'll be in John, chapter six, as I mentioned. And so we'll look together at verses one through 21 this morning. And as you have your bibles open there, you know, if you have been with us for some time, you know, we've been going through the book of John and in John there are eight different miracles. Can someone say eight miracles?
[00:02:26] Eight miracles. And I want to just list them off for you. Today we'll look at two of them. Usually we might look at just one or even part of one. Today we'll actually look at two of these eight. If you remember back or if you flip back in your bibles to the beginning of John you'll see that it started off. The first miracle was Jesus turning water into wine. And later on we see the second miracle is the official son that he heals. Later on, the man at the pool. He brings him back to being able to have full strength in his body to be able to walk. Today we'll look at miracles number four and five. The feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water. Many know this story. Number six of the miracles is healing a blind, a man who was born blind. And then 7th, raising Lazarus. And some say there's only seven miracles in John. The greatest of these miracles happens at the end of the gospels and it's Jesus coming back to life. That's a miracle, isn't it? That's something, that's a supernatural event. So today we'll look at, as I said, feeding of the 5000 and walking on water as we think. More particularly I just mentioned a couple things about this feeding of the 5000.
[00:03:38] This is the only miracle other than the resurrection spoken of in each of the gospel accounts. So Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic gospels. They talk through different stories of the life in the life of Jesus. And then John shifts our attention and shows us more of who Jesus is. And John's heart is that people would believe in Jesus also. The miracle of the feeding of the 5000.
[00:04:03] This miracle impacted the most people of any of the other miracles that Jesus did. So this is a unique miracle, specifically the feeding of the 5000 because of the volume of people that witnessed this. At the same time, this is also not a restorative miracle. It's not a transformative miracle. Think of like healing somebody is a restoring right restorative miracle. A transformative miracle is Jesus turning for example water into wine. He's transforming something. This is a creation miracle. Being able to turn some bread and some fish to being able to feed. As we'll see later many thousands of people also in the era that it happened this is perhaps the most talked about miracle of Jesus because it impacted the most amount of people. This wasn't just hey, I see that you're lame. Or that you're blind. Let me heal you. And a couple people saw it and said, oh, that's cool. There was thousands of people that witnessed this.
[00:05:05] What we again must remember is that John wants people to believe that Jesus is God and has the power of God.
[00:05:17] Displaying on this earth and seeing that he is God, everything that he claims to be, and has the desire to trust in him. He desires that people would trust in him so that they might be saved. That is John's desire that people would be saved. That is Jesus's desire that they would be saved. And today that should be our desire as well, that people that don't know Jesus would be saved. And so as John walks through his entire gospel, that is his aim, showing people the power of Jesus and saying, because you see his power, please trust in him. That's the best thing for you. Now, in the past weeks, we've looked at that from different angles, and today we're going to shift our focus a little bit. And so I just want to draw your attention to that as you see the title of the message today we want to shift our focus, not just as we know, and that's why I'm saying that here. The purpose of John's gospel is that people would see Jesus for who he is, would see the works that he's done, and believe in him as lord and savior. Now, today I want to shift our focus to the character of Jesus.
[00:06:17] Today we'll see in these two subsequent miracles that Jesus is strong and that he is kind, that he is strong and that he is kind. And I hope that today you'll be encouraged by these two truths of Jesus character. Let's read this passage together, and then we'll dive into it in greater detail. John, chapter six, starting in verse one. If you have your bibles, you could read along with me starting in verse one after this. That is, after a period of time. This is not directly right after the end of chapter five, but rather after some time had happened. Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee. We'll look at that in just a minute, which is the sea of tiberias. A large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then and seeing a large crowd was coming toward him. Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?
[00:07:26] He said this to test him for he knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little one of his disciples. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Isn't that always fun when you're always somebody else's brother?
[00:07:43] Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they for so many.
[00:07:54] Jesus said, have the people sit down. There was much grass in the place where the men sat, about 5000 in number. Jesus then took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them and to those who were seated, so also the fish as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told the disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them and filled up how many baskets? 1212 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who was to come into the world.
[00:08:33] Perceiving then that they were about to take. To come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. We go on just a few more verses. Verse 16.
[00:08:44] When evening came, the disciples went down to the sea. They got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum, which was on the other side of the lake. It was now dark and jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.
[00:08:59] When they had rowed about three or 4 miles they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat. And they were frightened, understandably so.
[00:09:13] But he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat. And immediately the boat was at the land which they were going. Well, Jesus, we look at this passage here written about you thousands of years ago in our world and in your world, probably not too long ago, as we step, as you step outside of time. But as we look at this passage and we see you working here we are reminded of your strength, of your power.
[00:09:43] We're also reminded of your kindness, of your compassion towards people, towards us.
[00:09:50] And we are so grateful this morning that your character does not change.
[00:09:57] Just as you showed your strength, your power some 2000 years ago and you showed your kindness, your compassion to the concerns of mankind 2000 years ago. Still today your character reigns true. You see us here today. You know what's going on in our hearts and our minds. And so we look to you Jesus as one who sees us and who has mercy, who cares? We ask that you would help us to see, to reveal to us the truths of your character, of your purpose in our life as we spend time in your word. The things that I say would be from you in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:10:36] Well, the first point on your outline, if you have that with you, you could just write this in. Nothing grand that you might write in, but it's just the setting and the situation. In order for us to understand all of what's happening here, we need to understand the setting and the situation of the things going on. The character of Jesus in these events is seen, and we want to lean into the texts here, the passage here, for us to wholly understand, fully understand what Jesus wants to teach us this morning.
[00:11:08] Have you ever been completely exhausted?
[00:11:14] Some of the parents are nodding, perhaps more than anyway, completely exhausted. The last thing, especially if you're an introvert and it doesn't take as much for you, the last thing you want to do is to be around people. If you've ever been in a situation like that, you just want to get away from all of the people. You are exhausted. You want to go and do whatever fills you up. And in the midst of all of that, you know that maybe other people may not want you to get away, but, you know, I just have to get away. I am completely exhausted. Well, we see here some people in this passage who are completely exhausted. Now, I'm gonna. As we look through this passage in John, it's important. In the bottom of your bulletin, it says other passages. I think there's a Matthew passage, a mark and a Luke. And as I mentioned at the beginning earlier, Matthew, Mark, and Luke also speak of this account. And so as we go through our time today, I'm going to reference and we'll see some passages on the screen from these other accounts or written accounts of the same story. So John gives us one view, the other gospels. The other writers give us some other views that give us a bigger picture of what's going on. Now, as we look at this passage, we see one person who's completely exhausted and even more so, filled with grief. Have you ever been filled with grief before?
[00:12:32] Just so sad. Maybe somebody in your family died, a close friend died, and you just want to get away from people. You want to do your own thing. Grief does different things to different people.
[00:12:46] For Jesus, we know at this time he wanted to get away. The first thing that we see in the setting, in the situation is just point a. His relative John has just died. John just died. If you look at the Matthew account in verses one through twelve, we won't look at them now. We won't look at it now. We see that John, who was the person who proclaimed his coming before, and then the Jews started having issue with him. Some of the jewish leaders at the time had issue. They brought him in, they arrested him, and he was in jail for some time. And then Jesus, right before this passage that we just read, jesus just got word. Somebody ran up from Jerusalem where John was being held and told Jesus. Your relative, John. Some say cousin, but relative. John was just beheaded.
[00:13:36] Jesus knew this was going to happen, didn't he? But it doesn't mean that he has less grief because of it. You know this to be true. Just because you know somebody might die when it actually happens, it doesn't mean, oh, it's okay. I'm fine. I knew it would happen. Jesus filled with grief. Matthew, chapter 14, verse 13, says this. Now, when Jesus heard this, that his relative had just died, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
[00:14:05] But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot. Now, we'll get to that in a moment. It says that we see in other accounts that he went to a place called Bethsaida, which is. There's one side of the Sea of Galilee that's more populated. There's another side that's less populated. Thus a desolate place. There's a map as well. If you have the whole view of Israel, you have the Dead Sea. Further down at the top you have the Sea of Galilee. In red is Bethsaida. You can go to the next slide there. Zooming in on the Sea of Galilee, we see that Bethsaida is further there on the west side and on the east side you see that there's some other communities there. Capernaum is there, which, which we get back to a little later on. So Jesus is around some other populated people, some populated space. And he said, man, I am so sad. I need to get away from people. You felt that before, right? You just want to get away from people. Not only that, but just before this as well. Jesus has sent out his twelve disciples to do some missionary work. And his disciples just came back. You could write that in point B. The disciples just returned. If you look at the mark account in chapter six, seven through 13, it's the story of these twelve disciples going out. And Jesus sent them out. He says, go into the towns and don't take anything with you. And they were healing people. They were interacting with all sorts of folks. They were casting out demons. It was a highlight for them. They were so excited. And so they've just returned, probably full of stories to tell Jesus about because he didn't know, but telling Jesus all of the things that they were just a part of. In Mark, chapter six, verse 30, it says this. The apostles returned to Jesus and told them all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place. Again, we see this, they want to go away for a little while. It says this also that many were coming and going and they had no leisure there. They were exhausted.
[00:16:02] They didn't even have time to eat. So they went away by a boat to a desolate place. So now we have the setting. We know where they're going. From the populated side of the galaxy of Galilee, they're going to the other side. Jesus is grieving because his relative just died. The disciples are all hyped up on the mission trip they just went on. Probably also excited, I'm sorry, exhausted because of all the traveling that has just taken place. And then we step into the story that we looked at in John. If you look back in your bibles to chapter six, we see the kindness of Jesus shown.
[00:16:34] The kindness of Jesus shown. So after this, after some time had passed from previous, from other things happening, jesus has been healing people. He's been doing stuff. Jesus went away because he just heard that his relative had died. A large crowd is following him. Why? Because he's healing people. They're excited about this. They're following him. They want to see more things that Jesus can do. He's healing the sick. He's doing signs. Verse three. Jesus went up on a mountain and he sits down. He's just trying to get away from people. And what does he see?
[00:17:06] All of the people walking towards him.
[00:17:09] Now we see as well that the Passover feast is going on. Why is that thrown in? Probably to let us know that it gives reason to why there's so many people kind of transient from their town. All of the people. When a major festival like the Passover was going to happen, many of the people, especially the men, were to go down to Jerusalem to celebrate. And so there's a lot of people shifting around from their homes. Then Jesus verse five says he lifts up his eyes and he sees this large crowd coming towards him. Matthew gives us a further glimpse that we need to draw our attention to. In Matthew 1414, he says this. He saw this large crowd and he had what? Compassion.
[00:17:50] Jesus has just gone through something really hard. His relative has just died. He has a bunch of disciples he needs to take care of and kind of debrief, and he sees all these people, and the first thought on his mind is not, oh, gosh, people, can we just go back to your own place? It says, he had compassion. The original language there implies this deep seated emotion for these people, this deep care for these people. And the miracle that we're about to see is motivated by not a desire to be king, but a desire to show compassion. That's why he does this. We see in Mark's account that he does a few things. This compassion leads him to do.
[00:18:33] First, some teaching. He taught them. Jesus taught them. Mark, chapter six, verse 34, shows us that verse 34 says this. When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
[00:18:53] Have you ever been completely exhausted? The last thing you want to do is sit down and teach someone stuff. But that's Jesus right now. He has deep compassion for these people, as it says here, like a sheep, like they are like sheep without a shepherd. He's like, I want to guide these people. Their hearts are wandering. They're uncertain of many things.
[00:19:12] Not only does he teach them there, which is, have you ever taught for a long period of time? Isn't that kind of exhausting?
[00:19:20] Sitting, teaching and teaching and teaching, and he's engaging with people, and they're engaging with him. And not only does he teach them, it says also that he demonstrates his kindness in healing them. Matthew, chapter 14, verse 14 says, and he healed their sick. So you just imagine a hillside here filled with grass. There's thousands of people there. Jesus is exhausted. He's grieving. His disciples are there. You're just imagining this with me. And as he's sitting there, people are bringing sick people to them, bringing people who need healing to Jesus. And he's teaching and he's saying, I'm gonna heal you. And touching this person and speaking healing over this person. And people are watching on and in awe of what he. What he is doing. They are totally engaged. And now we get this sense as we look at the different texts here, that this just didn't go on for five or six minutes.
[00:20:14] This went on probably for hours. As Jesus is sitting there and teaching them, and as the sun begins to set, what's the direction? Is the sun sets this way for us where we're standing. As the sun begins to set, his disciples are also thinking we are probably all very, what?
[00:20:33] Hungry and tired. We have just been traveling and traveling. We tried to get away from all of these people. We went on a boat. We traveled to this side. We were exhausted and we're hungry. And they look over to Jesus and say, jesus, all right, I think it's time to go. It's time to get these people back to their homes. And so they say to Jesus, Jesus, can you send them away? It's time. Oh, you've done a lot of teaching. It's really good teaching. You've healed a lot of people. It's been really, really good. Can we send these people away?
[00:21:04] Go tell them to go somewhere else to get dinner.
[00:21:06] We pick up in John chapter five, another area that Jesus shows kindness as he feeds them. And this is what John leans into.
[00:21:15] Jesus says to them, as Philip says, hey, send them away. Tell them to go get food. Jesus says to Philip, why don't you feed them?
[00:21:25] What a question.
[00:21:27] Why don't you take care of that? Look on what it says there. Phillip says, where are we to buy bread so these people may eat? Now that's an interesting question for two reasons. One, who's going to pay for it, but also where, who's going to have enough food to feed? By the way, how many people did it say? How many men did it say are here? 5000. 5000. It says the feeding of the 5000, that's men particularly. Imagine their wives are with them, or at least some of their wives are with them. And family members, most assume this is somewhere at the lower numbers, at least twelve, maybe 15 or more thousand people. Okay, so it's not just 5000 men by themselves. Imagine twelve to 15,000 people out there. And then Jesus says, why don't you feed them? Can you feed 15,000 people? Anybody?
[00:22:18] Imagine going to a store somewhere and saying, I would like enough food for 15,000 people, please. What would they say?
[00:22:25] We need at least 24 hours notice. They probably would say more than that.
[00:22:30] Who's going to pay for it and who's going to have enough food to feed that many people? Jesus says in verse six that he said this to test him for. He knew what he was going to do. Philip says, okay, there's a lot of people here, 200 denarii, which a denarii is a day's wage, 200 or so days wages worth of bread, not expensive. Food would not be enough for everyone here to even get a little bit.
[00:22:56] And so what we see in some other accounts is Jesus says, well, is there anything here? Is there any food here and they do some research. They go out amongst the people and they check to see who has food. And they find a little boy. Who has what? Food.
[00:23:09] Some little loaves of bread, probably more like crackers. Barley loaves is what it says. Barley is a cheap grain. So this is not a rich boy who brought his extra, like, really nice lunch with him and two little fish, probably salted fish, kind of like sardines. Not a lot of food there that he has. And this boy seemingly willing to give this to Jesus, and they say, hey, look, here's some food. But what is that going to do to serve so many people? That's not enough.
[00:23:39] Now, notice what Jesus, he already knows what he's going to do. He says, tell the people to sit down.
[00:23:47] Sit down, everybody. He's organized in this fashion now. Do you think maybe even about this boy, about Jesus? We see this lesson here. There wasn't much to work with, but God doesn't need a whole lot, does he? He needs willing people, you and I, to be willing. You might even say, and I might say, God, I don't have a whole lot to offer you. It's just me, and I'm not even very good at whatever this thing is that you've called me to do. I don't have a lot to offer you. And God says, I don't need a lot that you have to offer.
[00:24:20] All I need is your willingness and then trust me with the rest.
[00:24:25] We also see, which is really neat in this, is that look what happens. He says, tell them to sit down. And then Jesus does something significant. He says he takes the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those. And he, we see later on in other accounts that it was the disciples. He distributes them to the disciples and then he says, go feed everybody else. I mean, imagine a little basket. You've heard this story. Everyone has heard. Many of us have heard this story. And he just keeps handing it out. The miracle that happens, happens in Jesus hands. He breaks bread, perhaps breaks a fish. He keeps handing it out. And the disciples are like, where is he getting, getting this? Where is this coming from? How does he keep handing this out? I saw the basket that I handed to Jesus, and it continues to multiply. And then we see, as the story goes on that Jesus, after multiplying this, we see that Jesus feeds everybody and everyone is completely satisfied. And then it's like the light bulb goes on to the 15,000 people there just filling their stomachs.
[00:25:32] Wait a minute. Where did all this food come from. It says that the people realized what had happened, and they said, this might be the prophet. This might be the person that we have been waiting for. He uses the disciples. Before we go on to the next point, we see this. Jesus distributes them to the disciples. He relies on the labor of the disciples to do this great miracle. Jesus could have remember he's God. He could have been like this, and everybody's stomach's been full. But he didn't do that. He could have snapped his fingers and everybody suddenly have their own personal basket of food right next to them. And he didn't do that either. We also see point d on your outline is this. Jesus not only feeds them, but he provides abundance. When they had eaten their fill verses twelve and 13, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them and filled how many baskets? Again? Twelve baskets.
[00:26:34] Jesus cared not only about those folks there, but also his disciples.
[00:26:40] Jesus desires that people would come before him and say, I don't have a whole lot, but here's what I have.
[00:26:47] Are you willing to do that?
[00:26:49] Simple question to recognize and ask the Lord, what gifts have you given me and how can I give them back to you? What gifts have you given me and how can I give them back to you? Jesus took a poor boy's lunch and made it enough for tens of thousands of thousands of people. And after doing that, he had enough for his disciples. We look on then not just at the kindness of Jesus. We also saw the strength of Jesus there as well. We see this more so in the next major point. But before we get there, look at verses 14 and 15 with me. 14 says this in your bibles. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said this. This is indeed the prophet. What they're talking about is Moses prophesied about someone coming. What's something that's significant that Moses did?
[00:27:36] Did he feed a bunch of people?
[00:27:40] And Jesus says, there's going to be. Then Moses writes about another prophet who's going to come. And Jesus also feeds. Maybe that was the light bulb that went on in their head. Wait a minute. I remember a story about food coming out of nowhere. Remember the manna? The food shows up out of nowhere and then feeds the people. But in this case, we see Jesus feeding a miraculous amount of people.
[00:28:03] And then they say, we want to make you king. The crowd we see, though, was willing to support Jesus as long as he gave them what they wanted.
[00:28:12] It's easy to criticize the crowd with how they love Jesus for the bread that he gave them.
[00:28:18] But often we thank God just for the things that we got from him. We recognize him for the things that we got from him, rather than thanking him just for his character, praising him that we could know a God like him. And so perhaps somebody thought in their mind, wait a minute. Imagine if he could make food like this appear out of nowhere. He could feed an army. He could, he could displace kings. We should make him king. And so Jesus knew what was going on in their minds, as he does for all of us. And he says, no, it's not time.
[00:28:50] Not only is your motive wrong for wanting to make me king, but also it's not the right time. I am king. Yes, but this is not the time for me to take the throne. Jesus is tired. He needs strength. We find that Jesus does not find strength in numbers, but in solitude.
[00:29:12] So we see .3 on your outline. Number three. Strength is found. Strength is found. Where we see now, understanding the entire situation of what's happening, jesus says, I'm still tired. I have shown you compassion. I have healed you. I have taught you. And now, now it's time for me to get my alone time. Any of you like your alone time? Just me. Gotta do myself right now. I need to get away. Especially I need to get away and pray by myself. I'm tired and I'm grieving. Jesus is thinking. Jesus is feeling, I need to get alone. Getting alone's not bad.
[00:29:49] But to say I need to get alone and never serve people, that's not the heart of Jesus that we see here. We see him willing to rely on the father for strength, to feed, to teach, to heal people. But he also says, it's also time for me to take care of myself. Jesus teaches us here, self care is important.
[00:30:08] It's important. So Jesus, what does he do? It says, jesus in verse 15.
[00:30:14] And following it says, jesus withdrew again to the mountain. Again, he's trying to get by himself. Remember Jesus? He went to a desolate place, and he's like, I'm gonna go on a mountain by myself. And then people followed him. And then he's like, all right, people, it's time for you to go. I fed you. Go back to your home. I'm gonna go back on the mountain again and try this, to be by myself. And another accountant, Mark, it says this, that he got ahold of the disciples. And he says, disciples, it's time for you to get on a boat and go back. Go back across the lake. I need to be by myself. Jesus was like, I just can't handle any more distractions here. So he had taken leave of them. He went on the mountain, and the disciples go out to see, and he's finally alone. Here's what jesus knew, friends, and I hope that you know this as well.
[00:30:57] The best place for you to be is alone with the father.
[00:31:02] The best place, especially when things are busy in your life.
[00:31:07] The willingness to say, I'm going to pause all of the opportunities I could have to help all these people and to do all these things. If I find myself depleted, I'm going to get alone with the father and ask him to give me strength. And that's we see taught in Jesus here. The best place for me to be is to find strength with God alone. And so he spends hours praying. By the way, it looks like here is just a moment, but he spends hours. Remember, he sent them away, and then he goes on the mountain. He's now by himself. He climbs a different hill by himself. He sent his disciples away, and then it becomes nighttime, as we see in some other accounts. And Jesus, then he's gone. His disciples have gone into the boat and they're about to cross the sea here. And Jesus, he's praying. He hasn't forgotten his disciples.
[00:31:56] But a storm happens, which, by the way, is very common here because of the landscape. This storm happens. And I asked this question, maybe you do when you look at this. Did Jesus cause the storm?
[00:32:08] He told his disciples to go out onto the water, didn't he?
[00:32:13] He said, I gotta go be by myself. You go out on the water. Jesus goes out and prays. Things are lovely for him. He's praying. He's getting strength from the father. He sent his disciples out, and this storm begins to brew and gets worse and worse and worse. And we see from scripture that the disciples, they hit this storm and they are rowing and rowing and rowing for hours. It says in another passage that the wind is against them. They're not able to get to the destination that Jesus called them towards. He says, go out. Go back across the lake to Capernaum. And they're rowing. It's been hours, you know, midnight comes and you're rowing. 01:00, what are they doing?
[00:32:51] 02:00 and they're rowing. 03:00 and they're rowing. I mean, it's been hours. They're soaked, they're exhausted, and they're rowing and they're rowing and they're rowing and they still haven't gotten to the place that Jesus told them to go. Did jesus know they weren't there yet? Yep. Did jesus know the storm was happening?
[00:33:09] Were they disobeying Jesus because the storm was going on?
[00:33:14] Perhaps you see the lesson here that just because a storm is going on in your life doesn't mean that you're in a place that God doesn't want you.
[00:33:22] And sometimes we can believe that when things get hard, God must not want me here. The disciples were in a really, really hard, hard place, and yet God was with them. Jesus knew exactly what was going on there. He was off praying. We see here, then, that the disciples found strength in the midst of their exhaustion in Jesus presence. It says when they had rowed about three or 4 miles, some accounts say it's the fourth watch of the night. So the time frame is somewhere between 03:00 a.m. and 06:00 a.m. they have been rowing for many, many hours.
[00:34:00] So they see out in the midst of the rowing, they're exhausted. They're probably asking questions like this. Do you think Jesus knows we're here? I mean, I'm used to rowing, and this is a bad storm. Are we ever going to get there? Should we give up? Does Jesus even care about us right now? I am exhausted. Have any of you been exhausted before?
[00:34:20] I'm exhausted. Maybe Jesus forgot about us. Maybe that's what happened. And then they look out, and they see this image on the water, not in swimming, not in another boat walking on the water. And at first, they're obviously frightened. I would be, too. I assume you would be as well, or you'd think it's Jesus because you read this passage already.
[00:34:41] They're frightened. And then another account. We don't see this here, and I won't get into all these details. We see this, and they're frightened. They cry out in fear. And Jesus says, don't worry, it's me. Actually, what he says is this, don't be frightened. I am.
[00:34:55] And they go, wait a minute. I know that voice.
[00:34:59] I know who that is. And Peter being Peter says, you know what? I'll believe you, but I'll believe you even more if you let me walk out to you. So he says, jesus, if it's really you, call me out in the water. And Jesus says, all right, that's an interesting idea. Come. And so Peter gets out of the boat, and then he starts walking to Jesus. And then Jesus sees him. He comes up to Jesus, and I just imagine, as you probably do as well, Peter walks up to Jesus. He's probably pretty excited. This is a crazy experience adrenaline rushing. He's also exhausted still, and he's walking on the water going, I've never done this before, and I've been on the water a lot. And Jesus, he comes over to him. Jesus says, you made it, buddy. Good job. And then Peter looks out at the waves. He looks out at the storm and begins to sink.
[00:35:46] Jesus says, what's going on? What happened to your faith? Why did you take your eyes off of me in the midst of the storm, even in the midst of the storm, I am here. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. Keep your eyes on me. And he lifts him out. They welcome him into the boat.
[00:36:04] And maybe another miracle here, by the way, if you caught this at the tail end of this passage, and immediately it says in verse 21, and immediately the boat was at land to which they were going immediately, like they were there. We've been rowing and rowing. We can't see land anywhere. There's Jesus. He gets in the boat and then he's like, hey, how did we get to the dock? Has the dock been here this whole time? And we've been blind to it the entire time? Immediately they are there. However that happened, maybe they tell, I don't know how they got there. I'm not gonna say teleported or something, but Jesus has a way of moving us through situations that seem impossible if we keep our eyes focused on him. They found strength in Jesus.
[00:36:47] They found strength. Jesus found strength in prayer, and we can do the same. I'm gonna conclude here in just a moment. I wanna you think through some applications with me.
[00:36:58] In the midst of a major need, be willing to give what you have, even if it doesn't seem to meet the whole need. Be willing to be generous.
[00:37:11] Secondly, kindness, compassion that brings about action is valued by Jesus. Think through for yourself.
[00:37:21] What in me brings about me being compassionate towards others? Am I? Or would other people consider me a compassionate person?
[00:37:30] And if so, does that move me to action?
[00:37:34] I said this earlier.
[00:37:35] Three, just because you're going through a storm doesn't mean you're doing the wrong thing.
[00:37:41] Keep your eyes on Jesus through it.
[00:37:45] Lastly, four, if you're going through something hard right now, or you have been before, remember Jesus is strong enough to make the problem stop. And he's kind and will continue to ride with you through whatever it is.
[00:38:02] God seems to care about the discomfort even of empty bellies and provides. He could have said, it's not a life or death situation, go somewhere else. But he didn't do that. He saw their seemingly small problem and showed compassion.
[00:38:23] God wants to teach us, to heal us and defeat us. We just need to be willing, if you imagined with me, Jesus sitting at the top of this hill and the people, he wants to heal us. He wants to feed us. He wants to teach us. We just need to be willing to sit at his feet and let him do and let him teach us what he wishes.
[00:38:42] We're going to shift our time to remembering the Lord in communion. I'm going to pray as we transition here. If you would just join me. Lord, thank you for your love and your compassion for us.
[00:38:56] Thank you for your strength, your sovereignty over all things.
[00:39:01] Thank you that you're a God who is strong and kind.
[00:39:06] Thank you that we, even though maybe going through the hard things, we can know that you have the power to make them stop.
[00:39:13] And sometimes you do. Sometimes you ride with us. But you're a God who is kind and will not abandon us in the midst of hardship, in the midst of need that we might be in. In Jesus name, amen. If you're one of the ushers, you can get ready for communion as well. As they do that, let's consider for a moment the power and the kindness of Jesus. Seen particularly at the cross. The power of sin is found most significantly when we consider the one who defines sin. Who defines sin?
[00:39:48] God himself. Right? Not you or me. He says that sin is when we don't hit the center of the target for his heart, his desires, his standards with our hearts and our minds and our actions. When we miss the mark, we've sinned. When we've missed it, he says there's a punishment, but we might say, so what? We've missed the mark just once.
[00:40:13] What's interesting is the consequence for missing the mark just once is the same consequence as if you've missed the mark 10,000 times. What's the consequence? Death.
[00:40:27] Eternal separation from the loving presence of God. The first sin happened not over, get this, friends, not over some horrible situation of someone killing someone, of some crazy adultery, of some abuse or something else that we might call some really bad sin. The first sin which brought death into the world was brought. What happened over something we might call small and minute, insignificant, taking a bite of a piece of fruit, something as small as that, that brought death into the world. Why? Because it was sin. From that point forward, the actions of men and women took. The actions that men and women took moved them further and further away from God's design. The result, the power of sin, had thrown the world into chaos. Globally, death, disease and devastation have reigned. You know this to be true. You turn on the news, you see messiness all over the place. You might ask, why is this happening? In one word, sin.
[00:41:36] Personally the result of sin.
[00:41:40] We seek our own pleasures. We seek our own edification. Pride and power become the chief goal of man. So in the world we see death, disease and devastation personally. Pleasure, pride and, excuse me, pleasure and pride continue to reign, and power become the chief goal of all of man. The question then sits with us. Who will save us from the havoc of the world?
[00:42:09] No matter how many Nobel peace prize winners there are, no matter how many humanitarian efforts are fully funded, the power of sin will always take center stage over and over again.
[00:42:25] Who will break the power of sin?
[00:42:28] And then the loving kindness of Jesus steps onto the stage, shows up in our greatest time of need. He knew he was not. We know he's not only kind enough to want to save, but he's strong enough to break the power of sin and death.
[00:42:45] This was read earlier. And you who were dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven our trespasses, because he's kind and strong enough to do just that. Ushers, you can walk down this by canceling the record of debt that stood against us. The wages of our sin is death. But Jesus, he took the legal demands of sin, that is, that we should die. And he took it, and he nailed it to the cross. I will die in your place is what he said and what he did. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over the power of death. He said, I have power over death. I can conquer you and people. I love you. I have a kind heart towards you.
[00:43:33] Jesus made a way to conquer the punishment of sin, and that was found at the cross. Isn't that a good thing? So good. Four things to do as the elements are passed in just a moment. One, if you've never trusted in Jesus today, repentance, just turn around and say, Jesus, I'm ready to trust in you. That you are strong enough to save me from the power of sin. Reflect on the work that Jesus did on the cross.
[00:44:00] Remember what he did. Remember the sin that you've even committed. And then remember you can take them to the cross over and over again. And he is always strong enough to save. Amen. And because of that, we can rejoice, can't we? Knowing that I don't have to live today with the shame of yesterday, because Jesus took it to the cross, because he's the only one strong enough to do just that. As the music plays and the elements are passed, I encourage you, think through those four rs. Repent, reflect, remember and rejoice. Today in one of the cups, if you separate them, there's a cracker inside of it. It's to remind us of the bread that Jesus shared with his disciples at the last Supper. And he said, to take and eat, which I'll read from one corinthians, chapter eleven.
[00:44:50] Paul speaking, calling the church to do this, to remember Jesus. He says, for I received from the Lord what I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. That's one of the R's. That's what we're doing. We're remembering in the same way. He took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it. In remembrance. Again, our word. Remember, remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And in that we rejoice. Church, let's eat and drink together.
[00:45:39] Lord Jesus, as we turn our eyes towards you this morning, we know that we can approach your throne with confidence because of what Jesus did on the cross.
[00:45:51] We know that it is not any power that we have that gives us the ability to come before you with confidence, with boldness. It is not any great deed that we did so that we can experience your kindness in our life that draws us to repentance.
[00:46:07] It is you, Jesus.
[00:46:09] And this morning we turn our eyes towards you and we rejoice because we're able to experience your kindness, your blessing, your grace, as we remember the cross this morning.
[00:46:23] We are a church that sits under the power of the cross and the kindness shown at the cross. We are one under you.
[00:46:33] And even as we just moments ago ate and drank together, signifying our unity under you, help us to let go of anything that gets in the way of that union with each other and with you.
[00:46:49] In Jesus name, amen.
