Matthew chapter 14:13-21 (continued)

“ Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to go away.

You give them something to eat’ they said to Him, ‘We have here only five loaves and two fish.’ He said, ‘Bring them here to Me.’ Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

Last time we looked at the death of John the Baptist and discussed that when we make stands for the truth that we need to accept the fact that being hurt or killed because of that stand is a reality. We live in a time when Christians are being executed because they refuse to renounce the name of Jesus.

About a year ago we saw that a murderer went into a facility in the USA and asked his victims if they believed in Jesus; if they did, he shot them. John the Baptist was and is one of many martyrs. There will be many more in the next few years from all corners of the world. Jesus told us this sobering truth in Matthew 16:24-25,

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ‘For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.…’”

In all my years of growing up in the Lord’s churches I did not ever have to fear for my life. But as we move closer and closer to the Lord’s return I look at my children and I wonder what price they will have to pay for the name and cause of Christ? I pray that I will equip my children to live for Jesus so that if the time comes to die for Jesus they will see the worth. Today we will visit one of the most famous of the events in Jesus’ life here on earth. In this feeding of the 5000 we will explore some things that we all know and maybe look at a thing or two to make us all think.

Jesus Can’t Get Away for a Break, Verse 1

One of the things that can get misplaced in the study of the life of Jesus here on earth is his humanity. Jesus was 100 percent man. He ate, he drank, he slept, he sweated, he had to take time for bodily functions and he needed some alone time every now and then.  When Jesus woke up in the morning His hair was messed up just like ours.

He at times needed a shower or a bath, I guess in that day. His feet got dirty as He walked the streets of Jerusalem and His hands would have been calloused like the hands of a working man, say a carpenter. In this case Jesus just needed some alone time by himself to mourn the death of His cousin and so he went off by boat, to find a bit of solitude.

No such rest would come on this day. The people simply found out where He was going and ran to meet Him. These folks came from all the surrounding cities to Jesus. Some of them would have walked very far with their children and wives to see Jesus and to hear His teaching.  Maybe some were looking for healing and help for a loved one.

Whatever the reason they flocked to Jesus and no amount of distance that He put between Him and them seemed to be enough. Jesus drew crowds just about everywhere He went; some were believers and others, the haters, like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Some came to be healed and others to see the show. But in the midst of these people and even amongst the elders of Israel were people who genuinely gave their lives to Jesus and called Him Lord.

 Jesus Had Compassion , Verse14

The true heart of a servant is one who puts aside personal needs to serve other. Jesus set a very high bar in the area of service. He was selfless when it came to the people who came to Him.  This day He was just in need of a few minutes to himself, some peace and quiet, maybe a time to pray and commune with His Father. Rather than striking out and stating His own needs He met their needs with compassion, and this drove Him to help.  We see at the end of the verse that He healed their sick.

I am so guilty of seeking my own needs first in many situations, most often when it comes to my children. I work a secular job as well as pastor a church and sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, I just want to sit and do nothing, watch some football or vegetate and not have to think. But my children need to me to be there to take them somewhere or do something or simply be engaged. But I am selfish and put my needs first, I am not compassionate to them and I am certainly not gracious at times.

Jesus knew that His time on earth was a short stint and so He simply made the most of every waking minute. He gave His all, all the time, and held nothing back. How are we in the area of service? Are we selfless like Jesus or selfish? Are we givers or takers? Do we make time for the ones we say that we love realizing, like Jesus, that the time we have together here is short and precious? We always assume that we will have tomorrow.  There were many who can testify that tomorrow never comes.

Jesus works into evening as we see in verse 15. Now this could have been as early as about 3 pm in the afternoon for us. The evening sacrifice in the Temple for instance was at 3 pm.  So this does not necessarily mean that it was night. To us, evening at least means that the sun is going down. The disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away into the surrounding villages to buy something to eat and make their own arrangements for food.

This was a futile task as the account clearly states that they were in a desert place. Often we do the prudent thing to avoid doing the right thing. These people had small children with them, there were women as well and they had travelled great distances to see Jesus and to hear him and be healed. This is kind of like when we offer to pray for someone as an excuse not to some anything at all. But Jesus would have none of this instead Jesus gives the command to ‘give them something to eat’ in verse 16.

Our Resources Are Low,  Verse 17

In the John 6 account of the same event, we find that Peter offers that 200 denarii would not be enough to feed these many people. In doing a bit of research about the denarii on the website historicJesus.com we find that one denarii was a day’s wages for a common labourer. So Peter was telling Jesus and us that about 2/3 of a year’s wage would not be enough to feed these many people.

I want us to consider the irony of this situation. Jesus had just spent a large part of the day healing people of various diseases, by this time the disciples had seen Jesus turn water to wine, cast out demons and do all manner of miracles and here they were stumped by how to feed a large group of people. This is how we are with the Lord very often, we repeat passages like Psalm 23 with fervor and we cry and feel all tingly inside but when the time comes to exercise true faith we cower behind rational explanations

Even when they brought the young man to Jesus with the few fish and the few loaves they were not looking for a miracle, they were still looking for a way out. Their words were not words of faith, “what are they among so many” and in Matthew we see them say they “only” have these few resources. They still wanted out of taking responsibility for these people. Jesus would have none of that. We must take responsibility for the people that Jesus puts in our path.

The New Testament church must take responsibility for the masses of people around us who stand by and complain of a lack of resources is not the right way. Apparently we can sing, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine and I know He really cares for me” and not really mean it.  It is nice song but do we actually believe it?

Will God take care of you? Did He take care of about 2,000,000 people in the wilderness journey that we read about in Exodus? Did He not feed, water, clothe, and yes, He even shod every single one of them.  Read Exodus 8: 3-4:

“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.”

God allowed the Israelites to be in tough situations that made them turn to God. The purpose was to realize that God is our Sustainer and our Provider.  He is the one, not our money, our jobs, our pensions, our retirement plans, our inheritances and certainly not the government run lotteries. God and God alone is our Provider. Here the disciples were about the get schooled by Jesus about His ability to provide.

He fed more than 15,000 people from five loaves of bread and 2 small fishes. It is not the size of the problem that we should look at, it is the size of our God. Some of us sing about a big God but in all practicality we treat Him as a small God. I will admit that I had to learn to trust my BIG GOD the hard way. God blessed me with a family; we have three children, and my income did not go up very much if at all.

In some cases it went down, I was working and we tithed and tried to give what we could.  But we had to depend on God to help us and He did in miraculous ways. He revealed that He is the same God who took care of the Jews in the wilderness; He takes care of my family. God continues to expand our faith by bringing us to places where we have to forgo human reasoning and simply let God be God.

Give All You Can Cheerfully and Faithfully, Verse 18

In John 6: 9 we see that Andrew finds a young lad with some food, some fish and a few loaves of bread. Jesus took them, blessed them and distributed to the people around him.  He gave to the disciples and they fed the people. Notice that Jesus made the disciples feed the people, He did the supplying but they took the food to the people. This was truly a miracle in that Jesus met the needs of the people with great power and authority.

He not only provided for them needs of the 15,000 or so people there He actually provided more than was needed. In verse 20 we find that 12 baskets were filled with the leftovers. After taking a look at a few commentaries it would seem that these where the kind of personal baskets that the Jews would take with them on journeys, not large containers but enough to have a bit of food in it.

I do not know if the number 12 was significant but there were 12 Apostles and in John 6:12 we are told that they gathered the food that none would be lost. Food is precious to poor people; they made sure that every edible bit was saved. In our time today we take food and its abundance for granted. But one of the judgments that God sends on a nation that rejects Him and His ways is food shortages.

Just over the past four years the average food price has risen about 30% and a recent article on Fox News mentioned that prices will raise another 2-4% next year. The countries of North America have been blessed for many generations with food abundance, we should not take these blessings for granted, and the same God who gives, can take away.

This young lad had a story to tell for the rest of his life. A story of wonder and amazement and that star of it was Jesus. I wonder how many we will see in heaven simply because this young man spoke about the wonders and power of Jesus.

What about you?

What is your story?

Whenever I think of this I am reminded of the apostle Paul; he told the story of his conversion over and over again. In Acts 26:12-18 and in Acts 22: 6-11 we find Paul simply telling others what Jesus did for him.

What has Jesus done for you?

What miracle has He blessed you with?

Are you silent?

Your silence will simply cheat you out of great blessings. Make no mistake, God will be praised. You and I should count it as a privilege and a duty when we consider all that God has done for us.

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His loving kindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary” (Psalm 107:1-2).

Missionarybaptistchruch76@yahoo.ca

www.mississaugamissionarybc.com

 

Matthew chapter 14:1-12 (continued)

“At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.’ Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,  for John had been saying to him: ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’

Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet. On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much  that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.  Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.’

The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted  and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.”

Over the past few weeks we have examined some of the parables that Jesus used to teach the Apostles, and some of the disciples about the kingdom of heaven. Essentially, He was equipping them with all the information and tools they would need to do the work of the New Testament church—when He was gone.

These were the things that they would recall when He was gone; these were the tools that helped them stay the course, as the church was persecuted by her enemies across the Roman Empire. Without the persecution of the Pharisees and the Romans, the church very much may have stayed a Jewish phenomenon and died in Jerusalem. But persecution came as the gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire and most of the known world (including North Africa).

Today we will look at one of the saddest events of the New Testament narrative. It is the execution of John the Baptist. John, as you will recall was the cousin of Jesus; his mother was family to Mary. John was about 6 months older than Jesus. John was a “forerunner” to Jesus. In Jesus’ day, a forerunner was used by neighboring kings to warn other kings who would be visiting. It gave them time to repair roads or prepare straight paths for them to travel.

In John 1:23, John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3; he was the voice that cried in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of [for] the Lord.” This is exactly what a person who heralds news would do; he would let the king know that a king was coming and that the paths should be straightened and made ready for an imminent arrival.

John did his job; he was the last of the Old Testament prophets from God after 400 years of silence after the prophet Malachi; God began His New Testament phase of working with the Jewish people.

As we get to this account we are actually looking at history; John was already dead and Jesus’ fame had spread all the way to Herod’s palace. His servants were convinced that Jesus was John come back from the dead; little did they know that this Jesus would come back from the dead.  But this leads us to the first point.

We All Know the Dead Will be Raised, Verse 2

You never go to a funeral and hear people say, “Oh well he (or she) is in the dirt now.” No, people always talk about “he (or she) is in a better place.” We understand that even in our fallen state, we go somewhere—death is not the end. God made us in His image and He is an eternal God so we have that in us, the desire to live forever.

Unless a person is gravely ill or very old, say over 85, death comes as a surprise to most if not all people. The entire cancer mindset is “We will beat it.” In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we find this telling verse:

“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.”

God put eternity in our hearts and we know that we will live forever somewhere. The account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 reminds us that there are two ends to this life, one which is in torments—hell, fire and pain for eternity, the other is safe in God’s keep. The choice is yours in this life. Eternal life or eternal death, you will live in one for sure. Choose Jesus and choose life now.

John Told the Truth and it Cost Him His Life, Verses 3-10

You see, once you understand that this life is just the beginning and there is more to it after physical death, then the ability to make costly stands will be strengthened in the power of Jesus. John the Baptist was not afraid to tell Herod the truth. What was that truth that cost him his life?

Herod was a ruthless man, given to rages and unaccustomed to being told “No.”  He had taken his brother, Philip’s, wife to be his own. This is adultery. Philip was still alive as far as we know. John the Baptist told Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother’s wife (verse 4).  Even in today’s modern and liberal world that kind of behavior is frowned upon.

The Ten Commandments which John would have known as a prophet of the Lord clearly states in the 7th of the commandments listed in Exodus 20:1-17, that you should not commit adultery. Adultery is any sexual act between a married person and a person he or she is not married to. Fornication is any sexual act between people who are not married at all or any other sexual act outside of marriage. Thus, John spoke the truth; Herod was not allowed to have his brother’s wife. For this John was imprisoned.

Today we are seeing much of the same thing and if you study down through history you will find that countless numbers of Christians have been killed over the years for simply speaking the truth. Of course no one can hear of the death of a Christian and not think of the great Stephen who was killed in Acts 7:57. The people who heard the truth about Jesus and their sins covered their ears and cried out with loud voices to drown out the truth.

Biblical truth cuts to the heart of men, it separate the lies and fictitious cushions we build to protect our fragile egos. Man says, “I’m okay, you’re okay.” But the Bible says we are sinners, snakes, and our mouths are deep graves, and that our hearts are deceitfully wicked.  The Bible says that all of our goodness is filthy like rags in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6).

Today we have Christians being brutally persecuted in Muslim countries because they are believers in Jesus Christ. Closer to home, we have families that have bakeries and are losing their businesses—because they stand for the biblical definition of marriage. Or we have Christians being labeled as intolerant because they accept that the Bible is the final authority in life. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only way of salvation in John 14:6, and we lovingly teach that for the benefit of our friends, family and yes—even our enemies. But we are branded as intolerant for speaking the truth.

You see, the true God of the Bible is the God of absolutes and mankind kind of likes things to float, so that right and wrong become relevant to the situation as opposed to a fixed boundary. To accept God’s absolutes would be to admit that the naysayers are wrong or to admit that there is a God to answer to for their disregard of His rules. The godless haters would rather try to imprison us, kill us or do whatever it takes to drown us out. The same truth that sets us free in Christ can get us killed for Christ.

Pride Is a Killer, Verses 9-12

Herod did not intend to kill John the Baptist; he imprisoned him hoping John would come around. In the course of his imprisonment we see in Mark 14:6 that Herod celebrated a birthday and Herodias had her daughter do a dance for him.  Herod was mesmerized, I am sure, by the young lady dancing before him and he made her a promise and an oath to give her anything she desired.

It is very important for us to learn not to write checks with our mouths that our hearts don’t want to cash. The Bible has a lot to say about the mouth and the tongue in particular:

“But the tongue can no man tame; [it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

Whoso keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23).

“ I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me” (Psalms 39:1).

Well, it would seem that Herod did not heed the Scriptures well, so he ended up doing something he did not want to do; the king was distressed about his oath, but to save face he murdered John the Baptist for simply telling the truth. Jesus warned that in the last days the same fate would fall upon those who are His followers. In Matthew 24:9-12 we find these sobering words:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

Notice that we will be hated by the world and its systems; this is very important for the modern church to understand. The new compromising church wants to appeal to the world and draw them in. There is no such instruction in the Bible; rather we are to be a peculiar people set apart for the Lord (1 Peter 2:9).

We need to interact for the sake of the gospel; Jesus interacted with the masses but He did not assimilate. He kept His uniqueness and His righteousness in that perverse generation. We are called to do the same. Jesus was killed for it and they will kill us as well. Are we ready to die for the name of Jesus? John the Baptist did; he told the truth and it cost him his life.

Missionarybaptistchruch76@yahoo.ca

www.mississaugamissionarybc.com