Greeting
You know, whenever the Sunday school gets dismissed and the teens go with them, I’m always like, Who’s left? I got my tech team. I got Brian and Anna. Kim is still here. You know, it’s a good sign. It’s a good sign that we have so many young people at our church. But yeah, it’s always funny sort of watching the Exodus when you come up to preach.
Anyway, so my name is Conrad. I am indeed one of the pastors here.
Personal Story: Little Caesars and Counterfeit Money
And years ago, 20 years ago now, before I was a pastor, I used to work at Little Caesars. I think a lot of us cut our teeth in our careers with fast food. I was no exception to that. Hey man. Yeah.
And so I remember this one time, I remember lots of times, but I remember one in particular, where this fellow comes in to order. I think it was some crazy bread, and I was working with a girl named Kim. Um, and she, she’s given this $10 bill, and she sort of is looking at this bill, and she’s very confused.
And I was on the other side behind the counter. So I came around thinking maybe it’s American currency. She’s not sure what we do with that or some of their foreign currency. And I get there and I see why she’s looking at it funny. This is clearly not a real $10 bill, but she’s not sure how to address this situation.
Um, and so I stepped in because I was the assistant manager and I said, uh, this is not real. This is fake money. He’s like, no, that’s real, that’s real. And I was like, is it though?
And so he’s like, no, I just got it from pasta polo, which is a shop 3 or 4 doors down. And we know everyone in the strip mall, right? You get to know everyone after a while.
And we said, well, Alan, who’s the manager over there, is a great guy. Go talk to Alan and he will definitely help you out. No problems.
And so the guy reached over. We’re not supposed to give him back the money, right? Because we believe it to be counterfeit, but he reaches over snatches it from us, curses at us and says he’s going over to settle things with the guys that passed the poll and he’ll be back for his crazy bread.
So guess who never came back? Um, Yeah, I think he was angry that we were not fooled by the money that he printed on his ink jet at home.
But what’s interesting is you just know, right? You just, you can tell that it’s not real. Why? Because you’ve handled money your whole life. So when you give something that’s not real, you know exactly right away that something is off.
That, in fact, is how they train FBI agents who deal with fake currencies. They give them all real currencies, because when you know the real thing, then it’s hard to be fooled by a fake.
And how many of you would accept fake money? If you were selling something on marketplace and someone showed up with a fake $100 bill, would you say, yes, that seems good. I’ll trade this for the thing that I’m selling. We would never accept counterfeit money knowingly.
So why do we accept counterfeit happiness in our life? Why are we all so eager to accept cheap knockoffs of the real thing when it comes to our life? And take that thought and put it in our pocket. I am going to come back to that later, and I think it’s worth exploring.
Scripture Reading: Mark 6:30–44 (NET)
But first, let’s read our scripture for this morning. We’re picking up after the beheading of John the Baptist, happy instant, though that was.
And uh, And we’re going to read our verse for this morning. Which, can we advance the slide because my iPad has stopped working.
Okay, so here we are picking up in verse 30 of chapter 6.
Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. He then said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest for a while, for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place. But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried on foot from all of the towns and arrived there ahead of them. As Jesus came ashore, he saw the large crowd that he had, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things. Now, when it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already very late, send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “Should we go and buy bread for 200 silver coins and give it to them to eat?” He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” So they found out, and when they found out they said “5 and 2 fish.” Then he directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they reclined in groups of 100s and 50s. And he took the 5 loaves and the 2 fish, looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and he broke the loaves. He gave them to his disciples to serve the people the food, and as he divided the fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces and fish that were left over, 12 baskets full. Now, there were 5000 men who ate the bread.
Opening Prayer
Let’s pray.
God, thank you for this story. This is the only miracle outside of the resurrection that’s recorded in all 4 gospels. Clearly, it is something that matters to you and was important to the gospel writers. I pray that you would help us to mine this for all that it’s worth and to apply that which we learn from your word this morning. Thank you, Jesus, for your goodness, for your provision and for your guidance. Amen.
Recap: The Context
So, Let’s just recap our situation, okay? The disciples, Jesus is rejected in his hometown of Nazareth. After his rejection, he commissions the disciples to go out 2 by 2 and preach the gospel. In Matthew’s gospel, we read that the disciples are going to be pulled before the synagogue and beaten and arrested.
So we have a pretty good sense that this is probably not an overnight trip, right? This is probably several weeks, possibly several months. So anyway, they’re out doing that.
While they’re doing that, Herod holds a party at his mansion that results in John the Baptist’s death. We’ll get back to that a little bit later, which Ryan talked about last week.
And now we have the disciples returning from their missionary journey to report back to Jesus.
So here we are in verse 30 again. Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught.
Now this is interesting. We’re going to go make a teeny, tiny trip to Tangentown. There was a lot of teas. But it’s this word apostles. You know, this is the only time that Mark uses the word apostles.
And it basically means messenger, a messenger sent by God. And so we would say, well, the apostles are the 12 who were with Jesus, but then we also see that Paul is an apostle and they sort of send others that they call apostles like Barnabas.
And if Apostle means messenger, Isn’t it possible that we’re all apostles? Let me caution you with this, okay? I think that we could make the case that we are all lowercase A apostles if we’re sent on a mission. You know, like the Blues Brothers, maybe.
But the problem with this is that when people talk about apostles, or being apostles, or apostles ship in today’s context, what they mean is that they have a fresh revelation from God, that is equal in authority to the scripture, and so we need to listen to them.
And so I would say, we should regard the Office of Apostle as being historically complete, and we should avoid, and be strongly, before using the term apostle to ourselves, and very, be very careful around people who claim themselves to be apostles.
So I’m just going to sum this up with a really quick video, and then we’ll move on. And now, with your permission, I’d like to sing a little song about using the term apostle outside of a historical context. This one’s called Don’t Shoot Do It. Moving on.
The Call to Rest
Verse 31. He said to them, come with me, that’s Jesus. Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest for a while, for there were many coming and going, and there was no time to eat. So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.
Now, I love this. I love this very much. So we have the disciples coming back from their missionary journey. They tired, they’re weak. They basically the people that are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. The years are the huddle masses returning to Jesus to be refilled and restored and refueled.
So they’re tired, they’re hungry. We going to take that hunger We going to put it in our pocket. come back to it.
But where do they go? Where do they go when they’re tired and hungry and need to be restored and refueled? to an isolated place.
You know what that word isolated place means? The wilderness. Do you remember when I started Mark and I said, we’re taking the wilderness back? We always think of it as this place of waywardness, but it is not. It is a place of reproof and restoration.
Yes, Jesus might call you out and you might need that time to correct some issue, but it’s a time of refueling and restoring. So Jesus goes into the wilderness. You see him in the wilderness all the time, by the way.
And this serves as a reminder to us that in whatever business and business that we are doing, we are accountable always to Jesus. He is the source of our energy. He is the source of our strength. He is the source of our ability to go on and continue.
Because when we get caught up in business and business, that’s when we can sort of set aside Jesus’ call and sort of go our own way, as Fleetwood Mac would say. Okay, don’t be Fleetwood Mac. It’s a bad news.
Okay, the greater demands that are placed on you. The greater closeness, closeness you need to pursue with Jesus. Can I get an amen? Thank you.
The Crowd’s Pursuit
Okay, let’s keep going because we actually have a lot to get through today. Verse 33. But many saw them leaving and recognize them, and they hurried on foot from all the towns and arrived there ahead of them.
These guys, okay, they’re celebrities, right? You see celebrities getting accosted. These guys are almost paparazzi chasing around Jesus and the disciples. They are aggressive. They’re in their face. They’re chasing them down.
But what can we draw from this? These guys are really excited about Jesus and his crew. Now, some of them are misguided. Right? This region that they’re in is actually where there’s a lot of zealots. It was a movement within Judaism, and they wanted Jesus to be this military king, right? The same thing that John the Baptist thought Jesus would be, the same thing that all the Jews thought Jesus would be.
So they are mistaken about his role, but they’re excited because they can tell there’s something different about him. And so they are pursuing him with everything that they have. And the evidence of this is that they beat a boat.
They’re sailing down the sea of Galilee and these people, like Olympic level, whose same bolt sprinters are just running along the shore. And not only are they running, they’re calling out to other people. They’re collecting people on the way as they’re sprinting down the shore to maintain.
So Jesus and the disciples eventually pull up on the shore and there’s already a mass of humanity waiting for them. That’s excitement. That is excitement. Maybe we should have a little bit of that excitement.
So when you think, maybe when you think about how Jesus is being pursued by these people and how excited they are, maybe we should say to ourselves, am I that excited?
And when we look at their excitement, we might channel our inner Owen Wilson. Wow. Thank you, Owen. Moving on.
Jesus’ Compassion
Verse 34. As Jesus came ashore, he saw the large crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things.
So here are the disciples, right? They’re hungry, tired, the huddled masses, they’re coming to Jesus. They’re going to go rest and refuel, and instead of resting and refueling, Jesus decides to teach. For hours.
Why? Because they’re like sheep without a shepherd. Now, if you’re familiar with the story in Genesis of Moses taking the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt and into the promised land, you’ll remember that Moses and his ilk doubt God. So they’re not allowed to enter. They’re sent back into the wilderness for a time of reproof, for that generation to pass away so the next generation can step into all that God has in faith.
But what does Jesus say when he’s looking for his replacement? I don’t want to leave my people as sheep without a shepherd. And that’s when he appoints Joshua to take over, right?
And we should note that when we’re talking about sheep without a shepherd, we’re not talking about weak, helpless sheep. These are not animals that are, you know, infirm and dying and need to be spoon fed and picked up and carried. That’s not what this means.
We’re talking about directionless people, rudderless people. People blown this way and that by the wind going wherever it is that the popular culture of the time is going.
And Jesus doesn’t want that. So he spends his time in this. Meanwhile, the disciples are waiting and waiting. And waiting.
Let’s keep on going, verse 35 and 36. When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, this is an isolated place, and it is already very late. Send them away, those people, so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.
Remember, the disciples are hungry. I’m going to pull that back out of our pocket. They’re hungry.
You notice what we don’t read in this story. We don’t read about the people complaining, do we? We don’t hear about the horde grumbling about how they’re hungry, and this Jesus guy is holding them captive with all his teaching and refuses to feed them. That’s not what we hear.
Instead, the disciples come, and they say, Jesus, I know you don’t care about our hunger. Do you care about these people? They’re probably dying of starvation. I think that they’re projecting. They’re projecting onto these people their own hunger.
Right? The disciples are basically like, you know, when you went somewhere as a kid with your parents, the friend’s house, maybe even to church. And then you were done. The service was over, and you’re wanting to leave, and you’re standing anxiously by the door, and your parents are just talking.
They just talking and talking and talking. This happened to me once as a kid. My uncle came over for a visit, and we were hanging out in the kitchen and talking, and then eventually we moved to the doorway and we were talking, and I was like, it’s so late. It’s like, it’s like 1130. I’m going to go to bed.
So I went up to bed and I came down in the morning at 8.30 and they were still standing in the doorway talking. What’s wrong with you people?
This is what Jesus was doing to disciples. He was talking and sharing and teaching because that’s his goal. Thats his mission, is to teach.
And the disciples are like, can you please stop achieving your mission and feed me? At least that’s how I read it. I don’t know. a lot of the scholars are a lot more gentle with the disciples. I think they were hangry. That’s my personal thought on it.
But he answered, I love this. Jesus answered them, you give them something to eat. You do it.
And they say, should we go and buy bread for 200 silver coins and give it to them to eat? Now this is amazing. So 200 silver coins would have been about 8 months’ wages for an individual, okay?
Now, the disciples have just been on a missionary journey of several weeks to several months where they’ve been relying on the kindness of strangers. They don’t have any money. They don’t have anything.
And they come back and Jesus is like, well, you give them food. And so it’s literally like that SpongeBob SquarePants meme. You know, Jesus was like, you give them food. Where am I supposed to get the food from, Jesus? I got no money. You got money? What are we doing here? What do you?
So it sort of reminded me of those old Snickers ads, and I chose one of my favorites just to share with you today. This is what I picture the disciples sort of being like.
Marsha, what happened? Peter, hit me on the nose with a football. I can’t go to the dance like this. Well, I’m sure it was an accident, sweetheart. An eye for an eye. That’s what dad always says. I never said that, honey. Shut up! God, did these feed her a lesson? Marcia, eat us, Snickers. Why? You get a little hostile when you’re hungry. Better? Better? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Jan, this isn’t about you. It never is.
The service is not sponsored by Snickers, but I do want one now. Um…
So there’s a few things that the disciples are missing out on here. They don’t have any food to share with the people. They don’t have any money to buy food, but the thing that is most important that they are missing is not the food or the money it is the faith.
They’re lacking in faith. Right? And Jesus goes full Darth Vader here, I find your lack of faith disturbing. How much do you need to see? I have, you know, calmed the storm. I’ve cast out 1000s of demons. I have provided for you on your missionary journey, and you haven’t seen me in weeks and or months. I literally raised someone from the dead.
Like, what does it take for you guys to trust that I have got this? Because the thing is, We get caught up in this idea that I don’t have enough. I don’t have what it takes to do this job. Yes, good. Welcome to reality.
In your weakness, he is made strong. That’s the whole idea. You don’t have to have faith if you can do it on your own. Faith only comes if you’re taking a step like that Indiana Jones slip, I love so much where he steps out onto the nothingness, the abyss, and it turns out that it’s a painted ledge meant to ward people off.
Right? We have to trust God and step out in faith. He knows you don’t have enough. That’s why he’s asking.
Okay, there will be times when God asks you to do stuff that’s within your means, but there will be many times when he asks you to do something that is without of your means. Like what? Like making a phone call, sometimes. Sometimes.
Let’s keep going. He said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. When they found out they said 5 and 2 fish. Then he directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass, so they reclined in groups of 100s and 50s.
So the disciples go out and survey the crowd and they come back with a kid’s lunch, an uneaten lunch of a kid, right? Which is 5 loaves, which would have been like a dinner roll, and 2 fish, which again is a single person’s meal.
So it’s not like, you know, giant sturgeon or something. It like a little fish. And I think that if we stopped right here, we’d have to acknowledge that this is the 1st miracle, that there is a young man in this crowd late in the evening who hasn’t eaten his lunch.
If you’ve ever had kids, you know that they eat all of the food. If there’s food near them, they will eat it. One time my kids were playing video games and I came down and they’d eaten 2 bags of fish crackers in an hour. I was like, dang.
So that’s the 1st miracle that this kid even had a lunch.
And what’s also is interesting to me is that they’re gathered in groups of 50 to 100. The smallest group there was about the size of our church.
But they’re gathered where on green grass? Right? We think of the wilderness as being like the outlands from the Lion King where the hyenas live, you know, this dry, barren desert with thistles and thorn bushes.
That’s not what the wilderness needs to be, right? It can be a green, lush Galilean hillside. The point is, it’s free of distraction. It’s focused on God. That’s what makes it the wilderness. It is isolated, an isolated place.
So anyway, they survey the crowd, they find this kid’s lunch.
The Miracle
Now let’s get to the crux of the story this morning. This is the actual miracle. He, that is Jesus, took the 5 loaves and the 2 fish. And looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples to serve the people, and he divided the 2 fish among them all.
They all, that is every person there, ate, and were satisfied. And they, that’s the disciples, picked up the broken pieces and fish that were left over 12 baskets full.
Now there were 5000 men who ate the bread.
Hello, Homer, I’m George Harrison. Oh my god. Oh my God. Where did you get that brownie? Over there, there’s a big part of them. Wow, what a nice fella.
So this is the clip I always think of when I think about Jesus being the 5000. You notice that no matter how many brownies, Comer eats, there’s always more brownies. The number does not decrease. He just keeps pulling brownies out of the pile.
So we’ll check in. Well, we won’t. We leave Homer to his gorging. But that’s what I picture, right? Jesus just keeps breaking off a piece of bread and no matter how many times he breaks it off. There’s just it’s still there. That’s what I think of.
And something to note is that when it says 5000 men, it means men, not people, but men. And Matthew is more explicit about this. He says, not including women and children.
So if we figure maybe half of these guys were married and had their wives with them, maybe half of them had their children with them, most estimates put this at about 8 to 15,000 people. That is a mid-sized concert venue to a small stadium. Summer in that range.
Now, what’s interesting about that is that the surrounding areas near this, like, um, Bethesda and Centerat, um, I think. Anyway, the surrounding cities would have had a population get this. An entire town would have a population of about 3000.
And there’s 8 to 15 on this Galilean hillside with Jesus. That gives you a sense of the incredible scope of the people that Jesus is addressing here.
And the other thing I love about this story, when you read it. You know what you don’t see? Ooze and ahs from the crowd. Look, everyone was in awe. They were amazed at the miraculous work of Jesus.
We don’t see that written here in this story. Why? Because they probably were unaware that this miracle was even happening right in front of them. I mean, some of the ones who were at the front might have had some idea, the people at the back certainly didn’t.
The disciples were just distributing food. Jesus didn’t do this to show the people his power. Because they were already obsessed with his miracles. He wanted to teach, right? That’s what we keep talking about. Jesus wanted to teach.
This was not done for the crowd. This, rather, was done for the disciples, for their benefit, to show them. It doesn’t matter how little you have, okay? If you give it to Jesus, he can do great things.
Right? The idea is not what you’re going to do with God’s power. The idea is what God is going to do with your obedience. Okay? To have a couple of other quippy preacher phrases. He doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called. If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s will. If God’s in it you will win it.
That is enough nonsense rhyming for me, but the fact remains that it’s glib, but it’s true. God is not interested in you doing something with his power. He’s interested in what he can do through your obedience. Amen?
You know, Pastor Graham, all when I was growing up, coming up through the ministry, had this phrase that I’m pretty sure he stole from Bill Wilson. And it says, the need is the call.
The need is the call. Um, I actually took this from a 2012 Facebook post by Bill Wilson. That all it said. The need is the call, period. F stop.
And I think the idea is awesome, right? If you see something, excuse me, if you see something, do something. Right? You’re walking by someone who is, I don’t know, they’re in dire straits and they really need a sandwich, you’re like, man, someone should come and feed that guy. Oh well.
Do it. But Conrad, I don’t know. I only have $5 to my name if I buy this guy’s sandwich. How am I going to eat? I guess maybe we should lean on God to provide for us if we really believe that he can do that.
I remember in Bible college one time, I was broke brokeity, broke, broke. I had terrible credit at that time, so I didn’t have a credit card. I didn’t have access to any money that I did not earn. I did not have, which was a good way to stay out of debt, by the way.
And I remember not knowing how I was going to pay for my car insurance at the end of the month. And going to get mail out of my mailbox, and there was a check in there for $500.
I have no idea to this day who gave that to me, but it was the difference between eating and not eating. There’s the difference between gas and not gas between being able to drive to school and not drive to school.
God is good and he will provide. Just because he doesn’t do what you ask on demand doesn’t mean he’s not there looking over you.
So Jesus is showing his available power, right, through the way that he provides. The disciples took nothing with him. They have nothing when they come back. They don’t know how they’re going to do this, but the point is they don’t need to know how God is going to do it.
They need to know only that that God wants to do it. If you feel that, God is calling you into something, step out into it. Step out into it with boldness. If he wants you to do it, you will succeed. And if he doesn’t want you to do it, he will let you know.
So Jesus’ purpose is to demonstrate his power to the disciples.
Herod’s Feast vs. Jesus’ Feast
What is Mark’s purpose in recording this in the way that he’s recorded it? I submit that it’s to juxtapose, to compare and contrast the feast at Herod’s palace, the one where John the Baptist ends up being killed. And the feast on the green hillside in the wilderness with Jesus.
I think he’s trying to compare and contrast Herod’s feast with Jesus’ feast. So let’s take a look at that ourselves here. As we wrap this up.
Herod has a feast in an opulent palace of the king. With every appointment, every convenience available to modern society.
Jesus meets with people on a green hillside in the wilderness where he’s just pulled his boat on shore.
Herod’s party is full of important people, very important people. who matter, who make a difference, who are critical to the societal infrastructure, who have money and power and wealth.
Jesus is surrounded by 8 to 15,000 commoners who sprinted to the hillside to see this man who was making such a ruckus around Galilee.
Herod’s party is there to increase his standing and his prominence to show everyone how important he is and to garner more support.
Jesus is there to show people the truth, 1st to meet their unfelt spiritual needs, and then 2nd to meet their felt needs of hunger.
And then we have Herod’s party ending in death, where a girl asks him to kill John the Baptist, and he agrees where Jesus’ feast results in life. He’s teaching people the truth.
And so Herod Herod’s party ends like this little clip that I made to show like the ridiculousness of what Herod did.
No, I can’t, no, I can’t go back. I would look like an idiot. That’s why I’m being fiatted. So you might not look like an idiot? No, it was because I was trying to impress a girl. And…
That’s basically how it went down, right? John and Herod were friends. Herod liked John. He was like, well, I don’t know, she’s pretty. So we’re going to take that thought from our pocket at the beginning.
Application: Reject Counterfeit Happiness
Don’t accept a counterfeit. The world offers you a path to happiness. In fact, the world is eager, eager to offer you a path to happiness. Let me show you the way. Do you know what the way is? Follow your heart. Do you know what following your heart is? Selfish.
The only question that you are concerned with is what makes me happy. If what makes me happy is making other people happy, and that is a good byproduct of my own personal happiness.
And you look at it in the way that we treat truth today. Nothing matters anymore. You want to do anything you want to do. You want to get divorced because there’s someone better that you’d like. Great, pursue your happiness. Right?
You don’t want to be a boy or girlie, more great. Pursue your happiness. Oops, accidentally pregnant. Don’t worry about it. Kill it, pursue your happiness. Be happy.
Friends, the Bible tells us that the heart, which we are told to follow is deceitful and wicked above all things, do not follow your heart. Okay, your heart is going to drag you in front of a truck in traffic.
What I’m saying is don’t go to Herod’s party. That’s not where you want to be. You want to go to the wilderness. You want to rest, you want to recharge. You want to be challenged. If you’re wrong, you want to be encouraged if you’re right. You want to serve other people’s needs first.
See, that selfless path that chases your own happiness is like chasing a rainbow. You will never get there. It’ll always be one more thing to get happiness.
But the other path, the selfless path of Jesus leads to life and leads to joy. And there is a difference. The word happy comes from the old English word hap, which means luck. Happy is just lucky. It’s fortunate to have good fortune. That’s what happiness is.
Joy is something different. Trying to grab happiness is trying to hold on to the wind. You’ll spend your life frustrated and disappointed, and happiness will always be another step away.
Joy comes in any circumstance. In any circumstance, like Horatio Spofford, who wrote it as well with my soul. He wrote, peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll.
He lost all of his children aboard a ship. And when traveling back across that same water channel later, on another ship, he passed the area where his children were drowned and resting at the bottom of the sea. And that’s when he wrote that song. It is well, it is well with my soul.
That’s what joy provides. Joy is not happiness, friends. Don’t get them confused. Joy is a different animal entirely.
So I’m going to invite the worship team up now. And I’m just gonna leave you with that. Joy is what we’re aiming for. We need to trust in God. Do what he asks, lean on his power, allow him to work through us because that is the path that leads to joy.
Can I get an amen? We have someone who’s really excited about the phone call. I hear you.
So anyway, with that, let’s make a joyful noise to the Lord. Amen. Amen. Trisha?