Lake Martin Presbyterian Church May 31, 2026 Podcast

Join Rev. William Skinner for this week’s message from Mark 6:30-44, "Why the Loaves". Explore Scripture, hear thoughtful teaching, and be encouraged in your walk with Christ. For more information and resources, visit lakemartinpca.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Lake Martin Presbyterian Church Podcast. We're glad you're listening. Lake Martin Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, located near Lake Martin, Alabama. Each week we share the preaching ministry of our church and pray it encourages you in your walk with Christ. Here's this week's message.

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Please be seated. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Mark's Gospel in the sixth chapter. Mark's Gospel, chapter six, beginning in verse 30. Last week we looked at the reactions to Jesus' ministry, focusing particularly on the reaction of one man, Herod Antipas, the little fake king of Galilee. These reactions, if you remember from two weeks ago, were brought about by this new phase of Jesus' ministry. Jesus had been rejected in his hometown of Nazareth, and instead of despairing, instead of having a setback, he increased the urgency, the boldness of the mission, and he sends out his disciples in pairs of two to go to the surrounding regions, the surrounding villages of Galilee. And throughout this process, the fame of Jesus, which was already great at this time, had spread. It spread quickly all the way up to the ears of Herod Antipas. And in verse 30, Mark picks up where he left off in verse 13, when the disciples come back together from this evangelistic campaign that they had been on. Coming back together from their mission around the villages of Nazareth. And here in this passage, Jesus is eager, he's determined to see his team, his disciples, and himself retreat. When I say retreat, I don't mean surrender, I mean a physical retreat to get some rest, to get some time of relaxation, to be restored from the demands of such a high-paced ministry. If you remember, the disciples weren't allowed to bring a change of clothes. They weren't allowed to bring money or possessions. They brought a pair of sandals and one set of clothes and a staff in their hand. This had been a high-intensity period of ministry that they had been on. The crowds, however, the crowds that had been following this phase of the ministry pursued Jesus and his disciples. As the disciples and Jesus were in a boat, the people ran around the lake and beat them to their destination. And there, what we're going to see is that Jesus had compassion on these people and he taught them. And in the midst of these events, Jesus is going to perform one of the most famous miracles of his earthly ministry. Of course, it's the feeding of the 5,000. But the main thing in this passage that I want you to see is not the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes. But it's Christ's love for people. Look quickly with me before we read at verse 34. When Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. That's the main thing I want you to take away this morning. That Jesus is the good shepherd of God's people. He's the good shepherd who feeds his sheep, indeed, who lays down his life for the sheep. That's the main thing that I want you to see this morning, and in this passage, we'll look at three headings. First, the compassion of Christ in verses 30 through 34. The compassion of Christ. Secondly, the command of Christ in verses 35 through 40. And thirdly, the confidence of Christians in verses 40 through 44. Now, before we read this text, let's pray and ask God's blessing upon the reading and preaching of his word. Abba Father, Holy God, we come before you this morning with great confidence. Because we're sitting before your word. The seed that when planted is able to bring forth immortal fruit, eternal change. The seed that when planted will grow to be the biggest plant in all of the garden. We know that this word is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to divide between soul and spirit. We trust the power of your word. But we know our own wicked hearts, our hard hearts, our deaf ears and our blind eyes. That we try to twist and suppress your word with everything in us. Would you please pour out your spirit upon us? Would you unstop our ears and open our eyes and soften our hearts that we might see Jesus? It's in his name we pray. Amen. Mark chapter 6, beginning in verse 30. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place, and rest awhile, for many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into a surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, You will give them something to eat. And they said to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred dinara worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said, Five and two fish. And he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the grass, on the green grass. So so they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. This is God's word. First, let's consider the compassion of Christ. I can remember one of the most tired, exhausted moments of my life was coming home from the hospital with Nyland and Hampton, our first son. Two days after Hampton was born, Nylon and I had been sent to the hospital straight from one of Nyland's doctor's appointments, and Hampton wasn't born until the next morning, so we spent a sleepless night in the delivery room before spending two sleepless nights in the hospital room as excited and nervous new parents. And we were more than excited to get home and get into our bed. That idea of getting home and getting into your bed and getting to sleep for the first time in a few days just sounded incredible. But of course, as soon as we got home and got changed and got into bed, as soon as our heads hit the pillow, we thought we'd fall asleep and we didn't. We were nervous about the new little boy in the next room over. We were too nervous to sleep. And it seemed like every time we finally did fall asleep, you would hear that little cry come through the monitor, and one of us would have to get up and take care of him. I won't say who did more of that. You can guess. We were exhausted. We needed rest. But there's nothing that will stop you from taking care of your loved ones. Whether it's at the end of life or the beginning of life, we all know this as caretakers. You do what you have to. You sacrifice yourself to take care of those you love. We had compassion on Hampton because we loved him. And that compassion caused us to overlook the sleep deprivation, the exhaustion, and to take care of his needs. And that's what I want you to see in the first four verses of this passage, is Jesus' self-sacrificial love for people. Look with me at verses 30 through 34. Jesus and his disciples, notice they're called apostles here because he had sent them out on this mission. So now they're referred to as the apostles. That's what apostles means, the sent ones. So they regroup after this intense evangelistic campaign. And Jesus is concerned, he's deeply concerned for his disciples or apostles, whatever you want to call them, that they all get some rest and that they recover from the demands of this type of ministry. In verse 31, we're told that Jesus and his disciples were so preoccupied, they were so engaged in their ministry that they didn't have time, some of them even to eat. And Jesus knew that both he and his disciples needed rest. Jesus was fully human. He also needed rest. They needed time to physically and spiritually recover. They needed rest, they needed refreshment. And for Jesus, the best place to do this, the place that he goes to time and time again, is the wilderness out to a desolate place. And for Jesus, the wilderness is always his place for rest and recovery. And if you're like me and you love the outdoors, if you love to hunt and fish, you are cheering when you hear this. But not too fast, this chiefly has to do with biblical typology. This is showing us something. That Jesus going out to the wilderness and emerging from the wilderness as the true Israel, as the true Messiah, as the true shepherd of God's people. He was trying to teach us, teach all of his people something by going to the wilderness and coming out to continue his ministry. So as wonderful as nature in the wilderness is, you can't use Jesus' example to say that this gives you the license to go out into the wilderness whenever you want. Jesus is Jesus, you are not. The principle of rest is important, but you can rest and recover by sitting in your armchair with a cup of tea and a book, or at the beach, or wherever you find rest. Regardless of the place, Jesus led his disciples in the boat, and they go out to a remote region, to the wilderness, to a desolate place to recover, to talk amongst themselves, to debrief this mission that they had just been on together, to eat meals together, and to get some sleep. But as Jesus and his disciples get into the boat to sail across, the crowds pick up on it, and they spread the word to all the neighboring villages. And when Jesus and his disciples arrive on the other side, there is already an immense crowd gathered there. Now, in that moment, Jesus, whose mission is to get him and his disciples some rest, some time of recovery, they could have done a number of things. Jesus and his disciples could have gotten back in the boat and sailed somewhere else. They could have picked another desolate place. They could have explained their situation to the crowds. The ancient version of doing one of those automatic replies on your email. They could have said, We really need to rest. We've burned ourselves out. We haven't been able to eat or sleep. Please go to your villages, come back in two days, and we'll we'll talk then. Could have done that. They could have done any number of things to get the rest and refreshment that they needed. But that's not what Jesus does. Look at verse 34. Jesus saw the great crowd and he had compassion on them. He looked at these people and he loved them. He saw the many people of Galilee who had come out standing there. When he saw them, he sees sheep without a shepherd. So what does it mean that Jesus saw them as sheep without a shepherd? They were leaderless, untrained, unled, lost, wandering through life aimlessly, missing the point. That's not to say that they didn't have people who were supposed to be their shepherds. It's not to say they didn't have people who were their appointed shepherds. They did. They had the priests, they had the scribes, they had the Pharisees. But all of these had lost their way. And we've already seen some of the reports in Mark's gospel of these groups, and we're going to see more. Instead of teaching the people, instead of leading the people, instead of leading them in a life that glorified God and taught them how to glorify God and enjoy him forever, they were leading these people straight to a legalistic, dead orthodoxy, a mere religion, a faith of mere tradition. The religious leaders were using the people of Israel, remember, to boost their own self-righteousness. The Pharisees wanted to appear more righteous than you, and so did the scribes. And so they were using the people to boost their ego, and they were getting wealthy while they were doing it. These were shepherds who were devouring the sheep. They were getting fat off the sheep instead of shepherding the sheep, instead of leading them to green pastures and besides still waters. They also had Herod the Tetrarch, who was supposed to be their ruler and advocate before the Roman government. And he could have been an advocate for the people. He could have led the people, he could have put the people first. But he was using the people to advance himself and his power. So when Jesus sees the crowd running around the Sea of Galilee to meet him, he sees sheep without a shepherd. He sees people who are used and abused, who are leaderless and who themselves are lost, using and abusing others. He sees sheep wandering about aimlessly, without direction. And he doesn't get mad. He doesn't complain. He teaches them. He shepherds them. He's not using them for personal gain. He's not using them to get rich or famous or popular. He's not trying to boost his ego. He's giving up the rest that he needs. He's giving up time to eat, time to sleep, time to recover, laying down his life for the sheep so he himself can shepherd them. He's sacrificially loving them. And here in the desolate places of Galilee, you see the compassion of your Lord. He's more compassionate than all the priests who can't be bothered to teach the people. He's more compassionate than the Pharisees. He's more compassionate than the scribes and the rulers. He's putting aside his own physical demands, his sleep, his food, time to eat, and he's teaching the people. I hope in this text that you can see the compassion of Christ for mankind. That even when he is hungry and thirsty, when he sees hungry and thirsty souls, when he sees sheep without a shepherd, he will sacrifice himself to shepherd them, to teach them, and to bring them into the light. And perhaps you're here this morning and you think, Jesus doesn't have time for me. I'm too far gone for Jesus. Look at him here and ask yourself, is that really who Jesus is? He had time for these people. This is one of the most tired, hungry, exhausted moments of his ministry, and he dropped everything to go shepherd these people. This is who Jesus is. And if you think for a second that Jesus doesn't have time for a sinner like you, he does. Go to him. Trust in him. If you're here this morning and you're in Christ, and Christ is in you, then I want to tell you that this must be your mindset. This mindset of Christ that you see here must be your mindset. That when you see people chasing the vain things of the world, when you see people living in degeneracy, running aimlessly through the world, wasting their lives on aimless pursuits, worthless pursuits. You must not judge them. You can judge their actions, but you must see them as sheep without a shepherd. You must have compassion on them. Your heart must break to see people made in God's image throwing away their lives in the world. They are sheep without a shepherd. And it's our duty to bring them to the great shepherd. If they're going to reject him, let it be over our dead bodies. We must bring them to the Great Shepherd. We who've tasted the love and compassion of the Great Shepherd must in turn have that same compassion in our hearts as we look out to a lost and dying world, to people who've never heard the name of Jesus. This is the compassion of Christ. Let's now look at the next section at the command of Christ. Look with me at verses 35 through 40. So Jesus shepherds the people. And after a long day of teaching the people, the disciples come to Jesus and ask him to send the crowds away. So Jesus has just compassionately dropped everything to go teach the crowds. And the disciples think, well, we've had a full day, time to send them away, let's get our rest. Now their pretense for making this request was that it was getting late. And they were out in the middle of nowhere, and there were no restaurants, not even a McDonald's, no markets around. And I'm sure that the disciples' complete exhaustion might have had something to do with it. They themselves were hungry. They were very tired. So they probably wanted Jesus to send the crowds away so that they themselves could eat and sleep. The surprising part, though, comes with Jesus' response. How does Jesus respond to this request? Look at verse 37. You give them something to eat. In response to their request, which was perfectly reasonable, Jesus tells them, you give them something to eat. Here you see the good shepherd, Jesus himself teaching his disciples how to be shepherds. And the disciples here, when Jesus says this, become fixated on the practical issue of food. How can we give them something to eat? Jesus, what Jesus is doing here is teaching his disciples that they must become like him, that they must feed. The flock of God, that they must shepherd God's people, even when they're spent, even when they're exhausted, even when they're hungry and thirsty, when they're beyond tired and haven't eaten themselves, they must feed the sheep. Doesn't this sound like what the resurrected Jesus said to Peter in John chapter 21 on the beach when he's cooking fish over a fire for breakfast? And Jesus asked Peter, Peter, who would remember, just before Jesus was crucified, had denied him three times. Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you love me more than these? Lord, you know that I love you. Feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know that I love you. Tend my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Feed my sheep. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Even when he's tired, even when he's threatened, even when he's spent, hungry, and thirsty. He cares about the sheep. He cares about their well-being. Even when the good shepherd has nothing left to give, he feeds the sheep. And of course, what Jesus is speaking about is feeding their souls, teaching them, leading them, preaching to them. And he's using this physical picture, this physical illustration of food to get his point across. The disciples themselves were tired and hungry. They wanted the crowds to leave so they could eat and so they could sleep. But Jesus wants them to know what it means to lay down your life for the sheep. Like new parents or caretakers who've just made it home from the hospital and can't wait to sleep. As soon as their head hits the pillow, they have to jump up and run to the nursery and hold the crying baby. The good shepherd, too, must spend himself in the service of the sheep. Jesus is showing his disciples that he is the true shepherd. He is the good shepherd over God's people. And he commands the disciples to order the people. He commands them to sit down in the grass, in groups, by hundreds, by fifties. And they order them. And isn't this funny? I've never thought about it, but isn't this funny? This is a picture of a shepherd herding sheep. Where does he have them sit? Look at the text. On green grass. Doesn't that sound like Psalm 23? He leads me to green pastures, he lays me down by the still waters, he restores my soul. Where do they go? They go to sit on the grass. In these little herded groups, the 50 and 100, led by the under-shepherds of Jesus. In the command of Christ to feed the sheep, to go to the grass in these groups, and all of it, we see Jesus emerging as the true shepherd of Israel. The true shepherd of the church, the true shepherd of God's chosen people. And he's sending out his undershepherds to do the work of a shepherd, laying down their lives for the sheep. But we've skipped over one important detail, haven't we? The disciples physically can't feed the people. They can't come up with bread for all these people. They can't even come up with money to buy the bread for all these people. Which brings us to our last point: the confidence of Christians. Look with me in verses 41 through 44. Having seated the people in the grass in these orderly groups, Jesus took what the disciples did have: five loaves and two fishes. He took it, he blessed it, and he broke it, and he gave it the discipl to his disciples to distribute to all the people. And as they distributed the loaves and the fish, of course the entire crowd was fed. And leftovers were collected, twelve baskets full. Jesus had multiplied the loaves and the fishes by the power of his spirit, he had fed a crowd consisting of five thousand men and an unknown number of women and children. He had taken a small amount of bread and fish and fed the entire group to satisfaction. And the picture that we get here is the picture of the sufficiency of the good shepherd. The sufficiency of the good shepherd. For the disciples, feeding this many people was impossible. They didn't have enough bread, they didn't have enough fish, they didn't have enough money to procure the bread or the fish. But the disciples are not operating in their own power. Their ministry is not in their own power. And they had forgotten that. Think about this: the disciples had barely gotten back from this mission they had been on, where they had preached, taught, cast out demons, and healed the sick. All in Jesus' name and by Jesus' power. They had barely gotten back, and they had done everything through Jesus. And now as soon as they're back together, and Jesus commanded them to feed this large crowd, they say, We don't have enough bread. We don't have enough money. How can we do this? It's impossible. If that's the kind of faith that we're living with, then we've missed it. It's never about us and what we can or can't do. We're not ministering in our own power. It's never about me and what I can do as your pastor. It's never about you and what you can do. The only thing that you and I can do is follow the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, to trust in Him and follow where He guides us. To make Him your hope. To go where He leads, to do what He commands. Haven't we already seen this in Mark's Gospel, in the parable of the sower? Where we're told that what are we to do? We're to sow the seed, to scatter the seeds. And then who gives all the growth? It's God. God gives all the growth. All we have to do is scatter the seeds. And here in the feeding of the 5,000, we see it again. As Christians, all you and I can do is trust the Good Shepherd and follow his commands, and he will provide. And the best picture of this that we get in the scriptures is when the Good Shepherd went to Calvary, when he laid down his life on the cross for his sheep. His sheep who could not, could not atone for their own sins, who could not make themselves right with God. Sinners without hope, save in his sovereign mercy. And Jesus went to the cross. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. He took your sin upon himself and laid down his life, bearing the full wrath of God for your sin and mine. That's the confidence of the Christian. That we do not rest in our own power. You don't rest in your own ambition or abilities or righteousness. But we rest in Christ alone, who's all powerful, who's totally righteous, who laid down his life that he might take it up with him again and bring you with him to glory. When we do the work of ministry, when we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, when we feed the poor, when we clothe the naked, when we heal the sick or care for the sick, whatever it is that we're doing, we do it all in the confidence of the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. In this passage, we've seen the compassion of Christ. As he and his disciples were exhausted and spent. When he saw the crowd as sheep without a shepherd, he couldn't help it, but go and be their shepherd. He taught them. We've seen the command of Christ to his disciples. Don't send the crowds away, you feed the crowds. You feed them. Jesus is serious about caring for the flock of God, to the point of laying down his own life to shepherd the flock. And lastly, we've seen the confidence of the Christian that we're not ministering in our own power or strength, we're ministering in the power of the good shepherd, the one who laid down his life for the sheep. What I hope you see in the feeding of the 5,000 in this passage this morning is the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Make him your only trust, your confidence as we minister together in his name. Let's pray. Abba Father, holy God, we thank you for the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who, when he sees his people, can't help but lay down his life and be their shepherd, who teaches us, who leads us, who leads us beside green pastures and calm waters, who restores our soul. Help us to trust him this day. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would, please stand and let's respond and sing nothing but the blood found on page six of your order of worship.

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