WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.880 Good morning. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.919 Um this week's text comes from the book of Mark, six thirty through forty-four. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:21.199 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all 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. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:24.719 And they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:30.960 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:40.399 When he 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, many things. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:47.119 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:52.640 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.679 But he answered them, You give them something to eat. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.960 And they said to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denari worth of bread and give it to them to eat? 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.920 And he said to them, How many loaves do you have? 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:05.040 Go and see. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:09.599 And when they had found out, they said, Five and two fish. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:13.680 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:25.680 So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties, and taking the five loaves and the 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. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:30.640 And he divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:38.400 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish, and those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:39.760 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.120 Please be seated. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:44.959 Good morning. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:47.040 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:48.159 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:50.879 I'm the pastor here at Redemption. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:54.959 Uh thanks for making it out during this busy holiday season. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:59.599 It's a joy to get together and sing together through the Advent season. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:09.199 Um before we get into the text today, I've got a couple of announcements that I'll make, and then we'll pray and begin uh moving through the feeding of the 5,000. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:14.240 So first of all, we've got a members meeting next week. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:19.599 So next week, right after the service, if you're a member, then it's mandatory. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.199 Whatever that means. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:22.800 I don't know what we'd do. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.039 You'd get a detention, have to see the principal. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:29.039 Um uh but uh yeah, we're gathering together as members. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:38.960 We've got some new members that are coming in and to recognize them, uh, as well as a couple of other announcements to make, including financial updates and things of that nature. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:42.400 So uh yeah, it's gonna be a real gas. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:47.520 Um our cre our Christmas Eve service is at 4:30. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:52.639 So if you're making plans uh for your Christmas Eve, uh it's at 4:30 p.m. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:54.560 You can guess the date. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:03.680 And uh lastly, we are still doing our a toy drive for the Denver Children's Advocacy Center. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:09.199 And I got word this morning that the key need is art supplies. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:11.759 So that's like the most requested thing. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.560 And they do like an art therapy as well. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:19.199 So for the kids to have their own art supplies would be like a wonderful thing. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:23.599 So go to you know, an art store and buy art supplies. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:30.719 And there's a bin, just right when you walk in the door, if you just turn to the right, there's a bin there uh awaiting fulfillment. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:32.560 Let's pray. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.960 Holy Father, we thank you for this season. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:45.520 We thank you for today where we remember your peace, the peace that you purchased for us. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:04:01.840 Lord, would you give us the strength of faith, the patterns of life, to be able to learn to receive this peace that you have accomplished for us. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:13.759 Lord, uh how how awful it may be to get to the end of our lives and to realize that the peace that you have purchased for us we didn't uh ever reach out and receive. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:28.160 Lord, in a world of strife, we pray that your peace would reign and that even in our community, in our church, that your peace would be manifest in our lives and among us. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:36.959 Lord, we know that this is your desire, and we confidently ask for this because you left us your peace. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.759 We lift this up in Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:52.720 Just before Jesus um uh went to the cross, he it gives this long speech that's recorded in John to his disciples. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:05:00.959 And one of the things that he says in John 14, which is kind of the beginning of it, he says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:04.639 Not as the world gives, do I give to you. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:08.480 Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:14.319 So Jesus on the way to the cross tells his disciples, My peace I give to you. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.959 But I don't give you peace as the world gives peace. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:26.480 Because the way that the world gives peace is we imagine just removing the conflict from your life. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:30.879 So peace that the world gives is rarely, if ever, experienced. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:33.360 If it's experienced, it's likely just a delusion. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:39.839 And it it's almost always just around the corner. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:47.279 You'll receive this peace once the conflict that you're in the midst of seems to cease. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:57.199 But the peace that Jesus gives, somehow, he's able to give to his disciples in the very midst of conflict. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:01.439 And the most intense conflict that we see Jesus participate in. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:31.120 Now, there's this thing that I think is true that uh is is very hard to internalize and live within the reality of. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:37.600 And say if you if you don't have peace with God, you won't have peace anywhere. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:50.319 And the inverse is true, which is if you have peace with God, then in the midst of any circumstance, you can experience peace. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.519 Now, I I know that that's true. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.680 Scripture attests to that throughout. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:15.519 We see countless just amazing examples throughout Scripture of people having peace in the most trying circumstances, throughout church history of people having peace in just the most unthinkable and trying circumstances because they were so rested in who God was, in Christ's authority as king. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:33.279 And the reason that we can participate in that, and the reason that it's good news that the peace that Christ gives is different from the peace that we would try and attain for ourselves, is that Christ Himself accomplished our peace. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:42.079 Because Christ Himself accomplished for us on our behalf, on behalf of Christians, peace with God. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:56.560 And if we have peace with God, that means that typically your lack of peace, if you have peace with God, that means your lack of peace doesn't come from an overthinking, as we tend to always say. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.199 It comes from an underthinking. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:05.600 You're not playing it out to the ultimate conclusion of what your life will be if you have peace with God. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:10.800 You're underthinking the reality of what Christ has purchased for you. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:25.680 Because the reality is, no matter the circumstance, we will find ourselves cared for, loved, protected, ultimately victorious because of what Christ has accomplished. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:27.040 Even if we die. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.680 That's still true for us. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:41.519 So in Christ's life, we see, and this needs to this needs to be taken in, and you know, peace is peace is something that I've desired so much in my life. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:09:00.320 And one of the best books I've read about it uh is by a um uh seminary professor and uh philosopher, which is still a good job if you can get it, at uh uh at Biola University uh in LA. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:09.759 And he's uh uh his name's JP Moreland, and he deeply struggled with issues of anxiety, and he wrote this book called Finding Quiet. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:16.240 Uh if you struggle with anxiety, if that's you know, you wake up and it's present with you, I really recommend this book. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:16.879 It's excellent. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:18.720 It's been real particularly helpful for me. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:26.799 And he talks about this matter of fact of the peace that we have in Christ, and then he described then he describes how is it that we can participate in that. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:39.440 And we tend to think, as Christians, that we would participate in uh a peace like that just by uh it would just be enough to know it, like at a cognitive at a cognitive level. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.960 Christ has acquired your peace, now just go feel peaceful. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.720 But our anxiety is typically more of a of a habit. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.240 And so he describes like imagine your golf swing. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:52.720 I don't have one of those. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:55.840 I don't I don't play golf, except for top golf. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:57.200 I play top golf. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:03.440 And which really just means I like like nachos and beer, I think, in video games. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:10.720 Um and uh the way that you would practice your golf swing is you would need to work it out into the members of your body. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:13.679 And our peace with Christ is the same sort of thing. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:20.000 We need to work it out into the members of our body, present our members to righteousness. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:28.960 That means practicing coming before the Lord and allowing him to meet us in our peace, um, which we'll get to see more throughout this text today. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:36.480 But at the center of our peace, and this is what needs to be known, at the center of our peace is Christ's heart towards us. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:49.279 When you understand Christ's heart towards you, then you can begin to see tangible ways in which you can move into the experience and practices of receiving his peace. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:54.960 Now, Christ's heart towards us is manifested with him as our king. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:58.799 And that's the story that we see today. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.600 Christ in the feeding of the 5,000 is acting as a king. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.679 This is a particularly kingly story. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:20.159 So as we look at this, we're going to see our deep need for rest, our deep need in our hearts for our hunger to be satisfied. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:28.080 And then we are going to see the ways that we try and satisfy that, and then we're going to see how Christ acts as our King. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:29.759 So, our need for rest. 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:31.360 We'll go ahead and jump into it. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:33.440 Mark 6, 30 through 44. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:38.000 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:43.120 And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:48.240 For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:51.279 Okay, so remember the way Mark Mark writes. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.879 He writes in sandwiches, the technical term. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:03.279 And that means that he will typically tell a part of a story and then put a different story right in the middle, and then return to that other story. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.320 So for the past three weeks, we've been in one of those sandwiches. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:19.360 We saw Jesus send out the twelve into the surrounding villages, and then in the midst of that, he tells the story of John the Baptist, who was murdered by King Herod at one of King Herod's feasts. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:24.240 And now we're returning to the sending out of the twelve. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:30.399 And at the return of the sending out of the twelve, they come back, they return to Jesus, and they tell him all that they had done and taught. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:34.080 You know, it's been a great time of ministry for the disciples. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:44.879 They were casting out demons and they were healing people and they were announcing the coming of the kingdom and even proclaiming the very presence of the kingdom of God, which has been looked forward to. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:54.080 And Jesus, seeing them in this state, he the first thing that he recommends is come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:59.759 For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:11.440 Now, I don't want to harp on this because there's about a million and a half TED talks that describe why it's so bad that we're so constantly inundated by random information. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:21.519 So if you would like to watch one of those, just like go to a TED.com and it will the first one will probably be something about how phones are bad. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:23.360 So we all know now. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.519 We all know that. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:33.039 But you you have to see that this is an essential part of Christ's ministry even for himself. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:40.480 Jesus himself cannot participate in the fullness of his ministry. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:54.159 He cannot even cultivate a true relationship with the Father unless he retreats to quiet and desolate places to be ministered to by God. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:05.919 So can you this is part of the practice of learning to receive the peace that Christ has purchased for us. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:13.600 It's moving into quiet, desolate places where you're uninterrupted. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.639 And you know what meets you in quiet, desolate places? 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.639 What what comes up when there's finally a silence? 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.519 It's you start to get really hungry. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:29.360 And your hunger starts to build when you're in a place where it can't just be satiated. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:41.919 And that looks like sitting in the pains and the exit and the anxieties that you're really experiencing in life, things that you might not even know that you're experiencing. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:15:05.279 So some of us, um uh I talked uh there's a pastor that I meet with down in Boulder, and he was explaining to me, he was like, you know, I realized I'd become so out of tune with uh my my own humanity and just sort of like a drivenness in ministry accomplishments and um uh distance from the Lord actually meeting me. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:10.159 So I made it my New Year's resolution for 2020 to cry. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:15.200 Like this, like for 2020, I'm gonna I'm gonna try and cry. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:19.120 And so then for 2021, you know what his New Year's resolution was? 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:24.639 Stop crying. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:25.919 That was funny. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.200 It was that was awesome. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.039 Uh yeah, exactly. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:32.639 It was like a bit much, you know. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:38.559 This is um oh yeah. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:40.240 That's right. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:51.519 So for 2021, it was um uh it was to cry again because it's really hard to learn. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:58.799 It's really hard to let yourself open up before the Lord and learn to trust him to meet you there. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:09.200 But if you consider like Paul opening Corinthians with this description of the comfort that he's received, it's married with the suffering that he's experiencing. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:11.600 Where do you receive Christ's comfort? 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:13.039 It's in your suffering. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:20.320 And when you never let yourself sit in the suffering, then you don't experience the comfort of the Lord. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:31.840 And so Jesus comes and uh the first thing is he's like, man, these guys just had a even when things go well, this is something I've had to learn, you can be tired even when things are going well. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:35.440 I just learned that like three months ago. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:42.480 Uh there's a um, and it can still require rest. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:49.120 And so Jesus, in the same way that he communes with the Father, he calls the disciples in to do that same thing. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:53.519 So I want you to make a note in the back of your mind: I need to retreat. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.759 I need to find spaces to be met by the Lord. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.440 Practically, what can that look like? 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.840 For me, it's really helpful to set a timer. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:07.759 Like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, sit in silence before the Lord. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.079 You know, the Jesus prayer has been helpful for like what two millennia now? 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:17.119 Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:20.480 That's not a bad place for your mind to rest. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:28.400 And see if the Lord meets you in the place that your pain is. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:47.279 Uh we often think of our, we're we're so psychologized in our understanding of Christianity that we often think that if we just get our beliefs in the right order, then we will uh experience the things that were promised in Scripture. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.279 We'll experience that sort of peace. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.079 But uh God is not just a list of doctrines, he's a person. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:57.119 And that means he meets you personally. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.000 That's what we see in Christ, demonstrated so clearly. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:08.400 So Jesus provides in his disciples' lives the time to be met personally by God. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.519 So he calls them to rest. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:12.160 Why? 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:16.640 Many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:18.799 The disciples were hungry. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:20.240 Foreshadowing. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:25.599 Mark 6, 32 through 33. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:29.599 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:30.799 Oh, this is gonna be nice. 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:32.559 We're headed out to rest. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:37.119 Probably it was probably about split, 50-50 among disciples, if I had to guess. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:40.880 Some of them were like, Come on, with this ministry is cranking right now. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:44.960 I'm finally experiencing the satisfaction I thought I would experience in life, and they wanted to stay. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.720 Jesus still said to them, Go. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.319 Others were like, okay, finally, I can get away from these people and get some time to myself. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:55.279 It's probably like Matthew the tax collector was wanting time to himself. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.440 Simon the zealot was like, Yeah. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:08.720 Now, many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:12.400 So Jesus says, Go find a quiet and desolate place. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:14.319 Great, we're gonna sail away. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:19.279 As they're sailing away, the people on the shore see, hey, I think I kind of know where they're headed. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:23.359 Uh, there's a quiet and desolate place over there just outside of Galilee. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:25.279 Let's go uh as a crowd. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:28.480 We can all be quiet and desolate together, all 5,000 of us. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:36.799 So they go and meet them there, and uh as they make landfall, it's not quiet and desolate anymore. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:43.839 They're surrounded by a crowd of people, likely even grew, uh, to meet them. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.720 So there's this hope of rest, and then they don't get to experience it. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:56.720 Now, I remember reading this passage on a mission trip to Malaysia. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:07.279 My uh uh just before my senior year of college, I led this mission trip uh through this campus through the campus ministry that I was a part of. 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:17.039 There was a small team of eight of us who were going to assist the launch of a campus ministry at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:22.720 Um, the movie with the big petrinist, the one of the big petrinist towers, like in the movie Entrapment. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:25.519 That's a real throwback. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:38.799 Um and uh while we were there, the plan of our trip was we would meet students and we would all go on a trip together, uh, like a two-week-long trip to East Malaysia, which is on the island of Borneo. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.440 It's beautiful, it's beautiful mountains, tropical. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:48.720 And um the students would love to go on a trip like that, and we could talk about Jesus with the people that we had met. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:53.200 So just before that trip, I got dengue fever. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:54.559 Don't recommend it. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:55.920 Yeah. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:01.839 And uh we heal up kind of like just before the trip, barely. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.200 Uh, but it's like, okay, we're just gonna blitz and blitz through the trip. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:20.240 It was it was pretty, pretty incredible with the folks that we got to meet and the relationships we got to build, um, that I think really did help launch that campus ministry, which was very, very cool. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:27.920 On the now on the trip home, I am so exhausted. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.400 It's like such a deep tired. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.960 And I read this passage and was like, oh my goodness, that's so wonderful. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:41.359 Jesus recognizes the exhaustion of the people that he sends out to minister to him. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:53.920 And then when I kept reading and saw, wait a minute, he promised them rest, they go to get it, and then they don't get it. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:58.160 Jesus, what the heck? 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.519 And the 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.759 That I experienced it, so it how like it we all know that experience. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:08.720 I just need some rest, and then you don't get it. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:10.640 Something interrupts. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:24.960 The way that it worked for me in this like really tangible way, we were flying home back to Kualumpur, and uh it was not a very long flight, just like a two-hour flight. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:34.880 The plane was empty, which means I could have a whole row to myself to sleep. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:41.440 So I sit down in my own row like I'm king of Air Asia. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:56.720 And one of the students that we flew over there to minister to came and sat down next to me so that we could talk and get to know each other better. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:03.680 And I remember thinking, Jared, which was his name, what are you insane? 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.519 Like it, like you, I'm exhausted. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:09.680 I'm completely exhausted. 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:23.519 Uh like leading a short trip like that as a college student amongst college students is just being asked a bunch of questions that you don't have the answer to over and over again, and just feeling so tired. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:40.960 And I just felt totally resentful of the presence of the person who I was there, you know, in my mind, I would have told others, I was there to be present for, to care for. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.480 What was I frustrated by? 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:46.880 What was that deep frustration? 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:50.799 I was frustrated by Jesus' heart. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:57.119 I didn't, I didn't want I didn't want to be interrupted. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:02.319 I didn't want to be present for the people that he had called me to be present for. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:03.680 I was done. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:18.559 And the fact that Jesus was calling me back into that, it felt like a rejection of me, of the rest that I'd felt like I had earned and deserved to be given by him. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:23.759 I was frustrated by Jesus' heart. 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.039 And I think the disciples felt the same way. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:35.440 In Mark 6, 34, they go ashore, and when he went ashore, that's Jesus, he saw a great crowd. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:39.440 This is the way Jesus responds to the great crowd. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:46.240 And he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.599 And he began to teach them many things. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:55.519 Jesus, look, look at Jesus' heart. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:06.799 When he sent the disciples out to do ministry, it's not like Jesus was like, okay, great, a week off, and went to like the five-store resort on the other side of Galilee. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:11.519 He was doing ministry as well, preaching in the villages just the same. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.359 He's tired, hungry, all those things that the disciples are. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:22.960 And yet when he looks at the crowd, he's not thinking, I can't believe how this crowd has no consideration of me. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:27.200 Why have they not thought at all of my state? 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:33.279 Instead, Jesus looks at the crowd and is full of compassion. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:34.960 He has compassion on them. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:35.519 Why? 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:38.480 Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.319 And so what does he do? 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:44.559 He meets the crowd and he begins to teach them many things. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:49.279 Look at Jesus' heart. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:52.079 Consider. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:55.599 Look, we're the crowd. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:12.079 He looks out at us, and his heart, this word for compassion, it's the same one that describes the Good Samaritan, which means that he sees something in the crowd, and his heart is drawn towards it where he must act. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.279 That is the way Jesus sees us. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:17.599 And he describes them. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:18.640 What is it that he sees? 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:21.200 It's that they are like sheep without a shepherd. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:33.759 Now, our minds, when we hear sheep without a shepherd, we see really sentimental images of, you know, the pastor who's tending to the sheep. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:44.079 But sheep without a shepherd, although it does have that image of a care of the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, who goes, who leaves the 99 to go after the one. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:52.000 Throughout scripture, uh the shepherd is most often used to refer to a king of Israel. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:53.680 They were the shepherds. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:57.920 And that means that Moses is a shepherd. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:04.799 And it's more often used to refer to kings like Joshua, who are military leaders of the people. 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:17.920 And so he looks out and he sees look, this is a whole group of people, 5,000, gathered in a random place, chasing me down, because they they have no king. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.960 There's a think of the energy of the crowd. 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.839 We'll just go wherever Jesus is right now. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:34.079 And they go and they go to this strange, desolate place, and Jesus looks out and he says, they look like they're full of energy and they have no direction. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:39.519 They look like an aimless people that are held together with nothing. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:43.119 And there's likewise a geographic consideration here. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:48.880 So this part of Galilee where they are going to gather was the heart of the zealot movement. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:55.599 So there's a movement among the Jewish community to overthrow the Roman occupation of Judah. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:01.440 And this Roman occupation had uh, you know, was manifested in King Herod. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:14.880 And so this was a place that was commonly visited as sort of a hideout and a place to plan uh uh basically a military uprising against the Roman occupation. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:26.400 And so they go and gather here literally as kingless people looking to raise up and make someone their king. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:28.960 They're a people without a king. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:32.079 And so Jesus looks out and he sees this. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:42.799 They're completely lost in chasing around their desire to make someone their king, to have a true king and a good king. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:55.039 And so this passage, one of the things that stands out at the end of it is, and even it's actually in the language, when it says a great crowd, it's not the typical word that's used for crowd. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.599 It's a word that just refers to men. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:03.119 Uh the typical word for crowd uh is a masculine word, but it refers to men and women. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:05.920 This is a different word that just refers to men. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:12.799 And later on it says that there are 5,000 men uh apart from women and children. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:17.359 And that's often interpreted as see, look at this culture, they didn't even count the women. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:21.359 There were plenty of things like that in this culture, but this actually isn't one of them. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:26.880 This is a gathering of men because this is a military uprising. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:30.720 This is a gathering of zealots looking to overthrow. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:36.480 That's what this context is: looking to overthrow Rome, but they're aimless. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:40.079 And so Jesus looks out and he sees they have no king. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:44.319 Now, what does a world look like when there's no king? 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:49.680 It looks like constant and fleeting tyrannies. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:30:14.799 So in a world without a king, when there is no embodiment of what is true and noble and good in a culture, then that culture will constantly be creating tyrannies that it then oppresses itself with, and they they rise up really quickly and then they vanish just as quickly. 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:18.640 This is ordinary in any sort of circumstance. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:24.880 Consider like a viral video or like something going viral on social media. 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:25.599 What is it? 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:30.400 It's it's rises up, we're gonna take all of your attention, and then it just goes away. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:32.240 And it's like it never even happened. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:37.680 And it's replaced by something else that rises up and takes all of the attention and then it just goes away. 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:50.079 When there is no true noble good, when there is no real embodiment of something that lasts and matters, then we as a people will run off into the wilderness. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:31:00.640 And together we'll try and create some sort of a king, some sort of an ideal and a value, but it will be fleeting. 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:16.880 This is what the this is what's happening in the zealot movement, is they're rushing out into the wilderness, looking for some highest ideal that they can use to stabilize themselves. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:20.000 And without it, we just get tossed about. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:26.400 So Jesus begins acting like their king. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:28.880 He's a very different king than they'd expect. 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:32.720 He begins acting like their king, he begins teaching. 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:38.480 But remember, the disciples are tired and hungry. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:42.400 So as Jesus is teaching, this happens. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:51.119 In verse 35, it says, And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:57.599 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:03.359 So the disciples come to Jesus. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.319 Look, this is a desolate place. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:08.319 It's getting late. 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:13.839 We've got a crowd of people who, you know, kind of want to fight. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:18.400 And we're moving towards a sort of crisis moment here. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:23.519 You need to send them away so that they can go buy themselves something to eat. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:28.319 Now, it's utterly reasonable, what the disciples are saying. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:30.240 It's just completely reasonable. 00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:39.279 The factors that they're reading are so true, they're so self-evidently true, but they're missing Christ's heart. 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:42.799 And they're missing the type of king that Christ can be. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:51.680 And so Jesus, to their request, which you know it's utterly reasonable, but you can hear the double meaning of look, these people are hungry, they need to go get something to eat. 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:58.240 Of course, a nice byproduct of that is they would be out of our hair and we'd be able to go get something to eat, also. 00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:03.039 So those are united motives, but you can hear how reasonable it is. 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:05.440 Listen to Jesus' answer to them. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:09.200 This is one of the most, occasionally Jesus is just like a dad. 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:14.079 And this answer is one of the most just straight dad answers of Jesus. 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:17.119 But he answered them, you give them something to eat. 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:20.240 Hi, hungry, I'm dad. 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:24.799 But he answered them, you give them something to eat. 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:36.960 And they said to him, just utterly reasonable, shall we go and buy one, two, three, four, five, six, like two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:40.240 Denarii is like uh a day's wages. 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:44.160 The math's probably about right for what they'd have to spend. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:47.359 It's way more money than they could possibly have. 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:56.640 And the logistics of going, them going back into town, buying all of this food, bringing it back out to the 5,000, the time it's it's absurd. 00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:59.359 You know, they're pointing out, Jesus, this is an absurd thing. 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:10.880 And it sounds just like in Numbers 11, when the Israelites are saying to Moses, give us the what remember when we were back in Egypt and we had pots of meat? 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:13.679 We demand food, we demand meat. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:22.639 And Moses comes to God and says, Where am I to go in this wilderness to give your people the meat that they're demanding? 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:29.840 And so just in that same pattern, the disciples come to Jesus and say, Okay, yeah, we'll just go buy the food. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:31.519 This doesn't make any sense. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:34.719 Jesus, you've you've lost your mind again. 00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:41.280 But Jesus' command is you give them something to eat. 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:46.639 It's the perfect opposite of what they would like to be doing. 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:51.119 The whole purpose of what they said is so we can be disengaged from them. 00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:55.199 So we don't have to be a part of this story. 00:34:56.320 --> 00:34:58.639 He says, you give them something to eat. 00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:00.000 They don't have anything. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:06.400 Well, uh Jesus says in 638, how many loaves do you have? 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:07.519 Go and see. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:11.840 When they had found out, they said five and two fish. 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:14.960 Where does Jesus bring their attention when he's called them? 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:18.960 He brings their attention immediately to what they have. 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:22.079 Where does Jesus' ministry start? 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:25.920 Where do you get to participate in Jesus' ministry? 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:26.880 This is the good news. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:28.880 It starts right where you are. 00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:32.159 It starts immediately right here. 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:33.840 What do you have? 00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:35.440 This is the best way. 00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:40.000 So many people spend so much time trying to discern their calling. 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:45.920 When when people are trying to discern their calling, or oh man, I don't know if I should say this. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:46.960 Here we go. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:36:05.039 When people are trying to discern their calling or saying like, or when people, most of the time when people say that they have a sense of a particular call to something, I don't believe them unless it involves some of their problems. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:13.039 What I mean is we're we're so often our calling isn't something that we need to discern. 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:20.639 It's just the problems that God has given you and exposed you to in your life. 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:23.840 Now move into those problems. 00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:32.239 See, what Jesus has done here is he said, this is why it's so key to in ministry, you've got to make sure that you get in over your head. 00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:37.039 Because then you start to get some problems that become your calling. 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:38.480 What did the disciples do? 00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:46.880 They went out, they started ministering, they got in over their head, and now they were connected with these people's lives, like it or not. 00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:50.480 And so they begin to take on their problems. 00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:53.039 That's the way ministry starts to unfold. 00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:55.599 And then what does it look like as you move through that? 00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:57.360 It's like, oh man, I got to know this person. 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:05.360 I got to know this person at church or at work, and man, this part of their life is a complete disaster, and they could really use some help in it. 00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:07.840 Congratulations, that's a calling. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:10.079 You know, so what do you have? 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.400 What do you have now? 00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:16.079 And you turn around and it's like, well, I don't have the tools to fix that. 00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:17.440 This is 5,000 people. 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:20.320 I've got some loaves and some fish. 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:22.079 It's not enough to fix that problem. 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:24.719 Jesus says, Great, get started. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.519 I can work with that. 00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:30.079 How does he work with that? 00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:33.920 Well, the first thing he does is he brings some order. 00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:35.760 Look at how Jesus acts like a king. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:41.440 He sees what the disciples have, and then he's going to lay out a setting for the miracle to take place. 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:44.719 Listen, he's he's acting like a king. 00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:50.880 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups and on the green grass, in groups on the green grass. 00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:54.239 So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. 00:37:54.559 --> 00:37:56.159 So Jesus is the king now. 00:37:56.239 --> 00:38:06.719 He's he's delegating, he's organizing, he's bringing order to this, to this crowd, which means there's no order, uh, of zealots who have no king. 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:13.920