The Acts of the Apostles 50

Subtitle: The Fallout of God's Help

Acts 12:12-19.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 6, 2023.

I have used the term "Fallout" because it features the repercussions or consequences of powerful actions.  When God acts, it is more powerful than a nuclear bomb, and yet more controlled than them as well.  Thus, it is much better than a nuke.  Still, there are powerful consequences to all involved when He gives His help- helpful to some and as devastating as a nuke to others.

The Bible makes it clear that God will eventually do something that sweeps aside all of the great power of man regardless of the period of time in which we live, or the part of the globe in which we live.  People have always been born and raised in situations of powerful governments and people that appear unlikely to ever change.  You can live your life and die without them changing. 

To our limited minds it appears they are immovable.  However, take heart.  God is doing something that is bigger than you, than a family, than a nation, a republic, or a world.  He will step in and judge the wicked at some point in a powerful act of His Sovereignty.

This can be hard on our faith in between the time of suffering and God's help.  Yet, in countless many little ways, God helps us even in times when it appears that the wicked are untouchable.

When God sweeps away their power structures and authority, it is a source of rage and frustration for the wicked, but it is simultaneously a source of joyful amazement for the people of God!

Let's look at our passage.

The believers are astonished (v. 12-17)

Peter has been freed from prison by an angel of God. As is often the case with prayer, God can astonish us simply by doing the thing for which we are praying.  This surprise can be because of the quickness of the answer, or because it is answered at all.  There is a level of weak faith in this matter.  However, this is not the hardened unbelief of the lost.  Rather, it is a remnant of our close connection to a lost world.  We grow to expect certain things from God, just as we do from certain people.  This doesn't make a person a failure as a Christian, but rather a human in need of God's grace.

The believers of Israel in the first century were not used to angels helping people out of jail.  So, in one sense, we can give them grace.  God was on the move with powerful works and they were not used to it.  However, in another sense, we can see that they have had three and half years of the miraculous ministry of Jesus followed with about ten years of God doing powerful things through the Apostles of Jesus.  Perhaps, they should be softly rebuffed with the response, "Ye of little faith!"

The believers who had been praying for Peter would have presumably been praying for God to spare Peter from execution and enable him to be released.  We can pray things with our mouths that our heart does not expect to happen, i.e., "It would take a miracle...and God hardly ever does that."  Sigh. 

Let us always remember that the simple thing and the impossible thing are both easy for God to do.  God isn't sparing with miracles because they are hard to do, but because they don't always help our faith. Yet, I think that God enjoys astonishing believers from time to time.  He likes to give us surprises from time to time.

Our sanctified minds are not perfect at analyzing God's purpose and plan.  With the execution of the Apostle James, it may have appeared to them that God had finally moved them into martyr-mode.  Others had been killed, but the apostles had been spared up until now.  How quickly our faith meter can rise and fall based upon what we see on the ground.  As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight."

Finding himself in the street at night, Peter naturally goes to a place where believers would gather.  In those days, this would often be the home of a believer that was large enough to accommodate a bigger group.  One of those places in Jerusalem was the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark.

By the way, there are a lot of women in the New Testament named Mary.  It can be hard to keep them clear.  There are at least six or seven with three different Mary's at the cross when Jesus died.

The believers were in the habit of gathering together and praying together, especially when there was trouble like Peter being in jail.  It is important for us to develop the discipline of praying for one another, but also to pray with one another.  Such a disciplines will serve us well in times of difficulty.  If you wait until trouble hits to reach out to others and try to pray, you will be less likely to do so, and do it effectively, when it comes.

Thus, we should have intentionality in our prayer life.  I don't want to pray only when I feel like it, or I think I need it.  In truth, we always need to pray alone, and to pray with others.  God help us to develop a disciplined relationship with Him through prayer.

As Peter knocks on the door of the gate (verse 13), a young girl named Rhoda answers.  She is so excited about it being Peter that she neglects to open the door and let him in.  She runs into the house and tells everyone that Peter is at the gate.  However, they think she is crazy.

When we are not inclined to believe something, we will grasp at every alternate explanation that we think is more believable.  However, the only evidence they have is that someone claims that Peter is currently at the door of the gate.  Rhoda, who is probably a teenager, claims that Peter is at the door.  She has seen him.  Yet, they say that she is crazy.  The word literally means that she is beside herself.  Of course, their only evidence of her being crazy is that she claims to have seen Peter. 

Think about it.  It is one thing to be skeptical and want to see for yourself.  However, if you were not there when Rhoda claims to have seen Peter, you can't use that as evidence of her being crazy.  You are the one who doesn't know anything.  You have to investigate.

Of course, because she insists that Peter is at the gate, they then change their charge to the idea that she has only seen "his angel."  What do they mean by this?  It is most likely a reference to his spirit, i.e., he must have been killed at the jail and we are being visited by his spirit.  Angels were spiritual beings and the term was sometimes used for all spirit beings by extension.  It is also possible that they are thinking it is Peter's guardian angel.  But, why would the angel look like Peter, and be at their door?

They have put forward the statement that Rhoda is either crazy or has seen Peter's spirit, but in no way, has she seen Peter.  We may not believe everything that everyone says, but we should be careful of making pronouncements about things that we did not see.  You should go and check it out yourself, or hold your peace.  By the way, this has led many an atheist to Christ (checking it out for themselves).

God is not stuck in your boxes.  I am the servant, and He is the master.  We should walk more humbly among one another than that.

Peter, of course, is still at the gate and continues knocking.  He has escaped from prison, and is now standing in the street in the middle of the night.  If the guards come looking, they will find him easily.  The believers finally open the door and now they are astonished.  There is some irony here.  They thought that Rhoda was mad, but now they are "astonished."  This word means to stand outside of one's self, but it didn't have the connotation of actually being crazy.  It meant something more like being amazed at something that seems incredulous.

No matter how much faith you have, you are still a human being who is mortal and framed in by limitations.  However, God isn't.  When He moves, it is often mind-blowing even to His people.  If you think about it, even just the normal activity of God's creation is amazing.  On top of this, He does astonishing things when we are not expecting it.  God has made astonishing promises to believers that are easy to talk about, but do we really believe?  The general resurrection of believers into immortal bodies seems incredulous to 21st century humans, but it is God's promise to the saints of every age.  Prepare to be surprised, and astonished!

Yet, if God could spring Peter with an angel, why not James?  That is the question isn't it.  Why does God do what He does, and not do what He doesn't do?  You will never be satisfied with an answer in that area.  Besides, from another perspective, we could say that James has been promoted to the side of Jesus, but Peter has been left on the earth to continue working.  James' testimony is that Jesus is worth dying for, and Peter gives the same testimony.  Yet, he is spared this time.

It is the privilege of the people of God to be amazed at the grace and mercy of God.  It is our privilege to be amazed from time to time as we pray for God's help.  We can shout together, "That's our God!  That's the One that we've been talking about!"  Let us praise our amazing God, and our amazing Savior!

After explaining all that has happened, Peter tells them to let the other apostles know that he has been freed, and then leaves.  This is one of those "underground church" lessons.  They would be looking for Peter at any time.  The first place that the gestapo will look is at the homes of your known associates.  We must be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.

The wicked are frustrated (v. 18-19)

We will now look at how God's activity affects the wicked.  Of course, the wicked are always upset when God helps the righteous.

We are told that there is no small stir among the soldiers.  When they awakened and saw that their prisoner was gone, they knew this was a matter of life and death, theirs.  This was the day that Herod intended to try Peter, and execute him, no doubt.  Guards were always under threat of death for losing a prisoner, but especially a prisoner like Peter who "disturbs the Roman Peace."  They would have only so much time to look for Peter and then they would have to come clean to Herod.  They would not be able to sweep this under the rug.

Herod is finally told.  Verse 19 says that Herod searched for Peter and couldn't find him.  Of course, this means that he sent people out to search for Peter.  When they came up empty handed, Herod interrogates the guards and then has them executed.  He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.

Man's military operates much like a machine.  It is very methodical and all about function.  It is not a place of grace and mercy, but of harsh realities.

Though military language is used of believers in the New Testament (i.e., the armor of God, spiritual battle, etc.), God is not a man trying to act the part of God.  Of course, this is what generals, kings, and presidents do.  God is not desperate for you to never fail.  He can afford to have mercy and grace upon those who are more than His spiritual warriors, but are also His children.

This brings us to a principle.  When you are on the wrong side of God, you had better get used to frustration and rage.  Herod ends up with egg on his face and doesn't like it.  He sends a message to the other soldiers through the execution of the guards, and he sends a message to the people of Jerusalem as well.  This is no laughing matter.  Herod will not be made into a spectacle!  He may suspect that the guards had to have helped Peter escape.  Regardless, he is finding out the hard way that it is no fun to be fighting against God.

We are told that Herod then goes down to Caesarea.  It was no longer fun and rewarding to go after these Christians in Jerusalem.  It was fun for a time, but then God stepped in.  Yet, not all of the enemies of God's people are so easily dissuaded.  It is not always fun for believers either.  Yet, we always have the confidence that our God loves us and is working all things for our good.  He fights our battles!

This is the destiny of all the wicked, to be frustrated, and at the mercy of the cruelty of one another.  We could even say that Herod is "beside himself" in anger.  Yet, there is coming a day of great shame and loss for the powerful people of the earth and their armies.

Believers must once again take hold of the truth that God has not given this world to the wicked.  It may appear so, but it is only temporary.  They are taking advantage of God's grace and mercy.  Yet, they will be judged in the end.

God has particular judgments throughout history in which things changed overnight that people though would never change.  On top of this, God has a final day of wrath that will bring this Age of Grace to a close.  What will we choose, desperate frustration and shame, or the joy of amazement as our Savior steps in?  Those who choose the Lord Jesus will not be put to shame in the end!

Let me end by reminding us of the War of Independence.  When the united colonies won their independence from Great Britain, it was a big deal, a judgment of God.  But, it is a drop in the bucket to what Christ will do when He comes back to liberate humanity from the usurpers and their sycophants.  We must choose which side we will be on.  Some will always choose the side of the wicked against God.  Yet, in His mercy, He has given us this Age of Grace so that men can choose.  Choose this day who you will serve!

God's Help audio

The Acts of the Apostles 41

Subtitle: Peter Continues to Minister

Acts 9:32-43.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 21, 2023.

We are picking back up where left off several months ago.  At this point in the book of Acts, Luke has detailed the beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem and its spread.  He has also introduced Saul, his persecution of the followers of Jesus, and his conversion to faith in Jesus as Messiah.  After an attempt on his life, Saul left the area and went back to Tarsus, his hometown.

Luke's narrative now turns back to the Apostle Peter.  Today, we will look at two miracles of healing that were done through Peter.  All of this is leading up to an important event in Acts 10.  It will be the first time that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes upon Gentiles who believe in Jesus.

Let's look at our passage.

The healing of Aeneas (v. 32-35)

Here is a link to a map of the area in our story today.

In Acts 8:40, we are told that Philip, a deacon of Jerusalem, had preached in all of the cities from Azotus to Caesarea.  God worked through Philip to do miracles, healings, and exorcisms.  Lydda and Joppa would fall within this area.  Thus, Philip would have seen healings and salvations in Lydda, and there had been ministry in the name of Jesus already.

Verse 32 tells us that Peter was going throughout all of the area and visiting believers.  He is being faithful to the Lord's command to him, "Feed my sheep."  Just as Peter and John followed up on Philip's ministry in Samaria, so Peter is now coming into these areas after Philip.  It could be as much as a year or two since Philip has ministered here.  Some of these saints in Lydda may also have fled to there from the earlier persecution in Jerusalem under Saul of Tarsus.  Regardless, Jesus intended his disciples, apostles, to be a gift to the early Church, helping it to be established firmly upon His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 33 tells us that Peter "found" a certain man named Aeneas.  He had been bed-ridden from a paralysis for eight years.  We know very little about this man.  It doesn't say that he was a believer like it will mention with Tabitha in the next event that Luke relates.

It also begs the question.  Where was Aeneas when Philip ministered in the area earlier?  Why wasn't he healed and saved then?  However, we could ask the same question about people who were healed by the apostles.  Jesus had ministered throughout Israel for three and a half years, healing people and casting out demons.

There seems to be a certain accident of timing in many things in life.  The timing can be affected by the person.  Were they gone when it happened, or unreceptive at that time?  It can be affected by circumstances outside of the person's control.  Why are some reached quickly and others take a great length of time?  On this side of eternity, our lives are filled with questions that will most likely remain unanswered.  Our walk and experience with the Lord is not dependent upon having all of the answers.  What matters is that a person comes to faith in the work of Jesus as their Anointed Savior, and submit to him as their Lord.

You may notice that your conversations with some who are not Christians can devolve into one question about detail in the Bible after another.  However, at some point, you have to move a way from questions that are the theological equivalent of "Did Adam have a belly button?" and  press the issue.  Can you now put your trust in Jesus as God's answer for your sin and the sin of the world? 

We are never going to have all of the answers.  Even if we did, you may think about whether or not it would actually help us.  Peter's power came from a trusting relationship with the Lord and not from having all of the answers.

I love how Peter says to Aeneas, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you."  Peter wants to make it abundantly clear just how this healing is happening.  We shouldn't turn this into a kind of mantra that always works to perform healings, and yet, we shouldn't rush past it.  God does use people in different ways, and we should recognize that.  However, we can never see that person as our source.  God is our source.  He is the giver of ever good and perfect gift.

Peter then tells Aeneas to arise and make his bed.  It was most likely a bed roll so making it is most likely rolling it up.  Yet, we are told that he arose immediately.  The cynic may cry foul, and call it a long con, but that just doesn't make sense.  He is not going to convincingly pretend to be paralyzed for 8 years in order to make the disciples of Jesus look good after Jesus himself was crucified.  However, Aeneas was initially paralyzed, God touched the underlying issue and he was healed in an instant!

The spread of this story among the people of Lydda and the area around it called the Sharon led to an influx of believers into the faith.  Just like this paralytic not being healed, we see that there were still people who needed to be saved.  They had resisted, or missed out, earlier, but now they have finally believed.  Oh, the grace of God to not give up on us!

The phrase "turned to the Lord" reminds us that salvation is not just a matter of intellectually faith in Jesus and a change of life-style.  It is also a relationship with the Lord Jesus who is the master.  They have changed their mind and become his students.  They have believed on Jesus and have been born again by the Spirit of God into His family as a child of God.  They have said "Yes" to Jesus and have taken their place among the bride of Christ.  God is always working to bring us into proper relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

They had been resisting, but now they believed.  What if God was as easily miffed as we are?  God's grace kept sending people their way.  Yes, for all people, there is a last time that the gospel is brought to our minds and hearts, but even then God loves us to the very end.

The raising of Tabitha (v. 36-43)

At this point, our story segues to the nearby coastal city of Joppa, modern-day Tel Abib-Yafo.  The news of the healing of Aeneas spreads so that the believers in Joppa hear that Peter is nearby.  While this good thing is happening in Lydda, there is trouble in Joppa among the believers.

A woman named Tabitha becomes sick and dies.  Luke notes for his Greek readers that her Aramaic name of Tabitha is equivalent to the Greek name Dorcas.  Both of the names mean "gazelle" in their respective languages, and she was a graceful woman.  She was a very industrious doer of charitable works among the people of Joppa.  Verse 39 gives us an idea of at least one thing that she did.  It speaks of the widows weeping and showing the tunics and garments that Tabitha had made for them while she was alive.  Apparently, Tabitha was able to afford making and giving away these garments to the less fortunate in town.

We could contrast this with a man like Peter.  We should not put down very natural gifts of helps like Tabitha displayed in relation to the supernatural gifts that were displayed through Peter.  We can be guilty of diminishing the importance of simply using the natural gifts of God in our life to bless others.  It reminds me of Moses when God sends him to go to Egypt and deliver the Israelites.  Moses is very intimidated by the task.  However, God asks him, "What is that in your hand?"  It was a simply staff, but it was all Moses needed as long as the Spirit of God was with Him.  The Spirit of God used Tabitha to bless people, but not through healings and raising people from the dead.  It is not that Peter had no natural abilities either, and Tabitha no spiritual ones.  Both of them upon their deaths would find people weeping over their passing.

So, Tabitha became sick and died during the time that Peter was at Lydda.  Tabitha is the kind of person that we can struggle with their deaths.  She is not dying of old age.  Why would God allow her to die?  We need more people like her.  Why don't you take a bad person?  Many are the questions that people have of God. 

Clearly, not all believers are healed from disease, and even less are raised back to life from death.  There are only a few stories from the Old Testament.  Jesus himself raised three people back to life: the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus.  There are only two stories of someone raised back to life in the New Testament.  Peter raising Tabitha here, and Paul raising Eutychus, a young man who fell out of a window and died- probably breaking his neck, or blunt force trauma.

In all of these cases, it is probably best not to use the term resurrection.  They are brought back to life, but into mortal bodies.  This is different from the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of resurrection to believers (1 Corinthians 15).  At the resurrection, believers receive a glorified, immortal body.  The story here is more on the level of an impossible "healing." 

Lazarus was raised from the dead after being in the grave for four days.  Yet, he went on to grow old and die.  When he died, Jesus did not come down out of the heavens and raise him back to life, or send an apostle, nor should we see his later death as some kind of failure with the spiritual power of the Church.  Lazarus would die a second time and, though it too would be sad, it would be the grace of God.  He can let go of this mortal body knowing that he shall have a glorified one in the resurrection.  This is not to discount this mortal life.  It is in this mortal life that God teaches us about Himself, and we can do exploits for His glory.   It is where we learn to trust Him!

Some think that God should have made us powerful like the angels.  They seem to see our weakness as an argument against the goodness of God.  But, it seems that a perfect world is one in which we face the exact kind of difficulties that will enable us to become like God enough to understand His heart.  I'm reminded of the classic problem of a man who creates a business from scratch from hard work and over the top of great adversity.  No matter how good of a man he is, his kids, and then grandkids, will not have as much adversity as he did.  They will only know a life of being born with a silver spoon in their mouth.  This doesn't guarantee that a kid will be spoiled and not like their grandfather, but it tends towards that.  It appears that a world in which nothing can ever go wrong would more likely ensure that none of us truly understood God and became like Him.  We would never truly be able to have a deep relationship with Him.

Christians have a greater hope than having someone pray for us and being healed, or raised from the dead.  The God that can heal mortal bodies and raise them back to mortal life, can do even greater things than that!  He is able to do far above what we often are wanting from Him at the time.  Let us learn to trust the Lord.

Back to our story, we are told that the disciples send for Peter and urge him to come without delay.  This seems to imply that she wasn't dead yet when they sent for him.  I say this because they would have no expectation that Peter would raise her from the dead.  None of the apostles had done such a thing.  Yet, she passes before Peter comes.

Verse 39 describes the scene as Peter shows up in Joppa.  They brought him to the room where Tabitha's body has been prepared for burial.  There are women weeping, mourning her death, and explaining what a special woman she was.

However, at verse 40, something changes.  Peter has all of the weeping women and others leave the room.  We then see a scene similar to the time that Jesus healed the daughter of Jairus in Mark 5.  Peter was there and saw all that Jesus did.  Surely, this is not he first person in the Church around Peter to die.  What gives rise to this coming raising of Tabitha from the dead?

This is conjecture at this point, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit put it in Peter's mind and heart.  Something about this scene gave Peter the faith, or belief, that God may want to raise this woman back to life.  First of all, we are told in Mark 5:41 that when Jesus healed the girl he said, "Talitha, cumi."  Talitha is an Aramaic word that simply means "little girl," and cumi means "rise."  Talitha sounds the same as Tabitha, but is different by one letter.  I think that, upon hearing that her name was Tabitha, Peter remembered Jesus saying "Talitha, cumi."  This may have put the question in his mind.  Does the Lord want to raise her?

Thus, Peter does the same thing as Jesus did by putting the people out of the room.  In Mark 5, Jesus was clearly bolder than Peter.  He told the people the girl was merely sleeping and that he would wake her.  They began to ridicule her.  Thus, for Jesus, it appears that he is removing the doubters, not just so that he could perform the miracle, but also because this was a holy thing and they were not worthy to witness it. 

We can become stuck in a group that is not speaking and walking in faith in Jesus.  Even if it is not spoken, people can be cynical and doubtful.  God's people will not thrive in an environment of doubt.

Peter does something that Jesus didn't.  Peter gets on his knees and begins to pray.  Jesus prayed all the time, but he didn't need to pray on the scene to do a miracle.  Jesus was already prayed up, and knew the will of the Father.  But, this is just Peter.  I think Peter is praying for understanding from the Lord.  Lord, are you really wanting to heal this woman?  Do you want me to command this dead body to rise? It doesn't say how long he prayed, but at some point, Peter says to the body, "Tabitha, rise."  Luke doesn't say what language Peter used, as Mark does with Jesus.  However, I tend to think that Peter said, "Tabitha, cumi."  It is not the language and the words that brought Tabitha back to life, it was faith in Jesus and trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit that healed her that opened the door for the Lord to heal her.

We want to avoid two extremes that exist today.  Some point to a passage like this and attempt to make it normative for every Christian at all times.  To them, the Church should be raising people back to life all over the place, and when you really have Jesus, you will do this too.  This is in the face that the whole New Testament only lists twice that this happened in around 30 years of ministry.  It was a rare thing.

On the other hand, some go to the other extreme and say that God doesn't heal or raise people from the dead anymore.  It is one thing to say that raising from the dead is rare, but quite another to say that God doesn't do this any more, to say that God doesn't heal anyone any more.  What does the Word of God say?  It tells us that, when someone is sick, we should call the elders together, anoint the person with oil, and pray for them.  Whether God grants a miracle or not is up to Him.  My part is to be a person on his knees seeking God for what His will and purpose is, and then do it.

Just as God used Tabitha to dress some widows in Joppa, so He can use a doctor to help you, i.e., through natural means.  However, God is able to use anything.  He still has the creative power to turn dirt into a body, and a broken body into a healed body.  We will never be able to put God's power into a Petri dish.  God is not jumping through our hoops to satisfy our fleshly mind, or curiosity.  But, He does care about your soul, and He does want a relationship of trust and faith with you.-o

When you think about it, Tabitha's raising back to life is a mercy to the people of Joppa rather than to her.  She was in the presence of the Lord.  There can be a level of selfishness in our mourning and crying out to God about His purpose in taking someone "too soon."  If they knew Jesus, then they are in a better place.  However, the answer is not to "de-supernaturalize" our faith and walk with God.  Rather, He is the one that we always need, and it is to Him that we should always look.  Lord, what do you want me to do in this moment?  Help me to honor you.

In these stories, the tragedies are reversed by God, or at least, they are ameliorated, improved by His grace.  However, let us know that, even if these people had not been healed or raised from the dead, God still would love the people of Lydda and Joppa.  He would still love Aeneas, and Tabitha.

Luke does not describe the shock and joy when the people see Tabitha alive.  She responds immediately to Peter's command to rise.  She sits up and he helps her out of bed, presenting her to the people.

News spread about this amazing miracle, leading many to believe on Jesus.  Luke ends this story with the note that Peter stayed at Joppa for many days at the house of Simon the Tanner.  The influx of people who heard about the miracle provides a great springboard to sharing the Gospel of Jesus.

God gives miracles from time to time, but they are not the emphasis.  The emphasis is people turning to the Lord Jesus because they see that he is truly the one who can forgive sins, and make us right with God.  May God help us to be a people of faith! 

Let us not make anything become an ultimatum to the Lord because we don't understand.  Instead, let us trust Him because He has proven trustworthy.  If you challenge God to heal someone, or do a certain thing, as a condition of faith, He may simply not do it.  He loves you too much to jump through your hoops on demand.  His purpose is bigger than this mortal life, even eternal in scope.  Trust God because He loves you and is fitting you even now for an eternal relationship with Him.

This generation needs people who are trusting in God.  Even those who ridicule you for your faith do not understand just how much they need you to stand firm.  They will never see it, or admit it, until the day that they come to faith in Jesus.  May we be God's blessing to the people in our life in the ways that He determines.

Peter ministers audio

Jesus Feeds 4,000 People

Mark 8:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 01, 2019.

In our story today, we are going to see another miraculous feeding of thousands of people with only a small amount of food.  Back in Mark 6, we saw the feeding of the 5,000 and now it happens again. 

The stories both follow the same pattern and emphasize the same points.  Thus, we will be revisiting them.  However, the second occurrence of this miracle serves to underline its importance to us.  God wants us to understand, to apprehend, that He really does have compassion on the multitudes of people who are on this planet, and even more so, for those who come to Him seeking help.

Jesus has compassion on the multitude

The story starts with Jesus explaining to his disciples that he has compassion for the crowd.  They had come out to a place in the country far from any close town.  They had also been there for three days listening to Jesus and seeing him heal many.

Now, when we think about Jesus having compassion upon the crowd, we should also make the connection that Jesus is the perfect representation of our Father in heaven.  His compassion is the compassion of the Father.  In fact, his very presence is part of the compassion of God.  It is easy to think of God as being distant and uncaring because He is not physically with us, but the Scriptures reveal that He is compassionate at the core of His being.

The word for “compassion” is meant to speak of a very deep-seated emotion of concern for the situation of another.  It is an aspect of the love of God.  God’s compassion, or concern for our situation, is demonstrated at first in a general way.  John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (ESV).  God’s love sees mankind in its dire straits of sin and inability to fix things.  He is moved to do something about it and so, He sends His only son to save us.  Those who are against God and are enemies towards His purposes also benefit from His loving provision of resources both in material matters (sun, earth, matter, etc.) and His offer of spiritual forgiveness.

Yet, in our story, we have a very specific compassion of God upon a very specific group of people, upon those who were hungry for him and what he was doing.  Jesus was a novelty, but he also spoke and acted on behalf of God.  The people knew this and were drawn to him.  On the other hand, the religious authorities were already rejecting Jesus.  Many times, the common people have far more sense (common sense) than the educated elite.  Yet, their common sense is not without error, and it is not enough to save them.  They must learn to put their faith in Jesus regardless of what happens.

Perhaps you are reading this today, a recipient of the general love, grace, and compassion of God, and yet you have a very specific need.  Can you believe that Jesus sees your need and looks upon you with compassion?  Even when we are wrestling with our faith and our ability to follow him, even then, he has compassion upon us.  Remember the disciple Peter.  Don’t fall into the trap of cynically believing that he loves the world, but doesn’t care at all about you specifically.  The truth is that God loves you and has compassion on your situation.

It is one thing to be moved by the plight of the people, and quite another to have the wherewithal to do something about it.  In this story we see the limitations of the compassion of people.  The disciples of Jesus do not borrow the lunch of a little boy this time.  They have 7 loaves of bread and two small fish.  This is not enough to feed the disciples, much less thousands of people.  They are also in a remote place in which there is no food to buy.  Lastly, it is highly unlikely that they have enough dough to buy bread even if they could.  As humans, we are often bumping up against our limitations, and it is easy to see the limitations themselves as a kind of evil.  "I could do something for God if only I had more of (fill in the blank here)!"  God is constantly calling us to things that are more than we can do in and of ourselves.  This is not a bad thing.  The whole transhumanist movement is built off of the idea that our limitations are inherently bad.  Yet, there is a wisdom of God in our weakness.  It is a sad and lonely road that we head down when we try to make ourselves gods through technology.  It is a never-ending sacrifice of your true self for the want of something that you can never be. 

Our limitations teach us to trust and look to God to provide what we lack.  It is not a cop-out where we fail to use our gifts and work hard.  Rather, it is a strong confidence that, if I do my best with what I have, I can trust God to supply what I lack.  It gives us peace to know that God does not expect us to take His place.

God’s compassion and provision is unlimited, but ours is not.  Yet, God has a way of blessing us when we step out and do what He has told us to do.  It doesn’t always come in a way that looks supernatural, but it truly does come from a supernatural source.  Our church has had an example of this during the fundraising of our Thanksgiving Compassion Ministry.  Every year, we try to bless as many families as we can with the ability to have a full Thanksgiving meal as well as extra groceries on top of that.  We are totally dependent upon people donating each year.  This year we had several behind the scenes donations that were quite large and had not happened in the past.  We also had a church member who pulled together a Singspiration night that raised about $600 for the ministry and also had not happened in the past.  When you step out and do what you can, God’s help comes to us through whatever means He chooses to use.  We can take peace in knowing this truth. 

If you remember the famous Serenity Prayer, you see the same wisdom behind it.  May God give us the courage to change or do the things that we can, be at peace with the things that we can’t do or change, and have the wisdom to know that He knows what we lack.

Before we look at the miracle, we are told that Jesus gives thanks for the bread (vs. 6) and blesses it (vs. 7).  Here our Lord models the proper attitude for us.  We too easily fall into the habit of despising the smallness of what we have, instead of being thankful for it.  This despising has a way of bringing a kind of curse upon the little that we do have.  It will never be enough because my heart is “two sizes too small.”  Jesus does not look down on the 7 loaves and complain against God that they are in a deserted place without very much food.  Instead, Jesus sees the bread for what it is.  It is a good thing and something for which they should be thankful to God.  Thankfulness is about recognizing good, regardless the size, and being grateful to God for it.

So, what does it mean to bless the food?  There are two aspects to this.  On one hand we are asking God to help the food to meet the need within us, to strengthen, and to nurture us.  However, we are also blessing God for providing it.  It is just another form of being thankful.  I am thankful for this food and I bless you, Father God, for being the kind of God who would provide such things for His children!  We focus too much of our time on trying to get God to bless us and not enough on trying to bless Him.  Yes, you can bless the Creator of the universe.  Let’s resist the tendency to have a grinchy heart. Let's ask the Lord to increase our ability to be thankful, and bless Him for His provision, even in the face of apparent lack.  I can be at peace because He has promised to take care of me.

Another miraculous feeding happens

Jesus has the people sit down in groups and then has the disciples serve the food to them.  How the miracle occurs is not explained exactly.  There just continues to be more to pass on to the next person until we are told that the people ate and were filled.  This is an important theme within the gospels.  Those that come to God will be filled.  He is the source of all satisfaction and fulfillment in this life.  Any other source will leave us hungry and empty, but only God can truly satisfy.

In this story, the miracle is in the need for natural food in order to deal with natural hunger.  However, Jesus continually tells us that there is a more important hunger and a more important bread that we need, that is the hunger for the righteousness of God.  Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” (NKJV).  I have asked this before and I will ask it again.  What am I hungry for?  Our flesh hungers for all manner of things that can never truly satisfy us.  Many pursue the tastes, sights, sounds, pleasures, and the experiences of this life, but they always leave you needing more.  There is not anything necesarily wrong with them.  They were created to be limited just as you are limited.  However, humans were not designed to be ultimately fulfilled by the limited things of this world.  We were designed to be filled with God Himself.  We are made to be a person that He can dwell within and satisfy the very depths of our heart and soul.  May God help us to hunger for things that are greater than the newest trinkets of this age.  May God help us to hunger for Him and for His righteousness.  I do not say this as if God could care less about our material needs.  This story begs to differ.  He does!  Yet, we must never be content for the natural bread and not use the strength from it to pursue the Bread from Heaven.

We are told that there are 7 baskets leftover.  The word for basket in this account is different from the one in Mark 6.  This is a larger basket that a person could sit in.  What is the significance?  Clearly, God can supply more than we need.  Yet, 7 is a number that connotes complete and full provision.  It emphasizes that God’s provision is a complete provision that often overflows.  In this case, the number of the crowd is 4,000 men.  Matthew’s account tells us that there were also some women and children there.  Jesus sends them all home with full bellies, but hopefully with hearts that are full of the Spirit of God also.

Let me end with noting that there is some skepticism concerning this account.  Some think that it is just a retelling of the same event of Mark 6, but with the details wrong.  That could be plausible if the Gospels did not agree about the story.  However, the Gospels are very clear.  All of them have the feeding of the 5,000 and the number is the same in each.  Mark and Matthew both agree that there was a second event, but with 4,000 men.  Their timelines leading up to the event agree, and the details that differ from the feeding of the 5,000 also agree.  These facts make it highly unlikely that both Matthew and Mark accidentally record a second erroneous telling of the event (especially since Matthew would have been an eye-witness).

The best argument of the skeptics is that the disciples seem to have no clue that Jesus could do the same thing again.  Surely, if Jesus had done this before then they would mention it this time.  Right?  The problem with this argument is that in the text itself (see verses 17 and 18), Jesus himself berates them for being slow of understanding and not remembering what he had done before.  The clincher, though, would be what Jesus says next in verses (19-20).  Jesus mentions the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 as two distinct events, exactly as they are recorded in Matthew and Mark.

You could say that such skepticism comes from the same difficulty the disciples had.  It comes from a heart that is having trouble accepting the power of God.  This second event serves to remind the people that God is still their provider, just as He provided Manna in the desert with Moses.  Yet, it also serves to highlight and stress God’s intention towards us.  He not only intends to provide for us, He already has provided all that we could ever need.  We simply need to trust Him and step forth in faith!

Jesus Feeds 4,000 audio

The Lord of All Creation

Mark 6:45-52.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 20, 2019.

In our story today, we have a miraculous event that makes it easy for some to scoff and discount it as a myth, at best.  There are even some Christians who will say that this didn’t actually happen, but that the story is designed to teach what the writer believes is the truth about Jesus.  To them, these mythical and miraculous stories are merely vehicles to take us to the truth.  They are not the truth themselves.

All of this may seem good in some halls of academia (note: not all schools of higher learning teach this), but these men were not university professors with the desire to make up and use myths in order to teach truth.  They were humble fishermen, hated tax collectors, and men who did not think in such ways.  Their world had been turned upside down by an almost incredible man named Jesus.

Something else we should keep in mind is this.  God does not present himself as an “ends justifies the means” being.  His Holy Spirit was not encouraging these disciples to spin mythic yarns in order to get some people to believe the truth.  This is important in our day and age because it is becoming an increasingly common method of “persuasion.”   In truth, such methods are actually manipulation.  No, God really is as great as He is presented in the Scriptures, even the miracles of Jesus.

In this life, we will face much difficulty.  Some of it is simply life; some of it is the effects of our choices; and some of it is spiritual opposition.  Regardless of what we are facing today, may God help us to trust His power over the natural and the supernatural creation that He has made by His power.

Jesus walks on the water

Last week we stopped with Jesus and his disciples picking up 12 baskets of leftovers from a miraculous provision of food for over 5,000 people.  We are then told that evening was upon them and dark was approaching.

There are two other narratives of this event in the other Gospels in Matthew 14, and John 6.  In John 6, we are told that Jesus recognized that the crowd wanted to take him by force in order to make him king.  This leads to Jesus doing two things.

First, Jesus makes his disciples leave in a boat without him.  Most likely, he doesn’t want them to get caught up in the fervor of the crowd, and he has other plans for why they will be on the water in a boat without him.

Second, Matthew records that Jesus sent the multitude away and went up on a nearby mountain alone in order to pray.  It was not the time for Jesus to present himself as king, and he was destined to be rejected by the nation.  Jesus was not looking to crowds as an opportunity for self-advancement.  He was looking to His Father for the proper advancement that comes from Him alone.  This is why it is a common theme throughout the Gospels that Jesus would get alone to pray.  Believe me, he had even less time to pray than you do.  Yet, he took time to commune with Father God late at night and early in the morning.

In light of the rest of this story, we must also recognize that Jesus knew that his disciples had not completely understood the magnitude of the miracle that had just happened with the feeding of the multitude.  He is setting them up to see just who he really is in an unmistakable way.

It appears from the different accounts that the disciples took off in their boat across the Sea of Galilee as it grew dark, and began rowing across the large lake.  It is around 6 to 7 miles across.  At some point, the winds begin to pick up and they are not tail winds.  Now, oaring is difficult enough without the resistance of the wind.  However, this wind becomes very hard and the waves very large.

This account is very similar to the storm we saw earlier in Mark 4.  There the storm was swamping the boat and the disciples feared that they would perish.  However here, the storm seems different.  It is impeding their progress and exhausting their efforts more than it is jeopardizing their lives.  This is important because, when you think about it, we face exhaustion and giving up far more often than we face physical threats against our lives.  When we become physically exhausted, it commonly leads to emotional and mental exhaustion.  This can then lead to spiritual exhaustion wherein we simply give up and quit.  It is a good thing to guard against spiritual exhaustion by taking care of ourselves physically, and making sure we are not physically exhausted.  We can be our own worst boss, driving ourselves harder than is good for us, and harder than God desires for us.  Yet, sometimes life does not give us a choice in this matter.  We can be assailed by ill winds that just won’t quit, and by things that sap our strength in every way.  The good news is that Jesus knows this.

Jesus wasn’t only praying on the mountain.  Verse 48 tells us that he was also watching the progress of the disciples across the lake.  Of course, he wanted to spend time with the Father and would not forgo that.  However, he also allows them to oar, and oar…, and oar, for hours against the wind.  Yet, he eventually does come to them in the last watch of the night.  The last night would be anywhere from 3 AM to 6 AM.  Clearly, these guys had been oaring for a long time and were not getting very far.

Do you ever wish that God would show up sooner than he does?  Of course, we all do.  Yet, the testimony of saints through the ages is that God’s timing was always for their good in retrospect.  The problem with hindsight is that you don’t get it until you reach the other side of the story.  Can we keep faith and trust in Christ in the midst of difficulty, or will we quit oaring the direction Jesus sent us and go back?  These stories, the stories of other believers today, and our own past experiences, all teach us that God can be trusted to take care of us.

This time, Jesus is not going to dramatically tell the storm to stop.  He is going to come to them in a way that will help them understand that the storm is not bigger than him.  This may seem cliché, but God help us to hold on to the truth that He really is bigger than all of our problems.  We don’t have to fear.  He doesn’t always help us in the way that we want, or in the same way, but help He will and none too late!

The disciples are rowing as best they can, probably taking shifts, but they are making little progress if any.  It is at this point that Jesus comes walking on the water looking as if he is going to pass on by them.  This is an important point.  Jesus is coming for them, yet they need to recognize his presence and call out to him.  We can get so caught up in our difficulties, with our head down towards the ground, and not see him in our situation, and not cry out to him.

The comedy of this situation should not escape us as these grown men think they are seeing a ghost, and give a cry of fear.  This is not anything they would expect to see.  Someone is walking on the water, and, as if that wasn’t enough, it is in the middle of a storm.  Another boat would have been surprising to see, but normal.  However, this scared them.

When we come face to face with the mighty power and ability of God, it can be a hair-raising experience.  He is more powerful than we can imagine, and we definitely do not want to be His enemy.  Yet, even His children can be caught by surprise and have a sense of fear at how great His power really is.  It is not God’s intention to cause us to fear, but it will happen nonetheless.  Thus, Jesus states, “Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid.”  Ah yes, the classic statement of angels, and now Jesus, to those freaked out by their presence.  “It is I” is the promise Christ makes to all who trust him.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you…I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  These are the words he gives to us.  God help us to hold on to them in our storms, and even when we are exhausted.

We should note that the episode of Peter, sort of walking on the sea, happens at this point, but only Matthew 14 records this event, and so we will not go into it now.

Essentially, the disciples go from fear that Jesus is a ghost (some kind of shade from the Hebrew equivalent of Davey Jones’ Locker) to amazement at what they had just witnessed.  The waves, the wind, and the water that impeded them so greatly were no such impediment to Jesus.  We can almost hear those words again, “What manner of man is this?”  Mark uses three different ways of telling us their minds were blown: they were “greatly amazed,” “beyond measure,” and “marveled.”  That is our God, and we must never forget it.  When He needs to do so, He can blow our minds with His power and ability.

When Jesus gets into the boat, the winds cease.  There was no command of Jesus.  It just simply calms down.  There is a good historical reason to believe that Peter was the main source for Mark in these stories.  So, it is interesting that Mark’s account is the one that points out that their inability to grasp that Jesus was more than a man was due to their hearts being hard.  After they saw Jesus speak to the storm, cast out the legion of demons, feed the multitude with a paltry amount of food, surely then they should have understood the power of Christ and what it says about him. 

We are used to seeing the phrase “hard hearts” with unbelievers like Pharaoh, but not with believers.  They were believers in Jesus, but they were also disciples, which implies that they had much to learn (that we have much to learn).  Discipleship is not easy, and is filled with moments that challenge our faith to step up to the next level.  May God help us to understand that no force of nature is greater than He is.

There is a final point to be made with this story.  Jesus literally walked on water and that is a tribute to His power as the Son of God.  Yet, there is some purposeful symbolism here that also gives tribute to His power over supernatural forces as well.

Revelation 17:15 clues us in to the fact that the waters of the sea are sometimes used as symbols of the peoples of the earth.  The waves picture the forces from within humanity and beyond it that cause a turbulent movement of societies in every which way.  Ill winds blowing upon the waters is often a picture of supernatural forces, whether good or evil, interacting and affecting the nations of the earth.  Also, there is a theme of the Bible that is explicitly seen in Isaiah 27:1, where the devil is pictured as an aquatic reptile, or a water dragon.  He is like a sea monster, slithering throughout the peoples of the earth, mastering the chaotic seas, and causing havoc wherever he wishes.

These are the kind of things that scare us and make us feel puny, but Jesus is the Lord of all creation, both its natural aspects and its supernatural ones.  He will slay the fleeing serpent and we need not fear even when all the forces of hell are marshalled against us.  How?  We can know that Christ is always watching over us, and praying for us.  He will come to us at just the right time, and we will grow to know His power and grace even more.

Lord of Creation Audio