Pastor Marty Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 7:52PM This is a 13 week series that will not be posted on our website. If you would like an audio of the sermon or a written article on the sermon contents then please contact the church at AbundantLifeEverett@frontier.com. You can also leave a message at 425.438.1500. Thank you for your interest.
Pastor Marty Monday, December 2, 2019 at 2:30PM 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.
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.
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!
Email Article | Print Article | Share Article | tagged Blessing, Compassion, Jesus, Miracle, Provision, Satisfaction, Thankfulness Pastor Marty Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 12:29PM 1 kings 17:18-16. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 12, 2017.
Today we continue looking at the prophet Elijah. Last week we saw that Elijah had prophesied to King Ahab that a famine would come on the land and would not be broken until Elijah said so. God had then provided for Elijah to retreat into the wilderness. When we stopped at verse 7 last week, the stream by which Elijah was staying went dry. Today we will see the new way that God had planned to care for Elijah and learn from it that we need not fear when things go sideways. God is always looking out for us, whether we are someone as important as Elijah the prophet or a widow in a foreign land who has nothing. However, He doesn’t always use the same things to provide for us. Let’s look at the story.
As I said earlier, Elijah has hit a transition point. The way God had been taking care of him has now dried up. What now? Has God forgotten about me? Has God failed or no longer cares about me? These are the normal questions when such a time happens in our life. We can begin to doubt God’s care and fear what lies ahead. However, the same God who provided the stream of water and the food-bearing ravens now had a new plan. This new plan involved a widow who lived in another country, the widow of Zarephath (Zair-uh-fath). If we step back and think about Elijah’s life to this point we will recognize that God is not letting him get comfortable. He presumably starts out at whatever his home was. Then he ends up living in the wilderness next to the brook Cherith. Now things are changing again and he is going to have to move again. It is clear that God is testing Elijah to see if he will keep obeying and trust God. However, He is also teaching Elijah that God is able to take care of him, no matter where he goes. It is easy for us to think of God caring for Elijah, but not necessarily caring about us. Who am I? I am no great prophet. Why would God even give a second thought about me? Well, pay attention to how God is both taking care of Elijah and this widow from a foreign country, who no doubt is not a worshipper of Him. When God has been using something or someone to help us, we must not look to those things desperately, as if they were the source of provision. We must always recognize them as only the means of God’s provision.
On a side note, we have a good piece of information here. Elijah is not some powerful guy who says whatever he wants and God backs him up. If so, he could have just commanded the stones around him to be turned into bread (like the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness). No, Elijah is a man under the direction and command of God. Thus, that is not an option. He could have tried to do so, but it wouldn’t work. God had a different plan. God then gives Elijah the instruction and the leading that he needed to get to the next channel of God’s provision. Now in our lives, it seems that we don’t get clear and quick instruction from the Lord. I would say, however, that we do not know how long Elijah was at the side of the dry stream bed praying and waiting for an answer. Regardless, God can give us instructions quickly or after a time of waiting. We must be faithful to seek His instructions and leading, by reading the Word and seeking Him through prayer. It is part of trusting God, to keep looking to Him even though it seems to be taking a long time. No matter how long we may need to wait, the answer of the Lord will always become clear eventually.
So let’s talk about God’s plan. Why is he going to use a widow from Zarephath? Zarephath was a village on the outskirts of Sidon and under its control or dominion. Remember that King Ahab had married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon. There are at least two ways to look at this plan. In Luke 4, Jesus had been healing people in the area of Galilee and then had come home. There was resistance and jealousy of him there. In fact, Mark 6:3 says that they took offense at him. They wondered why he didn’t do lots of miracles in Nazareth as well. Jesus answers by reminding them of our story today. He asks why God sent Elijah to a widow near Sidon. Weren’t there enough widows in all of Israel to pick from? At this point in time, northern Israel had fallen into idolatry, led by King Ahab. God was not doing powerful things through Elijah for the material benefit of his hometown, or Israel, or perhaps for the churches today. No the miracles are for God’s purposes and benefit those whom He chooses. He sees the needs of everyone, and those who are full of themselves and quick to offense will typically not be His first choice.
Another aspect of this new plan has to do with Spiritual Warfare. King Ahab of Israel had fallen into idolatry and an alliance with the enemies of God. This was a blow to God’s work through Israel. There is some irony that God sends Elijah into the backyard of King Ethbaal of Sidon. This counter-attack is not of the same kind, but it is a spiritual advance into a territory under the dominion of darkness. Here Elijah will plant the seeds of truth in the life of a woman and her child. The God of Israel was the only god that cared for her, and even in a miraculous way. These seeds would grow and bear fruit throughout that area. I can imagine that later, when the apostles went through that area, they may have found some remnants of those seeds that were open to the Gospel.
Now we can also recognize that this new plan of God is very different from the previous. In the previous, Elijah was by himself and the provision came from nature, at God’s command. But, the new plan is to use a person who can provide for his physical needs. God often uses other people in our life to care for us and to help us. It is not always in material needs. It might be someone who knows the Word of the Lord and can share it with us. Or someone who understands what we are going through and can comfort us. Regardless, all of our connections to others in life, especially within the Church, are used by God to provide something in our lives. Sometimes we can be too stubborn to receive it. Now, this works the other way as well. God wants you to care for others even as they care for you. Our gifting are not the same. God intends that we help each other in different ways. It can even be in the same way, but at different times. I can help you today, and find I need your help in the same area tomorrow. God can always cause something to come into our life without the help of another person. But, He often chooses to use people and relationships with others. He does so because relationship is what He wants most with us. A relationship with an unseen God can be fraught with self-deception. But a relationship with a flesh and blood person requires us to be real. When we are constantly faced with reality by our relationships with others, it helps us to be real with God.
It is interesting that God tells Elijah in verse 9 that He has “commanded” the widow to provide for him. It is clear from the story that the widow did not get the memo, as they say. The word here most likely has the sense of an appointment. God had decreed or appointed that Elijah would be helped through this woman, but He doesn’t tell her, except through Elijah. Often, God has appointments for us that do not make sense at the time. Imagine, this widow being asked for food and water by Elijah. How insensitive that must has seemed to her at the time. “You picked the wrong person, buddy.” She was a widow and thus very poor. Worse than that, a famine was upon the land, and so she couldn’t even forage for more food. Worse than that, she was at the end of her food and fixing her last meal with just a handful of flour for her and her boy. How heavy her heart must have been as she prepared to starve to death. Yet, in the middle of all of this lack, God has a plan for her to be the one who takes care of the prophet Elijah. He didn’t pick a widow from Elijah’s hometown, or from Israel. Instead, God picked her. She didn’t know that she would meet a prophet that day. She did not know that her response to the prophet would be death or life for her. Instead of being eaten up with bitterness and anger, even now she is gracious to the man who bothers her for some water and a small cake of bread. Instead of anger she responds with brokenness. She tells him her dire straits, but then goes and makes a small cake for Elijah. Why would we choose to be stingy when we have little? Some who have more than they need are stingy. It is not really a matter of what you have. It is a matter of your heart. If I have nothing left than why not share it with another person? Poor people can often be the most giving because they have empathy and know what it feels like to have nothing and no one. Her sacrifice makes all the difference. Don’t look to your circumstances to determine what God is doing with you. Don’t get bitter and resentful. Instead, keep doing the little that you can do and trust the Lord who has appointed you for His work (whether you know it or not).
Yet, we also see that Elijah doesn’t just ask for the bread. He gives her a word of hope. If she sacrifices in order to give Elijah some bread, then her bin of flour will not be used up, nor her jar of oil run dry until rain falls upon the ground. God does test our faith, but He also gives us a word of hope. Yes, pick up your cross and follow me (to die). But if you do, you will gain eternal life. When obeying God’s word isn’t easy, we are tempted to disobey and go our own way. But our way leads to death, and God’s leads to eternal life. There is always a blessing in doing it God’s way. Whether in generosity, or obedience in another way such as honesty or sharing Christ with others, the word of God tests us to see if we are going to be offended and miss out on the blessing, or sacrifice our flesh and receive a blessing from the Lord. The blessing is not always something like a bin of flour that doesn’t run empty for three years. However, even our material provisions in life are truly from the Lord. Yes, God has appointed this widow who has nothing to care for Elijah, but it was the Lord who was actually doing the providing. She simply had to keep trusting the Lord. Instead of creating a dam and storing up all the provision for herself, she shared it with Elijah and experienced a miracle unheard of by anyone in her country. Today, we are being tested by the word of the Lord in our country. Let’s trust God’s way and walk in the blessing that may not always feel like a blessing. Yet, it always leads us to great things with God.
Yes, God cares about little old you. Regardless of what you have been through in the past and may be suffering in the present, He has a plan through it, if you will only cry out to Him and wait in trust for the answer. The Lord is our source and will provide for us though the whole world be under a famine. Amen!
Pastor Marty Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 12:25PM Luke 22:35-38. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 21, 2016.
Throughout the history of the Church the idea of “living by faith” has taken on several different forms. For some it became the idea that we should never prepare for or save up for anything. They attempt to obtain a radical trust in Jesus and His provision alone. The opposite view sees it as only affecting the spiritual issue of salvation. Thus they trust Jesus to save their souls, and yet do not look for any “provision” from God in their life. I believe that the truth lies in between these two extremes. We should trust God for both spiritual and material needs. However, we also work hard, save up, and prepare for the inevitabilities that lie ahead. As we look at today’s passage, we will get a better feel for this area.
In Luke 9 Jesus had sent the 12 into the towns and cities of Israel. He had given them authority to heal diseases and cast out demons, while proclaiming the kingdom of God.
Part of the reasoning for this is that they would prepare the people to hear Jesus later. In a sense they were pre-evangelizing the area. There are different aspects to sharing the Gospel with people. Sometimes it is brand new to them and can be symbolized by casting a seed into their minds and hearts. Sometimes they have run into this before and our interaction with them can be symbolized by watering seed that already exists. Lastly, we may come into the life of a person who has had seed planted and watered. Their seeds have grown to the point of maturity and can now be harvested. We should always bear in mind these ideas when we are sharing the Gospel. We intersect with a life that is in motion and has a past. However God chooses to use us, we must give our all without being discouraged by what we do or don’t see. Be faithful. The work is greater than any one attempt to evangelize.
Of course, it was also an opportunity to strengthen the faith of the disciples and to prepare them for their future. Jesus told them to take no money, provisions, or extra clothes. They were to depend solely upon what was provided by those who accepted them. Of course God is ultimately the supply in all of our lives, but we are not usually commanded to do what Jesus told them to do. This was clearly a part of their training and yet was also beneficial to the ministry. After reminding them of their previous ministry He asks them if they lacked anything. Their answer to the Lord is an emphatic, “We lacked nothing, Lord.” It is important to recognize that we serve a God who is able to provide and, when He does, He often does so through people.
This time, Jesus is going to give them a command that is different than before, and it hinges on the phrase, “But now…” The circumstances are going to be very different in the future than they were. Before Jesus was a novelty that many people were interested in, and his disciples shared in that popularity. Also they were only going to the cities of Israel. Everyone there understood the Bible and God to some degree. In a sense it was a best case scenario for ministry. In the future they are not going to be in places that would be relatively easy.
In fact, the biggest issue ahead is that Jesus will no longer be with them physically. He says, “The things concerning me have an end.” That is there is a purpose in mind and it is that He must die on the cross. It was not the Father’s will to continue things as they were before, and it was not his will to restore things to how they were after the resurrection. They would be the main ministers now. There would be no Jesus coming behind them.
The earlier time was only preparatory for the Great Commission that would go beyond Israel to all the nations of the world. This world would be dark and difficult. In 1 Corinthians 4:11-13 Paul says, 11 To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. 12 And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; 13 being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. Before they lacked nothing, but in the future they are going to experience great lack in material things, yet not in the spiritual. This brings us to a real challenge with faith. Faith is not about getting what you think you need by declaring it. Sure God tells us to ask and promises to provide for us. But the disciples were headed into new peaks of faith that would require a person to trust God regardless of how good it looked like He was providing. Sure, you have faith in God when you are blessed. But, what about when you are hanging on a cross and feeling forsaken by God, do you have faith then? I am not saying we will all end in such a situation. However, it is our faith that overcomes the world, not our blessing.
Living by faith is not about how much or how little you have. Before, he made them take nothing. But having faith in God is about more than proving you trust him by having no provisions. In Christ if you have nothing to start with, or you are fully supplied, you will need to have the same faith to accomplish what God is sending you to do. Many a ministry that has been fully supplied has been ruined through trusting riches and fearing their loss. However, many have never attempted ministry because they feel they have nothing to start it. Do not look at what you have but rather look at what God is telling you to do and trust him. The supply in this sense becomes irrelevant in regards to faith. Use what you have, but never let it be what you trust in.
The issue with the swords at the end of this passage has been a difficulty through the ages. Why would Jesus tell them to get swords? He is famous for being peaceful. The word for “sword” here is in reference to a large knife or small sword. Though it could be used in battle, it would be a very common thing for travelers to use for protection against animals and robbers, as well as a practical tool for cutting. So why does Jesus want them to get these short swords?
Some have pointed to the Scripture that Jesus quotes, “He was numbered with the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12). When Jesus is arrested, the presence of the swords, and the cutting off of the servant’s ear, would help to fulfill this Scripture. Yet, Jesus was arrested and crucified for blasphemy. He is crucified with a thief and a murderer. How much more would need to be done to fulfill this prophecy? If you look up the Isaiah 53 passage, you will notice that the quote follows the statement in Isaiah that the messiah would pour out his soul unto death. I think that Jesus quotes this verse to point out that things are changing and not why they need swords. Jesus is seen as a criminal and thus will be executed. This will change things for them.
Another answer has been to say that they will need them as they journey on the Great Commission for protection from animals and robbers. This seems to fit the passage better. It would be another item of provision when going on a journey through wilderness areas. Paul’s list in 2 Corinthians 11 gives us a feel for what they encountered in their travels. “23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” The swords could come in handy on such perilous journeys. However, this still doesn’t quite fit to some. We never see stories of the disciples using swords later.