You can turn with me to Luke chapter 9. We are going to be back in Luke's Gospel continuing our series called Kingdom Come. So you can turn with me to Luke 9. If you don't have a Bible with you, we'll have it on the screen as well. Luke 9 is a significant chapter in Luke's Gospel. We're going to see next week as Dave preaches while I'm in Germany some really well-known texts as Jesus calls the disciples and starts to revealed to Him the nature of why He's come and the full sacrifice of what He's going to undergo, as well as instructing them about the cross that disciples will have to bear as well. What we see in Luke 9 is the focus shifts, and Luke is now drawing our attention to the way Jesus and the disciples begin to interact with each other. And so we start to see more of the conversation and discussion between Jesus and the 12. So they're called the disciples and the 12 and the apostles interchangeably in this text. And Jesus is explaining now in greater detail exactly who He is. And we're going to see more and more detail about exactly why He's come, and it's going to be disturbing to the disciples. He's going to explain what He must do.
With that though, turn with me to Luke 9. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 17. Hear God's holy and authoritative Word. "And He," Jesus, "called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And He said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have 2 tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, and shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.' And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. And Herod said, 'John I beheaded, But who is this about whom I hear such things?' And he sought to see Him. And on their return, the apostles told Him all that they had done. And He took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. And when the crowds learned it, they followed Him. And He welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. And now the day began to wear away, and the 12 came and said to Him, 'Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.' But he said to them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said, 'We have no more than 5 loaves and 2 fish. Unless we are to go and buy food for all these people—' For there were about 5,000 men. And he said to his disciples, 'Have them sit down in groups of about 50 each.' And they did so and had them all sit down. And taking the 5 loaves and the 2 fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. And then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, 12 baskets of broken pieces. The word of the Lord. May He write His truth upon our hearts.
Father, as Seth said earlier, we are gathered here as Your people. We were reminded this morning during worship that we are Your children, that the gospel has made us Your children and a part of Your family. And so we come to You now as our good Father, asking for You to instruct us. For you to teach us, for you to cast the vision of the kingdom of the gospel, the same vision that the disciples went out and proclaimed. Lord, we ask that you would write that vision in our hearts this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, the first thing we see as Luke 9 starts out is that Jesus is strategically deploying His disciples. He's strategically taking the 12 and deploying them on mission. Luke 9 starts out with this description. Jesus gathers the 12 together and He starts delegating to them His power and His authority. He actually gives them His power and authority, Luke says, and then He sends them out. He sends them out to proclaim the Kingdom, to speak of the Kingdom, to tell people of the Kingdom, and then to demonstrate the Kingdom. To heal people and to cast out demons and to show how the reign of Christ was pushing back the work and domain of the devil.
It's actually the first time in the Gospel that the disciples aren't just along for the ride. Up to this point, they've just kind of been following Jesus along, sort of tagging along like a little brother would. Not really a part of what's going on. Their job has been, you know, maybe find lodging for the night in a town that they go to or help with crowd control. We've seen that. Take care of the money. Basically, observe what Jesus is doing. Essentially, don't get in the way and don't screw things up. That's been their role up to this point. And you can picture it a bit. These 12 men, Jesus is doing incredible things, and they're kind of falling over themselves for opportunities to do every little bit that they can to help the ministry and to play their little role. So James and John aren't arguing about who's going to be greatest in the Kingdom. Right now, they're arguing about who has gotten the best digs for them to stay at in the last week. That's the role they have. That's the role they've had. That begins to change now in Luke 9. Jesus calls them all together and then He strategically sends them out strategically deploys them on mission.
I'm sure all of us can remember those jobs you had oftentimes when you're younger, maybe those first few jobs that you've had where there's just kind of low levels of responsibility. And because there's low levels of responsibility, there's low levels of pay. You have those jobs where you're making fiddlesticks and you're not doing really much of anything important. Some of mine, I was a guy working at a full-service gas station. So I'm literally The guy at the pump pulling the trigger that if people wanted to, they could get out and do for themselves. And I'm washing their windshields and the grumpy old ladies would point where I missed the bugs on the windshield. That was my glorious job. Make sure my belt buckle didn't scratch the nicer cars. Low responsibility. Low responsibility. But you cut your teeth on those jobs. And then eventually, you get a real task. And you hope for the real task and you're excited for the real task. You're trying to prove yourself. But the day comes when you actually get a real job or real responsibility or the boss gives you a promotion. And usually there's a little bit of a gulp moment the first time it happens. You've wanted it, but now you realize the boss isn't there and it's on you. It's your job to close and count the till and make sure the register is set up. Those first moments can be a little bit intimidating. It's sink or swim time.
6 · Extended personal story of catching his first fish—moving from being along for the ride to holding the rod himself—illustrates the disciples' transition from passive observation to active participation in ministry
Part of what I read in this morning's story reminds me a little bit about the time that I caught my first fish. Now, when you catch your first fish, that's like one of the biggest deals in a little boy's life. For most little boys. If you're from New York City, you probably don't even know what fish are. You just assume you get them from the grocery store. But for most kids, if you grow up in the Midwest, it's a big deal to catch the first fish. You catch your first fish and you walk a little taller that day because you have caught a fish. Maybe you go home and you check the mirror. Maybe you sprouted your first chest hair that day because you caught a fish. You might be 8 years old, but hey, having caught a fish, who knows what could happen. I remember the day I caught my first fish. We were out in my dad's boat and my dad, he was one of those guys that was just meticulous. Anal is probably another word for it with how he would keep the boat. You would look at this boat and he'd owned it for years and think, is it brand new? Because he'd come back from a fishing trip and vacuum the carpet in the floor of the boat. If you dropped a worm on the carpet, you just— oh no! We were out on the lake and I had been fishing before, but it was usually just along for the ride, like the disciples. But this was the first time where my dad put the reel in my hand, where I had to put the worm on myself. I cast it out on my own. And then my dad went to the front of the boat, picked up his two rods, put his foot on the trolling motor, and started like— being king of the lake like he would do in the front, and I'm in the back all by myself. He's engrossed in trying to slay walleyes, and I'm just holding it with my bobber. And he'll tell a story. I'm sitting back there and all of a sudden he hears, "Dad." "What?" "Dad." "What?" And I'm speaking quietly because as every good fisherman knows, You can't talk too loud or you'll scare the fish. This had been ingrained in my head. And so finally, Dad, what? There's something tugging on my line. And so all of a sudden he drops the rods, runs to the back, and helps me land my first walleye. And we've got the pictures of me holding the fish on shore. And it was this huge momentous occasion. I remember all of it. The point of the story though is there comes a time when you're holding the rod yourself. And that's what's happening for the disciples. They've come to that point now where they have to cast out and they have to set the hook.
7 · Establishes that the disciples' training is not academic but experiential—they learned by observing Jesus and are now expected to obey—and this pattern applies to us as well
The apprenticeship with Jesus has taken on a new dimension. They're not along for the ride. They're being sent out. Jesus isn't going with them. But they don't have any bachelor's degree in discipleship. They haven't taken a special course that's laid all of this out. There haven't been any instructional videos. What they've gotten is on-the-job training with Jesus in what it looks like to be about the task of discipling and disciple-making. They've been following Jesus and observing Jesus and learning from Jesus, what does it look like to proclaim the good news? What does it look like to demonstrate the good news to people who are lost and are perishing and who are suffering? Jesus, above all, expects that they've learned best simply by observing Him and now by going out and obeying what He's called them to do. And that's not very different from what he expects from us.
8 · Applies the sending of the Twelve to the congregation, arguing that believers are not merely followers but sent ones called to become disciple-makers who proclaim the gospel and demonstrate the Kingdom
For the disciples, this is still the training wheels part of their ministry. Jesus hasn't fully left it. He hasn't ascended into heaven, but he's calling them into mission. And he calls us into mission as believers, as people who have come to Jesus, who now follow Jesus, who have invested our faith in Jesus. There's also a call that we are now not just followers of Jesus, we're also sent ones of Jesus. That's a really important thing to grasp, that Jesus has done this. He's doing it for us. He's doing it with us. Jesus makes us his disciples so that we will then become disciple-makers. Right? Our vision and mission as a church, it's been on our website since we launched the new website several years ago. Our mission is to be a community of disciples, to be a community of disciples who treasure and who declare and who mature in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But that phrase, to be a community of disciples, captures the core of what Jesus has gathered us in for. Seth noted that we're gathered together to worship. We're gathered together also to be built up as disciple-makers, as people who will make and mature and multiply disciples in the name of Jesus. And so when we see here Jesus sending out the 12 and telling them to proclaim the Kingdom and to demonstrate the Kingdom, verse 6, He says, proclaim the Gospel. There's this really close relationship between proclaiming the Kingdom and proclaiming the Gospel. It's envisioning— Luke is envisioning the church that's reading this for what their role is. He's envisioning us for what our role is. To bring the Good News of Jesus to people. To take the rod in our own hands, put the worm on the hook, and to cast it out, to begin making disciples. It's a significant opportunity.
9 · Highlights Jesus' instructions to take nothing on the journey as a counterintuitive deployment strategy, using the pastor's own overpacking habits to illustrate the strangeness of this command
As He does this, you notice how Jesus sends them out. He doesn't just send them out, He gives them specific instructions. He tells them, don't take anything on your journey. Tells them not even to take a spare set of clothes, no food, no bag, no staff. No money. It's an interesting way to send them out. Now, I'll admit this is actually a hard passage for me to read with the trip to Germany looming. I will admit to you, I am not your streamlined packer. I'm the guy that's an overpacker. I pack for every eventuality. And if they didn't charge you way more for multiple bags, I would have every bag you could bring on the trip because Who knows what you're going to encounter? When we went on our cruise for our 10-year anniversary, I had like 3 different outfits to wear and all these different things packed because you had to have enough for every possible formal night on the ship. And then I ended up wearing like the same 2 tank tops the whole week. So I essentially pack like a woman and then dress like a redneck. That's kind of how I operate. But I read Jesus here saying, "I'm going to send you out and you can bring the clothes on your back and no money and no food and no bag and no staff, and you're just going to go." That's tricky to read.
10 · Explains the theological purpose behind Jesus' no-provision instructions: to make the disciples completely dependent on God and to ensure their success cannot be attributed to their own resources or strategies
A major reason why I pack like that is because I'm anxious before I travel. I'm anxious that I'm going to be lacking something. And that's exactly why Jesus sends the disciples out the way that He does. He sends them out in a way that makes them completely dependent on God. Every day in this first essentially short-term mission trip for the disciples, every day of it is going to require faith. Where's my meal going to come from? Where am I going to sleep tonight? What happens if my one outfit gets a rip and gets a hole. In every circumstance, Jesus wants them to be predisposed to turning to God, to entrusting themselves to God. More than that though, He's showing them their success won't happen because they've got a bag of tricks. It won't happen because they paid extra and have 2 bags that are being flown out, plus a really big carry-on and a briefcase and a personal item that they're trying to hide around the seats on the airplane. That's not why success is going to happen on this mission. Jesus has intrinsically set up their entire foray so that it can't possibly depend on anything that they bring to the table.
11 · Summarizes Jesus' instructions and draws out the implications: success in ministry will not be due to appearance, technique, or resources, but solely because of Jesus' power and authority
It's pretty brief instructions they get. Essentially, I'm giving you my power and authority. Go out and do what you've seen me doing and don't bring anything along. Go out without me there, you're going to encounter demons and sick people, and you're going to do all the things I've been doing in my name and in my power without any supplies. It means people aren't going to respond because of how they dress. There's not going to be success on the short-term missions trip. Because they've got special ministry techniques. Matthew's trip won't be more successful than Peter's because Matthew has set up a better crowdfunding. Right? That's not at play at all. They have nothing with them. They'll succeed for one reason. Jesus has deployed them with His power. And He sent them out with His authority.
12 · Applies the principle to the local church and denomination, correcting the notion of 'kingdom building' and insisting that ministry is kingdom declaring and demonstrating—Jesus builds His kingdom through His power, not through human strategies or giftedness
That's so crucial for us as a church. It's so important even for our entire denomination, our family of churches of Sovereign Grace. Sometimes we can imagine ministry as kingdom building. That's what ministry is. You're building the kingdom. This is important work. The kingdom's getting built in what we're doing. Ministry is really kingdom declaring and kingdom demonstrating. Those are very different things. Kingdom building and kingdom declaring and kingdom demonstrating. You see, we don't build the kingdom. We don't bring the kingdom. Jesus does that. Those things. It's Jesus's power and Jesus's authority. It's not the kingdom of providence. It's not the kingdom of Matthew, Dave, and Staff. It's not the kingdom of sovereign grace. It's the kingdom of God. It's not the kingdom of the disciples. It's Jesus's kingdom. And Jesus has promised them, he's promised us through his unfailing word, that he will build His church, that Jesus will build the church, not on ministry strategies, not on new techniques, not on fancy clothes. He will build it, and the gates of hell won't prevail against it. The success for the disciples depends on Jesus' power. Our success as a local church, our success in trying to capture this vision of being a church that's about making disciples, that's about disciple-making, that gathers together corporately so the gospel and the word can form us and then scatters into our communities and scatters into our care groups and our small groups, that is all about seeing the word of God formed in us, about making and maturing and multiplying disciples. But success in that mission isn't driven by giftedness. That's really significant. It's not driven by giftedness. It's empowered by Jesus.
13 · Instructs the congregation on their role: proclaim the gospel, demonstrate its effects through community and love, pray, and trust Jesus to build His church through His Spirit's empowerment
We proclaim the gospel. We tell people the good news. We demonstrate the effects of the gospel in our lives. The way that it creates community, the way the word is formed in us, the way we pray for each other, the way we serve one another, the way we love one another. We demonstrate the kingdom and then we pray and we trust that Jesus will build his church. That Jesus, who has filled all of us as his people with his spirit, has empowered us, that he sent us with his authority to make disciples for his glory. Jesus has strategically deployed us just as he strategically deployed the Twelve.
14 · Signals the transition from the sending of the Twelve to the feeding of the five thousand, introducing the theme of Jesus supplying every need
More than that, though, we see Jesus also supplies every need. This becomes clear with the very next miracle Jesus performs.
15 · Provides narrative context for the feeding miracle: Herod's political anxiety, the growing crowds following Jesus to a desolate place where Jesus will demonstrate His provision
He sends them out, right? Herod starts to hear finally, there's stuff going on. People are talking about John. They're talking about the prophets. Herod knows he's already executed John. But he is wondering, do I have another rival that's now wandering around? He hears that the crowds are building. A good politician, he's worried, are the approval ratings sliding another place? And he starts to wonder. Well, the crowds are flocking to Jesus. And they follow Jesus and they follow the disciples. To Bethsaida and into this desolate part of the country. And that desolate part of the country, this arid environment, provides an opportunity for Jesus to show completely how He meets every need.
16 · Observes the pattern in Scripture of people quickly forgetting God's faithfulness, highlighting how the disciples—fresh from miraculous success—immediately forget when faced with the hungry crowd
This happens again and again and again in the Gospels. It happens all over Scripture. Whether it's Israel or it's the disciples, right? It's amazing how quickly people forget what God has done. The context here is the disciples just got sent out by Jesus and delegated His power and authority, and they go out and they have all sorts of success. People are hearing the message of the kingdom. People are being healed. Demons are being cast out. Jesus isn't there doing it. They're doing this in Jesus' name. And then they come back and they're reporting to Him everything they've done. That's how the next section starts out. They're telling Jesus, "You wouldn't believe it." He's like, "Oh, I would. I was there. You just didn't see Me." They're telling Him these incredible things that have happened because of His power. And then they forget.
17 · Describes the magnitude of the crisis—5,000 men (plus women and children) needing 200 days' wages worth of food—and the disciples' panic despite recent demonstrations of Jesus' power
They've literally just done all of these things. They've seen— we're not that far removed from a little girl being dead and Jesus walking into the house and bringing her back to life. Here is a crowd pressing in, 5,000 hungry men, 5,000 men. So the crowd is bigger than 5,000. They're just counting the men. Who knows how many are actually gathered, but 5,000 hungry men. And all of a sudden they forget everything that's happened and they come to Jesus in this panic. There's this this quavering in their voice. There's this enormous crowd. The crowd's so large, if you read the commentaries, they say a crowd this big, it would take like 200 days of wages to go purchase enough food for them. So there's no way they can pay for the food themselves, and they realize that. And so they come to Jesus.
18 · Moves from critiquing the disciples to self-examination, arguing that we are all finite and dependent yet consistently forget God's faithfulness despite having 10,000 reasons to trust Him
And it's easy here, I think, to rag on the disciples. You set that context and realize they've just done these incredible things. Casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Most of us probably haven't done that this week, right? And then they forget? Like, what's wrong with them? If we're honest, we respond in similar ways. You see, an intrinsic part of being human is that we're finite. We are, by our very definition, Limited. We're fragile. We're weak. In the most basic sense, we are dependent. And yet when we look back at our lives, if we look back at our lives through the lens of faith, we see there's not a single time when God's failed us. There's not a single time when he hasn't been there. We sing this morning a song like 10,000 Reasons, right? 10,000 reasons for my heart to sing. You sing that on Sunday morning and Matt Redmond stirs our hearts. For all your goodness, I will keep on singing. 10,000 reasons for my heart to find. We recognize through the lens of faith that our entire lives are one great testimony that God provides and that God is faithful.
19 · Personal confession of how quickly the pastor forgets God's faithfulness when trials come—both small daily frustrations and larger crises—and how easily anxiety and worst-case-scenario thinking replace trust
But I'll be the first to admit what I sing with joy on Sunday often doesn't line up with my outlook later in the week. I wish I could say it was really hard stuff that would knock me from that perspective. But sometimes it's really weak stuff. It's just a little part of my day not going how I sovereignly designed the day to go. And suddenly the whole world is against me. Small trials can knock me off of resting in God's faithfulness. And then hard stuff comes, unexpected things. Maybe the car breaks down and you have no money in the bank to fix it, and you need that vehicle to get to your job. The furnace goes out, news circulates the company is downsizing. You fill in the gap. When those sorts of things happen, more often than not, we're no different than the disciples, are we? So quick, I know I am, to be anxious, to be doubting, to be pining away. I'm expecting the worst. Do you know what's going to happen now? And I just start imagining like the dominoes falling as my Life goes off the cliff. Completely oblivious to the promises of God. Completely forgetting all of His past faithfulness.
20 · Jesus responds to the disciples' panic by telling them to feed the crowd themselves, both exposing their helplessness and deflating any pride from their recent ministry success—they can produce only five loaves and two fish
So the disciples, fresh off of taking it to Beelzebub, come running up to Jesus. "There's hungry people and we've got no food!" And Jesus looks at them and says, "You get them something to eat." It's a great little comeback. They come, "There's all these people, Jesus!" "Go feed them. I just deployed you with power, man. Go feed them." It's beautiful. They're anxious little ninnies because they know they can't possibly feed this whole multitude. And Jesus just drives the point home for them. I think part of this is He knows the temptation they're facing. They're just fresh off of the biggest ministry successes of their fledgling little ministry careers, right? And how tempting is that? Jesus, you'll never believe what I did on my mission. You cast out 10 demons? Man, there was one guy that I cast out that had 20. I mean, it wasn't legion like Jesus. He had 20. And then there was like 5 more after him. And they're getting puffed up and they're successful. Jesus is perfectly aware of how quickly a little success can go to our heads, how vulnerable the disciples are to thinking they're actually the one who did these amazing things on the recent missions trip. And so in their moment of panic, he punts the ball right back to them. All right, boys, let's see what you can do. You guys give them something to eat. And all they can come up with is 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. We got nothing, Jesus. We got 5 loaves and 2 fish. It's not even enough for us to eat.
21 · Applies the five loaves and two fish to Providence Church's limited resources—small budget, understaffed children's ministry, old building, amateur musicians—and declares that these meager resources are all Jesus needs to accomplish His purposes
But for Jesus, what they've brought to the table is more than enough. 5 loaves and 2 fish is an abundance. And as a little church— and we're a little church— this should be an amazing encouragement for us. We don't have to have a multi-million dollar budget to be useful for Jesus. We don't have to have a staff of 50 people making sure that we have the best most cutting-edge programs. We don't have to have a whole slew of administrators and administrative assistants making sure our website is updated every 6.5 months to be the best, most cutting-edge website. We don't have to have people driving our vision and our message through social media. Chris Tomlin doesn't lead worship at Providence, and John Piper has never and probably will never stand up here and preach. We are a little church. We got 5 loaves and 2 fish. We got more kids than we have adults to staff the children's ministry. We're sending out the panicked emails. Oh, we gotta cancel the class again. Please help us. Tyler and May, out of the goodness of their hearts, have served like 7 straight weeks covering that extra class. We know the 5 loaves and 2 fish. We got an old building with a big mortgage. It's kind of the flip of what you want. We got a handful of faithful saints to lead our care groups. None of them have written any books on community though. Got a worship team of amateur musicians. Sorry, Skip. And that's what we got. We're Providence. 5 loaves and 2 fish. And it's all that Jesus needs.
22 · Declares that Jesus looks at Providence's weaknesses and sees opportunities—the next generation being raised, His strength perfected in weak parents, His Spirit poured out despite fumbled worship, flawed leaders empowered, and scattered families sovereignly placed for witness
He looks at this little motley crew, this ragtag body of saints, and he rubbed his hands together. Oh, let's get going. I can use this. I can build with this. I can multiply this. He looks at the ratio of our kids to adults and he doesn't see a lack of people serving in children's ministry. He sees the next generation being raised up for the gospel. He looks at overwhelmed and overburdened and over-busied parents. He sees the imperfect moms and dads. Who are just fried. He looks at them and he sees the people that in their weakness he's going to make his strength perfect. And through them and their fumbling, bumbling attempts, he's going to save their children. He sees a worship team armed with gospel-centered, theologically rich songs, faithfully using their gifts. And he looks at this team and he looks at this body gathered under the banner of his name, and he says, "Right here, I'm gonna pour out my Spirit every week. They might fumble the chorus, they might screw up the transition, but I'm gonna pour my Spirit out upon these people." He sees flawed elders, He sees the deacons and he looks and he relishes the opportunity to empower these flawed servants for the equipping of the saints for the task of ministry. He doesn't see lack of a formalized outreach ministry. He sees dozens of families and singles scattered throughout this area, all sovereignly placed in the exact community, the exact neighborhood, the exact job, the exact family, the exact school where they can shine their light, where they can proclaim the gospel, where they can build relationships, the exact place where he can use them to witness and bring in the other sheep that He also died for. We see 5 loaves and 2 fish, but Jesus multiplies our efforts.
23 · Calls the congregation to offer what they have—serve in nursery, sing on the team, give their first fruits—trusting that when the church gathers its small contributions, Jesus will multiply them and build His church
The other side of that is somebody in that crowd says, "Well, I got a fish." Right? "I got some loaves." In another Gospel, it's a little boy, right? Part of this is the willingness to say, "I'm going to I'm gonna give what I have. Here's what I can do. I can serve in nursery. I struggle to harmonize, but I can carry the melody. I can sing on the worship team. Right? The widow's two mites. Well, my budget's tight. I know God's gonna provide. I can give my first fruits. It's not gonna solve any budget issues on its own, but I can give my piece. We gather together those 5 loaves and those 2 fish, and Jesus promises He will build His church. Jesus promises He will bring in the harvest. And He brings that harvest to Himself.
24 · Identifies the pattern in Jesus' actions—taking, blessing, breaking, giving—as a deliberate foreshadowing of the Last Supper and the cross, showing that the miracle teaches not just about physical provision but about the gospel itself
That's the greatest news of this miracle. Jesus demonstrates His power, but at the same time, He's not just giving them this buffet of food. He's also telling them and teaching them one of the most important aspects of His kingdom, of the gospel and its good news. Luke says they bring the 5 loaves and the 2 fish. Jesus takes it. He looks up to heaven and He prays. And then He takes the bread in His hands and He blesses it. And then He breaks the bread and then He gives it. It's like a foreshadowing, intentionally, almost like Luke is inspired by someone outside of himself. He's showing us, he's foreshadowing exactly what Jesus will do at the Last Supper. Jesus is showing them in this miracle a prediction of what He will show them again at the Last Supper, and then what He will give them on the cross.
25 · Cites John 6 where Jesus explicitly identifies Himself as the Bread of Life who gives eternal satisfaction, contrasting Himself with the manna in the wilderness and promising to give His flesh for the life of the world
In John in his Gospel, they come with Jesus with questions demanding a sign. Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." And they said to Him, "Sir, give us this bread always." And Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, I will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
26 · Contrasts worldly promises of satisfaction (money, possessions, relationships) with Jesus' promise of Himself—the kingdom's good news is not merely that needs are met, but that our deepest need for eternal satisfaction is met in Jesus alone
The kingdom isn't just good news because we're gonna have all of our needs met. The kingdom is good news because our realest, most fundamental needs are met in Jesus. The world promises satisfaction and joy in places that it can't possibly provide them. It tells you that a little bit more money, one more promotion, a nicer car, a spouse, a kid, another kid, a healthier kid, A bigger house. The list goes on and on and on. It tells you those are the places where you'll find joy and you'll find satisfaction. And Jesus says they're all places where moth and rust can destroy. But Jesus promises something much better. He promises us Himself. He promises to give Himself as the Bread of Life that gives eternal life to anyone who believes in Him. He promises to be the Fount of Living Water that will eternally and completely satisfy everyone who drinks.
27 · Cites Romans 8 to argue that God's gift of His Son guarantees He will give us all things we truly need—not material prosperity, but everything necessary for eternal joy in Jesus
Paul responds to this truth. He says, if God is for us, Who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? That's not a promise of a Rolex and a BMW. That's a promise of all things you could ever need in Jesus for real, eternal, established joy.
28 · Explains that Jesus invites everyone to recline at His table without regard to status, wealth, or ritual purity—there is no VIP list, and anyone who believes in Him can come and be satisfied
And the good news of this miracle is Jesus offers it to everyone. He tells the people to sit. The Greek word literally can be translated, he tells them to recline. Jesus doesn't just feed them, he invites them to come and recline and to share his table. And there's no pecking order. He doesn't say, well, put all the really wealthy people over here. Maybe when it's done, they'll help support the next phase of the ministry. Make sure they get fed first in case we run out and we really needed 6 loaves and 3 fish. He doesn't do that. They're in this desolate place. This is a dusty place. Typically, a Jewish person, you would wash and cleanse yourself, find ritual purity before you'd come in for the meal. They're dirty. They're out there. Jesus doesn't care. Come, recline at my table. Sit with me. There's no VIP list that the crowd is getting checked against. Well, we really want you to come dine with Jesus, but you've got to be on the list. Not at all. Jesus looks at 5,000 men plus all their women and kids that are with them, and he says, "Come." He welcomes them all to the feast. He welcomes them all to his table. He welcomes all of us. Anyone who would believe in him, who would repent of their sins and turn to Jesus in faith. Anyone can dine with Jesus. Anyone can be satisfied by the bread of life. He offers himself to us all, and he promises to meet every need right when it needs to be met.
29 · Closing prayer asking God to kill self-sufficiency, strengthen faith in His power to multiply weak efforts, and convict the congregation of seeking joy outside of Jesus, the Bread of Life
Would you bow your heads? Father, Lord, we ask, Lord, help us to put to death any sort of self-sufficiency that we have at Providence. Lord, help us to die to any notions that we are going to spectacularly build your kingdom. Lord God, help us to be positioned to respond in faith and to believe that you will build your church. Lord God, help us to look at our 5 loaves and our 2 fish, and by your Spirit, help us to be filled with faith and vision and confidence that you will multiply our efforts. Lord, that, that you will fill the hungry. Lord, that you will bring in the harvest as long as the laborers are willing. Lord, help us to put our confidence in you. And Lord, we ask, Lord, I pray that you would help us to be convicted this morning of places where we're hedging our bets. Father, help us to see the places where we're trying to still find joy outside of Your Son. Lord, we want to come to Jesus and we want to believe that He alone is the Bread of Life. And Lord, we ask by Your Spirit that You would fill us and that You would meet us and that You would supply all of our needs. Needs. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.