GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION
THE TEST OF FAITH
ILLUSTRATION:
An Irishman, was taking a trip to the Holy Land, and when he got to the Sea of Galilee, he was
appalled when he found it would cost $50.00 an hour to RENT a BOAT to go out on the WATER.
“Hoot mon,” he said with a deep Irish brogue, “in Ireland I coulda got a boat for about
$20.00”
“That might be true,” said the boat man, “but you have to take into account that the SEA OF
GALILEE is WATER on which our Lord Himself WALKED.”
“Well, for $50.00 an hour,” said the Irishman, “it’s little wonder He WALKED.”
A. For the past several weeks we have been TREKKING along through the Gospel of Mark looking at Jesus
as “GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION.”
1. From His BAPTISM on, Jesus had been affirming through His PREACHING and His MIRACLES that
He is the PROMISED MESSIAH—the Son of God.
COMMENT:
During this time the apostles—the chosen twelve—have witnessed Jesus do amazing things:
• Cast out demons.
• Heal various diseases.
• Enable a paralyzed man to walk.
• Cleanse a man of his leprosy.
• Restore a man’s shriveled hand.
• Heal a woman from years of hemorrhaging just by touching His clothes.
• Raise a young girl from the dead.
2. Despite the MIRACLES of Jesus that they had seen UP CLOSE and PERSONAL and even able to perform themselves (v. 13), they still don’t quite understand that they have been HANGING out with the SON OF GOD.
B. Jesus sent His apostles throughout Galilee two-by-two to PREACH repentance and lead people to Jesus as
the Messiah- vv. 7-13.
1. Afterwards they RETURN to Jesus to give Him a REPORT- Mark 6:30-34 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
As many of you know, MINISTRY can be both PHYSICALLY and EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTING, especially when you are dealing with the HURTS of people. There are occasions
when you just need to GET AWAY to have some DOWN TIME.
a. This is what Jesus is wanting for his DISCIPLES, because they haven’t been able to REST or even
had time to get a BITE to EAT.
b. So, they get in the BOAT to get away from the CROWD and head for the other side of the Sea of
Galilee to get some REST, only to be met by even more HURTING people waiting on the SHORE.
ILLUSTRATION:
The work of MINISTRY is never done. There will always be people with NEEDS and HURTS.
That’s why it is imperative that ALL of God’s people get involved in ministry, and not just a FEW.
2. Jesus takes this OPPORTUNITY to, once again, TEST the FAITH of His disciples with back-to-back MIRACLES that DEFY the laws of NATURE.
MESSAGE:
I. FEEDING OF THE 5,000- Mark 6:35-44 (READ) (Only miracle of Jesus recorded in all 4 gospels)
A. As the boat carrying Jesus and the apostles make landfall, they are met by people whom have traveled
on foot from nearby towns and villages numbering in the THOUSANDS.
1. Mark records that “the number of the men who had eaten was five thousand”- v. 44. The gospel
of Matthew adds, “…5,000 men, besides women and children”- Matthew 14:21.
2. Historically, they only counted MEN back then.
COMMENT:
Now LADIES, I know some of you are thinking: “Nuh-uh! No, they didn’t!” That was
just the WAY it was done back then.
a. So that means the number of people who were actually FED was closer to 10, 15, 20 thousand.
b. This makes this MIRACLE even more AMAZING.
B. As I was studying this text this past week, a couple of LESSONS immerged that was not only important
for Jesus apostles to learn, but for us as well.
1. God desires to STRETCH our FAITH.
a. Someone once said, “Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no
need for faith.” If we can do it ourselves, then why do we need God?
b. Jesus puts His disciples in a situation where they could find no solution but to turn to Him.
ILLUSTRATION:
As night approaches, the disciples ask Jesus to send the PEOPLE away to go to their HOMES or nearby MARKETS to buy themselves something to EAT. Stretching their FAITH, Jesus said, “YOU give them something to eat.”
And, apparently, their BUDGET is much like mine, because they quickly said, “We don’t have the money to buy 15,000 people enough food to eat. That would cost 8 months wages.”
Jesus said, “Okay. Go among the people and find out how much FOOD they have.” So, they ask around, and according to John’s gospel, the only food they could find was a boy’s LUNCH containing “five small barley loaves of bread and two small fish”- John 6:9.
Jesus had the disciples to sit everybody down in groups of hundreds and fifties, BLESSED the small meal, DIVIDED it up, and gave it to the APOSTLES to distribute the FOOD among the THOUSANDS of people.
Imagine what these disciples are thinking? “You want us to do what? There’s not enough food here for everybody to even get a CRUMB!”
But not only did everyone EAT enough to SATISFY their HUNGER, the “apostles gathered up 12 BASKETFULS of SCRAPS when everyone was through EATING”.
COMMENT:
Why TWELVE BASKETS? That’s how many APOSTLES there were, and Jesus wanted each one to go around picking up PIECES after PIECES of BREAD and FISH asking themselves with each PIECE they put in the BASKET, “How is this possible? How is this possible?”
c. Jesus- “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”- Matthew 19:26.
ILLUSTRATION:
Do you BELIEVE that? I had the privilege this past week to sit with the Ladies Prayer Group for a few minutes to talk about their unique ministry. In the group was Sarah Dunn the
TEAM LEADER, Jackie Bennett, Wanda Cherry and Mary Jackson.
Mary showed me a notebook on which they WRITE every PRAYER REQUEST and PETITION that this GROUP of LADIES bring before God; and there were pages after pages of written REQUESTS. And then they SHARED how God had ANSWERED many of those
PRAYERS; sometimes in SURPRISING and MIGHTY ways.
Ask these LADIES if they have FAITH in the POWER of PRAYER and BELIEVE that “with God ALL things are possible”. Ladies, if you want to be part of this group, check with Sarah.
2. God wants us to PARTNER with Him in MINISTRY.
a. Jesus got His apostles involved in this MIRACLE from BEGINNING to END.
COMMENT:
They expressed concern about the people not having anything to EAT, so Jesus involved them immediately, “You give them something to eat.”
When they pointed out that they didn’t have the MONEY to BUY FOOD, Jesus sent them out among the thousands of people to SCROUNGE UP some FOOD.
Then after everybody had EATEN their FILL, Jesus had them to WALK the GROUNDS picking up all the leftover PIECES.
b. Do you think that Jesus couldn’t have FED the CROWDS by Himself?
COMMENT:
Satan knew the POWER of Christ Jesus when he tempted Him to turn a ROCK into BREAD. (Now, I’ve known a few COOKS whom have turned BREAD into something that was HARD
as a ROCK, but never met one who turned a ROCK into BREAD.)
Jesus could have asked everyone in that CROWD to GRAB a ROCK, and then turn it into WONDER BREAD. In fact, He could have just spoken BREAD into EXISTENCE, but instead He wanted the disciples to be involved in this MIRACLE—to BUILD their FAITH.
c. Brothers and sisters, a Godly FAITH should challenge us to DO as much as we can for Jesus.
-James reminds us that “…FAITH without WORKS is dead”- James 2:17b.
-Even after affirming that it is not our WORKS that SAVE us but our FAITH, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do”- Ephesians 2:10. (Put our FAITH in ACTION!)
COMMENT:
God wants us to PARTNERSHIP with Him in MINISTRY—to SERVE Jesus by SERVING others. That is the very REASON that Jesus left His church on this earth—too REACH OUT to
the LOST and to SERVE one another.
Now, if you’re not SERVING Jesus Christ yet… understand that you will never MATURE in your FAITH until you find ways of MINISTERING for Him INSIDE or OUTSIDE this church building.
If your FAITH is DOING NOTHING, then it is not FAITH!
II. WALKING ON WATER- Mark 6:45-52 (READ)
A. After feeding the MULTITUDE and sending them HOME, Jesus tells His disciples to get back into the
BOAT and SAIL to other side of the SEA while He goes up the mountain to PRAY.
1. As He LEAVES, Jesus tells them that He will CATCH UP with them later.
a. Now, if was me I would be thinking, “How is Jesus going to meet us on the other side? We’ve
got the BOAT!”
b. Without question, however, they get into the BOAT and head across the Sea of Galilee.
COMMENT:
As they started across the WIND and ROUGH WATERS began to pick up, making it difficult for them to ROW. When they got out into the MIDDLE of the LAKE—“about 3 to 3½ miles from shore” (John 6:19), Jesus started to come toward them WALKING on the WATER.
2. Look again at the middle part of v. 48- “About the fourth watch of the night (3-6 in the morning)
Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to PASS by them…”
a. Why would Jesus WALK on WATER in such a way as to give the DISCIPLES the impression
that He was simply going to WALK right PAST them?
COMMENT:
In my mind’s eye, I can see Jesus WALKING along on the WATER like it was casual STROLL in the PARK. It would seem EFFORTLESS to Him. But why would He WALK out to
the BOAT where His disciples are and then WALK PAST them?
b. I think Jesus had a specific OBJECTIVE in mind for these men.
COMMENT:
He wanted them to fully RECOGNIZE who He was—the Christ, the Son of God who has POWER over NATURE and DESERVES all GLORY and PRAISE.
3. But instead of Jesus being GLORIFIED—the disciples are TERRIFIED.
a. They think He is a GHOST.
COMMENT:
Now, I realize that the disciples are EXHAUSTED. They’ve been UP for HOURS without any CHANCE of getting REST. Their muscles are SORE. It’s DARK. And, to be fair, Jesus
didn’t tell them “I’ll meet you out in the middle of the lake. Look for the guy walking on water.”
Even so, it was more NATURAL for them to BELIEVE that this was a GHOST than to actually BELIEVE that it could and would be their Lord, the Son of God, WALKING on WATER
toward them.
Now, I realize that they had never seen Jesus WALKING on WATER before, but how many GHOSTS have they seen out on the WATER? Thus far, they have seen Jesus do a lot of THINGS that they never thought POSSIBLE before. Is WALKING on WATER that much of a stretch?
b. After crying out in FEAR, Jesus tells them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”- v. 50
B. Now, you probably noticed when I read this passage that Mark does not say anything about Peter
getting out of the BOAT and WALKING on water toward Jesus.
1. Only Matthew includes that part of the story. And we’ve heard many lessons on how important it
is for us to keep our FAITH focused on Jesus and not on the “STORMS OF LIFE.”
a. Mark is wanting to get across another LESSON; a more challenging one not to be overlooked.
b. Let’s re-read vv. 51-52 (READ)
COMMENT:
Both Matthew and John have HAPPY ENDINGS to this story. In Matthew the disciples
WORSHIP Jesus. In John, they are GLAD to see him and immediately ARRIVE on shore.
I’m sure the DISCIPLES were GLAD to see Jesus, and such a MIRACLE ought to compel them to “WORSHIP Him as the Son of God”, which Matthew said they did. But Mark wants us to understand that something is still FUNDAMENTALLY wrong—a LACK of FAITH.
2. These two miracles are about affirming the DEITY of Jesus and testing the FAITH of the apostles.
a. Jesus tried to STRETCH their FAITH with the MIRACLE of the LOAVES, but Mark said “Their
HEARTS were HARDENED”. (That’s how the Bible describes UNBELIEVERS!)
COMMENT:
If Jesus can MULTIPLY a boy’s small lunch to FEED thousands of people, then surely the apostles would have no difficulty in believing that Jesus could WALK on WATER. Again, it was more PLAUSIBLE for them to believe it was a GHOST than to believe it was SON of GOD.
b. They MISSED the SPIRITUAL LESSON that Jesus wanted them to GRASP, and will do so
again when “Jesus feeds the 4,000” in Mark 8 (that’s 8 to 12 thousand for you ladies).
c. In Mark 8:21 Jesus will ASK them, yet again, “Do you still not understand?”
3. Thankfully, Jesus was not FINISHED with them.
a. He had more LESSONS for them to LEARN, and eventually ALL of them, but ONE, will finally
GET IT.
b. These same men will be given the OPPORTUNITY time again to demonstrate their RESOLUTE FAITH in Jesus as the Son of God, even at the COST of GREAT SACRIFICE to them all.
CONCLUSION:
A. So, what does this mean to us?
1. God is still STRETCHING the FAITH of His disciples—you and me.
a. When it concerns our FAITH, we are sometimes like the 12 disciples—we’re just a little SLOW.
b. I can picture God shaking His HEAD and asking, “Church, do you still not understand?”
2. If you get only one LESSON from my sermon today, let be this: Since Jesus WALKED on WATER,
we can WADE through LIFE.
a. Whatever CHALLENGE or DIFFICULTY or HARDSHIP we face in LIFE, our FAITH in the One
who WALKED ON WATER will carry us through.
b. 1 John 5:4b- “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR FAITH TO WORK?
