A Wilderness Banquet

We read the word of God from Mark chapter 6, beginning at verse 30 and reading through verse 44, Mark, the count of the feeding of the five thousand. And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.

And he said unto them, Come aside into a desert place and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by boat secretly.

And the people saw them departing, and many knew him and ran afoot out of all cities and went before them and came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw many people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far past. Send them away, that they may go into the country round about and into the villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.

And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pence worth of bread and give them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? Go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.

And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before them. And the two fishes divided he among them all.

And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragment and of the fish. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

And how wonderful it is that our Lord is still feeding the bread of life to those who hunger. The feeding of the five thousand by our Lord Jesus with five barley loaves and two small fish was very definitely a miracle. Some of the liberal theologians want to tell us that it was not a miracle.

They tell us that when Jesus encouraged the little boy to take his lunch out, all the other people got ashamed and they took their lunches out. And before long, they had a big picnic and it was enough for everybody. But that's not what the word of God says.

The word of God tells us that our Lord Jesus took five little barley cakes and two small fish. And in his hands, he performed a miracle and fed over five thousand people. It was not the generosity of the little boy that encouraged others to bring out their hidden food.

It was the power of the Lord Jesus Christ that took the dead elements and as it were made them live and multiplied them. Now, the crowd saw this as a miracle. When John tells us about the feeding of the five thousand, he says something like this.

And when the crowd saw the sign which he had done, they said, let us make him the king. Nobody's going to make someone king who forced them to pull out their hidden lunches. No, they saw him perform a miracle and they said, this is the man that we need to be our king.

You and I look back at this miracle and we might ask ourselves the question, what does it have to do with us today? We don't sit down at our breakfast table and take a piece of toast and put it in the middle of the table and say, now, Lord, multiply that, because I'm sure he wouldn't do it. What does it mean to us today that Jesus took a few loaves and fish and fed over five thousand people? I think it means to us today that there are hungry people all around us who need to be fed, not only physically, but most of all spiritually. We don't discount the physical.

I read here that in verse thirty one of Mark chapter six, our Lord was concerned about the health of his disciples. He saw they were tired. They'd been out preaching on a mission and they came home and said, Lord, we've been doing this and teaching that.

He said, men, you're kind of tired. Let's just go have a little vacation. He's concerned about the body.

When he saw five thousand plus people who were hungry, he was concerned about feeding them. But of course, all of this is a picture of what he does for us spiritually. He not only is concerned about rest for the body, he's concerned about rest for the soul.

He's not only concerned about bread for the body, but he's concerned about bread for the soul. And so all that we see in this visible miracle is an indication of a spiritual world, a real world that God wants us to be a part of. I think what he's saying to us in this miracle is this.

The disciples were the link between Jesus and the hungry multitude. Did you notice that? Our Lord did not take the bread and the fish and hand it out row by row. No, he took the bread and the fish and he broke it and kept on handing it out to his disciples.

The miracle took place in his hands, not theirs, kept handing it out to the disciples and they handed it out to the multitude. I think that's a marvelous thing that you and I, as God's people, can be a living link between Jesus Christ and the multitude. We are bread passers, that's why we're here.

Everyone listening to my voice today is either in that hungry multitude looking for something to satisfy or you are with those disciples helping to satisfy one of the other. If you're in the multitude, oh, I trust you'll come and trust the Lord as your Savior. If you're one of his disciples, I trust you'll make yourself available to be a living link between the miracle hands of Jesus and the hungry heart of the multitude.

Now to encourage us to be living links in this wonderful chain of eternal life, in this miracle the Lord gives to us three revelations. It's as though the Holy Spirit painted for us three pictures, or it's as though he pulled up the shades on three windows and said, look, because there are here three pictures, three revelations that God wants us to see. And if we see them, I think then we'll want to be a part of this miracle.

First of all, there is the revelation of the magnificent person of Jesus Christ. I cannot draw or paint, but if I could, and I painted this scene, I wouldn't magnify the little boy who brought the lunch. He's important.

Nor would I magnify the hungry multitudes out there. They are important. If I were to paint this scene, I would magnify the person of Jesus Christ.

There he stands in all of his magnificent glory. I think if our count is correct, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there are 35 individual miracles recorded. Now we know the Lord performed many more than that.

John said if all the miracles he did were put into a book or put into books, the world could not contain them. Our Lord performed multitudes of miracles, but we have 35 of them specifically recorded in the four gospels. This is the only miracle found in all four of them.

When the Holy Spirit told Matthew to write his gospel, he said, Matthew, you talk about the feeding of the 5,000. Mark, you put in the feeding of the 5,000. Dr. Luke, you don't neglect the feeding of the 5,000.

John, you're the last one writing, but it's in the other three. Put it in your book, the feeding of the 5,000. It's in all four gospels.

You know why? Because this particular miracle so magnifies the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you people are Bible students, and so you know that Matthew, when he wrote, wrote to magnify Jesus Christ, the King. The very first question in the New Testament, where is he that is born King of the Jews? And Matthew says, here is he, here is the King.

Matthew pictures Jesus Christ as the King. Now can't you just see Jesus Christ as the King with these loaves and these fish? In fact, the crowd got that message from the miracle. Let's make him our King.

What does a King do? Well, a King is somebody who knows what's going on, and he has the authority to do something about it. We understand from the composite of all of the records that Jesus Christ knew what he would do. He came to Philip and he said, Philip, we're going to feed these people.

Philip says, we haven't got enough money to feed them. And it says in the word of God, he himself knew what he would do. I like that kind of a King.

I'm glad that the Lord Jesus Christ, our King, our Savior, knows what he's going to do. You turn your life over to him, you don't have to worry about tomorrow or next week. He knows what he's going to do.

And can't you just see him in all of his majesty, the regal son of God, as he stands there as the King. He takes the authority. He takes the control of the situation.

And he takes five little thin barley cakes of dead material. At one time, this material had been alive, but now it was dead. And he commands those atoms to start to multiply.

And he breaks and breaks and breaks and keeps passing out. He takes these fish and keeps passing them out. That's the King at work.

And Matthew says, I want you to look at this King. The magnificent person of Jesus Christ. Now Mark comes along and the Holy Spirit said, Mark, I want you to include this miracle in your book.

Because Jesus Christ is the servant. Mark, when he wrote his gospel, wrote as the gospel of the servant. When you begin to read the gospel of Mark, you find no genealogy.

Because who cares where a servant came from? And so Mark begins to write and the Holy Spirit says, you include the feeding of the 5,000. Because there stands Jesus Christ as a servant. Here is almighty God standing there feeding a hungry multitude.

He is taking the place of a waiter. He's taking the place of a cook. He takes this material and he blesses it and he breaks it and he gives it to his disciples.

He's the servant. Isn't it interesting to note that our Lord Jesus Christ was always at the beck and call of the needs of people. The sick and the helpless and the blind.

The polluted and the defiled. They came to Jesus and he was available. A servant is one who comes and does your bidding.

And Jesus looked upon the multitude and he did their bidding. They were hungry. It's a marvelous servant.

Paul talks about that in Philippians chapter 2. How that Jesus Christ, though he was God, did not selfishly hold on to his prerogatives as God. But he emptied himself and made himself of no reputation. Came down to be a servant.

So much so that he even died on the cross. When you have a servant who will die for you, you've got a wonderful servant. We're not surprised that Luke includes this miracle because Luke writes about the Son of Man.

The key idea in Luke is here is the ideal man. Here is the man among men and women. Here is the perfect man.

And one of the words that Luke likes to use is the word compassion. That Greek word compassion means all of your inner viscera. All of your inner being just moved when you see the needs of others.

Now it's more than pity. Pity can sometimes be very shallow. Compassion is love that identifies and that acts.

And the Holy Spirit said, now Luke, you be sure to include this because I want to show his compassion for the needs of men. And we can see Dr. Luke as he writes this account saying, yes, it's just like him, just like him. The disciples said, send them away, send them away.

Let's get rid of the problem. They were often found saying that. A woman came to Jesus one day and she beseeches him and she says, my daughter is lying at home tormented by a demon.

Would you do something? And the disciples say, get out of here. He's on vacation. Go away.

And they come to Jesus and say, send her away. She's pestering us. But he met the need.

He had compassion. The disciples said, let's get rid of this multitude. We haven't got enough money to pay them, to pay for the bread.

And they haven't gotten any bread. Why should we be embarrassed? Let's keep what we have for ourselves. Jesus said, no, you give them to eat.

Luke, the perfect man is pictured there, his compassion. And he's still that way today. He knows the needs that you have.

Your need may not be for bread. It may be for something else, but he knows the need. And of course, you come to John.

John devotes a whole chapter to this miracle. John chapter six. For he gives not only the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, but he follows it with the message on the bread of life.

And we're not surprised that John tells us this miracle because John's theme is Jesus is the Son of God. Matthew says, behold the King. He's in control of the situation.

Mark says, behold the servant. He's meeting the needs of the people. Luke says, behold the man, his compassion and concern.

And John says, behold the Son of God, who has the very power to perform miracles and take that which is dead and give it life. Our Lord makes an interesting statement about himself and his father in the Gospel of John. He says, whatever I see my father doing, that's what I'm doing.

Whatever the father does, that's what I do. George MacDonald, that unusual British preacher who was so influential on C.F. Lewis, makes an interesting statement about this. Ponder it.

George MacDonald says God the Father is always performing miracles. He's always turning water into wine. It just takes longer.

He's always multiplying bread. It just takes longer. You put one seed in the ground and up come 15 seeds.

You put one grain of corn in the ground and up comes an ear of corn and many ears. God the Father is always multiplying fish. It just takes longer.

God the Father is always multiplying bread. It just takes longer. God the Father is always healing bodies.

It just takes longer. The miracle that Jesus did was instant. Our Lord is saying, I'm just doing what my father is doing.

You people are too blind to see the miracles out there in nature. You don't realize that the Father feeds you bread and multiplies food for your sustenance. Let me show you how quickly I can do it and prove to you that I am the Son of God.

And so he did. He just took the bread and he kept multiplying it in his hands and feeding the multitude. I am the Son of God.

Now, he followed this up with a sermon on the bread of life. The Jews came to him and said, well, that's a marvelous sign except for one thing. You did this on earth.

Now, Moses, when he gave the Jewish people bread, that bread came down from heaven. What can you do that comes down from heaven? Could you repeat that miracle but have it come down from heaven? And the Lord said, look, the greatest miracle already has come down from heaven. Here I am.

I'm the bread of life. That manna that the Jewish people ate sustained their life. I give life.

It sustained physical life. I give spiritual life, eternal life. They ate that manna and died.

You can eat of me and never die. Now, of course, he wasn't talking about the Lord's Supper. You don't partake of Jesus Christ by having bread and the cup of the Lord's Supper.

Those people knew nothing about the Lord's Supper. It had never been established yet. He's talking about himself as the bread of life.

When you receive him within, just the way you sit down and eat food, you could sit and look at your dinner and starve to death. You could read the recipe in Betty Crocker cookbook and starve to death. You could look at those beautiful pictures in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and starve to death.

And there are multitudes of people who can see the picture of Jesus or they read the recipe or they look at the meal, but they never get it inside. And all the Lord asks us to do is just to reach out by faith and receive him inwardly. He is the bread of life.

And when you receive him, you're going to live forever. It didn't cost God anything to send that manna down. He just gave the signal and down it came.

It cost him the life of his son to give the bread of life to this earth. The manna came just for the Jewish people. The bread of life came down for the whole world.

That manna came for a time and now it's gone. The bread of life is still available to anyone who will reach out and receive it. And so when you look at this picture, you see the magnificent person of Christ.

Oh, how wonderful he is. The king who is in control. The servant who comes and meets your need.

The son of man who has compassion. The son of God who has the power to do what needs to be done. But I think that God wants us to see a second revelation here.

Not only a revelation of the magnificent person of Christ, but if you and I are going to be bread pastors, if we're going to share in this miracle, we have to see the miserable plight of the crowd. You see, all around us is the same situation they had. Now, we're in Chicago.

They were over in Galilee. We're in a modern city with elevators and all sorts of gadgets. They were in a rather primitive place, but the situation is the same.

Look at it. Number one, a hungry multitude. We have a bigger multitude today than we've ever had.

People are multiplying, some four billion people now, and most of them are very hungry. Some of them are hungry physically. I'm glad that through our missionary agencies, the Moody Church can help people with the physical needs of life and then share with them the spiritual answer, Jesus Christ.

But people are hungry spiritually. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 55, why are you spending your money on that which is not bread? And people are doing this. They are spending billions of dollars on that which never satisfies them.

They're excited for a moment, dissatisfied for life, aroused for a few hours, miserable for the rest of the time. And we have the hungry multitudes all around us. This is what's wrong with people.

You know why people are angry? They're hungry. You know why people are afraid? They're hungry. I cannot emphasize it enough that the greatest need in the city of Chicago today is to satisfy the spiritual hunger of people.

And so if you and I are going to be a part of this miracle, we have to see the miserable plight of the crowd, a multiplied crowd. There are more people hungry today than there were last time we got together. And there'll be more people hungry today, tomorrow than there are today.

A hungry multitude. It was a helpless multitude. Jesus looked upon them as sheep not having a shepherd.

And they were out there in the wilderness. Now this word wilderness means they were out in a deserted place. There was no resource around them.

They couldn't go to McDonald's. There was no place nearby where they could get very much. It was a helpless... They were bankrupt.

Their resources had run out. I don't want to frighten anybody, but I want you to know the fact. In the world today, the resources have run out.

Now I'm not talking only about physical resources. They're rationing water in California. And if the weather continues like it is, we're going to find ourselves having perhaps some food rationing.

We don't know. The oil situation, the energy situation, still hasn't been solved. The world today is running out of resources, not only materially, but they've run out of resources spiritually.

We don't know the answers to the problem. We've been through wars and negotiations and settlements and resettlements. We still don't know the answers to the problem.

We don't have the diplomatic resources. We don't have the philosophical resources. We thought that education would help us.

It hasn't solved the problem. Sinners are just smarter than they ever used to be. And our world today is like this multitude, bankrupt, helpless, wandering, saying, what are we going to do? And of course, the time was running out.

They tell us that in verse 35. This is a desert place, and now the time is far past. And folks, time is running out.

I don't know if you realize how dangerous some situations are in this world today. Goodness, 25 years ago, if some country in some continent had some kind of an upset, it didn't bother too many people. Today, the assassination or the threat of assassination of one ruler can affect the whole world.

Time is running out. Now, for those of us who are Christian, we realize that the night is going to come when no man can work. It was getting dark, and the disciples said, send them away.

Let them go take care of themselves. Jesus said, you can't send scattered sheep away. They don't know where to go.

You give them something to eat. I'd like to impress upon our congregation today the importance of realizing the crisis of the hour. We don't have time to waste money.

We don't have time just to hold meetings. We don't have time just to make everyday decisions and live everyday lives. We are living in crisis days.

We are living in days when every person is needed. Every Christian is needed in his place. We need to have the same kind of compassion that Jesus had.

What an awful thing for these disciples to look at these hungry people and say, let's get rid of them. Sometimes a church faces problems. The ministry is expanding.

The work has to grow. People are being reached. New people come in.

And sometimes we face a problem and someone says, no one would say this at the Moody Church, but someone would say in a church, well, let's just cut out that ministry. That'll solve the problem. Yes, it will, but it won't meet the need.

We aren't here to send people away. We're here to feed people. And Jesus said to his disciples, I want you to see what I see.

These folks are lost and hungry. I want you to feel what I feel. I have compassion for them.

You can't send them away. Which leads us to the third revelation our Lord wants to give us. In this miracle, we've had the revelation of the magnificent person of Christ.

How great he is. We've had the revelation of the miserable plight of the crowd. Thirdly, there's the revelation of the marvelous privilege of the Christian.

What is that privilege? Sharing in a miracle. I have a friend whom I see perhaps, oh, every other year at a conference or two. He is a professional Christian musician.

And if I named him, I think most of you would know him. Every time I see him and we're chatting together and we haven't seen each other for perhaps a year or two, before long, he's name dropping. He's the greatest evangelical name dropper I have ever met.

And he has to let me know all the great people he's been with and all the great meetings he's been in for the last year or two. And after a while, it gets a little bit tedious, I suppose, because I don't have too many names to drop. But, you know, as I thought about that, I thought to myself, well, isn't it more wonderful for me to be able to say to somebody, you know, Jesus Christ and I are involved in a miracle.

I don't have too many names I can drop, but I'll drop his name. He's the greatest of them all. This past week, I had the privilege of reaching out to the hand of Jesus and taking some bread and feeding some people.

I have that privilege every Sunday morning here at the Moody Church and Sunday evening and Wednesday evening and during the week. And you do, too. Not behind a pulpit, necessarily, or in a choir loft or in a Sunday school class, just where you are in your office or your automobile or your kitchen.

The marvelous privilege of the Christian to be a part of a miracle, to be a bread passer. Now, when you look at these disciples, you see most Christians today, they didn't know what to do. Here they were confronted with this hungry multitude.

Philip immediately began to count the cost. Well, now, if we had 200 pence worth of bread, that's about six months' wages. Now, their treasury didn't have six months' wages for two reasons.

Number one, they were poor. Number two, Judas was stealing the money. Beware when you start counting the cost.

That's a dangerous thing to do. We never say, dear Lord, can I afford to be a part of a miracle? Can I afford to help feed this multitude? We have to afford it. And Philip is just like some Christians today.

He didn't have any faith that anything could be done. Jesus said, what have you got? The disciples said, we haven't got very much. It's late and we're here in the desert.

You know, it's always the wrong time for a miracle. It's always the wrong place for a miracle. It can always happen someplace else.

It can't happen here. But it can happen here. Now, how did the Lord Jesus Christ meet this need? He met the need through the hands of his disciples.

There's a hungry, starving world out there. And God wants to use our hands to feed them the bread of life. Whether it's working with our tract league and handing out literature, whether it's just sharing Jesus Christ by word of mouth, whether it's just simply doing something for someone to open up an opportunity for witness, God knows.

But he wants your hands, your feet, your body, my body. What did he do? Number one, he said, what have you got? See what you have. God always starts with what you've got.

Moses, what is that in your hand? A staff. I'll use that. Fine.

David, what have you got? A slingshot. I'll use that. Joshua, what do you have? Trumpet.

We'll use that. He takes what you have in your hand. We can never come to the Lord and say, Lord, I haven't got very much.

He knows we don't have very much. But what you have, somebody gave to you. Did you know that? I admire this little boy, but there's somebody I admire more, his mother.

Before that boy left home that morning to run with the crowd, and boys love to run with crowds, mother said, look, let me give you a little lunch in case you get hungry. I'm glad for mothers who give their children something to give to Jesus. Now, God's given you something.

John the Baptist said, a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. Whatever you have, God gave it to you. You say it's not very much.

He didn't ask how much it is. All he says is, will you give me all of it? See what you've got. And there are people in the Moody church who have things that God has given them, and you aren't using them for the Lord.

And that's bad. Because the hungry multitude is out there, and the Lord needs people to help him. It's remarkable that Jesus always uses human means to spread divine blessing.

The servant poured the water in the pot. He turned the water into wine. They served it.

He could have made the water appear right on the table and turn it into wine. He didn't do that. He used human hands and feet.

And my friend, if God's given something to you, gifts or talents or ability or means, and you're not using it for him, you're not sharing in the miracle. So the first thing Jesus said was, see what you have. Second thing he said was, give it to me.

Surrender it to me. And so they brought the, it didn't look like much, five little thin barley loaves and those little fish, and Jesus took it. You've heard it said many times that little is much when God is in it.

Most of the great works of God began very small. Don't despise small things. You say, well, I don't have very much.

That doesn't make any difference. Give it to the Lord. He'll multiply it.

I don't have much money. Give it to the Lord. He'll multiply it.

I don't have much ability. Give what you have to the Lord. He'll multiply it.

He took it and he blessed it and he broke it. God always breaks what we give him. He needs to break us.

Then we will give to him. He takes it and he blesses it. It says he lifted up his eyes to heaven.

That's where the answer comes from. He prayed and he said, Father, here are these loaves and fish. Now we're going to multiply them, Father.

Let's do instantly what you are always doing continually. And he began to break it and he fed the multitude. He gave it to Peter.

Suppose Peter would have said, hey, this looks good. And he ate it all. You see, they went away to get something to eat.

We read in verse 31, they had no leisure to eat. They were hungry. But they didn't feed themselves, they fed others.

And when the whole thing was over, each of the disciples had one whole basket full of bread to eat all he wanted. You put the Lord first, my friend. You'll never go hungry.

You take what you have and give it to the Lord. He'll multiply it and you'll always have what you need. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

And I suppose Thomas, who didn't have much faith, was handing out the bread, get some more from the Lord and handed out, was probably saying, I wonder when I'm going to get something. I wonder when I'll get something to eat. And when it was all over, Jesus said, gather up the fragments.

He never wastes anything. Thomas, that basket's yours. Matthew, that's yours.

Twelve baskets left over. You see, if you put him first, he'll take care of you. If you put yourself first, you'll rob yourself and you'll rob other people.

And so we have the marvelous privilege of Christians. What is that privilege? The privilege of sharing in a miracle. Just taking what we have and giving it to him and say, Lord, here it is, take it, bless it, break it and give it back to me and I'll distribute it.

And he'll do it. And you're a part of a miracle, a living link in a miracle to feed the hungry multitudes. There's no reason why the seat next to you should be empty if you're out feeding people the bread of life, it might be filled.

No reason why a Sunday evening crowd should be less than a Sunday morning crowd. If we're sharing in the miracle and feeding others, they're going to be here to be filled. The problem is we don't share in the miracle.

We're thinking about ourselves. What do I want? What can I get? Is it safe? What's the cost? Our Lord says, Philip, don't count the cost. Don't ask if it's safe.

Just give me what you have. Put yourself and what you have at my disposal and you're going to be a part of a miracle in feeding a hungry, dying world. I think many of you want to be a part of that kind of a miracle.

Then why don't you make all that you are and all that you have available to Him and let Him do what He wants to with it. Don't tell Him what to do, just let Him do what He wants to with it. You know what? Multitudes will be fed.

Christ will be glorified. And you'll be satisfied. And you'll have the joy in your heart of sharing in a miracle.

I can't close without inviting those of you who have never participated in the bread of life to come. Give your heart to Christ. Oh, someone here today is hungry, thirsty.

Jesus said, I am the bread of life. If you believe on me, you'll never hunger. You feed on me, you'll never thirst.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. He feeds you the living bread and gives you His salvation. We give thanks, our Father, that we're privileged to be a part of a miracle.

We don't deserve it. We give thanks. Forgive us when our hands have been grasping instead of feeding.

Forgive us, Lord, when our hands have been clenched, fighting instead of feeding. Forgive us, Lord, when our hands have been in our pockets instead of feeding. Oh, we do want to put at your disposal all that we are and all that we have.

We want to be a part of this miracle of feeding a hungry world. Each of us has something that we can present. And we do that, Lord.

And I pray that even this hour, there will be those who will just commit themselves totally to the Savior. Stop fighting. Yield to Him.

I pray that those will come who need Christ as their Savior. They'll come to believe and receive the bread of life. Oh, do it, Father, for your glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.