Mark 6:30-44
What A Servant of God Does

What is a servant of God?  The simple answer is, he or she is someone
who serve God.  But that still doesn’t clear it up, does it?  What
does it mean to serve God?  Do I need to go to school to learn how
to do that?  Do I need a degree?  Do I need to be approved?  What is
it that a servant of God does?  Tonight, let’s see if we can answer
that question.

I. \\#30\\ Notice the new name for the disciples-APOSTLES.
    A. This title is often consider to be a post resurrection
        title.  However, it was used 8 x in the gospels
        1. Matthew-1
        2. Mark-1
        3. Luke-6
    B. Meanings:
        1. Apostle means-"Sent one" or "messenger."
        2. Compare that to "disciple" which means "student, learner,
            disciplined one."
        3. The change in titles implies that these followers were
            growing!
    C. Greater growth demands greater responsibility.
        1. Some have failed to move from disciple (learner) to
            apostle (doer).  I often say that in Christianity the
            sheep are supposed to grown into shepherds!
        2. The first indication of greater responsibility occurred
            when the Lord had to cancelled their day off.
            a. \\#31-32\\ There was the purpose of the trip.
            b. \\#33-34\\ It got interrupted when the crowd found
                them.  How are the "apostles" going to handle it?
            c. Mature Christians, things don’t always work like you
                planned!
                (1) In fact, they seldom do.
                (2) Someone said, "A plans is what you have until
                     God shows you the next problem He wants to fix."
                (3) A plan is just what you do until the next problem
                     comes.
                (4) It was the plan of God that these apostles help
                     these people.
                     (a) First, with their spiritual problem.
                     (b) Second, with their physical problem.
        3. Up to this point in the gospels, Jesus had done all of the
            work in caring for the people.
            a. Up to this point, the disciples had actually been
                part of the load that Jesus had been carrying.
            b. Starting today, Jesus was going to let the apostles
                help in taking care of others.

II. What lessons are the apostles to learn?
    A. \\#34-35\\ Apostles need to learn the condition of people.
        1. People are pretty much the same everywhere.  It does not
            matter what color they are, what nationality, what
            education they have, how much money they have.
        2. I see three expressions that tell me four things about
            people.
            a. \\#34\\ They are as sheep having no shepherd.
                (1) They have no leader.
                (2) They have no Savior.  (One doesn’t get a Savior
                     without getting a Leader.)
                      i. That means they have no direction, no
                          Director, and no destination.
                     ii. Most people are just winging it, adlibbing
                          it, playing it by ear, doing the best they
                          can for someone with no direction.
                    iii. In that directionless flight, some try some
                          things and some try others.
                     iv. Those things end up pushing some further
                          into wickedness than others, but all are
                          doing the same thing.
                      v. It is just the mercy and grace of God that
                          every one of us sitting here are not
                          drunks, drug heads, brawlers, thieves,
                          murderers, or worse.
            b. \\#35\\ They are in a desert place.
                (1) This is where their journey had lead them—a
                     desert place.
                (2) A desert place in Israel is not necessarily a
                     sandy wilderness.
                       i. Quite often, it is a rocky, mountainous
                           area where nothing will grow.
                      ii. Here is the problem of living for the
                           world.
                           aa. It cannot sustain you!
                           bb. It is that the world WILL not sustain
                                you.  It CAN not.
                           cc. Its riches, its fame, its comforts,
                                its reward, its bread—nothing that
                                this world has CAN sustain you.
                           dd. This is what Jesus meant when He said
                                that man cannot live by manna alone.
                (3) So these people were in a barren land with no
                     food or water.
                      i. Now, we know why Jesus was there.
                     ii. He wanted to be in a place with no people
                          so the disciples could rest.
                    iii. No doubt, they had brought food and water
                          for themselves.
                     iv. These other people had simply wandered into
                          the desert because they had no other
                          direction to go, no Director, and no
                          destination.
                (4) This is the condition of the lost world!
                      i. Don’t hate them.  It doesn’t matter what
                          they do.  Don’t hate them.
                     ii. If you want to hate, hate sin and the devil.
                    iii. At this point, sinners are merely victims
                          too.
            c. \\#35\\ The time is far spent.
                (1) It was later than the people thought.
                (2) They had tarried longer in the wilderness than
                     they realized.
                (3) Now, with the heat, the distance to get back, and
                     the difficulty of the journey, some might not
                     make it.
                (4) Let me tell you something about sin.  It is
                     always easier to get into it than it is to get
                     out of it.
                (5) Conditions in the world have changed in the 40
                     years that I have been in the ministry, but I
                     have always preached that its later than you
                     think.
                       i. People are always closer to death than they
                           realize.
                      ii. And I think we have always been closer to
                           the coming of the Lord than we realized.
    B. \\#36\\ Apostles need to learn to react properly to
        men’s condition.
        1. I’m afraid they did not react very well in the beginning.
            a. In fact, they acted just like the world.
            b. Send them away!
        2. That is exactly how the world reacts when it sees the lost
            in need!

Matt 20:30  And, behold, two blind men sitting by
the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord,
thou Son of David.
31  And the multitude rebuked them, because they
should hold their peace: but they cried the more,
saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of
David.

            a. The world said, "That’s you problem.  You deal with
                it!"
            b. Isn’t that were the apostles were saying?  "Let them
                go into the village and buy something to eat!"
                (1) What if they have no money?
                (2) What if the village has no food?
                (3) What if the village is not hospitable?
            c. So what these "apostles" were saying was, "That’s all
                their problem.  Let them deal it!"
        3. By the way, that is also the response of a disciple.
            a. If all you are here for is for YOU to get feed, you
                are still saying of others, "That’s there problem!"
            b. To move from disciple to apostle, you are going to
                have to learn how to respond correctly to the
                condition of others!
        4. \\#37\\ Notice what Jesus said.
            a. YOU feed them.
            b. Guess what?  Those disciples just got promoted.
            c. Whether they wanted to or not, now the responsibility
                for the 5,000 is upon them.
            d. Jesus is NOT going to send them away.  Those people
                are going to be fed.
            e. \\#44\\ We need to remind ourselves how many people
                there were, 5,000 men—not counting women and
                children!
            f. What a day to get promoted!!  This is a real problem.
                How are we going to feed that many people in this
                desert?
            g. Anytime you step up to serve God it is going to
                because someone has a real problem.
            h. Remember, a plan is just what we have until God shows
                us the next problem He wants you to fix!
    C. \\#37\\ Apostles need to learn how the Lord will work through
        them.
        1. I don’t know if you have ever noticed it—I am probably
            about to work my way out of ever getting another raise
            or even having a job—but apostles always do exactly the
            same thing in their service to God.
            a. All servants of God—every one of them—always do
                exactly the same thing.
            b. What is that?  Well, it is actually very little.
        2. Notice in the remainder of the story.
            a. \\\#41\\ Who actually fed the people?
                (1) The "he’ in that verse is Jesus.
                (2) Jesus took the bread and fish, blessed the bread
                     and fish, multiplied the bread and the fish.
                (3) In other words, it was JESUS who feed the
                     5,000.
                (4) Wait a minute!  I thought Jesus told the
                     apostles that THEY were going to feed the
                     multitudes.  (This was THEIR promotion day!"
                (5) What did the apostles actually do?
                (6) The same thing that all who serve God do.
            b. \\#39-40\\ What did the apostles do?
                (1) At Jesus’ command, they divided the people into
                     groups.
                (2) At Jesus’ command, they got the people seated.
                (3) At Jesus’ command, they passed out the baskets.
                (4) At Jesus’ command, they picked up what was left.
        3. Who actually did the work that day?  Jesus, but the
            apostles were the ones who stood before the people.
            a. If you asked someone sitting in group 98 who it was
                that fed them, they would probably have said, "Well,
                it was" whichever apostle that brought the basket by.
            b. But it wasn’t.  It was Jesus!
        4. And so goes!
            a. The apostle, the servant of God, actually does very
                little.
            b. He is the face that stands before the people; but if
                anything spiritual gets done, it is always done by
                God!
            c. I have a very prominent position in this church.  I am
                the pastor of the Green Pond Baptist Church, but I
                very little.
                (1) I cannot do much to get people into this church.
                (2) I cannot do much to hold their attention once
                     they get into the church.
                (3) I cannot make them understand what I say.
                (4) I cannot convict their hearts over their
                     spiritual condition.
                (5) I cannot get them to respond to the conviction
                     they feel.
                (6) I cannot get them to repent of their sins or to
                     truly believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior.
                (7) I cannot not get them to change according to the
                     working of God.
            d. You may be asking, "Well Preacher, exactly why do we
                keep you around here?"
                (1) I’ve often wondered that myself!
                (2) All I do is what these men did that day.  I take
                     the basket of bread and sit it down in front of
                     you.
                     (a) I can’t make you like it, want it, eat it,
                          or be changed by it.
                     (b) No apostle can.
                     (c) Now, because I have been a student of the
                          Bible for so many years, I might be able to
                          put a richer selection of bread into the
                          basket, but it won’t be anymore powerful
                          than another’s because bread is still
                          bread.
                     (d) But it is always God that does the work!
            e. Friend, anyone who has eaten of the basket of the
                Bread of Life can stand up and pass it to another!
                (1) Any disciple, no matter how spiritually young or
                     how physically old, can become an apostle.
                (2) Just find someone and feed them the Bread of
                     Life.
                (3) Tell them what happened to you.
                (4) Give out a tract.
                (5) Invite them to church.
                (6) Pray for them.

So, let’s go back to the beginning.  What is a servant of God?  it is
someone who will but the basket of bread in front of hungry soul. I
wonder, are there any servants of God in this place?

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