Discipleship Essentials

Happy New Year! And welcome back… to the normal? I’m afraid that that’s what this coming week will feel like to most of us. The last two weeks might have had some vacation, and four statutory holidays, Christmas among them. I hope that time included some special festivities and food. Or perhaps contacts with family and friends -- we had the joy of almost a week in Edmonton with [my daughter] and her family and my Mom who flew there from Victoria. So much fun!

Perhaps your last two weeks also included a shopping excursion or two -- either in the Christmas rush or the Boxing week sales. Now with apologies to anyone who really likes shopping, I just don’t. I’m the guy who either walks very quickly into a store, finds what I want, and am out of there in record time, or I go into a store, and agonize over the options and leave frustrated. The only stores I can relax in are thrift stores.

But on at least one occasion, my inability to make up my mind in a store resulted in a bit of fun. You can picture it: I’m putting a package back on the shelf (possibly for the third time), and someone approaches me -- thinking that I must work in the store! -- to ask me where to find something. Has that ever happened to you? Or perhaps worse: have you ever approached another customer thinking they were a store employee? I confess: I’ve done that, too. Both experiences were at least worth a chuckle... to make up for the discomfort.

But experiences like this remind us that life is a whole lot easier to navigate when our roles are clear and we understand the roles of those around us. Our society has customs around store employees, and being able to easily identify them avoids the occasional awkwardness. But knowing one’s role is valuable in all manner of situations, from sports to business. Bill Parcells, a celebrated football coach turned “knowing one’s role” into something of a mantra. These other two guys [in the slide], both business consultants, also highlight the value of knowing one’s role. But this leads us to a very important question, doesn’t it? What is our role in the Kingdom of God? What is my role in the Kingdom of God.

Now as I was thinking, studying and praying about my role at Bethel, I realized that understanding my role at Bethel is a very different thing from understanding my role in the Kingdom of God. Now perhaps talking about roles at Bethel is appropriate for another day, but this morning, I’d like to talk about roles in the Kingdom of God. And I became convinced that my role in the Kingdom needs to be exactly the same as… yours! Now this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone here. After all, with its Brethren background, Bethel Community Church has a history of participation in ministry, and the elders have long been impressed by your involvement in the ministries of the church, whether Awana, or Sunday School, or Praise in the Parlour, or the Missions Committee, or La Corde, or any other ministry at Bethel or elsewhere. At Bethel, while an elder takes responsibility for equipping the church, we recognize that elders aren’t in a “special spiritual category.” There are only two “spiritual categories.” As Jesus says:

Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate (Luke 13:24)

...For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matt 7:13,14)

Simply put, there are those who have found life, and those who have yet to find life. As far as God is concerned, there are those inside the Kingdom of God, and those outside the Kingdom of God. And in a very important sense, inside the Kingdom of God there is only one role: the role of a disciple of Jesus. So while it is my role at Bethel to encourage you in your role as Jesus’ disciples, my role in the Kingdom of God is exactly the same as yours: being Jesus disciple.

And this morning, I’d like to turn our attention to perhaps one of the most important stories in the gospels -- a story that reveals to us the expectations that God has for the role of Jesus’ disciple. In fact, I’d like to suggest to you that this story was understood by the early church to be like “the Kingdom of God in miniature” -- a picture of the proper function of the Kingdom’s outpost in the world that we call the church. This story is often called “the feeding of the five thousand.” And you can find it in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, or John 6. And a hat-tip to Dr. Yves Cheng is in order, as I once again consulted the lessons he has published on his website.

Now how do I know that this story is so important? Well, it shows up in every one of the gospels. The only other elements of the gospels that appear in all the gospels are those that occur toward the end of Jesus’ life on Earth: his arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. So that puts the story that we are going to look at this morning in some really important company. Now most of you are familiar with the story, so I hope you don’t mind if I read you an amalgam of all four: that is, I’ve put all four of the accounts together. This way, we can get most of the details in one go.

Because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to his twelve disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things about the kingdom of God, and healed those who were sick.

Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

When they had all eaten and were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. And when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Now before getting to the story itself, I’d like to highlight at the outset… the roles in this story. First, there is Jesus. Of course, he’s in a class by Himself. He is the Way and the Truth and the Life. No-one comes to God except through him. Please understand: Jesus is much bigger than anything we can think of him or say of him. He can and does work in ways that will surprise even his closest followers. But if people make it to God, they do so through Jesus. If people come to Jesus, he draws them to God. The secret ingredient in the story we’ve just read is Jesus. And we are going to come back to him, but before we do, let’s consider the other roles…

Next comes the disciples. These are not those who just claim to be Christians.These are not those who just hang around churches. These are not those who have seen Jesus from a distance and have enjoyed a free lunch. These are those individuals who have been called by Jesus. These are those who have found the narrow gate leading to life, and have entered it. Now there is no pride in this role. We know that it is all grace that has drawn us into fellowship with our Lord and Savior. As scripture says (Eph 2:3-5):

By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life [as] when he raised Christ from the dead.

We are no better than anyone else, but we have, by God’s grace, been given a new life -- experienced in the here and now and with the promise of a resurrection from the dead, as we follow in Jesus footsteps.

So the story involves Jesus, and the story involves the disciples, but the story also involves the people in the crowd. Now there might be some here who are not yet disciples of Jesus. We’re certainly glad you’ve been willing to come out this morning. As we saw from our text, Jesus sentiment toward the crowd is one of compassion, and true followers of Christ should feel exactly the same way toward those needing to meet Him for the first time -- regardless of politics, ethnicity, or life-style. But if you are not yet a disciple, Jesus has a message for you this morning. In John 6, the day after being fed by Jesus, a large portion of the crowd found him. And this is what he said to them -- and to anyone who is not yet his disciple (6:27):

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

Sure: Jesus’ compassion for the crowd involved his making sure that they didn’t go home hungry that previous day. He also told his disciples to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” So he understands the need for “the food that perishes.” But he also wants them to understand that there are more important things in life than physical food. He challenges us to “work for the food that endures to eternal life.” Remember that narrow gate Jesus tells us to strive to enter? The one on the path to life? Well, there is a nourishment that fortifies us for that journey. There is a food that endures to eternal life. And what is the source of that food? Well, Jesus tells us that, too: “The Son of Man” is just how Jesus referred to himself. So the challenge is to come to Jesus and receive what he is offering this morning.

There are three roles in this story. But only two roles for us. We are either lost without a shepherd -- in which case we are in serious need of coming to Jesus, or we are one of his disciples -- in which case the rest of the story is intended for you. Now while it is probably comforting to put ourselves into one role or other, I wonder if there are aspects of our lives that are split between the two roles? But did you notice that the story begins with Jesus wanting to take his disciples on a retreat where they would have a chance to eat and rest? That’s how the story begins :

Because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to his twelve disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. (Mark 6:31)

And yet, when they get out of that boat, there’s a crowd there to meet them. Now Jesus, feeling compassion for the crowd, begins to teach them and to heal them. And it is only some time later, when Jesus’ compassion finally rubs off on the disciples, that it occurs to them that the crowd could be beginning to be hungry, too. And they suggest that the crowd be sent away to look after their own needs. The fact that by this time the disciples are even more tired and more hungry just might be in play.

But that’s when Jesus puts them on the spot and asks them to do the impossible. “You give them something to eat,” he says. Say what? Jesus -- you can’t be serious! You want us to give them something to eat? They start to do the math: five, perhaps as many as eight thousand people; three dollars per person for a modest meal; that’s twenty-four thousand dollars! They don’t have access to that kind of money. And they want to make sure that Jesus is aware of the absurdity of what he is asking them to do. Then, they do an inventory (at Jesus’ suggestion): five small loaves and two small fish. As Andrew says, “how far will they go among so many?”

What they have is so little. What they have been asked to do is so great. I wonder how often we’re tempted to throw in the towel because our assessment of our resources and our gifts is to be desperately insufficient for what we know that God is calling us to? But the disciples know Jesus well enough by this time that they are going to pay close attention to his next moves. “Have the people sit down in groups of about fifty each.” Dividing thousands people into groups of fifty is a non-trivial undertaking, likely taking a significant amount of time. Yet, these tired and hungry disciples did as they were told, and then... they came back to Jesus for instructions.

And what does Jesus do? He gives thanks for God’s provision -- five small loaves and two small fish -- small as it is. No matter how small our resources seem, if we would like God to use them, it is critical that we bring them to God with gratitude. After giving thanks, Jesus breaks the food, and he gives it to his disciples. And he does it again. And he does it again. And as he does, he demonstrates that he is the Lord of Creation. He demonstrates that he has authority over nature. He has authority over the laws of nature. He was, after all, the one who made those laws. He knows just how matter was formed and how the fundamental particles interact with the fundamental forces. He is the One who came up with all that in the first place.

And while the ring of disciples around Jesus might have made it difficult for those in the crowd to see, the people closest to Jesus would likely have been aware that something amazing was happening. But those a little further out might have been unaware! And there were almost certainly people in the fringes of the crowd who were oblivious of the fact that they were in the presence of the Creator of the Universe -- not even aware that a miracle was happening at all!

There are two important principles here to think about. First: if you really want to see God at work, get closer to Jesus. Second: the effects of Jesus’ work in the world always go far beyond the human perception of Jesus’ work in the world.

But those in the crowd who were paying attention understood that something very special was happening. These are the people that exclaim, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” What prophet is that? The one Moses had prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” And for his part, Jesus identifies with that prophet (John 5:46 -- directly before this morning’s reading): “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.”

There was an expectation among the Jewish people in the first century that the coming Messiah would bring manna even as Moses did -- feeding the people of God with miraculous bread. This is expressed in rabbinical writings (here’s the quote) “What did the first redeemer? He brought down the manna. And the last redeemer will bring down the manna.” It is also found in the apocryphal book of 2nd Baruch: “at that time the treasury of manna will again descend from on high.” And now in our story this morning, Jesus is also distributing miraculous bread to the people of God. All that to say that this event -- at least for those in the crowd who were paying attention -- would have shaken their Jewish souls to the very core. No wonder they said, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

But let’s turn back to the disciples as they carry food out to the crowd. Likely those twelve baskets the story refers to at the end were the only thing they had to work with. So they carried a basket of food out, and carried an empty basket back to get more. Feeding such a crowd in such a manner would have taken at least another half-hour.

Did I mention that they were already tired and hungry? It makes us wonder, doesn’t it? Since Jesus was miraculously creating food in the first place (which was certainly the most difficult part of the whole process), how much harder would it have been for him to literally make manna come down from heaven? I expect that he could have done that with no more effort at all!

But Jesus chooses to do the things he does the way that he does as lessons for us. And we see the disciples needing to return again and again to their Master for his provision. Jesus chose not to “solve the problem” without his disciples’ involvement. Instead, he insisted on using his disciples, and he still insists on using his disciples -- on using us! -- to bring the Bread of Life -- the bread that endures to eternal life -- to a starving world. But this isn’t something that we can do on our own. We need to return, again and again, to our Savior -- for without him we can do nothing. We return to him for the living bread, but we also return to him for his instructions.

So what are his instructions for us this morning? What are his lessons from this story? First, we must develop compassion, emulating our Savior in His concern for the world. Second, we must be willing to exercise that compassion in service. And finally, we must return to Jesus regularly, trusting Him to look after the rest. Perhaps we could add one more: as disciples, we need to be patient in obedience if we really want to see God at work.

Because it is only when we are willing to come to Jesus, and to come back to Jesus, and to come back to Jesus again, that our eyes and our hearts can be opened in compassion to a world that desperately needs the bread that endures to eternal life.

There are two roles in play for us this morning. (to reiterate) In the crowd, those on the periphery would have just been grateful for the lunch. Closer to the action, there would have been those curious about the proceedings. Those looking over the shoulders of the disciples would have been blown away. But once Jesus got the attention of the crowd -- those yet to become his disciples -- he would nudge them toward the truth (John 6:35,51):

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

The bread that endures to eternal life is Jesus himself. Let 2019 be the year in which you are able to meet him, to learn from him, to receive this amazing blessing from him.

For those who are already his disciples, let 2019 be the year that we develop a more compassionate heart, that you learn what it means to serve, and learn how to trust Jesus more fully. These essentials are critical to doing the work that God has prepared for us to do. With the words of Paul in mind:

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

let 2019 be the year that we develop a habit of returning, again and again, to Jesus, to receive His living bread, so that even our friends and neighbors will “taste and see that the Lord is good.”