Suppose you need a little motivation to seek a deeper faith, stronger witness.

Here’s the Top 3 Take from this week’s episode.

01. You give them something to eat
We must see a crowd without the Shepherd. Compassion makes that possible. It triggers accountability as we stand with Jesus on whatever hillside our sheep are roaming.

02. Freewill defines your offering
When we take into account what we have, free will defines our offering. Like Jesus, we lift up what we have to God in thanksgiving. Our offering, submitted to him, so we can feed his sheep.

03. Save what you learn
God fills our spiritual basket with sustenance, foresight, wisdom to feed the next crowd gathering in our day, our life. Or that lone sheep that is wandering through the dusk… hungry. So, do this: save what you learn for the next time.

Stay with us for the conversation. e208

E208 Lift Up Five Loaves, Two Fish and Submit to His Nature

Faith to Witness 99 Motivating us to leave the 99. Go find the one.

The earthly life of Jesus was a short one. 33 years. His Son of Man narrative unfolds from the star of Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary. Childhood. Baptism. Ministry. Death. Burial. Resurrection.

But his life runs so deep. Honestly, I find it hard to hold all the one-on-one conversations, the 34 parables, the conversations with his disciples, and the ways he illuminated his Heavenly Father within my heart. When I read about him, it all makes the kind of sense that can only come from the simplicity of divine truth. The truth that comes from the Creator. A Savior. A Lord.

Divine truth runs eternally deep.

So as I read through the Gospels this year, I am trying to monitor my anxiety over managing every word Jesus spoke, every concept he explained, and every miracle he did. I feel like by now I should have memorized his life. I have lived more than twice as long as he did on earth. But I haven’t.

As I read, I keep thinking, “how could I have forgotten he did that, said that, meant that…”

I considered that maybe I should take us through all the parables, one at a time. Maybe all the healings, just try to group his life into digestible, memorable sections. Some way that prompts us to pattern our behavior after him.

And then it came to me.

Holy Spirit has a say in all of this. It is the only way we can be convicted about the nature of Jesus. And conviction is the only way we can move through his footsteps, his mindset, his purpose.

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

When I think of Jesus there are several words that I migrate toward: sovereignty, servant, sacrifice, submission. And I think if we look at various moments in his life, his conversations, and pray for conviction, he will hear us, and Holy Spirit will teach us.

Lift Up Five Loaves, Two Fish and Submit to His Nature

His nature is what we submit to. I don’t have to remember every last detail of what he did on earth to know how to conduct a conversation with someone at a modern day “well” in search of living water. I need to embrace his questions, his responses, how he bears testimony to his Heavenly Father.

I need to submit to his nature. It’s why he sent Holy Spirit. To help us let go of the hold our flesh has on us. If we drop ourselves into the situations Jesus was in, and measure the depth of his actions, it will put an imprint upon our hearts.

For instance, five loaves, two fish. The feeding of the five thousand, a familiar scene in the life of Jesus and his disciples, is so easily understood. And it could have been four loaves, one fish. Ten loaves, three fish. The amount doesn’t matter.

The account of feeding the five thousand is in all the gospels; in Matthew and Luke it is pretty straightforward, but the account of Mark and of John gives us a little more of a window into how Jesus bore testimony.

Let’s start with Mark.

Mark 6:30-44

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 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.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “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?”

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

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

What triggered the compassion of Jesus? He saw a crowd without a shepherd. A crowd destined to herd themselves one way, then another by their sheer size, group think and raw instinct, but with no clear direction.

As dusk approached the disciples were anxious to shift responsibility to the people. The disciples immediately assumed they did not have what they needed and would have to gather more earthly resources. And that the cost would be too high. I’ll say here, that mental dusk has a way of compromising us with an onslaught of fatigue, of being put out, inconvenienced, challenged. A place of darkness.

But Jesus turned the focus back on them. “You give them something to eat.”

We must see a crowd without the Shepherd. Compassion makes that possible. It triggers accountability as we stand with Jesus on whatever hillside our sheep are roaming.

Jesus asked them simply to take inventory of what they had.

When we take into account what we have, free will defines our offering. Like Jesus, we lift up what we have to God in thanksgiving. Our offering, submitted to him, so we can feed his sheep.

God Multiplies Our Gratitude By His Nature

Now, consider how John tells it.

John 6: 1-15

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

So this is where Jesus asks one of his questions of the heart: “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

It was directed at Philip. But picture that it is directed at you, human. Jesus already has the power and the foresight of our timeless God. He knows what he is going to do. Just like what we heard in the gospel of Mark, that he knows when he lifts five loaves and two fish to his Heavenly Father with thanks, that it will be blessed with overflowing abundance.

He is testing Philip. Andrew jumps in and answers with a provocative observation, and it’s beautiful really how Andrew gives the power to Jesus here with his response of “how far will they go…”

When the crowd is served and fed Jesus tells the disciples “Let nothing be wasted.” Much is made of the 12 baskets, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, as should be. And that not only was it enough but exceedingly more than would ever be needed.

When we ready our resources, and lift them to God in gratitude, he fills our spiritual basket with sustenance, foresight, wisdom to feed the next crowd gathering in our day, our life. Or that lone sheep that is wandering through the dusk… hungry. So, do this: save what you learn for next time.

When we bring our offering to God in gratitude, he multiplies it by his nature. God supplies our witness with what we need to serve in the moment, and the wisdom to go finding.

Our Witness Follows Jesus to the Mountain

So this is our Jesus. He stood on that hillside and bore testimony of his Heavenly Father, the heart behind the divine love that every single person there hungered for. When we take our resources to the hillside, the Shepherd tends his sheep. The last verse in John’s account is so powerful, that Jesus knew how to protect the divine nature of his Heavenly Father, and not let man take it by force. Verse 15: Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and “make him king by force” withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Our witness lives inside the nature of Jesus. It is a deeply personal relationship that is protected by him alone. We must follow him to the mountain.

Let’s ponder, pray, and pursue his Word about today’s motivation.

01. You give them something to eat
We must see a crowd without the Shepherd. Compassion makes that possible. It triggers accountability as we stand with Jesus on whatever hillside our sheep are roaming.

02. Freewill defines your offering
When we take into account what we have, free will defines our offering. Like Jesus, we lift up what we have to God in thanksgiving. Our offering, submitted to him, so we can feed his sheep.

03. Save what you learn
God fills our spiritual basket with sustenance, foresight, wisdom to feed the next crowd gathering in our day, our life. Or that lone sheep that is wandering through the dusk… hungry. So, do this: save what you learn for the next time.

God’s faith to your witness. Go find the one.