Perspective Matters
READ: Mark 6:30
CHALLENGE: Gain a Godly Perspective on Issues
How do you see the challenges you face? Life does not always to go according to plan. How you view the curves and obstacles can impact how effective you are in dealing with setbacks.
Jesus wanted to rest but encountered a massive crowd of people instead. What happens? Jesus will feed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. It stands as one of the most famous stories in the ministry of Christ. Sometimes the unexpected challenges are the biggest blessings of life.
- WHEN YOU MAKE A PLAN, ARE YOU OPEN TO GOD CHANGING IT?
I have a plan, then God has a plan. Those are not always the same, but guaranteed God’s is better. Jesus plans to take a break, God has him feed 5000 people. One of Christ’s most memorable miracles was not even on vision board.
Vv30-31 – 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.”
(trans) Let’s grab some life lessons from this story.
- Jesus Made a Plan to Deal with the Busyness of Life
Jesus had a plan to deal with the stresses of life. There is nothing wrong with making plans to resolve problems that arise. We should. And we need to create some breaks in the schedule so we’re not endlessly working. It’s easy to see ourselves in this story where life is busy.
- Life is Relational
V30 – The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.
They come back from the mission Christ has sent them on and they gather around Jesus and report all they had done and taught. Ministry is doing God stuff and teaching God stuff! They share it with each other and it’s awesome.
Life is relational and friendships include sharing. Sharing your experiences, lessons, and concerns together is what doing life together looks like. If we don’t share what’s going on with us, how can we ever be truly connected? In the sharing is a bond. I value hearing how people are doing.
I would encourage you to develop connections within the church. Get plugged in and find people with whom you can share successes and burdens. The people you’re most connected with are the people you’re sharing life with. Even our ministry teams give us a chance to do things together.
- Life is Busy
V31 – 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.”
So many people were coming and going that they didn’t even have a chance to chow down. I can just imagine that every time they would try to get the fork from the dish to their mouths, there was another knock at the door. Are you kidding me? Like a mom never getting a hot meal because she’s constantly attending to her family.
This was a continuous parade of needs and it didn’t stop. It was an endless choir of voices asking for help. We may experience it in the calls, texts, emails, urgent needs. Your parents need help or your friend’s car broke down, a tree fell in the yard. Voices continually clamor for your attention. Any mother hears, “Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom” all day long. The little voices constantly craving your immediate attention.
Many of you have sports schedules, birthday parties, service commitments, things that break unexpectedly, unplanned emergencies. Everything was going great until it wasn’t.
Life is an endless spin cycle of busyness!
- Life Needs Some Quiet Time
- Time with Jesus
Jesus said, “Come with me by yourself”. This is a great plan. This is going to be uninterrupted time to spend with Jesus. Some call this a “quiet” time where you get alone with God.
I wonder, do we spend enough time with God seeking His will? Maybe a time when no one will be interrupting? When there is no phone vibrating to let you know of another text or voicemail or an all important weather update. It’s easy to get so busy that we don’t have time to pray or read our Bibles. Something needs to give.
Can we still hear the voice of Jesus say, “Come with me by yourself”? We need to block out time for our spiritual health. It’s an important part of who we are as humans. Let the invitation stand. I think back to the Garden of Eden where God would come and talk to them in the cool of the day. I think of the many Psalms that talk about meditating on God’s amazing deeds. We need that time.
- Time Alone
What does the word “quiet” mean. It refers to a lonely place. It’s not noisy. Not chaotic. No interruptions. Does this place exist? I like finding places of solitude.
On the other hand, I like noise – I really do. I like background noise. I like music even if I’m only driving a few miles. I listen to podcasts. Add in texts and messages and phone calls and my grandson and there’s not tons of quiet. And there won’t be unless you make it.
Jesus is making time to get by himself. One place that is quiet is the Greenway Trail. I see very few people out there. Especially when the trail is slushy and cold. It’s quiet in every season. We need spots in our lives are not noisy.
Ex
What boundaries are you setting.
- Time for Rest
Rest means to take a break. You cannot continually run and gun. I don’t know about you guys, but I stay busy. I try to be productive and I’m goal and task oriented.
To rest means to stop working so you can get revived and reenergized and refreshed. Stop being busy non stop. Jesus sees the need to take a break. There is a time and place for everything and that includes doing nothing. I don’t work around the property on Sunday and that opens up more opportunity for rest. There have to be some breaks where we’re motoring down Your health and well-being matter. Jesus is about to feed 5000 people demonstrating that God is interested in physical needs as well.
Taking a rest is part of taking care of yourself. You need rest and some exercise and fresh air as well. We can’t just be busy and not take care of ourselves. There has to be some point where you make it happen.
- God’s Plan
Vv32-33 – 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.
I wonder if Jesus had the perfect place picked out. It’s quiet. It’s beautiful. It’s got beaches. You guys are going to love it. This is mountain in the cabin kind of stuff. However, there is this massive conjunction – BUT! They aim for rest but there was a huge crowd waiting for them. What did he see? He saw the exact thing that he was trying to escape.
This is life! It’s happened many times. Getting calls and dealing with issues while on vacation is part of life. And I never say, “I’m away”. I just do what I can to help out. Some awful things have transpired while I was away and it’s never fun but you always just handle it the best that you can from where you are. We trust in the Lord.
We’ve all had times where God’s plan looked way different than our plans. Perhaps you had planned to be in a certain position but that got wrecked – God must have another path for your life. Sometimes that’s the start of an amazing story and something much bigger than you.
Many times it’s just that your day didn’t go how you had planned and that’s life too. You get interruptions but perhaps that’s a divine appointment. It’s something that God has for you to do and you cannot put your schedule over God’s schedule.
Jesus has the perfect opportunity to set the example right here. He could have kept sailing and pretended he didn’t see all those people. He had to switch over to God’s plan.
(trans.) When your plan gets changed because of someone else’s problems, how do you react.
- DO YOU FEEL FRUSTRATION OR COMPASSION?
V34 – 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.
I appreciate that Jesus didn’t feel frustrated or angry or annoyed or stressed. He didn’t allow the change in directions to dictate his mood. He just felt compassion. They were like a sheep without a shepherd. They didn’t know where else to go. He was flexible because He trusted in the Lord. And flexibility is super important because plans have a way of changing. When we did missions trips with teens, they hammered on that point – BE FLEXIBLE!
So, when your day is interrupted by others, including those you love, do you feel frustration or compassion? Probably good to remember, that your plan getting wrecked is probably not nearly as significant as the problem they are having at that moment.
And how does he see all of these people? They are sheep without a shepherd. He understood the plight and how hard it was for these people. Do we understand it as well? Do we see past ourselves? Or do we treat those people like they’re a nuisance! Those people are the reason that Jesus came to this earth. Those people are why He was here. He began to teach them. He helped them. God loves them.
Is it a burden or a blessing? I hope that we see the chances we get to serve as a pure blessing. When God gave the priesthood to Aaron, it was considered a gift. The chance to make a difference or impact someone is a gift, not a problem. And when you’re trusting God in it you’re not going to feel annoyed, you’re going to feel compassion.
- DO WE SEE a PROBLEM OR AN OPPORTUNITY?
vv35-36 – “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.”
It’s late in the day. It’s a remote place. Send the people away so that they can buy something to eat. That’s a simple enough solution. It’s logical. The disciples have a plan. Jesus had another idea – you give them something to eat.
They see that there is nothing that they can humanly do to feed the people. They don’t have the resources or financing to make a big pizza order. Jesus sees an opportunity. Jesus knows what God is capable of and he wants his disciples to know it as well.
Sometimes the problem that we face is going to turn into a great opportunity to see God powerfully work. They looked at what man could do. Jesus saw what God could do. Sometimes that lack is a great chance for God to provide. When there was no food in the wilderness God brought Manna. When we were stuck in sins, Jesus came to the cross.
At one time we had a little church and very little money. We couldn’t look at the problem and send everyone away. Hey, it’s time to stop having church! We trusted God and built a building. I remember the day we voted to leave the old white church not having any idea where we would go.
And when we were stumped, the fair board called us and that became our Sunday home for five years. God sent them to us.
Is it a problem or an opportunity to see God do great things. I’ve been asking, what my path of faith is going to be this year. I have a few things where I’m looking for God to do something amazing.
Do you just have a problem in your marriage and relationships or is there an opportunity for something more. Is it a problem … sure! But isn’t it also a chance for God to work? You have a shortfall financially. That’s challenging for sure but it’s also a chance for God to shine!
- DO WE SEE WHAT DON’T HAVE OR WHAT WE DO HAVE?
V37-38 – But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[e]! 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.”
It would take a year’s wages and that’s what we don’t have. We don’t have the money to feed them.
- Let’s Not Focus on What We Don’t Have
Jesus doesn’t focus on what he doesn’t have. He focuses on what he does have. How often do we look at what we don’t have instead?
You want to talk about a road to discouragement. Focus on your lack. And especially in comparison to other people. We look at what they have compared to what we don’t have – we’re not as good as them. We don’t have their money or resource. They have all this happiness and money and popularity. And then there’s me. I don’t have what they have.
What do you have? We have 5 loaves and 2 fish. That’s what we do have. And then you trust God.
Jesus wants to feed these people. He cannot feed them based on what He doesn’t have. He has to focus rather on what He does have and let God take care of the rest.
- Focus on What you do Have
Vv39-41 – 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.
I want you to picture this for a second. Jesus has them all sit down and he had five loaves and two fish. That’s it! Then he takes that little bit, looks up to heaven, and he praises God for it. Then he broke it and gave it to his disciples. Give thanks for that little bit? Be thankful for what you have and perhaps you’ll get more. It certainly worked for Jesus.
Praise God for what you do have and He will take care of the rest! One of my most persistent prayers in life has been, “God, take my five loaves and two fish and make more of it than what it is”. I don’t have much but in your hands it’s plenty! It’s so incredible.
Vv42-43 – 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.
The disciples just need to obey and God will take care of the rest. This is an amazing miracle! It shows the power of Jesus Christ. This is like the widow whose oil never ran out. It reminds me of God providing manna in the wilderness. It’s a miraculous provision. What an example of God going above and beyond.
There’s an old hymn, Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus. We need to trust and obey!
“When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way! While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. // Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey //
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil he doth richly repay; not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey.
You trust and obey and allow God to do all the things that you cannot do. If they went to a resort and hung out. That wouldn’t have even been a story. But when God showed up, it became so much more. How are you doing with changes? What’s your perspective? Frustration or compassion? Problems or opportunities? Do have or don’t have?
CONCLUSION:
Luke 22: 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
We all fall short of God’s glory. We may think that we don’t have enough and we don’t. We’re all in need of God’s grace. Our works – nothing. But Jesus can forgive you of all of your sins and that’s a beautiful thing.