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Title: The Compassion of God towards us
Ø Text: Mathew 14:14-21 (Mark 6:30-44)
Ø Jesus and His disciples desperately needed rest (Mark 6:31) yet needs of the multitudes touched his heart
Ø The word translated “moved with compassion” literally means “to have one’s inner being (viscera) stirred”. It is stronger than sympathy
Ø The word is used twelve times in the Gospels and eight times of these references are to Jesus Christ
Ø Though He wanted to rest and His disciple, Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw the needy multitudes (matt 9:36).
Ø They were like sheep that had been snatched or slashed/shredded from brutal fleecing torn, exhausted and wandering
Ø We also see that Jesus was moved twice when he saw a hungry multitude without food (Matt 14:14 and Matt 15:32
Ø There are many incidence when Jesus was moved with compassion:
Ø Matt 20:34 Jesus was moved with compassion to the two Blind men
Ø Mark 1:41 Jesus was moved by compassion when he saw the Leper
Ø His compassion was also stirred when he saw the sorrows of the widow at Nain in Luke 7:13
Ø Jesus used this word ‘Compassion in 3 of his parables:
Ø The Parable of the King that had compassion to his bankrupt servant and forgave him his debt. (Matt 18:21-35)
Ø The Good Samaritan that had compassion on the Jewish victim and cared for him in love (Luke 10:25-37)
Ø The parable of the prodigal son, when the Father of the wayward astray son had compassion on his prodigal son when he returned home. Luke 15:30
Ø If our heavenly father have got such compassion for us should we not have compassion towards each other? I believe we should have.
Ø The miracle of feeding the five thousand is recorded in all four Gospels
Ø This is not a made-up story, it happened
Ø It a little imagination to picture the embarrassing plight of the disciples. Here were five thousand hungry people and they had nothing to feed them. They knew Jesus was powerful enough to meet the need, yet they did not turn to him for help.
Ø Instead they took inventory of their own food supply and did nothing, were prepared to send them away people without Jesus consent.
Ø They considered the time; the place and their conclusion was nothing could be done to solve the problem. Their advice to the Lord was, “Send them away!”
Ø Jesus watched His frustrated disciples as they tried to solve the problem. He himself knew what he intended to do, hence He wanted teaching them lesson of solving life’s problems in faith and surrender. He started showing them steps by step:
Ø 1. Start with what you have: Andrew found a young man that had a small lunch, he brought the young man to Jesus. Was the boy willing to give his lunch. Yes, he was!
Ø God begins where we are and uses what we have
Ø 2. Give what you have to Jesus: Jesus took the simple lunch, blessed it and shared it.
Ø The miracle of multiplication is in His hands.
Ø Little is much if God is in it. Jesus broke the bread gave the pieces to the disciples and they in turn fed the multitudes
Ø 3. Obey what He commands: The disciples had the people sit down as Jesus ordered. They took the broken pieces and distributed them and discovered there was more than enough for everybody
Ø As His servants we ‘distributed’ not ‘manufacturers’.
Ø If we give what we have to Him, He will bless it and give it back to us for use in feeding others
Ø 4. Conserve the Results: There were 12 baskets filled with pieces of bread and fish after the people had eaten all they wanted. But these piece were carefully collected so that nothing was wasted (Mark 6:43; John 6:12)
Ø I wonder how many pieces the young man took home? Imagine his mother's amazement when the boy told her the story.
Ø You have got a story tell. It might be happening now or its in the making.
Ø The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was actually a miracle in action.
Ø Jesus is the bread of life and only He can spiritually satisfy the spiritual hunger in man’s heart
Ø Man waste their time and money on what is not bread and we are making this mistake daily Isaiah 55:1-7
Ø Jesus still has compassion on the hungry multitudes and He still says to His church, “Give them something to eat
Ø How easy it is for us to send people away and make excuses and plead lack of resources
Ø Jesus is asking us to give that we have and let Him bless it, uses it as he pleases and give us back pressed down and following over.
Ø Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Ø When we give Christ what we have, we will never lose. We always end up with a blessing than when we started
Ø Whatever you brought today I want you to know that God is compassionate
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