The King & His Kingdom: #77 - Bread For The Nations | Matthew 15:32-39

[00:00:15] Speaker A: Hi, my name is Kyla Bumstead, and I'm a member here with Restored Church. If you're new, we want to say welcome and thank you for tuning in. We believe the church is not an event, but a family that you belong to. So we would love the opportunity to. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Be able to connect with you. [00:00:32] Speaker A: If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please visit our website at RestoredTemecula Church and click on Contact. We also have a mobile app with resources including our Sunday messages, information about upcoming events, and other ways to connect. You can download our app on the Apple or Android app stores. With all that said, we hope you enjoy the message. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Okay, well, good morning. My name is Eric. I'm one of the pastors here of Restore to Mecca. I want to welcome you to our Sunday morning gathering. It is July, it is summer, it is light in here. But I'm so glad that you guys are here. And this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to continue a series that we've been in for a while. It's called the King and His Kingdom. We've been working through the Gospel of Matthew, which is one of the four biographies of the life of Jesus that are included in the New Testament. And it is a wonderful. It's a wonderful work. I actually love biographies. It might be my favorite genre. I think they make for great audiobooks. Just listening in the background when you're doing whatever. And what we have here is a biography on the life of Jesus, who is revealed to be the king. And we learn about the king and who this king is and what his kingdom is all about. And this is a journey, isn't it? It's a journey to learn about the king and who he is in this kingdom. I was reflecting on this this week, and I remember being in a class in high school. I was, I don't know, 17, maybe years old, and I went to Santa Margarita Catholic High School. I think I'm the only one in this church that went to that high school. South Orange county, or I guess South Fish. Orange County. And you had to take a religion course, which makes sense at this Catholic high school. So I wound up taking biblical studies. And the way that they did it is that we had three desks kind of facing each other, which if you're 17 and you're facing someone, it really matters who you're facing, right? Big deal. It could be a big distraction, could be a big opportunity, depending on who's across the way from you. And the guy that I had across from me was a star track runner at our school. His name was Brent. And Brent was funny, he was charismatic. And he was also an atheist. And so I remember during this class that he liked to take jabs at the professor who was teaching the Bible to us. He liked to make little comments. And. And so here I am, future pastor, sitting across from this atheist in Bible class. So what do I do? How do I respond to this? I eat it up. Dude was hilarious. This guy's popular. I laugh at his jokes and he smiles at me. It's like, we've got a good thing going on right here and I'm not going to mess this up. And so, oh yeah, I'm only in this class because I have to be at this point in time. I'm not a follower of Jesus. I have no skin in the game. The teacher doesn't like our little banter in the corner of the classroom. Understandably so. And I'm kind of like, oh, this might not be great come progress report time, but besides that, I'm just kind of ticking the box. I'm just kind of doing what I'm supposed to do. Here I am. This is what's expected of me. This is what my parents expected of me. So I'm going to do it. Fast forward a quarter century. What am I doing now? I'm literally in front of a room teaching the Bible. And so what am I learning in this? It's a journey, isn't it? Not just to learn the Bible, but to get more specific, to learn about the king and his kingdom, how it operates, what it's all about. You want to know what I'm learning right now? The journey, it doesn't end. It keeps going. It's a daily reality that's growing and expanding. Or it could be going in the other direction as well, but it's always going. You're always going in some direction. And so I was a kind of student back then. This is what I was reflecting on this week. I was a kind of student back then and the Bible, Jesus. It was really about ticking boxes for me. My family brought me here. I have to be here. It's expected of me. By the way, if that resonates with your experience today. I've also been reflecting. I do a lot of reflecting throughout the week. Most days I think a lot. I'm a thinker. And so I reflected on this. It struck me that if you're here today and if you would like, take stock of what's going on in your own soul. And you're like, I'm just kind of ticking a box. I don't know that anybody. I've ever heard anybody admit that before. But the truth is, in a room this size, even in a small room this size, there's probably a few of us in here that really are just here because somebody expects us to be here. And I just want you to know, if that's you, I'm not calling you out. There's no guilt or shame. It's actually a good thing. This is what I've reflected on. I learned stuff in that class. I did. There were other voices that were more influential than the guy in the front, the guy across from me in that class, Brent, who had my full attention, who I wanted to like me, and I wanted him to think well of me. So there was people that were. There were voices that were more influential than the guy in the front. But it's not like I got nothing out of it. I was influenced, interested. There was just interference. And so I was a kind of student then. I was ticking boxes. I'm a student now, but I recognize now that that time of ticking boxes, while there's actually a purpose to it, it was helpful. It was not meant to be where I stayed. I wasn't just called to tick boxes. I was actually called to take the baton and run. That's what faith is actually about. And so there's a time and a place for ticking boxes. It can be a part of the journey, but there comes a time to take action, to run with a baton in your hand. That's what I want to talk about today, but we got to talk about bread first. We've got to talk about Jesus and how this all works together. So turn over to Matthew chapter 15, with me going to start with verse 32. Matthew 15:32. If you don't. If you don't have the scripture in front of you, that's okay. We're going to have it up on the screen. Before we get started, I just want to acknowledge that in a room this size, the ticking boxes thing may not make any sense to you, that may not resonate with your experience, and that is okay. We're actually going to talk a lot more in detail later about the different, I think, phases of our journey of discipleship that we might be on. And I think it's fluid. We can actually move in and out of a variety of phases. We'll get to those. But I did want to acknowledge that there was people in that crowd that Jesus is talking to that. We're going to talk about right now that were in that space, but there were people in that crowd that were in other spaces too. Now what crowd am I talking about? Jesus. What has he been doing? Jesus has been. If you were here with us last week, you heard that Jesus had like an impromptu healing festival. I think is what Tom called it, like a three day. He's out, he's in the wilderness. He's actually trying to get away. Jesus was tired. Jesus experienced exhaustion. Jesus experienced like a, I can't, I just got to get out of here. I kind of had one of those before I did this week. Jesus knows what that is like. But you know what ended up happening to him a lot of the time people found him. And so I don't know if you've ever been in a situation before where you are just, you're exhausted and you're hungry and those things come together and maybe you're like in some kind of pain. Like physically you're in pain, you haven't slept well. When you have all those things come together, what tends to happen? Somebody did. Andrea did this. That's literally what I was going to do. Thank you. Any sense of peace, eviscerated. It's gone, right? We have very little self control when we're hungry, when we're tired. Jesus and his disciples are all that and then some. I don't know if you've ever had like a long, grueling day of ministry looking around this room. I think a lot of you have, many of you have, most of you have experienced this. If you're anything like me, I just want to go home and I want to sleep or I want to just take my mind off of everything that I've done. Jesus had a three day healing festival, which you can only imagine if you've seen the Chosen. There's an episode of the Chosen where Jesus, they kind of show you what it's like. At the end of the day, he's like, it's just the humanity of Jesus just shines through. He's just overwhelmed, exhausted, fried. Imagine that times three. That's where he's at. Why do I say this? Because it's important to understand where he's at. Because what we're gonna read won't make a lot of sense if you don't get this. Matthew, chapter 15. Let's start with verse 32. Here's what the scripture says. Jesus, they're on this mountain. The healing festival has taken place over three days. And then Jesus calls his disciples and says, I have what, let's say it out loud together, compassion on the crowd. Because they've already stayed with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way. Pretty stunning, if you ask me, for someone who's starving to be thinking about somebody else's stomach. 33 the disciples said to him, where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd? And this immediately, if you've been hanging with us, this might be like, wait a minute, is this real life? Did they actually just ask that question? What happened in the last chapter? If you know the answer, you can say, yeah, I'll just tell you. He fed thousands of people miraculously already. This is a Healing Story 2.0. And who did? He who was involved in that healing or that feeding? I should say the disciples. So what does this mean? Are these guys just the collective group? Just all struggling with short term memory loss? Unlikely. Unlikely. Although it is possible. And I will say that just as a bit of an aside, if you as a disciple feel forgetful, read stories like this. You'll feel better. Because Jesus didn't have much to work with then, he doesn't have much to work with now. But look at what he does, right? These guys were either forgetful or they were willfully like, you're not going to this crowd. Where will we find bread for these people, for these Gentiles? I don't know, folks. It doesn't say. I'm just giving you options. I'll let you pick which one you prefer. None of them are pretty. We'll just say that this is what Jesus has to work with. Where can we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd? It seems most likely that there's some deep unbelief going on here. 34 and yet Jesus. How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked them. Seven, they said. And a few small fish. Fillet of fish. 35 after commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish gave thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples. And then the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 they all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces. Seven large baskets full. How many baskets full last time? Dozen. Number seven has significance in Hebrew. It's the number of completion, fullness. 38 now there were 4,000 men who had eaten besides women and children. After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan or other manuscripts say Magdala, where Mary Magdalene was from seen. Okay, so let's dive into this. I want to talk about two things today. The first one is bread. The first one is bread. And I want to talk to you guys. Any Bible Project fans in the house? A few of us. Okay, if you've never heard of the Bible Project or used their stuff, can't recommend it highly enough. It's Dr. Tim Mackey's ministry. They produce videos and all kinds of content for the church at large to grow in their understanding of the scriptures. One of the things they're known for that I absolutely love is what are called biblical theologies. Anybody ever done a little biblical theology with Bible projects before? Uh huh. I see some faces nodding. You never know like how interesting trees are for example, until you Google Bible Project trees. They got a whole story from the beginning of the Bible. You have a tree at the end of the Bible, what do you have? Tree. At the grand climax of human history, what do you have? Tree. See what I'm saying? They will take these themes and they'll develop a whole biblical theology across the Bible, Genesis to Revelation. To my understanding, I don't think they've done one on bread yet. Have you guys ever seen one? Those of you that are Bible Project? No. Okay, so, so here's my stab at it. It's not gonna be as good as Tim Mackey's, but hopefully Tim is listening. He's not listening and does this in the future. So bread, bread, what did it mean for the people of Israel? If you go back to the beginning of the Bible, which is always a good idea, good place to start is in the beginning. And in the beginning of the Bible you actually see bread. It's actually, it's a gift, it's provision. And what ends up happening is there's this moment where humankind which is called to be partners with God in the world, they rebel around food actually, which is kind of interesting. Just a little bit of an aside. We could do a biblical theology of food too. But here it is at this tree with food there is a fall. And so what ends up happening is God introduces these essentially curses. And one of the curses is that by the sweat of your brow you're going to actually eat. Food is going to be work. It's going to be work. Those of you that are farmers in the room know what I'm talking about. It's hard work. Even though the earth itself was designed for this, it's hard to cultivate it's hard work. And so by the sweat of your brow, humankind is now called to produce bread to eat on. So bread, which was a blessing, is now in some sense under a curse, which is too bad. And we still feel it today, because, my goodness, I love bread. But the more I learn about just the popularly available bread, the more sad I get because it just probably turns into sugar and makes me crazy. But it feels so good in the moment. So I'm so grateful for that stone milled bread. That said, this isn't about food. It is. We're talking about bread. Actually, you fast forward. So there's a huge problem. There's this curse that humankind has come under. But in Genesis 3:15, there's also a promise. There's a promise where God says, I'm going to send a redeemer. And the rest of the story is really trying to figure out, who is that guy? Who's this redeemer? And we. And we find out later, he's a king. And so I'm ruining the story for you. But if you're new to this, I could have done better. But if you're not new to this, you already know. And so there is a king that's coming. He's promised. But it takes a heck of a long time till he actually shows up. Right? Takes thousands of years. And so what ends up happening is we're still talking about bread. What ends up happening is that God's people, God promised to save humankind through a redeemer. But then we see that humankind is utterly rebellious. We see this again in Genesis 6. It's reinforced. There's the flood and then there's the Tower of Babel where the nations are dispersed. And then the story zooms in on one family. The family of who? Abraham. Right. The family of Abraham becomes the focal point of the story. And the family of Abraham goes through a whole lot. They wind up in Egypt, they wind up under oppression, under Pharaoh. And then God remembers his promises to send this redeemer. He has to protect this line of people and he delivers them from Egypt. Does this sound familiar to you guys? Okay, we'll keep moving. Then he takes them. He takes them out of Egypt and he sends them where? To the promised land. Right? But along the way, they have all kinds of problems. If you read the story, it sounds like a family outing, like a family road trip. Just one problem after another. Complaining and grumbling. It's hot, I'm hung. You know what I mean? You guys know what I'm talking about. And so there comes a point in the story where the people of Israel are in trouble because they're in this hot wilderness and they have nothing to eat. So what do they do? Exodus 16. As Israel wandered. You guys don't have this in the back? I'm just going to summarize. God. They cry out to God and God answers with what? Which is what? From where? Manna. So this, this thing that was going to come from the sweat of your brow, now God is raining it down from the sky. Pretty cool in my opinion, if you ask me. What are they staring at in the face if they don't get food and water? Death, right? Not ideal, let's call it. Because if they all die in the wilderness, what does God not do? He doesn't provide the deliverer from the line of Abraham. If they're all gone, you literally can't do that. So he sustains them and provides for them. He rains down bread from heaven. And this isn't just about calories. It's about communion with God. They have to learn to trust Him. That God sees them, he hears them, and he provides for them and that he's near. And he's doing such remarkable work. Even as they are deprived, he's developing them, as it says in Deuteronomy 8. 3. You guys don't have this in the back? I'm just going to read it. Moses told them, God humbled you, feeding you with manna, that he might make you to know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. This shapes their identity as a people who are sustained not by self reliance, but by grace. There's a word for us as modern Americans. Self sufficient, stocked pantries, pretty robust bank accounts. In most cases. He's called us not to rely on ourselves or any of those things, but by the bread that he provides freely without cost. Okay, we're just talking about Israel right now. So bread has this rich history in the Bible. But then what's interesting is the nations get in on the act too. You notice if you go through the story of the Bible that there's a lot of tension between Israel and the nations. Right? There is a sense in which Israel has to be really careful not to come under the influence of the nations because the nations lead them away from faithfulness to God. You see this? That's why Solomon marries a lot of women for various reasons. Strategic alliances, politics, other things that might be nice about having 700 wives. But ultimately, ultimately what you See is the nations have this corrupting influence on the faithfulness of Israel. Typically. But there are glorious exceptions to that. Glorious. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah meets a widow gathering. And he sticks around for a final meal with this widow. There's just a little flour and oil left. And then after that, in the story, starvation. But God miraculously sustains this woman, her household, day by day. A Gentile like manna. This bread, you couldn't stockpile it. You just had enough for each day. And it taught her, in Elijah, God is faithful in the famine for Israel, Right? You have these stories of God providing bread, but then you've also got these little hints. God's providing bread for the nations, too. It's not just for Israel. Okay, I got one last one. The Bread of the Presence. This is fun. As the Israelites journeyed, the bread took on sacred meaning in the Bread of the Presence. Okay, this is in Exodus 25, if you want to look it up later. There were loaves, there were 12 lobes for each tribe. Do you know where they were placed in the tabernacle? Front and center. Why? Because the people were always before God. He was never going to forget his people. And that bread was there to remind him. As though God needed a reminder of his people, the people of Israel. And it was a living symbol that God feeds and stays with his people. They're always going to be before his face, always seen, sustained, and remembered. Some of you, the rest of this message doesn't matter. You just need to hear that today. You can pause, you can go to the bathroom, you can leave. You just need to take that home with you. Don't leave. It's weird. Unless you have to stick around. God sees you, he remembers you, and he was going to do something about all of the things that have gone wrong in this story. I started with the breakdown of Adam and Eve. I kept going through it. God's providing miraculously, beautifully to people. And then here's the problem, though. Fast forward thousands of years. Israel, which had by that point, been exiled, have been brought back because of unfaithfulness, been brought back to their land, and yet they're under Roman occupation. They're a people without a king. There are people in their land, but they don't actually have the promises yet. That bread, that was a symbol of God's presence and his provision, it's still waiting for the fulfillment of the story. And so then in Matthew 15, today's passage, Jesus being in Gentile territory, has this crowd that gathered outsiders, people who were cut off from the Manna. People who were cut off from the temple. People who have no idea what the bread of the Presence is. They followed him for three days, yet they have nothing to eat. But Jesus doesn't send them away. Instead, he takes seven loads and he feeds thousands. And here's the message, and if you're taking notes, you can write this down. The bread isn't just for Israel. It's for everyone. Jesus is that living bread for all people. And in this moment, it really fulfills the promise that Abraham. It's the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham. And you and all your family and you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. How cool is that? By the way, in this room, what are we? We're mostly Gentiles, right? The vast majority of us. The fact that God made this promise to this one guy thousands of years ago has reached to Temecula. If there wasn't so much intent, it would be so random that we're here, wouldn't it? It's just kind of weird. This is a Jewish. This is from the ancient Near East. These people that speak a different language, they have a different culture. A culture which, by the way, the more I learn about the Bible, the more I'm like, man, we are so far from the culture that they were in. In some ways, most of the world gets the Bible implicitly, and we don't because we've got a stronger. We have a longer battle uphill to understand what this text is even talking about. Because we don't struggle with starvation, typically. I want to be sensitive. I don't want to assume that I know everybody's story. Maybe you have, maybe you are today. But by and large, we live in a time and in a place where our pantries are. If anything, we're just learning how to not eat everything that's in front of us, right? We're learning, like, what food actually fills us, which I'm realizing I knew pretty much nothing about growing up. And that's a whole other story for another time. But is it, though? Aren't we hungry in different ways? Aren't we like a hungry people that are always looking to be satisfied? We have these things in our pockets. I don't have it on me right now, but normally it's right here. I actually have a pocket for it right here. It's a cell phone. Constant hits of dopamine to satisfy us, to take us away from the deeper hunger. Our attention isn't focused on the fact that we are dissatisfied, depressed, anxious, worried. We live in the safest place on Earth. And we're some of the wealthiest people in history, but we're afraid of money and safety. Right? We are just in an endless loop. Those phones have contributed to that, but this predates the phone. We are hungry. The soul is famished. And so, yes, we have to do a little more work to actually cross this cultural bridge that exists between us and the Bible. Most of the world gets this implicitly because they know what hunger is. They know what it's like to not know where your next meal is going to come from necessarily. They get this. And I'm not, by the way, I'm not saying that we need to become like that. We don't need to. What's the phrase I've heard? We don't need to canonize the culture of the Bible. That's just the culture that was there. You don't need to start doing what they did, necessarily. But we can learn from the ways that God spoke to them. And I believe that Jesus has something to say to each of us today. He's telling us, he's reminding us the hunger in your soul will only ever be satisfied by one source. And it's not you. It's not your bank account, it's not your spouse, good as marriage can be, it's not your friends. It's not anything else. It's not influence, it's not popularity. It's not likes. It's none of those things. There is a bread that comes from heaven that you can't work through the sweat of your brow to receive. It actually needs to be received as a gift. I should say he. Here's what ends up happening. Manna falling from heaven again. This time on gentile soil. There was a widow whose flower never ran out. And now it's true. For a crowd, the bread of the presence, it's not restricted anymore. God himself feeds and stays with all who come to him. This is a morning where some of you just need to come to Christ. Don't hear salvation. Although maybe, but most people in this room. That's not what we're talking about. We're actually talking about being hungry and looking for satisfaction in all different ways that don't ultimately fulfill. And that may be horrible. Horrible in the same way that when you. Have you ever done a cleanse before? Those first few days, before the clarity comes. Chaos, hangry, emotional, apoplectic. I don't know if that's the right word, but I'm gonna go with it. It's just like it is a Pfft. Because the body's just so used to one way of eating. It's used to a certain kind of nourishment that actually has a lot of pleasure attached to it. Otherwise, we wouldn't do it. There's a reason why chips are so wonderful, right? And French fries, light. Well, from in and out. This is the wrong thing to be Talking about at 11:07 on a Sunday morning. I'm actually glad that you're here. I'm not trying to take your mind elsewhere right now. Not intentionally, at least. It may happen. But there's a reality that those things are really. They just, oh, I feel good. And then later, I'm still hungry. You ever notice that? I've noticed this, and this depresses me. This is a part of the backside of this thing. I go to in n out. I get my double. Double. I've been lettuce, wrapping it recently just for middle ages here. I eat these fries. I order them right well. They're crunchy, they're delicious. Salty. They're everything I've ever wanted in a little stick. I leave in and out. And I'm like, I'm gonna get full. Get in the car. I'm gonna be full. Eventually, we get home, I'm still hungry. You ever had that experience? It's because it's not. Gosh, I don't want to ruin this for everyone. This isn't about. This isn't a food. We're not talking about food literally, okay? We're talking about spiritual realities. There are things that simply look promising, that hit the brain, that satisfy in one way and that leave you feeling worse later. These are the things that I believe Jesus is stripping us of in the wilderness so that all we can do is receive bread from heaven and thank him. Because of where we live and the time and place that we inhabit. This means that some of us, many of us, most of us will probably have to choose deprivation. For example, putting away the phone for a long time, I got a little lockbox. This was in my notes. I wasn't going to talk about this, but I'll just give you guys how this is working. In my life. I have a little lockbox. This was a thing back in the 80s. There was a presidential candidate who talked about a lockbox. Who was. It doesn't matter. I think it was Al gore in the 90s. It was a joke on SNL. This is why I don't go off script too much. Because then it winds up with blank stares in the room. And I don't know where I'm going. I have a box, it locks. I put my phone in there, I press a code, it goes away. Recently, I set it for eight hours. Hours. I did that. Do you know why I did it? Because I'm realizing that I find satisfaction in places that don't fully satisfy. And part of it is through that phone. I think over the last few days, it hasn't been in there that much. And I can feel was like a $30Amazon purchase. And I'm like, it's the best thing I've bought in years. We will have to experience deprivation in order to develop a true appetite. And you may have to choose it yourself because of where we live and the access. I'm telling you guys, following Jesus here may be one of the hardest places on earth to actually follow him because we are so loaded with cheap, ready made alternatives. We just are. I haven't even touched our schedules, which I won't today. Maybe it's summertime. We're having fun. Keep it light, man. Let's just go with the phone for now. We're on something of a scheduled cleanse right now over the summer. That's why you probably feel better. Things aren't as crowded. Okay, so that is the biblical theology of bread. Tim Mackey will do it better, I'm confident. But for now, this is what you get. We have full pantries, but oftentimes, at least my experience, and I bet you it's true for you, empty hearts, schedules, packed souls, starving. Jesus, though he offers himself, he's not just an idea, somebody to study. He's a person who satisfies. And so he is bred for nations and he's bred for you. That's my first point. Hopefully my longer point. The second thing I want to talk about. No promises though. I may just be getting going. Depends on you guys. So really it's you that decides how long this goes. Doing great. Setting up my second point. Here's what I want you to know. Jesus and this by the way, I did a lot of. I spent too much time reading on this passage this week and I realized none of it really made it into this message. So cool. One thing that will make it into this message though was somebody who did their. Somebody did this research paper on this passage, which is always fun when you can find someone that you know really knows stuff, talking about the stuff that you want to tell people about. And so what she said, which I thought was fascinating, was this is. This is like, this is next level nerd stuff. She researched Every mention in antiquity of these sorts of feedings taking place, these feedings weren't uncommon. Back in that time when you had people who, many people were not doing well economically, they really needed these mass feedings. They needed food distributed to them lest they starve. And so it's not like Jesus is the first person to do this. But what I think the writer of Matthew is trying to do is he's trying to tell us this was distinct, this was different, what Jesus did was different. And so there's a few different ways in which his mass feeding was different than the mass feedings of that time. Not going to get into all of it today, but one of the things that stands out so the scholar, was that in the kind of mass feeding that Jesus engages in, there are details that the writers of the Gospels add that people in antiquity did not add. And one of them was fascinating to me. And I feel like this is. I think, as I've prayed and thought about this passage, I think this is a big part of God's heart for us. Jesus didn't distribute the bread himself. He gave it to the disciples to distribute. That is a detail that is not important to most of the feeding stories because it's just about who. It's just about the sponsor who's doing this. But in this story, it's not just about the sponsor who's doing this, Jesus. It's that he has disciples that he's engaging. We don't even know the details of how this miracle works. He prayed, he thinks, okay, but how? That's not the point. The point is that he's not doing this solo. He invites you, you and me to participate, to move from receivers. Maybe, if you like, going back to my story that I shared with you guys, from somebody who's ticking a box to somebody who's taking the baton. Or if you like, if this makes more sense, which it might, in light of, you know, the analogies we've been using today to take the bread and share it. Here's my second point, if you're taking notes. Disciples actively participate in distribution. Disciples actively participate in distributing the bread for the nations. And there's so much good news in this. You guys, you are not the source. Everybody can relax. You are not the source. You're just a servant. But not just a servant in mentioning that these disciples were included in the distribution. One of the things that scholars noted in this particular passage is that it brings a real dignity to what the disciples were doing and a real importance to it. And you'll Find that this is wild. If you look at this passage and study it, the disciples found that no matter how much they gave away, it didn't run out. There was enough for everybody. Let's unpack this a little bit. Who is Jesus working with? Who are these disciples? They were the apostles, his early followers, the 12. And what these apostles ended up doing over time, I think think of like the foot washing. You guys familiar with the foot washing story? If you've watched the Chosen this new season, which is excellent by the way, can't encourage it enough. One of the things that it reminds everybody of that watches it, is that Jesus at one point, kind of on his lowest moment, his worst night, the night when he's gonna be betrayed, what does he do? He wraps a towel around his waist, he gets down and he washes the disciples feet, right? Including, and this is really powerful, Judas feet, which is pretty shocking. So Judas has to look him in the eye. Very uncomfortable moment. But ultimately Judas is the exception. These apostles, they have incredible lives and they are sent to do what? They break new ground on kingdom work. They take the kingdom and go big with it. They take what started off small in sort of these Galilean backwaters, and they take it in such a way where today we are in Temecula and what are we doing? We're talking about Jesus and these guys, pretty spectacular. They went out into the unreached places. Peter preached at Pentecost. I'll just go through this quick. Paul, the apostle Paul, what is he famous for before he met Jesus? Killing guys. Christians, or at least consenting assenting to it, Giving like his hearty commendation to murder. And he thought he was doing God's work. And he had his reasons. That sounds really bad when I put it that way. He really thought he was protecting the purity of Judaism, but what he was actually doing was he was fighting the king in the flesh. Which by the way, that story merits some reflection. Do we all agree a guy who literally thinks I'm doing what God wants me to do is doing the exact opposite of what God wants him to do. But God presses on and saves him and then sends him to do what God wants him to do, and then he ends up giving his life for it. Like wherever you're at today, whatever person's on your mind and heart, whatever people you pray for or think about that seem lost until their last breath. If we're praying to the Jesus who did this to Paul, there's still hope for that person. These are the people Jesus had to work with remember the guys that were like, we're gonna get bread for these people. Either forgetful or maybe ethnocentric one way or the other. Not great, these disciples, but these are the ones who carried bread into the nations. Historically, people like Patrick in Ireland, if you don't know the stories, you can look them up. St. Patrick's Day. Actually, Patrick was this great man who shared the gospel in Ireland. And it led to a change in that country. Hudson Taylor in China. We were in New York and there was a conversation around another missionary in China who's not as well known, Gladys Aylward, A little lady who had this huge impact on a people that she had never met before because God sent her there. It's bred for the nations through ordinary people. Today there's church planters that go into cities with no gospel presence or. Or that go in places that need a gospel reinvigoration or renewal. So there's people, there's apostles that God raises up to take bread to the nations who their heartbeat is. These people haven't tasted bread yet. Let's go. And there could be people like that in this room. Not capital, apostle. You're not bread and Bible. If you do, let's talk about that on the side. We'll work through some things. But more likely there's still this apostolic function of taking the gospel. Cause there's still places that people don't know Jesus or that people are forgotten, or there's a need for more ministers of the gospel. So God takes bread to the nations through people like the apostles. There's also prophets. There are people whose voices God uses to call his own people back to that table. There's people like Isaiah in the Old Testament. There's people like Amos who confronted Israel when they forgot about justice and compassion. In church history, there's Martin Luther, right? Not a perfect man. None of these people are perfect people. But nevertheless, people that spoke into spaces of corruption, potentially, or distortion that God used to bring others to the gospel. Martin Luther King Jr. I think, prophetically challenged racial injustice, reminding the church that Christ calls us to be reconciled in him with brothers and sisters of different ethnicities. Today there are prophetic voices who advocate for all kinds of people. And those prophets, they remind us, hey, this bread, it's not just for you. It's important to share it rightly and to share it with everybody. This makes sense. Some of you have that heartbeat. And I'm here just to remind you, like, the point is to distribute bread to the nations evangelists. And yes, I Am going through Apas, the five gifts that Paul mentions in Ephesians 4. Evangelists extend the call and they just say like, come and eat everybody. Evangelists are fun. Prophets are intense. Evangelists are like, let's throw a party. Let's have really good food. And then invite your neighbors because we're going to bring them in, right? Evangelists, way more fun. Prophets dangerous, right? We need them all. Philip. Oh, what a story. The Ethiopian official that came to Christ in Acts. Philip, I can't even get into it. There's teleportation in the Bible. It's not just for Star Trek, it's for stewards. How seriously am I taking myself right now? I'm not sure, but I'm saying it's in the Bible. God will go to extraordinary lengths to reach people and he'll use people that are just available. There's people in history like George Whitfield, Billy Graham. I remember in 1995 or six being in Minneapolis. I lived there for a year and I wound up at the Metrodome, which is where the twins used to play. And Billy Grant came into town to the Twin Cities. It was freezing outside. You can imagine Minnesota. It wasn't during the summer or the spring. It was so cold. And there were tens of thousands of people outside of the Metrodome. Thankfully we got into the air conditioned seats, but there were tens of thousands of people just outside watching on big screens. God anointed him to take bread and give it indiscriminately to all who will listen. And there could be evangelists in this room. I'm confident that there are. Even today we have experienced the benefit moving to the present, even outside these walls. Tim Keller, wonderful evangelist, he passed away recently but. But he was a man who took the gospel and learned to apply it to the context of New York City. One of the toughest places to do gospel work in the world. There are faithful people leading alpha courses that teach people the gospel. Those who don't have a place to belong, people who aren't part of a church. These alpha courses that pop up that people invite their friends to and people experience Jesus personally. Evangelists are there to say, hey, there's enough bread for you too. Lastly, shepherds and teachers. Okay, Shepherds tend to the flock. People like Timothy in 1 and 2 Timothy, you learn about him looking out for, making sure that the affairs of the church are in order. There's famous examples. Just for the sake of time, I'm not going to get into it, but you have GC leaders in this room. Who faithfully, patiently walk alongside you when you are struggling or celebrate you when you are experiencing blessings. There are youth. He's not here today, but like, we have a youth Pastor Dorian. We have a kids Pastor Tracy. There's so many faithful people in this room that help to shepherd, that come alongside struggling marriages, that come alongside people are struggling their faith, that come alongside people who are hurting, people who are like, it hurts, but I don't know why. Will you sit with me and help me sort it out? The shepherds come along and say, have a seat, eat. I'm with you in this. And then teachers, not least teachers, help us explain the bread and digest it. They want to under, you know, like the people who know wine really well. Thank you. You ever sat down, I think the Lachlan's have one in the family, right? You ever sat down with someone or somebody who was really into beer? Back when beer was sat better in my stomach, I used to do this. Middle age is just, I'm losing beer and fry. I'm just, this is why it's hard. So sad. But they'll sit with you and they'll explain. Ah, you know tannins. Tell me what that is. I have no idea. It's like woody, earthy. It's like, okay, but they're right. Peanut butter. He's like, oh, yeah, I can pick that one out. Like, I think I've burned too many taste buds over the years. Drinking coffee, that's the real problem. Coffee's next, unfortunately, is probably the next thing cut. So you know these people. You like having these people around, don't you? When you want to start enjoying something, Wine or beer, food, people that can explain this stuff to you. It's meaningful, it's valuable. God has given people like this to the church to help you understand the Bible. People like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, C.S. lewis, J.I. packer, just to name a few. And it's not just there. It's people. Everywhere. There's people. Some of you teach our kids the Bible and kids ministry faithfully. Teachers say, let me help you taste and see more clearly. But guys, these aren't the only gifts. And everybody gets gifts. It's our turn to distribute pretty. It is the bread of heaven. It hasn't stopped multiplying. It's still being passed around. Whatever your gift is, you're invited to join the distribution team. I'll come up with something better later, but that's what I got right now. And your role is so important. Can you throw up the image real quick? Mike? From the baseball game. I want to show you guys something that happened when I was at a baseball game. You need some context for this, otherwise this won't make sense. So these are the Red Sox and the Angels, and they're playing each other. And there's a guy on first base and he ends up taking off during a pitch. And the batter hits it right where the second baseman wasn't. Do you see that? There's a second baseman that I've circled over there. I've circled the ball and there's the runner who's not there. Right. What if the second baseman was there? What is that? That's called the tailor made double play ball. Four to six to three, easy money. But why did that ball get in, get through the hole? Nobody was there. Now, if you're a baseball fan, I want you to turn your just that little voice off. That guy didn't do anything wrong. It's an illustration for the purposes of making a point. Any time you push a point too far, it breaks down. I don't know if you know this. You think too hard on it. You have too much expertise. You're a sommelier, and I use a wine analogy, you'll destroy it eventually. So for my baseball lovers, just shh. Nobody's there. That's the point of the story. This is what happened. That player was out of position and it led to this. When a player is there, you get a sweet little double play. When a player is not there, it changes the game. What's a pitcher's best friend? A double play. Instead of one out, you throw one pitch, you get two. It's the best deal in baseball other than a triple play, which is very rare. That's the best deal in baseball. When everyone's in their position, it changes the game. But the opposite is also true. When teammates are out of position, it creates space for the enemy or the opposition to exploit. What's my point? It's a wonderful thing when everyone on a team is prepared, positioned and participating. Right? It closes gaps, it limits the opposition, leads to sweet double plays which everyone on the team likes. Did you know that Following Jesus is more like a team sport than an individual one? It's not ping pong unless there's doubles. Ping pong, which I've never heard of. Is that a thing? See? Can't come up with analogies on the fly. Golf. Thank you. It's not golf. It's more like baseball. Yes, individual contributions, but it's a team sport. It can't be done in isolation. And Your unique role is essential. But even the individual contributions serve a greater whole of doing what? Taking what to the nations bread. We're in this together, folks. For better and for less Better as you'll find out if you don't know yet, because it's people and people. People, right? I'm people too, so don't take this as a slam. Personally, I learned about myself this week. I didn't like what I learned. I was home a lot, I was in pain, I messed up my back and I'm, you know, cleansing. So I was hangry and hurt. You imagine what it was like to be around me this week. Not fun, lot of apologies, a lot of mood swings, just up and roller coaster of emotions. People get used to it. This is what it is. We're in this together. Do you know what your position is? Disciples are active participants in the distribution of bread. We're in this together. If you think of a trailer, we're hitched to Jesus. Where he goes, we follow. He leads right behind you. Jesus in the best of cases, never far behind, never far. Sometimes we unhitch. We'll get into that in a second. So it's really important to be able to answer the question, where are you today? I'm going to invite the band to come up and I'm going to invite you guys to. Actually, why don't you stay seated. The band can come up, you guys can stay seated. When I was thinking about this this week, I thought of you and I thought of generally life in this place at this time, which I've already acknowledged this morning. Following Jesus here is hard. Following Jesus as modern Westerners is difficult. And it could even be good to ask the question, why am I here? Not just where am I? So I want to throw up a slide that I prepared. A lot of words. I'm going to explain them. This slide is designed to help you figure out where you're at this morning. When I started this message, I talked about where I was at in high school. I was ticking boxes, right? This is just what's expected of me. Someone brought me here, I'm doing what's expected. Okay, that was me. Is that you today? I want to be really clear. There's no shade or shame with any of these because I've already mentioned this. If you were here or if you heard me earlier in the message. There's a point to ticking the boxes at one point in your journey. It's not the end, but it is a step. Another place that you could be in today as you Think about where you're at today with Jesus. Has Jesus tickled your fancy? Paul thought that was funny. You ever been to a museum before? The answer is probably yes. Okay, cool. There's one called the Moma in New York. You walk through that place. Spectacular. And I remember walking through a room where the biggest lily pads I've ever seen in my life. Monet lily pads. My interest in lily pads skyrocketed. I'm intrigued. I want to know more. Not bad. That could be like where you're at with Jesus today. Maybe you're intrigued. Maybe he's like a lily pad. Like, ooh, pretty. I want to know. It's not bad. Yes. These are alliterated, completely self indulgent. They don't need to be liberated. That's just what I did. So we're gonna go through the T's today of where you might be taking a flyer. I used to play fantasy baseball. I love doing this. You just grab a guy off the waiver wire, no cost, no risk. If it doesn't work out, throw him back. You can do that with church, actually. Again, it's not bad. I did this. I did this in a mega church. It's easier to do it there. This is not a slam on megachurches. I'm so grateful for them. They do incredible work. Some of the work that we can't do here because of our limitations, they do. But you could do a low risk free trial of Jesus, right? That has its place. Maybe you're here and you're taking a flyer. Maybe you're here because you're experiencing trials. Sometimes pain, suffering, loss, confusion brings people to Jesus and that's legit. Part of the reason why I'm here is because I went through what for me was like a life altering breakup. And it brought me to my knees because I didn't know why on earth I was here anymore or what the purpose of my life was. You can go through a loss sometimes. People go through scares. They go through hard things. You guys remember 9, 11. For those of you guys that were around at that point, churches were full all of a sudden because everyone's scared. Crisis can bring people in. Maybe you're here and you're. None of those describe you. Maybe you're. You just want to learn and grow. You're training. You see value in this and you're training. I went through this. Still training, but I went through this very specifically. I remember being in a church for a season where all I wanted to do was just teach me the Bible. I'M training, I'm learning. Teach me the whole thing. Genesis to Revelation. I want to learn. Sometimes people that will have kids, this is huge. Sometimes people have children and they realize I don't know how to talk to them about life. You ever heard someone try to explain death to someone? To a child that doesn't have a concept of Jesus? It's hard. There are questions you really can't answer. Well, without Jesus, there's other answers that you can give. But sometimes that brings people to Jesus. I just, I want to learn. I need to grow. That's a good reason to be here. You might be here because you're tripping up. This is a little harder one because you feel like I keep screwing up in life through this, that or the other. I keep doing this, I keep doing that. That might describe where you're at today. Maybe you're here and you're actively participating in sharing bread. You're taking the baton and running with it. From what I was talking about earlier. You're serving. You might be in leadership. You're taking steps to grow. That's a great thing. Maybe you're here and I'm confident there's people that are in this spot where you are just toughing it out. You actually, you're in pain and there's no time to stop and you don't heal because you haven't been able to slow down. That described me this week. Actually, toughing it out is okay for a time, but it can't be like the long term strategy because you will get stuck. Maybe you're here and you're ready to tap out. Just so tired, you're exhausted. Can I keep going? Maybe none of this makes sense to you. Maybe just over this. Too many teas. Take stock. One last one. How would you describe where you're at today? I'm going to invite you to stand with me, man. I've got good news for you. Wherever you're at today. What's the word that I had you all repeat when we read it in the text earlier? Compassion. Jesus has compassion for everyone. I experienced that this week. I shared earlier, tough week, injury, cleansing, hangry, roller coaster of emotions. Been trying to do everything else and here's what I found when I cried out for bread, Jesus delivered the bread of forgiveness, the bread of mercy, the bread of solutions. There's actually some practical things I was working through that I feel like I got help with. And it just started with crying out to him. And so I want to just invite you to close your eyes for A second. I'm going to be done talking in a moment. If you are hungry today for bread, maybe you've been feeding elsewhere, maybe you've been feasting elsewhere, or maybe you're just recognizing I'm famished, or maybe I'm flailing, or maybe I'm failing, maybe I'm falling. Whatever it is, Jesus has compassion for you. And I just want to invite you to ask Him. It just takes two words, Jesus, help. That's it. So I'm going to invite you to just take a moment. We're going to do this for 30 seconds. Whatever you need today, you can ask him right now. You can imagine him sitting with you on a bench. You can just tell him what's on your heart. Watch what he does. It's your sanctified imagination in use to apply the truths of the gospel. Just ask him what you need. 10 more seconds. I'm going to invite the prayer team to come forward. I have 10, 15 minutes or so for response. Thank you, prayer team. Come on up, man. I want to encourage you during this time in two ways. One is just to simply praise Jesus because He's really good and he's the bread that satisfies and he gives you Himself freely. One of the things I love to rediscover this week was that at my worst, he's at his best. It's not like I had to figure it out. It's not like I had to. I didn't have to grovel. I just had to ask for grace. And he loves to meet messy people with mercy. So if that's you today, I just want to invite you to come forward to receive prayer. Grace can just mean help. So however you need help, come and get, come and eat. You have ministers of the Gospel who want to feed you, as it were, with Jesus. So praise or prayer, I want to throw one out in the table too. If somebody's been on your heart during this message, feel free to move out the cabin. We're in cruising mid flight. You can't unbuckle and move. Okay. When we get to the end, I'm need you back in your seat, but not right now. Maybe there's someone that you need to tap on the shoulder and be like, you've been on my mind. Can I pray for you? Maybe God gave you a little window or insight of revelation. Yes. Not Bible, but something for someone that may be wrong, but it might be right and it might be bread for them. In that moment, you are active participants. You are deputized to share bread. So that might be what you need to do today. You might need to thank the bread of life for falling, as it were, freely into your lap. You might need to ask for bread. You might need to share bread. Whatever it is we need. We got 10 minutes or so. Don't miss the chance. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. We love you. Amen. I'm going to hand it off. Feel free to come forward or to praise him.