Good morning!

In the interest of not rocking the boat too much this morning, I thought we’d start with a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon:

(Want to help me write a book?  Sure.  What’s it about?  Well, you know what historical fiction is?  This is sort of like that.  I’m writing a fictional autobiography.  It’s the story of my life, but with a lot of parts completely made up.  Why would you make up your own life?  Because in my book I have a flame thrower!)

If you could make up your own life, what would it be like?  Would you have a flame thrower?  What would your dream-life be like?

One of my favorite verses is John 10:10: Jesus says: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  Jesus is the only one who can give us ‘the dream life!’

Recently God has been teaching me that much of this abundant life is the experience of knowing Him in the midst of being used by Him to bring others closer to Himself.

There is a spiritual hunger all around us.  Everyone needs Jesus.  Some people realize it, and many don’t.  God wants us to experience the abundant life of helping others find satisfaction in Jesus.

So how can we do this?  This is the question for us this morning:  How can we experience the abundant life by satisfy the spiritual hunger of those around us? 

Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 14:13-21.  As we look at Matthew 14:13-21, we can see four things that we can do to join Jesus in satisfying the spiritual hunger of those around us.

The first thing for us to do is this:  Jumpstart with compassion.

First, a little background:  John the Baptist had just been beheaded, and the disciples had gone and retrieved and buried his body.  They come back to Jesus and tell him what just happened to John…

And we read in Matthew 14:13-14:  Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Jesus wanted to be alone.  He has had a very difficult day.  He is probably emotionally and physically exhausted; so he withdraws to be by himself.  But what happens?  The crowds hear and follow him!  They go out to the middle of nowhere because they want to see Jesus.

And look at verse 14.  According to verse 14, how did Jesus respond to them?

Does the phrase “and he had compassion on them” stand out to you?  What does it mean that “he had compassion on them”?

Jesus had plans to get away and be by himself during this difficult time, and the crowds ruined his plans.  But he doesn’t get angry at them… or disappear again and leave them behind.

We see here in Jesus’ response to the crowds a clear presentation of his priorities: he cares about people.

And Jesus cares about you!  What is number one on Jesus’ priority list for you? 

God’s number one priority for you is that you would experience the abundant life of knowing Him.

When I read, “and he had compassion on them,” I read “Jesus cared about their souls!"

Two questions of application:

First question:  How does it make you feel that Jesus cares about your soul?  How does it make you feel that Jesus’ priority for you is that you’d experience the abundant life of knowing Him? 

Second question:  What can you do to have the same compassion for others?  What can you do this week to grow in your own caring about other people’s souls?

Regarding this second question, I have a few thoughts that might help us:

One way to grow in caring about other people’s souls is a simple one: prayer.  You know the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind?”  I would add… “out of mind, out of heart.”  If we aren’t thinking about the things of God, we are not going to care about them very much.  Prayer is an easy solution to this!  Talk to God throughout the day. 

Even consider talking to God about all of the people you come across in the day: husband, wife, brother, sister… friends, enemies, and strangers.  Start making it a habit to pray for the people that your life touches throughout the day.

And here is another idea… do One Thing Studies!

Many of our high school and college students are doing One Thing studies these days.  Every morning (or at least some time during the day), read a passage in your Bible and ask God to show you One Thing.  Highlight it in your Bible and pray about it.  Let that One Thing soak into your mind and heart throughout the day.

Consider this quote from Charles Spurgeon:  "Some people like to read so many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart!”

My experience is that when I am having meaningful times in God’s Word, I start to think more about Him, and I start to care more about the things he cares about.

And now let us move on to the next thing that we can do to satisfy the spiritual hunger of those around us:  Obliterate the lie.

In verses 15-16, we read:  Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves."  But Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

Notice that the disciples are quite observant and have assessed the situation quite well:

1)    they are out in the middle of nowhere
2)    it is the end of the day
3)    the crowds must be hungry

Notice also that the disciples care about the people.  They are concerned because the people are hungry.

Their conclusion?  “Jesus, send them away!”

Do you see the lie that they are believing?  They are convinced that they cannot feed the hungry crowds!

What do you think?  Don’t we believe the same lie?  Maybe we have compassion for people.  Maybe we really do care about their souls.  Maybe we really do want them to know Jesus and experience the abundant life that Jesus offers… but send the people away!  We can’t help them!

Note Jesus’ response?  “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Isn’t that wonderful!  Jesus says the same thing to us!

And isn’t it wonderful?  Though Jesus could instantly perform a miracle and feel the five thousand without including his disciples in the process… even though he can, he doesn’t?  Jesus includes his disciples!  Jesus has so much to teach his disciples.  He wants them to experience the abundant life of satisfying people’s hunger.  And he wants the same for us.  He doesn’t NEED us.  He doesn’t need me or you.  But he chooses to use me and you because we need to experience the joy of being used by Him.

So do you see the lie?  We are just like the disciples: we see the overwhelming needs of people in our lives… the crowds of people… and we don’t think that we have anything to offer!  We don’t think that we can help people.

But we can! 

With a little help, of course.  This brings us nicely to the third thing that we can do to satisfy the spiritual hunger of those around us:  Include Jesus.

Look at how the disciples respond to Jesus in verse 17 - He just told them to feed the crowds, and listen to what they say:  "We have only five loaves here and two fish."

Again, that’s us, right!  Jesus just asked them to feed thousands of people!  And their response?  “We don’t have what it takes!”

How about this motivator from www.despair.com:  (Ineptitude: If you can’t learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.)

Do you ever feel inept? 

I remember a story of the great shoe-salesman-turned-evangelist D.L. Moody:

He was preaching on a soap box in the streets of Chicago, and man walked up to him and said:

“Mr. Moody – I don’t like how you do that!”

Moody replied: “Well, how do you do it?”

The man looked at him awkwardly and hesitantly replied, “Well, I don’t do that.”

Moody replied before continuing to preach the gospel: “Well, I like the way I do it better than the way you don’t do it!”

There are so many needs around us.  There are so many people who need to understand who Jesus is!  And we hear the command to go do it, and we may even agree that it is in obeying the command that we’ll find the abundant life… but when it comes down to it, we respond to Jesus: “I can’t do it!  I just don’t have what it takes!"

But notice what Jesus says in response in verse 18:  “Bring them here to me."

The disciples told Jesus what little they had to offer: five loaves and two fish.  Consider what Jesus could have said:

Picture this conversation:

Jesus: "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

Disciples: “Jesus, we have only five loaves here and two fish.”

Jesus: “What were you thinking!  Why didn’t you bring extra food?!”

Or imagine this:

Jesus: "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

Disciples: “Jesus, we have only five loaves here and two fish.”

Jesus: “Oh, just give up you poor excuses for disciples!  You’ll never amount to anything!”

Fortunately, this is not Jesus!  What is his response?

“Bring them here to me."

Whatever you’ve got, no matter how seemingly insignificant it is, bring it to me.

What does that mean for you to ‘bring it to Jesus?”

“Jesus, I am not that outgoing… I have a hard enough time talking about the weather, how am I supposed to share about you?”

“Lord, I don’t know my theology well enough!  What if someone asks a question and I don’t know the answer?”

“But Jesus, I am so spiritually dry these days… how am I supposed to help others know you?”

Wherever you are at… whatever your sins, your flaws, your inabilities, your fears… bring it to Jesus.  Pray about it.  Tell him how you feel.  Just bring them all to Jesus.

You know what?  No one has what it takes.  None of us has much to offer. 

But Jesus doesn’t ask for much, he just wants us.

Let us give ourselves to him, flaws and all.

And then….  Notice the miracles.

Apparently, the disciples brought the five loaves and two fish to Jesus.  And look what happens!

We read in verses 19-21:  Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.  And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Notice a few things:

First, notice that after the disciples brought to Jesus what little they had, Jesus took charge and did the miracle.  Let me encourage us to let Jesus take charge!

Second: notice that Jesus once again chooses to use the disciples to disperse the food.  He could have done it differently!  The food could have appeared on everyone’s lap after they all sat down!  Or he could have had them go through a buffet line! 

But he didn’t:

We read,  "Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds."

Jesus wants to use us in feeding the souls of those around us.  Why?  Because it is in the process of feeding others that we experience Jesus and grow in Him.

Question: how are you experiencing Jesus these days by feeding others?  What can you do this week to experience Jesus by loving others in His name?

And the last thing that we need to notice is in verse 20:  In verse 20, how is the crowd described?

We read: “They all ate and were satisfied.”

Don’t you love it!  Satisfied.

Are you satisfied?  Are you satisfied in Jesus these days?  Do you want to be satisfied?

And don’t you think the disciples had some food, too?  Do you think they were satisfied?  Or do you think they were so fulfilled by being a part of the miracle that they forgot to eat?

Let us close this morning by reminding ourselves that it is Jesus who satisfies. 

That is just what he does.  That is how he is glorified.  This is his grand purpose in our lives…. Both in us and through us:

Satisfying souls.

Let us pray….

Jesus, thank you that you are the satisfier of souls.  And thank you that you choose to give us the experience of abundant life by allowing us to be part of what you are doing in the lives of people around us.  Help us to JOIN you.  We agree with you that that is where we will find abundant life.  Amen.