The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 16: The G-Force

 

July 25, 2024                NOTES NOT EDITED
The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 16: “The G-Force”
Mark 6:30-44

SIS – The most powerful force in the universe results from the combination of a God-sized compassion and a child-sized faith.

The term, “G-force” can elicit many different ideas from an audience.  The intellectuals among us will recognize this immediately as an abbreviation for the Force of Gravity – the most powerful and most mysterious force in the universe.

When an object is “accelerated” as in a supersonic jet or a rocket, the G-forces can be as much as 10, 12 and in one case as many as 43 “G’s” as is the case of Col. John Stapp in one of his many experiments for the U.S. Air Force. This was such a force that dust particles penetrated through his flight suit.

Gravity is the second-most powerful force in the Universe. Today, I’m going to show you the “Most Powerful Force in the World—the God-Force.

READING:  Mark 6:39—44

As we examine this passage on the God-Force that can be exerted upon any situation when a God-sized compassion unites with a child-sized faith, we are immediately struck by the fact that this miracle is mentioned in all four gospels.  This miracle made a tremendous impact upon the disciples.  It can have the same impact upon us today if we open our hearts to hear God speak through His Word.

At least five issues are raised in our text that help us comprehend the enormous power of the “G-Force.”

1.  The PEOPLES’ Needs (34-36)

Our text describes the crowd as being in a very deplorable, dependent, and utterly desperate condition.  But, the desperate needs of the crowd are not merely the physical need for food.  Look again at vv. 34-36:

³⁴ So as He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion  on them, because they were like sheep  without a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ When it was already late, His disciples  approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness,  and it is already late! ³⁶ Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

Jesus, here and in many other places along with the O.T., compares people to sheep.  The primary comparison here is in two regards: 1) sheep are completely lost without a shepherd and prone to wander astray; and 2) sheep are utterly defenseless animals at the mercy of nearly any predator. Jesus saw the people as “sheep”—aimless and defenseless.

As one analyses this picture of the crowd—the crowd representing mankind in general—three distinct areas of desperate need are highlighted.  We’ll take them in reverse order.

(1) People have PHYSICAL needs.  In verse 36 a disciple points out that the crowd needed food.  They were, in a word, hungry.  We live in a world, and we don’t have to travel overseas to see it, that is very hungry.  712 million people live in poverty or less than $2.15 per day. Think what $5 per day would do for them! 1 out every five Americans live in poverty—extreme need and food uncertainty. These range in age from the very young to the very old and everyone in between.  But, the most vulnerable to poverty and hunger are the very young and very old. 

Many of the homeless, hundreds of thousands are women and children, not the mentally ill and addicted we usually hear about.

One of the “needs” every Christian church must attack head-on is PHYSICAL:  basic food, clothing and shelter.

How well are we doing as a church with PHYSICAL needs?

2) Physical needs are perhaps not even the most desperate needs in America today—as desperate as those needs are. The need for INFORMATION and TRUTH.  I notice something interesting in verse 34b:  “He began to TEACH them.”  How interesting that before any mention of “feeding the crowd” the Word emphasizes “teaching the crowd.”  We take education so much for granted in America today—and, we are paying a high price for it.  The economy is in a shambles, not due to a lack of natural resources, but do to a lack of old-fashioned ingenuity and basic integrity.  Companies that focus on hiring creative thinkers, like Apple, Google, MircoSoft, et. al., stay at the top of the pack in industry.  We are a nation that has been intentionally “dumbed down” by public education that is godless and for the most part, useless in promoting well-being.  LISTEN TO THIS OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT:  “The increase in crime. The increase in poverty. The increase in the general despair of American citizenry is directly related to a godless government education.  Jesus realized and taught what an old cliché has maintained for years:  “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; TEACH him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  Jesus gave great value to meeting the NEED for EDUCATION.

3) Then, of course, there is the most basic of human needs—and the most desperate:  SPIRITUAL needs.  Going back to the picture of the crowd as “sheep” calls to mind Isaiah’s pronouncement in regard to the spiritual decay in Israel:

“All we like sheep have gone astray . . . “

FANAFI.  That is a basic strategy for growing a Christian church and fueling an evangelistic fervor that breaks out into a glorious revival.

FANAFI.  Say that with me . . . This is an acronym for:  Find A Need And Fill It!  Find A Need And Fill It.  At the most basic level, that is what Christianity is all about.  If a person is hungry, feed them.  If a person is thirsty, give them a drink.  If a person is lonely, befriend them.  If a person is lost—tell them about Jesus.  Remember, that the backdrop of this entire passage is the PEOPLES’ NEEDS!

The Apostle James identifies real faith—Biblical faith—as a faith that meets needs.  James said,

James 1:27   Pure and undefiled religion before our  God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows  in their distress

Then James hits the nail even harder driving home this point:

James 2:14-17 ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith  save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?  ¹⁷ In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

 

The PEOPLES’ needs form the background for this great miracle recorded by all four gospel writers. 

2)  Another issue in understanding the “God-Force” is the LORD’S Compassion (v34):

He saw a huge crowd and had compassion on them.

Throughout the Word of God the Holy Spirit highlights the compassion and mercy of God. As Israel was being plunged into the dark period of time called, “the Babylonian Captivity,” they were reminded of God’s eternal, unfailing compassion:

Jeremiah 30:18 Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places

Hundreds of references in the Bible speak of God’s compassion.  Within that word is wrapped up God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, and God’s Provision.  Salvation would not even be available, much less attainable, without God’s compassion.  Paul says

While we were yet enemies of God, God loved us.

Compassion opens God’s eyes to our plight and His heart to our healing.  God’s compassion drives God’s actions.  So it should be with you and I.

The word here translated, “compassion,” is the word, splanknon, which literally means “spleen.” Whereas we in the Western world speak of the deepest emotions coming from the “heart” of man, in the ancient world the deep emotions were identified with the “spleen” of man. 

This verse could be accurately rendered:  “When Jesus saw the desperate situation of the people it felt like getting hit in the gut.” 

This form in this passage is in the passive voice, as is the case most of the time. Compassion then is a “reaction” to a situation.  It is something that the situation does to a person, not just something someone does about a situation.  This is why the KJV translates this word as “moved with compassion.”

The point is this:  until we get a “God-sized” compassion for the desperate condition of those who are lost, for those who are hurting, we will never experience the “G-Force” of God’s blessings.  God’s blessings flow when our compassion opens up a conduit to God’s power which then flows through us—that’s blessing!

At the heart of the “G-Force” is a God-sized compassion for the world.

3.  Another issue that impacts upon experiencing the “G-Force” is the Disciples’ EXCUSES (35-37).

³⁵ When it was already late, His disciples  approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness,  and it is already late! ³⁶ Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”  ³⁷ “You give them something to eat,” He responded.  They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii  worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

More often than not, Christians are “paralyzed by excuses” rather than “moved by compassion.”

I will guarantee you that it is easier to “make an excuse than to make a difference.”  And, we are so good at making excuses for not meeting the needs of the world that we get to believing them ourselves.

Listen to the disciples:  “There’s no stores out here.” “We don’t have enough money.”  “The merchants are better at distributing food.”  The excuses go on and on and on and all the while people are plunging off the cliff of eternity into a firey hell with empty stomachs and empty souls.

God did not call his disciples to “make excuses, but He called us to make a difference.”

I’m pretty sure I will not eliminate people making excuses for not doing what God calls us to do.  So, I figure the least I can do is give you a few tips for making a better excuse:

A police department in Indiana was having its annual “Police Department Recognition Dinner.” As part of the program, they were giving an award to the person in the past year that had the best excuse for speeding. The award went to a young father with five young children. This was before the age of seatbelts. The children were wrestling, shouting, and climbing all over eachother. When the father was pulled over his excuse for speeding was this: “Officer, I was just trying to get away from all the noise and chaos behind me.”

 

Someone once said this: “We are all manufacturing something. Some make good things. Some make bad things. But most, just make excuses.

 

God has called us and empowered us not to make excuses, but make a difference. That’s the “Power of the G-Force.”

 

4.  The Child’s Faith (v38; Jn. 6:9)

 

Remember that our SIS tells us, “The most powerful force in the universe results from the combination of a God-sized compassion and a child-sized faith.” Here’s the part about Child-like Faith.

 

38 And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.”

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

 

From the Gospel of John we learn that the two fish and five loaves came from the lunch of a little boy (Jn. 6:8-9).

 

 (NIV84)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?”

 

Now, don’t miss the significance of this.  The need was so great that 12 grown men were not able to come up with enough to feed the nearly 15,000 plus in the crowd (the gospel writers only number the men).  Even if they knew where to get the food, it would cost an entire year’s wages.  This was a monumental, insurmountable wall that was unscalable and impenetrable.  There was no way over it, no way under it, no way around it, and no way through it.  It was an “impossible task.”

 

But, here’s the truth: . . . write this down:  “the most powerful force in the world—the “G-Force”—comes from the combination of God-sized compassion and child-sized faith.”

 

The little boy did not make excuses—he made a difference.  The little boy did not analyze the situation—he offered his lunch.  He did not know “how” Jesus was going to do it, he just had faith Jesus “was” going to do it—and I don’t think the little boy even knew what it was Jesus was going to do.

 

That’s faith—child-like faith; the only kind of faith that brings a God-sized response to an impossible task.  Matthew describes this kind of faith and gives us the importance of it:

 

18:3  “I assure you,” He said, “unless you are converted  and become like children,  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

The power of faith is not in its size, but in its object.  You can have a mountain of faith in religion and it won’t make a molehill of difference when it comes to salvation.  But, you can have “faith the size of a mustard seed and move mountains.” 

 

Children don’t size up their problems.  Children don’t analyze their difficulties.  Children simply trust their fathers to make things work out.  We need this kind of child-like faith in our Heavenly Father that He is going to make things work out.

 

The most powerful force in the universe is the “G-Force.”  When a God-sized compassion combines with a child-like faith—stuff happens!  Thus, we come to a final issue in understanding the G-Force:

 

5.  God’s Response (39-44)

 

³⁹ Then He instructed them to have all the people sit down  in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in ranks of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² Everyone ate and was filled.  ⁴³ Then they picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

 

Don’t miss the enormity of this miracle.  As was the custom of the day, the writers only numbered the men in the crowd.  This did not include the women and children that were present.  The crowd could have easily been three to four times the number of men. 

 

All of them were fed until they were full with just two sardine sized fish and five biscuit-sized barley cakes! AND! There were even left-overs!

 

What is the point that the Holy Spirit is making here through Mark?  The point is as I have stated it in the sermon-in-a-sentence:  the most powerful force in the world is the G-Force created by the combination of a God-sized compassion with a child-sized faith. 

 

When this combination happens, unbelievable, unimaginable miracles take place.  The G-Force is powerful enough to overcome any size challenge.  The G-Force turns a kid’s lunch into a multitude’s feast.

 

So, the question immediately comes to me as I contemplate these five issues in regard to the G-Force—that question being, “why ain’t it happening here?”

Obviously, we must conclude—as painful as it is to do so—that 1) either we do not have a God-sized compassion for our lost and hurting world; or 2) we don’t have a child-like faith to give up our lunch; or—worse case of all—we have neither compassion nor faith.

 

Think about that.  It may sting a little bit.

 

Often as I go to prayer for someone’s needs I complain to God that I just can’t find enough resources to meet that need.  I get discouraged sometimes because I DO have a God-sized compassion, and I DO see the overwhelming needs of the world, but I DON’T have the faith of that little unnamed child who gave up his entire lunch for the cause.

 

Folks, God wants to do so much for you and so much with you.  God wants to take us places at First Baptist Church that are unimaginable and simply incredible.  God wants to show you things that Paul described as  “inexpressible words . . .and extraordinary revelations” (2Cor 12:2)

 

Jeremiah described what happens when we experience the G-Force as “seeing things we cannot even imagine” (Jer. 33:3).

 

I wonder:  if FBC felt the G-Force how many hungry people in Thousand Oaks could we feed?  If FBC experienced the G-Force, how many homeless people could we put into housing?  If FBC experienced the G-Force, how many financially disadvantaged children could we educate? If FBC really hooked into the G-Force,  how many people would we see saved in the next year?

 

I wonder:  if FBC experienced the full impact of the God Force, what challenges could we overcome, what problems could we solve and what horizons could we expand?

 

The Feeding of the Five Thousand describes the power of the G-Force:  the power that erupts when a God-sized compassion combines with a child-like faith!

 

Remember that under the force of 43 G’s, dust particles penetrated the flight suit of Col. John Stapp.  That’s a powerful force, but not
even close to the power of the God Force!