Luke 9 Part 1 (4)

Pray Psalm 104.31-35.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
May the LORD rejoice in His works.
He looks on the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the hills, and they smoke.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the LORD.
May sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Praise the LORD!

Sing Psalm 104.31-35.
(Creation: The Spacious Firmament on High)
Lord, let Your glory long endure. Rejoice! His works are ever sure!
He looks on earth, it quails and quakes, as we our songs of praises make.
Lord, let our meditation rise and bring great pleasure in Your eyes.
Consumed shall sinners ever be. O, bless and praise the Lord with me!

Read Luke 9.1-17; meditate on verses 14-17.

Preparation
1. How many men did Jesus feed?

2. What did the disciples do?

Meditation
There is certainly here a recollecting of Moses’ experience in leading the people of Israel. The comparison with Jethro’s counsel (Ex. 18) seems quite clear. The disciples are the rulers of God’s people, and the nature of their rule can be summarized as serving. Jesus represents the people before God, as Moses did, and He instructs the rulers so that they can fulfill their calling to serve the people in an orderly and efficient manner (v. 14). The Lord provides the resources for meeting the need at hand. Our duty is to be faithful and to obey all His Word, even though its counsel may seem unlikely or insufficient for the need.

We marvel at the miracle of Jesus feeding so many with so little. But the fact that He provides our daily bread is no less marvelous. Every good and perfect gift comes down to us from our heavenly Father (Jms. 1.17). Everything. Our daily food, warm homes, clothing, cars, jobs, possessions – everything. God provides it all, and if we ever lose sight of that, two things will happen, neither of which is good. First, our gratitude to God for His many wondrous gifts will wither and wane. We will thank and praise Him less and less. And second, our confidence in our own wits and prowess will rise, and we will begin to think that we are the providers of every good thing.

Jesus’ miracle is only a condensed and startlingly specific demonstration of what He does all the time. And He never just meets our immediate needs. There are always baskets and baskets of leftover grace to sustain and keep us. Don’t take this for granted. Give Him constant thanks and praise.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening” (Ps. 104.23).

“So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work” (Neh. 4.6).

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15.58).

“But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (Jms. 1.25).

Work. It is what people were created to do. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2.15).

Jesus gave the disciples an opportunity to do creative work; but because of their lack of faith and obedience to step out and do what Jesus told them to do, “You give them something to eat” (Lk. 9.13), their workload changed to one of a custodial nature. “Make them sit down in groups of fifty” (Lk. 9.14). From creative to custodial.

We have each been placed in the garden of our Personal Mission Field to creatively tend and keep it. We have been given work to do therein to glorify God. Make no mistake. We are doing something there, and it is either for good or for evil. We do not live in an unpopulated vacuum.

God thinks the best of us and offers us creative work to do: sowing seeds, watering sprouts, clearing away thorns and rocks, shining the love of Jesus into places that need light to thrive. So, when He tells us to give them something to eat, we should gladly jump at the chance to do so. Otherwise, we will be seating people in groups of fifty and wondering why we don’t feel fulfilled.

Living for Jesus a life that is true, striving to please Him in all that I do;
yielding allegiance, gladhearted and free, this is the pathway of blessing for me.

O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee, for Thou in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne; my life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.
(Thomas O. Chisholm, 1917)

Our work should leave people feeling fed and full.

For reflection
1. How do you understand the work God has given you to do in your Personal Mission Field?

2. What do you need each day to do your work creatively unto the Lord?

3. Why do we always need to remember that it is God Who is at work within us, willing and doing according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2.13)?

And with five loaves of bread and two fishes, Christ fed five thousand men. He will not see those that fear him, and serve him faithfully, want any good thing. When we receive creature-comforts, we must acknowledge that we receive them from God, and that we are unworthy to receive them; that we owe them all, and all the comfort we have in them, to the mediation of Christ, by whom the curse is taken away. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Luke 9.10-17

Pray Psalm 104.12-15.
Praise and thank the Lord for all the good things He provides day by day. Be specific. Name as many as you can, praising Him as you do.

Sing Psalm 104.12-15.
(Creation: The Spacious Firmament on High)
The birds beside the waters dwell and sing in the branches, full and well.
You drench the mountains from above; the earth is sated by Your love.
You cause the grass for beasts to grow, and plants for food to feed us so;
and wine to gladden man’s poor soul, and bread and oil to make us whole.

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.