3 Keys to Effective Ministry
Mark 6:30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, 33 but many saw them leaving and recognized them. People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.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.” 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?” 38 And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” 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.
Intro: This morning as we continue through the Gospel of Mark, I think back on all the miracles and mighty works that were done by Jesus we’ve already studied about. We’ve seen the sick healed. The lame walk. The blind receive sight. Demonic spirits cast out. And, even the dead raised. Truly there are some wonderful stories of powerful miracles contained in this Book.
This story we read today about the miracle of feeding a vast multitude of people with only five small loaves of bread and two small fish is a very important story that teaches us much about compassion, faith, prayer, and God’s ability to meet any need. It’s such an important story that it is 1 of only 10 stories that are included in all 4 of the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all include this story.
As we look at this important story, there are some powerful lessons for us to learn. I want us to specifically examine what I believe are the 3 Keys to Effective Ministry. In order for the ministries of a church to be effective they must contain these 3 elements. Within the Biblical account of this great miracle we read of in our main text this morning, we see a powerful example of all 3 key elements in play.
Now, listen to me very carefully, if any of these 3 are missing, the church cannot be fully effective at ministering to the needs of the members, or the needs of the lost hurting people in our community around us. It is vitally important that we understand this truth and apply ALL 3 of these key principles to everything we do here at Metro Grace so that we may fulfill our Mission, Vision, and Purpose as a church.
EFFECTIVE MINISTRY MUST:
1. BE BIRTHED OUT OF COMPASSION.
Mark 6:34 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.
Notice first, that the Bibles says, Jesus “had compassion on them.”
Over and over again throughout the Bible we see that our Heavenly Father is a God of compassion:
Psalm 86:15 But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.
Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. 9 The Lord is good to everyone; His compassion rests on all He has made.
We also see that the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ was driven by compassion for the lost and hurting people:
Matthew 20:32 Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 “Lord,” they said to Him, “open our eyes!” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed Him.
Mark 1:40 Then a man with a serious skin disease came to Him and, on his knees, begged Him: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. “I am willing,” He told him. “Be made clean.”
Matthew 14:14 As He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd, felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Effective ministry is birthed out of compassion for the people.
(Ill) What is Compassion? Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is hurting, in pain, or has had misfortune, and is accompanied by a strong desire to help the suffering.
Most people I know have sympathy for the broken and hurting people around us. They look at their condition and feel great sorrow for them. There are very few people who are truly heartless and uncaring when they see hurting people. But, compassion goes much further than sympathy.
Sympathy is an emotion…we feel sorrow for someone who is lost and hurting. But, compassion is more than feeling sorry for someone…it is about taking action. True heartfelt compassion compels us to do something about the condition of those we sympathize with.
I don’t doubt that there are many people in our churches, and in our communities, who have sympathy for the lost and hurting people of our community. But, there are precious few people, even within our churches, who have a true compassion that compels them to do something about the condition of the lost and hurting around us.
Jesus Christ is the greatest example of someone with true compassion. Not only did Jesus have compassion and heal people from physical suffering, he also showed the greatest compassion of all for mankind when He died on the cross for our sins.
Romans 5:8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
Sending Jesus to suffer and die on the cross was God’s ultimate demonstration of compassion for mankind!
Some people, even some well meaning people in our churches, think that there are broken and hurting people in our community who are not worthy of our compassion. They think that the lives of certain people are in the mess they are in simply because of their own bad choices and that they deserve the hell they’re living in.
Aren’t you glad this morning that God didn’t wait until we were worthy of His compassion? He demonstrated compassion to us while we were still sinners! He didn’t sit back and wait until we were “worthy.” Because, He knew we would never be worthy! Yet, in spite of knowing we would never be worthy, He still demonstrated compassion to us!
Now, knowing that God has demonstrated compassion on us, even when we didn’t deserve it, how should we respond?
Colossians 3:12 Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
Notice that out of all the things God commands us to “put on” as His “chosen ones” the first one listed is “heartfelt compassion.” Understand that this is not a coincidence; this tells us that developing and demonstrating a heartfelt compassion for others is a priority with God!
Look at the list - all of these things are important - I’m not denying the importance of the other things - we need them in our life. But, when it comes to effective ministry, we are dead in the water without compassion. Compassion is absolutely vital to any effective ministry.
You may be asking why is compassion so vital to effective ministry? The answer is simple my friends: When we have true compassion for the lost and hurting people around us, we will be willing to pay any cost or do anything necessary to reach them, even to the point of giving up our own life. Without true compassion, we will never make the necessary effort, never be willing to pay whatever it costs, or never make the personal sacrifice that effective ministry requires. We may participate for a while, but when it stops being easy, and it costs us something, we will quit.
Jesus demonstrated compassion by setting aside all the glories of Heaven and coming to the earth in the form of a common man.
Jesus demonstrated compassion throughout His earthly ministry by helping those who were unworthy in everything He said or did.
Jesus demonstrated compassion when He allowed Himself to be beaten, ridiculed, spit upon, and finally crucified on a Roman cross so that we might be saved.
Because of His compassion, Jesus was willing to do whatever was necessary that we could be saved, delivered, and set free. As the Body of Christ, His hands and His feet, on the earth today, we must demonstrate this same compassion for people.
Every ministry of the church must be birthed out of compassion if it is going to be effective.
2. BE BUILT UPON THE PEOPLE AND RESOURCES WITHIN THE LOCAL CHURCH.
Mark 6:38 And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
As we move further into this narrative, we see that there was a problem developing among the people. They were so excited to hear more of what Jesus was teaching that had followed Him and the Disciples into the wilderness where there was not enough food available to feed this hungry crowd.
Now if you’ve ever raised teenage boys, you know what it’s like is when people get hungry! I can tell that some of you here this morning can’t wait to get out of here and rush to the buffet. On the Sundays that I preached a little longer than usual, I can hear stomachs growling and it sounds like there's a pack of wild dogs in here getting ready to fight!
The people were tired and worn down from following Jesus around the area for several days. They were hungry and needed to be fed. In addition to the 5,000 men in that crowd, were women and children. The Bible only lists the men. When we consider the additional women and children, the families of these men that would have been there with them, were looking at a crowd of at least 10,000, and possibly as many as 15,000 upwards to 20,000. So, feeding this multitude, in this barren wilderness area, posed what appeared to be on the surface an insurmountable problem.
In verse 35 of our text, the Bible notes that the Disciples were aware of the problem.
Mark 6:35 When it was already late, His disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late!
There’s no denying that the Disciples saw the suffering of the people. They understood the gravity of the problem clearly. But, notice how they proposed to solve the problem:
Mark 6:36 Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”
Doesn’t that sound sadly familiar. I wonder how many churches and christian people there are in our community today who are fully aware of the suffering of the lost and hurting people around us, yet they avoid the problem by looking away, or by sending them away, without any help or without any hope?
I wonder how many are sitting around this morning in their fancy sanctuaries, with their fancy stained glass windows, and their fancy crystal chandeliers, singing their hallowed hymns of praise to God, while thousands around them are dying and headed to Hell without so much as them even taking notice!
May God help us here at Metro Grace to never be callused to the lost and hurting people around us!
"Send them away" the Disciples said. That’ll fix the problem. But, thank God, Jesus had a different plan in mind that day:
Mark 6:37 “You give them something to eat,” He responded.
BAM! Jesus hit the Disciples right dead between their self-righteous, sanctimonious eyes with His reply! No! You’re not going to send them away! You do something about their situation! You…not anyone else. Stop passing the buck and do something about the plight of the people.
Let’s go back for a moment to the first point we discussed today: This exchange between Jesus and the Disciples perfectly illustrates the difference between sympathy and compassion. The Disciples had sympathy for the people at this point, but no true compassion. Jesus wanted to teach them to have compassion.
Listen once again to the words of Jesus: “You give them something to eat.” Jesus taught us here that He expects us to do more than feel sorry for the lost and hurting people around us…He expects us do something to help them!
At this point, I believe the Disciples were beginning to understand compassion, but still lacked an understanding of how they could carry out the mission Jesus had gave them. Look at their reply to Jesus:
Mark 6:37…They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”
This is an interesting statement which gives us great insight into the mindset of the Disciples at that moment. A denarii was the equivalent of an average, common man’s daily wages. 200 denarii would have been 200 days, or approximately 8 to 81/2 months wages. This would have been a large sum of money that the Disciples probably didn’t have on hand. Even if they had the money, where would they buy the bread? Remember they were out in the wilderness miles away from the nearest bakery. That’s the reason that moments earlier they asked Jesus to send the people away before it got too late to travel back to the town.
Now, to me very carefully, the problem they had wasn’t the lack of available bread, or lack of money to buy it. Although, most people respond the same way the disciples did when faced with carrying out the mission God assigns them…that’s never the real problem.
The problem was Jesus said, “You give them something to eat” and they immediately started looking for an outside source to help them carry out the mission Christ had assigned to them. They were still looking for someone else to do it for them, or at least help them get it done. What Christ actually wanted them to do was look within themselves at what they already had, and then to offer it up to God:
Mark 6:38 And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
When Jesus asked, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.” He was really asking them, “what do you already have that you can offer to God completely?” That’s the same question He’s asking us today as a local church body! He’s asking us, “Metro Grace, what do you already have that you can offer up to God completely?”
I believe with all my heart that everything we will ever need to accomplish the mission, vision, and purpose God has given to this church is right here in this church body! Every future leader, teacher, servant, or helper we will ever need for the ministries of the church, God will raise up or place within this body! Every dime of money that we will ever need to finance the ministries and outreach efforts of this church, God will place or raise up from within this body.
God doesn’t want us to look for an outside source of help to accomplish the mission He assigned us…No…He wants us to look at what we already have, and then offer it up to Him completely!
Every single one of you here today, if you are saved, has been uniquely gifted with spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities from God to be used to build up this local body of believers, and to serve in the ministries of this church.
There are some of you today that have never served before, or have rarely served, but God has a plan and a purpose for your life. He has placed you in this local body by His design, and He is going to use you in the future in ways that you never thought possible if you will simply offer up all you have. Even if you think that you don’t have much to offer to God, give Him what you have and watch what He can do with it!
It not only takes people using their spiritual gifts, but it takes money to make a difference in our community. How many of you know that it will take money to start the new ministries God is calling us to begin. It takes money to support this facility, to keep the lights on, to keep it heated and cooled, so that we have a place to preach, teach, and disciple. Ministry takes finances and resources, as well as workers to sustain.
Some of you may be asking about right now, “Br. Floyd, where is all this money going to come from?” From right here within this body is what I would tell you. All the money we will ever need is right here among us. The only problem is that it’s still in your pocket and hasn't yet been offered up to God! All of us share in the responsibility of making sure the financial needs of the church are not only met, but well supplied, so that there will never be a lack of resources to meet the needs of ministry!
I ask you this morning, do you truly believe in the mission, vision, and purpose God has given us here at Metro Grace? Do you want to make a difference in our community? Do you truly believe in what we are doing here as a church in this community? Is your heart invested in this local church? If yes is your answer, then we must be willing to give of our time, talents, and even our money, sacrificially to God’s service.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The early church certainly believed that the cause of Christ was worth sacrificing for:
Acts 4:34 For there was not a needy person among them, because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed for each person’s basic needs
Is the cause of Christ still worth sacrificing for? That’s the question each of us must answer in our own heart this morning. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. May we be willing to sacrifice for Him in return!
Church, if we will dedicate what we have; our time, our talents, and our money, no matter how little it may seem, to God, He can bless it and multiply it to meet every need. He can take our little, and turn it into an abundant supply, that is more than enough to help us make a difference in the lives of the lost and hurting in our community.
Effective Ministry MUST be built upon the people and resources within the local church body.
3. BE IMPLEMENTED THROUGH FAITH AND PRAYER.
Mark 6:41 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.
Finally, we see the third key element of effective ministry highlighted in this portion of scripture. Jesus took the 5 small loaves and two small fish, blessed it, and then divided it among the people. In this act, we see a perfect example of faith and prayer working hand in hand to accomplish the mission of God.
I think its extremely important that we understand how these two work together as one, and that when it comes to effective ministry, they are inseparable. Without faith we will never commit ourselves to fervent prayer, and without fervent prayer we will never develop the necessary faith we need to see the miracle working power of God.
Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
Notice the pattern Jesus followed here:
Mark 6:39 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.
First there was faith, then prayer, followed by greater faith, which resulted in a miracle working power of God being released into the situation.
Jesus instructed the Disciples to get the people in groups ready to receive the meal before he did anything else. This was an act of faith. He had compassion on the people, and knew that His heavenly Father also had compassion for the people. They had a need and He prepared them to receive a blessing by faith.
Next, Jesus committed the situation to God through prayer. He took what the Disciples had to offer and committed it to God through prayer. He was saying, “Father, you see the need of the people, and you see what we have on hand to work with, now as we commit all we have to your service, add Your divine power to it and multiply it to meet the need!”
Jesus then began to break the bread and fish into pieces by faith and instructed the Disciples to feed the people…and he continued dividing, and they continued serving until all the people were filled and could eat no more.
Mark 6:42 Everyone ate and was filled. 43 Then they picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish.
Everyone ate. Everyone was filled. Every need was met. No one did without. No one was left behind. That my friends is effective ministry. In fact, you can't get more effective than that. EVERYONE was filled.
Not only did the people have enough, but notice that there were 12 baskets of leftovers. Anyone think this was a coincidence? I sure don’t! There was a basket of leftovers for each of the twelve Disciples! I think the Lord was teaching them a lesson they would never forget that day. He not only taught them that He could meet there every need, He taught them that He is a God of abundance!
I believe the Apostle Paul understood this truth about our Lord when he wrote in:
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
If our ministry here in this community is to be effective, it MUST be implemented through faith and prayer.
Conc: I believe that God has a strong call on this local church body we call Metro Grace Community Church. He’s given us a clearly defined Mission, Vision, and Purpose. And, I believe He wants us to be effective in carrying out our Mission, Vision, and Purpose.
In order to be effective, ministry must be:
1. Birthed out of Compassion.
2. Built upon the people and resources within the local church.
3. Implemented through Faith and Prayer.
Do you have a real heartfelt compassion for the lost and hurting people around you? Or, would you have to admit, that although you may have sympathy, there’s no true compassion. If that’s true in your life, I ask you to begin to seek God, and ask Him to fill your heart with compassion.
Have you asked God what His plan and purpose is for you in this church? Remember, everyone has a purpose and a place of service. Every believer has been uniquely gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve.
Do you know what your gift or gifts are? Are you developing and using the spiritual gifts God has given you?
Are you sacrificially giving of your time, talents, and finances to the cause of Christ? If not, you’re missing out on the greatest blessing that God can give you, and the church is not as strong as it could be.
Are you willing to step out by faith and commit every situation to God through prayer, so that you can develop even greater faith, which in turn releases the power of God into your life and ministry?
God has a purpose and plan for this church to reach the lost and hurting of this community. He has a purpose and a plan for us to fully disciple the new believers He adds to this church. But, more importantly, He has a purpose and plan for your life; a plan that includes your personal involvement in His work here at Metro Grace.Will you obey His call?
Close with an invitation to those who are lost (Share the ABC’s of Salvation).
