Dense Disciples

introduction

How many of you are aware that not everyone that has a brain actually uses it? For instance, I read a story about a woman that was pulled over by the police. The officer kindly asked to see the woman’s driver’s license. She huffed a bit and said, “I wish you guys would get your act together. Just yesterday you take away my license, and today you expect me to show it to you.”

I also read about a man went in to a pizza place and ordered a small pizza to go. The clerk asked the man if wanted the pizza cut into four slices, or six. The man thought for a moment, and said, “Just cut it into four slices. I don’t think I’m hungry enough to eat six.” Again, having a brain and using it are two different things.

If we were honest, all of us have moments when our minds go into a coma, and we say and do things that cause the people around us shake their heads and wonder what our parents were thinking.

If you study the disciples, as they followed the Lord Jesus, there are times that their behavior causes you to wonder if the Lord had picked the right group. Obviously, with the exception of Judas, the disciples became the foundation for the expansion and success of the Church, indicating that eventually, they got it.

However, in Mark chapter eight, there is an incident recorded in which the disciples obviously did not get it. The Lord was trying to teach them an important spiritual lesson, but at the time they were thick- headed and blind to what was going on around them.

In response to their stupidity, the Lord Jesus hit the dense disciples with a series of indicting questions, finally asking them in verse 21, “How is that ye do not understand?”

Unfortunately, the original twelve were not the only dense disciples our Lord would ever have. Still today, there are Christians who just do not get it. For them, the Lord’s question is still valid. “How is that you don’t understand?”

By examining the disciples in this text, we are challenged to think carefully about our Christian life, and how well we understand what the Lord is doing.

There are three things that make for a dense disciple. Search your heart, and see if these apply to you. First of all, a dense disciple is:

I. Concerned With The Simple

Mark chapter eight is a fairly good snapshot of a typical day in the life of a disciple. The chapter opens with Jesus feeding a crowd of four thousand with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish.

On the heels of this spectacular event, Jesus was confronted by the antagonistic Pharisees, who challenged Him to perform some sort sign, as if His previous efforts were not sufficient.

As this typical and yet remarkable day came to a close, the Lord and His disciples boarded a boat headed to the next location.

Surely, the disciples would spend the trip contemplating and discussing the significance of the day’s events. Certainly, they would be concerned about the Master and His work. No, instead, verse 16 reveals that all they seemed to be worried about was the fact that they had forgotten to bring enough bread for the boat ride.

The simple concerns of the disciples serve to remind us of how many times we are too concerned with the wrong things.

Notice a couple of things about their concerns. Notice first of all:

A.  How Narrow Their Concerns

The Messiah had finally come, and was in the midst of calling people to Himself. The sick were being healed, the dead religion of the Jews was being confronted, and yet Christ’s disciples seemed to care only about bread.

Verse 16 says, “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.” The phrase “reasoned among themselves,” literally means that all that they kept talking about was the fact that they only had one piece of bread.

In much the same way, many Christians today spend the majority of their life narrowly focused on themselves, and their present situation. You tell them that the world needs Christ, and the gospel must be proclaimed, and all they seem to be worried about is why the preacher didn’t shake their hand, or why the temperature of the building isn’t set exactly like their living room at home.

The Lord Jesus asked the disciples in verse 18, “Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?”

Too many Christians today are narrowly concerned because they can’t open their eyes to see beyond their needs, and they won’t open their ears to hear the call to something bigger than themselves.

Notice not only how narrow the simple concerns of the disciples, but notice also further:

B.  How Needless Their Concerns

That same morning, these twelve men had watched the Lord Jesus take seven loaves of bread, break them, and miraculously multiply them in order to fill the hungry bellies of 4,000 people.

Now, as they are in the boat together, looking at the lone piece of bread, they are saying to each other, “Well, what are we going to do now? How are we all going to eat?” Their discussion over the lack of bread of trivial, futile, and needless in light of all that had gone on that day.

The Lord Jesus has clearly promised and proven that God will supply every single need in the lives of his children, and yet, if we were honest, most of the concerns that we wrestle with in life center on some of the most basic needs.

We fret over things like houses, clothes, doctor bills, cars, and other largely petty things. In many ways, we are like the dense disciples worrying about bread.

What are your concerns? Are you more worried about the spreading of the gospel to unreached people groups, or the market value of your house and the cost of gasoline?

That day, the disciples didn’t get it. They were too concerned with the simple. Notice something else we draw from them. A dense disciple is not only concerned with the simple, but they are also:

II. Clueless In The Spiritual

The busy day was winding down, and as the boat started out across the water, the Lord was meditating about the confrontation he had had with the Pharisees.

The disciples, on the other hand, were busy arguing about which one of them had forgotten the bread, and which one of them had dibs on the one piece that had made it on board. Suddenly, the Master speaks from the back of the boat. Verse 15 says, “And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”

Jesus had a spiritual truth He wanted to convey to the disciples, and yet, verse 16 says that they continued discussing the issue of the bread, as if the Lord was referring to that. The disciples misunderstanding of the Lord’s statement to them is a reminder of how often we are clueless regarding spiritual things.

Notice a couple of things about their cluelessness. First of all, they were clueless:

A.  About His Word To Them

Jesus makes an important spiritual statement, and the disciples completely missed the significance and meaning of what He had said.

There are many people who sit on church pews week after week and hear the Word of God declared, yet they leave with no clue of what it truly means for them. At times, it is the preacher’s fault. He does not clearly communicate the truth. However, in most cases, the fault lies with the hearer. 

Jesus asked the disciples in verse 17, “…perceive ye not yet, neither understand?” The implication was not that the word was unclear, but that the disciples just didn’t have the sense to understand it.

Many people have no spiritual insight into the Word of God because they have spent no time with it. They do not study it. They do not seek to know it. Therefore, they are often clueless about what the Lord Jesus is trying to say to them.

A man once came to Pastor R.A. Torrey, and complained that he got nothing out the Bible. Torrey said, “Read it.” The man said, “I do.” Torrey said, “Read it some more.” He went on to challenge the man to read through the book of II Peter twelve times a day for a month. The man was skeptical, but he said later, “Soon I was talking II Peter to everyone I met. It seemed as though the stars in the heavens were singing the story of II Peter.”i

If you are having trouble understanding the Word of God, spend some more time with it, and somewhere the light will break, and you will know what the Savior means when speaks a truth into your life!

These dense disciples were not only clueless about His word to them, but notice also further that they were clueless:

B. About His Work In Them

The Lord Jesus said to His disciples in verse 15, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”

The Lord was trying to develop cautious and intelligent disciples that would be prepared to minister in the midst of a culture that opposed them. The disciples thought He was giving a lesson about buying the right kind of bread. They were clueless about the fact that He was trying to do a work in their lives.

Do you realize that this very moment, in this very service, the Lord Jesus Christ is trying to do a work in your heart, and make you into what you could not be apart from His help. I know; you thought you were just here to check off your attendance chart and keep your spouse off your back.

Every day of your life, God has something He wants to say to you and do in you. Unfortunately, many of His children are too clueless to realize that what He wants to do has nothing to do with Sportscenter or American Idol.

Ask yourself this question: What is God doing in my life right now? If you can’t think of anything, or you honestly don’t know, then it could be that you are clueless in the area of spiritual things.

Notice a third truth we draw from this text. The dense disciple is not only concerned with the simple, and clueless in the spiritual, but thirdly, they are also:

III. Callous To The Supernatural

Again, the disciples were consumed with the issue of their bread shortage. Can you imagine Thomas saying, “Well, this is great! You guys know what happens when my blood sugar drops!”

What is so astounding, and almost comical, about this whole scene is that twice in recent days, these same men had watched the Lord Jesus take a few loaves of bread, and feed somewhere close to ten thousand people.

Now they acted as if it would be impossible for Him to take one loaf and feed thirteen people. Though they had seen Him work miracles in the past, they were calloused to His miracle working ability.

The Bible is filled with stories of God’s miracle working abilities. Some of you have seen Him work miracles in your own life. Yet today, in spite of what you know about Him, you are worried about bread.

Notice a couple of things we draw from the disciples’ callousness toward the miraculous work of the Lord Jesus. Notice first of all that:

A. They Saw No Miraculous Potential

In verse 18, Jesus asks the question, “…do ye not remember?” In the next couple of verses He reminds them of what had happened the last time two times that they were in a situation where there was not enough food.

In both cases, the Lord Jesus had taken what seemed to be an insufficient amount, and had multiplied it until it was more than what was needed.

In spite of this fact, as the disciples discussed a very similar situation, none of them seem to even consider the possibility of a miracle. Though they had seen the miraculous occur, it did not occur to them that a miracle might happen in their situation.

Most of you will readily accept the miracles of the Bible. You would testify that you firmly believe that God can do absolutely anything He chooses, even that which lies in the area of the miraculous and supernatural.

Yet, while you would say that you know and believe all these things, there is a situation in your life that you have fretted over, and contemplated, but have never stopped to consider that God may work a miracle on your behalf.

In 2000, Newsweek magazine released a report in which they found that 84% of Americans believed God performs miracles. 48% said that they had experienced a miracle in their own life.ii

You may know that God can perform miracles, but when was the last time you gave Him the opportunity to do it your life? When was the last time you quit counting the bread, and asked Him to multiply it instead?

The dense disciples, though they had witnessed the miraculous, were calloused. They saw no miraculous potential. Notice also further that:

B. They Saw No Miraculous Person

In the text, even when Jesus interrupts the great bread debate, none of the disciples even thinks to ask Him to intervene in their food shortage.

Think about that. There in the boat with them was the Son of God. He had the power to multiply the one piece of bread they had, or to create 12 new loaves of bread out of thin air. He had spoken the universe existence. A dozen dinner rolls would be no problem. Yet, in spite of all they had seen Him do; in spite of all the power they knew He possessed; they never saw in Him the answer to their problem.

Oh, is this the case with you today? Have you heard so much about His ability and power that you have become callous to the supernatural?

You fret and worry over your bread shortage, or whatever your petty crisis may be, and all the while, your Master has the power to do the supernatural on your behalf.

Do you see Jesus as merely a historical figure? Do you see in Him just a theological concept? Is He for you just the means of atonement, or is He the God who is able to do, “exceeding, abundantly, above all” you could ever ask or think?
 
We don’t serve a God whose power and ability were exhausted in the first century. He is as much the miracle working God today as He has ever been. So, why have you not turned to Him and asked Him to invervene?

Listen to His question in verse 21, and imagine He is asking it to you? “How is that ye do not understand?” As you read the Lord’s words and questions in this text, there is almost a sense of His frustration with the slowness and denseness of His disciples. Before we join Him in criticizing them for their stupidity, perhaps we should find out if there is a sense in which we are just like them.

What are you most concerned with? Is it the things of God, or are you worried about bread?

Do you understand the things Christ is saying to you and doing in you, or are you clueless about spiritual things?

When is the last time you saw a miracle in your life? Have you grown callous to the idea of the supernatural?

While we may not be the fastest learners, by God’s grace, let us not continue to be dense disciples. i Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, & Quotes; p. 64-65
ii McHenry’s Stories for the Soul; p. 184