Called and Sent!
Mark 6:6b-13
Introduction: We can be thankful for the grace of
God revealed in Jesus! Mark introduced his story of Jesus with the phrase, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.” He, like the other gospel writers, wants us to understand
correctly who Jesus is and why He came. He wants us to understand what it means
to follow Him. So, we see the various characters in the story struggle with
their own answers to those questions, and we are invited to follow along, to
examine our own heart, to ponder the question “Who is this?” And then, to consider the implications of His person and work, and the implications of His
call on our lives.
He had already called the
twelve, with the intention of sending them out (3:14). Now, the time had come
to put their training into practice, and to seek to multiply the outreach of
the gospel. This first “short term mission” experience would prefigure the
sending out of the church after the cross / resurrection / Pentecost. Remember
Mark, like the other gospel writers, is writing from a post-resurrection
perspective, telling us what happen “then and there,” and inviting us to
consider the implications for his readers, including us, “here and now.” Mark
says, “…and He called the twelve and
began to send them out…” What a privilege to have a part in God’s Mission!
Give thanks!
The BIG Idea: Be thankful for your part in God’s
mission! He has called us to be His ambassadors, and He is sending us out with
His message to a desperately needy world..
I. Look at Jesus (6:6b). He, the Lord of all creation, came to serve.
He modeled faithful ministry and continued preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom
to those who would hear.
“And
he went about among the villages teaching…”
Even in this
context, where we’ll see Jesus sending out the twelve as His authorized
representatives, Jesus himself is their example. Remember the previous context,
Jesus had presented himself for a second time in the synagogue of His hometown,
Nazareth. And for a second time, “He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not…” The first part of verse six
tells us “…He marveled at their unbelief…”
That should remind us that the way is narrow that leads to life, and few
there are that find it. It illustrates the truth that the natural man
does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and He cannot understand them
since they are spiritually discerned. How does Jesus react? Does He abandon
the mission? Does He begin to question His calling? No, rather, He continues
on, preaching the Gospel and calling the people to repentance and faith.
Have you ever
faced rejection as you went to your own people, those closest to you—friends,
relatives, neighbors—and sought to point them to Jesus? If you have been a
believer for mare than I day, I am sure your have. I know I have! If you share
your faith, you will experience rejection by some. Jesus was still teaching
His disciples, and by His example was preparing them for the mission that still
was before them. Later, in the upper
room, He is preparing the disciples to continue the mission without His
physical presence. He tells them not to be surprised if the world hates
them—the world hated Him first! In fact,
in the very next paragraph, we’ll see the depth of the hatred of the world as
Mark relates the story of the martyrdom of John the Baptist. Only after Mark
gives the report of John’s death, does he tell us that the disciples return and
“…told him all that they had done and
taught.” (Mark 6:30). Later, in chapter 8, we’ll see what I think is a key
verse for Mark in 8:34-35, calling
would-be disciples to count the cost…
34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. 35 For whoever
would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and
the gospel's will save it.
That is a surefire recruitment line!
No sugar coating the truth for Jesus, his would-be disciples needed to know
that following Jesus could mean entering into a spiritual battle. That is
one of the questions Mark wants to emphasize: What does it mean to follow Him? Be thankful, He has called us to be His ambassadors, and He is
sending us out with His message to a desperately needy world! So, 1) Look to
Jesus, and…
II. Listen to
His call and His commission (7). We are to serve in His name: Jesus called the twelve and sent them
out with spiritual authority. Remember there is no “plan B!” God has a remnant
that will believe… in this neighborhood, and in your oikos. God’s plan
includes us to be a witness exactly where we are. We are called to reach
out to those around us with the “good news” of salvation by grace, through
faith in Jesus!
7 And he called the twelve
and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the
unclean spirits.
First, we see the model of TEAM
Ministry, Jesus does not send each disciple out to do his own thing. Rather, He
sends them “two by two.” None of them
were sent out as “lone ranger” missionaries. There were probably several
reasons for this. The principle spoken by Solomon in Ecclesiastes certainly
applies,
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward
for their toil…” (Eccl 4:9).
Why are
two better? 1) They would have been safer
traveling together. 2) There may have been complementary
personalities and giftedness among them. That is certainly true in the church.
3) They could hold each other accountable,
and be a second witness testifying to
the truthfulness of what was being taught (remember the principle of “two or
three witnesses”). So, He sent them out two by two.
Mark’s language here is interesting, “…He began to send them out…” Each
pair was specifically chosen and personally directed to the ministry the Lord
had for them. He put a team together and
sent them in one direction, and chose another team and sent them somewhere
else. In His sovereignty, and through His providential guidance, the Lord had
“divine appointments” for these men to keep. We don’t have all the details
about their experience, but the point is, they were all part of the mission,
each pair having their particular direction and calling.
As I considered that I realize these
teams being sent out, aren’t yet the church, the church would be born after the
cross and resurrection on the day of Pentecost. Even so, this does prefigure
the church and our mission in the world. God has chosen each of us who know
Him to have a part in his mission. He has placed us in the family in which we
are, with the co-workers and neighbors that are around us, the people that we
live life with. Remember the statistic: 95% of those who believe come to faith
primarily through the witness of someone who is already in their life. On
average, each of us has somewhere between 8 and 15 people that we regularly
interact with. They know us and they are watching us (like it or not!).
Hopefully by our life we are earning a hearing, we have their respect. And we are
called to point them to Jesus.
Even the verb “…to send…” which is used here is instructive. It is the verb apostello, the same root from which we
get the word “apostle.” These men were sent and commissioned as the authorized representatives of Jesus.
They were to be His ambassadors to the people to whom they were sent. Later
Jesus will say to them, “As the Father
has sent Me, so send I you…” They weren’t seeking to make disciples for
themselves, but rather their mission was to point people to Jesus.
Notice also that
“…He gave them authority over unclean
spirits…” This is the initial fulfillment of His expressed purpose in
calling them back in Mark 3:14-15,
14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might
be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out
demons.
This was that! And notice His plan from the beginning was that they would
be Empowered for Ministry. They had no authority or power of their own
to cast out demons, he gave them authority and sent them out in His name. If
some of that sounds familiar we see some of the same language used, after the
cross and resurrection, in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20,
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. 19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end
of the age."
In case you missed it, that is the BIG Idea: Let’s be thankful that God has
called us to be His ambassadors, and He is sending us out with His message to a
desperately needy world. So, 1) Look to Jesus, our example; 2) Listen to His
call and His commission, and…
III. Be outwardly-focused:
Look at the harvest, ready to go when He calls, where directed, trusting
in His presence and provision (8-10). I thought of Paul’s admonition to
Timothy, “Be ready in season and out of
season…” Or, as my Bible College teacher used to say, “Be ready to preach,
pray, or die on a moment’s notice!”
8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff- no
bread, no bag, no money in their belts- 9
but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.
10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay
there until you depart from there…”
Do the instructions here sound a little strange? Why limit what the
disciples were to bring on this first “short-term mission”? It seems the
idea was to call them to believe, to trust in God’s provision, and to urge them
to be unencumbered, ready to move. They needed to travel light. It is
reminiscent of the instructions given the Israelites for eating the Passover on
the eve of the Exodus…
In this manner you shall
eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in
your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover… (Exod 12:11).
Sadly, for the Israelites, it
wouldn’t take long before they started lamenting life in the wilderness, and
longing for the “good old days” in Egypt. When God said “Go!” they needed to be
ready to move quickly, and they needed to trust Him to be with them. John
admonished the readers of his first letter,
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and
the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions- is not from the Father but is
from the world. 17 And the
world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God
abides forever… (I Jn
2:15-17).
This may be one of the biggest challenges we face,
particularly as 21st century Christians in the United States. We
are too easily addicted to our comforts and our security. We love the
blessings of life in this world and that makes it harder for us to take a risk
and reach out with the message of the Cross, the cost seems too high. That is not unique to our context, however.
Later in Mark’s Gospel, we’ll read the story of Jesus encountering a rich,
young, ruler. As He is pointing the man to the way of life Mark writes,
“…And Jesus, looking at
him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow me.’ 22 Disheartened
by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions…” (Mk 10:21-22).
We need to realize that you can’t
take it with you! Life is short. But we were created for eternity! God has a
plan, are you thankful for your part in it? God has called us to be His
ambassadors, and He is sending us out with His message to a desperately needy
world.
IV. Don’t be discouraged… or surprised by animosity or opposition (11).
11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you,
when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against
them."
The language of “shaking the dust off your feet” was well known in the Ancient Near
East. The Jews then would customarily “shake
the dust off their feet” when they left a pagan land so as not to
contaminate the Holy Land on their return. The disciples were being sent out
to Jews, and to “shake the dust off their feet” after leaving a town would be a
dramatic testimony of the seriousness of their rejection of the Gospel message. For their part, the disciples were to present
the message, and call the people to repentance and faith. They may have been gentle,
but we can be sure they were passionate! Yet you don’t find Jesus at the end of
an argument do you? If they were
rejected, they were to move on… Others would hear. Just as Jesus went on
after being rejected in His hometown, their ministry of the Word must persist
through difficulty.
As Paul said, “…my beloved
brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain…” (I Cor 15:58). When Paul
was a prisoner in Rome at the end of Acts, after the Jews there were divided
about the message of Jesus, said, “Therefore let it be known to you that this
salvation has been sent to the gentiles; they will listen” (Acts 28:28). *God
has called us to Himself and He is sending us with His message as His
ambassadors to a desperately needy world. So, 1) Look to Jesus, 2) Listen to
His call, 3) be outwardly-focused, 4) not discouraged…
V. Be aware of the needs of those to whom you are sent (12,13). There is a sense of urgency
throughout this passage… this is implicit here, and throughout Mark’s Gospel.
12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons
and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
The entire Gospel of Mark has been presenting the ministry of Jesus in a
setting of urgency. The repeated use of the word “immediately” [euthus] serves to give the reader of
this gospel the impression that the ministry of Jesus, and by extension, the ministry
of his followers, is a vital mission that presents an urgent message that
the world desperately needs to hear and believe. At the start of the Gospel, John was “…baptizing in the
wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…” (Mark 1:4). Then we
read in Mk 1:14-15 that Jesus, “…came into Galilee, proclaiming
the gospel of God, 15 and
saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent
and believe in the gospel.’”
Now, the disciples who He is sending are to continue the mission,
calling people to repentance and faith. Preaching the message, speaking the
words of Christ and calling the people to repentance is at the heart of their
mission. And just as we see in the book of Acts,
the Lord “…bore witness to the word
of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands…” (Acts 14:3). Those attesting
miracles were a testimony to the people, an evidence that God was at work. They
also gave a preliminary glimpse into the future. As Jesus said in Mark 1, “The kingdom of God is at hand! Repent and
believe the gospel!” So, we 1) look to Jesus, 2) listen to His call, 3) focus
outwardly, 4) not discouraged, but 5) seeking to see the needs of those to whom
we are sent.
What is God saying to me in this passage? Are you thankful that you have been
called and sent by God? He has called us to Himself and He is sending us with His
message as His ambassadors to a desperately needy world.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? You know the story of the Lord
calling the twelve, have you acknowledged His call on your life? At
least 2 aspects…
1) First, His call to believe, but also 2) His call to follow Him?
Yes, the “apostles” had a unique ministry in the foundational period of the
church. Paul says in Eph 2:20 the church is “…built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” The
foundation was laid in the 1st century as those men spoke in His name, and by
the end of that period they brought the final books that would form God’s
completed Word written to the church. Their ministry was unique and
foundational, but we too are sent, with a message to the world.
2) As Jesus gave the Great Commission He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That is a
promise as sure as the resurrection! The implication of that promise is that the
call to make disciples of all the nations continues until He returns!
3) Stay engaged in the mission. "The things of earth will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last." We have been authorized to bring that message to the world. Jesus is building His church. What a privilege is ours to have a part in God’s mission! AMEN.
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