The Book of Mark
Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Calling, Pt 2
Mark 6:10-13; 30-32
We are at the place in Mark 6 where the Lord sends out the Twelve on their first short-term mission trip. The timing is good because even as we learn from this passage how to be a good missionary we have people serving and preparing to travel to serve in the same way.
And as I told you last week, there is an historical transition that takes place as Jesus hands ministry responsibility over to the 12 and there is a practical lesson here as we learn what Jesus expects His messengers to do.
We’ll read the text, refresh our memory from last week, then look at some new material for tonight.
Mark 6:6b-13, 30-31
This is the first short-term mission the church ever went on. They didn’t go too far nor did they stay too long, but Jesus sends them out with both the message to preach and the power to do these miraculous wonders that validate the message.
Now remember, they’re preaching the Kingdom and it is a message that is new. And there is a validation that is necessary. How do you know who’s from God?
The validating signs of the ministry of Christ were what we’ve seen him do in the first five chapters. He can heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead. Here is the proof He is from God.
So as the Lord sends out the 12, He sends them with the ability to do the same things He did. There can be no contradiction between the teacher and the students or the way they do their ministry.
As we look at what’s in this text, we find some of the elements in the profile of a faithful messenger. IF you are going to go out in the name of Jesus, claiming to be sent by Him and doing His work, then here are some things that will show up in your life. We covered three of them last time, sl Ill just quickly review those.
Number one, they proclaim salvation. Consistent with the message of Jesus, we must preach a message of salvation that requires repentance. ANd in verse 12, that’s what the twelve did. They went out and preached that people should repent.
Secondly, they were to show compassion. Verse 7 says, “They had authority over the unclean spirits.” Luke 9:1 says, “And to heal diseases.” And Matthew 10:8 says, “And to raise the dead.” They were able to have power over demons, death and disease, just as Jesus did.
There were a lot of ways the Lord could have demonstrated divine power and proven that they were true preachers. And there were a few ways they wanted to demonstrate it themselves. Remember John asking the Lord if they should call down fire from heaven and burn some folks up?
But Jesus sent them to show compassion by dealing with very real life problems.
The third thing that we learned last time is they had to learn to trust God. He instructed them, “They should take nothing for their journey,” go with the clothes on your back and the shoes on your feet and take a stick. Don’t take any extra bread. Don’t take a bag to put anything in, no money in your belt. That’s the way you go.” He wants them to learn to trust God.
The fourth thing He required is this:
4. They were to demonstrate contentment
Verse 10
I think one of the primary concerns the Lord had about sending these 12 out with all this power is that greed and control would trip them up. HE didn’t want them to get out there and put a price on the ministry. And it just seems to me the potential for corruption is unbelievable. It’s kind of like being elected to Congress!
And in particular think of what a temptation it must have been for Judas to be out there with this kind of power. Remember, he controls the purse strings for the group.
But the idea we find here is just be content. Don’t put a price on your ministry. Learn to live on what the Lord provides and don’t sell yourself to the highest bidder.
The fifth principle is the effective messenger of the gospel must learn to
5. Exercise Discernment
verse 11
Now the assumption of that statement is they were going to be rejected. And that is especially true when you think about their audience. They are going to the Jews. They are a highly religious people who have spent their whole life patting themselves on the back because they must be favored by God. After all, they are His chosen people!
They follow all the ceremonies and all the rituals and all the external acts. And to go preach to them a message of repentance will be a hard thing to do. They certainly would need some convincing to come to believe they are going to hell. In fact, when Jesus preached that the first time He went to Nazareth, they tried to throw Him off the cliff and stone Him to death and they were the people who knew Him best.
It’s not a happy message and it’s not going to be received well as a general rule. So you’re going to have to exercise some discernment. So Jesus says, “When you go to some town, or some home, or some region and preach, if they don’t receive it, if they don’t listen to it, then just leave.”
And not only leave, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them. That is the traditional Jewish way of expressing scorn toward Gentile countries.
The Gentiles were considered to be unclean. And when you went outside Israel and you came back in, you stopped on the edge and you took your sandals off and you shook all the Gentile dirt into the Gentile land before you stepped into Israel.
Then you shook your robe because you’ve been kicking up Gentile dirt and it would be all over you from your head to your foot. You shook off your shoes, you shook off your clothes and you shook out your hair to show your disdain for the Gentiles. You didn’t want to bring Gentile dirt and contaminate the land of Israel.
I do that every time I cross Red River returning from Texas!
And Jesus tells His messengers to use this illustration the Jews would understand. If you preach the message of salvation and they reject it, then you visibly let them know they are no better than a Gentile dog. They are unclean and under the wrath and judgment of God.
Matthew adds that they were to scout things out and be selective about where they stayed and to leave that place with a blessing if it was worthy of a blessing. And if it’s not worthy, take back your blessing and get out. Stay where you can give the blessing. Whoever doesn’t receive you or heed your words, as you go out of the house or the city, shake the dust off your feet.
And then in verse 15 he really turns up the heat.
Verse 15
Not only are you going to tell them their like a Gentile city, they are like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in particular.
That takes a little bit of boldness and courage and a whole lot of discernment. If a city or town or person refuses the gospel in order to be devoutly Jewish, then the assessment of Christ is they are worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.
Why? Because rejecting Christ is a worse sin than practicing homosexuality. In fact, Jesus said if the miracles that had been done in Capernaum had been down in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented.
The reason for this judgment is because of a rejection of the message. And as we go out to deliver the message of salvation, we must use discernment so we will be able to know when to stop preaching the message of repentance and instead preach a message of judgment.
When you see rejection, identify it, call it what it is and demonstrate a visual judgment as a testimony against them and leave.
Next, messengers of Christ must be
6. Obedient
verses 12 and 13
They did exactly what they were told to do. They preached and they healed and delivered. They did what they were instructed to do.
And obedience isn’t always easy, even when you want to do the right thing. We just talked about one of the most difficult things in the world to do and that is pronouncing judgment on those who reject Christ. And yet we are instructed to do exactly that, in spite of how much we are told we shouldn’t judge.
That’s every liberal non-Christian’s favorite verse, Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”
He’s not instructing us to never make a moral judgment about anything. He’s telling us to not be a hypocrite by judging someone else when we are more guilty than are they.
Listen: We must judge. We are instructed to judge. We are the only ones in the world capable of making correct judgments. Jesus told us not to cast pearls before swine or feed holy things to the dogs. Remember that?
Well somebody has to make a judgment about who’s a pig or a dog.
In fact, if you follow the entire text there in Matthew 6, first he says “Don’t be a hypocrite”. Then He says, “Don’t give what is holy to dogs. Do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Then He says, “Ask and it shall be given, seek and you’ll find, knock and it will be opened.”
The flow is this: I’ve entrusted you with the gospel message and while you are out sharing it, don’t be a hypocrite by condemning people. Keep your life clean.
At the same time, you’re going to have to make some decisions or judgments about to whom you will share. Don’t waste your time or the precious gospel with those who openly reject it. Once you know you’re dealing with dogs and pigs, don’t waste the truth on them.” That’s pretty strong language.
We tend to think of dogs as cute little members of the family. But he’s referencing the half-wild mongrels who were roaming the street. They were dirty, greedy, snarling, diseased, dangerous creatures.
And He says you would never consider taking things that had been offered to God as a sacrifice and feeding them to those kinds of dogs because it’s far too sacred. It’s been consecrated as a sacrifice at the temple. You don’t do that.
Nor should you throw a pearl to a pig. Do you think a pig will appreciate a pearl? No. They are the epitome of uncleanness. Jews did not raise pigs. They were wild, wild scavengers. They were vicious and dangerous. They’ll turn and rip you to shreds once they think you’re a source of food if you don’t give them more. They don’t care about your pearls.
So when you come across dogs and swine, that’s the people who have no appreciation for something good, they’re content with the garbage they’re eating. Don’t waste your time.
Then He adds, “Since you will need discernment while you are out there, ask Me and I’ll guide you”.
Keep your life clean. Know you’ll have to make some judgments. Ask me for help.
But remember, we’re talking about obedience. This is our responsibility in the world and that’s not always easy.
I also think it was hard for them to be obedient because of who they are. They had authority. They had connections or training. They must have struggled with doubts and misunderstandings and personality conflicts and frustration.
But they did what they were told to do. And there is a tendency to say, “Well who wouldn’t go?” They are going out to heal and raise the dead and cast out demons.” Yeah, but that’s not all. It’s actually pretty remarkable that they were obedient at all when you know the rest of the story because Mark doesn’t tell us everything Jesus said.
Matthew 10:1-15 is basically the same. But notice what we find beginning at
Verse 16-24
The mission field is not so attractive now, is it? Now obviously not all of that happened on the first short-term mission trip, but eventually it did.
But why should we expect it to be any different?
Verses 24-31
Now all of this is said at the same moment, He gives them all of this. That would kind of put a little restraint on your evangelistic zeal, wouldn’t it? So their obedience is remarkable in the face of what they were told to expect.
But what does verse 12 of Mark 6 say? So they went out and did what they were told to do. They were obedient.
There is one final feature that needs to be added in the last couple of minutes before I finish.
7. They were accountable
Anybody who is in the service of the Lord needs to understand that there’s a report to be given. So go over to verse 30 and let’s see what happened here. They come back some weeks or months later.
Verse 30
They were told to do two things...preach and demonstrate power. So they came back and said, “This is what we preach, and this is what happened through the power that was delegated to us.”
They are “The Twelve” now. They are the Lord’s Apostles. The bar had been set very high and I don’t think any of those pairs wanted to come back under the bar. So they came back with their victories and defeats. They came back with their rejections and their acceptances. They came back and told the whole story.
Now, in this accountability, there’s something very special to take note of and it’s found in
Verse 31
Listen, our Lord is not on such a brutal schedule that He doesn’t understand we need rest. No extreme taskmaster is He.
True to form, He is gracious, tender, sensitive and understanding. We need rest. We need quiet. We need refreshment. We need to have our strength replenished. We need time away from the masses. We need time alone with Him and we need time with others who minister.
It was physically demanding. It was physically exhausting. And everywhere they went was unfamiliar to them. So He says, “That’s enough for now. You need to rest for there were many people coming and going and they didn’t even have time to eat.”
Can you imagine how busy they had been? They didn’t take any food with them. They’ve managed and God has provided, but now it was time to rest and relax and enjoy the Lord’s company.
We’re important and we’re useful but we’re not necessary. The Kingdom will move on if we take a rest. Preach the gospel. Demonstrate the compassionate love of God. Be content with whatever circumstance you’re in. Stay there happily. Be discerning. Know when it’s time to stop preaching the message of grace and start to proclaim judgment. Be obedient. Do what you’ve been called. And embrace your accountability.
These men, by the way, turned the world upside-down. Nay God find us faithfully doing what He has instructed us to do as well.
Let’s pray.
