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Gospel of Mark #25~(6:7-13, 30-32)

Started by Al Moak, May 07, 2004, 09:32:34 AM

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Al Moak

Mark 6:7-13, 30-32
The Great Discipler


Until the time reflected in this chapter, the disciples had been learners only. They hadn't attempted to enter into their Master's ministry, nor had any of them actually gone out into the world as His representatives to minister without Him.

Our Lord, however, had no intention of allowing them to remain in that mode indefinitely. As the great Discipler, our Lord knows that passivity won't result in maturity. He knows that men, in addition to their "classroom" learning, also need to be out and doing, that they need to make mistakes, experience failure and success, and then be taught the meaning of it all. He knows that the kind of discipling that will bring about maturity requires several iterations of this sequence of instruction, practice, then more instruction. It would do us well to follow His example for those we disciple, for those we train to minister in His Name.

One of the first lessons of discipleship is the lesson of obedience. It's well illustrated by the Old-Testament story about a man by the name of Achan. Do you remember him? He was a soldier. I'd call him a greedy soldier, but then I'd have to remember that we're all inclined to be greedy and that we often want more than God gives us.

In Achan's day the Israelites were just beginning to enter the land of Canaan. They'd already had a spectacular victory at Jericho, where they'd seen the Lord work for them in a mighty, miraculous way by causing the city walls to fall down. They'd been obedient there in walking around the city 6 times in 6 days, then 7 times on the seventh day. On each trip around, the priests blew the trumpets as they went. Then, on the seventh trip around the city, the priests blew a long blast, the people all shouted at once, and the walls of the city fell down flat! It'd been a wonderful victory, and it had come to them because they had obeyed exactly their Lord's directions - except for one soldier by the name of Achan.

So, when they moved on to the next place, a city by the name of Ai, things didn't go so well. Some spies had been sent ahead, and their advice was to just send 2 or 3 thousand men to attack the place, because there weren't all that many people in Ai. But you know the story: when they attacked, they were routed by the "few" men of Ai!

Come to find out, though, that the problem was that one of the soldiers hadn't obeyed very well at Jericho, and that was why God let them be defeated at Ai. It was Private Achan. They'd all been commanded by the Word of the Lord not to take certain spoils of war from Jericho after the victory. But Achan, being alone somewhere in the city after the victory, saw a nice gold wedge and some other things. He thought to himself, "If I take these, nobody will notice. I can melt it down and I'll be rich! So he took the things and put them inconspicuously among his other equipment. Then he hid them in a hole he dug under his tent. And he was right. Nobody noticed - except the Lord.

You may remember that after the defeat at Ai, Achan was found out and had to confess. The result was that he, the "accursed things," as well as his sons, his daughters, his sheep and oxen, and all his possessions had to be destroyed before the Israelites could take Ai. Only when they'd obeyed that very harsh and difficult order could they took Ai.  They took it on the second try.

It's the same for us when we're involved in evangelism, which is, after all, warfare against the Devil's stronghold. We need to obey our Lord for good results. Otherwise it's frustration city! The instructions are right here in Mark's description of the disciples' missionary journey.

There are four things about the disciple's missionary journey that are important to us here. They are:



•   The disciples had to obey in coming when called and going when commanded.

•   The disciples had to obey by depending on God alone for their sustenance by taking nothing along.

•   The disciples had to obey by preaching repentance and casting out demons

Let's see what these things mean for us.

Jesus called the disciples two at a time to give them their marching orders. Obviously, as they came they could have made excuses. They could have said, "I have to work late tonight, so I can't come," or, "I've got to plant my petunias today," or, "My father, mother, sister, or brother is expecting me to come to their house today. But, because they loved their Master, they came when He called them, and they listened carefully to what He said. At least in this way, they had their priorities right. Do we?

Secondly, the disciples obeyed in depending on God alone, as illustrated bly the fact that they took nothing with them. They weren't even to take a lunch bag! It must be obvious from this that they weren't going to travel great distances to find their mission field!

Of course in the day of Jesus and His disciples the attitude of the general public toward hospitality was quite different than it is today. In those days, there were no motels or hotels and only an occasional inn. Mostly, there were only people's homes. If you built your house near the local road, you expected to put up occasional travelling strangers. And you would as well expect to feed them, and even to provide needed clothing for them, etc. for as long as they might stay. In turn, of course, you expected to receive all the latest news from each traveller who happened by. Dinnertime was news time!

This provides us some understanding of what our Lord's disciples might experience on their journey. They would depart from their master, walk perhaps three or four miles, knock on the nearest door, and begin their mission! After entering the home of their host, their feet would be bathed while they explained that they were disciples of Rabbi Jesus. If there was immediate interest, they would tell their hosts about the credentials of Jesus, about His claims to being the Son of the Highest and promised Messiah, and about the need for repentance and faith. If there were any sick in the household, the missionaries would lay hands upon them in Jesus' Name, and the God of Israel would provide healing. At some point, it would be time for the midday or evening meal, and the conversation would continue, depending on the receptiveness of the listeners.

So the disciples were to be totally dependent upon the people who would hear their message and upon the Lord Who moved them to hear. If their message was heard, they would eat and have a place to rest. If not, they might have to walk as much as a few more miles to anther village. Their maturing as Jesus' disciples would be the result of experiencing this kind of dependence upon the Gospel and upon the Lord of the Gospel. It was intended to develop their trust in the work of God's Spirit

Of course people don't expect visiting strangers these days. But they still need to hear about Messiah and about repentance and faith. As men and women who are sent by God to tell people about these things, we still need to depend on God.

For one thing, we need to learn not to be devastated by negative responses. We're God's representatives, not participants in a popularity contest! We have a serious message of life and death for those to whom we go. If they don't choose life, we must move on to bring the message to others.

We need to be aware that all mankind is in very real rebellion against its rightful King, and that what we bring to them is His summons to unconditional surrender. Some - possibly only a very few - will indeed surrender and return to their rightful King, but many others will continue their rebellion. We need to learn to have the courage to tell people that if they refuse the summons, then we can have no more to do with them - that we are "shaking off the dust of our feet just as the disciples did - because they are under the Judgement of the God we fear.

Not that we should take this to mean that we should be unloving or uncourteous. For the disciples, it was only when it became completely obvious that they and their message were really unwelcome that they were to perform their little demonstration of shaking off the dust and leaving. It might take an entire day, perhaps even several days for people's natural hostility to the Gospel to reach that point. But when it did, the disciples were to be the King's representatives, not cowering and defeated wimps!

They didn't need to shout curses upon those who chose to reject their call to repentance. They could be quiet and humble. But they had to make one fact very, very clear, and that was that no reasonable human being would want to have upon his shoes even the dust from the place that was to be the target of God's final Judgement! The disciples were to be loving, but their love had to be "tough love."

Another thing we should learn from the disciple's experience is that the Gospel produces radical changes in people who gladly receive its message. The love that shines forth in the wonderful Character of Jesus Christ will begin to radiate from the hearts of those who come to love Him. That love will in turn gladly care for the King's messenger. The disciples were not to refuse that love, and neither should modern-day messengers. Worldly gain shouldn't be the purpose for which we go, but our Lord here teaches us to lovingly receive what is lovingly given. He wants us to encourage His new lambs by gladly receiving their love. Though we might not go on our missions asking for worldly support, yet we may expect it as from the Hand of our Lord! We may trust Him for it if we are truly acting - in all points - as His representatives.

Thirdly, the disciples obeyed their Master by preaching repentance and casting out demons. There's only one brief sentence to tell us about the message they preached.  Mark says, "So they went out and preached that people should repent." It was a focussed message, a message that isn't like many modern-day evangelistic messages!

With commendable desire to see many come into the Kingdom, modern preachers often model their messages after the latest marketing practices and sales pitches used by the world to sell its products. They tell their hearers about the wonderful benefits they'll experience if they simply "ask Jesus into their hearts." Of course, because sin has produced pain in people's lives, there is indeed much relief and benefit to be experienced by those who come into right relationship to Christ. Often, however, such benefits seem to be the main focus of the message, and the matter of sin is overlooked. But the all-important question we need to ask ourselves is whether people can come into a right relationship to Christ as their King if they don't cease their rebellion against Him.

Maybe we've forgotten about that rebellion. Maybe we need to review our Lord's summary definition of the problem in the second Psalm: "Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us!'" Humanity is in total rebellion against God, so that "the people plot a vain thing." They plot the overthrow of their Maker's rule over them. If the problem had been less than it is, Christ would not have had to die on the Cross to provide redemption.

The message, then, has to be about repentance, and its meaning is absolute, unconditional surrender. It means returning to the proper attitude of submission to God in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. It isn't a popular message, but it's the right message. To be obedient, the disciples needed to preach it - and we need to preach it.

There's an important difference, though, between the disciples' experience and our own. In Mark's account of their mission, Jesus sends out the disciples and welcomes them back. They're separated from him during their mission. But in our day, because our Lord is risen from the dead, He goes with us on our mission! As He Himself said, "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you." (Jn. 14:17) He dwells in our hearts! The result is that it's the Holy Spirit's business, not ours, to deal with people's responses, and we can talk to our Lord about it any time.

The obedience of the disciples had good results. Luke tells us about it: "Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" When Jesus heard that, He rejoiced along with them! Luke's Gospel records Jesus as saying, "And He said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven!'"

Our joy, like theirs is conditioned on obedience. We have to be obedient when He calls us to be His disciples and to go as His representatives. We have to love Him enough to set that obedience at the highest priority level.

And we have to be obedient in dependence upon Him to bring about results. We can't depend on worldly methods - at all. And, finally, we have to preach the Gospel of repentance and submission to our Lord, not a more palatable "easy believism." And when He does provide results, when people believe, then we need to let them minister to us in worldly things. What we're involved in is spiritual warfare, a warfare in which we seek to capture souls right here where we live. We can only have victory as we obey our Lord.