Mark 6: 7-13

Introduction:

After the rejection at Nazareth and Jesus’ work in the villages surrounding it Jesus sends His twelve Apostles outside Galilee. These men had been trained by Jesus with the message of God’s Kingdom. They were well taught to call people to repentance from sinfulness in preparation of God’s Kingdom. Just as a cultural tidbit regarding Jesus’ packing instructions- ‘these unique instructions serve as signs to Jewish people of peace, defenselessness, trust in God, and urgency.’

The Word Spreads

The apostles head out from Galilee, the center of Jesus ministry. The word is being passed on. The important thing to notice about this passage is that the apostles were supposed to give the same importance to teaching as Christ did. No teaching, no faith, no miracles.  Verse 11  is Jesus’ permission to leave a town if they did not receive the apostles and would not listen to them.

Apostolic Power

This passage is often taken out of context and used in defense of ‘spiritual powers’ in the modern church. This passage shows Jesus hand-assembling teams of two apostles, giving them authority over demons, and the power to heal. Remember, at this time the Holy Spirit was not dwelling inside believers. ‘The Helper’ does not come until Jesus ascends to the Father’s side. This power and authority Jesus gives His disciples here is different that what powers we’re given by the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 4:7-11, Acts 1:8, Romans 6:12-23; 8:31-39, 1 Corinthians 1: 17-18; 15:20-28, 54-57.

Application:

While our purpose and our calling is different than the apostles being sent out in this verse, we do call people to repentance. At least we should be. Where the apostles had symbols to serve as signs to the Jewish people of peace, defenselessness, trust in God and urgency, we do not.

Peace was a sacredly kept idea in the Jewish nation. In many ways it takes prominence our culture to. ‘Peace signs’ and ‘peace symbols’ have shaped the American counter-political and political world for the past 45 years. We are supposed to bring the good news of Christ in peace. The purpose of us telling the gospel is to bring peace to the person we’re telling. The opposite of this would be telling the gospel to purposely hurt the person we’re telling. No. We are out to love the world in proclamation of this message – if you are going out for other reasons it is better you stay inside. Jesus told them to go out like they were instead of violently ‘taking’ the Kingdom of God like they wanted. They wanted rebellion against a corrupt government and religion and Jesus wanted to save them all.

Defenselessness and Trust in God is similar to defenselessness because how can you trust God to protect you if you are protecting yourself? Similarly how can God be trusted with anything if we’re doing everything? Can you trust someone and never let them do anything on their own? No. There is implicit distrust when we withhold from someone the opportunity to work for us or with us. In the same way, if we try to handle things ourselves in ministry and outreach, we deny God the ability to work. Clearly He will do as He pleases, we cannot stop Him from doing anything, but we can sometimes over-plan or over-prepare to the point where we forget God. And isn’t the whole point to honor Him? The more provisions they took the less they looked like they trusted the Lord. So Jesus instructed them to bring nearly nothing.

Urgency means that we have so little time to do this. Because we do not know when the Lord is coming we must assume it could be as soon as today. Otherwise we’ll be caught surprised when He does arrive. Jesus instructs the apostles to dress and pack thier bags a certain way. It was to evoke a sense of urgency. They didn’t have time to buy a pack mule, a new staff, a new cloak, new sandals, or even pack food. Like a scout running from a battlefield to send news to a general these men were dropping everything pressing matter in their lives for the spreading of the gospel. We must drop everything and start spreading the news. You do not have to do blank, blank, and blank before you start to proclaim it. You don’t have to go to college. You don’t have to settle your debt. You don’t have to buy a car. Whatever it is do not let it hold you back from ministry.