READ: Mark 6:6b
CHALLENGE: Follow God’s Lead and Make a Difference
What it takes to make a difference. What it takes to impact people.
Vv6b-12 – Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
On the surface this is both interesting and dull. It’s tough to know who is fits in our lives.
- NEVER ALLOW PROBLEMS AND NAYSAYERS STOP YOU
Jesus goes village to village. He is teaching which is an important part of his ministry and that of the church. People need the truth because it’s the truth that sets us free!
Jesus was not received well by his hometown, including his family. They did not accept him as a teacher or the Messiah. And that was the collective opinion of that ONE group of people. It was not everyone. Some didn’t believe, but many did. I see a lesson here – don’t allow a fractional sliver of negative voices keep you from following God.
Compared all opinions, Nazareth was a very small percentage. And that’s how criticism is. It might seem like everyone at the moment but typically it’s not. And if it’s everyone, then it’s probably you and not them lol.
The chances of having zero doubters in your life is highly unlikely. It’s rare if everyone is applauding and no one is criticizing. Let’s handle these things in the same way that Jesus handles it. Keep moving. He did not quit. He kept serving. In fact, by sending others out, he’s expanding his ministry. We expand ministry by getting other people involved.
May we always put things in perspective. Typically, any problem or obstacle that we have is not everything. It’s one stock. We may have a stock or two that is going down but most is going up. I assume that in every mutual fund, some stocks are not working out but as long as most are, you’re fine. In buying and selling, you can’t worry if you lose money on one piece but made money on a hundred others. You never get hung up on a fractional down. The same is true in the country. I can’t support my country because of what happened in one city. That compared to the entire nation … seriously? But it’s how we are.
Despite a handful of unbelievers, Jesus has been impacting countless people and will continue to do so. Follow Jesus.
B. TAKE EVIL SERIOUSLY
He got the 12 together and sent them out two by two. It’s an interesting perspective. They went out as a team and the teamwork is vital. You tend to get farther with others than by yourself because you always have someone to encourage you. Plus Christ expands ministry by including them.
We took a hike out to the Ashtabula Lighthouse. It was impressive to see all of the ice and how thick the ice was in the harbor. It was incredible! But I don’t make that hike by myself. My son in law and an adventure compadre went with me. You do it together.
We also shouldn’t serve alone, we make sure that we have other people as well.
Christ gave them authority over evil spirits. It’s interesting that Jesus transfered some of his power to his disciples. They were carrying his power with them which is stunning. I would have to assume it was the work of the Holy Spirit. I know that His righteousness is transferred to us and I’m using his bank account when getting my ticket into eternity. The absolute need of being connected to Jesus is neon in this story. They could do nothing without Him. They weren’t out there moving the needle at all – it’s ALL through Christ.
Philippians 4:13 – I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
The power goes to the disciples and because He said so, they had say so. It’s an element of Christ’s ministry worth thinking about for a few minutes. His ministry was not only about feeding hungry people. It’s not just about restoration of sight or speech or motion. His ministry was also about delivering people from evil. There were evil entities who were living within humans. The impurity was deeply rooted and would cause bad behaviors, maladies, and work the opposite of God’s blessing.
God is good and his love endures forever. We see it over and over again in Scripture. Evil is the opposite. It’s bad and it’s hostility for you is enduring. It’s bringing nothing good so the opportunity to jettison evil is profound. Darkness was replaced by light. Hate was replaced by love.
Some of you don’t like winter. The warmth of spring melts the ice and brings on a new day! The difference between ice and evil is this. You don’t like ice. Evil doesn’t like you! It’s destructive!
Verse 13 says they drove them out. Do you think they cast them out part way or completely? Completely, right? They weren’t making deals with the devil because that’s not the deal. They drove them out of the person so that they were free of it.
There has to be a principle for us in this. Evil needs to be rooted out of our lives. When we see that something is a problem, don’t make excuses for it. Get it out of there!
In the Old Testament, when it came time to get rid of idols, you didn’t hang onto a few. You destroyed them all. And you destroyed them so there was no going back. You burn the bridges Why? Because idol worship was destructive. You don’t play games with it, you eradicate it.
We don’t clean a dish half-way, do we? One day I was over at someone’s house and they quickly rinsed a coffee cup in the sink and poured me a cup of coffee. Their lip marks were still on the cup. Let’s clean all of it and not part of it.
An alcoholic can’t drink less, don’t drink at all. Why? Evil wants more, not less and it will come back. When you give something over to God, don’t go half way. If we need to work on something and get better, let’s get after it.
So deal with evil. Never turn it into a pet. It’s not a friend and never will be. In our world today, some churches think the loving thing to do is to not challenge people with life changing truth. They try to exchange the truth and call evil, good. The saying is “Love is stronger than hate” but cannot equal us loving everything equally both good and bad. Right? Love everyone? Sure? Love every behavior – it’s not possible.
That would be like saying, eating is better than hunger so eat anything! Drinking is better than thirst, so drink anything. It doesn’t follow! Health is better than sickness so take any pill. No … nope!
God love endures forever. That did not make him a fan of idolatry! That did not make him a fan of burning children in a fire to the false god, Molech. It didn’t make him a fan of perversion or adultery or grumbling for that matter. Love does not erase the concept of good and evil. These are still things that society must grapple with.
At least Jesus checked bad behavior. If you don’t, it’s like a hockey game without a goalie! Our job is not to tolerate evil, it’s to check it. At least talk about right and wrong.
And let’s remember that parents can become enablers too. You keep enabling people and you’re not going to get a good result. My theory on children doing bad things is that we should do what we can to prevent that. Why? We know that it will hurt them. You don’t say, “Well, I’d rather you do it under my roof than out somewhere”. How about if it’s wrong you don’t do it.
I don’t want you jumping off the roof with friends – make sure you do that at home! What??!! Love isn’t saying yes to everything.
Bad things are always bad things. And bad things are bad for you. Doing wrong is going to be harder. When Paul was trying to fight against the work of God and persecute Christians. Christ said he was kicking against the goads. Life was getting harder. Doing right makes life better.
ILLUSTRATION
The disciples were going to be de-con for demons. And once they were eradicated, people’s lives would get more manageable. What are some of the largest evils that the world can see? Addiction, drugs, abuse, injustice, lawlessness, loss. If you can eradicate it, life gets much better for everyone around us. Life is great with Jesus.
It’s like all of these barns that are delapidated. I cannot imagine that people really want the barns to fall down but perhaps they have no resources and believe it cannot be helped. So you just let it collapse around you. I’ve seen it plenty and it’s a sad reality. Spiritually, you can be a collapsing barn and perhaps you think that you have no choice in the matter and cannot really do anything about it. Jesus can strengthen your life. But we need to be willing to say goodbye to things that are sinful and junk that is bad for us. Life gets better with Jesus and there is hope.
Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Throw off the sin that easily entangles.
C. TRUST GOD COMPLETELY
Vv8-11 – These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
The way you go out is by complete faith. They took nothing with them for the journey. No bread, no bag, no money, no extra shirt. They were completely reliant on God for help. They depended on Him to provide as they did His work. It’s almost like an urgency. We cannot wait. We step out on total faith. The time to serve is right now.
I love the faith that this mission took. Those are special times when we’re completely reliant upon God. You don’t know how ends will meet or if you’re good enough. You just trust the Lord and He provides.
Sometimes the resource we’re short of is time and we know all that God wants us to do. We in turn go ahead and get busy trusting God to make it work. You do your best and trust God for the rest.
To go on nothing but trust. Like David and a handful of rocks. Or Moses with his staff in front of the Red Sea. Or a choir heading into battle in the days of Jehoshaphat. I reckon you plus God can handle anything. When God is part of the equation, great things happen.
And in this powerful walk of faith, there would be times when you would not be accepted. They shook the dust off their feet and moved on. Jesus said to not cast our pearls before swine. Offer help but if people don’t want to hear it, you don’t need to keep going.
There are moments when we don’t move on because we’re trying to play Holy Spirit. We think people need to hear more words from us and that will do the trick. If they don’t want to hear a little, there’s a solid chance they don’t want to hear a lot. The disciples talked to people who listened.
As we’re told in the Bible. We walk by faith and not by sight. Abraham went to a country he had never been too because that’s what following God looked like.
Now what is that you face and what are you concerned about? Maybe you’re at that point where you have nothing or very little. You have the Lord. You can do great things and God’s going to provide. Ministry is going to get done.
It’s interesting that results were not based in money. Results were based in faith.
D. EXPECT RESULTS THROUGH FAITH
Vv12-13 – They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
- The Result of Repentance
They preached the message of repentance. Sometimes I think that some have a mean tone about it. Like a “you better” rather than you can. Or it’s seen as somehow radical. Like some crazy person holding a sign on Times Square! Repent.
Repentance is a fantastic message – it means to change. So it’s hopeful because change is possible.
It’s a challenging word because it’s used by the prophets when people were wayward from God and they wanted them to turn back. In Jeremiah it meant that they would quit worshipping idols and commit themselves to God. Was that so bad really? It required some lifestyle changes.
They would not sacrifice their children to false gods any more. That’s a plus. They would be faithful to their wives. They would not oppress the poor. This does not seem like an ultra high bar. They would call on God who was faithful and avoid chaos that would destroy their lives. It’s a winning word if you ask me. Your connection with God helps you to be a decent human being.
So, they have this message of turning back to God. John the Baptist had the same message. And sometimes repentance looked like sharing with less fortunate. Tax collectors were not collecting more than they needed to. Soldiers were not extorting money and were to be content with their pay. Repentance didn’t mean the same thing to everyone.
If I say the word repentance it means to leave wrongdoing, turn to God and do right. For someone that might mean to quit looking at porn. For someone else it means to start serving. For someone else it means get their temper under control.
And it was open to all even Roman soldiers. They had the same access to God. I know this, the message is a positive message and opens up the possibility of a much better life for all people.
Ephesians 4:22-24 – You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We put off the old man like a dirty shirt. We put on the new self. This is repentance right? Put off the old and put on. You always have to fill space. You never want to just quit something and not have something to replace it.
If you take dirty clothes off and don’t put on clean clothes you’re naked. You have to replace the old with new. Just like in a garden. You plant good plants or you’ll have weeds. If you don’t decide what grows in a space, you’ll have junk plants. Good things don’t tend to just grow in landscapes. I have sections that are just sumac.
Make sure you have great things going on in your life. Instead of being angry, settle matters and don’t remain angry. Quit lying and replace it with absolute honesty. And instead of stealing, work with your hands. That’s much better. Don’t say rotten things, build others up. This is the progression in our lives.
Don’t be bitter, be forgiving. Don’t be angry – be kind. This is change. We have put on Christ and that means there are results. So they preach this phenomenal hopeful message.
- The Result of Fruit
They drove out demons and they anointed people with oil and healed them. At the end of the day, there were results for ministry. Evil was being driven out and sickness was leaving people. It was powerful. I want to see addiction broken.
I love seeing the church grow. I love hearing when marriages are healed and addictions are leaving and people are serving. It’s an amazing process. We see new people and God is doing a work and it’s well beyond me which I really love.
Here’s a question – if you won’t preach a true message, how can we expect God to work? God works as we stick to the truth. You find God when you seek for God.
At least with Jesus Christ, there’s always hope. Life has meaning because we can relate to the God who made us. We don’t have to chase a million other things to make life work. We have God and we get to see amazing things and recognize His beauty which abound
- Don’t Get Stopped by Critics
- Take Evil Seriously
- Trust God completely
- Expect Results through faith