I am Convinced that... Power is Provided
Mark 6:6b-13
I am convinced that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, and we are in our fourth message in the series: Convinced. Last week we talked about the freedom that is possible in Jesus Christ. Know this: God’s plan for all of his people is freedom. Freedom from bondage, from sin, from guilt, from sin, from death.
Did anyone experience any freedom between last week and this week? Chances are, some of you felt great when you left this place, only to fall flat on your face a little later in the week. Two years ago, I preached a whole series on The Emotionally Healthy Church, a book by Peter Scazzero, and one of the points that was brought out in that book and sermon series was the fact that whatever we see is only the tip of the iceberg. Only 10% of an iceberg shows above the waterline, while 90% lies underneath. Many of us have an “underneath” that we’ve never touched. Honestly, that “underneath” has been exposed in this church and it’s been tough for a lot of people. It’s usually not very easy for us to arrive at the freedom that Jesus provides for us; we often have to do a lot of digging through the past, through bonds that were formed maybe even before we were born. The reality of this kind of bondage is what makes studies like Beth Moore’s Breaking Free so powerful (I know it’s advertised as a women’s study, but we men can get a lot out of it, too. In fact, if your wife or girlfriend is doing the Breaking Free study, you should do it, too).
Today we see Jesus working with his disciples. Remember when we’re talking about Jesus’ disciples that these are regular guys. They’re not the best and brightest seminary graduates. They’re fishermen, zealots, and tax collectors. Not exactly the who’s who of Galilean rabbinical students. Jesus has done a lot to prepare the disciples for what comes next. As he was calling his disciples in Mark 1:14-20, he told them he would make them fishers of men. He called Levi from his tax collection booth (Mark 2:13-14) and told him, “Follow me.” In Mark 3:13-19, Jesus appointed the Twelve Apostles: Simon Peter, James and John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. If you look at their commissioning, they were called to preach and given authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3:14-15)
Now Jesus is extending his own ministry by commissioning the Twelve to go out. Their message and their actions are a direct extension of Him. Ancient thought held that “The sent one is as the man who commissioned him.” In other words, they weren’t just doing good deeds. They weren’t just preaching and teaching and healing. They were actual extensions of Jesus.
Let’s take a look at how Jesus sent his disciples out. First of all, he sent them two-by-two. This was important, as Mosaic Law required two or three witnesses to corroborate the truth. Because of this, when someone sins against one of us, if they haven’t repented after we personally contact them, we are to take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Matthew 18:16)
As Jesus was teaching this, he continued and told them that “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20). This scripture has often been misused to bless small gatherings when we’ve hoped for large groups; people look around and see all the empty seats and sigh, “Well, I guess if we’ve got two or three gathered together, Jesus must be here, too. Whew; am I ever glad that second and third person showed up!” That’s not what Jesus meant at all.
Jesus is sending his disciples out together, because we were made for community with one another. “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18a) This is for encouragement as well as accountability. But let’s see if we can see the link between Jesus’ teaching on sin and his sending the disciples out two by two.
[The disciples] went out and preached that people should repent. (Mark 6:12) There’s a serious balance needed when the subject of sin is broached. After all, we’ve all sinned, and most of us know the scripture about not judging and about removing the plank from our eye before we remove the speck from our neighbor’s eye, so (some would say) what right do any of us have to even mention someone else’s sin? And when Jesus talked to his disciples in Matthew 18, he was talking about when people sin against us.
Here’s the deal: when people sin, no matter how great or how small the sin is, it’s a sin against God. Some sins are also sins against people, and some have broad and lasting consequences, but listen to how King David described his sin: Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. (Psalm 51:4) Every single sin is a sin against God.
So, if all sin is against God, then only God has the right to confront people with their sin, right? But Jesus sent his disciples out on their two-by-two mission as extensions of Himself. The sin was against God, and so God goes Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ, but also in those Jesus sends out as extensions of Himself. So they were not only obeying Jesus, which is absolutely essential, but they were actually being Jesus. Their mission and Jesus’ mission was one in the same.
And that is true for us as well. Listen to His words from Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit has come, so we have that power. And so we are supposed to be God’s witnesses. Extensions of Jesus. Doing Jesus’ work.
Jesus sent them out with authority over evil spirits, and if we have accepted Him, we have that same authority. A few weeks ago I shared the story from Acts 19, where the seven sons of a Jewish chief priest were trying to drive out an evil spirit “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” The spirit mocked them, saying, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.(Acts 19:15-16)
Is anyone afraid that the same would happen to you? If you are a Christian, it won’t. If the Holy Spirit resides within you, you will not be overpowered. I am convinced that God provides all the power we need when he calls us. I want the demons to know our names, because we are extensions of Jesus Himself! Last week in a meeting, Pastor Alice Wolfe shared the scripture from Isaiah 40:28-31: Do you not know, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
I love the running motivation in verse 31(I even have that on a running jersey), but Pastor Alice shared a great insight. In this verse, God isn’t just promising us more strength. He’s promising to “renew” our strength. The Hebrew word here carries the meaning of “exchange,” so he’s promising to exchange our strength. Meaning that God doesn’t make us go in against insurmountable obstacles in our own strength. God gives us his strength.
So there’s no danger that we will be overpowered. The danger is that we will be afraid. We live in a culture of fear. I remember growing up in the 80s with the fear of nuclear war; I lived near Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana, and I remember hearing that Grissom was one of the alternate locations for Air Force One, thereby making it a possible target for Soviet nukes. Now we get to worry about terrorism, about radiation from Japan, about economics (on the international, national, and personal level), about our health (or lack thereof). We’re afraid our rights are going to be trampled. We’re afraid that our country is heading in a dangerous direction. We’re afraid that the United Methodist Church has lost its way. The media thrives on fear; it sells papers and gets viewers.
And there are Christians who seem to believe that they have the spiritual gift of worry. That’s not a spiritual gift; it’s a sin! 1 John 4:18 reminds us: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. But some of you are still fearful. Some of you are worried and scared about the church finances. The real concern is if we as a church are following Jesus’ commission. If not, then there’s no amount of money that will help us. If we’re not going about Jesus’ work, being an extension of Him, we ought to close our doors right now. Some of you are so scared, you won’t do anything. You’re afraid you might fail. You’re afraid that the job is bigger than you are. You’re afraid that you aren’t prepared.
Looking at Jesus’ disciples; before He sends them out, he teaches them about spiritual warfare (our message two weeks ago), and then in last week’s message, they see it firsthand. There are many among us who have gotten this far. You’ve been taught the Bible stories. You’ve learned about Jesus and his mission. You know what God is doing. You’ve even seen it firsthand.
Here’s a common modern misconception about Christianity: that you can be a Christian just by intellectually believing the right things. If those “right things” don’t transform you, then you might not be a Christian! If you aren’t an extension of Jesus, if you don’t step out and do something about your beliefs, then I suggest you don’t believe them as well as you thought you did.
Did you notice how Jesus prepares his disciples? By sending them out without anything else. You’re not going to get ready by doing another Bible story. You’re not going to get ready by attending more worship services. You’re not going to get ready by singing more songs. Jesus sent them out this way so they would depend totally on God for everything. For provision, for food and shelter, even for the very words they will say. Pastor Craig Groeschel says this: “when you know who you are, you will know what to do.” That’s because the Holy Spirit will guide you. Do you rely on Him for everything? This has to be a focus for this church, because we have been lax. We haven’t gone out; we’ve expected people to come to us. We’ve left the “going out” to others. If you’re not willing to share Jesus’ mission, do you really think you are where he wants you to be?
The saddest part of this scripture is that Jesus even had to include this instruction: And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” For some background on this: Jews who travelled outside Israel would carefully remove all dust from foreign lands, thereby dissociating themselves from the pollution of those lands and their ultimate judgment. Jesus never forces people to follow him. He never puts anyone in a hammerlock and makes us love him. He allows us to choose not to follow him.
But he instructs his disciples not to waste their time on a people who won’t welcome them, because when they welcome the disciples, they are welcoming Jesus. There are people who just won’t welcome Jesus. And Jesus tells his disciples that if they choose not to welcome Him, the disciples are off the hook. There are entire churches in our Conference who haven’t seen anyone come to Jesus in years. No baptisms, no professions of faith. And we are dangerously close to that line. But not telling people about Jesus doesn’t get us off the hook. Just because you expect to get rejected doesn’t let you off the hook. Some of you have shaken the dust off your sandals when the reality is that you haven’t given someone a chance. You’ve never shared Jesus with that neighbor. Maybe you’ve already judged that they wouldn’t accept Him, based on whatever evidence you have: their lifestyle, their appearance, their background, their economic status.
Can you imagine Jesus’ disciples saying, “No, you know what, Jesus? There are already too many people following you.” (the Bible tells us that the crowds were so large that sometimes Jesus and the disciples couldn’t even eat). “Let’s just hang out, the Twelve of us, plus Jesus, of course. Besides, we don’t want that kind of people.” Friends, the Twelve were that kind of people! But there are some people in our church who just don’t want the church to grow. I’m can’t make this stuff up. This is the type of attitude that Jesus warned his disciples that if they saw it, to shake the dust off their feet.
God will provide the power for us to triumph over Satan – to provide healing, to provide freedom, to provide wholeness and Shalom, but he will not force us to receive it. As we prepare for Communion this morning, we need to take a time of Holy Spirit reflection; where are we in this story? Are we Jesus’ disciples, ready to take Him at His Word, to go, fully depending on Him for everything? Are we those to whom Jesus can minister freely through his disciples? Or are we those who cause disciples to shake the dust off their feet?
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