“Apostolic Mission”

9.30am Sunday 8 February, 2009

Readings: Mark 6:7-13; Isaiah 42:1-9 TNIV

The essence of Christian discipleship can be summed up very simply in two words - ‘following Jesus.’  This is why we chose as our church’s motto, “Following Jesus, the Christ,” because that  is what discipleship is all about, and the making of disciples of Jesus is what the church is all about.  So that we do not lose sight of this primary reason for the church’s existence, we have embedded it into our Church’s Vision, “To be a Spirit-filled community winning followers for Christ locally and globally,” because Jesus commissioned us to “… go and make disciples of all nations…”[1]  It is good for us to be reminded of this at the beginning of the year.  All that we do as a church should have this as its ultimate goal.  The question we need to ask as we propose and plan any of the activities for the church family is, “Will this help us make followers for Christ?” It needs to be come part of our mindset, and not only on Sundays, but in our daily life as well.  If you are a Christian, Jesus has commissioned you to be a disciple-maker.   

This came to mind at our Parish Review gathering last weekend when we were considering ways in which we could better care for those who belong to our church family and those on its fringes.  We recognised that this is an area of our congregational life we could do better.  As we talked together the thought came to mind that if we looked at our care of and for each other more in terms of making disciples, it would provide a much sharper focus to what we do when we meet together.  It would also build in a greater degree of accountability if we see our responsibility as being there to help each other to better follow Christ. 

In our reading from Mark this morning there are some important disciple-making principles.  Jesus is initiating ‘phase two’ of his training programme for the twelve disciples.  The first phase was for this twelve to observe Jesus in action, teaching God’s truth, ministering in God’s power by driving out evil spirits, healing the sick, cleansing people with leprosy, freeing the paralysed and raising the dead.  Now it was their turn to do what they had seen Jesus do.  This was why Jesus called the twelve, and why he calls us to follow him today.  In Mark 3, we read: “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”[2]  Now that they had seen Jesus do it, he would send them out to do the same.  It is called ‘on-the-job’ training, and is the best form of training in most walks of life.  That is, some one experienced does it first.  Then the learner does it under supervision, which is what Jesus is doing here in Mark 6.  Then the disciples can be left to do it alone, which was the case after Jesus death and resurrection.  And so in chapter 6 we read, “Calling the twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two…”[3] Jesus was, and still is, the master teacher, not only of God’s truths, but also of how to train up others to follow him. 

Note the first principle of Jesus training method:

1.      TEAMWORK.  Jesus did not send them out alone.  This is very important, and is a principle reiterated many times throughout the Bible.  We are not to work alone.  Moses was given Aaron to help him when he first went to Pharoah to ask him to let God’s people go.  Joshua also became his helper.  Elijah had Elisha.  Peter and John travelled together on ministry trips, such as when they went to check things out in Samaria where Philip was having a successful evangelistic campaign.  Peter took others with him when we went to the home of Cornelius.  It was the Holy Spirit who directed the church leaders in Antioch to send out Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey.  Later it became Paul and Silas.  It is unwise to minister alone.  It is “better together” – the principle of synergy – as we saw when we did 40 Days of Community last year.  This is the first thing to note about Jesus’ training method.  The second principle is

2.      AUTHORITY  Jesus gave the disciples the ‘authority’ to do what he asked them to do.  The disciple-making principle is that he never asks us to do anything that he does not provide what we need to do it.  Mark says “he gave them authority over evil spirits.”[4]  We know it involved more than that because later on in our reading Mark tells us, “They … preached that people should repent.  They … anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”[5]  You and I cannot preach repentance, heal people or free people from spiritual bondage in our own strength.  Only God can do that, but he gives his followers the authority to do these things in his name.  Mt 28

3.      TRAVEL LIGHT.  They were to take only the bare essentials with them, and not be encumbered with a lot of excess baggage.  When you go tramping, you do not want to carry anything more than what is absolutely necessary for the journey.  The same is true for the athlete, and the writer to the Hebrews says this when he speaks about running the race of life.  We are to “throw off everything that hinders…  And … run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”[6]   Jesus gave clear instructions about what the disciples were to take.  He not only gave these instructions:  it was the way he lived himself.  Jesus took no more than this when he “travelled about from one town and village to another…”[7]  Notice they were to take “no bag,” which could mean either an ordinary travellers bag made of a goat kid’s skin in which the shepherd or traveller carried bread and raisins, olives and cheese enough for their short journey.  Or Jesus may have been referring to a ‘collecting bag.’  that religious people in Jesus’ day carried to collect contributions for their temple and their god.  If we take the first meaning, Jesus was telling his disciples not to take any food with them on their mission, but they were to trust God to supply their needs.  If it is the second meaning, then they were not to fleece people like many of the religious people did.  They were to give, not get.[8]

4.      ACCEPT HOSPITALITY.  This is very important in eastern lands, as we experienced on our travels in Turkey, Palestine and Yemen last year.  In Bible times when strangers entered a town it was not their duty to find somewhere to stay.  It was the duty of the village people to offer it.  We see an example of this in Genesis 19: “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city.  When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.  ‘My lords,’ he said, ‘please turn aside to your servant’s house.  You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”[9]  Jesus told his disciples that where there was no welcome, or people were unwilling to listen to their message, then they were to shake the dust from their feet as they left that place “as a testimony against them.”  It serves as a reminder to us that not everyone wants to hear the Good News, and we will touch on some reason for that shortly.  Our task to to share God’s message, and leave the results up to God. 

      Mark ends this passage by telling us: “They went out and preached that people should        repent.  They       drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed        them.”  Note three things from these verses:

5.     

11

The DIRECTION of their mission.  “They went out…”[10]  The focus of the church’s mission is summed up in the word “went.”  Note that their mission had an outward focus.  They were not to wait until people came to them.  They were to go to where the people were.  After his resurrection Jesus said to his disciples, as he says to us today “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”[11]  We must go where the people are.  One of the opportunities that is coming up shortly is the Auckland Cultural Festival on Sunday 29 March at the War Memorial Park behind the Wesley Community Centre in Sandringham Road.  Our young people are going to be contributing to the programme.  The Mt Roskill church leaders are looking for people who are willing to give an hour or two between 10.00am and 5pm to be available to speak to people who come to the Combined Roskill Churches Pavilion.  Training will be provided, and a Community Services Brochure will be available to hand out to people.  It is a challenge to maintain an outward focus, so we need to be constantly seeking meaningful and creative ways to connect with the community around us to be faithful to the direction Jesus has given for our mission.

6.      The CONTENT of the message - repentance.   “They … preached that people should repent.”[12]  Repentance is not a popular message, because it is disturbing.  It requires a radical change in the way you think, that then requires you to bring your life into line with this change of thinking.  It is not easy because it means acknowledging that the way you have been living up until this point has been wrong.  It means being humble enough to admit you have made a mistake in how you have chosen to live your life up until this point of time, and that if you want to fulfil God’s requirements and live life God’s way you cannot continue to live as you are.  This is precisely why so few people heed this message.   They do not want their lives to be disturbed, but no one can follow Christ without repentance.  There is a passage in the novel Quo Vadis? written by a Polish author, where Vinicius, a young Roman, has fallen in love with a girl who is a Christian.  She will have nothing to do with him because he is not a Christian.  He follows her to the secret night gathering of the little group of Christians, and there, unknown to anyone, he listens to the service.  He hears Peter preach, and, as he listens, something happens to him.  “He felt that if he wished to follow that teaching  he would have to place on a burning pile all his thoughts, habits and character, his whole nature up to that moment, burn them into ashes and then fill himself with a life altogether different, and an entirely new soul.”[13]  This is the kind of radical change that repentance calls for.  It is not necessarily changing from stealing, murder, adultery and glaring sins, but changing from being a self-centred person to becoming God-centred, putting aside your own selfish ambitions and desires to wanting to do what God requires.  Such a change is costly.  Genuine repentance is never superficial, affecting only the surface of one’s life.  It transforms the way you think and act, and that is why the only way to describe it is to use the word ‘revolutionary.’  The Bible’s message has not changed in two thousand years.  If you want to become a follower of Jesus, the very first requirement is to repent.

7.      The FOCUS of their ministry – healing and deliverance.  “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”[14]  Christ’s ministry on earth was focussed on peoples’ ‘wholeness.’  Jesus was concerned not only for peoples’ spiritual well-being, things that affected their relationship with God, but also their physical well-being.  And this is to be our focus still.  To be faithful to the Gospel message, healing and deliverance must go hand in hand with the preaching of God’s word.  It is bringing to humankind both the message and mercy of God.  This is why we offer prayer ministry at the close of each service, and last year introduced healing prayer within the morning service at least once each month.  Jesus came to see people free, spiritually, mentally and physically.  He wants us to be whole in spirit, mind and body.  Paul wrote at the end of his first letter to the church at Thessalonica: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”[15]

As we come to Communion this morning, let this be a time when we can renew our commitment to both follow Jesus, and be a disciple-maker.  Let us look for creative and meaningful ways in which we can encourage one another to better follow Him, and through which we can reach out to the community around us.