The Followers of the King

INTRO:

Series Recap —> Mark: Conquering King; Suffering Servant —> “CONTEXT is King” (Spend a moment here).

Dinner w/ someone who does not know Jesus.

Invite them into your home for a meal… | NOT a project, a person — Be interested, ask good questions, turn your phone off…

Illustration — Pressure

Why do we love Athletes who perform under pressure?

Patrick Mahomes - Super Bowl - clutch (3 Super Bowls in 4 years)

Tom Brady (7 Super Bowls) - (pains me to say, the GOAT - Peyton Manning is better & a better person too).

Michael Jordan - we remember the clutch moments (at UNC, over the Jazz player in the Finals, etc.) — GOAT - NOT Lebron James…

“Ice Water” — doesn’t get flustered.

We all ‘FEEL PRESSURE’ don’t we?

Pressure about what we should wear, drive, listen to, watch, look like —

Pressure from family (what’s for dinner? — EVERY night! — when are you getting married? — when are you going to visit? etc.) —

Pressure from school/work - deadlines, goals, expectations…

Sometimes it can be crushing — can’t it? — I think that is why we admire athletes who are able to perform under pressure…

Jesus is under a lot of pressure in Mark Chapter 3 — Of course he performs perfectly — After all He is God — THE GOAT.

TENSION:

“The son of God has ALL authority (we looked at this last week — Authority over Religious Leaders, etc.) AND he has assigned that authority to His followers that they may ‘preach the good news’ and bring the sick to the Healer.”

TRUTH: Text

Mark 3:13–21 (ESV)

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

PRAY

1) Jesus Gathers the Twelve, 2) Jesus Assigns the Twelve, 3) Jesus Returns Home

CONTEXT: Chapter 3 —>

Verses 1-6 —> Conflict/Controversy Narratives come to a head — As Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath right in front of the Religious Leaders IN the Synagogue.

“Grieved at their hardness of heart,” —> Compassion of Jesus

Pharisees meet with Herodians to plot to “destroy him”

Verses 7-12 —> A “Great” crowd is coming to Jesus — For his healing and power — Remember His purpose - “to proclaim the good news” — Jesus has a ‘get away’ vehicle ready!

Unclean Spirits — try to name Jesus - associated with ‘power’ over someone — Jesus won’t allow them to speak — Humanity must recognize him as the Messiah.

1) Jesus Gathers the Twelve

Mark 3:13 “And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.”

“He went up on the mountain” — Context = Jesus has been under a lot of PRESSURE —> 3 fold Response…

1) Jesus withdraws to be alone — Mountain in a desolate place, not easy to get to, etc.

[Humanity of Jesus (Suffering Servant - Fully God, Fully Man) — Felt the weight of this pressure — His mission wasn’t to physically heal everyone]

2) Jesus prays — Luke’s account in Luke 6:12 we read that “all night he continued in prayer to God”

[An example of Jesus’ reliance on the Father — An example for us to follow!]

3) Jesus assigns authority to the twelve (we will see in the next 2 verses)

[Jesus, Fully God & Fully Man, the 2nd person of the Trinity, God the Son —> Doesn’t take all the work on himself - but INTENTIONALLY will accomplish His mission through His follower]

Mark 3:14–15“And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.”

Mountain significance - place of revelation in OT (Think Patriarchs, Moses, etc.) -FULFILLMENT

Significance of 12 —> Mark’s moniker for the Disciples is simply “the twelve” (we see it later in this passage.

12 Tribes of Israel (constitutes “the people” as representatives).

Jesus is purposefully creating a “New People” with a new twelve - Formation of Israel —> Formation of the Church

Named ‘Apostles’ — Literally “sent ones” — and they are assigned two (2) activities.

Be “with him” — Commentator: “Discipleship involves life together”.

Their task will flow FROM their closeness to Jesus!

Be “sent out” — Commentator: “Discipleship also involves being empowered by Jesus.”

To preach…

Romans 10:14–15 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

Have Authority

Explicit: to cast out demons - What does this look like today?

John 12:31 - Jesus refers to Satan as the “ruler of this world”

In a very real sense - followers of Jesus have the authority to drive out evil, the ruler of this world -

John’s Gospel —> Light in the darkness

Implicit: to bring the ‘sick’ to the healer — the Trinitarian God!

These verses are historical - this is what happened - but are important for us as well - as followers of Christ…

APPLICATION: Descriptive vs. Prescriptive

In the New Testament especially we must ask ourselves of a text, “Is this descriptive, prescriptive, or BOTH?”

Descriptive = Describes events that occurred (think simply historical).

Prescriptive = Prescribing how we as NT believers should act or understand.

BOTH = We believe that Scripture is INSPIRED - The Spirit worked in and through the Biblical authors to guide them to write the words that they did (Not robotic).

Often times a passage is intentionally BOTH (Almost always the case in the Gospels).

“We, as followers of Jesus, have been ‘called’ because Jesus ‘desired’ us to come to him (not of our own merit, but by His GRACE). As we come to Jesus, we are summoned to be with Him (Bible Reading, Prayer, Church Gathering, Small Groups, etc.) so that we might be ‘sent out’ to 1) Preach the ‘good news’ and 2) have authority over the ruler of this world & bring the ‘sick’ to the Healer.”

Again, notice the order - we are to minister “out of our time spent with Jesus”

“Discipleship is not mere ‘information transfer’ but is the result of a relationship.” - Tim Keller

The Twelve men Jesus calls & assigns in tis passage are important (historical)…(Jesus gathers the 12)

2) Jesus Assigns the Twelve

Mark 3:16–19 (ESV)

He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

What do we know about these men?

Simon (Peter) - Mark’s Source, most prominent Disciple, Pentecost, etc.

James & John — What a nickname - “Sons of Thunder” - loud disciples often with Jesus & Peter.

Andrew - Simon Peter’s brother - brings people to Jesus.

Philip - book of Acts - Ethiopian Eunuch — conversion & baptism.

Bartholomew - We hear nothing further about him.

Matthew - Likely this is the tax collector named ‘Levi’ in Ch. 2.

Thomas - Called “The Doubting Thomas” - wants to see Jesus for himself.

James son of Alphaeus - Perhaps the brother of Matthew (Levi).

Thaddaeus - We hear nothing further about him.

Simon the Zealot - Maybe better stated, “Simon the Patriot”, interested company with a tax collector (traitor).

Judas Iscariot - Probably a family name denoting where he was from.

This is probably after the Twelve have followed Jesus for some time now…

In fact there were many who “followed” Jesus — not just the crowds, but were with him consistently during this earthly ministry.

In Acts 1 we see two men put forward to “replace” Judas — Joseph-Barsabbas (Justus) and Matthias (who is chosen to replace Judas).

The point is there were many following Jesus at this time, before he gathers and assigns the 12…

But they were chosen and called, not based on merit, but based on Grace.

Nothing special about them (notice none of them come from the “religious class”)

The same is true of All Believers - We are called not based on our own merit, but by Grace Alone.

The order that we see these men listed matters too: “inner circle” listed first. (Always listed first, though 2 of 4 lists put Andrew with his brother Simon).

These will be with Jesus for some of the most important parts of his earthly ministry — Transfiguration (mountain), Garden of Gethsemane (Garden).

Also note the inclusion of Judas - ‘the betrayer of Jesus’.

Written some 30 years after crucifixion - Mark & the disciples feelings about Judas.

What do we do with Judas? —> Leave him out? (He is ‘replaced’ in Acts 1)

If Judas does not betray Jesus, which fulfils a prophecy, we are still dead in our trespasses & sins… I think the early church recognizes this.

I think this speaks to the historical accuracy of the Gospel account — They don’t gloss over details — presented factually and accurately.

I think Jesus gives us another example in this passage…

APPLICATION: ‘Prescriptive’ of our Discipleship to Jesus.

12 people “with him” — to share life with — we are not the Messiah — but the Christian life is lived in community.

Small Groups - about 8-15 people —> 12 is maybe the ideal number.

Practically we have a smaller group of people in our “inner circle” - maybe part of that other group.

Doesn’t have to be ‘formalized’ — We can’t expect to have a greater capacity than Jesus’ example.

Jesus shared his most intimate times — (both highs & lows) with Peter, James & John.

We must be “with him” so that we can be “sent out”.

We minister out of “our time spent with Jesus.

The ESV includes 2 more verses in this passage… (Pericope - why included?)

3) Jesus Returns Home

Mark 3:20–21 “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.””

Returns to a “home base”

Either to Nazareth OR to Simon’s home (the only home Jesus has been to in the Gospel account) — Doesn’t really matter which.

The same thing happens as before verse 13 - “the crowd gathered again”.

This is a similar situation, remember Jesus has a ‘get-away’ vehicle ready — if they genuinely can’t eat — this is dangerous. —> The Pressure returns immediately.

But Jesus now — serves God out of the overflow of His relationship with the Father…

“Family” here doesn’t necessarily mean then same thing we think of (for us, typically parents & children) — but in first century Judaism - family was extended.

In fact this could refer more to associates of Jesus — People who knew him. (or maybe, “Knew OF him”)

The ESV says “they went out to seize him,” — Also translated as: “restrain”, “take custody”, “take charge of”, or even “rescue him”

Strong language for what they are trying to do to Jesus.

Whoever it is thinks that, “He is out of his mind.”

We are actually going to continue this part of the narrative next week —> This is the beginning of literary technique Mark uses often in his Gospel Narrative.

“Sandwich” - Begins with one story and ends with the same story (or corresponding one) but something else is sandwiched in between them.

The middle story helps interpret the beginning and the end.

We will look more in depth at the responses to who Jesus is next week…

But I want us to be thinking about the implications of this as we prepare to gather again next week.

PROXIMITY to Jesus does not automatically mean RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.

In Chapter 3 we see - 3 groups of people come to Jesus —>

The crowd doesn’t know Jesus — They just want him for his stuff — His power to heal.

We cannot come to Jesus only to have our needs met.

The followers of Jesus that know him are called to be “with him” and are “sent out” by Him.

When we come to Jesus — it is to serve him in the world as agents of the Kingdom!

Jesus’ “family” & the Religious Leaders think Jesus is “out of his mind”, or that “he is possessed by a demon.” (We will see)

The other option is to reject Jesus —> Next week.

CONCLUSION: Following Jesus comes at a cost.

Jesus called “the Twelve” out of their identity, their livelihood, their security to follow him.

Jesus’ own family thinks he is “out of his mind” — running around claiming to be God.

in his fulfilment - creates not only “a new people” but a “new family”.

When we trust in Jesus as our Lord & Savior - We become a part of this “new people” this “new family”.

What we learn from Jesus’ example here in Chapter 3, is that “Pressure” doesn’t go away — But how to respond to the pressure of life.

Come away — get away from all of the distractions of life.

Cultivate the relationship — Pray - depend on the Father.

Share the load — in community and service centered on Jesus.

RESPONSE:

As we sing - perhaps, you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior…

Perhaps, you have not been living “with him”…

Perhaps, you have not been living “sent out”…

Perhaps, you have not experienced the community Jesus has called us to…

May we all respond to the blood of Jesus that speaks on behalf of His Children - the New Family:

Oh let my soul a - rise and sing, My confi - dence is not in vain

The One who fights for me is King, His oath His cove - nant re - main

No condem - nation now I dread, Eternal hope is mine in - stead

His Word will stand! I stand re - deemed

The blood of Jesus speaks for me

PRAY

Blood of Jesus

May we respond to your call & follow you.

Help us to remain close to you — Relationship…

Help us to live in the authority you give to your followers…

To preach

To drive out the darkness