"The Nature of Apostolic Ministry"pt. 1 Mark 6:7-9

Jesus left His hometown to teach in other villages. And during this teaching tour He called the 12 disciples to Him for the purpose of getting them engaged in Kingdom Ministry.

You see Jesus didn’t just initially call His disciples to just learn from His teaching and follow Him wherever He went. He actually dispatched them into the ministry of the Kingdom. Look back at your text to verses 7-9:

I. The Apostolic Dispatch (7-9). (Four descriptive elements of this dispatch that indicate their dependency on divine provision).

Notice first that He sent out the 12. So this is a specific number that He sent out. There were other followers of Jesus at this time but only the 12 were sent. This term for “sent” is where we get the office designation of them being “Apostles” and this is because the term denotes the idea of them being “sent ones” of the Lord Jesus to go out to do Kingdom Ministry (7a). Their participation at this point in Kingdom ministry originated with Christ.

Second, we see that He did not send them out on their own but He sent them out 2 by 2 (7b). This probably has nothing to do with the animals going on the Ark 2 by 2 in Noah’s day prior to the flood. Instead this is most likely in keeping with the Old Testament principle derived from Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 which says: “9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

There is a biblical principle of two being better than one, so that they can benefit one another on their journey by encouragement and mutual support during trials related to their ministerial journey.

The third element we see that it was Christ who gave them His authority over unclean spirits (7c). This is because they had no authority in the Kingdom apart from Christ. It was from this Apostolic commission that their authority over the evil spirits was derived. Jesus exercised this authority and now He was commissioning them to do the same thing.

The Fourth element we see is in verses 8-9 where He instructs them to take nothing with them except a staff, sandals and one tunic which would denote just one set of clothes. They were to take no bread, no bag, no money. They were to depend on the Lord working through people for their provisions.

Now there are a few things that we need to understand from this text. One thing we need to understand is that this commission of the Apostles here is distinct from the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20.

The Great Commission is given prior to the baptism of the Holy Spirit being poured out in Acts 2. The Book of Acts reveals the beginning of the missionary efforts of the early Church and how Christianity began to spread around the world. Making disciples has been taking place as a hallmark of Kingdom expansion ever since. The Holy Spirit through the gospel of Jesus Christ has been making the spiritually dead alive and bringing them into the Kingdom of God for centuries.

But here we have the 12 being partitioned off 2 by 2 prior to the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and prior to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But it is Jesus who gave them the mission and the authority over the evil spirits as an extension of His authority. They would be doing what He was doing in the inauguration of the Kingdom on earth.

They would be taking on evil spirits as manifestations of the Kingdom of darkness and the Satanic grip that was held over the lives of the people they would encounter.

The miracles of Jesus on earth were a demonstration of the arrival of the Kingdom and they were a reflection of the glory of the King Himself as having a divine nature. God worked miracles to validate the gospel as His plan of salvation of Jesus Christ

We learn that the miracles of Jesus had a distinct function in Hebrews 2:1–4: 1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Also the Apostle Peter on Pentecost says as recorded in Acts 2:22–24: 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

Acts 2 goes on to say down in verse 43, And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. The Apostles still had their Apostolic authority even after Jesus died and rose and ascended because He never revoked it from them.

God worked miracles in the early Church and throughout Church history but not like He did in the cluster formation during the life of Jesus and His Apostles on earth.

Lots of people anticipate that if God would only work miraculous signs like He did in the first century then everyone would believe. Not true. Remember Matthew 16 where Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders. He told them they could interpret the weather but they couldn’t interpret the “signs of the times” which is a reference to His miracles and their Kingdom implications. Then in Matthew 16:4 he declares that, “4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.”

There is no greater miracle that attest to the validity of Christianity and the divine nature of Christ than His resurrection of from the dead. Post resurrection this is why the Apostles, along with the Apostle Paul, put so much emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Because when it comes to Apostolic authority their ministry was pointing to Jesus Christ and not primarily to the temporal elements of this world where dead people could be raised, like the daughter of Jarius as we saw in Mark 5 or Lazarus in John 11, yet only to eventually to succumb to death again. Their ministry had their sights on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the eternal implications of a life that never ends.

The emphasis on the gospel is like that because the implications are eternal. If all I do is focus on my current life in this fallen world in my Christianity then I will by default look at my Christianity through the lens of my human experience and shape my Christianity to fit with that which is consistent with my experience.

By the way that is not living by faith. That is living by experience in conjunction with what is seen.

When the gospel transforms you then and only then can you see the Kingdom and enter the Kingdom. And you understand that you are kept in the Kingdom by your sovereign King for eternity. The gospel of the Kingdom, and all that it entails, sets the context of eternity for the believer. This turns things around because the eternal perspective of my Christian faith actually shapes my human experiences in life.

That is living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Simply because the eternal is hoped for but it is unseen.

They are diametrically opposed to each other. One cultivates disappointment in life and the other cultivated hope in life.

Christian the Apostles in their ministry of Mark 6:7-13 I believe had a limited view of the Kingdom. Even though they had the experience with Jesus miracles and demonstrations of power and they even were able under His authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. I believe the eternal implications did not register until the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

They were probably similar to those in Luke 10 where Jesus sends out 72 others at another time with a similar mission. And when they return in Luke 10:17–20 this what happens: 17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

It is easy to be swept away by human experience. Our experiences are real and we are not to be in denial about such things. But they don’t define our identity and our eternal hope and purpose. King Jesus does.

Conclusion

Christian do you rejoice that your name is written in heaven? If you are focused on the eternal realities of the Kingdom you do.

And along with that we are reminded that the Apostolic ministry was dependent upon King Jesus but we are also reminded that this is true for all ministry, even for us in the current day.

Christian we are pilgrims here. We find our security and hope for eternity in His sovereign grace to us in Christ. Turn from your sin today and confess it to Him and receive from His provision to you.

Unbeliever I do not make an appeal based upon my ability to sway you to embrace the gospel by merely an intellectual ascent. Such things are short lived at best. But my appeal to you this morning is based upon the sovereign power of God to work as He has declared that He would.

You don’t need a clever human argument this morning. You need divine power to raise you from spiritual death into spiritual life. You must be born again to see the Kingdom and to enter the Kingdom. Believe the gospel. Let’s Pray!