Appointed for Service

Intro

Recall - Last week we were very interested in Mark 3:7-12. Here we drew tremendous significance from the fact that crowds were gathering to Jesus, but more importantly it was where they were coming from. The people of Idumea (Edom), Tyre, and Sidon all represented people groups who were historically enemies of God’s people. Yet, Jesus was drawing these people in and healing them. We drew from this picture a message of hope: no person is too far off that they can’t come to Jesus and be healed. Don’t build up a narrative in your mind that you’re unredeemable. Instead, believe that Jesus can and will heal you and come to him.

A Question Created: Who will go to these nations as ministers after the ascension of Christ? Who will be the servants that say: “Here I am, send me?” —> Answered in part by our text for today.

This week - we will be switching lenses to the apostles and Mark 3:13-20. Here we will be discussing

(a) The arc of Christian maturity and walking

(b) The significance of the apostles

(c) Jesus’s empowering and appointing

(d) The problem that Jesus’s people will cause

(e) A vision for rejoicing (Luke 10:17-20)

Point - Your walk with the Lord will be something that grows with obedience and availability. Yet, as you grow and God continues to pull back the curtain to unveil greater mysteries and realities to you, you must remain rooted in the basic truths. Remember your justification by faith alone and rejoice that God took you who were far off, brought you near to Himself and called you His child.

V. 13

“up on the mountain”

Jesus’s choice of a mountain and twelve disciples are non-accidental.

Within the Scripture mountains are often places of God’s revelation and commissioning.

Eden was likely on a mountain (based on Gen. 2:10)

Israel was brought out of Egypt to Sinai where the nation was commissioned (Ex. 19:4-6)

Jesus is going to be transfigured before his disciples on a mountain (Mk. 9:2-8)

etc.

Point - While we can see Jesus’s action to go and call his disciples to himself on a mountain as a mere point of removal, biblically, there seems to be a broader significance pushing on this moment. Jesus’s disciples are being appointed to do what Israel was originally appointed and commissioned to do in being a light unto the nations.

“those whom he desired”

Mark uses a phrases which is also of some interest to us. He describes Jesus calling to himself “those whom he desired.” Luke 6:13 utilizes the single word eklegomai from which we get the word “elected” or “chosen.” If we were to pull in Jesus’s words to his disciples in John 15:16, such chosenness is plain.

What is interesting about Mark’s language is that he uses “desire” language to capture Jesus’s choosing of his disciples.

Of course, desire can be instrumental. This last week Nick and I had to help a friend break into his car because he locked his keys inside. To get into the car without damaging anything, we had to use tools which were most desirable to accomplish that feat. For the purpose of unlocking a locked car, a coat hanger was more desirable than a hammer.

Is this sort of instrumental desire what Jesus has in mind when he elects his disciples?

Possibly the strongest argument for that could come from two directions (1) Jesus is calling in order to appoint them to a role (2) Judas is mixed in the group.

John 15:16 though hedges against a purely instrumental view. Within this passage, it seems that his choosing of the disciples was borne out of love and desire for fruitfulness.

While this is not necessarily the major point of the sermon, it is just eye-catching when you see the Father, the Son, or the Spirit use any sort of desire language. If you see something like “God desires ____” your ears should perk up because that sentence is giving you a sense of direction.

Hos. 6:6 (I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings)

1 Tim. 2:3-4 (God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth)

Ps. 51:16-17 (close language)

Micah 6:8 (close language)

What is interesting about this segue is that the Scripture indicates how one becomes desirable to the Lord in such a way that one can be “chosen.” Namely, do you have a heart that bends to God’s direction? Is your heart humble and willing to bow before the Lord? Does your heart say “not my will be done but yours?” Have you accepted Christ as your Lord and confessed that he died for your sins and was raised to life again?

One of the great mysteries of what we discuss here is meting the reality that two facts coexist in the same space. Jesus’s disciples believed in him and chose him and Jesus chose his disciples.

If the gates of heaven were inscribed with words, they might have on the front “enter all ye who come and have covered themselves with the blood of the lamb.” and on the back they might have the words of Ephesians 1:4 “chosen from before the foundation of the world.”

“He called...they came.”

This phrase might be one of the most simple ideas of Christian discipleship. Are you going where Christ calls you to?

As one might note, this is not the first time that Jesus “called” his disciples.

If one were to track the relationships of the disciples with Jesus, you might note that:

Jesus called his disciples to follow him in Mk 1:16-17

Jesus called his disciples to appoint them in Mk 3:14

Jesus sends his disciples to send them in Mk 6:7

Actually, what we get across Mark is several disciple-related movements where the nature of the calling is different.

Some of you are in the position of needing to respond to Jesus’s first call. You simply need to come to him; he will make your next steps clear. But for those who have never come, don’t worry about all the ways that you need to “clean up” or get things fixed. Simply respond to Jesus by saying “yes Lord, I choose to follow you.”

Some of you are in the position where you have chosen to follow Christ and perhaps you have been growing with him for some time and you sense a call that has welled up within you over ways to serve him. What you need to grow in is your realization and embrace of the authority that he has really given you.

For some of you, it is time to be sent. You both know your calling and what you are to do and it is time to go. Understand that all of us are truly commissioned and truly sent, but there are many Christians who are so gorged with Christian messages and devotionals and so malnourished in service that their spiritual life suffers from being too stationary.

Note: Mark 3:9 might be a good reminder for growing Christians. Namely, Jesus still called his disciples to serve long before he called them to speak. Long before they anything about having authority over demons, he was training them in service and obedience. —> I want to direct you to Luke 10:17-20. Look at what Jesus tells his disciples to rejoice in.

Remember that the fundamentals are the fundamentals for a reason. Don’t let yourself get to a point where you get bored with fundamental truths.

Note 2: In each of the stages that we’ve described, the proper response is learning obedience in saying “yes, Lord.”

Apostles

In the remaining verses, of our study this morning, Jesus calls twelve men and calls them “apostles.”

I’d like to make a couple of observations here and then draw a couple of inferences from the text.

It has always been striking to me that Jesus called many different types of men. Jesus did not call twelve different Peters of twelve different James’s, but he chose disciples who were different from on another. —> 1 Co. 12:4-31 (One body, many members)

Jesus appointed them and named them apostles.

Though a rare reference, the possible weight of the term “apostle” could be seen in Hebrews 3:1 where Jesus himself is called an “apostle.”

In Greek literature, the term “apostle” was used in a way similar to how we would understand the role of a commander in a naval expedition. It is also used for envoys and those who are sent.

What we want to convey here is that the assigning of “apostles” was an extraordinarily unique and high term.

God took these normal people who were different from one another and conferred upon them purpose and value which did not belong to them.