The Gospel of Mark: Qualities of a Disciple

Did you know that God’s first missionary was a demon-possessed man? The very first individual to obey the Great Commission — even before Christ had taught it to His disciples — is the central character of our text. The initial encounter Jesus has with this man is explosive. The disciples' beach their boat near a graveyard and a herd of pigs. Both are ritually and culturally unclean for Jews. As Jesus steps out, a crazy man storms out of the graveyard. Unkempt hair. Wild eyes. Bloody wrists, and ankles. Lacerated skin. Screaming wildly. Naked. . Arms flailing. The apostles gawk and gulp and put a foot back in the boat.

I don’t think Jesus even flinched, because I believe Jesus knew where He was going when He asked the disciples to row Him across the lake. The picture Mark draws is filled with terror. It describes a man who is the victim of demonic malevolence coupled with human indifference and impotence. But in the end divine omnipotence and benevolence come to the rescue and triumph. The helpfulness of Jesus is strikingly contrasted with the heartlessness of demons and helplessness of men.

We see from verse 8 that Jesus first commanded the demons to come out of the man. Through this we get a glimpse into the unseen world of the spiritual war going on all around us. For just a few minutes the invisible conflict becomes visible and we are offered a position over looking the battlefield. The victory belongs to the Lord.

This evening, I want us to consider the ministry of a unique individual after Jesus touched his life. We do not know his name. We do not know about his family or even what he looked like. We do not know what he had done for a living. We do not know how he came to be in the spiritual condition the Lord found him in. We do know that he was at one time demon possessed, that he met Jesus one day and was healed and saved, that he had a vibrant testimony and that his testimony was effective. This one man made a difference. He made a difference because he was willing to follow Jesus and be a disciple.

There are three qualities of discipleship we can glean from this man’s life that explain why he made a difference in his community.

I. HE MADE A DIFFERENCE BECAUSE HE WAS WILLING TO BE A DISCIPLE OF JESUS

“When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15, NIV84)

1. Luke’s Gospel adds a detail that Mark leaves out

a. Mark simply says that the town’s people found the former demoniac sitting down

b. but Luke tells us that he was sitting at Jesus’ feet

2. if you are going to make a difference in your community, you’ve got to be willing to sit at the feet of Jesus

a. what does that imply?

b. sitting at another’s feet was the position that a learner had with his master

1) it implied that the Master had authority over his students

2) it implied that the students eagerly sought their master’s knowledge and wisdom

c. the Bible has a word for this student/teacher relationship

1) the student is the disciple

3. unfortunately we have a lot of believers in the church today, but we seem woefully short of true disciples

ILLUS. In his book, Evangelism: Christ’s Imperative Commission, Roland Leavell (one-time president or New Orleans Baptist theological seminary) gives some interesting statistics about church members. Listen to a few of these:

5% do not exist

10% cannot be found

20% never pray

25% never read the Bible

30% never attend Church services

40% never give a dime to Christian causes

50% never go to Sunday School or Bible study

60% never attend Sunday evening worship

70% never give to missions

80% never go to prayer meetings

95% never lead anyone to faith in Christ

3. if these statistics are correct, they indicate that we have a lot of people in the Church who are not making any difference for Christ in the community in which they live

A. A DISCIPLE IS FIRST AND FOREMOST, A LEARNER

1. where did the villagers find this man when they came out to see what was happening?

a. the Bible says they found him ...

1) sitting at Jesus’ feet

2) dressed

3) in his right mind

2. let me take a few moments to glean out of this passage some devotional thoughts that apply to all of us

3. FIRST, the man was ‘sitting at the feet of Jesus’

a. in those few moments after his exorcism, this man becomes a devoted learner of the will and ways of our Lord

1) between the time he is delivered and the townspeople arrive, he gets a crash course in Discipleship 101 from Jesus

b. you will never make a difference in this world if you do not learn from Christ

ILLUS. William Barclay, the great Scottish preacher, once said: “It's possible to be a follower of Jesus without being a disciple; to be a camp-follower without being a soldier of the king; to be a hanger-on in some great work without pulling one's weight. Once someone was talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, "So and so tells me that he was one of your students." The teacher answered devastatingly, "He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students." There is a world of difference between attending lectures and being a student. It is one of the supreme handicaps of the Church that in the Church there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.

c. to sit at Jesus’ feet means you will be a life-long learner of Christ

4. SECOND, this man was ‘dressed’

a. in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus told his disciples: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. NIV)

b. disciples dress themselves in the righteousness of Christ alone by imitating the life of Christ

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV)

ILLUS. BB. McKinney was one of the truly great hymn writers of the early part of this century. One of those hymns was, Let Others See Jesus in You. Listen to these stanzas:

While passing through this world of sin, And others your life shall view,

Be clean and pure without, within, Let others see Jesus in you.

Your life’s a book before their eyes, They’re reading it through and through;

Say, does it point them to the skies, Do others see Jesus in you?

Then live for Christ both day and night, Be faithful, be brave, and true,

And lead the lost to life and light; Let others see Jesus in you.

(Chorus) Let others see Jesus in you, Let others see Jesus in you;

Keep telling the story, be faithful and true, Let others see Jesus in you.

5. THIRD, this man was ‘in his right mind’

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5, KJV)

a. notice that we are not told to have a good mind or a mind purified by discipline, nor a mind sharpened by intellect, but the very mind of Christ Himself

b. we are not to merely resemble Jesus in behavior, but to think His very thoughts

c. for the Christian, being in your right mind means having the mind of Christ

1) have the mind of Christ means living in the Scriptures that tell us about him

6. if you want to make a difference in your community, you must be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and not merely a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ

a. the later is a point-in-time event in your life, the former is a life-long endeavor

II. HE MADE A DIFFERENCE BECAUSE HE WAS WILLING TO FOLLOW JESUS WHEREVER HE WENT

"As He [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him." (Mark 5:18, NASB95)

1. if you’re going to make a difference in your community, you’ve got to be willing to go where Jesus goes

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25, KJV)

2. for most of you here this evening, chances are pretty good that God has not called you to Africa as a missionary

a. but He might send you down the street, across the yard, or to the office across from yours

3. bottom line? most Christians are not willing to follow Jesus even to that extent

ILLUS. Wilbur Reese writes with biting sarcasm: I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb not a new birth. I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I'd like to buy $3 worth of God, please. How much of God do you want?

4. obey … take up your cross … deny yourself … it all sounds very hard — it is hard

a. anyone who tells you differently is peddling spiritual syrup, not real Christianity

b. and yet, in a strangely paradoxical way, it is also easy

c. with every cross that we lift in obedience to Christ comes the strength to carry it — it is always a package deal

A. FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS STEPPING OUT IN FAITH

1. the man in our story was willing to step out in faith and follow Jesus where ever he was going

2. at this point he probably did not know much about Jesus, but he knew that Jesus had changed his life

a. where Jesus went, that’s where he wanted to be

3. the lost people of our community will never be saved until God’s people step out in faith and tell others about the Jesus who changed their life

a. and folks, the harvest is ripe!

ILLUS. Every five years, the Gallup organization takes a major religious survey of the American people. This is what they discovered in their last poll. 1. The survey reports that 44% of U.S. adults are “unchurched.” That means that they do not belong to a church nor have visited a church within the last six months except for weddings and funerals. 2. The unchurched are becoming increasingly receptive to what churches have to offer, and are staying away primarily out of inconvenience, not hostility. 3. 63% of the unchurched believe the Bible is God’s Word. 4. 77% say they pray to God. 5. 72% believe Jesus is the Son of God. 6. 58% said they were open to joining a church if they found the right one. Gallup’s conclusion was this: “These people are ripe for the picking.”

4. if you are willing to follow Jesus where ever he may lead — you will make a difference in you community

III. THIS MAN MAD A DIFFERENCE BECAUSE HE WAS WILLING TO TELL OTHERS WHAT JESUS HAD DONE FOR HIM

"And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19, NASB95)

1. evangelism and missions always begins at your own doorstep – not half-way around the world

2. his witness was evidently successful

a. in verse 17 we are told that the people of the region (who were Gentiles) were terrified and asked Jesus to leave their area

Mark 5:17 "And they began to implore Him to leave their region." NASB95

b. BUT, some months later, when Jesus again made a tour through the area, he found these same people open and receptive

“Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.” (Mark 7:31–32, NIV84)

A. YOUR TESTIMONY IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR SHARING CHRIST

ILLUS. A Sunday School teacher, a Mr. Kimball, in 1858, shared his testimony and led a Boston shoe clerk to give his life to Christ. That clerk was Dwight L. Moody. Moody became an evangelist and everywhere he went, he shared his testimony. In England in 1879, he awakened evangelistic zeal in the heart of Fredrick B. Meyer, pastor of a small church. F. B. Meyer, preaching to an American college campus, won to Christ a student named J. Wilbur Chapman. As an adult, Wilbur Chapman became involved in YMCA work and employed a former baseball player named Billy Sunday, to do evangelistic work. Billy Sunday held a revival in Charlotte, N.C., and a group of local men became so enthusiastic over the results that they planned another evangelistic campaign and invited Mordecai Hamm to town to preach. During Hamm's revival, a young man named Billy Graham heard the gospel and gave his life to Christ. Billy Graham has preached to more people than anyone else in the history of the world. Only eternity will reveal the tremendous impact of that one Sunday School teacher, Mr. Kimball, who told others about his faith in Christ.

CON. Do you want to make a difference in your community? Then be a disciple and not just a ‘believer’. That means sharing your testimony. That means following Jesus where ever and to whom ever he may lead you. That means sitting at the feet of Jesus and being a true disciple. In his book, How to Witness Successfully, George Sweeting illustrates the problem within the church when God’s people are silent about their faith and unwilling to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. The illustration he gives comes from the reign of Oliver Cromwell in England. Because of the English Civil War, there was a shortage of hard currency in the British Empire. Government representatives carefully searched the nation in hopes of finding silver to meet the emergency. After one month, the committee returned with its report. “We have searched the Empire in vain seeking to find silver. To our dismay, we found none anywhere except in the cathedrals where the statues of the saints are made of choice silver.” To this Oliver Cromwell eloquently answered, “Then let us melt down the saints and put them into circulation.” Will you let God melt your heart this morning and put you into circulation?

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