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Pentecost 8
Mark 6: 7-13
July 30, 2006
“Just a Stick and A Word”
Introduction: There’s only so much you can learn sitting in a classroom.
At some point, you’re going to have to get some real life experience!
If you want to be a teacher, you need to practice working with real kids!
If you want to be a mechanic, you need to practice working on real cars.
If you want to be a nurse, you need experience working with real sick people!
Your education is not complete until you get out there and use what you’ve learned!
The same thing is true with the Christian life and witness.
In Mark chapter 6, Jesus is teaching his disciples how to do the work of the ministry.
And now, he’s taking them to the next level.
He’s saying, "Alright.
You’ve watched me preach.
You’ve seen me do healings.
You’ve observed me driving out demons.
You’ve watched me love people that have never been loved before.
Now it’s time for YOU to do it!
I didn’t pick 12 apostles so that you could stand around and watch me do all the work!
You are not spectators you are participants.
Christianity is not a spectator sport!
And in our reading, Jesus gives them a model for ministry.
Verse six says that "Jesus went around teaching from village to village."
You know what I like about that?
I like that Jesus leads by example.
Before he tells the disciples to go out there and do the work of the ministry, he was out there doing it first!
Jesus didn’t hide up in heaven and tell us what to do from a distance.
He came down here and SHOWED us what to do! How does he do it?
How are we to do it?
Notice that Jesus doesn’t wait around for the villagers to come to Him.
He left Nazareth and went to them!
There is a lesson here.
Christians talk a lot about getting people to come to church.
That’s not how the mission works.
Rather we need to talk about getting our church to go out to the people, to where they are at.
That’s what Jesus is talking about here!
He doesn’t say, "Wait in the sanctuary, and pray for people to come in and fill the pews."
He’s saying, "I want the people in the pews to go to them!"
Most of the ministry that God calls us to do is outside the church.
It happens when we reach out with God’s word to the people in our own towns and cities.
When we teach our kids right from wrong at home.
It happens when we discuss Bible stories around the dinner table.
It happens when we reach out in Christian friendship to coworkers, reaching out with the love of God beyond the walls of this building.
Then we invite them to come here, to our church, because this is the place that we are ministered to, we confess our sins together and receive forgiveness.
Here, we come sick and suffering, even tormented by the devil, and we receive God’s healing touch, and comfort for our souls.
But, after being ministered to, we go.
How does Jesus send us out?
He sends us like He sent the twelve apostles.
Verse seven says "Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two."
It was customary in both Jewish and Greek culture to send messengers in groups of two.
The bottom line is that God never intended you and I to do the work of the ministry by ourselves.
We need help!
We need encouragement!
We all need it.
I had always hoped to go into the pastoral ministry, even though I was reluctant about it at times.
But it wasn’t until one night, laying beside my wife, waiting for sleep to come, that my wife said, “So, when are you going to go to seminary.”
At that moment I knew that she too, was ready to go, willing to bear the cross and the joy that would follow.
The Lord knew that I couldn’t do this job by myself.
He knew that there would be tough times ahead.
He knew how much I would need her.
And look at the apostle Paul.
As great as he was, when the church sent him out on his first missionary journey in Acts 13, they didn’t send him out there all alone.
Does anyone remember the name of the friend that went him?
Barnabas!
Do you remember what the name ’Barnabas’ means?
It means Son of Encouragement!
We all need sons of encouragement in our lives.
We all need people who will build us up when the Christian life gets tough.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 says "Two are better than one, because they have a better return for their work.
If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"
So far, we have seen that Jesus gives us a model for ministry and companionship for ministry.
And he also gives us power for ministry.
The second part of verse seven says that He "gave them authority over evil spirits."
Sometimes people think that they aren’t good at sharing their faith in Jesus.
They believe that they won’t say the right things, won’t have the right words.
They say "I just can’t serve the Lord that way! I’m not strong enough!
I can’t do it!"
We’ll you know, they are right!
None of us are strong enough or good enough.
But Jesus is not asking us to do this with our own strength and our own skills.
He’s not asking us to minister with our own power.
He’s not asking us to battle the forces of evil all by ourselves.
He gives you HIS power for ministry!
If we were in this thing on our own, then I would probably quit myself.
But we are not alone!
Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"
Empowered by our loving Savior we go, but what do we take.
Most of us like to do a little preparation before we do something or go somewhere.
Before vacation my wife makes lists, one list for this, and one list for that…I think she even makes up a list to keep track of the lists.
Me, on the other hand, I bounce around the house, from one room to another from the garage to the basement to the upstairs, grabbing anything we might need.
Then I throw them all together.
I guess we all prepare in our own ways.
But what does Jesus say about ministry?
"These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff, that is a stick - no bread, no bag, no money in your belts."
And according to verse nine, they could take the clothes on their back and a pair of sandals.
And that was about it!
At first glance we might just pass over these words and say, “OK” I’m fine with that.
But when I was in Thailand I really started getting concerned when I ran out of clean underwear.
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