New Recruits (Mk. 3:13-21)

Introduction

· Turn over to the Gospel of Mark, ch. 3

· A few weeks ago, Buzzfeed released a video titled, “I’m a Christian, But I’m Not…” Had a series of millennials (20s) who defined what Christianity meant to them. NOT – homophobic, perfect, unaccepting, uneducated, ignorant, place myself on a pedestal. I AM – accepting, gay, a feminist, do believe in science. The video went viral, with over 1,000,000 views. An attempt to make Christianity more palatable, to get the world to realize we are not weird, strange, or intolerant of others. Unfortunately, this video had very little to say about the real point of Christianity, which is Jesus Christ Himself. It was all about us, and how we want others to perceive us.

· All too often, Christians have been hypocritical and judgmental. There’s no excuse for that. But Christ’s call to ‘love’ does not mean we are commanded to approve or celebrate sin.

· If you want an accurate view of Christianity, you can do far better than watching a Buzzfeed video. Why not go to the Scriptures and see what it says. Look at the original followers of Jesus, what they did and how they acted.

· Read 3:13-21. [He went up to pray all night].

· In this passage, we see the calling of the Twelve. Sovereignly chosen to spend time with Jesus (v. 14) and to be sent out (vv. 14-15).

· THREE MARKS OF A DISCIPLE:

1. A Growing Humility

· 4 Men - Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew

· Fishermen. Part of the inner circle. Know the most about them.

· One Episode: Mark 9:33-41 Who is the Greatest?

· Proverbs 16:18–19 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

· C.S. Lewis – “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”

· Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

· (Practical Examples or Story)

· >>Humility stems from a life of faith…

2. A Child-Like Faith

· 4 Men - Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas

· We’ve already seen Matthew (Levi) in the preceding chapter. Poor Thomas (doubting). Bartholomew probably same name as Nathanael.

· One Episode: John 1:43-51

· Blessing the Children. ‘The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

· Do you trust Christ? Or do you always need more proof? More evidence? Do you rely more on feelings, and what you can see, or do you believe in God, whom you cannot see.

· My testimony – Saved early. Crisis of faith in my teens. I finally had to just trust God.

· No one will enter heaven by reason alone. Not a ‘leap of faith.’ Not asked to check your brains out at the door. Yet it is a reasonable faith.

· 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

· >>A Growing Humility, a Child-Like Faith, and…

3. A Quiet Perseverance

· 4 Men - James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon (the Cananean/Zealot - enthusiast), and Judas.

· Largely unknown. Not everyone will be a Peter or John.

· And then there’s Judas.

· Not enough to begin well, but to finish well.

· 1 Corinthians 9:26–27 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

· Revelation 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

· (Indicators of losing perseverance).

Conclusion

· What happened to the disciples? Did they accomplish Christ’s mission?

· Mission Field – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Uttermost. Scripture records Galatia, Ephesus, and Rome. Tradition teaches that Bartholomew preached in Armenia; Andrew in the southern steppes of Russia and the Ukraine; Thomas in Persia and India; Matthew in Ethiopia; James the Younger in Egypt; Jude in Assyria and Persia; and Mark (not one of the apostles but closely related to them) in Alexandria.

· Martyrdom: James the son of Zebedee was beheaded in Jerusalem, the first of the apostles to die, during the Easter season in about the year A.D. 44. ☐ Matthew was slain with the sword in a city in Ethiopia. ☐ Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria until he expired. ☐ Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece. ☐ James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple. ☐ Philip was hanged up against a pillar in Phrygia. ☐ Bartholomew was flayed alive. ☐ Andrew was scourged then tied to a cross where he preached to the people for two days before dying. ☐ Jude was shot to death with arrows. ☐ Thomas was run through the body with a lance. ☐ Simon the Zealot was crucified. ☐ Peter was crucified upside down. ☐ Matthias was stoned and beheaded. ☐ John was exiled to the penal island of Patmos and later became the only apostle to die a natural death. (NCBSIQ)

· Jim Eliot, a martyr to the Auca Indians of South America once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

· Christ’s mission continues today. Will you join him?