Mark Sermon Week 8

Intro/Welcome

Story of DL Moody

born 1837 Massachusetts

uneducated — 5th grade education.

worked as shoe salesman

At the age of 23 a customer shared the gospel with him.

By the end of his life

Started number of Schools:

Started Northfield Seminary for Women

Boys school in 1881

founded a school in Chicago in 1888

train men and women to work in urban centers

Founded Bible institute to get more christian books into the hands of the poor and prisoners

100 million people by pen or voice by 1899

DL Moody was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things.

or DL Moody was an ordinary man through whom God did extraordinary things.

If God calls a man to his work, and will be with him in that work, he will succeed--no matter what the obstacles may be. Let us put ourselves in the hands of God, and our very weaknesses and infirmities will be used by Him to gain victories that we never dreamed of. -- D.L. Moody

God uses ordinary means to accomplish extraordinary things

If you’ve ever felt like God couldn’t or wouldn’t use you.

you would be wrong

History bears witness to this

As does our text today

Where Jesus calls 12 ordinary men to live extraordinary lives.

There is a legitimate FOMO

but the answer is to try harder or do more

as we’ll see today the asnwer is simply:

to be with Jesus and become like Jesus

This is how God does extraordinary things in ordinary people.

Bible

We’ll be in Mark 3:13-19.

go there in your Bibles

My name is Justin

Welcome you here.

Read the Text

Mark 3:13–19 (CSB)

13 Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 He appointed the Twelve: To Simon, he gave the name Peter; 17 and to James the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John, he gave the name “Boanerges” (that is, “Sons of Thunder”); 18 Andrew; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

This is the Word of the Lord

Let’s Pray

Pray

come holy spirit, praying for a move of the spirit

to inspire, convict, empower your church for extraordinary things.

The Calling of the Twelve

With the calling of the twelve we enter into a new phase of Jesus’ Ministry - The King and His coming Kingdom

Context in Mark

Mark 1:1-3:12 have been about Establishing the King and His Present Kingdom.

His ministry opened up in Mark 1:15

Mark 1:15 (CSB)

15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

He begins calling disciples in Mark 1:17

Mark 1:17 (CSB)

17 “Follow me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people.”

Mark 1:18-3:12 — Demonstrations and Proclamations of the Kingdom of God and declarations of His Identity as the God-Man-Messiah-King

He cures (heals) diseases, casts out demons, calls disciples, declares the Kingdom of God is present

He also reveals who He is: God-Man-Messiah-King

Forgives sins (Mark 2:5)

I am the Groom (Mark 2:19)

Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28)

Son of God (demons in Mark 3:11)

The New Phase

Now is the time to call 12 men in particular who will be trained by Jesus and lead the Jesus movement he’s gone.

What we see here is Jesus’ pattern of disciple-making.

he’s going to call 12 men in particular to spend time with him

They are distinct from all the other disciples in they they will be called Apostles, literally (the sent ones) from the greek verb apestello which means “to send.”

Called to do what?

What exactly did he calls these men to do?

Two Things:

To be with Jesus

To become like Jesus

Mark 3:14–15 (CSB)

14 He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to drive out demons.

To be with Jesus

to learn from Him, watch Him, to observe him, to learn to do what he does

To become like Him

to preach the Kingdom as he has been

to cast out demons and heal the sick (Mark 6:13)

This is how he calls 12 ordinary men can do extraordinary things

by being with Jesus and becoming Like Jesus

Twelve Ordinary Men

Why 12? —

Jesus is doing something new

The significance of 12 — 12 tribes of Israel

Jesus is establishing the new leadership of the present kingdom

the outworking of the OT Kingdom of God has come to its fruition and fulfillment.

12 different men from different vocations

4 fishermen / 1 tax collector / 1 fanatical activist / 6 unknown

11 hail from Galilee

one from a town called Kerioth in southern Judah

Judas Iscariot is literally Judas ‘ish kerioth’

that is Judas the ‘man from Kerioth’

Thus Judas Iscariot was the apostle who was not from Galilee

Jesus didn’t select the best and the Brightest

he didn’t select the highest GPA or most likely to succeed

he didn’t choose those who had money, or power, or influence

He didn’t choose the best looking or most popular.

He chose twelve ordinary men.

because God loves to do extraordinary things through ordinary people

Why did he choose these twelve men in particular?

it wasn’t b/c of anything they brought to the table but rather because that is exactly who the Father told him to choose

Be with and likeJesus in Prayer

Mark 3:13 (CSB)

13 Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him.

Luke 6:12–13 (CSB)

12 During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. 13 When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:

Jesus spent all night praying to the Father about whom to select

John 5:19 (CSB)

19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.

He wanted to hear from the Father:

Who had the father ordained before the foundations of the world to be the Twelve.

Jesus had to spend time talking to his Father before making this crucial decision

Part of following Jesus is observing what he does so we can do the same

Thus sets a pattern for us to come to God with our questions and needs and ask what His will is.

especially when choosing those to invest in.

This is called prayer.

Prayer is a primary way that we are to ‘be with Jesus’ and be like Him

just as Jesus was with the father in prayer, so too we are with God when we earnestly pray to Him.

This is what the Disciples would learn to do by being with Jesus they would become like him.

Pattern of Disciple-making

Really what Jesus is doing here is showing his pattern for disciple-making

come and learn from me, watch what I do, listen to what I teach

then go and do it under my supervision and my feedback.

and one day they would do it on their own.

I do you watch and learn

You do I watch and give feedback

You go and do and teach others to do the same.

And this exactly what will play out in the gospel of Mar.

Calling and Commissioning

Notice he calls them here in Mark 3:13 but he doesn’t commission them and send them out until Mark 6:7

Mark 6:7 (CSB)

7 He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

Mark 6:12–13 (CSB)

12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

The Kingdom Work

Declaring the Kingdom of God

Demonstrating power over disease and demons

calling of more disciples

What happens in between the call and commissioning?

discipleship — disciple-making

and disciple-making is the exact same process today by which we ‘become more like Jesus’

to be a disciple of Jesus is to become like Jesus.

Bible teacher Ray Vander Laan: “A student wants to know what the teacher knows. A disciple wants to become what the teacher is.”

Luke 6:40 (CSB)

40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Breakdown of Mark

in fact you can break Mark into these sections:

The Calling of the Apostles (Mark 3:13)

The Commissioning of the Apostles (Mark 6:7)

The Confession of the Apostles of Jesus as Messiah (Mark 8:26) — the turning point

The Cost of Discipleship (Mark 8:27 on)

But here, Jesus has called them, and before he commissions them to do Kingdom work he must train them.

This is what we see in Mark 3:20-6:6.

Teach

about the enemy and the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:20-35)

the Kingdom of God (Mark 4)

Teaching in parables (Mark 4)

Demonstrate again the Kingdom of God

Walk on water (control over creation) (Mark 5:35-41)

Power over Demons (Legion) (Mark 5:1-20)

Healings (Jairus and the bleeding woman) (Mark 5:21-43)

He will then send them out to do the same. (Mark 6:7)

This is disciple-making and it involves

Being with Jesus to become like Jesus

in fact the only way to become like Jesus is to be with Jesus.

We are literally being discipled by Jesus as we go through Mark. The disciples journey is our journey.

So at One Hope, we want to be disciple making disciples

We are going to be rolling out a process for that probably in the new year

modeled after the way Jesus made disciples

organized but organic

We’ll let you know how you can be part of that.

In Jesus, the ext becomes ord

But it is exactly this process: being with Jesus to become like him

that God uses the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary

becuase the Extraordinary became ordinary in the God-Man-Messiah-King — Jesus Christ.

Jesus, as the son of God, in the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection is the

extraordinary becoming ordinary, so that the ordinary can become extraordinary.

The Cross and Resurrection is how God can take your ordinary life and do extraordinary things.

because of the extraordinary work of the Savior in the Cross and Resurrection

and the extraordinary presence of the Holy Spirit we can say like Paul

“all things are possible in Him” (Phil 4:13)

that is both in suffering and in the salvation of souls

Because Jesus died for us, for our sins and rose to new life conquering satan, sin and death.

for our sins and the sins of the apostles by the way

that we all might be reconciled to God

known and loved

and filled with his presence

to be a part of his extraordinary mission.

For you to

This was true for the apostles and it is true for you and I.

Church history is filled with extraordinary stories like that of DL Moody

Amy Carmichael, George Mueller, William Wilberforce, John Bunyan, Hudson Taylor, Corrie Ten Boom, and the list goes and on

God loves to use ordinary people to accomplish his extraordinary purposes through the process of being with Jesus and becoming like him.

How bout you?

are you excluded from God’s calling and commission?

Jesus says that all who come to him will he will never cast away.

We have all been Called to Jesus and Commissioned by Him to disciple of the nations.

How do we get there?

same way they did

we have to Be with Jesus to become like Jesus.

Mark 3:13 calls us to be with Jesus and in Matt 28:20 Jesus promises to be with us.

Being With Jesus

what does it look like to be with Jesus?

Where do we find Jesus?

let me give you a few places you can find Jesus:

in his word (John 1, 1 Sam 3:21)

by his Spirit that lives inside every believer (John 14)

in his people — the church (Matt 18, Eph 1, Acts 9)

when we do evangelism (Matt 28:20)

when we are making disciples

serving the poor. (Matt 25:34-40)

when we pray (Jer 29:11-13)

in communion

Here at the Worship Gathering

Jesus is here and is literally discipling us as we go through the gospel of mark

We are on the journey the disciples were

Barriers to Being with and becoming Like Jesus

What gets in the way?

Self pity

Pride

Preferences

Prejudices

The twelve shared the same problems

there are no supermen or superwomen in the NT, only sinners saved by grace...The other gospel writers softened down some of the stories, but Mark wants to show us that the apostles were people just like us, with all our weaknesses. NT ‘saints’ do not have bright haloes around their heads; that was an invention of the later church!

ordinary men called to do extraordinary things

Self Pity

WE may think too little of ourselves, that God couldn’t or wouldn't use us.

In Luke’s account of Peter’s calling what do we see?

Luke 5:8 (CSB)

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

Peter wants to let his shame define him

But Jesus won’t let him

He says ‘fear not, I change you from the inside out’

Furthermore after Peter fails monumentally in his denial of Christ

Christ comes back and walks with him on the beach to remind him of His love and calling

We may feel unworthy to be used by God, weighed down with shame and self pity

But Jesus came to seek and save the lost

you are precisely the kind of person that Jesus came to save and restore.

don’t despise what Jesus loves, namely yourself.

Jesus died for all sin and shame to make you knew.

Jesus is with you, to lift you up, will you be with Him?

if you struggle with shame, self-esteem, guilt, condemnation

What you need to hear is the truth: John 8:32

John 8:32 (CSB)

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus chooses you. Jesus died for you.

Jesus gives you dazzling white clothes b/c he has covered your sin and shame

don’t let shame have the last word

don’t listen to the words of the enemy

but the truth of Jesus.

Pride

The other response is the opposite, not thinking to low of yourself, but thinking too highly.

We see this in James and John who are constantly thinking to highly of themselves

They are the ones who want to sit at Jesus right and left hand

They are the ones the probably start the arguments about who is the greatest

They are the one who want to call down fire from heaven on the samaritans

Luke 9:52–56 (CSB)

52 He sent messengers ahead of himself, and on the way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. 53 But they did not welcome him, because he determined to journey to Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village.

Jesus rebukes their pride.

they completely miss the message of Jesus as savior to all kinds of people.

I didn’t come to destroy sinners but to save them

John 3:17 (CSB)

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

they had to learn

Later on Jesus comes down the mountain to people who are trying to cast out a demon but cannot

he simply says this can only be done by prayer

meaning, you cannot do this on your power, but by calling upon God’s power

the solution

to become like Jesus by being with Jesus

Jesus who taught us to lay down our lives for the sake of others (John 15)

Jesus who was humble at heart

who did not grasp upon his divinity, but took the form of a servant

Philippians 2:5–11 (CSB)

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So we have to humble ourselves

God gives grace to the humble but opposes the proud.

This is where God’s People can be so helpful

it’s what we strive for at One Hope

To have the depth of relationships where we could receive from someone in our Community Group that we are being prideful

This is another way we can be with Jesus

by being with His people.

So we have to humble ourselves as Jesus did.

that is to become like him.

Preferences

A third thing that can get in our way is our preferences and prejudices.

Worship Preferences

some of us let our preferences in worship music, preaching style, or even certain people in the church to outweigh God’s call to a particular church

Preference for comfort and convenience

maybe some of us don’t come to a worship gathering b/c it’s just more convenient to stay home it is our preference.

As we’ll see in the last half of the book:

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die” - Deitrich Bonhoeffer

the call to follow Jesus is a call to die to your preferences

The Cost of Discipleship

The disciples continually had to learn to die to their preferences.

for the sake of the gospel work.

And so for you, what preferences do you need to lay aside?

that you might experience God’s call and commission on your life?

Prejudices:

how much damage has been done and kingdom work missed b/c of prejudices

how hard it was for the early church to accept that God’s grace was for all people, not just the jews.

Jesus unites all people around himself.

If Jesus is our center we might be surprised at who is standing next to us.

Ephesians 2:14 (CSB)

14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

Ephesians 2:16 (CSB)

16 He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.

this was certainly true in Jesus band of disciples.

Matthew and Simon the Zealot

Matthew the tax Collector and Simon the Zealot were about as far apart politically as you could be.

Simon:

Simon was involved with a group known as the Zealot which what was likely behind the Galilean revolt listed in Acts 5:37.

this group was committed to the overthrow of Rome at all costs

Matthew

Matthew had joined the Romans

and was exploiting his own people.

talk about mortal enemies

yet here they are, standing side by side

being with Jesus and becoming like Jesus

laying down their preferences, prejudices and politics for the extraordinary mission of Jesus.

This is like the extreme left and the right joining together — Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConell hanging out as freinds

this is the power of the gospel

this is extraordinary in the eyes of the world

but it is ordinary in the Church of Jesus.

APPLICATION

What prejudices have you held on to that you need to nail to the cross?

If you put Jesus in the center you may be surprised who is standing next to you.

Being Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Being with Jesus and becoming like Him means overcoming

self-pity, pride, preferences and prejudices to do extraordinary things as ordinary people.

But we also need to be careful how we define extraordinary.

Extraordinary in the Ordinary

we are not just talking about rockstar missionaries the bring thousands to faith

1. but moms and dads in every day life

Parents you have the most significant voice in your child’s life

loving them as Christ does is extraordinary

2. teachers and counselors throughout their normal day

the impact you can have on the kids under your care even if you never get to share it can be extraordinary.

3. Suffering well

it might be how one worships God through their suffering — this is extraordinary.

4. God can use anyone anywhere to extraordinary things

leading a car dealer to faith

serving the poor in our city

witness to God’s goodness in the midst of loss

loving as Jesus love.

There is extraordinary even in the ordinary.

These are extraordinary things in the eyes of the world

but they are to be ordinary in the life of the church

modern day miracles

God has sovereignly ordained that you are where you are right now

and he has placed people around you that he wants to share his extraordinary love with.

friends, coworkers, neighbors just living life today.

Conclusion

God loves to use ordinary means to do extraordinary things.

And it happens by being with Jesus and becoming like Jesus.

each of these twelve ordinary men would go on to do extra-ordinary things for the Kingdom of God

all but one would suffer a martyrs death

beheading, crucifixion, spearing, stabbing

Legend says that the Romans tried to boil John alive, but he survived.

They lived extraordinary lives and died extraordinary deaths for the sake of the King and the Kingdom.

They had been with Jesus, and had become like him in nearly every way.

How about you?

ordinary person

what extraordinary life might Jesus be calling you t o?

Closing Prayer