The First Sending of the Twelve Disciples

Introduction

This morning we’ll be back in the book of Mark, working through a God-given, historical account of Jesus’s life. You might remember, last week, we saw that Jesus was rejected in his hometown. Even with Jesus’s powerful preaching and mighty miracles, he had hard days in ministry. There were a number of audiences who didn’t appreciate or accept his identity and authority as the Son of God. And in our text today, we see that Jesus sends out his followers to engage in the same type of ministry he’s been doing up to this point – he sends them out into the same uncertainties, to some of the same stubborn audiences. And as we dig into the text, we’ll consider how this commission for his twelve disciples relates to Christians today. So please turn with me in your Bibles to Mark, Chapter 6. (If you’re using one of our church Bibles, you can find our text on page 790). We’ll be reading verses seven through 13. But before I read, please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

Hands-on Training

A few years ago, when Taylor and I were expecting the birth of Dietrich, we went in for the 20-week ultra-sound together. Taylor got situated on the bed, the lights were low, the technician got started. And at first everything seemed normal. Of course, we had done this multiple times before with our older kids. But after a few minutes, it became clear that the technician was going really slow. And the issue wasn’t that there was some sort of health concern for the baby – but the technician was struggling a bit to take clear images, and to make the right measurements. It didn’t take long for us to figure out – the person starting our ultrasound here actually wasn’t an experienced, licensed technician, but she was instead a student. The experienced ultrasound technician came in after about 30 minutes, to see how things were going. And after about 45 minutes or an hour, finally the experienced technician went through and quickly, efficiently, took the pictures and measurements that were needed to confirm that we had a healthy baby growing with a good brain, heart, kidneys, and all the rest.

But it really struck me in that moment – of course, before we can have experienced technicians, there needs to be some way for them to get experience. Before we can have Major League Baseball players, athletes need to develop their skills on middle school sports teams. In order to have pilots flying planes for the hundredth time, at some point in there you need to have a pilot who’s flying a plane for the first time. (Which I know, that’s a reassuring thought, isn’t it?)

But in any case, what we see in our text today is that Jesus is in the process of training his disciples. (And just so it’s clear, when the Bible calls them disciples – essentially that’s the same thing as saying that they’re Jesus’s students.) Jesus is teaching his students – he’s training his disciples to carry on his work. And so far in Mark, we’ve seen evidence that Jesus’s disciples are still a work in progress. Though they’ve heard Jesus teaching, and they’ve seen Jesus perform miracles, the disciples have still doubted Jesus’s power, they’ve misunderstood Jesus’s identity, and they’ve questioned his good judgment. And even later in Mark, we’ll see that a number of these issues continue.

But here in our text, Jesus is already putting the gel and the ultrasound wand into the hands of inexperienced technicians. And he’s sending them out. He’s stretching them. He’s preparing them for the work he has for them down the road. And even though Jesus Christ did this in a unique way, for this unique group of men, who he sent out to be the foundation of the Christian Church – there’s still a similar sense in which Jesus takes hold of us and trains us so that we’d be equipped for the good work he has for his people to accomplish.

And so as we work through our text, we’ll explore five ways that Jesus stretches and supplies his people for good work. First, we’ll see that Jesus involves his disciples in spiritual service to others – he involves them in ministry. Second, he authorizes his disciples for ministry. Third, he equips his disciples for ministry. Fourth, he instructs his disciples about ministry. And then fifth, he enables his disciples to do ministry.

Jesus involves his disciples in ministry

So, the first thing we see here in our text is, of course, that Jesus involves his disciples in spiritual leadership and work – he involves them in ministry. Look at verse 7. It says that Jesus “called the twelve.” As you might remember, this is a reference to the twelve disciples that he hand-picked back in Mark Chapter 3 (verses 16-19), and [he] “began to send them out two by two.”

Now, you might remember – up until this point in Jesus’s ministry, he hasn’t included other people in the preaching. He hasn’t enlisted his disciples to perform any miracles, to confirm the legitimate heavenly origin of his ministry. Right? Jesus, personally, has been doing everything. But now Jesus calls his select group of twelve disciple, and he announces that he’s sending them out, to carry on the important work he’s been doing. He sends them out to declare (and demonstrate evidence of) the truth of God’s Word.

Of course, this might get you wondering – are the disciples even ready for this? They don’t even seem to have a clear idea of who Jesus is, and the significance of what he’s doing. Why would Jesus have his disciples go out and teach, when he could do it so much better himself?

Because my guess is that for many of you, if you know how to do something really well, really efficiently, you’d just rather do it yourself than to hand off a task to someone else who’s less experienced. Parents in the room – I expect that sometimes you might consider asking your children to fold laundry, or to wash the windows, but then you wonder – what if some of the clothes aren’t folded quite right and end up wrinkly? Or what if some of the windows end up having some streaks and smudges? Is that really what I want? Maybe I should just do it myself. It’s not easy to hand off tasks to people who seem inexperienced and unreliable.

And if that’s hard for us, it just seems like it would be even harder for Jesus. It’s seems hard to believe that the perfect Son of God would commit such a big task to twelve very weak, very ordinary sinners. And yet Jesus isn’t reluctant at all. Because involving his followers – and training them for spiritual service to others – it isn’t a distraction from his mission, but it’s an important distinctive of his mission. Jesus’s long-term plan isn’t to do 100% of the preaching and shepherding for his people, all on his own, while Christians munch on popcorn and watch from the sidelines. Instead, a key part of Jesus’s work is to train and transform the people who follow him, so that they’ll be able to train others for spiritual service, too. His goal isn’t just to bring captives out of sin and darkness – but he also is working to raise up captains who will love his people and lead them in the ways of life.

And you’ll notice, Jesus starts this work of involving his disciples early. Often when freshmen come to a college sports team, they officially don’t see playing time the first year – they’re red-shirted. And the coach gives them a year to get accustomed to the new level of athletics. But here, Jesus doesn’t keep his disciples on the bench for the first year. But instead, he puts them into the game as true freshmen – not because he’s desperate, or delusional, but because Jesus is dedicated to training these men for the real tasks and trials that they’re going to be facing as his apostles.

And we actually do something similar at our Sunday evening services. About once a month we invite a young man to come preach who’s preparing to be a pastor. A number of these young men haven’t made it through Bible School or Seminary at this point. They’re still learning. They’re still growing in their ability to explain Scripture, to apply it to people’s lives, and to speak the Word with the right tone in a way that’s undistracting. But by periodically involving them in the preaching ministry of our church, they’re stretched and challenged in a way that speeds along their training. It brings refreshment to us, and it brings refinement to them.

But involvement in ministry isn’t just something that Jesus intends for pastors or elder, or people who have a calling into full-time ministry. Every Christian is intended to have a role of spiritual service. Romans 12 makes it clear that the body of Christ is made up of many members – elders, deacons, older men, younger men, older women, younger women, parents, children – we all have different stories of God’s mercy to us in our sin. And we all have different gifts and abilities for serving others. And Ephesians 4:16 explains that when each part of the body is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. For each one of you here, when you’re involved and active in service, something wonderful is gained. The body is built up. But of course, this also works the direction – if we’re absent or distant, something wonderful will be lost.

Jesus intends for his followers to be involved in spiritual service. We see that in the way that he sends out his disciples here, and in the way that he continues to call Christians into different forms of spiritual service today.

He authorizes his followers for ministry

But the next thing we see in our text is that Jesus authorizes his disciples for ministry. He gives them authority.

Of course, part of this comes from being sent out by Jesus. Jesus has authority. And he’s commissioned them for this work. So the disciples aren’t just operating by their own authority, according to their ambition or opinions – but they’re sent out as an agent of the Son of God. And it’s authoritative.

There’s a second aspect, though, of how Jesus authorizes his disciples for ministry. He sends them out two by two. This might not seem very significant. But in the Old Testament law, there was a requirement that legal testimony needed to be confirmed by two or three witnesses – particularly if some sort of charge or accusation was being made. And this is a requirement that Jesus takes seriously. Because in another part of the Bible, in the book of John Chapter 5:36-37, Jesus explains: the reason why his testimony about himself is valid is because his miracles testify to his identity, and because the Father himself bears witness. And now, Jesus sends out his disciples, two by two, and also with the authority to miraculously cast our demons, so that by the evidence of multiple witnesses the message of his disciples will be confirmed.

In the second half of verse 7, though, when it speaks about Jesus giving authority over the unclean spirits – it’s indicated that this authority is extends more broadly. Essentially, he gives the disciples the ability and authority to perform similar types of miracles, as to what he’s been doing.

As a sidenote, one of the rather shocking things to realize about this, is that one of the twelve disciples – one of these twelve men who are given this ability – is Judas Iscariot, the man who ends up betraying Jesus and taking his own life. I think we can be tempted to assume that Jesus would only ever give special giftings, authority, or ministry success to people who are thoroughly faithful Christians.

But that’s actually not what we see in Scripture. In the Old Testament, God speaks through a persistently pagan prophet named Balaam to deliver true divine messages and blessings for his people. And God appoints Cyrus the Great, a king of Persia, to finance the rebuilding of the Jerusalem and the Jewish temple, even though other resources from history indicate that Cyrus was devoted to a false Persian god, Marduk. Even in recent years, people with significant giftings for ministry have shown themselves to be walking in darkness. Ravi Zacharias, for example, had a reputation for being a brilliant Christian apologist – a defender of the faith. But at his death, it came out that he had been living a secret life of sin.

Well, we see something similar here with Judas. We again see evidence that sometimes, in God’s mysterious plan, he sometimes authorizes and enables ungodly people to produce a positive spiritual effect on other people. From the surface, this seems strange, confusing. It might trouble us. But if we think about it rightly, it should actually be encouraging to us.

Because for one thing, it shows that God’s ability to bring good isn’t limited by the goodness of the people he has to work with. He can bring life to a field of dry bones. He can raise up Mighty Branch from the dry stump of Jesse’s fallen tree. The power of the Almighty doesn’t depend on the perfection of his agent. He can even spoil the plans of the devil, and cause evil events to turn out for good. And when God does this, it serves to underscore how every detail in the universe is governed by him, to bring about his good purposes.

But when God, for a season, spiritually authorizes or empowers unbelieving people – it also reminds us that having spiritual gifts isn’t a reward for our good behavior. Having authority or giftings or success – we can’t brag as though our hard work made it all happen. But we’re forced to remember that any good ability we have, and anything good that comes out of our labor, is ultimately a gift from God. Any strength and effectiveness we have in our work – it’s not from us. It’s from him! Apart from Jesus, Judas could have done nothing. And the same is true for all of us.

Ultimately, the great hope we have as we’re sent out into the world, as disciples of Jesus, is that Jesus is the one who authorizes and empowers us. Of course, our role is different than the role of these twelve men sent out by Jesus – who are also called apostles, sent ones. Ephesians 2 confirms that the prophets and apostles were given by God to be the foundation of the Church. They were given greater authority, they were uniquely authorized to perform miracles – it’s through them that God gave us the Scriptures. And so the apostles were authorized and empowered in rather unique ways for the special role God had for them to do.

But it remains true for us, that as we’re sent out as Christians, with our various roles as worshipers, workers, and witnesses for Jesus – every last bit of our authorization and ability to do good comes from Jesus.

He equips his followers for ministry

But in addition to involving and authorizing his disciples for ministry, Jesus also equips his disciples. We see this in verses 8 and 9. We’re told that when Jesus sent out his followers, he explained, very specifically, what they should take along for the task. “He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in their belts – but to wear a sandals, and not put on two tunics.”

It’s a rather unusual list of requests. In fact, it doesn’t really sound like Jesus is preparing his disciples for their task – but that he’s instead sending them out unprepared. No bread, no bag, no money, no extra clothes! So why this list of instructions?

Well, as I said, Jesus equips his disciples for ministry, here, but he does it in a different way than we would expect. He equips them, not by adding, but by subtracting. And by doing this, there are two rather important points that Jesus seems to be making.

For one thing, with this list, Jesus is telling his disciples that they need to be prepared to move efficiently. That’s why he still tells them to have their sandals, and to have their walking staff. But beyond that, Jesus insists that bringing extra supplies will just be a hindrance rather than a help. He indicates that his disciples have a mission that requires flexibility, mobility, and speed.

Interestingly, this is similar to something that’s seen in the Old Testament. When God gives instructions to eat the Passover in Exodus 12(:11) he urges Moses and the people of Israel, to eat it with their sandals on their feet, and with their staff in hand. And that’s because the people need to be ready to move. God is about to lead them out their slavery in Egypt, and so they’ll need to move fast. Jesus is communicating a similar sense of urgency here, by telling his disciples to go out in a streamlined way.

But there’s a second way that Jesus equips his disciples, when he tells them to cut back on their luggage. Jesus is helping his disciples to see that what they really need, to do their work, isn’t their moneybag, or an extra change of clothes – but what they really need is him. It’s a trust-building exercise. And it’s an opportunity for the sufficiency and power of Jesus to be proven, here, as these simple men are sent out with such simple supplies.

And as we consider what Jesus was asking of his disciples – there’s wisdom here for us, too. Because sometimes the supplies that we have and manage don’t actually improve our ability to serve others. Sometimes we end up relying on our own resources, and we drag extra supplies through life, that ultimately consume our time and hinder us from being spiritually useful. And in those situations, what we need really isn’t to be resourced with something more or different. But instead we need the extra bells and whistles to be stripped away, so that our confidence can rest fully in Jesus.

As a quick side note, some people have taken these verses a bit too far. And they’ve insisted that the only way to be a faithful Christian is to be an absolute minimalist. But Jesus himself makes it clear that this wasn’t a permanent command. Because in account of his life written by Luke, here in the Bible in Chapter 22, Jesus tells his disciples that the time has come for “the one who has a moneybag [to] take it, and likewise a knapsack. And [for] the one who has no sword [to] sell his cloak and buy one.” He indicates that different situations call for different supplies. Different responsibilities require different provisions. It’s a matter of wisdom. It’s a matter of having our consciences informed by the Word of God, and seeking to honor him accordingly.

But certainly as Americans, the temptation we’ll commonly have is to rely too much on our stuff – too much on our personal resources – and not enough on the power of Christ. And that’s one of the things that Jesus pushes back against as he equips his disciples with modest tools, as they labor in the work of their Mighty Teacher.

Jesus instructs his disciples about ministry

As Jesus sends out his disciples, though, we also see that Jesus instructs his disciples about ministry. This is my fourth main point from the text. He instructs his disciples about ministry, to tell them what to expect. And in our text, Jesus tells his disciples how to respond when they’re received, and also when they’re rejected – because he anticipates that both things will happen.

His instructions on what they should do when they’re received show up in verse 10. He tells his disciples, “Whenever you enter a house – (whenever you’re received into someone’s house) – you should stay there until you depart from there.

Jesus is speaking about entering a house, here, because at that time, hotels weren’t really a thing. I think that most people don’t realize this, because when people read about the birth of Christ in Luke 2:7, most English translations will say that there was no room for Joseph and pregnant Mary in the inn. But the word there actually would have referred to a guest room in someone’s private residence. So when the Jews were traveling and needed a place to spend the night, they couldn’t just book a room at their friendly neighborhood Super 8. Instead, it was necessary – and it was socially acceptable – to stop at someone’s house and ask for lodging.

So that’s the situation that Jesus is envisioning here, as he sends out his disciples. He expects that as they ask explain their work, and ask for lodging, that there will be people who open their homes and give them a place to stay. And in those situations, Jesus tells his disciples – “stay there” – stay in that house – “until you depart from there” – until you leave that community and travel on to the next place.

So why would Jesus give an instruction like that? What’s wrong with spending one night one place, and then another night with the next-door neighbor? On the surface, it might not seem like changing houses would be such a big deal, but it’s likely that it would have been interpreted as rude rather than respectful. By leaving the first person’s house, it would imply that there was something wrong with their hospitality. It would imply that they had been bad hosts. And that’s the sort of thing that probably would bring public shame upon that family in their community. So Jesus says don’t do that. Even if on day two, the richest man in town invites you to come stay at his house, politely explain that you already have a guestroom. Be content where you’re at. Honor your host. And don’t use your status as a teacher to try to seek out personal advantages or special treatment. Jesus wants to make sure, when his disciples are received, that they’re conducting themselves in a way that shows the respectableness of their message.

But Jesus also gives instructions to explain what his disciples should do when they’re rejected by the Jewish villages they’re being sent to. Verse 11: “And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” Last week we saw that Jesus was rejected by the people of his own hometown, Nazareth. And, here, Jesus makes it clear – his disciples need to be prepared for the possibility of rejection, too. People might not receive them. They might not listen. And if they don’t – Jesus gives some interesting instructions, here – he says that his disciples should shake the dust off their feet before leaving town.

Buy why? Well in those days, the Jews commonly believed that the land inhabited by Greeks, or Egyptians, or other non-Jews was defiled – that it was somehow polluted by the evils and idolatry of the pagan nations. And so if Jews ever traveled through those lands, and then prepared to re-enter their Jewish homeland – before they crossed the border, they often shook the dust off their feet, so that they wouldn’t bring that pollution into the holy land.

But Jesus applies that idea in a new way here. It’s understood from the context that the disciples are being sent off to Jewish villages – to villages where people supposedly know the one, true God. And yet, Jesus explains that if the people there reject Jesus’s messengers, and his message, they should shake the dust off their feet as they leave. Those towns should be treated like the towns of pagans. And that’s because – this is the point he’s making – anyone who rejects Jesus and his message is ultimately just as lost, and just as defiled as the idol-worshipping Greeks and barbarians. There is no other way to be made clean – no other way to have acceptance and peace with God – except through receiving the Word of Christ.

And Jesus encourages his disciples here – make sure you understand it. Don’t back down from making that clear. We don’t want to carelessly speak with unbelieving family members and friends as though God’s saving work and blessings automatically belongs to them and everyone else, in spite of their unbelief. But instead, when people are rejecting Jesus, it can and should be clearly acknowledged that they aren’t clean, and won’t be right in God’s eyes, until they’ve received the good news of Christ.

Jesus enables his disciples to do ministry

But the last point we see in our text, is that Jesus enables his disciples to do ministry – this is my fifth and final point. In verses 12 and 13, the disciples go out, and they continue the work that Jesus has been doing up to this point. They go out to teach. They call people to turn back to God – to repent. And with the authority that Jesus has given them, they perform miracles, like Jesus did. These miracles give special confirmation that they’ve been sent by God.

And the encouraging thing we see, here, is that when the disciples go out – as they go and do what Jesus said – they’re sustained and supplied with all they need to carry out that work. It’s not as though they get halfway through their travels, and they die of starvation because they weren’t allowed to bring a bag of food. Or it’s not as though the miracles stop coming, or something else goes wrong. But the disciples are able to accomplish all that they do, because the One who sent them makes it all possible. Jesus supplies those whom he sends.

And this is something that you and I should be encouraged by. I think oftentimes we’re very aware of our weaknesses. And we might feel like we’re not knowledgeable enough, or we’re not skilled enough, to be a useful advocate or ambassador for Jesus. But even though Jesus’s twelve disciples were inexperienced – even though they were still early on in their learning and training, Jesus gave them the tools they needed for the task they were given.

And as Jesus continues to engage his Church in the great mission of making disciples – as he continues to send us out – he still supplies those whom he sends. The one who upholds the universe by the Word of his power, also upholds us. He equips us with His Spirit. He gives us access to him, to call out to him in prayer. He grounds us in the truth of his Scriptures. And he sustains us through faith, along every step, both when we’re received, and when we’re rejected.

So even though spiritual service to others is something we can’t humanly do on our own, don’t grumble about the task Jesus gives to us in the Bible. But instead give thanks. Give thanks that he would show you such kindness, to rescue you from your corruption and sin, and give you a new life. Give thanks that Jesus would give you the honor to serve him – and be thankful that Jesus supplies those whom he sends. Let’s pray: