Amen, go ahead and grab a seat. I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verses 1 to 13. If you don't have a copy of the Scriptures with you, it is printed on the handout there inside your bulletin. We're going to see two things that Jesus does. One, he goes to his hometown of Nazareth, and then two, he sends out his disciples, two by two. And I want you to pay careful attention, closer attention than you ever have before, to what Jesus says because, honestly, things Jesus says, and these verses trouble me. They're hard to think about. And so, make sure you really listen to what Jesus says. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand up for the public reading of Scripture, and please follow along as I read Mark 6:1-13. This is the Word of God.
He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 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.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
This is the reading of the Word of God. Please go ahead, have your seat. And I want to draw your attention to two things: one from verses 1-6, and then one from verses 7-13. Jesus now preaches in his hometown, Nazareth synagogue, and notice what it says there in verse 2, The reaction of many who heard him, they were astonished. So, we've talked before in the Gospel of Mark about the authoritative teaching of Jesus and the impact his teaching had on those who heard him. If you go back to chapter 1, verse 22, this was the first time we saw Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum, and this is where we were introduced to this, what would become a common scene as Jesus went into many towns and many villages and taught in many synagogues, that when people heard Jesus teach, they're like we've not heard something like this before. He speaks with one who has authority. If you go back to chapter 1, verse 22 it says that “When he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum, they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” So, he's not teaching like from some other primary source. No, Jesus speaks like he is the primary source.
And so, people in Nazareth, they hear the same teaching, they have the same astonishment. But then look at some of the questions that they ask. If you go back to chapter 6. Look, they ask these questions, hey, how did this man get to be like this? How did he get these things, and where did he get this wisdom to say all of that? And how is he doing? They've heard the reports. They know his reputation now. He's a miracle worker. He's a healer. He casts out unclean spirits. Well, how does he do these mighty works, works of power, by his hand? And so, they're astonished; they're asking questions. And then it takes a dark turn, and they say in verse 3, “Is not this the carpenter?” Now maybe you've heard that Jesus was a carpenter’s son, and his dad's name was Joseph. But by this time, and we don't really hear about Joseph. Joseph didn't come with Mary and his brothers earlier in Mark, they don't say anything about Joseph here in Nazareth, which leads us to believe perhaps Joseph was no longer living at this time. But notice they don't just call Jesus the carpenter's son. They're like, wait a minute. We know this guy, and now he's doing mighty work with his hands. Well, how did he do that? Because we know what he used to do. He used to do carpentry with his hands. He used to work in wood and stone with his hands. And wait, don't we know this guy's mom, Mary? And then notice it mentions four brothers, and it mentions sisters in the plural. Don't we know his whole family? Didn't he grow up here? Doesn't he live down the street from you, and didn't you go to elementary school with this guy? Right? Like, hey, don't we know this guy's local? This guy's one of us. See, they're astonished, and they're like, how does he do this? And then, because of their familiarity with Jesus, it's like they bring him down to their level. Now, if you ever meet somebody who thinks that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a perpetual virgin, you should bring them to this verse right here. Okay? And people have done all kinds of weird things to try to say that this verse does not say that Jesus has a whole bunch of brothers and some sisters as well. So clearly, Joseph and Mary continued their family after the Lord Jesus was born. In fact, some of these brothers here, like James or Judas, who you might know better as Jude, some of these guys are going to end up writing books of Scripture, but at this time during his ministry, it seems like they had not yet believed in Jesus, according to John, chapter 7. And so, because this is his hometown, and they know his mom and his brothers and his sisters, and he's the carpenter, I remember him, see, they bring Jesus down, and then Jesus says “A prophet is not without honor.” Hey, some people will recognize a prophet speaks for God, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.
So, let's get this down for point number one, if you want to take some notes on your handout there. Point number one: “Familiarity does not equal faith.” Familiarity does not equal faith. Just because you know all about Jesus does not mean you believe in Jesus. In fact, the thing that Nazareth is noted for, the main point of going back to his hometown is this, look at verses 5 and 6. He could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them, and he marveled because of their… what does it say there, everybody? Their unbelief. Okay? So, this is not faith is literally what the word means, negative faith. No faith. Okay. Usually, people are marveling at what Jesus says. Usually, people are just amazed at what Jesus is able to do, but in Nazareth, in his hometown, with the people who know him the most, and go back with him the longest, Jesus is the one who leaves marveling at how they don't believe.
So, the big statement here is about unbelief. Now that word “marvel.,” go back to chapter 5, verse 20, because do you remember the man who was possessed by a legion of demons, and Jesus cast out all the demons, and the guy wanted to come to Jesus, and Jesus said, no, go into all the towns here, all the Gentile towns, and tell them what happened to you. Tell them what the Lord has done for you. Tell them how he had mercy on you. And so, Mark 5:20, “He went away, and he began to proclaim in the Decapolis,” the 10 cities, how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone marveled. That's usually how the gospel of Mark has gone. People are marveling at what Jesus does. This got Jesus' attention. Jesus marveled at this that the people in his own home, own hometown, they did not believe.
Okay, so this idea of unbelief is something we need to really consider for a moment. These people, they think they know who Jesus is, but they do not really know who Jesus is, okay, and they don't believe in him. Now go with me to Hebrews, chapter 3, where it talks about this idea of unbelief. Let me give you another example, one example that you and I should have in our minds as people who don't believe is the hometown of Jesus, Nazareth. Okay, now go to Hebrews, chapter 3, verses 12 to 19, and let me just show you another way that this word is used, another example of the people who don't believe. And in Hebrews here, starting in verse 12. This is Hebrews 3:12-19. “Take care brothers.” Watch out. Look out, brothers, “lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart.” Hey, let me talk to you about unbelief for a minute. Let's watch out. Let's look out for this and this unbelieving heart will lead you to fall away from the living God. “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, we persevere in our faith.” Verse 15, “As it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt, led by Moses, and with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient.” So, we see that they were unable to enter because of what, everybody? Unbelief.
Now, what group of people are we talking about? We're talking about the people who got delivered out of Egypt. We're going all the way back to Moses, the ten plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, where they walked across on dry ground, and they saw a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And there was bread that came down from heaven to feed them. There was water from the rock to satisfy their thirst. And God said, I have a land of milk and honey. I have an unbelievable place for you. I've promised it to you. Go and get it. And they said, we’re not going to do that. We're too afraid those people will kill us. And they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until they all died off because of their unbelief. Some of the people who have seen God do the most amazing things were completely unamazed and did not believe in God. And if the people who saw God as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night didn't believe, and the people who grew up with Jesus and knew about his mighty works and his wisdom, if they didn't believe, well, guess what, everybody? There's a real chance that you could know a lot about God and not believe yourself. And so, that's why it says, go back now to verse 12. It says, watch out, look out. “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil” what? “Unbelieving heart.” He's talking to the people of God. He's talking to the gathered. He's talking to the assembled. He's talking to the church. He's leading them out of the old covenant into the new covenant with Jesus. He's warning them not to drift, not to fall away, but to endure to the end, to persevere in their faith. And he's saying to a group of people just like this one, you need to watch out, because you could have an unbelieving heart. In fact, that should be a concern we would have for one another. So, encourage one another every day. Exhort one another. Understand that many people will be familiar with Jesus, and they will hear Jesus say, I don't even know you. You can be very familiar. You can know all the stories that Jesus did, but you have no faith. He's doing a story in you. That's what happened when he went to his hometown.
And so, I’ve got to say, as somebody who's grown up, somebody who's been so privileged and blessed to be a part of the Church of Jesus from my earliest memories, man, you can go to church. You can know what the Bible says. That doesn't mean you have faith in Jesus. And so, watch out, look out. Will you do some heart checking? Are you going to act like, no, I already know everything about Jesus. Or can you go back to his hometown and realize that the people who knew him the best rejected him the most? And can you take that to heart, the people that God did the amazing miracles to deliver out of Egypt, they did not believe God. Can you take that to heart? That's what we need to do with going to Nazareth. And it gets even deeper. Go back to Mark, chapter 6, because I just want to make sure that you think through what verse 5 says. Because the verse 5, what it says in English is what it says in the Greek. And it says in Mark 6:5. And I'd love for everybody who's taking notes to circle this. Underline this. Underline this in your Bible, if you do such a thing, if you dare write this down, put this somewhere. You're going to see it later this week, because it says in Mark, chapter 6, verse 5, “He could do no mighty work there.” What does it say? He what? Could do no mighty work there. I mean, really, if you get into the Greek, it's like the word for “able” or the word for “power,” like he was not able to do a mighty work there. He did not have power to do a mighty work there. Wow. Wait a minute, you're saying there's something Jesus can't do? I thought Jesus is able. I thought Jesus has all the power, but look, he's not doing mighty works there. He does lay his hands on a few sick people. He does heal a few people, but he marveled because of their unbelief. Wow, that's a head scratcher. That's something you really need to think about, because “he could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief.” Does that mean there's a relationship between what God does and our faith?
See, we believe in the sovereignty of God. We believe that God sits in the heavens on a throne, and he does whatever he pleases, but what a lot of us, I think, do with that truth that God is able and has the power to do whatever he wants, is we kind of get this fatalistic approach that means whatever God does is what's going to happen. But it seems like here that it's implying, when those people didn't have faith, Jesus didn't do many mighty works, like there's some kind of relationship between what God does and the faith his people have. That's a very interesting thing to think about. In fact, remember what we just heard last week if you were here, go back to Mark, chapter 5. Go back to verse 34 and let's think now about what Jesus said to the woman who had the faith to reach out and touch him that he would heal her from her twelve-year disease of bleeding. And what did Jesus say to her? He said, “Daughter, your what your faith has made you well.” Or you could say, Daughter, your faith has saved you. Wait, wait, wait, no, no, no. Jesus made her well, that's how we would feel comfortable saying it. Jesus saved her. That's how we would feel comfortable saying it. That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said there's a direct correlation between your faith and you being saved. Whoa.
How about we go back to chapter 2, verse 5, where we learned about the “Through the Roof Faith” and these friends who lowered their paralyzed friend down, they cut a hole in the ceiling and they lowered him down. They couldn't get into the house where Jesus was, so they came in through the roof. And after they were lowering their friend, Jesus looks up. He sees what's going on, and look what it says in Mark 2:5. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” And notice, that's the way that that is written, means, like upon the faith, the sins are forgiven, upon the faith, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” Jesus is responding to faith by healing people. And when people don't have faith, he's not doing many mighty works there. But it even doesn't say he didn't do many mighty works there. It actually says he could not do many mighty works there, which actually means he wasn't able, or wasn't empowered, to do many mighty works there, that's something to think about.
Is perhaps part of the reason you're not seeing Jesus do many mighty works, is you don't have faith? The average person that I talked to that goes to church in Southern California, if you ask them if they have faith, what they mean when they think they have faith is they believe Jesus did something two thousand years ago. Is that the definition of faith? Is that the biblical definition of faith? Is faith just trusting in the gospel that Jesus has done, or is faith also a present expectation that dictates the way I take my next step? Is your faith all past tense? Or do you have a present faith that compels your obedience? And do you even have things in the future promises that you believe God is able and God is willing and God is going to do what he said and so you have faith? Or is it all just he already did it, and I have no expectations for him to do anything today, and whatever happens is just whatever he wants to happen. That sounds like fatalism, not faith.
And so I really want you to think about this. And I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions, and they're on the back of the handout. If everybody could flip over and look at the back of the handout, I want you to look at question number two, “Can you think of a way you are limiting God by a lack of faith?” Okay, is it possible that you're not seeing God do a mighty work, because you are not believing that he's going to do a mighty work? Hmm, let's think that through. Okay, there might be a very specific way to evaluate that in your own life. What are you praying for? What are you asking God to do? Let's think that through. Are you praying and in your prayers, what is like, God, I need you to do this. Do you have faith that God is going to do it? Are you expecting to see him do it? Are you praying things because they're the right things to say, or are you asking God to act so his name will be hallowed? And then I love this, question number three, “What are you doing by faith? What requires you to take a step that you feel uncomfortable with?” It's not something that feels routine, it's not something that feels ordinary. It's not something you're confident that you can do. What are you doing? And it requires you to trust God that he's going to do it.
I mean, are you just going through the motions of your life? Are you just doing the things that you do? Are you just taking the next step, hoping to get through the day, or are you doing something and saying, God, I really need you to be with me. I really need you to help me. I really need you to act. Because if you don't do it, I don't know how it's going to happen, but I'm still going to do it because I have faith. See, I wonder, is all your faith in the past, or are you living by faith today? Because when Jesus went to his hometown, oh, we know all about this guy, the carpenter, Mary's boy, here are his brothers. Here are his sisters. Yeah, we know about this guy. And Jesus marveled how they could know so much about him and not really know him at all. They didn't trust him. They didn't have faith. Now, in contrast to that, look what happens next. If you go back to Mark, chapter 6, look at what happens. I think these two stories, and this is really part one of a sermon we will continue next week. But I want to start getting into this idea now of Jesus sending out his disciples two by two, because I think, in contrast to the unbelief in Nazareth, we now have Jesus sending out these twelve disciples.
And so, I think it's significant that we go from one very discouraging lack of faith, where not much happens, and then Jesus is going to send out the twelve. Now if you're reading the Gospel like me, you're like my first thought when I hear about Jesus sending out the twelve is, are these guys really even ready for this? Right? Because let's just review what's happened with the disciples before we get into the sending out. Go back to chapter 1, and you can see in verse 16, that's when he called Simon and Andrew “Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” We saw that he's going to make them to become someone they are not, to fish for men. And they left their nets and followed him. Then he called James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They left their father in the bow, and they followed him. And we've learned about what it means to be a disciple. You are a follower of Jesus. You're learning his ways. He's the teacher, and you're ready to learn what he has to teach you. Now go over to chapter 2, verse 13, where he called Levi. This was again, beside the Sea of Galilee, and there's a crowd around him. By this point, he's teaching them. “But when he passed by Levi,” who we think is also Matthew, “the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.” Now notice here in verse 15, “As he reclined at Levi's table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him and the scribes of the Pharisees when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ And Jesus when he heard it,” because Jesus always hears it seems like what people are saying, “he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but” who? Sinners. So, we’ve got some guys. They're fresh off the fishing boat and they're sinners. So, are these guys really ready? Then we get to chapter 3, where he calls them. And he calls all twelve of them. It says, “He appointed them twelve.” And then it says, hey, he gives all twelve names here. And this is starting in verse 13 of Mark 3. He appointed them, he made them 12. And it says two things they're going to do that they might be with him in verse 14. And he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. So okay, you guys are going to be with me, and then I'm going to send you out now, three chapters later. Boom, here they go in Matthew. He calls Matthew in chapter 9, and then he sends them out in chapter 10. So that even highlights that it felt very quick to Matthew, from when he got called to be with Jesus to when he got sent out by Jesus in Luke, chapter nine, he sends out the twelve; in chapter ten, he sends out seventy out there, two by two.
And so, it's supposed to come across to us like, whoa, okay, so we're already in the send-out part with these guys. Wow, I don't know if they went to seminary. I don't know if they went to Bible College. I'm not sure these guys know the answers to all the questions people are going to ask, because some of these guys have been saying some interesting things. It doesn't seem like they've really been believing a lot of good stuff. And they're going to say even more interesting things later on in Mark. Are we sure these guys are really ready to be sent out? But look what happens here in Mark 6, verse 7, “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” So, he gives them some specific instructions here in verses 8, 9, 10, and 11. And so in verse 12, we'll go back through those instructions. So they went out, and here they are. They proclaim that people should repent. Well, that sounds right because we heard Jesus say in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” So, it sounds like they went out and said the same thing Jesus was saying. And then it says in verse 13, “They cast out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick, and they healed them.” Wow, that sounds like they're doing what Jesus did.
So, Jesus sends them out two by two, and they actually go and spread the message that Jesus was preaching. They cast out demons like Jesus did, by his same authority, and they heal people in the name of Jesus, representing him in the same way that he had come to be known throughout Galilee. You mean this actually works? He sends them out two by two, and they go, and they do what Jesus sent them to do. Wow. So, I just want to make it very clear to everybody who's here tonight that this idea of going out two by two is not a Mormon idea. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? This idea of going out two by two, this is not a Jehovah Witness idea, no, going out two by two is a Jesus idea. Would anybody like to say amen to that? Okay.
Now, some of you are feeling very concerned because this sermon is taking a turn for the worse. I don't even know if you thought it started out well, but now you can tell where it's going. Point number one was all about faith, and now this sounds like we're going to start being told to go out and talk to somebody here. You're not going to bring up door to door evangelism. Are you? This is much worse than door to door evangelism. This is invite yourself to stay at someone's home evangelism. Have you read this whole story? People today are like, I don't think we should go knocking on people's doors. Do you realize what they're doing? They're staying at people's houses. That's the story. And once you're at somebody's house, don't switch for another house. Stay at that house. Don't bring a bag with you, don't bring money with you, don't bring extra clothes with you. Just go and see what God does. And it doesn’t turn into a fiasco. It's not like a dumpster fire. No, they actually go and do it.
This is very interesting, okay, because here's what we need to see. Point number two, and this is exactly what some of you are afraid of. Point number two: “To follow Jesus = to be sent by Jesus.” To follow Jesus equals to be sent by Jesus. All the disciples, all the learners who came so Jesus could teach them. Okay, that's the disciple, the follower, the learner. They all become apostles, which means to be sent, which means to go out and preach. So, the disciples all become apostles, except one of them doesn't make it. And the only reason he doesn't make it is because he falls away and betrays the Lord Jesus. So, the expectation that Jesus had from the moment he called the twelve, from the moment he even called them to leave the fishing boats or to leave the tax collecting booth, Jesus always thought the point of them being his disciples was they would become his apostles. And apostles means “sent ones.”
Jesus calls people for the purpose of sending them out. This is the example that we are taught. This is the way Jesus did it. The idea that I could be a Christian and go to church and sit in the seats and never be sent is a very modern American Christianity kind of idea. We want to get back to the original idea. Anyone who's with Jesus, they're going to be sent to represent Jesus. That's the expectation. Do you have that same expectation for yourself? Do you have the expectation that a part of me following and learning and living for Jesus is as he teaches me, and as I grow and as I mature, that I'm going to take all that I know about Jesus and I'm going to go and give it to other people. Is that what you think you signed up for? Because that's what we see from the first followers of Jesus that he sends them out. And so, when you look at that, if you go back to verse 7, where he says he sent them out two by two, that is the word for apostle right there, to send them. Okay.
So, we saw that his disciples followed him into Nazareth down in verse 1. Well, now in verse 7, he's sending them out so that the idea of their followers, their disciples. But now we also see that they’re apostles, they're sent, and the disciples, sometimes they have faith, like in this story, where they go out and they do a good job of representing him, and sometimes they don't have faith in the gospels that we'll see as we continue to go through Mark. But by the time Jesus dies, and Jesus rises again, and then after the Holy Spirit comes down upon them, on the day of Pentecost, these twelve, minus Judas plus Matthias, the twelve apostles, they are bold messengers sent by the Lord Jesus Christ, and they turn the whole city of Jerusalem upside down with their message of Jesus. So that's what you're supposed to think, is the original examples of what it means to follow Jesus turned into men who were sent by Jesus. And why you would think that you're not going to be sent, and only they're going to be sent? I don't know where that idea came from, because this is the example that is given to us, okay? And let me prove it to you. Let me prove to you that everybody here, the expectation from Jesus is that you are to represent him here on Earth in your life.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 5:20. If you want to say, well, this passage is only for the disciples. Okay, well, here are some verses that make it very clear we're talking about you here tonight. How about 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 20. We're talking about the ministry and the message of reconciliation, that God is reconciling the world to himself through his Son Jesus, that God is going after sinners and turning them around and bringing them into a relationship with him, forgiving them of their sins. It says here in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” So, when it says in verse 20, “we are ambassadors for Christ,” are you a part of the we in this verse right here? Well, just to give you the context, look at verse 21, “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Do you want to be a part of the we in verse 21? The answer to that is that's the only way to be saved, that Jesus pays for your sin and you receive the free gift of the imputation of his righteousness. That's the great exchange of the gospel. Jesus actually paid for all of your sins so you could be forgiven, and by faith, you freely receive all the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to you. Yes, I want to be a part of that “we”; well, then you’ve got to be a part of the “we” of verse 22, and you’ve got to be an ambassador, an official representative who is an ambassador, someone sent to officially represent whoever sent them. And we are ambassadors of Christ. Everybody sitting here right now, you know at least one person, if not many people, who will not come to this church and will not hear the word preached and will not sing songs about Jesus, but they see you and they know. And they get their idea about him from you, whether you like it or not. You are the Christ that some people are seeing. Are they seeing him, or do they just see you? Can you even count how many people have been turned off by hypocrites, people who are like very familiar with Jesus, but giving him a terrible reputation in the community. We are the ambassadors, emissaries here on planet Earth. We show them Christ. We are the light. We are the salt of the earth. In fact, look at what it goes on to say. It says that God is making his appeal through us. That's the whole point of him sending these twelve guys out. That's the whole point of it feeling like it's too early to send them. They don't have enough faith to send them. They're not prepared enough to send them. That's the whole point. It's not you doing it. It's God doing it through you. The amount of people who say, I don't know what to say, God's the one who says it. I'm afraid. God's the one who gives you the strength. Yes, when you go to talk to other people about Jesus, you will feel uncomfortable. You want to know why it requires faith. It's not something that people naturally want to do. I'd like to go knock on a bunch of people's doors and get rejected today, right? And I want to go and talk to people knowing they won't like what I say. No, nobody wants to go and do that just because they feel like it, unless they’ve got something wrong going on. No. You have to believe God's going to do it. It requires faith to talk to people in the name of Jesus.
God is making his appeal through us. And then, notice the passion, notice the begging, notice the plea, “be reconciled to God.” Notice here he's writing 2 Corinthians. He's writing to a church, and even in the midst of him writing about the ministry of reconciliation and the message of reconciliation, and Jesus has sent us, and we're the ambassadors, and God's going to speak through us. Even when he's writing a letter to a church, he says, you should be reconciled to God. Look at him. He's going for it all the way, right there. Do you realize that he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God? Do you realize how glorious this good news really is? He's even pleading with people in the church to be reconciled to God, while he's talking about the privilege we have to go and let God speak through us.
Go over to 1 Peter, chapter 3, verse 15. Here's another verse that makes it very clear, this is for you and me here tonight, not just these original twelve disciples, apostles. No, this is the way of Jesus, that we are all ambassadors of Christ. And in fact, in 1 Peter, chapter 3, verse 15. This is for all of us here, all these scattered believers that Peter is writing to. He says, “In your hearts, honor or sanctify Christ the Lord as holy.” Make sure that Jesus is set apart in your heart. Make sure that you see who Jesus is, and you have faith in him. “As the Lord set Jesus apart in your heart, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.” Now, what's going on in the context of this verse? Well, look at verse 13. “Who is there to harm you, if you are zealous for what is good?” Hey, if you're doing what is good, generally speaking, good things will happen, right? Well, not always, even if you should suffer for doing what is right, for righteousness’s sake, you will be blessed. “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but set apart Jesus as Lord in your heart and be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you now.”
Yes, by the end of this sermon, I'm going to invite everyone to go knock on people's doors. And no, you don't have to stay there overnight, but I'm inviting you to go knock on people's doors. And yes, if you don't want to do that, I'm going to say, go talk to people in public. And yes, if you don't want to do that, I'm going to say, go talk to people you already know. And yes, if you don't want to do that. I'm here to say it doesn't even matter, because they're going to come and ask you. You can't hide from it. You can't run from it. They're going to come and ask you, why do you care about what's doing, what's right? Why aren't you complaining like the rest of us? Why aren't you cursing like the rest of us? Why do you live differently than everybody else? Why do you spend so much time going to church? Why do you care about that Bible? They're going to ask you, and they might ask you in a cynical kind of way. They might ask you in a sincere way, but they're going to ask you, why are you different? What's up with you, what's going on, and when you have that moment, speak his name. Do not be ashamed of the Lord who was not ashamed to die for you. Speak his name. It is unacceptable for people to walk around like they're Christians and not even say the name of Christ wherever you thought that was okay. You need to rethink that tonight. You are embarrassing Jesus when they ask you, why? Don't say because you're a Republican. Don't say it's because you're a moral person. Don't say it's because this is the way you were raised. Speak his name, give him the glory. Okay, let me just tell you, our governor has no problem mocking his name, but we have a big problem speaking his name.
When was the last time you gave a reason for the hope that you have? When was the last time you laid all your cards out on the table and you said, this is why I believe in Jesus? I do that because I believe in Jesus. I do that because I believe there is a Savior, and he's my only hope. It's not just that I have hope. I have one hope. He's my only hope. It's either him or I've got nothing. When was last time you said that to somebody and you meant it, and God was speaking through you, and you realized at that moment that you had been sent here for this very purpose, that Jesus is still on the move this very hour, and you have faith that he is going to do something. That's why you're speaking his name, the name that makes the demons tremble, the name that exposes the darkness.
We're supposed to be ready, like, I'm just waiting for an opportunity, like the minute somebody gets anywhere near, why do you do what you do? I'm on it. I've got a reason. I've got a defense of my faith. This is why I believe in Jesus. When was the last time you defended that, because this is for all of us. You can say, well, I think it's intrusive to go talk to people. Well, let me just tell you that if you think it's intrusive to go talk to people, why is Jesus sending his disciples into other people's houses? Okay, this is one hundred percent intrusive. It's one hundred percent inviting yourself in, staying there, who knows how long, many nights, many days, with no way to provide for yourself, dependent on the provision of other people. Go back with me to Mark, chapter 6, and let's go through these instructions that Jesus gives, and they are way more radical than anything you or I are going to do here in Orange County today. Look what Jesus is actually sending these guys to do. He charged them. Look, now these are specific cultural instructions for them at this time. So, this is not what we're going to ask you to do if you go out with us on Monday morning. Alright, but, let's learn from these instructions that Jesus gave to these twelve men to go through the cities of Israel. And look at what he says here. He says, “Don't take anything for your journey, except the staff.” Here's what I want you to pack, nothing. Now, right away that's not working well with some people's OCD in the room here, take nothing but a staff. Okay? No bread, no snacks, no food, no meal planning, no bag. Bag means like way to hold things, purse of some kind, no money in their belts. And wear sandals and don't put on two tunics, which means you’ve just got the clothes on your back. It's just you going out there.
Now, why would he say that? Why would he say, don't bring anything? Well, let's get this down for our first dash. Under point number two: “Depend on God, not your preparation.” Depend on God, not your preparation. So many people, their excuse of why they're not going to go tell someone about Jesus is, I don't feel prepared enough. Well, Jesus's whole point is, it's not about your preparation. It's about God going to provide. Is God going to do it? Is God going to make his appeal through you? It's all about faith. And people say, well, that's easy for you to say, you went to Bible college and you've been to seminary and you've been trained as a pastor, so yeah, if I had the preparation of you, then I'd feel more ready to do it. And let me just tell you, as somebody who has been blessed to be prepared to share the gospel with other people. I'm also blessed to know that the power is not in the preparation, the power is in the spirit of the living God. The power is in the Word of God. The power is not in me, my personality, or anything that I think I can bring to it, no, if somebody gets saved, it's by the power of God, working through the gospel of Jesus. And I am just a jar of clay. I am just a messenger. And when you know that you don't have power, then you know where the power really comes from. And so, you think, well, I know I don't have power. Well, that's the problem is you think it's you don't have power, and you're not trusting in where the power really comes from. God will make his appeal. Jesus says in Matthew 10, when he's sending out these disciples. You could write that down as a cross reference if you want to go read the long form version of this. Matthew 10 gives the full speech of Jesus, and he says, hey, “Don't worry about what you're going to say in that hour, the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say.” That's the idea. Your reliance is on the Word of God and the Spirit.
How many people have I talked to here at this church who are like, hey, you won't believe it. But the other day, I was saying something, and man, I was remembering things I haven't even thought about for a while, and I was saying stuff, and I was like, where did that come from? People here at the church, they say that to me all the time. And I'm like, yes, that's how it works. The Spirit brings to mind. He helps us remember the Word of God that we have in our hearts, and then the Spirit helps us speak it to other people. That's where the power comes from. It's of God and not of us. And Jesus is sending them out so they can depend on nothing but God.
Go with me to Luke 22. Let's see how this worked out, this depend on nothing but God strategy. Go with me to Luke 22:35. Now this is a later on reflection on what he's sending them out to do here in Mark 6. Look what he says in Luke 22:35, “And he said to them, when I sent you out with no money, bag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” Hey, remember when I gave you those very interesting instructions? Remember when I told you to go out with no money, no sack to hold things in, no backup shoes in case you get a flat tire out there, right? Did you lack anything? They said, nothing. God, all I have needed thy hand provided. Now here we can see that's not necessarily what he's asking us to do, “He said to them, ‘But now let the one who has a money bag take it, likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. ‘”Well, yeah, it's about to get rough here. This is on the last night before he dies. Well, now you should brace yourselves, prepare yourselves. This is about to happen. But see the point? We'll go back to Mark 6. The point when he originally sent them out was that they would depend upon God to give them the power. And guess what? They proclaimed repentance. Guess what? Demons were cast out. People were healed. God did use the twelve sent out two by two because they depended on him, not their own preparation. Now look at this, verse 10. “And he said to them, ‘Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.’” So, we have to understand like hospitality in the Middle East, which is way different than hospitality in Orange County. Okay, rather than it being like offensive for you to go and knock on people's doors, people would feel like they really wanted you to welcome in and for you to stay with them. In fact, if you go read books in the Bible like 2 John, 3 John, you'll start to get this idea of hospitality, where preachers would regularly come through, travelers would come through, and people would let those people stay with them. And that was a great thing to do, to support even people as they came through, especially brothers and sisters in Christ, to welcome them, receive them. So, this is a big difference in culture than how you and I might think. But why does he say here, “whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there”? Because if some people have a positive response to what you're saying, you might come in at one house and then the nicer house down the street might say, hey, why don't you come stay over here? And the idea here is you're not looking to upgrade the house that you're staying in, or the meal you might be fed, or the reputation of the host who's hosting you. This isn't about how you can use these people hosting you to get more for yourself. Okay? So, when you go out in the name of Jesus, when Jesus sends you out, you don't go out like, I'm going out because this will work out real well for me. I'm going out because this will really be good. I'm expecting to receive some blessing out of this. No, he's like, that's not the point where whoever welcomes you in stay right there. Don't start showing partiality. Don't start looking for upgrades. Don't start going to the nicer Airbnb than the one you originally got. Just stay with the people. Just do what you're there to do. Just spread that message.
And so, let's get that down for our second dash here: “Don't do it for your own selfish compensation.” Don't do it for your own selfish compensation. Don't make this about well, what will I get out of this? How will I get the money I need? Or how will I get the food? No, he's saying to his disciples, stay on mission. Don't make it about yourself. See, that's a lot of people. They'll be encouraged. Maybe they'll hear this word and they'll be like, I do want to go out. I do want to be sent. I do want to be used by Jesus. I'd love to share the gospel with somebody. And so, they go out, and then we can start thinking these thoughts as we're going out in the name of Jesus. Like, wait a minute. How's this working out for me? What am I going to get out of this time? What benefit am I going to receive out of this? This is every false teacher is ultimately in it for the what everybody? The money. That's a mark of false teachers. You’ve got to, you’ve got to really watch out for them. Now look at 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. Okay? So, he even says, not only will some people welcome you in and you'll be able to stay with them, but some people are not going to receive you. They're not going to listen to your message. So, he says, you should anticipate rejection.
Let's get that down for our third dash: “Keep rejection in perspective.” Keep rejection in perspective. Now he gives them something to do here that has cultural significance at the time, that if you get rejected by someone, when you leave, you shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Now, I would not encourage you to do that if someone rejects you when you're talking, because they might wonder why you're shaking your foot in the air. All right? That does really translate to today, but this idea that you have rejected the message and I'm shaking the dust of my feet is kind of a reminder to both yourself and perhaps to the people who rejected you, if they see you shaking this dust off your feet, that even though you have been rejected, they are ultimately the one who are going to be rejected like it, the way this would kind of think is okay. Well, you rejected the message of the coming Kingdom. You rejected the message of the King. You rejected, the message, the good news, the only means by which you can be saved, if you're not going to listen to that, if you're not going to hear Jesus, if you're not going to believe in him, well then, there's going to be judgment upon you.
And so, we have to just remember this isn't about oh, I got rejected. Or this isn't about oh, it didn't work out for me, or the people didn't want me. Know this is ultimately about, if they reject Jesus, what's going to happen to them? That's why it's keeping rejection in perspective. First thing is realistic expectations. You go and try to tell people about Jesus, not everybody wants to hear it, and that's really sad, because that means if they don't hear the good news, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ,” how will they believe unless they hear, and if they don't want to hear, then how are they going to be saved? So, that's really scary for them, but also for yourself, like there's going to be rejection in doing this. So, you're going to be tested if you first of all, are you going to be willing to talk to people? And then when you talk to people, some people might listen, some people might come along, but then others, they're just going to reject you up front. Are you going to keep going when you get rejected? Or maybe I should put it like this, have you kept going when you got rejected? Because one of the things that we know new Christians do when people have their first love for Jesus, when they're first saved, and they're reading the Bible like they've never read it before, and they're seeing Jesus like they've never seen it before, what is one of the first works that it seems like all new Christians do is they immediately go to their boyfriend or girlfriend or to their family or to their best friend or to their mom and dad. And what do they immediately do with the other people around them? They share Jesus. And what usually happens when you got this new believer, all fired up, all in love with Jesus, and they're ready to go, but then people start rejecting them. In fact, it causes a lot of tension in relationships. In fact, I know some people, their family member came with them, their boyfriend girlfriend came with them. Sometimes people come with you and they get saved, but a lot of times they had to break up in that relationship, or that caused a rift in their family, and you get rejected. If you go out in the name of Jesus, you will be hated by this world. If he's the teacher, if he's the master, if he's the one we're learning from and following, and he sends us out. It would be foolish for us to expect that we're going to have a different response than Jesus. And they killed Jesus. They killed these guys, most of them. They've killed many of the famous people who were on mission throughout the history of the church, and we want to go and be popular in the name of Jesus. That's not a realistic expectation. In fact, many of us, when we got rejected, when we had our first love for Jesus, and we wanted to tell everybody, we've let that rejection keep us quiet, and we've decided that it's not worth it to talk about Jesus with other people, because it'll cause tension and I'll get rejected. And so, we've made our own calculated decision to turn down the volume on Jesus and to blend in with the world around us, not to make waves, not to cause any controversies in the name of Jesus.
What does Jesus think about that decision to let rejection change the way that you behave? See, he sent them out with full expectation that they would be rejected, and he wanted them to keep that rejection in perspective that ultimately they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting Christ. And ultimately, if they're rejecting Christ, they're rejecting their own salvation. And so, are you going to take no for an answer, or are you going to keep speaking his name? That's the question that we're all going to face. And you can say what the right answer is here on Saturday night at church, but you will show what you really believe by the way you conduct yourself, by what you do when that opportunity comes and the question is asked and the issue is on the table, will you give a reason for the hope that is in you? Will you let God make his appeal through you. Will you think to yourself, Jesus sent me for such a time as this? Or will you let the moment pass because you don't want to cause any ruckus? I want to encourage you to hear what Jesus said to these guys, to “shake the dust off your feet” and keep going, and keep talking to the next town, to the next person.
Skip ahead with me in Mark 6. We'll get to this next week, if you want to come back. In Mark, chapter 6, if you get to this in the next the next week, well, and it gets really intense after this, because they go out and they cast out demons and they heal people. I mean, this must have been awesome. It must have been awesome. And I can tell you, going into almost eleven years of doing this in Huntington Beach, there's a lot of rejection, but the awesome that Jesus does overweighs any rejection that I've experienced. But it gets rough because John the Baptist gets killed. And there's like a contrast to their first love going out, being sent by Jesus. And wow, we cast out demons. Wow, he healed people. Wow, we told people to repent. And then John the Baptist, who's been doing that for a long time, he gets killed. And then it says, in Verse 30, the apostles returned to Jesus and told them all that they had done in time. I just picture these guys like animated hands, big smiles, Jesus, you won't believe what happened? Well, no, what happened was exactly what he sent them to do. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while. And they went away in the boat” Verse 32 “to a desolate place by themselves.” See The reason we keep going through the rejection, the reason we keep going when it's hard is we're going to be with Jesus someday, and we're going to have eternal rest in the presence of Jesus. And when you are with Jesus, no one will be ashamed to speak his name. Everyone will know who he is. Every knee will bow to him, and every tongue will confess that he is who you should be saying he is. And so, you can be rejected today, but you will be on the right side of his story if you keep speaking his name. And I promise you that every time you let God make his appeal through you, you let the Holy Spirit speak through you, and you open your mouth in the name of Jesus, you will be glad you did. When eternity comes and you see the fruit of the Lord's Kingdom, when you see how Jesus built his church, you will be glad that you didn't listen to the rejection, but you listened to the Lord Jesus instead. Let me pray.
Father in heaven, we need to hear this. People who are familiar with Jesus, such as ourselves, people who might think we know what there is to know about Jesus. God, I pray that we would look out. I pray that we would watch out, that we would take care. Is there unbelief in our own hearts,? What are we actually doing by faith? What are we doing right now that requires us to trust in Jesus, to keep his promise. What are we doing right now in our lives that causes us to look to Jesus and not just think we can do it ourselves. Are we really people of faith? God, I pray that we wouldn't say, well, I go to church. That's not the right answer. Well, I read the Bible. That's not the right answer. What are we doing that shows we trust you enough to obey you. God, please don't let us be people who don't believe like Nazareth. Let us be people who have faith and let us hear Jesus send these twelve out. Then let us think, wow, do I really depend on God to go and talk to people about Jesus? God, I pray that many people would join us on Monday to go out into the communities, but I pray that people will join us every day to go up to people and talk about Jesus. And I pray that no matter what day it is when the question comes up about why we live the way that we live, I pray that we would speak his name and that we would say, here's why I'm here because Jesus actually sent me to be here, and he gave me a message, and he wants me to give it to you, and he was so passionate about this message that he died for you on the cross, and he was so powerful in this message that he rose on the third day. And now everyone who hears the gospel and believes in Jesus, they will not perish, but they will have eternal life. And so yes, that's why I do what I do, because I have the hope, the hope of being with Jesus forever in paradise. And I'm not living for this place anymore. I'm living to be with him. And I'll tell anybody anywhere the reason why I live. It's his name. It's Jesus. So, God, I pray that after this service tonight, that every single one of us will know that the reason Jesus called us to follow him is so he could send us out in his name. The reason Jesus saved us is for us to be sent and when we leave here tonight, that we enter your mission field, where the harvest is so plentiful and the laborers are so few, so please send us out to be laborers. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.