By Chris Chambers
Pastor, Brush Creek Baptist Church, Brush Creek
Focal Passage: Mark 6:7-13; 30-32
“Sends” is a verb. It implies action. This is something Jesus did with the 12 disciples in order for them to grow. This was a way to disciple the disciples. When Jesus sent His disciples to the villages in Israel, He sent them with a mission. They were to take His message with them and He sent them with His authority that included power over unclean spirits and also gave them the power to heal.
What is interesting is when Jesus called His disciples, He did not call them to sit and soak, He called them to follow Him (Luke 5). Then He sends them out. Jesus does the same with us. When we come to Christ and choose to follow Him, we are not called to sit in the pews as spectators. Jesus calls us to send us. Whether He sends us to our next door neighbor or Nicaragua, Malawi or Massachusetts, He sends us to share His gospel. If we have not been sent, why does He not call us home immediately after we give Him our lives?
The apostles were sent with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and the power and authority of Christ. They had their testimony about what Christ was doing in their lives. That is all we need today as well. We do not need a seven-step process of coming to Christ. We just need to share the power of what Christ has done in our lives.
Chris Chambers
Sure, they had power of healing and many today are wanting to be sent with gimmicks and tricks, but Christ gave them all they needed and He sends us today with what we need, not necessarily what we want. The apostles were probably wondering why they were not allowed as much as a change of clothes. Jesus was teaching them to rely on Him. We must also learn to rely on Him.
Jesus may also send us to a place of rest sometimes as well. When we get alone with Him we get recharged and reenergized to face the mission He has sent us to fulfill. When we get tired we can be less than effective. We can be distracted and we can also be vulnerable to Satan and his attacks.
I think it is interesting that Jesus prepares His apostles for rejection. If they are not welcome in a town, they are to shake the dust off their feet as a sign they have fulfilled what they were sent to do. We don’t like rejection and feel like we have failed, but when we are obedient to Christ and we go where we have been sent, that is all He expects from us. He was sent by His father and He has been rejected multiple times over. His mission was much more difficult than the one we have been sent on. His obedience is also to be our example. B&R
