“Sent To Make A
Difference” Mark
6:7-13
Intro.: How do you react to rejection? In last weeks Gospel we heard how the people
of Jesus’ hometown were offended by Him and rejected His work among them. But did that stop Him? No! Our
lesson ended by saying that He went on from there to offer His blessings to the
villages and towns of
I.
Sent To Extend Christ’s Work.
He sent them to extend His work. Just the other day one of our members who had
far more to do than she could accomplish on her own, was noting how she wished
she could clone herself. I’m sure that
we have all felt that way.
A. Jesus’ solution to the needs of so many was
to multiply Himself by putting His Spirit and power upon His disciples, and
sending them out in His name. The
disciples had seen and heard all that Jesus had done and taught. They had heard Jesus’ proclamation of
repentance and His call to faith in the Gospel.
They had witnessed Jesus’ divine power to cast out demons, heal the
sick, and even raise the dead; acts which declared Him to be the very Son of
God who would come to take away the sins of the world. And now the time had come for them to take
what they had heard and seen and put it into practice.
B. Jesus’ solution for the needs of the world
is the same, today. He multiplies
Himself through us, His Church.
Upon His called ministers of the Gospel He
bestows His Spirit and power as He sends them to extend His work. He has made such men His ambassadors of
reconciliation (nt. 2 Cor.
This is where Christ continues to multiply
Himself to reach out to those who desperately need Him. He equips all the saints, every one of you, to
take what you have heard and seen and put it into practice. He has called you to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) He has called you to take what is whispered
in your ear here and shout it from the rooftop. (Matt. 10:27) He has chosen
you to be His own precious people, made holy in Christ, to be a royal
priesthood, to “…proclaim the marvels of
him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Pet. 2:9) Just as pastors are called to represent
Christ for you, and as Husbands and Fathers are called to represent Christ for
their families, so each and every one of you have been called to represent
Christ for the sake of the people around you.
Jesus is sending you to make a difference.
Transition: I am sure that many of you are even right now
looking for an excuse for why you have not or will not respond to this call to
extend the work of Christ. One common
reason given is that people feel ill equipped for such
an important task. But let’s consider
that on the basis of our Gospel. With
what were the disciples equipped? Jesus’
instructions to them were: “Take nothing
for their journey except a staff- no bread, no bag, no
money, (just a pair of sandals and one set of clothes).”
II. Equipped With The Word And Spirit.
Still they went equipped with nothing but
the Word and Spirit which Christ had given them.
A. Imagine how their faith must have been
challenged as they set out on their mission.
I’m sure that the vicar is feeling a bit like this right about now. The Lord has sent him out not only to learn,
but to serve. To comfort the sick and
dying, console those who grieve, counsel the sick of heart and spirit, confront
the wayward and erring, and teach and preach to people, many of whom have been
in the Word and in the Church much longer than He has. If he is anything like I was on my vicarage,
or my in my first congregation, he is going to have times when he feels ill
prepared for such a heavy load.
What do you suppose it was like for those
simple fishermen to stand up to the scholars, and speak to the elders of a
village about Jesus for the first time?
Would anyone really listen to them?
Imagine what it must have been like for them the first time they tried
to cast out a demon, or anoint someone with oil and wait for them to be
healed. They had seen what Jesus did,
they knew His power, but who were they to be doing all of this?
B. But Jesus had indeed given them His
authority, the authority of His Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit who
works through that Word. Each day He taught them that this was enough,
and it was all they needed. They were
learning that they could rely upon God to care for them and do amazing things
through them. This is why Jesus sent
them without provisions or shelter. They
were to learn, as last weeks epistle taught us, that they were weak and totally
dependent upon the Lord’s strength and goodness, shown through the kindness of
others.
It was nothing in them that had led
Christ to choose them for this mission, nor was it by their power or strength
that it would be accomplished. Christ
would extend His kingdom work and accomplish His purpose through them with
nothing but the power of His Word and Spirit.
C. To each of us who have been sent to extend
Christ’s work in our little part of the world, the message is the same: all you need is the Word and Spirit which
Christ has given you. With the Gospel He
has given each and every one of us authority over the evil and unclean spirits
of this fallen world, as we confess in song:
“Though devils all the world should fill, all
eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no ill, they shall not over power
us. This world’s prince may still, scowl
fierce as he will, he can harm us none.
He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.” With the Holy Spirit given you in your
baptism and with the Word Christ has spoken to you, Christ has equipped you
with all that you need to make a difference in the lives of others.
III. Making A Difference In The Lives Of
Others.
A. Consider the impact of those original twelve
who were sent by Christ to extend His work.
Their mission and message was to bring the
full weight of the Law and the full sweetness of the Gospel to those to whom
they had been sent. With them they
brought judgment to some and salvation to others.
Wherever they went they announced that in
Jesus, the
They also announced the good news of God’s
salvation which had come as a free gift through the Messiah – Jesus of Nazareth. Their ministry of driving out demons in the
name of Jesus and anointing the sick with oil for healing demonstrated that
Jesus was the anointed one who had the very power of God to overthrow the
dominion of evil, and bring life and salvation to those who would believe.
One way or another lives
were changed by their message.
Some
rejected the message, and with it they rejected the place which was being
offered them in the kingdom of heaven.
To these the disciples gave the visual testimony against them of wiping
the dust off of their feet, just as the Jews commonly did when leaving the
place of a Gentile. This gesture from the disciples toward those
who rejected them served as a stern warning that continued repentance would
place them outside the
Many others who heard this message,
however, repented of their sins, and received the Good News. These people were truly blessed by the power
and authority which Christ had given to His disciples. Some were set free from their demonic
possession. Some received healing from
their diseases. But above all else they
were given the assurance of their place in the
B. Still today wherever Christ sends us with
the power of His Word and Spirit we are making a difference.
Through His Church Jesus continues to
announce the arrival of His kingdom; by the preaching of Law and Gospel,
repentance and faith in Christ. His work
makes a difference in our lives and in the lives of countless others as over
there in the waters of baptism the Holy Spirit is poured upon people like us
and we are delivered from death to life and from being enemies of God to being
the children of God.
He continues to
make a difference in our lives and the lives of others through us as the
message of Christ and Him crucified continues to be preached as the power of
God unto salvation. There upon the
gruesome cross we see the horror of our sin against God, and His hatred of
it. There we see what we all
deserve. But there we also see the pure
love of God, because it is not us who is left upon the cross to die as one
condemned and rejected, but God’s own beloved Son. What a difference it makes when one hears and
believes that God loves them so much that He gave His own Son as a sacrifice
for sin! To know that if He did not
spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, that He will surely along with
Him give us all things!
Concl.: Thank God for
those who have been sent to us in the power of
the Word and Spirit to make a difference in our lives, so that we by
God’s grace may likewise be sent and equipped to make a difference for others.
Amen.