Mark 6:1-13
There was book some years back with the interesting title:
- “All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten.”
- Published way back in 1986.
- Since Miss Susan was a kindergarten teacher…I thought I should read the book.
- Well…the book offered interesting life lessons that were not only true…
- But were simple and hopeful.
- The book reminded me that oftentimes we get in the way of ourselves…
- We get caught in the weeds…
- By making things too complicated.
- Robert Fulghum…the author… reminded me of some simple wisdom… like:
- Share everything. Play fair. Put things back where you found them.
- Take a nap every afternoon.
- And when you go out into the world…watch out for traffic…
- Hold hands…and stick together.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Well…This morning…I thought I would take inspiration from this book to offer some simple lessons from our gospel reading.
- Simple lessons on how Jesus wants us to live as his followers.
- You see…as Jesus got ready to send his apostles out on their first mission trip…
- He gave them some clear instructions written in our gospel reading for today.
- And from these instructions…I have singled out five simple lessons that we can hold onto as followers of Jesus.
- So…here goes.
Lesson 1 – Do not Be a Believer alone.
- Jesus has identified his twelve apostles…and now he is getting ready to send them out on a mission.
- And the first thing that he does is pair them up.
- Kind of like in kindergarten…or on a school field trip.
- Like Robert Fulghum’s rule:
- “Hold hands and stick together.”
Throughout Jesus’ ministry…when he calls disciples…the first thing he does is make us part of a community called the ekklesia…Greek meaning to call out…but Jesus spoke Aramaic…so he would have said ladoth…meaning to assemble or gather together. In English we say church.
- He calls us into this community because he knows that it is too hard to be a believer alone.
- We need each other…we are better together.
- For Jesus…there is no such thing as a lone-ranger believer.
- Life is too hard to go it alone.
Lesson 2 – Remember that Jesus Is the Boss.
- We read: “Jesus gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”
- Which means that when we go into the world…we go because Jesus has given us the authority to do so.
- Jesus is the boss.
- As he says in the Great Commission:
- “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go…therefore…and make disciples of all nations.”
Jesus is the boss…but he has put us in charge.
- So now we have the authority to go in his name.
- Jesus has entrusted us with his work.
- It is God’s work.
- It is our hands and feet.
I am the second oldest of four siblings.
- And when mom and dad left the house and left me in charge…
- I always reminded my two younger siblings that I was in charge…Mom and Dad said so.
- Which was fun…until we broke something.
As believers…we are something like the older children of the world.
- We have been put in charge.
- Jesus has given us authority over the powers and principalities of this world.
- And we embrace that.
- But we should also remember that we are not the parents.
- We are just in charge until the master returns.
Lesson 3 – Travel Light.
- The third lesson Jesus gives is this:
- “He ordered 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 to put on two tunics.”
I have been a cross-country walker for most of my life.
- So…when I would pack my backpack for a multi-day trip…I would make three piles.
- Necessities…things I must bring. (like rain gear or bug repellent).
- Things I might need. (like a first aid kit or Little Debbie Cakes).
- And things a probably would not need…but would come in handy. (like a deck of cards or a water-proof Bose blue-tooth speaker).
- Then I would eliminate the third pile altogether.
- And take only the things I might need and leave the rest behind.
In other words…we are to travel light.
- Why? Because traveling light means that we are trusting Jesus.
- Traveling light means that we have everything we need to serve our Lord.
- We do not need to read another book.
- We do not need to make more money.
- We do not need more time to solve whatever problems we face in our life right now.
- We do not need to do anything else before we go to serve our Lord.
- We have enough right now.
- We have everything we need…right now…to do what Jesus is asking.
- So…we can and should travel light.
Lesson 4 – Don’t Get Discouraged When You Fail.
So…we go on our mission with a caution:
- Not everyone will accept us.
- Not everyone will accept our message.
- There will be those who will refuse to hear us.
- What we can do though…is entrust the mission to God…and move on.
It is not our responsibility to successfully bring God’s kingdom to our world.
- As if we could.
- It is our task to enter a community…do as Jesus asks….
- And if not welcomed there…
- To shake the dust off our feet and move on.
So…what’s the lesson?
- Do not get discouraged when we fail.
- If the twelve apostles were told that they would sometimes fail…
- Then we should expect to fail…too.
- So…here is an acronym for fail:
- “Faith Active in Love.”
- When our faith is active in love…then we are serving our Lord.
- You see…failure in the eyes of the world might just be overwhelming success in the eyes of God.
- The cross proves that.
Lesson 5 – Don’t Be Afraid to Tell the Truth.
- When the apostles were sent out…it was to cast out demons and heal the sick.
- But it was also to proclaim:
- “Turn from your sin.
- Turn from your false hopes.
- Turn from your false gods.
- And turn…that is…re-turn…to the Lord.
- Our only God…and our only hope.
Our world is quick to offer its brand of gods and hopes.
- It always has and it always will.
- Always in the form of more stuff.
- Satan’s favorite word is more.
- More of this and more of that will make you ultimately fulfilled and happy.
- Our Lord’s favorite word is:
- Sola Gratia: by grace alone.
- As followers of Jesus…our mission is to proclaim that one source of hope.
This past Thursday we celebrated Independence Day.
- But the truth is that we are not independent.
- We might be independent from England.
- But we are very dependent on God.
- We are dependent on our Creator.
- We are dependent on the planet on which we live.
- We are dependent on our Lord Jesus…who came to rescue us from our brokenness.
- We are dependent on the Holy Spirit…who was given to go with us in the mission to which we are called.