Sent by Jesus

Mark 6:6-13
Gregory Perry | Sunday, April 26, 2020
Copyright © 2020, Gregory Perry

We are going to look at “Sent by Jesus” from the text that was just read from Mark 6. There are different types of callings from God. There is the general calling, which is the gospel call for all people everywhere to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Then there is the effectual call, in which the Holy Spirit awakens the hearer and enables him to respond in saving faith to the gospel call. And then there is the calling to a specific task. This is the type of calling that we see here in this passage from Mark 6. Christ calls his disciples to carry out a specific mission. This type of calling has both specific and general applications, which we will look at.

Jesus calls, equips, and sends his people to go out and labor as workers in his harvest field. In the Great Commission, all Christians are called and sent by the risen Lord Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us (Matt. 28:19–20). So in Mark 6:6–13, Jesus calls his disciples and gives them the authority to go to the surrounding villages to preach and to heal. We will look at these three points from the text: call, instruct, and send. Those are our three points: call, instruct, and send.

Call (vv. 6–7)

Let us look at this first point, call, from verses 6 and 7. Jesus calls his disciples to himself to give them a mission. Though Jesus was and is God, the second Person of the holy Trinity, when he became the God/man, he became limited in what he could do. The infinite took on a finite human nature so he could no longer be in more than one place at a time. We are told here that Jesus went from village to village to teach. But he could only cover so much ground. This is why he called his disciples to go out on a mission to spread the word from and about Jesus to the surrounding areas.

In verse 7, Jesus calls his twelve disciples to himself in order to give them a specific task to be done. There are two words for “disciple” in Greek: mathêtês and opados. The word mathêtês, which is most commonly used in the New Testament, literally means “a learner.” So a disciple is one who learns from Christ. He is a pupil to his good teacher. Opados, which is not found in the New Testament, literally means “a follower.” So both of these words aptly describe what a disciple of Christ is to be. He is to learn from Christ and he is to follow him.

More than this, however, Christ calls his disciples not just to be followers and learners, but he also calls them to be fellow workers in Christ’s work. He calls us as his people to be his workers, building up his kingdom. So we recall in Matthew 10, starting in verse 37, Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus is the Lord of the harvest, and he is calling us to be workers in his harvest field.

The apostle Paul emphasizes that we are often called to be kingdom workers. He frequently refers to believers as God’s fellow workers. You can see examples in 1 Corinthians 3:9 and 2 Corinthians 6:1. Now, we know that you cannot be Christ’s fellow worker without first being a follower of Christ. Some want to be missionaries without first being followers. They like to lead but they do not want to follow. But only those who are serious about following Christ in their whole lives are qualified to go out in his name and work for his kingdom.

Christ calls us to himself in order to send us out. He does not call us to himself so that we can just spend our whole lives lounging at his side and enjoying his presence. There is an aspect of the Christian life which is enjoying the presence of Christ. But, no, he calls us to come to him and then he sends us out. He sends us out into the world to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

We are reminded of the legion-demon-possessed man who was healed by Jesus in Mark 5. Dr. Broderick preached about this a couple of weeks ago. This man wanted to be with Jesus. He just wanted to be with Jesus, but Jesus sent him to work in his kingdom. So you remember Mark 5, beginning with verse 18: “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.” It is a good desire. But notice what it says: “Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you’” (v. 19).

The Lord does the same with us. He calls us to himself and then he sends us out to be his representatives. Paul describes himself in Ephesians 6:20 as an ambassador in chains, an ambassador for Christ, one who is representing Christ. And we are Christ’s ambassadors, sent to represent him and sent to speak his message to the world. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

As ambassadors of Christ, these disciples were to do more than just speak the message the Lord had given them. They were to represent him in every aspect of their lives. Sinclair Ferguson makes this point when he comments on this text: “The tone of the apostles’ conversation, the style of their lives—everything about them was to reflect their Master. Everything was to give expression to the seriousness and urgency of the message they brought from him.”[1]

We are then told in verse 7 that Jesus sent his disciples out two by two. The text does not exactly explain why they are sent out in pairs, but we can reasonably conclude that it was for at least these three reasons: one, for fellowship; two, for accountability; and, three, for protection. After all, Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.”

They obviously could cover more ground if they went out as individuals, but we are a people who have need to be with others. It is not good for man to be alone. Fellowship is a means of grace that God gives us to strengthen us in our Christian walk as we encourage one another and build each other up.

Finally, in Christ’s calling of his disciples, we find that he “gave them authority over evil spirits.” Christ gives authority to those he calls and sends. These men were to be Christ’s official ambassadors, men clothed with authority to represent the one who sent them. This is the important principle of delegated authority. Those that Christ sends in his name bear his authority.

What is authority? A complete definition of authority would be “the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes.” Another definition is “the right to control, command, or determine.” To put it simply, authority is the right to decide in a way that is final. It is also expressing the right to command in a way that carries with it the obligation to obey. This is why, in the book of Hebrews, the author says, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them, so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb. 13:17).

When Christ gives authority here to his disciples, he is especially giving them the right to command evil spirits to depart from those they possess. The evil spirits are obligated to obey Christ because he has all authority in heaven and on earth. And they are obligated therefore to obey those to whom Christ delegates his authority. To deny the authority of those Christ sends is to deny the authority of Christ.

Jesus teaches this principle most plainly. We remember in Matthew 10:40 that Jesus says to his disciples that he is sending out, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me,” speaking about God the Father. He makes the same point in John 13:20 when he says, “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” You see, to receive those Christ sends is to receive Christ himself. That is what Christ says.

The same principle was true in the days of Moses in the desert. In Numbers 16, Korah and his co-conspirators did not see themselves as necessarily rebelling against God. Rather, they were just rising up against Moses and Aaron, who they saw as only being mere men. And, yes, they were mere men, but they were men that God had authorized, and so to rebel against Moses and Aaron was to rebel against God. And God pours out his wrath on those who rebel against him.

Pastor Mathew, in his Daily Delight from April 15, comments on this text in Numbers 16 about Korah: “The Lord commissions delegated authorities to govern on his behalf and in his name. Those who despise and disobey duly established authorities therefore despise the sovereign God who ordained them. Numbers 16 graphically illustrates God’s response to such insolence.”[2]

It is fashionable in today’s church world to downplay and denigrate the authority of a pastor. Upon being asked how much authority a pastor has in the lives of his congregants, one well-known evangelical minister fairly recently declared repeatedly and emphatically, “I have no authority.”

Frankly, if a minister insists that he has no authority, he is denying the Bible and he is admitting that he has not been called and sent by Christ. After all, Christ gives authority to those he calls and sends. We as fallen human beings mostly have a distrust of delegated authority because of our own rebellious hearts and our desire for autonomy. We do not want anyone to tell us what to do. But denying the validity of the authority of those over me is not going to change the fact that I am obligated to do what they say. In other words, God will hold me accountable for obeying those that he sends into my life to represent him.

Having said that, another part of the reason why some have a distrust of delegated authority could also be due to some past experience that someone has had. Maybe they have experienced a leader who misused or abused his authority. And we must be reminded that God gives authority to those leaders for the purpose of doing his people good. Paul emphasizes this point especially in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 10:8 Paul says, “For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it.” Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:10, “This is why I write these things while I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.”

In our Mark 6 text, it specifies that the disciples were given authority for the purpose of doing God’s work. They were not given authority from Christ to do their own thing or to carry out the devil’s will. No, they were given authority to do the good works specifically of driving out demons.

The application for us of this point is to know this: The Christian life is not a spectator sport. We are not just here to watch the trained professional ministers to do the Lord’s work. We are to be full participants in God’s kingdom work. We are all to be fellow workers. If you have indeed been effectually called to be saved, then Christ also calls you to be fishers of men. We are all to put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Instruct (vv. 8-11)

The second point is instruct, from verses 8 through 11, where Jesus tells his disciples what they must do on the journey he is sending them on. Before sending them, Jesus gives specific instructions to those he calls. This reminds us that when God sends us, we do not just go to do our thing our way. Jesus is Lord, and we are called to be his faithful obedient servants.

Jesus begins his instructions in verse 8. He says, “Take nothing for the journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.” The main idea is for them not to bring excess. They were to take nothing with them because God would give them everything they need. They were to go in faith and trust in the Lord to provide.

They are to take just a staff. In the Greek, it is clear that it is a common traveler’s staff. Although the staff was surely nothing special in itself, it is obviously reminiscent of the staff of Moses, the man that God sent to his people to deliver them out of Egyptian slavery. Like Moses, Jesus was sending these apostles out with their staffs as his representatives to deliver the lost out of their slavery to sin.

Jesus then bans specific items. First, the apostles are to take no bread. They are to trust in their God, Jehovah Jireh, to provide for them their daily bread. In fact, the Lord had already taught them to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

The apostles are also to bring no bag. The role of the bag is store things, but they are to trust in God to provide anew each day. In Exodus 16, God taught the same principle of not storing manna for the next day to the Israelites in the desert. They were not to keep any of it until morning.

Jesus then tells the disciples that they are to bring no money. He knows that we tend to trust in money instead of God. The disciples must trust in God, not in their money, to open doors of opportunity and to help them in their time of need.

When trouble comes our way, we also are way too prone to turn first to our money and see how our money can bail us out. We have a choice: pay or pray. Why pray, when we can just pay our way out of a difficulty? We have all heard our pastor say so many times, “Too much money.” And when he says, “Too much money,” he means that instead of “In God we trust,” our life motto soon and too quickly becomes “In money we trust.”

In verse 9, Jesus orders his disciples, “Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.” This again is an exhortation for them to travel light. They do not need to pack for every imaginary circumstance; they just need to trust in God to provide for them as any given situation arises. (GWP) Now, the call for these apostles to take no bread, no bag, no money, and no extra tunic is not a rule that he is setting out for all of God’s workers to be applied everywhere always. The book of Acts and the epistles of Paul make this very clear, that this not what they were doing when they went on their missions throughout the Roman empire. But these are particular directions given to these disciples on this specific short-term mission as they went out to the lost sheep of Israel in the surrounding villages.

Nevertheless, the principle of trusting in God to provide is the general principle here that must be applied to not only all of God’s ministers of all time, but even applied to all of God’s people always. As we all carry out the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations, we must trust in our Lord to guide us and to empower us and to provide for us.

In verse 10, Jesus exhorts his disciples, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.” In other words, they are not to agree to stay in one house and then begin looking around for better accommodations. It would be an insult to their hospitable hosts if they were to go elsewhere.

This verse also reminds us of our own responsibility to be hospitable. This is a theme that is emphasized throughout the Bible. We are to open our homes to God’s people and we especially need to be gracious to host those representatives whom God calls and sends our way.

In verse 11, Jesus gives this direction. He says, “And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them.” This action is a declaration that those who do not welcome or listen to those Christ sends are rejecting the Christ who sent them.

I ask you: How have you received those Christ has sent into your life? Do you hold them in the highest regard in love? That is what the Scripture tells you to do (1 Thess. 5:13). Do you receive what they say as being the words of God? This is what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 when he says, “And we also thank God continually because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.”

Now some pay lip service to listening to God through those he sends. They will listen all the way up until the point that those God sends begin to tell them what they do not necessarily like to hear. All of a sudden, they no longer want to hear what the man of God has to say.

There are many examples of this in the Bible, but we especially see this in the time of Jeremiah. The men of Judah were feeling the threat of Babylon and they went to Jeremiah the prophet because they wanted to know if it was God’s will to flee to Egypt. In Jeremiah 42, the people assured Jeremiah they would do what he said. In verse 5 we read, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us.” You see, they understand that Jeremiah as a prophet is a representative of God to bring his word to the people. So they say, “We’ll do whatever you say. Everything that he says through you to us we will do.” They even say in verse 6, “Whether it is favorable or unfavorable,” meaning, whether we like it or not, “we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.” What a profession of faith there! A perfect statement of agreement to do whatever God speaks through Jeremiah.

Now, the only problem is, it was all a lie. It was all lip service. They already had in mind that they should go to Egypt. So when the word came for them not to go, the falseness of their profession was soon exposed. In Jeremiah 43, beginning with verse 1, we read, “When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them, Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, “You must not go to Egypt to settle there.” But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.’ So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the Lord’s command to stay in the land of Judah” (Jer. 43:1–4).

This is what we do too. We listen all the way until we do not agree with what is being said, and then we turn away. Woe to us if that is true of us!

Earlier, the prophet Isaiah faced the same hostility from those who professed to God that they wanted to hear what he had to say. But when Isaiah would bring the word that they did not like, Isaiah describes how they respond. He says, “These are rebellious people, deceitful children, unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instructions. They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things [things that we like to hear], prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!’” (Isa. 30:9–11).

Woe to us if we are children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction as he instructs us through those he sends. Woe to us if we only listen to what the pleasant things are, that our itching ears want to hear.

Jesus then tells his disciples in Mark 6:11 to give those who reject the disciples a physical sign of them being given over. The disciples are to shake the dust off their feet as a testimony against them. Both in the Old Testament and New Testament, shaking the dust off the feet is symbolic of having nothing more to do with an unfaithful people. It is especially similar to what we read in Nehemiah 5, starting with verse 12. Nehemiah says, “Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised. I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, ‘In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!’” That is what shaking the dust off the feet was saying: God is shaking you off of his feet as you have rejected the word that has come to you.

This same symbol of rejection is used when the leading men of Pisidian Antioch expelled Paul and Barnabas from their region. Acts 13:51 says, “So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.” This dust being shaken from their feet is a symbolic declaration of being rejected by God and given over to their sinful condition. In Romans 1, we read three times of those who reject Christ being given over.

The disciples had fulfilled their responsibility to preach God’s message, and those who rejected this message would have to now answer to God. The word of God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, becomes a testimony against those who reject it. God’s word will never return void. It will be the fragrance of life for those who receive it by faith, or it will be the stench of death for those who reject it.

So I ask you: What is this gospel to you? Is it the message of God that has brought you eternal life, having placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Or is it a testimony against you, a record of salvation that God has offered in Christ, but that you have rejected?

Send (vv. 12–13)

The third and final point is send. We see this in verses 12 and 13. It is talking about what the disciples did in carrying out this call.

The disciples dutifully carried out their call. The text says, “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”

Notice that though we were told about the authority that Christ gave them to drive out demons, we see here the first thing they do is to preach. Preaching was their primary task. They were not sent to go on a healing crusade. They were heralds sent with a message to preach from the Lord. “They preached” (Greek, ekêruxan) means that these disciples declared the message with authority; they were not suggesting, not asking, not begging. The Lord Jesus Christ insists that his word be declared with proper authority.

Remember the apostle Paul exhorts Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2. He says specifically, “Preach the Word!” That command is twofold. He is saying what we are to do. We are to preach. And then he says what we are to preach. We are to preach the Word, not preach human philosophy or preach psychology. But also not just “convey the Word” or “speak the Word.” No, the call is to “preach the Word.”

The one who does not preach is not one who is sent by Christ. I remember Dr. Wassermann and I several years ago talking to a representative of a local seeker-friendly church at the Yolo County fair. He was telling us all about their exciting children’s programs, because we had small children at the time. He told how great their music is. And when we asked about the preaching, the man had an almost allergic reaction, as if we had breathed some sort of obscene word. He kindly corrected us, saying, “Our pastor does not preach; he just shares.” He does not preach, I am saying, because he is not called and sent by Christ.

The one that Christ calls and sends preaches the Word. And what is it that these disciples are preaching? The text says that they are preaching that people should repent. In doing this, they are following a precedent set by John the Baptist. Even before the public ministry of Jesus began, John came and preached in the desert of Judea. We see this in Matthew 3:2. He is preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” And, of course, Jesus himself, in Matthew 4, begins his ministry by preaching repentance. So Matthew 4:17 says, “From that time on, Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”

Not only is this how Jesus began his ministry, but this was his emphasis throughout. The apostle Paul also consistently preached the message of repentance throughout his extensive missionary travels. In Acts 17:30 Paul says, “In the past, God overlooked such ignorance. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” And in Acts 26:20, Paul is describing his whole ministry – all his travels. He says it this way: “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

Even though many false Christian ministers today say that repentance is only optional, Christ himself insisted on the absolute necessity of repentance. We see twice in Luke 13 Jesus saying most plainly, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

The gospel message must begin with a clear call to repentance. The gospel charge is to repent and believe, to turn from sin to God. You cannot turn to God without turning from your sin. Simply put, according to the Scriptures, there is no forgiveness without repentance. You cannot and will not be forgiven of sin of which you refuse to repent.

I will give you some texts that speak about that. In Luke 24, the risen Lord Christ says this: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46–47). You see, repentance and forgiveness of sins goes together. And in Acts 2:38, we see Peter carrying out what Jesus had commanded as he preaches the Day of Pentecost to the gathered people: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Then Peter goes on in Acts 3:19: “Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” You see, if you do not repent of your sins, that sin will not be wiped out.

The importance of the message of repentance implies the need for the sent messenger of God to approach his hearers as sinners. They are sinners who are going the wrong way, and they need to turn around. This is why people tend to despise the minister who dares to speak of repentance. Not only are they offended about being addressed as sinners, but also they love their sin and want to hold on to it.

Finally, we learn in Mark 6:13, “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” In other words, the disciples were given power to do what they could not possibly do themselves. They were powerless, but the God who gave them authority also gave them power to do what only God could do.

Christ-sent disciples anointed the sick with oil. The oil was not some magic potion. In the Bible, oil frequently is a symbol of the presence, grace, and power of the Holy Spirit. So to anoint someone with oil was a physical sign of asking God to send the Holy Spirit down to come and help and to heal. It was not the oil that was healing, but the Holy Spirit, that the oil represents, would come and heal.

James, the brother of our Lord, exhorts the church to go to the elders of the church to be anointed and healed. In James 5:14–15 we read, “Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up.” You see, it is the Lord who is doing the healing through the prayer of the elders as they anoint the sick person with oil.

When we anoint the sick with oil, we are pointing people to look, not to us to heal them, not to the oil to heal them; we are pointing them to look to God to heal them. We are not anti-medicine people. But woe to us if we put our trust in doctors to heal us. Doctors are ordained means that we are thankful for, and God often uses them to heal us. But remember that all healing ultimately belongs to the Lord. I shudder when I hear what I hear so frequently these days as confident Americans assert that we will surely defeat this COVID-19 pandemic because we have the best doctors and the smartest scientists. But one thing I know for sure is that no doctor can ever heal a disease that God has determined to bring. So look to God, not to the doctors.

We as Christians should not be afraid of this coronavirus. But it is not because Dr. Anthony Fauci or Governor Gavin Newsom or even President Donald Trump will save us. No, we will not fear because the sovereign Lord, who is in control of all things, is our God and we are his people. He is faithful and will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. The Lord our God goes with us and he will never leave us or forsake us. We should not be afraid. We must not be afraid because, as Paul says in Romans 8, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble of hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” or I say, coronavirus? “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 37–39).

The Lord Jesus Christ has called us to himself. He has authorized us and given us the instructions that we need, and he has sent us to go as his representatives. But we do not go alone. He has promised as we go, “Surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). And so we as blameless and pure children of God must go in the strength that he gives, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and shine the light of Christ in this dark world as we hold out the word of life.

[1] Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Mark, Let’s Study series (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1999).

[2] P. G. Mathew, Daily Delight (Davis, CA: Grace and Glory Ministries, 2015), 107.