Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me to Mark, chapter 3, verses 7 through 19.
Mark 3, 7 through 19, that's page 787 in the Pew Bible.
As we continue our series in the Gospel of Mark this morning, we come to Mark, chapter 3, verse 7.
So let me read our text for us. It'll be on the screens above, too.
Let me read, and then I'll pray for us as we come to God's Word.
Picking up in verse 7.
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.
When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him.
For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.
And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out,
You are the Son of God.
And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.
And he appointed twelve whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.
He appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James,
to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas,
and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Let's pray together.
Savior, like a shepherd, lead us as we come now to your word.
Help us to hear what your spirit is continuing to say to us through this life-giving message that you've inspired and gifted to us, your church.
Father, our desire is to be who you've created and recreated and redeemed us to be.
So help us now in this time to hear what you are saying, to receive it with faithful hearts.
Oh, Lord, do your work in us as we come to your word, we pray. Amen.
Well, you know, it's easy at first to kind of miss the significance of what's happening here in our passage.
You know, on the first, it sort of looks like Jesus here in Mark 3 is simply being strategic, right?
I mean, the crowds are clearly getting too large for one person to manage.
So Jesus picks a dozen helpers to whom he can delegate some of the responsibility.
Perhaps we're reminded of that passage in the Old Testament in Exodus when Moses is kind of overwhelmed by the responsibility of judging the people and deciding their cases.
He's at it kind of day and night.
So his father-in-law Jethro comes and says,
Moses, you have to find some trustworthy people to help you here or else you're going to wear yourself out.
So Moses takes Jethro's advice and it ends up being a really good idea.
But is that what's really going on here in Mark 3 as the crowds are pressing around Jesus and Jesus appoints the twelve?
Are we merely learning from Jesus the principles of effective delegation?
Or the key to strategic ministry multiplication?
No, there's something much more significant happening here than that.
Consider, after all, what Mark tells us about this great crowd in verses 7 through 8.
They are from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Ijumia and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.
In other words, nearly everywhere you could find a significant Jewish population in Palestine of the day,
even if it was known to be a Gentile area like Tyre and Sidon.
Wherever there was a significant Jewish population in Palestine of the day,
they were all coming to Jesus.
Last week we saw that some of the Jewish officials had begun turning against Jesus,
but despite the rejection of Jesus that was starting among some of the religious officials,
all of Israel was beginning to gather to him.
And what they found when they gathered was more than just words, but power.
Power over their physical sickness.
Power over their spiritual bondage.
This was no mere religious revival.
This was revolution.
And just as all Israel is gathering to him,
Jesus then goes up on a mountain and appoints 12.
And of course that number is not an accident.
Everyone around Jesus would have picked up on the symbolism.
Every Jew knew that there were 12 tribes in Israel, or at least there had been.
And those 12 tribes corresponded more or less to the 12 sons of Jacob, the patriarch.
Now 10 of those tribes had been lost seven centuries earlier when the Assyrians invaded and carried them off.
But the prophets had spoken of a coming restoration.
And a great many Jews were longing for it.
The time would come, they believed, when their God would turn everything around
and restore his people once again.
And so when Jesus called 12 of his followers apart from the crowds
and gave them a special status and a special commission,
nobody who heard of it could miss what he was doing.
Jesus was saying more clearly than words could have done that
this isn't simply a great healing mission.
This isn't simply a time of spiritual renewal.
This is the restoration we've all been waiting for.
So what is the significance of this passage?
If it's about more than just strategic delegation or ministry multiplication, what is it about?
Well, ultimately, it's about what it means to be the people of God.
The people of God called and created by the very Son of God.
In other words, in appointing the 12, we see in kind of seed form what will be true of the whole church.
The church that would come to include not just Jews, but Gentiles as well,
as our earlier reading in the service made clear.
Now, that's not to say that the 12 didn't have a unique role in redemptive history.
They certainly do.
On one level, what's true of the apostles is utterly unique to them and them alone.
The apostles, both the 12 commissioned during Jesus' ministry
and a select few like Paul after Jesus' resurrection,
think about it, they were personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus
to be his authoritative representatives.
They could teach and preach with his very authority and his very name
in a way no one else could.
Even the miraculous signs that the apostles performed
to verify their message was in many ways unique to them.
You know, this unique role that they had
was why their teaching and writings became what we now call the New Testament.
These apostolic writings still have authority over all the church
because Jesus endowed these particular men by his Holy Spirit
with a unique role in laying the foundation of the church.
So that in listening to the apostles,
we listen to what the Lord Jesus himself desires for his people.
So in that sense, the apostles are unique,
but in another sense, they represent what would be true for the church
throughout its history.
When Jesus came to call and create anew the people of God,
when he came to restore Israel and even bring in the lost Gentiles,
he began with the 12.
And we see in them, even at this earliest stage in Mark 3,
what it means to be the church.
So let's consider together what this passage has to tell us about being the church,
about being the people of God created by the Son of God.
And first, what we see is that the church exists by the call of Jesus.
The church exists by the call of Jesus.
Look again at verse 13.
Jesus went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired,
and they came to him.
Other translations translate this verse to read,
Jesus summoned those whom he willed.
It is the solemn and powerful call of Jesus that creates the church.
Discipleship ultimately begins not with our decision to follow Jesus,
as if we're doing God some favor by becoming Christians and joining his movement, right?
No, it begins when God summons us out of darkness into light.
When the Lord summons us out of spiritual death into everlasting life.
And notice that this call comes from Jesus, but it also leads to him as well.
He's the beginning and the end.
He summoned those whom he desired, and they came to who?
They came to him.
This scene of Jesus on a mountain calling the twelve.
You know, the clearest Old Testament echo isn't Moses and Jethro trying to manage the crowds, right?
The clearest Old Testament echo is of the Lord God on Mount Sinai,
constituting the twelve tribes of Israel formally, covenantally, as his people, his nation.
That's the echo here.
Morna Hooker, the great New Testament scholar,
and her commentary on Mark makes a very interesting observation,
and I'm paraphrasing, but she basically says,
you know, if Jesus had chosen eleven apostles,
then it would have been clear that he saw himself as part of a renewed people of God, right?
But he didn't choose eleven.
He chose twelve.
In other words, Jesus wasn't part of the people.
He was the Lord of the people.
He isn't a new Moses sorting out duties.
He's the sovereign Lord calling the people into their very existence.
So the church then isn't just another social club or non-profit organization.
It's the people called into existence by the word of the sovereign Lord.
So I wonder, friend, have you experienced this call?
As God's word is opened up and read and explained,
as you hear the words of Jesus preserved in Scripture,
proclaimed in the church,
do you hear them not just as human words,
but do you hear in them the divine word,
the divine voice calling you,
summoning you to come to him?
And in response, have you turned and believed in him?
Believe not merely in a set of doctrines,
although sound doctrine is wonderful.
Believe not merely in a code of ethics,
although right living is wonderfully liberating.
Believe not merely in a set of spiritual practices,
but have you entrusted your life to him,
the living Lord,
who calls?
That's where it begins for every Christian.
That's how the church exists at all,
by the call of Christ.
You know, we get our existence not by a common set of interests
or by a joint social agenda
or by a shared religious history.
None of those things are why the church exists.
It exists because Christ calls us into existence.
And he's calling you today.
And if that's true,
if we exist by the call of Jesus,
then certainly how we order our life together,
the purpose, the goal towards which we exist
must also be centered in the word of Christ as well.
And that brings us to our second point.
We see here that the church exists by the call of Jesus,
but second,
we see that the church exists for the mission of Jesus.
The church exists for the mission of Jesus.
Look at verses 14 and 15.
And he appointed 12,
whom he also named apostles,
so that they might be with him
and he might send them out
to preach and have authority
to cast out demons.
So notice the twofold purpose in these verses.
First, that they might be with him.
And second, that he might send them out.
So first, Jesus wanted the 12
to spend time with him,
to be with him,
because it was in fellowship with him,
in communion with him,
that they would be formed and changed
more and more into who he wanted them to be.
He was going to create them
and make them into something.
And how was that going to happen?
It was going to happen through their fellowship with him,
their presence with him,
because it was there that they would learn
what it meant to be truly human.
As they beheld and as they fellowshiped
and as they communed
with the one who was fully God and fully human,
who was the true human,
the second Adam,
they would learn how to be human again.
But Jesus also had a plan
to send them out.
That's what literally the word apostle means.
It means a sent one,
an emissary.
Their work would not simply be
in beholding him
and communing with him,
but also in joining him
in the work of restoration
and reclamation and renewal.
Theirs would be a mission of liberation,
preaching good news,
casting out demons.
They would be sent by him.
And all of this is true for the church today.
You know, it's not merely some human agenda
that drives the church.
And when the church has fallen captive
to worldly or human agendas,
it's been disastrous.
The church exists for the mission of Jesus.
And today this mission has the same twofold shape,
to be with him and to be sent by him.
The life of the church is both contemplative
and active, right?
It's contemplative.
It's worshipful.
We're meant to enjoy Christ together,
to worship him,
to commune with him,
to rest in him.
Like Mary,
to sit at his feet and listen to him.
And in beholding him,
we become like him.
But the life of the church
is not just contemplative.
It's also active.
We have a great passion
to see the gospel proclaimed,
to see the darkness driven back,
and to see Christ's name honored among all people.
And again, all of this is a work of liberation, isn't it?
We proclaim the good news
of the forgiveness of sins
through Christ's death and resurrection.
Friends, the heart of the message of the church
is nothing less than reconciliation with God.
What could be more liberating than that?
To be set free from sin
and death
and judgment.
And we also stand against
the forces of evil
at work around us.
We see in our text
that Jesus gave the apostles
the authority to cast out demons.
And you know,
the church still has
spiritual authority today.
Now perhaps he isn't calling you and me
literally to cast out an unclean spirit,
although maybe some of you
have experienced something like that.
Certainly in other parts of the world,
this is a very real thing.
But even so,
even if that's not our particular calling
to perform literal exorcisms,
the battle that we wage
isn't against flesh and blood.
There is a very real spiritual battle going on.
And it is through prayer
and mercy
and generosity
and peacemaking
and by speaking the truth in love
that this war is waged.
And so we are sent into the world
to be salt and light.
And so the church exists
not to serve itself,
but to serve Christ
and his mission.
We see here that the church exists
for the mission of Jesus.
Now the third thing our passage shows us
about being the church is this.
The church exists
in the unity of Jesus.
So we exist by his call
and for his mission,
but we exist in the unity of Christ.
You know, as we consider
a little more closely
the men that Jesus called
to be his apostles
in verses 16 through 19,
and you can kind of scan
through their names there
in that list,
you know, as we start
to really look a little deeper,
we see how radical this group was.
Of course, they were all Jewish
and they were all mostly from Galilee,
but consider their differences.
In verse 17,
we're told about James and John,
two brothers to whom Jesus
gives the nickname
Sons of Thunder, right?
That's a pretty sweet nickname,
isn't it?
You know?
He called Peter like a stone,
but you get to be
the Sons of Thunder.
That's pretty sweet.
Now, it's possible
that this nickname
means something like
the loud ones
or the hot-tempered ones.
Okay, maybe it's not
that great of a nickname.
It's sort of Jesus
maybe poking a little fun
at them, right?
So here are James and John,
the Sons of Thunder.
But then you have
other apostles on this list
about whom
we know very little
apart from their names.
History is nearly silent
about them.
Of course,
that doesn't mean
they didn't fulfill
their call faithfully,
boldly proclaiming Christ,
but, you know,
Sons of Thunder,
loud, boisterous, fiery,
they apparently were not.
But it wasn't just
personality differences
that was being united here
in this apostolic band,
in this nascent church.
Consider the difference
between Matthew,
the tax collector,
who we met a little earlier
in Mark's gospel,
Levi,
also called Matthew.
Consider the difference
between Matthew,
the tax collector,
and the other apostle
we meet on this list,
Simon,
the zealot.
Tax collectors,
you remember,
were collaborators
with Rome, basically.
You know,
they spent their time
collecting money
on behalf of the empire
and kind of robbing
their own people.
But zealots,
zealots were the party
in the first century.
They were the movement
in the first century
who were ready
to take up arms
against Rome.
Right?
The zealots were the ones
who were thinking,
you know,
maybe a militaristic overthrow
of the Romans
is probably our best bet.
So here are two men
with utterly different,
what we might call today,
political backgrounds.
One who lived life
collaborating with Rome
and the other
who lived life
hoping one day
to overthrow it.
Together.
together.
In the same group
around Jesus.
Could these differences
ever be overcome?
And yet what we see
in the apostles
is yes.
A former zealot
and a former tax collector
united by a common Lord
engaged in a common mission.
You see,
their allegiance
to the Lord Jesus,
the reality of his call
on their lives,
took precedence
over these former
allegiances
and identities.
What they held
in common
in Christ
was far superior
to what divided them.
Now I think we can,
we know
that Levi
sort of left
his tax collecting booth
to follow Jesus
and we can imagine
probably something similar
was the same true
for Simon.
You know,
he wasn't out there
plotting political
and military overthrow anymore.
But do we imagine
after coming to Christ,
do we imagine
Matthew and Simon
always agreeing
about everything?
Right?
Probably not.
And it's the same today.
Christians don't always
agree with each other
about a whole range
of things.
And it's good
and right
to develop convictions
about those things.
But united
by a common Lord,
we can treat each other
with charity
and with honor
and we can learn
from each other.
Perhaps we might
not be persuaded
by one another
at the end of the day
and our differences,
some of them
might still remain.
And yet,
we can still embrace
each other
as fellow family members
of the people of God.
In the early church,
this unity in Christ
would become
even more radical
than we see it here
in the calling of the twelve
as the gospel goes forth
and Gentiles
are added to their number.
Suddenly,
the differences
that are being united
in Christ
are even more profound.
And as the gospel
continued to spread
throughout church history,
the cultural diversity
of the church
continued to expand.
But the church
continues to exist
in its great diversity
in the unity of Christ.
And so,
in our own local church,
we learn to love
one another.
Even though we are different,
we view one another
as brothers and sisters
in the same family.
Christ has embraced us
and so we turn
and we embrace
one another.
And the backgrounds
in our church family here
are wildly different,
are they not?
Cultural backgrounds,
educational backgrounds,
different genders,
different races,
different classes,
but united in Christ.
No,
we don't always agree
about secondary issues,
do we?
Sometimes we have
lively discussions
around the proverbial
dinner table.
But we don't let
those things divide us
or sow seeds
of contempt and scorn.
We continue to love
each other for Christ's sake
because we have been loved.
And that brings us
to our last point.
The fourth and last thing
we see here
is that the church
exists because of
the grace of Jesus.
So it's his call
and his mission
and his unity
that ultimately exists
because of his grace.
You know,
in verse 19,
we read the last name
in the list of the 12,
Judas Iscariot,
who betrayed him.
And then that final note
of this list of the 12 here
casts a bit of a shadow
over the whole passage,
doesn't it?
The 12 would not be
a perfect band of brothers.
Right?
They would not
in themselves
be the new creation,
the new people of God.
In fact,
in the end,
they would all deny Jesus
and abandon him.
And Judas,
one of the 12,
would even be the one
who betrayed him.
And yet none of this
was a surprise
to Jesus.
Think about it.
Jesus could have chosen
someone else
to join the 12.
Right?
The sovereign Lord
could have chosen
someone else.
It didn't have to be Judas.
He didn't have to be betrayed.
But Jesus didn't choose
someone else.
Why?
Because Jesus knew
that his mission
was about more than
just healing the sick.
It was about more than
just casting out demons.
It was about more than
just building a team
and expanding his influence.
Jesus had come
to address
the deepest human need
imaginable.
Jesus had come
as the remedy
for sin.
And that meant
he had to go
the way
of the cross.
You see,
Jesus' choice
of Judas
was ultimately
the choice
of the cross.
The choice
to undergo
the betrayal,
the denial,
the abandonment.
This was the choice
to lay down
his life
for his people.
The work
of renewing
and recreating
the people of God
was going to cost
more than
a few busy days
of ministry
by the sea.
It was going to cost
more than
a few long days
on the mountainside
training his disciples.
This work
that Jesus
had come
to do
was going
to cost
him everything.
And yet
he was willing
to do it
through his own
choice.
He freely
chose to be
betrayed
so that he
might choose
to forgive
your sins
and mine.
So we,
all of us,
stand
as members
of Christ's
body,
Christ's
church
because of
sheer,
undeserved,
costly grace.
Christ doesn't
call us
into his people
because we've
earned it,
but because
he's earned it.
So don't you
see how much
he loves you,
Christian?
Who would
ever choose
in their right
mind to be
betrayed,
right?
And yet
he did
for you,
for us.
And it's
this grace,
this love
that stands
at the very
bottom,
the bedrock
of the church.
This is the
cornerstone.
Christ,
rich in grace,
full of
steadfast love.
This is the
grace on which
we stand.
And this is
the grace
that we extend
to others
through the
mission that
he's called
us to.
Let's pray
together.
Lord Jesus,
we give you
praise as
the Lord
of the church.
Thank you
that it is in
your deep
love and
grace and
through your
sovereign call
that we exist
to be a part
of your
people.
Oh Lord,
help our
hearts to be
full of that
grace and
love so that
as we go
forth on your
mission,
we might truly
be your
ambassadors,
seeing your
kingdom advance
in our place,
and our time
to your
great glory.
We pray this
in your name.
Amen.