Todays sermon takes a look at Mark chapter 6 verses: 30-34; and Mark Chapter 6 verses: 53-56.
We will begin by looking at how Jesus talks about resting and getting rest from the crowd.
We read in Mark chapter 6 verse 30 that the Apostles had been sent out by twos and they returned to tell Jesus all they had preformed miracles and taught.
The primary mission of the apostles was teaching. They were called apostles and we have the idea that after the last of the 12 apostles died there were no more apostles. What does the word apostles mean? It means, “one sent forth.” Who are the apostles today? We are!
Brian Stoffgren writes, “Apostle is not primarily a technical term…but a descriptive term. It is related to the verb, apostello, which means to send out with a message…As a descriptive term it is one that applies to us. Like the first twelve, we are also ones who are sent out with a message. It is not an activity or title that is limited to the first twelve disciples.”
We are apostles!!!
Isn’t that kind of cool? You come to church as a normal person, and you leave as an apostle. What a deal. Amen!
But we are sent to reach people for Jesus Christ and Jesus has sent us to this place and time to reach people for Him.
A man approached Horace Greeley one day to ask for a donation for foreign missions. Greeley turned him down but the man continued his plea and Greeley again said “no”. Finally the unfortunate one said: "Why, Mr. Greeley, wouldn’t you give $10 to save an immortal soul from going to hell?" "No," shouted Greeley, "not half enough people go to hell now!"
Unfortunally that is the attitued of many churches. They don’t care about the community around them. It is more important the type of worship they have and the theology than reaching the lost. And the mission of the Church is still the same as it was 2000 years ago. To make Christ known so that people do not perrish. That is the pourpose of the church, that is our mission.
Our mission = here & now!
Next we look at verses 31 – 33. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.
The people ran, they ran ahead to get to where Jesus was going to be. They realized that there was something special about this man.
In ministry there are many times when we say, “Give me a break.” And for those of us who were working Vacation Bible School this week, Give me a break, Lord, was a common prayer.
What can we expect from God?
1. To be used.
2. To be hounded by people until we are tired.
3. To be revived and used again.
When we pray to the Lord and say, “Here I am Lord, send me.” Guess what? He sends us.
I had an incident yesterday and yesterday was my day off. In the afternoon after I had finished a couple of chores I got a call from my son and his van had broken down and he had a trencher that he had to return and called me and wanted me to get the van squared away and the trencher returned. And I was angry and I really didn’t act the way I should have, and I’m sorry for that. There are times when God uses us and there are times when we want a break. But we can’t let the here and now get in the way. When we are tired Christ is going to use us and we have to be open to that. Amen?
Maybe some of you are feeling the way I was feeling yesterday, burtned out burned up and overwhelmed. Well turn to Jesus.
Former professional American football player and now Coach of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League Tony Dungy’s 18-year-old son James died of an apparent suicide. Many newspapers and magazines wrote about Dungy’s courage and strength in the wake of his son’s death. Dungy stated in a post-practice interview, "My faith in Christ is what’s gotten me through this."
TURN TO JESUS TODAY!
We look at verse 34. “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”
What happens when sheep don’t have a shepherd. They get into trouble. Like the kid at Vacation Bible School if we had taken a 15-minute break, Those sheep would have torn the place apart. Jesus felt sorry for the people, not like me yesterday, And he started to teach them.
For many years now people have been wearing the WWJD, What would Jesus Do, bracelets, and I think the question for us today is not what Jesus would do, but what would Jesus feel? When we run into a situation that we have to deal with, think about what would Jesus feel?
Pheme Perkins, writes about Jesus compassion and it reslulting in teaching (“The Gospel of Mark” in The New Interpreter’s Bible), “There is no Christianity without proclaiming the Gospel. Teaching and learning the Word of God are as essential to the faith as are prayer and belonging to a Christian community. A community that has the same compassion for the suffering that Jesus exhibited cannot be content with only preaching the Gospel to the already converted.”
Once again that has been the greater church mission to preach the gospel to the people who already know it. This isn’t our mission field. Our mission field is out there. We are to focus outside of our community at the same time we can focus ourselves in the teaching of the Word here and of the learning of the Word of God here. That is why Vacation Bible School is so wonderful as we are reaching a whole new generation, and that is what we are all about.
Now we look at Jesus healing as we move forward to Mark chapter 6, verse 53-55, “When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.”
Jesus and the apostles were headed for Bethsaida but the storm probable must have blown them to the wrong way and they ended up in Gennesaret.
It is interesting how Mark always writes about the people running. Rollo May writes that, “It is an old ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.” Isn’t that the truth, like when you are looking for something in the grocery store, if you hurry up you just know you are going to find it.
The people had lost their way, they were hungry and had been fed with food and teachings and now they had lost their way and now were hurrying because they wanted to catch the moment with Jesus. They wanted to be with the good shepherd.
The idea that the people were lost and didn’t know their way reminds me of a story of a drunk man who came home and his wife put him to bed, she was a very Saintly woman and she said, John do you want me to pray for you. Dear Lord, I pray for my husband who lies here before you drunk. Before she could finish he shouts,“Don’t tell Him I’m drunk!”
This is a man who has lost his way also. But God sees our condition and he know our condition what ever it is and he has compassion on us no matter where we are at.
Like these people and this man; many of us have lost our way.
We look at the final verse of this lesson in Mark chapter 6, “And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”
What is interesting there is healing in Jesus touch. And there is healing in our touch, and I think we forget about that.
Jacob bernoski writes about the field of medicine, in the history of medicine Doctor didn’t use to touch their patients. They had the lowly surgeons preform the surgery and touch the patients. But the real healing started happening was when the doctors started touching the patients. That is when medicine started taking off, when the actually started touching the people.
And that is the same for us. The real healing doesn’t start happening until we reach out and touch someone in the name of Jesus Christ. Then real healing can happen. But we have to make the effort to reach out and touch someone.
You can’t heal them till you touch them!
This week I read about a pastor who was telling about many pastors and congregation complaining about being burnt out. What amazed him was that you have to catch fire first.
And today I would encourage you to catch fire and touch someone in Jesus name.
Catch fire and touch someone/anyone for Jesus!
Let us pray, “Lord Jesus, fill us with your spirit of compassion. Start a fire in us today that we might touch someone, as we know that you have someone out there and that you want to use us. We ask that you use us to touch that person so that they may come to know you Lord Jesus. In your precious name we pray. Amen”
