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Provision for Persecution
23 Plays23 days ago
Mark 6:7-32
Recommended
Transcript
Humorous Twists on Sayings
00:00:01
Speaker
There's a familiar old saying, when the going gets tough, the tough get, yeah, everybody knows that one. What about these less familiar ones? When the going gets tough, the tough run to mama. That used to work when we were kids. When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping and eat chocolate and do anything but the hard stuff.
Lasorda's Warning Against Complacency
00:00:27
Speaker
Or how about this quote from Tommy Lasorda, who was the manager of the l LA Dodgers in the 70s and 80s. He said something very similar but with a little bit of a twist. He said, when things are going easy, watch out. You may be going downhill.
Misconceptions of Christian Life
00:00:42
Speaker
The truth is, friends, that the lifelong journey of following Jesus as a disciple will be, at times, tough.
00:00:52
Speaker
This whole notion that being a Christian and having an easy life, that's something that has just crept up in the last 200 years or so. Before that, Christians generally recognized that life included trials and suffering, the pivotal moment in the Gospels of the suffering and death of Jesus. And the balance of the New Testament is a chronicle of the suffering of the early church and the encouragement to simply hang in there.
00:01:22
Speaker
but know often think we recognize that in times of suffering and trials. It's okay to come alongside your brother and sister and say, hey, just hang in there.
Relying on God vs. Self-Reliance
00:01:37
Speaker
What we like to do, friends, is we like to put on a tough exterior. That's not going to bother me when tough times come. Hey, I notice you lost your job.
00:01:52
Speaker
That's okay, I'm okay. but We put up this tough exterior that nothing bothers us. But when the tough gets tougher, what we really should be doing is leaning on God.
00:02:13
Speaker
Well, at least that's what we tell ourselves when things are going well, right? But what about when we lose that job or we experience financial difficulties or we have sickness or mental health issues or a death of a loved one? Instead of trusting in and leaning on God, what we often do is we just fall back on our own ways and we say, I think I can handle this myself. I think I can provide for myself. Instead of leaning on God, I think I'll lean on me. We want to trust God's provision in our lives, but
00:02:48
Speaker
when we're faced with opposition, oftentimes we resort to simply handling things ourselves.
Disciples' Mission and Trust in God
00:02:54
Speaker
And friends, this is what we're gonna look at this morning as we ah jump back into Mark. And I know it's been about five weeks, maybe six weeks, but we're gonna look in Mark chapter six, verses seven through 32, we're gonna see this problem that the disciples face. It's as they're launched out on their first mission, we see that they're gonna experience some opposition.
00:03:17
Speaker
We're also gonna see the solution to this problem is that they're supposed to rely on or lean on God's provision. And third, we're gonna say, how does this work out in your life and my life today? How do we engage God's mission with God's provision? So if you have your Bible, start with me. Mark chapter six. Mark chapter six.
Jesus' Early Ministry and Opposition
00:03:38
Speaker
Now, if you're like me, we've not been here for a few weeks. So let me give you a recap. Does everybody need a recap? Okay.
00:03:47
Speaker
Early on, we were introduced to John the Baptist, right? John the Baptist, if you're a Baptist, we call him John the Baptist. If you're something other than a Baptist, they call him John the Baptizer, not to confuse him of being a Baptist. John the Baptist is baptizing in the Jordan, right? Repent is this message. He is preparing the way for Jesus, and and by no accident, John's gonna pop up in our in our passage here today um in a very dramatic way. We also see Jesus comes on the scene and he selects his disciples, if you'll remember. It's the most unlikeliest bunch of people, tax collectors, and he's eating with them, and it's fishermen
00:04:30
Speaker
And he starts to have this earthly ministry where he's healing people of sickness and of disease. He has power over the natural and the supernatural, we saw. Remember, he stopped the wind, he stopped the sea, and he cast out the demonic. Jesus heals many, many people, and he casts out many, many demons, and as his popularity grew, so did the opposition to him.
00:05:01
Speaker
so much so that they're plotting to kill him. And we see along the way these little hints, these little breadcrumbs, these little foreshadowing of the things that Jesus will experience. If you're a disciple of his, you too will experience those. And and friends, that's what we're gonna look at today as we dive into Mark chapter six. There is a real cost to discipleship.
00:05:31
Speaker
Mark chapter six, if you will. I'm gonna summarize the first six verses, but if you'll look at your Bible, my chapter six has this heading. Jesus is rejected at Nazareth. Jesus is rejected at home. you could You could say that there. Jesus goes out with his disciples to his hometown, and he goes to to preach. And as he's preaching in the synagogue,
00:05:59
Speaker
Verse 3 says these people that are listening to Him are bewildered by Him. This guy has so much wisdom, so much knowledge, so much power to perform miracles. Isn't this Jesus the carpenter? We know this guy. We grew up with This is Mary's son. He has James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. Those are all his brothers. We know this guy.
00:06:30
Speaker
Who is this guy? And it says, at the end of verse 3, they were deeply offended and they refused to believe in him. To which he says, a prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown and among his relatives in his home family. And it says, because of their unbelief, this is the unbelief of his hometown people, it says he could not do many miracles.
00:06:58
Speaker
except that He placed His hands on a few people that were sick and healed them. And it says, He was amazed, verse 6, at their unbelief. So we see this little sprinkle, this little hint that even Jesus' ministry is starting to have some opposition, some rejection. And so what does that mean for The disciples, well, look with me here, verse seven and following.
Minimalist Approach to Mission
00:07:23
Speaker
It says, then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. And he called his 12 disciples together and he began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick. No food, no traveler's bag, no money.
00:07:46
Speaker
He allowed them to wear sandals but not take a change of clothes. Verse 10 says, wherever you go, he says, stay in the same house until you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their faith. So the disciples went out, telling everyone that everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God.
00:08:11
Speaker
And verse 13 says, and they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. You'll remember that the 12 that he's picked, right? These most unlikely grouping of people. They were originally selected and appointed and commissioned back in chapter three. And now they're being, but for lack of a better term, they're being put in the game.
00:08:36
Speaker
They're having their opportunity to get off the bench. They've watched the coach all this time, and now Jesus is launching them into their significant role. What was promised has now become a reality, and they are sent, they are apostello as agents of God, two by two, probably for protection, probably for encouragement. They're sent out to be witnesses And I like this verse eight says, it says, take nothing for your journey except a staff. No bread, no money, just your sandals. Don't bring two tunics, just bring one basically. What's he saying here? The bare minimums. Go about your mission with the bare minimums. And i like I said in Brother Wes's class today, right, as we were talking about the daily bread,
00:09:36
Speaker
Give us today our daily bread, the manna, for just today. And the premise behind that is so that you would be dependent upon God for the rest. And friends, this is what he's telling his disciples here. Take the bare minimums, but trust God to provide the rest. It is a picture of the discipleship journey that you and I are to go out preaching the good news, living this lifelong journey as a follower of Jesus, but we have to be dependent upon God's provision. And I like this, the result of that initial sending, verse 13, success. They healed many. They cast out many demons. Many were anointed.
Cost of Discipleship: John's Beheading
00:10:27
Speaker
But what's interesting to me is just right before verse 13, we have verse 11.
00:10:32
Speaker
Look with me, verse 11. Verse 11 gives us this great hint of what's to come. It says, but if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their faith. What's he saying here? He's saying, friends, as you go out on that journey, there will be some people who reject you, who oppose you. There's some people who just don't want to hear that message of Jesus.
00:11:03
Speaker
But he tells them here, as you experience those people, this is not a great illustration for what you and I would do today. But this dusting off of the sandals is kind of like, I want nothing to do with you. I'm leaving you to your own devices. You don't want to believe me. You don't want to believe the message of Jesus. So be it. I'm moving on to somewhere else. So do they face rejection? Do they dust their feet off?
00:11:33
Speaker
Well, this is the beauty of how this section is written because, friends, we have and an inner story to what's going on, a story that's sandwiched in the middle. And that's what I want to show you today. What starts with the rejection of Jesus at his hometown, we see a rejection of his disciples as they're sent out. And now we have the extreme um example of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to experience rejection and opposition starting at verse 14. Look at me, verse 14. There's a lot going on in this, but but follow with me. Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, this must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. This is why he can do such miracles. Others said, he's a prophet, Elijah. Still others said he's a prophet like the old the other great prophets of the past.
00:12:31
Speaker
When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead. To which, if you're reading this, you go, wait wait a second. What's happening here? When did John die?
00:12:46
Speaker
but Well, it's a flashback. You ever seen those in the movies where you kind of go, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo? We get to this point and he's showing as the disciples are going out and as Jesus is going out and they're both experiencing opposition and rejection, the ultimate cost of following Jesus is this example of John the Baptist who has been Beheaded. Well, how do we know that? Well, verse 17 picks up. Here's the actual story. It says, For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. Which just as a side note, Herodias is the female. You know, they wanted to name him Herod until they realized it was a girl. And then they were like, oh, we got to name her Herodias. No, I'm just joking. That's Herodias, right? Herodias is there. She had been Philip's, his brother Philip's wife, but Herod had married her.
00:13:43
Speaker
which is a no-no. Verse 18 says, John had been telling Herod, it is against God's law for you to marry your brother's wife. So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod's approval, she was powerless. For Herod respected John, and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked to John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.
00:14:09
Speaker
Now verse 21, here's the plan in action. Herodias' chance finally came on Herod's birthday. He gave this great party for his high government official army officers and leading citizens of Galilee. Then his daughter, this is Herodias, she's also named Herodias, came out and performed this great dance. It's a sensual dance. I don't want you to miss this.
00:14:35
Speaker
She's out giving this central dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests, to which when he finished, he says, ask me for anything you like, and I'll give it to you. I'll even give you up to half of my kingdom.
00:14:50
Speaker
He's showboating in front of his friends, his highfalutin friends. Herodias, whatever you want, that dance was so great, just tell me whatever you want to which she goes out and asks her mother in verse 24, what should I ask for? To what your mother says, aha, here's my chance. Go ask for the head of John the Baptist.
00:15:12
Speaker
So the girl hurries back to the king, verse 25, and tells him, I want the head of jo John the Baptist you know right on a platter. Give it to me on a platter. To which Herod is in a bad spot now because he's made this bold proclamation. He doesn't want to lose face in front of his friends and it says he's deeply regretted saying what he said because of the vows that he had made in front of his guests and he couldn't refuse her so he immediately set an execution to the prisoner to cut off John's head and to bring it to him. And the soldier beheaded John in the prison.
00:15:49
Speaker
brought his head on a tray and gave it to the girl who took it to the mob. When John's disciples heard what had happened, they came and got his body and buried it in a tomb." A lot's going on in this little excerpt here. right We have two kings, Jesus the true king and we have Herod the false king. We have Jesus who's a life giver and we have Herod who is a life taker.
00:16:18
Speaker
We have two daughters. We have really Jairus' daughter, you'll remember the previous chapter. Jairus' daughter was the one saved by Jesus and who loved Jesus. And now we have Herodias, who is opposed to the follower of Jesus and John the Baptist. And when she gets her chance, off with the head. That's the PG version for you kids that are out there, right? Decapitation.
00:16:47
Speaker
and then putting the head on a platter and and displayed displayed it. it's It's a gory picture, albeit an extreme example, of what it cost to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Personal Sacrifices for Faith
00:17:02
Speaker
Now hopefully in your time lifetime, my lifetime, we won't experience something that cost us our life to follow Jesus. But I want to show you that the author is doing something simply by sandwiching the story where where it's at. He's letting us know there is a true cost to discipleship, and John is that extreme example.
00:17:25
Speaker
So I'll just put a note to myself this week as I was reviewing this. What is the cost in my life and in your life to follow Jesus? What does it mean cost to follow Jesus. Well, it means either you're gonna give up something, you're gonna sacrifice something, or you're gonna start doing something to be a follower of Jesus. And I don't know what that is in your life. I don't know what you need to sacrifice. Oftentimes, it's that one thing that that's just a little bit more in the priority than Jesus is in your life. For men, sometimes it's golf.
00:18:07
Speaker
or NFL football games, or something that happens to be a great thing that you really enjoy, but it's become the main thing. And what it often is, is Jesus is gonna remind you gently, I need to be the most important thing. And so to follow me, you must give that up. For others of you, it may be you need to start doing something. And all the men are like, please let that be golf.
00:18:39
Speaker
I don't know what that looks like in your life. It's something different for each of us. But there is a real cost. There's something you must give up. There's something you must start doing to be a disciple of Jesus. Maybe it's evangelized. Maybe it's going to work and being vocal about your faith.
00:19:00
Speaker
So I just put in here what's the cost. I want you to think about that this week. What's what's the cost to following Jesus? So how do we persevere? How are we empowered to continue on in this lifelong journey as we follow Jesus and we encounter opposition and we encounter rejection? and And we're given two little hints here, two little clues, two sections in the scripture today to trust in God's provision. This is leaning on God, not leaning on yourselves. Look at me, verse seven, back at the beginning. Verse seven, I don want you to miss it right at the very beginning.
00:19:36
Speaker
He says, this is Jesus, as Jesus called his 12 disciples together, he began sending them out two by two, giving them his authority to cast out evil spirits.
00:19:52
Speaker
Just in these couple of verses right here, Jesus is the one doing the work, right? He is the one providing for them. Notice it doesn't say, don't take anything on your journey. No, he's providing them with a stick and with the sandals on your feet. And he's even providing them a place to go because he says, some places that you go, some houses will receive you and they'll feed you. Can you imagine that type of discipleship? Can you imagine if Jesus said, hey, all I want you to do, leave your car keys at home, leave your wallet at home,
00:20:32
Speaker
Put on your pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and head west and proclaim the gospel. Don't worry about the rest, I'll handle the rest. How many of you would sign up for that program? Yeah, it's very telling, I think. You notice, he doesn't say, go out in your authority.
00:20:59
Speaker
Go out and try to do this on your own. Y'all go out and try to cast out those demons by yourself. You know, I've taught you all along. Just go on out there and do it on your own strength. No, he says, I'm sending you out with my authority to go out and cast out. Now, what happens here, friends, oftentimes is people will read this and they'll read it out of context. and And while I love this section of Mark chapter 6, what often happens for a lot of people who don't know the difference between descriptive and prescriptive, meaning the Bible is for some people at some time, and God's teaching those people a certain thing, and it's not prescriptive for all of us.
00:21:43
Speaker
So I want you to to be real clear here. He's sending these first twelve out, these apostles, with a mission. And he's saying, I'm giving you my authority to go out and cast out demons and to heal people. What he's not saying is First Baptist Church Cameron, go out and heal people and cast out demons. That's not what he's saying.
00:22:05
Speaker
it's It's descriptive for these people at this time. And it's to show, just like Jesus did, that he had authority over the supernatural. And as he's sending out these disciples, these are his disciples. How do we know that? Because they have his authority to cast out these demons. God will provide for them and And I love this, as they go out, right, they do have some success, but we have this hint that there's gonna be some rejection along the way. And then we have this picture of John the Baptist, the worst case scenario that you may go out and follow God and it may cost you your life. But then he wraps it up, look with me here, verse 30. And it's so, I think this is so intimate and it's so precious.
Provision and Rest in Jesus
00:22:52
Speaker
Oftentimes, verse 30 and on,
00:22:55
Speaker
is grouped together in the next section, but I really believe 30 through 32 are like the end cap of this story. Listen, he says, the apostles returned to Jesus from this ministry tour and they told them all that they had done and taught. And Jesus said, let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and and rest awhile.
00:23:17
Speaker
And he said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat. So so they left by a boat for a quiet place where they could simply be alone.
00:23:31
Speaker
See, God's even providing for them in this moment. He's saying even if you go out and even if you experience opposition and rejection, No, I'm gonna be with you. And when you come back, it's it's it's like as they they freshly come back from this first missionary journey, he says, come away with me and rest. Come away with me and recharge. So if you think that you're not adequately equipped to be a disciple of Jesus, or you even think that you're gonna face opposition or rejection as a disciple, God will provide. God will equip. God will empower.
00:24:13
Speaker
and will provide you with ample time to rest and recharge so that you could continue to pick up in this lifelong journey. What is God's mission for you and I today?
00:24:30
Speaker
i just I just put a note because I want you to think about this week. I'm not gonna answer this for you. you know I told Wes today, sometimes homework is a good thing.
00:24:42
Speaker
Homework for you to think about this week, yeah if our mission is to go out and further the kingdom of God to make disciples, how does he provide for you to do that today? I'm gonna give you one hint, but I'm gonna let you think about it this week. I think he gives us ample opportunities to either disciple or be discipled.
00:25:07
Speaker
to either be a disciple or to disciple someone. And I know many of you are probably thinking to yourself, I'm nowhere near ready to disciple somebody. And I'm telling you, if you're waiting for some cloud to part and for the sun to come down on you and for a dove to descend upon you so that you think that you're ready to begin to disciple somebody, friends, you will be waiting a really, really long time.
00:25:34
Speaker
But God will provide a way, a moment, a time, I believe, a season for both people who want to be discipled and and the that person who will actually do the discipling. So think about that this week. If our mission is to go out and to make disciples, how will God provide? All right, I'm gonna land the boat here. Listen to me.
Trusting God for Provision
00:25:59
Speaker
three Three ways. How do we apply this here to our life today?
00:26:04
Speaker
If you look at the title under application, i I put something catchy. Engage God's mission with God's provision. Engage God's mission with God's provision. In other words, how can we demonstrate that we we're placing our trust in God to provide for the various situations that we have in life? And so I have to have three quick ways and then we'll we'll be off to potluck, which I know 95% of you are thinking about right now.
00:26:34
Speaker
first financially. Do you trust God to provide financially? And when the money's coming in, the answer is what? You bet I do.
00:26:50
Speaker
But when you lose that job or financial difficulties show up, are we somebody who is obedient even in that time to say, I'm going to continue to give, trusting that God is going to provide? I like it in Wes's class today. There's times when God tests. I believe our our weird stranglehold on finances, if I could name it like that,
00:27:20
Speaker
is a test that God wants us to continually battle during this lifelong journey. Am I close gripped holding on to this money that He's already provided me, by the way, in the first place? Or am I going to let that money go? And and I'm not saying in some weird telepreacher type of way, send me the money and you're going to get more money. Friends, that's not what I'm saying at all up here.
00:27:47
Speaker
What I'm telling you is there is a real stronghold that money has on us, and when we learn to let that go and and trust God to provide, you'll see He abundantly provides in all sorts of ways, just in our own lives. Kim and I could could tell you all the number of ways, and I'm not telling you it's new homes or pay increases or bonus checks or things like that. But it's all these little ways that God blesses when you're faithful financially. and And I know anytime we talk about money, people get funny here at church. But there is a real sense of, do I trust God to keep providing financially for me? That's the first way. Second, relationally,
00:28:38
Speaker
I don't know why I put this down this week, but this was on my heart all week long, and i I started with this, and I thought, I'm not gonna talk about it and then it, and it just kept coming back up, so I'm just going to say i'm gonna say this. If you're single, are you trusting God to provide that spouse? Or have you become so frustrated because you're, depending on your timing, and another year is rolled around, and you're another year older, and you've probably added a few pounds,
00:29:06
Speaker
that you are now going, I'm just going to resort back to my old self and try to figure this out for myself. Or are you saying, God, I fully trust you in this relationship, that you will provide me the godly person at the right time.
00:29:23
Speaker
And also just put, maybe this has nothing to do with a spouse. Maybe this has something to do with a family member. Somebody that you haven't spoken to a long time. Do you trust God with that relationship?
00:29:36
Speaker
that he can provide a way to reconcile with that person. Man, in 2025, I don't know about you, every time a new year rolls around, I think about these strained relationships that I have, some with family members, some with friends, and I just think to myself, Lord, is this the year that you're gonna respond to all those prayers that we pray? Are you gonna bring that person back home? Are you gonna bring them back into the fold of the church family?
00:30:05
Speaker
Do we trust God in that way to relationally heal those those broken relationships? And third, spiritually. Do you trust God to provide for you spiritually, or are you still trying to handle things on your own? Perhaps you're here this morning, and and i i'm just gonna I'm gonna take a page out of a playbook that my old pastor used to say. He said, are you tired playing Christian?
00:30:36
Speaker
And as I look around, I'm not making eye contact with any of you. Are you tired of playing Christian? Meaning, are you tired of just going through the motions, showing up on church on Sunday, maybe coming every once in a while on a Wednesday, but you're not really invested. You're not really all in.
00:30:56
Speaker
Might I challenge you this morning that it's time to engage? It's time to pull that trigger. It's time to be part of a church family who is quite frankly imperfect. But we love a perfect God, and we serve Him together. Would you be that person today that will place your trust in God to provide for you in all ways? I'll just end here with James, not James. Where you at, James? Brother James, sorry. James is like, not me, don't put me on the spot.
00:31:34
Speaker
James chapter one verse two ah two through four, consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters. Whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete and not lacking anything. Verse 12 says, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. May we be a people who trust God's provision in our lives and lean on him during times of suffering and opposition. And all God's people said