{"id":134,"date":"2012-02-19T21:52:30","date_gmt":"2012-02-19T20:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=134"},"modified":"2012-02-19T21:52:30","modified_gmt":"2012-02-19T20:52:30","slug":"the-apostles-and-the-crowds-mark-36-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"The apostles and the crowds Mark 3:6-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
\nSo he die was cast. The future was fixed as definitely in human history as it had always been in God\u2019s cosmic masterplan. The Messiah would suffer and die, as the Scriptures said it would be. And Jesus begins to prepare for that future. What would happen to his followers when he died, even though he knew he would rise again? Would His words be forgotten and lost forever. Who would take care of the countless believers and followers once he was gone?
\nThere were vast crowds following Jesus. But He couldn\u2019t just leave them to fend for themselves and wait for natural leaders to emerge. That would be a recipe for disaster. Jesus needed to make provision for those who would continue His proclamation of the kingdom of God in words and actions. In due course they would need an inner circle, a core of leaders to take care of those crowds.
\nLet\u2019s think about those Crowds
\n7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
\nJesus\u2019s popularity was growing. His fame was spreading . People were travelling great distances to see Him. Jerusalem was eighty miles to the south and Idumea 30 miles beyond that. Tyre and Sidon were 50 miles north west on the Mediterranean Coast. So many of these folk had come a ling way, a very long way on foot, to see this new preacher from Nazarett.
\nPerhaps it was His teaching. Few would deny that Jesus was the greatest moral teach who ever lived. Even today, many claim to try to live their lives according to his teaching and his example, even if they have little time for religion or for church.
\nMaybe some came along because they had heard about Jesus\u2019s conflicts with the Pharisees and they hoped to see some sparks fly. Everybody loves a good debate, or discussion, or argument, just as long as they don\u2019t have to take sides themselves!
\nMany others were coming because of the things Jesus did.
\n10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, \u201cYou are the Son of God.\u201d
\nJesus was followed everywhere by people in need \u2013 p[eople needing healing and people needing deliverance. ALL who came to Him were healed or delivered, but very few of them carried on following Jesus once their needs had been met. One day ten lepers were cleansed, but only one of them even came back to say thank you. Ten were healed but only one was saved. And many of the crowds were only there for the spectacle \u2013 to watch the healings and exorcisms. They weren\u2019t followers. They certainly weren\u2019t disciples. Very many were merely spectators. And being a spectator is easy. They may have been believers \u2013 but their belief didn\u2019t cost them anything. They didn\u2019t DO anything. They were only looking on. But God\u2019s plans would demand more than spectators. So from all the crowds Jesus selected just twelve to be His apostles.
\n13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve\u2014designating them apostles.
\nIn the historical sense, those twelve men were unique and irreplaceable. But we can still learn things from Jesus choosing His apostles which are relevant for us today. At one level, the apostles give us a pattern for everyone called into Christian service, whether are a minister or as a missionary or as an evangelist, or as a deacon or a home group leader or a worker with children or young people. But the apostles also give a pattern to every Christian of what it means to follow Jesus in our life of service and witness.
\nThe tasks of the apostles
\n14 He appointed twelve\u2014designating them apostles\u2014that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons.
\nThe twelve would be the Jesus\u2019s inner circle. They would be the core ensuring that the message of the Kingdom did not die with Jesus Himself. They would be the ones to pass on Jesus\u2019s teaching and continue His mission. And this would involve four tasks
\nTo be with Him
\nWhat an honour and a privilege. Not just to be part of the crowd but to join this inner circle and talk to Jesus one-to-one. To learn from Jesus\u2019s words and his example, by being with Jesus and going with him everywhere not just for a few hours or a few days but for three years. And that is the starting point for ANY Christian service or ministry or witness \u2013 simply spending time with Jesus. Learning from Jesus by Bible study and prayer. Spending time with Jesus.
\nThat he might send them out
\nThat is why they were called apostles. In the Greek the name simply means, \u201csomebody who is send\u201d. The Latin equivalent gives us our word \u201cmission\u201d. Everything the apostles did, they did because they were sent. They were under orders from Jesus Himself. None of us serve God off our own bat. It is only because Jesus commands and sends us. Being sent is outward looking \u2013 as are the other task Jesus entrusts to His apostle. Their primary concern would not be pastoral care within the church, but the mission of the church into the world. They learned their lesson well.
\n2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, \u201cIt would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.\u201d
\nHere was the heart of the apostles\u2019 task \u2013 prayer and the ministry of the word, being with Jesus and preaching.
\nTo preach
\nThe word preaching in the new testament does not refer so much to the kind of teaching sermons you will often hear today. Preaching is the proclamation of the gospel. Not the task of the scribe or rabbi explaining the gospel but the task of the herald, a messenger from a king or a commander. The apostles were entrusted to pass on God\u2019s message of salvation for mankind. And that is the principal task of the minister today. J.C.Ryle said, \u201ca minister who doesn\u2019t preach is like a lampless lighthouse, a silent trumpeter, a painted fire.\u201d Preaching is proclaiming the gospel of salvation to a dying world!
\nTo have authority to drive out demons
\nJesus\u2019s mission brought him into direct conflict with humanity\u2019s ancient enemy Satan, the devil. Jesus knew that His apostles and his church would continue that battle against evil in every form. But he didn\u2019t leave his servants powerless in the struggle. Jesus gave to his apostles, and to the whole church, authority in his name to drive out every demon they encountered \u2013 power to set mankind free at last!
\nTo be with him, to send them out, to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. The apostles would begin these tasks in earnest after Jesus had died and risen from the dead and then ascended into heaven. But these tasks continue today in the whole church \u2013 not just by ministers and missionaries and evangelists but by every Christian. But the apostles would have their first taste of sharing in Jesus\u2019s mission much sooner.
\nMark 6:6Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. \u2026
\n12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. <\/p>\n

So how did the Twelve get to become apostles? I don\u2019t know how you would have gone about choosing the right people to take on the challenge of building the early church? This is what Jesus did.
\nThe choosing of the apostles
\n13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve\u2014designating them apostles.
\nJesus went up on a mountainside.
\nJesus\u2019s preaching and healing ministry were public. The task of choosing the twelve was necessarily more private. It was a milestone in the ministry \u2013 drawing in others to learn and share and be his apprentices. So Jesus drew apart from the crowds and even from the busyness of everyday life from this most important time. Luke 6 tells us that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before choosing the twelve
\nJesus called to him those who he wanted
\nThe apostles didn\u2019t volunteer for the job. Jesus chose who HE wanted. Ministers don\u2019t volunteer to be ministers. Evangelists don\u2019t volunteer to be evangelists. Missionaries don\u2019t volunteer to be missionaries. We respond to the call of God. Jesus chooses and we obey. Jesus called his apostles \u2013 and he chooses each of us to follow him.
\nAnd they came to him
\nThe Twelve wouldn\u2019t not have come if Jesus had not called. He wasn\u2019t looking for volunteers. But when he DID call, they heard and responded and obeyed. When God calls people today, they don\u2019t always listen. It takes courage to come out from the crowd of hangers on, to step up to the plate, to step into the firing line, to go to where the action is. But the apostles obeyed the call.
\nJesus appointed twelve
\nThey became apostles because Jesus appointed them. Not because the crowd voted them in but because Jesus appointed them. And why twelve. Not just because that is a good number for a small group like a home group for example, but a symbolic number for the 12 tribes of Israel. 12 apostles, appointed by Jesus Himself: Simon Peter; James and John; Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James; Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon and Judas.
\nWhat a mixed bunch they were. Not rich or powerful people. Not particularly educated people. But it was God\u2019s plan that a few Jewish fishermen and peasants and even a tax collector would be remembered by name thousands of years after kings and commanders have been forgotten. A very mixed bunch.
\nPeter \u2013 the hotheaded, temperamental, unreliable fisherman \u2013 Simon who Jesus nevertheless renamed Peter, the rock.
\nJames and John \u2013 brothers nicknamed \u201csons of thunder\u201d who would become so proud as to demand to sit on Jesus\u2019s right and left hand when he would reign in glory.
\nMatthew \u2013 Levi \u2013 the traitor, the collaborator, the tax collector
\nThomas \u2013 the questioner, the doubter.
\nJudas Iscariot, who would betray Jesus
\nA very mixed bunch. But twelve men who would turn the world upside down when God filled them with His Holy Spirit and began to use them to carry out the tasks Jesus had appointed them to. God accomplished so much through those apostles despite their flaws and weaknesses and failings. And if God could use men like those twelve apostles, he can work his miracles through anybody! Even through people like you and me and churches like us! Through anybody \u2013 anybody, that is, who is prepared to hear Jesus\u2019s call and to answer that call in obedience. Anybody who wants more from God than just listening to exciting sermons and watching other people being healed. Anybody who comes to Jesus, not only for what they can receive but also for what he calls them to give.
\nBecause the truth is that Jesus still attracts the crowds. There are still people in many churches who are happy to come along and sing happy songs and listen to entertaining sermons \u2013 just as long as they can remain spectators \u2013 sitting on the sidelines and even cheering as long as they don\u2019t have to get stuck in themselves.
\nJesus isn\u2019t calling his first twelve apostles any more. But He is still calling ministers and missionaries and evangelists. He is still calling deacons and home group leaders and children\u2019s workers and youth workers. Jesus is still calling Christians to be the kind of disciples who are prepared to give up everything and follow him, to be with him and learn from him and be his witnesses. Jesus is still calling ordinary men and women to leave the anonymity of the crowd to stand up and be counted and to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to a lost world and to bring his deliverance to a world which is enslaved by sin. Jesus is still calling people today to stop being spectators and get to where the action is.
\n13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve\u2014designating them apostles.
\nJesus called to him those that he wanted, and they came to him.
\nI wonder what it might be that Jesus is calling each of us to \u2013 even this morning?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. So he die was cast. The…<\/span><\/p>\n

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