Mark 6:17-20 - April 17, 2010

Mark 6:17-20 "For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him." NIV

This passage is a classic example of the struggle between conscience and convenience! Confronted by John the Baptist for unlawfully taking his brother’s wife to be his own mistress, Herod is being stirred in his conscience by the rebuke of this righteous man. The problem is, he also enjoys his sin! As verse 20 tells us Herod both enjoyed listening to John and was greatly puzzled by the things that he taught. But another voice was speaking into his life also.

The voice of sin speaks loudly in our soul when we have given it a resting place. This was Herod’s dilemma. The voice of sin was speaking loudly through the mouth of his mistress. Evidently this woman was enjoying the privileged life that she had found by embracing this life of sin with Herod. Because of this when John spoke to Herod about changing this relationship her heart burned with anger against him. She carried a deep grudge against John and wanted to kill him. As a result of this awkward situation Herod is living in a chronic and constant tension. On the one hand he enjoys listening to John and even has a holy sense of fear that causes him to defend John. On the other hand his lust for this mistress leaves her voice ever present in his mind, pressing for him to take action against this righteous man.

This relationship is so parallel to the very nature of sin in its struggle against our conscience. Wherever sin is given a resting place in our hearts, even good people live in a chronic battle. James tells us in his letter that the double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. This is the fruit of this divided heart. When our hearts are inconsistent because we have made room for sin we leave the door open for costly compromises. We also create a tension where we can become ensnared by our own commitment to maintain a relationship with this sinful area. Herod’s relationship with Herodias is such an image of our relationship with sin. We try to defend a righteous place in our hearts but the roots of sin that we welcome into our lives constantly hold a grudge against the purest parts of us and seek for opportunity to destroy the life of God within us.

In the case of Herodias, her need for vengeance is finally satisfied as an opportunity is presented to her through the favor that comes upon her daughter. How could Herod have predicted that this evil woman would be able to influence her own daughter to ask for such a wicked thing as the head of John the Baptist? The problem is that sin is utterly unpredictable. It will seek opportunity against us through avenues that we least expect. It is vital that we learn to close the doors of temptation completely and leave no room for them to exploit the moments in our lives when we have let our guard down. For Herod and for each one of us the cost of making room for sin in our lives is never demanded of us on our terms. And when it is time to pay, pay we must!

Mark 6:14-16 - April 16, 2010

Mark 6:14-16 “King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying," John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." 15 Others said, "He is Elijah."And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." 16 But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!" NIV

When God Is at work many people can form strange conclusions about what is happening and why! Jesus was now a well known figure in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. The people followed Him in crowds that were at times similar to today’s rock stars, with many people there for many different reasons. Surely not all of those who followed Jesus were God chasers! As a result there was much talk throughout the countryside regarding who He was and why these miracles were taking place through His life.

This passage is a fascinating glimpse into our human tendency to form strong opinions without any basis in informed fact! The speculation surrounding Jesus had now grown to such an extent that even King Herod had heard about Jesus and was keeping an eye on the things that were taking place in and through His ministry. (Truly, you never know who might be watching you from a distance with an interested eye!) The opinions about Jesus now included the deeply mystical, the biblically historic, and the religiously predictable. For some people the explanation of Christ’s ministry had to be that He was the reincarnation of John the Baptist. They looked at His life and the fact that His ministry emerged at the time of John’s death and formed a supernatural conclusion. Others looked to the prophet words throughout scripture, looking to the word of God but applying their own interpretation by deciding that He must be Elijah. Still others found their answer in the traditional explanation that if this man is doing these things He must be a prophet.

There is one glaringly significant problem with all of these explanations. Not one of them is based on fact! Every opinion that is being discussed in this passage is the result of human reasoning rather than the accumulation of facts. What makes this story so significant is that this same scenario is regularly present within the body of Christ. Various ministers and ministries make headlines locally or nationally for either the events taking place in their meetings or due to some report about them that begins to circulate throughout the media. In the midst of these things people grab a hold of the small bits that they hear and form strong opinions about ministers without possessing any real, solid facts to support their opinions.

Every believer is responsible to be informed about what they believe. Our convictions are to be based on fact not popular opinion. This passage in Mark 6 leads us to the awareness of human tendency. It points out the power of group speculation when the unexplainable is taking place. Many times the work of God has been hindered by negative opinion that is based on nothing but fantasy! Know what you believe AND believe what you know! Paul instructed the church to accept no accusation against a brother unless there were multiple witnesses. This doesn’t mean that we form no opinion and that we never judge. It means that we set our hearts to live like Job who stated in Job 29:16-17 “I searched out the case that I did not know.” NKJV It means that we do the work of supporting our conclusions with fact not speculation! Don’t follow the trends of popular opinion. Follow the truth!

Mark 6:8-13 - April 14, 2010

Mark 6:8-13 “These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 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." 12 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.” NIV

How much do you pack when you are going on vacation? Imagine these instructions from your employer before you leave on your next business trip. Jesus calls His disciples into a new measure of faith and function! He is sending them forth into all of the towns and villages in preparation for the time when He Himself will pass through so that the atmosphere will be prepared in each place for maximum impact!

As these disciples went forth into the regions it must have been like a tsunami sweeping across the land in the spirit realms. Imagine this little army of men going from town to town in the power of the Holy Spirit doing the works of God everywhere that they went. Now it was not one Jesus and the power of God moving wherever He was. The regions were being touched by multiple teams of empowered messengers who were declaring the kingdom of God, demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit and living a lifestyle of faith and dependence upon God’s provision.

Jesus prepares His servants to speak the message of the kingdom of God before sending them out into the region, but He doesn’t stop with training them in a message. Jesus also imparts power to demonstrate the legitimacy of the message and instructs them in a lifestyle that supports the message! So often people who go forth to do the work of God have one or two parts of the “package” that is necessary to fulfill God’s purpose, but have not developed all of the facets of a prepared life. But in this case Jesus is very thorough in taking these willing laborers and grooming them for effective ministry.

In Mark 6:8-13 Jesus is focusing heavily on the lifestyle that He wants His messengers to demonstrate in this season. It is clear from the life of Paul and others in the book of Acts that this was only for a season and a context, but it is still powerful for its demonstration of God’s wisdom and still relevant for many times and seasons in our generation. Jesus sends forth His disciples with no earthly possessions. They are to depend completely on God’s provision through the generosity of those who will receive them and their message. They are instructed to stay with whatever family welcomes them until their mission is completed in a particular city and then to move on.

Consider the wisdom of leaning on a specific family where God gives you relationship and then enlarging your work through the roots of that family network as you gain momentum in a town or region. This strategy was not just about securing provision. It was about gaining access into the heart of a community. By deeply connecting to one specific family where they would find favor they were able to enter the life of the community in a more natural way. Each family that would receive them would become a form of endorsement to the rest of the community. The quality of the life that these disciples lived in front of each of these families, and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit that would come forth in this setting, would create a testimony that would cause their hosts to become their “messengers” in a sense as the testimony of the family spread to their friends and neighbors. Imagine opening your home to two strangers with a message of the kingdom of God and then beginning to see miracles take place in your home. You would certainly be compelled by these events to tell someone of the great things that are happening in both your home and your life!

The second dynamic of Christ’s preparation of the disciples is how He taught them to leave a region if rejected there. In each place where the disciples were rejected they were instructed to shake the dust off of their feet as they left that town as a witness against it. This act sent a message that essentially said, “you have rejected us, therefore the Lord rejects you!” This identifies one of the purposes that the disciples were fulfilling when they went forth. They were going forth ahead of the Lord as almost a pre-screening ministry to see which towns were ready to receive the Lord. If a town accepted the call to repentance then most likely this would be a town where the Lord went. For those towns that did not prepare their hearts when the disciples came with the message of the kingdom then Jesus would pass by and go to another town. This principle would greatly increase the impact of Jesus’ works as He went primarily into places where the soil was greatly prepared. We can learn a valuable principle in this process to aid us in recognizing where God is moving. When we see a region ripe with responsiveness or a facet of ministry beginning to become fruitful invest heavily!

Mark 6:6b - April 13, 2010

Mark 6:6b- “Then 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.” NIV

Mark 6:6 and the verses that follow present a powerful image of the emotional resilience of Christ. In the preceding verses Jesus concludes His time of ministry in His hometown with amazement at the people’s lack of faith. He has been hindered from performing many significant miracles during His time there because of this unbelief and the people have essentially rejected Him because they are familiar with Him. For many people this kind of negative reception at home would wound their sense of who they are. Their faith would be bruised and for a season they would move slowly and seek to recover their confidence so that they could move on. Not Jesus!

Verse 6 tells us that Jesus leaves this difficult encounter and immediately presses into a major season of enlarging His ministry. He responds to this negative reaction at home by going from city to city touching many people. He is not limping, He is sprinting! Not only does He increase His exposure in the region by touching many cities, He also increases the role of His team of leaders and commissions them to go forth as advance teams into the regions that He will soon visit to prepare the atmosphere for His ministry. This passage is such a powerful glimpse of Jesus the leader! He is not discouraged but instead it feels almost as if He is confronting this negative wave that has tried to suppress Him by applying an aggressive counterattack to strengthen His momentum!

Jesus initiates a new strategy of empowerment by establishing teams of two and sending them out with a master plan of expansion. This is a picture of bold confidence in what God has called Him to do and who He is as a person and a leader. He is sure of His calling and does not allow the reaction of one town to become the measuring rod of His ministry. So many of us will allow one bad experience to define us! This should never be! The calling of God is what dictates our sense of identity in regard to ministry. This is not to say that who we are revolves around our function, that is a separate topic but many people abandon their role of service to God because of one or two negative experiences rather than clinging to the clear word that God speaks to us. Joseph was tested by rejection before He was promoted to the place he had been called to. Moses was tested by failure as he sought to accomplish the will of God in His own strength. David was persecuted because of his successes and was forced to withdraw into hiding but it was only for a season. Jesus demonstrates a firm commitment to the calling that He has received and sets a powerful example for us of resisting the temptation to judge ourselves by human response rather than the measure of our obedience to God!

Don’t give up when you are faced with resistance. Go up! Reach to God and ask for the wisdom and strategy of heaven. When the Israelites were faced with failure in battle they sought God for the reason for their failure and what the clear path to victory was! Consistently God provided for them revelation that showed them why they had not received His blessing in battle and He was faithful to impart a plan of action that would usher in the triumph that they expected as they fought in His name. There is strategy waiting for you in God’s presence today. There is strength of heart waiting for you there as well. Strength that will carry you through the seasons of struggle as you hold firmly to the calling of God that He has placed upon you!