Sermon: Jesus Called those He Wanted

Mark 3:13-15
13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons.

If you remember the last time we where looking at Mark we talked about crowds, Jesus was attracting large groups of people. People who wanted to be healed, people who just wanted to see what was going on, people who believed he was the messiah and people who wanted him killed.

It’s interesting to me when I look at this passage Jesus is getting ready to ‘unleash’ the gospel onto the world. He could do it by himself, but he chooses 12 ordinary, uneducated, everyday people who merely had the heart to follow Jesus. Four of them where known fisherman, one was a tax collector and rest we are not sure of. One thing I know for sure, these twelve where everyday people, just like you and I.

Jesus has been with these men for a short time, there most likely more than twelve following Jesus around, but he choose these twelve and they came to him (verse 13).

Now there are many verses that refer to the fact of Jesus’ calling an individual. In fact the Bible is clear you cannot know the Lord without first being called by him. God moves in us a desire to know him, and we can choose not to follow or to follow.

Jesus calls and the disciples respond by following him. Jesus then appoints them apostles, representatives of Jesus. The word Apostles means “messenger or authorized representative.” Jesus gives them the stamp of approval, these ordinary men will become his own personally certified “official representatives” of the gospel. But First…

Jesus Calls us to Himself

The first part of this verse is the one that hits me the hardest, “called to him those he wanted”. I am really moved by this verse, we know he was calling together the twelve who would eventually spread the gospel to the known world. But he called those he wanted…

So many people in the world want to be wanted. Isn’t nice to be wanted, We all like the feeling of being wanted by someone. Which begs the question, “who does Jesus want? 1Ti 2:4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1Ti 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1Tim 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men.

Jesus wants all of us to know him; he died for everyone, not just a few people, but for all people. Think about this for just a moment, the creator of the universe, who made everything. Think about the most beautiful parts of nature, think about the complexity of the human beings…the creator wants to know you personally and he calls you to himself.

In fact everything starts and ends with Jesus. In our own personal life, it starts with Jesus, our family life start with Jesus, everything and I mean everything you do has to start with Jesus first. He cannot hold any other position in our lives or we will struggle in our faith. It starts with personal renewal with Jesus. Jesus calls us to him….to know him, to put our trust and faith into him.

But for many of us Jesus is a Sunday event, we love Jesus but he has taken a back seat to our kids, our jobs, or toys. Image church if we were able to put Jesus first in our lives, image how much different our relationship with our spouse would be. Image how much deeper our relationships with our children would grow. Think about how much better together we would be if Jesus was first in our lives…why is that? Have you ever thought that?

Because it’s not about you…In a world that says it’s all about you, the Bible make it clear it’s not, it’s about Christ who is the glory of the father….And when we learn this, when we can take the focus off of ourselves and our desires and when we focus our attention on Christ, to be more Christ like…it changes everything. It frees us from ourselves; it allows us to do for others, to love others instead of ourselves. The second part of this verse is “they came to him”

Jesus calls us but we must respond to him, he doesn’t force his hand. He doesn’t beg you to listen or to obey. He simply calls those he wanted and they came to him. Some of you have received the call and at times you have come to him and other times you have chose not to come to him. He is calling us today, and we need to respond to the call….by answering the call you will discover…

He has a purpose for all of us

Jesus called these twelve to be the messengers of the good news, these twelve ordinary men where set apart for extraordinary work. Jesus’ brought them in close and disciple them. He taught them what they needed to know, for the task they had been given. “They would be with him and he would send them out to preach and have authority over evil spirits”.

It is no different today; Christ lived and died….and ascended into heaven, something he said he had to do so that the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the teacher could come. While on earth Jesus was limited to the twelve, while in heaven he has no limitations…he can call and be everywhere.

So he calls us today, each one of us has a purpose in the body of Christ. Each one of us has a gift or gifts of the spirit to help build the body of Christ. Christ brings us in close through prayer and bible study, through discipleship, through service and obedience to the Holy Spirit. Think of this way he has a purpose for your life and he will equip you, he will send you out.
He teaches us through the Spirit to be his witness, to the ends of the earth…because…

We are to share the Good News

We are equipped and trained for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to share the good news. Your ultimate purpose is to share Christ with others. We can do this a verity of ways, but ultimately it is to share Christ with those you know. Through your actions, through relationships with family, friends, neighbors and co-workers…we make Christ known.

But it all starts with Him, if you are unable to share Christ with someone, you need to look at your relationship with Christ. The closer we are to Christ, the more we will want to share Christ. It is impossible not want to. It starts with him, he calls us, we respond, he teaches us and sends us out to preach the good news…but it all starts with Christ, that is why Paul says to keep your eye on Christ…all through scripture this theme is echoed.

By sharing Christ through the way we live, showing the world how much he means to us. The closer we walk with him the more kind we are, the more patient we are, the more joy we will have, the love we have will grow for all those around us, he’ll give us peace and so much more.

One last point…Scripture names the twelve and verse 19 says 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Remember the enemy was in the camp, he is always in the camp. Right in the middle of the twelve, the twelve closest to Jesus was a representative of Satan. We too have an enemy who wants you and I to be silent about your faith, not to draw near Christ, who is content with you being ordinary….Don’t let him have his way and rob you. Answer the call this morning. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you, resist the Devil and he will flee”.

This morning let us stand and pray for a right relationship with Christ. Let us pray he would be center of our lives…