Pizza Dough
Sharon my wife is gone this weekend to the pastor's wives retreat. So for the last three years the boys and I have a pizza night while mom is away. The goal is simple buy all the ingredients necessary for a great pizza, pepperoni, Italian sausage, bell pepper, jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, black olives, pizza sauce, lots of cheese and pizza dough. The last few years we have bought the already formed pizza dough or boboli bread. But this year we went with the real deal pizza dough. Now pizza dough being worked by the professionals looks so easy. They toss it in the air, it thin and beautiful. Our experience was somewhat different, I would stretch the dough and it would come right back. It was a sight to see the three of us working this dough for the first time. It wasn't working, I tore hole and tried to patch them. When I finally worked the dough to cover the pizza pan , it was super thin and the thick around the edges. The boy's pizza had similar fates. Overall it was great, in the end it all worked out. But I have a lot to learn about pizza dough.
What does all this have to do with the message this morning? I didn't understand pizza dough until I experienced pizza dough. We need to experience thing before we can fully understand them. The disciples been with Jesus a short time, they had seen him work miracles, heal people and preach the good news. Jesus had decided it was time for the disciples to experience kingdom work. Now Jesus is going to allow them to put into practice what they have learned. It is time for them to experience what Christ is doing first hand. Jesus knows the disciples must learn to be dependent on God. So he gathers them together.
Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 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." They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mark 6:6-13 NIV)
Jesus tells them they have authority, even though it will be God working through them. He tells them not to take anything with them, anything other than the clothes on their back and the sandals on their feet. They are simply allowed a 'walking stick' as an additional item. He tells them when they enter a town to stay at the first house they are welcomed at. They are to preach the gospel. If the people reject the message they are to leave and not look back.
Dependence
The first thought that comes to mind after reading this passage is the word dependence. Jesus is going to teach the disciple dependence on God. It interesting to me that Jesus seems to recognizes the disciples are not ready for the deeper understanding of being depended upon God in the spiritual, but has them focus on the material. They are not to take anything with them. They are to be totally dependent on God to provide for their most basic needs.
No food, no bag to carry anything, no money in their pockets. We all need food and the disciples are not to carry any with them, nor are they to have a backup plan to buy any. See so many of us say we trust God, but we have a backup plan in case he doesn't come through. So we carry a few 'provisions' for that just in case. If that runs out we'll have a little cash on hand. We do this just in case God is busy and forgets about us.
Dependence on God is a difficult thing for us in America. We are taught to be 'independent', not to rely on anyone. It's hard for us as we get older to accept the help from others. We take pride of our independence. Yet here we see Jesus teaching the disciples to be dependent. It is a lesson Jesus wants us to learn as well. To learn we can trust God to provide. Not to worry so much about having, when we should be worried about sharing.
See Jesus sent the disciples out for one purpose and that is to share. The disciple's primary focus wasn't to be on food or lodgings but on sharing their faith with others.
Sharing
Jesus sent out the twelve to share their faith. They were to be dependent on God to provide for their basic needs, but they were not responsible for people accepting or rejecting the gospel. The disciples were to live among the people and share their faith. That was their responsibility. They were not responsible for the people accepting or rejecting the gospel message. Many of us look at sharing our faith as a burden, because we fear rejection. We think they are rejecting us personally. But Jesus tells the disciples to shake the dust off their feet and move on. He's telling them to shrug it off, he telling them it's not their responsibility.
It's not that Jesus doesn't care about these people; the Bible says God wants all people to be saved. But we are given freewill and with freewill comes the ability to accept or reject the gospel message. Our job is to share, to be dependent on God and to share.
The other thing about sharing is the disciples were to live their dependence on God in front of others first. The disciples were to 'illustrate' the gospel in order to earn the right to 'articulate' the gospel. People are watching us; people want to see if we live what we preach. In other words we must show Christ's love in us, before we can share Christ love with others.
This isn't easy, living the Christian life is hard. I believe that is why Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. We need to support one another, to pray for one another, to be there for one another. The Christian faith was never meant to be lived out alone. It is meant to be lived out in community. You cannot do it by yourself, you need others around you.
But one thing is perfectly clear 'being a witness in not an option'. I often hear believers talk as if witnessing was an option part of the Christian life—like adding a six disk changer to the order of a new car. We are a witness first, it is what we experienced. The disciples where declaring what they had seen Jesus do, they were declaring what they experienced, they were witnesses first. A true encounter with Christ is life changing, you are not the same. You are changed forever; you are a witness to that change.
Lastly
The disciple went out and preached people should repent. This word has almost become a dirty word in churches. A simple definition of repentance is feeling regret, a changing of the mind, or turning from sin to God. We are to live our lives to encourage people to repent of the sin in their lives. We are to show people a better way to live. We are to stand against sin.
In today's world standing against sin is considered being judgmental and for the most part they are right. That is because we have lost our creditably with the world around us. We no longer live our faith, you can't tell a Christian from the rest of the world. We act just like everyone else, but expect people to do as we say and not as we do.
We have the greatest message in the world; we are to live out our faith in front of others. We are to be a witness of the change Christ has made in our lives. We encourage people to turn to Christ, to repent of the sin in their lives and turn to the only one who can save them. God hates sin because it destroys lives; it robs us of joy and peace. It separates from a relationship with Him. That is why God sent his only son into the world, that through him we would have eternal life, an eternal relationship with God.
Jesus sent out the disciples out into the world around them. They were to be dependent on God for everything; they were to live out their faith in front of others. They were to live out this faith in community, supporting each other and by doing so they encouraged people to repent. The last verse says this, "They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them". God used the disciple to change people lives forever. What we do now in our lives and in this generation, will echo in the halls of eternity.
-ps
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