Deo Gloria
Sermon for July 18, 2021
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Mark 6:7-13
Theme: Listen to Jesus’ Messengers!
- They go at his command.
- They go with his authority.
- They preach his message of repentance.
Squad cars were going up and down the streets, their sirens blaring, their lights flashing. In some cases they were going house to house, urging people to leave, warning people of the danger they would be in should they choose to stay. A hurricane was coming. A massive and powerful hurricane was bearing down on the city. If the levees broke, there would be massive flooding all throughout the area. There still was time to leave, still time to get out of the path of this approaching storm, but they needed to leave now. Some people heeded the warning of the police officers and left. Others chose to stay and ride out the storm in their homes. After all, this wasn’t the first hurricane that had come their way and the leeves had held before. Why wouldn’t they hold this time around? Unfortunately this hurricane was different. This hurricane was Hurricane Katrina. And for many who stayed behind it proved to be a deadly mistake.
This morning in these verses from Mark ch. 6 we see Jesus sending out messengers with an urgent and important message: a message to repent. Rather than foolishly ignore these messengers of his, Jesus wants people to listen to them and take their message to heart, because it’s a message intended to save them. Jesus wants us to do the same: to listen to his messengers!
After being rejected in his hometown of Nazareth, Mark tells us that Jesus went around teaching in the villages of Galilee. But there were a lot more people who needed to hear the message of God’s Word than he could possibly reach on his own, so he decided to enlist the help of his disciples. Mark tells us that he called his 12 disciples to himself and then sent them out two by two. Notice that the disciples didn’t decide to go on their own. They didn’t even volunteer. Jesus did the calling and Jesus did the sending. In his grace and mercy and in his love for others Jesus called them and sent them to go and preach his Word.
The same is true today. Jesus’ messengers today are pastors and teachers and missionaries and Sunday School teachers—anyone who is called to publicly preach and teach his Word. They didn’t decide to go on their own either. They didn’t simply volunteer. Sure they may have studied to be a pastor or teacher, or they may have expressed interest or signed up to be a Sunday School teacher. But Jesus is still the one who calls them and sends them. Granted, he doesn’t do it directly as he did with his disciples, or as he did with the prophet Amos in our Old Testament lesson. Instead he calls them indirectly through his people, as he did when you called Pastor Slaughter to serve as your pastor. Pastor Slaughter didn’t just decide to come here on his own. He didn’t volunteer and say, “Hey, I’d like to be the pastor at Trinity in Belle Plaine.” No, you called him. The same is true of our new 7+8th grade teacher, Mr. Kopfer. He didn’t decide to come here on his own. He didn’t volunteer and say, “Hey, I want to be the 7+8th grade teacher at Trinity in Belle Plaine.” No, you extended a call to him through our Synod’s Assignment Committee. Or should I say, Jesus did. Through you, God’s people, Jesus called them to serve you. What a gracious and loving Savior we have, that in his grace and mercy he still sends messengers to preach and teach his Word to his people! He wouldn’t have to, but he does for their good, for their benefit, for their blessing. And what a comfort and reassurance it is for them and for you to know that they didn’t just come here on their own, but that our Savior sent them to serve you with his Word! So be sure to listen to them. Listen to Jesus’ messengers because he is the one who sent them.
He also sends them with his authority. Again Mark tells us in v. 7 that Jesus sent out his disciples two by two and “gave them authority over evil spirits.” And later on in v. 13 he notes that the disciples “drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” In other words the disciples not only were proclaiming the message of God’s Word, they were also doing the same things Jesus did—driving out demons and healing the sick. It was obvious that they had Jesus’ authority.
Just like with their call, it may not be quite as obvious that Jesus’ messengers today come with Jesus’ authority. You don’t see them driving out demons or healing people in the same dramatic way that Jesus’ disciples did, but they still go about their work with Jesus’ authority. I mean, think about it: Do I do what I do as a pastor based on my own authority, or with the authority of the government? Or does Miss Boeder do what she does as a teacher based on her own authority or the authority of the government? No, I do what I do as a pastor and she does what she does as a teacher based on the authority we have from Jesus. Jesus has called us to serve as a pastor and a teacher and sent us to serve God’s people here at Trinity, so we teach and preach his Word here with his authority.
And again, isn’t it good to know that? Isn’t it comforting to know that when we pastors are preaching and teaching God’s Word to you and when our teachers are teaching God’s Word to the children in our classrooms, that we’re not just telling you what we think, that we’re not just sharing our ideas and our opinions, but are telling you and your children what Jesus says with his authority? Isn’t it comforting to know, for example, that when the pastor tells you that your sins are forgiven, he isn’t just speaking on his own, but is telling you what God’s Word says and is speaking with Jesus’ authority? Your sins really are forgiven, not because I say so, but because Jesus says so. Or isn’t it comforting to know that when your child’s teacher is teaching your son or daughter about heaven or how to get to heaven, they aren’t just making it up, they aren’t just telling your son or daughter their own ideas and opinions, but are actually teaching them what God’s Word says and are speaking with Jesus’ authority?
And because they are sent by Jesus and because they speak with his authority, Jesus urges us to be careful to listen to them. Take another look at v. 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.” Shaking the dust off your feet was something Jewish people sometimes did after visiting a Gentile city. Often they were so disgusted by the people there and the things they saw people doing there that when they left, they would shake the dust off their feet. It was a visual sign that they wanted nothing to do with them. They didn’t even want the dust from their streets sticking to their feet. “Blah! Yuk! Get it off of me! Get it away from me!” That’s what Jesus instructed his disciples to do if the people of some town or village refused to welcome them or listen to them. They were to shake the dust off their feet, in essence saying, “Blah! Yuk! Get away from us! We don’t want anything to do with you!” Can you think of a more stern and sobering warning? If Jesus’ messengers don’t want anything to do with someone, then the same is true of Jesus, is it not? He too wants nothing to do with them. It reminds me of what Jesus himself said in Luke ch. 10: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me”(v. 16). Be sure to listen to Jesus’ messengers. Be sure to listen to his pastors and teachers, to his missionaries and Sunday School teachers, because they come with his authority to share his message of salvation, a message that begins with repentance.
In v. 12 Mark tells us that the disciples “went out and preached that people should repent.” It’s the same message that Jesus himself proclaimed, isn’t it? “Repent,” Jesus said, “for the kingdom of heaven is near”(Mt 4:17).
Unfortunately that is not the message of many churches now days. Instead of preaching repentance, instead of teaching that people need to humbly confess their sins and repent of their sins and look to Jesus for forgiveness, they don’t teach about sin or that people need to repent of their sins. Instead they teach about tolerance and acceptance, even accepting things the Bible clearly says are wrong. They teach that God loves them just the way they are and will accept them just the way they are and there’s no need for them to repent.
But that isn’t the message of God’s Word and it isn’t the message of Jesus. Jesus preached repentance. Jesus’ disciples preached repentance. Jesus’ messengers today do the same. They preach that people should repent, that they should humbly and honestly confess their sins to God and ask for his forgiveness.
None of us is sinless. None of can say that we never do or say anything wrong. We all sin. We all mess up. We all do and say things that are wrong every day. And rather than pretend that we don’t or try to make all kinds of excuses, we need to be honest about it and admit it. We need to humbly confess our sins and our failures. “Lord, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the times I messed up today, the times I messed up this week. I’m sorry that I sinned against you. I’m sorry that I sinned against others. I’m sorry that I hurt my spouse, that I hurt my children by what I said or did. I’m sorry that I hurt my neighbors and my coworkers. And most of all I’m sorry that I hurt you. Please have mercy on me and forgive me for the sake of Jesus Christ, my Savior.”
And that’s the beauty of the gospel message. That’s the comfort and peace and joy we messengers of Jesus get to share. Jesus not only calls us to repent of our sins, but he also gives us forgiveness for our sins. Because he paid for them all by his death on the cross and because he rose again on the third day, victorious over sin and death, he assures us that our sin and guilt is taken away. Our debt has been paid and our sins are fully forgiven. As a result we are again at peace with God. And we can be sure that when this life is over, we will go to live with him in heaven. This is the message Jesus sends his messengers to proclaim for your good, for your benefit, for your comfort, for your salvation. So be sure to listen, won’t you? No, they don’t come with sirens blaring or lights flashing, but their message is too important to ignore. Be sure to listen. Listen to Jesus’ messengers! Amen.