Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Friend or Foe or Family?”*

*Mark 3.13-35*

Intro – If you’ve been with us at all through this study in the Gospel of Mark, you know that Jesus has been shaking things up.

It began with the pronouncement that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Since then, he has been calling fishermen and tax collectors to follow after him.

Jesus has taught in the synagogues, cast out demons and silenced them, healed the sick and the lame.

He has challenged the belief systems of the religious leaders by healing on the Sabbath and by dining with tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus not only healed a man but forgave his sins.

And all the while his popularity has been increasing.

We saw last week that people came from all over Palestine because of his reputation.

They came for the show and are merely an obstacle for his mission.

Just last week, the crowd pressed so hard on Jesus that there was concern that he would be crushed.

This morning we are going to see Jesus challenge some more things.

Surprise, surprise.

Jesus is going to be dealing with different relationships and will be standing things on their heads again for those involved.

We remember from last week when Jesus went into the synagogue and healed the man’s hand that he looked around angered and grieved at the hardness of hearts of those who were supposedly representing him.

Instead they opposed him.

This morning we will be finishing Mark chapter 3. Please turn there in your Bibles.

And let’s read the text as we get underway.

We have come to the section where Jesus calls and appoints the disciples for ministry.

I have entitled this the *Calling of Commoners.*

Perhaps you’re a bit like me.

Maybe you’ve taken a long hard look at your sin and you have searched the Scriptures and you’ve seen that you fall way short of his holiness.

In fact, while reading the Bible you’ve seen that you really deserve eternal judgment because of sin.

And so we cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness and declare our allegiance to him.

Perhaps you’re a bit like me.

When I examine my life and contemplate the glories of Calvary, the fact that the King of Kings would lay down his life for mine, I stand amazed at grace.

What was it that the Father saw in me that would cause Him to look on me with favour?

It is so easy for me to deceive myself and believe that somehow I deserve his attention and provision.

I too quickly find myself complaining when things don’t go the way I want them to.

Perhaps you’re a bit like me.

Recently, I revisited some of these issues.

I found myself complaining and having a bit of a pity party when I recounted how little time I had in a week for things that I wanted to do and all the pressing matters of life and ministry.

It was at this time that God, in his grace, got my attention and determined to do something about it then and there.

There was no escaping this moment where I sat and poured out my heart to him and he responded powerfully.

God reminded me that I deserved nothing and that everything that I have and everything I experience is by his grace alone.

Grace!

I recalled my life apart from Christ and these song lyrics from Keith and Kristyn Getty: What grace is mine that He who dwells in endless light, called through the night to find my distant soul.

And from his scars poured mercy that would plead for me that I might live and in his name be known.

So I will go wherever He is calling me.

I lose my life to find my life in Him.

I give my all to gain the hope that never dies.

I bow my heart, take up my cross and follow Him.

The reason I bring this up is because of our text this morning.

Jesus happens upon these men, the twelve disciples, and their lives are upended.

And for eleven of them, it is for the purpose of the Gospel and the New Testament church of Jesus Christ – the Son of God.

As we will see, they were not the politically powerful.

They weren’t the savvy on Wall Street.

They certainly didn’t come out of Hollywood.

These were fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James and John.

These were tax collectors and rebels.

And even one who would betray Jesus was among them.

John MacArthur, in his excellent book, /Twelve Ordinary Men,/ makes this statement: “they were perfectly ordinary men in every way.

Not one of them was renowned for scholarship or great erudition.

They had no track record as orators or theologians.

In fact, they were outsiders as far as the religious establishment of Jesus’ day was concerned.

They were not outstanding because of any natural talents or intellectual abilities.

On the contrary, they were all too prone to mistakes, misstatements, wrong attitudes, lapses of faith, and bitter failure—no one more so than the leader of the group, Peter.

Even Jesus remarked that they were slow learners and somewhat spiritually dense.”

I find this terribly encouraging!

These apostles, as you know, are living proof that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most of us can recall the squabbling between peers over who is the greatest in the kingdom, or the one who denies Jesus several times before he is restored.

Then there is the lack of faith in the feeding of multitudes, the fear that grips while walking on water, the one who doubts the risen Christ until he can touch Him.

At times, they were dull of understanding and impulsive.

Now I know none of us here can identify with any of these character traits.

And, thankfully, these are the kinds of people that God uses!

Why? 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

He gets the glory through our weaknesses.

He calls commoners for his purposes.

We won’t spend time on their individual descriptions this morning.

We will see some of the primary players throughout the Gospel – especially Peter, James and John.

I want us to see, rather is why he called these men.

The text indicates that Jesus goes up on the mountain and calls to him those whom he desired.

Jesus personally selected and called them.

As their Creator, he knew them intimately – even their faults.

James Edwards notes, “The Greek is more emphatic; the sense is that he /summoned/ those whom he /willed./

Jesus determines the call.

Disciples do not decide to follow Jesus and do him a favor in so doing; rather, his call supersedes their wills.”

The word for “disciple” means “learner” or “student.”

Jesus has come to the point in his ministry where it is essential for him to raise up these men so that they are equipped to pick up where he will leave off.

And so he calls the disciples to learn from him and that is to be “with” him.

“Discipleship” is a relationship before a task.

They will learn as they watch and listen to him teach.

Jesus will teach truth and then illustrate it in creative ways.

And then he will send them out as the term “apostle” indicates – “sent one.”

So the purpose of the calling is twofold.

They will learn from Jesus and then they will be sent out on mission.

They will be on the front lines of preaching the Gospel of God and will have the authority to cast out demons.

Notice that they are not sent out until they have been trained by him and have received the delegated authority over the demons.

This is a model that we are trying to emulate.

We are striving to equip teachers and leaders in the ministry context.

And so we desire future teachers and leaders to begin to learn and watch their mentors in Growth Groups and Sunday School classes with the intent of carrying on in these ministries.

So this is the group of men that will walk with Jesus, learn from him and minister in his name.

These are the ones on whom the church will be established.

We, too, are called to learn from him and declare the Gospel.

We are also living examples of God’s power manifested in our weaknesses.

As I reflected on my life, I recalled my Christian upbringing and my subsequent wallowing in the world.

And though I had walked away from the Father, he was relentless in his pursuit of me.

In the words of verses 13 and 14, God called to him those whom he desired and I came to him so that I might be with him and declare his gospel.

I can readily identify with these ordinary men.