Sending the Disciples Out

Mark 6:7-13 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. 8 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 shirt. 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, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet 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.

Christians are meant to be out in the front lines. Jesus had trained His disciples for two years at this point and now He sends them out. But He sent them out in pairs because Christianity is not a solo life. We need each other for encouragement and fellowship.

This section is the fulfillment of Mark 1:17 where Jesus told His then future disciples, “follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” They were now sent out to fish.

Jesus has also already commissioned us to go out and spread the gospel. We need to ask ourselves, “How am I doing this?” “Who can I share with today?” We have been saved and taught to be sent out! We are Christ’s ambassadors.

In Luke 10:2 Jesus sends out 70 disciples, telling them they are “like sheep among the wolves”! Sheep can’t run, kick or bite. They are totally defenseless. And yet when Jesus sends them out He tells them to take nothing but a staff, their sandals and one tunic! No bag, no food, no money! Jesus was telling them “you are going to be completely vulnerable.”

Why? Because God would take care of them and they didn’t need anything else. The world is harsh and things happen to us that we often can’t do anything about. Jesus wants us to know that He alone is our supply line.

Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

We need to get rid of pride and self sufficiency and trust God.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

In verse 11 when He talks about shaking the dust from their shoes: Jesus was often rejected and treated badly. He was warning them that they would be too. (John 15:18-20) And if they had presented the gospel and still been rejected they needed to turn the results over to Him. To give God room to be God!

In shaking the dust off their shoes they were creating a word picture to tell the people of that town that God had visited them and they had rejected Him and the disciples weren’t going to be stained by their unbelief. They were leaving it in the town.

In verse 12 it tells what they did. They preached repentance. (Some places in the Bible it talks about them preaching that people must believe, but belief and repentance go hand in hand.) And they cast out demons and healed. The disciples weren’t known in these towns so they needed to do miracles that would get people to listen to them. Today we have the Bible and bring the good works of Christ; integrity, love, compassion, etc.