SCRIPTURE
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 (NRSV)
Christ healing the multitudes
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ...
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
DEVOTION
Today, I am struck by the lessons regarding discipleship that are found in the Gospel reading. I think as Christians we often wonder what we “should” or “ought” to be doing for Jesus. We know that salvation is a free gift given out of the unmerited favor of God. We know that we cannot buy our pardon or purchase an admittance ticket for the pearly gates. We know that all that is required to be “saved” is to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and resurrected from the dead conquering sin, death, and the grave on our behalf (Romans 10:9).
However, we also know that the Bible says in James 2:20 “faith without works is dead and without faith it is impossible to please God.” We also know that Jesus has instructed us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and visit the sick and imprisoned (Matthew 25). We also know that we have been given the Great Commission to “go ye therefore into all the world baptizing and making disciples (Matthew 28)!”
I am afraid that as Christians we have a history of either leaning too far to the right and doing nothing asked of us in the name of “free gift” theology or too far to the left and doing too much seeking to “earn our way” into Heaven.
My friends, it is clear to me that the best place to be is smack in the middle. We know that we cannot purchase our salvation, but we do charitable good works as a means to express our gratitude and thankfulness for the free gift of salvation and eternal life.
It is out of our grateful hearts that we respond to the needs of the world! After all, Jesus said, “As you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me (Matthew 25).”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples are returning with their GOOD NEWS testimonies. Jesus had sent them out two by two on ministry expeditions with instructions to cast out demons, anoint with oil, and heal the sick! The disciples were now joyfully returning explaining all that they had taught and done in His Name!
This leads us to our first lesson in evangelism and Christian ministry which is that Jesus is our leader and we should take all of our direction, instruction, and praise from Him! When we want to know how to reach the world for Christ we have two means of getting our marching orders—prayer and the Holy Scripture!
God has given us a good plan for evangelism. Jesus has given us a wonderful example of how to go to the lost sheep of his fold. We were instructed to go out two by two with the GOOD NEWS message!
To be an evangelist is to be one sent out with a GOOD NEWS message! By this definition, all Christians are evangelists, or witnesses for Christ! As we tell the whole world that God loves us so much that God gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life, we become ambassadors of Jesus and the Kingdom of Love.
As we make our GOOD NEWS testimonies more specific by sharing how a relationship with Jesus impacts our own lives, we help non-Christians to understand that faith is not a “wish upon a star” mentality, rather it is a saving relationship with The One who gave His life on Calvary’s Tree for us!
Oh, how the world needs to know that Jesus saves and He saves to the utmost! As Christians we have sometimes hidden our light under a bushel casting the whole world into darkness. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16)!”
We are to be candles of flame, illuminating our spheres of influence, bringing the love, joy, peace, hope for the future, and an attitude of gratitude that are the natural by-products of living into a Holy Ghost inspired life!
The second lesson regarding evangelism and Christian ministry from today’s scripture is that Spirit is able to go in front of us, behind us, and in us making the Name of Jesus famous everywhere we go!
Can you imagine how wildly successful the disciples GOOD NEWS witness must have been? Scripture tells us that they had done such a good job proclaiming the Name and Power of Jesus that people were following them everywhere they went. The people were coming and going so frequently in response to the GOOD NEWS that the disciples hardly had time to eat or sleep.
Their witness was so effective that everywhere they went—whether on the farm or in the city—people came rushing out to see Jesus from the surrounding areas bringing all those people who were sick and needed to be made well!
Oh hallelujah! I don’t know exactly what the disciples said about Jesus, but if you will permit me to use my Holy Ghost imagination I will tell you some of what I think they must have said.
They might have said, “Come see a man who knows the unknowable, sees the unseeable and opens up the scriptures to us in ways we never imagined. Come see a man who is able to make demons tremble and sick people well. Come see a man who is able to command the wind and the waves from a fishing boat. And finally, come see a man who loves and touches everybody with the very power of God.
WOW!
Whatever the disciples said spread like wildfire all throughout the region! This reminds me that GOOD NEWS is meant to be shared. When God has done something marvelous for us, we are meant to share our testimonies with others. I have heard it said that “we are blessed to be a blessing.” I have also heard it said that we are to share our testimonies with others, not to be braggarts, but to encourage others going through similar trials, tribulations, or challenges.
In the Black Church tradition we say, “If God did it for me, God can do it for you! God is no respecter of persons.” What this means is that God loves all of God’s children equally and seeks to bless all of us real, real good!
When people ask me how I am I always say, “I am blessed and highly favored!” This often takes non-believers off guard. They ask me why I am blessed and highly favored, after all most people just say “fine” and keep walking.
As Christians we are invited to take the time to look people in the eyes and tell them, “I am blessed and highly favored. You are blessed and highly favored. And here’s why…”
I love to tell the GOOD NEWS story! God loves, gave, and saves! Jesus is without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me or anyone else! Like Jeremiah, when I have tried to keep this GOOD NEWS to myself it feels like fire shut up in my bones and I just have to let it out (Jeremiah 20:9)!
My friends, all of us need the love of God which has been revealed to us in Christ Jesus. All of us need the light of Christ to illuminate our dark corners. All of us need the Amazing Grace of God to forgive our sins and restore us to right relationship with our Maker. All of us need to be healed in body, mind, and spirit by Jesus! And all of us need to be commissioned with a life’s work as meaningful as sharing the GOOD NEWS with others, leading to the very salvation of people’s souls!
Now, this leads me to the final lesson regarding evangelism and Christian ministry as found in today’s text. After Jesus heard about all of the good work that the disciples were doing in His Name, he said, “"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
I don’t know about you, but I think that this is wonderful advice! Sometimes as Christians we get so exuberant about the work of Jesus that we forget the importance of solitude, quiet time, reflection, prayer, and rest. We forget that we are commanded to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).” We actually resent church folks who have learned to say no in the face of too many obligations that wear them down and take the joy out of their service.
This ought not to be so my friends! Jesus has given us permission to “Come away to a deserted place all by ourselves and rest a while.”
When we are undertaking the important work of evangelism and Christian ministry we must remember the importance of self and family care. We must remember that we can be no earthly good to others if we are run down, exhausted, cranky, and burnt out Christians!
We will not be examples to others if we lose the Spirit of love, joy, and peace because we need a nap. We will not be a faithful witness to non-Christians friends if they see us snapping at each other out of mutual exhaustion. We will not look “blessed and highly favored” with bags under our eyes and despair in them.
Dear Ones, do not forget to rest from your labors! There will always be another weekly supper. There will always be another opportunity to host the homeless. There will always be another brat or lemonade sale. There will always be another outreach ministry opportunity.
If all of us do our work, there will be enough hands on deck when one of us needs to “go away to a deserted place and rest.” No longer can we continue to allow 5 or 10 people in a church to do all of the work. With all due respect, all of us are called to the work of evangelism and Christian ministry. All of us have been given gifts and talents that are to be used for the building of God’s Kingdom on Earth until Jesus comes from Heaven. All of us are able to do something to make a difference in the lives of people in need.
These are today’s evangelism and ministry strategies. First of all, take your marching orders from Jesus through prayer and scripture reading. Secondly, make the name of Jesus famous everywhere you go through your GOOD NEWS testimony. Finally, remember the importance of quiet time for reflection and rest.
As we follow these examples from today’s scripture we will see the miracle working power of Spirit working in us as we lead people to Christ! We will experience the blessing of seeing new friends joining our church as they put all of their hope in Jesus. And we will have the joy of knowing that we have done all that we know to do to share the Love of Jesus with everyone we meet.
Go out my friends and make the Name of Jesus famous!
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
To listen to audio recordings of Pastor Yolanda's Sunday sermons, please visit http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/57814 or click the widget to the right on this page!
If you would like to put all of your hope in Jesus today, please visit my blog entitled, “Putting All Your Hope In Jesus” located at
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/04/putting-all-your-hope-in-jesus.html
If you have additional questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, "Come to Jesus"
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/come-to-jesus.html
Pastor Yolanda is now publishing another blog entitled, “A Spoken WORD” in celebration of Holy Hip Hop, Gospel/Christian Rap and Spoken Word. Please check it out @ http://aspokenword.blogspot.com/
You are invited to follow Pastor Yolanda on Twitter www.twitter.com/PastorYolanda
Good News has now added a Prayer Ministry. http://www.kindlejoy.com/groups/goodnews
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From Pastor Yolanda's blog http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com
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