The 60: Apprentice Unexpected | Mark 3:7-19 | Life Unexpected
Debrief
Debrief offers an abridged outline of the Sunday sermon for individuals or Community Groups alike, to re-engage the content of the Sunday sermon. This outline is far from complete, but serves to give a track or road map to walk through the content of Sunday in another context during the week.
Mark 3:7-12 Reminds us that Jesus’ ministry surpassed anything that could be recorded, even in the Gospel of Mark itself.
People are coming to Jesus from all over. That is the way God intended it to be – that all kinds of people in all kinds of places would be drawn to Him.
The mission of Jesus is so big, so mainstream, that He desires many disciples to be with Him to represent Him and His teaching wherever they go.
Mark 3:13-19: Jesus Calls The 12
- Come & See (Andrew brought Simon Peter to come and see)
- Come & Follow (Peter, Andrew, James, John and Levi followed Him)
- Come & Train (Jesus calls 12 to train to Him and to be like Him)
Terms For Disciple in both Greek and Hebrew: Follower, Learner, Student…….someone who learns in an active relationship – APPRENTICE
This passage is NOT about a special group of super-followers. The word “apostle” is used 2 times in Mark, whereas the word “disciple(s)” is used 45 times in Mark.
The List of the Twelve tells us 2 things:
- Some names we recognize, others we don’t: Jesus builds His church with people who are recognizable, but mostly people who aren’t.
- None of the names are part of the present religious establishment: Jesus builds His church with people who are unexpected.
Quite literally, Jesus MAKES Apprentices of Himself:
- You do not decide to become an Apprentice…….Jesus desires you to be, and calls you to Himself (summon, call on (προσκαλÎω proskaleÅ) )
- Desire: a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. strong sexual feeling or appetite. something desired.
- Appointed: designated; equipped or furnished in a specified way; to make
- Apostles: the calling of the twelve is a calling to a FORMAL Apprenticeship.
What does being an Apprentice of Jesus look like?
Apprentices of Jesus Are WITH Jesus (3:13-15)
Apprenticeship is a Relationship BEFORE it’s a Task. A Who before a What.
Being an Apprentice of Jesus is about Being before Being Sent…….Being before Doing…….Intimacy before Impact
Apprentices of Jesus Are WITH Jesus to THINK like Jesus
If you’re going to be an Apprentice of Jesus, you need to learn to think like Jesus. (Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor.2:16)
Jesus was and is the best theologian ever. The Sermon on The Mount for example, is all about Jesus correcting bad theology…….correcting people that didn’t really think like Him
Apprentices of Jesus Are WITH Jesus to BE like Jesus
If you’re going to be an Apprentice of Jesus, you need to learn to be like Jesus. (Rom.8:29)
Apprentices of Jesus Are WITH Jesus to ACT like Jesus
If you’re going to be an Apprentice of Jesus, you need to learn to act like Jesus. (1 Jn.1:5-6; John 13:15)
Apprentices of Jesus Are WITNESSES For Jesus (3:13-15)
“preach” : (keryssein): public discourse. (Mark 1:14)
This is not the preaching of a subjective experience of Jesus, but the saving activity of God in Jesus. It’s not what we think and feel that’s important, BUT what we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:20, 22:15; 1 Jn.1:3)
You can’t be a good witness for Jesus until you have been with Jesus
Apprentices of Jesus Do The WORKS of Jesus (3:13-15)
Jesus makes His disciples PEERS in a sense, instead of simply followers. (John 14:12)
Preaching, healing and dealing with demons were the greatest needs of the day. What are the greatest needs of our day? What are the greatest works in our day?
The authority of what God is doing comes from Jesus, both the authority to preach and the authority to help and heal.
Diving In
Diving In offers a few questions to help you re-engage the concepts from Sunday. Feel the freedom to use all of the questions, or to simply camp out on just one. These questions aren't intended to answer all the issues that surface through the thrust of this weeks' message, but to simply raise them and allow you time and space to process them, ideally in the context of your Community Group.
- Would you say that you are coming to SEE Jesus, coming to FOLLOW Jesus, or coming to TRAIN to Jesus and to be like Jesus? Why?
- Which one of the twelve Apostles listed in Mark 3 would you say you'd relate to most......from what you know of them? Why? What does this say?
- What does it look like for you to BE with Jesus? What kind of spiritual disciplines are employed in your life? What kind of things are you engaging to nurture your relationship with Jesus?
- Have you noticed yourself THINKING more like Jesus recently? If so, how? Give an example.
- Have you noticed yourself BEING more like Jesus recently? If so, how? Give an example. H
- ave you noticed yourself ACTING more like Jesus recently? If so, how? Give an example.
- When was the last time you had an opportunity to publicly speak about Jesus, to one person, to a few, or to many? What was that like? Were you comfortable with the level of knowledge you had of Jesus to be able to speak about Him?
- What are the most common needs of the day in the life of the people around you? How do you see Jesus addressing similar needs in the Gospels? What do you sense Jesus asking you to do?
Deep End
The Deep End is a short and simple formation exercise you can use to dive deep into your heart before God. Feel the freedom to divert from the directions if that makes it easier for you to connect with Jesus in this exercise.
- First, quiet your heart before the Lord. If you find yourself distracted by various thoughts (things on your “To Do” list, etc.), don’t “fight” the distractions, but rather spend some time praying over those things. Hopefully soon your heart will quieted down and you will be able to hear the Lord speaking to you.
- Next, spend some time reading over Mark 3:13-15. Take a few minutes to even commit this short Scripture to memory.
- After this, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the primary reason you need more time WITH Jesus. Is it to THINK more like Jesus, BE more like Jesus or ACT more like Jesus? Which of these three areas do you need the most growth in?
- Next, ask the Spirit to show you what you should do to participate with Him in honing you in this area. How does he want you to respond in light of what He's revealed?
- Last, make one SMART goal for the coming week (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time Sensitive) that will help you to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as you are conformed more and more into the image of Christ in this area. Let someone in your Community Group know your intentions.
Digest
Our digest section is all about helping you to memorize and meditate on God's Word so you'll be able to better digest it. Take some time to commit these short verses to memory this week:
And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. - Mark 3:14
My hope is that these simple exercises in The 60 will help what we discovered during this week be distilled, and deepened in your heart and life with Jesus.
Matt
For The Elders
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