Mark 6:7-30 — Equipped for a Costly Mission

This sermon is from Mark chapter 6 verses 7 through 30 and it is entitled

Mark 6:7–30

"Equipped for a Costly Mission." It was delivered to Ecclesia churches on Sunday

August 17th 2025.

So our passage today is the natural next step in this narrative that Mark is

telling and it actually follows so easily that in discussion this last week

during our midweek house church meal, we started talking about some of the things that are addressed

in this passage. Some of those questions that came up as a part of the discussion of the last

passage are answered in this one. And the passage that we just finished was with Jesus coming home

to Nazareth. And it leaves us with some of these questions about exactly what is our

responsibility in the mission. And how are we to be equipped for that mission? And how do we

know when to declare the message and when to leave like Jesus leaves Nazareth.

And so I think this passage should go a long way toward helping us to continue

coming to Jesus, but also to have the courage to know that we are equipped to

take Him to the world. We're also looking at another one of those Markan

sandwiches, those Markan sandwich stories in which we have one narrative

started with the disciples being sent out, and then that narrative is interrupted with

this account of John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod paying a high price for speaking

the truth.

And then the disciples come back at the end of the passage and they tell Jesus about their

first mission.

And this is kind of a test mission in which the disciples have limited preparation but

but also a pretty limited scope for where they will go, who they will preach to, and

even what they will preach.

It reminds me a little bit of the first time that I went to Colorado and did some actual

mountain biking.

I had spent years of my childhood biking up and down gravel roads in Iowa around my house

and considered myself to be in pretty good shape as a young teenage guy.

I was really excited to go on this trip to Colorado with my cousin because I was going

to get to show him up a little bit because he had been mountain biking before and did

it more often than I did.

However, the things I didn't factor in were things like elevation, thousands of feet of

incline and dry mountain air, and he was the one that did the showing up, not me.

So the disciples are being sent out into this mission that's a lot more like the Iowa Hills

than it is a mountain.

And they come back feeling pretty good about themselves.

But the inserted story about John's untimely end gives us this glimpse of a costly road

ahead for them.

And the two narratives put together help us to be encouraged that Jesus absolutely equips

us for the mission that we're called to, but also shows us that there's a real cost to

following him and continuing to declare him.

So this would have been a message, I think, that was a great encouragement to the church

in Rome, who Mark is writing to.

But I believe that the Lord will also use it in our midst as well.

So let's get ready to be challenged to reconsider the cost of following Jesus, but also encourage

that Jesus provides everything we need.

Before we get to the passage, let's go back to Colorado, actually, for a minute.

So a few years after that fateful mountain biking trip, which served to significantly

humble me, I went back to Colorado to do some hiking with my family.

And they had been going for a few years at this point, and this was the first time that

I was able to join them between summer jobs and school and everything else.

And apparently what I learned was the prior year had been a train wreck with issues like

altitude sickness and massive blisters from hiking with new boots and weather issues and

you name it, they ran into it.

So a few of the things that they did this time around was to simplify the whole trip

and focus on preparation.

We had to carefully weigh our packs and basically get rid of anything that would make us too

heavy.

The hiking boots that we wore, we walked around in at home for a few weeks first to break them

in.

at a base camp for a few days before hiking any higher to prepare for the elevation. And honestly,

the trip was great. We were challenged, but we were prepared. We had a few friends who were expert

guides with us and really no complaints. It was great memories. And I mentioned this not because

the disciples are going on some type of camping trip, but because they are being sent on a mission,

but a mission with lots of limitations in what they can take, where they will go,

even how long they will be gone. And I think it's going to serve as a kind of test run,

teaching them to rely on God, to provide for them along the way, to rely on the level of equipping

that they have been given thus far. And really, it's going to teach them to trust the one that

sent them. It's going to teach them to trust in Jesus. So let's go ahead and read verses 7 through

nine together. This is Mark chapter six, starting with verses seven through nine.

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the

unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag,

no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. So let's look at each of

of these ways that they are equipped for the mission, because it's important.

Let's start by asking the question, "What is it that qualifies these men to go on this

mission in the first place?"

Remember, they have only been with Jesus for about eight months at this point, and they're

not super clear yet on who Jesus is, right?

If we go back to chapter 4, verse 41, we have them literally declaring, "Who is this?"

in reference to Jesus calming the sea.

They still need Jesus to explain most of the basic parables to them.

And even a few chapters later, we're going to see Jesus become pretty frustrated with

their lack of understanding, asking things like, "Don't you have eyes and ears?"

In chapter 8.

So these guys do not have their degree in Jesus yet.

They're actually going to kind of flunk the midterm on the night of Jesus' crucifixion

and run away.

So I want to start with the first clarification that is so easy to miss because it happens

only three words into this passage.

It says, "He called the twelve."

These men were not called to follow Jesus because of their prior qualifications.

They were qualified by the call of Jesus, which they chose to answer and obey.

Jesus called and they came.

Jesus sent and they went.

So let's just pause there, three words in, and recognize that just like these twelve,

we are qualified by the same one who calls us by name.

Furthermore, it says, "He gave them authority."

This authority over the spiritual powers of darkness given by Jesus is yet another sign

of the Messiah.

Because only God is able to confer this kind of authority to someone.

Therefore, Jesus isn't just someone with authority to cast out demons.

He is one with so much authority that he can even bestow that authority on others.

It's one thing to be a mighty warrior that the enemy fears, but it is another to be a

mighty king who is so powerful the enemy dares not disobey even his messengers.

So far, notice the main characteristic of all their qualification for this mission.

given, not earned. The authority that Jesus gives is directly tied to his own

authority. I'll say it this way. It is not about what these guys bring to the

table. It's whose table they sit at that equips them for this mission. The next

instruction is for them to just pack light, like extremely light. They are to

specifically for things.

And these are important.

They are to take a staff,

sandals, a belt, and a tunic,

which is basically a pair of clothes.

They're not being sent out to be intentionally miserable

or without what they would consider to be bare essential.

So this isn't what we would call aceticism

where we're trying to make ourselves more holy

by being uncomfortable.

That's not the point of this minimalist approach to packing.

But they are bare essentials,

and they are for a very specific purpose,

and the purpose is going, right?

You need a staff to walk and travel along the rocky roads.

You need a good pair of shoes, sandals in this case,

and a belt and a tunic

are standard simple traveling clothes.

These are traveling provisions, right?

But they also echo another packing list.

This is interesting.

It's found in Exodus chapter 12, verse 11,

Exodus 12:11

in which God gives instructions for the Passover.

He says, "In this manner you shall eat it,

"with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet,

"and your staff in your hand."

So everything that they took was centered on the mission at hand,

and they were to pursue this mission wholeheartedly,

while trusting God to provide literally everything else.

So while we're thinking about the everything else,

let's just think about everything

that they probably wanted, but weren't told to take,

or wanted but weren't provided, right?

Let's start with more training.

Eight months this side of the fishing boat

and the tax booth and these guys are told

to go cast out demons and heal the sick

and tell people to repent and turn to God

because the kingdom was at hand.

So here's the truth,

no matter how much training you have

in good things like evangelism and Bible

and you name it,

you will always, or at least you should,

always feel like you need more, right?

That's a good desire, that's a humble place to come from.

But our mistake would be thinking that

needing more training in righteousness disqualifies us

from doing the righteous work we are called to do today.

The truth is, from the moment you decide to follow Jesus,

you are called by him and you are equipped by him

and equipped by him to be on mission right where you are.

So a question worth asking is where am I right now

and what is the mission in this moment of my life?

For these guys, the limits on this mission is go to these

places that I have already been,

Say what I've already said and come back.

Jesus, by the way, is sending them

to these villages around the same places

where he's been and where he's going.

He's not sending them to the cities where he has not been.

So let me just take a shot at rephrasing this for us.

To the people who are listening,

who have chosen to follow Jesus in 2025.

The mission scope is this,

go to the people that God has put in your life.

You tell them what God has done for you and for them,

and you keep coming back to Jesus.

It's that simple.

I don't know what the Lord will call you to do

in the future any more than the disciples knew,

where their paths were going to lead,

and the kinds of things that they were going to do

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But I do know that he is equipping you

for what he is calling you to do now,

not what he will call you to do five years from now.

That's for him to do over the next five years.

What he is equipping you for right now

is what he's calling you to do now.

So I want us to be faithful to respond in the present

with the experience that you have,

from the place that you are,

and trust that God will provide the rest.

As we think through this list of things

probably wanted to take more with them.

I think one thing would have been more supplies.

I can't be the only overpacker who reads this passage

and panics a little bit.

I personally bring a backpack full to the brim

with all kinds of every type of charging cable

that you could ever need and at least five books

on every trip, even though I've only ever finished one

on any given journey.

But Jesus says, "Don't take food.

Don't take a bag, don't take money,

don't take a change of clothes.

All these things that they are thinking ahead

to what will I need tomorrow,

he's pushing them to focus on the mission

and God's provision today.

He's pushing them to completely trust God

with everything else beyond what they are called to do today.

He's pushing them to live a life

that is focused on the mission.

And I wonder if the Spirit of God has some work to do in us.

The way that he is working in me,

bringing to mind the things that I keep trying to fit

in my pack on this journey with Jesus.

Right, what are the things that I am trying to drag along

and complicating the mission with?

These things that I insist are essential that aren't.

And the really good news is that Jesus

has completely equipped us to be on mission where he is sending us.

Now, we get to the second part of this passage with not only instructions to deal with those

who would reject the message, but even go so far as to persecute the messenger.

So let's keep reading.

Let's see what Jesus has to say about rejection.

This is verses 10 through 13.

When you said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from

there, and if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you

leave shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent, and they cast out many demons

"and anointed with oil, many who were sick and healed them."

So the bottom line in dealing with the rejection

of the message, and we've seen this in other places

in Mark even, is that we are actually not responsible

for the response to the message.

They are told to stay where they are invited to stay

and leave where they would not receive the message.

Their response to the call to repentance is a judgment

not on the messenger, but on the people who are rejecting it.

Let's talk about this shaking of the dust, okay?

This is referring to a tradition

that is practiced by the Jews

when they would return to Israel

from Gentile territory abroad.

they would step back into the holy land and they would shake the dust from their feet.

This was not a biblical command, but a tradition.