One of the best things, and most vital things about Christian ministry is resisting the temptation to re-invent the wheel every year. Avoiding the thought that just because something is new, it’s also better. In 2013 there will be new books written, new programmes published and new ideas followed. But we know our responsibility, we know what will grow a church, and that is staying faithful to the plan that God reveals in the Bible. So, it’s with great joy that I take you to a two thousand year old book and share with you how Teen Ministry at Trinity fits into the overall philosophy of our church.
We see in these 7 verses from Mark’s gospel three things
I’ve called ‘Marks of the messengers.’ Marks of the messengers. We’re the
messengers, just like the original 12 were back then, what are to be our
distinctive, what are to be our marks? We see in these verses that messengers
are ready, messengers are sometimes rejected, and messengers are repetitive.
The messengers are ready, look at verses 7-10 with me. Jesus
tells the 12 what to wear, how to dress, were to stay, what to bring. Is that
important? Why couldn’t they bring bread or money with them? Because they had
to be ready. They had to have a single focus on the task that Jesus had given
them.
He doesn’t send the 12 out as sightseers; they’re not going
to catch up with friends. They are going with a message. They don’t need money
or food; they’ll be fed and accommodated. They need a staff, but not two coats,
nothing that would distract them, nothing that would weigh them down. The
instructions Jesus gives here are similar to those given by the LORD to Moses
before the Passover escape. Moses is told that the Jews must eat ‘with your
loins girded, you shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand,’ (Ex 12:11).
They had to be ready to eat, and we have to be ready to carry the message where
we go, and where we are.
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