January 16th, 2017
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Kingdom Work

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

“Dear God, we thank You for the inspiration of Jesus. Grant that we will love You with all our hearts, souls and minds” (M. L. King Jr.). RUN UP

Read Mark 3:7-19

[7] Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. [8] When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. [9] Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. [10] For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. [11] Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” [12] But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him. [13] Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. [14] He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach [15] and to have authority to drive out demons. [16] These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), [17] James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), [18] Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot [19] and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“In love’s service, only the wounded can serve” (Brennan Manning, 1934–2013).

Think Further

 

Jesus is the archetypal Kingdom Worker: filled with the Spirit, compassionate, self-denying, often uncomfortable and desperately needed. Can you imagine the manic rush of desperate souls Mark describes? Jesus cannot keep the crowds at bay. Picture the incessant and frantic pushing and shoving, people falling over and a cacophony of demons shrieking. What frightful confusion! People were desperate for Jesus; nothing put them off getting to him. Jesus did not despise their need and he certainly was not squeamish; instead, he had compassion, beautiful self-denial and the power to help them.
Jesus chose the apostles so that “they might be with him” (14)—to learn and be shaped by his example and to share with him in the mess and dirty work of the kingdom. Jesus is looking to the future of his kingdom and preparing for it. He is preparing the apostles so “that he might send them out” (14)—to do the work of the kingdom with power and authority, not only when he is on earth but also after his death and resurrection.
How do your expectations of following Jesus compare with this messy, crowded, uncomfortable, intense ministry that Jesus practiced and for which he prepared his disciples? Sadly, we can become squeamish, apathetic, timid or stubborn disciples. Look out into our world and our immediate neighborhoods. The need hasn’t changed at all! Nor has Christ’s purpose for his disciples. Anyone desiring to be Jesus’ disciple and to learn from him needs to work with him in the mess and be prepared to be sent into it. By our word and action, in the power of the Spirit, desperate people will become aware of their desperate need of deliverance through Christ.

Jesus is the archetypal Kingdom Worker: filled with the Spirit, compassionate, self-denying, often uncomfortable and desperately needed. Can you imagine the manic rush of desperate souls Mark describes? Jesus cannot keep the crowds at bay. Picture the incessant and frantic pushing and shoving, people falling over and a cacophony of demons shrieking. What frightful confusion! People were desperate for Jesus; nothing put them off getting to him. Jesus did not despise their need and he certainly was not squeamish; instead, he had compassion, beautiful self-denial and the power to help them.

Jesus chose the apostles so that “they might be with him” (14)—to learn and be shaped by his example and to share with him in the mess and dirty work of the kingdom. Jesus is looking to the future of his kingdom and preparing for it. He is preparing the apostles so “that he might send them out” (14)—to do the work of the kingdom with power and authority, not only when he is on earth but also after his death and resurrection.

How do your expectations of following Jesus compare with this messy, crowded, uncomfortable, intense ministry that Jesus practiced and for which he prepared his disciples? Sadly, we can become squeamish, apathetic, timid or stubborn disciples. Look out into our world and our immediate neighborhoods. The need hasn’t changed at all! Nor has Christ’s purpose for his disciples. Anyone desiring to be Jesus’ disciple and to learn from him needs to work with him in the mess and be prepared to be sent into it. By our word and action, in the power of the Spirit, desperate people will become aware of their desperate need of deliverance through Christ.

 

Apply

Pray for the heart, will and boldness to join the messiness of kingdom work. He chooses us to bear fruit that will last (John 15:16); this is our purpose and privilege.

Closing prayer

Sometimes my eyes are closed, Lord, to the desperate mess that You see in the world. Sometimes kingdom work is not to my taste. Forgive me. Teach me, compassionate Savior.

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