Moved to Mission

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“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15

Main Readings: Luke 24:13-35, Mark 16

Supporting Readings: Hebrews 12:1-3, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Here we are - the final verses of our series in Mark’s gospel. As you know some of the earliest manuscripts don’t have these verses – that’s why they are in italics in your bible.

You don’t need to panic about that. It simply tells us that the translators are trying to be honest with the evidence they have available to them.

Now, I listened to an expert scholar talk through the reasons why he embraces these kinds of verses in the bible – there aren’t many of them. And he spent about 40 minutes explaining the background to the verses and how they’ve ended up in our bibles, and why they’re italicised. And then he preached them, showing that he believes them.

I thought that was good to see.

The truth is these final 11 verses of Mark’s gospel have been in our English bibles for centuries.

When the printing press came along, God saw fit for these verses to be included in the bible that was printed on it.

And when the King of England authorised a bible for the English people they were in there too. That bible became standard in the English-speaking world for centuries.

And so, I believe that God, in his providence, has preserved these words and spoken through them to every generation of Christian. And I want us to know that we can read these words with confidence this morning.

We can do so knowing that everything here is echoed elsewhere in the gospels and confirmed by the rest of the New Testament too.

In fact, I could preach all the same things I’m going to say this morning, from elsewhere in the bible.

But today we’ll let Mark finish what he started.

So, looking ahead, here’s the takeaway this morning for our blessing and encouragement: Jesus meets us exactly where we are, and calls us to deeper faith and deeper hope in him.

That’s a very helpful truth. Where does Jesus meet us this morning? Does he meet you confident and steadfast in faith perhaps? Does he meet you doubting maybe?

Does he meet you in the shame of past sins? Or maybe in some victory over sin? Only you and he truly know.

There could be all kinds of states of Christian experience that he finds us in this morning, but I think he’s showing us here that he is willing to take us as he finds us. Which is so undeserved but should be so encouraging to us.

But that’s not the whole story. It’s also clear that he’s not satisfied to leave us where he finds us. He has a plan for our lives, and he wants to move us from where we are, to where he wants us to be.

In these verses we see three separate appearances of the risen Jesus to his followers. In verse 9, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene.

In verse 12, he appears to two of them walking out in the country - probably the two on the road to Emmaus. And then he appears to the eleven disciples.

Now when we say Jesus ‘appeared’ we’re talking, aren’t we, about Jesus revealing himself to people after he’d died and been buried? We’re talking about him in his resurrection body.

So, when we read that he appeared to Mary Magdalene ‘out of whom he had driven seven demons’ then we need to connect that fact with Jesus’ resurrection otherwise we don’t get the force.

Romans says, Jesus was ‘delivered over to death and was raised to life for our justification’.

So, for Mary who had been possessed by evil spirits, to see her saviour die and to see him put in the tomb, she could be forgiven for wondering what it had all been for.

Perhaps you’ve been on the Christian Road a long time and you’ve got quite jaded. Perhaps you’ve been wondering what your Christian experience really has amounted to. Or maybe, you look at your past, and like Mary, it looks a mess, and you’re wondering if there really is forgiveness to be had after all.

Jesus comes to you this morning with resurrection hope. The very greatest obstacle of all - death - has been overcome by Jesus.

And so, if he comes to meet us where we are right now - in our messy lives or in our jaded faith - as his resurrected self, then we can be sure there is power for everything we face. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us!

Jesus was raised not just for Mary’s justification but for ours too. Whether we’re near - like the disciples - or far off - like the two out in the country. Jesus comes to us all.

Whilst we know a lot about Jesus’ eleven closest followers, we know little about the two out in the country. But Jesus doesn’t pick favourites. He knows that all his people need to encounter him alive.

He’s not only interested in his pastors, or missionaries, or bible students. He’s interested in every single one of his people. They all need to know he’s been resurrected – and that for our righteous standing with God.

That’s what’s happening right here and now through God’s Word. Wherever you are - in sin, in doubt, in repentance, in fear, in hope, in joy whatever – Jesus is revealing himself to you as risen this morning. Alive, even though he was dead!

Imagine how seeing him alive must have changed his followers. It must have, not only gladdened their hearts, but it must also have strengthened their faith in him massively.

When he died, they must have thought he had turned out just like all the rest ultimately. Death brings every good thing to an abrupt end - even Jesus, they must have thought.

But to see him alive must have generated new faith in them - even death couldn’t hold him!

And if that’s true then what about all the other things he said he came to do - like forgiving my sins; like giving me eternal life; like raising me from the dead one day, to be with him forever! What could prevent him from accomplishing those things, if even death couldn’t hold him!

Now when it comes to the eleven disciples, we notice something quite striking. Jesus doesn’t appear to them straight away but sends others to tell them first.

Mary told them after she had met Jesus - you can see that in verse 10. And the two out in the country told them after they had met Jesus - you can see that in verse 13.

But how do the disciples respond? Well, they don’t believe them, do they? They didn’t believe Mary according to verse 11. Nor did they believe the two from the country in verse 13.

Now just pause there for a moment and think what that meant to Jesus? That his closest disciples, who had been with him all the way, didn’t believe the testimony that he had risen from the dead?

He told them again and again when he was alive, that he would rise, but now faced with eyewitness accounts, their faith folds!

It’s not so much that they don’t believe some news that Mary is bringing, or some report that the two from the countryside are bringing. It’s much more that they don’t believe Jesus’ words. And even more than that, that they don’t believe in Jesus himself!

So, because of that, when Jesus finally appears to them in verse 14, he calls them out for it. Not only had they had his words, and had him, they’d had testimony from Mary and the others, and they hadn’t believed. Jesus calls their unbelief a ‘lack of faith’ and a ‘stubborn refusal to believe’.

When Jesus has given everything that is necessary to trust him, he does expect us to trust him. Even when life’s circumstances shake us, faith is still the call of Jesus to his people.

Let’s be honest, haven’t we found ourselves in the same place? We’ve heard him say something that he wants us to do. We’ve seen him in his word show that he is powerful to support us in it.

But when the moment comes that we have to do it, isn’t it true that faith often deserts us? Everything in our being tells us to do the opposite.

We reason our way out of it. We tell ourselves it’s too risky. We decide our way is safer, smarter, more sensible.

Like the time a complete stranger in London opened up to me about faith. I totally bottled it! ‘Here you go Tim, I’ll make it easy for you – this one actually wants to talk about Jesus’.

‘Thanks Lord, but I know best’. Talk about the weather. Talk about the state of the country. You name it! But nothing about Jesus. Faithless just like the disciples. Boy was I cut to the heart after that one.

That’s what unbelief looks like, and Jesus doesn’t ignore it. But here’s the good news: he still comes to the disciples. Isn’t that marvelous? Despite their faithlessness, he appears. You see, he doesn’t wait for perfect faith. He meets them where they are—and he meets us where we are too.

And when he does meet them, he rebukes them. Why? Because unbelief is not a small thing. Unbelief is like spiritual poison in our souls. So, Jesus’ rebuke comes from love. ‘The Lord disciplines those he loves’, Hebrews says.

Jesus loves his disciples too much to leave them in unbelief. So, if you feel a gentle sting come from Jesus – maybe you haven’t trusted him in something - then don’t despair. He’s not pushing you away. He’s actually drawing you closer.

Romans 8:34 asks the question ‘who is the one who condemns?’ And the answer that comes back is ‘no one’. The reason why that’s the case is because Christ Jesus died, and has been raised to life, and is at the right hand of God where he is interceding for us.

There’s no condemnation for those who believe - even though we fail - because nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

This is the way I think of it. Like it says in verse 19, Jesus was taken up into heaven and he is sat at the right hand of God.

That’s where, his victory over sin and death is always before God.

So, when I sin in my unbelief – as you’ve seen I do - then Jesus is right there at the Father’s right hand ensuring that his Father is satisfied with me because He is satisfied with Jesus who died for me.

So, no condemnation. None. Why? Because he lives.

That’s how Jesus saves us completely. Not halfway, not conditionally. But finally.

If today you find yourself weighed down with doubts and fears, hear his voice again in his word. Nothing can keep us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, because Jesus rose and presents himself for us before God all the time.

And if Jesus comes to us in his word and says, ‘I told you not to do those sins, and not to doubt me, and to stand firm in your faith. I want you to trust me more’.

Maybe we’re cut to the heart about that. That’s not a bad thing. It grieves us for a little while. But it produces in us Godly repentance. And then, believe again. Walk forward by faith in Jesus again.

That, folks, is really the rhythm of the whole Christian life.

It’s right at this point, just as faith is reignited, that Jesus lays it on the disciples, isn’t it? Verse 15, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation’.

It’s what we’ve come to call the great commission. Not a great suggestion. Not a great idea. A great commission. Notice how short it is – just one sentence. But it’s packed with purpose, isn’t it?

The gospel is nothing less than the good news that forgiveness of sin is available through faith in Jesus.

And Jesus’ ‘mission impossible’ to us is: ‘share that good news with as many people as you can. Until the whole world has heard it’.

Now notice something crucial: Jesus doesn’t stay to do the preaching himself. He could have. But he doesn’t. Instead, he sends us.

He entrusts the message to ordinary people. He commissions his followers to live and speak in such a way that people might see him in us. That’s what it means to be an ambassador for Christ.

And that calling may express itself in different ways—in conversations around the dinner table, in coffee shops, or classrooms, across the street, across the ocean even!

But it always calls for faith. Why? Because most people don’t see Jesus as good news. In fact, many think he’s bad news. To them he’s an intrusion; an offence. And so, it will take courage and conviction to live this way.

But Jesus isn’t asking for brilliance. He’s asking for faithfulness. That we’d be faithful in living the gospel, in speaking the gospel, and in putting ourselves in the way of gospel opportunities.

Whether we stay or go; whether we’re in our neighbourhoods or halfway across the globe, the call is the same: be faithful with the good news.

And just in case we find ourselves doubtful at this point – which we might. Jesus gives three encouragements to give us extra hope.

First in verse 16, we’re reminded the message we’re taking really does have power. ‘Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved’. What a promise that is! The gospel really saves people. Out from under God’s condemnation and into the security of his eternal love.

And the second half of the verse there gives us lots of reason to fill up that word ‘saved’ with meaning. If people aren’t saved, then they’re condemned!

Without Jesus, people have no freedom from sin, no peace with God, no hope of deliverance. The gospel isn’t trivial, it’s urgent. Literally, everyone needs it.

People who hear the message about Jesus and believe, and show they believe by being baptised, they’ll be saved from God’s anger.

There’s no guarantee that everybody we tell will listen. But there’s every guarantee that the ones we do tell, and who believe, will be saved.

It’s not for us to know who they are, but it is for us to do our part faithfully. Jesus doesn’t say ‘if’ anybody believes; he says ‘whoever’ believes. So, we can go with that hope that some will believe.

The second thing is, God gives signs of gospel fruit in those who believe. Verse 17 lists some of the miraculous signs that accompanied those who first believed.

And the book of Acts bears out those signs. Paul was bitten by a snake in Malta and had no ill effects. People spoke in tongues and drove out demons for example.

Whether or not those miraculous signs continue today is up for debate. We can all agree though, that we probably shouldn’t be encouraging our friend who just got baptised to drink poison or pick up snakes!

Let’s not miss the principle though: when people come to Christ, their lives change.

There are signs - maybe not miraculous in the dramatic sense, but unmistakable, nonetheless.

I never saw heart-felt love without love signs. Did you? Lovers always show their love: Devotion, commitment, desire, attention, communication. They’re all signs.

They’re all present when someone loves someone else. And it should be outwardly obvious that someone has come to love Jesus when they show signs of attentiveness to him in his word. Of communication with him in prayer. Of a desire to please him in their life. Of commitment to him in their walk. Of deepening desire for him in their talk.

These are Spirit-given signs that a person has come to faith in Jesus.

And those signs—they encourage us, don’t they? They remind us: this labour we’re called to is not in vain.

The third and final encouragement. Verse 20 promises that we’re not doing this alone. ‘They went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them’.

That’s the key, isn’t it? He worked with them.

We’re not on our own as we go out into the world with the good news about Jesus. He’s actually with us doing the work that makes the ultimate difference.

We might feel overwhelmed: ‘What can I possibly say that would make a difference?’ We might feel out of our depth, ill-equipped, even discouraged. But Jesus says, ‘You’re not going alone. I’ll be with you. I’ll be doing the work that matters most.’

That should be burden-lifting. The power that changes a heart, that draws someone to faith, that gives light to the blind—that doesn’t come from us. It comes from him.

If it was all in our own strength and ability, then we should be doubtful about what Jesus is calling us to do. But he’s reminding us here, that’s not the case.

Those signs that he promises are spiritual signs, created by the Holy Spirit of Jesus in people who believe.

So, when we see them, we can be sure the Holy Spirit is working, and that should give us great reinforcement to continue to do what Jesus has called us to do.

Keep proclaiming Christ. Keep trusting his Word. Keep leaning on his Spirit. Because Jesus still works with his people for people, and his gospel still saves.

So, here’s the great comfort and the great challenge.

The resurrected Jesus meets us where we are right now and calls us to deeper faith in him and greater hope through him. He’s not dead. He’s alive forevermore.

Sometimes he corrects us - in love - to steer us away from unbelief and into faithfulness. And if we feel bad that he came and did that, it’s ok.

Just remember, repentance and faith in Jesus are the foundation stones of our salvation.

There is no condemnation for us because the risen Lord Jesus is representing for us in heaven at God’s right hand.

And, being strengthened in hope and built up in faith by him, he calls us to take the good news about Jesus to a dying world.

Knowing that the message we have is powerful to bring eternal life to people. It is what they need to hear most.

Knowing that the signs of salvation we see in people were not from us but from God and they show that real faith is present.

Knowing that the Lord Jesus is working to confirm our message by the power of his Spirit at work in people’s hearts.

And so, the burden is not on us to create the success. We must do our part faithfully and then watch and marvel as Jesus mightily works the rest! And He will.