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. And he 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. (Mark 6:7-13)
Some parts of the Bible are history. They are telling us something that happened without explaining how it applies to us today. Some of these details are there to affirm the historicity of the scriptures as God’s word. There’s nothing wrong with struggling to find a direct application to our lives today because sometimes there isn’t one.
However, there are also times when reading a description of a historical event does have lessons for us today. We simply need to heed Paul’s warning “not to go beyond what is written” (I Corinthians 4:6). When a scene of history in Scripture is wrongly applied, it puts the authority on the speaker instead of the scriptures, so caution and humility are always required.
One way it helps us to know that historical events are sometimes absolutely unique to the persons involved is that we can easily become worried that if Jesus authorized his apostles to cast out demons maybe every Christian should be able to do that. Or if Jesus sent the apostles out two-by-two, maybe that’s his rule for how everyone should do evangelism. Those kinds of extrapolations are both unnecessary and unhelpful, and knowing that can help us relax and not burden ourselves with demands that aren’t even there.
On the other hand, looking at what Jesus told the apostles to do in their ministry, and following how faithfully they did what they were told, does have a universal lesson in how each believer should be living out their place in the body of Christ.
Peter, one of those twelve apostles, later wrote, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (I Peter 4:10). He went on to list some of the ways to apply this, but still with a sense that each of us must be diligent to see how God has given us a gift to use in ministry, and then see how to “serve one another” as unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite illustrations of how God does something unique with someone at one time but with wonderfully encouraging applications to his people for this church age is how God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. The way God spoke to Moses then was unique (the way Moses argued with God about it… not so much!). But that whole experience (Exodus 3-4) does illustrate the wonderful truth that God speaks through his word to every generation of the church so we can still “hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (repeated after all 7 letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3).
My encouragement in reading Scripture is to identify whether what you are reading is a description of history (what God did at one time with certain people with unique applications), or it is a teaching passage that clearly identifies how God wants us to live for him today just as believers were expected to live for him back then.
Between the two kinds of passages will be unique historical events that also have universal applications. Usually, all we need to do to understand how these apply is ask ourselves what is taught in the apostles’ letters to the churches that show us how to walk in “the obedience of faith” today even as those people did in the scene before us.
The bottom line is summarized in this exhortation from the apostle Paul:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
And yes, we are expected to obey with the same “faith expressing itself in love” as we witness that others did in their leg of the race.
© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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