The Spirit of Rejection

Mark 9:38-41.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 26, 2020.

The title of this sermon does not use the term “spirit” in the sense of a spiritual being, or demon.  Instead, I am using it in the sense of an attitude, a temperament, or a disposition that overwhelms a person.  How easy it is for us Christians to cop an attitude that is too quick to reject others.  This can go many directions, but we are going to see that such an attitude is not one that Jesus had.

Last week, we mentioned how this chapter hinges on the issues of acceptance and rejection.  The religious leaders were already in the middle of rejecting Jesus and would execute him because they did not want to surrender their leadership of Israel.  The disciples of Jesus did not understand that their desire to be the greatest of his followers was of the same “spirit” as the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Their desire to be great would keep them from treating other believers properly.  Jesus had told them that if they did not turn from such a path and become like little children then they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  This issue is clearly very important to Jesus.

The principle that Jesus laid down is this.  To receive the least person in his name is to receive him, which also means, to reject the least person in the name of Jesus is to actually reject Jesus and the Father who sent him.  In that passage, the least of believers in your own group is immediately what was in view.  However, today’s passage clarifies that Jesus intended the scope to be far greater.  There are many believers throughout this world and it is easier for us to recognize that God’s work on this earth is greater than any one group of Christians, be it a local church, a network of churches, or a denomination.  However, they did not have such divisions in their day and the Gospel was not so wide spread.  The disciples did have a clear understanding of who was in their group of 12 and the greater group of 70 that Jesus had given power to minister in Israel.  Today’s story is about a man who was not a part of this group of disciples.

Now, let me just say up front that there are those who pretend to be believers, but are false apostles and false teachers.  They should be rejected.  That is not what is happening in this story and it is not what Jesus is forbidding.  So, let’s learn the lesson our Lord has for us today.

Don’t reject Christians just because they are not from your group

If your Bible uses paragraph headings then it might label this section something like, “Jesus Forbids Sectarianism.”  I think the word “sectarianism” falls short of what Jesus is saying, and yet, I am hard pressed to come up with a better word.   So, I have described what Jesus is teaching in a longer form.  Don’t reject other believers simply because they are not from your group of believers.

Churches can be cliquish towards believers who are not a part of their church, denomination, or theological persuasion.  I purposefully used the word “just” in my description of this main point because Jesus is not teaching that everyone outside of their group is to be accepted.  Make sure you caught what I said in that last sentence.  There is nothing special about being other.  The problem is that we can reject people with a knee-jerk reaction that is typically self-serving, based on pride, and sometimes because we want to be great, mainly because they are other.

As Jesus is talking, John brings up a situation that they had run into when Jesus was not with them. They had run into a man who was successfully performing the miracle of casting out demons, or an exorcism.  It is important to recognize that the man was doing this “in the name of Jesus.”  This phrase is a direct connection to the previous story, which also employs this phrase, but we will come back to this.

John explains that they had told him to stop performing these miracles because, “he didn’t follow us.”  I believe that the “us” here includes Jesus.  They are not emphasizing themselves excluding Jesus.  Rather, they recognize that this is not a person who has been a part of the group of disciples who followed Jesus.  Now, we should not make a bad judgment either way, overly to the man’s good or to his bad.  It is a valid question to ask why this man who clearly believes that Jesus has power over demons isn’t actually following him.  He has clearly seen Jesus cast out demons and has probably heard some of his teachings.  Yet, he is seemingly off on his own doing his own thing.  John proclaims that their concern was his lack of following Jesus, but it is not clear why this is a problem. 

Why is that bad?  They may see him as a loose cannon who is not under the direct control of Jesus.  Or, perhaps this is simply a matter of pride.  He did not get an official authorization from Jesus like they did.  The truth is probably a mixture of many such motivations.  The disciples had been able to cast out demons when Jesus had sent them out in groups of two to the towns of Israel.  Yet, in verse 18 of this chapter, they had failed to cast out a particular demon that was more difficult.  I don’t know if that failure happened before or after their interaction with this man.  If it happened before then maybe their pride is injured and they are taking out on this man.  If it happened afterwards then maybe God is trying to help them see that their pride is not good.  Regardless, we should recognize that when it comes to religious issues, Christians and Christian leaders do not always have pure motives behind what they do.  This is just as true for me as it is for others.  We must work hard to restrain our quick reactions no matter how we can justify them.  Like David, we must take time to ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and to help us make right decisions for pure reasons.  It was not the Holy Spirit that was leading them to shut this man down.

Jesus then tells them that they should not stop this guy or anyone like him.  He gives several principles that can help us to navigate these waters.

He starts by saying, “No one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me.”  Notice the qualifier, “in my name.”  The Old Testament warns about people who may perform a miracle and yet lead people away from God, i.e. false prophets.  That is not what is happening here.  The man is crediting Jesus.  In fact, he is using the authority of Jesus to cast out the demons.  He is taking a stand against the evil kingdom of Satan in the name of Jesus.  He is clearly a believer that Jesus is the Messiah and that the power of God is with him.  Perhaps, he is one of the disciples of John the Baptist who were not quick to walk away from John and follow Jesus, and yet, knew that John declared Jesus as the Messiah.  Jesus emphasizes that a miracle that is done in his name, or for his glory, can only be done through a person who is legitimately believing in Jesus.  Miracles are not that easy to do.  In fact, no one “does” a miracle.  The reality is that, when a real miracle happens, the power of God does the miracle through those who are acting in faith in Jesus.  It is not possible for someone who, first, has a relationship with Jesus marked by bold faith, and, second, is clearly recognized by the presence of the power of God, to quickly turn walk away from him, i.e. apostatize. 

Notice that he does not say it is impossible.  Rather, that it is not easily done.  The name of Jesus is not some kind of magic word or spell that makes evil spirits obey you.  It is our relationship with Jesus that those demons recognize and fear.  The disciples were physically with Jesus most of the time, and this man was not.  Yet, are not we in the same position as him?  None of us have physically sat at the feet of Jesus and received his teaching and authority to minister on his behalf.  We follow Jesus in the same way that this man was “following Jesus,” by faith.  A person who is following Jesus by faith and even exercising that faith boldly will find that the Holy Spirit will help them and work through them regardless of how good their credentials are.  We must understand that a person can be saved in the morning and be used mightily by the Holy Spirit in the afternoon because they have a real relationship with Jesus by faith.

The next phrase that Jesus gives is this.  “For he who is not against us is on our side.”  This is different from the common maxim, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” which Jesus never taught.  It emphasizes not the enemy, but Jesus himself.  Those who do not fight against Jesus and his disciples should be treated as being on our side, even if they aren’t physically with us because Jesus is greater than our group, and is not limited to our group and the ways he is using us.

The last phrase is interesting because it speaks beyond the issue the disciples were dealing with here.  Basically, Jesus promises that those who bless someone who belongs to Christ in his name, that is as a believer themselves, will be guaranteed a reward from him.  We are not sure if the man was successfully shut down by the disciples.  Did he go home despondently and quit?  Or, did he wait until they left and then continue what he was doing before?  We don’t know.  Jesus is telling his disciples that they should quit trying to treat the man like an enemy.  Jesus would reward that man just as surely as he would reward them. 

In fact, there is a bit of a twist in the way Jesus words this.  The man was actually blessing people (when he cast out the demons) who were in bondage to demons.  They were not believers in Jesus.  Christians often get hung up on one side of this or the other.  We are either quick to accept the lost and yet struggle with our relationship with other believers, or we are good at accepting other believers, but struggle with helping the lost.  The disciples could have blessed this unknown brother and encouraged him in what he was doing.  However, they missed out on a reward that day.  Their desire to be great in Christ was actually diminishing the reward that they would receive from him.  Wow, take some time to think about that one.

Let me close this by challenging us.  What spirit is animating my words and actions towards the lost, and towards other believers?  Of course, we want to quickly say that it is the Spirit of the Lord.  Yet, it is often a mixture.  We want to please the Lord, like those disciples did, but we also have other motives floating around our heart that are less pure.  Pride, the desire for greatness, envy, jealousy, strife, such things can cause us to be harsh towards one another when we shouldn’t be.  The disciples were rejecting the ministry of this man that they didn’t know.  They may have told themselves that they were doing this for Jesus, but the truth is that they were doing it for themselves. 

May God help us to be humble before Him, but also to be humble before all those who name the name of Christ.  It is not my job to police everyone who appears to be doing stuff for Jesus.  They are his servant and will stand or fall before him.    We are not in a contest against each other, but rather a battle against the forces of darkness that is directed by Christ himself in ways that we do not always understand.  Beware a spirit of rejection that tries to control how people are working for Christ without the true leading of his Holy Spirit.

Rejection audio

Which of Us Is the Greatest?

Mark 9:30-37.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 19, 2020.

An age old problem among groups of people is the question, “Which of us is the greatest?”  It isn’t generally a spoken question.  Rather, it is an unspoken tension that is as clear as an elephant in the room.  It often lies beneath the surface of much that is said and done.  We must understand that we are not immune to this problem because we are Christians.

Today, we will look at a passage in which Jesus gives us wisdom in regards to this.  It is a wisdom that we will be quick to agree with, but very often not actually follow.  May God help us to grasp today just who deserves the primary position within God’s Church, even our specific church, because the truth will always be that Jesus is the only one and nothing else matters.

Jesus continues to reiterate his coming rejection

In Mark 8:31, we were told that Jesus “began” to teach them about his coming sufferings.  Here, Jesus continues to emphasize this prophetic word that suffering and death lay ahead for him.    We are told that Jesus intends to move through the Galilee in a stealthy manner so that he can have some talks with his disciples about this coming rejection.  The crowds did not need to be aware of his words before hand, but it was important for the disciples to be able to remember that Jesus had tried to tell them these things.  It would actually strengthen their faith once they knew that he was resurrected.

It is interesting to note that Jesus uses the present tense when he says that he is already being betrayed into the hands of men.  This is about more than Judas.  It involves all the actors that would be in place to do it.  The heart of Judas was already wandering away from Jesus towards money and doubt.  The hearts of the Pharisees and Caiaphas were already rejecting Jesus and plotting his demise.  Even though Jesus was very popular at this point, things were in motion within the hearts of people that would lead to him being betrayed and executed.

Of the things that Jesus teaches them, the fact that he would be killed would be the hardest to accept.  Sure, the Messiah could be betrayed, but surely he will rise up and throw out the evil betrayers.  For him to be executed clashed with everything they thought they knew about the Messiah. 

On top of this, to speak of rising on the third day would seem to make his statements seem even more cryptic.  It is not like people were rising from the dead every day.  Is this a parable, symbolic, or does it have some spiritual meaning?  What does Jesus actually mean?  These are the kinds of questions that no doubt clouded their understanding.

Thus, Mark emphasizes that the disciples couldn’t grasp or comprehend exactly what Jesus was trying to tell them.  Part of their problem was that they were afraid to ask him further about it.  Maybe they were afraid of it being true, or maybe they were afraid to look stupid within the group by publicly admitting that they didn’t understand.  Luke adds some colorful phrases in his parallel account of Luke 9.  He has Jesus saying, “Let these words sink down into your ears.”  The picture demonstrates their inability to hear by comparing it to the inability of words to get into their ears physically, which is clearly not the problem.  They are figuratively like a person whose ears are full of something the words can’t sink through.

Luke also says that they couldn’t understand, and “it was hidden from them.”  We could assume that God is intended as the one who has hidden it from them.  However, it is more likely a combination of their slowness to understand.  Finding something that you are fully acquainted with is generally easy, but, if someone has hidden it from you, it becomes a difficult matter.  What God was doing here was catching them by surprise and as such it might as well have been hidden from them, even though Jesus is putting it in front of them.  Only by the help of the Holy Spirit can we be enabled to see those things that our flesh keeps us blind to. 

Lest we be too hard on the disciples, we should remind ourselves of the many times that we have walked on in this life without grasping the things that God is trying to tell us in His Word.  We must remain humble as we live because we are continually recognizing areas that we have not understood like we should have.

Jesus confronts his disciples

We are told that Jesus and his disciples have traveled from the northeast region of Caesarea Philippi in a southwestern direction to Capernaum on the western side of the Sea of Galilee.  During their travel, the disciples have been discussing among themselves a particular issue.  They clearly did not think that Jesus had overheard them, or even suspected what their topic of discussion.  So, when Jesus asks them what they were talking about on the road, they are silent and do not answer.  The description in the question that Jesus asks portrays a dialogue between the disciples rather than a full-blown, heated argument.  Their silence is most likely due to the fact that they know the topic of their discussion will bring rebuke from Jesus.

It is sad when we know that something is wrong and hide it from our superiors, and yet seem to have no qualms doing it among our peers.  May God help us to take the hard road of being true to His path of righteousness, even when “everyone else is doing it.”  Mark tells us exactly what they were discussing on the road, and it had to do with which one of them was the greatest disciple of Jesus.

“Which of us is the greatest?”  In groups, this is a common tension, but it is not always discussed and debated openly.  Yet, it fuels much of the actions and remarks of people within the group.  There is irony in the fact that they are jockeying for the pole position in what they think is going to happen.  They think they will be ruling over Israel with Jesus.  However, Jesus is about to be rejected and killed, which means that they are actually jockeying for the position of being 2^nd on Israel’s top 13 most wanted list. 

Part of their inability to understand what Jesus was telling them is found in this question.  Their pride and desires are so strong that they can’t hear or receive what God is trying to tell them.  We desire so many things for ourselves and we want so much to be something more than we often are.  Such things lead us away from God’s plan and purpose, rather than towards it. Yet, even in this, God corrects us and brings us along.

Jesus knows exactly what they were talking about and proceeds to correct their pride and ignorance without actually stating the topic of their discussion.  He teaches them a principle regarding leadership.  The principle is this.  If anyone wants to be first among his disciples then they should be last of all and servant of all.

The principle is not that we should never want to lead or be the primary leader.  Someone will have to be the first leader, and having a primary leader is a good thing.  To desire a good thing is not a bad thing necessarily.  Paul does the same thing on spiritual gifts.  There is nothing wrong with desiring spiritual gifts, but the reasons and motivations behind that desire can be wrong, or even evil.  The problem isn’t wanting to be the primary leader.  The problem is that we often have no clue about what God expects in His primary leaders. 

We are given two qualifications, of which the first is this.  They should be the last of all the others in the group.  This sets the ways of the world on its head.  Instead of seeking the highest position by promoting oneself in pride and arrogance, we should demote ourselves in humility and weakness.  God resists the proud and casts them down, but he hears the humble and lifts them up.  It is a sad tribute that many, who are self-promoters and full of pride, are given primary positions within the Church that bears Christ’s name.  He was not this way.  He did not come to promote himself as the King of the world.  Instead, he took the lowest place that no one would want, the Scapegoat of the world, the Sin-Bearer of the world, and the Rejected-One of the world.  Imagine coming to church one day and they are drawing straws to see who will be the scapegoat for the church.  Would you volunteer?  Simply put, if you want to be the first then take up the last position, and let God put you in the first place.  This is essentially what both David and Jesus did.

The second qualification is that they should be a servant of all in the group.  This is really just another way of stating the first qualification.  He is not saying that everybody who does this will get to be the primary leader.  Not all who desire to be first get to be so, but they should all be a servant to the whole group.  What a change this would have in any group.  When we try to serve everybody else and trust God for promotion (or not), then pride is given a very serious blow in the group as a whole.

This cannot be about gaming the system in order to get what you want.  Otherwise, your flesh will get tired quickly and eventually quit.  This is the crucified life of taking the lowest place and serving in the lowest place, not to get the highest place, but in order to identify with our Lord.  Ultimately, whether we become the primary leader in this life or not is immaterial.  As long as we have Jesus, our place in eternity will far out weigh what we experience here on earth.

Jesus gives them a picture or a parable to help them get it by setting a child in their midst.  He adds to the image by putting his arms around the little child.  The child is clearly a nobody in comparison to the disciples.  Yet, here he is with the arms of Jesus around him.  This is an important image.  When I deal with other people, I don’t always recognize that God loves them.  He is not there physically with His arms around them, but that is His heart towards them.  This leads to the second principle that Jesus gives, and is intended to counteract our desire to be first.

If you receive the least one in the name of Jesus then you receive him, even the Father.  The disciples were constantly scrambling to be the one who is closest to Jesus or closest to God.  Yet, God loves us all and wraps His arms around us all.  God does not love the primary leader any more than the person in the lowest place.  To receive either one, the highest person or the lowest, is to receive the one who sent them, which is Jesus.  In seeking the highest place, we can become dismissive to those we perceive to be in the lowest place.  Instead of serving them, we step on them and expect them to serve us.

Jesus inverts this worldly attitude by connecting himself to all of the “Positions” that we could seek or have.  To reject and mistreat the lowest is to reject and mistreat Jesus, which is exactly what he has been trying to tell them that the religious leaders would do to him.

They wanted the primary leader spot so badly that they would kill Jesus in order to keep it.  Yet, their rejection of Jesus was also a rejection of God the Father whom they professed to serve.  Do we actually believe that God is just as intimately connected to the least person within his Church as He is with the greatest?  If we actually believe this then we would not be scrambling nearly so hard to have first place.  In fact, if we actually understood our God, we would understand that the primary places are to be for those who will serve in the most humble and lowly of ways.  God never intended leaders to be idolized and served by everyone else.  He intended for them to use the gifts that He gave them in order to serve the people that they lead. 

May God help us to quit worrying about who is the greatest, when the only answer that matters is this.  Jesus is the greatest of us all and without him I would be nothing!

Greatest audio

Jesus the Prophet

Mark 8:31-38.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 29, 2019.

In the Old Testament, we see three critical leadership roles that existed in Israel.  Moses was a prophet to the people to speak on behalf of God to them.  Through him, God instituted the role of the High Priest, who was to be from the tribe of Levi of the family of Aaron.  Eventually, Saul was raised up as the first king of Israel.

The roles of High Priest and King were always kept separate.  The third group would consist of any number of prophets whom God had gifted to address the nation and its leaders.  From time to time, we would see a High Priest or King operating with a prophetic gift, but they were never seen as The Prophet for the whole nation.  In this sense, Moses was a very unique figure.  He was not a king or high priest, but he was a very singular prophetic voice to Israel.

We can recognize a kind of separation of powers operating through this in Israel.  The purpose of such separations is to protect against the inevitable bad actors that would come on the scene.  Men are fallen and we should always reject the notion of putting too much power in the hands of one person or a small group of people in this world.  However, this is more than just having them separate in order to protect the freedoms of Israel’s people.

The prophets in the Bible promised that an anointed one would come and an amazing truth is revealed in the person of Jesus.  This one man would be sinless and perfect.  He would be the rightful King of kings, but also our faithful High Priest.  On top of this, we will see today that he is The Prophet par excellence.  He is the only one who can be trusted with all three powerful positions.  He is the prophet that Moses promised would come, in Deuteronomy 18.  He is the one who not only proclaims God’s Word, but who actually is the Word of God sent from heaven.  The separation speaks to the fact that all beings fall short of the perfection of God’s Son, and therefore none of them, human or angel, deserve such powers over mankind.

Let’s look at how Jesus demonstrates his prophetic gift.

Jesus foretells his rejection, execution, and resurrection

Verse 31 has a lot packed into it.  The message of Jesus initially focused on the Kingdom of God and how to enter it.  He told people to repent and follow him if they wanted to participate in God’s Kingdom.  However, at some point, he began to tell his disciples that certain things must happen to him and to them.  These things were contrary to the typical view of the coming Messiah.

We are told that Jesus “began to teach them” that he was to “suffer many things.”  Isaiah 53 is the famous passage that clearly speaks of a suffering servant who would be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”  Of course, the phrase, “suffering many things,” could be used of just that, many things.  Jesus goes on to explain what some of those many things would be.

He first prophesies that he will be rejected by Israel’s leaders.  Rejection is a bitter pill, and Messiah was prophesied to be rejected.  The rabbis of Israel often interpret such prophecies in the Old Testament as speaking of Israel itself.  It is true that Israel has known much rejection from other nations and has served as God’s servant and son on this earth.  However, this is only indicative of the reality that they were created by a Heavenly Father who is rejected by angels and humans alike.  Jesus was sent to reveal to us once and for all that even those who look godly must wrestle with the tendency of their heart to reject God.

King Herod was not even Jewish and was willing to kill tens of young children in order to protect his power over the nation.  The High Priest Caiaphas was willing to ram Jesus through a sham of a trial in order to protect his power over the nation.  Most of the elders of Israel were in full agreement with these actions too.  The scribes and the lawyers did not accept Jesus because he called them out for their legal trickery in avoiding the commands of God. 

Such rejection is difficult to experience and righteously process.  Young kids who experience unusual doses of rejection in a society often become antisocial.  However, Jesus is unique.  He is antisocial in the sense that he is critical of the society of his generation and its corrupted ways.  Yet, he is not really antisocial.  He is not angry and raging against society.  Rather, he is offering society a clear picture of where it is broken and in need of healing.  He is not warped and twisted by a root of bitterness.  Instead, he shows us the way to life in the midst of a wicked generation. 

We should not be deceived.  We too are in a wicked generation, and we too need the help of Jesus not to be twisted and warped in our own self-righteousness.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit to navigate these days and still be a river of life flowing in the desert of our society.

Next, Jesus prophesies that he will be executed or killed.  It is bad enough to be rejected, but being executed is an extreme form of rejection.  Isaiah 53 alludes to this fate for the Messiah.  However, Daniel 9:26 tells us in plain language that the Messiah would be cut off or executed.  “After the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.  The end of it shall be with a flood.”  No one in Israel as expecting the Messiah would come in order to be executed, and yet there it is in plain language.  The disciples were just as clueless about this as the rest of their society.

Lastly, Jesus prophesies that he will rise again after three days.  The story will not end with his death.  Now, the word for “rise again” can simply mean to get up off of your chair, or to get up out of a sick bed.  However, no one can mistake what “rise again” means in the context of a dead person.  He is foretelling his death and resurrection, both of which seem quite improbable.  They don’t believe that this is supposed to happen to the Messiah.  Also, Jesus was extremely popular with the multitudes of Israel.  Even though the leaders did not like him, why in the world would they ever kill him?  They are godly men. 

Yet, Jesus was completely right in his prophecy.  He was a true prophet, and he did rise again after being in the grave for 3 days.

Who rebukes whom?

In verses 32-33, Peter gives voice to the common thinking among the disciples.  Mark does not give us Peter’s actual words, but we are told that Peter takes Jesus aside from the group in order to rebuke him.  Matthew 16 gives us a clue when Peter states, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”  He could only see that the Messiah was to rule over Israel as its king.  How could he be rejected and killed?  Peter respects Jesus enough to take him aside, but he is still stepping out of place to try and teach the teacher.  Yet, it is clear that the disciples know what is happening and being said.  Peter is only voicing what they are all thinking.

There is an important contextual event happening here.  Just before this prophecy and rebuke, Peter had been complimented by Jesus for hearing the Father and recognizing that Jesus was the Messiah.  However, moments later (we don’t have a clear statement of how long later), Peter thinks that he knows what the Father wants to happen, and yet he is very wrong.  This must always be a lesson to us.  Hearing from God today does not guarantee that my ideas of tomorrow are from him too.  We should walk in humility with the things that God shows us.  We are the errant students.  Only Jesus is the perfect one.

Of course, you are never going to succeed when you attempt to rebuke God.  We have a whole generation of people who think they are more righteous than Jesus or God.  Such pride ends in the same place that Peter found himself.  Jesus quickly turns the rebuke back on Peter and puts him in his place.  Yet, before Jesus does this, we are told that he turns around and looks at his disciples.  The following rebuke appears to be for all of their benefit, not just for Peter.  Yes, Peter is the tip of the spear and thus he is the one being rebuked.  However, all of the disciples need to hear what Jesus has to say.  He needs to nip this persuasion that they all hold in the bud.

First, we notice that Jesus addresses Satan.  He is not calling Peter Satan.  Rather, he is recognizing that Peter is listening to the wrong spirit.  Wow, how could he hear the Father one minute and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, and then hear from Satan the next?  It is quite easily done.  We are very manipulable.  Our flesh tends to hear what it wants to hear and believe what it wants to believe.  This works in our favor when God’s Word happens to align with what we want.  Yet, the things that we want do not always line up with God’s Word.  In these times, it works against us.

Jesus commands Satan to get behind him.  Peter is listening to the wrong spirit and thus is attempting to get in the way of where Jesus knows that he must go.  We are used to unbelievers being used by the devil to try and stop God’s people from doing His will.  However, do not forget that Satan is always looking for those among the believers who will allow themselves to be led by their flesh, and therefore, to be led by him to resist what God is saying and doing.  Religious leaders must be very humble and careful about the pronouncements that they make because of these realities.  So, how do we keep this from happening?

Jesus gives us the key in what he says next.  Peter’s mind is not set on the right things, i.e. what God wants.  They have not made it their concern to discern the intentions of God in Jesus.  Instead, they are focused on what they want to happen and what will work to their benefit.  Our desires and hopes often get in the way of what God is doing.  They can mislead us even to the point that we become a tool or a useful idiot for the devil.  It is important that we recognize this aspect of ourselves, and work hard to keep our minds focused upon what God wants as opposed to what we want.

Of course, this area is fraught with pitfalls.  The important thing is to always hold what you think and want very loosely.  Pray about it, and meditate upon it.  Ask God to show you His good and perfect will.  He does not always answer with a clear word, but He always helps us to see through the issues.  Just like Peter came to see that Jesus was the Messiah over time, so too, we can come to see what God is doing in our generation, if we are patient and willing to learn.  We too can be led by the Father rather than being led by Satan.

Jesus clarifies what it will take to be his disciple

This situation requires Jesus to emphasize the point, and even to throw down a gauntlet of sorts.  In verses 34-38, Jesus tells his disciples that if they want to follow him then they will need to know right now that it won’t be easy.  He gives a series of difficult things that we must do in order to be his disciples in actuality.

The first is that we should deny ourselves.  This means to refuse the things that you want and instead to go after the things that God wants.  Just like Peter would later say of Jesus, “I don’t know the man,” so we must say of our own self and its desires.  Too many believers are trying to follow Jesus and yet not deny themselves.  Jesus states categorically that this is impossible.  Like trying to hold onto two horses that are going in opposite directions, we will eventually let go of one and cling to the other.  There is no way around it.  Life will force the issue sooner or later.  Which will you choose?

The second hard task is to take up our cross.  To deny yourself is the negative aspect.  It is the thing that we are rejecting and turning away from.  However, the next step is part of the positive aspect.  It is not enough to reject yourself and yet embrace the wisdom of a pastor, theologian, politician, or any other person on this earth that we respect (yes, including any angels).  Only Jesus is worthy of our devotion.  Yet, to follow him requires that we carry our cross.  Why a cross?  Most of us are not going to be put to death on a cross literally, and thus the cross is not primarily literal.  This is not to diminish the necessity to be ready to die for Christ in such a way.  The cross represents the implement of our own death.  That unique way in which I need to die to the things of this world and the way they pull on my flesh.  Eventually the path of Jesus will lead to a place that causes your flesh to shrink back.  Like a cross, it will lead in a direction that will cause death and loss of things that your flesh wants to keep.  It is in these times that our initial denial is challenged.  It is easier to start to follow Jesus, but hard times will come after it and test our resolve.  Will I embrace the cross of those things that I have to die to and lose in order to follow Christ?  That is the question.  Only a person prepared to die can survive such times.

Then, we are to follow Jesus.  We cannot have the cart before the horse.  Ultimately, Christians are not trying to die for dying’s sake.  Rather, we are following Jesus.  When we follow Jesus, conflicts will arise from it.  We are carrying our cross because at certain points along the way our Lord will make it clear to us where we need to die.  We are carrying our cross because we are always ready to join our Lord in his sufferings and death.  We do not do so because we love death, rather because we love the life that only our Lord can give.  Christians are those who do not need to fear death, loss, and not getting what they want.  We don’t need to fear these because we serve the Lord of Life.  If we lose anything for his sake then it will produce life in another way.

So, Jesus ends with several powerful statements.  He puts life and our soul in front of us.  If you live to save your life then you will lose your soul.  Wow, that is a scary statement.  What is my focus?  Are there things that I want so bad that I keep scratching and clawing in order to get them?  Are there things that make me so scared that I run from them and refuse to face them?

When we try to protect ourselves, we run from the very things that will help us to keep possession of our own soul.  Jesus basically says that we should stop the self-preservation approach to life, and simply trust God.  Which would you rather have?  The life you always wanted or to have full possession of your soul?  In Luke 21:19, Jesus says, “By your patience, take possession of your soul.”  We often become impatient and want things now.  God asks us to trust Him and wait for certain things.  There is a day of reward coming for those who suffer loss for His sake.  Can I wait for it?

Instead of self-preservation, we are to lay our lives down for the sake of Jesus and his Gospel.  This is not about me choosing to lay something down for Jesus.  It is a result of following Jesus and hearing his voice.  If I give up all manner of things except that which Jesus is asking me to surrender then I have not died to anything yet.  This is rebellion.  When I follow Jesus, I will run into a situation where I will be afraid for something in my life.  That fear will threaten to lead me off course.  Yet, in that moment, if I will lay that thing down, put it on the altar as a sacrifice, then I will be free to follow Jesus. 

The disciples had to die to the desire to sit on thrones next to Jesus.  If they kept clinging to that idea then they would not have gone on to do what they did.  Yet, there is coming a day after the resurrection when God will raise them up to rule over the tribes of Israel.  So, the choice is always between the life we want now and our own soul.  You can’t keep both.

To lose your soul is a scary thing.  Jesus asks us what a person can give in exchange for their soul back.  There is no answer, but to die to self and follow Jesus.  Only he has paid the price to give us full charge of our own souls. 

Am I ashamed to follow Jesus?  There are many voices in our culture touting the name of Jesus, even using it as some kind of billy club to get believers to head in a particular direction.  Do not forget that there has never been a time in which truly following Jesus led to all the things your flesh ever desired.  No, Jesus was marching towards public shame and humiliation, and until he comes back, this is our lot too.  Let’s not be ashamed of our Lord.  His shame brought us our souls, and brought us true life.  Let’s carry the shame of this world as a badge of honor because, when he returns, we will exchange that shame for the glory of Christ!

Jesus the Prophet audio

His Own Did Not Receive Him

Mark 6:1-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday August 11, 2019.

In John 1:10-12, we are told that Jesus came into the world that he created, but the world did not know him.  It also says that he came to his own [people] and his own did not know him.  However, as many as received, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name.  Now, it is proper to see the story of Jesus and his Church as something that started small, but has become a large thing over time.  This may give us a misunderstanding about its popularity.  The overall testimony of Scripture is that the world has not received Jesus as a whole.  He is a rejected savior.  Even within the ranks of Christianity, there are many who will not accept Jesus as he is presented in the Scriptures.  Instead, they use him as an inspiring idea that can be a springboard for the philosophy and wisdom of man that they love.

Yes, the true story of Jesus is one of rejection.  We will see in our story today that Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth in order to minister there.  What he experiences there is rejection, the same rejection that God has experienced from mankind from the beginning.  Adam and Eve followed the serpent and rejected God’s wisdom, which led mankind into sin and death.  As a world, we cried out for help and a savior.  Eventually God sent Jesus, but most rejected him.  In his mercy, God has left the door of grace open for the last two millennia.  However, eventually his judgment will come.  So the question is this.  Am I ready?

Today I pray that we will all search our hearts and recognize any unbelief and resistance that we may have towards the true Jesus of the Scriptures.  I pray that we will fully embrace Jesus, the one who was rejected by men, but accepted by God the Father.

Jesus teaches in Nazareth

Though Nazareth is not stated explicitly in the text (regardless of the NLT), it is the clear intention.  Some versions say “his own country,” and others use the word “hometown.”  The word literally means “fatherland,” and can be interpreted differently depending on the scope of the context.  In this passage the scope is viewing one particular town in Israel versus all the others.  Thus, hometown would be a good interpretation.  If this word was used in the context of one nation among many then “his own country” would be a good interpretation. So, we are clearly talking about Nazareth, a village on a small hill halfway between the southern shores of the Sea of Galilee and the shores of the Mediterranean.  This is approximately 30 miles from Capernaum.

Quickly let me remind the reader that Jesus did spend most of his first two years in Bethlehem where he was born.  When King Herod sent the soldiers to kill the babies in that village, the family of Jesus escaped to Egypt and spent at most two years there and maybe only several months.  This makes Jesus somewhere between 4 years old and 2 years old when they move back to Joseph and Mary’s home in Nazareth.  Jesus grows up there and doesn’t begin his ministry until he is about 30 years old.  This gives Jesus 26-28 years of history with the people in this story, it is his hometown.

Let me also state that Luke 4:16-30 is a parallel passage (telling the same story) and it gives us much more detail about this event than Mark does.  So, I will refer to Luke’s passage quite a bit throughout this sermon.

We are told that Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath.  This was the gathering day, but it is tough to say how many were there that day.  Although we do not know the population of Nazareth at this time, we do know that it was not a large city.  It was a service community for the nearby provincial capital named Sepphoris.

Mark only tells us that Jesus teaches, but does not give any detail on what he said.  Luke 4 gives us some of the details here.  Either Jesus volunteers to read or he is asked to read.  They would have heard stories and rumors of the kinds of things that Jesus had been doing over in the Galilee.  Apparently they hand him the scroll of Isaiah and he opens it to the part that we call chapter 61 and he reads the opening lines.  Here is the passage:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,”

At this point Jesus hands the scroll back and sits down.  With every eye looking at him, he then states, ““Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  It seems likely that he had taught some on the passage before he sits down because it says they were astonished at his teaching and wisdom.  Of course that last statement is the clincher.  Who does Jesus think he is?

For our purposes, it is interesting to note that Jesus cuts off his quote in mid-sentence.  The verse at the end states, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.”  Jesus had come to offer grace to God’s people and ultimately to the whole world.  This part of the passage wasn’t being fulfilled that day.  No, this was a day of grace and Jesus had come to offer God’s peace to whosoever would take hold of it.

We should also note that Isaiah contrasts the acceptable year of the Lord (or the year of his favor) with the day of his vengeance.   All throughout Scripture, it emphasizes the grace of God lasting a long time and the wrath or vengeance of God being short.  Ultimately God is far more gracious than his is wrathful.  In fact, the wrath is proportionally very small.  The world has had almost 2,000 years of God’s grace and withholding of the judgment of the nations.  During this time, he has offered peace to all people.  We must not take God’s grace for granted.  He gives us grace because he is good and he offers it for a long time because he is good, but eventually he will judge because he is good.

The astonishment of the people is expressed in a series of questions.  Where did he get this wisdom to teach and this ability to do powerful works (healing, exorcisms, etc.)?  Isn’t this the carpenter who is the son of Mary?  (Note:  It is here that we are told that Jesus definitely learned Joseph’s trade and had practiced it until he was 30 and began to minister).  They also mention his brothers (they would be half-brothers) James, Joses, Judas, and Simon.  Plus, it mentions “sisters” plural, so we know that there are at least two of them.  To me, this passage throws a wet blanket on the idea that Jesus did miracles throughout his childhood.  They are astonished at what they hear about him.  Behind all of these questions is the idea that Jesus is just another person from Nazareth.  He seems too common to be something as great as the Messiah.

We are told that they are “offended” by Jesus (end of verse 3).  This does not mean that Jesus was being insensitive and hurt their feelings.  The word means to be made to stumble.  This is meant metaphorically.  God had sent Jesus for Israel and the whole world to embrace as the Messiah, Lord and Savior.  Yet, they are rejecting this decree because they can’t conceive of this local boy becoming something great.  They are caused to stumble by their own stubbornness and unwillingness to accept what Jesus was.  We can see this same principle when a person changes from a bad life, and yet, people continue to hold their past against them.  God has given them the thing, for which they have been praying, but it doesn’t fit their preconceived notions and so they stumble over him.  He is the stumbling stone. 

He is rejected by his hometown

In Mark we have a proverb that Jesus quotes.  However, Luke adds another proverb previous to it.  Jesus sees their incredulous looks and responds by saying, “Surely you will say this proverb to me, ‘Physician, heal yourself.  Whatever you have done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown.’”  This may sound like people were open to believing, but it is not coming from such a place.  Rather, it is coming from a skeptical, unbelieving attitude.  Instead of saying that they believe and want to be healed, it is more like “show us what you got.”

Jesus then reminds them that a prophet generally is not honored in his own town, among his relatives, and in his own home.  No doubt the brothers of Jesus were there that day.  They were probably in their 20’s and late teens.  We know that they were just as resistant to this new, older brother of theirs as the towns people were.  Luke adds some further dialogue.  Jesus reminds them that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah the prophet, but he was sent to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon in Lebanon.  He also reminds them that there were many lepers in Israel during the days of Elisha the prophet, and yet only Namaan the Syrian general was cleansed.  Both examples beg the question.  Why were these gentiles healed and not the Israelites?  His implication is that the problem back then is the same problem now.  In the days of Elijah and Elisha, the wicked king Ahab and his wicked queen Jezebel were leading the people to worship the foreign god Baal.  People had quit believing in Yahweh, the God of Israel.    They refused to worship and serve the God of Israel and so they went after idols of their own making and the gods of the nations around them.  Nazareth was going to miss out, not because God didn’t care and didn’t provide, but because they would not believe and receive Jesus as God’s answer for them.

We are then told by Mark that Jesus was unable to do miracles, other than healing a couple of sick people because of their unbelief.  This statement is made after the fact and is a general statement, so it is unclear when Jesus healed these people.  It doesn’t seem likely that a whole bunch of sick people came forward to be healed, but when Jesus prayed for them, only two were healed.  More likely, Jesus offered to heal people and only two came forward.  The key is that they do not believe as a whole.  This unbelief is not because there is no evidence, but rather it is in the face of the evidence.  They do not believe because they will not believe.  They cannot accept Jesus as Lord and Savior because they are too familiar with him.

Others today refuse to believe in Jesus because he is too gracious, or some because he is not gracious enough.  Some do not believe because he does not stroke their ego in the way that they believe it should be.  Some resist because he came in an age that was not nearly as enlightened as our age.  There are many more besides these.  Let me challenge you today.  Unbelief is powerful, but it is also easily conquered when we see the flimsy nature of the objections that we make and the things about Jesus that cause us to stumble.  Jesus is a challenge from God, a stumbling block to our flesh.  Will I let go of my pride and believe, or will I stumble?

Mark ends the story here with Jesus leaving and going to other villages to teach, but Luke tells us more.  There we find that the people became so filled with wrath that they rose up to push Jesus out of the city and off a cliff next to the town.  They were going to kill him, but it wasn’t the time.  We are simply told that Jesus passed through the middle of them and went his own way.  Were they paralyzed by the power of God in him?  Or, did he hide himself from them by the same power?  We are not told.  It is bad enough not to believe in Jesus.  This is much worse.  They are actively rejecting him and trying to remove him from before them.  You cannot run from Jesus.  God has set him before the whole world and demands a verdict from us.  Will you embrace him and live, or will you reject him and die?  I pray that you will choose life with me!

His Own audio