0960 Mk.6.1-13 Mission and Rejection Pt.1
Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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· 1 viewThe fact of being rejected must be taken seriously by all Christians. It is vital that we acknowledge our fear of rejection. That is the only way we can begin to overcome it. As Christians, we must overcome it because the Lord does not permit secret disciples. This passage shows that Jesus Himself first experienced rejection.
Notes
Transcript
There is a classic line I love from the 1985 movie “Back to the Future”
Marty, the teenager, goes back to the past and comes across his father who is now his same age
One thing he found out about his father is that he is a pushover & people use him
The reason - his father hates rejection, so he goes along with whatever people do to him, even if its bad
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But Marty messed up that point in time where his father was suppose to meet his mother, Lorraine, where they fall in love & get married
But if they don’t meet, they don’t fall in love & they don’t get married & Marty, well - he will be no more (erased from existence) - he will disappear from time & space because his parents never met
So Marty has to orchestrate a meeting between his dad, George & his mum, Lorraine - & it proves to be a lot harder than he realises
His father can’t handle rejection which means that Marty faces an uphill battle to get his father to meet his mother
RUN CLIP
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“I don’t know if I can take that kind of rejection”
Rejection is something that many people have trouble with
Most people feel it acutely & a small minority not so - but generally speaking, rejection is very difficult to take
The sense of being rejected puts a stop to the things Marty’s father, George, would have liked to have done
As in publishing a book or asking a girl out
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On a deeper level, the fear of rejection creates huge dilemmas for our Christian faith
These rejections from the world come in different faces
One face, can be rejection from the closest members of one’s family
Another face, is professional rejection from colleagues that are heading in an opposing direction to the Christian faith
Still another face, are the laws that government put in place to limit a Christian’s expression of his or her faith in the world
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Q. How is it that we struggle with being rejected?
Q. Are we insecure? Q. Are we not prepared to lose our comfortable surrounds for the inconvenience & even pain that comes from being rejected?
What happens, then, is the Christian will avoid those moments or opportunities that may cause rejection to arise
Q. But is that a faithful response from the disciple of Christ?
I’m not asking with the notion of Bible bashing in mind; I’m asking from the notion of people clearly knowing that you are Christian
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From the outset, let us understand that rejection is a universal dislike across all people, Christian or not
No one really likes to be rejected
Q. Why do you suppose that is?
It’s probably due to the fact that God has made us relational beings
We have a built-in function for social relations
Which is why, as Christians, fellowship is one of our prime goals & one of the great expressions of our discipleship
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But I want to raise one common misconception that I hope will help give you a better understanding into what is going on here
We have been told, by the world, that to overcome such feelings of worthlessness, rejection and disappointment is to learn to love yourself
According to this belief, self-love is the way to overcome the lack of love & rejection from people
Self-love is suppose to restore your worth & dignity that you fail to get from others
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But self-love, I suggest will never alleviate the problem because God made us to be social people who accept one another
We have not been built to be self-centred, but other-people centred
So to affirm self-love is not just like giving the wrong medication to a person, it can be detrimental to their well being
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A lack of self-love cannot help when the root problem is the lack of loving people
In fact, the Scriptures declare the truth, that we do love ourselves
“You shall love your neighbour as yourself”
That command would be useless if it were not true that we love ourselves
The apostle Paul also stated when addressing the way husbands are to love their wives
28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
Here it is plain:- When a husband loves his wife, it shows that he loves himself because he is in that one flesh marriage relationship with his wife
But then, he reinforces the fact of self-love with… “for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it”
He leaves humiliation for the man who does not love his wife for this man is not functioning according to the one flesh principle
First premise: every man loves himself
Second premise: if a man is in a one flesh relationship
Third premise: The man will love his wife
All this is evident from the way Christ loves the church which is His bride in a “one flesh” or an “in Christ”, “clothed with Christ”, relationship
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The bottom line is that if a person truly hated themselves, wouldn’t they be happy to be treated badly because that bad treatment would match their evaluation
Q. If they think they are so unworthy, why are they unhappy about rejection?
In fact, no one thinks unloving attitudes towards themselves is justified which is why people get upset when they are rejected
So, we do love ourselves & the Lord’s position is that we tend to excel in that, far more than warranted
The Lord wants our love directed towards others, not ourselves
Just one more on this subject
3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Paul can say this because what he & we received is grace
We have not championed salvation - it has come via the grace of Jesus Christ
I remember a psychologist trying to justify the self-esteem teaching the world follows by saying that “Oh, Paul says we have to have sober judgement...”
To this psychologist, however, sober judgement meant a healthy self-esteem
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But that is not what Paul is meaning at all - in fact, it is 180 degrees off centre
Having sound judgement means agreeing with the apostle that all things have come via grace
Paul goes on to explain how we should be accepting the truth that God gives gifts to the body & that the gifts vary which means one person cannot do it all
If you remember Diotrephes from the Epistles of John, the apostle speaks against the self-appointed, self-gratifying spirit that exists in Diotrephes
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The point about rejection must be taken seriously by all Christians
I think it is vital that we acknowledge our fear of rejection
That is the only way we can begin to overcome it
As Christians, we must overcome it because the Lord does not permit secret disciples
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
Deny yourself…whoever wishes to save his life will lose it… This cuts across the grain, does it not, of self-love!
26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
The fear of rejection can & will, cause you to act as if you are ashamed of Jesus Christ
As Christians, we need to take serious stock of this
1. Rejection
1. Rejection
This passage helps us to realise that the rejection we face from the world, from work colleagues, from governmental authorities is not unexpected, for Jesus Himself first received this rejection
Here is Jesus in His hometown & He has notoriety for He is able to have the privilege to stand up & teach in the Synagogue
He blows them away with the miracles He performed, with His wisdom & His teaching
The listeners were astonished!
The word astonished means “to strike out”, “to strike with panic”
Such was the amazement of the people
But the tables quickly turn when they realise that this person is the same Jesus they had known all their lives
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A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honour" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."
You will recall the attitude of Jesus’ family when He was in Capernaum
They went there in order to restrain Him
As far as they were concerned, He was unhinged, out of His mind
His family, at this point, were more than “outsiders” - they were “outer space”
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Yet, they were not lost completely as we find that, after Jesus’ resurrection, many of them come to believe
5 Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
Furthermore, church history tells us that the grandsons of Jude-as were known to be members of the church at the turn of the 1st century
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Q. Can you imagine how it would be if you grew up with a sibling whom you then find out that He is claiming that He is God in the flesh or that He has been sent from heaven?
Q. Wouldn’t you think He’s a nutta or gone, at least, a bit fanatical?
I remember when my sister first got involved with the youth group at the SCC
Both my Dad & I, prior to becoming Christians ourselves, were quite concerned that she had mixed herself up in a sect or cult
In a similar way, we were wondering how we could get her away from them
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Q. Strange as it seems, it is true that “familiarity breeds contempt”
To the people of Nazareth, Jesus is a local boy who grew up and became the resident chippy who worked broadly in many fields - with that of timber for homes, to a craftsman who made furniture, even to making & fixing ploughs
There was no reason for Him to turn out any different from that of His brothers they assumed
Perhaps, what is happening here is that Jesus had already been placed in a category/box by the people who knew Him & He was not allowed out of that box
3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.
English word, Offence, is from the Gk. skandalizo & you guessed it - it is related to the word English word, scandal
We could say that they were scandalised by the thought that Jesus could have come from God - how ridiculous they thought - we’ve known Him all our lives
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It was very common, also, that OT prophets were rejected by their own people - as Jesus says, that “a prophet is without honour in his hometown & among his own relatives and household”
Q. But what is this now that we find?
That He could do no miracle there!
5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
Q. Does this mean that He couldn’t or wouldn’t do any miracles there?
There is a difference - either Jesus lacked the power to do a miracle there or lacked the will to do a miracle there
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I think we are looking at the latter
In a parallel passage, Matthew just says that he did not do many miracles
58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
There is a definite positive link between miracles and faith in His power
5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
Faith is the all important background here to the working of a miracle
As I mentioned last time, it seems to be specific to faith in Him as the One with the power to save - on a scale of 1-10, He’s an 11
2. Mission
2. Mission
It’s important for us to see in this Scripture today how Mark shows the link between the rejection of Jesus by His own people & the people’s rejection of His apostles
The point is that, as the church exists in the world, she will find it no different from what her Lord found as He was in the world
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Jesus sends out the 12 apostles on a mission to spread His message of the Kingdom
They are going to face the same sort of rejection &/or acceptance that He Himself faced
They preach the message of repentance which Jesus Himself preached
They also cast out demons and heal the sick as Jesus had done
What Jesus did in His power, the disciples did with His power
They found some acceptance but also rejection as Jesus had experienced
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But on a broader scale this is also true for us as His people
Perhaps people have been shocked, dismayed, disappointed in you since you decided to become a Christian
They may have known you all of your life & now - what are you doing becoming a Christian!!!
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Jesus has sent out others as well on a mission - at one time, He sent out 70 under the same circumstances
Don’t take money, no bag etc.. but to stay with those who accept you & do not go from house to house
I wondered to myself what it would be like to have nothing but the clothes on your back to preach the kingdom of God
I imagine it would be rather challenging
Q. Where would your next meal come from, for example?
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We always plan our meals ahead of time & go to the supermarket & buy up what we need
But how do you do that with no money?
Imagine doing that today? How many people do you think would open their homes & feed & bed you for nothing?
There is a difference, however - Jesus was still there with them
Remember! Who was there in the boat during the storm!
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These are Jesus’ words on the night He was arrested in Gethsemane
35 And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.” 36 And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.
It seems like the 12 were looked after by Jesus in like manner to the way God looked after 12 tribes of Israel in the wilderness where they were totally dependant upon God to survive - Manna came down from heaven
But now that Jesus will no longer be with them, along with rejection, they are to be ready for hardship & sacrifice
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Maybe some final questions & thoughts here
Why go in pairs?
What does it mean to shake the dust off your feet?
How will you handle rejection?
Why in pairs? Why marriage? - Companionship, mutual support
9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. 11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
When two were working together, as we were on Friday sandbagging, the fact of working together became apparent
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This is not the only reason, however
There is also the sense that only upon the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses could a person be declared guilty (Deut. 17:6) - you couldn’t condemn a person on the word of just one person (unlike where our legal system is going today)
Those who reject the message of Jesus & His kingdom will not be able to wriggle out of it, as there are at least 2 witnesses to that rejection
Yet, also 2 witnesses for those who receive/accept the message
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Shake off the dust of your feet!
If you have tread on the soles of your shoes, you know how hard it is to remove say, clay from the tread, or worse still, doggy do do that you picked up while walking over the grassy area of the footpath as you come into the house
It’s not long before you realise that you have some unwelcome smell that has come in with you
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It was the custom of pious Jews, returning from a journey, to shake the Gentile lands dust off their feet as they re-entered the Israel
It’s also giving us a picture of Israel as she separated (key word) herself from the other nations of the world
So the apostles & the church, separates from the world in the sense of their ways, thoughts, beliefs, morals, ethics etc.
Shaking off the dust is a prophetic act, announcing judgement upon those who reject the message of Christ
50 But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
A little different as in shaking off your garment rather than sandals or feet, but the context is the same
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Q. Finally, how will you handle rejection & are you prepared to accept rejection?
Q. Here’s the thing: if a disciple isn’t prepared to accept rejection from the world, how can this person then be able to receive acceptance from Jesus?
In other words, If a disciple can’t accept rejection from the world, then that disciple is, in fact, rejecting Jesus
That’s shocking isn’t it - but it’s true
26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Rejection and shame are linked here
Everyone likes to distance themselves from anything they are ashamed of - true?
If, as we live in the world, we distance ourselves from knowing Jesus, then aren’t we showing the world that we are ashamed of Him
That’s His point - we cannot distance ourselves from Jesus whether we are in private or in public
Main point: People should clearly know that we belong to Christ - do they know that of both me & you?
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Cracking open a Qld nut (macadamia nut) is a fine art - with great reward 😀
When using a hammer you have to judge well, the strength of the hit you give to it
Too little & it bounces back up; too much it squashes it like a grape
There’s a fine line for cracking open the nut so that the kernel of the nut is kept in shape
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That’s how it is with living for Christ in a Christless world
If you don’t, in public, give your Christianity any airplay, you will be just be bouncing off the “nut” with no impact in the world
If you smash everyone with your Christianity & brutalise or “Bible bash” them, then you will be smashing the “nut” flat
But using the right measure of grace & conviction, with God’s help, the nut will be cracked open & ready to be received
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It’s not easy - & let’s face it - we are cowards & we can make plenty of excuses for ourselves
But never forget the words of Jesus: "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Lk. 9:26)