Mark 6:1-13 - Misunderstanding Jesus Leads to Rejection
Notes
Transcript
My uncle Greg owned a Garage door business.
He went out to repair a door
Uncle Greg would isolate the problem.
The part he noticed was broken was squeaking, so he hit it was some WD40
and was speaking with the customer about the issue that he was having.
He explained, “It’s gotta be your operator.”
The man said, “It can’t be!”
Greg said, “Yes, sir. You’ve got an operator error.
The more uncle Greg talked, the angrier the man got.
This went on for 5-10 minutes.
The man snapped at Greg and said, “I graduated with a masters in engineering! I think I can push a button on a wall!”
Greg then understood the problem.
The part that was broken was called the “operator”
Context:
Jesus has just left Jairus’ house in Capernaum after healing his dead daughter
The question that everyone has been asking is, “Who is this guy? Who is this Jesus that’s been healing and teaching?
Last week we saw the importance of seeing Jesus for who He is, but that comes with Jesus being misunderstood.
Jesus was often misunderstood during His earthly ministry.
The religious leaders, the Roman government, and even oftentimes His followers misunderstood Jesus.
Big Idea:
Misunderstanding Jesus Leads to Rejection
Misunderstanding Jesus Leads to Rejection
Stand to read Mark 6:1-3
1 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Leader: This is God’s Word written down for you and for me
Everyone: Thanks be to God
Jesus has come to His hometown of Nazareth
A small town in Galilee where His family lives.
The last time He was in Nazareth, he was teaching in the synagogue and the crowd tried to kill Him.
This time, He brought His disciples for some training time right before He sends them out on some short term mission trips.
Jesus enters a synagogue on the Sabbath, just like usual, and begins teaching.
Whenever Jesus teaches, He is usually met with amazement.
Mark 1:21–22 “21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
This is not the response Jesus gets from the hometown crowd.
Jesus is met with all sorts of questions and confusion
“Where did He get this stuff from?”
Then they begin pointing to the fact that they know Him personally.
Jesus was a human with a normal family.
“Isn’t that His mom, brothers, and sisters sitting right over there?”
“Didn’t you change His diapers?”
Here Jesus is, teaching people about the Kingdom of God in ways that absolutely amaze other people.
Yet just because they know Him from the past, they can’t get passed the former image they saw of Him.
4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
Going to preach at other churches is always a treat.
Everyone is always nice to the guest preacher
I’m rarely ever met with criticism
“What did you like about it?” “I liked all of it!”
People treat preachers they don’t really know with honor and respect.
Jesus says that that is a good and right thing, it’s just not likely when you come home.
When I come home, Silas doesn’t call me, “Pastor Dad.”
Hilary does not greet me by calling me “Pastor Bo.”
There’s a deeper familiarity there
They know me as more than Pastor/preacher.
For me, not being taken seriously is disappointing.
For Jesus, not being taken seriously bears eternal consequences.
Jesus is amazed at their unbelief!
“Are you guys kidding me?”
The people thought they knew Jesus because of their preconceived notions of Jesus
So many people approach Jesus like they already know who they are talking to.
Jesus teaches us here that familiarity causes some issues in understanding.
To the point that they were offended by Him! (v. 3)
Familiarity can cause us to misunderstand Jesus
Familiarity can cause us to misunderstand Jesus
There are sayings that we’ve heard and attributed to Christianity that simply aren’t true.
“God helps those who help themselves”
“Karma: What goes around, comes around”
“God never gives us more that we can handle”
“God gives the hardest battles for His toughest soldiers.”
All of these sound nice, the only problem is that they’re unbiblical.
We’ve grown so familiar to these sayings that we’ve ascribed them to the Bible.
Jesus Himself is often required to overcome our preconceived notions of a God we say we can/cannot believe in.
APPLICATION: Leave what is familiar for what is true.
So many try to cram Jesus into their boxes
“I can’t believe in a Jesus who ____”
Jesus does not change based on what we can or can’t believe
Jesus is not subject to your ideology of Him.
The Lord has revealed Himself and you either reject Him or receive Him
Jesus is not to be subjected to your philosophies
Jesus is a King to be submitted to!
If our opinions or ideas of who Jesus is contradict His Word, then we’re wrong about Him
You don’t get to dictate who I am.
You don’t get to tell people that I’m 300 pounds, enjoy NASCAR, and that I think putting sauce on steak is a good idea.
Not surrendering to the reality of who Jesus is rejecting Jesus.
Jesus moves on from Nazareth and begins preaching in other cities and towns
He calls to Himself His disciples to prepare to send them out
He divides them up into 6 teams of 2.
The should go as teams because Lone Rangers are easy lunch for the enemy.
He gives them limited authority over demons
They are going out with as extensions of King Jesus!
To demons they are viewed as Jesus Himself!
This is a huge responsibility and honor!
These guys are ambassadors of the gospel!
Jesus said that He was going to make them fishers of men, now is the first outing!
They’re are going to go out and heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach the gospel!
He gives them a charge
8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 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.”
These guys are not traveling in luxury or first class.
They are being sent out in dependence on Him.
In Matthew’s account He follows His commission with:
Matthew 10:16 “16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
Wow, that’s encouraging.
Now go get ‘em!
Jesus doesn’t bait and switch them.
Jesus is a truth-teller.
It’s going to get weird for you
It’s not going to be easy.
Some people will not receive the gospel.
Some people will get violent toward you.
Matthew 10:22 “22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
When they don’t receive you, shake the dust off your feet!
Church, what we should learn from this is:
We can expect to be misunderstood (vv. 7-11a)
We can expect to be misunderstood (vv. 7-11a)
Jesus doesn’t say to the people who follow Him that every day is going to be great and everyone is going to love you.
Quite the contrary.
He prepares His people for reality.
We live in a broken world with broken people.
When you become a Christian and share your faith in the gospel, some people are going to reject your message.
Some people have been so blinded by the darkness of this world that they can’t receive the light of the truth.
They’ve fallen in love with the dark and can’t understand the light.
APPLICATION: Be willing to be misunderstood
Some people may view you differently after you become a Christian and begin following Jesus.
Some will consider you a Bible-thumper or a biggot.
They’ll ask questions like: “Where did they learn this from?”
Some might try to convince you that you are who you were before Jesus and remind you of your past.
Your job is not to relativize the truth for them, but rather live the truth in front of them.
You’re not called to make the gospel “cool.” You’re called to live as if you belong in God’s family.
What that will do is cause people to misunderstand] you.
And some might reject you.
You can still love and pursue people who reject you.
Jesus does this all the time.
Jesus is frequently misunderstood.
But misunderstanding and rejecting Jesus comes with consequence.
If you misunderstand who Jesus is, you will be rejected (v. 11b)
If you misunderstand who Jesus is, you will be rejected (v. 11b)
Notice how He modeled verse 11 in verse 6
Mark 6:6 “6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.”
They didn’t receive His teaching, so He left His hometown and continued preaching.
Rejection by a group of people did not stunt Jesus’s confidence in the message of the gospel!
Their rejection led Him to be astonished at their unbelief!
If you reject Jesus, you will be rejected by Jesus in the Kingdom.
APPLICATION: Don’t misunderstand Jesus!
Gospel Presentation
At one time, we all misunderstood Jesus
We were separated from God, walking in the way we thought best.
We lived apart from God’s will and blessing, and presence.
We were enemies of God.
But God was patient and merciful
He gave us a promise that though we were His enemies, He was going to make a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to Him again.
At the right time, He sent His own Son
Jesus would be the peacemaker between God and man!
Jesus was the divine and eternal Son of God who lived as a man!
He was the righteousness of God in a person
He was the perfect human that we all failed to be!
Yet, we rejected Jesus!
We misunderstood Jesus, but this was all according to the plan!
Jesus came on a mission.
Jesus gave up His life on the cross as the divine sacrifice
The Father viewed Jesus as if He were us!
Jesus was viewed as the criminal, the enemy!
2 Corinthians 5:21 “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
He took our punishment for us, so that we may be made right with God again!
Three days later, Jesus showed us that the debt had been paid
He rose from the dead, claiming victory over death and sin!
That we can be brought to God!
That we may understand that we are forgiven of all our sin and made children of God!
Friends, don’t misunderstand this!
God showed His love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
That those who believe in Jesus through faith will be saved!
If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, believe in Jesus today!
Don’t continue living in misunderstanding who Jesus is!
Here in a moment, we’re going to respond. This is a time for you to put your faith in Jesus and trust Him as Lord!
If you’re a Christian, you must proclaim this gospel!
We must speak the truth, although we may be misunderstood (v. 12-13)
We must speak the truth, although we may be misunderstood (v. 12-13)
Jesus called His disciple to go, so they went
12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
They began preaching the gospel and calling people to repentance.
“Repentance” is often viewed as a heavy word
Some people have misused it and have hurt people.
This is not the tone of the good news!
Ephesians 4:15 “15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”
What is repentance?
Repentance is when someone turns from his or her sin to faith in God!
Leaving the darkness and coming to the light!
It means to come back to life, where Jesus is!
It means to be who Jesus has called you to be in Him!
You’re forgiven!
Jesus has healed you!
You’ve been set free from sin
Repentance is acknowledging that I haven’t walked with Jesus and I want to be with Him!
No strings attached!
Only faith in Jesus!
Jesus never looks at someone who wants to turn from their sin saying, “It’s about time!”
Jesus celebrates when people recognize they live in the dark and want to get out of it!
So why don’t we do that?
Let’s continually declare war on our sin just as Jesus did and be with Jesus
Let’s also invite other people to join us in following Jesus!
Some of you may be misunderstood by your family and friends
Some of you may be misunderstood by co-workers and neighbors.
But Jesus won’t misunderstand your faithfulness.
And you will see friends and family members come to know Jesus through your obedience to Jesus.
So, who are you bringing to church with you next week? Let’s start there.
Valuable Insights:
Exegetical Outline:
Jesus is misunderstood in His hometown Nazareth (vv. 1-6)
Jesus sends the twelve out on the Little Commission (vv. 7-13)
Jesus prepares the disciples to be misunderstood/rejected (v. 11)
Herod and his subjects misunderstand who Jesus is (vv. 14-17)
Herod and Herodias misunderstand John (vv. 18-20)
John understands Jesus (v. 18)
Herod’s daughter-niece “dances” for Herod and gets John killed (vv. 21-29)
Big Idea: Misunderstanding Jesus leads to rejection (by Jesus)
Applicational Outline:
Familiarity can cause us to misunderstand (vv. 1-6)
APPLICATION: We must leave familiarity for truth.
We can expect to be misunderstood. (vv. 7-11a)
APPLICATION: Be willing to be misunderstood
If you misunderstand who Jesus is, you will be rejected. (v. 11b)
Gospel Presentation
APPLICATION: Don’t misunderstand Jesus!
We must speak the truth, although we may be misunderstood. (vv. 12-29)
Preaching Prep NOTES
Series: Command+R
Text: Mark 6:1-29
Sermon Date: October 1, 2023
1. Big Idea: Misunderstanding Jesus Leads to Rejection
2. Tweet the Point:
Misunderstanding the gospel leads to rejecting Jesus. Rejecting Jesus leads to being rejected by Jesus.
3. Command:
Don’t misunderstand Jesus. Seek understanding!
4. Explanation:
Misunderstanding leads to rejecting
Rejecting leads to being rejected.
Rejecting the gospel is rejecting Jesus.
5. Illustration:
Uncle Greg “Operator” Story
6. What would people lose if this text wasn’t there:
What is at risk at misunderstanding Jesus?
Why do people misunderstand Jesus?
What happens if people misunderstand me as a Christian?
How long do I wait before “wiping my feet?”
7. When are you sharing the Gospel?
-Verse 11b--Don’t misunderstand Jesus.
8. Additional Service Comments/Elements?
- Communion
9. “Big Idea” Question we are answering:
What are the consequences of misunderstanding and rejecting Jesus?
10. Points