When Familiar Hinders Faith

Scripture

Matthew 13:53–58 “53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”

Where did this man get his mighty works?

The people know Jesus and his family.....that he was raised a craftsman. He grew up learning the trade of carpentry.

Yet he is teaching them with insight and authority.

They question because they realize there is something incredible about what Jesus is doing and saying, yet they know that he didn’t have any formal training.

Their offense came from Jesus’ claim to be something that they assume He is not.

Jesus claimed to be God....but they knew him as the baby, the little boy, the carpenter, the man.

Ultimately they were too familiar with Jesus in a human way.

This familiarity with Jesus’s humanity blinded them to the reality of His divinity.

They were being led by their sight rather than by their faith.

They were being led by what they knew or understood, rather than by faith.

Familiarity can either work for you or against you.

When familiarity closes your mind and heart to new and wondrous realities, it is working against you.

When familiarity puts God in a box, it is a hindrance to faith.

That was the problem with these people....they’re familiarity closed their minds when a more beautiful story was unfolding before them.

Application

Naturally, the question is, “Is familiarity hindering my faith?”

Our context is different that the Israelites back when Jesus walked the earth.

We never knew or grew up with Jesus as a human, so it’s not familiarity with Jesus humanity that will be our hindrance, it might be something else.

What are some signs that familiarity has become a hindrance to my faith?

Familiarities

Culture Without Conviction

The presence of Christian culture is a good thing....there is nothing wrong with it......The issue comes when Christianity is more of a cultural identity than it is a personal conviction.

Examples of Christian culture

Family culture

I grew up in a Christian household, and Christianity was built into the culture of our household.

Prayer before meals

Family Devotions in the morning

Biblical principles in discipline

Apologizing and forgiving

Spanking while quoting Scripture

Church culture

National culture

If all you are is a product of your culture, then when your culture changes, you change with it.

This is one of the reasons I believe young people who grew up in Christian families leave the faith when they go off to college.

They are familiar with everything Christian because of their family culture, but without any form of personal conviction.

Solution: Think through your personal beliefs and reasons for following Christ.

Is it personal for you?

Strive for a faith that is deeply rooted in personal conviction.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Routine Without Reflection

Routines are great.....I’m a routine guy. My Christian routines look pretty much the same every morning.

Go over my routine

The issue is not the routine.....because those can be really helpful, the issue is engaging in religious practices mechanically, or without genuine reflection.

Story of when I read 10 chapters of Scripture and bragged to my mom

Solution: Incorporate moments of mindfulness and reflection into your spiritual routines.

When reading Scripture, ask questions of the text

Do that with the passage we just went through.

Rather than praying “God you are good” give examples of his goodness.

Assumptions without Seeking

What is an assumption?

“a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen”

The problem with the people in Jesus’ home town is they assumed they knew all there was to know about Jesus.

There wasn’t room for new information....he can’t be God, because we know him as a man.

They were overly confident in their understanding of who Jesus was

We all have assumptions that we carry with us in lots of areas of our lives

I’ve read this Scripture before, I already know what it means.

This is how God spoke to me in the past, that’s how he is always going to do it.

This is how God moved in the past, that is how he is going to do it again.

Solution: Stay open and humble.

Realize that you don’t know everything there is to know.

Seek out understanding. Pray God reveal Himself in new ways to you.

Jesus parables were spoken in a way that brought insight to the kingdom of God for those who wanted to seek it out, but it hid the truth from those who lived on assumption.

Who’s ears and eyes were closed.

Relationship without Intentionality

Ya’ll don’t know about this yet, but let me tell you what will happen when you start dating and get married.

Honeymoon phase vs. when things settle down

After several years in a relationship, you become so familiar with that person, that excitement of the relationship begins to wear off.

Over time what tends to happen is as your excitement decreases your intentionality decreases as well.

You don’t plan dates nights anymore.

You don’t ask questions and communicate the way you used to.

A relationship without intentionality becomes complacency

Complacency means “feeling satisfied enough with your situation, that you don’t feel the need to try any harder.”

Complacency kills intimacy in relationships

And we can do that in our relationship with Christ.

Becoming complacent in spiritual growth due to a sense of familiarity can hinder the deepening of one's faith.

Solution: Live with intentionality.

Plan ways you can serve/minister.

Buy a book/commentary on a book of the Bible and do a deep dive.

Pray in new ways.