Rejecting Christ
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration-
A Sunday School teacher who I watched cut the long hair off a paper cut out of Jesus.
She had presuppositions about Jesus, and it affected the way she saw Jesus. In her mind Jesus would never have long hair.
We all have presuppositions about God.
Some due to culture.
Some due to our church. Overly harsh or overly permissive.
Some due to religion. Jehovah Witness will see Him as an angel, Muslims will see Him as a prophet, Buddhists will see Him as a guru.
The people of Nazareth had presuppositions about Jesus. Their problem was they were too familiar with Him.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
He spent a couple of years in Egypt.
He spent over 25 years living in the city of Nazareth.
When the people of Nazareth were confronted with the reality of who Jesus is they could not handle it. They wanted the Jesus they thought they knew so they rejected the real Jesus.
We all have presuppositions about Jesus. The important thing is when we are confronted with who Jesus really is we are willing to accept the truth. The city of Nazareth was not willing to do that. They rejected Jesus.
This morning I want to show you three things:
1. Jesus returns to Nazareth (53-54).
2. The people of Nazareth are confused when they hear Jesus teach (54-57).
3. The refusal of Jesus to perform signs in Nazareth (58).
1. Jesus returns to Nazareth (53-54).
A. Jesus had already been rejected in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30).
He preached His first sermon in that synagogue.
His text was Isa. 61:1-2.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,”
He told the people He was the fulfillment of the prophets Words. He told them He was the Messiah.
The people got angry.
He told them that in the OT God sent the prophet Elijah to a Gentile widow instead of Jews.
He told them God sent Elisha to heal a Gentile leper instead of a Jewish leper.
His point was if they rejected the Messiah then the Messiah would go to the Gentiles.
They got angry. They kicked Him out of the city and tried to throw Him off of a cliff.
Imagine that reaction to your first sermon! You might not want to preach again.
B. Jesus returns to Nazareth.
It had probably been about a year since that first sermon. We might wonder why they let Him preach again. Probably a few reasons.
When He preached the first time, He didn’t have any disciples. Now He had 12.
When He preached the first time, He did not have the reputation as a great preacher.
When He preached the first time, He had not done any miraculous signs. Now He was known as a miracle worker.
It is interesting that they let Him return. But the more amazing thing is that Jesus was willing to return and preach to these people. He could have shaken the dust off His feet.
Aren’t you glad Christ often returns when He is rejected?
How many times has He returned to us?
We have rejected His salvation.
We have rejected His wisdom.
We have rejected His comfort.
Thank God Christ returns to us!
Some of the most encouraging words in the OT are “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time!”
Jonah rejected God. He hid from God. He said “No!” to God, yet the Lord came to him again.
Some of you tried the patience of God, I am sure!
C. Perhaps Nazareth was close to His heart.
He lived among these people for over 25 years. He only lived 33 years, so over 75 % of His life was lived in this little town.
The population was at the most 2,000 and that’s being generous. Our city, Dublin Ga, is considered small and we have over 15,000 people.
Jesus likely knew most of the people there. Jesus had close friends (ex. Mary, Martha and Lazarus). Jesus had close relationships with people.
His earthly father was a carpenter. That put Him into contact with people. Jesus took up the trade (Mark 6:3). This meant Jesus was probably called to people’s farms and houses. He didn’t just sit in His room and pray all the time.
Think of how often Christ attended synagogue. The Bible says it was His custom. He would have known many people simply from attending synagogue each week since He was a small toddler.
Jesus grew up with these people and He cared about them.
We’re like that aren’t we? We won’t everybody to be saved but there are some people we really pray for by name. There are people we have grown to love because we have been around them our entire life.
2. The people of Nazareth are confused when they hear Jesus teach (54-57).
A. The questions. You know it’s a good sermon when they start asking questions after the sermon.
Not questions like:
What time is it?
Does that preacher have a watch?
Where we eating?
These are questions about Jesus.
There are six questions:
Where did this man get all this wisdom and power?
Is this not the carpenter’s son?
Isn’t Mary His mother?
Aren’t His brothers James, Joses, Judas and Simon?
Aren’t His sisters living in this city?
Where did this man learn all these things?
Education
Relation
Occupation
Let’s consider each.
Education- they were upset because Jesus had not been educated in their schools. He had not been to one of the Rabbinical schools.
In John 7:15 the people said of Jesus “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned”. The Scripture says that Jesus taught with authority. He could not be rebutted or stumped by the questions of the religious leaders. Even at age 12 He astonished the religious leaders with the questions He asked. No one had ever taught like Jesus taught.
Listen to me folks, we’re not here to educate Jesus, He is here to educate us. There are many who reject Christ because of what they call education. They can’t take the Bible for truth because the schools of our day contradict it. But the Bible is the greatest book ever written and it answers the most important questions of life.
The question of origin- Where did we come from?
The question of purpose- Why are we here?
The question of our future- where are we headed?
We put too much stock in worldly education.
No one is called Doctor in heaven. You don’t take your degrees with you.
Yet there are those who reject Christ because of something they have read in a book. If you believe what the world says, then you believe:
We came from nothing.
We exist for no reason.
We are headed to nothing.
Education has its place but please listen:
Jesus is smarter than your professor.
The Bible is truer than your textbooks.
Are we to think that God relates to us in some super intellectual manner? If that were true, the gospel would only be available to the super intellectual. If you think the gospel is too simple, consider this:
Are you hungry? Eat and you will be full!
Are you thirsty? Drink and you will be hydrated!
Are you broke? Work and you will get paid!
Isn’t that simple? The most important things in life are simple.
Eat and you’ll be full!
Drink and you’ll be hydrated!
Work and you’ll be paid!
Believe and you will be saved!
God has made the most important things in life very simple. Why would we want it any other way?
Relation- they believed Jesus could not be the Messiah because of who He was related to. They looked at His stock.
They knew all His brothers and sisters. They knew His mom and dad.
There are some who reject Christ because of those He is related to. In other words, they reject Christ because of Christians. A couple of things we should remember:
Not all who claim Christ belong to Christ- Judas.
Christians are not Christ- we are not perfect.
Gandhi famously said “I’d be a Christian if it were not for the Christians.′ ”
That is no excuse. Christians are not the object of our faith. Jesus is.
I’ve known good Muslims.
I’ve known good Jews.
I haven’t converted to either of those religions. I follow Christ, not people.
Occupation- Joseph was known as a carpenter and so was Jesus. It was a common job. In their mind the Messiah wouldn’t have such a common job. When they called Jesus “the carpenter’s son” it wasn’t a compliment.
Heaven will be filled with people who had humble jobs on this earth.
Waiters
Cooks
Dishwashers
Plumbers
Landscapers
Car washers
Jesus fixed doors.
Paul built tents.
Peter James and John caught fish.
B. The proverb.
Jesus uses a common proverb to prove His point. He says, “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house.”
It means it’s hard for us to accept the greatness of the people we know well. To some people you’ll always be the kid from down the street or the goofball in school. No matter what you accomplish they will always see you that way.
My granny was like that with me and preaching. She could never fully accept I was an actual preacher. After a while it just became comical.
They didn’t know who the Messiah was, but they knew:
He wouldn’t live in Nazareth.
He wouldn’t be a carpenter.
They wouldn’t know his parents, brothers and sisters.
That He would be highly trained.
They were wrong on every point.
Verse 57 says they were offended.
Illustration of Jehovah Witness woman offended at Deity of Christ. (Lesbian I was witnessing to, co-worker at Piggly Wiggly)
Illustration of Jewish man offended that because of Christ I believed people could be forgiven of sin and allowed into heaven despite awful sins.
When God isn’t who we expect him to be we often respond in anger.
I can’t believe in a God who created hell.
I can’t believe in a God who allows children to suffer.
I can’t believe in a God who allowed my daughter to die.
God is revealed to us from the Scripture not from our own mind. The city of Nazareth rejected Christ because He was not who they expected Him to be.
3. The refusal of Jesus to perform signs (58).
A. Not because His power was limited.
Some suggest Jesus could not do miracles there because God cannot work unless there are people who have faith. That’s not a true statement.
No one was present when God created the heavens and the earth.
No one had faith that Jesus was going to resurrect Lazarus from the dead.
In fact, Mark 6 says that He did heal a few sick people there.
What an opportunity Nazareth missed!
They should have had a banner hung “Welcome home Jesus!”
They should have lined the streets!
It breaks my heart to see people without Christ and to think of all they could have been in Him.
B. Jesus withdraws Himself from these people.
His refusal to do the mighty works of God is Him withdrawing Himself from a people who have rejected Him.
The purpose of signs was to point people to Jesus for salvation.
These people didn’t want to be saved.
This is what happens to people who hear of Christ but don’t want Him. There is the danger of the Lord withdrawing Himself.
They see some light now. Nut slowly that light fades into darkness.
They hear some truth now. But slowly they become completely deaf to truth.
Their conscience is pricked a little now, but slowly it is seared.
Jesus’ purpose is not to impress us with signs and wonders. His purpose is to draw us to repentance and faith. If we will not repent and believe Christ has nothing for us. He will withdraw Himself.
C. An act of grace.
How could Jesus withdrawing Himself be an act of grace?
The more God proves Himself to us the more accountable we are before Him. As our level of accountability increases so does our judgment (Matt. 11:20-24). Hell is hotter for those who know more about Christ yet rejected Him anyway.
Who is Jesus to you?
Is He just a man?
Is He a myth?
The greatest way to determine what we believe about Jesus is to consider our response to Him.
The proper response to Jesus is repentance, faith, and love. To respond in any other way is to reject Him.
Let me end with this: I believe the main problem in Nazareth is they were too familiar with Jesus. They had been around Hi so much they couldn’t see Him for who He is.
I believe many people who grow up in church can experience the same thing Nazareth experienced.
We become so familiar with Jesus we think we know Him.
We’ve heard the stories.
We’ve sung the songs.
We’ve known His people.
If we’re not careful we will miss who Jesus really is because we think we already know who He is.
Jesus is found in the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures. Get to know the Jesus of the Bible.
It would be a terrible tragedy to grow up around Jesus and to miss salvation.
