Two Rejections.

Opening:

Good-morning again Connection Church. I am so glad that you have come out to worship Christ with us this morning. It is a beautiful thing to worship Christ together on the Lord’s Day. I hope you are all doing well and are ready to dive into the text of Scripture together.

Introduction of the Text:

This week we are in Matthew 13:53-14:12. If you have your Bible, I would ask you to open with me there now. If you do not have a Bible, we have Bible’s on the table by the door. If you do not own a Bible, please keep that as our gift to you.

As you turn there, a little bit of recap. The book of Matthew was written by the Apostle Matthew. Matthew wrote this book to a Jewish audience, and his primary purpose was to show that Jesus was the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophesy about the Messiah. Matthew has been recounting the story of Jesus’ life. It is very important to know that this book is not about us, it is about Jesus.

Specifically, Matthew has just taken us through the parables of Jesus. Now we see the next movement of the story.

Reading of the Text:

With this in mind, I would ask the congregation to stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Matthew 13:53-14:12

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.

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

The Word of God, let’s pray.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for who you are and all that you have blessed us with. Specifically we thank you for the ability to come together and worship you. Thank you for your word. It is a blessing to be able to gather together and read your word and hear it preached. Help us to never take this for granted. Also help us to value coming together on your day.

Lord, I ask that you would continue to grow as a church. We long to see people come to faith in you. Help us to invite people to church. Help us to witness to the lost. We so seldom do this, but convict us of this and help us to follow through. If there are those here today who do not know you, draw them to yourself. Save the lost in Lead, and use us as your instruments, Lord.

Lord, I also ask that you would strengthen the saved here. Help us to be drawn closer to you. Help us to come to know your word better. Help us to be strengthened in the truths of Scripture. Help us to live holy lives. Convict us of our sins and strengthen us to repent of that sin. Give us boldness to speak the truth, no matter what it may cost us.

We ask these things in Jesus name, amen.

Transition:

As we open this text, we see two major movements in this text. In the first movement of this text, we see Jesus rejected at Nazareth.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Explanation:

Jesus finished telling the disciples and the people parables and He left. He left where He was and went back to Nazareth. Nazareth was Jesus’ hometown. He was born in Bethlehem, then Joseph took Jesus and Mary to Egypt because he was warned by an Angel. Harod the Great in order to keep prevent this new prophesied King from rising to power would murder all the children two and under. When Harod the great died, Joseph brought his family back and they settled in Nazareth. All of this was done to fulfil prophesies. Nothing is out of God’s hands.

Jesus goes and returns to His hometown and begins to teach, and heals some. The people begin to marvel. However, this is not as others have marveled. They are astonished, not in wonder or worship. They are astonished in rejection. They look at Jesus’ works and words and they say, “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?”

They did not accept Jesus, they rejected Him. And Jesus knew this. Scripture says that they took offense at Him and Jesus says “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” Jesus is likely speaking about how His own family has rejected Him. He is rejected by His family and by those He grew up with. Jesus then leaves, and He does not heal many on account of their unbelief.

Argumentation:

I must imagine that this hurt Jesus. We know that Jesus had true emotions. He was truly human. He felt as we feel, only without sin. We must not let our understanding of the true divinity of Christ make us think that somehow He was above emotion. We see Jesus weep in the scriptures. We see Him experience great joy. So it must been seen that rejection must have wounded our Savior. We have already seen Him rejected by His family, and now He is rejected by His hometown.

But Jesus knows this. He does not dwell on it. He moves on. He continues on with the mission His Father has for Him. Jesus acknowledges what is so common true, that prophets are rejected by their households and hometowns, and then continues on. And notice that He did not do many mighty works. This is not because their lack of faith limited His power, for we see Jesus do works where there is no faith. No, Jesus does only a few mighty works because He did not stay there with them. He left, and was not long with those who did not care for who He was. This is a great warning to us.

Application:

We must see the application of this text for us. First, those closest to something may completely miss it.

1. Those Closest to Something May Completely Miss it.

Explanation:

This account in Matthew’s gospel speaks of the old phrase, “Missing the forest for the trees.” That phrase means that you are so close to something that you entirely miss what is going on. You are staring so close at the tree that you miss the fact you are standing in a forest. This is what happened to the people in Nazareth. Think about it, they had God grow up in their village and they missed Him. Jesus was there with them and they were oblivious. How is this possible?

They knew Him as Joseph and Mary’s son. He grew up in the carpenter’s shop with His earthly adopted father Joseph. Likely He grew up with He and His brothers learning to work wood. They likely thought of Jesus and the oldest of the five boys of Joseph and Mary. They knew Him as the brother of Joseph and Mary’s girls. That is how they knew Him. In a small side note, this passage is clearly a refutation of the Roman doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity. Joseph and Mary had many children. Jesus had half brother’s and sisters. However, the people of Nazareth completely missed who He really was. They lived with Christ and had no idea. They truly missed the forest for the trees. The same goes with His family. They rejected Him as well. They rejected Him until after the resurrection. James, Jesus’ brother, has always been a great evidence of the faith for me. Jesus appeared to Him after He was raised and James accepted Jesus as the Christ and went on to be a leader in the church until He was martyred for His faith in his half brother.

Argumentation:

We see these people who were incredibly close to Jesus miss Him completely. Sometimes I fear this is the case for some within the Church. They come and they sit, week after week. They are consistently presented with Christ before them, yet they reject Him. They have their idea of who Jesus is and do not wish to be bothered with correction on that idea. They see Jesus as who they want Him to be. They do not want any more than this. They do not want the real Jesus. They are comfortable with their own idea of Jesus and do not wish to encounter the real Jesus.

In part this is the church’s fault. The modern church in America has fed congregations the idea that doctrine and depth of faith are not things to be desired. It has given people the idea that Jesus is who you think Him to be. This is done in many ways, but perhaps the clearest way is through the question, “who is Jesus to you?” This is a horrible question! Make no mistake, doctrine and depth are things all Christians should strive for with all their hearts. To do otherwise is to be extremely foolish. As your pastor, I encourage you and will do my best to lead you into the depths of the faith. I do not care who Jesus is to you. He is who He is. He is Jesus, Lord of all, creator of the universe, King of Kings. He is God. You can think however you want about Him and that does not matter. What matters is who is He really? Do you know the real Jesus?

The people of Nazareth did not know the real Jesus. Do you?

Transition:

Next, I must warn you against the folly of the Nazarenes. Do not reject Christ!

2. Do Not Reject Christ.

Explanation:

Perhaps the most telling thing about the people of Nazareth is the fact that they rejected Christ. Not only did they think that they knew Jesus, but when they were presented with the true Jesus, they rejected Him. Jesus came to them, taught them, and performed wonders among them. At this, they did not repent and accept Him for who He was, they instead rejected Him. They rejected Him to their own destruction.

Argumentation:

You must not be the same. It is a terrible thing to have a wrong perception and idea of who Christ is. That sin is blasphemous. But worse yet is the sin of rejecting Christ when you are presented with Him. When you encounter the truth of Christ, do you reject it? Do you dismiss the preaching of Christ? As I preach through the gospel of Matthew, do you reject what Matthew is telling us about Christ? Please do not do so! Accept who Christ is.

But perhaps you are simply indifferent to who Christ is. Perhaps you don’t think you are actively rejecting Christ, but you are passively ignoring what is being taught about Him. This is a form of rejection. Do not reject Christ in this way either. Hear the word of God actively and accept what it is saying about Christ.

Transition:

But let us transition now to our second rejection accounted in this passage. The death of John the Baptist.

The Death of John the Baptist.

Explanation:

As we open chapter fourteen of the gospel of Matthew, we see the account of John the Baptist’s death. Matthew tells us that Harod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and thought that Jesus was John come back to haunt him. As we begin, two things:

First; This Herod is not Herod the great who murdered the children after Jesus was born. This Herod is one of his sons. This family is known as the Herodian Dynasty. It is an incredibly complicated history, but if you can have someone far smarter than I am explain it to you with lots of graphs and charts, it may make sense. For the sake of simplicity, this Herod was Herod Antipas. This is the Herod who Jesus would be sent to at His crucifixion.

Second; it is very fascinating that Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist come back to life. Jesus and John were around at the same time. It was in no way a hard fact to attain that they were not the same person. But Herod is clearly so distraught that he fears Jesus is a resurrected John. We shall see why Herod is so distraught as we examine the story.

The first thing we see when examining the story is that Herod took his brother’s wife.

Herod Took His Brother’s Wife.

This is a fact known to us in history as well as in the pages of Scripture. Herod was already married, but in sin, he took his brothers wife. He did not take his brother’s widow, he took his brother’s wife, Herodias. This was a vile act. It was not an innocent act but an openly sinful act. This angered John, and John openly spoke out against Herod’s sin.

John Openly Spoke out Against Herod's Sin.

John was not silent about the sin of Herod. He spoke out against Herod and Herodias’ marriage. It was illegitimate and sinful in the eyes of God, and John made sure they knew it. John is then imprisoned for his action of speaking out against Herod. Herod wanted to kill John but was fearful of the people, because John was held to be a prophet. So Herod settled for simply imprisoning John.

However, at Herod’s birthday party, Herodias’ daughter danced for the party. This was likely not an apropriate dance, and it pleased the sinful lusts of the room. Herod was so particularly happy that he promised to give her whatever she wanted. The other gospels record that Herod had promised the girl up to half his kingdom. The girl runs to her mother and asks her what she should ask for. Herodias says that she should ask for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter.

Herod obliges and has John beheaded. John is killed for speaking out against Herod’s sin. Herodias had not forgotten John’s words against her marriage to Herod. John’s speaking out against this sin is what got him killed.

Argumentation:

Perhaps we might say that John should have remained silent about what Herod had done. After all, it’s not affecting anyone right? And who knows of a politician who has lived a clean life? They’re all morally shady, right? John should have just been quiet. But that is not true. John did the right thing. John did what all the prophets had done.

John Did What All the Prophets Had Done.

John took Leviticus 18:16 seriously. “16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.” John took Leviticus 20:21 seriously. “21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” All the prophets have spoken out against wicked and sinful rulers. Moses confronted Pharaoh. Elijah confronted Ahab. This is a clear pattern within all of Scripture. The prophets applied the scriptures, not just the people, but to the rulers as well. The prophets applied the scriptures not just to Israel but to the world as well.

The Law of God is the standard all men will be judged by. Kings and princes will be held to the standard of God’s law as evenly as the poor and the homeless. All men will be judged by the Law of God. It is not just a select few. Because of this, all men are obligated to heed and obey the Law of God. John was not out of line. John was doing what all the prophets had done. However, poor and peasants can not have you thrown in prison or beheaded when you speak out against their sin. That is a consequence of speaking out against the sins of rulers. And this shows us another similarity between John and the other prophets. John suffered as most of the prophets did.

John Suffered As Most of the Prophets did.

It was extremely common for the prophets to be hunted, tortured, and or killed. They spoke the truth and the truth has never made men popular. John spoke the truth and was beheaded for it. However, the prophets did not remain silent because of persecution. They spoke out because they feared God more than men. John feared God more than Herod. John feared God more than he feared death. This lead to his death. John was faithful to God until the end. He was beheaded and his disciples came and buried him, then took news to Jesus.

Application:

I could go on about the beauty of those martyred for the truth. I could go on about how the disciples of John went to Jesus, thus showing John’s success in his mission of pointing others to Christ. Even after John’s death, his disciples went to Christ. But instead I wish to speak of what is known as the prophetic voice of the church.

The Prophetic Voice of the Church.

This is a theological term that refers to the church’s responsibility to speak the truth of God into the world. It means that the church collective is to be as the prophets were. The church bears the responsibility to speak truth into the culture. This does not mean the culture will respond positively to it. In fact, we should expect the response that many of the prophets recieved. Likely we will be hated and rejected for speaking the truth, but still we must speak the truth.

The civil government is ordained by God to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. They wield the sword, the church should not. However, the church is to speak the truth to the world. We are to be the moral conscience in the world. We are to be the instrument’s of conversion and holiness. The church is the instrument that is used to spread the good news. The Word of God is to go out from the church. We are not to be silent about what is happening in our world. We are to speak the truth of God into it.

But what of when the government is corrupt? We must still speak. What if the pastors are arrested for speaking? We must still speak. What if we are burned at the steak for speaking? We must still speak. We must fear God more than men. We must boldly speak the truth of God. Perhaps you would say that is unloving. John was so unloving to call Herod and Herodias out for their sin. I say that is a fools response. Sin is death. Only a fool lets someone go blissfully to their death. The only loving response is to plead with them the truth. The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” The least loving thing one can do is let a sinner go on sinning unwarned.

Beyond this, we must fear God more than we fear men. This is why I say so often that one of the most troubling trends I see in the church today is the lack of the fear of the Lord. The church in America does not fear God and it is dying because of this. The fear of the Lord is the life of the church. Without it, we will die and crumble to ash to be blown away by the wind. Make no mistake, if we do not fear the Lord, we will fear man. This is why our services are built around man. We worship what man wants instead of what God commands. God help us. If we feared the Lord, we would prioritize what God wants and what glorifies Him most, not what pleases the people. This is why I try so hard to emphasize that this morning is not about you! I love you but I do not care what you think. I care what God thinks. I fear God, not you.

If we fear God we will speak the truth regardless of the consequences. The fact is, there are laws right now being drafted and pushed through congress that would make it illegal for me to say from this pulpit that homosexuality, abortion, transgenderism, or really any form of sexual immorality is a sin. This does not change the fact that any form of sexual immorality is a sin. God’s word says it is. Therefore I will preach that it is sin. No matter what happens, my preaching is held captive to the word of God. That is my promise to you as your pastor. I know that likely, it will lead to anger and hatred in some. However, the truth of the gospel is the only thing that will lead to life and salvation for some. I will not abandon the only hope for salvation simply because it upsets people who love their sin. I pray you will not either. And if it leads to hatred from governmental authority, then I think we can see clearly from this passage that, as R.C. Sproul put it, “a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, or the courts of a king.”

But if I were to leave you with words of encouragement this week, it is this. Do as Spurgeon said so well. Do not let sinners be damned without having leapt over you body. Throw yourself in front of sinners. If they are to go to hell, let them go with your arms wrapped around their legs. Pray for them! Plead with them! Do not let them go to hell without having exhausted every effort to see them saved. And do pray for me, your pastor. Amen.

Closing Hymn:

Closing Benediction:

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen.