ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: REJECTED
MARK 6:1-6
#kingjesus
USE AUDIO BIBLE: Mark Chapter 6:1-56 [8:15]
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Mark.6
INTRODUCTION… Sometimes We Forget (p)
Sometimes we forget why people don’t believe what we believe or do what we do or think like we think or watch what we watch. Everyone is different and our experiences and thought processes are all different.
For example, I do not understand why some of you people like coffee. Coffee smells good, but then when you try to drink it you are greeted with a terrible tasting drink. In my life, I have not had more than 1 cup of coffee total. Some of you find that very strange. Well, I think you who drink cup after cup of coffee a day are strange!
For example, I forget that Star Wars is not a normal part of life for some people. I am reminded of this fact every time I make a Star Wars reference in a staff meeting and Melanie says, “I’ve never seen it.” “Excuse me, whah?” I think now she just hasn’t seen any of it out of stubbornness, but you’d have to check with her on that.
For example, many many people love country music. You love songs where you lose your wife, truck, dog, and all you are left with is friends in low places. I don’t like music like that. Not all the time, at least. Sometimes we forget why people don’t believe what we believe or do what we do or think like we think or watch what we watch.
This tendency to forget is also true in spiritual matters. People come to Jesus at different stages of life and our path to Jesus may be different than others around us. We forget that not all people come to Jesus in the same way. It is also true that people reject Jesus and sometimes we forget that. It is possible to be a Christian so long that we cannot imagine why anyone would say “no” to God or reject Jesus or get tired of talking about the Bible or spiritual matters. People do reject Jesus. We forget that. People not only reject Jesus in our day, but people rejected Jesus to His Face.
READ MARK 6:1-6 (ESV)
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. 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.” 5 And He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. And He went about among the villages teaching.
REASONS FOR JESUS’ REJECTION IN NAZARETH
Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth where He grew up from probably two years old until He left for His ministry at about thirty. People in Nazareth knew Jesus and apparently they knew of His growing reputation as well because they asked Him to teach on the Sabbath in the synagogue. Jesus spoke. People listened. People were astonished. People rejected Jesus.
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus because even though they listened; they associated Him as a carpenter and not a spiritual teacher. During the time He grew up, He learned the carpentry trade and was considered a carpenter. Carpenters do carpentry work. In their estimation, carpenters do not teach from God’s Word. They could not reconcile the wisdom coming from Jesus from what they knew of Him and how they remembering Him growing up.
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus because some of them doubted His legitimacy and His birth. Some in town may have thought He was an illegitimate child. How do we know this? They call Him ‘Son of Mary’ (verse 3) which means the story of Joseph not technically being Jesus’ father had gotten around. Even if Joseph were dead, He would be referred to as a ‘Son of Joseph’ in their culture. He was not. They considered the message and then tossed out the Messenger because there was some unknown in His background they didn’t understand.
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus because they knew His brothers and sisters and they seemed normal and ordinary. None of Jesus’ brothers or sisters were exercising demons (Mark 1, 5), cleansing lepers (Mark 1), healing paralytics (Mark 2), restoring withered hands (Mark 2), teaching in parables (Mark 4), calming storms with a word (Mark 3), or raising people back to life (Mark 5). These miracles followed Jesus and told people that this man was something else… and yet His family was normal. The townspeople did not accept Jesus because they could not reconcile the Man standing before them with His family.
Overall, make no mistake about verse 2, the majority of people in Nazareth saw His authority and wisdom and affirmed His reputation. He was indeed teaching about God! He was astonishing in the wisdom He presented! The miracles He was doing were real! They all knew it… and yet… they are offended. Offense led to astonishment. Astonishment led to a lack of trust. A lack of trust led to rejection. Jesus was rejected.
ESSENTIAL KING JESUS
We are in a sermon series on the Gospel of Mark that I’ve themed ‘Essential King Jesus.’ Each week we have been taking a look at one passage in a chapter. First week, chapter 1. Second week, chapter 2. And so on. My prayer overall is that as we make our way through the Gospel of Mark, that we will encounter the Essential King Jesus and bolster our faith or perhaps find it for the first time. And… each week I want to share with one essential truth that is important for us to believe and then also communicate to others about Jesus. We are focusing on the Essential King Jesus.
Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth where He grew up from probably two years old until He left for His ministry at about thirty and we encounter Truth about King Jesus: Jesus can be rejected.
TRANSITION
It could be that you have been a Christian for so long that you cannot fathom why someone would reject Jesus. Mark 6 shares with us that Jesus was rejected in His own hometown. People rejected Jesus when He was staring them in the face! People rejected Jesus when they heard and saw and knew Him to be true… yet… they were offended and rejected Him. I’d like to spend the remainder of our time this morning reminding you of why some reject Jesus. Essential King Jesus: Jesus can be rejected.
REASON 1: “I HAVE NO NEED OF A SAVIOR”
ILLUSTRATION… NO NEED [adapted from bible.org/seriespage/lesson-18-why-people-reject-christ-john-319-21]
Picture if you will a most wonderful scene in the mountains… not the beach mind you… but the mountains. The scene narrows to a lazy stream and a person floating in an inner tube. The weather is perfect. They have a drink in their hand and feel so relaxed and are living their best life floating lazily down the river. Calm. Wonderful. Great.
Another person is on the shore. This other person is waving their arms and calling out and trying to get the attention of the lazy tuber. The person throws out a rope into the calm serene river. Why? The person on shore knows that there is a deadly waterfall downstream that will ruin the lazy day of the floating tuber, but the floating person rejects the rope and just ignores the calls and the hand motions. This person is floating blissfully and ignorantly toward danger! Why? They love what they’re doing and don’t see a need to be saved.
“I HAVE NO NEED OF A SAVIOR”
Reason #1 people reject Jesus (in no order by the way): They do not see the need of a Savior. Most of us think that we are pretty much good people. I’m ok and you’re ok. I mean, I’m not a serial killer or a drug dealer or anything like that. I have no huge failures in my life. I’m nice to my spouse and my kids are normal as any kid can be… they are all pretty much good people. I give to charity. I’m pretty well-rounded and good. People believe they are basically good and so they reject Jesus.
The message of Christianity is that because of our sin we are all dirty rotten scoundrels. We all have sinned and fallen short of what God wants for us and that means we are corrupt and a sinner and have issues. It is a difficult conversation when trying to share about Christ when one of the first steps is for the person to realize that they are a bad person. That does not always go well. It can be offensive and it can feel like someone is judging you when you press that a person is a sinner in need of a Savior. That is offensive. The Gospel is offensive.
Self-awareness of our sin is the first step towards Jesus. If a person is unwilling or unable to accept their sinfulness, then repentance can’t happen and they will see no reason to accept Jesus. The Gospel does zero in on our sinfulness and our failures. I hope that makes sense for those of us who are aware of our sinfulness and can’t understand why someone would keep their own soul in their own hands.
REASON 2: GOD DOESN’T ACT LIKE HE SHOULD
ILLUSTRATION… DOESN’T ACT RIGHT (p)
Picture if you will a most wonderful scene in the mountains on a lazy calm stream. The weather is perfect. The person floating down the river on an inner tube is relaxed and has a drink in their hand with one of those little fun umbrellas in it. They are living their best life floating lazily down the river. Calm. Wonderful. Great.
Another person is on the shore. This other person is waving their arms and calling out and throws out a rope into the calm serene river. The floating person rejects the rope and just ignores the calls and the hand motions because they figure that if there really was danger… signs would be posted or the government would have put up a barrier or the lazy river would be moving faster or there would be rushing sounds or the person on shore would have thrown a life preserver and not just a rope. So… because things didn’t go how they expected… there is no issue.
“GOD DOESN’T ACT LIKE HE SHOULD”
Reason #2 people reject Jesus (in no order by the way): God doesn’t act like He should. You know there is a whole lot of terrible war, famine, obvious Christian hypocrisy, dying churches, floods, storms, innocent children dying, and lots of bad things in general that happen for a good God to exist. If a good God really did exist, then He should clean up some of the mess in the world so He could be seen clearly. A good God should not let so much evil happen. The bad things that happen in the world… the sinful things that happen in the world… makes some think that because they happen and exist that a good God cannot possibly exist. Or if He does… He’s a complete jerk. God doesn’t act the way we think He should so people reject Jesus.
The message of Christianity is that yes the world is sinful and terrible, but God is good and holy and righteous. The sinfulness of the world does not change the character of God. The fact that God does not act like we think He should is indeed a confounding issue. It is a real roadblock of faith. We believe that God promises to be with us through all of the terrible no good very bad days, but for some that is not enough. That is not enough of an explanation.
Sin is a real problem. It is a real problem for the human soul and it is a real problem for the world we live in. Christians believe that Jesus came to redeem the world from sin, but He did not take sin out of the world… He paid for it. God is indeed sovereign and does not prevent all war, famine, Christian hypocrisy, dying churches, floods, storms, innocent children dying, and lots of other bad things. Some people don’t like that and they reject Jesus.
REASON 3: THE WORLD IS MORE APPEALING
ILLUSTRATION… MORE APPEALING (p)
Picture if you will a most wonderful scene in the mountains… not the beach mind you… but the mountains. The scene narrows to a lazy stream and a person floating in an inner tube. The weather is perfect. The water is cool. The breeze is perfect. The sounds of the babbling brook are nice and relaxing. The person likes where they are at.
There is another person waving their arms and calling out and trying to get the attention of the lazy tuber so that they will come ashore because of the waterfall. The person throws out a rope into the calm serene relaxing river. The floating person, hears the warning, but rejects the rope and then just ignores the calls and the hand motions because they like what they are doing and being where they are seems more appealing than coming ashore. They are used to the calm river and want to stay where they are at even if they sort of know the waterfall is coming.
“THE WORLD IS MORE APPEALING”
Reason #3 people reject Jesus: The world is more appealing. From some perspectives, the standards of the world and the offer of the world is more appealing than what Jesus offers. There is the reason why the way of the world is described as a wide path or a wide gate and the way of Jesus is the narrow path or the narrow gate. There is a reasons why it is called “the pleasures of the flesh” and also “spiritual disciplines.” We are talking about two different ways of living. We are talking about living life for self, flesh, and desires and another way of living that focuses on others, spiritual life, and denial of self. Depending on your perspective, one looks like freedom and the other looks like rules and regulations.
The message of Christianity is that this world and all that it offers is not freedom or pleasure, but rather chains and baggage and hurt. God is the author of life and the human soul and knows how to live life best. The world is appealing because everything about the world is designed to drag someone away from God. Satan does not want people to come to Christ so he has done and will do everything to tempt people away from God into the world system focused on self. And you know what? He is successful.
RELATED REASON 4: “I DON’T WANT TO CHANGE”
There is a related reason to this one, Reason #4 that people reject Jesus is because they don’t want to change. Unwillingness to give up immoral practices or lifestyles also causes people to reject Jesus Christ. Many people refuse to commit their life to Him because, if they did, they would have to admit that the choices they have made and the way they want to run their life is sinful. It was bad. It was terrible and in the future they will have to be accountable to God.
The message of Christianity is that Jesus is Savior and Lord and yes… committing to Him means life change. People don’t want God interfering with what they consider their good life and the way they want to live. Thinking about eternal judgement when they die is not something people want to do. Change is hard no matter what it is or the issue. All of us resist change, some more than others, and wholesale changing our life for God is not appealing. Such change touches money, relationships, feelings, dating, voting, entertainment, music, books, movies, TV, and every single aspect of life because Jesus is Lord over all parts of the life of a Christian. Some reject that.
REASON 5: JESUS IS CONFUSED WITH SOMETHING ELSE
ILLUSTRATION… CONFUSED (p)
Picture if you will a most wonderful scene in the mountains on an inner tube floating down the river with perfect weather and water temperature and even a side tube filled with favorite drinks and snacks. A good book. So relaxing. The tube lazily floats down the river.
A person is on the shore is waving their arms and calling out and trying to get the attention of the lazy tuber by jumping up and down and waving hands and calling out. Why? The person on shore knows that there is a deadly waterfall downstream that will ruin the lazy day of the floating tuber, but the floating person rejects the rope because they think the person on shore is just eccentric and saying ‘hi.’ There is confusion.
“JESUS IS CONFUSED WITH SOMETHING ELSE”
Reason #5 people reject Jesus: Jesus is confused with something else. Sometimes the message of Jesus and Who Jesus is can be confused with something else or merged with something else. For example, a person may believe that all religions lead to the same God so one path is just as good as another. Christianity claims Jesus is the only way, so there is confusion. Jesus is confused with the idea that if we just live a good life that we all get to heaven… all good people get into heaven. Confusing still is the belief that, “If you give money to Jesus, He’ll make you healthy and wealthy and wise.”
The message of Christianity is very simple and also very important. God so loved the world that He sent His One and Only Son to die for the sins of each and every person and by believing in Jesus Christ we have life in His Name. That’s it.
Jesus can be confused with being a Republican, being an American patriot, being pro-life, being pro-immigration, being homophobic, and a whole host of other issues that get twisted and confusing. Jesus plus something else always confuses someone as they are trying to get to the Truth of Who Jesus is and what it means to be a Christian. This confusion can lead to rejection.
RELATED REASON 6: CHRISTIANS
The biggest related reason to this is #6: Christians. Jesus can be confused with Christians. Christians… followers of Jesus… you and I… can be what people are confused about because we are very poor examples of following Christ. Christians are not Jesus. The Church is not Jesus. Christians are sinful people just like the people we are sharing the Gospel with. The Church is full of sinful hypocritical people. We never measure up and that is confusing because why would someone want to accept Christ and then just end up being a false hypocrite.
Hypocrisy is real. Christian author Brennan Manning famously said, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” It is a real issue when we believers live in a certain way and hurt and sin and that impacts those around us who are watching and do not yet know Jesus. People reject Jesus because of us. Boy does that hurt.
REASON 7: THEY DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW
ILLUSTRATION… THEY DON’T KNOW (p)
Picture if you will a most wonderful scene in the mountains… not the beach mind you… but the mountains. The scene narrows to a lazy stream and a person floating in an inner tube. The weather is perfect. They have a drink in their hand and feel so relaxed and are living their best life floating lazily down the river. Calm. Wonderful. Great.
Another person is on the shore. This other person is waving their arms and calling out and trying to get the attention of the lazy tuber. The person throws out a rope into the calm serene river. Why? Because this person is floating blissfully and ignorantly toward danger! The person in the tube never actually hears. They do not notice anything the person on shore has done because their eyes are closed and they are snoozing the day away.
“THEY DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW”
Reason #7 people reject Jesus: They don’t actually know. It could be that you and I assume that someone has heard the message of Jesus and in reality they have not heard. How is that possible? It is possible because though they may have heard words about Jesus, they never really understood what it was about. It is possible because in our American culture we think we live in a Christian nation where everyone has heard the Gospel and owns a Bible, but that is not true. It is possible because we left the sharing of the Gospel up to Sunday School teachers and we never did it ourselves. Maybe the person grew up in a home where no one had a Bible and no one cared.
The message of Christianity is that those who know tell those who don’t. Make no assumptions that someone knows. Make no assumptions that someone has heard. Make no assumptions that a person has read the Bible and understood it. It is our job as believers in Jesus to share the Gospel and explain it and answer questions and pray and wait and share again and listen and pray.
CONCLUSION
READ MARK 6:6 (ESV)
“And He marveled because of their unbelief.”
Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth where He was rejected. Essential King Jesus: Jesus can be rejected.
Christians! It then is our mission and calling and purpose to understand why those around us reject Jesus and meet those reasons by listening, praying, and talking over those reasons with a Spirit-infused heart.
Non-Christians! I also want to mention that if you are here today and you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you hold some of these reasons as your reason for rejecting Jesus, I’d love to listen and discuss. I’d love to talk over with you the reasons for rejecting Jesus.
PRAYER
