Move On Without Bitterness

Transcript

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[0:00] look really comfy right now. So we're gonna have you move. Go ahead and get into maybe groups of four maybe five not more than five. It would help if you were not with an immediate family member. I mean you can be if that's your comfort zone but if you if you so desire I would challenge you to get out of your immediate family groups. You're just gonna be answering a few questions during the sermon today so go ahead and take a moment to move. If you're on video or audio you can move to your groups find them and then move back to where you're at.

[1:20] Dwayne and Clark would you be a group with Nathan? Sure. Okay. All right is everyone comfy again? Excellent. Well done. That was that was a lot faster than if we would have asked the youth to do something like this. No offense to the youth but it was. Well done. All right let's go ahead and jump into our reading. Okay. reading which comes today from Mark 6 1 through 13. Jesus left there and went to his hometown accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were amazed. Where did this man get these things they asked? What's the wisdom that has been given to him? What are these remarkable miracles he's performing? Okay.

[2:34] right except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

[3:12] These were his instructions. Take nothing for the journey, except a staff. No bread, no bag, no money. Wear sandals, but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as testimony against them. They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed. .

[3:49] Let's pray. Our God, we thank you for your word. We ask for your blessing upon this word today. God, would you speak to our hearts? Would you speak to our minds? Would you help us to understand these words as you would have them for each of us? These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[4:13] So this passage hurts a little bit. It hurts because it's a very important passage. It hurts Jesus, possibly even to the point of distraction. And it hurts us to think about. Rejection. We don't want it. And as a whole, humanity tends to want to be liked by everyone they meet. Sometimes we go out of our way to be liked. And we even avoid sharing bad news or hard truths. And we soften blows. And we even use words like, and we use white lies so that we don't offend people. We people please.

[4:53] And some amount of people pleasing is okay. In fact, I think some amount of people pleasing is healthy and good. But at a certain point, it becomes unhealthy for ourselves. And it becomes unhealthy for the people we're trying to please. Now, Jesus was rejected by his own hometown.

[5:14] They at first felt impressed by his wisdom. But almost immediately, they stopped that line of thinking by saying, wait, who is he? Under what authority is he doing these things? Is this of Satan? And as Eugene Peterson translates in the message, who does he think he is?

[5:38] And then they bring out the insults. It's subtle to us. But it was a slap across the face to Jesus. Back in that day, people were referring to him as Satan. And they were referred to as sons of their father.

[5:51] Even if their father had passed. Unless, of course, a person was born illegitimately. And then they were referred to as their mother's son. And that would carry with them their entire lives. They would never be anything more. They would never amount to anything more than that baby that was once born illegitimately. And that would define their entire being. And that's what the people pulled out here. They were putting Jesus in his place. He can't have any wisdom worth sharing. He's just a simple carpenter.

[6:31] And worse, he's the illegitimate son of Mary. So how dare he try and tell us what is holy and what is right. And how dare he open his mouth to teach in our presence. And as the passage says, They took offense at him.

[6:49] Now it doesn't specifically say that. But I feel as though Jesus may have been hurt. So keep in mind that I'm reading my own feelings into this. Again, it doesn't say this in the passage. But it was here that Jesus was unable to perform miracles.

[7:08] And maybe it was their disbelief. Because Jesus does mention their lack of faith. But maybe he was also distracted. He was, after all, human with human feelings and human limitations. And his ministry was also limited because he was not about to force something onto someone when they were rejecting it. So whatever the case may be, things did not go well in Nazareth. And Jesus and his disciples left. So here is the first question for your groups. We will start with four minutes. Because there are four to five people in your groups. So we'll start with four minutes.

[7:53] Does unbelief ever hinder God's work in your own life? If so, how? And is there an example that you have? So does unbelief ever hinder God's work in your own life? If so, how? And is there an example that you have? And your four minutes start now.

[8:40] If so, how? If so, how? If so, how? If so, how? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. to take an extra tunic, no food, no luggage, no money, just what was on their back for the day. God would provide the rest. Now, sometimes we get distracted in the preparations. We think that it's by the thoroughness or by our own preparations that we're going to get through, or that by our preparations and our thoughtfulness that the word of the Lord is going to spread. And sure, I think that some preparation is necessary. I think that we should take care of ourselves. We should use wisdom. But that isn't to say that we, yeah, it's not to say that we go through life without any thought, because I think that is neglectful. But hasn't God always said that he would care for us? In youth group on Friday night, we talked about Matthew 6, and that the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and even the blades of the grass, they're all provided for. They're clothed in splendor, the food that they need is given to them, and they don't worry about tomorrow. And the power of the gospel is that it's entirely the work of God's hand. It is not through our preparations that the gospel spreads.

[22:10] And so even the provision for the people presenting the gospel is entirely God's work. We're gonna just do three minutes this time because we're getting close on time. But turn back to your group. What areas have you found it easy to trust in God's provision and what areas areas do you need help trusting in God's provision? So let's take three minutes this time.

[23:02] Thank you. So next we see that God will enable those that he sends out and you've probably heard the phrase that God does not call the qualified but he qualifies the called and I don't I don't know if that's technically in the Bible but this might be one of the strongest passages to back that up and to be fair the disciples were qualified because they had heard the message of the kingdom from Jesus but they did not have any special healing powers they did not have the authority over demons not by themselves they were given the authority over the spirits by Jesus as they were sent so do not hesitate to share the news of the gospel because you feel ill-equipped live your life as God has called you to live it and the gospel will speak through you I used to feel very inadequate in sharing my faith I used to feel well I always have felt very shy and I often feel as though there's nothing particularly that stands out about me as a person and my testimony doesn't feel all that amazing or special and I couldn't see myself standing out on a street corner and shouting out to the world about my faith and so when people would talk about how have you shared the gospel lately I would feel well I guess I haven't done my part I

[27:30] guess I haven't shared the gospel with you and I would feel well I guess I haven't shared the gospel with you and I would feel well I guess I haven't done my part I shared very much and and I wouldn't know how to overcome that shyness to get to that point actually I had a bad taste in my mouth from Christians who would at my first college in River Falls Wisconsin who would stand on street corners and shout the gospel at people I I found it very cruel the way they did it and so I just could never see myself as one of the people who shared my faith and I was just so afraid to be a part of that and so I would pray for people to come to me because I didn't know how to go to them now one thing about me is that I don't like to drive so even back when I had a car when I was in Chicago I preferred public transportation it was just easier for me to get around that way and so I would ride the train from North Park where I went to school to where I was working and interning in Northbrook and that was about a 45-minute train ride each way and so I would ride and I would do my homework on the train and my homework usually involved a Bible or a theology book and it turned out that just pulling out a Bible on public transportation opens a

[28:50] world of opportunity because it's often enough to make people talk to you some would be doubtful others would be curious but no matter what they always are they always had an opinion and the presence of the Bible would help them speak out and we would get into conversations and people often revealed just this immense hurt in their lives and it's shocking that a complete stranger would just reveal this hurt to you but something about the presence of a holy book brought their barriers down maybe they said this person is a person of faith so they're safe I don't know or maybe it was just God working in their hearts but the gospel would come out in those conversations sometimes all they needed was a listener and sometimes they needed answers and sometimes they needed a kind or loving word but either way the gospel came out and so even now when I take uber from the church the drivers see the church and they ask questions why are you at church why are you at church why are you at church why are you at church right Or sometimes he just simply instructs me to listen quietly. So I want you, this is the last time, turn back to your group. And we'll do another three minutes. In what ways do you feel unqualified to present the gospel?

[30:45] And in what ways has God qualified you? So in what ways do you feel unqualified to present the gospel? And in what ways has God qualified you? Thank you. So the next bit of wisdom that Jesus shares is that we warn those who reject the gospel, but we don't need to force our message on the unwilling. Simply, if any place will not listen to the message, leave that town. Do not yell and scream. Do not rant and rave. Do not force the message down their throats. Simply leave that town. You will not get anywhere good if you get angry or insulted. You're not going to win people over by becoming offensive or by becoming defensive. But Jesus says, this does say to shake the dust off of their sandals. And this was a cultural thing. There was a Jewish custom of cleaning the heathen dirt from their feet when returning from foreign lands. So it was a warning. It was meant to say they are to be held in judgment if they don't change their ways. The people would see that as a final word as the parish left their town, as a way of saying, hey, we've given you a warning. Now it's up to you.

[35:33] And finally, the last bit of wisdom that's shared here is that in the end, know that it was enough. It was all you could do, so just let it go. We don't need to carry the perceived failure along with us. We do not need to carry the weight of the rejection on our shoulders. Jesus had been insulted and rejected by his own home town, but he simply moved on. He instructs the disciples to do the same. If you have done all you can by living out the gospel, if you presented the message in a loving and God-honoring way, then that is the best that you can do. You do not need to keep a guilty conscience that you did not do enough because you did exactly what you were called to do. We are not responsible for growing the seeds inside of people's hearts. That is God's work alone. If we are despised and rejected for speaking God's words, that's okay. It hurts, but it's okay. We don't need to people-please. Now this does not give us license to be cruel or rude or awful in the way we speak the gospel, because that is not the gospel. And if we are cruel in our presentation of the gospel, then the rejection has a right to sting us in return. But, if we are loving in our presentation of the gospel, and then we are rejected, it's okay. We don't change the gospel

[37:13] to be people-pleasers. We don't hang around and force it to be accepted. We simply move on. And if we've been rejected for the sake of the gospel, we remember that so too was Christ. In fact, Christ was rejected to the point of arrest, being beaten and despised, being nailed to the cross for our sin and our rejection against him.

[37:39] We share in his death when we are rejected for the sake of the gospel. And it's going to happen sometimes. It might happen a lot. And ultimately, that's an honor. But we don't dwell in the rejection. We don't allow ourselves to be defeated by it. We simply move on to our next calling. We move on to the next town.

[38:01] So in all these ways, God strengthens and shapes us to continue to live out the gospel, being living witnesses for the kingdom. So I'm going to leave you with this question. You don't have to turn to your groups. I just want you to think, where are you living witnesses for the gospel right now? And where can you be living witnesses for the gospel in the weeks ahead, the month ahead, the year ahead? Where can you become living witnesses for the gospel? Let's pray.

[38:39] Our God, we thank you that you have instructed us and you walk beside us as we live out your kingdom and we live for your glory. God, would you help us to be strong representatives for you? God, would you prepare our hearts and would you hold us in the times of rejection?

[39:07] God, and in all things, help us to continue to live for your kingdom. These things we pray in Jesus' name.