Familiarity Breeds Contempt

If you've got a Bible, open up to Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 6, and let me pray one more time briefly for us.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Father, speak for your servants are listening.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Think about this.

Have you ever received a message?

It was a true message.

It was a good message.

It was a helpful message, but it came through a messenger that for whatever reason you didn't appreciate, and so you ignored the message.

Maybe hypothetically you're driving down the road a little fast and aggressively.

Maybe some would call recklessly, and from the back seat, someone says, Mom, you probably should slow down.

And this comes from your 11-year-old daughter who's never driven anything other than a Barbie Jeep in the driveway.

And so you're like, you're not the boss of me.

Maybe you should listen.

And then you see the blue lights, and maybe you wish you had listened.

Sometimes we have a way, even when truth is coming to us, of trying to discount it.

Not because there's anything wrong with the message, but because there's something wrong with the messenger.

We're going to look at a situation when that happened in the life of Christ.

Mark chapter 6, let's start verse 1.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Context here.

Jesus has been primarily very near the Sea of Galilee.

Town called Capernaum was kind of his base of operations.

He's got 12 very devoted followers.

He's been following going around preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons, and his fame is starting to spread pretty broadly.

And now he makes a trip back home.

And this isn't just like a trip for Thanksgiving to visit mom and dad.

This is an official visit to the town to do some teaching there.

Okay, 20, 25 miles away from where he's been.

That's where we'll pick up.

Mark chapter 6, verse 1.

Mark 6:1

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

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 this wisdom given to him?

How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joseph and Judas and Simon?

And are not these his sisters here with us?

And they took offense at him.

And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, and among his relatives, and in his own household.

And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching.

And he called the twelve, and he began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.

And he said to them, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there, and if any place will not receive you, and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

So Jesus goes home, and in virtually every Jewish town, you would have a synagogue, and it would be very much like our church today.

It could hold hundreds of people, and on the Sabbath, devout Jews would gather, they would pray, they would sing, and they would be teaching.

Now, back then you didn't intend to have a head pastor of the local synagogue.

Rather, what you had were traveling rabbis, famous teachers that would come and you'd get out the Old Testament scroll and they would explain it to you.

So Jesus' fame has been growing as a healer, as a teacher.

So when he comes back home, he's kind of like the famous hometown kid.

We're gonna let Jesus teach today.

He gets up and he teaches, and people are marveling.

Notice this.

They're like, man, this guy's a great teacher.

And in fact, the things he's saying are very true.

Their wisdom, listen, and when the Bible uses the word wisdom, what exactly does that mean?

It's uh it's godly street smarts.

It is divine revelation, but it's very practical and applicable and help you in life.

And they're acknowledging this guy's saying a lot of good stuff.

It's very wise.

And we we hear he's got this reputation for healing people.

That's amazing.

But notice, they're kind of shocked and astonished, almost like, who does this guy think he is?

I mean, he's just a blue-collar dude that grew up with us.

He was a carpenter.

It's like I have a plow that he made for me a few years back.

I used to play with his brothers.

I mean, his sister is married to one of my best friends.

He's just another guy.

Who does he think he is?

And they get offended.

It's kind of like scandalous that he's gonna come back here and try to be an authority and teach us.

And Jesus kind of quotes this very common proverb: like, listen, when you're a great prophet, people all around the world might listen to you.

But the people that grew up with you, they won't treat you the way they should.

Because there is some truth to the concept, familiarity breeds contempt.

Now, it says he could do no mighty work there, which is a little bit stunning, and I just want to say this.

I've made a couple of comments like this before as we've been going through Mark.

If you were making up a religion, this is the kind of story you leave out.

You know, probably the greatest attack against Christianity today is people try to say, well, yeah, Jesus was a real man, a real leader, a real teacher, but he wasn't God.

He didn't claim to be God.

You know, and after he died, some of his followers just kind of wanted to come up with this myth, and they wrote this stuff and tried to say he was God, blah, blah, blah.

Well, that's wrong for lots of reasons.

And if that was what Mark was trying to do, make up a religion, you don't put in there, well, you know, this is one time we went in his own hometown and he couldn't even do any miracles there.

Why do you put it in there?

Because it's true.

Now, but God can do anything, right?

John MacArthur very wisely says he had the power to do more miracles.

I mean, God has all the power in the world.

He do whatever he wants.

He had the power to do more miracles, but not the will.

He didn't desire to.

If they were gonna reject him, they're not gonna listen to him.

They're gonna stiff arm him.

Okay, I'm not gonna force this on you.

He wasn't gonna do a magic show for people that didn't appreciate what was actually going on.

So he's shocked.

He's amazed that they don't believe.

Now, he's had these 12 men in his training program for months.

They've mainly just been following him around, listening, observing, asking questions, learning.

But now it's time to send them out.

And he gives them authority.

You guys can cast out demons, you guys can preach, you guys can heal.

They go out, they'll start doing it.

And he basically says, listen, travel light, man.

Don't even go back home and get provisions.

I want you to go just as you are, the clothes on your back.

Don't take anything extra.

This is about the urgency of the mission.

It's about having faith, trust that I'll use people, I got people in different towns, they'll provide for you.

But if you do come to a town and nobody will listen to you, nobody will take you in, you know what you leave?

Shake the dust off your feet.

And that was that was an ancient way to say, you know what, we don't have anything in common with you.

Not even the dust of our feet.

It was a sign of judgment.

You're not a true Israelite if you don't listen to what we're teaching.

You can't even share in Israelite dirt, so to speak.

They went out, they're preaching the same message Jesus is preaching.

They're his ambassadors, so to speak.

And it seems like most people are responding well.

People are being healed.

They're anointing people with oil.

What was that about?

Probably a sign of the Holy Spirit is here.

There's power.

People are being healed, people are listening, people are being changed.

Now, lots of good application from this passage.

The first is this it is possible to appreciate the word of God and yet not really be affected by it.

Appreciate the word of God, be affected at some surface level, but really not be changed.

Let me tell you a story.

About a decade ago, uh, you know, I was working for a college ministry and I would spend a lot of time at Samford and actually had a fraternity Bible study that I would do, and I can't see any people's hearts, I don't know where they're at, but that I could tell there were four or five guys that seemed very serious about Christianity.

I had like a little bit more elite Bible study, you might call it, a discipleship group like Jesus had with the 12.

But then I would have another Bible study kind of open to anyone and everyone in the fraternity.

Random guys would come.

Who knows?

Maybe there was a dozen guys that would come, and uh they tended to party hard most nights, but Monday night, okay, we'll come to Bible study.

And there was one guy that would come to Bible study pretty regularly.

I'm gonna call his name Ed.

It's not his name.

Uh, but then and Ed seemed very interested.

Ed even was like, hey, I think I want to go to church for you on Sunday morning.

He would come to Briarwood with me sometimes.

Sometimes if I was teaching the college Sunday school, he'd even come to Sunday school.

I mean, who goes to Sunday school anymore?

Especially if you're a college student, okay?

I mean, he seemed very interested.

He would want to meet sometimes, to get lunch or coffee, have questions.

And we would tend to meet in the in the food court at Sanford.

Sanford's a fairly small place.

And so some of the guys in more of my kind of intense and committed discipleship group would be like, You're having lunch with Ed?

I'm like, Yeah, it seems like he's really interested in the Bible and Christianity.

Y'all pray for him.

No, we will.

And sometimes when I would meet with Ed, and I'd be talking to him about different passages in the scripture, he'd start to cry.

I mean, it seemed like he was really being affected with the gospel.

And when I would talk to the other guys about, man, I had this great conversation with Ed, he's coming to church again.

They just seemed wide-eyed, but they never say, and then finally I said, Do you know who Ed is?

I'm like, I mean, Ed's the guy in the Bible study that in the fraternity.

They're like, Ed is our drug dealer.

I mean, I didn't know this, okay?

I went a frat guy in college and I had a lot of sin struggles.

Drugs was never one of them.

But they're like, every frat has a drug dealer, he's the drug dealer for our fraternity.

That's why we're so shocked that he's meeting with you and coming.

Now, it seemed to me like something was really happening, that he was really interested, he was really being affected.

But that I know of, he never really repented.

He never changed.

He was interested, he came close, he listened, he came to church, and even Sunday school, by golly, and even cried sometimes.

But nothing changed.

An author named Matthew Poole said, Men may be affected by the word that are not converted by it.

So, guys, this is just a sober warning.

It's not enough to listen, it's not enough to hear, it's not enough to be affected, it's not enough to cry if it doesn't change your life.

The second thing we can be experts at making up excuses to reject a true message, can we not?

Do you not see this on your own life?

Especially if you're married, have you never done this in marriage?

Your spouse is saying something to you in the heat of the moment that you know is right, but you're thinking, I'm not listening to anything that guy says.

I've never experienced that, but hypothetically I've heard of other people that have.

I have had times back when my kids were younger, high school, middle school age, that they might come home griping about one of their teachers or coaches.

You won't believe that this guy always said again.

I'm sure none of your kids have ever done this, right?

This guy's an idiot, you know, he's my he's a hypocrite.

I thought, well, what exactly was he saying to you, buddy?

Well, he's telling me I talked too much in class.

I'm like, well, I've been living with you for about a dozen years, and it seems like that message might be true.

Let me give you a personal example.

Again, I don't remember exactly when, probably about 15 years ago, uh I had a mentor and godly guy, uh, but very involved in corporate America, and I had set an appointment with him.

It's hard to get on his calendar, it's pretty busy, that I needed some advice about the situation.

But in between the time that I set the meeting, and the meeting actually happened, something happened in the ministry.

I had made a bad decision, a stupid decision, and it was causing problems for me and lots of other people.

And he was on the board of this ministry.

And so by the time I got to him, he was pretty hot and angry, understandably so.

And uh he proceeded to verbally kick my teeth in.

That's the way I'll say it.

He was not kind, he was not gentle, he was angry, and he let me have it.

Listen, I I tend to think I'm a fairly thick-skinned guy.

In fact, I've probably verbally kicked some other people's teeth in before.

But I remember leaving, getting in my car, and kind of being like, man, I have nobody has talked to me that way in a long time.

And I did not like it, and I do not appreciate it.

And I think he was in sin, and I think he was not kind and he was not gentle, and he didn't speak the truth in love.

And I'm like, I'm thinking about turning around, going back, and rebuking him because he is a friend, he's a man.

I want to be reconciled with him, and he needs to know.

And I can remember driving down the highway thinking about this.

Like, am I about to call him back?

So, hey, we and then, and I think this was the Holy Spirit, the thought just came into my mind, was what he's saying true, and I had barely just enough objectivity in that moment to think about 98% true, yeah.

Could I, could I, could I pick apart a couple of things that he said, probably, and I certainly don't like the way he said it and delivered it.

But the message was true.

And I was like, you know what?

I need to work on repenting first and dealing with my sin and my mistakes before I ever get back to going back and rebuking him for the way it was delivered.

Does that make sense?

But it was so tempting in my heart to want to say, I'll listen to the message later.

I gotta settle the way he delivered it first.

And here's the funny thing: that guy's so busy that could have taken months for me to get back to that.

I needed to deal with the message and not make an excuse.

Now, guys, Jesus' delivery was perfect.

He's the only sinless human being to ever live.

And they still found a way to reject him.

In fact, probably when they said, This is the son of Mary, back then you almost never identified somebody by their mom.

You would say this is the son of Joseph, even if Joseph was already dead.

So almost certainly, probably part of what they were doing is like, hey, this guy, he's illegitimate.

You know, I mean, we we know something about his mama.

Why should we listen?

They're looking for any excuse they can to not listen to what he has to say, even buying into rumors.

I remember I was doing marriage counseling for a couple one time, and at one point the woman said about the man again, church people.

I was actually an elder in a church, and she said, he only likes to listen to preachers that don't help him.

And I thought that was really weird for a second.

I thought it was like, yeah, it listen to preachers that are interesting or whatever, but they don't really force you to make any changes.

It's a lot easier to listen to people like that.

And she was kind of nailing him.

He loves to listen to people like that.

Somebody's actually convicted and calls for change, he won't listen to them.

Here's John Calvin.

Listen to this quote: It is not mere ignorance that hinders men, but they search after grounds of offense to prevent them from following the path to which God invites them on.

They intentionally turn their eyes from this site.

They interpose a veil to shut out the clearest light.

I mean, if you ever had an off day when you wanted to sleep in and the sun shines in, and so you go and you try to pull the veil.

I remember in college we used to take a comforter and like tack it up over the window so we could keep it black, we could sleep till noon.

But that's what some people do spiritually.

They search out grounds of offense.

If you ever know somebody like that, it's like, man, they're so easily offended.

It's like they're looking for something to get offended about.

Don't be that way when it comes to hearing the truth of God.

The problem is we don't have Jesus Christ here in his perfection.

So unfortunately, when you're hearing the truth, oftentimes it's coming through a bozo like me.

And I just say, don't let that be an excuse not to listen.

Okay, the third thing.

Faith is a factor.

I mean, listen, the Bible has a lot to say about God's power, God's control, God's plan that is crucial.

But the Bible also has a lot to say about our responsibility to respond.

We cannot control when and how and where God will speak to us.

We can't do it.

We are responsible to respond when he speaks.

One commentator named Brooks said this: God and his son can do anything, but they have chosen to limit themselves in accordance with human response.

Guys, just think about this with me for a second.

Two thousand years ago, there's this little village, probably literally only hundreds of people that lived in the town.

And one day they show up for church, and little did they know, there's a 32-year-old man sitting there, and it's literally God in the flesh.

It didn't get any better than that.

And yet they chose to say, we're not responding to that mess.

They found an excuse to say, I don't care, I don't like it.

When God is speaking to us in his word, please don't reject it.

Now, some of you may be sitting here saying, Okay, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus, but I'm not clear about what he's saying to me.

What's he saying to me?

I'm glad you asked, all right?

Point four, we are blessed to be a blessing.

If you are a Christian, if you are in Christ, at some point there needs to be a turn in your Christianity where you're not only receiving from God, we're going to be receiving from God forever and ever and ever into eternity.

But at some point, I'm not just a receiver, I start to become a giver.

The 12 had just been following Jesus around, I mean, eating the crumbs off his table.

And then he said, Hey guys, time to grow up.

Time to go out.

Two by two, he sends them to go out and preach.

You may say, Well, Ola, now these guys were like trained professional ministers, you know.

I mean, they're like writing the New Testament and stuff, right?

But it's a little bit like this, guys.

All human beings, I mean, normal, healthy human beings, you can walk, you can run.

You may not be a track star, you may not be a professional athlete like Hussein Bolt, but that doesn't mean that you should never walk or run.

And in a similar way, you may say, I am not called to full-time minister, that's not for me.

Thankful for people like you, Olin, but it ain't me.

Normal, everyday, average Joe and Jane Christians have a part to play.

And it's a glorious part to talk to other people about Christ.

Guys, here's what here's one of the things that I have often seen.

I mean, go back to the Bible study I was talking about in that college fraternity.

There was one of those guys that was really interested, and after Bible study, he wanted to spend more time with me.

I still don't fully understand why.

But there were probably 11 other guys in there.

If I'd said, hey, would you like to have lunch with me?

They would look for any excuse to get out of it.

Because they probably what they're thinking is, you're a weird old guy that comes to a college campus in your 40s.

I know I don't want to spend time alone with you.

That sounds weird.

But if one of their buddies that they played golf with on the weekend said, I want to tell you about how Christ changed my life, they'd probably listen to them.

And in a similar way, there's probably friends and family in your neighborhood, place of work, that if you say, Come to church, they're like, No way.

If you're like, How about me and you have coffee and let me just talk to you about some things I'm learning from the Bible?

They'll probably take you up on that.

Okay, we're blessed to be a blessing.

And I'd say along with that, it's best with a buddy.

And here's what I mean.

Even Jesus sent out these professional ministers two by two.

You go in pairs, so maybe if you lose your courage, they've still got theirs.

Now, what listen, does this mean you've got to go on a mission trip like the Mormons?

It does not.

It means this: if you're in a law firm and you only know of one other Christian there, maybe you and him start a Bible study together.

If in your neighborhood, your next door neighbor on your right, you know, is a devout, serious Christian, and your next door neighbor on your left is as lost as a goose, maybe you have them both over dinner one tonight and see if a spiritual conversation comes up.

If you're in a running club or whatever, and your best girlfriend Friend's there and she's a believer, but other friend, never been to church.

Maybe y'all run together and you invite her to church together.

Do it together if you can.

And some of you, if you listen, you're tracking, you're like, you're probably right, but I don't want to.

It seems weird.

It seems awkward.

What if I don't know what to say?

Guys, all Christian obedience, like witnessing, let's just focus on that, like talking to other people about Christ, it requires faith.

Like we've already really said.

There's a step of faith in it.

I mean, why did Jesus give the disciples these weird directions?

Basically, just take the clothes on your back.

Don't take a blanket.

Don't take coat.

Don't take money.

It was about trust me.

Trust me.

Take a risky step of faith and trust me that I'm gonna meet you and provide for you what you need when you need it.

Even down to real-life stuff like bread and money and a blanket when it's cold.

So if you or I step out to try to have conversations with others about Christ, like, what if I get asked a question?

God will guide you, He will help you.

Take the risky step of faith.

Okay.

Um, I mean, remember, guys, just about three weeks ago in Mark chapter 5, we're looking at the crazy naked demon guy who gets saved.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

That guy didn't know anything.

And a couple hours later, Jesus is like, go back and preach to the whole village.

If God can use that guy, I'm telling you, God can use you and me.

Now, I don't know about you, but as I was studying this passage, there's one thing that kind of just didn't seem right.

It bothered me, it confused me as I was wrestling with it.

And here it is.

Imagine if this morning we had a guest preacher.

And as the guest preacher came in, you're sitting here and you're looking, you're like, I know that guy.

I went to high school with him.

We had shop class together.

He used to be a local mechanic.

He fixed my car one time.

He went on a date with myself.

I mean, whatever.

You're like, I know that guy.

Would that automatically make you reject what he was teaching?

And certainly, if what he was teaching you, you admitted, this guy's a great teacher.

He's got good speaking skills.

I mean, he he is giving us wisdom, he's giving us practical tips for our marriage, our parenting, whatever it is.

You're like, this is good stuff, this is helpful stuff.

And then, oh, by the way, if you're like, and you know what, I've heard he can actually heal people.

What in the world would make people want to reject a guy like that?

A good teacher, a man full of wisdom, an astonishing teacher.

And here's the thing, you know, it must have been something about what he was saying.

It's like, well, what was he saying?

And you go back and you're he didn't tell us.

Except, get right down to the end of the passage, verse 12 gives us one word about what the message was.

Because the apostles were going out preaching the same thing he was.

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

You know what the word repent means, right?

It's a change of mind, it's a change of purpose, it's a change of your whole life.

Repent.

Again, when I was studying this passage, part of what was kind of jumping out to me at first is these people are not like scandalous sinners.

These people aren't the drug dealers.

They're not the murderers, the thieves, and the rapists.

They're just normal sinners like me and you.

No crime is more offensive to God than contempt of his word.

I've never sold drugs.

I have hated God's word sometime.

You may say, What do you mean?

You're a preacher, huh?

When the Bible tells me to do something and I understand what it tells me to do, and I say, I ain't doing that, we can dress it up however nice you want.

The bottom line is that's you hating God's word.

Normal sinners like me and you, we have to repent.

Why do we so often refuse to repent?

Because oftentimes when push comes to shove, we love something more than we love Jesus.

My friend Ed.

I think what it was is he loved money.

And he didn't want to give up all his easy access.

He had a lot of money.

I mean, after my friends told me that, and I started thinking back, I was like, you know, the times he gets the most choked up when we're talking is when we talk about passages that have to do with money, like the rich young ruler.

Now, may not be money for you.

Sex, drugs, rock and roll, it doesn't matter.

We all have something.

Even if you're the most strong, committed, devout, focused Christian in the room.

The reality is, if you know yourself, I I know myself, I've been living myself now for 49 years.

Even on my best days, when I feel like I love Jesus, right?

There's always something right out here in my peripheral vision that's a temptation, at least.

It's a competitor for center stage in my human heart where only Christ should reign.

Does make sense?

We all have it.

And it helps to know what it is so that I can more constantly and continually repent of it.

Guys, the call to repentance in Christianity, yes, it is a once and for all thing.

I repent of my sins, I trust in Jesus as my Savior and Lord, but then it's also an everyday thing.

Just like a good marriage.

Once and for all you take the vows, and then every day you gotta live it out.

Oh, yeah, you're still here.

I gotta keep loving you.

Sometimes not just every day, it's every hour, right?

Listen, God is a jealous lover.

There's a lot of ways jealousy can be a bad thing, but the one place that we all intuitively know jealousy works well is in marriage.

It's right for a husband to say to his wife, I'm jealous for you.

No, you may not go on a date with your old boyfriend.

Nobody's like that guy's just too jealous.

You're like, nope, that's the right kind of jealousy.

And that's the kind of jealousy the Lord Jesus Christ has for us.

I don't want any competitors in your life for the affection that belongs to me.

Now, what is it for you?

Maybe it's pride and reputation.

That's part of what keeps you back from talking to other people about Christ because you love your comfort too much.

I don't know, guys.

But we need to know it, we need to repent of it.

But even as I'm talking, part of what we all ought to be thinking is this but even on my best days, my faith, my repentance, it's so weak, it's so frail, it's so fragile, it's so fickle, it's up and down, it's like a roller coaster ride.

And guys, that is why it is so glorious that it is true that Jesus, is he a prophet?

Yes.

Is he a teacher?

Yes.

Is he a healer?

Yes.

Is he a king?

Yes.

Is he a king that demands to be Lord of your life?

Yes.

But that's not all he is.

He's a savior.

He's a savior.

And this little rejection that he had at his hometown, it had to hurt.

Had to hurt.

But it was just a precursor to the ultimate rejection that would come.

At the cross.

When not just his own people would reject him by and large, but in even some mysterious sense that we can't fully understand, God the judge rejected him on the cross.

I mean, I said, it's it's it's ideally typically best if you're going to go on mission, try to do what God wants you to do, to do it with a buddy.

The greatest lone ranger mission of all time when he didn't have a buddy was the Lord Jesus Christ stretched out on the cross.

Because in some sense, he didn't even feel the closeness of his father then.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Because he was paying the price for all of our sins, all of our lack of repentance, all of our competitors that we fall in love with.

Rejected not just by men, but by God.

Why?

So that when we place our faith in him, even though my faith is so weak and my repentance is so struggling, I can have a guarantee, a blood bought guarantee.

He'll never reject me.

Amen.

I'm saved by his grace alone.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we do love you.

We don't love you near as much as we ought to.

We want to love you more, we want to serve you more, we want to follow you more.

Please let us experience grace this morning, the grace that cleanses us from all of our sin.

But Lord, we don't want to just be cleansed of our sin and just be legally forgiven of our sin.

We want to be changed.

Slowly but surely, we're asking you that you would fill us full of the Holy Spirit, make us into the men and women of faith, repentance, and obedience that you want us to be.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.