Amazing Unbelief

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

more into the life of following God, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and

joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in

the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God Bless. Lord, we do ask that you be

our good shepherd and lead us in your ways. Would

we gladly follow you with all of our being, with

all of our lives. And now, would the words in

my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be

pleasing in your sight, the Lord, our rock and

our Redeemer. Amen. All right, on... On November

23rd in 2004, Rob Howes was going for a swim

on the north coast of New Zealand with his daughter,

I think it's Nissi, N -I -C -C -Y, and three

of her friends, Nissi was 15, a few teenagers

and one of their dads, and pretty quickly a bunch

of dolphins were coming towards them, which I

think was both very exciting and exhilarating

and scary. But what quickly happened is that

these dolphins encircled them. And fairly quickly

afterwards, what happened is that Howes realized

that it wasn't that they were actually coming

after them, but they were protecting them. because

what he saw, which he said when he was actually

interviewed by the newspaper afterwards, that

it was only about two meters away from me, the

water was crystal clear and I could see it as

clear as the nose on my face. What happened is

that as these dolphins started to herd us up,

pushed us together in a circle, a great white

shark was coming after them. And according to

the newspaper accounts that I read, this lasted

for about 40 minutes. The shark trying to come

in. And actually, the larger dolphins, supposedly

what he said, the larger dolphins would kind

of come out and go out and sort of deter the

shark from coming after Rob, his daughter, her

three friends. He said that the shark was, according

to him, nearly three meters long. nine to 10

feet or so, great white shark coming after you,

being circled until you could be safe by dolphins.

I mean, can you imagine having that experience?

Initially, probably an experience that is full

of fear. What are all these dolphins gonna do?

Why are they all around us? The sense of the

power. of other animals around you, maybe just

being overwhelmed in awe of their brilliance,

of their kindness, of their awareness, of their

almost eagerness to put their lives on the line

for these humans. Of course, the amazement at

the dolphins who sensed the shark long before

you would have and put their own lives on the

line for you, the great amazement was that you

were there thinking that I am totally helpless

to save my daughter and her friends and here

are these animals willing to do it for me. It's

amazing and it's amazing on many levels. I'll

be honest, when I first saw it, it was on an

Instagram account about history. And you know,

when those things come up, I'm like, I don't

even know if I believe this story. And that was

actually my first response. I don't really think

I buy it. And so I searched, I was like, oh,

actually, this is true. I don't think I believed

it. Actually, I was very skeptical. Yeah, there

it was. And you can look it up too. In fact,

we have eyewitness accounts from the shore, people

that say that they looked out and they saw these

dolphins encircling these folk. Amazing, it's

an amazing story. And probably because I was

also preparing for a sermon, the amazement of

this made me think of this spot we're in in the

gospel in Mark, because all these amazing things

are happening, right? that Jesus is doing. We

talked about some of them last week. Jesus is

speaking and the wind and the waves are obeying

him, listening to his voice and responding to

his command. And of course, what happens is that

the disciples are fearful, divine presence in

their midst. They're also amazed. Who is this?

Even the wind and the waves obey him, right?

And then of course, Jesus healing the demon possessed

man and all, you know, the people from the Decapolis,

which is the 10 cities in the area, the surrounding

area said they marveled. And probably there's

a few different marvelings happening, marveling

because this man who had cut himself up and had

lived in chains among the tombs was now in his

right mind walking among them, having conversations

with them, telling them of this man, Jesus, who

healed them. And then they were marveling also

because what is this again? Divine power, God

in our midst? That demons can be cast out? And

then of course, last week we looked at another

amazing thing. Jesus heals this woman with this

12 years hemorrhage, this bleeding that we read

last week. She had consulted other physicians

and she spent all she had. She had done all that

was humanly possible. And yet divine interaction,

God in her midst, healing her and of course the

12 year old little girl who had life after death.

And of course that also we are told they were

immediately they were overcome with amazement.

Amazed at being saved, amazed at God in their

midst. Interestingly though, our passage this

morning has a different kind of amazement. It's

a different kind of amazement. All these stories

are mentioning these different ways in which

people come face to face with the reality of

God and they're marveling and they're declaring,

oh my word, who is this? Even the wind and waves

can obey him. And all these people saying, we're

amazed. What is this? Jesus, God in our midst.

So we have different kind of amazement in our

passage this morning. Mark one tells us that

Jesus went to his hometown with his disciples.

And what we read is in some ways that he does

what he pretty much always does. He went away

from there and came to his hometown, and his

disciples followed him, and then verse two, and

on the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue.

We know that Jesus made it his habit to go to

worship on the Sabbath day, and we know that

he probably taught quite a few times. Most people

don't think this is the exact same account as

what happens in Luke chapter four, if you know

that story. It may be, but there's a little bit

of differences. He didn't always probably teach

when he went to the synagogue, but this time

he did. And we're told that many who heard him

were astonished. They were astonished at it.

And if you opened up your Bibles and you followed

along, maybe you opened up to a version that

didn't translate it astonished because that word

actually astonished could also be translated

amazed. It's amazed. The word could mean astonished

or amazed. And yet the English standard version,

the one that we use translates as astonished.

And I think that's probably a good idea because

it's actually a different word than the word

that was used two verses earlier in chapter five,

verse 41. But it has sort of the same, pretty

much the same meaning, which is this amazement

at Jesus. They hear him teach, they have him

in their presence, and they're amazed, they're

astonished. And what I'm suggesting to you this

morning is that Mark is putting all of these

stories that we've just been, you know, that

we looked at last week and then we looked at

last year that we picked back up on. And then

he's putting this story right there at the beginning

of chapter six intentionally all together. Mark

putting these stories of people seeing and hearing

and experiencing and knowing in a sense, Jesus

in their midst and being amazed by it. Being

amazed by the words and works of Jesus. And here's

the thing, is that for some people that leads

to deeper belief, an eagerness to follow, a desire

to be taught, a desire to be changed and healed

and made new. And yet for others, it's unbelief.

Which is to say, you can engage with Jesus You

can't even in a way know Jesus without believing

in him, without a changed life. So I want you

to see this morning that there's a knowing of

Jesus, a knowing of Jesus that does not lead

to life in Jesus. So first just knowing Jesus.

Okay, look at me back at verse two. We'll read

two and three. And on the Sabbath, like I said,

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 deeds done

by his hands? First, all statements of astonishment,

amazement. But it continues on, verse three,

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. There were many it said

that were astonished with him. There were many

that were astonished with him who knew him, right?

And I want to suggest to you that it was maybe

because of their knowledge of him that they wonder,

where's this guy getting his teaching? Where's

he getting his wisdom? What's going on here?

How can he do such mighty works? This was not

the first time these people had engaged with

Jesus, right? He was familiar to them. Oh yeah,

we know what he looks like. Yeah, we can tell

you a little bit about him. Oh, we know his mom.

I know his brother's names. They grew up playing

T -ball with me. We know this guy. I know his

sisters. By the way, people think that likely

because of Jesus' age, his sisters would have

been married and that's maybe why they were referred

to as his sisters. They were kind of in this

different stage of life. They know his profession.

This is the carpenter. Which, by the way, is

not an offensive thing. A carpenter was actually

a very good job. The word tecnon there, tecton,

sorry. This is a very skilled person. A tecton

would have been somebody who could use many different

materials and create. great buildings. I mean,

think about our own building here. We have, you

know, bricks on the outside. We've got stained

glass made. We've got these, you know, carvings

that have been done out of wood. This is a very

skilled person who has lots and lots of ability.

It would have not just been a sort of a woodworker,

but also a mason and a plumber and probably could

do a lot of things. It would have been a finished

carpenter, somebody who could finish the whole

work and do it well. So he probably could have

also built a house and built the furniture for

the house. Very skilled person. Which is to say

that they may be thinking, Jesus did my dining

room table. When I had that roof, you know, that

those guys sort of tore apart, he's the guy I

was going to call to fix it up. It's Jesus the

carpenter. He put the deck off the back of my

house. He was the sculptor who created that sculpture

for my house. I mean, he would have been incredibly

skilled and they would have known him. Again,

they could have talked probably how Jesus ran

around with their own kids. Oh, he was the one.

He kept making goals. I don't know why he was

that good at soccer. Maybe they were on that

singular trip that we know Jesus made in his

youth down to Jerusalem with his parents. Maybe,

at the very least, Nazareth, we know is not a

very big town. Four to five hundred people. I

bet his, you know, not coming back with everybody

and his parents going, oh my word, we left Jesus,

who is the Christ, who was called Jesus because

he would save people from their sins, back in

Jerusalem, we better go get him. I mean, it probably

would have been the talk of town, right? This

youth that was left by his parents back in Jerusalem,

they would have all heard the stories. Maybe

if his sisters were married, these were the folk

that maybe attended. their weddings. Maybe they

made toasts roasting the bride and groom. Maybe

Jesus was there at some of those celebrations.

Which is to say they knew Jesus. Is this not

the son of Mary? Aren't these his siblings? Isn't

he a carpenter? In French, and I would assume

many other languages, but this is the one I know

best other than English. There are a couple different

words that mean to know, to know something. One

word is savoir, like savoir faire, like you know

how to do something, you know, he has the savoir

faire, which literally means to know, to do,

putting them together. And that kind of knowing

is like the person, well, they know facts about

something, you know. Brown balding hair, brown

eyes, just shy of 5 '10". You know, I know Peter,

that's what he's like. This is somebody who knows

information. Maybe they also know a skill. That'd

be kind of a savoir. And so if you sort of knew

somebody who knows savoirs, France, they're like,

well, they know the capital is Paris. Maybe they

know, as you all no doubt know. that one of the

nicknames for France is the hexagon, because

it's shaped like a hexagon. Maybe they know that

France is known for its museums, like the Louvre

and the Orsay, so many others. Maybe they know

that it's known for its food and its wine. Savoir.

That's a kind of knowing. There's another kind

of knowing, which is the word connect. And let

me sort of illustrate this way. If you told me,

or if you asked me, Peter, do you know Melisse?

I would not say, oui, je sais. I would say, oui,

je connais. Because it's not a knowledge that

is strictly sort of the outside. I know the facts,

but I know the experience. i know the reality

i know the truth a deeper truth not just knowing

the facts about one's wife but knowing them or

if you said uh oh uh do you do you know france

you could say oui je le sais or which would just

mean the stats we could say oui je connais which

would mean i've walked the streets I've tasted

a 60 cent baguette that would go for a fortune

in the United States. It just breaks, and it's

crispy on the outside, it's chewy on the inside.

It's fantastic. You know it. Which is to say,

to know Jesus is not just to know, oh, he's the

carpenter guy. Oh, that's his mom. I know his

sibling's name. his brothers and sisters, but

to experience him, his heart, his presence in

the midst of the storm, his ability to speak

and creation itself is listening, his knowledge

that he can take the time with the woman who's

reaching out to touch the hem of his garment

and to heal her and to hear her story and yet

at the same time know that he is going to care

for the young girl. her family and her friends.

Know that he has power, not just over the physical

world, but the spiritual world. The man oppressed

by demons living among the tombs is safe in the

arms and the presence of Christ. Now here's the

thing. Mark is writing this knowing that his

audience, his original audience and his continued

audience like ours today, is gonna fall into

these categories. There's gonna be those who

are amazed at Christ because they know him in

the deepest sense. They know his power, his ability.

He knows that he could say, stand up and be well

or your sins are forgiven. He says, which one's

easier? Both are in my domain. He also knows

that there are going to be plenty just like it

was on that day long ago in that synagogue on

that Sabbath that say, yeah, I know him. I've

got the stats. I've got the facts. I've heard

of the miracles. I've heard his teaching. Nobody's

denying that he exists. He's not who he says

he is. Maybe you're here and you find Jesus wise.

Maybe you want to have him teach you. But maybe

it's precisely because of your knowledge of him

already. You won't give yourself over to faith.

Surrender to belief. Cling to him in need and

find him to be sufficient. Which is to say that,

again, there is an amazement, there's a knowledge

about Jesus that does not lead to life. to belief.

Think about this. We keep going in our passage.

This is pretty interesting. I think this is really

interesting. If we keep going in our passage,

what we find is that it's not just that there

were many there on that Sabbath long ago that

heard Jesus and were astonished, or we can say

it translated amazed, but there's a part of our

passage where Jesus himself, well it says marveled.

Let's look down at it. The first part of verse

six, if you look down there. Verse six. And he,

that's Jesus, marveled because of their unbelief.

Marvels at their unbelief. And again, interestingly,

I looked this up, marvel could also be translated

amazed. He was amazed. Their unbelief. Different

word, but connoting the same meaning. There's

an amazement at Jesus, like in this passage,

that does not lead to faith in Him. There's an

engagement with Jesus. Even a way of saying,

wow, what a teacher! Wow, what great acts! It

doesn't lead to what God actually most desires

from you, faith and life in Him. And think of

this. This is done, at least in this text, in

the context where people would say, I know Jesus.

I know him. All kinds of people know things about

Jesus. So I was reading this week in preparation

for this, some writing by the famous atheist

Sam Harris. Of course, you all know he doesn't

believe in Jesus. But he knows a lot about Jesus.

He knows an awful lot about Jesus, actually.

If you read his writings, you're like, well,

this guy, maybe he knows more than I do. And

he says he doesn't believe in Jesus, in part,

not because he hasn't read the Bible. He's read

it and he finds that it's not how he thinks God

should communicate. Why would God write this

text like this? It's part of what he says. This

is what he says. Take a moment to imagine how

good a book could be if it were written by the

creator of the universe. Such a book could contain

a chapter on mathematics that after 2000 years

of continuous use would still be the richest

source of mathematical insight the earth has

ever seen. I mean, maybe that's you this morning.

You know, it's not that you haven't engaged with

the teachings of the Bible. It's not that you

haven't read the parables of Jesus. It's that

you read them and you think, this isn't what

it should be. This isn't how God should present

himself. He's a carpenter. Come on, can't you

do better? Sam Harris goes on, why doesn't the

Bible say anything about electricity? about DNA,

or about the actual age and size of the universe.

If this is a true accounting, why isn't it what

I think it should be? How about this? Maybe this

resonates more with you. He goes on after saying,

or about the actual age and size of the universe,

what about a cure for cancer? Which in some ways

is to say, what about the problem of evil and

suffering? Millions of people are dying horribly

from cancer at this very moment, many of them

children. When we fully understand the biology

of cancer, this understanding will surely be

reducible to a few pages of text. Why aren't

these pages, or anything remotely like them,

found in the Bible? The Bible is, after all,

a very big book. It's not that he doesn't know.

It's not that he hasn't read. And maybe that's

your experience. You think, I know this. I was

raised knowing Jesus, knowing the stories of

him, knowing how he went off to Jerusalem and

came back and all the rest. I can tell you the

facts about Jesus. And sometimes it's actually

that knowing that is actually a hindrance to

the deeper knowledge of faith. giving yourself

over to a committed life, surrendering to the

only one who can bring peace and life, protection,

care. You may know an awful lot about the Bible.

The truth is, at least according to this text,

you may be even amazed by a lot of it. You may

be amazed by it. And yet you can't come to believe

to really confess. that you can only find your

life in Him. You may know the doctrines of Christian

religion and not actually know the God of the

universe. You may find them offensive, like Sam

Harris does. Think about this. Isn't this the

carpenter? You mean God? You mean you guys think

that God actually became a human? And that's

where you find salvation. Think of Paul writing

how the cross is a scandal. You think that this

God man dying on a Roman cross long ago is the

center of life? That that's where you find your

hope? You mean your sins are actually so bad

that they demand God's death? Do you know what

that does psychologically to somebody to have

that high a view of sin? It's not that you don't

know what it says. It's not even that you don't

at times find it amazing. But you just can't

believe that that could possibly be true. Probably

many of you have heard of the somewhat recent,

though the conversation seems to be waning, but

the deconstructionist movement recently in Christianity.

And it's largely folk that have been raised in

the church. And that's the whole idea, deconstructing

what you have been given. And it's significantly

more common in sort of evangelical circles. Largely

left the faith they were raised in. And I want

to say this actually pretty clearly and I'm going

to share a few quotes about this too. There's

a lot of good reason for that. I mean, there

is a lot of abuse in church settings. I mean,

a lot of people point to sort of purity culture

in this movement as a way of actually being taught

that their bodies are not lovely and fearfully

and wonderfully made by God, right? Okay, there's

something to that. A lot of people have gone

to that movement because the massive abuses of

authority found in the church and pastor figures,

okay. They are not unfounded reasons. In fact,

I would say that there's some really good reasons.

Paul Tripp, maybe some of you who listen to the

podcast, The Rise and Fall of Mark Silva, Paul

Tripp said this. We should all be deconstructing

our faith. We better do it. Because our faith

becomes a culture, a culture so webbed into the

purity of truth that it's hard to separate the

two. And we better do some deconstructing or

we're going to find ourselves again and again

in these sad places, talking about the abuse

that took place in that setting. But I also want

to say that these are largely folk that would

say they know Jesus and yet don't continue on.

Don't say I'm giving my life despite the fact

I want to push away some of this stuff. I'm giving

my life and committing my life to surrendering

to Christ. I want to suggest to you, sort of

as I begin to wrap up, that there is a key. in

a way in this text for why so many might know

Jesus, the facts about him, but don't want to

actually give themselves over in faith and belief

to following Jesus. And so Jesus can still be

marveling because of their unbelief. I want to

suggest to you this, many don't want to do this

because he shines a light on our need. He shines

a light on how big our sin is. He shines a light

on our rebellion against God. And he says, you

are utterly in need of that which is outside

of you. Okay, so verse four, it's kind of interesting.

Verse four, if you look down there, it says,

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 And we think, we

think that what Jesus is largely saying is sort

of a maxim of his day. The prophets now without

honor accepted his home, hometown, you know,

all this sort of stuff. That it was a phrase

that was kind of known. But we have a similar

phrase today. It was familiarity breeds contempt.

You can know something so much that you actually

don't love it anymore. And the other thing that

I think is key here though is that Jesus is indirectly

calling himself a prophet. What does a prophet

do? It's the role of a prophet. The main role

of a prophet is to call people back to God. Say

if you continue down this road, let me tell you

what's gonna happen. But consider there's another

way, come back to the Lord. Most often the role

of a prophet was to call people back to God.

To say to them you are heading down the wrong

direction You're heading down the wrong way Prophet

would say that they are going down the way that

leads to death If they're gonna continue rejecting

God's way Embracing the way of sin who will only

lead to death. That was the primary role of a

prophet. Don't go that way and Jesus is preaching

the kingdom He's named Jesus because he will

save his people from their sins. That the main

thing that's happening in the text of scripture

is not what Sam Harris wants, right? The mathematic

text, the DNA, all that. But the main thing that

Jesus is about and the scriptures are about is

repent. Turn from your ways. Embrace the work

of Christ. And just like then, And just like

throughout history, that message has become so

offensive that people say, I don't want to be

told that. I would rather persist in my unbelief,

dismiss you with what knowledge I sort of have

of you, and continue on with making myself the

center of my life. I'm suggesting to you that

this is the reason why so many in Jesus' day

and in our own day, they might know him, but

they will not surrender to him. give their life

over to him. So they do not want to receive him

as the one that orients their life instead of

themselves. It's him as the true life -giving

one who saves us from our sins. And so we read,

Jesus marveled because of their unbelief. Think

about this with me. Let's go back to the dolphins.

Were you amazed by that story? Did any of you

just think like, what? Are you kidding? I mean,

probably what you did, because I can do this

too, is I said, I want to have that experience.

How wild would that be? Have dolphins encircling

you, saving you from a great white shark. How

exhilarating. You're amazed at how dolphins can

save a man and his daughter and her friends.

Amazed. and how intelligent they are and how

wondrous creation is, how they preserved life.

And no doubt these people have heard the stories

of what Jesus has done, right? They're marveling

at his mighty works. The story we had just heard

was that he saved this girl who had died and

given her new life. And I think that what Mark

is doing in putting these two stories together

is he is saying, don't you want this? Do you

want to continue just saying you know God, but

having no deep abiding faith in him, experiencing

him? Really experiencing the reality of God saving

you when you can't do it. If it was up to you,

that shark is getting you. Don't you want that

kind of belief? Wouldn't you long to have Jesus

who can calm the storm? Who can heal the demon

-possessed man? Who can stop the bleeding? Who

can heal the young girl? Or do you want to brush

him off? He's the carpenter. Mary's son. Those

are his siblings. I think, I think what Mark

is doing by putting all these stories of amazement

together as He is asking us, will you believe?

Will you believe? Will you continue in a kind

of belief that is just savoir, facts? Or will

you give yourself over and find within your life

and your light and your salvation? Let me pray

for us. Lord, Thank you for the beauty of your

word. God, I pray today, I pray for each one

here. God, would we ask ourselves this afternoon,

would we maybe do it around our dinner tables?

Would we maybe call up a friend? Would we wonder

aloud with one another? What is my belief like?

What do I do with Jesus? And then would we, Lord,

please give ourselves over to faith, to trust,

to surrender to you alone who has life and life

abundantly. Your prayers, Lord. Amen. Thank you

for listening to Second City Sermons podcast.

We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship

God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please

consider subscribing to this podcast and joining

us in person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can

find us online at secondcitychurch .org and on

Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again

for listening.