The Dangers of Disbelief - Mark 6:1-6

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. We have been walking through

the Book of Mark and pointing to the fact that

Christ is King. Mark is moving quickly. He moves

very fast. He gives us a lot of stories that

are in the Gospels. and all the other gospels.

But his are very brief because he is writing

to a persecuted church in Rome, and he's writing

to a Gentile church in particular. So he gives

us things that only they would really care about

and need to know. And he's giving it to us from

Peter's standpoint because he was a direct disciple

of Peter. So we're kind of seeing the way Peter

saw the life of Christ. and we're seeing it in

a very quick way. Now this morning, the title

of my sermon is this, the dangers of disbelief

when familiarity breeds contempt. And we're gonna

be looking at Mark chapter six, and we're gonna

be going verses one through six. The big idea,

if you wanna go ahead and put that up, Dustin,

if you wanna write this down, here's kind of

what I'm driving home this morning. Our refusal

to accept the truth of who Jesus is can rob us

of the transformative power he longs to offer,

reminding us that familiarity does not equate

to understanding or belief. So, famous passage

in the scriptures. We're gonna look at in just

a second where Jesus goes back home and his own

town rejects him. But unbelief is a powerful

force with devastating ramifications as Christians

many of us in this room understand the ramifications

of unbelief in the next life But what about the

ramifications in this life? So what I mean by

that is is all of us in this room whether you're

a Christian or not Because I'm I'm not naive

to the fact that not everybody in this room is

a Christian but everybody knows what it means

as a Christian belief that if you do not believe

in Christ and what he has done for you on the

cross, what the ramifications of that is eternally.

But I don't think we ever think about what the

ramifications of unbelief is in this life. And

so that's what we're gonna kind of unpack this

morning. But I want you to think about this.

Adam and Eve doubted God and his warning. And

so what did it cause but a fracture? between

us and God. The people in Noah's day refused

to believe the warning of coming judgment and

what happens? You guys know? They drown, right?

Aaron, after the Exodus, refused to patiently

trust the Lord's guidance and created a golden

calf and led people into idolatry, which resulted

in the slaughter of 3 ,000 people. The ten fearful

spies refused to trust God's promise, and in

an entire generation, what happened? Died. They

didn't see the promised land. They died in the

wilderness. Achan's unbelief was expressed through

greed, theft, and covering up of his sin, which

resulted in the execution of his entire family.

Over and over and over again throughout Israel's

history, unbelief and apostasy brought repeated

judgment upon the people. Now here's the crazy

thing. As I said, every single one in this room

would agree that unbelief and distrust in God

are dangerous. None of us would stand up and

say, you know what, I think unbelief is a good

thing. Nobody, is anybody gonna say that that's

a good thing? Nobody? Okay, good. All right,

we don't have to have a counseling session. But

what we often miss is this, and I want you to

write this down. Unbelief can be very subtle.

Sometimes unbelief doesn't look like outright

rebellion. Sometimes it just looks like familiarity.

Here's what I mean. Sometimes we can become so

familiar with the scriptures that we approach

the Word of God with apathy. You know the stories,

you know the verses, you know the doctrine, but

your heart no longer trembles before it. How

many of you guys know what I'm saying? I can

tell you. As your pastor, having taught this

book for almost two decades, having two degrees,

there are times where I approach this word as

if it is not God speaking to me, but just a book

that I'm familiar with the end of the story.

And let me tell you, that's sinful. But we tend

to approach it in a way that is not life transforming.

We tend to approach it in a way that's like God

not speaking directly to us. We just approach

it with this, mm, ho hum kind of attitude, you

know? Or how about prayer? Have you ever prayed

for something so many times that eventually you

stopped believing that God would answer? Maybe

deeper than that you stopped believing he has

even listening We can approach prayer in a way

that's like I've not seen any change or an answer

to prayer So I'm either not gonna pray at all

because prayer doesn't work Or maybe you just

fall asleep in prayer But subtle unbelief creeps

in when familiarity breeds contempt And that

is exactly what we're going to see in Mark chapter

six. Nazareth, which is where Jesus is from,

is so incredibly familiar with Jesus, they knew

his family, they knew his background, they knew

where he grew up, but because he became so familiar,

they became so familiar with him, they completely

missed who he truly was. And because of that

unbelief, they missed opportunities to be blessed.

Now let's go ahead and look at verses one through

six. 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

the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty

works done by his hands? Is this not the carpenter's

son and the son of Mary, and the brother of James

and Joseph? And Judas and Simon, and are not

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. If you're taking notes, here's my first

point. Unbelief obscures the obvious. Unbelief

obscures the obvious. How many of you guys ever

been to a magic show? Magic shows are pretty

cool. At least I think so. When you find a good

one. Hadley, you been to a magic show? That was

pretty cool. Anybody get sawn into? Yeah. Awesome.

All right. But you got magic shows are so like

when they're done well. So here's what's funny.

No, it's not here. But one of my favorite things

about Noah is like he loves magic tricks. And

there was a long time where he was really obsessed

with with doing magic tricks. But I told him

that he should become this magician. that his

whole shtick is he's not sure if the magic trick

is actually going to work because he would be

like all right dad i'm going to try this trick

on you hopefully it'll work most of the time

it didn't but like you know he'd do card tricks

and he'd get halfway through it and be like ah

i did it wrong hold on and i go that should totally

be a shtick of a magician like it's just kind

of like you get a lot of them wrong because i

just think it'd be hilarious but what makes magic

shows so engaging is when they're really good

And so a few years ago, when Micah was little,

I got this video and I went back and watched

it. Micah was about eight years old and he was

caught up on stage in this big youth conference

and was used by this Christian magician to do

this car trick. Now, I'm gonna tell you, the

trick was insane. So he calls up four other people

and then he calls up this young girl, right?

And he tells this young teenage girl, he says,

do you have a phone? She says, yes. And he goes,

okay. I'm going to be able to figure out your

cell phone number by using cards. And you're

like, that seems kind of impossible. Now, let

me say this. If Micah was not my son, okay, I

would have thought this was already pre -worked

out beforehand. All right, but it wasn't. We

never even saw the guy beforehand. He calls Micah

up. So what they do is is they the other four

people he's like, alright, here's a stack of

cards You he's like you take some and so they

you know, they pull them off and then he lay

them out He goes now you choose this one and

so by deduction of other people choosing stuff

the last remaining cards remaining He's like

this will be your phone number pulls out the

cards Ever she's she's blown away because he

lays them in order and then he goes I'm gonna

prove it then he calls her cell phone Blew us

all away as you can imagine right because this

guy just like used other people Micah being one

of them to figure out this young lady's phone

number and so I'm like Okay, hold on right like

This is pretty Pretty incredible. It's pretty

marvelous, right? but then as you look and knowing

how All magic is just what? It's sleight of hand,

right? It's an illusion, right? And so the reason

why I share that is this. I have no idea how

this guy did what he did. But while being amazed,

there was still skepticism the entire time that

I was watching it, because I'm like, there's

no way he just did that, right? He's not God.

So in the back of my mind, I know that there's

another explanation, but that's what makes magic

shows fun. There's mystery, there's wonder, there's

amazement, but deep down, we all know it's not

supernatural. There's another explanation somewhere.

And when we come to Mark chapter six, we see

something very similar happening with Jesus when

he returns to Nazareth. His hometown has invited

him back. And if you read the book of Luke, it'll

tell you that this is the second time he's come.

The first time, they almost killed him. We actually

saw it in the book of Mark, but we skipped over

it because my Easter sermon was on Lord Lyre

lunatic, right? And so what we see is that was

his first time going back to Nazareth and they

tried to kill him. And his own family says he's

a lunatic. So now this is the second time Jesus

comes back because he's invited back by Nazareth

this time. How do you know he was invited back,

Pastor Logan? Because he preaches in the synagogue.

And so they invite him back because they've been

hearing about the miracles. Jesus's fame is spreading.

So they're like, you know what, maybe we missed

something here. So they bring him back. He goes

back into the synagogue and he begins to teach.

And it says that they were astonished, right?

Now what it says in verse two? They're astonished

by his teaching and there's this major shift

from wanting him dead But now they invite him

into the synagogue to teach because the word

has spread and they've heard about the the healings

Like I said, they've heard about the demon possessed

man having demons cast out of him and now they're

curious But their curiosity quickly turns into

skepticism Why? Why does it turn into skepticism?

Unbelief. But why is there unbelief? They knew

him growing up. Right? I mean, this is what,

think, just think about this. Hold on, let me,

I'm gonna get too far ahead of my notes here.

As I said, unbelief obscures the obvious. Instead

of seeing the power of God standing right in

front of them, they started looking for another

explanation. This can't really be God. This can't

really be the Messiah. This has to be some sort

of trick. And they would rather believe their

eyes were deceiving them than believe God was

moving among them. So think about that. Think

about the irony. The blind is seeing. The demon

possessed are being set free. The dead is being

raised and lives are being transformed. And instead

of surrendering in worship, they would rather

explain it away. Because unbelief will always

try to obscure what's happening right in front

of you. And we still do this today. God answers

prayers, we call it coincidence. God changes

a life, well, people mature. God providentially

opens doors, convicts hearts, restores marriages,

saves sinners, and we explain it away because

unbelief would rather create alternate explanations

then bow before the obvious work of God. That's

what familiarity does if we aren't careful. Nazareth

became so familiar with Jesus, they could no

longer truly see him. So let me ask this question

before going on to point number two. Are you

so familiar? And I'm going to say like, are you

so familiar with the scriptures that you're completely

blind to what God is doing in your life? If you're

an unbeliever in this room right now, are you

so familiar, because you can be familiar with

the stories that are in here, that you are completely

blind to the fact that you need Jesus. And you

would rather search for how to fix your life

in other ways. Point number two. Unbelief focuses

on the irrelevant. Unbelief focuses on the irrelevant.

So in Mark 6 -3, what do they do? So it says

they're astonished and they ask these questions.

How did this happen? Is this not, like, this

is crazy. Is this not the brother of the son

of? Is this not, is not his sisters here before

us? What are they doing right here? What are

they doing? Yeah, I've I watched that kid poop

in his pants, right? Am I wrong? All of us here

have done that All of us here have watched somebody

grow up and you're like they will always forever

remain young They will always forever be that

person who screwed up Let me put it like this

if you've ever known a liar a cheater or a drug

addict You will not allow them to be that to

not Grow out of that or be saved out of that

freed out of that you will always see them as

that You know how I know Because there could

be a person in this church that everyone's like

I don't know. I've just watched them continually

go back into the same things over and over and

over again. It's hard for me to see them in a

different light. You guys know what I'm talking

about? We do it all the time. So what happens

is unbelief focuses on irrelevant things. Have

you ever been in a debate with someone where

one side presents an argument that is just airtight,

you make a point, And there's a moment of silence

because everybody in the room knows the argument

just landed. Do you know what I'm talking about?

You ever seen a debate where all of a sudden

it's like, oh man, that was a good point. And

the other side isn't saying anything. But instead

of admitting they're wrong, what happens? I'll

tell you what happens in my house, because this

happens all the time with Tracy and I. I'm not

saying who's usually the one that's in the wrong,

but. It might be me. I automatically start shifting

the point that I was trying to make into something

else, or I start making the argument into something

else. You guys know what I'm talking about? Suddenly

everything begins to, well, I wasn't talking

about that. I was talking about something else.

Or now comes personal attacks, right? Ad hominem

attacks. You start calling them names, right?

We got to do whatever we can to distract from

the fact that we've got to create the smoke screen,

right? We don't want to address that we just

got owned. So instead of addressing the actual

evidence, they begin attacking the person. That's

called an ad hominem attack. Attacking the individual

instead of dealing with the argument itself.

I actually recently saw a video of a guy who

was on a campus of the University of Oklahoma,

and he was debating kids on, college kids from

the pro -life position. And this young guy just

got absolutely owned in what he was saying to

show the, because the guy was like essentially

turned his own argument against him to show just

the complete fallacy of where it falls dead,

right? And the kid, instead of admitting defeat

or going, I see your point, he leaves the argument.

And then moments later, while the guy is actually

debating another kid, he comes back and he throws

red paint onto the guy. And then takes off running.

But why does he do that? Why does he react in

such a way? Write this down. Because when people

can't defeat the truth, they often try to distract

from it. We see this all the time online, right?

We've seen it happen to people like Charlie Kirk

and many others. When evidences becomes overwhelming,

people often resort to noise, distractions, and

personal attacks because they don't actually

have an answer. And that is exactly what Nazareth

is doing here with Jesus. Rather than embracing

the obvious reality standing in front of them,

they begin focusing on irrelevant details. How

do they do that? How do they begin to focus on

irrelevant details right here? Look at the text.

Verse three. What's it say? Is this not the carpenter's

son? Is this not Mary's son? Don't we know his

brothers and sisters? Notice they are not what

they're not talking about though. Notice that

they don't deny the miracles. They aren't denying

his wisdom. They've already said he has wisdom.

He's speaking with authority. They don't deny

the authority. So instead, you can write this

down. Instead, they focus on the irrelevant because

unbelief is looking for an escape route. Instead,

they focus on the irrelevant because unbelief

is looking for an escape route. And honestly,

humanly speaking, we can understand it, right?

We can understand why they are reacting the way

that they are. Imagine watching someone grow

up, as we talked about, in your hometown. You

knew them as a kid, you watched them work with

their father, and now suddenly they're performing

miracles, teaching with unmatched authority,

and claiming things only God could claim. I wanna

pause for just a second, okay? And I wanna say

this. Do you notice that it names Jesus' other

brothers and sisters? I want to point this out

to you because we have former Catholics in our

church, but we are in a very Catholic prominent

community and prominent state. This is one of

the passages of why when I'm speaking with someone

who's Catholic and they want to talk about Mary

remained a virgin her entire life. You literally

point right here to Mark. He lists them. Mary,

yes, wonderful that she got to birth Jesus, the

Messiah, but she was not a perfect woman and

she did not remain a virgin. So I just want to

make sure that that gets pointed out just because

it's there and in the community that we're in.

But you can imagine for those that are in Nazareth

how hard it would be to process how well they

know Jesus and seeing him grow up, how it could

be hard to process the fact that he's the Messiah.

Matter of fact, to kind of give you an idea of

how hard it is for anyone to transition, the

church that Tracy and I grew up in, Tracy grew

up in it. And then I came along later, but my

uncle was the pastor of the church. I applied

to be the youth pastor when they were needing

a youth pastor, and they wouldn't even give me

a chance. And there was two reasons for that.

One, they said I was not ready, which I can see

that in hindsight now. But two, they said they

don't think that I was called to ministry. So

they questioned my call. But that's what familiarity

does. Because my uncle watched me grow up make

mistakes, and to him, I will always be the young

kid that he saw making mistakes, right? Familiarity

can make us blind. And if we're not careful,

we can start clinging to unbelief by elevating

things that ultimately do not matter. We do this

spiritually all the time. Instead of asking,

is God working? Is this true? Is Christ really

calling me to obedience? We start focusing on

secondary things. I don't like how that person

said it. I don't like that style of preaching.

I've heard this passage before. I know too much

about that preacher. I know too much about those

church people. Does that sound familiar? And

before long, irrelevant details become excuses

for spiritual resistance. I want you to write

this down. One of the most dangerous things familiarity

can do is convince you that because something

is common to you is no longer sacred. One of

the most dangerous things familiarity can do

is convince you that because something is common

to you, it is no longer sacred. Some of you have

heard the gospel so many times that it no longer

amazes you. Some of you have sat in church so

long that sermons, my pages keep sticking together,

that sermons have become just background noise

to you. Some of you have prayed the same prayers

for years and have quietly stopped expecting

God to move. Instead of dealing honestly with

your disbelief, you've learned to focus on irrelevant

details. FYI, this is why churches go through

splits, why bitterness happens in churches, why

gossiping and infighting, and lastly, become

a dying church. And they close its doors because

they no longer stand in awe, but they focus on

the irrelevant. So here's the question I need

us all, including myself, to wrestle with. Where

in your life have you allowed familiarity to

make you spiritually indifferent? Where have

you become so accustomed to Jesus that you no

longer stand in awe of him? Because unbelief

will always try to shift your eyes away from

what matters most. Point number three, and this

is my last point. Unbelief spurns the supernatural.

Unbelief spurns the supernatural. So Jesus responds

to their unbelief with a heartbreaking statement.

A prophet is not without honor except in his

hometown and among his relatives and in his own

household. And then Mark says this, he could

no longer do work there because of their unbelief.

Let me ask you this question. Does that mean

Jesus was incapable of doing the work? No It

does not mean in any way that Jesus lacked any

sort of power Jesus was not weakened by their

unbelief as though human faith somehow fuels

divine strength No Christ is all -powerful regardless

of whether anyone believes in him or not Tony

Evans said this I had to share this quote with

you guys. He said, Christ did not lack power,

rather the absence of faith caused God to withhold

supernatural work. The Messiah was in their midst,

but they missed his work in their lives because

they refused to believe. And that's really the

tragedy of the text. The Son of God is standing

right in front of them. The Messiah is in their

midst. Power, truth, healing, restoration, all

of it present. And they missed it because unbelief

spurns the supernatural. A few weeks ago, I mentioned

this. Miracles do not hinge on the strength of

your faith. They hinge on the strength of the

one your faith is placed in. I want to say this

real briefly. So many people have said this before

to me. Well, if God was just real, why wouldn't

he just prove it and just show himself to me

and do a miracle? And my response is always the

same. It would not change the way you feel about

him. You ever thought about that? Literally,

he stood in front of thousands. performed miracles,

raised the dead, and it didn't change people,

it only hardened them more. Faith is not about

believing in yourself harder. Faith is trusting

Christ. Write this down. Unbelief is dangerous

because it slowly convinces you that Jesus is

not who he says he is. Some of you have bought

into the lie that God is distant that he doesn't

care that he's forgotten you that he doesn't

truly love you and Underneath that bitterness

and apathy is unbelief Now I want you to listen

very carefully Because this is where familiarity

becomes spiritually deadly you can still attend

church and be full of unbelief. You can read

your Bible and still not truly believe it. You

can pray prayers and your heart be miles away

from God. You can go to church out of routine

and instead never worship. You could read scripture

to gain information rather than transformation.

You can pray out of obligation instead of adoration

and eventually Christianity becomes nothing more

than maintaining a spiritual facade. But brothers

and sisters, let me just say this as lovingly

and as carefully as I can say as your pastor.

If you have not listened to anything I've said,

I want you to just zone in for just this quick

moment, because I literally only have a page

and a half of notes remaining. If your entire

relationship with Christ is nothing more than

routine, if your entire relationship with Christ

is nothing more than just knowledge, If your

relationship with Christ is nothing more than

outward appearance, there's no trust, there's

no surrender, there's no awe, there's no genuine

affection for Jesus, then I would have to truly

say, examine yourself and say, are you really

saved? Do you truly know Christ? Have you truly

surrendered? Because if not, it's just a facade.

You're just playing a game, and that's spiritually

deadly. Because saving faith is not perfect faith,

and saving faith, what it does is cling to Christ.

Even weak faith reaches out for Jesus, amen.

And if the Holy Spirit is pressing on your heart

right now, if this message is exposing something

in you, do not harden yourself like Nazareth

did, but hear his voice of the Savior, the one

calling out to you to come back to belief, come

back to trust, because he is worthy, he is real,

he is not a trick, it's not an illusion. He is

the Son of God who saves sinners. And so here's

what I would ask. I would ask that you would

stop running. Stop hiding behind familiarity,

stop hiding behind routine, and come home to

Christ. Because the greatest miracle you need

is not physical healing, financial provision,

or change circumstances. The greatest miracle

you could ever need is salvation. And that miracle

is available to you today. Let's pray.