Word of Salvation – August 2017
The Power of Unbelief
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Mark 6:1-6
Theme: Unbelief which fails to honour Jesus for who He is, misses out on the blessings He brings.
Introd: It’s interesting to notice where the Christian church is growing the fastest.
England and Scotland perhaps…? With its long Christian heritage? Sorry. No!
Recent reports show that churches across the U.K. continue to decline.
A report from a few years ago tells of a staggering net loss of some 200 members a day.
So where are the highest number of conversions to Christianity taking place today?
It’s not in countries such as a Australia or America with long histories of Christian influence.
It’s not in so-called Christian Europe where the Christian church is growing the fastest.
But it’s countries like China…
where the church can’t keep up the demand for Bibles….
and where the proliferation of house churches is worrying the communist government.
It’s in some African countries…
where there are great movements of the Spirit of God taking place…
so much so that churches cannot keep up with the demand for leaders and Pastors.
Why is there such a decline in countries that were once so-called Christian countries?
And why such a growth in countries that were once almost closed to the gospel of Jesus?
Maybe our text this morning gives us some insight into this matter.
A] THE SITUATION OF THE UNBELIEF.
- Here in Mark 6 there is unbelief and rejection of Jesus.
But interestingly, it is unbelief and rejection by those who knew Him best.
Folk in his own home-town… people who had known Him for 30 years or more.
Jesus has just been on a preaching tour and now He comes back to Nazareth.
Maybe the reason was to have a break from the demands and the busyness.
Back in Mark 3 already we saw Jesus so busy He didn’t have time to eat.
And as the chapters progress that doesn’t change.
Teaching session after teaching session…!
Crowds and crowds of people with needs.. the sick are healed… the dead raised.
But now here… Jesus comes home… back to Nazareth.
And in Nazareth they have heard all the excitement about the ministry of Jesus.
The amazing stories have gone ahead of Him.
So on the Sabbath He is invited to preach in their synagogue.
And what a sermon He preaches… people are simply amazed.
And yet at the end of it all the upshot is unbelief.
They say, “Hey! This is the Jesus who grew up here in our village
“He’s Mary’s Son… and we all know His four brothers and His sisters.
“This is the fellow we played with as kids…. and He’s supposed to be the Messiah?”
It’s the old problem isn’t it? Familiarity breeds contempt.
It’s the very common problem that those who think they ‘know’ are usually the hardest to convince.
We still see that often today: a passing familiarity with the things of Jesus.
Crucifixes and pictures of Jesus in children’s Bibles.
At Christmas – nativity scenes and carols about a Baby in a manger.
And a rock opera: “Jesus Christ Superstar”.
Yep! In this country of ours we’ve heard it all before…!
We once went to Sunday School and we had RI at school.
We know this Jesus person… but we just don’t bother to do anything about it!
Somehow we have become desensitised to the message of the gospel.
- Familiarity with Jesus. Yes, but there’s another reason as well.
For years and years this man, Jesus, was known as the local ‘carpenter’.
He worked with His father, Joseph, in the business.
And after Joseph’s death… He kept the business going… until just recently.
So you can imagine what is going thru the minds of these people from Nazareth:
“Jesus – that’s the man who came to fix the door when it fell off the hinges.
“He’s the tradesman who put the chair back together when it broke.
“Why, He even made the coffins for my grand-parent’s funerals.”
A Jesus who is the local carpenter they can handle.
But they have a problem with a Jesus who is God’s prophet and God’s anointed Messiah.
He’s not a Rabbi… He’s a craftsman who works with timber… here in this village.
Please don’t think that these people are belittling manual labour.
The Jews had a high view of work… as something that was God-honouring.
They were not belittling the task of a cabinet maker or a builder.
It’s just that people like that don’t suddenly become prophets and Rabbis.
And they certainly don’t suddenly become God’s long-awaited Messiah.
To do that sort of thing you begin early… and you study for it.
You don’t do that after 30 years in a carpenter’s workshop.
In a sense they are quite right in identifying Jesus as just another worker… like them..
Because that is yet another reminder of the full humanity of Jesus.
He came to identify with ordinary people… in their ordinary daily labours.
So that as our Saviour He might know what it was like to sweat with honest toil.
So that He might experience the frustrations as well as the joys of our daily work.
But at Nazareth they made the big mistake of seeing nothing more than just a carpenter.
- Mark says that they were scandalised by Jesus.
Jesus is the stumbling block at whom people take offence.
The apostle Peter once spelled that out so clearly: Jesus is the stone that people stumble over.
An ordinary human being who grew up in an ordinary human family with brothers and sisters.
An ordinary tradesman who had to learn how to use a chisel and a plane.
And yet He is also the Son of God… the long awaited Messiah.
People are still offended by the Carpenter from Nazareth.
Jesus? Well, He’s okay for old people who soon have to die… and He’s okay for little kids…!
But me? Hey! I can manage life on my own thanks.
I learned all that stuff years ago and I really don’t need it.
What is there to get excited about in the Man from Galilee?
And yet… is it fair to say that about us as we sit here in church this morning?
Maybe you think that this little story of Jesus in Nazareth doesn’t apply to you as a church-goer.
I’m here in church… and by that fact aren’t I making a statement?
Well, not necessarily. You see, the people in our text were in a synagogue.
And they had just been listening to a far greater preacher than I will ever be.
And yet there was unbelief.
Sometimes it is precisely people who sit in the church who can be the hardest to reach with the gospel.
We know all the words… the answers are so familiar to us.
So we go out of those doors at the back without it making the slightest impact on us.
Because we have never realised that Jesus is so demanding.
That He makes claims on our lives.
That He calls us to total obedience to His will and to His word. People still stumble over that.
B] THE NATURE OF THE UNBELIEF.
- Let me point out a few things about the nature of the unbelief of these people.
I want to say first that their problem was not one of denial.
There was no point in denying the facts.
And the facts were these:
This carpenter whom they all knew had done some really amazing things.
The most recent miracle was the raising to life of the dead daughter of Jairus.
And His teaching? Well, they had just heard Him themselves a few moments ago.
So there is no denying His wisdom… and there’s no denying His power.
In fact Mark specifically tells us that those who heard Him were amazed.
Unbelievable… the wisdom and the power of this man!
These people had really been impressed.
But that’s exactly the problem.
Being impressed with what Jesus says and does… that is never enough.
You can be extremely impressed with Jesus and still ‘miss the boat’.
I think of Mahatma Ghandi… He was very impressed with Jesus.
He spoke of the Sermon on The Mount as the greatest literature ever written.
This is what Ghandi said about it:
“Christ’s Sermon on the Mount fills me with bliss even today.
Its sweet verses have even today the power to quench my agony of soul.”
But as far as I know Ghandi died a Hindu… impressed by Jesus… but rejecting the gospel.
Herod was impressed by Jesus… so was Pontius Pilate.
But that didn’t stop them executing Him.
The big question is not: How impressed are you about the person and work of Jesus?
The big question is this: Will you respond to that in humble faith and in sincere repentance?
Here were people who were greatly impressed… amazed… but who did not believe.
In fact – if Luke is talking about the same event in Luke 4 (and I believe he is)
then the response of these people was to try to push Jesus off a nearby cliff.
- There is another way in which we could look at the unbelief of these people.
They didn’t deny Jesus’ wisdom and power.
But what they did do was to question where it came from.
What was the source of His wisdom and power?
Where did this man get these things they asked?
What’s this wisdom that has been given Him that He even does miracles?
They are asking about the source of His wisdom and power… where does it all come from?
And there are really only three possible answers to that.
Either Jesus got it from occult sources… or God gave it to Him… or He learned it from people.
It’s good they asked that question: Where did this man get these things…?
We all need to know what the answer is to that question.
If Jesus got His power from occult sources then we’d best be very wary of it.
If He simply learned it from people then you can just take it or leave it.
But if OTOH He got it from God then we’d best sit up and take notice… we’d best believe it.
The trouble is that they ask the question… but they don’t come up with an answer.
And the answer ought to have been very obvious.
Is Jesus’ wisdom and power occult related? Did He get it from Satan or from demons?
Hardly. Jesus had shown the absurdity of that all along (already in Mark 3).
Part of His ministry was exorcism – casting out demons.
If He did that in Satan’s power then Satan’s kingdom would be divided and fail.
Well, is Jesus’ wisdom and power learned from men.
Especially these people in Nazareth should have known the answer to that.
They knew He had never gone to the equivalent of our theological colleges.
All those years He had just worked quietly in the carpenters shop.
So there was only one very obvious answer left.
That God was the real source of His wisdom and power.
And if that’s the case then we can do nothing else but believe and worship.
Then all that is left to do is follow Jesus in faithful discipleship.
- Because they didn’t do that Jesus laments their lack of faith… and the words He uses are very telling.
Only in his home town, among his own relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honour.
That tells us two things about the nature of their unbelief.
First – it confirms the authority of Jesus as coming from God.
Where did Jesus Christ get His wisdom and power?
The people of Nazareth were unwilling to answer that question.
But Jesus answers it for them here by calling Himself a prophet… a servant of the living God.
He was sent by the Father to teach us the way of salvation.
Something the people at Nazareth refused to recognise.
Here is the heart of the problem for those who have become familiar with Jesus.
And maybe it’s the core of the problem in many countries with a Christian heritage.
People have come to know enough about Jesus to be impressed by Him. A great man!
Folk like Henry Lawson will even mention Jesus in a poem once in a while.
But usually only as a person who impresses them.
And there is simply no recognition of His Divine authority.
Secondly Jesus laments that there is in Nazareth no honouring of His God-given authority.
How are we to respond to Jesus of Nazareth?
Not just by a sense of amazement… not just by being impressed by Him.
But by giving Him all the honour that is due to Him as One sent from God.
Jesus Christ is the Messenger of God with all the authority of God.
Elsewhere people have acknowledged Him as such… but not in Nazareth.
And we who want to know how to respond… must do so by honouring Him.
He is worthy of all glory and honour as God’s appointed Messiah.
C] THE RESULTS OF THE UNBELIEF.
- Let me also point out three results that flow from this unbelief that is there in Nazareth.
First of all we notice that Jesus is amazed at their unbelief.
Usually it is people who are amazed at Jesus.
Here Jesus is amazed at them… and then specifically for their unbelief.
Verse 6: He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Only twice in the gospels are we told that Jesus was amazed.
Once He was amazed at the Roman centurion’s faith (Mat.8:10).
That man trusted Jesus implicitly even though he was a Gentile – a non Jew.
That man believed in Jesus’ power and authority.
He said: Don’t come to my house… I’m not worthy.
Just say the word and my son will be healed.
And Jesus was amazed at such faith.
The only other time we read of Jesus being amazed is here.
Here at Nazareth where people do not believe.
IOW the people at Nazareth should have shown the same attitude as the Roman soldier.
So the first result of unbelief is amazement on the part of Jesus.
Amazement that those who should have known didn’t want to know.
- Secondly and more seriously, these people missed out on the blessings that come from believing.
In Nazareth not much happened.
In other places great things had taken place… miracles proving that Jesus was the Christ.
In other places people had benefited.
He had made the lame walk… He had opened the eyes of the blind.
Lepers were healed… the dumb were made to speak.
But in Nazareth… nothing.
Well, not quite nothing… just a few disabled folk were healed.
Because even in Nazareth God’s grace is at work.
Even there were unbelief is so strong God has His chosen few.
Maybe some had been so humbled by problems that they did look to Jesus in faith.
However… by and large the blessings passed Nazareth by.
And Mark clearly blames their unbelief as the reason for them missing out on the blessings.
If you refuse to acknowledge Jesus as God’s Messiah… know that it will have consequences.
- In the third place we should note just how Mark records the reactions of Jesus.
He does not say that Jesus did not do many miracles there.
Rather Mark says that Jesus could not do any deeds of power there.
That may seem little strange.
Isn’t Jesus the Son of God? And isn’t He therefore all-powerful?
Isn’t this man from Nazareth also God and therefore Almighty?
Why then do we read that Jesus could not do any miracles there?
Well the answer is not that our unbelief somehow limits God’s power.
As if the power of unbelief is greater than the power of God.
No! It is rather that God has chosen to use His power there where faith finds fruitful ground.
As someone has said: God’s power runs in the river-bed of faith.
Miracles show God’s power… but they can be seen only by the eye of faith.
So God chooses to limit His power there where unbelief is strongest.
It is just not appropriate for God to demonstrate His strength there where unbelief reigns.
This morning we read Psalm 95. That song calls us not to hearden our hearts in unbelief
Maybe today you are the kind of person who is greatly impressed by Jesus – but it goes no further.
You need to look to Jesus in faith to be forgiven and have eternal life..
In Christ is demonstrated all the power of God… believe that and be blessed forever.
Because our great and glorious God chooses to bring us great blessing through faith in Jesus.
Amen.