Word of Salvation – Vol. 13 No.28 – July 1967
What Will Jesus Do…?
Sermon by Rev. P. G. Van Dam on Mark 6:5-6
Scripture Reading: Luke. 4:16-30
Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Without much difficulty we will agree that our text deals with the question: “What will Jesus do when he meets with unbelief in the church?
And at the same time, we will also agree that this question is not at all meaningless! A very quick survey of the church of today will confirm the fact that there would seem to be more unbelief than true, living, faith. Or that what is believed by faith is no longer this faith which can live and grow only by a true and thorough understanding of the teaching of God’s Holy Word. No doubt we all are inclined, at times, to wonder what might become of the church of Jesus Christ; when we see one church after another opening her pulpit to voices which do no longer proclaim the whole counsel of God, and that counsel only, but which – in a variety of ways – mean to say that we must try and read God’s Word in such a way that “it makes sense”; that is to say: that it will fit the reasoning of our own logic. That it will agree with our own understanding. With an understanding, that is, which betrays the very same nature of the very first sin of men: the boldness and the rebellion of putting question marks behind the sovereignty, the holiness and the power of the God, whose creature he is, and behind the Word of this God. To make this most holy God to fit sinful man’s thinking, and to subject His Word to man’s own sinful, fallible, and hopelessly incomplete judgement. And – as we said – we see one church after another fall victim to this temptation; fall victim to this fatal danger. How churches which – until yesterday – were faithful and unwavering, to-day allow from their pulpits a theology and a preaching which is a theology and a preaching of raising questions with respect to the Word of God; without a faithful attempt to answer these questions. Thus leaving the people uncertain, and not giving them the food for their souls and the strengthening of their faith which they need so much. Need so much, as we seem to be moving closer to the end of the times; with the powers of the antichrist becoming clearer all the time, both within and without the church.
Yes, indeed, what then will become of the church of Jesus Christ? And, to be honest, what will become of our church? 0h no, the antichrist will not pass us by, either!
And we may be ready to say: Well, the weakness of so many churches is that there is not sufficient knowledge of God’s Word, and therefore the people do not know whether what is being said in the pulpit is according to Scripture or not. With the result that if the knowledge of Scripture is faded away there just cannot be anything left but our own opinion or feelings. And this is very true! Therefore, we better have another look at the teaching of our children and see if what they learn in the Sunday-school, and in the Catechism class, but above all what they learn from their parents in their homes, whether what they learn is good enough! Good enough, in the light of the promise we made at their baptism that we shall instruct our children and shall have them instructed to the utmost of our power. We, with the utmost of our power…! And which parents could say they do this?! To instruct their children to the utmost of their power “in the doctrine contained in the Old and the New Testament and in the articles of the Christian faith, and which is taught here in this Christian Church” . No, not just Bible stories only; not isolated verses from the Bible with which so many church people today believe they give evidence of their true faith. No: the doctrine, that is: the great truths of the Scriptures. The teachings of our creation, our fall, our redemption, our sanctification; of sin and grace; of the church of Jesus Christ, and of his Kingdom which he is building through his church; what it is: to be a member of his church; what it is to live in the hope of his coming again. But if we would not instruct our children to the utmost of our power, then we would be responsible for the failure and the fall of our church. Then it will be our responsibility when as at Nazareth Jesus will not be able to do any mighty works in our church either.
This is one warning.
And the other is this: That the knowledge of faith never remains the same. It either becomes more, or it becomes less. We cannot say that we have a certain measure of knowledge of faith and of the Word of God, and that we – having this – will never lose it anymore. That is not right!
This kind of reasoning may be true for any science. But faith is not a science; faith is a living thing; it is a way of life. And if we do not feed it, it will die! If we are not constantly busy feeding our faith, feeding it with the Word, then the knowledge we think we have will fade away. Then the words and the phrases may still be in our minds, but they will have become dead language”; there will be no reality in them anymore, no real meaning, no sense. And such knowledge will not prove to be of much help to us if we are in difficulties, or if we would be called upon to tell others of the joy of the gospel……! And then we may still think we know this, and that, and the other thing about the Bible, about the church, about the people of the church. And as the reality of our faith goes down, so the estimation of our own opinion goes up! As Paul says it: “Knowledge puffeth up, but love (to Jesus Christ, and to our neighbour for Christ’s sake) love edifieth..!” (1Cor 8:1). Yes, and such knowledge will only do harm to my church. Meantime the tragedy is that our faith is dying in us without us being aware of it; rather while believing we still have it!
This is the problem of the church to-day: a faith that has not been built “upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,” a foundation of which Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone. And a faith that is no longer drinking out of “the well of salvation”; a faith that does not thirst anymore! And let us not be mistaken, this is our problem too, yes now! Answer this question: what right do you think we have to say that our children will continue the work which we began; and which we believe we had to begin. We may talk about the problems of theological thinking today. And we must. We must have our eyes wide open, lest we be caught unawares. But the real problem is one of the heart, of your heart, of my heart! We must have knowledge, but that knowledge which Calvin speaks of: “knowledge of the heart”, not of the intellect, but of the heart. And do we know what kind of knowledge that is? To know with our heart! That is the knowledge of sin and grace, the knowledge that does not waver; that is the true knowledge of peace, of assurance, of joy, of gratitude, of hope, of the expectation that I am waiting for the return of my Lord, who has done it all for me. In whom I am, and forever shall remain. Because He did it, not I…! Never I…!
And then we cannot help thinking of this question which Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do the people say that I am”. And then his disciples give him various answers. But, really, this was not Jesus main question. It was only the introduction to the main question. And this main question was, as we read it in the King James Version of Matt.16:15 “But whom say ye that I am?” The Greek puts it more clearly. It shows us that we must read the question this way: “But you, who do you say that I am?” In other words, Jesus would seem to say: “Well, you seem to know quite well what others say and to understand that their answers and teachings are wrong. But the real thing that matters now, while I am talking to you, is: what do you say? You!”
And the teaching of these words of Christ we must not forget.
True, we must know what is being said about Jesus Christ to-day, but the real, most important question nevertheless is this one: You, what do you say?!
These words are in the Bible for a purpose; for a real purpose! Paul explains this when he writes to the Corinthians (1 Cor.10:11-12): “Now all these things happen unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom (us) the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
That means far more than the answer to the question: who do they think I am! From our text we should understand how serious Paul’s warning really is!
Jesus, during his ministry, had finally arrived at his home, Nazareth with his own people. And they were there together when he preached unto them the Word, which apparently he had taken from the prophecies of Isaiah ch.61. These are the words of his text:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
he has sent me to heal the broken hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind;
to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And said he:
“This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
This day thou art delivered from the pains and the sufferings of the power of sin, because I have come; and I have overcome the evil one.
And we read how they all were impressed by his words: “those who had heard him bare witness and wondered at his gracious words.”
But that did not last very long, and then their feelings changed. It did not take long before the emotion of the words had passed, and their true, real heart and evaluation became clear. O yes, the words that had been spoken, they were not wrong, but… but who was he who had spoken them?
See, the words were agreeable with them, not the authority of the speaker! And this is precisely the danger to and the failure of the faith of many, and therefore also of the church! The danger and the failure of a heart which hears the Word, but which does not want to accept the authority of it. The heart and the mind and the church receive the Word, and its teaching on their own terms. Maybe, as little more than the personal opinion of the minister.
Yet, the church herself – that is: Jesus own people – receiving the Word, but not its authority. The authority of the speaker: Jesus Christ himself. And we may say: unbelievable that his own people did not receive him. Unbelievable, yes it is! We, as a church, as believers, can sometimes do unbelievable things!
“But you, who do you say that I am?” YOU…!
Where then do you show the authority of MY WORD?
Yes, its authority!
Where – to begin with – in your home?
For if the authority is not in your home, you will not accept it anywhere else.
Where in your church, and in your entering and in your leaving my house,
in your societies, in your social gatherings?
Unbelievable, that Jesus own church, that his very own people should reject His Word. His Word, THE Word of comfort, of peace, of the assurance of the deliverance of our captivity. Of the captivity of sin; that we shall not go under in our sin, and in the results of our sins. That our sight shall be restored, as he told the people of Nazareth; that is that we shall clearly see our hope again. That all our bruises shall be healed; the bruises of sorrow, loneliness, doubt, darkness, hatred. The authority of that Word; unbelievable that we should not accept it, don’t you think?
But, maybe, there are some who think it more unbelievable that Jesus should not be able to do mighty works. Those who believe that when we are in difficulties that then Jesus Christ should come and show who he is, and help us out!. Yes…! We sometimes want Jesus to fit our religion, don’t we?
Maybe, there are some who say: well, of course Jesus could have done mighty works, there in Nazareth; he could do them to us too. But he did not want to. But, still, that is not what the text say The Greek uses the word ‘dunamai’, and this word means clearly: ‘to be able to, to have the power to’. And he could there do no mighty work.
Well, you might say, this sounds a little Arminian. Does this mean that if I should oppose Jesus Christ, he cannot do anything with me? And it is true, we believe that we will not have true faith except God gives it unto us; it is the gift of God, says Paul in Ephesians 2:8. And it is no less true that the almighty God can remove all barriers which there may be to the growth of the church, and of his Kingdom. And he will too, if that is according to his purposes. 0h yes…! He can and may make the most ‘confirmed’ unbeliever a joyful, obedient child of his, in his time and in his manner.
But, and this we must see clearly, when we say all this we are looking at faith from God’s side. What God can and may do. However, in our text here, we see Jesus look at our faith as our responsibility. True, it is God who gives us faith, and strength and hope, and peace, and assurance. But this puts us squarely beore the responsibility which we have in our answer to the question: what now are we doing with this faith. And it is looking at our faith from the angle of our responsibility that we may hear Jesus say that he can do nothing, if he finds that we are not living by our faith, if our life is not a life of faith, or if we do not live by his Word, because we do not really accept the authority of it. His authority that is..! When his own words, or when the best possible sermon is not meaning much to us, because we were determined beforehand not to receive that Word on its authority. Because it would not suit us. Then says Jesus, then I can do no mighty works in your midst. And then we will see it happen that, unless God forbid, people and churches who do not take the word seriously, who do not take it seriously for the full hundred percent. How these people begin to fail as believers. Fail for themselves, fail for others, fail for their church. Yes, and fail for the church of Jesus Christ. Fail, because in spite of their own opinions and voices which will take over from the voice of Jesus Christ, they will no longer be able to proclaim the Word of the Lord of the church. They will no longer be able to proclaim: “Comfort ye..! Comfort ye, my people”, and proclaim this word with the authority of Jesus Christ.
And is not this a frightful thing. This: to undermine the purpose for which God has given his Word: Comfort..! To try and undermine the absolute authority of this his Word of comfort, in Jesus Christ.
See, and this precisely is the fright and the alarm of the question: “But YOU, who do you say that I am?” Where do you stand? Do you understand these things? Are you listening to his Word with the ears of which Jesus speaks to the churches: “He that has ears let him hear what the SPIRIT says to the churches!” And we better take it as a severe and as a very urgent warning if we see no blessings. No blessings in our church, in our homes. And he could do there no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them; and he marvelled about their unbelief…..!”
The text does not say that Jesus will give no blessings at all. No, but “no mighty work”, because of their unbelief. That is the criterium: faith. And faith is: the acceptance of the Word, solely upon the authority of Jesus Christ.
And he marvelled at their unbelief. He was surprised, he was left wondering. “This day this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears”. This day I came to you, to remove your blindness, to heal you from the wounds of sin, to remove the guilt of your disobedience, to give you the riches of my gospel.
And you believed me not….!
“He came to his own, and his own received him not” (John 11). His own, mind you…!!
Does it surprise you that Jesus should be surprised at the unbelief of his own people? Or would there be some who say: Well, to-day the church is so full of unbelief. It is hardly surprising that there is so much unbelief to-day. Well, yes. “But YOU, who do you say that I am?” Your church, your home, your heart?
What do you think: would Jesus be surprised at our unbelief. Or do you think he knows or expects it anyway? “And he marvelled at their unbelief”. He would be surprised if there were unbelief in our churches and in our hearts. It says he would be! Why? Because, he says, this day this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears. But how come the unbelief in the church of Jesus Christ does not surprise us anymore? Is this a sign that we ourselves are not quite aware of the authority of the Word? That we should take that authority for granted; even within the circles of our own church sometimes?
Could it be that Jesus is surprised at our unbelief at times because he might see just how much we’ve become used to our sins and unbelief, that we take those too for granted….sometimes. “And he went round about the villages, teaching”.
These are the last words of our text. The last words with which Mark closes his report of Jesus visit at Nazareth.
He left Nazareth. Why? Because his ministry failed there?
Would that be the correct way to put it?
Could we say that Jesus had failed in his church today?
Could I say that Jesus has failed in my life?
We must remember, though, that the Bible nowhere teaches us this: that no matter what we do or think Jesus Christ will keep us anyway: my faith, my church. There always is the condition: “whosoever believeth”. That is to say: believeth the authority of the Speaker of the Word, and shows that he believes it. That condition!
We know what happened to the people of God in the Old Testament: what finally became of Israel, and what later of Judah; what happened to the seven churches of Asia Minor. To the church of Ephesus which received the warning: “Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent” (Rev.2:5). (The candlestick: the light of the guidance and of the understanding of the Holy Spirit) These churches which are no more..! Has Jesus failed in the church to-day?
Could he possibly fail in our churches?
Remember, how he wept over Jerusalem, and said: “Behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you: ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (with the authority of the Lord) Matt.23:37,39.
Did Jesus fail? Will Jesus ever?
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily while it is called: ‘Today’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” (Heb.3:12-14).
Amen.