"And He went out from there, and He came into His home town; and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? 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 home town and among his own relatives and in his own household.' And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. (Mark 6:1-6)
How can I be sure not to miss out on God's best for my life? How can I avoid missing that door of opportunity which has been placed before me for me to walk through. How can I avoid limiting what God can do in my life, and thereby limiting what I can do through Christ?
None of us want to settle for second best. All of us as believers want to be all we can be in Jesus Christ. But there are attitudes which can either help or hinder us in that endeavor. A key turns both ways, to lock or unlock. We must discover those attitudes and responses which will unlock the opportunities and promises of God for us.
In our text today, we see a contrast being drawn. It is like a key, which turned one way, can unlock the power of God; but turned the other, can lock it up. Turned one way, it is faith. Turned the other, it is unbelief.
This is the story of Jesus going back to his home town. And unfortunately, it reveals the power of unbelief and wrong attitudes to limit the movement of God in our midst. The question for us to answer is, "Do we possess those same attitudes? And if so, what can we do about them in order to assure that we do not limit the power of God to do His mighty works in our midst?"
As the story unfolds, we find Jesus coming back to His home town. As He and His disciples were there, He began to teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. As usual, His teaching was brilliant. He taught as one who had authority, and not as the Scribes. He gave them insight into God's word and they were astonished. They said, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him and such miracles as these performed by His hands?" (v. 2b)
Yes, they were amazed. And, in fact, they were asking some of the right questions. The problem came in their answers. Rather than allowing Jesus to answer for Himself, they answered their own questions. In verse 3 it says, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?' And they took offense at Him." What they were portraying was not faith, but unbelief. We know that is so from verse 6 where it says, "And He wondered at their unbelief." The message here is simple: unbelief limits the power of God.
Our text says that, "He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands upon a few sick people and healed them." (v. 5) In other words, because of their unbelief, Jesus was limited. The power of God working in their midst was turned back and they were the losers. Let's take a closer look at their unbelief.
What was the cause of their unbelief? Look again at the answers to their questions. We see here limited views. They were limited by what they could see, by what they could touch, by what they could understand. What they had before them was the Messiah, the Son of God. What they saw was the carpenter, the son of Mary. Their limited views kept them from seeing who Jesus really was. They had stereotyped Jesus and could not see beyond their own natural understanding of the carpenter's son who grew up in their own community.
In much the way, we limit what God can do because of our limited viewpoint. We must learn to see beyond our own natural understanding. We do not have to understand how a thing works in order to receive it by faith and to receive the benefit it brings to us. I may not understand electricity, but I'm not going to live in the dark. Thank God that a lot of things are possible for me beyond my ability to understand them. There are times in which we must step beyond where we can see in order to see God really work. The Bible teaches us that we walk by faith and not by sight. Walking by sight limits what God can do. And though we have a tendency to want to understand the end from the beginning, sometimes, we like Abraham, must leave where we are and journey to a place of which God has not yet told us. Sometimes we must respond to Jesus' command "Only believe."
They not only had limited views, they had limited hearts. These people did not want to believe. Jesus, after all, was one of them. They knew Him. He grew up in their community. They had a familiarity of Him and of His family. After all, didn't they know His father, and His mother, and His brothers and His sisters? They had watched Him grow up. How could this little boy who grew up in their neighborhood be anything more than they were? They not only couldn't see, they didn't want to see. They had limited hearts as well as limited vision. The Bible says that they were offended at Him. Their own egotistical pride would not allow them to accept that He was so much more than they were.
Jesus understood this. He said in verse 4, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town and among his own relatives and in his own household." He knew, because of their pride, they would not receive Him as a prophet. Unfortunately, in order to receive a prophet's reward, you must receive a prophet as a prophet. Had they received Jesus as the Son of God, they would have been the recipients of His ministry. But because they received Him as a man of the flesh, they lost their opportunity to be touched by the power of God. You see, limited views mean limited lives. Unbelief locks up what could be for us.
What are the consequences of this unbelief? The first is that the power of God is locked up. Notice that it says in verse 5 that, "He could do no miracle there." It did not say that Jesus would not, it said He could not. Unbelief locks up the power of God. It limits what God can do in our midst. God is no less powerful because of our unbelief. It is simply that He has designed that power to be used in response to faith. Just like there are natural laws in the universe, so there are spiritual laws. Things are designed to work in certain ways. Try as we might to make them work otherwise, we will not succeed. The power of God is designed to be released as we trust God by faith.
Not only is the power locked up, but the provision is limited. Jesus came to this town with a desire to minister to them. Because of their unbelief, the provision that God had desired to give to them was limited. Only a few believing folk were healed. The vast majority of them did not receive anything from God. Unbelief not only locks up the power of God, it limits the provision of God.
A third consequence is that the promises are lost. As believers, we are recipients of the promises of God. In fact, the Bible emphatically states that all of the promises of God are "yes" to us in Christ. In other words, God made His promises because He desired to give us His promises. Through faith, we receive the promises of God. But through unbelief, they are lost to us.
Hebrews 4 gives us a principle for receiving the promises of God. Listen to the words found in verses 1 and 2: "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard."
In order to be the recipient of the promise of God, we must respond in faith. These Nazarenes did not respond in faith, but in unbelief, and they lost the opportunity to receive the blessing. On the other hand, if we will respond in faith, the promises of God will become ours. Hebrews also teaches that everything we receive from God, we receive by faith. In fact, it says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Beware of the consequences of unbelief. I say again, limited views mean limited lives.
Finally, what is the cure for unbelief? It should be obvious that the cure for unbelief is faith. But what is faith, and how do we receive it? Well, faith is trust in Jesus. What I am talking about is not knowledge about Jesus, but trust in Him. It is the trust we have today for what Jesus can do in our lives. It is a trust born out of a relationship to Him. It is a trust which comes from knowing Him.
You see, rather than expressing limited views based on limited knowledge, we must be willing to adopt the attitude that God can and will work in our midst if we will only believe Him. But how do we come to the place where we really believe Him, where we really trust Him, where we are willing to step beyond where we can see? There is an important biblical answer to that question.
The answer is found in Romans 10:17 where it says, "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Faith grows as we give attention to what God is saying in His word. As we open the Bible and study it, as we seek God in prayer, for Him to reveal, by His Holy Spirit, the lessons this Book contains, then we will begin to have the eyes of our understanding enlightened. As we hide the word in our hearts, faith will grow. You see, faith must be nurtured. A believing heart does not simply happen, it is developed. As we come to understand and know Christ better through His word, we will also come to understand the faithfulness of God to keep His promises to us.
But we must approach the Lord with an openness and an expectancy. And it all begins with a willingness to do what God says. You see, unless we are open to the possibilities of God, we will never see what can be, we will always be limited to what has been and what is. The challenge for us is to always maintain the attitude that God can do anything. We must let God be God and constantly cultivate that attitude of expectancy that will enable Him to do great and mighty things for us.
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