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Responding to Antagonism
23 Plays30 days ago
Series: Discernment of Jesus' Person
Mark 2:1-3:6
Recommended
Transcript
Breaking Silence Against Cultural Evil
00:00:01
Speaker
Can it really be God's will that his children are silent at a time like this? When we live in a culture that openly celebrates evil and chastises Christian morals, my friends, silence is no longer an option. It's our duty to fight the powers of darkness, especially on behalf of the weak and the vulnerable.
00:00:31
Speaker
God calls us to defend the unborn and to confront the lies of cultural Marxism and to battle against the world forces of the present darkness that wants nothing better to crush your freedom and mine as a Christian. I recently picked up a copy of Eric Metaxas' new book, simply called Letter to the American Church. If you haven't read this yet, I highly suggest this book.
00:00:59
Speaker
um It also comes on in movie format, in which we have purchased on DVD, and we will offer that next Sunday after church for those who would like to stay and watch that.
The Call to Repentance and Action
00:01:12
Speaker
Eric reveals in his new book, and I'll just give you a brief synopsis of what it is. He compares the current American church to the German church.
00:01:23
Speaker
of the 1930s and how evil was on the rise and the German church did very little in a way of a response. There was no pushback, none. They provided little to no opposition. And friends, you know history. The Nazi regime steamrolled them and committed the most horrendous of atrocities the world has seen in quite some time.
00:01:48
Speaker
A taxist who has written a bi a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a German martyr, simply urges this. Christians today simply need to repent of their silence in the face of evil.
Facing Opposition: Historical and Biblical Perspectives
00:02:04
Speaker
We, the American church, have an irreplaceable role in culture today. We must respond to antagonism against Christianity, against our morals, and ultimately against our way of life.
00:02:19
Speaker
We must face opposition without being deterred from God's calling. But friends, the truth is none of us like that confrontation.
00:02:31
Speaker
None of us like having to explain why we live the way we live. We don't like being confronted for what we believe in. Matter of fact, most of us go out of our way.
00:02:43
Speaker
We steer clear of anybody who brings any type of opposition that may arise out of our Christian morals.
00:02:52
Speaker
But my friend, silence is no longer an option. As a follower of Jesus, the question we look at today in scripture is how are we to respond to antagonism or to opposition to Christianity? This is what we're looking at today.
00:03:12
Speaker
We're continuing in Mark chapter two. We're gonna see the problem. The problem is this opposition that the disciples faced because of their now changed lives. We're gonna look at the solution, which is Jesus's response to that problem. And then we're gonna ask ourselves, how can you and I respond to opposition? Hopefully you grab your outline today. Hopefully you will be taking notes. Hopefully if you're not somebody who takes notes, today will be the day that you start taking notes.
00:03:41
Speaker
We continue here in chapter two in this Gospel of Mark and the plot moves today. The plot moves from Jesus' has increased popularity that we saw last week. You remember, everybody was following him for all the wrong reasons because he was out healing and providing a fix to their temporal need, but it shifts from his popularity now today to this escalating opposition that is faced against Jesus and his disciples. That's what we're we're in here. There's five confrontations that happen here in chapter two. Don't worry, we're not gonna look at all five. But I have picked two that I think really point out what's going on here. um And I love it whenever, I've already prepared weeks in advance for this message, by the way, and then I sit in Bible study class and the only red text
00:04:38
Speaker
The red colored text is Jesus' words today, if you were studying in Acts, really line up with what I'm already going to preach today. So I just love how God does that.
00:04:49
Speaker
Chapter two, starting in verse 14, let's look at this first opposition that is seen here. Verse 14 says this. It says, as he walked along, he saw Levi. This is Jesus. He saw Levi, son of Alpheus, sitting at his tax collector's booth, to which he says, follow me and be my disciple. And so Levi got up and followed him.
00:05:15
Speaker
So what's going on here? What's the problem with this first verse? What's all the fuss about? Well, it says Jesus calls Levi, who is a tax collectors right To you and I today, the tax man is not very personal. right You send your IRS payment and you're done with it and you never see who it goes to. Well, in Jesus' day, the tax collector was intimately involved in your business. He knew what you made and he came to extract that tax. Levi here, who is also Matthew,
00:05:54
Speaker
Levi's job as a Jew, don't miss this, was to come extract a tax from his fellow man for the Roman government. But they didn't just stop there, the tax collectors. Often how the tax collector made his money is he would add a little tax to what you owe. And that would be his portion and he would take, make himself rich.
00:06:21
Speaker
Tax collectors, my friends, in this day were, well, they were just seen as unclean and filthy, and you didn't want to associate with them. But yet Jesus goes out of his way to call this person to become a disciple, to call somebody who's unclean, who society said Jesus should never call, more or less associate himself with, and he calls this guy.
00:06:51
Speaker
I thought today, as i as kind of as I read this last week, Metaxas' book, you know, who during that time could we say would be would be equal to a tax collector in the Nazi era, right? It's a mole or an informant during that time. They were just loathed, loathed. And this is how the tax collector in Jesus' time was seen. His own people despised him, but yet Jesus,
00:07:22
Speaker
Just like he did in the previous chapter, he reaches out his hand, just like he does to the leper, and he heals him. He reaches out to Levi and says, come, follow me, to which he drops everything, which tells us it's a complete change of lifestyle. He's no longer the tax collector. He's now a follower of Jesus.
00:07:47
Speaker
Undoubtedly, this would have raised some eyebrows for some of the Jewish people of that time. How dare he invite a tax collector of all people to be a disciple? And we can kind of see the opposition to Jesus building a little bit slowly. And then dad insult to injury, look at me, verse 15 says,
00:08:12
Speaker
Later, Levi invites Jesus and his disciples to Levi's house as dinner guests. And I like this, along with many tax collectors and undisputable sinners. And my translation has in parentheses, by the way, there were many people of this type that were following Jesus. Can you imagine this? So not only has Jesus asked a tax collector to be his follower, now the problem is one of association. Who's Jesus hanging out with? Sinners. Not just sinners with a lowercase s. Friends, this is sinners with a capital s. This will be the outcast that you and I would say we would never associate with today. This is who Jesus is reclining with. You and I can't really fully understand what it means to have a meal
00:09:03
Speaker
with somebody like this, but in Jesus' time, often when they had a meal, it was at a table that was right near the ground. And they were laying on the floor, feet away from the table, face towards the table, and they're all centering and looking around each other and eating.
Jesus' Association with Sinners
00:09:21
Speaker
It's a picture of an intimate connection. I tell you all this because society during that time, if you were a super religious person, you only ate with other super religious people. You wouldn't even dare get caught in the same room with tax collectors and sinners, more or less eat with them. It's a repugnant thought. But Jesus chose. This is the group that he came to see. What's interesting to me is how the opposition responds. Do you see what they say here?
00:10:02
Speaker
Look with me here. These Pharisees, end of verse 16, saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, to which they say, not to Jesus, but to who? His disciples. Listen to what they say. Why does he eat with such scum? That's my translation, right? Do you know who you're following?
00:10:26
Speaker
He's eating with sinners. You call this guy your master?
00:10:32
Speaker
And it builds, the tension builds.
00:10:37
Speaker
What's interesting to me is this kind of dichotomy, if you will. Jesus is inviting people to be a disciple that shouldn't be invited, right? That the religious elite would say we would never invite that person. And now he's eating with people and socializing with people.
00:10:56
Speaker
And they go, do you why is he doing that? Why are you hanging out with him? To which Jesus hears this, and you gotta love his response here. My translation, I i actually like mine. Mine's a little bit clean a little bit cleaner. Listen to what he says here in in verse 17. He says, Jesus hearing them, right, he's hearing these Pharisees question why his own disciples are eating with sinners, and Jesus says, healthy people don't need a doctor. It's the sick people who do.
00:11:26
Speaker
He says, I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are. Right. Why is my translation a little bit better? I want to explain just one really critical thing here, right? He's saying there are people who think they are righteous, but none of us are righteous.
00:11:51
Speaker
but he There are this group of
Controversy Over Sabbath Observance
00:11:53
Speaker
people, these religious elite, who think they are righteous, therefore they don't need a doctor. They're not sick. But who does? The sinner who knows they are a sinner. Do you see the difference? He's not coming just to save sinners. He's coming to save those who recognize and need a Savior.
00:12:19
Speaker
and the story builds, and the accusation here is, Jesus, you're doing things differently than we've done in the past. How dare you? And it builds. Look with me here, verse 23. Let's keep going, next next confrontation. Verse 23 says, one Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat.
00:12:49
Speaker
Okay, what's the problem here? What's the fuss about? They're they're hungry, and they're in a field, and so they're gonna break off a little bit of grain and eat it. By the way, this in itself was allowed. In the grain field, the 10th corners were allowed to be eaten. The problem here, y'all, is they're doing it when? Oh, Lord have mercy. You and I don't understand what that means, on the Sabbath.
00:13:19
Speaker
See, for the Jewish people, two things were paramount. Circumcision and the Sabbath. You didn't mess with either one of those two things because that's what made you Jewish. You were circumcised as an outward symbol and then you followed the Sabbath to the they're breaking off a little bit of grain for themselves.
00:13:48
Speaker
what happens here in this Look at the response.
00:13:57
Speaker
it's a It's telling, and i want to I just want to pause for a second. He says, the Pharisees say in 24, the Pharisees say to Jesus, now they're referring right to Jesus. They're not no longer talking to the disciples. They say, look, why are they breaking the law? Do you see how quickly it escalated?
00:14:17
Speaker
So not only are they eating with people they shouldn't be eating with, and Jesus is inviting people that he shouldn't invite to be a disciple, now it's escalated to the point where they are breaking the the law.
00:14:32
Speaker
You're harvesting grain on the Sabbath, how dare you? To which Jesus says to them, verse 25, haven't you ever read in the scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God during the days about of Abiathar, who was the high priest. And he broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions. Then Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people,
00:15:00
Speaker
and not people to meet the regulations or requirements of the Sabbath. To which they're already keenly, the Pharisees are listening to this going, now he's bringing David into this. I'm already not happy with him. I'm already not happy that he's eating with people he shouldn't be eating with. I'm not happy that he has disciples who are tax collectors. I'm not happy that he's breaking the law and and how dare he bring up David in this.
00:15:29
Speaker
But Jesus says to them, the Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people, not the people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. And drum roll please, verse 28. So the son of man is Lord. Even over the what? Sabbath. You could have heard it. You could have heard him gasp. Who's over the Sabbath?
00:15:58
Speaker
Who initiated the Sabbath? God the Father did. Who's preeminent over the Sabbath? God the Son, Jesus is. Who's Jesus? He's the Son of man. He's God. And then they're hearing this, what's in the back of their mind. Blasphemy. How dare you? And it just escalates, friends, and and I don't want to ruin the story, but if you go right to the end of chapter three, verse six,
00:16:28
Speaker
And we'll we'll get here in just a second, but it says that once the Pharisees went away and they met with the supporters of Herod, who who Herod was, by the way, what? Hated as well by everybody.
Escalation of Opposition to Jesus
00:16:42
Speaker
They're going to this guy to plot and to kill Jesus. This is the end of the escalation.
00:16:50
Speaker
This is how bad it's gotten for Jesus and his disciples. At first, they're just eating with people they shouldn't eat with, and he's inviting people who should shouldn't really be a disciple. But supposedly, now they're breaking the law, and now he's saying he's God? How dare he? And you can feel the crowd and the tension escalate, and it says they go out and they plot to kill him. I want to show that today, friends, just that you notice a pattern of escalation.
00:17:20
Speaker
What starts with something very small, who you eat with, who you talk with, what you believe in, it starts small and the opposition starts small. And so if we don't address that as it comes up, if we don't push back a little bit on that opposition, what we eventually get is everybody get on the train. And the train goes to the concentration camp.
00:17:49
Speaker
To which you go, pastor, that's a little extreme, no?
00:17:55
Speaker
and it It sounds extreme now because we're on the backside of that incident. But friends, as that escalation was building and the German church did nothing to stand in the way of Hitler as their civil and Christian liberties were trampled,
00:18:13
Speaker
wasn't quite extreme then, but it is extreme now as we look back and millions of Jews were exterminated.
00:18:24
Speaker
The silence can no longer be an option for you and I. So what is the solution to this problem of opposition that you and I face? Well, let's just look at how Jesus responded here. Look at me at the beginning of chapter three. It says, Jesus went in the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. And since it was a Sabbath, don't miss that, right? We're continuing the Sabbath problem here. Jesus' enemies were watching him closely.
00:18:53
Speaker
If he healed this man's hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath, just like they were breaking off bread on the Sabbath. That was considered work. You were breaking the law. How dare Jesus heal a crippled man's hand on the Sabbath? Does that sound strange to anybody else, by the way?
00:19:17
Speaker
Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, and I love the picture, y'all. Understand, he says, come here and stand in front. Stand in front. Be seen by everybody.
00:19:33
Speaker
and look what I'm gonna do. This is the bold action Jesus takes. Everybody stop what you're doing, look at this man with a deformed hand and he says to him, or he says to these critics, does the law permit me to do good deeds on the Sabbath or is it a day for only doing evil? Which surprisingly, it's obviously the day of doing evil because they plot to kill him on this same day.
00:19:57
Speaker
He said, stretch out that hand. they won't They won't respond to him. He says, hold out your hand. And the man's hand was restored, right in the middle of everything that's going on, right in the middle of all this built up escalation and tension. Jesus just finished telling him, I'm the son of man. I'm over the Sabbath. Then he goes right on the Sabbath and heals somebody.
00:20:25
Speaker
And these people were like, you know all I can think about is, who's that tall, skinny guy, despicable me? you know And he's like, right these are the Pharisees. Well, we're going to get Jesus now. right And what that's basically the plan that's placed going on going forward. How does he respond? Friends, he responds with boldness in that moment.
00:20:49
Speaker
He doesn't just sit back and go, you know, this is going to be pretty confrontational for me. This might actually lead to my crucifixion.
Christians' Role in Cultural Engagement
00:20:59
Speaker
I know there's going to be some haters who blame me for healing on the Sabbath. I don't really want to rock the boat. You know, as none of that is said here. He says, come front and center. It's a bold declaration that we and you and I must see and
00:21:20
Speaker
mimic.
00:21:26
Speaker
Friends, i just I just put just a couple of things. We'll go right to right to the application point here because I think I want to spend my most time here. Jesus does something, he follows the will of God regardless of the consequence, regardless of the confrontation, regardless of the opposition or what could come from that opposition. He simply stands up and says, here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to heal this guy and he heals him. Kind of like, let let the chips fall where they may.
00:21:57
Speaker
I'm gonna do the will of God. I'm gonna stand boldly. I'm not gonna allow evil to press forward because that's what these Pharisees represent. So how do you and I respond to antagonism? That's what I'm gonna land on. If you're taking notes, now would be a great time. The first is speak up. Well, the first is speak out. I'm gonna do two two two things that sound very similar. Speak out and speak up.
00:22:26
Speaker
Speak out and speak up. Speak out. First off, we can no longer be silent. As a church here in First Baptist Cameron, as a Christ follower in America, we can no longer be silent in the face of opposition. We must use our voice to stand up and defend Christian morals and values that are being attacked.
00:22:51
Speaker
and And frankly, it's the world system, the evil world system that is looking to destroy your Christian freedoms, and they're going to do it one value at a time, and it's not going to seem very threatening one at a time. But in totality, if you look at what's going on in our culture, it is shocking.
00:23:15
Speaker
right What 50 years ago was seen wrong and preached wrong is now taught that it's right, and what's right is now seen wrong. What you believe as a Christian, you're now in the minority.
00:23:32
Speaker
We must speak out. We must take the opportunity to speak out. How do we do that? First, may I just address the younger folks here as I look around?
00:23:44
Speaker
And I know everybody's like, what is younger? youngers Younger younger. I'm not putting that, not putting a label on that today. Here's why I want to say that to you younger folks, right? ah Because you're really in it, in the workplace, in college, in high school, um you are gonna be faced with people who are going to say, ah I can't believe you believe that. I can't believe you believe Jesus rose from the grave. I can't believe, why why do you have morals like that? That's so weird. You're weird. If they're polite, they'll say you're weird.
00:24:25
Speaker
What I fear, friends, is this used to happen privately behind closed doors, where now for your kids and your grandkids, for many of you, the internet and the online is the new bullying platform. And so no doubt at some point you will experience somebody pushing back and saying to you, I can't believe you believe that. Nobody believes that. That's so archaic that you would believe that.
00:24:52
Speaker
Do we simply go, you know, I don't want to rock the boat. I'm not going to say something. I like being on the cheerleading team. I don't want to be the one that says something. But what happens is when nobody stands up and nobody says anything, what it seems like to everybody, and this is why when you watch the news and you watch the TV programming and understand that's why they call it programming,
00:25:16
Speaker
because they are programming you. When you see it and the media is telling you, don't worry, everything is fine. Christians, calm down, you're overreacting.
00:25:28
Speaker
If they're telling you that, you better start overreacting.
00:25:36
Speaker
We must speak up, because if we don't, then we're just a lone voice here and there. And it seems like everybody in the United States is against us. Well, guess what? I'm here to tell you from the pulpit, if you simply speak up to other people about what you really believe in, you will come to find out there are a lot more people like you than they are otherwise. But the media doesn't want you to know that. The media wants you to think that you're in the minority and that somehow God has not in control and this is gonna this is whole process is gonna somehow catch him by surprise. Speak out, first with your words, second, how do we speak out? I'm simply gonna say show up to the polls. Show up to the polls. This is not a political message, so just save the emails I get on Monday. It's not. I'm not here to tell you who to vote for.
00:26:27
Speaker
or what to vote for. I am, however, telling you you have a Christian duty and a Christian responsibility to exercise that vote. Let your voice be heard so that we're not the minority, that you'll actually see we are the majority. So I just put down early election begins October 21st. It's a friendly reminder. That's speak out.
00:26:55
Speaker
Second to speak up. meaning to pray.
00:27:01
Speaker
Friends, I think this goes hand in hand with speaking out, is speaking up. The early church experienced opposition and we saw that today in our Bible study in the early part of Acts. I even went earlier in Acts chapter four as I looked ah during this past week. How's the first way that we can pray? It's with boldness. Acts 4.29 says, and and now,
00:27:26
Speaker
Lord, look upon the threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. right Instead of backing off and becoming quiet when the opposition started to grow, the disciples gathered together in prayer and they proclaimed the gospel with all boldness. We've talked about boldness from the pulpit before. What does that look like?
00:27:54
Speaker
That's what question I put down. What does boldness look like? Well, I think it's praying with a certain amount of certainty, going back to what Scripture says. Lord, this is what your Scripture says. This is why I'm praying what I'm praying. Would you please answer that type of prayer? And also just put, where have all of our bold prayers gone? When was the last time you cried out to God for His mercy to be poured out on this country?
00:28:23
Speaker
When have you boldly asked God to intervene and to turn this country back towards him? When have you boldly prayed for this great country of ours to repent of their evil ways?
00:28:36
Speaker
And I put instead of praying for candidate whoever, fill in the blank, that they might win victoriously, We should instead boldly ask God to equip that person and empower that person who he puts into office.
00:28:56
Speaker
He's either all sovereign, meaning he's either all in control or he's not in control. So either he's put him in or he's not put him in. At some chance, oh my goodness, I didn't believe that person was gonna get elected. No, God's not caught off guard like that.
00:29:15
Speaker
Pray with boldness. Instead of backing off and becoming quiet, the disciples asked God for greater boldness to proclaim the gospel. And while they were proclaiming the gospel, verse 30, chapter four says, they asked God to stretch out his hand and to heal and signs and wonders to be performed in the name of his holy servant. What does it look like to pray expecting answers? Well, I said it in Loretta's class today when we were praying. Pray expecting God to answer that.
00:29:45
Speaker
Not, Lord, if it's your will. You know how many times I've heard that said, and it theologically, is that accurate? Yeah, you bet, but I think it robs us of expecting an answer from God. Lord, I'm praying. I'm looking at your word. I see your promises.
00:30:04
Speaker
Pray with boldness and expect him to answer. And when he answers, give him the honor, give him the glory. You don't just simply move on to the next thing. Oh, that was great. Here's the next thing I'm ready to pray for. No, stop and pause and go, you know what, Lord, we prayed fervently all of October and the beginning of November, and look how you showed up in a big way at the polls.
00:30:29
Speaker
Third, we pray with authority. I like Brother Wes brought this up. Even Matthew 28, and I had a chuck chuckle to myself in Bible study class today, right? Matthew 28, 18, Jesus couldn't have made it any more clear about whose authority and whose power and in whose presence are the disciples sent out. He says here, he says, I came and I said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And behold what? I am with you.
00:31:08
Speaker
always to the end of the age. You're not alone. You pray expecting God to answer. You pray in his authority, not yours.
00:31:22
Speaker
When we go to God in prayer, we we are an ambassador to the one who has all authority in heaven. And I just put a note, by the way, that's more authority than all the governments on this world. Do you realize that?
00:31:38
Speaker
that That's who we serve. That's the master that we serve. That's Jesus who who brought a tax collector into the group. That's Jesus who sat down and ate with sinners, who came to restore those who needed restoration. We can go to him in prayer and rest in his authority to accomplish that, and he will be with us always.
00:32:08
Speaker
I'll just close with this. I said, friends, these promises are not given to a church so that we can sit back and hide in a corner or remain silent as your Christian liberties are being trampled on. Those days are over. Why? Because we are no longer going to be silent. These promises are activated by a faith-filled, spirit-filled gospel proclaiming church.
00:32:39
Speaker
May we be that people who in the face of opposition speaks out and speaks up. Amen.