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Contrasting the blessings to doubting people and believing people.

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POVERTY BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF

On the corner of Park Row and Beekman Street, New York City, where Horace Greeley’s Statue now stands, stood a man offering $20 gold pieces for $1 each. All day he kept up loudly announcing his wares, but of the thousands that passed him, most paid no attention and others either laughed or scowled at him.
About 15 minutes before six o’clock, when he was about to quit, a woman timidly approached him and, after carefully investigating the gold piece, by biting it and testing its sound, but throwing it on the pavement, she reluctantly paid the dollar and pocketed the golden double eagle. Ten minutes later, just as the man was about to go home, the woman reappeared accompanied by two friends and between them they purchased the rest of the man’s stock, worth $160, for $8 in bills.
The next and for several following mornings, the street was crowded for blocks with the same woman in the lead waiting for the vender of gold coins, but he never appeared again.
This story is known to be true and Horace Greeley is responsible for the incident in demonstration of his theory that most poverty is due to the fact that the general public refuses to believe even in the face of overwhelming evidence and there is the point.
In our bible passage today, we will see two types of communities, one that let pre-conceived notions keep them from God’s blessing,
and the other type of community that heard God’s message and received it with open minds, they received God’s blessing.
Let’s read from Mark chapter 6: 1-4
Mark 6:1–4 NIV
1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
So Jesus visit starts out good.
He went to the Synagogue on the Sabbath and they let him teach
Many were amazed at Him.
That all sounds good.
But then this questioning attitude came in and they asked themselves
Where he got His teachings?
What is this new wisdom?
What are the remarkable miracles He is performing?
These questions may have been fine. It is good to be question what we are being told
1 John 4:1 NIV
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
But they don’t stop there, as they continue, a community prejudiced comes out,
they think they know who Jesus is and
they are not going to accept anything he has to say

Isn’t He the carpenters son?

Among the ancient Jews, every father was bound to do four things for his son. 1. To circumcise him. 2. To redeem him 3. To teach him the law. 4. To teach him a trade. And this was founded on the following just maxim: “He who teaches not his son to do some work, is as if he taught him robbery!”

I read that
Among the ancient Jews, every father was bound to do four things for his son.
1. To circumcise him.
Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day (Luke 2:21)
2. To redeem him
Jesus Parents offered a sacrifice of two turtle doves (Luke 2:24)
3. To teach him the law.
We know that even as a young man, Jesus knew the law astoundingly well.
Luke 2:41 NIV
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
You know the story,
they thought Jesus was with the group going home but
Jesus had stayed behind.
Luke 2:46–47 NIV
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
4. To teach him a trade.
Undoubtedly Joseph taught Jesus his trade.
They had a saying back then about Fathers who failed to do these four things for their sons.
“He who teaches not his son to do some work, is as if he taught him robbery!”
[1]Clarke, A. (2014). The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes (New Edition, Vol. 5, p. 306). Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation.
But there questions didn’t stop there,
and we get an idea of their community prejudice against Jesus when they say
Isn’t this Mary’s son ....?
Why didn’t they say
“Isn’t he Joseph’s son?”
Likely because rumors of Mary’s pregnancy during betrothal time before the wedding ceremony was still a part of the community memory.
And they list his brothers and sisters, as if to say
we know all about him
there is nothing special about him.
And they chose to take offence at Him and reject what ever he was selling or giving away.
Is’nt that how we often are?
We let our pre-conceived notions keep us from forming our own convictions?
I just read the life story of a man from Jewish heritage and growing up,
he didn’t know much about Jesus
but there was one thing he new very well
because his relatives repeated it often
Jesus was not for the Jews
So it took him years of bad choices and consequences
before he ever considered the claims of Christ.
Some of us have had similar experiences, or have friends and relatives who
accepted a bad report about Jesus and want nothing to do with Him,
or his people.
And what do they do, the town people of Nazareth, our friends and relatives who
accepted societies bad report about Jesus
They take offence at Him
They reject Him
without even getting to know him.
By rejecting him, people don’t get to experience how Jesus,
how the Holy Spirit
can help them.
Mark 6:4–5 NIV
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
That proverb is true, far too often.
Somebody gains knowledge or abilities that can help us,
but because of our pre-conceived notions,
we reject them.
Like my seeing the young man from Hopewell youth group, grown up and dressed like a Dr. at Kaiser,
I had a pre-conceived notion of what he was like,
that could effect my trust in him,
if I had become his patient.
What are your
pre-conceived notions about Jesus?
Are they helping you trust in Him,
or keeping your from His blessings?
Because the town people of Nazarth let their prejuce keep them from
putting trust
putting faith in Jesus
They didn’t seek His blessing
they didn’t ask for
they didn’t want his help so
Mark 6:5 NIV
5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
That lack of faith amazed Jesus
Mark 6:6 NIV
6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
The people of Nazareth missed out so much
but that was their choice.

The other towns, those open to Jesus message

As we just read, Jesus went around teaching village to village
Then he sends out his disciples
Mark 6:7 NIV
7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
Here is there first test run at being Fishers of men!
There first time of ministering, without Jesus right there in charge.
I bet some were super excited!
I bet some were scared, but that’s part of the reason they went out in pairs
because two are better than one.
Amen? Amen!
Lets listen to Jesus instructions
Mark 6:8–11 NIV
8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
Now you can also read about this in Matthew 10 and Luke 9, the sending out of the 12.
In Matthew 10 it sounds like they are told not to take sandals or a staff and Luke sounds like not taking anything either, so I did some digging
this sounds like what was going on.
Immagine if you would, the president of a company calling in their assistant saying,
I need you to fly to Los Angeles tonight and attend the Murphy Meeting.
The flight leaves soon, so don’t stop off and take anything.
What you are wearing is fine, the flight leaves in an hour,
so you better rush now, and take your presentation.
In that illustration, the assistant was told
Don’t stop off or take anything
and they were told
What you are wearing is fine
take your presentation.
That sounds like two contradicting statements, but they can both be given as instructions to the presidents assistant.
So back to the disciples
They were not prohibited from wearing sandals,
but from stocking up.
There were not prohibited from taking a staff, but from buying one before leaving on the trip.
And if that is true, then it agrees with the idea that Jesus wanted to send them out right then, that day when He announced it.
Jesus was sending them out, right then and there
this was going to be a short trip, no need to stop and buy
extra supplies, spare sandals, spare walking stick or get cash from the ATM
Jesus was just sending them out that day, as they were, whatever they were wearing
whatever they were carrying was good enough.

Reporting back to Jesus

Mark 6:12–13 NIV
12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
They had a good first experience of being Christ’s ambassadors to the world.
Another time when Jesus sent out 72 people and they came back and reported to him how the demons submitted to them
We are drawn to power but what is more important then power is being related to Christ and working for him.
Jesus said
Luke 10:20 NIV
20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
And if we are still temped to focus on the power, and things done in Jesus name, lets look at
Matthew 7:21–23 NIV
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
What is important is our relationship with Christ, not the power we wield.

Ministry Model

Now a question might be, should we model our missionary efforts like this first one:
Sending disciples out with no provisions for a raining day?
Sending them out totally dependent on God and the hospitality of the culture?
I think it would be a mistake, just like expecting the local church to
act like a Christian Commune.
For a time the church flourished with that model,
it was an important time with groundbreaking church work in
but spending your whole time in prayer and reading God’s word,
supported by occasional sales of land
Is not sustainable,
but it works at times to increase the church greatly.

What is your outlook toward Jesus?

Have you cast Him in a role
have you pictured him a certain way because
that’s how your family and friends view him?
Have you limited yourself or
Are you willing to check Jesus out and take him as he really is
are you willing to accept his help?
And when it comes to others growing, maturing and becoming more like Jesus,
are you willing to accept that God can change people
willing to let other be more in Christ, than they were without Him
Let’s Pray
Reminder not to typecast people but to allow for them to grow
Challenge to believe in Jesus and accept his help
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