MARK 6:1-6
YOU CAN DO BETTER
(AP) "American Derek Parra stunned the powerful Dutch speed skating team at the Utah Olympic Oval, winning a silver medal in the 5,000 meters Saturday (February 9). Parra set a world record of 6 minutes, 17.98 seconds - beating his personal best time by more than 15 seconds and eclipsing Gianni Romme's former mark of 6:18.72."
I saw Parra skate. The Dutch skaters were expected to sweep the 5,000 meters, and didn't. Towards the end of the competition, Derek Parra, someone not expected to win a medal, set this incredible speed skating record.
There were two Dutch skaters to follow. One of them skated shortly after Parra and didn't come close. But there was another Dutch Skater, who knew he was a very good speed skater. And when Parra set his Olympic record, I think that the Dutch Skater was saying within himself, "I CAN DO BETTER".
The result - "Parra held the record for about 20 minutes on the fast ice of the Utah Olympic Oval. Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands shattered Parra's mark in 6:14.66 to win the gold medal." He did do better! FOR THE FULL STORY SEE http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/speed_skating/news/2002/02/09/mens_5000_ap/
You have probably watched someone participate in a sport, perform, or do some sort of a job, or listened to a person speak, and came away saying, "I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT".
There are times when saying, "I CAN DO BETTER" is a good thing. If saying "I CAN DO BETTER" motivates you to do your very best, that's good.
There are many success stories in the Bible.
· Joseph ran from temptation and later became Prime Minister of Egypt.
· David used a stone and a sling to kill a giant.
· Daniel spent an evening in the lions' den and lived to tell about it.
· Peter preached a sermon, gave the invitation, and 3,000 people got saved.
· Paul cast out a demon from a slave girl who used to tell fortunes.
Concerning these things, we probably would say, we can't do any better than that! However, not only are their successes in the Bible, but there are failures too.
¨ David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed so he could marry her.
¨ The children of Israel failed to enter into the Promised Land because of their unbelief.
¨ Ananais and Saphira lied about the amount of money they donated to the church.
¨ Paul traveled around persecuting Christians before he was saved himself.
¨ The Lord rebuked the church in Ephesus because they left their first love.
In these cases, we might to tempted to say, WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT! And that's a good thing to say, if we are motivated towards Godly living, and if we realize that we can only be successful with God's help.
Zechariah 4:6 - …Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
This morning, by way of Mark 6:1-6, I bring you to Jesus' hometown of Nazareth. Jesus is visiting there for the second time that we know of, after some very successful ministry.
You would think that the reception Jesus received would be very positive. However, in both of Jesus' recorded visits to Nazareth, we find the hometown folk mired in unbelief. In fact, during Jesus' first visit to Nazareth, the townspeople tried to kill him, by shoving him off a hill! You can read about this in Luke 4:16-30.
Now if you are a Christian, I want to encourage you this morning. YOU CAN DO BETTER! You can have more faith than the people of Nazareth. I'm not saying that you have more faith than the people of Nazareth right this moment, BUT YOU CAN DO BETTER!
Vs. 1 - Jesus took a journey and arrived in his home country, which would be His hometown of Nazareth.
There is a simple, but great statement in this verse, that we need to take to heart - Mark 6:1 - and his disciples follow him.
Of course, these words mean that Jesus' followers went with Him. They went where He went. They let Him instruct them. They did what He wanted them to do.
If you would like to do better than the people of Nazareth did, you need to be an active disciple of the Lord Jesus. The people of Nazareth were anything but disciples of Jesus.
What's involved with being a disciple of the Lord Jesus?
Luke 9:23 - And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
To be a disciple of Jesus, one must first make a decision.
If any man will come after me,
You need to decide to follow Jesus. In order to follow Jesus, you must believe in Him. You can't really, sincerely follow someone in whom you have no faith.
The greatest part of Jesus' mission was that of dying on the cross for you sins.
2 Corinthians 5:21 - For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And the great news is that Jesus did not stay dead but rose from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 - For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; [4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Jesus said in John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
My friend, in order to be a disciple of Jesus you must decide to follow Him as your way to Heaven. Jesus said in John 14:6,
…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Let me ask you a personal question. Have you, yes you, at a specific moment in time decided to believe on Jesus as your Savior? Is He your only way to Heaven?
How can you be His disciple unless you've decided to believe on Him as Savior? YOU CAN'T!
When you make a decision to believe in Christ, a wonderful thing happens. You become born again by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God takes up residence in your life. And He gives you a desire to follow Jesus.
Christian, the most important decision you ever made was to trust Christ for everlasting life. The next most important decision you can make is to decide to follow Christ, to be His disciple.
Why be His disciple?
He forgave your sins.
He saved you from the hell.
He gave you eternal life in Heaven.
The only logical decision is to give your life for the one who gave His for you!
1 John 4:19 - We love him, because he first loved us.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Not only must we make a decision to be disciples, but we must also deny ourselves. Denial means putting my plans for today on the back burner so I can do what Jesus wants me to do. Denial means putting my plans for the future on the back burner so I can do what Jesus wants me to do.
And there's more! As we deny ourselves, Jesus tells us and take up his cross daily.
The cross was a symbol of death. I have seen people deny themselves in some areas without actually dying to themselves.
Denial can be limited in scope. You can deny yourself in some areas, but not in others. Athletes will deny themselves in some ways, keeping their body in shape.
But then some will not deny their body alcohol or drugs, and cause themselves many heartaches.
Death is total! When you're dead to yourself, you have absolutely no plans of your own. And we should have no plans of our own, only those of our Master!
After decision, denial and death, comes direction. Then you can truly follow Jesus, to go where He wants you to go and do what He wants you to do, and be what he wants you to be.
You can do better than the citizens of Nazareth, if you follow Jesus as his disciples did.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Vs. 2 - Jesus went to the Synagogue on the Sabbath and taught.
The people recognized that Jesus' teaching was unlike any others. And his marvelous wisdom was undeniable. And they had heard about His mighty miracles. These people had the privilege of being under the teaching of the Son of God, but they did nothing with it, as we'll see in a moment.
My friend you can do better than the citizens of Nazareth.
For almost 50 years there have been men of God in this pulpit who have preached and taught the Word of God. You have been taught the Word of God by knowledgeable and Godly Sunday School teachers. You can do better than the citizens of Nazareth if you do something with it, if you obey the Word of God.
Vs. 3 - The citizens of Nazareth thought they knew Jesus.
They knew Him as the carpenter or village handyman.
They knew Him as the Son of Mary. Usually people were referred to as the sons of their fathers. They should have called him the "Son of Joseph" because they didn't know He was the Son of God.
I believe that they called Him "Son of Mary" as a slam, inferring that Jesus was illegitimate.
They also knew his brothers and sisters. These would have been the sons and daughters of Mary and Joseph.
They were offended at Him. They "stumbled over him". Who was Jesus, that He should be telling them what to do? They had no desire to do as He said.
You can very well be like the citizens of Nazareth.
You can sit in church and Sunday School and endure the messages. You can say in your heart:
"We heard these Bible Stories all our lives."
"We know all about Jesus."
"We know all about the teachings of God's Word."
"But we have no intent of truly doing what the Bible says."
Beware, you can very easily be offended by or stumble over Jesus.
But you can do better!
You can say instead:
"This is God's Word and I want to know what it says."
"This is God's Message and I want to hear from God."
"This is God's Will and I want to do the will of God."
"This is God's Son and whatever it takes, I will do what God's Son tells me to do!"
In our church in Fonda, New York there was a man named Wade Prime. Wade started attending our church, and was there for most of the services. Wade wanted to learn. Wade wanted to grow. Wade wanted to apply the Word of God to his heart.
Wade wanted something better. And now Wade is Pastor of that church.
Vs. 4 - A prophet is most likely to be rejected by those who think they know Him best. They think that the prophet is just like them. They rejected Jesus because they thought they knew Him. They were familiar with Him.
Can it be, my friend, that in this church, that we have become so familiar with the name of Jesus, so familiar with His teachings, so familiar with His Words that we don't really believe them?
Vs. 5 - Now look at this verse carefully.
Jesus could do no mighty miracle in Nazareth except lay His hands on a few sick.
Does that mean Jesus was incapable of working miracles?
No, Jesus was very capable as God the Son at working miracles.
It means that Jesus, on moral grounds, would not work mighty miracles there! Because the people did not believe.
Matthew 13:58 - And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
The only miracles Jesus worked was to heal a few people.
Jesus could have done, much, much more.
What do we expect on Sunday Morning when we come to church? We expect pastor to pray for the sick and hopefully the Lord will hear and heal. But we don't expect much more than that. We are content that Jesus would lay his hand on a few sick folk and not do might works in our midst.
We don't expect people to respond to the invitation. Why, if a half dozen of you responded to the invitation this morning the rest of us would fall over in shock.
We don't expect people to be saved.
We don't expect Christians to change for the better.
We don't expect God to speak to us.
We don't expect God to touch our services with His power.
Quite frankly we don't expect God to do much of anything.
And so He does do very little.
Why? Because He's unwilling?
No. It's because of our own unbelief. We limit God with our unbelief
Vs. 6 - You wouldn't think that there was anything that would make the one who is God marvel or be amazed. Jesus was amazed at the depths of unbelief in His hometown.
Here was the Son of God right in front of them, working great and wonderful miracles and teaching them with power and authority that no other man ever had. And people still didn't believe!
Are we any better than the citizens of Nazareth.?
In John 14:27 Jesus says, Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Through our unbelief, we allow our hearts to be troubled and be afraid.
In Mark 16:15 Jesus said, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. In our unbelief we won't even invite our next door neighbor to church, let alone share the Gospel with him or her.
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus tells us that after a person is won to Christ they should be baptized. Some of you in your unbelief refuse to receive believer's baptism.
Galatians 6:10 says, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Some of you do not have enough faith to the simplest thing that would help the household of faith. In your unbelief, you fail to join the Mount Union Bible Church, when deep down you know you should.
Hebrews 10:24-25 - And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: [25] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. In our unbelief, many of you can't be consistent on Sunday Morning let alone Sunday night and Wednesday night.
John 14:13-14 - And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. In our unbelief we do not pray for the things we should pray for so that God's kingdom will be advanced.
I am reasonably sure that Jesus is equally amazed today at our unbelief.
And look again at Vs. 6 - What did Jesus do when the citizens of Nazareth were mired in unbelief? He moved on! He went to other villages. How long will it be before Jesus "moves on" figuratively speaking and allows this individual church to roll over and die in it's unbelief. Oh, Christians will not lose their salvation, but our witness for Christ could be lost.
But wait! YOU CAN DO BETTER!
You can do better than the unbelievers in Nazareth.
You can do better now!
Isaiah 55:6-7 - Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: [7] Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
You can do better by confessing your sins of unbelief.
God is waiting to forgive and cleanse you.
You can do better by doing by faith that which you know you should do.
You can do better by faith, trusting Jesus with your problems and not worrying.
You can do better by faith, being baptized as you know you should.
You can do better by faith, confessing and forsaking a sin habit.
You can do better by faith, joining the church as you know you should.
You can do better by faith attending the services you know you should.
You can do better by faith witnessing to your neighbor and inviting the neighbor kids to Sunday School.
You can do better by faith becoming a man or woman of prayer.
You can do better by faith, if you haven't already, trusting Jesus as your Savior!
Jesus marvelled at the unbelief on the citizens of Nazareth.
There was another man, a centurion, who asked Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus said I will come and heal him.
The centurion however made a wonderful statement of faith.
Matthew 8:8 - The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Matthew 8:10 - When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
This is the second time that it is said that Jesus marvelled. One time he marvelled at the unbelief of the hometown crowd. This time he marvelled at the faith of the centurion.
Does Jesus marvel over your unbelief or over your faith?
With God's help, YOU CAN DO BETTER! Will you?