“And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ‘Is not this Joseph's son?’ And he said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ And he said, ‘Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.’” (Luke 4:22-24 ESV)
When you are speaking words that people like to hear, they
may like you. For Jesus had just finished reading from the prophet Isaiah,
which was a prophecy about himself, that the Spirit of God was upon him because
God had anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor, not necessarily to the
physically poor, but perhaps speaking of the poor in spirit, i.e. to those
willing to hear what he had to say. And he was sent of God to proclaim liberty
to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, etc. (vv. 16-21).
But Jesus knew in advance that his public approval ratings
were going to massively drop in numbers (figuratively speaking) once he began
to speak words they didn’t want to hear. He knew his present popularity among
the people was going to be short lived. Once he began to teach things they didn’t
like and didn’t want to hear, then he knew they would begin to question who he
was and what authority he had to say and to do the things that he did and said.
And they would want proof of who he said he was.
He knew that they would then demand to see the kinds of
miracles that he did at Capernaum, only that he would do them in his hometown,
among his own people. But he also knew the truth that no prophet is acceptable
in his hometown, among his own people. And so he gave them several examples of
what he meant by that, which then infuriated them and so they drove him out of
the town and they attempted to throw him down a cliff, but he escaped them (see
verses 25-30).
For, again, people may like you when you are saying to them
the things that they like to hear, but once you begin to say what they don’t
want to hear, that is when you will get rejected, not necessarily by all, but
probably by the majority, especially among your own people. And you don’t have
to be a prophet or a preacher at all to have this experience. If you are
following the Lord Jesus with your life, and if you are sharing the truth of
the gospel, and if you are refuting the lies of the enemy, you will be
rejected.
Now why it is exactly that “no prophet is acceptable in his
hometown” I don’t know. Maybe it is because these are the people who saw you
grow up as a child, just like the people said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And
so you may have difficulty gaining their respect. Maybe they knew you when you
weren’t walking with the Lord, when you were living in rebellion, and perhaps
they just have a difficult time accepting the change that God has brought about
in your life, for they still continue to see you in the light of who you were.
But we all have a past. We were all born into sin with sin
natures, in the image of Adam. Not one of us is without sin. All have sinned
and have come up short of gaining God’s divine approval in our flesh. Not one of
us has lived an absolutely perfect life. Some of us have failed in worse ways
than others, perhaps, but we have all sinned. We have all done evil in the
sight of God. Not one of us is righteous in our own sight. Only because of what
Jesus did for us on that cross are any of us made righteous.
But that is the beauty of God’s forgiveness. For by faith in
Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised
with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God
and to his righteousness. This is all because of God’s grace. None of us are
deserving of his grace to us. But his grace is deliverance out of our lives of
slavery to sin so that we can now walk in holiness and in obedience to our
Lord.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23;
Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21;
Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews
10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
But this isn’t just a hometown thing, but that is certainly
one factor that plays into us getting rejected and not accepted. It is also a
cultural thing and it has to do with where the church stands in relation to the
Lord presently. For our present culture here in America, and especially within
the gatherings of the church, in general, is very worldly, and it has largely
adopted a very liberal “Christianity” rather than the Christianity taught largely
in the Scriptures. So if you are following the Scriptures, you will be
rejected.
And so you may find that you are respected more by people
from other countries than you are by people in your own country, even if the
people in your own country did not grow up with you. And that can be because you
don’t have credentials from some religious institution or because you are
female and not male, or because you aren’t someone famous but you are just an
ordinary person, or because you don’t have a title of “minister” or “pastor” or
“missionary,” even if you are doing missionary work.
But whatever the case may be, I do know that if you are
saying what people like to hear, they will like you. But as soon as you begin
to speak the hard truths of the Scriptures that they don’t want to hear, then
they won’t usually like you, at least you won’t be liked by the majority. And
Jesus faced this. And this may be when they begin to look for credentials and
titles or when they begin to question who you are and by what authority you
speak such things as what are taught in the Scriptures.
But we must not look for human approval. And we must not
make our decisions based on whether or not we have human approval. But we must
obey our Lord in doing what he has called all of us to do, regardless of
whether or not we get human acceptance. For people’s lives are at stake here,
and we must regard the salvation of human lives and obedience to our Lord above
our own comfort and acceptance of other humans. For Jesus Christ and his will must
be our heart’s desire above all other desires.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt
28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts
26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph
4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21;
1 Jn 2:6]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth
for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my
strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70
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