This week''s D6 Scripture: Matthew 21:33-46
This Week’s Goal: To live to meet the expectations called for by God’s patient provision, and to avoid the judgment that results from persistent rejection.
Principle of the Parable: Blessing follows obedience; judgment follows rebellion.
In our new FUSION lesson this week we will discover four ways people reject Christ:
1. Overlooking God’s Provision (Matthew 21:33)
2. Disregarding God’s Expectation (Matthew 21:34)
3. Neglecting God’s Patience (Matthew 21:35-39)
4. Doubting God’s Judgment (Matthew 21:40-46
What is a parable? A parable is an earthly story with a Heavenly meaning.
In this particular parable, the…
• Landowner – God
• Farmers – Religious leaders of Jesus’ day
• Slave – Prophets of God
• Son – Jesus Christ
• They rejected Christ, thus judgment will fall on them!
Today I would like to speak to you on the subject of “Dealing with the Reality of Rejection”
(Ill.) The year was 1858 and the Illinois legislature used what might be called a dirty political trick. (Does it surprise you that dirty politics in Illinois is nothing new?!)
The Illinois legislature gave newly elected U.S. Senate seat not to the man who won the popular vote but to the man who had the most support from the Illinois legislature.
The man sent to the US Senate was Stephen A Douglas and the man left behind was Abraham Lincoln.
A concerned friend asked Lincoln how he felt and this is what he said: "Like the boy who stubbed his toe: I am too big to cry and too badly hurt to laugh."
What is rejection?
Webster defines rejection as: to refuse to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use to refuse to hear, receive, or admit
• Rejection is a part of life.
• At some point we are all going to feel the cold sting of rejection.
• Rejection is something that we have all dealt with, either on a personal level or a professional level.
• The sting is still there.
Most of us have felt the familiar pain of rejection in a variety of ways.
• The job or promotion we were not given.
• The loan that your bank turned down.
• The position that you were not given.
• The family member that stopped speaking to you.
• Rejection happens to us all and rejection inflicts pain.
• It comes and drives its fangs into our heart and unleashes its poison.
You can take heart, because if you have ever felt rejection, you are in good company.
• There were many that felt the “sting of rejection” throughout the pages of the Bible:
o Adam and Eve rejected the command of God
o Jeremiah was rejected by the people of his day and was thrown into a well
o Jonah rejected the people of Nineveh after they repented
o Jesus was rejected by the society and religious leadership of His day
o Peter rejected Jesus by denying Him three times
o Stephen was rejected and executed by the Sanhedrin
• There have been many that felt the “sting of rejection” in the world:
o Stan Smith – was rejected as too awkward and clumsy to be a ball boy in a Davis Cup tennis match; yet he went on to become the officially ranked number one tennis player in the world (1972-1973).
o John Creasey – received an unbroken succession of 743 rejections. Now over 60 million of his “Crime Novels” have been published.
o Edmund Hillary – his gym instructor looked at him, a puny school boy and said, “What will they send me next!” – now is known as the man who conquered Mount Everest.
o Fred Astaire – upon completing his first audition they said, ‘He’s balding, skinny, and he can dance a little.
o Beethoven – his music teacher declared him ‘hopeless’ at composing.
o Albert Einstein’s parents feared he was sub-normal.
o As Billy Graham preached, a missionary’s daughter battled an almost uncontrollable urge to run out of the meeting. It was his future wife, and it wasn’t conviction that made her squirm. It was her response to what she considered appalling preaching.
o An invitation was extended to witness one of humanity’s most historic moments – the Wright Brothers’ first flight in their heavier-than-air machine. Five people turned up.
o Walt Disney was fired for ‘lacking ideas’.
o Thirty-eight times, publishers turned down Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind.” They knew a good story when they saw one. That many experts couldn’t be wrong . . .
AS A CHRISTIAN, DO YOU SOMETIMES FEEL REJECTED BY GOD AND OTHERS?
HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND WHEN WE FEEL REJECTED?
1. REMEMBER THAT GOD’S SILENCE DOES NOT MEAN REJECTION
Job 13:20-21 (HCSB) Only grant [these] two things to me, [God], so that I will not have to hide from Your presence: remove Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.
• Remember that God's silence does not mean rejection.
• Job was especially upset because God was silent, giving no reasons for his suffering.
• Job misinterpreted God's silence as rejection, and once again he said that it was not his suffering that bothered him as much as this apparent rejection.
• If God had given reasons, however, Job's faith would probably not have been stretched and strengthened.
2. REMEMBER THAT GOD’S SERVANT’S OFTEN EXPERIENCE REJECTION
Mark 6:4 (HCSB) Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.”
• Remember that God's servants often experience rejection.
• Jesus said that a prophet (in other words, a worker for God) is never honored in his hometown.
• But that doesn't make his work any less important. A person doesn't need to be respected or honored to be useful to God.
• If friends, neighbors, or family don't respect your Christian work, don't let their rejection keep you from serving God.
3. REMEMBER TO ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER IN TIMES OF FEELING REJECTED
• The disciples were sent out in pairs.
• Individually they could have reached more areas of the country, but this was not Christ's plan.
• One advantage in going out by twos was that they could strengthen and encourage each other, especially when they faced rejection.
• Our strength comes from God, but he meets many of our needs through our teamwork with others. As you serve Christ, don't try to go it alone.
Matthew 21:42 (HCSB) Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This came from the Lord and is wonderful in our eyes?
HOW DO PEOPLE REJECT CHRIST TODAY?
1. BY TRUSTING HUMAN LEADERS MORE THAN WE TRUST GOD
How do people reject God today? The same way they did in the Old Testament!
1 Samuel 10:1-27
1 Samuel 10:17-19 (HCSB) Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah
18 and said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions. You said to Him, ‘You must set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
• The people of Israel looked around at the other nations and saw they had a “king.” Therefore, they also wanted a king! They had forgotten that God was their king, therefore, he allowed them to summons a “human king” – Saul!
We sometimes trust human leaders more than we trust God.
• Israel's true king was God, but the nation demanded another king.
• Imagine wanting a human being instead of God as guide and leader!
• Throughout history, men and women have rejected God; they continue to do it today.
• Are you rejecting God by pushing him aside and acknowledging someone or something else as your "king" or top priority?
• Learn from these stories of Israel's kings, and don't push God aside.
2. BY TRUSTING OUR OWN JUDGMENT MORE THAN WE TRUST GOD
Psalm 14:1 (HCSB) The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.” They are corrupt; their actions are revolting. There is no one who does good.
We sometimes reject God by trusting our own judgment more than we trust Him.
• The true atheist is either foolish or wicked—
o foolish because he ignores the evidence that God exists, or
o wicked because he refuses to live by God's truths.
• We become atheists in practice when we rely more on ourselves than on God.
• The fool mentioned here is someone who is aggressively perverse in his actions.
• To speak in direct defiance of God is utterly foolish according to the Bible.
3. BY REJECTING HIS ONLY OFFER OF SALVATION, JESUS CHRIST
Matthew 21:42 (HCSB) Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This came from the Lord and is wonderful in our eyes?
• We reject God when we reject his offer of salvation.
• In trying to reach us with his love, God finally sent his own Son.
• Jesus' perfect life, His words of truth, and His sacrifice of love are meant to cause us to listen to Him and to follow Him as Lord.
• If we ignore God's gracious gift of his Son, we reject God himself.
Conclusion: In closing this morning allow me to give you a statement of truth:
YOU WILL BE REJECTED IN LIFE. IT IS UP TO YOU TO CHOOSE BY WHOM.
1. THE WORLD?
John 15:18-20 (HCSB) “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love [you as] its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.
20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.
2. GOD?
Matthew 10:32-33 (HCSB) “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
Comments