This morning we're continuing our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark. We're in chapter 6 and I've titled our sermon this morning, the Cost of Serving and mentioning this title, The Cost of serving. I would rather like to preach a sermon on the rewards of serving that'd be so much more inviting or so much more attractive. God does reward people for serving. He does that. God rewards people for serving, but they don't always come. Those rewards don't always come
in this life. Sometimes the rewards for serving come after this life. They come when we've gone home to glory and there are many people in this life. They see no rewards for serving, but a lot of cost, a lot of cost. You may have heard the words free service. Well, that may be true insofar as the service is free to you. Their service is not free to the one who's doing the serving. And if you're serving someone, that someone may be getting something for free, but it's
costing you something. There is no free lunch, as they say. And if you've ever been in a place where you've done your utmost, done your best, giving it your all, and then you're met with ridicule, contempt, just ridicule, mockery, what do you do then? You pack your bags and go home and I'm done. I'm finished. I'm quit. Or maybe it's worse than that. Maybe you've done your all and you ridiculed. You're mocked and what you've
done is viewed with contempt. Not only that, then there's oppression, maybe violence, and maybe even death. Maybe you're a person here this morning who at some point or other, maybe even now, are in a place in life where you've given it your all for a long time, a personal cost. You've been disregarded. You've been ignored, disrespected, and even viewed with contempt and vilified. If you if you're that, then you know what emotional pain is.
That brings emotional pain. It could be in your work, where you work with your employees, employer relationship, in your school, teacher, student relationship, or even in your marriage. You've served and served and served and served. Always giving and giving and giving. No appreciation. And not only that, and that's that's one thing, but then it's not it's, it's actually opposed, it's resisted, it's viewed with
contempt. And when life doesn't work out as hope, as planned, as anticipated, what do you do? Well, one thing we do if we do is we give a response. We always give a response. No response is a response to, but we always respond with something, with quiet stonewalling, rejecting back, resisting, walking away or serving, continue serving. A person may not be able to avoid suffering or rejection, we may not be able to avoid it, but
we are going to respond somehow. That's what we want to look at this morning. How do you respond when you are not welcome? When what you do is viewed with this despised, it's not valued, it's just rejected. Worse, it's opposed the true the true serving is a cost. Who does the 1 deserving? This morning we'll continue our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark. As I mentioned today we'll go through chapter 6, the 1st 32
verses I want to begin reading. Take your Bibles or your devices and let's begin reading in Mark chapter 6, starting verse one. Here's what Mark writes, what Jesus did. Then he went out from there and came to his own country, and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing him, were astonished, saying, Where did
this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to him, that such mighty works are performed by his hands? Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary, brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? So they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country, among his own relatives and his own house.
Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them, and He marvelled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in his circuit teaching. Jesus was rejected in His own hometown. In the Gospel of John, we know Jesus specifically told his disciples life wouldn't be easy. In fact, there would be resistance and opposition and persecution. Doesn't make it right, doesn't
make it good. And here in his own hometown, where he should have least expected it, there it happened. There were many other places too, but not here. It should have not happened here. As a follower of Jesus, you will face rejection. It's not a question of if. It's a question of when and how. It's one of the prices God's children pay for serving. It just is. Here. Jesus has come to his hometown in Nazareth, the place where he was raised as a man. From his adult, from his boyhood
to his adulthood, grown up here. These people knew him. They knew. Yeah. Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus the Carpenter. Yeah, we know Jesus the Carpenter, but at some point he had left. He had moved on, and when he left, nobody would have thought much of it. Yeah, Jesus is gone. He's gone somewhere. What they did not know was who Jesus was. The Nazarites, the Nazareth people did not know who he was
or what his mission was. But now he's back and they're together on the Sabbath and the synagogue, Jesus present too, in the worship service. He starts to teach and their jaws start to drop. I start to widen what's going on. Let's look at verse 2 specifically. Where did this man get these things and what wisdom is this with with which is given to him and that such mighty works are performed by his hands. This doesn't sound too bad yet. I mean, this is actually good.
And if this is all they said, we could live with it. I mean, if that's what somebody said about me, oh, that that'd be fine. Doesn't sound bad at all. He's smart, he's good. They're surprised because that's not how they knew him when he was there before as a young man. And if Mark stopped the story here, we would think that people welcomed him. They appreciated him for what he was doing. But that is not the case. They knew his history, so to speak.
They knew his family, maybe even Mary's reputation. After all, she did have a baby out of wedlock. Jesus, it says in the end of verse three they took offense. Notice how they react to Jesus after mentioning his wisdom, his works and what all right away they react to Jesus. Is this not the Carpenter? I don't have this verse on you,
sorry. Verse 2. Let's read verse 3. Is this not the Carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon are not his sisters here with us. So they were offended at him. Offended at him? Timothy Geddert and his commentary puts it this way. He says they knew he's only a Carpenter. Who does he think he is? They know his family. In fact, he's known in Nazareth as Mary's son, an unusual link to the mother's name instead of the father's.
It's likely that people were obliquely reflecting rumors that his birth was illegitimate. And if we go back in chapter 3, early on in Mark, we know his own people. His own people heard about this. He's ministering. They went and out till a hold of him, for they said he's out of his mind. The people that knew him, these people knew him. Jesus had been away, but now he's back in Nazareth, the place he's grown up and his service is
not well received. Jesus was trying to serve his people for their benefit, for God's glory at his expense. It was costing him. And what's the response? Contempt. If you've ever been in a situation where you've given your best has not been accepted, you're not alone. This happens as much today as it did back then. People have wrong mindsets, wrong attitudes, prideful, full of self, and serving people like that, it's going to cost you. It's just going to cost you.
They may repent by God's grace, They they might and they will, they will confess and and turn to God and and then welcome you. But before they do that, very possible they'll, they'll attack you. They'll view you as a problem. The question is not will we face rejection and pain? The question is, what will we do when we face rejection and pain? Some people, when they face rejection and and ridicule and mockery and contempt, they fall into a very dark place.
There's a man in the Bible by the name of Elijah. He did. He did all these great things for Israel, for God's people, and they were bail worshippers. And Ahab the king was an evil man and Jezebel, this evil queen. And one thing after another, he, Elijah did over the years. And the the big one was when he demonstrated on Mount Carmel the sacrifice with the sacrifice that God is God and Bill is just an idol. Jezebel, I'm going to kill you. And he fell into a very dark
place. He didn't stay there, thankfully. But sometimes people quit, they give up, they just throw in the towel. It's not worth it anymore. See, rejecting people is wrong and sowing seeds of rejection is wrong and that leads to a harvest. But that's not what I should occupy myself. And I'm preaching to much as much to myself as anybody here. That's not what where my mind should be. I shouldn't be wondering what
are they doing. I should be thinking of how am I responding to God. Well, Jesus does respond. He says a prophet's not without honour except in his own country. Among those are relatives in his own house. The word prophet could be used as teacher as well. In this case, the most respect and acceptance should be given among his own, his relatives and his family. But it's not happening.
A prophet is a teacher who speaks truth on on for, from, from God to the people, to declare truth to the people in order for they so they can live well, live right. Instead, it's like the people say who is he anyways? And the prophet's life in this case is very difficult. People are offended. Well, there's a fall out here too. It says now he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick
people and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief that anyone out the about the villages in a circuit teaching Jesus was limited in what he could do for these people. It's not that he didn't want to. He had the power, the opportunity, but He couldn't.
Isaiah 59 verse 1 and 2 has a very important verse says behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, nor his ear heavy that cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated you from God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. The problem was not Jesus didn't have power, it was the mindset of the people that limited what
Jesus could do for them. Often times when there's hardship, discord and chaos, people do want their lives to work well, but on their own worldly conditions they don't want to change. The issue was not Jesus not wanting to, He wanted to. They didn't want to. They had their walls up. They were offended at him. They wanted to continue in their own ways. Jesus supposed to adapt to them, not him, them to him. They wanted to continue in their old ways.
And since Jesus marvelled, wonder if Jesus would marvel today if he would come to Leamington and visit some of our churches in this town and says, oh wow, beautiful. Great. Now let's see some action. I'm not trying to be mean here, but just as a self reflection here. What would Jesus have us do in this story? The people rejected Jesus, but that didn't stop it says he continued on.
He kept on serving. It says in the in the last part of the verse, he went about in the villages, in the circuit teaching. So his response is he's going to keep on serving. In fact, he steps it up a notch. We don't find Jesus becoming discouraged as a result. We don't find him saying, you're going to look guys, it's not working. So I guess we'll retire, we'll go elsewhere. He did go elsewhere, but he never gave up. Let's continue reading Mark
chapter 6 for 7:00 to 12:00. And he called the 12 to himself and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except the staff. No bag, no bread, no copper in their belts, but to her sandals. Not put on 2 tunics. He also also, he said to them, in whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you
depart from that place. And whoever will not receive you nor hear you when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah and on the Day of Judgement than for that city. So they went out and preached that people should repent, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were
sick, and healed them. Notice what happened, Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, but instead of retreating or doing nothing, what's Jesus do? He increases the ministry, but what does he do? He used his disciples to do it and he of course did too. But his disciples and they had to fully trust him. He sent them out two by two and gave them power to have control over spiritual, over demons and, and things like that, and to heal people and to preach
repentance. You see, when we want to serve Jesus, it takes trust in Him that He'll give us what we need to serve Him on His terms, not in our own strength. If we try our own strength, it's not going to work. You see one reason why many people don't serve well, or serve conditionally, or only as long as it's easy, or as long only as long as they feel like it is because so much of it is done in human strength. The intention may be good, but our strength is never up for the task.
And so Jesus here, he's telling OK everything that could possibly distract you from the mission, that could possibly interfere with the mission, don't do it. He gave them power to heal the sick and do miracles, drive out demons, and all that stuff was good. It was was from Him. That's all good stuff, but don't do it on your own strength. Trust Him to the point of not even taking provisions along for the journey. That's extreme. Not even we do that or we plan
ahead. I'm not saying there's no no merit to being planning, but if if worldly conditions are always the criteria by which we're going to serve, that's short sighted and this is a real test for many. A would be preacher would be missionary. A lot of very well-intentioned Christians have good intentions to serve as soon as they're ready, as soon as the money is there, as soon as conditions line up, as soon as it's convenient, you know, as soon as things all work out.
And what happens in that case? It's not that they don't want to serve. They want to just not yet. And then one day they end up getting old and retiring and never having served. I've seen it. I've, I've personally met people like that. Jesus, don't take stuff along that's going to distract you. Trust me. Trust, trust me in the journey. Don't take extra food, don't take extra money, just wear what you have. Go from house to house, preach,
preach repentance. If they welcome you, stay there. If not, you shake the dust off your feet because they're rejecting, not you rejecting the gospel. It's going to be bad on for them on the day of judgment. I think it's it's amazing. Now there are some people whom God calls different than others. I get that. But this calls for trust. And the question we have to ask
ourselves is, do we trust? We must learn to fully trust Jesus. Our physical needs for food and clothing cannot be the number one priority on which we base our decision to walk with Jesus. He didn't want his his disciples to have any attachments, any distractions from serving him. Earthly things are not sin, but they can lead to abandoning the mission that is sin for Jesus. In that particular mission, they were to travel light. How many Christians today travel
light? I think we have some learning to do, especially we as Christians in the West. I'm not saying having stuff is wrong, but when stuff gets in the way, there's a problem. But then Mark, the writer does something very strange in this chapter. He plunks a story in there that you wonder where did that come
from? The story of John the Baptist right in the middle of it. He refers to it in chapter 1 verse 14. Herod's already arrested John back there, but now all of a sudden Mark just plunks the story right here, right smack in the middle of chapter 6. Let's read that chapter and see what it teaches us that that passage rather Mark chapter 614 to 29. This is the story of John the Baptist. Now King Herod heard of him. Meaning of, of, of Jesus, for
his name had become well known. And he said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, therefore these powers are at work in him. Others said it is Elijah, others said it's the prophet, like one of the prophets. But when Herod heard, he said, this is John whom I beheaded. He's been raised from the dead. For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias his brother Philip's
wife. For he had married her, because John had said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Therefore Herodias held out against him and wanted to kill him. But you couldn't. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him
gladly. Then an opportune day came, when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee, when Herodias daughter herself came in and danced and pleased Herod and those who sat with him. The king said to the girl, Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you. He also swore to her, Whatever you ask me, I will give you up to the half of my Kingdom. So he went out. So she went out and said to her mother, What shall I ask?
And she said, The head of John the Baptist. Immediately she came in with haste to the King, and asked, saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And the king was exceedingly sorry, yet because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison and brought his head on a platter to your mother.
When his disciples, John's disciples, heard of it, they came and took away the corpse, his corpse, and laid it in a tomb. What a story right there in the middle of Chapter 6. What's that got to do with anything? I don't know fully. I'm not the theologian to figure this all out. But it's a story about serving and John and serving paid full price. And we need to be served, served with that mind. Be willing, be prepared to pay
full price. Herod had confronted John in his ministry because John had had a conversation with Herod and said, Herod, you, you took your brother Philip's wife. You married your brother's wife. It's adultery. You shouldn't be doing that. Why in the world would John have done that? I mean, Herod wasn't a believer or he knew, but he was not a not a follower of God. He confronted sin in an unbeliever's life. But Herod was a smart man too. He knew better.
And so here Herod gets confronted by John the Baptist. Here it throws him in prison. You see some people, that's how they respond. They make life hard for the one who confronts them. Herod responded too, imprisoned John. We have many stories in Scripture how people responded when the light of truth was shown on their actions. So John confronts Herod about his adultery. Herod won't repent, instead got to control him, put him down a bit.
He stayed in his adulterous relationship with Herodias and it was Herodias who instigated his death. The way the story reads here in Mark, Herod had imprisoned John and it was Herodias who wanted him dead. Herod did not want him dead. Just just just behind bars. Herod liked to listen to him. Herod knew better.
He was a man of knowledge. But see, here's the thing to remember the one of the one of the most dangerous things in life is the knowledge to do right and still decide to do wrong for the sake of convenience or personal advantage, for the sake of getting along with sin. In the end, it leads to disaster. What is interesting in the story here is how sin works. Herod and Herodias saw each other.
Lester left each other didn't think the same, but they wanted each other and they got Philip lost. His wife may be divorced. I don't know what happened there, but Herod and Herodias meet, marry and that's that. Herodias hated John because she confronted Herod. John loved to listen to John because he was a man of he had something good to say, but he didn't want to give up Herodias.
It was a convenience thing here and maybe Herodias was worried that John guy might just get to Herod and then our relations going to end. I don't want that got to get rid of John. The apostle James writes that sin gives birth to death. The truth about sin is that it survives only in the dark, and by keeping it in the dark, sin does not do well in the light. John had brought Herod's sin to
the light. He exposed the adultery of Herod. As far as Herodias was concerned, John's got to go well. Her chance to take John's life came on Herod's birthday special day. He had a crowd of his nobles and top officials from Galilee, Nazarth all around that area. He had them come together and celebrate his big birthday. Herodias daughter comes in, does a dance in front of Herod and his nobles and we can imagine what kind of dance that was.
And Herod liked what he saw and foolishly offered her whatever she wished up to the half of his Kingdom. The girl rushes off to mom, says what shall I ask? Mom says John the Baptist head on a plate. She goes in and asks the king, and he's terribly sorry. That itself indicates the mindset of these two people, Herod and Herodias. They didn't think the same.
They just lusted after each other, and that was what got them together, and that's what kept them together, but not the same ideas about life or about truth. Herod was a compromiser here. He wanted to hear John. He just didn't want to repent. And Herodias, she was evil through and through. Herod was 2. But Herod had some had some some insight. She wants him dead for interfering in their adulterous
relationship. As sorry as Herod was for offering to give this girl what she wanted in order to save face and not to embarrass himself, not to embarrass his guests. OK, sent the guard go kill John. Two men in history. Herod and John was different as night and day. John had courage, he had boldness, he had strength, stamina, endurance. Yes, at one point in the Gospels, we do write, read that John asked Jesus, are you the one that should come? He's in prison.
I'm languishing here. Are you the one that should come? And Jesus says he tells him, go tell John what you see. And we don't find John ever abdicating or abandoning his faith. He died for it. You see, He didn't compromise his service to Christ. His service to God stayed constant all the way through. And of course Herod, he did not know when he imprisoned John that John would actually now he would actually end up killing John to save face and get along
with his wife. You see, once you mess with sin, you have no idea where that trail is going to lead. The best thing to do is never get on it. Herod should have never married Herodias to begin with. After he did, he had a chance to repent. He wouldn't. When the Baptist, John the Baptist confronted him, he had to do something he did not want to do, and he didn't want to be publicly embarrassed. So John had to go. Killed an innocent man.
John had disciples as well as Jesus did, and they had access to him. And they came, took the headless body, and they buried it. This story of John the Baptist happened prior to the first part of chapter 6 that we just went over in the beginning. But it was alive and fresh in the minds of the people and Herod himself. Yep, John is risen from the dead. He had a guilty conscience. He felt convicted. The work of the Gospel had not stopped because of what Herod
had done. Now Jesus, he's doing more than John did. Well knew we know what happened to Jesus in the end. He got crucified. Mark continues the story then and goes on to mention that the apostles came back from their short term mission trip and shared with Jesus all that had happened. Verse 30 to 32 says then the apostles gathered to Jesus going back now to chapter 6, verse 1 to the first part. And then that's excluding the the story of John because that
had that was history prior. Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what had, what they, what they had taught. And he meaning Jesus said to him, come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while, for there were many coming and going. They don't even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. A lot had happened with everything that had gone on, all the serving that Jesus and the
apostles had done. It was time for a break, time for a rest. And there are those times Jesus was emphasizing serving, serving, but also emphasizing rest. And he still does today. Not every single need is your job. Not every single need is your responsibility or mine. And we know from the rest of the passage that is when the story continues. Their rest consisted mainly of the boat ride. Soon as you get to shore, there's another crowd. And yes, we do serve at huge,
great cost. It's not at our convenience. That comes up very loud and clear in the story. So what it comes down to is what are we about? What is our purpose? Our focus can be on ourselves and all that we do, or on God what he called us to. Jesus was God's Son, but Jesus was also a man. As a man, he was like you and IA human being, faced temptations, got tired, marveled at their unbelief. Jesus knew who he was. God called him to serve, to preach the gospel, teachers to heal the sick.
But not everybody was on board. And as we've seen in early passages, Jesus was made fun of. He was ridiculed and viewed with contempt. In today's passage, we saw Jesus opposed by his very own people. What was his response? Keep on serving. And he did for the apostles. They joined him. And then for Jesus, earthly cousin John the Baptist. Well, He paid for his life, for his call to serve. You see, Jesus ministry was not built around the opinions and ideas of the people around him.
His ministry was not geared to and focused on and built on what was popular and what's easy to hear. Jesus simply came to demonstrate with his life the will of God in this world. John did the same. The disciples followed too. Well then there's the Herod and Herodias. They both live to the wills of the flesh and caused a lot of pain. Whose will do you and I want to serve today? Mine. Ours are God's. Who will we respect? Who will we serve?
We may say, oh, I'm going to serve God, God's will. I would hope that's true. So how serious are we about serving? How quickly, How easily do we give up and give in and just throw in the towel and move on? It takes courage to stay. When it's all said and done. There's what's precious and there's what's valuable and then there's everything else. You see gold prospectors in the past. I like reading history.
Gold prospectors in the past were going to the mountains and explore, prospecting for gold, seeing if they could find gold somewhere in the mountains. They'll come to a mountain stream and take a pan and squat down and scoop a pan of sand from the bottom of the stream and wash out the sand to see if there's gold in the stream. I shared with the Christian brother this last week. I said if you pan for gold in a stream, when you wash out the sand, what stays?
The sand washes up, but the gold stays because gold is always heavier than sand. You see, there's a lot of sand in this world. Sand people always wash out gold. People, they stay. I'm not talking with staying in one congregation necessarily, but staying with Christ, staying with the church, staying faithful. There's a lot of sand, but gold is scarce. It's easy to be sand. Gold is heavy. It's hard to be gold. Gold stays. How are we serving for what we
can get out of it? What feels good, what's comfortable, what's convenient? What selfishly or like gold, precious, internal, enduring to continue in service with Jesus when the work is hard, that takes commitment. I want to close with this short story. Richard Wurmbrand was born in 19 O 9 in a Jewish Home. In his young adult life he became an atheist. In 1936 he married his sweetheart Sabina.
At some point a German Carpenter in their community introduced Richard to Christ and later Sabina. He became a follower of Christ and Sabina joined him. She also became a follower of Jesus. Richard became a minister of the Gospel and devoted his life to serving Christ. World War 2 came along and he witnessed to the occupying Nazi forces in his country.
But then when the Nazis lost to the Russians on the on the Eastern Front, the Russians came and he witnessed to them in Romania. And while Romania was under Russian control, Richard openly preached the gospel. Under communist rule and time, communism took over completely and Romania became a communist state. When religious freedom was squashed and abolished in Romania, he continued to serve publicly and secretly.
He was arrested in 1948 and imprisoned for a combined total of 14 years, much of that in solitary confinement and brutal torture. When he was released, he was warned to stay silent, but he continued in time due to pressure on the outside Christian world. Foreign authorities played a role in this. He was released from Romania and he moved to the US. He founded the Voice of the Martyrs, which supports which supports persecuted Christians globally.
He wrote a book called Torture for Christ. That book has strengthened and wakened the faith in many. His legacy continues to raise awareness even today. He was an example of a man who was willing, who's willing to pay full price. Jesus was rejected in Nazareth. Instead of folding and quitting, he stepped up the ministry. John the Baptist had the difficult task of confronting Herod. He paid full price for his witness. Many Saints today continue to
serve faithfully at huge cost. You know what our service always reveals what we are made of? Gold or sand. May we be faithful. May God give us grace to serve faithfully, to endure well and receive the reward eternally. Let's pray, Lord, you've called us to serve with all that we are and all that we do. Lord, may we be found faithful. Help us not to look around at the culture around us, at the conveniences and opportunities that the world provides for us.
Help us to look at our own selves, reflection in the reflection of your Word and Your light. Help us, Lord, to look at ourselves through the lens of Scripture where we want to serve You. Or help us to serve faithfully, with total commitment and loyalty and dedication pleasing to you. In your name we pray. Amen.