It Is Neither Here Nor There
This week, we begin a new chapter in the Gospel of Mark. The sixth chapter begins with skepticism over the inexplicable knowledge of Jesus and the impossibility of the volumes of miracles He did. One miracle should have been enough to convince people that He was more than a man, but a healthy volume of miracles was no better than one to convince people of who He was. If I were to reduce the first six verses of Mark 6 to one overarching theme, I would call it the power of unbelief. We often speak of the power of faith, and we know the Bible presents the concept that faith can move mountains. Jesus narrowed His description to stay faith is powerful enough that the equivalent of a grain of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Most times, we will extol the supreme virtue of faith without discussing too much about the power of no faith, or said more commonly again, “the power of unbelief.” The scriptures are no less descriptive of this than the power of belief. Unbelief was powerful enough to cause Jesus’ enemies to deny His miracles even while they watched Him do them. If they did not outright deny them, they at least illogically attributed the wrong source to them. Some of Jesus’ strongest condemnations were because of unbelief. He told residents of Capernaum that if He had done His miracles in Gentile cities or in the Old Testament bastions of the worst immorality, Sodom, and Gomorrah—if there, if those people had seen them, they would have repented at once and come to Him for salvation. There would be no trouble finding ten righteous people in them after His displays!
We use multiple excuses for not attending church or helping in the Lord’s work. There is always a complaint of some sort when our failures are truly more owed to unbelief than any other cause. I thought of this when surveying Matthew 11. The first section of the chapter ends in verse 19 with Jesus’ comparison of His and John the Baptist’s ministries. Though He and John had different approaches, neither satisfied the people. No matter what He or John did, they were not satisfied. John was not personable, he did not drink, he and his disciples fasted, while Jesus was a party animal and was always buddies with the fun crowd. Jesus said, when we dance, you don’t like it; when we cry, you don’t like it. If we fast or feast, you don’t like it.
The root cause of their discontent was their unbelief. People will never be satisfied with God. The late James Montgomery Boice spoke of the restless in the church who are always looking but never staying. He said: “God has many messengers with many varying gifts. Some are powerful speakers and can move a crowd to tears. Others are intellectual; they make a careful case for Christianity and present many powerful proofs of the gospel. Some teachers are outgoing, talkative, people oriented. Others are retiring and thoughtful. Some write books. Others lead movements. Still others speak on radio or appear on television. Some are old and teach with the wisdom of their years. Some are young and proclaim the truth with youthful vigor. Some are prophetic. Some are analytic. None of this matters to a generation of determined sinners who say in opposition, ‘This one is too loud. That one is too quiet. This one is too intellectual. That one is too superficial.’”
These folks have no interest in serving or knowing God well. Their offense is not a church’s method or doctrine. It really comes down to the gospel. The gospel offends, and nothing but the power of God will overcome the power and persistence of unbelief. As the Jews of Jesus’ time could not fool Him with their pretended devotion to the Law and thus to God, neither do we fool Him by wandering endlessly to find the church that is pure enough for us. It is neither here nor there. Open your eyes to see that most complaints are preferences and have nothing to do with devotion to Christ.
Pastor V. Mark Smith