So let's give our attention to God's infinitely helpful word. Mark chapter six. I'll read the first 13 verses and then read the rest as we go through the sermon. Mark chapter six verse one. He went away from there and came to his hometown. His disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. And many who heard him were astonished, saying, where did this man get these things? What is this wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and his own household. And he could not do mighty works there except that he laid hands on a few sick people. and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals. and not to put on two tunics. And he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. Well, that completes our reading of God's word for the moment. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you that Jesus was humble enough to experience this and to allow it to be recorded for our good. I pray that it would do us good. Lord, move in me by your Holy Spirit. Your spirit is not changed throughout all history. It's still just as powerful. Move in me, move in them, Lord, for their good. We pray in the name of Christ, amen. Kids, I have a question for you. Has anyone ever made fun of you? Has anyone ever made fun of you that's not fun? Adults, can you remember a time when anyone's ever laughed at you? They're often painful memories. We often remember them, you know, three, four, five decades later. Well, Jesus, too, didn't have a good day, did he, when he went to his hometown? And so we're looking at some difficult things. We're talking about expectations, remember, and expectations make a big difference. that what we expect to happen. And so many people approach their Christian life with very high expectations about how is it going to go? If I'm following the God of the universe and He's really as powerful as He says He is, well, things should go quite swimmingly. But when they don't, they can become disillusioned. So we're looking at this. We're talking about expectations. It should be that we could tell our kids, look, you just be nice to everyone and everyone will be nice to you. But that's not reality, right? We should go to say, hey, you be righteous and you'll be praised. If you're wicked, you'll be condemned. But that's often not what happens in our world. Oftentimes righteousness is condemned and wickedness is actually praised and held up as something good. We live in this twisted world. And so our expectations need to be properly set. And so that's what we're doing. Look at page seven. You see the outline. What should you expect when you obey God? Three things, three answers. To be provided for by God, first. Secondly, to be accepted by some and rejected by others. And third, to be rewarded by God. First, to be provided for by God. So let's jump in the middle of our passage. We're going to jump around today. He's sending out the twelve. He's sending them out two by two, and he's setting their expectations. Right? That's what he's doing. Look at verse 7. He says, Okay, now moms, when you give your kids advice, this is not what you say. Right? You might say nothing, but if you say anything, it's going to be, take something extra. Do you have a change of clothes? Do you have some money? Do you have your insurance card? Whatever it is, right? You make sure to, why is Jesus saying this? Why would he say the opposite of what we expect? Think about that for a second. Why, why this counsel? Is this counsel for all time? Should all of us follow this in all of our lives? I see some head nods no. You're right if you're nodding no. The answer actually comes much later. It's in the Gospel of Luke in Luke chapter 22. He's going to reflect back on this. Let me read you these verses. He's reflecting on this. He says, and he said to them, when I sent you out with no money bag, no knapsack. Hey, look, do you know knapsack is in the Bible? That's pretty funny. All right. No money bag or knapsack or sandals. Did you lack anything? He asked the apostles. They said, no, we lack nothing. He said to them, but let one who has a money bag take it, likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword sell a cloak and buy one. Well, now this is interesting, Jesus. Now you're giving the opposite advice. Now what's going on? Here's what's going on. The first time he sent them out, it was to teach them a lesson, right? He wanted them to learn to do what? Trust him, right? They didn't have anything extra, so God would have to provide if they were gonna eat. Now once they learned that lesson, later he reviewed it and said, did you lack anything? They said nothing. He said, okay, you got the lesson. Now take an extra money bag, take some extra clothes, get on the road, right? Do you see that? So it's helpful to see the picture. In Matthew 6, Jesus is giving kids, you'll have a science class soon where you have a classroom and a lab section, right? The classroom, you get the instruction. The lab is where you actually get to practice it. Okay, so here's the classroom piece in the Sermon on the Mount. He says in chapter 6, Matthew, So everyone looks up at the little chirping birds and they say, he says, look, they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather into barns. That's what Jesus says to them. Okay, so that was the classroom. Now we're to the lab. He sends them out with nothing extra, and then we find out way back in Luke 22 that it went well, right? But how did it go well? Is this like manna? If you're familiar with the Old Testament, the Israelites are out in the desert, they need food, and God provides manna from heaven. It just falls down every morning. They go outside, they collect, and they eat. Is this what it's gonna be like? No. How are the apostles, when they go out, gonna be fed? How will God provide for them? Later, they say we lack nothing. Well, it's through the people of God, right? We see this in the following verses. Look at 10. He said, he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if the place will not receive you and will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that's on your feet as a testimony against them. So as they go out, they're to go to a place, and if there's someone that will host them, come into their home, and how are they going to get food? Their host is going to feed them, right? In the parallel passage to this, in Matthew, he says this. So in that beginning instruction, take no bag for the journey, don't take two tunics or sandals or staff, for the laborer deserves his food. So Matthew caught that extra piece, Mark left it out, so I want to add it for you. The laborer deserves his food. One commentator comments, upon those who hear the word rests the obligation to provide for those who bring it. See that principle? Right? And that's what's happening right here. Brandon and I, you might know, you just pass those baskets. That's how I feed my family. Right? I couldn't move from house to house and just live with each of you for a while. It'd be an interesting adventure. But what you do is we collect money and it goes in and then the church manages that and then gives us some to feed our families. So it's the same principle. It's still true today. But it's true here, they learn to trust God. Now of course, we're trusting in God. Brandon and I trust the Lord to provide for us, even though it's coming through your hands. This is the principle that he's teaching them. Now let me give you a funny story. In the heat of summer, this summer, my AC went out. That's not much fun. And so, on the second floor of our house, it got up to about 90 degrees, and that was very unpleasant. And the AC guy said, he came, he looked at it, he said, oh yeah, you gotta, I forgot what it is, the main part of the thing was broken, the coil. And he said, you need a new coil. I said, okay, can we get this done today? Please, my family's burning up. He says, oh no, no, they're on back order. I'm like, oh, okay. So I start praying, God, please, we need this fast. It went, it took a month. crazy month for them to get this thing. So God provided for our family. We prayed. And how did he provide? No angel came down with a coil. You guys did. You guys, three of you, lent us window air conditioner units. And we're very grateful. Thank you. Thank you. And wherever there are us, thank you. Right? You guys lent us. And so we did okay. For the month, we did not roast. Now God's provision, how did it come? Was it manna from heaven? No, it was an AC unit from you guys. This is the way God provides. So it's not just for pastors. You guys do this for each other. You share your stuff. We look out for each other. God provides. So what should you expect if you follow God? You should expect that God will provide. It might not necessarily be through angels and manna, but he'll take care of you often through the people of God. Okay, so this is the key takeaway from the first piece. Now that's what we expect from God. Now let's look to our neighbor's friends and sometimes enemies. How are they going to respond? Point two. What should you expect if you obey God? Some will accept you, and others will reject you. Alright, so now we're going back to the beginning of the passage. Jesus is in his hometown. Hey, the hometown advantage, right? You have that in football. Let's see how Jesus does. So he goes there, verse one, he went there, he came to his hometown, his disciples follow him, we'll come back to that. He begins to speak. At first it sounds good. They say, hey, where did this man get these things? This wisdom given to him, how is he able to do these mighty works? But then it goes downhill, right? It's not this is a carpenter. Wait a second, that's his mom, that's his brothers and sisters. That's, I remember this guy. And it says, well, look at the verse, what does it say? And they were offended by him. So much for a home court advantage, huh? They were offended by him. I mean, Jesus goes to his own hometown and they're offended by him. Why is that? I think you get a little picture of this, a story from my dad. My dad became a believer in college. He didn't grow up in a family that was going to church and teaching him the gospel. He comes back a born again Christian. He's really excited about this personal relationship with Jesus. His dad looks at him and says, now deceased, my grandfather, says, hey, you just wait. You wait till you're my age and see if you're that excited about that stuff. Well, now my dad is, you know, 30 years older than his dad was at that age, and he still believes in the gospel and it's the center of his life, right? But what was happening? His father looked down on him and said, you know, young whippersnapper, you're just in college, you just wait till you grow up and you'll realize that it's, there's nothing to this, right? This happens, this happened to Jesus, right? He was among his family that knew him so well and they were offended by him. Some will do that. Some will... Now, remember who came with Jesus? Who was there standing behind him? Did you see who it was? His disciples. Now, if I was Jesus, I'd be incredibly embarrassed. Right? You got all your guys with you. You come to your hometown. They're like, all right, we get to meet Jesus' family, all his neighbors, all the people he grew up with. And like, they're offended by him. Like, wouldn't that be, if you were Jesus, you'd be very humiliated, right? Among your own people, they're rejecting you. Now, why did Jesus do that? Now, why didn't he just leave them someplace else, right? He let them see this because they needed an example to follow. They need an example to follow. They needed to know, what do you do when people reject you? And we've seen this, right? Some accepted Jesus, he cast the thousands of demons out, and that town rejected him, right? They saw that. They're seeing. Accepted, rejected. Accepted, rejected. They're learning. Jesus went on. They needed that because of the next story. Look at the next story, right? We looked at the instruction. No extra tunics. I'm going to say when you go into a house, but then there was that part about if they don't listen to you, verse 11, shake the dust off your feet. Now what's that about? The Jews had this tradition and when they would go into a foreign land, a pagan land, see now you had to, let's think Jewish for a second. Let me try to get you into a Jewish head. A Jewish mindset. They had this clean, unclean idea. Jewish things, you know kosher, right? You see it on labels and stuff, right? So the kosher, the clean was Israel. The rest of the world is very unclean, it's evil, it's bad, right? So when they would go travel into some other land, when they would come back, they step into Israel, they shake the dust off their cloaks, they knock it off their shoes, and they're like, we aren't gonna bring any of that unclean paganness back into Israel. That's what they would do. And so Jesus picks up on this, except where are they? They're in Israel. So they're going to a Jewish town, and if that town won't listen to the gospel, he says, knock the dust off your feet. Right, so a Jew immediately knows what he's talking about. Right, so this would be pretty embarrassing, right, for the Jews to say, you're gonna treat us like we're the pagan land? Yeah, if you reject the gospel, you just move on. You just shake, you knock the dust off your feet. And so, think back, Jesus in his hometown, that's what happened, right? Jesus said, yep. No respect here. Prophets except has no respect his hometown. And that's what they had to do. Right? And so some people rejected the apostles. Did everyone reject the apostles? No. Right? Verse 9, 9, 10, 10. All right, he said, if someone will accept you, stay there. And it says actually, verse 13, they cast out many demons and healed many. So some people accepted them. I have encouragement for you. In Cane Bay, there are people who don't know it yet, but they will be Christians. They will love you when you tell them the gospel. They will thank you for it. They will call you blessed. They will come to your church. They will have a great time. They'll eat dinner at your house. It'll be wonderful. Not everyone. Some will reject you and think you're the devil. And so you have this dichotomy, right? And so there are, you will be accepted. God is actually moving. He's still alive. He's still moving in people's lives. We've seen it. We've seen it in the couple of years we've been here. It's been exciting. And so you have this dichotomy. But remember, what are we talking about today? Expectations. I'm trying to help, as Scripture is, set your expectations. God's going to take care of you. Some people are going to accept you. Some people are going to reject you. Then we now get to our last piece of the passage. We haven't read this yet, so you're actually gonna need to look at your Bible. Verse 14. We have John the Baptist. How did John get in so much trouble? King Herod heard of it. All right, now, okay, let me pause. He's gonna tell two stories in one. He's gonna tell a little bit, and then he's gonna say, oh, but you need the backstory to know why this even makes sense. So he's gonna start, and then he's gonna jump back sequentially. Hope that helps. 14, King Herod heard of it. So here's of all Jesus is doing. For Jesus' name had become known. Some said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. being Jesus. But others said he's Elijah, and others said he's a prophet like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he said, nah, it's John. He said, John whom I beheaded has been raised. Okay, so that's the story, but then Mark says, wait a second, I haven't told you yet of that whole story of how he got beheaded. So he jumps back in time and starts telling that. So that's, now we're gonna find out, how did John the Baptist get in trouble to begin with? So 17, for it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias. Who's Herodias? His brother Philip's wife. Okay, that's weird. Because he had married her. Okay, that's perverse. So the guy steals his brother's wife and says, I like her. Steals her, he must have had more power. So he grabbed her, took her. John was John Doe. Look there in your passage. Well that made him happy huh? Remember? Righteousness is always praise and wickedness is always... Nope. Now he actually said, hey that's wicked. Herod didn't like that and so Herod threw him in prison. But there's another problem here. All right, where is it? 19. And Herodias had a grudge against him. So she must have been okay with being stolen by her brother, by her husband's brother. For Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. So he, Herod just threw him in jail. She wanted to kill him. Wanted to put him to death, but she could not. Why not? Look at verse 20. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. when he had heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly." Okay, so here's the situation. You've got, he's thrown John in prison, but he's keeping John safe in prison and won't let his new wife kill him. But he comes and he listens to John, he's perplexed because he's got this conflict of, he knows what he's doing is wrong, but he doesn't want to change that, but he wants to listen to him, he doesn't want to kill him, right? And so there's all this complexity. Some will oppose you. If you tell the truth and call a spade a spade, sometimes people get thrown in jail. And this happened to John the Baptist. But at least he's safe, well for the moment. So keep reading there, 21. Okay, think a lot of men in one room. And when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guest. I'm glad this is not a video, this is only being read. And the king said to the girl, ask me whatever you wish and I give it to you. And he vowed to her, whatever you want, I'll give it to you up to half my kingdom. Okay, so you imagine that big room, all those guys, the woman's daughter comes in and dances. This is also still very perverse and weird because this is now kind of his quasi-adopted daughter who's dancing before all these men, so much so that he's ready to give her half his kingdom. You remember, if you've been here a little bit, we said Esther before this? This was the same thing that Ahasuerus, if I can get it out, said to Esther, I'll give you up to half my kingdom. Kings just like to say this. It was just like a, like, I'm so generous. You know, he didn't actually mean half the kingdom. But he just meant, I'll give you whatever you want. She doesn't know. She goes and asks her mom. Look, look at the passage. It gets worse. Wait, let me pause for a second. See, the Bible, this is not like some like little Jesus storybook Bible. Like, this is like really wicked, evil stuff going on. This is more like the world you live in. There's human trafficking in our world. There's pornography in our world. There's evil, evil things happening, right? And this is what we see in Scripture. Scripture is very honest. See, God wrote this, not man. Man, we would kind of sweep and like clean up the story some, right? No, there's just the ugly underbelly of you've got this perverse like adultery and incest and then like this other evil stuff of the daughter dancing and all this stuff and John's getting caught in the middle of it, right? John is just a righteous man who just called a spade a spade. Things continue to go worse. She asked her mom, so look at verse 24. And she went out and said to her mother, for what should I ask? Now she has her chance. And she says, the head of John the Baptist. And then she came in immediately, so the girl, with haste to the king and said, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And the king was exceedingly sorry because of his os, his pride. See, we saw this before with Asherus. Because of his os and his guess, he did not want to break his word to her. So John's going to lose his head because of this guy's pride. Yep. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl. And the girl gave it to her mother. Those disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. I mean, this is just sad. I mean, this holy righteous man has just been executed in this nonsense, in this wicked evil. Could God not stop this? Why? Why would a good God allow this? And not just to anyone, but to like, His servant, who's said to be the greatest of the prophets. Why? I want to answer that question for you. Because it's worth answering. There's a couple reasons. One is, is that God used the courage of the early Christians to explode the church. It just multiplied so fast. Because when they watched people being executed, they often were executed to lions, all kinds of crazy stuff. Not just John the Baptist. They saw the courage of people facing death. And they said, hey, if they can face death like that, we are not going to be paralyzed and silent. Many of you are paralyzed in silence. Right? You're scared of what's going to happen. You're scared if you actually were to tell the truth to someone and actually call a spade a spade, what might happen? What they might think of you. Some will accept you. Some will reject you. This is the epitome of being rejected. But it gave great courage. God used the courage of the early Christians to absolutely explode the church, just grow it so fast. And that's encouragement. There's another reason. is that Jesus suffered far more than John. Jesus suffered far more than any early believer, any believer ever. He was tortured because he loved you. Why? Why was he, why do you allow himself to go to the cross? Because you're a sinner and I'm a sinner. We're all sinners because we've displeased God and the only way to get us to heaven was if he paid the death penalty for us. And so Jesus suffered. And so John and the early Christians, John actually came before Jesus, his execution, but all the other Christians who came after, they had Jesus' example to look to. And it brought them courage. That's another angle. John 15, Jesus says, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. Know that it hated me before it hated you. Your savior, your hero, your king was hated. He was rejected in his hometown. He was beaten and executed. And so not everyone is going to love us. We need to have our expectations set. We need to have our expectations set. There's a third angle. If you look at just like the little microcosm of like John the Baptist's life, it really stinks. And God kind of looks like he failed him. But if you zoom out, right? Here's his, however long he lived. Here's the rest of his existence. So as soon as he lost his head, he was immediately where? Where was he? He was in the presence of the living God. He was rewarded. He was no longer in this stinky, hot, torturous jail cell. He was delivered. Delivered to heaven. His ministry was over. He got to be rewarded. Right? And so when you look at the big picture, well now it's not looking so bad, is it? Right? And the early Christians saw this. They looked with hope. Stephen, as he was being executed, he had hope. He saw what was to come and it brought him hope. And so I'm trying to help us set our perspective Matthew 16 says, Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, that's hopefully all of us, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels, right? Jesus is coming back. Do you believe that? I do. The Bible says so. Then he will repray each person for what he has done. As we close up this point, I want to share with you Galatians 1 10. Because again, we have this contrast. Paul says, Paul said, I've given up on that. I've given up on people. They're kind of fickle. They sometimes will love you, sometimes will hate you, and sometimes in the same day. And that's just the way it is. And so, he transferred his hope to God, and so that's our third point. What should we expect if we serve God? To be accepted and rewarded by God. And so this is the presupposition that's under this whole passage. I want to talk about this for a second, the presupposition or the foundation under it. Again, I said John was immediately in the presence of God. What do you think he heard? Do you think he heard this? Matthew 25, 23, well done, good and faithful servant. I guarantee it. I guarantee it. Well done, good and faithful servant. Do you long to hear your Lord say that? Well done, good and faithful servant. That's better than anyone's approval, isn't it? Well done, good and faithful servant. You see, and if you set your hopes on that, it can set you free. It's gonna set you free that you will not be paralyzed by whatever thinks of you. You can have freedom to say, call a spade a spade, to love people with truth, to share the gospel with them, to say hard things when you need to. Because you know what you're seeking is that God would say, well done, good and faithful servant. Matthew 5 says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you. But here's the good part. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For your reward is great in heaven. You'll be rewarded. Those who suffer in this life, God rewards. So there's several benefits to this, right? I don't want you to be disillusioned, right? When you're kids, the first time someone makes fun of them, it's a little disillusioning. Like I was being nice to her, and she hit me and screamed at me, right? Like there's this disillusioning. And so as believers, even as adults, we can still have that, like our kids learn, but somehow we have forgotten, right? That not everyone is gonna love us. So I don't want you to be disillusioned. I also want to help you zoom out. Because people are fickle, because this life on this earth is short-lived, I want you to see the big picture. And then I don't want you to be a slave to others' opinions. I want to tell you about someone. Have you ever heard of the guy named John Knox? John Knox, he lived in the 1500s. You never met him. Long time ago. John Knox, he was a reformer. Let me tell you about him, he's really cool. So, he started very much like us. He's a very average guy. When he got called on to preach, he actually left the room crying. Wow, that's impressive. Man of courage there, huh? John Knox, right? Just average guy. But God did something in John Knox. He got a hold of these ideas that we're preaching on today. that some will reject you. He had a huge prayer life. He spent a lot of time with the living God who created heaven and earth. And because of that, it gave him courage, so much courage that he ended up in the end, he was facing nobility. He wrote a book, a crazy book about the queen of, I guess it was England. So he's in Scotland, right? He's quoted to say, give me Scotland or I die. Like he had such a heart. The queen, Finally, because as he continued to gain more and more power, she said, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than an army of 10,000. Now wouldn't that be cool if someone said that about your prayers? He had unbelievable courage as he began to grow in Christ. So if you've started as I have, started with very humble beginnings, not some huge man of courage, that God used John Knox to do unbelievable things. He's even called the father of Presbyterianism. You're in a Presbyterian church if you didn't know that. He started that. He sat under John Calvin in Geneva and God used him powerfully. John Knox. One boy was told, stop preaching or we'll shoot you. He kept preaching, they shot, they missed. Nothing stopped that man. It was unbelievable. So in his open grave after he's dead, he's there, some guy's standing over it looking and says, this is the quote the guy said. The guy used to oppose him, but he said, This man, he neither flatters, where is it? Okay. Here lies a man who neither flattered nor feared any flesh. Neither flattered or feared any flesh. He was absolutely fearless because he feared God. My hope for you, for all of you, is that you would fear God. that your understanding that God loves you, will provide for you, is the only approval you really need, would set you free to live a free life, not a slave to what others think, just like John Knox. And it has such an impact. It has an impact in homes, in families, in neighborhoods and communities. Our prayer is, is that we have a big impact along with the other churches here in Cane Bay. And some of you live outside Cane Bay, that's fine. Love to have an impact in Nexton and wherever else you live, Goose Creek. But we believe that if we get a handle on this, that some will reject you, some will hate you, but God's gonna take care of you. He'll reward you. The ultimate goal is that you would hear your Father in heaven say, well done, well done, good and faithful servant. Could there be anything better than that? I guarantee that you will never, ever regret having obeyed and sought his approval alone. Amen, let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would sink this in my soul. Lord, for I long to be a man like John Knox, that neither live to flatter or fear any flesh. I pray that for my brothers and sisters, that they too would live like that. Lord, that we'd be set free. We would not be paralyzed in silence, worried what someone might think. But our hope would be set on you. And we would not be disillusioned when not everyone loves us, but we would accept it as Jesus did, as the apostles did. Take the dust off our feet. Still love them, but take the dust off our feet. Lord, I pray that you would do this. Only you can do this. You did it in John Knox, you can do it in us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.