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Rejected

Rejected

Jan 26, 2025

Passage: Matthew 13:53-14:12

Preacher: Rob Holster

Series: Gospel of the Kingdom

Summary:

We've been covering the Parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13 on Sunday mornings––there were seven of them. Four of which were spoken to the crowds––consisting of believers and non-believers––those who heard Jesus, but had different responses to his teaching. The other three parables were spoken exclusively to his disciples. In both cases, there was confusion on the part of the hearers. They didn't know what Jesus meant––even the ones who followed him closely and believed in Him. But as I mentioned, most of these parables spoke of negative consequences of not listening to Jesus––not treasuring Jesus. The Kingdom is like seeds sown into four different types of soil––and only one soil type being conducive to producing fruit. The rest won't yield the desired result. The Kingdom is like a field where weeds grow right along with the wheat, but are sorted out at the end. The weeds being gathered and burned at the end. The Kingdom is like a mustard seed that starts small but grows into something so large, it's unnatural, abnormal. Birds come and build nests in it. The Kingdom is like leaven that was hidden in the dough, but infiltrates through the whole thing. The Kingdom is like finding hidden treasure or a precious pearl––and then selling everything in order to buy that treasure. Finally, the Kingdom is like a net that catches good fish and bad fish. You can guess what happens next based on the other parables. The good ones are kept, while the others are thrown out––rejected. These are hard to understand–-and even when we do understand them––they're hard to believe. There's a change in the focus of the book at the end of Matthew 13. He moves from Jesus teaching these parables to more of the action parts of Jesus' life––what He did, and what happened in the lives of the people around him. But we begin at the end of chapter 13 where Jesus is rejected. By his own people––in his own hometown. It will become a theme. Because it's not just in Nazareth where he'll be rejected, it will be all throughout the region and beyond––and by the people he came to save. Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6), but it's also costly to follow him. It's not the easy way. It's not the obvious way. It's not the popular way. In fact, what we're going to find out from Jesus himself is that His way is hard and filled with rejection. But again––with the parables on our minds from before––He is the treasure, the pearl of great value. He is so valuable that we would gladly give up everything to follow him. We would gladly be rejected by men if it meant we had a vibrant relationship with Jesus. He is that good.

Detail:

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