Mark T. Barclay - Avoiding the Pitfalls of Familiarity

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

JESUS FACED IT

"And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses , and Simon, and Judas?

And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?

And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

Matthew 13:53-58

PREACHING THAT ASTOUNDS

Jesus was, and still is, the greatest preacher and teacher of all time. He taught in such a way that people would comment on His authority. He could cause disciples to reason among themselves. In one parable, Jesus would feed His flock and rebuke His foes. One word from this divine orator's mouth could raise the dead and condemn the wicked. What a treat to walk in His steps and study His life!

In Matthew 13:53-58, which we are using as our text, we see that this marvelous teacher had come to the city of Nazareth to teach in their synagogue. Now keep in mind that Jesus, to the people in this passage of scripture, was not yet recognized to be the resurrected Lord and Savior as we know Him today. No, quite the contrary. These Nazarenes didn't even receive Him as a qualified teacher of His time.

Even so, we find this preacher, Jesus, teaching in their synagogue. He was like a traveling speaker to them, a guest, one who had come into their church service to share the things of the Kingdom.

You and I both know that it didn't take Jesus long at all to get their full attention. Even though He was just another preacher to them, He was the Master. They hadn't heard anyone teach quite like this before.

As He spoke to them, they became astonished at His words. They were sitting on the edge of their seats. They were listening with great interest and a thrill in their hearts.

He began to testify of all the works of God that were being done in His ministry. He began to tell them the revelation of Heaven. The number one oracle of Heaven was in their midst, and they didn't even know it, yet they were astonished at His words.

This is the way it is supposed to be. People who are hearing from Heaven should marvel at Heaven's words. We should never get used to Heaven's miracles or the works of Christ in our midst.

Nazareth was being visited by the greatest of all visitors. The congregation of this synagogue had a chance of a lifetime. These people were attending the greatest church service ever to be held in their city!

THE FIRST STATEMENT

A Statement of Respect and Reception

Matthew 13:54 reveals to us the conflict between truth and error, humility and pride, Heaven and earth, the preacher and the listener, and the leadership and the congregation. The sin of all sins was about to be revealed!

First of all, listen to the statement that was made that day in the synagogue of Nazareth as Jesus spoke:

"... Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers ?... "

Matthew 13:54 (NIV)

They were commenting on His wisdom. They were amazed at His power. They were astonished. I know people like this. They come into a church, and they marvel at the work. They speak flattering things, and they speak of the blessings and the hand of the Lord upon you. They listen to the wisdom of, and they enjoy the presence of, the powerful Holy Spirit. They sound and look like characters taken right out of this Nazareth synagogue.

Their hunger gets stirred up (among other things), and they immediately wonder why they aren't like the pastor. They wonder why their ministry isn't flourishing in the same way. They soon begin to harbor the wrong thoughts and those thoughts lead them to do wrong things!

CHAPTER 2

THE "EQUALIZERS

Did you know that every local church congregation has an "equalizer"? Well, they do. These are the people who speak up and stand against leadership in order to defame them. They are always questioning the pastor and trying to take away the esteem that he may have in the hearts of the flock. They work hard and scheme to make God's ordained leader equal (in authority) to everyone else. They try to make him their peer rather than their leader.

Why are there people like this? It's the devil's way of uprooting sheep and leading them to slaughter. It's his way of scattering the sheep, by means of dissension and strife. Harm the shepherdscatter the sheep.

Why would anyone who claims to be a Christian want to be involved in such a thing? Jealousy and envy lead them to "equalize" the leader and draw disciples after themselves. They don't realize that no one has ever gotten away with this. God makes sure that they don't!

Here in Matthew 13:55-56, the equalizers even showed up at Jesus' meetings. Right in the midst of a divine display of power and wisdom, these equalizers began to form doubts and questions. They immediately went to work.

All of you preachers and teachers, listen to me. If they were bold enough to do this right to Jesus' face, don't think for a minute that we can escape it. If this attitude broke out in His church services, then it will break out in ours too. If they questioned His words and works with suspicion, then there will be some who question ours too. If it hindered the power flow of Jesus, it will have an influence on ours also.

Look at what they said here in Matthew 13:55-56:

"Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses , and Simon, and Judas?

And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?"

These statements, made by the equalizers, made no real sense at all. There was no intelligence in them. They were not even questioning doctrine or lifestyle. They were simply trying to make Jesus equal to themselves. They were trying to lower His platform of authority in everyone else's eyes. This is the shame of questioning, doubting, and suspicious people. They always have to ruin things for everyone else. They are never satisfied to sin alone.

This technique is ages old. The equalizers are looking for anything they can use to become familiar with Jesus. I don't mean this in a good way. They were asking questions that would seed in the minds of others that this preacher was no different than anyone else. They wanted everyone to feel extra "comfy" around Him. You know: "Let your hair down." "He's no different than the rest of us." "He puts His pants on just like we do." "He has no special ministry." "Does the Lord speak only through Him?"

I hope that you can see it. I hope that you can see that most people who ask questions like these are not hungry but rather antagonistic. They are breeding doubt and unbelief.

THE SIN OF FAMILIARITY

I've been asking congregations all over this country what they think the number one sin is. I get a tremendous amount of response and variety, but I have never yet had anyone answerthe sin of familiarity. That's right! It is by far the deadliest, yet subtlest, sin of all. It is like a slow, aging death. It is killing our children, ruining our marriages, defaming our preachers, splitting our churches, and defiling us in many other waysdaily! I will explain this better later on in this book.

In verse 56, we can see how these people (equalizers) had drawn their own conclusions. They had asked enough questions that they now had doubt in operation. They had determined that Jesus was not anointed. He was nothing special. He was no different than they were. He was not one of divine authority. They concluded, "Why should we listen to Him or be led by Him?"