“REJECTION”
Pastor Sagar Sukka
INTRODUCTION: When he was just 22, Walt Disney was fired from the newspaper he worked for because he was not creative enough to deliver good ideas. Of Course, Disney later went on to create one of the world’s best-known and most-beloved cartoon characters, as well as build an entertainment empire based on imagination. We have Thomas Alva Edison, one of the greatest inventors in the United States. He was unable to talk until he was four years old, unable to read because he was hard of hearing. His mother had to home school him because special education was non-existent. But at the age of 10, he had already read History of England, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, History of the World, and The Age of Reason.
As much as these stories inspire me, I gravitate toward stories of Christians overcoming various forms of opposition because of their faith in Christ. In India, when few of my friends responded to the Gospel and gave their lives to Christ, their families and friends abandoned them. And yet, they have stuck to their faith amid such rejection.
I want to share 3 important things about Rejection.
REJECTION IS INEVITABLE: One of the first signs of living and preaching the Gospel is that we will be rejected. Wherever the Gospel is being preached, there will be persecution. If you don’t see any persecution and you are accepted by everybody, there is a danger and we need to self-examine ourselves. How can one speak the truth in a world full of lies and yet not be rejected? It’s impossible! In Luke chapter 4:14-30, we see Jesus Christ rejected in His own town and by His own people for the sake of the Gospel. He was rejected because He did miracles in a gentile city but not in His own town. And in Luke chapter 8:26-39, we see Jesus was rejected for doing a miracle in Gadarenes. No matter what you do, you will face rejection if we live and share the Gospel. All the Apostles bare witness for such rejection for the Gospel’s sake. Question, when was the last time we were rejected and persecuted for Gospel sake?
REJECTION REVEALS INTENTIONS: Many people and many churches have compromised when they faced persecution or were rejected by the community. There is a true story in one of the Asian countries when communists came into a church and asked the members of that church to Spit on the Bible and curse God so they would spare their lives. Many that day spat on the Bible and saved their lives. Such was the case with Jesus in Luke 4:28-30. He could have pleased the crowd by doing some miracles, but His mission was more important than the miracles. They beat Him and took Him to the mountain cliff to kill Him. Rejection reveals our intentions in our ministry.
REJECTION LEADS TO INTIMACY: There was a pastor in north India who was beaten to death by the Hindu radicals for preaching the Gospel. In such situations, he had nobody with him. Even his own family deserted him, but he kept his faith and depended on GOD each day, and endured the persecution through the power of the Holy Spirit God to glorify GOD through his endurance. We are not commanded to fight and win over situations, but to face them and endure them as Christ has done (Luke 9:22-26).
CONCLUSION: If we are accepted by everyone in this world, we will be rejected in Heaven; and if we are rejected on Earth for the sake of the Gospel, we will be accepted.
