Can I Get A Witness | Shake It Off — Jordan McClarnon

Can I Get A Witness | Shake It Off — Jordan McClarnon | Acts 15:50-52

Transcript

Forrest 0:06

Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast. Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life. We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Well, as Becca mentioned a few moments ago, my name is Jordan. My family and I are a part of a great church in Cincinnati, Ohio. We drove into Frankfurt uh last night, and you know, we're just trying to get the kids to bed and get a little bit of rest to prepare, you know, for a big day today to preach and be with you. And somehow, uh the the people who live across the street from the house we were staying in had managed to acquire about seven hours worth of fireworks. You know how to celebrate well. And uh so let's just say I uh got to sleep a little bit later than I was hoping to. Maybe many of you can relate. So I'm just gonna need to borrow some energy from you this morning. We're gonna get through this thing uh together. But I I I love Kentucky. I actually went to college in Kentucky. I played soccer at Kentucky Christian University. And if you're like our family, you've had the World Cup on over the last few days, maybe weeks. And arguably better than watching the World Cup is watching three-year-olds play soccer. If you haven't watched three-year-olds play soccer, I would highly recommend it. I want to show you a picture of my daughter. She just finished her first soccer season just uh a month or so ago. I mean, come on, right? So we uh we show up to the the YMCA the first week, and I thought they're just gonna hand her, you know, a red shirt or a blue shirt or something like that. When did they start handing out full soccer kits to that match MLS teams to three-year-olds? So they give her the reversible jersey, the matching shorts, the socks, you know, the whole deal. I'm like, man, she she looks good. Watching three-year-olds play soccer is incredible. You got one kid, and he's you know, pushing the ball down the field, and there's just a herd of toddlers that are following behind. There's kids that are just laying face down in the grass. They're chasing butterflies, they're shooting on the wrong goal. It's amazing. And uh a few weeks ago, uh my daughter Scott, she wiped out pretty good in one of the games. And just in the middle of the game, she just sprints off the field and she comes and finds me. And it's so hard to not be that dad that's just constantly yelling while the game's happening. You know what I'm talking about? I thought it was gonna be easier for me to just not do that. It's really hard to just not be the guy that's like, you're going the wrong way. Shoot! Get up! You know, I mean, it's just hard not to do that. But my daughter, she wiped out and she came over to me and she's she's crying, she's like, I don't want to play. And you know, I use one of the all-time great dad lines, we're gonna shake it off. You gotta shake it off. And so I'm I'm dusting her off, we're wiping the dirt off of her knee. She comes over, takes a big swig of my coffee, and then she's back in the game. And um, I think in about that moment, and I'm thinking about her first game. I don't, you can't see them that well. She's got these brand new, clean, pristine pink cleats that match the pink uniform, and she was so pumped to wear them out there. Of course, the first game, it's a swamp out there. It's rained all night, it's just mud all over the place, pools of water that just the ball just stops in, you know, every every second. She was so upset after game one, the cleats are just destroyed. They're just dirty, they're muddy, they're soaking wet, stains all over. And I forgot how satisfying it was to take a pair of cleats or a pair of shoes and just give it a big one of these. Just smack them together after that mud's caked on there. Dirt, the mud's flying all over the place, and you got a nice new pair of cleats. You're probably wondering, where are we going with this? I want to bring a message this morning on the subject of shake it off. That's what we're gonna talk about this morning. How to shake it off. So, Jesus, I ask that you would help us right now in this moment. If there's anything that's prohibiting us from hearing from you, we just want to set that to the side. So we are open and we are receptive from hearing from you this morning. We love you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. For the past few weeks uh here at Multiply, we've been talking about uh evangelism. We've been talking about sharing the gospel, talking to people about Jesus. It's it's it's called Can I Get a Witness? And we're really talking about all the fears, the insecurities, the obstacles that you and I have when it comes to talking to other people about our faith. I mean, this is the good news, after all. So why does it feel so hard to talk about it? It's the good news about Jesus, but if you're like, if you're like me, you're like, man, it feels really hard to talk about the good news. There's a guy by the name of Aaron Wren. He's a writer, a thinker, lives here in the States, and he writes primarily about the intersection between Christian faith and American culture. And I want to share something with you that he wrote. It's actually like a framework. It's called The Three Worlds, and it really helped me understand why it feels so hard to talk about the good news. And so this is what he says: the three worlds. He says that pre-1994, some of you were here for that, some of you were not. Pre-1994, he says we lived in a time called the positive world. The positive world. And the positive world was this people, culture at large, have a positive view of Christianity. Positive. It's like, yeah, oh, those are great people. Those are nice guys, those are nice ladies. The pastor, yeah, he's a smart guy. Everyone respects him, everyone listens to what he has to say. Christian institutions and churches, pre-1994, they're largely trusted by your everyday, you know, your average everyday person. And in fact, a lot of ways, being a Christian was actually like a social asset. In many ways, it added to your social status. Christianity was seen as a net positive to society. So then he says, after 1994, we enter this about 20-year period, the late 90s, early 2000s, that he describes as the neutral world. In the neutral world, things change a little bit. It's not so much that people are against Christianity, it's just that people are kind of like, eh, I mean, whatever. Like, okay, cool. You're Christian? All right, great. Um, just keep that to yourself. But it's just one of many different viewpoints. Some people viewed it as a positive, some as a negative, but culture at large, it was just kind of neutral. People were sort of just ambivalent towards Christianity. People had mixed feelings. Faith was was tolerated, but it was mostly just like, hey, that's your personal choice. I'm gonna choose to do my own thing. People who disagreed with Christians usually didn't think they were like evil, bad people. They just thought they were mistaken or they were wrong. Then Aaron Wren says, around 2014, you know, almost, I don't know, 10-ish years ago, something really shifted in American culture. And he said, we're no longer in a neutral world, we are in the negative world. And in the negative world, the culture at large views Christianity negatively. They actually believe that it is a net negative for society. Being a Christian, especially publicly, that is not a social asset. In many ways, that can actually harm or hurt your reputation or your career. Christian institutions, churches, pastors, they're often seen as distrusted. They're opposed. There's a level of suspicion that people look at. Christian values, man, people say they're regressive, that they can be intolerant, even harmful, or evil. I mean, like, there are people who believe that in order for us to move into a more flourishing society, Christianity actually needs to be eliminated. That's the negative world that you and I live in. So if it feels hard to share the gospel, that's because it is. That's just because it is. If it feels hard, it is hard. You're not crazy for thinking that. And if you choose to talk about Jesus or to share your faith publicly with friends, with coworkers, on social media, with your family at Thanksgiving dinner, it's gonna come with a cost. You're not imagining that cost in your head. It will come with a cost. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4, he said it this way: he said, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. They don't understand the message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. One book earlier in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul said pretty much the same thing, just in a little bit of a different way. He said this the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction. But we who are being saved know that it is the very power of God. Chances are that many of us in this room are on various levels of experiencing tension, rejection, or even ridicule from people in our lives because of our faith. Various levels of that. Some extreme levels, some not so much, but I would say collectively, there's a lot of people in this room, we've experienced tension, rejection, ridicule. Maybe you were talking to a neighbor one day, and you're like, you know what? This is the day. I'm gonna invite them to church. And that interaction did not go the way that you were hoping it would go. Been there, done that. Maybe you were at the gym, maybe you were at the office one day, and you're like, you know what? I have been thinking about talking to this person, and you just went for it. You struck up a spiritual conversation, and man, that thing just derailed so fast. Maybe it didn't even just derail, maybe like someone actually like pushed back against that. They called you some names, and you're like, Well, excuse me. It's a social media post. You were sharing something that was faith-based, and your comment section just blew up. It got ugly in there. Well, whatever it is, I would imagine many of us have had some type of interaction where we experienced a level of rejection. And if you're like me, what you did with that interaction was you felt it, it stung, and you took it and you put it in your pocket. And you now carry it around with you everywhere you go. So that the next time you think about having a gospel conversation with somebody, the enemy actually reminds you of that thing you put in your pocket. And he says, Hey, you remember what happened last time you tried to talk to somebody about Jesus? Yeah, it didn't go well. And because that thing is a weight attached to you, you are haunted by it, you're hesitant because of it, and now you're not so sure about yourself. And maybe you've even made the decision to say, you know what, I think I'm just gonna keep the faith thing to myself. Now, what I want to know is, what did Jesus tell his followers to do when they experience rejection and ridicule because of the gospel? That's what I want to know. Like, what did Jesus tell his disciples to do when they experience rejection because of their faith? Mark chapter 6 starts with Jesus teaching and actually himself being rejected. And a few verses later, in verse 7, Jesus is sending out the 12 disciples to preach and teach, and it's actually their first solo mission. They're gonna go without him. He's been doing the heavy lifting for a while, and they're being sent out without him, and he's training them up before they head out. This is what happens in Mark 6, verse 7. Jesus went around teaching from village to village, calling the 12 disciples to him. He began to send them out two by two, and he gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions. Take nothing for the journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money. Wear sandals, but no extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And then here's the key verse for today, verse eleven. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. They went out, they preached that people should repent, they drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them. So for their first solo mission, the disciples are sent out, and Jesus essentially says, Don't take anything, no food, no water, no money, no clothes. You don't need any of that. You just need a dependency on me. And then in verse 11, he tells them, Hey guys, I'm just giving you a heads up. Some people are going to receive the message, they're gonna accept it. Other people, just warning, they're gonna reject it. Not having it. They don't want to hear what you have to say. You're going to be rejected. Like if they rejected me, it's likely that they're going to reject you. And I'm just telling you now, so that when it happens, you know what to do. And then Jesus kind of tells them this weird thing. He says, When you're rejected, you just need to do one thing. You need to shake the dust off your feet. Sometimes when I when I read the Bible, when I read things in the Bible, I can like gloss over things real quick and be like, yeah, I don't know what that means. It's probably not that important. And I was like, wait, this kind of feels like, okay, they're rejected. This is the one thing that you tell them to do. I should probably look into this a little bit. The practice of shaking the dust off your feet dates thousands of years back to the Old Testament, where the Jewish people would shake the dust off of their sandals when they would return from a foreign land. So when Jews would go into foreign territory for trade or diplomacy or for a relationship, when they would re-enter Israel before they came back and crossed the line, they would shake the dust off of their shoes. Foreign territory was considered unclean, and this was a simple ritual act that they did to make sure that they weren't bringing any of that, which was unclean, back into their homeland. This wasn't an act of disrespect or defiance. It was similar to you taking off your shoes when you enter somebody's house. My shoes are nasty, I'm not trying to bring that in here into your nice carpet. So I'm gonna leave my shoes over to the side. That's what it was. It's a simple act that people had been doing for thousands of years. And the disciples knew this. And so when Jesus said this, the disciples would have been aware of what this meant, and the communities that the disciples were going into would have also been aware of what this meant. It was an extremely common cultural practice. So when Jesus says this, what he is saying is when you experience rejection, I'm gonna give you a simple physical thing that is connected actually to a deeper spiritual thing that's gonna allow you to not hold the weight of rejection within. So the act of shaking off the dust is this you preached the gospel, you told someone about Jesus, you did your part, and when the community or the town or the person or the people group chose to reject it, you are releasing the weight of that rejection onto them. The rejection doesn't fall onto you. The shaking off of the dust signifies and implies that the weight of the rejection rests on you. It's a formal acknowledgement and it's a transfer of responsibility. That's what's taking place in this act. We are not carrying the weight of this rejection with us into the next community. We're going to the next town, we're going to the next place, we're going to the next conversation, and the rejection is going to stay here. The blame, the condemnation. No, no, that we're not taking that with us as the messengers. It's a release mechanism for the emotional and spiritual weight of rejection. And so Jesus sends them out and says, guys, some are going to accept, some are going to reject. I'm just telling you that now so that when it happens, you don't spiral out of control. You don't get way too in your head, like, did I say it the wrong way? If I would have just done this thing different with that, you know, it's like, I don't want you to get in your head. Like, maybe I'm just not the type of person that can be used by God. Don't go home. Don't check yourself out of the game. Don't quit. Don't give up. No, I'm telling you this now so you don't internalize the rejection as failure. You're just gonna move on to the next one. Like, next play. Get back into the game. Shake the dust off your feet and keep going. I think the person who lived this most visibly throughout the entirety of the scripture was the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul. In Acts chapter 13, this man has already survived multiple assassination attempts. He's been exiled from different cities, he's been stoned, he's been beaten. I mean, if there's a guy who understands the weight and significance of rejection, it's him. And in Acts chapter 13, Paul has his buddy Barnabas, and they are in a city, they're preaching the good news, and I want to show you what happens in verse 44. The following week, Paul and Barnabas, they're preaching, almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous, so they slandered Paul and they argued against whatever he said. So they're already trying to rain on Paul and Barnabas' parade here. The next few lines here describe how they preach the gospel, and a bunch of Gentiles, non-Jews, they actually receive the teaching. They accept it. They're like, yeah, we want Jesus. Like, we're in on that. They respond to the gospel. It's amazing. And then the Jews, they're just grumps. And so this is what they do right here. Verse 50. The Jews, they're upset, so they stirred up the influential religious women, the leaders of the city, and they incite a mob against Paul and Barnabas, and they run them out of town. So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection. And then they went to the town of Iconium. The believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. I find it pretty awesome that a full generation after Jesus was passing down the practice of shaking the dust off of your feet to the disciples, Paul, who's converted later in his life and comes a generation after Jesus, he's doing the exact same thing when he experiences rejection, preaching the gospel in the city. And instead of quitting, instead of giving up, they're on their way. Like the text literally says the next thing is like they shake it off, they go to the next town. They shake it off, next city. They shake it off, next up. And Paul and Barnabas understand something that's really, really important for you and I to understand. That when it comes to sharing the gospel, when it comes to talking to people about Jesus, when it comes to Sharing your faith with other people. Our job is to obey Jesus and to share the good news. That's my job. That's your job. To obey Jesus and to share the good news. Now, Paul and Barnabas also understand what's not their job. And what's not their job is controlling outcomes. That's not their job. But I usually like for that to be my job. I like to attach how good of a job did I do at sharing the good news to did they accept it or did they reject it? Did I say it the right way? Did I have enough influence? Does my life match up right with like, oh, well, they they rejected it. Did I did I do something wrong? Is there something wrong with me? And I always attach my performance with the outcome. My performance with the outcome. And Paul and Barnabas understand that there's a few things they're not in control of. They're not in control of outcomes, and they are not in control of people's receptivity and openness to the gospel. Their job is just to obey Jesus and to share the good news. Their job is not to be in control of the outcome. And they shake off the dust as a sign that although some people have rejected the message, they are releasing themselves from the weight of rejection and from any lie or deception that could be used by Satan, the God of this world, to prohibit them from going to the next city to do the exact same thing. I have dirty feet. What do I mean by that? What I mean is I have had previous encounters where I talked to someone about Jesus and it went pretty poorly. The outcome was definitely closer to rejection than it was acceptance. I've had conversations with family members that have not gone well. I've had conversations with neighbors, coworkers, people at the gym that have not gone well. Maybe you can relate. Maybe people have laughed at you or ridiculed you. Maybe people have called you names, they've said things about you. You're weird, you're judgmental, you're a Bible thumper, you know, like whatever it is. Maybe it's comment sections on social media. Someone rejected your message. And you took it personally. And what happens as you put that thing in your pocket, you can also look at it as it was dust that got attached to your shoes. It's dirt, it's baggage, it's filth, it's the weight of rejection. It's the weight of I don't, I didn't do a good enough job. It's the emotional and spiritual weight that was never meant to come with us or stick to us. And now every time when we feel a conviction to share the gospel, to talk to somebody about Jesus, the enemy uses the dust on our shoes to whisper lies and say, Hey, you remember what happened last time? You don't have what it takes. You're not the type of person that God uses. No, no, no. If you talk to those people, no, no, no, it's a burden to share the gospel. Maybe those people who think that in order for us to move into a more flourishing society, we have to completely get rid of Christianity. Maybe they're right. Maybe you're the crazy one. You should be ashamed of the gospel. It's dust. It's dirt that's been collected onto your feet. And today I think is a great day for us to shake that off. So I want to lead us in something rather strange. And I'm gonna ask you right now, it's only gonna be weird if we all don't do it. To take your shoes off. I'll go first. I actually am serious. And I want you to hold them. Some of you got sandals on is great. Some of you dads, you're like the one day I wear the sock that has holes in it. Should you take your shoes off? I want you to hold them in your hand. Some of, yeah, I know. You're like, some of them stink. Some of your shoes are clean, some of them very dirty. Just want you to hold them in your hand. And I want to lead you through a prayer. I actually want to pray over you. And if you are someone in the room who has experienced the weight of rejection or is fearful about experiencing the weight of rejection when talking about Jesus, I want you to pray along with me. You don't have to repeat my words, but as I say them, I just want you to nod. I want you to agree. I want you to amen them. I want you to talk to God in your own way, in your own language, and in your own time, in your own space as we walk through this together. And my hope is that this physical, kind of silly act actually resonates with something deep in your spirit. So, God, just as these shoes have carried dust and dirt and debris and mud and filth, we have carried shame. We've carried insecurity. We've carried fear. We've carried rejection. We've carried the feedback or perception of others. We've carried guilt, worry. We've carried so many things that have stopped us from sharing the gospel. So, God, in this moment, as we hold our shoes, would you reinstate our joy for sharing the good news? Would you reinstate our zeal and our passion for sharing the gospel? God, would you bring someone to our mind? Give us a face, give us a name of a person right now who is close to us but far from God and is in desperate need of you. God, would you give us faith and favor to interact with them? Would you give us opportunity to actually speak with them about Jesus? Alright, here I actually want you to wipe some dust off your shoe. If you want to smack them together, you can make some noise. If you want to brush them off, you can do that as well. And as we do this, God, would you wipe the weight of rejection? The weight of outcomes, the weight of ridicule from men and women off of our souls. And God, as we hold these shoes, they are not only a symbol of rejection, they are also a symbol that we are willing to go wherever you will send us to share the message of Jesus. How sweet are the feet of those who share the good news. Amen. You can put your shoes on. I know it's a little weird, a little strange. My hope for you is that this is a moment you remember. Just a moment that you remember. Maybe every time you wear those shoes now, you're gonna remember it. I pray the next time you get rejected in a gospel conversation, you remember it. And actually, you you know, at any time you can get those shoes out of the closet and you can do exactly what we just did. You can dust them off. You can smack the dirt and the mud clean off of them. And if you're someone who's experienced rejection, if you're someone who is fearful of one day experiencing rejection because of the good news, I pray that this simple physical action will continue to resonate deeply with your spirit and with your soul, so that you can shake off the weight of rejection. And as we walk out of here, I want to leave you with one more scripture, and it's my prayer for you as we're sent out. This is Acts 13. We already read this. I actually want to reread it to you in the message paraphrase. Uh, just the end of the story, and I want you to look at how Paul and Barnabas left. That's how I want all of us to walk out of here today. Some of the Jews were convinced the most respect or they convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that just that their precious way of life was going to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas. They forced them to leave. This is it. Paul and Barnabas, they shrugged their shoulders. And they went on to the next town iconium, brimming with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Two happy disciples. You can walk out of here today actually not feeling the way to rejection at all. And I pray that in this moment Jesus would reinstill the joy of the Lord and the confidence that comes from knowing that if you have the Holy Spirit, God wants to use you. He wants to use you. God, I thank you for every individual in this room. God, I thank you that we don't have to experience the weight of rejection. At least it doesn't have to cling and stick to us. Jesus, I thank you that even when we experience rejection, nothing can separate us from your love. And you are a God who can sympathize with any rejection, any insecurity, any worry that we could possibly face. So, Jesus, I pray that you give us more faith, more joy, more of your Holy Spirit to move and operate within the areas that we live, work, and play so that we can advance your gospel. God, we love you and we thank you for the ability to shake off rejection so that we can walk in freedom. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sallie 33:42

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