Sep9
Matthew 10:14……..Working
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, (Preaching, Gospel-witness) shake the dust off your feet (Expresses a ritualized act of judgment denoting the separation of all association between the person and that location.) when you leave that home or town.
Continued From Book
“Teaches how our job is to faithfully share the Gospel. We cannot force someone to believe or understand.” ⇒ If note careful we can think that constant exhortation will move the needle and encourage people to believe and convert. No one has ever been nagged into the Kingdom of Heaven. You can’t coerce, manipulate, or market men and women into the kingdom of God. We cannot soften their heart and cause them to long for forgiveness and Salvation. As God has loved us and allowed us to go our own ways, even to our own harm. We must respect others and allow them to go their own way. We have done what we could. The situation is sad and lamentable, and we wish it were not so; but God does not compel or coerce, and therefore neither do we. As long as people have life they have an opportunity to repent and change, and it might well be that they remember how you had told them of Jesus, and may come to you again to hear the message anew and afresh.
“Even today, when people ignore us and slam the door in our face. Rather than take it personally or hold a grudge, were to move on with God’s peace in our hearts that we did our best.” ⇒ Never take it personally in thinking it was you. That maybe you handed out the wrong bible track. Or witnessed the wrong way. When really it wasn’t you it was something on the inside of them that kept them from receiving Jesus. Maybe it was hardned heart.
“This is not saying were to simply give up and write people off. But were to continue to pray for them leaving them in God’s hands.” ⇒ We would all agree that we should take the Gospel to as many people as we can. But sometimes have have to respect a persons decision and move on. And who knows maybe someone else will came along and share the Gospel with that person again. And of course, they might change their mind, and become more willing to hear. But when we are met with a firm rejection of Jesus Christ, we are to stop talking, and leave that person where they are. This sounds harsh, but it may be the very means the Spirit of God uses to soften their heart.
Additional Notes & Applications
This “Shaking the dust off your feet” might be seen by some as harsh and unloving: How can we just resign people to their doom? If believers showed absolutely no care or concern for such people, then yes they would indeed be harsh and unloving. But believers in “Shaking the dust off of their feet” do so only after they have done all they could do. As God has loved us and therefore allowed us to go our own ways, even to our own harm, so we must love others and allow them to go in their own ways even to their own harm. To shake the dust off ones feet does not mean to become indifferent or hostile to people; We must still love them and do good for them as we have opportunity. Shaking the dust off the feet is the way we demonstrate our respect for their decision. The situation is sad and lamentable, and we wish it were not so. But God does not compel or coerce, and therefore neither do we. As long as people have life they have an opportunity to repent and change, and it might well be that they remember how you had told them of Jesus, and may come to you again to hear the message anew and afresh.
- Posted by David Costa/
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