In our study of Mark we are in Mark 15:34; where Jesus was rejected by mankind as well as God the Father as He is judged for the sins of the world. Because of this we have taken up a study on the doctrine of rejection.
Before we stopped last time we noted that we have arrived at a time in history where anyone who represents or promotes God's Word is rejected and that the rejection has metastasized into a Christian holocaust.
In spite of their divergent points of view there seems to be enough of a nexus between the antithetical factions who oppose all categories of God's Word for satan to unite them into opposition against Jesus Christ and His Word and anyone who represents it on the entire planet.
While the exact timing of this is unknown if this rejection persists and gets worse and is left unchecked it is likely that God will terminate this worldwide Christian holocaust in some manner because there is no longer any place on the planet for them to seek haven.
This will occur either by removal all surviving Christians into witness protection with the exit resurrection or rapture of the Church or with some kind event that opens up some place for Christians on the planet to escape.
In the past there was always a place where believers in Jesus Christ could go to continue to live unhindered and with minimal persecution but at this time there is no visible exit strategy except for standing our ground, defending the truth and watching for God to deliver us by whatever means he chooses.
This brings us to a discuss of rejection as it relates to you and me personally and to every believer who takes a stand for truth of His Word because of our identification with Jesus Christ who is the personification of truth. Christians are identified and His rejection and suffering because of their association with Him. Phil 1:29;
Rejection is defined in terms of being forsaken, excluded, repudiated, denied, discarded, hated, or being set aside. Rejection is also defined in terms of negative volition: to refuse to acknowledge, believe, receive, accept, hear, or consider. Rejection also means to throw away as worthless, irrelevant or unsatisfactory.
The study of the doctrine of rejection includes both the act of rejection, and the state of being rejected. The person being rejected is the rejectee; the person doing the rejecting is the rejecter.
Passive rejection occurs when others reject you. In this case the person who is rejected may be rejected because it is entirely or partially their own fault.
Active rejection occurs when you do the rejecting. In this case the rejecter is often blamed for being wrong, when in reality that may not be the case.
Very few believers are sufficiently prepared from God's Word handle rejection properly. If the rejectee does not have personal love for Jesus Christ (aka occupation with Christ) and if Jesus Christ is not their role model and if Jesus Christ is not more important than people and if the truth communicated via the Bible is not more important than what doctrineless people think, believe or say, then rejection is destructive.
Sometimes it is destructive to the rejectee. Sometimes it is destructive to the rejecter and sometimes it is mutually destructive.
Rejection is often a matter of an individual's perception of reality. Rejection is one of the greatest pressures in life because very few people have a doctrinally accurate view of reality.
An accurate perception of reality is required for one to accurately determine if they are actually being rejected or just imagining it. If you think you are being rejected and you are not there is potential for disaster because you may react to the rejection and make things worse.
We must learn to never to react to rejection and simply stand for truth just like Jesus did. 1Pet 2:23; 1Pet 4:14-16;
People often view criticism as rejection when in reality it is not. Heb 12:6-11; They think in this manner because they are immature. Eph 4:14-15;
We can see from this that the world is filled with immature people who can't handle criticism with sufficient humility from self esteem to use it as a means of advance under the principle of Prov 27:16; because of their subjectivity from arrogant self absorption.
Too much emphasis is placed on people and environment. Too much emphasis is placed on defending human self- righteousness that is actually indefensible. The arrogant believer is always defending his own subjective perceptions of reality rather than objectively orienting to truth with humility.
When any believer gets into a state of anxiety or feels challenged by something, they tend to rise to their own defense rather than simply listening with objectivity under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. 2Tim 2:7;
Once you put yourself and your self-righteousness on the line of defense in your soul, you have completely destroyed your spiritual life. Defending yourself from rejection is a sign of immaturity because if we stay out of the way God will defend us. Rom 12:18-19;
In some cases, the believer's perception of reality is so distorted that the one who thinks that he or she is being rejected is actually the rejecter.
In this they have reversed the roles and in reality are actually the rejecter, but in order to defend their position, they immediately assume they have been rejected and accuse others of rejecting them when that is not the case.
This is what is happening in our country today. People who have rejected God, Jesus Christ and His Word accuse Christians of rejecting them even though that is not the case.
Christians are being rejected simply because they stand for truth not because they have rejected anyone. The propagandists who have accepted the lie feel threatened because Christians refuse to join them in believing their propaganda and lies. John 3:19-20;