Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: If you stand like a Daniel, if you stand like a Jeremiah, if you stand like an Isaiah, if you stand like Paul, and if you stand like Peter, there's going to be a storm. There's going to be something going on, and you're going to want to know how to handle disdain.

David J: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.

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David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called Disciplines of Life and a message titled "Discipline of Disdain." Now, when we're treated badly for our faith, the Lord wants us to handle it with patience and self-control, not with anger or revenge.

You see, disdain means to be rejected or looked down upon, and we can expect it if we follow Christ. In fact, the more serious we are about our faith, the more pushback we might get. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that we really don't handle rejection well on our own. We need God's Spirit in order to respond the right way. So being mocked for our faith, well, that's actually a good sign. It means we're doing it right spiritually. Now, with his message called "Discipline of Disdain," here is pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: I'm sure when Jesus was attacked and spit on, mocked and ridiculed, it didn't feel good. Jesus Christ, though God in human skin, had our feelings. We forget about that. We think that he snapped his finger and he didn't feel the ridicule, mockery, or the disdain.

Quite the opposite. He felt everything that you and I feel—hyper so, tremendous. When he was rejected, it hurt him the most. Imagine if a stranger rejects you, what do you care? If a friend rejects you, it hurts. If a family member rejects you, it hurts all the more. If a husband or a wife rejects you, it hurts tremendously.

Can you imagine if your own creation that you understand and love concluded that it was worth you leaving heaven and coming to Earth to die for them turns and spits in your face, literally, and mocks you with ultimate disdain? You want to talk about pain and suffering? You and I don't even know what that's like.

Is he not love? And love rejected of that magnitude—I cannot even fathom it. It's beyond my world. Identifying disdain: Yes, it comes from the world. It will be absolutely painful. But God uses this. It's not unusual for the believer.

In Psalm 2, verses 1 to 3, it says, "Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing?" What's a vain thing that the people plot? "The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed (that's Messiah) saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us." That is amazing to think that the world rejects God tonight and Jesus, the one who loves them.

How could Jesus suffer under disdain? The answer is he considered the source of the attack, that it was coming from the spirit of the world. Identifying disdain is something that you and I need to do.

Matthew 27:39 says, "And those who passed by Jesus blasphemed Him, wagging their heads." That is a very naughty thing to do in the Middle East in Israel. It's a physical gesture. And saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."

Likewise, the chief priest also mocking with the scribes and elders said, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." They were trying to provoke Jesus to do some miracle to get off the cross. I'm wondering if just for a moment Satan wasn't catching on that the Son of God was dying on the cross for the sins of the world.

"Come down from there and then we'll believe. He saved others, Himself He cannot save." You know what the truth is? He saved others; Himself He would not save. That's the truth. Mocking. Imagine hanging there—your creation is mocking you, slapping you in the face, spitting on you, and trying to provoke you. And Jesus took the disdain.

Number two, we want to learn about the discipline of disdain and how do we handle disdain? How do we deal with it? Remember, disdain is that rejection, mockery, and it most often happens to you and me when we are growing the most in our relationship with Jesus.

Someone's going to get convicted by this. If the shoe fits, then wear it. God is speaking to you. Maybe some in the same voice will be comforted by this. If you're not growing in your relationship with Jesus, you probably have no enemies. Things are pretty cool. It's easygoing. There are no ripples on your lake. It's smooth sailing. Everything's fine.

But if you are growing and advancing in your Christianity, there are going to be storms, activity, attacks, and hardship. Again, that's native to the Christian life. How do we handle disdain? When it comes to us, it's to be understood that it happens when we are growing the most.

If somebody told us, "I know you're a Christian, but I don't want you to say anything about Christianity. I don't want you to say 'Praise the Lord' around here. I don't want you to carry..."—lay it down. If you do that, then there'll be no disruption, no cultural clash, and the worldview of this age will prevail.

But if you stand like a Daniel, if you stand like a Jeremiah, if you stand like an Isaiah, if you stand like Paul, and if you stand like Peter, there's going to be a storm. There's going to be something going on, and you're going to want to know how to handle disdain.

King David nearly fell victim to disdain. Don't you love David's life? I want to be like David—not in all cases, but like 90 percent of them. In 1 Samuel 25, Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who's David? And who's the son of Jesse?"

Let me insert this into the bulk of the story. In 1 Samuel 25, David had been defending Israel with all of his troops. They're fighting battles, they're doing everything to preserve the nation. His men needed food and care. Nabal was incredibly rich. He had tens of thousands of sheep and goats. He had a pretty famous wife—well, she became famous. Abigail was his wife.

He was an idiot and she was a knockout. The Bible says she was very wise and beautiful to look at. Nabal was a rich, shrewd man and a bitter guy. David says, "We need food. We've come to know some of Nabal's shepherds. Have them go home with you guys and ask Nabal if we can have some care."

David's guys with Nabal's shepherds go to Nabal and ask very humbly—it's very sweet. "We are David's servants and my servant humbles himself to ask you, my lord, can we have a lamb sandwich?" And Nabal says, "Who's David?" Everybody knew who David was.

But he said, "Who's David?" And then he goes on to say, "If I give David some food, then I gotta give everybody some food." David hears about it. David almost got hooked by disdain. When they came back to David—can you imagine? They come walking up to David. This guy kills giants on a weekend.

"David, he said basically, who are you to ask him for something to eat?" David says, "Really? That's what he said? While we've been out here fighting the battle and preserving the nation? I tell you what: everybody get your swords out. Polish those babies. We're going to go cut Nabal's head off and all of his servants."

And they got on their camels and they rode to Nabal's house. Abigail heard about David's anger. She interceded. She got there before David arrived to kill Nabal. She said, "David, listen, I humble myself before you. Don't do this thing and bring sin upon your own hands."

She caused David's anger to subside. David said, "Wow, you are more righteous than I am." He almost fell for it. Handling disdain without the Lord governing our lives—you know what happens when we don't handle disdain? It's called revenge and it's bad every time.

Why is it that we think in our minds, "Well, what happened? They said that? Well, I'm going to..."? It's borderline insanity when that happens. It's temporary insanity. You go off, you snap, you fly off the handle, and you're going to go settle the situation. That's how people get killed.

God's not in that. You say, "Well, what am I supposed to do?" First of all, sit down. Have you ever noticed that when people get into a brawl like that, they're fools? I mean this with all due affection and great accuracy: they're fools.

Have you seen a fool in his folly? "What's that? Who do you think you are?" Everybody knows that is a fool in his folly. It's absolutely amazing. When we handle disdain properly, we yield to the Lord. David reacted in self-defense and that sounds good, but Abigail interceded. She won out and David was spared from sinning.

Proverbs 26:4 says, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him." Good verse. Next one, Proverbs 16:32, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."

Calm down. Take a walk. Call out to God. Isaiah 40:31, "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." That is the strength and the power from the Lord that causes us to handle disdain properly.

David J: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now, let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: Also, James 1:19 says, "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." Think about that for a moment. Meditate on that for a second. If we're swift to hear, we'll be slow to react.

You know the old saying: you've got two ears and one mouth. You're supposed to be listening twice as much as you're talking. So you be listening. The Bible says wait and listen a little longer and watch out before you open your mouth.

Be slow to wrath. Why? Because the moment you open your mouth, it's out. Did you know in theory, anyway, people debate if it's true—we know it's true to a degree—sound theoretically travels forever?

Now, you would say, "I've had some classes in physics and I know that over time the sound wave begins to dampen out and it goes flat." That is true to the observable eye or to an oscilloscope, but theoretically, sound continues on.

And that's the whole basis behind radio telescopes that listen out into space for distant conversations of some worlds that once were. I mean, don't laugh, you're paying for this right now with your tax dollars. And so theoretically, when I said something 16 years ago on a Tuesday at 2:00 in the afternoon, that word's still going.

Now, that's really great if I was saying, "God bless you all and to all a good night." Or, "Hey, you lunatic, get out of my lane!" It's going out there. Kind of scary to think. Let's just move on. We don't want to dwell on that too long.

The discipline of disdain also requires that you and I be surviving disdain. We're going to be attacked. How do I survive, Pastor Jack? Let me first tell you how not to survive disdain. This is what you don't want to do.

Poor Peter, we always use him for the example, but he's so good for us to learn from. How not to survive disdain. Matthew chapter 26, verse 33. Peter answered and said to him—now this was a very heated moment, energized moment—"Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble."

And Jesus said to Peter, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." Jesus was laying it down and Peter says, "Listen, I'm not going to leave You. I'll never deny You."

Be careful for anyone when somebody says, "I'll never sin. I'll never fail." I told some guy recently here at this church—he did a really great job at something—"That was really awesome. Let that go to your heart and not your head, because the moment it goes to your head, it's over.

You won't be able to get your head through the door in here and then you'll self-destruct. Take it to the heart, don't let it go to your head." Big difference. Eighteen-inch difference can save you between heaven and hell. What's going on in here and what's going on in here is not always the same thing.

And Peter's going, "I'll never leave. These bums, they'll deny You, but not me." And Jesus—can you imagine the shocker that he gave to Peter? He's out there boasting away and Jesus says, "Put you on to something, Peter: before the rooster crows this night, you will deny Me three times."

Not two times. Three times. Three times was a confession of absolute truth. And what did Peter say three times? "I don't know him. I don't know him. I don't know him." And what happens as soon as he says it the third time?

The Bible says the rooster crowed. And Jesus was being held in the Praetorium courtyard and he turns over and he looks at Peter at that last moment of rejection. Can you imagine? How do you think Jesus looked at Peter?

I think I actually know. It doesn't say, but I think I know. I think the same attitude in Jesus at that moment and his face looking at Peter is the exact same attitude in the face in the Garden of Eden when the Lord said, "Adam, where are you?"

I don't think God said, "Adam, where are you? Get over here now!" I don't think he did that. I think God's heart was broken. "Adam, where are you?" And I think Jesus without saying "Peter, what on the world are you doing over there?"—I think when Jesus looked at Peter, I think it communicated, "Where are you?"

And the Bible says that Peter went out and wept bitterly. How in the world can he survive such a thing? He survives such a thing because of God's grace. The awesome grace of God. You don't want to falter at dealing with disdain by trusting in your own resources and abilities; you'll fail every time.

"I can take care of this one." We do this all the time. We don't want to admit it, but we do. "I'll take care of it." Be careful when we're strong in something or we think we can do this. "I'll take care of it." No, Lord, we need You.

Now, our absolute role model in how to survive—the ultimate survival training—comes from Jesus himself. In Matthew 27:27, the Bible says then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus to the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around him.

That is a horrible moment. That's a horrible sight. And they stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him. And when they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

Then they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. Those barbs on that crown of thorns were wicked. And they took that staff and, boom, among other things they did. How did Jesus survive such a thing?

He absolutely, because in our lifetime it will happen to each and every one of us at some point in some degree, Jesus yielded his life completely into the hand of the Father without any reservation in absolute dependence.

And he took what came according to the Father. And in every one of our lives, every one of us—you may be here today saying, "I'm not a Christian, it's not going to come near me"—it will happen to you. It's native to life. Except for the Christian, we've got hope.

If you don't know Christ, you have no hope. There'll be that phone call, there'll be that blood test, there'll be that lump, there'll be that news, and your world will be rocked to the core. It happens to all of us. It's coming if it hasn't happened already.

Your foundation will be shaken. And in that moment of shaking, how will you survive? You'll have to trust in God. I'm grateful for you being here tonight because you have seen fit to invest in your faith. The Bible says in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

That's what's going on right now. Your faith will be strengthened and encouraged. It's supernatural. It's amazing. The Bible says in Matthew 26:67 that they spat on Jesus' face and they beat him, and others struck him with their palms of their hands.

By the way, palms, that word means in Greek, open-handed—a slap. If you've ever been in a fight, it's much better to get punched than it is to get slapped. You can much more endure a punch than you can a slap. A slap can kill you. Horrible.

They slapped him and they said, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck you?" Remember, he's blindfolded. Wow. Jesus took it. Are you and I willing to submit to mistreatment by other people for Jesus' sake?

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called "Discipline of Disdain." Thanks for joining us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Disciplines of Life." It's a series that highlights the disciplines of the Christ follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Guest (Male): This Independence Day, don't just celebrate. Stand for what this nation was built on. Our Faith and Freedom Collection is bold patriotic apparel that declares your convictions and starts conversations, perfect for July 4th and all summer long. Order now and we'll include a free Happy Birthday America Kids' Guide, a faith-centered resource for the children and grandchildren in your life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call 877-777-2346.

David J: Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.

This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.