Dishonouring Jesus

faulty perceptions, we dishonor Him.
What about you, my friend? The words to the song Would I Know You, by Wayne Watson are piercing.

Would I know You now, if you walked into this place.
Would I bring you shame, would my dreams be Your disgrace.
Or would I worship You, fall upon my face.
I wonder if I'd know You now.

Or have the images I've painted so distorted who You are, that even if the world was looking, they could not see You, the real You. Have I changed the true reflection to fulfill my own design, Making you what I want, not showing Your forth divine, divine.

We must be careful that we do not dishonor Jesus. What if we do? Notice the results.

II. When we dishonor Jesus, we forfeit His blessing.
A. Dishonor leads to unbelief.
1. The hometown crowd was offended at Him.
2. Jesus marveled at their unbelief.

APP: Friends, mark down this connection. When we allow a biblical view of Jesus to erode, we will soon lose interest in Him altogether. Look at the denominations that have torn down the foundation of a high view of Christ. They have been reduced from vibrant communities of faith to social action organizations and friendship clubs. Once you start down the path of dishonoring the person of Christ, you will lose your grip on faith altogether.

B. Unbelief stops the flow of God's blessing.
1. Think of the past few paragraphs in Mark. What wonders we have Jesus perform.
2. But in his own hometown, the unbelief of the people shut them off from God's blessing.

ILL: On the wall of a Cathedral somewhere in Europe are these words:
You call me Master and Obey me not.
You call me Light and See me not.
You call the Way and Walk me not.
You call me Life and Desire me not.
You call me Wise and Follow me not.
You call me Fair and Love me not.
You call me Rich and Ask me not.
You call me Eternal and Seek me not.
You call me Gracious and Trust me not.
If I do not Bless you, Blame me not.

APP: Only as we accept the Lordship of Christ and trust Him can we experience God's blessing. That is true for you individually and for our church. What blessings might you be forfeiting through a lack of trust?

CONCLUSION: A lady in a faded gingham dress and a man in a homespun, threadbare suit walked into the office and asked to see the president of Harvard University. The receptionist thought that such backwoods hicks did not need to be in such a place. She told them, "he is busy all day." They said, "we'll wait." After several hours, she finally called the president and asked if he would give them a few minutes just to get rid of them. He agreed.
The couple sheepishly walked into the office as the president got up in a huff and strutted toward them. The lady said, "we had a son who attended Harvard for a year and loved it. But about a year ago, he was killed in an accident. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him somewhere on campus."
The president was shocked. He said gruffly, "we cannot erect statues for everyone who attended Harvard and died. The place would look like a cemetery." "Oh no," the lady quickly explained. "We don't want to give a statue, we want to give a building."
The president rolled his eyes. He looked at them in their unsophisticated clothing and said, "A building! Do you have any idea how much that costs. We have over seven million dollars in the physical plant here at