When The Gospel Is Rejected - Matthew 10:14

And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. - Matthew 10:14

    “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” - Matthew 7:6. These seem like pretty harsh words coming from the mouth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. But Scottish Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce explains that, ‘The general sense of the saying is clear: objects of value . . . should not be offered to those who are incapable of appreciating them.’ Bruce was referring to special objects, privileges, or taking part in sacred things; and there is no more sacred thing in our day-to-day lives than God’s Holy Word!
    Whether we are referring to Christ as the Word or Scripture as the Word, both are sacred. Why, tossing about the name of Jesus and His words in a crowd of those who neither want to hear it nor will listen to it is borderline blasphemy. Jesus Himself said as much in Matthew 7:6.
    So how do we reconcile the words of our titular passage with Christ’s Great Commission? The way to do so is by discernment. We must be wise enough to know where and when we are to share the Gospel, and with whom!
    I have found myself in many an instance where I shouldn’t have brought my faith to the fore. In fact, I shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. Another instance is our timing.“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . . ” - Ecclesiastes 3:1. We must be prudent to choose the right time to speak to our listeners about the glory of God and His Gospel. There are moments in life when the fields aren’t yet ready for planting. They have yet to be prepared for the sowing of the word. An old mentor of mine once told me that ‘timing is everything.’ Indeed, it is.
    Finally, we must even be careful about whom we bring the Gospel to because that requires judgment as well as discernment. The looks of a person are often deceiving, but not always. Sometimes a person’s countenance betrays their hearts in not-so-subtle ways. Therefore, godly discernment is of the utmost importance where, when, and to whom we present the Gospel.
    We can too often become victims of our own enthusiasm. Surely, we are excited about spreading the Word of God, but we can be too hasty in moving from thought to action when we sense there is a receptive audience awaiting God’s revealed Word. We must pray for the Holy Spirit’s intercession and direction before we rush head-long into conversation, regardless of the spiritual value of our discourse. Until we do, we can never follow the words of Paul to Timothy : “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” - 2 Timothy 4:2.
    I have found myself in situations where unbelievers made it clear: they were not agreeable to hearing the preaching of the Gospel. If we insist on speaking the truth at that moment, we may experience the audience simply getting up and leaving. In cases where we are the visitor, we might be asked to leave, and if we persist, we may be told to leave. Either way, they have rejected our Gospel message off hand and with extreme prejudice. Was it our approach? Possibly, but the chances are better that the intended audience is too worldly to care about eternal things. That is exactly why Jesus said, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs.”
    Many pastors and commentators will give varying advice on how we should handle these tense and tenuous situations. However, Matthew 10:14 is perfectly clear about how we are to react.