More on Christian Discipleship
Text: Matthew 10:34-42 Time: 29/07/07 Place: Childs Hill Baptist Church
We have been looking at Matthew 10 and the sending out of the 12 disciples and we have said a number of things about discipleship. This morning I want us to look the final section of the chapter in 34-42 and I want to say three things to you.
1. Do not underestimate the difficulty of the Christian life
Jesus has already had a lot to say about the persecution and opposition that they're almost bound to face. As he draws to a close this theme and indeed the general theme of how discipleship involves suffering is still to the fore. And so we consider
1. A mistake to avoid
34 Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. If you ask many Jews why they don't believe that the Messiah has come they will tell you how can Messiah have come when there is so little peace in the world? But the Messiah says very plainly Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
We have been looking at Matthew 10 and the sending out of the 12 disciples and we have said a number of things about discipleship. This morning I want us to look the final section of the chapter in 34-42 and I want to say three things to you.
1. Do not underestimate the difficulty of the Christian life
Jesus has already had a lot to say about the persecution and opposition that they're almost bound to face. As he draws to a close this theme and indeed the general theme of how discipleship involves suffering is still to the fore. And so we consider
1. A mistake to avoid
34 Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. If you ask many Jews why they don't believe that the Messiah has come they will tell you how can Messiah have come when there is so little peace in the world? But the Messiah says very plainly Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
If you ask many people about what Jesus was supposed to have come to do, they would say it was surely to bring about peace – to give people peace in their hearts and ultimately to bring peace in general to the world. Isn't 'peace on earth' the Christmas message? But look what he says here - Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. It is a mistake to think in simplistic terms of Jesus coming to this world to bring peace. And so if I say to you 'become a Christian and you will find peace' or 'the way to peace for this world is for more and more people to become Christians' I am not telling the whole truth. Yes, if you become a Christian you are at peace with God. The potential for peace with your fellow believers also clearly opens up. However, to simply say 'Jesus came to bring peace on earth' is to misunderstand his mission in practical terms. Jesus didn't come to give peace in the sentimental sense. He didn't come to make everything sweetness an light in a moment. The spirit of peace at any price was as far from Jesus's thinking as can be.
So, here is a warning. Are you thinking of becoming a Christian? Realise that it will not guarantee peace on earth. Indeed, quite the opposite - that might be the end of your peace on earth. Similarly, we can say to believers, do not be surprised at the lack of peace on earth you experience even though you are a Christian. Yes, there is peace within, or there should be but in other ways there is a distinct lack of peace. Yet that is just what Jesus says here - Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
2. The truth of the matter
That's the negative statement then and it is followed by a similar statement and then an explanation.
So, here is a warning. Are you thinking of becoming a Christian? Realise that it will not guarantee peace on earth. Indeed, quite the opposite - that might be the end of your peace on earth. Similarly, we can say to believers, do not be surprised at the lack of peace on earth you experience even though you are a Christian. Yes, there is peace within, or there should be but in other ways there is a distinct lack of peace. Yet that is just what Jesus says here - Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
2. The truth of the matter
That's the negative statement then and it is followed by a similar statement and then an explanation.
The statement - I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Jesus is clearly not speaking literally but metaphorically here. You know how every organisation has to have its logo these days. Well, you can imagine a discussion about the logo for this new movement. The marketing men say 'Well, we see the logo as something like a dove with an olive branch in its beak or a rainbow. 'No' says Jesus, as it were, 'we'll use a sword, an unsheathed sword'. The sword here stands for trouble and suffering and even death. Jesus didn't come to bring peace for people but division and in some cases even death. We have to face the fact that many, many people have died and many more have suffered in many other ways simply because they were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to take seriously the words here in the explantion in 35, 36 For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother in law, a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.
Jesus is using words from Micah 7:6 For a son dishonours his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies are the members of his own household. There Micah describes how it was in his day and Jesus says this is prophetic. This is how it is going to be in the days to come. This is the sort of impact my coming will make. Isn't this what happened to Jesus himself? He knew opposition from his family, especially from his brothers. One of the very Twelve who stood before him at this point would in the end betray him he knew. Now as we have already established that A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. Jesus is simply warning us that just as he suffered opposition not only from without but also from within so we are likely to suffer the same sort of thing. And there are many examples of such things - Christians persecuted by those near to them, even members of their own families. This again is to be expected.
So again we call for sober assessment. 'Jesus breaks up families' is not a slogan likely to win much favour. Yet if you become a Christian it may well be that people will turn against you – not just obvious people but maybe even people who are very close to you and you would not expect it from. If an Orthodox Jew becomes a Christian his family will often hold a funeral for him. Those of us who are Christians – sometimes the biggest disappointments for us are the reactions we get from members of our own families. How unkind and heartless they can be towards us. How happy they are to trample on the things we love best. It is not easy to endure sometimes but such things are to be expected. Jesus has prepared us for such things
2. Know these vital principles for true disciples
Jesus then goes on to speak in a more general way about the demands of the Christian life, picking up first on the way family relationships are all radically altered in Christ. There are three important principles of discipleship here. They are a little like stairs going up. With each step we go a little higher. Or think of a thumb screw – each statement is a little tighter, a little more painful to the flesh.
1. Christ must be first
37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Now Jesus is again using stark language to bring home the point, very strong language. In the family there can be no stronger ties than those that bind parents and children and the Bibekl upholds this. Yet, says Jesus, if you love your parents more than me or your children more than me then you are not worthy of me. Instead of acknowledging me then you have disowned me.
Such words are clearly very radical indeed. Jesus is demanding a loyalty and devotion that is greater than that owed by parents to their children and children to their parents. He must be first in everything. No other concern, how ever legitimate, must be allowed to intrude between the disciple and his master, Jesus Christ.
The obvious question then is, is there anyone who I love more than Jesus Christ? Am I tempted to put my father or mother or my son or daughter or anyone else before him? If so then I am unworthy of him. No, if I want to be a Christian, he must be first. No-one else can come before him.
2. You must take up your cross and follow Christ
Then a little higher, a little tighter. 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. This was a phrase that Jesus often used. Sometimes he would add – and deny himself. Now again we immediately think of the student-teacher relationship. We know that Jesus went to the cross for his people. Now he says anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Jesus is using words from Micah 7:6 For a son dishonours his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies are the members of his own household. There Micah describes how it was in his day and Jesus says this is prophetic. This is how it is going to be in the days to come. This is the sort of impact my coming will make. Isn't this what happened to Jesus himself? He knew opposition from his family, especially from his brothers. One of the very Twelve who stood before him at this point would in the end betray him he knew. Now as we have already established that A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. Jesus is simply warning us that just as he suffered opposition not only from without but also from within so we are likely to suffer the same sort of thing. And there are many examples of such things - Christians persecuted by those near to them, even members of their own families. This again is to be expected.
So again we call for sober assessment. 'Jesus breaks up families' is not a slogan likely to win much favour. Yet if you become a Christian it may well be that people will turn against you – not just obvious people but maybe even people who are very close to you and you would not expect it from. If an Orthodox Jew becomes a Christian his family will often hold a funeral for him. Those of us who are Christians – sometimes the biggest disappointments for us are the reactions we get from members of our own families. How unkind and heartless they can be towards us. How happy they are to trample on the things we love best. It is not easy to endure sometimes but such things are to be expected. Jesus has prepared us for such things
2. Know these vital principles for true disciples
Jesus then goes on to speak in a more general way about the demands of the Christian life, picking up first on the way family relationships are all radically altered in Christ. There are three important principles of discipleship here. They are a little like stairs going up. With each step we go a little higher. Or think of a thumb screw – each statement is a little tighter, a little more painful to the flesh.
1. Christ must be first
37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Now Jesus is again using stark language to bring home the point, very strong language. In the family there can be no stronger ties than those that bind parents and children and the Bibekl upholds this. Yet, says Jesus, if you love your parents more than me or your children more than me then you are not worthy of me. Instead of acknowledging me then you have disowned me.
Such words are clearly very radical indeed. Jesus is demanding a loyalty and devotion that is greater than that owed by parents to their children and children to their parents. He must be first in everything. No other concern, how ever legitimate, must be allowed to intrude between the disciple and his master, Jesus Christ.
The obvious question then is, is there anyone who I love more than Jesus Christ? Am I tempted to put my father or mother or my son or daughter or anyone else before him? If so then I am unworthy of him. No, if I want to be a Christian, he must be first. No-one else can come before him.
2. You must take up your cross and follow Christ
Then a little higher, a little tighter. 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. This was a phrase that Jesus often used. Sometimes he would add – and deny himself. Now again we immediately think of the student-teacher relationship. We know that Jesus went to the cross for his people. Now he says anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
People then knew about carrying your cross. The disciples had all seen someone carrying his cross to the place of execution. To be carrying a cross was to be condemned to death. It was to be on your way to the grave. 'Now' says Jesus that is how my disciples live. This is how they must conduct themselves. They must have so given up on themselves that they are willing to die for my sake.
If we are Christians then it is our daily task to take up the cross. Bearing the cross is often used to refer to coping with life's trials (it's a cross I have to bear) but that is not Jesus's point here. Rather he is saying that the daily pattern for the believer is to live his life willing to die, willing to suffer anything in order to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Is that you? Is that the nature of your discipleship and mine?
3. You must lose your life
Thirdly and finally we have the most radical statement of the three (39) Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In other words, people who think they've found life - in what ever sphere that is – will eventually discover that they have in fact not found life, they have lost it. It is the person who apparently loses his life for the sake of Christ who in the end will in fact find it. Now this is most obvious in the case of martyrs. People like Stephen and the martyrs in Roman times and Latimer and Ridley and Jim Elliot and martyrs today appear to have lost their lives in a rather obvious way. And yet, says Jesus, because they did it for my sake they have in fact not lost at all. They have found life. And the same is true for people who in the world's eyes waste their time as missionaries and ministers, etc. It is true for all who give up anything that this life has to offer – its fame and fortune and what ever else - in order to be devoted to Christ. Such a loss is really no loss at all but a gain, an eternal gain.
3. You must lose your life
Thirdly and finally we have the most radical statement of the three (39) Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In other words, people who think they've found life - in what ever sphere that is – will eventually discover that they have in fact not found life, they have lost it. It is the person who apparently loses his life for the sake of Christ who in the end will in fact find it. Now this is most obvious in the case of martyrs. People like Stephen and the martyrs in Roman times and Latimer and Ridley and Jim Elliot and martyrs today appear to have lost their lives in a rather obvious way. And yet, says Jesus, because they did it for my sake they have in fact not lost at all. They have found life. And the same is true for people who in the world's eyes waste their time as missionaries and ministers, etc. It is true for all who give up anything that this life has to offer – its fame and fortune and what ever else - in order to be devoted to Christ. Such a loss is really no loss at all but a gain, an eternal gain.
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be.
So what will you do? Seek to gain your life and keep it? That is the way to lose it forever. What will you do then? If you lose it in Christ. If you give it up for him. That is the way to eternal life. Oh give your life to Christ and find life in him.
3. The matter of rewards – an important principle to remember
The final brief section of the chapter moves on to the subject of rewards. If what is said before is very challenging then these final verses are equally full of comfort for us.
1. The principle itself
40 He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. These disciples were about to go out on a mission and here Jesus underlines to them what they were doing. They were going out not in their own names but in his name. They were like ambassadors representing the one who had sent them. Therefore he who receives you receives me. Wherever they received a good response, the people were in fact responding well to Christ. Further, Christ himself was a missionary. He had come in the name of the Father and so wherever he is received, the Father is received also. Indeed that is the only way to receive the Father. No-one comes to the Father except through him.
3. The matter of rewards – an important principle to remember
The final brief section of the chapter moves on to the subject of rewards. If what is said before is very challenging then these final verses are equally full of comfort for us.
1. The principle itself
40 He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. These disciples were about to go out on a mission and here Jesus underlines to them what they were doing. They were going out not in their own names but in his name. They were like ambassadors representing the one who had sent them. Therefore he who receives you receives me. Wherever they received a good response, the people were in fact responding well to Christ. Further, Christ himself was a missionary. He had come in the name of the Father and so wherever he is received, the Father is received also. Indeed that is the only way to receive the Father. No-one comes to the Father except through him.
It is important to remember this chain then – when we speak in Jesus's Name we are like his ambassadors - it is Jesus who is speaking. And when Jesus speaks, God speaks. That is why people must listen. As I have said to you before – you must listen to me, not because of who I am as such but because I speak to you in Christ's name and so in God's name. When ever anyone of us speaks a word for Christ it is the same. We are representing Jesus himself.
2. Its application
Jesus then goes on to make a very broad application of this principle. He says (41) Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. When it comes to rewards, it doesn't matter whether you are the preacher or the hearer. If you receive a prophet because he is a prophet, you will receive a prophet's reward; if you receive a righteous man because he is a righteous man, you will receive a righteous man's reward.
Jesus develops this even further and says (42) And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. Even if you do the smallest thing for the most insignificant believer because he is a disciple of Jesus, there will certainly be a reward.
2. Its application
Jesus then goes on to make a very broad application of this principle. He says (41) Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. When it comes to rewards, it doesn't matter whether you are the preacher or the hearer. If you receive a prophet because he is a prophet, you will receive a prophet's reward; if you receive a righteous man because he is a righteous man, you will receive a righteous man's reward.
Jesus develops this even further and says (42) And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. Even if you do the smallest thing for the most insignificant believer because he is a disciple of Jesus, there will certainly be a reward.
What an encouragement to good deeds in the cause of the gospel these verses are. We may not be able to do much but even the smallest thing we do, if it is done for his own and so for him it will be rewarded. Let us take courage from that and be active in serving the Lord.
