A Messiah Who Sends Part 3: The Attitude of a Messenger
Text: Matt. 10:24-42
Introduction
1. Illustration: We need to be like the 84 year old grandmother who fiercely maintained her independence and lived alone in the old family home. Her 4 children lived n the same town, but she rarely called them except in emergencies. It was with some apprehension, therefore, that one of her sons drove to her house one morning in answer to her phone call. When he arrived she said she suspected that there was a burglar in her bedroom closet, since she had heard noises in there the night before. “Why didn’t you call me last night?” he exclaimed. “Well,” she replied, it was late and I hated to bother you, so I just nailed the closet shut and went to bed.” That’s the kind of attitude a Christian can have when faced with the impossible. Nail the door of fear shut and go to bed in calm assurance.
2. When facing opposition, and Jesus has already guaranteed that we will, he tells us to focus not on the attitude of those opposing us but on our own attitude.
3. He tells that our attitude is to:
a. Be bold
b. Be fearless
c. Be steadfast
d. Be rewarded
4. Read Matt. 10:24-42
Proposition: As followers of Jesus in a world contrary to His Kingdom, we are to focus our attention on Him.
Transition: He tells us that in our proclamation of the gospel we are to...
I. Be Bold (24-27)
A. Don't Be Afraid of Those Who Threaten You
1. In our text today, Jesus reminds us that we are going to face the same kind of treatment that he did.
2. He says, “Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master."
a. The word "student" is mathetes, the common word for "disciple."
b. The ultimate goal of a disciple is to be like the master — a general principle of master-disciple relations in Judaism and the Greco-Roman world.
c. The harsh treatment that he is now beginning to receive from the religious leaders will be their lot as well in the ongoing mission (Wilkins, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Matthew, 395).
d. They needed to know that they shouldn't expect any better treatment than their Lord (Horton, CBL: Acts, 199).
3. He goes on to say, "Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names!"
a. The word being translated here is the word Beelzeboul, which means "Lord of the House."
b. The house was considered the habitation of demons, and so Jesus is using a play on words here to indicate that he had been accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan (Horton, 199).
c. The accusation that Jesus has formed an alliance with Satan to carry out his work will naturally be lodged against his disciples as well (Wilkins, 394).
4. Next Jesus tells them, “But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all."
a. Three times in this text Jesus says, do not fear.
b. In light of what He had just promised, His exhortation not to be afraid was in order.
c. For looks forward, introducing the promise that in the end God will make everything right.
d. All truth and goodness and all falsehood and wickedness will be seen for what they really are (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
5. In light of what he told them about not being afraid, he exhorts them by saying, "What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!"
a. He told them to preach boldly what they had learned from him (Horton, 201).
b. He not only tells them to preach it but to shout it from the housetops.
c. The word means "to publicly announce religious truths and principles while urging acceptance and compliance" (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
d. Flat rooftops of Palestinian houses provided excellent places for speakers.
e. In Jesus' day a person shouting from housetops could be heard for a great distance.
f. Both official and personal announcements were often publicized by that means.
g. The objective of shouting from the housetop was to be heard by as many people as possible (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
h. We may not have the flat roofs of Jesus day,
i. In a sense the apostles were to have more of a public ministry than Jesus himself.
j. He told them things in private, some of which they did not even understand till after the Resurrection. But they were to teach them fully and publicly (Carson, Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM).
B. Boldness In Proclamation
1. Illustration: A famous Methodist evangelist named Peter Cartwright was known for his uncompromising preaching. However, one day when the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, "Old rough and ready," came to Cartwright’s church, the elders warned the Pastor not to offend the President. In those days, the President had great power to influence a denomination for good or bad. Content, that their Pastor would not say anything to discredit their church, the elders retired to the back of the sanctuary.When Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: "Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn’t repent of his sin!" The entire congregation gasped with shock at Cartwright’s boldness. How could this young preacher dare to offend the tough old general in public, they wondered. After the service, everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright. When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door he looked at him in the eye and said, "Sir, If I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!" When we appreciate the power of the word of God and the Holy Spirit speaking from the lips of people with conviction we will make eternal differences.
2. Acts 4:29 (NLT)
And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.
3. We are to be bold in our proclamation.
a. I lose patience with those Christians that tell me they don't witness to others because their faith is a private between them and Jesus.
b. We are not only supposed to tell people about Jesus, but we are to do it unashamedly and with passion.
c. We are not to keep it to ourselves but we are to tell as many people as we can get to listen.
d. Romans 1:16 (NLT)
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.
4. We are to be bold in our affirmation.
a. 1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
b. Be bold in affirming it with your words.
c. Be bold in affirming it with your actions.
d. Be bold in affirming it with your priorities.
5. We are to be bold in every situation.
a. Never back down.
b. Never back up
c. Never back away
d. Always stand your ground
Transition: Not only does Jesus tell us to be bold, but he also tells us to...
II. Be Fearless (28-31)
A. Fear Only God
1. Now we see Jesus tell us for a second time not to be afraid.
2. He says, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
a. The second reason for learning not to fear people comees from the fact that the worst they can do does not match the worst God can do.
b. Though Satan may have great power, only God can destroy soul and body in hell (Carson).
c. Proverbs 9:10 (NLT)
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
d. The word behind destroy (appolumi) does not convey the notion of extinction but of great loss or ruin.
e. Paul uses the same term in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, where he speaks of "eternal destruction"—a phrase that would not make sense if "destruction" meant annihilation, which by definition cannot be eternal. That which is annihilated ceases to exist (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
3. Jesus then moves from telling not to fear to telling us why we should not fear. He says, "What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it."
a. The reason we should not fear is God's fatherly concern for his children.
b. Sparrows were one of the cheapest items sold for poor people’s food in the marketplace, the cheapest of all birds.
c. Two were here purchased for...a small copper coin of little value (less than an hour’s work).
d. This is a standard Jewish “how much more” argument: If God cares for something as cheap as sparrows, how much more does he care for people (Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).
e. We should never think that God has forgotten us. If he cares for an insignificant creature like a sparrow, how much more concern does he have for us?
f. If God's providence is so all embracing that not even a sparrow drops from the sky apart from the will of God, cannot that same God be trusted to extend his providence over Jesus' disciples(Carson)?
4. Jesus goes on to say, "And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows."
a. God's sovereignty is not limited only to life-and-death issues; even the hairs of our heads are counted.
b. The average hair count on the human head is said to be about 140,000, which means that some people have many more hairs even than that.
c. Although we get all bent out of shape when we lose our hair, it is something that we can live without, and yet, God cares even about the non-essentials of our lives.
d. People say that God cares about the big things but not about little details.
e. However, Jesus says that God's sovereignty over the tiniest detail should give us confidence that he also superintends the larger matters (Carson).
f. The "you" here is emphatic - "you" are important, "you" really matter (Horton, 203).
B. Who Can Be Against Us
1. Illustration: A father decided to get his little five year-old girl a new bike for her birthday. As she sets off to ride for the first time, he tells her, “I have just one rule. Do not ride your bike into oncoming traffic on the highway.” Now, it’s not as if the girl would turn to her father and say, “I hate you! Why do you always have all these rules!” No, the girl knows that the father has placed rules in her life, so she can be safe. It is the same way with God. God wants you to live life to the full, and He has given us His commands so that we might be protected, grow, and live a life in love. So we must realize the beauty of what we often label as commands and requirements.
2. We can be fearless because we have a Heavenly Father who loves us.
a. John 3:16 (NLT)
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
b. If we have a Heavenly Father who loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us we don't need to fear anything.
c. If we have a Heavenly Father who loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us we don't need to fear anybody.
d. If we have a Heavenly Father who loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us then we don't need to hear any situation.
3. We can be fearless because we have a Heavenly Father who protects us.
a. Psalms 91:3-4 (NLT)
3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.
4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
b. He has promised to protect us from harm.
c. He has promised to protect us from attacks.
d. He has promised to protect us from disaster.
e. There is nothing we need to fear!
4. We can be fearless because our Heavenly Father is on our side.
a. Romans 8:31-32 (NLT)
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
b. I am not afraid when people vandalize our property sign.
c. I am not afraid when people hack our website.
d. Because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
Transition: Another aspect of our attitude is to...
III. Be Steadfast (32-39)
A. I Will Acknowledge Him
1. There are great rewards in standing with Jesus.
2. First he says, “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven."
a. A person's willingness to acknowledges Christ before men determines Christ's willingness to claim that person before His Father.
b. The term "acknowledge" has legal overtones to it and occurs in the context of the passing of judgment.
c. What he is talking about here is testifying for us at the Last Judgment (Horton, 203).
d. Acknowledge means to affirm and agree with. It is not simply to recognize a truth but to identify with it.
e. Even the demons, for example, recognize that God is one (James 2:19), but they by no means confess God, because they are His enemies.
f. We do not confess Christ simply by acknowledging that He is Lord and Savior but by acknowledging and receiving Him as our Lord and Savior (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
g. I don't know about you, but on the judgment day I want Jesus to say, "He is with me!"
3. However, there is a flip-side to every coin. If we stand with Him He will stand with us, "But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven."
a. It is possible to deny Christ before men by silence, by failing to witness for Him and trying to be an unnoticed Christian—whose friends and neighbors, and perhaps even family, would never suspect of being a believer.
b. It is also possible to deny Christ by actions, living like the rest of the world lives, with no higher standards or values.
c. It is possible to deny Christ by words, using the world's profanity, vulgarity, and blasphemy.
d. It is possible to deny Christ in many ways that are short of verbally and publicly renouncing Him (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
e. To deny Jesus means to disown him in a deliberate and final way. In this context, this kind of denial is most likely when a person allows the fear of people to dominate them (Horton, 205).
4. We can allow what friends and family think about or say to us cause us to deny Jesus. He said, "If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine."
a. Jesus indicates his form of discipleship calls for giving him ultimate supremacy beyond parents or children, something not even the most esteemed rabbi would demand.
b. This is an implicit declaration of his deity, because only God deserves higher place of honor than one’s father and mother (Wilkins, 397).
c. Jesus' point is that the concern for saving one's own soul and yielding to Christ's absolute Lordship must be paramount, whatever the cost in relationships may be.
d. The phrase not worthy of Me identifies the person who will not come to Christ because of other intimate and meaningful relationships that might be affected (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
e. This phrase indicates that those who put other relationships ahead of their relationship with Christ are not suited to be his followers (Horton, 207).
5. He also says, "If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine."
a. To take up one’s cross is a metaphor that means to take up God’s will for one’s life, in the same way that the cross was the Father’s will for the Son’s life.
b. Taking up God’s will for one’s life will result in gaining true life as Jesus’ disciple (Wilkins, 398).
c. It means paying whatever price is necessary to keep following close the Jesus (Horton, 207).
6. However, if we do we will find what we are really looking for in life. Jesus said, "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it."
a. Earthly life is temporary, and the person who holds on to it above all else holds on to something that he cannot possibly keep—and in the process he forfeits the eternal life that he cannot lose (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
b. This means that instead of focusing on what we want out of life, we focus on what Jesus wants for us.
c. If we focus on what God wants for us we will receive the best of what life has to offer in this life and the next.
d. However, if we focus on what this world has to offer we lose out not only what is good in this life, but also lose out on real life in the next.
B. Find Life
1. Illustration: Video - "Give Me Jesus"
2. Be steadfast because Jesus was steadfast for you.
a. When faced with the greatest crisis of his life Jesus faced the scourging for you.
b. When he could have turned and walked away Jesus walked up Calvary for you.
c. When he could have accepted an easy road Jesus accepted the cross for you.
d. When he could have lived his own life Jesus gave his life for you.
3. Be steadfast because this world has nothing to offer you.
a. 1 John 2:15 (NLT)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
b. The things of the world are temporary.
c. The things of the world are artificial.
d. The things of this world will leave you empty.
4. Be steadfast because Jesus has everything to offer you.
a. 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
b. Things that are eternal.
c. Things that are real.
d. Things that satisfy.
e. Things that no one can take from you.
Transition: If we are bold, fearless, and steadfast...
IV. Be Rewarded (40-42)
A. Reward of a Prophet
1. Often we tend to focus on the negative, but Jesus tells us to look at the positive.
2. He says, “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me."
a. Mission-disciples go in the authority and with the message of Jesus himself, so to receive them is to receive Jesus (Wilkins, 398).
b. A person who receives us and our testimony also receives Christ, because we are His ambassadors (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15).
c. This text does not focus so much on their being accepted as guests as it does their being Christ's representatives. An ancient Jewish proverb says, "A messenger for a man is the man himself" (Horton, 209).
d. We tend to focus on those who do not receive our message, but here Jesus focuses on those who do.
3. Jesus says, "If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs."
a. This principle had always been true of the prophets: one who embraced them embraced their message and thus God’s will.
b. Those who provided for them were likewise rewarded (Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).
c. Those who welcomed them as prophets and as righteous spokesmen for God would share in their ministry and would receive a reward.
d. Like the prophets, disciples of Jesus a great reward (Horton, 209).
B. Heavenly Reward
1. Illustration: “Indeed if we consider the unblushing promise of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased” (C.S. Lewis).
2. Jesus offers us a reward beyond imagination.
a. He promises to meet our needs in this life and give a mansion in the next.
b. He promises that we will never go hungry in this life and a feast fit for the child of a King in the next.
c. He promises to protect us in this life and that we will reign with him in the next.
3. Jesus offers a reward that will last forever.
a. It won't run out.
b. It won't wear out.
c. It won't give out.
d. It won't rust, corrode, of get moldy.
e. It isn't a piece of dirt painted gold - it's the real McCoy!
Conclusion
1. A messenger of Jesus is to be:
a. Bold
b. Fearless
c. Steadfast
d. Rewarded
2. What do you need to be?
3. Acts 1:8 (NLT)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
