“Divide and Conquer”
Mt. 10:17-42
Drew Dyck once volunteered at a youth event put on by a national youth ministry. Near the end of an evening full of games, fun, and food the leader began his devotional talk by stating, “Being a Christian isn’t hard. You won’t lose your friends or be unpopular at school. Nothing will change. Your life will be the same, just better.” Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? I wonder if the disciples were expecting the same thing. Jesus had just called and commissioned them (9:35-10:10) to go into the towns and villages to preach, heal, raise the dead, and drive out demons. Sounds simple enough and exciting, doesn’t it?
But is this what following Jesus is really all about? Does He really call us to a simple, exciting life? Let’s listen in on what Jesus told the disciples as they prepared to go out and do as He had instructed them.
Jesus CAUTIONS AND CLARIFIES because He knew the disciples might not have a handle on what this commissioned life would be like. (11-24) He CAUTIONS them, “When you head out you will sometimes feel like helpless sheep among starving wolves. Many will not listen to your message; many others will not like it. Doors will be slammed in your faces. Share my message in a Synagogue and you may be dragged into the streets and flogged. But if you preach in the streets you might be arrested and taken to court. Even your friends and family may turn against you. After all, if I’m rejected and mistreated, you will be too. Understand I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to divide. So take your sword and get going and divide!” Rather than encouragement, Jesus gave A WARNING.
Jesus wouldn’t make it in today’s church, would He? He’s just not visitor friendly. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if I said to those of you visiting today, “Oh you’ll love it here at Hope. When you leave here today we expect you to spread the Word everywhere. Get ready to rumble with the world because they won’t like you anymore. But that’s okay – we want you to be about the business of dividing, not multiplying. In fact, here’s your sword.” Would you be interested in joining us if our church motto said, “Hope Church – an army of sword bearers seeking to divide our families and our world?”
So what’s the deal? Jesus’ own life CLARIFIES what He means. Jesus taught that there were two gates, one small and one wide. The wide gate leads to a broad road and into hell and the narrow gate leads to a narrow road and into heaven. He indicated that people were like trees – either good growing good fruit or bad growing bad fruit. Jesus spoke about two foundations – one solid rock and the other sinking sand. Building on the rock provides for survival and strength whereas building on the sand leads to destruction. Jesus claimed he was the only way to the Father. He was the narrow gate, the good tree, the solid rock.
As a result Jesus divided people. Many followed Jesus. Yet Jesus was opposed, often violently, by Satan, by religious leaders, by political leaders, by one of His own disciples, by His own family, and by the common people. He was, after all, crucified. There was no neutrality. People loved Him or hated Him, followed Him or rejected Him.
So His life serves as AN EXAMPLE. What was done to Him will be done to His followers. The way He was treated is the way His followers will be treated. Peter and the other apostles experienced dramatic opposition. Paul was beaten and imprisoned multiple times. Most of them were killed for expressing their faith in Jesus. Steve Gaines wrote of a pastor he knows who is of Jewish heritage. When that Pastor devoted His life to Jesus his Jewish parents held a funeral on his behalf and told him “You don’t exist to us anymore.” Jesus came to divide. Go to the Voice of the Martyrs website (www.persecution.com) to read how and where persecution and division exists today. Jesus still divides.
But it doesn’t exist just ‘out there’ or ‘over there’ somewhere. We are to EXPECT OPPOSITION for our witness as well. Jesus still divides. The twelfth chapter of Revelation makes it very clear that since Jesus has defeated Satan, Satan has turned his attack and his armies upon those who follow Jesus. If we openly witness for Jesus, we will experience the wrath of Satan. It’s not that people or Satan hate us – rather they hate Jesus. The cross repels them. Paul wrote (1 Cor. 1:18-25) “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” … So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (4:9)…God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe…” Jesus, the cross, divides.
I first began to realize the reality of opposition when, one summer during my college years, I worked on a construction crew laying pipeline in a county park. There were three others on the team – the foreman and an older man and his grandson. When the older man and his grandson learned I was headed for seminary they said, “Don’t’ let (the foreman) know. He’ll never get off your case.” Jesus still divides. Perveen was the daughter of Muslim parents. But she was born again through Christ. When her parents insisted she carry though with the marriage they had prearranged with a Muslim man, she ran away. Her parents had Perveen’s friend Anila – who had influenced her to Christ – arrested. She was slapped and beaten in front of her patents for over nine hours. Then she was taken to prison along with her pastor and his family. Anila and her pastor underwent extreme torture in jail. She was whipped 16 times (five would make a normal man pass out). Upon their release Anila could not sit for two months and her pastor could barely walk. Perveen was eventually found and was stabbed to death by her brother. Jesus still divides.
Jesus wasn’t done speaking with the disciples. He went on to say that HE COMFORTS AND CONTROLS. After reminding them that anything that happened to them would also happen to Him, JESUS OFFERS COMFORT (25-32). He tells the disciple not to fear, to focus their fears. They are to bring their trust in God into dialogue with their fears. He said to realize, that TRUTH WILL TRIUMPH. “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” The truth cannot be stopped. As Michael Brewer wrote, “You can nail truth to a cross, but you can’t keep it there. You can stop those who speak the truth, but you can’t stop the truth. The message of Jesus will have its way and its day.”
Jesus also assured them, and us, that SOULS WILL BE SAFE. (28) “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” At the worst, all anyone can do to us is to kill our bodies. As Martin Luther put it in his immortal hymn, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.” In the meantime Jesus will care for us as He cares for the tiny sparrows.
The bottom line is JESUS IS IN CONTROL. (29-31) “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” God knows what we do not. God sees the whole picture whereas we see only a piece at a time. Pastor Tom Body was at a dinner party in the home of an eccentric, flamboyant elder. They were animatedly discussing some theological idea. “In the midst of the give and take her teenage daughter, probably frustrated with all of the high-blown discussion of religion, asked, "Mother, you talk about religion all the time. Why are you so religious anyway?" This query brought a loud hush to the dining table. Her mother paused dramatically, pushed her chair back from the table, stood and responded, "Every morning before you are awake, I rise and walk into the living room. I lift my arms and ask, `Who's in charge here?' The answer always comes back: `Not you!' That's why I am religious. Because I am not in charge!" We are not in charge, so we can proceed to align ourselves to the One who is in charge. Jesus is declaring to the disciples, and us: Go into the world wielding your sword, because you know who is in charge.
One man wrote of a high school student named Elizabeth Eckford. She was one of nine black students chosen to integrate a formerly all-white school in Little Rock in 1957. The governor barred their entry so when Elizabeth showed up she faced national guardsmen with guns, tear gas, and billy clubs. Turned away she walked a long block through a howling mob which spewed out its venom against her. Then for 35 minutes she had to stand and wait for a bus. That evening the man visited her and asked her if she had been afraid. She said her fear was that she would cry in front of all of them. But she hadn’t. When he asked her why she hadn’t she indicated that the night before she had read Psalm 4 and that morning she read Psalm 27: “The LORD is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.” Jesus is in control – have no fear.
Jesus then CONFRONTS HIS DISCIPLES AND CONCLUDES WITH ASSURANCE. (33-39) Listen again: “But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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.’ “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; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” JESUS CONFRONTS US. As martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Warren Wiersbe wrote “Christian service means invading a battleground, not a playground; you and I are the weapons God uses to attack and defeat the enemy. When God uses Moses’ rod, He needed Moses’ hand to lift it. When God used David’s sling, He needed David’s hand to swing it. When God builds a ministry, He needs somebody’s surrendered body to get the job done.”
Jesus demands that we GIVE HIM PRIORITY. It means we favor service for Him OVER FAVOR WITH THE WORLD. Like Jesus said to the rich young ruler, unless we are willing to sell all we have, to give up what’s dearest to us, we are not fit to follow Him. We are to give Jesus priority OVER LOVE OF FAMILY. He doesn’t forbid us to love them – they are just not to be #1 – because He is. We are simply not to love and give priority to family, status, nation, or anything over our love for Jesus. And we are to give Jesus priority OVER OUR PERSONAL LIVES AND DESIRES. Our careers, vocations, dreams, pursuits, our likes, our preferences all take a back seat to Jesus’ will for us. We must give Jesus full access to our minds, our hearts, and our wills.
And we must PUBLICLY PROFESS JESUS CHRIST AS LORD. “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” It’s great to share your faith with the elders of the church, or with each other here in the comfort of the church walls; but Jesus sends us out among the wolves. No matter what, no matter where, share Jesus. Always be prepared, wrote Peter, to give a reason for the hope with you.
She was 17 years old. He stood glaring at her, his weapon in her face. “Do you believe in God?” She paused. It was a life-or-death question. What would you have said? She said, “Yes, I believe in God.” “Why?” asked her executioner. But he never gave her the chance to respond. The teen lay dead at his feet. Not in Iran or Iraq or Romania or Pakistan – but in Littleton, Colorado. Are you willing to go all the way with and for Jesus?
Jesus CONCLUDES with a promise (39) “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO DIVIDE WILL CONQUER. If we are willing to wield the sword, to take up the cross, to deny ourselves for the sake of Jesus, we will experience life. Years ago St. Augustine wrote poignantly “Who would not wish to follow Christ to supreme happiness, perfect peace, and lasting security? We shall do well to follow him there, but we need to know the way. The Lord Jesus had not yet risen from the dead when he gave this invitation. His passion was still before him; he had still to endure the cross, to face outrages, reproaches, scourging; to be pierced by thorns, wounded, insulted, taunted, and put to death. The road seems rough, you draw back, you do not want to follow Christ. Follow him just the same. The road we made for ourselves is rough, but Christ has leveled it by passing over it himself.”
Hebrews 12:1-3 encourages us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
“I found one!” The inquisitor held up a Bible and hollered out, “Bring in the mayor and his family. Someone is studying the Bible in this house!” In the 16th century, Philip II sent the Duke of Alba to Flanders to stamp out the Protestants who insisted on reading the Scriptures on their own language. Anyone found doing so was executed. Everyone in the mayor’s family claimed they knew nothing about the Bible – except for a young maid-servant. She boldly declared “I am reading it.” The mayor tried to defend her by saying she only owned it but didn’t read it. Yet the girl boldly said, “I am reading it, and it is more precious to me than anything.” She was sentenced to die by suffocation. A place was to be dug out in the city wall, she would be tied in it, and the opening would then be bricked over. On the day of her execution an official tried to change her mind. She replied, “My Savior died for me. I will also die for Him.” As the bricks were laid higher and higher she was warned again. “You will suffocate and die in here!” “I will be with Jesus,” she answered. Finally, the wall was finished, except for the one brick that would cover her face. For the last time, she was told “Repent – just say the word and you will go free.” Instead she said, “O Lord, forgive my murderers.” The brick was put in place. Now that doesn’t sound so simple and exciting, does it? Are you willing to divide and conquer?
