Sharing the Gospel can be so very intimidating. For many, it is an activity that is approached with fear and trembling, or not approached at all. Why is that, do you think? For some, they don’t believe it really is their “job” to lead people to the Lord – it’s the preacher’s job or the evangelist’s job. For others, they have no idea what leading someone to the Lord actually looks like and, since they don’t, they don’t know where or how to even begin – so they don’t. There are others – and, this is the most common – who are afraid of being rejected or mocked or laughed at or ridiculed, so evangelizing is something they avoid like the plague. There are other considerations people have for not sharing the Gospel, but these are the most common.
The problem is, we are specifically told to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19);” and, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15).” Some will accept us and our message, others will not. How do we handle that? See, the point is that we are to go and do it, trusting God for the rest. We sow; He causes the seed to grow. We have our part, He has His. If we don’t do ours, how is He to do His since His is in response to ours?
We saw in our study last time that God supplies all of the needs of those who are spreading the Good News of the kingdom. Those needs include knowing how to handle the responses we will get. Jesus deals with that as specifically in today’s study as He has with the rest of the “Do’s and Don’ts”.
So, let’s look at what Jesus lines out for us in our text today. The first order of business, Jesus says, is to find out who is “worthy” in whatever city or village they enter. Keep in mind that they are only going into Jewish towns and villages at this point. What does He mean by “worthy”? The word literally means “deserving; suitable”. Deserving of what, the Gospel? Who is worthy of the Gospel? No one, right? What about “suitable”? What kind of person might be “suitable” to hear and receive the Gospel?
In the Hebrew language and teachings, there is a premise that the one who is “given to giving alms is a worthy man.” In fact, the word for worthy and the word for giving of alms is the same. Jesus isn’t telling them to find out who is worthy of the Gospel, for no one really is. What He is telling them is find out who is given to kindness and charity. Once they find that person, they are to latch onto them and draw close to them. These are the ones who will be most likely to receive and accept the Gospel. They are the ones who will be most likely to extend charity and hospitality to these traveling preachers. They are also the ones who will be given the opportunity to see the Gospel lived out in a deep and personal way by observing the lives of the disciples.
Jesus is also telling them that it is important to find out the reputation of those with whom they choose to be most closely and intimately associated with. It would not do to have the name of Jesus Christ sullied because the only people His messengers associated with closely were those with a bad reputation or known for being evil or wicked. This is not to say that they were to have no association with those kinds of people, and it didn’t mean that they weren’t to witness to them or minister to them. Jesus spent a great deal of time with people of bad reputation. Bet, they were not His intimates – they were not the ones who lived with Him and traveled with Him and ministered with Him. What Jesus wants us to know and understand is that the people that we associate the closest with have the character that will be most closely associated with us. We are not our own; we are ambassadors, representatives, of the Messiah. We must take care to a large degree how He is represented in our lives. This is not a license to be spiritual snobs by any means. It is, however, an injunction to be careful about choosing out intimates.
Once they find that worthy (or suitable) person, they are to accept his hospitality and stay in his home until they leave that place. Jesus wanted the disciples to take care with how they appeared to the people they came into contact with. It would seem as if they were difficult to please if they moved from house to house. They were to be content with where they were and not seem ungrateful or snobbish by seeking better accommodations. They were to continue to bless the household of the one who had been first to extend his hospitality to them. They were not to make it appear that they were greatly concerned about the level of their own comfort by moving to nicer, more comfortable accommodations instead of remaining where they were. They were also to do nothing to besmirch the reputation of their host; they were not to make it look as if there was something wrong with him or with what he had to offer. Being fussy or nitpicky is unbecoming of a disciple of Jesus Christ – even the appearance of fickleness is to be avoided. “Let your yes be yes and your no, no…” Sound familiar?
This is something that we need to pay very close attention to today, also. The world sneers and turns its nose up at people for their appearance, for their lack of grade-A prime, or because their home or clothing is unfashionable or somewhat shabby looking, or maybe their home is not as neat or tidy as some would like, or maybe its just for the simple reason that others don’t approve of that person so we shouldn’t either – dork by association, you know?
We are to care more for the heart of people than for appearances. Some will say, “Well, what they have and how they care for it is an indicator of their character.” Perhaps; but Jesus in essence is saying, “It isn’t about appearances or perceived character because of that appearance – it is the person who is generous who is “worthy”, not what they have or how it looks to us. Remember, man judges by outward appearance; God judges based upon the heart (1 Samuel 16:17).”
Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that when they enter the household of this worthy person who is now to be their host that they are to give the entire family their “greeting”. In the Greek here the words for “give” and “your greeting” are the same word. When we look at what the word means and the context it is in, it says, “embrace in welcome”. The habit of greeting in the Middle East, even today, is one where each person asks after the welfare of the one being greeted as well as their family and loved ones, and then wishes upon them all peace, prosperity and happiness. In this instance, this kind of wish expressed by the messengers of the King would carry great weight and power for those receiving the greeting, even if they didn’t understand it as yet.
That is why Jesus goes on to say (verse 13), “If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.” Again, if the household (which meant the whole family) is “worthy”, or due a reward for their character, Jesus said the disciples were to let their greeting of peace come upon it. In other words, they were to express their desire for the health, wealth and prosperity of God to be upon that entire family.
Imagine that someone extended a sincere and heartfelt desire for the blessings of God to come abundantly upon you and your family without any expectation in return. How would that make you feel? What do you think your response would be? Now, in the East, if someone extended this kind of greeting to someone else and later discovered that the person was a heathen or a pagan or in some other way “undeserving”, they would go back and “take back” their well-wishing. But, if the person was of like mind and faith, it was considered to be a blessing to both, for there was and is the practice known as “multiplying” the greeting. What that means is that whatever the person initiating the greeting wishes for the one being greeted, that person in return says something like, “May God bless you in kind twofold.” Whatever you wished for someone else, that person would wish for you twice as much.
There is a story about a Jewish jeweler who had an bitter rivalry going with another jeweler. There rivalry had grown more intense and vengeful with each passing year. An angel is said to have come to the first man and offered to give him anything he asked. The only stipulation was that his rival would receive whatever he asked for twofold. The hope was that the man would learn a lesson in charity. He was exceedingly shrewd, for he thought for only a brief moment, and then replied with a voice dripping with venom, “Make me blind in one eye!”
I use this to illustrate that there were times when this wishing one a twofold blessing was merely ritual and formality; anything but heartfelt. Jesus wants to ensure that this is not the case with His followers. They are to remain within the home of that family investing their time, their teaching, their prayers, and their blessings with that family as a way to ensure that the message of peace is something real and not ritual.
We’ve seen what the attitude and response is to be to those who receive the messengers of Jesus. Now we’ll look at what Jesus says the response is to be for those who reject His messengers. The language is pretty strong.
He says: "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city (10:14-15).”
To “shake the dust off your feet” meant to give an outward sign that they were seen as vile, unclean, unworthy of the grace of God, and that they were being rejected. For this to be done to a Jewish household or town was to liken them to Gentiles who were worse than wild dogs. In fact, even the dust and dirt of Gentile lands was considered unclean. This matter of “uncleanness” as we’ve studied before was probably the most critical of issues with the Jews. To be unclean was to be expelled and banished from the assembly of the faithful for however long the uncleanness lasted. To be ceremonially unclean would usually last a day or two, or at most a number of days. To be categorized as generally unclean was to be seen as being unworthy and cast out perpetually, like someone with leprosy. So, this was a very serious indictment, to say the least.
We see the Apostle Paul performing this act of rejection on a couple of occasions, one in Acts 13:44-52, and again in Acts 18:5-11. We see in verse 6 of that text that Paul declares, “Your blood be upon your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” What he is declaring as a messenger of the Lord is, “The cause of and guilt for the destruction that is coming upon you is your own fault and is yours alone to bear.”
Jesus doesn’t stop there, however. He goes on to say, “it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city.” Think of the wickedness and evil of Sodom and Gomorrah – they were so depraved and despicable in their wickedness that God would not allow even the buildings of the cities to remain when He destroyed the inhabitants. Even inanimate objects were tainted with the foul stench of the sin of the people. Now, imagine that on the final Day of Judgment, when all of the wicked stand before God for Him to pass final sentence upon, imagine that the foulest, most loathsome sinner of Sodom and Gomorrah will be considered less evil than one who rejects the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Keep in mind one other thing: Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more (Luke 12:48).” Let’s read that statement in the context of Luke 12:41-48. Now think of Sodom and Gomorrah; they have enjoyed the blessings of God for an extended period of time and have enjoyed earthly delights the like of which few have ever experienced. They have chosen to follow after unnatural and detestable sins of the flesh and God utterly destroyed them for it, using the mode of their destruction as an emblem and an example of what the fires of Hell will be like. They were unaware, however, of who it was they were refusing to extend hospitality to that fateful night. They were also ignorant of Who it was that had sent the messengers.
Not so those who consciously reject the message and the messengers of Jesus Christ. They are making an informed and willing decision to reject the truth claims of God regarding sin and salvation, damnation and redemption, even about Who He is. There is and will be no excuse for those who do so – the eternal punishment they face will be horrendous.
This is a very sobering message indeed. In our day and time, to assert that the purposeful rejection of Jesus Christ will result in an eternity more cruel and more torturous than the worst sinner they can imagine will immediately result in all kinds of outcry and objection. “Intolerant; narrow-minded; bigot; fundamentalist; fanatic; petty and small-minded,” I think would just be the beginning. We would be seen as so radical in our assertion that those reacting to us might even say that we are dangerous and a menace to decent people. They might even say that we are as dangerous as or even more dangerous than the radical Islamic terrorists are today.
Yet, all we would be asserting is what Jesus Christ Himself asserted. Are you that bold? Are you that convinced? Are you that faithful? What would it cost you to really believe that this statement is true and to act on it? How important is the message of the Gospel at this point? Are you perhaps thinking it would be better to not say anything so that the person’s eternity in Hell won’t be as bad? Although that might be a normal initial reaction to this truth, it leaves us in a place of disobedience as well as rejection of our commission as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
We must look also at something we studied before during our study of the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:6, Jesus declares, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Even something as simple as declaring the truth about unrighteous behavior to those who are unbelievers can turn a situation into an adversarial confrontation that can come to violence. God’s truth is God’s truth – we are to speak it in love, but we are to speak it.
So here we are at a point of decision once again. We are at the place where we have to choose what we believe and what we are going to do with it. We are at the place where we have to decide if we take seriously the instructions and warnings of Jesus Christ and how we are going to let that impact our lives – or if we are going to allow it at all.
We are also at the point of decision of whether or not the Gospel Message is really that vital to us in our own lives. Do we consider ourselves “safe” because we’ve accepted Jesus Christ and it’s really up to others to come to their senses like we have? Do we see the lost with the same kind of concern and unrest as Jesus did? Is the communication of the hope of the message of His coming in grace and mercy and His all-sufficient sacrifice a burning desire for us as it was for Him and for His original band of followers?
If not, then there is a disconnect somewhere between out heart and the heart of Christ and we need to pursue getting that right between us and Him. If so, however, then we need to be willing to be about the Lord’s work in every and all situations in our lives.
Where do you stand today? What are you willing to risk for the sake of the kingdom? What are you willing to give up to see that the lost become the saved? Ask Him to gaze into your heart and show you where you really stand. Ask Him to flood your heart with the light of His truth and show you what needs to be different and then submit that to Him to be transformed into what He wants you to be.
Just as He was clear in His instructions to the Twelve that day and to the Seventy later on, He is clear in His instructions to us as well. He has made it plain and unmistakable what our response is to be whether the message we bring is accepted or rejected. We don’t have to be snide or snotty about rejection in the least, nor do we need to be afraid of it. Remember that it is not we who are being rejected but Jesus Christ, just as it is not we who are being accepted but Him.
We have been granted a privilege and an honor by having the message of the kingdom entrusted to us. How can we do anything but be the faithful servants of the One to Whom the Gospel is all about? We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Let’s pray, shall we?
