Matthew 10
I would like to look at Matthew 10.. we use this scripture and Luke 10 in
discipleship and house church trainings. What I find as I look at the whole
chapter, is that the key to the first 15 verses and the power that is there
comes from the last 27 verses and our understanding and willingness to walk
them. As you look at the beginning of this chapter it is evident that Jesus had
some specific instructions for the disciples as they are sent out in power. Later
in the chapter He tells them a few specific things that will happen as a result
of them going out.
First, (verses 16-26) you
will be seen and persecution will be a normal part of Life.. Who will persecute
you? People in synagogues, brothers, children, parents, all men and City leaders
will come against you. When all this happens we are to trust the Spirit for
what we are to say. We are told to move
to other cities also when the trouble comes, we are not told to fight the
persecution or demand our rights.
Next, (27-31) The Lord tells us to “speak
what I tell you”. Then we are told not to fear those who kill the body. He is
re-iterating that persecution that could result in death is normal Christianity.
Our only fear should be the Father, as He can send us to hell. He also says that
He knows every hair on our heads and that He is on top of all that happens.
Somehow persecution fits as a part of His will.
Then, (32-33) let us know again that if we
don’t stand for him, regardless of what happens as a result of standing for
Him, He will not stand up for us with the Father. Now that is scary!
Finally, ( 34-39), we come to the place
where He tells us that He did not come to bring peace but, a sword. Sword is
identified as being the Word (Eph.6:17). Jn 14:6 says Jesus is the truth and
Jn. 17:17 says that the Word is truth. Truth will separate us from those we
Love according to these scriptures. We are to put Jesus first and obey Him even
if we are separated from our family. If we love them more than Jesus we are
unworthy of Him. Compromising the obedience to Him to keep our family together
will cause us to lose what we hope to save, obedience to carry our cross will
bring us to life.
The last (40-42) gives
us some encouragement for those who help us in the midst of our being persecuted,
but it does not change what was spoken to us. For them, they will not lose
their reward. This is also our reward, their souls, their lives presented to
Jesus. In these last words He is telling us that our sharing and our sacrifice
will see people being saved.
In the countries that are seeing
a Christian movement that we have visited, we find a willingness and even an
eagerness to accept the truth of the whole chapter. . I will make some further comments interspaced
in the text of the chapter. My comments will appear as blue text following the
scripture I comment on.
Matt 10:1 - Matt 10:42 (NKJV)
1And when He had called His twelve
disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of
disease. 2Now
the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter,
and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother; 3Philip
and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son
of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Canaanite, and Judas
Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. An interesting thing here is that Judas Iscariot is given power
even though he will betray Jesus. Jesus gave him the same anointing He gave the
rest of the disciples.
5These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded
them, saying: “Do not go
into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of
11“Now whatever city or town you enter,
inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. When we go into a city or want to take a
city we tend to pray over the whole city and focus on what controls the whole.
Here he says go to “A” worthy person. 12And when you go into a household, greet it. 13If the household is worthy, let your peace
come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14And whoever will not receive you nor hear
your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from
your feet. If you are received let
peace be left, if not, don’t worry about what or if you did enough, shake off
what happened and continue by going somewhere else. We tend to want to spend
our whole lives with one set of people, trying to convince people with our
lives over a period of time. Jesus did not say to do that, we are to go preach,
heal, deliver, and if that is not received, leave. Don’t carry the weight of
their reluctance to receive and don’t forget that these who were sent out as
our example only went for a month or two. We tend to stay beyond what the
example shows and to do more than what Jesus says to do. 15Assuredly,
I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the
Usually we stop here when teaching about
church planting and don’t look at the rest of the chapter. In some persecuted
places it is not necessary to go on because they know this part, but, we (in
the west) need to look at what Jesus says will be the outcome of going and what
will happen as we go. we need to realize that this is for us also, not just
others.
This next portion of the chapter and our
reaction to it is one of the reasons we don’t see what we want to see in the
west. We have not accepted these sayings as being a part of grace that we are
told to embrace. These following verses are as much a part of a move of God are
the ones we have already read. If we want to walk in the Power and presence of
Jesus and be a disciple, then we must embrace the results of our
obedience. It has not changed, and
according to the Word, it will get worse as we get closer to the end.
16“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the
midst of wolves. We are sent
out defenseless into the wolves territory, wolves are one of the fiercest
killers among predators. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as
doves. We should not be without
wisdom but must be harmless, not forceful or vengeful. 17But
beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in
their synagogues. Men will deliver you to
authorities, and in their religious houses they will beat you. Jesus does not
say maybe this will happen, He says it will happen. He is telling us that persecution will be
normal be ready for it. 18You will be brought before governors and
kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they deliver you up, do not worry
about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour
what you should speak; 20for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit
of your Father who speaks in you. He is not talking about church, but the workplace and the secular
world, people in authority and just plain people. Many times we don’t speak in
public places, government places or at work because we fear being mocked, left
out, or laughed at, maybe we could lose our jobs. It is evident that we are to
speak about Jesus because we are brought to these places for His sake. We are
just not to worry about what we will say about the Gospel and Jesus. The Spirit
of our Father will bring the words to testify with.
21“Now brother will deliver up brother to
death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against
parents and cause them to be put to death. Looks
like our family may become a problem as we obey the Lord. It actually says they “will”. 22And
you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. He does not say maybe you will be hated, again it is “will
be”. We, in the west, tend to think that only happens when we are not
presenting the Gospel right, not being politically correct in our presentation.
But he who endures to the end will be saved. Endures what? It does not say He who
escapes or hides his faith but he who endures to the end will be saved.. 23When they persecute you in this city, flee
to another. Don’t fight
persecution, and “when” not “if” it comes then flee and share in another place.
For assuredly, I say to you,
you will not have gone through the cities of
24“A disciple is not above his
teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25It
is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his
master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much
more will they call those of his household! Whatever they did to Jesus, they will do
to us. We will also be accused of being of the devil or the enemy. 26Therefore
do not fear them. This will
happen and we are not to fear those who say these things. For
there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be
known. Eventually the truth
will be seen.
27“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in
the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. Even though all this persecution is
happening we are to speak whatever He tells us to say and what we hear we are
to shout in places we visibly stand out. 28And
do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear
Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. We are not to fear being killed but fear
Him who is able to destroy all in hell. That goes back to verse 22. 29Are
not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the
ground apart from your Father’s will. Could He be saying that none of this can happen without Father’s
approval? Is he saying, that this persecution is necessary and that suffering
is part of His will? 30But the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. 31Do not fear therefore; you are of more
value than many sparrows. The
Father knows everything and again we are not to fear but, we must endure and go
recognizing our value to His Kingdom and plan.
32“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men,
him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33But whoever denies Me before men, him I
will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. This really re-emphasizes our need to
share or confess Jesus before men or, verse 22 and 28.
34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on
earth. We are not to mistake
Jesus’ goal. I did not come to
bring peace but a sword. The sword of the Spirit is
the Word of God and the Word is the truth so; Jesus came to bring the Truth--
regardless of the consequences or it’s effect. 35For
I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter
against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36and ‘a man’s enemies will be those
of his own household.’ I don’t think that we want to receive
this. We would rather compromise our stand for Him than have our family be our
enemy. It is a very hard word. In persecuted countries, when people receive
Jesus they expect to be thrown out or persecuted in some way, maybe killed and
still they will tell family that they have received Jesus. Why are we not
willing to do this? What have we missed or not understood. Our democracy type
thinking says that majority rules, so if we all agree that this is not true,
then God will not judge us for not believing He meant what He said. 37He
who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves
son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38And
he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. We say, family first, Jesus would never
do anything that would separate me from my family, He is the God of Love. That
is not what He said. 39He who finds his life will lose it, and he
who loses his life for My sake will find it. What we want will only happen when we are willing to let them
go and put Jesus first regardless of what we see happen. We have to trust Him
with our family and obey.
40“He
who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41He who receives a prophet in the name of a
prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man
in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42And whoever gives one of these little ones
only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I
say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.” This is the reward section and the reason
we must be willing to suffer and even die. Whoever receives us, receives Him!
They will not lose their reward even if they only give us a cup of water. The end of it all is that People will get
saved though our sacrifice! Their salvation is our reward. That is what makes
it worthwhile, all the suffering and loss, family gone, friends gone, hated,
beaten, cast out of cities and churches. How much is their Salvation worth? What
cost is Jesus willing to pay, I think He laid that out in this chapter.
Maybe if we in the west could embrace the love that
is involved in this chapter for the lost and listen to Jesus heart as He lays
out His plan and goal of reaching the world, we would see what we are looking
for, Jesus presence! Grace and power
received must be given away.. no excuses, no compromises and no conditions,
just surrender and obedience to love.