It's Just An Obedience Thing
Matthew 10:5-6, 16-39
Rev.
As we start this morning, hearing those words, we need to
pray. This is one of those weeks where the preacher comes to you not
necessarily living what he's about to say. Because not any of
us can. So let's pray, and do
battle with this text for a few minutes. Let's pray. Lord we come,
we want to come with open ears, and open hearts and open minds. These are one
of the hard texts in Scripture. And it
will be hard. But there is some glorious good news in this. And I thank you
that you have it here. If we dig a little bit, because of our reaction to the
main things that Jesus says. Lord help us now in these next few minutes to uncover what you
want for us. Help us draw closer to you.
In Jesus name. Amen.
I looked at some of the new words in Webster's dictionary
in the 2004 edition. Here are just a few of them. First of
all CIAF OU T I. It's "a desert with a layer of fruit, with batter and
baked." Sounds good. PLEATHER. "A
plastic fabric made to look like leather."
So there's a new word for you. DARMSTADIUM. "A
short-lived radioactive element produced artificially." New word. And the last one, which I think it might fool most of us. It fooled me.
Definitions are very important. Because definitions help
sharpen our language. Definitions help
us to understand what is really meant when we say certain words. It can sharpen
the various meanings of a particular word. Let me give you an example. Believer. The word
"believer" has different connotations depending on who you are. For
some the word believer conjures up images of a right-wing zealot yelling and
screaming at people. To others a
believer is somebody who has objectively looked at a system of beliefs and has
decided that they have agreed with them. To them a believer is something that
you can take or leave, but it is a rational thought process that leads to a
logical conclusion. Now the problem is, we have these definitions of believer. And we have the inner sense within all of us
of wanting to grow deeper. Chuck Swindoll
says this, " superficiality is the bane of
Christianity." Superficiality is
the bane of Christianity. I would agree
with that. We have the need to grow
deeper but we lack follow-through. We
are called to believe and yet we are not sure what this growing deeper means. If I were to be honest and take a poll, I would say that most
all of us upon hearing these words from Scripture read would try to dismiss
them. They are for the disciples only. I
cannot do this. It impossible. This is too much to be asked of me. And we want to go our own way. This is
scandalous. Forget it, Jesus. I'm not in. As a body of Christians we have
gone through one generation in which to proclaim yourself to be Christian
meant: You don't dance. You don't drink. You don't smoke. And you don't go out with
men who do. And now the pendulum has swung so far the other way, that there is
now no discernible difference between a believer and a nonbeliever. No wonder nobody
knows what the word means. You see,
today, I have some good news for you and there is a definition of a
believer. Now you and I may not like the
definition, but there is one. The good news today I have for you is that to
believe in Christ is to bear His marks.
To believe in Christ is to bear His marks. It may or may not mean going the death. But
it will always mean death to self. Self being first. Self being only. It
is not optional to bear His marks. It
comes with the territory, and now I share with you some objections, we might
have. Objections that I would have. As a fly on the
wall listening to Jesus describing the scene to the disciples, what I might say
in what you might say. Excuse me, Jesus, if I could
just interrupt for a minute, here are some objections. Let's go into the text. Jesus has just asked
to pray for laborers. He has assembled laborers. He is now talking to them
about what it means to be a believer. Now these are things that he is told the
disciples over time. Matthew is putting
these together in one long train of thought, so that you see a progression of thought
going from A to
B to C as he moves along the way. Now
give me about a minute here because I need to give you a way to look at
Scripture. In many of these cases in the
gospels you have a historical event, an historical
event, which is important for us. There is also a principle behind that historical event. One very quick example.
In the gospels there's often this phrase,"and Jesus went about
healing." That is an historical event we need to know
about because in the Old Testament they were saying this Messiah was going to
go around healing. But the principle
behind that is that Jesus cares for my pain. Jesus cares for my sickness,
whether that is inside, outside whatever.
He may choose not to heal in the way that I want him to, because he didn’t
heal everybody he came across in the gospels either. But that He cares deeply about the pain that
is inside and outside. I hope that makes sense.
Because it is too easy to say, as some early Christian did after upon
reading these text, that the better Christians were to
ones that purposely went to death. Or
the better Christians were the ones that could inflict pain and suffering on
themselves. That is not what Jesus is saying.
Neither is this just for these men and women who were listening. It's
for all of us. Principles are for all of
us.
Just look at the first objection. Again these are in my words, but I hope you
find yourself in these objections. We
are going to be honest this morning. I
thought I would be safe. Verse 16 -20. Now if I say these in an angry tone, I mean
it. Because I listen to these words, and there's a visceral reaction in me that
I don't hear them any more. I don't want
to go there. I think if you were honest
with yourself , you'd say the same thing, that I don't
go there. I'd thought I'd be safe, Jesus. I thought that when I came to life in
Christ, that I
thought that life would be safe. Jesus
says the reality is you're going to be sent out as sheep. Now we will summarize, very briefly, verses
one to 15. He is calling the disciples; he is saying in so many words that I am trusting the mission to you. I am trusting the
mission over time to frail human beings. That I'm going to pour my strength, pour
my forgiveness, pour my power, pour my gifts through in fact he’s assembling
these disciples as later Paul would describe this is the body of Christ with
Christ as the head. He's reenacting this right now. He is saying I don’t want you
to take anything for the journey anything more than what you need. Why? Because
I want other people to help support your ministry from the very beginning, is
everyone together. This ministry from the beginning is not any one or two people
twirling plates, and everybody else watching.
They are going to help you. There will be some people who will be
inhospitable. They are going to slam door, (if that's appropriate in this
culture) in-your-face,
and he wants to make sure you let everyone know. Shake the dust off your feet as a sign that
this person has not followed what Jesus wanted them to do. Now, he moves to verse 16. I'm sending you out as sheep among
wolves. What are sheep? They are the
appetizer. Sheep are the main course for
wolves. Wolves go into a restaurant and a look at the menu,
they say I would like sheep, please. And you see, I
don't want to be a sheep. I want to be a Tiger. I want to be the biggest
baddest meanest animal in the jungle.
Jesus says, you're going to be sheep. You're going to be defenseless by yourselves.
Jesus says, what I want you to do is to be as shrewd as snakes, I want you to
be cunning and prudent and wise. I don't want to be just cunning by itself,
because if you're cunning by itself your going to figure
out a way to try to live your life without pain, without any risks, without
anything that might hurt you. Without anything that might challenge your faith.
You are going to try to live that way and you’re going to try to live staying
out of trouble and I don't want to do that because the other half of this is I
want you to be as innocent as doves. I
want to be pure. I want you to be wise, but caring. Trusting,
but not a dupe. In other words, I
want you to be alert. Because I'm going to pour my strength
through you. That is why I am sending you as sheep. Because I want to
send my strength through you, and then he said I'm going to lead you to
councils in which you are to be flogged.
And then I’m going to lead you to Gentile kings, where you because of
me, are going to testify about me. You
see, I don't want that. And I would imagine that none of these people sitting
there are going to raise their hand and say, "wonderful I get to be flogged.
This is great. I have been
wanting to be flogged. I want to experience it. I want you to know three
things real quick about this. Jesus never
promises a safe life. You see as
believers, we look for comfort and ease and simplicity and pleasure. You know who offers comfort and ease
simplicity and pleasure? It is Satan.
And when we come to that and we say, yeah I want that. Then Satan pulls the rug out from us. You see Jesus says, "No, it is not going to
be safe. Because obedience is not safe. The call to discipleship is a call to
obedience. The call to believe is the call to discipleship. They are interchangeable words. He says, "I'm calling you to
follow." Your following is all
going to look different. Some are going
to be called in obedience for example to give everything that they have except
for just the bare necessities. Others
are going to be called to use the things that they have sacrificially on behalf
of others. For example, I know people
who have a great deal of resources, enough to buy a plane, but they use most of
the time on their plane to shuttle missionaries. And to
shuttle food and supplies. And they use that airplane for God's
glory. See each person is going to look
a little bit different, which leads to the last thing in which it is the daily
following. It is in obedience in the
small things that lead to obedience in the bigger things. You see not one of them is ready to step
before kings right now. And the God is
not calling them to do that. The first
step on the way to being presented before kings, will be for these people to
come out of their building when women come, who have no standing in the society
and say that tomb is empty. That is the
first step to their obedience. To go and see and believe. When Jesus comes into their room and shows
them and says I have risen that next step of obedience is are
they going to believe? When they are in
a boat and this man calls them from the shore. Are they going to get out of the
boat and follow? When this man is going to go in to heaven and said, wait until
I give you a gift and pray for it. Are
they going to do that? When they receive
the gift, are they going to stay where they are? Or are they going to go where
they are sent? You see what I am saying?
Every step of the way is small obedience, leading to bigger obedience. It's not
just that we are going to jump in and obey all at once. It is now to start with small things. Obey every day. That is how we bear the
marks. And there will be sometimes when
it's not going to be safe. Reality. Now the promise. God will
provide. God will provide. When they are before the magistrates God will fill
their mouths. He is saying, that there is no
difference between belief and discipleship. That you are to follow and as you
follow I will fill you with all the things that you need. It is a wonderful
promise where ever you go. What Jesus wants us to do is take the first step.
And Jesus will lead us step by step. Yes there will be some backward steps, not
just a progression. Jesus will lead
us. Dr. Paul Carlson, a man studying for
a medical career. We'll look at his
story for the next few weeks and we're going to see his story on March the 20th
and we hope that you’ll be here in the evening. He was studying and he had some kind of
calling. He was thinking about going
overseas once in a while, but that was really about it. He did not want to go
overseas forever. And he found his wife
as a nurse and they were getting ready for a wonderful suburban life. And then a letter came
saying about all of the needs in
Second objection. I will not face something unfair. It is one
thing to take a calculated risk. There
are a bunch of daredevils among us and they love a risk. Fine, okay. Maybe there are some things that
are potentially unsafe. I'll buy that.
But don't you dare, God, lead me into something that is unfair. The reality is identifying with Christ
awakens the enemy. Identifying with
Christ awakens the enemy. Jesus in very
strong terms of verse 21 and following, He says, brother will be against
brother. Children will take their parents into court and put them into
prison. Later on he quotes Micah and
says that father-in-laws will be against each other. On and on it goes it's
almost wearying to see all of the conflict. For some who don't like conflict,
like me. The world is unfair. There is a core resistance to good because at
the core of society is a systemic evil.
We are both born into evil, and we contribute to it. It happens to us and
we contribute to it. Thereby expanding evil’s base.
Jesus is not calling us and calling them to be fatalists. He is not saying,
"curse life and die." But he is saying, when you are
persecuted. Not if. When. When people do not
understand you. When you have to
take a stand for me, and the consequences are going to
be unfair. When you
face difficulty. When these things happen.
He doesn't call them just to be whipping boys. He says. flee if you must. Flee, if you're in an area and you’re
persecuted, get out of there. Fight when
you can. But you are going to face unfair situations time and time and time
again. Why? Because at its root to be a
disciple is to be like the master.
You see when I'm believing in Jesus, it is not
as a spectator. When I say I believe in
Jesus, I am making the radical statement that I want to be like him. Wow! Hold it. You see, when I say I want to
be like him, you know what that means? I want to be like him. That means I need
to bear the marks. That means, I am following in His
footsteps. And the last time I checked, a whole bunch of things happened in
Jesus that were not fair. But you see, we want to say that
belief is a matter of intellectual assent only. It is a system of beliefs,
right? Beliefs is where we can keep our distance.
Belief is the answer to our problems. Belief is the comfort when we are hurting
you. Isn't belief a kind of system where
we can grab around and can pick this one I can pick this one? I can have a little Jesus and a little Buddha
and a little over here. Put it all together so that I can be comfortable and I
can be a good person. See that's why we
reject these statements. Jesus is calling me out. Jesus is calling you
out. Follow His word. To
have a partner on the journey. To pray for them for
them to pray for you. To live by the principles of his word as a act of His will. And even when it is not
fair, to continue to follow. That's
the reality, the promise. Do not fear, God is here.
You see he lists from verse 26 and 31 why you should not fear. First, truth is
going to come to the surface. So be about the business of truth. Live truthfully because it
is going to come to the surface. It's OK. I am here. Stand firm. Patiently endure. There are promises for you. You will see the
end result, at the end of time, if not before.
Secondly, the cost of not following is greater. Don't fear those who can whip you and beat
you. Fear rather the one that because of your unbelief, that you are going to
hell. Fear that. Don't fear those
others. And then beautifully, he puts in
this promise. You know sparrows?
Sparrows are worthless folks. He is not being anti environmental by the
way. He just says, sparrows are worthless. In that
culture sparrows are only worth a penny.
And yet not one of them falls to the ground without your father
knowing. Are you not, more valuable than
all the sparrows that I've created. That's a crux. I don't fear because you are more valuable.
What He is saying is disciples don't you dare equate being fair with being
valued. That if I go through a fair
situation I am valued if I go to an unfair situation means I'm not valued. No,
do not do that. The evil will tempt you to go there. Do not go there. Because
living by obedience is going to awaken the enemy. And there will be unfair things happening to
you. Your unfair things nobody else may know. Your unfair things the world
might know. I don't know. It's
unfair. God knows that. And he loves you just as much as he always
has. In a children's game they play with
children know they're watching for right? They're cheating. They're cheating.
Don't know. Well that's not fair.
Sometimes I think I go through life like that little child playing a
game. They're cheating. He is cheating
over there. It is not fair. I have this sickness. It's
not fair. Go ahead and shout it. It's
not fair. Then listen to Jesus say. You are worth more than all the sparrows that
I ever created. And so follow me. Even when you go into the
unfair territory. I thought it
would be safe. I will not face something unfair.
And finally. How dare you demand total commitment? How dare you?
This is the most heinous thing of all these last seven versus first 32
to 39. The reality is the more I hold
onto my life, the more I lose. See, notice
he changes tense. He says, your father
now he says my father. Whoever does not acknowledge my father I will not acknowledge. It's
acknowledging and word and deed. Doesn't mean you're perfect. Those of us who are perfect, stop. Time out. He is not saying be perfect. He is saying, be willing to follow, be willing
to obey. Those who side with Jesus are with him. There's conflict. There can be struggle. There can be attack. That's why total commitment is
important. These are not my words. In
the visceral reaction to that word commitment, I'm with you. These are Jesus's
words. He says I want all of you. I want all of you to follow. You see because
the steps of obedience is going to be a tug-of-war. As soon as I take one step of obedience, the
rope is going to pull and I am going to be pulled back. I am going to take another step forward and I
am going to be pulled back. It is a tug-of-war going in my life, sometimes it
is open, sometimes it is under the surface. And so that's why he Jesus says, little by
little, day by day, I want you to love me more than father and mother, and even
your own life. Take up your cross and follow me. The cross being the object of
scorn, the object of punishment. Fill in the blank there with the words. I want you to follow. The promise is this. You will find life abundant. Jesus is telling us there is no discount
Christianity. There is no generic brand. You cannot go to Wal-Mart to buy
Christianity. It's a total price. I don't like to hear it. The promise is, I will be daily transformed. I will be daily changed. I will be daily like the master. And over time,
I will find the life abundant. That's a
question.
One author wrote this.
"The reason why people have so much trouble with Jesus is that they
want to think of Jesus as a philosophy."
As a philosophy, you can pick and choose. I can choose this part of philosophy, and I
can reject this part of philosophy. And people want to live their lives as if
Jesus is a philosophy. The problem is, Jesus came as a
person. You see the audacious thing
about all this is that in his same words, "these are either the ravings of
a maniac or they are the words of the Messiah." It's one or the other.
Because he says, I am He. And by virtue
of the fact that I am he, I can tell you these things. And so we need to ask ourselves when we say,
how dare you demand total commitment? Is Jesus a philosophy or a person? Is he Jesus Christ, the son of God? And if he is, then he has the right to ask
that. War is terrible. War injures and hurts. And that's why this is
so important, is because every time I take a step of obedience, I am declaring
war on evil. That war is going to be a
battle, and there will be things that will lash back. I want you to understand that every day we
need to confront the questions, confront the objections, and live for him.
There is a wonderful book, the movie is based on it.
You will be seeing in on the 20th. Mongonga Paul. It was put out in the 60's,
but now it has been reprinted. Our President of our covenant church, Glenn Palmberg,
wrote these two sentences. This story is
a call to examine how God is working in our own lives. It is a call to be not just believers, but
followers of Jesus. Paul Carlson never
imagined how far his legacy would extend. He never wanted to go overseas. He simply went where God wanted him to be, and
did what God wanted him to do everyday.
That is exactly what God asks of all of us. And that's where we end. Where God wants you
to be and what God wants you to do, day by day. And even though it might not be
safe, it might be unfair, and God may be asking of us something we do want to
give, there is life abundant. Life eternal. And I for one wouldn't trade that for
anything in the world. How about you?
Let's pray.