Our last look at Matthew examined Jesus’ exhortation to His
twelve apostles to not allow the fear of what people might do to them make them
forget that their Heavenly Father was taking care of them. Furthermore, we saw that if fear is your
motivation, you ought to fear God far more than people. Also, our acknowledgment and
allegiance to Jesus here on earth has a direct bearing on Jesus’ acknowledging
us before His Father. Back in Matthew 7
Jesus pointed out that this sort of allegiance is bound up in a personal
relationship to Him. Many people will be
shocked to hear Him say, “I never knew you!”
In Matthew, Jesus is talking to Jewish people—people who
claimed to be followers of God and who claimed to know Him. They had His Book. They claimed to have studied it. They claimed to live by it. And now the Twelve were to spread the good
news to these people that the Kingdom of heaven was within reach.
At this point Jesus said something that might seem to
contradict the message of the angels who proclaimed at His birth in Bethlehem “Peace
on earth!” Jesus says in Matthew 10:34, “Do
not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Now the message of the angels is not recorded
by Matthew but by Luke in 2:14, where the full saying is: “Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” Peace on earth, among those with whom God is
pleased . . . But what about among those
with whom He is not pleased? Well, the
angels don’t say and it is up to Jesus to speak to that.
In Matthew 10:34-39,
Jesus is NOT saying that His followers will be at one another’s throats (although sometimes this seems to be the case)! But the gospel of the kingdom tells people
that entrance will require a change of heart and mind—repentance. The kingdom of peace only allows followers of
the Prince of Peace to enter. The
kingdom of righteousness only allows the righteous to enter. The Kingdom of heaven only allows people who
change their citizenship to enter.
We have all heard the response to the message of change: “Don’t you judge me!” “Why you little hypocrite!” “I can’t change. I was born this way!” “I am just being me!” “Are you calling me a sinner?” It doesn’t matter if we try to temper the
message with things like, “I am a sinner but forgiven. You can be forgiven, too.”
The natural response to this message is not, “Wow! Sign me up!”
At least not right away! There is
always an internal struggle if not an external one. Some of us have unbelieving family and
friends. On the issue of the gospel are
they friendly or is there anger? Why is
that?
In Romans, Paul says that all people naturally resist or suppress
the truth of the gospel (Romans 1:18).
That is why evangelist Larry Moyer shares the gospel as both bad news
and good news. The bad news has two
parts and the good news has two parts.
The bad news is that we have all sinned and come short of
God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). Even worse, the
penalty for sin is death (Rom 6:23a).
But the good news is that Christ died in our place while we
were sinners (Rom. 5:8). We can receive
this free gift by trusting in Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9).
In summary, Jesus said in John 5:24, “Whoever hears my word,
and believes Him Who sent Me, has everlasting life! He does not come into judgment but has passed
from death to life!”
Now, of course Jesus had not yet died when the Twelve were
sent out. They likely would not have
understood the basis for proclaiming good news EXCEPT that the Messiah was here
and He told them to declare it. So just
like you and me, those people in Judea and Galilee would have to just have
faith and believe Jesus’ promise to give them eternal life.
However, knowing that Jesus’ grisly death on
the cross was the means for my forgiveness, does not make it any easier for
people to trust in Jesus. In fact, those
who reject this message will frequently separate themselves from you over the
message! Jesus’ purpose was not to bring
hatred and warfare to the earth—it was to gather those who would believe in Him
and ultimately give them a kingdom of peace.
But here in Matthew 10 Jesus declares the awful truth that His good news
of the kingdom will frequently divide families and friends over the issue of
believing in Jesus.
Does this distress you?
When Eve sinned, Adam chose to follow her lead and sinned also. How many people go back and forth on this
most important issue because of a loved one?
Anything to which we give a higher priority than God is an idol! It is a false god. It has replaced God in our affections. No wonder Jesus says such persons are not
worthy of Him.
Jesus finishes this section with a very graphic
analogy. He compares following Jesus to
a condemned criminal carrying his own means of execution with him. “Take up your cross and follow me,” He said. It’s not that we are condemned by God and we
have to work off our sentence. It’s the
willingness to be considered worthy of death by the bystanders while we follow
Christ. Furthermore, we do die, in a
way. Instead of looking out for our own
interests, we replace them with those of Christ. Inside of trying to find ourselves, we seek
Him. And Jesus promises that in the end
we will find our true purpose.
Now you see why such a message resounds among those who
don’t see much hope in the world, among the poor, the downtrodden, the
helpless, the weak. And those who have
made it to the top of the heap, the rich, the powerful tend to reject this
message as opposed to their own best welfare.
Even among those who believe the good news, there are many
who only gradually understand this principle.
The Twelve were certainly among those who had not yet grasped this
message. We will see them fighting among
each other over prominence in the kingdom.
We will see most of them abandoning or denying Him for fear of their
mortal lives. Yet, Jesus knows which of
them are really His and what they will eventually become.
We ought not condemn one another (no swords!) over our own perceptions of another's progress in this message of change. Those who believe do not come into condemnation but are passed from death unto life (Romans 8; John 5:24). But, we still ought to stimulate one another to "love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24-25).
How does this message appear to you in your circle of family
and friends? Like a sword or like true
peace?
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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