Matthew 10 (Part 2) :9-15

Go ahead and open your Bible to Matthew chapter 10, we'll get into that here in just a second. Matthew 10, as we continue our study through the scriptures, our third time through. You think we'd get it down by now, huh? Third time through, you know? Third time's a charm. We're getting closer to Christmas, obviously, and it's kind of interesting, it seems that every, well and sad at the same time, it seems that every year there's a little bit stronger push to attempt to secularize the Christmas holiday and take out as much about Jesus as our culture possibly can. And here we are as, you know, believers, and we have a responsibility, you know, to speak into our culture and society and remind them that Christmas is about Jesus. Obviously that's not always going to be received well, but, you know, it's our responsibility, it's our job. That's what we're called to do. And not just some of us, but all of us. We've been looking here in Matthew chapter 10 at instructions from God's Word for those who are sent out. We started this last week when we covered the first eight verses of the chapter. We're going to continue on today and we're going to look at some more instructions, and I think these instructions are valid for, well, I know that they're valid for all of us in sharing the simple message that there is a Savior, and Jesus is that Savior to this lost and dying world in which we live. The circumstances of these instructions were this. Jesus took his 12 closest disciples, whom he later would call apostles, and he sent them out. And that's actually where the word apostle comes from. It means one sent forth. But he sent them out to go and minister in the cities of Israel, and he gave them instructions that are outlined for us in this chapter. And those instructions are important, insightful pieces of information for you and I as it relates to our calling, our ministry to be ambassadors for Jesus, literally emissaries for Christ. That's our ministry. We are called to go into the world and simply share Jesus. Doesn't matter whether you're an evangelist or not. You know, we talked last week about how the fact that we're all ministers, right? We talked about how that title shouldn't be given just for full-time pastors. That's not a biblical term for full-time pastors. It's a biblical term for all of us. We are all ministers of the gospel. If you don't really care so much for that term, then call yourself something else. It doesn't matter. The point is you are called, and you are called to be a spokesman for Christ. You are to be a messenger, if you will. And so we're going to read these verses that we're looking at here today, and we're going to see what the Lord has to say to us about in terms of instructions for the ministry. Beginning at verse nine, look with me in your Bible, follow along as I read.

Stop there. Let's pray. Father, God, open our hearts. We look to you as always to incline our ear and give us understanding. Let us hear your voice. Let us hear your heart today. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. All right. As we continue here in chapter 10, we're seeing here some more great instructions. You might remember last week because we were doing communion, we only were able to cover three, but let me kind of review those for you. I'll put them up on the screen. I've changed the title of this. We're calling this now instructions to Christ messengers. And the first three that we looked at last week began with, first of all, you'll remember we saw that the power to act comes from him. The reminder for you and I is that as we're called to go into the world to share Christ in a dying world that is full of darkness and sin, God never intended you to go forth in your own strength through the power of your flesh. He wants you to go in his power, so he gives you his spirit so that you might be able to go in that power. The second thing we learned is that sometimes we're called to obedience without details. We saw that Jesus told them to go to the cities of the Israelites, but didn't explain why. And that's an example of that. And sometimes the Lord will do that. Sometimes we just flat out don't have all the details of, of, uh, of everything there is to know. And you know, some people, some Christians hesitate to, to share Christ because they're intimidated by not. Well, very rarely does anyone ever think to themselves, I know it all. I have every piece of information there is to have. I have every retort, every comeback, every witticism, every response to every question that anybody could possibly have. I am prepared. I now go forth. I don't think I've ever heard anybody say that. The fact is, none of us always have the answers. Some of us don't have the details. We don't have the information, but we're called to go forth and share what we do know. You know, I've been teaching through the Bible for about 30 years now. I don't have anywhere close to all the answers, but you know, we can't let that stop us. You know, don't be intimidated. Definitely. Just somebody, when you're out sharing Jesus with people, somebody is going to ask a question, just prepare for it that you don't know the answer to. So what are you going to do? You're going to get all nervous and say, well, I guess I shouldn't have been sharing Jesus with you since I don't know the answer to that question. No, that's not what you do. If somebody asks a question and it's, you know, a legitimate question and you don't know the answer, I think probably the best thing to do is go, well, that's a great question. You know what? I don't really know the answer to that question. I'll look into it, see if I can find one for you, but let me share with you what I do know and then get back to Jesus and Him crucified and risen. That we know, that we can figure out and that we can share. Just because you don't have every little piece of information doesn't mean you're not called to still be obedient to share the Lord. And then our third thing that we looked at from last week is freely give what you have freely received. You know, we've received freely from the Lord. He's given to us liberally. We are to share with that same liberality and generosity and so forth. We dealt with those. If you want to hear more about those three things, you can check out the teaching from last week on our website. As we continue now, we're taking a few verses at a time. We're going to look at the next instruction Jesus gives us and it's encompassed for us in verses nine and 10. Look with me in your Bible.

By the way, Jesus is not saying here, don't take a tunic, don't take a pair of sandals or don't take a step. He's saying, don't take an extra tunic or pair of sandals or staff. And essentially what he's telling them is they're not to take extra provisions. They're not to stockpile provisions as they go forth into this area of ministry that God has called them to. And why? Because he says the worker is worth his keep. Who's the worker? You. Who's the one who pays the salary of the worker? God. And what he's saying, what Jesus is saying to you and me is when we go to do the work of the ministry, don't worry, don't get bogged down. Don't get weighted down by all these concerns about money and issues and, and, and, and wealth and, and what are we going to do and provision and all this stuff. Don't worry about that. Leave that in God's hands. He's going to take care of those things as you go forth and, and, and minister. He says the workers worth is keep. Let me tell you something from, from someone who has been depending on the Lord now for many years for the sustenance. of my own family, I can tell you he's a really good boss. He's very faithful. And you can expect God to provide. Now, even if we're not talking about financial material sort of stuff, maybe we're talking about different kinds of provision. God is going to provide what you need. Maybe it's courage, you know, to share with a coworker or someone that you drive to work with or carpool with or a family member or a friend or something like that. Expect that he's going to provide. You know, sometimes we think we've got to have all of our provisions ready to go and so forth. It's kind of like we're preparing for a long trip. You know, how are you at packing like when you have a trip to take? I'm awful. I want to bring everything. I'll look through my drawers and go, I might need that cord. I'm not sure what it goes to, but I might need it. And, you know, you don't want to get on the road and have to, you know, go to some store and buy something. Right. So it's like put it in your suitcase. You never know. And pretty soon you've got this thing so loaded you can't even you can't even carry it. But we want to try to be prepared. But, you know, there's an element of living by faith that is very exciting. And God wants us to experience it when we're ministering. And that means stepping out and letting him provide, letting him take care of your needs, letting him give you the things that you need along the way. Here's the other reason why this is important. When we stockpile the things that we think we need in life before we're going to go out and do anything for the Lord, it creates this attitude of self-sufficiency. But when I am lacking in some areas of mine, according to my needs, then I'm going to obviously go into ministry with a whole different attitude. I'm not going to go in with an attitude of self-sufficiency. I'm going to go in with an attitude of self-lacking and recognizing God's sufficiency, you know. And that's I hope this is something that we're able to kind of lay hold of for our daily lives. But we are we are people today who are so concerned about stuff. We are people who are so concerned about having all of our stuff and preparing it, stockpiling it and being ready, you know. And I don't, you know, ultimately there's probably nothing wrong with the basic ideas of readiness. But it can take something away from that life of faith that we're called to live, you know. I mean, we're so prepared these days. You know, if I, if I, if something unexpected comes up, it's OK. I've got my, you know, savings. If I need to, if I get sick, you know, I've got my insurance. If something happens here, I've got this or I've got that. We're so prepared. We're so, we seem to be so ready for any situation or circumstance that I really am never driven to a place of having to hit my knees and cry out to God, you know what I mean? So that readiness, that provision grabbing kind of a thing can cause us to go into ministry, really not having an expectation of God's provision and care for us. So I like this, that Jesus says, you know, as you go into these cities, as you go to minister and to tell people about the kingdom of God, don't load yourselves down with a bunch of stuff. Keep it light because I'm going to take care of you along the way. And when you see me taking care of you along the way, you're going to get excited about what it means to walk with Jesus. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. So our first instruction that we're seeing here as we kind of put these on the screen again is, you know, serve Jesus and let him provide. Let him take care as you step out in areas of ministry. All right. God is incredibly faithful. What's the next instruction? It's basically given to us here in verse 11. Look with me in your Bible.

These last several words are really important. Stay at his house until you leave. Did you catch that? He didn't just say find a worthy person, stay there. He said, stay there until you leave. Okay. What's going on here? Well, first of all, you need to understand that travel could be very dangerous back in those days. They had what was kind of our equivalent of motels. They called them inns as you're well aware from the Christmas story, but inns were not really a safe place to take your family. They were full of questionable people. Often people would get ripped off at inns. There would be things going on, drinking, brawling. It just wasn't the place you'd really want to go. Frankly, when you're traveling, it is much, much safer to find someone who is hospitable and invites you to stay at their home. Jesus told his disciples here to search for some worthy person and stay there the whole time. Luke renders this in his chapter on this, which is Luke chapter 10. Interesting. It's the same chapter. He says, don't go from house to house. Don't bounce around from house to house. The idea here is don't go around. Keep looking for a better deal. He says, just find someone who is worthy and stay there. He didn't say find the nicest home, find the most wealthy person, find somebody who's worthy. What does he mean by worthy? He's not talking about worthy in the sense of upstanding moral person. That's not what he's saying. Worthiness is defined as someone who is responding favorably to the gospel. In other words, you go into a town and you start sharing Jesus with people and somebody responds to that message and says, you know, you've got some points here. I'd like to hear more about that. Go to that person's house. Stay there. That person has shown that they're worthy by their openness to the gospel. Don't, and again, this could be the poorest person in town. He could be living in a shack, but you're better off there. And when you get there, stay there and don't bounce around as if you're kind of looking to trade up to better circumstances. Why? Why is he telling his disciples, find somebody who's worthy and stay there until you leave that town? Well, the reason is this. He wants to make sure that the gospel message we're sharing comes with integrity. You see, we're already looked at by the world as people who are money mongers and, you know, people, people even say to this day, Oh yeah, he went into the ministry because he wants to get rich. Yeah. Which is, you know, ridiculous, but the world's watching and they're, and they already are skeptical. And it is very important that as you and I share the gospel with people, that we do it in such a way that they see the integrity of our lives. They see that we're not in it just to prey upon someone's hospitality or someone's good graces or something like that. So this is the next point. This is the next instruction that Jesus is giving us here. Put it up on the screen. It is be people of integrity. We are called to show integrity. All right. The last two instructions have to do with those times when people respond negatively and people are going to respond negatively sometimes to our sharing the gospel. You know, that's what keeps most people out of the sharing business. You know, they, they, some people are so sensitive about rejection that if there's any chance of being rejected, if there's any chance of someone responding negatively to what I'm going to share, I'll just assume not share. Well, you know what? Some people are going to respond negatively. Some people are going to say, I don't want to hear this, get out of my face or whatever. You and I need to be prepared to know what to do, how to respond to that sort of a situation. Look at verses 12 and 13.

Now the home that Jesus is referring to here is not talking about a house. He's not talking about blessing a house. By the way, that's what the greeting would be. The greeting would always be a greeting of blessing. In fact, in again, in Luke's gospel, Jesus literally told them to say, peace be to this house, but he's not blessing. I've heard of people going and anointing houses with oil and giving a blessing to the whole house or something like that. You know, you can do that if you want to, but that's not what Jesus is talking about here. And frankly, there's nothing in the Bible about blessing a house. He's talking about blessing the people in the house. That's who God wants to bless. And so he says here that they are to give a blessing of peace to the people in the house. And you know, a blessing of peace is an important thing to share with the people. It's really the message we're sharing with people. It was the message Jesus's disciples were sharing. It's the one we're sharing. We're, we're showing people through. Christ, how they can have peace with God. And that peace, of course, comes through accepting what Jesus did on the cross. That's how people can have peace with God. Do you know the people who are living in the world who have not yet come to Christ, or who have rejected Christ, they do not have peace in their lives. The reason that peace is missing is because they don't have the Prince of Peace living in their hearts. They are at enmity. They are at crossways with God. You know what I'm saying? The only way to have peace is through Jesus. That's our message. We're sharing peace. We are ambassadors of peace. But obviously, not everybody is going to accept it. Not everybody is going to receive it. You know, here we are at Christmas time again, and how many Christmas cards do you suppose you'll get this year that will say, have emblazoned across the front, peace on earth. I remember as a child, going through all of my mom's Christmas cards, she would keep them in a wicker basket in the living room, and I'd sit and just kind of sift through them, and the vast majority of them just simply had the words, peace on earth. Which, of course, is a very, very popular sentiment during Christmas. But the idea, of course, and the world is kind of glommed on to that, like, Christmas is a time of peace. Let's be at peace with one another. That's the Christmas spirit. Well, if you look at that verse where peace on earth is given in the word, it says, peace on earth and goodwill to those on whom his favor rests. Who are they? Those who have received the work of Jesus, not in the manger on the cross. Those are the ones who have peace. You know what the other, you could say, peace on earth, peace on earth, peace on earth, until you're blue in the face, and all the rest of the people aren't going to have peace on earth just because we said it. Peace on earth starts with peace in the heart because I have received the Prince of Peace. That's our message. Well, what happens if somebody isn't going to receive it? Notice what Jesus says to his disciples. He said, basically, if the home is deserving, if the people there are deserving, they're going to hear this message of peace, the peace through Jesus Christ. But if they come to the place of resisting, hardening their hearts, and saying, you know what, I don't want this message. I don't want this Jesus you're talking about. Jesus basically said, fine, let your peace return to you. In other words, let that peace fill your heart. You continue to be a person of peace. Even when they reject, we don't fight back. We don't get angry. We don't get spiteful. We don't even roll our eyes at people. When they reject, we continue to walk in that peace because you see, we are ambassadors of peace. That's our ministry. And that is what we are to remain. You know, remember back in Matthew chapter five, when Jesus was going through the Beatitudes, he said, blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. That's again, our birthright. Okay. So the next instruction here is be peacemakers regardless, regardless of how the people respond. We are to speak a word of peace. All right. The next two verses give us kind of the part two of how to deal with people when they reject the message of the cross versus 14 and 15. Well, 14 for starters says

this is something the apostle Paul actually did. We have two records actually in the book of acts where Paul did this. Let me show you one from acts chapter 13. It says the Jews incited the God fearing women, which means Gentile women of high standing and the leading men of the city. And they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. All right. This is a symbolic sort of an act that biblical characters do. We really don't today. I've never shook the dust off my feet because of someone's rejection of the gospel or something like that. This is a symbolic thing, but there's in every symbolism, there's something that we can learn and there's something that we can apply to our own lives. When when Jesus gave this as recorded in Luke, let me let me share this with you because this is really interesting. He said, but when you enter a town and are not welcomed, he basically said, go into the streets and say, even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet, we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this. The kingdom is near. In other words, the kingdom is coming whether you like it or not. Right. I mean, that's what he basically told his disciples to essentially say, listen, your acceptance or rejection of the message that I've just shared for you isn't going to change anything. It's the same thing with us telling people about what Jesus did on the cross. You can reject Jesus, but that doesn't change the fact that you still need a savior. That doesn't change the fact that you're separated from God. That doesn't change the fact that Jesus is the only savior that you can accept. There is no plan B. There's no option B for getting your sins forgiven. There's no other, there's no other way. Now, people aren't going to like that when you say that, but it's not, we didn't make it up. We are simply understanding what Jesus said when he said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man comes to the father except by me. Those are his words, not mine. So there's a point where we need to understand that even though people reject the gospel, we need to have the boldness to be able to warn them and say, listen, there's no other way. There's no other option. There's no other opportunity to be saved. You know, this is what the writer of Hebrews actually wrote about. And I don't know that I would quote this particular passage to an unbeliever because you got to be very careful about it. This is one of those passages that, you know, it's just like, it's very hard hitting. But in Hebrews, look at this passage, chapter 10, the writer here says, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, meaning if I live in an unrepentant lifestyle after I've been shared the gospel, which is, and when we share the gospel, we're giving people a knowledge of the truth. He says, if you keep living on in that same simple way, even after you've heard the gospel, what's left? Nothing. There's no sacrifice for sins that's left. You see, if you reject Jesus, there's no second life boat coming along later down the road. That's it. He's, and that's not to say there's not a second chance. I'm just saying there's no other option than him. And so what remains? Well, a fearful expectation of judgment. Now, again, I wouldn't quote this to an unbeliever. I don't think unless I felt led by the Lord to just really, I don't know, maybe I will. But you know, my point is this is, this is, this is hard. This is, do you see the gravity of this? Do you see the, this is one of those verses that we don't even like to read ourselves. Wow. Judgment, raging fire. I don't like hearing about that stuff. Do you kind of makes us seem a little bit like weirdos even to be talking about it. But this is what the Bible says. You guys, it says that rejecting Jesus leaves you with no options. The only thing you have to look forward to is judgment. Why are we bringing this up? Because you see, Jesus is talking here about that hard hitting aspect of understanding the gravity that we're not just offering people a good deal on life insurance. We are offering them, we are talking to them, we are sharing with them the key to eternal life. And if they reject that key in the person of Jesus, there is no life, only death and an internal kind of death that I can't even begin to understand. And that's how grave the situation is. That's the impact of what we share. And, and frankly, I don't like to think about it, but it's a reality and we have to. And when we, in, in, in that symbolic way of shaking out our, you know, the dust from our clothes and on our shoes, it's a way of kind of saying, this is a warning to you that you have rejected the only means of life that is available. Don't do this, you know. It is a serious issue and we must be careful never to force people. You know when Paul, we read that passage you know from the book of Acts, when Paul was rejected and it wasn't really Paul being rejected, it wasn't Paul and Barnabas, it was the message of Christ that was being rejected, but when they received that hard-hearted response of the people that said, we don't want you here, get out of our area, get out of our town, leave, go, you know, Paul said, okay, okay. And it's at that point people that we turn people over to the Holy Spirit and we're not going to play Holy Spirit with people because you and I first of all aren't good at it and it's not going to do any good. Sometimes we love people so much and we want them so desperately to hear the message of truth in Jesus that we'll use whatever means we can, even if it includes manipulation, throwing a guilt trip on them or whatever, or trying to be their conscience, you know. It doesn't work. And there comes a point where you have to just say, you know what, I'm done. I'm going to pray for you and I won't stop praying for you, but you've rejected Christ and all I can do now is pray for your soul, you know, and ask for God to have mercy and I will pray, I will continue to pray as long as there's breath in me, I will continue to pray, but you know what, I'm going to leave you to God because I can't, I can't save you. He can, but I can't. And so there's that place where you shake it off and you have to move on where the soil has been properly plowed and where the seed of God's Word will be more readily accepted. And that's a difficult thing. That's a really, really difficult thing, but we must allow people to make decisions for themselves. You know, the beauty of our being created in the image of God is that we've been given the freedom to choose. And right now, right here, you can choose to say no to Jesus Christ and he will honor that choice. That's not to say that he won't make your life miserable in the meantime, which we often pray for too, you know, I do. I even tell people if they, if they reject the message of the gospel and if I'm really sincere that I'm going to pray for him, I'll just tell him right out, well, I'm going to pray that God makes you so miserable you can't stand it. And that gives them a moment to think and they kind of look at you like, gee, you're weird. I thought you were my friend. Oh, I am. Let me tell you something. I would gladly pray for a few years of misery in your life that you might have eternity with him. It's worth it. It's a fair trade. It's a good exchange. And if misery has to come into your life so that you will finally bow the knee and break your heart before God and invite him into your life and accept what he did for you on the cross. So be it. May God make you miserable in your rebellion, you know, but meanwhile I'm going to let the Holy Spirit do what he does best and that's where it needs to stay. God has given us the freedom to choose and he will honor it.