Over the past few weeks, we have been studying together from what I believe is one of the most important passages in the Gospel of Matthew. And we have been focusing on the key phrase in this passage where Jesus states, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). We have already looked at …
1. The Church’s Foundation
Jesus tells Peter that He would build His church on “this rock”. Peter had just confessed the truth about Jesus—the truth that God the Father had revealed to him—saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt. 16:16). Jesus Christ Himself is the church’s foundation. The apostle Paul affirmed, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11). As the representative of the apostles, Peter was foundational in the sense that God revealed His truth to the apostles, and they believed, confessed, proclaimed, and recorded that gospel truth about Jesus Christ. So Paul would write to the Ephesians of the church “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). To be a member of Christ’s true church, like Peter, you must believe and confess Jesus Christ.
Then we saw …
2. The Church’s Builder
Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Jesus is the builder and the owner of His church. Like Peter and the rest of the apostles, we have the privilege of being used by Christ in the building of His church. There is no more important work than this.
Then we saw …
3. The Church’s Victory
Jesus says that He will build His church, “…and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Even death cannot prevent Christ’s work of building His church. The gates of Hades shall not prevail against His church. Speaking about Christ’s victory over death, the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:57-58).
In Matthew 10, Jesus called His twelve disciples and sent them out as apostles on a mission to preach the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 10:1-7). He gave them specific instructions for that mission in Matthew 10:5-16. Then in the rest of the chapter Jesus expands His instructions beyond just the twelve to all who will be His disciples and ambassadors in this world.
He told them to expect opposition. He said He sends them out as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt. 10:16). He says there will be times when His followers will suffer at the hands of men for their connection to Him—sometimes being called derisive names (Matt. 10:25); sometimes being arrested and dragged before the authorities (Matt. 10:17-18); sometimes being driven from one city to another by persecution (Matt. 10:23); and sometimes even being put to death (Matt. 10:21). He said we will be hated by all for His name’s sake (Matt. 10:22).
But Jesus also commanded us not to be afraid. He assures us that we will one day be vindicated (Matt. 10:26). He tells us not to fear those who can kill our bodies but cannot kill our souls (Matt. 10:28). He reminds us that our heavenly Father watches over us and greatly values us (Matt. 10:29-31).
So, on the one hand, we should expect fierce opposition from a hostile world, and on the other hand, we should expect loving care from our heavenly Father. And both of these experiences will be for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. It’s all because of our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the great divider of humanity. Everyone in the human race falls on one side or the other with Jesus. Either we are with Him, or we are against Him (Matt. 12:30).
Jesus is the dividing line. He is the dividing line in heaven. He is the dividing line on earth. He is the dividing line of our affections. And He is the dividing line of our actions.[1]
1. Jesus is the dividing line in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33).
First, Jesus is the dividing line in heaven. Look at Matthew 10:32-33 where Jesus says: “32Therefore 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.” (Matt. 10:32-33). Here Jesus speaks of two groups of people, those who confess Him and those who deny Him.
A. Confess Jesus on earth, He will confess you in heaven
The word translated “confess” (homologeõ) is one that means to “say the same” thing as another or “voice agreement” with him. “Before men” emphasizes the public character of this confession.[2] To confess Jesus means to agree and say the same thing about Jesus—who He is, what He has done, and what He has taught. It is to declare our relationship and loyalty to Jesus Christ openly, willingly, and publicly. It is a declaration of your true belief which carries with it the dedication to live according to your belief. Your true confession will be demonstrated by your actions. The verb is in the future indicative case meaning it is not just a confession that happened once a long time ago.[3]
The Bible says we should publicly acknowledge Jesus with our mouths. Romans 10:9 says: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” You can’t be saved without believing in your heart, but true faith will also result in confessing with your mouth. There is no such thing as a secret Christian.
How do we confess Jesus before men? The most obvious way is openly proclaiming that we have placed our faith in Him. One of the very best ways to do that is baptism. When you follow Christ in being baptized, you are making your primary public confession of faith in Christ. But if you belong to Christ, your confession never changes and you will have many opportunities to confess Jesus before men. Peter writes, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you . . .” (1 Peter 3:15). When someone asks us why we have hope in times of trial, or how we can have such joy or show such love, it’s an opportunity to tell them about our Savior Jesus. Defend the biblical truth about Jesus. Claim His teaching as truth.
We also confess Jesus before men when we take a moral stand in obedience to Christ and His word. We confess Jesus is Lord when we stand for biblical truth. In our culture and time that may mean standing up for biblical manhood and womanhood, standing for the biblical standard for the family, and standing against sexual immorality, racism, or abortion. Stand on biblical truth, then tell them why—it’s because I belong to Jesus Christ.
From the context of Matthew 10, we know that confessing Jesus before men may result in hostility from men. They may call us names or even persecute us and kill us. But here is the good news: though the world may hate us and disown us, our heavenly Father will receive us. Jesus said (Matt. 10:32), “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus will confess us before His Father in heaven. There is no better news than that. No suffering upon this earth will ever come close to the glory and the eternal joy of having Jesus Christ claim us as His own on that great day of judgment! We will never regret any suffering or shame before men, so long as we will be able to hear the Lord of glory look upon us and say, “I confess this one to be Mine, Father.”
But the opposite is true also …
B. Deny Jesus on earth, Jesus will deny you in heaven
Matthew 10:33 says that if you deny Jesus before others on earth, Jesus will also deny you before His Father in heaven. To disown Jesus is to reject Him as Lord and Savior. It is to disclaim association with Him. For Jesus to disown those who disown Him is not being mean or petty. He is just confirming in heaven what you have already said on earth. When you reject Jesus here on earth, you are basically saying, “I am not with Jesus.” And when you do that, Jesus disowns you before the Father, saying, “I am not with him or with her.”
What is it that might tempt us to deny Jesus before men? If you read the passages that proceed these two verses, you see that Jesus Himself anticipated the cause. It’s fear – the fear of men. Jesus said, “Do not fear them” (Matt. 10:26).
How do we overcome the fear of men that may tempt us to deny Him? Greg Allen suggests that the answer is found in what Jesus says about Himself in this passage.[4]
Consider the exalted terms Jesus uses to present Himself here. He claims that God is His Father, making Himself to be God’s unique Son! On another occasion when Jesus does that John records “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God,” (John 5:18). What’s more, He claims that, as the Son of God, our eternal destiny hinges on whether or not He “confesses” us or “denies” us before the Father.
In a similar passage, Jesus contrasted the greatness of His majesty with the wickedness of the age in which we are to testify of Him. He said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). How foolish it would be to be ashamed of the Lord of holiness and glory, before a generation that is adulterous and sinful! How foolish it would be to deny our Savior before men, when He promises to come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels!
I believe we will be tempted to deny our Lord to the extent that we take our eyes off Him and focus on the hostilities and objections of people instead. And by contrast, we will be emboldened to confess Him to the extent that we take our eyes off men and keep them focused on His divine majesty instead.
Jesus is the dividing line in heaven. Jesus says in Matthew 25: “31When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.33And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” (Matt. 25:31-33). What an amazing picture! Jesus on His throne with all of humanity separated before Him—the righteous on His right, the unrighteous on His left. Jesus concluded that the unrighteous “will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). Which side are you on?
Can you think of any greater horror than to stand before the Son and have Him deny you before the Father? Can you think of a greater horror than for Him to point to you and say, “Father, I deny knowing this one”?
Jesus is the dividing line in heaven. Your eternal destiny in heaven depends completely on your relationship with Jesus while you are here on earth.
Now, I don’t want to leave this first point without addressing the question: What can I do if I have denied Jesus?
We must be honest. All of us have had times when should have confessed Jesus as our Lord and Savior, many times when we have had the chance to take a bold stand for Him, but we have failed to do so. We chickened out. We feared men rather than God. And while we may not have openly “denied” Him, we have often refused to confess Him as clearly, forthrightly, and actively as we could have.
What will happen to us? Will the Lord now deny us before the Father? Here, we have the example of the apostle Peter who denied our Lord horribly. He had boasted that He would never deny the Lord. He said, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will not deny You” (Matt. 26:33). But it wasn’t long afterward that Peter denied Jesus three times. He even dared to curse and swear; saying with an oath, “I do not know the Man!” (Matt. 26:74). Shouldn’t Peter expect the Lord to look upon him and say the same to His Father, “I do know know the man!”? Could anyone do worse than Peter?
And yet, the clear testimony of the Scriptures is that the Lord forgave him. Even before Peter denied Him, Jesus told him that he would do so. The Lord told him that He had prayed for him; and said, “. . . when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Matt. 22:34). After his denials Matthew records that Peter “went out and wept bitterly” (Matt. 26:75). And when the Lord rose from the dead, the angel told the women at the tomb, “. . . tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee . . .” (Mark 16:7), making a point to mention the very disciple that had denied Him! Both Luke (Luke 24:34) and Paul (1 Cor. 15:5) tell us that the Lord made a special post-resurrection appearance to Peter alone. John records that just as Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus restored him three times, saying “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).
The Bible shows that Peter went on, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to become a great leader of the early church, one of the most esteemed of the witnesses of our Lord, and eventually a martyr for Christ considering it an honor to suffer and die for the name of the Lord that He had, at one time, denied (Acts 5:41).
Here’s the point. Peter denied the Lord, but he didn’t live a life of continual denial. He repented and was forgiven. We can have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Peter, the cowardly disciple who denied the Lord, will be gladly confessed by the Son of God before the Father on that great day of judgment. He may have denied Him but he repented and confessed with the rest of his life.
There is always hope for those of us who, in fear of men, fail our Lord and deny Him but who then confess our failure to Him, repent of our denial, and then go on to bravely confess Him before men in the power of the Holy Spirit. If He forgave Peter, He will certainly forgive you.
Jesus is the dividing line in heaven. Second, we see that …
2. Jesus is the dividing line on earth (Matt. 10:34-36).
Jesus tells us “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34).
Jesus is not giving His followers justification for taking up the sword against unbelievers. Sadly, some in church history have misinterpreted His words to suggest the aggressive advancement of His kingdom through violence. But that’s not at all what Jesus means. In fact, when Peter took up a literal sword to defend Him, Jesus rebuked Him and said, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26:52). Jesus isn’t speaking giving a literal sword to His followers. Rather, He is using a sword as a symbol of that which cuts and divides His followers from other people that they would have otherwise been connected to. The sword does not refer to violence but to division. This becomes clear when you look at the parallel saying in Luke 12:51 where Jesus says: “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.” Why does Jesus use the image of a sword? Because a sword divides. It cuts things in two.
Now, the Jewish people expected that when the Messiah came, He would bring peace. One of the great Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament is in Isaiah 9, which says: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7). In Luke 2 we read that the night Jesus was born the angels appeared to the shepherds and proclaimed: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14).
So, which is it? Did Jesus come to bring peace or not? It’s true that His coming into this world will result in ultimate peace, but that peace will come in the long term when Jesus returns. In Matthew 10, Jesus is speaking in the short term of His disciples’ experience as those sent to proclaim His kingdom in this world. And that experience will not be peaceful. It will be divisive.
And look at the level to which that division extends. Jesus says that His coming brings about division at the most fundamental level of human relationships. He quotes Micah 7:6 and says, “For 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’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’” (Matt. 10:35-36). The word translated “set” in verse 35 literally means “to cut into two parts or cleave asunder.”[5] Micah prophesied about the divisions that would come between those who follow God and those who do not. Jesus applies that word of prophecy to His own coming and says that He will become a dividing line even among families.
Jesus is the dividing line. He brings a sword that cuts both ways. One brother believes, another rejects. A mother follows Jesus, a father goes his own way. Sisters part ways over the gospel. Some of our closest friends and family will not understand why we follow Jesus. They may resent us and our Lord. Some may be openly hostile to us.
Did you know that Jesus experienced this firsthand? Even His own brothers did not believe in Him and opposed Him (John 7:2-9). And even His own people thought He was out of His mind, and sought to lay hold of Him thinking He was out of His mind (Mark 3:21). Some of us have experienced this firsthand as well. It’s a very painful reality. Following Jesus will sometimes cost us our families. And for some, it will even cost more. Remember what Jesus said earlier in Matthew 10:21? “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.”
Jesus is the dividing line in heaven, and Jesus is the dividing line on earth. Being neutral towards Jesus is not an option. You are either for Him or against Him. You might be able to sit on a fence, but you cannot sit on a sword. You are going to have to choose one side or the other.
Jesus is the dividing line in heaven. Jesus is the dividing line on earth. And then, thirdly …
3. Jesus is the dividing line of our affections (Matt. 10:37-39)
The point is that Jesus must be the supreme object of our affections. We must love Jesus more than family, more than self, more than life. We will just look at the first part of this today and get the rest next time.
A. We must love Jesus more than family
First, we must love Jesus more than family. Jesus says, “He 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.” (Matt. 10:37).
Do you love your family? I hope so. You’re supposed to. That’s the whole reason Jesus even brings it up. Out of all your earthly relations, your family has the highest claim. And yet as important as family relationships are in the Bible, Jesus comes first. Jesus isn’t saying you should love your family less. He is saying you should love Him more.
In Luke 14, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Now, don’t think to yourself, “Well what do you know? I’ve been obeying the Bible all along! I can’t stand my family!” Jesus isn’t commanding us to “hate” our family members, He is commanding us to love Him more. When we are forced into a position where we must choose between following Jesus or appeasing the objections of our family, we must choose Jesus every time. Our love for Him must be so complete and supreme that it makes any other love look like “hate” even the natural love we would feel toward our father and mother, wife or husband, or son and daughter.
If you are hesitant to come to Christ or to identify with Him by public profession or obey the command to be baptized, then look closely at this verse. Jesus says that those who love a family member more than Him are not worthy of Him. The idea here is that they are not deserving of belonging to Him and being honored by Him. To belong to Christ is a privilege so precious that no other relationship can compare. It is a duty so imperative that no other duty is more important.
C.T. Studd was a missionary to China in the late 1800’s. When he was engaged to be married, he was worried that he and his fiancée, Priscilla, might become too preoccupied with each other and that they would lose sight of Jesus in the process. So, he wrote a little poem for Priscilla and asked her to recite it every day:
“Jesus, I love Thee, Thou art to me,
Dearer than Charlie ever could be.”[6]
Jesus is the supreme object of affection, and we must love Jesus more than father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter. We must love Jesus more than family.
Jesus is the dividing line. He demands to be first in our lives, above our own comfort and peace, above our most cherished human relationships. It seems like a lot to ask. But remember who demands this of us. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God who left the tranquility and glory of heaven to come to earth in the likeness of sinful flesh. He is the Savior who bore our sins in His own body on the cross. He suffered and died for us. He loved obedience to His Father more than His own life.
When we see who He is and how much He has loved us, is it unreasonable that He would ask that we love Him in the same way? How could we not follow such a Savior, and give Him first place in our heart’s love?
Have you felt afraid to tell someone about your faith in Christ? Do you shrink back in fear when you should proclaim the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you are like me, you have probably had times when you felt you ought to tell someone about Jesus and yet you kept silent because of fear.
What are we afraid of? More often than not, we fail to share the message of Christ because we’re afraid of what people will think or say about us. We’re afraid that they might be offended, or they might react toward us with anger. Christians in some places may face fears of suffering persecution or even death.
In Matthew 10, Jesus gives instructions to His disciples as He sends them out to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the lost sheep of Israel. As we saw last time, beginning in Matthew 10:16, Jesus warned His followers about the opposition and hostility they will face as they proclaim the kingdom in Christ. He warned them, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves… ” (Matt. 10:16). He tells them to ” beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you” (Matt. 10:17). He tells them, “. . . You will be hated by all for My name’s sake” (Matt. 10:22). He says, “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!” (Matt. 10:25). Jesus says they will be opposed and persecuted. Persecution is meant to cause fear. It is meant to intimidate. It is meant to keep people from doing what the persecutors don’t want you to do.
Like those first disciples, we, too, have been called to be Christ’s representatives in this world. We, too, have been commissioned to preach the gospel of the kingdom—to make disciples of all the nations. And like those first disciples, we will face opposition and hostility which may cause us to be afraid. So, we need the message that Jesus gives to His disciples in Matthew 10.
Three times in our passage, Jesus commands His disciples not to be afraid. In Matthew 10:26, He says, “Therefore do not fear them . . .” In Matthew 10:28, He says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” And in Matthew 10:31, He says, “Do not fear therefore . . .” The encouraging word Jesus gives us is, “Do not fear.”
And this passage encourages us that we can share the message of the gospel without fear when we remember the things Jesus teaches us in it. Jesus gives four reasons to not be afraid or hesitate when proclaiming the gospel message.[1] All four of these have to do with God, His nature, His providence, and His plans.
The first reason Jesus says for us to not be afraid is …
1. God Makes You Like Christ (Matt. 10:24-25)
Jesus says in Matthew 10:26, “Therefore do not fear them . . .” The conjunction “therefore” looks back to what Jesus just said in Matthew 10:24-25. There, He stated the principle, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matt. 10:24). Jesus gave an illustration about the natural order of things. Who is more important, the disciple or the teacher? Who is more important, the slave or the master? Obviously, it is the teacher and master who are above the disciple and servant.
Then He said, “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master …” (Matt. 10:25). We expect the experience of the teacher to be reflected in the student. God isn’t asking any more from you than this. All God wants is what? For you to be like Christ. The purpose of our life as disciples of Christ is to learn and become like our teacher and master. When people meet us, they should be able to tell to whom we belong.[2]
But then, notice how Jesus applies this principle. He says, “… If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of the household!” (Matt. 10:25). If they call Jesus names, then we should expect them to call His followers names also.
“Beelzebub” or “Beelzebul” (NASB) is a reference to a Canaanite deity (2 Kings 1:2) which came to be how the Jews referred to Satan or the ruler of the demons (Matt. 12:24). It was a vulgar insult and it was thrown at Jesus more than once (Matthew 9:34; 12:24, 27). Jesus is saying that, if they call Him names like this, even to the point of insulting Him and calling Him an instrument of the devil, how much more certain will it be that they will insult us? Jesus is the “master of the house” and we are servants in His household. He is Lord and we belong to Him. In other words, if they would do this to Jesus, and He is far more important than us, what makes you think they won’t do it to us? Even more, if God would allow them to do it to His Son, what makes you think God won’t allow it in our lives?[3]
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He told His disciples, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me” (John 15:18-21).
We will be slandered and persecuted because that’s what they did to our Master. Jesus explains that the more we share in His likeness, the more we should expect to share in His sufferings. What an honor it would be if we were so much like Jesus that the world treated us like it did Him! What a great honor it is to be insulted and mistreated for our connection to Jesus! In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven …” (Matt. 5:11-12). We are blessed because when we patiently suffer for the name of Christ, God is making us more like Christ. In Acts 5, when the Sanhedrin had beaten, threatened, and commanded the apostles not to speak in the name of Jesus (Acts 5:40), they rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). Peter later wrote in his first epistle:
“… But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:20-23).
Jesus says “Do not fear” when people insult us and revile us for the sake of Christ. Through it all, God is making us more like His Son. And that is our ultimate goal. This life is not about our comfort or prosperity. It’s not about popularity or pleasure. It’s all about Christ. It’s all about His kingdom. It’s all about God conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29) for His glory. Therefore, do not fear.
Secondly, we should not fear because …
2. God Will Reveal the Truth (Matt. 10:26-27).
Notice what Jesus says about the hostile people of this world. “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matt. 10:26).
This was a teaching that Jesus often repeated in different settings (cf. Luke 12:2; Mark 4:22). What does Jesus mean when He uses it in this context?
Jesus had just warned that if they call Him names, they will surely call His followers names as well. But we’re not to fear when they do because “there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matt. 10:26). We are not to fear what men may say about us when we share the gospel with them. God will see to it that the truth we declare and our true character are one day made known.
Even in our comparatively free and open society, those who boldly proclaim the truth of the gospel and the whole counsel of God in the holy scriptures are often maligned and openly criticized. The plots of evil people, who actively oppose the spread of the message of Christ, are portrayed as virtuous and tolerant in the eyes of the world. When we take a biblical stance on creation, or marriage, or homosexuality, or abortion, or sin in general, many in our so-called “tolerant” society become enraged and hatefully intolerant of us for our biblical views. But this shouldn’t stop us from faithfully proclaiming the gospel of Christ because the truth will one day be revealed.
The day will come when all the secrets of men’s hearts will be revealed. Nothing will be “hidden that will not be known.” Judgment day is also vindication day for truth. The Bible teaches that the truth will one day be made known. The apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).
Jesus used this same teaching on another occasion, He was warning His disciples about the Pharisees, and He told them, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:1-3). No one can hide anything from the Judge of all the earth. And He will see to it that the truth of God and the true character of every man and woman will be known.
Jesus says this to give us courage in the face of opposition. He is telling us that, no matter how hard the evil people of this world may attempt to do so, the message of the gospel cannot and will not ultimately be covered over or hidden. Another time that Jesus used this teaching was when He was explaining the meaning of some of His parables, He said, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand?” And then He went on to say, “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light” (Mark 4:22; see also Luke 8:16-17). No amount of persecution or opposition will ever successfully silence it. Everything hidden will be revealed. God’s truth will be proclaimed. Men’s evil deeds will be exposed, justice will prevail, and God’s servants will be vindicated.[4]
This is why Jesus then goes on to say, “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops” (Matt. 10:27). Jesus commanded His disciples to speak forth with boldness and confidence what cannot be covered and hid by men. At this point in the disciples’ experience, Christ had kept a lid on their unveiling the details of His Messianic mission. For one thing, they did not fully understand it themselves as they would after the resurrection. But the time will come for them to hold back nothing, “speak in the light… preach on the housetops.”
What Jesus, as it were, tells us in the dark night hours (when few people are around) we are to speak in the light (when people are awake). What He, as it were, whispers in our ear (which is what is implied by the fact that it is spoken into only one ear) we are to proclaim openly where everyone can hear it. We have no secrets to hide. Everything Jesus taught us we are to proclaim.
Let’s always remember that it is impossible for any man, or even a whole world of men, to stop the gospel truth that Jesus commanded us to preach. This is why Jesus tells us “Do not fear.”
The third reason we are not to fear is . . .
3. God Has Greater Authority Than Man (Matt. 10:28).
Jesus goes on to say, “And to not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28a). The very worst thing that men can do is kill your body. They cannot touch your soul. The most Satan can do is kill your body for even he cannot touch your soul if you are in Christ.
Now the fact is that, unless the Lord Jesus returns for us in our lifetime, all of our bodies are destined to die. We can be certain of this. The Bible says, “. . . it is appointed for man to die once” (Hebrews 9:27). So, the very worst thing that men can do to us, in opposition to the message we have been commanded to preach, is to kill our body. But we were all going to die anyway. And even then, that only sends us into the presence of Christ, which is more glorious and is what we most desire. As Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
The fear of man is a self-preserving, cowardly kind of fear of those who can never bring eternal harm to us. Jesus commands us not to fear them.
But this doesn’t mean that we should be without fear. Jesus goes on to say, “But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28b). Jesus is talking about the fear of God, which is a healthy, reverential, realistic response of awe and obedience to the majesty and authority of God.
Only God is able “to destroy both body and soul” in the place of eternal judgment. The Bible teaches that there is more than one death people may face. There is the first death, physical death, that we all experience. Then there is the second death, eternal and spiritual death, that is for the lost. John gives us a picture of this in Revelation 20 where he writes,
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:11-15).
So, Jesus teaches, “But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28b). And this isn’t meant to make believers afraid of eternal judgment as much as it is meant to make us NOT afraid of man. It’s meant to teach us that as great as human authority may be, God’s authority is always infinitely greater. We may be dragged before councils or delivered over to governors and kings, but they only have limited authority. God has ultimate authority. We are to not fear man but fear God instead. And it’s the fear of God that makes it possible for us to be unafraid of men. The man who fears God has nothing else to fear.
Now, how do we apply this? Placing the fear of God over the fear of man means that we always view God’s authority as greater. And should human authority ever command us to disobey God or keep silent about our Savior, we must remember that we are under a greater authority. We must, in that case, disobey human authority and boldly proclaim Jesus Christ in obedience to the Great Commission.
There is a wonderful illustration of this for us in the Book of Acts. The Jewish leaders sought to silence the preaching of the apostles – who were convincing everyone that Jesus was alive. The message of the resurrected Christ was spreading all over Jerusalem, and many people were being saved. So, the Jewish leaders met together to decide what to do:
“But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:17-20).
What can you do with someone who has that much conviction? The leaders could do nothing. All they ended up doing was to threaten the apostles further and let them go.
As the apostles kept on preaching, the high priest rose up and put them in prison, planning to bring them to trial the next morning. But in the middle of the night, an angel came and released them and told them, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20). And so, in the morning, when the high priest sent to the prison to fetch them to stand trial before the council, he found instead that they were out preaching in the temple again! So, again, he had them brought before the council and said, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” (Acts 5:28).
Then Luke records that Peter and the other apostles said,
We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. (Acts 5:29-32).
There was no fear of man in those words. They had respect for God-appointed authority but no fear of men! The reason they had no fear of men was because they feared God first.
A proper fear of God displaces an improper fear of man. We will never be hindered by the fear of men so long as we first fear God. We will speak out boldly in obedience to Christ’s command because His authority is greater.
Finally, we should not fear because . . .
4. God Values You More (Matt. 10:29-31).
Notice how Jesus teaches us this. He says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” (Matt. 10:29a). When Luke records the words of our Lord, he has Jesus saying, “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?” In other words, you can get two for one copper coin, or five for two copper coins! Sparrows are so cheap, they’ll even throw in an extra if you buy more!
But look at what Jesus then tells us! He says that even though these sparrows are so cheap and seemingly unimportant that you can get one thrown in for free, “. . . not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will” (Matt. 10:29b).
In the original language, Jesus puts this in a marvelous way. The word “will” is not in the original, so it literally says, “Not one of them falls to the ground without your Father.” That could mean that none of the little birds fall to the ground apart from the Father’s will; or apart from His knowledge; or apart from His divine permission; or apart from His attentiveness; or apart from His presence—or perhaps all the above! None of them fall to the ground without the Father! That’s how much His attention is focused on these little seemingly insignificant sparrows.
Jesus drives home the point in Matthew 10:31, “Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” If our heavenly Father cares about the sparrows; how much more does He care about what happens to you and me? How much more valuable and precious are we to Him than they are?
Jesus gives another picture of how much our Father cares for us in Matthew 10:30. He says, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” God knows the number of hairs on your head! He knows how many you had before you got into the shower this morning, and He knows how many you had when you got out. And if God keeps track of even the most insignificant details of your life, then, surely, He is tracking the big things too. God tracks the sparrows in the field and the hairs on your head. So don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows. Nothing happens apart from your Father’s will. God knows you intimately, and God will take care of you. There is nothing that can happen to you that will ever be outside of His constant care and supervision for you. You are unspeakably precious to Him, and He will never allow anything to fall upon you that doesn’t pass His divine approval first.
In Luke 21:16–17, when Jesus is describing how dreadful it’s going to be in the last day, he says, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” Then He says, “But not a hair of your head shall be lost.” (Luke 21:18). Even if they kill you, not a hair of your head will perish. If you get a hold of that truth, you will become a bold, fearless, witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The mission Jesus gives His disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God is difficult. It is dangerous. It will lead to persecution and death. The world will hate you for it. But God values you. He cares for you. Your Father loves you. This is how Paul puts it in Romans 8,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor power, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).
Like the twelve, we are under a commission to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ in our world. And we need not fear what men may say or do because: we are being made like His Son; we have a message to proclaim that the world cannot cover or hide; we are under an authority to proclaim it that is far greater than man’s authority to stop it; and we have a powerful heavenly Father who watches us constantly and lovingly and sovereignly as we go forth to proclaim it. With a God like that, why would we ever fear man?
In this passage, Jesus is talking with the twelve disciples that He has chosen to be His apostles (Matthew 10:1-4). Remember the difference between the two. A disciple is a learner, a student who attaches himself to a teacher to learn. Jesus had many disciples following Him. An apostle is someone that Jesus has chosen from among His disciples and to whom He has given specific authority to be His representatives. The twelve disciples became the twelve apostles when Jesus gave them this authority and sent them out as His representatives. A disciple is simply a student, while an apostle is one sent with authority as Jesus’ representative.[1]
Matthew 10:5-15 are Jesus’ instructions to the Apostles as Jesus sent them out this first time. His instructions are specific to this particular group of men at that particular time. So, we must be careful how we apply these instructions today. Not everything carries over verbatim and applies directly to us the same way it did to the twelve on this first mission.
In Matthew 10:5–16, Jesus tells His disciples: (1) Where they should go (Matt. 10:5-6); (2) What ministry they did (Matt. 10:7-8); (3) How they would be provided for (Matt. 10:9-10); and finally (4) What response they should expect (Matt. 10:11-15).[2]
Let’s look at Jesus’ instructions to the apostles and then we will seek to apply some general principles for today. First Jesus tells them…
1. Where They Should Go (Matt. 10:5-6)
After Jesus called the twelve to be His apostles and endowed them with power and authority, He didn’t command them to go out into the world in general. Rather, He sent them to a very specific field of service. Matthew tells us, “These 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. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5-6).
Jesus called them “lost sheep”. When I read that, I can’t help thinking of what Jesus had just said at the end of chapter 9. There, we read,
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:35-38).
It can’t be a mere coincidence that just after having expressed great pity on the multitudes who were “weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd“, we’re told He then sends out His twelve to minister strictly to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel“. The people of Israel may not have viewed themselves that way; but He – their Shepherd and King – did! The word “lost” carries the idea of perishing or dying. This is not simply an informational mission. This is a rescue mission.[3]
Don’t miss the fact that Jesus told them to go. The verb “sent out” means “ordered to go, appointed as an ambassador, or commissioned for service”. Jesus commissioned them and commanded them. Jesus gives His apostles the mission to go and find His lost sheep. They were not to expect the lost sheep to find their way back themselves. If they could, they wouldn’t be lost. The mission was not to gather a flock of goats but to go find the lost sheep.
Before instructing them where to go, Jesus begins by telling them where NOT to go. The apostles were not to go into any way, or area, belonging to Gentiles or into any city that belonged to Samaritans. Why this restriction? The best explanation is found in Christ’s words to the woman of Samaria, when He said, “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). The Jews were the people through whom the whole world was to be blessed (Gen. 12:3). To the Jews were given the covenants, the law, and the promises (Rom. 9:4). From the Jews “according to the flesh, Christ came” (Rom. 9:5).
According to God’s plan, Israel must be offered the kingdom first. John the Baptist came to them and said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:2). That meant it was imminent and available. Then Jesus Himself came and preached the same (Matt. 4:17). Now Jesus was commanding the disciples to give the Jews that same message. So He limited their first mission to the Jews.
Jesus’ own earthly ministry was limited. He did not travel outside Israel, and His ministry to Gentiles and Samaritans was incidental when compared to His ministry to the Jews. He did not have preaching missions in Gentile territory, and He ministered to Samaritans only as He passed through their land while traveling between the Jewish regions of Judea and Galilee. Jesus did all His public teaching and preaching and most of His miracles among the Jews. To the Canaanite woman from the district of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). The message of the kingdom was to go to the Jews first.
Don Carson reminds us, “Jesus stood at the nexus in salvation history where, as a Jew and the Son of David, He came in fulfillment of His people’s history as their King and Redeemer. Yet His personal claims would offend so many of His own people that He would be rejected by all but a faithful remnant.”[4] The opposition Jesus and His apostles faced from the Jews would surely have multiplied if they focused prematurely on Samaritans and Gentiles. Most of the Jews hated Samaritans and Gentiles. They would have hated Jesus all the more if His ministry focused on these hated groups. “Therefore, Jesus restricted his own ministry primarily (Matt. 15:24), though not exclusively (Matt. 8:1–13; 15:21–39), to Jews. He Himself was sent as their Messiah. The messianic people of God developed out of the Jewish remnant and then expanded to include Gentiles.”[5]
The mission of the church in the Book of Acts follows this same pattern. Jesus told His disciples to be witnesses to Him “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The rest of the book follows this outline. First, they preached Jesus in Jerusalem, then to all Judea, then to Samaria, and finally to the Gentile nations. “To the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16) was always the pattern of the apostle Paul. Whenever he would enter a city in the Gentile world to proclaim the gospel, he would always go first to the local synagogue and proclaim it to his Jewish kinsmen; and it was only after they rejected it that he turned to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 13:46-47; 18:6; 19:9-10; 28:25-28).
Now, the mission of the church today is not limited in the same sense that Jesus limited the apostle’s first mission. The commission that the Lord Jesus has given to us is to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). The focus may be different, but just like the first disciples, ours is also a rescue mission. There are lost people all over this world who are dying without Christ and need a Savior. They need Jesus, and so we are to go into all the world to preach the gospel.[6]
A second thing to notice about the commission of the twelve is . . .
2. What Ministry They Should Do (Matt. 10:7-8).
Matthew says Jesus told, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt. 10:7).
They were to be “going” (as a literal translation would have it); and as they went, they were to preach the offer of the kingdom. This was the same message that John the Baptist preached (Matthew 3:2); and it’s the same one that Jesus Himself preached (4:17). And now, they were to preach that message as well. The kingdom of God is God’s active rule over all things. Jesus is the king, and when the king is near, the kingdom is near.[7] The kingdom is about the reign of the King. That is why the proclamation of the kingdom calls for repentance and faith. God has sent His Son, the promised Messiah and rightful King into this world that has rebelled against His reign. Every person born into this fallen world is guilty of sin and deserving of the God’s judgment. But God has provided His Messiah to save His people from their sins by His substitutionary death and resurrection. All those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, God saves to become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and children of God. Christ reigns in their lives and they will reign with Him in the end. This is the gospel we preach.
But notice that ‘preaching’ was not the only thing they were to be doing. He went on to say that, as a part of their ministry, they were to, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons” (Matt. 10:8a). These were the actions of Christ, and now the apostles were to do the same as they had received authority from Christ. They did not put on healing crusades or exorcism services. Rather, as they preached the gospel they exercised the authority of Christ over the natural and spiritual realm to show God’s compassion to the people and to confirm the message by these signs.
While we cannot minister in the same miraculous manner as the Apostles did then, there is a principle we do need to follow, and that is to live a life of ministry. They weren’t just to walk around with sandwich-boards and megaphones, screaming on the street-corners in isolation from the needs of people. They were to make sure that their proclamation of the kingdom touched lives in a compassionate and personal way. It was to be accompanied by works of ministry. They were to care for people just as Jesus did.
And notice also that they were to do this with a spirit of generosity and grace – just as Jesus also did. Jesus added this wonderful word of instruction: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8b). You can just imagine how, if someone could heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons, they could charge—and would certainly receive—a high price for such miracles. But Jesus taught them not to have that kind of attitude. They were to remember that they themselves had freely received all that the Lord had given them (and was yet to give them!), and this would be the motivation for freely giving! We too must freely give when we remember that we have freely received. All that you have, your spiritual gifts, your natural talents, and even the things you own, have come because of God’s grace to you. You are not to be stingy in using what you have to serve the Lord by serving others. You are to serve freely.[8]
The lost and hurting people of this world will be more inclined to believe the truth of the gospel when its preachers not only proclaim it to them in Jesus’ name, but actively minister to their needs in Jesus’ power.
A third thing we see about their mission is . . .
3. How They Should Be Provided For (Matt. 10:9-10).
Jesus told them, “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs . . .” (Matt. 10:9-10a).
The word “provide” means to obtain or acquire, to procure a thing for one’s self. This, of course, isn’t to say that they were not to take anything along for the journey. They obviously would need to bring a tunic; they just weren’t to acquire two tunics. They would need to wear sandals; they just weren’t to obtain an extra pair. It was normal for a traveler to carry a walking stick; they just weren’t to procure a staff on which to carry burdens. The gold, silver, and copper all refer to different types of coins. Whatever they had in their money belt would be sufficient—they were not to obtain money along the way. Jesus urges them not to “stock-up” supplies for themselves in their work of proclaiming the kingdom to the Jews.
Why? One reason may be to keep His kingdom workers from becoming overburdened with distracting matters. As Paul says, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4). The urgency of the task required them to go immediately and obediently.
But Jesus gives another explanation at the end of Mattew 10:10, “. . . for a worker is worthy of his food“. Now don’t misunderstand. Jesus was not saying they could expect the people to provide for them. Jesus was saying that He would provide for them. They were on mission from God, which means they were working for God, which means God would take care of them. They were to go forth on mission fully trusting God to provide for all their needs. The principle here is that they need to trust the Lord and not worry and fret and try to make provision for every possible circumstance that may come up.[9]
Jesus will later rescind part of these instructions. In Luke 22, on the night before Jesus went to the cross, “… He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”” (Luke 22:35-36).
Now again, our situation needs to be understood a little bit differently than theirs. Obviously, when it comes to those who serve in the church as preachers and missionaries, God’s people have a duty to support them materially. Paul once wrote to the Corinthian believers and said,
Do you not know that those who minister in the holy things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:13-14).
But clearly, when it is to the benefit of the spread of the gospel, there are also times when we are called upon to minister at our own expense. Paul, for example, had a right to expect to be provided for in the work of his apostolic mission but he did not use this right when it would help spread the gospel. He went on to tell the Corinthians,
But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; … That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel (1 Cor. 9:15, 18).
A preacher must not charge people for preaching to them or ministering to them. As your pastor, you do not pay me to preach the gospel. I would preach the gospel whether you paid me or not. You do not pay me to care for your souls. I must shepherd God’s flock because I have been called to this ministry. I must do it whether I am paid or not. No, the way I think about it is this—we do not pay a pastor to do ministry; we pay a pastor so that he will be free to have the time and energy to do ministry. I am grateful for God’s generous provision through this church for me and my family that gives me the time and freedom to serve as your pastor.
James Montgomery Boice draws three principles that should guide our work today: (1) The gospel must be offered without price; (2) God’s people should support God’s ministers; (3) Ministers need to trust God for their support.[10]
Finally, Jesus tells the apostles . . .
4. What Response They Should Expect (Matt. 10:11-15)
Now this point is somewhat related to the previous one. Jesus told His apostles, “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out” (Matt. 10:11).
Travel in those days was dangerous business. And very often, the inns that a traveler might stay at were not places that it would be good for a man or woman of God to be. It would be appropriate for the kingdom preachers to expect to be given lodging during their mission in the home of those who would welcome their message.
They weren’t to just enter town and go to the first home that offered them hospitality, though. Jesus told them to make inquiry as to which household was “worthy”. “Unworthiness” is exhibited elsewhere in the Bible by such things as blaspheming and openly opposing the apostolic preaching of the gospel, rejecting God’s word, and refusing the offer of eternal life (Acts 13:45-46). Therefore, I believe we should understand “worthiness” to be determined by a genuine receptivity to the message the apostles proclaimed, and a genuine faith in the King they announced.
The apostles weren’t to find the nicest house, or the wealthiest family. They were simply to find those who were “worthy” because they favorably received the message. And once they found that worthy household, they were to stay with them the whole time they were in town. They weren’t to go bouncing around from house to house – “trading-up”, as it were.
There is, of course, a principle suggested for us in this; and that is that we be should be ready to practice good Christian hospitality, as lovers of the Savior’s cause, toward those who are serving His cause faithfully. We become a crucial part of the work when we do so. John once praised his friend Gaius by saying,
Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth (3 John 5-8).
Apparently though, Jesus let His apostles know that not everyone who seems “worthy” at first will actually prove to be worthy in the end. So He instructed them, “And when you go into a household, greet it.” (Matt. 10:12). In the Jewish culture, that greeting would be “peace” or “Shalom”. It’s a blessing of peace, prosperity, and overall well-being to those who live there. When we share the gospel with others, we look for people who are receptive to the gospel, and we come with an attitude of and message of peace. He went on to tell them, “If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you” (Matt. 10:13).
Their blessing of peace was very important; because it truly was “peace” they were proclaiming. Jesus Himself is the Prince of peace! But if the household proved, in the end, to be unreceptive toward the Savior the apostles proclaimed—if in the end, they practiced no genuine faith and repentance—then, the apostles were to view the blessing of peace as returning to them. This may be something similar to the strong words Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:6; “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”
We know, not only from reading the Scriptures but also from hard experience, that many people are very hostile to the message of Jesus Christ. And so, Jesus goes on to tell His apostles, “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matt. 10:14).
When a Jewish person in Jesus’ day visited a Gentile country, they would shake the dust off their feet upon returning to their land. It was a sign that they did not want to be associated with the Gentiles at all. The apostles were to treat the unbelieving Jews who rejected Christ as Gentiles—outside the covenant people of God. It is, in a sense, a way of giving the kingdom-rejecter what he wants—that is, your complete departure from him. But that departure is, itself, a form of judgment. In Luke 10:11, we’re told that Jesus tells them to say, “The very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.”
Paul the apostle once did a similar thing to the Jewish people of Corinth. When they opposed his preaching of the gospel in the synagogue and blasphemed against the Savior, he shook his garments and said, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6). It was a way of giving them what they wanted – which, itself, was a severe judgment from God.
Concerning those who so rejected the offer of the kingdom, Jesus added these very hard words: “Assuredly, 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!” (Matt. 10:15). Sodom and Gomorrah, of course, are ancient cities that were legendary for their sin—as every Jewish person would readily agree. And yet, when the kingdom is offered to one of the Jewish people’s own cities, and they coldly reject it, forcing the proclaimers of that message to dust their feet off and move on, then God will judge that city more severely than He will judge Sodom and Gomorrah! Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t hear the message of eternal life; but these other cities did, and rejected it. Shaking of the dust off their feet was a warning of judgment to those who rejected the message. In effect they were saying, “I just shared with you the good news of Jesus Christ, and you rejected Jesus as your Savior. I don’t want to be standing anywhere near you when God’s judgment comes.”
And again, I suggest there’s a lesson in this for us. We are to proclaim our Savior to the world around us, especially during the season in which His birth into this world is celebrated. And yet, we will often find that the message we proclaim is fought against and fiercely opposed. Despite that opposition, we are to faithfully proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ at every opportunity the Lord sets before us. But we cannot force people to accept it. They will either accept it or reject it. And if they reject it, we don’t literally shake the dust off our feet, that was a cultural sign that had meaning for the people of that day. But we do need to tell them, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and you just rejected Him as Savior. Do you have any idea how serious that is?”
Let’s make sure that, when we share the message of Christ, we ourselves are not offensive in the way we do so. But let’s also make very sure that we so clearly and lovingly give the message of the gospel that, if they reject anything, they are rejecting the clear offer of the gospel. Let’s make sure we never accommodate the message or change it in order to avoid offending the people who need to hear it. Let’s make sure we faithfully and truthfully proclaim the Savior.
The harvest remains plentiful. Christ calls for workers to recognize the harvest wherever He has placed us, and to be faithful proclaimers of the good news. Jesus has sent us to proclaim His gospel. How? Have a heart that trusts the Lord. Live a life of ministry and freely give of yourself. Make sure you are giving out the message clearly—preach Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Concentrate on those who are receptive. And give God the glory for it all.
[4] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 244.
[5] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 244.
This morning’s passage in Matthew 9 serves as a summary and transition. It concludes the miracle stories that demonstrate Jesus’ authority in Matthew 8 and 9, and it prepares for the sending out of the apostles in Matthew 10.
Remember that after Jesus preached the Sermon on The Mount in Galilee, He went down from the mountain into the region around the city of Capernaum, and performed many astonishing miracles there. He cleansed the leper and healed sick people. He gave sight to the blind and voice to the mute. He raised the dead. He commanded the waves and the wind. And He cast out demons. In all of it, He was proving that He was the Son of God in human flesh; and that, in Him, the Kingdom of God had come in fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures.
In between sets of miracles in these chapters, Matthew presented dialogues that Jesus had with various people about discipleship. The first dialogue was with two would-be disciples and focused on the cost of discipleship. The second dialogue was with the Pharisees and focused on who Jesus calls as disciples, that Jesus calls sinners, not those who think they are righteous. The third dialogue was with some of John the Baptist’s disciples and focused on leaving the old behind, that everything changed when Jesus came.[1]
After all the teaching Jesus had done and all the miracles He performed, in Matthew 9:34, the Pharisees didn’t know what to do with Jesus. They couldn’t deny His miracles. So, they chose instead to say, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” A blasphemous accusation. But Jesus gave the perfect response. He answers His critics by going about all of the cities and villages of Galilee teaching, preaching, and performing even more miracles.
We are going to look at this short passage in three sections. Jesus’ ministry, His compassion, and His call. Because this section serves as a transition from Jesus’ ministry to the ministry of His disciples, it calls us to consider how we will apply what we learn. Jesus ministered to people. What is your ministry? Jesus demonstrated deep compassion. What compassion do you show? Jesus calls disciples to respond to the need. How are you responding?
1. Jesus’ Ministry (Matt. 9:35)
Matthew 9:35 says, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” This summary statement is almost identical to Matthew 4:23. These two summaries bookend this section of Matthew and they highlight the threefold ministry of Jesus: teaching, preaching, and healing. Matthew 5-7 presented the teaching and proclamation of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 8-9 demonstrated Jesus’ healing ministry. Matthew has shown that both Jesus’ authority in teaching and His authority to do miracles could only have come from God Himself.
Matthew 4:23 said that Jesus was going about “in all Galilee,” and now Matthew 9:35 says that Jesus was going about “all the cities and villages.” “Galilee” signifies the general area covered, while “all the cities and villages” demonstrates the scope of Jesus’ ministry. The area of Galilee was about 40 miles wide and 70 miles long. Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century, tells us that there were around 200 cities and villages in that region with a total population of about 3 million people. Jesus went where people lived and worked. He didn’t just wait for people to come to Him, He went to them.
And what did Jesus do? Teaching, Proclaiming, and Healing. Notice that Jesus ministered to the whole person. He ministered to the ‘mind’ by teaching them, to the ‘will’ by preaching to them, and to the ‘body’ by healing them.
First, He taught them. We’re told that He was “teaching in their synagogues“. “Teaching” means providing systematic instruction. He taught them in “their synagogues“, which was the place in which the teaching from the scriptures occurred. The Jews came to the synagogue to hear the scripture read and have it explained to them. As a visiting Rabbi, Jesus would probably be invited to teach the scriptures. We see an example of this in Luke 4 when Jesus returned to Nazareth, entered the Synagogue on the Sabbath, stood and read from the prophet Isaiah, then sat down to explain what He read and how it was fulfilled in Him.
What kind of things did Jesus teach? My suspicion is that He taught many of the very same things that He taught in the Sermon on The Mount. There, Jesus explained the scriptures in light of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. By teaching the scripture, Jesus was able to show the people the true spiritual nature of the Kingdom of Heaven and its fulfillment in Him.
The second part of Jesus’ ministry was preaching the gospel of the kingdom. “Preaching” means proclaiming in the manner of a herald. The word “gospel” (euangelion; from which we get the word “evangel”) means “good news”. And so, Jesus – the King – was preaching the good news of the kingdom. He was telling people that His kingdom has come; and that He was offering it to all who would receive it; and that it was all wrapped up in Him as the promised King! All of this emphasizes the greatness of the theme of Jesus’ preaching. He went out to proclaim it to those who needed to hear this good news; and urged them to respond to it.[2]
Thirdly, Jesus’ ministry involved healing. He was “healing every sickness and every disease among the people”. In other words, He ministered to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people. We have already seen examples of this in the nine specific miracles recorded in Matthew 8-9. Jesus’ healing ministry was a visible sign that the words Jesus was teaching were truth and the kingdom Jesus was preaching had come.
As we’ve seen, the response to Jesus’ ministry was mixed. Some, like Matthew, believed and followed. Most were amazed at all He did and said, but it made no lasting difference in their lives. And, like the Pharisees, rejected Him openly and spoke against Him. But the responses did not deter Jesus from fulfilling the ministry that God had for Him on earth. He taught in the synagogues, proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom, and healed every kind of disease and sickness throughout all of Galilee. There would be no excuse for these people not to know that the Messiah had come, for He was in their midst.
2. Jesus’ Compassion (Matt. 9:36)
Matthew 9:35 tells us about Jesus’ ministry and Matthew 9:36 tells us about His motivation. “36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” The feelings that arose in Jesus as He saw the people were strong. The word translated here “moved with compassion” is the strongest word available to describe His feeling. The word is actually a reference to His stomach, bowels, and kidneys. We might say it hit Him in the pit of His stomach. It was a “gut-level” compassion.[3] The only times this word is used in the New Testament is with reference to Jesus—either to describe His own attitude toward the needs of people or to describe compassion in one of His parables.[4] That is the way that Jesus felt for the multitudes. A feeling much stronger than just a casual feeling of feeling “sorry for them.” Jesus felt for them, and He felt it physically in the pit of His stomach. He felt so much for them that it hurt and His spirit was not at rest because of what He saw.
Why such a strong feeling? Because, as Jesus describes it, the people were in a desperate condition. Our text describes them as “weary and scattered.” The NASB has “distressed and dispirited.” The ESV says, “harassed and helpless.” It literally means “torn and thrown down.”[5] The first word (esklmenoi) means “being flayed” or “having the skin torn” as might happen to a sheep wandering among the thorns and sharp rocks or having its hide torn by a wild beast. The second word (rhiptō) means to be thrown down prone and helpless,” as would an exhausted sheep or a person who had suffered a mortal wound.
They were “like sheep having no shepherd.” They were entrapped in a system led by the Scribes and Pharisees that had abused the Mosaic Law and left them wounded and wandering. Those who were supposed to be leading them were not leading them to God, for they were instead wolves leading them away from the true and proper worship of God. These sheep had no shepherd, and so had become battered, bruised, confused, and disheartened.
When lacking God-appointed leaders, God’s people in the Old Testament often appear as sheep without a shepherd (Num 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron 18:16). The shepherds of Israel, their religious and civil rulers, had long neglected the flock entrusted to them by God. Ezekiel 34 depicts God’s sheep as neglected, maimed, and scattered. Nobody seemed to care. The chapter goes on to say that the Lord Himself would seek out His sheep, to care for them and bring them back. The Lord Himself would shepherd the flock. Matthew’s Gospel proclaims that the Shepherd of Israel has come! What God was planning has come to pass in Jesus Christ.[6]
Jesus said in John 10,
7 … “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:7-11).
Jesus had great compassion on them in their helpless state. This is why He traveled throughout their cities and villages ministering to them—teaching them the truth of the Scriptures, proclaiming to them the good news of the kingdom of God, and healing them from every sickness and disease. The kingdom of God was at hand, the Messiah was present to redeem them from their sins.
If today, it is you who feel like the multitudes in Matthew 9, “weary and scattered,” torn and thrown down by sin and false religion, then to you, Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). Come to Jesus. He is full of compassion. He sees your wretched condition. He feels your pain. He is able to save you from sin and all its consequences because He is the Lord, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. He gave up His life on the cross and took it up again in His resurrection. His death atoned for sin, and His resurrection conquered death—once for all. Repent and believe in Him today. He will set you free and give you life, eternal life.
And for those of us who have been saved, what does this verse say to us? It speaks to us about how we see people and feel about their condition. What do you feel when you see people trapped in sin? What goes through your mind when you see people suffering from the immorality of our society? Is your heart full of self-righteousness and condemnation like the Pharisees? Or is it full of compassion like Jesus? Jesus was moved with compassion and if we are His, so should we. Jesus did not see helpless sinners as the enemy and neither should we. We should see them as helpless sheep who need the Good Shepherd.
People need the Savior. They need the Lord Jesus, which leads us to the third and final section of this passage:
3. Jesus’ Call (Matt. 9:37-38)
37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.38Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:37-38).
Jesus wanted His disciples to see the needs of the multitudes. They were sheep without a shepherd, and they needed to be led and guided. Shifting the metaphor from flock to field, Jesus now envisions a vast crop of ripe grain in need of harvesters.[7] There was a plentiful harvest, and there were few workers to bring it in. Jesus wants the disciples to recognize the need for workers.
Why does Jesus talk about a harvest? John MacArthur points out that in the Old Testament, the harvest is a picture of judgment.[8] Isaiah prophesies about judgments saying, gra“It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, And reaps the heads with his arm; It shall be as he who gathers heads of in … In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” (Isa. 17:5, 11). And the prophet Joel says, “12Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.13Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow–For their wickedness is great.14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:12-14). In Matthew 3, John the Baptist used this same picture to speak of Christ, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matt. 3:12). In Matthew 13, Jesus uses this picture of judgment in the parable of the wheat and the tares, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ …Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.” (Matt. 13:40 NKJV).”
So MacArthur says that Jesus sees the final judgment and calls laborers because the time is short, the need is great, and the consequences are eternal. “He preached to them and He healed them, because of His compassion, their condition, and the ultimate consummation.”[9]
This is no time to be idle. If we love Jesus and His kingdom’s cause, we should all be gripped with a sense of the urgency of the work that lies before us. As we see people around us every day, every one of these people is headed for judgment. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians,
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.11Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men … (2 Cor. 5:10-11).
But at the same time, passages like John 4:35-36 support the idea of the harvest being souls. “35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”
Jesus sees the field white for harvest. It’s so ripe that the laborers must move quickly to harvest it. And yet, the laborers are too few. And what Jesus wants for these poor, lost, needy people is laborers who will go out and labor in the field! The harvest is plentiful. Even in a day such as ours, a day of secularism that seeks to push Jesus’ kingdom agenda off onto the sidelines as “irrelevant”, even now, the harvest is plentiful. The potential for the cause of Jesus’ kingdom is great. The problem is never that the work ceases to be a relevant work. The problem is always that the workers are too few! If we would have Jesus’ compassion for the lost and needy people around us, then we would want what He wants for them – laborers![10]
We see a lost and dying world that is entrapped in sin and the people in it are bruised and battered by sin and its effects. They are confused and lost without hope. The majority of them will die in that condition, but there are some who are responding to God’s call and workers are needed to lead them to Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus said, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:38).
You might have expected Jesus to say, “So then; get out there into the field and start harvesting!” But that is not what He says. Instead, He calls us to pray. He says, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” This suggests the great scope of the work—the harvest field is great. Multiple thousands of people die every day without ever hearing about Christ. That is unacceptable. And you and I can make a difference. We can pray. We must pray. We must pray for our missionaries. We must pray for the nations. We must pray for God to send more workers into the world to spread the gospel.
Each of us is limited and can only touch so many lives. But Jesus wants us to be concerned with everyone—the whole field. So, when there are areas we cannot be personally involved in, yet see the need, we can still be involved by asking the Lord to send others. Most of our missions praying is directly along those lines. We pray for countries and people that need to be taught the Word of God and hear the gospel, and as we do God sends His workers there. We pray for His workers to go into the harvest.
In the original language, Jesus calls us to pray that laborers will be “cast out” or “thrown out” into the harvest. And this suggests to us a sense of urgency in the work. So we must pray because it is Lord’s work and it must be done in His way and in His timing and not ours. No one is fit to do the Lord’s work until they have sought Him first.
The opportunities are vast, for the harvest is plentiful, but to be used by the Lord you have to first see the need and have the compassion of Christ for sinners. Second, beseech the Lord for workers to meet those needs, and then third, do whatever the Lord wants you to do.
The Lord’s call to us is to pray with faith and trust in Him, to pray that workers will be sent out into the harvest. But then, you probably know what will happen if you begin to faithfully pray that the Lord would send workers out into His harvest. It might not be too long before your commitment to pray that prayer has changed you and has even prepared you for the harvest work that God has uniquely called you to! You too might soon hear His call to go!
As we look upon the lost and needy people of this world, may we go to them as Jesus went, serve them as Jesus served, see them as Jesus saw, feel toward them as Jesus felt, know about them what Jesus knew, want for them what Jesus wanted, and then pray for them as Jesus commanded.
