This sermon was preached to Bradford-on-Avon Baptist Church on 6 November 2022. The audio recording of the sermon can be found below along with the transcript.
Knowing what we should do is one thing, doing it is another. When we go to the dentist, we are often told to floss our teeth twice a day. And yet, how many of us follow such a regular regime? Or when we go to the doctor, we are told to exercise for at least 2.5 hours a week. And yet, if you looked back over last week, I wonder whether you managed to meet that goal? Knowing what we should do is one thing, and yet doing it is another. Even if we understand how we should act, in the pressures and busyness of everyday life, we often fail to do so. That can also be true in our Christian lives, can’t it? If you have been a Christian for a while, and you have regularly been sitting under the teaching of God’s Word as well as reading it yourself, then I imagine you often know how you should act, usually understand what God wants you to do. Your problem isn’t knowing what to do, it is actually doing it.
This morning in 10:1-15 we heard that it was our mission to take the Gospel to the world, that we are sent out like these apostles to proclaim the good news of Jesus to those around us. And yet, as Jesus teaches in 10:16-23, as we do this, we should expect not celebration, but persecution. To be a Christian in this world is to be a sheep among wolves. Wherever we find ourselves on the spectrum of persecution, whether it is rejection or execution, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, ‘everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’. And I am afraid tonight as we return to Matthew 10, this prognosis hasn’t improved. Friends, our prospects in this world haven’t got any brighter since I spoke to you this morning. In fact, in 10:24-25 we are again reminded that we can only expect persecution, for we read: [READ]. As Christians, we follow in the footsteps of one who, as we thought this morning, was rejected and betrayed, arrested and flogged, falsely accused and nailed to a cross. Given that we are disciples of a persecuted teacher, followers of a suffering Saviour, it would hardly be reasonable for us to expect smooth sailing. If the one we follow died on a cross, then surely we too must expect to take up our crosses.
However, in the middle of all these dark predictions, we had two glimmers of hope this morning. First, in 10:16-20, Jesus said rather than silencing us, persecution actually provides a platform from which we can proclaim our faith. Jesus wants us to speak out in such situations, to witness for him in this world. Then, in 10:21-23, he gave a promise, said if we stand firm, endure to the end, then we will be saved. And so, after this morning, we all know what we must do. We must speak out for Jesus even when we are persecuted, we must hold on to Jesus and endure to the end. We all know what we should do. And yet, this doesn’t mean we are going to do it. As we said, knowing what to do is one thing, doing it is another. To actually do it, we need to have the motivation, the determination, to overcome obstacles and objections, to keep going even when its tough. And so, Jesus spends the rest of Matthew 10 convincing, persuading, motivating us to be faithful witnesses in this world, to endure to the end. And he does this by dealing with two reasons why we may hold back, he clears away two obstacles that keep us from sharing our faith, from standing firm: (1) Do not fear the present (10:26-31); and (2) Do not forget the future (10:32-42).
1. DO NOT FEAR THE PRESENT (10:26-31)
Many tried to have fun with fear this week, dressed up at Halloween so they could spook and scare their friends. However, those who have tasted true fear, real terror, know it is no laughing matter. The fear children can cause by dressing up may make us jump for a moment. But true fear, real terror, can cause our bodies to give way under us, our minds to break due to the strain, and can even cause someone to wish for their own death. Fear is a powerful force that can do terrible things. As the Puritan John Flavel explained in the 1600s, ‘Among all the creatures God hath made, man is the most apt and able to be his own tormentor; and of all the scourges with which he lasheth and afflicteth both his mind and body, none is found so cruel and intolerable as his own fears...fear inflicts the deepest and most dangerous wounds upon the mind of man...the grief we suffer from evil would be light and easy, were it not incensed by fear...when the church is in the storms of persecution, and almost covered with the waves, the stoutest passengers in it may suffer as much from [the fear within them], as from the storm [of persecution around them]’. Well, having sent his apostles out into a storm of persecution, Jesus knows then he must deal with their fears, for it is surely their fears that are the greatest obstacles to them being faithful for him in this world. Given Jesus has told them they will rejected and flogged, arrested and accused, betrayed and put to death by their family, we can understand why he immediately, from 10:26, takes time to address their fears about these things. Did you notice that three times in this section, Jesus tells them not to fear? In 10:26, 28, and 31, Jesus says do not fear, have no fear, fear not. And each time he gives a reason for his command, explains why these apostles need not fear the present, why we need not fear being faithful to Jesus today. Let’s look at these three reasons together.
A. Because the truth will stand the test of time (10:26-27)
First, in 10:26-27, Jesus says we should not fear because the truth will stand the test of time. 10:26 reads: [READ]. People often talk today about being on the right side of history. And there is much to commend in this. If we have made mistakes in the past, we should do our best not to continue these in the present. Whether relating to slavery, racism or sexism, we should be thankful that there have been some positive developments in our society over the years. And yet, this idea of being on the right side of history is often used against Christianity. It is used to argue that our beliefs, whether it is on sexuality and gender or salvation is only found in Jesus, are outdated, redundant, part of the past. We are told to get with the times, keep up with society’s progress, to stay on the right side of history by agreeing with what our culture today says about these issues today. And yet, we see Jesus actually uses the same argument to arrive at a very different conclusion. For in 10:26, he explains that at the end of history, the truth will come out. Nothing will remain hidden, but everything will be uncovered. At the end of history, there will be no secrets. The truth will be seen as true. And so, in 10:27 Jesus concludes: [READ]. Jesus tells his apostles, tells us, to publicly proclaim what he says, teach what God has told us, because these are the truths that will stand the test of time. If at the end of history, no aspect of God’s truth will be hidden, why would we hide it now? If at the end of time, everything God said is brought into the light before all, then why would we only whisper it in the dark now? Why would we hold back from publicly saying in the present what will be seen by all in the future? The only way to stay on the right side of history, to ensure we are vindicated by the judgment of eternity, is to say what God says, to tell the truth, knowing that it is only the truth that can stand the test of time.
Christian, isn’t this a comfort to us in our current climate? Many of us feel under pressure in the public square, in the workplace, even in our homes to change what we believe, make Christianity more acceptable to those around us. Perhaps you seen in the news this week, the Bishop of Oxford apologised for the historic Christian teaching on sexuality and called the church to develop and evolve its views to reflect society around us. In short, he warned we are on the wrong side of history unless we keep up with culture. And yet, Jesus says the very opposite here, warns us not to end up on the wrong side of history by accommodating to the whims and wishes of our culture. The Bishop of Oxford wants us to consider whether our teaching is acceptable. But Jesus tells us we only need to ask whether it is true. For if it is true, if God has revealed it, then we should not fear to repeat it. For it is truth that stands the test of time. Why would we fear publicly proclaiming now, what God will declare to be true at the end?
B. Because our God is greater than our enemies (10:28)
Or perhaps better God is scarier than our enemies. You see, there is one very simple answer why we fear speaking the truth in the present, fear witnessing for Jesus in this world. And it is because, as Jesus has just said, it can lead to arrest, flogging and even death. It is because we fear the consequences of speaking out, of standing firm, that so often we fail to do so. And yet, Jesus deflates these fears with a simple argument. For in 10:28, he says: [READ]. In one sense you see the problem isn’t that we have too much fear, its that we have too little fear. Or rather, we fear the wrong thing, fear the wrong person. Jesus says fearing men in such moments, is like going for a skydive and being afraid of catching a cold. Or going for a bungie jump and being afraid of getting sunburn. If you are going to fear anything when jumping from a great height, you should fear plunging to your death, not catching a cold or getting sunburn! And the same is true here in 10:28. If you are going to fear anyone, it should be the God of heaven, not the men of earth. For, in the end, the worst that men can do is kill you, which is nothing compared to what God can do, for he can destroy body and soul in Hell. When we compare earthy persecution with eternal punishment, then we see who we should really fear! It was this argument that helped the famous martyr Polycarp endure to the end. Polycarp was likely killed in 155 AD, during an early wave of persecution against Christians. At 86, he was extremely old for the time, and so, the Roman official who was supposed to sentence him to death took pity and pleaded with him to renounce Jesus and receive a pardon. However, Polycarp refused. When the official went on to explain to Polycarp that if he did not renounce Jesus, he would be burnt alive, Polycarp is believed to have said, ‘You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment...’. Polycarp endured to the end, because of what Jesus says in 10:28. He knew we need not fear a fire that burns for time in the present, if we know of a fire that will burn forever in the future. Far worse than being persecuted for following Jesus on earth, is being punished for denying him in eternity. Jesus says here in 10:28 that that is what we should really fear. Or as the early church father Augustine put it when preaching on this passage: ‘Fear not then, O Martyr, the sword of thy executioner; fear only thine own tongue, lest thou do execution upon thine own self, and slay, not thy body, but [slay] thy soul.’
This point is easy to understand, and yet it can sometimes fall a little flat today. For unlike Polycarp, we are not standing trial, being threatened with death. In fact, sometimes it can seem like it would be easier if we were. If we were backed into a corner and had no choice but confess allegiance to Jesus. Sometimes it can seem like it would be easier to confess Christ in a colosseum, than to do so in a school canteen. Somehow it seems easier to go to the gallows for Jesus, than to casually bring him up in a conversation with our neighbour. As Christians, it is possible for us to feel like we could die for Jesus, and yet still struggle to live for him in our everyday lives. Unlike martyrs like Polycarp, it is not fear of death that we need to grapple with, but rather it is the fear of the awkward pause, the offended glance, the rude reply, our ruined reputation. Those are the fears that keeps us from confessing Jesus, from standing firm in this world. And yet, do you see that if this argument is true of one kind of fear, it is also true of all others? Just as we need not fear the punishment of men when we consider the punishment of God, we need not fear losing the approval of men when we consider losing the approval of God, or fear being rejected by men if we compared it to being rejected by God. God is greater, bigger, more important than any man. So why don’t we live like it? Instead, to borrow the title from Ed Welch’s wonderful and highly recommended book on the topic, why do we live as if ‘people are big and God is small’? Friends, Jesus says we need to step back and get a bigger view of our God! For it only fear of God that can drive out the fear of men. It is only when we see how important God is, that we understand how unimportant everyone else is, and so fearlessly live for him, not them.
C. Because the Father will care for his children (10:29-31)
In 10:29-31, Jesus says we need not fear because the Father will care for his children. In a single verse we move from hearing how God destroys body and soul in hell to how he oversees the flight of each sparrow and knows the hairs of every one of our heads. Jesus teaches us that the God who is to be feared above everyone else, is the same God who cares for us more than anyone else. The God who should be feared, is the God who is our Father. In 10:29, Jesus uses the examples of sparrows to show this. At the time, a sparrow was the cheapest animal in the market, it would cost only a penny to buy two of them. And yet we are told that God watches over, cares for, each and every sparrow, that ‘not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.’ That means, not a single sparrow dies apart from God’s permission, outside of his control. God is sovereign even over the death of each and every sparrow. He not only sees it, but he also oversees it. And so Jesus challenges us to consider, how much more is God not concerned with and sovereign over what happens to us! If he cares for the least valuable creature in creation, surely he will care for us, his children, who in 10:31 we are told ‘are of more value than many sparrows.’ Jesus illustrates the completeness of our Father’s care there in 10:30, by saying, ‘even the hairs of your head are all numbered.’ Lord willing, in a few weeks’ time, my wife Sarah and I will welcome our first child into the world. Sarah’s now 36 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately, she wasn’t well this week, which was why she couldn’t come along with me today. We are really excited to meet the baby, and I am sure that when we do, we will spend hours looking at it, noticing every freckle, watching every little change as it grows up. And yet, even if we are as observant as we could be, we will never be able to watch over our child, like God oversees his children. We could never count every hair on its head, know it at such detail. And yet, God see and oversees his children that closely.
Christian, that is how carefully God watches over your life. There can be no accidents, no chances, no mistakes. Not a single hair can fall from your head without God noticing. Of course, none of this means you won’t suffer. After all, sparrows fall to the ground every day. And yet, they never do so apart from God’s plan and purposes. God orders their lives to both begin and end. And he does the same with ours. Our enemies cannot touch a hair on our heads, apart from God’s plan and permission. O yes, we may suffer, in fact we will suffer, and yet do you see here that even when we do, we are never alone. Even when we are afflicted, we are never abandoned, for our great and good Father sees, and oversees, everything that happens in our life. We will never have a health problem, never have a family tragedy, never have a financial difficulty, never undergo a period of persecution, that is outside of our Father’s control, that is not part of his sovereign care, will not work for our good and his glory in the end. Brothers and sisters, if no sparrow ever falls to the ground apart from our Father, then do you see no child of God can ever suffer, ever shed a tear, ever go through difficulties or persecution, apart from their Father. See that we need not fear what lies in the road ahead, for our Father oversees every detail, looks after us every step of the way.
2. DO NOT FORGET THE FUTURE (10:32-42)
In the rest of the chapter, Jesus encourages us to share our faith and stand firm in the present, by telling us not to forget the future. In many ways, this is the overarching theme, big idea of the whole chapter. We’ve already seen it in 10:26 and 10:28. However, it takes centre stage from 10:32-42. While this is most of our passage tonight, we’ll actually cover it more briefly, because in many ways, Jesus makes the same point over and over. He puts it most simply at the start in 10:32-33, where we read: [READ]. Here Jesus teaches what we say about him, is what he will say about us. What we do with Jesus, is what he will do to us. If we say we do not know him on earth, then he will say he does not know us in heaven. That is the key point of the section: what we do with Jesus now, will determine what we get from Jesus then. And so, as we live in the present, we must not forget the future. As we make decisions now, we must not forget the consequences of them for then. Here Jesus turns the old adage around. Instead of saying we can be too heavenly minded for any earthly good, he teaches we must be heavenly minded if we are to be any earthly good, that we can only live faithfully in the present if we live in light of the future.
As I said, this principle is repeated in the rest of the chapter. We see it in 10:34-37, where Jesus again explains that his coming will divide families, turn even the closest of relations into the fiercest of enemies. And he warns us when this happens, we must take care whose side we choose. If we pick our family rather than Jesus, if we prioritise them, love them more than we love Jesus, then we show we are not worthy of him, and so we will not have him in the end. The same point is made again in 10:38. If we shun suffering in this life because we think comfort is more valuable than Christ, then we will get what we want. We will get a comfortable life on earth, and then a Christless life in eternity. It is the same in 10:39: if we refuse to let go of our life in the present, then we will lose it in the future. And yet, if we give it up, sacrifice our life now, we will receive real life then. Again and again, Jesus says as we live in the present, we must not forget the future.
This not only applies to how we treat Jesus, but by extension, how we treat his people. For in 10:40, Jesus explains to the apostles, ‘Whoever receives you receives me...’. And then, in 10:41-42, applies this to three other groups. In 10:41, he says those who receive a prophet (one who speaks for God) and then a righteous person (one who lives for God) will both be rewarded accordingly. And in 10:42, concludes: [READ]. Having begun with the apostles in 10:40, Jesus now finishes with ‘little ones’, the least of his people as it were, and says that any reception of or service to them in the present will reap a reward in the future. Even the smallest act of service, giving a cup of water, the most basic act of hospitality in that hot climate, even the smallest act of service to the least of God's people, these little ones, will not go unnoticed. Jesus says what we do with him and what we do for him, in the present, will reap a reward in the future.
Did you not how Jesus finishes this sermon on mission there in 10:42? Three times he uses that phrase, ‘Truly I say to you’ in the chapter to emphasise a key point, highlight an important truth. And all three times it is to remind these apostles, in the midst of persecution in the present, that they must not forget the future. In 10:15, Jesus says: [READ]. In 10:23, he teaches: [READ]. And here in 10:42 he concludes: [READ]. Throughout this whole sermon, Jesus teaches we can find the strength we need for the present by remembering the hope we have for the future.
Friends, do you see here that a faithful life in the present, is one that entirely depends on the future? That the Christian life is one where you take all that you have now and stake it, bet it, invest it, in what you will have then. Every decision we make in the Christian life should be driven by our belief in eternity, our hope for the future, our trust that there is a God who will judge this world and reward the righteous. After all, it would be crazy for Jesus to send these apostles out as sheep in the midst of wolves, if there was no such thing as eternity. It would be foolish for them to die for Jesus if death was the end. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if there is no resurrection, if death is the end, then we Christians are of all people most to be pitied, for to be a Christian is to stake everything on eternity. All around us, people are following a materialistic secular worldview, a theology that says the present is all we have. Friends, do you see that if we being to buy into that, if we accept that premise, even just intuitively or instinctively, if we begin to forget about the future and start simply focusing on the present, then we have lost the war without fighting a single battle, we have already accepted the terms of our own surrender. For the Christian life is one that depends on the future, what we do now only makes sense because of what we are hoping for then.
Christian, do you believe in eternity? Really believe in it? Is it more real to you than what you can see with your eyes, or touch with your hands? Are you as certain that there is a heaven and a hell as you are that there is a place in England called Bradford-on-Avon? Are you as confident that there will be a new heavens and a new earth as you are that the sky above you is blue and the earth beneath you is brown? Do you believe, really believe in the future? For if you do, see here that that will make a difference to how you live in the present! Temptation will lose its taste, for you will be hungering for the better things to come. Persecution will lose its power, for you will know that death is but the doorway to the life to come. Fears in the present will be extinguished, deflated, for you will realise that there are eternal things at stake, that there is a heaven to win and a hell to avoid. We can only live faithfully in the present, if we do not forget the future.
Has this not always been the case for God’s people? Hey Noah, why are you building that huge boat Noah? What use is that old thing going to be for you and your family in the middle of this desert? And yet, Noah was faithful to God in the present, because he remembered the future, knew that judgement was coming on the world. Hey Abraham, why have you left the land of your fathers? What chance do you have of starting a new family with a barren wife at your age? And yet, Abraham was faithful anyway because he trusted what God said about the future was true, that his offspring would inherit a land and become many nations. Friends, the same is true for us today. Christian, why do you spend Saturdays getting that Sunday school lesson ready for a few kids? Church members, why are you investing so much time and energy and finance in that old chapel off the main street? Young person, why do you insist talking about Jesus, refusing to follow the crowd, holding on to what the Bible teaches? Friends, every one of those decisions makes no sense in the present, except for the hope that we have for the future.
That is the way of the Christian life. Indeed, that is the way Christ lived his life. Here in 10:37, Jesus said it is by remembering the future that we will take up our cross in the present. That’s the first time the cross is mentioned in Matthew, just a little hint of what is soon to come. Jesus not only tells his apostles to take up a cross, but he shows them how to do it by taking it up himself. In Matthew 27, he will be nailed to that tool of torture, fixed to that execution device, and suffer and die for the sins of his people. Bearing the wrath of God for all who will turn from their sin and trust in him. And how was it that Jesus was able to do this? What was it that motivated him to suffer and die for the sins of the world? To endure to the end? To remain faithful in the present? Well Hebrews 12:2 makes clear it was because we did not forget his future. That it was ‘for the joy that was set before him [that he] endured the cross, despising the shame.’ It was because he knew he would take his life up again, that he could lay it down. It was because he knew that he would be honoured and rewarded by the Father that he could be mocked and despised by men. Jesus overcame all the fear, endured all the pain, all the persecution of this world and punishment of God, because he did not forget the future. Jesus accomplished his mission, remained faithful in the present, because he remembered the future. And he says here that we can go and do the same. That we can overcome fear in the present, endure to the end, be bold witnesses for him in this world, if we keep our eyes fixed on the future, if we hold onto the hope of heaven, even in the midst of great persecution.
ALEXANDER ARRELL