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.
Over by Christmas. That was the phrase doing the rounds in 1914 when WWI broke out. When those first soldiers signed up to head off to the battlefield, many anticipated the war would be won and they would be back in a matter of months. Indeed, they had been encouraged to sign up quickly to make sure they didn’t miss out on the action. Of course, looking back now, we can see how wrong this expectation was. And yet, at the time, the public, the press, even the military, all anticipated a short war that would come to a speedy resolution. Nobody expected the long, hard, bloody, road ahead. No one anticipated the war would last years, devastate a continent, and claim 20 million lives. When those first men were sent off to war in 1914, they expected to be home for Christmas. And yet, the reality was that not only would they not be home for Christmas, but many would never come home at all.
Across our two services today, we are going to be considering Matthew 10 together. In Guildford, we have slowly been working our way through Matthew’s Gospel, this record of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, written by one of his disciples. If you are familiar with the book, you will know that it contains five main sections of teaching, includes five sermons that Jesus preached during his ministry. The first is found in chapters 5-7 and is the most famous, often called the Sermon on the Mount. However, in Matthew 10, we find the second section of teaching, which could perhaps be entitled the Sermon on Mission. First, Jesus calls his twelve disciples together in 10:1-4 and then commissions them in 10:5-15, sends them out on their first mission as apostles, as his special messengers to the world. And we see in 10:6, for this first mission the apostles are told to only take the good news of the kingdom, this Gospel about Jesus, to the Jews. Maybe over lunch today you can chat together about why you think that was. Why you think these apostles were told not to go to the Gentiles at this time. However, as a result, this mission here in Matthew 10 could rightly be called a Little Commission, for it was only a temporary task covering a limited area. And yet, as many of you know, this Little Commission in Matthew 10 is not the only commission in Matthew’s Gospel. For at the very end, in Matthew 28, Jesus once again gathers these men together, and sends them out with authority, not on that occasion to the Jews for a short period of time, but to the ends of the earth until the end of the age. That mission in Matthew 28 is often called the Great Commission, and it is that same mission that you and I have today. The apostles may have started the task, but as members of Christ’s church, it is up to us to continue it. And as we seek to do so, these instructions in Matthew 10 can be helpful. For just as Jesus sent the apostles on this Little Commission to train them for the Great Commission to come in Matthew 28, you and I can learn much from his instructions here as we seek to continue the Great Commission together today.
Like those first soldiers who went to war in 1914, these 12 men then are sent out on a mission in 10:1-15. And yet, from the beginning, Jesus wants to warn them about what they will face. Perhaps some of these apostles were optimistic about their prospects, naive about what was ahead, thought they would be home for Christmas! After all, they were proclaiming the good news of God’s Kingdom coming near, of Jesus being the promised Messiah. Surely, they should expect to be welcomed by the Jews, celebrated when they began to share and speak this good news. And yet, as Jesus begins to explain from 10:16, he was sending them to fight a war that would not be over by Christmas. This conflict between the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of this world would last far longer, touch more nations, and cost many more lives than even the worst human wars in history, including WWI. And from the beginning, Jesus wants his soldiers to know this, to understand they are being sent into trouble and tribulation, into suffering and persecution. And yet, despite this, Jesus teaches there are two rays of light, glimmers of hope ahead. For in 10:16-23 we are told two things about this persecution: (1) The Purpose of Persecution (10:16-20); and (2) The Promise of Persecution (10:21-23). Let’s consider these two things together this morning.
1. THE PURPOSE OF PERSECUTION (10:16-20)
What did you expect when you signed up for this war. What did you expect when you became a Christian? If like myself, you grew up in a family that went to church, then you probably expected many to be delighted about the news that you too had become Christian: your parents, your siblings, your friends from youth group, the older church members who taught you Sunday School. You probably expected the news of your new faith to be an encouragement to many, and rightly so. And yet, expecting our Christian faith to cause others to celebrate, can be misleading. For while that may be true in here, that is not the case out there. While sharing about our faith will cause other Christians and the church to celebrate, we should not, we cannot, expect the world to do the same. In fact, the Bible is very clear that we should expect the opposite. For when we share our faith with those around us in the world, the Bible tells us we should expect to be persecuted. This should be obvious to us even from Jesus’ first few words in 10:16. Did you notice that image he gives us there is a strange one? Sheep in the midst of wolves. That’s the very opposite of what the Bible usually says. We are usually told of how dangerous it is for a few wolves to find their way into a flock of sheep. However, here Jesus reverses the imagery, and speaks not of a few wolves in a flock of sheep, but a few sheep in a pack of wolves. You can only imagine what kind of carnage that would cause, these sheep don’t stand a chance! They’ll be turned into a tasty meal in a few seconds! Given this, we might wonder how Jesus is elsewhere be called the Good Shepherd! Shepherds are supposed to keep their sheep from wolves, not send their sheep out among wolves! And yet, this is exactly what Jesus says he is doing.
Further, it is not as if Jesus is unaware what is going to happen, for in 10:17 he tells them that they ‘will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.’ This is a significant step up, escalation, of what Jesus has said before. Back in 10:14, he spoke of how they may be turned away from houses, have a door shut in their face. However, in 10:17, such social rejection has turned into formal accusations and even physical punishment, for they are to ‘be flogged in the synagogues’, flogging being the standard sentence in Jewish communities for breaking their traditions. Further, in 10:18, Jesus says this persecution will continue to grow and develop, for they will ‘be brought before governors and kings’, both of which are official positions of power held by Gentiles in the area. Here Jesus predicts there will be a steady increase in persecution: moving from social rejection in 10:14, to accusations and punishment within the Jewish community in 10:17, to standing trial before the powers of the day in 10:18. This path set before the apostles then is one of progressive persecution, gradual growth in opposition and oppression. This is what Jesus predicts, and this is the story Matthew and the rest of the New Testament tells. For while the apostles will not reach the peak of this persecution in this first mission, as we will soon see Jesus is right every step of the way. For example, in Acts 5:40, they are dragged before the Jewish council and flogged. And in Acts 25 the Apostle Paul is brought to stand before a Gentile governor Festus and King Agrippa. Before sending the apostles out on their first mission, Jesus warns them that there is long hard road of persecution ahead.
When we follow the story of Christianity beyond the New Testament and into church history, we see that after these apostles pass down this pathway of persecution, many will follow in their footsteps. When we consider the history of God’s people in this world, we can conclude with Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12, that it seems ‘everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’. Whether it is the social rejection of 10:14 or the legal penalties of 10:17 or even the death penalty of 10:21, we see that most Christians in most places in most eras of history have experienced persecution in some shape or form. We begin to understand why Peter can write in 1 Peter 4:12, ‘Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you... as though something strange were happening to you.’ For friends, it is not surprising, it is not strange for Christians to be persecuted. In fact, it is strange for Christians not to be persecuted. When we look through the pages of the New Testament, and the periods of history, we will find the normal context for the Christian life is one of opposition, persecution.
Friends, this is even true in our own country. We have a wonderful Christian heritage here in the UK. However, we must not allow national pride to stop us from acknowledging this country has rarely been kind to evangelical Christians. For around 1000 years after Christianity arrived on these shores, despite an occasional flicker of light, most were captive to Roman Catholic theology, kept from the good news of the Gospel. However, even when the Gospel was more widely available after the Reformation, there was much persecution. Almost every high point in the Christian history of our nation has been sealed with blood, achieved through suffering. In the 1500s, the great English Bible translator, William Tynedale, was strangled and burnt at the stake. The author of the Book of Common Prayer, Thomas Cranmer, was likewise executed. In the 1600s, the masterpiece of Pilgrim’s Progress was written during the 12 years that John Bunyan spent in jail for proclaiming the same news these apostles were sent out to preach. In the 1700s, preachers like Wesley and Whitefield suffered much at the hands of the crowds, indeed their colleague William Seward was literally beaten to death by a mob while trying to preach the Gospel. During that same century, Baptists like us could not vote, hold public office nor go to university. Even the popular preacher, Charles Spurgeon, in the 1800s faced fierce criticism in the press, which likely contributed to his struggle with depression and early death. Friends, like those battlefields in WWI, every inch of ground Christians have gained in the history of this country has been bought at the price of much blood, come at the cost of many tears. If in this last century, we have faced less persecution than before, we must see this as the exception, not the rule. For even in this country, it is no strange thing for Christians to be persecuted. And so, to paraphrase Peter, we should not be surprised if a fiery ordeal comes upon us today, as though something strange were happening to us.
As he puts it elsewhere then, Jesus teaches in 10:16-20 that in this world we will have trouble. And yet, we see that this persecution has a purpose. That this shepherd is not sending his sheep among wolves for no reason. O yes, in 10:17-18 he tells them to expect suffering, but at the end of 10:18 he explains why they will suffer. For he says, ‘On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them.’ Their opponents may think they are taking the apostles to trial so they can be defendants in the dock, but here we see, in such moments, they will actually be acting as witnesses. Far from suffering silencing us, it actually gives us a chance to speak. Rather than persecution being an obstacle, it's really an opportunity (Leithart). Persecution turns into a platform from which we can proclaim the hope of the Gospel. This is what Jesus drills down on in 10:19-20, where he tells us not to worry about what to say or how we will speak in these moments, for the Holy Spirit will give us the words we need. God himself will speak through us, even in the most difficult dangerous moments that we face.
Christian brother or sister, do you worry about what to say or how to say it when you have a chance to speak about Jesus? In one way, it’s natural to feel like that. Sometimes we won’t know what to say, because none of us have all the answers. Sometimes we won’t know how to say it, put it in a way that meets people where they are, causes no unnecessary offence. And yet, we see here that if we open our mouths in those moments, step forward and say something in some way about our faith, that God can speak through us.
Friend, when you get a chance to say something about the Gospel this week, will you take it? When a crack opens up in a conversation with a colleague or classmate, a friend or family member, will you step out into that opening? Will you say something like, ‘You know I was at church on Sunday and one of the songs talked about that...’ Or ‘That’s interesting what you say, because the Bible tells us...’ Or ‘I don’t know what you believe, but I’m a Christian and I believe that...’ Friends, when those cracks appear in conversations this week, will you step into them, take the opportunity to start a sentence, even if you don’t know how it is going to end? For if you do, God can speak through you in those moments, those times when you don’t quite know what to say or how to say it.
In 10:19 we see God can even do this when we are standing trial, arrested with our lives on the line. Friends, if we can trust him in a moment of great persecution like that, surely, we can trust him when we are having a coffee with a colleague, or chatting over lunch with a friend, or on a walk with our family. Surely, he can even trust him to speak through us when the conversation turns toward more controversial issues, when we start to experience the social rejection Jesus spoke of in 10:14, when eyebrows are raised, doors shut in our face, when we are called bigoted or intolerant. Friends, do you see now that far from such reactions being obstacles, they can actually be opportunities. That by causing the world around us to ask more questions, persecution can give us the chance to provide more answers. Persecution actually has a purpose, for it allows us to be Christ’s witnesses in this world.
2. THE PROMISE OF PERSECUTION (10:21-23)
So what did you expect when you became a Christian? Some of us, as we said earlier, expected a positive reaction. However, even if we initially got this from those who were closest to us, we have gradually learnt that we cannot expect this from everyone. That the world would rather we kept quiet about our faith, stopped spreading the news about Jesus. And yet, I know some of you never had the luxury of this gradual realisation. Instead, from the very beginning, you knew that Christianity would cost you much. Far from expecting those closest to you to celebrate, you knew they would see your new faith very differently. It brought an end to a long-term romantic relationship, or it meant being cut off by your parents, or having friends who blocked your number and no longer speak to you. And over the years, the relational difficulties haven’t got any easier. Perhaps your faith is still a flash point in your marriage, it sets your spouse off every time you go to church. Or it is still a point of controversy with a child, and they react every time Christianity comes up at the dinner table. For some, persecution isn’t merely something we face out there in the world, but it is even found within our homes. For some, persecution can be painfully personal.
And yet again, we see here in 10:21, that Jesus predicted that this would be the case. He predicted that persecution would not only tear families apart, but would even turn them against each other. For we read:[READ 10:21]. Here we see the persecution Jesus has been warning the apostles about progresses to its final stage. Remember it started in 10:14 with social rejection by strangers. Now, it reaches its ultimate end. In 10:21, there is a final escalation in the identity of the persecutors, it is no longer strangers or even members of our community, but our own family who are acting against us. Here we see that even families can be turned into wolf packs. That even our own homes are not safe from danger. As Jesus puts it in 10:22, ‘You will be hated by everyone because of me...’. Those who should love us most will end up hating us instead, because we believe in and follow Jesus. Further, there is an escalation in the result of this persecution, for here we read not merely that we will be rejected, flogged, or arrested, but that we will be put to death. Friends, see here that trusting in and sharing the good news about Jesus can cost you your friends, can cost you your family, can even cost you your life. Like those solders sent off to fight in WWI, we see here that many who are sent into this battle for Jesus, never come home, but lay down their lives in service of their king. And yet despite the extremity of this persecution, Jesus says that it not only has a purpose, but that it also has a promise. For in 10:22 Jesus says, [READ]. Like soldiers, enduring means to stand our ground, not giving way before the enemy. It means persevering despite persecution, enduring to the end, even if that end is death. And here Jesus reminds us of the reason why we must stand firm. For Jesus promises that if we hold onto him, stick with him, then we will be saved. No, not saved from persecution, in 10:21 we were told these apostles will be put to death. No, the salvation Jesus offers is far greater than being kept from temporary harm, rescued from momentary affliction. For each of us is facing something far worse than suffering during life. Christianity teaches that it is far far worse to suffer in eternity, and that this is what each one of us deserves for our sins.
If you are here this morning and are not yet a Christian, not turned from your sin and trusted in Jesus, do you see here what we Christians are holding on for? Why we are willing to endure persecution in this life? To even die for what we believe? See here in 10:22 the promise that we are trusting in. Jesus says if we put our faith in him, stand firm in him, then we will be saved. Saved not for a few years, or from earthly pain, but saved forever, saved from eternal punishment. Friends, all the powers in this world cannot undo that promise. There is no form of torture or torment that can take away this truth. Friend, if what Jesus says here is true, do you see why suffering for his name is worth it? Young people, your classmates at school may not celebrate you if you become a Christian, even your teachers may turn against you, and yet do you see here what you receive if you believe in Jesus? That if you start following Jesus, stick with Jesus, stand firm in him, then you will be saved. O Friend, do you see that no matter what cost you are made to pay in this world, that that prize, salvation in Jesus, is worth the price?
You see, these apostles were not the first to walk down this path of persecution. We’re all following their footsteps, yet they too were following in the footsteps of another. Before these apostles were flogged by the Jewish council, Jesus himself was delivered over to be beaten by the same. Before Paul stood before governors and kings, Jesus himself stood on trial before Pilate and Herod. Before any family had turned on one of his followers, Jesus himself was betrayed by one who was closer than a brother. Accused of crimes he didn’t commit, sentenced to death on a cross, Jesus knows what it means to be persecuted. And yet, just as we do not suffer without a purpose, you can be sure that Christ did not suffer without a purpose. That the Son of God did not permit men to drive nails through his hands and torture him for hours on a piece of wood for no reason. No, Jesus died to save his people. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus suffered so that you don’t have to. You see, no matter what cross you are forced to carry in this world, if you trust in Jesus, you will never carry a cross like his. No matter what death you might have to die in this world, if you believe in Jesus, it will never be the death that he died. Forsaken by God, afflicted by the Almighty, punished for all the sins of his people. The Bible is clear that each of us deserves to be punished, suffer for our sins, to experience God’s wrath against all our rebellion. Yet, on the cross Jesus took that punishment for all who turn from their sin and trust in him. Christians are willing to die for Jesus, because Jesus died for them.
If you are here and not a Christian, what is it you are looking for in life? Are you looking for the most comfortable life possible? If so, I hope I have made it clear you shouldn’t become a Christian. To be a sheep among wolves is hardly a recipe for an easy life. No, if what you are looking for this evening is a comfortable life, you will not find that by coming to Jesus. That’s not what Jesus offers. However, if you want the best life possible. A life of freedom and forgiveness. A life in which you are so sure of God’s love for you, that it doesn’t matter what the crowd or culture says. A life in which you are so filled by his power and strength, that you can live as a sheep surrounded by wolves. A life that is so sustained by his Spirit, that you can even go to a cross, or a noose, or a burning stake, with a smile on your face, because what you know is waiting for you on the other side. Then friend, come to Jesus, because that is the kind of life he offers. A life of suffering, that then gives way to salvation. O yes, a cross now, but then a crown. Trouble and tribulation in this life, but then all we could hope for in the next. For Jesus promised those who endure to the end will be saved. That if we hold onto him on earth, we will have him forever in heaven.
In 10:22, Jesus gives us a promise that helps us persevere under persecution. And he quickly follows it up with another in 10:23. First, he reminds us not to needlessly throw our lives away. As he said in 10:16, we need to have the wisdom of a serpent and the innocence of a dove, to be both prudent and pure, need to walk wisely as well as faithfully in this world. Like those soldiers in WWI, sometimes we need to dig in and die and sometimes we need to fall back to fight another day. If we are being persecuted in a city, Jesus says we can flee to the next. We need not throw our lives away if there is no need. And the importance of survival, is underlined at the end of 10:23. That last line on the coming of the Son of Man is difficult to interpret. However, I think it is best to read it as Jesus offering his apostles, offering us all, hope. You see, while the persecution against them will be severe, will see many put to death, this mission will still be going on when Jesus returns. When it is time for the Son of Man to come back at the end of the age, he will still have messengers carrying out this mission. They may have suffered greatly, and yet some will have survived. This world is not be able to wipe out all of Jesus’ messengers. For even today, after 2000 years of persecution, Christians are still going from town to town, sharing the Gospel of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, do you see how this provides hope to us today? You see, like these disciples, we know we too will likely soon face growing persecution. Our culture is increasingly clashing with our Christian views on a whole range of issues, from sexuality, gender and abortion, to salvation only being found in Jesus Christ. And this confrontation isn’t getting any cooler. Things are heating up. We seem to be quickly leaving behind a period of tolerance for Christianity in this country and moving into an era of increasing social rejection, perhaps in the future legal accusations, and even physical persecution. And yet, brothers and sisters, we see here in our passage, that no matter how big this next wave of persecution is, it will come and go like every wave has before it. It will break on the beachhead of Christianity with a great crash, and then fizzle out and flow back into the ocean from which it came. No matter how long suffering may last or even how many people are put to death, Jesus’ mission in this world will continue. Jesus’s church will endure, through whatever storms this world may send its way. As the Reformation leader Theodore Beza famously put it, the church is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.
O friends, let us not think this anvil of Christ’s church will finally crack in the next few years. That after all the hammer blows of century, after century, after century, that Christ’s church will finally break now. If the bloodbaths of the Colosseum, if the stranglehold of Roman Catholic theology, if the fires of the Reformation, if the centuries of political persecution and social rejection have not managed to bring the church down by now, let us not think that it will fall in our lifetime. Even if the coming persecution fells like an unstoppable force, in the church we know that it meets with an immovable object. It is but as a wave of water breaking against solid rock.
O brothers and sisters, did you not see that blue sign on the wall as you came to the entrance of the building this morning. Perhaps you have been coming here so long you have stopped looking at it. For over 300 years a Baptist church has met here. For 300 years God has sustained his people, through ups and down, revivals and setback, opposition and persecution, famine and plague, war and death. If God has sustained us for the last 300 years, why should we doubt him for the next 30? Even if this local church, this independent outpost of Christ’s kingdom should close, are there not thousands of the faithful meeting up and down this land, whether in Guildford, or 100 other places, who will continue this fight long after we are gone, who will endure even after we have met our end.
For 2000 years ago Jesus promised his church would stand. He promised in Matthew 16, that he would build his church and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. He promised in John 16:33, ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. Here in Matthew 10, Jesus promises that when the Son of Man returns, that his servants will still be spending the good news of his kingdom on this earth. That his messengers will still be carrying out this mission that you and I are charged to carry out today.
ALEXANDER ARRELL