The Worthy and The Worthless

Matthew 10:34-42

Immanuel – 5/19/24

What a blessing it was to hear from one of our Elders, Josiah Stevens, last week! While you were all here listening, I was simultaneously watching the livestream. How deeply I appreciate his words. In his opening remarks he said, “I desire to be God’s instrument to increase the church’s value and understanding of [God’s] word.” I am confident that while Josiah was preaching, God met his desire.

I praise God that He has blessed Immanuel with Josiah and His leadership, as well as our other Elders: Dave Fuller, Dave Nauss, Geoff Christian, and Eric Moore. Yes, truly, God’s blessing is upon this church!

Josiah’s desire is also my desire for this morning. May our hearts burn within us as we come before the very words of the King of kings and Prince of Peace.

Speaking of Jesus’ words, let us remember that chapter 10 is the second of five great discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. Each discourse is an extended – and dare I say extremely powerful – teaching of Christ’s.

In this discourse, Jesus is teaching His 12 Apostles how they are to gather in the harvest, how they are to be faithful ambassadors of Christ. How clear it is that when Jesus sends them out, their mission is filled with danger; and yet its risks are far outweighed by the everlasting glories abounding in the mission. Yes, Christ is making His disciples an extension of His own purpose.

That’s exactly what Jesus means when, in verse 24, He said, “A disciple is not above His teacher, nor a servant above His master.” Jesus is our great teacher, the Lord of our lives, thus He summons us to follow Him and to take up His purpose.

As we have seen over the past couple of weeks, these summons are filled with dangers. In verse 16 Jesus says He sends His disciples out as sheep among wolves. He then tells them they will be persecuted, betrayed and hated – even within the context of family. In verse 23 we see Jesus say that there will even be times the disciples will have to flee.

Yet in verses 24-33 Jesus encourages His disciples that come what may, our sovereign God holds them fast in His perfect plan. Everything they will experience; Jesus has already experienced. And no matter what they experience – no matter what you experience – the Father holds His beloved children secure, tenderly caring for us, providing, eager to lavish with glory and honor.

The Apostle Paul perfectly captures the spirit of what Jesus is saying:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:17-18

In light of this eternal weight of glory…

Read vs 34

Look at those words, “I have not come to bring peace to the earth.” These words abound with revelation; for this is not something a normal human can say. Does this not imply that Jesus chose to come into the world for a purpose, that He pre-existed His natural birth? Here again, is another glimpse into Jesus’ divinity and His eternal existence. He is truly man and He is truly God.

The God-man did not come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword. People who say they interpret the Bible literally might stumble here; because if Jesus is talking literally, then this means that Jesus entered the earth to bring a sharp, metal blade commonly used in ancient warfare. Of course, Jesus is speaking in symbols, metaphors. He uses the symbol of a sword to say that He has come to bring division, strife, and struggle.

But wait! Did He not say in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). On top of that, isn’t Jesus called the Prince of Peace?

An ancient prophesy foretold that Jesus would bring peace.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. -Isaiah 9:6

If Jesus is the Prince of Peace, if He says that it is blessed to be a peacemaker, then how can He simultaneously claim that He has not come to bring peace, but a sword?

Here I think it would be helpful for us to hear His words as recorded by the Apostle John.

Turn to John 3:16-21

We saw it implied earlier in Matthew, and John states it explicitly elsewhere, Jesus is the Light of the World. Sinners loving the darkness hate it when the Light exposes their works as evil. They rage against the light.

Using a different metaphor, Paul states the same truth.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? -2 Corinthians 2:15-16

If you have trusted in Jesus, if you have received forgiveness and redemption from Christ, you are in the light. You have become a fragrance of life to life and death to death.

Meaning, that if you are around anyone else who is also in Christ, then you smell like life to them. Conversely, if you are around anyone who hides in the dark, still clinging to their sins, then you smell like death.

Your presence is a constant reminder of their separation from God and their impending judgment. You remind them that hell is coming – and they will hate you for it. They want nothing to do with your fragrance of death. You are a stench to them, an offense.

How clearly Scripture testifies – here and elsewhere – that the truth of Jesus has a powerful dividing effect. His words sift humanity into two camps: believers and unbelievers, for and against, forgiven and condemned.

So the sword that Jesus has come to bring is one, not of warfare, but of truth. Truth is divisive because it means that there is an objective wrong and an objective right. If something is objectively true, then it is true regardless of your experiences, regardless of your feelings, regardless of your desires. And if you are going to be in the truth – or in the light – then there is a division between you and those who reject the truth.

So it is with the truth of Christ. The reality of Jesus divides people, causes disunity, tears apart, as people come to different conclusions about the identity, purpose, and calling of Jesus Christ, the God-man.

The disciples of Jesus are given this sword, and we are commissioned to proclaim it, not recklessly or arrogantly, but in love and with humility. Even still, such a truth will cut so deeply, that even families may be torn to pieces.

Read vs 35-36

The reality of Jesus will divide families, so much so that “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” How true and terrible are these words of Christ!

On March 9th, 2022, news broke that a Kurdish female was found, brutally stabbed to death, in northern Iraq. Her murder took place near the Erbil international airport, in a predominantly Christian district of Erbil. Just a few weeks earlier, Eman Sami Maghdid – choosing the Christian name “Maria” for herself – announced on social media that she had recently converted from Islam to Christianity and was eagerly preparing to be baptized.

Quoting the news outlet Asia News, “It appears that she was punished by her family for leaving Islam, specifically for being emancipated and embracing the Christian religion; in short, she was ‘guilty’ of apostasy.” For the crime of embracing Christianity, Maria’s uncle and brother murdered her, calling it an honor killing. Maria was 20 years old.1

Families – places meant to be filled with love and security, with peace – brooding with division and danger; all because some members of that family have been gripped by the word of Christ.

Maria’s story is just one in a sea of countless others like it. A little over two weeks after Maria was martyred, I flew into that same Erbil airport. I met with Iranians who had been disowned by their families and others that had to flee their hometown for fear of persecution.

Of course, these examples come from Islamic lands, and here in America we do not face such dangers. But I know of countless families, many of your families, that have divided over Christ. You love your family members, you want them to know Jesus, you want them to be with you in eternity; but they reject the gospel, they reject the conversation, and now your relationship is marked with an ever-present tension. Some of you have been written off by your own children: I have seen the anguish it brings you.

Jesus’ words are as true now as they were when He first uttered them.

Read vs 37

Jesus is saying, your commitment to me must be even greater than your commitment to your family. The truth of Christ, the person of Christ, we must hold as more valuable than your father, your mother, your spouse, even your own children. For which one of your family members can save your soul?

As the theologian Leon Morris writes:

“No mere man has the right to claim a love higher than that for parents or children; it is only because He is who He is that Jesus can look for such love. The words imply that His is more than a merely human teacher and leader. Of the one who lacks this love for Him He says that he is not worthy of me. We must not forget that Jesus knew what it was to experience misunderstanding in the family, for His own thought Him mad (Mark 3:21). Jesus is not asking from His followers something He did not know for Himself.”2

Absolutely, the Bible testifies that we are to love our families; that we are to hold them with the utmost care and respect. In fact, one of the 10 Commandments instructs us to honor our father and mother. Love your children. But that love cannot supersede your love for Christ.

Let’s consider the inverse of this. If you fear that by following Jesus, you will lose family members – and therefore decide not to follow Jesus – then, as Jesus puts it, you are not worthy of Him. If you love your son or daughter more than you love Jesus, you are not worthy of Jesus. If your life is so oriented around your children to the neglect of Christ, you are not worthy of Christ.

The truth of Jesus is more valuable than your children, more valuable even than your own life.

Read vs 38-39

When the disciples first heard these words, they didn’t yet know that Jesus would be crucified. They couldn’t yet feel the full weight of His words. But they would have understood that Jesus was talking about a one-way journey.

Everyone condemned to be crucified had to carry their cross to the place of crucifixion: a terrible walk with an excruciating ending. And once that awful burden was thrust upon your back, there was no turning back.

The image would have been clear enough: Jesus was talking about the utmost denial of self. For if you would be willing to take up your cross to follow Jesus, you were marching towards the death of self.

But Jesus is not calling His disciples into a life of self-harm or asceticism. No. He says that if you lose your life, for His sake, you will find life.

At the beginning of our passage, we hear Jesus tell us why He had come into the world. Let’s look at another time He said He had come into the world. Speaking of His disciples, Jesus says,

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” -John 10:10

Life, and life abundantly! Yes, every follower of Jesus will be given life eternal! Death will not be the end of you, but merely the transition into everlasting life.

Life that does not end, that is abundant indeed. But that is not where it stops, for what is an everlasting life devoid of purpose? So this abundant life that Jesus has come to give is a life filled with meaning and purpose. What is that purpose? In the context of Matthew 10, that purpose is to go out and work the harvest!

The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. We pray that God would send laborers into the harvest, and then, lo and behold, Jesus sends His disciples to work the harvest: like sheep among wolves, proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, fearing no man, but revering our Heavenly Father.

So, all those things you thought you wanted to devote your life to – success, travel, notoriety, academia, sports, even family – if you look for your life in those places you will lose it. But if you lose your life of selfish desires, to follow Christ and obey His calling, you will find a purpose that will so deeply satisfy your soul. Yours will be an abundant life!

Again: concentrate your energies on yourself and you will get lost in self-destruction. Lose yourself in service of the King, and you will find your truest self!

Read vs 40-42

As you go out on mission for Christ, anyone who receive you also receives Christ. To receive Christ is to receive the Father. What deeply profound unity woven between Father and Son and disciples. There is a sermon just in this verse!

Does this not show us how invested Jesus is in our mission? He is there with us, even when our family rejects us, even when we are reviled and persecuted for His name’s sake, Jesus is there with us. He identifies Himself with us, just as we identify ourselves with Him. Therefore, what happens to us, it is as if it happens to Him.

Who is the God that would bind Himself to man, in all our imperfections, and fears, and sufferings?

So, whoever receives you in peace, they receive peace. Whoever receives you in righteousness, receives righteousness. For to receive you is to receive your message, and to receive your message is to receive Christ. Very similarly, this is what it means to receive a prophet and get a prophet’s reward.

For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy. -Revelation 19:10

To receive a prophet is to receive the testimony of Jesus Christ. And what a reward it is to receive the King who gives life, and life abundantly!

Verse 42 shifts a little bit, moving from rewards given to those who receive you (as you are out there working the harvest), to rewards you receive as you work the harvest. The term “little ones” is really about those who are neglected, overlooked, dejected, lost, helpless. And giving a cup of cold water would be considered the least of all gifts you could give. A cup of cold water was something inexpensive and easy to do; just draw it up from the well.

God is so invested, so united to His disciples, that even a simple little gift, given to the most dejected disciple, will be rewarded. It is as if you are giving that gift to Jesus Christ Himself.

But that cup of cold water is the smallest gift you can give. This whole discourse is ultimately about going out into the world, even in the face of great danger, even at the loss of your loved ones, to give the gift of the gospel. And if you were to deny yourself and give the gift of the gospel, to quench the thirst of desperate souls, how great will your reward be!

As I said at the beginning of this message, when Jesus sends His disciples out, our mission is filled with danger; and yet its risks are far outweighed by the everlasting glories abounding in the mission. Christ is making His disciples an extension of His own purpose, an extension of His own life. No matter what you experience, the Father holds His beloved children secure, tenderly caring for us, providing, eager to lavish with glory and honor.

Yes, whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will find it. You shall be the fragrance of life to the living and the fragrance of death to the dying, and when it comes time for you to die, Christ will say “worthy!” And He shall raise you to abundant life without end.

I conclude with the words of Martin Luther from that old hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God:

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.

1(2022, March 9) Maria, 20, killed in Erbil by relatives for converting to Christianity. Asia News. https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Maria,-20,-killed-in-Erbil-by-relatives-for-converting-to-Christianity-55319.html

2Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel According to Matthew. Pg 268. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.