Workers in the Harvest Pt 2

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 10. Matthew, chapter 10. We've been looking at the subject of workers in the harvest. That's how we started off in Matthew, chapter 10, because Jesus had told His disciples, the harvest is ripe. But the laborers are few, so pray that the Lord would send workers into the harvest. And as He says, pray that the Lord would send workers into the harvest,

it says He then called the twelve unto Himself, and said, now you go out into the harvest. Which tells us that it's easy for us to say, yes, somebody should go do that. And Jesus says, that's a great idea, how about you? And so we've talked about what it looks like to be a worker in the harvest. And so the first thing that we looked at is the workers themselves.

Now we looked at these twelve disciples, and we learned some things about those twelve disciples. You can go back. You can go back and listen online to the message, if you would like to, to pick up on some of those principles that we pulled out. But the biggest thing is that we pulled out that they were just men, who God chose to use. So you don't have to be anything special.

You can just be who you are and be used by God, as long as your life is dedicated to the service of the Lord. After we looked at the workers of the harvest, we then looked at the instruction for the workers. They were sent out with some specific instructions, from which we pulled some principles that we paid attention to last week. Again, feel free to go back and listen.

Go back and listen to that to pick up on some of those principles. But we said that the third thing that we were going to look at, as far as the subject of the workers in the harvest, was the aspect of warning. Because as we ended last week, we saw that Jesus said, Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore, you must be shrewd as serpents, but harmless as doves.

We said there was great need for discernment on the part of the disciples. And so now, that segues us into this last portion, that we're going to look at the aspect of warning. We're going to look at the aspect of warning. We're going to look at the aspect of warning. Which is these warnings. Because in the midst of these warnings, we see that there is great danger for those that work in the aspect of the gospel.

And yet, with that great danger comes also great reward, as we do what God has called for us to do. And so as we look at these warnings that are given to us, I've broken them down into three different warnings. There's warnings about persecution, warnings about the fear of man, and warnings about division. The first one we'll look at is this warnings about persecution.

As we pick up in verse 17, of chapter 10. It says, But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues. And you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say. For it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say.

For it is you who speak. It is not you who speak, but it is the spirit of your father who speaks in you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one city,

flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not finish going to the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the household Beelzebub, how much more will they malign the members of his household?

And so as he gives this warning about persecution, I am reminded of the fact that we as citizens of the United States of America have not faced a great deal of this, I would say, in my lifetime. We have not faced a great deal of persecution. Now if we were to start looking at countries around the world, we would see what persecution really looks like. As a matter of fact, the last hundred years has really been quite known in some other countries for how great the persecution is.

As a matter of fact, I have a calendar that I use with my Bible class that I teach, and it gives you a country of the day to pray for and explains to you a little bit about what's going on in those countries. And sometimes we just have no idea what it's like to live in a place like that. That being said, the steps that have been taken over the last year by the current administration show that the potential for persecution to come is starting to arrive. We see it just to the north of us with some of the, and I don't mean Nebraska, I mean Canada.

We see it just to the north of us with some of the laws that have been made in Canada about anti-hate speech, that basically in Canada, if you speak out the truth of Scripture against certain sins, that you can get yourself in pretty good trouble for that. As a matter of fact, you can find yourself in prison because of that. The current administration that we have now has done everything that they can to remove any aspect of godliness from the White House and the United States of America. And so, any advisors within the White House, whether you liked him or not, President Trump was probably one of the most pro-faith presidents we've ever had.

And if I'm being honest, when he was running the first time, he was not my pick. He was not my favorite person to see that was going to win. But when he did, as much as I wished someone would take away his Twitter account, he really did a lot for faith and took more stands for the church than just about any president we've ever had. And we see the exact opposite taking place right now.

And so, as we look at these warnings as citizens of the United States, we can think, gosh, is this really an important thing for us to pay attention to? Well, I think that it is. Because I think the things that could be coming over the next five or 10 years, if even that long, could find us as Christians being maligned for our faith and finding that if we take a stand, we're violating certain hate speech laws as far as the government is concerned. So these are important things for us to pay attention to and warnings that I think we should heed.

And so Jesus tells them the first thing. He says, In other words, beware of men. In other words, beware of humanity. That word beware means to be alert or cautious. In other words, when dealing with people, we should be paying attention, which is what Jesus had just said in verse 16, right? He said, That means allow yourself to beware of those that are around you.

So pay attention to those who are going to give you a hard time for your faith so that you can act as wisely as possible and use as much discernment as you can as far as that's concerned. Why must we use this discernment? Well, because two things are coming. Number one, they'll hand you over to the courts. Number two, they're going to scourge you in the synagogues.

Now, Jesus here mentions two different arenas, two different realms. He says, first of all, they're going to take you to court. That's the first place they're going to take you. They'll hand you over to the courts. That's the civic arena. If you will, the governmental arena that they will turn you over to. That's the first place where we will begin to face persecution as believers.

It will be within that civic arena, or may I just say one of the places that we will face persecution. But the second place that he mentions is he says they will scourge you in their synagogues. That's the religious arena. Now, I honestly think one of the greatest places that we are going to face persecution as Christians is not from non-Christians. It's going to be from those who call themselves Christians

that take part in the religious arena. They take part in what they would call the faith that has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible. We're actually going to face some of the greatest persecution from places like that, because did you notice what Jesus said? He said they'll hand you over to the court, but what will they do to you in the synagogues? They will scourge you in the synagogues.

That's the idea of a violent physical beating. Why? Because you stand for the truth. And the longer that we stand for the truth, those who do not stand for the truth aren't going to like it, and we will face repercussions because of it. He says we must beware of these things. He says, but I need you to understand something. You will even be brought before governors

and kings for my sake. He says it won't just be in a small court or in a synagogue, a local church. Sometimes there will be times where you are brought before some of the greatest leaders, whether it be in your community, your nation, or even the world, because you love me. He says you'll be brought before them because of me. And then he says one more really interesting thing.

He says, and it will be as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. Why is all of this going to be allowed to happen? Because it will continually be a testimony to the world around us, to the faith that we have. I can't come up with a better example of this in scripture than Paul. Paul who stood for the truth of Jesus Christ and he faced all of these things.

If you read the book of Acts, if you read the book of Acts, you see that he was brought before civic courts. He was brought into the courtroom where they said, oh, he preaches something besides, there is something that's opposed to Rome, something that's opposed to the Roman government. We see that Paul was brought before the synagogues and he was beaten by religious leaders because of the faith that he stood for, because of the faith of the Bible. And of course, if you remember towards the end of the book of Acts, Paul did stand trial before some of the greatest leaders of the region.

And eventually, the world as he stood trial before Nero. And what he was able to do every time was give testimony to the truth of Jesus Christ. So one of the things we have to realize as believers in Jesus Christ is that the reason why I'm being persecuted or facing these difficulties is because I have real life dwelling inside of me. Because the real life of Jesus is coursing through me and the rest of the world does not want to believe that that's the only place where life is found.

And so we should not approach these things grudgingly. We should not go, okay, I've got to work up enough faith right now to face the persecution. No, I need to be so in love with my Savior that I don't mind facing the persecution. Because just like Peter, when Jesus said, so what are you guys going to do? Are you guys going to leave? You say, where else am I going to go?

Only you speak the words of eternal life. Listen, if they come against us because of our faith, the only thing that we can say is, I don't know what else to tell you. This is the only place where life exists. And I can't turn away from that because if I do, I turn away from life itself. And so, yeah, I'm going to continue standing for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If I'm being completely honest, this is the biggest reason why I never wanted to go online with our church services. Second to, or the second reason was I wanted people to come to church and not just sit at home. But the first reason is because I didn't want to face the criticism that's going to come with the fact that more people in the world are hearing the message coming out of my mouth so that they come after me because of the message. And you know what?

I'm having to slowly but surely learn it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Because greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. He says, beware of men because not only are they going to bring you before the courts, not only are they going to beat you in the synagogues, not only are they going to plaster you in front of kings and governors, but it's all going to be for one reason, to give a testimony to me.

He goes on from there to give a word of encouragement. He says, but don't worry about what you're going to say. He says, but when? When they hand you over, don't worry about how or what you're to say, for it will be given to you in that hour what you're to say. For it's not you who speak, but it is the spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Can we just take that first little two words right there?

Don't worry. I do think that with what a lot of us that are paying attention are starting to see happen, I do think there's a little bit of worry going on. Am I right? I mean, we're kind of starting to go, this is getting mildly concerning, especially for me as a pastor, knowing that if I have to continue to speak the truth, the potential that someone could decide that it's hate speech that I'm giving out and not the truth of the gospel, that they could then put me in prison for that.

Listen, I'm not built for prison, okay? I just, I know that about me. I'm not made for that sort of thing. And so there's a little bit of worry sometimes on the inside of me, but then Jesus says, hey, don't worry. Because sometimes we worry not only because of the consequences that we might face, but we worry about how we're going to respond to people when they begin to question our faith.

We think, how am I going to be able to respond if somebody says, you have to defend your faith right now? I'm not the greatest apologist in the world. I'm not the smartest guy in the world. I don't even really know all that much. I don't know how I'm going to be able to defend my faith. And Jesus says, don't worry about that. Don't worry ahead of time about what you're going to say.

Don't find yourself fretting over those kinds of things. Because in the hour that you need it, it will be given to you. Whatever you need at the moment, it will be given to you. And may I say, this is true not only of the words that we need to speak, but of the grace that we need to speak them. I believe it was Charles Spurgeon that told a story of a guy that he'd heard preach.

He said, I love grace for saving. I'm not ready for grace for dying. He said, I love grace for saving. He said, that's the grace you don't want until it's time. And that's the case because God is able to not only give us the words to speak, but the grace and the strength that we need to be able to speak them. I bet Paul, of all people, found himself going, what am I even going to say when I stand trial

before Agrippa? I guess I'll just tell him what Jesus did for me. And then Jesus gave him everything that he needed to be able to give out the truth in a way that was understandable even to that king. Why? Because it's not really you who's speaking. It's the spirit of God dwelling in you that's speaking. One of the greatest things is when I know beyond a shadow

of a doubt that I did not have enough prep time to be done. And so I was not able to spend as much time in preparation as I could because I was genuinely giving out every ounce of my energy in other ways and ministering to people. And I've sat down and I've said, Lord, I'm going to do the best I can to prepare, but you just have to take over from there. And you know what's always true?

He always does. Why? Because he's faithful and he's faithful to his word and he'll be that way with us. If we come to that place where we have to stand and give out the truth of the gospel in a way that could be understandable to somebody who pointed, that I read, pointed this exact same thing out. They said, this is not an excuse to never spend time in study.

This is not an excuse for a lack of knowledge or a lack of time with the Lord. As a matter of fact, this is one of the greatest reasons why the one thing that we need to spend our lives doing is pouring our lives into an abiding life in Christ. Because I find that if my life is in tune with Jesus, both through my time spent in the word, my time spent in prayer, and my time spent in fellowship and worship of him, then I find that if my heart is in tune with him, then his spirit flows much more freely through me. Right?

I have this saying that the spirit works best through prepared vessels. Right? He could do anything he wants to, anytime he wants to. He spoke through Balaam's donkey. But isn't it wonderful when our heart's in tune with God and his spirit is just flowing in every area of our life? So that key is really just that abiding life like we've talked about with everything else.

He says, don't worry about what you're gonna say. It'll be given to you. You just focus on abiding and continuing to stand for the truth. But then he tells us a little bit about the extent of this persecution. He says in verse 21, brother will betray brother to death. And a father his child. And children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name. But it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. Now again, I don't know very many people. I know people that have faced issues in their families. I will say this. Where they get saved and within their family, they are no longer as welcome as they were at one time. As a matter of fact, there's major strains in families because of this.

But none of those families have I ever seen actually try to put one of them to death. I've never seen it go to that extent. But you know what? If you start studying about some of these Muslim countries, do you know what happens when somebody becomes saved? They now have a mark on their head. And their families actually can turn them over to be put to death.

You see, Jesus knew what was coming for them and he needed them to be prepared. Isn't it great that the words that Jesus spoke did not just come to them, but they came to them. They didn't just have meaning for that time and that place. They would have meaning for all time because humanity doesn't really change. And while we may not face that right now in the United States of America today,

I'm not saying we won't face it in the future, which is why he was preparing his disciples for that then and why we should be prepared for it now. He says that's the extent, the extent is that even families are going to turn on each other over the faith. We'll deal with that division here in just a little bit. He says, as a matter of fact, and this is my favorite, this is one of those verses that will never make it on the fridge.

You will be hated by all because of me. That's one of those promises no one likes to claim, right? Like that doesn't make the promise notebook. God's promise is for men. You will be hated by all because of me and life will be full of tribulations, right? We don't put that one up and yet Jesus tells them this is what you need to be prepared for. You will be hated by all.

But why? Because of me. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? That's something we have to hold on to as believers in Jesus Christ. We can't take the hatred of the world personally because they're hating the Jesus in you. They're hating the fact that you love Jesus. As a matter of fact, the moment you renounce him, they would welcome you with open arms.

But until that point in time, they don't like anything that you stand for. As a matter of fact, as we've just come out of sanctity of life month in January, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you were to tell people that life begins at conception because God is the one who's going to give you and God is the author of life, therefore life has value even before it exits the womb, you would be one of the most hated people in just about every circle that you came into. He says, you'll be hated by all because of me. But I love this last part of verse 22.

But it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. It's the one who endures to the end who will be saved. That word enduring, endurance means to bear up under. And that's the idea that's given to us there. You see, there is salvation for the one who endures to the end. Now, I don't think the salvation that's being spoken of here has anything to do with our eternal security

because that would violate a great deal of other portions of scripture. What I think he's speaking of here is that grace for dying like we talked about. You see, when you look at the martyrs, the martyrs who lived many, many years ago and experienced grace, great persecution and even death for their faith, there's one thing that remained true of all of them. There was great joy in their dying.

And you could say, how can that be? How can it be that they had great joy in their dying? Because of the grace of God for dying. Because he who endures to the end will be saved. Now, that doesn't mean they're necessarily delivered from physical death, but it means that there can be great joy in their death. As a matter of fact, I would recommend two books to you.

I wouldn't read them right before bed, but I would recommend two books to you. One is Fox's Book of Martyrs. I would find an updated edition because we don't speak like that anymore. But the other book that I would recommend to you is a book called Jesus Freaks. And it was written by the guys that were part of this band in the 90s called DC Talk. It's a great book,

but it goes through all of the modern day martyrs. And it's so fascinating to not only read the ones that lived 2,000 years ago, but the ones that lived maybe 20 years ago and find that, their stories aren't that much different from each other because it's the same spirit that was at work in the early church that's at work in us today. And it's a fascinating reading. It's a faith builder.

He says, he who endures to the end will be saved. I think our culture could learn a little bit about endurance right now. With the things that are going on and the supply chain issues that are happening and the potential for you name it, power going out, whatever it is, I've thought to myself several times, I don't think we as a culture will survive some, some of the things that might be coming. And I'm just being honest.

I'm not trying to be a doomsday right now. But quite frankly, if my heat's not up high enough, I think it's a pretty bad day, right? I can't imagine having to fend for myself because now the power grid's completely gone down. And if you really want to see my day get ruined, let the air conditioner go out in the summertime. I'm quite confident death is the next step, right?

Like I don't know if I'm built for this kind of thing. And I don't know that we as a society are built for this kind of thing. Why? Because we have lost endurance. And as Christians, we have lost endurance. There was this great picture that somebody put on Facebook yesterday and it shows a bunch of football fans covered in snow. Now, I don't want to make this walk on all fours

and be too hard on people here right now. But it said, I wish we could get people as dedicated to coming to church as they are to a football game. And listen, I get it. A football game is a completely different experience than coming to church. And I'm not one of those people that's like, well, now we should make church three hours long because that's what we do at football.

Listen, if we're going to make church three hours long like they do football games, I will make sure you can get up and go to the bathroom anytime you want to and someone will walk around serving hot dogs, okay? So I'm not saying we've got to do that. But I am saying maybe we need some of that kind of endurance and dedication instead of going, gosh, it's not a perfect 72. Don't think I can make it today.

I think that we could learn something about this in the 21st century church. He then goes on to say in verse 23, he says, whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. He goes, that's the extent of the persecution. And now he closes up this section on persecution

by saying you should be like your master. Verse 24, he says, a disciple is not above his teacher nor a slave above his master. It's enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign the members of his household? He says, listen, culturally speaking,

we all understand that a servant's not above his master. In other words, a servant doesn't get greater treatment than the master does. He says, it's enough for him to be like his master. He said, here's what you need to understand. If they called me Beelzebub, which by the way, that term means the Lord of the flies, it was a Philistine term that was used to speak of demonic presence

or demonic activity. And it was indicative of Satan. He said, if they've called me Satan for the things that I've done, because do you remember when that happened? Jesus cast out a demon and they said, he did so by the power of the demons. He said, if they've called me Beelzebub, you need to expect that's probably how they're gonna treat you too. Because a servant is not greater than his master.

And if you're representing me, and that's what they call me, you need to prepare yourself for the fact that that's what they're going to call you too. And again, as we as the 21st century church begin to look at things, we need to realize that might be what they call us too. I don't know if you realize this or not, but you are what stands in between most of the world in peace as far as they're concerned. Because most of the world feels like the greatest hindrance to peace right now is Christians who stand for the church.

And that's the truth of the gospel. Because we're the ones that won't just get along or go along to get along. We keep standing in the way and that's not gonna change anytime soon. So we need to be prepared for what the world may call us. We need to be prepared for how the world may treat us. And not live in fear, but instead live in the power of the Holy Spirit

who is able to give us everything that we need to endure for another day. And not only to endure, but to do so with joy. So he tells us about this coming persecution. But the second thing that he's gonna tell us about, he warns about persecution. The second thing he warns about is the fear of man. He warns about the fear of man. Notice how he starts off in verse 26.

Therefore, do not fear them. For there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. Verse 26. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light. And what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy

both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a scent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear you, are more valuable than many sparrows. Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men,

I will also deny him before my father who is in heaven. There's gonna be three do not fears that he is gonna give to us here. Did you pay attention to these? The first one he says in verse 26, he says, therefore, do not fear them. Now, I find this an interesting contrast to the way we started off the last section, because remember how we started off the last section

in verse 17, he said, be cautious of men. He says, beware of men. In other words, there should be a caution in the way that we approach people. But listen, there should not be a fear in the way that we approach people. Just because we approach them with wisdom does not mean we should live our life in fear. He says, do not fear them. He says, why? Because notice what he says, there is nothing,

nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. In other words, when persecution comes, you should not fear men. Why? Because the things they're doing, they're all revealed in the eyes of God. He sees what's going on, and he'll deal with the people that are doing those things, right? Remember what it says in the book of Romans,

vengeance is mine, I will repay, declares the Lord. Therefore, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt, just like it says in the book of Revelation. Lord, when are you gonna deal with these things? And God's like, I got this. I got this. I'm in good time. And that's exactly what he's gonna do. Those things may be concealed to the rest of the world, or we may feel like God doesn't see them,

but he does. He says, nothing is happening that's not going to be revealed. Therefore, what are we to do since we don't fear men, and we can know that whatever happens to us, God is going to deal with? He says, what I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light. And what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops. In other words, what the Holy Spirit speaks to you

in the quietness of your heart, the knowledge of the truth that he reveals to you in your quiet time with the Lord, tell everybody about it. The message of the gospel that penetrated the very depth of your soul and changed the very fabric of who you are in somewhat of a very private sort of way, because we know that the changing of the heart doesn't always happen in public. It first happens in private. He says, tell the world what's taken place.

Declare it from the housetops. Yell it from the rooftops. Go tell it on the mountain, right? Right? It's Christmas time, but why not? He says, tell everybody about it. Brothers and sisters, the testimony of what Jesus Christ has done in your life is the most powerful witness that you have. The most powerful witness that you have is that you were a sinner and you've been saved by grace.

That you were on your way to hell, but now you have a ticket to heaven. That you were at enmity with God and now you're his best friend. And when you have that message, don't keep it inside. Yell it from the rooftops. Because you know what the whole world needs to hear right now? The whole world needs to hear right now that there is a place where I can find hope.

There is someone who can change my life. I didn't read the article, but I saw somebody posted it yesterday and it was talking about the trauma of the lockdown. Friends, we have no idea the long-lasting repercussions of what the last year and a half have done to us. But we really don't. And what we're starting to see is exactly what it's done in the lives of young people especially.

Not just young people, all people, but we've really seen it manifest itself in the lives of young people. As more and more school counselors are finding that they can't keep up with the workload of the kids that are coming to them, not only depressed, but suicidal. As we see substance abuse on the rise once again. As we see that more people are turning to liquor stores than anything else.

That people's livers are dying. Why? Because they're continuing to drown their sorrows because of what the lockdown has done to them. Because of what the current culture has done to them. And listen, what they need more than anything right now is for someone to shout from the rooftops that Jesus saves. And there is hope in a savior. Don't be afraid. Because yes, the world may try to shut you down.

The world may try to come against you. The world may try to persecute you for your message. But listen, if one person hears the message of hope, if one person hears the message of truth and find that their lockdowns and their life is changed because of it, all of heaven is rejoicing. All of heaven is crying out because of how happy they are that that one lost soul came to know Jesus.

He says, don't fear them. He goes on from there for a second time to say, do not fear, verse 28, those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. He says, don't fear those who can only hurt your body. This goes back to what I was talking about Wednesday night. I believe we need to gain, as a 21st century church,

an eternal perspective. I don't know about you, but I can get way too focused on today. I can get way too focused on tomorrow and not think nearly enough about eternity in that what's happening now is so temporary that it's ridiculous. And the older I get, the more temporary I realize that it is. Now, that's not true. That's because when I was five, half of my life was two and a half years.

And it's not anymore. It's longer than that. I was thinking about how fast, I've been here 11 years now, going on 12. It'll be 12 years in June that I've been back in Ark City. And I'm going, it feels like it's been like one. Honestly, it's gone so fast that it's just amazing to me. And all I can think is, if the next 10 years go as fast as the last 10 years went,

I'm going to get old. I'm going to get old. I'm going to get old really fast. Right? Like, that's all I can think right now. Because in 10 years, my girls are out of high school, which is the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my life. Right? And, you know, they're probably like getting ready to get married and have kiddos and stuff like that, which is dumb because they're not allowed to like boys.

Boys aren't allowed to like them. So there's that. But anyway, it's just hitting me how fast life is going. But the other thing that that's causing me to do is go, dude, time is short. Let's say Jesus doesn't come back for another 100 years. I don't see that happening, but let's say he doesn't come back for another 100 years. Still, my time on this earth is limited to,

what, 70, 80 years if I really do a good job of taking care of myself. Maybe 90 if I have my great grandma's stuff flowing through me to where it's like, yeah, I'm going to be rocking for a while. But let's face it, I'm already bald and short and my back's going bad and I got high blood pressure. That's probably not going to happen. Right? Right? My time is short

no matter what. And so whether it's Jesus comes back or whether it's I die, my time on this earth is really short. Therefore, I need to stop fearing those who can kill my body. Or maybe right now in our culture, we should say, stop fearing those who can defame your reputation. Stop fearing those who can pull your stuff off of social media. Stop fearing those

who can spread lies about you on the internet. Stop fearing all those people because all that stuff is temporary. Because they can't do anything to your soul. I believe that one of the greatest issues, again, that we're facing right now because of all of the exposure we have to the world today, all of the exposure, and I don't mean the things that we take in, I mean the things that we put out because the world is so exposed to everything that we do all the time.

I think fear of man is destroying us as a church. It's causing so many churches, and listen, I can be subject to this too. I don't want to act like I'm, you know, doesn't bother me anymore. Are you kidding? Sometimes I get done teaching and I'm terrified of what people are going to say. I'm terrified of the responses that I'm going to get. But all of those things

cause us to live and act and teach in a way that we shouldn't. And that fear of man, I believe, is destroying us. As a matter of fact, the Proverbs speaks to this. Go over to Proverbs chapter 29. If you've studied the Bible very long, you probably know what I'm going to say here, but I think it's good for us to reference it, maybe underline it.

Proverbs chapter 29, and I want you to look at verse 25.

The writer of the Proverbs says this, The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. The fear of man brings a snare. In other words, something that will trip us up. And if I live my life, scared of what people are going to think, say, or do, then I will find that I will never go anywhere. As a matter of fact, it'll be paralyzing.

I think I've shared this before, but I realize that there's an idol that I've never personally identified in my life that I've had to, over the past year or so, identify in my life and begin to work on. And the idol that I have is the idol of opinion. In other words, I care too much what other people think of me. And because of that, I can be driven to do things I shouldn't do or say things I shouldn't say and maybe I should more quickly say not do things I should do and not say things that I should say.

Because I realize that that fear of man is an idol in my life and perhaps you find that that same thing is an idol in your life as well. That that idol of opinion can paralyze us from doing what God has called for us to do. Jesus knew that that idol existed in the lives of people, which is why here in the book of Matthew, he says, do not fear those who can only harm the body but can't do anything to your soul. Back to Matthew chapter 10.

He then quickly gives the cure for that. Instead, what should we fear? But rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. In other words, the only cure for the fear of man is the fear of God. As a matter of fact, C.H. Spurgeon in his commentary said this, there is no cure for the fear of man like the fear of God. Now, we can't always see God,

therefore we don't always understand the fear of God. But I think the healthiest thing that we can do is have a genuine fear of the fact that God, much like a comedian who's been defamed now and so I won't use his name, used to always say, I brought you into this world, I can take you out of this world. And not only can I take you out of this world, I can take you out of my world. Right?

Because that's who God is. God has that ability. And so we should fear him more than we fear man because man, what's the worst they can do to you? They can kill you. What happens if you die? You go to heaven. What a beautiful thing. Right? They just hasten the process. Instead, I should fear God. God who is the creator of the heavens and the earth and the one who cares for my soul.

He goes on from there to give a third do not fear. Only this one starts off with a story about sparrows. He says, are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. Jesus, once again, you can imagine

probably some little birds flittering around, around. He goes, look, you see those sparrows? Two of them are sold for a cent. Now, a cent would be a sixteenth of a denarius. And a denarius, was a day's wage. We're talking a dollar or two for two of those sparrows. He says, two of those are sold for a dollar. In other words, they have almost no value. And yet,

what does he say about these sparrows? He says, yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. I don't remember which commentary I read this in. I think it was the Believer's Bible commentary. But it said this. He said, God has named me and God has never missed the funeral of a sparrow. Isn't that amazing? When we think about God's creation

and how he views his creation, he says, two of them sold for like a buck. Jesus, or God has never missed the funeral of a sparrow. He said, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. He said, you need to understand that's how valuable you are to God. Now, some of us make it a little easier on God than others. For some of us, it's a subtraction process.

But that's how important you are in the eyes of God. He goes on to say, do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. What does he mean when he says this? We need to understand what he means. It doesn't mean that God will not ever allow anything bad to happen in our lives. I think we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that's not true. We know that that does not

insult us. It doesn't insulate us from anything bad happening, although that is absolutely a false teaching that goes around right now. Therefore, if you love God, nothing bad should ever happen in your life. Well, my gosh, they've never read the Bible because almost everybody that wrote the Bible, something bad happened in their life, right? No, what does it mean?

It means that nothing bad will happen in your life that's not first been filtered through the hands of a loving God. That he hasn't screened himself to make sure that it's going to be perfect for your life, that it's going to actually not only work out for his glory, but for your good. There's nothing that's going to happen in your life that he's not going to ultimately work out for the best for you. There's nothing that will come into your life that will not ultimately strengthen you and make you into the human being, the child of God that he wants for you to be.

There's nothing that will come into your life that he will not give you the grace to handle. Why? Because you are of more value than many sparrows. Brothers and sisters, your life has value. And I don't think we can tell that message enough to the world right now that life has value. That's why every child that is conceived has value because they were created

in the image of God. He says you're of more value than many sparrows. Therefore, knowing that, don't be afraid. Do not fear. That's the third time he has told them in this section. Do not fear. Why? Jesus has to tell us three times in a matter of like three, four sentences to not be afraid of men because we have a hard time with fear. We're a fearful people.

We get scared so easily. What did Jesus call us? Sheep. You know what happens to sheep really easily? They get scared. We're timid, right? We're sheep among wolves, remember? Wolves. Sheep. Right? We got nothing. So sometimes we get scared. He says don't fear. He goes on from there to give a little exhortation that goes along with this. He says but, or therefore, verse 32.

Knowing these things, knowing that I've told you so often to not be afraid, therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. I don't even know how to start unpacking those two verses if I'm being completely honest. And a lot of the commentators that I read said the same thing.

They said, well, what does he mean here? Is he talking about the loss of salvation if you begin to deny Jesus? Well, I don't think that can be. Although, do you know who I think these words rung in his mind like a bell that would not stop ringing? I think Peter probably had these words running through his mind that night that he denied Jesus before men. I think that these words rung

like a bell so loud in his head that he couldn't hardly think straight, which is why he had a really hard time accepting that he was going to die. He was accepting the forgiveness for his own life. I don't think it means that you lose your salvation. What I think he's saying here is that when salvation takes place in your life, there will be a declaration before men.

You can't hide your faith from men. If you're hiding your faith from men, then your faith probably isn't real. Then your faith probably isn't true. Therefore, I'll deny you before my Father because it's simply a confession of the mind, not a true change of the heart. He says, but whoever confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father. He gives us his exhortation to not fear men.

There's a third warning that he gives us, and this warning is about division. We pick up in verse 34, and it says this, Do not think I came to bring peace on earth. Let's throw the Christmas song out of our minds for just one minute. Don't think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword, for I came to set a man against his father

and a daughter against, against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost

his life for my sake will find it. As Jesus gives this warning about division, it feels like he threw out the Christmas story, right? He says, don't think that I came to bring peace on earth. Wait a second, peace on earth, good will toward men. We have to understand that that's a poor translation of that verse. It's peace on earth on whose his favor rests. In other words, there is

peace for all of us who have found our peace in Jesus Christ, because Jesus did not come necessarily to bring peace on earth. He came to bring peace to those who would believe in him. Does the gospel bring peace? Absolutely. The gospel brought peace to my heart, and my heart is at peace now. And the gospel oftentimes brings peace between people, because he breaks down the middle wall of separation. As people come to know

Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they find that two completely different people have now found a common bond of peace in Jesus Christ. So if that's true, then what does he mean, I didn't come to bring peace but a sword? You see, Jesus causes us to make decisions, and as we make decisions, those decisions become very divisive. Those decisions become divisive in our lives, because as we stand for the truth of Jesus Christ, we'll find that the closer we get to Jesus, the greater the divide becomes between us and those who are opposed to Jesus. You see, this is why there's a really big problem with the

liberal thinking that Jesus was a good man and a good teacher, that Jesus came simply to be a social organizer and transform culture. Jesus did not come just to be a good man. Jesus did not come just to be a good teacher. Jesus was not a social organizer. Jesus was either the Son of God and everything that he claimed to be, or he was an absolute lunatic and a liar, but there's no middle ground. The problem with most of

the world is we want a happy middle ground, right? Well, Jesus can be a good person, but I don't go in with everything else that he says. Well, that's fine. You don't really believe in Jesus. You don't believe in the real Jesus of the Bible. How dare you say that? I didn't. Jesus did, okay? Blame him, because he's the one that said it. You see, there starts to be division. You see, everybody's happy with the fact that you believe in God, but once you

start getting serious about following Jesus, that's when all of a sudden some problems start to arise, and then if you get outside of the bonds of what they would call the Sermon on the Mount, where they don't really talk about any of the sin in the Sermon on the Mount, just to be nice to each other part of the Sermon on the Mount, when you start explaining a Jesus that looks like that, they go, that's not really Jesus. Yes, it is. You just don't know him, and all of a sudden, there's division that's caused. He says, I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. I came to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I came to separate the sheep from the goats. I came to separate those who are true disciples from those who would only claim me by name. He said, I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. I bring division, and this division is so deep that it even goes into families. Notice what he said. I came to set a daughter, a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law

against her mother. law. Man's enemies will be those in his household. Kind of sounds like what we talked about earlier with persecution, right? Sometimes the greatest enemies to the gospel will be the people that you're the closest to. Unfortunately, some of these things, without the being turned over to death, I've seen happen in some people's lives that I really love a lot. And it's heartbreaking,

but it's the cost of following Jesus wholeheartedly. He goes on to say, to give us three things. I titled this Discipleship Brings Decision, and there's three decisions he tells us that we have to make. The first one comes in verse 37. 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.

You see, God will have no one else on the throne of our heart, even if it's our closest family members. Because if we love God, we're going to have no one else on the throne of our heart. If we love those family members more than we love him, then we will begin to put them first in our lives. And when that begins to happen, we've set up an idol. But not only that,

if those people that we think we love so much don't follow Jesus, and we love them more, then our lives will go that direction. Do you know what I find oftentimes in people that are involved in false religions, whether it be Mormonism, whether it be Jehovah's Witness, or even what can oftentimes be abrogated? The perversion of the faith in Catholicism is that that becomes a family tie more than anything. Well, why are you a Jehovah's Witness? Well, because my family is Jehovah's Witness.

Why are you a Mormon? Well, because my family is a Mormon. Why are you a Catholic? Same story. Well, let me tell you the truth of Jesus. And they can hear the truth and they can go, that's great, but their family tie to this religion is so strong that they can't really put their faith in Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus says, anyone who loves father, mother, son,

anything, anything more than me, you're not worthy of me. My daughter asked me one time, she said, Daddy, do you love me more than anything in the world? And I said, almost. She said, what do you mean almost? I said, well, I love Jesus more. And she goes, Daddy, that hurts my feelings. And I said, sweetheart, you have to understand, if I don't love Jesus first, I could never love you

the way I'm supposed to. If I don't love Jesus first, then I can never lead you the way that I'm supposed to. And that's not an easy thing to say, but it's absolutely the way that it has to be. I have to love Jesus first. You know the greatest example of this in the Old Testament? The greatest example of this in the Old Testament is Abraham. Remember what happened with Abraham? Abraham prayed all those years for his

son. God had told him, you're going to have a son. And finally, they had the son, Isaac. Laughter, the greatest joy in his life. And yet, when Isaac was about 30 years old, God said, okay, great. I have a test for you. Take your son, your only son, Isaac. Go to the mountain that I'm going to show you and sacrifice him there. And do you know what Abraham did? He did it. He got his son,

got up the next morning early, it says. He got up early the next morning, and he got his servants together, and he got his son together, and they made a three-day journey to the mountain and laid the wood on his back and sent him up the mountain so that he could sacrifice his son. Now, we know the story. God stopped him before he physically sacrificed his son, but it still had to be done.

In his heart, he had to be willing to. So not only was that a proof of his faith, but it was a test of what was on the throne. Of his heart. And God said, now I know that you will not withhold even your own son from me. You see, he loved God first. Second discipleship decision is this. He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Now, this idea of taking up the cross is the first time that

the cross is mentioned in the book of Matthew, and it's not mentioned in the crucifixion set just yet of Jesus. It's mentioned in a, this is what your following me needs to look like, and the cross was something that was so offensive that it was never supposed to be mentioned in polite company. You weren't even really supposed to talk about it because it was such a heinous thing to do. Some have tried to equate it to like, oh, we would say the electric chair or the lethal injection today, but it really can't be equated because those things are somewhat humane in nature. There was

nothing humane about the cross. It would have been a shock to the ears of Jesus' disciples, right? Imagine the most shocking thing you could hear come out of my mouth right now, which I'm sure I've said over the past few years. Imagine the most shocking thing that would come out of my mouth right now that would make everybody go, you quit taking your notes and everything else because what I said was so shocking. That's exactly what happened when Jesus said, he who doesn't take up his cross

and follow me is not worthy of me. They would have all gone, what? Because you see, the cross meant one thing and one thing only, it meant death. It didn't just mean the difficult thing that you deal with. That's not just your cross to bear. It's not just a difficulty that you face in your life. It's death. That's what the cross meant. And in our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ, it means death to my

self. In other words, if I'm not willing to put my own desires, wants, needs, everything else to death to put Jesus first, then I'm not worthy to follow him. Again, not always the thing you should see show up on somebody's refrigerator door. And yet, it's what Jesus tells us the cost that we need to count to follow him. The third decision is this. He says he who has found his life

will lose it and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. In other words, if on this earth you have found this is my meaning in life and it's not Jesus, your life really has no meaning. He said the only way that your life can have any kind of meaning is if you lose every aspect of it as far as this earth is concerned and find it only in Jesus. And so we wrap up with these last three verses. He says,

He who receives you receives me and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives the prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. He says, while you will face persecution from many, there will be many who will accept.

You and it will be the same as if they're accepting me. There will be many who will care for you and it's the same as if they're caring for me and there will be a great reward for them. So as we've looked at this chapter 10, we've seen these workers in the harvest. We've seen not only that any of us that are born again can do so because it simply takes those who are willing to follow to be a worker in the harvest. There's instructions and we should pay attention to those instructions, but

we also know it's a serious cost and we should count it, but it's a cost that's very much worth it. Amen. I'm going to invite the worship team to come up because this morning is Communion Sunday and as they're coming up and getting set I'd like to take just a moment to talk to you about Communion.

As we mentioned, according to Jesus, our lives are very valuable. As a matter of fact, so valuable that he came down, put on the clothes of a man, bore a cross that rightly belongs to us. And shed his blood for us. And he told us that as often as we do, we should take time to celebrate, proclaim his death, and we do that through the meal of Communion. He took that bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body which is broken for you.

Take and eat. And then he took the cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood which is for you. And so now we take and drink. And of course as we look at these elements, we know that they're not actually the body and the blood of Jesus. They're simply representative of it. And yet at the same time, it is a deep celebration of the fact that our meaning for life,

our purpose for life, and the unity that we do have, the peace that we do have, comes because of the cross of Jesus. So as we do so, we're told to take part in a worthy manner. We know that that means that first of all, if you're not saved, then today needs to be that day of salvation for you. Because otherwise it's just simply juice and a really dry little cracker.

So if you're here this morning and you've never asked Jesus into your heart, you've never been saved, then today is the day that you need to give your heart to Jesus. And as we've said before, it's as simple as crying out to the Lord and saying, I'm a sinner, please be my Savior. And as that faith takes place in your heart, he comes in and he makes his home inside of you. And now it's a celebration and not just an obnoxious little snack.

But for those of us that are believers in Jesus Christ, we know that the way that we partake in a worthy manner is that we do so with a clean heart. And so as the ushers come down to hand out the elements, I would ask that you would take some time to ask God to search your heart. Scripture says, search me and know me, see if there's any wicked way in me, and then lead me in the way. So allow him to search that heart. Confess all of those sins

to the Lord. We'll partake together. So I'm going to invite the ushers to come down as they hand out the elements. If you would please stand, and then we'll partake. Let's partake together.

I sing praise to the King of kings, and I will adore you. I sing praise to the King of kings, and I will adore you. Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you, Lord, and I just thank you for the truth of what you've done for us on the cross. Lord, I thank you for the new life that we have because your blood was shed for us. That's sublime. And Lord, as we partake now, I pray that we would always hold on to the truth of what you've done here, Lord,

that we would celebrate this in the honor that it deserves. We thank you and praise you for who you are, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake.

Would you bow with me one more time? Lord, we thank you so much for the time that we've had in your word this morning. And I pray that you would continue to do your work in our hearts and in our lives. That your Holy Spirit would continue to use your word. That you see fit as we go throughout this week. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed. Have a great week.