Matthew
10:17-23
New International Version 1984
(NIV1984)
17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you
over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On
my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them
and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about
what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20
for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through
you.
21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a
father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put
to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands
firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one
place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through
the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Have you ever thought that it would
be so nice if God would just make life easy for us? We serve Him and in return we get this
wonderful magical life. That is the way
it will be in the end when we are finally home with Him but for now, we live in
a world controlled by satan. Adam and
Eve, who did live in the perfect world even succumbed to satan’s lies, thus
beginning the life of sin.
Christ warned His apostles to be on
the guard for those who would seek to harm them. But with that warning He gave them some
advice and that is what I want to share with you today. First let’s look at the warnings and then the
advice that He gives.
Warning #1
There are going to be people who will persecute us for our
faith in Christ.
I think it is important to note that
these apostles had power to heal, raise the dead, cleanse leprosy, and drive
out demons as well as being able to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. That sounds like Jesus doesn’t it? He gave them the power that He had but Jesus
warned them that some would try to harm them.
It wasn’t so much the people who were receiving the blessing as it was
the Jewish leaders that led a rebellion against these men and the government
who feared losing power. I am sure there
were people who listened to their leaders and began to persecute these men just
as they did Jesus later.
We are certainly not immune to this
today. In the United States we have yet
to be imprisoned for our faith but that does not mean that it won’t
happen. Here we get more of the ridicule
and hear more about how other religions need to be protected while our faith is
made fun of and ridiculed. It seems that
it must be okay to speak against Jesus, even use His name in vain or make fun
of or speak against other religions or their god is taboo.
Advice
#1
Jesus
tells us is to be on guard but don’t
worry.
He tells us that when we find
ourselves in these difficult positions that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to
speak through us. He will give us the
words to say when we allow Him to shine through us. WOW, THAT’S COOL! That advice would hold true when you are
sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when you are giving your testimony, when
you are witnessing to someone who does not know Him. If we would only heed this advice and not be
fearful, what wonderful things could happen through allowing Him to use us to
spread the Good News.
Warning
#2
There
may be people in our own families that will disown us because of our faith.
I remember as a child hearing how
the Christians and Jews fought in Israel and it made absolutely no sense to me
why Christians would be fighting with the Jews.
I thought as Christians we were supposed to be peacemakers not fighters
and after all the Jews were God’s chosen people who just have had their eyes
blinded to the truth. Why fight with
them? So many times we decide to take
revenge on those who have hurt us rather than letting God take care of it and
that is what happened with the Christians and the Jews. What is more disturbing than that scenario is
when I hear of families who have killed other family members because of their Christian
faith. Children have to hide from their
parents who will kill them because they have accepted Christ rather than some
other religious figure. Or maybe it is
simple as being disowned and never being able to be join another family
gathering because of your faith.
Whatever the case may be, Jesus has some advice for us just as He did
for the apostles.
Advice
#2
He
tells us that if we will only stand firm in our faith to the very end we will
be saved.
Saved from what, angry men, angry
family members, the sword? He doesn’t
say that we will be saved from the trials of this life. In fact He tells His apostles to just keep
moving on. If people try to kill you in
one place move on to another. There is a
phrase used in America referring to a city not far from where I live, Dodge
City. It was an old western town that
had lots of cowboy fights. The phrase
is, “It’s time to get out of Dodge”.
When it was your time to either get out or die they would use this
phrase. That is what Jesus is saying
too, if they are going to persecute you then, “It’s time to get out of Dodge”. So it is not that we are going to be saved from
the trials of life. No, we will saved
from the trials of eternity where there will be no light because of the
separation from God. If we stand firm in
our faith we will have eternal life with our Father but if we choose to bow to
the world we will have eternal separation from God.
As I thought about eternal separation from God, I had to think of people who blame God for all the bad
things that happen to them in their lives but forget to thank Him when the good
things come along. The people who
treat God as a good luck charm but disown Him when it is convenient. They are the ones who, when separated from
God eternally will be wishing they would have stood firm and had true faith in Him.
Jesus promises if we will stand firm in
our faith in Him, we will be saved from that separation. All the suffering and pain due to persecution
because of our faith will be worth it for eternity!
As you seek Him and find Him with
your whole heart, standing firm will become a habit and your faith will see you
through any trials of life because the Holy Spirit will lead you. Stand firm my friend and continue in your
walk with Him.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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