The Battle Waged and Won

Jesus warns his disciples that following him will bring opposition, yet he also gives them a reason not to fear. In this sermon from Matthew 10:16–33, we explore why the Church often finds itself at odds with the world, how Christ has already won the decisive battle through his death and resurrection, and what it means to bear witness to the gospel with courage, hope, and love.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Let's pray. Father, as we walk through this life, I pray, Lord, that you would teach us to walk a cross-shaped life. Prepare us this morning in Christ's name. Amen. We are enemies of the world. Make no mistake about it. We are not the friends of the world. We stand apart. Enemies. How do you feel about that? It's ironic for two reasons, though. This enemieship, as it were, this enmity between us and the world. It's ironic for two reasons. First, because we personally don't have a lot of experience being persecuted here in this part of the world. Southeast Georgia is not a place where being a Christian is going to stand out. Telling someone that you're a baptized Christian is not going to generate sneers and rejection like it would in Southeast Asia or in the Muslim majority world. Telling a non-Christian friend that you went to church on a Sunday would not even register as news in Georgia, but it might trigger an investigation in China. The lack of direct and personal persecution leads us to believe that we are not at war with the world. We must remember, though, that we are not a friend or an ally of the world. And we reaffirm this truth often at the Great Vigil of Easter, anytime there's a baptism, when we celebrate confirmation, where we renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil. So pretending that we're allies with the world pulls us into a direct conflict with our identity in Jesus Christ, the new citizenship that we have been given in Jesus. And if you want a do you want to see a picture of what it looks like, what it looks like when we do not take our citizenship in the kingdom of God seriously, I point you back to a couple of the scripture readings from morning prayer this week in Judges chapters 1 and 2, if you want to see a picture of what it looks like when we don't take our citizenship in the kingdom of God seriously. There's another reason it's ironic, though, that we are the enemies of the world. Perhaps the chief irony of our enity with the world is that we, more than anyone else, seek the good of the world by heralding the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Lord suffered and died at the hands of sinners to redeem those same sinners. His obedience and perfect righteousness given to us as a free gift. While we were the enemies of God, Christ died for us. The guilt and shame of our first parents and all the succeeding generations of mankind, all wiped away by the bloody cross of Jesus Christ. And as recipients of the grace of God, we are made into the hands, feet, and mouth of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our message is one of hope and life. Yet, like Jeremiah, virtually all the apostles and so many Christian martyrs, we are treated like a plague on the peace of this world. So have you ever asked yourself, why did the Pharisees seek the death of Jesus? Why didn't ancient Judah repent at the words of the prophet Jeremiah? Why couldn't countless Roman officials, Muslim clerics, and so many others in the history of the world hear the voice of God and the gracious voices of countless martyrs? It's because we are the enemies of the world. The world hates us precisely because we bring unwanted news, no matter how good that news actually is. So this morning, we are being reminded in these scripture lessons of the nature of the kingdom of God, the earth-shaking effects of the gospel, and our place in the mission of God. Our gospel reading this morning from Matthew chapter 10 continues where we left off last week. Jesus was sending out the 12 apostles to proclaim the gospel that they had heard Jesus himself preaching. At the end of the reading from last week in verses 14 and 15, Jesus reveals that there would actually be people who would reject the apostles' preaching. And when we pick up in verses 16 and following this morning, it shouldn't surprise us that Jesus has a little bit more to say about the nature of the resistance of those who do not receive the good news, those who are in the town when the apostle shakes off the dust from their feet, right, and they're walking out of town. Those people left behind, what kind of resistance are they going to pose? And I think, though, if you look at these verses again from the gospel reading, I think what Jesus said to his disciples would have been shocking to them. Imagine thinking that you were sent out to heal the sick and cast out demons, as well as proclaim to Israel, who had been waiting for hundreds of years for the coming of the Messiah. Imagine being told you're going to go do this great work, only to be told that the message was going to be rejected and you could be killed for it. They had left normal work, they had left normal family life to follow Jesus, not to be killed in that process. And yet there's no evidence in Matthew that the apostles blanched at Jesus' words about their own certain death. Matthew doesn't record their feelings, well, but after Jesus finished talking to them in chapter 11, it says that they just went on their way preaching in all of the villages and cities. We are included in the same work that the apostles are being sent on here in Matthew chapter 10. And just as Jesus gave them life and commissioned them, Jesus gave us life, gives us life, and commissions us as his heralds. However, the calling that we have received, just like the calling that the apostles receive, means that we are subject to the same treatment. Not that they received, but that our master has received. Whether we look at Jeremiah chapter 20, Psalm 69, Romans 5, the unifying theme is that what we have received from the Lord is so overwhelmingly wonderful and precious that by receiving it we are transformed into servants of God. And because we are the servants of God, because we like Jeremiah have been set apart for this ministry of telling the world about who God is and what he demands from the world, because we've been given this transformation, we are at odds with the world. What do you think? Did you sign up to be a servant of the Lord when you put your faith in Jesus Christ? Did you know? Did you know that was going to happen? Did you feel prepared for the suffering that the life of a disciple entails? I have heard Christians say, and it shocked me every time I hear it, but I've heard Christians say that they didn't sign up for persecution. And if it were to come, if it were to come, they're out. Right? I've actually heard, I've set at set at a table with Christians who go to church regularly, and they said if persecution comes, they're just going to go with us. They're going to go their own way. But there is a word, right, for those who enjoy pain and suffering, right? Are we saying that's what Christians are supposed to be? Are we supposed to go and try to collect all the pain and suffering of the world and pour it into our own bodies? Is that who we're supposed to be? Isn't it normal? Shouldn't we, shouldn't, isn't it normal to avoid as much suffering as possible? Shouldn't we try to avoid it? Let's stop asking those kinds of questions. Let's put this more simply and more directly. It might be normal to want to avoid suffering. It is normal and it is proper to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering. But we know that suffering is not the worst possible outcome. It would be so much worse to lose your soul. Likewise, enjoying all the stuff of the world, culture, music, laughs, entertainment, wealth, all of those good things, all of those things we can enjoy, even as Christians, they're not the highest good. They're not the thing that we would trade our souls for. Because the life that we have been given in Jesus Christ is the first fruit of the glory that we will mingle in for all eternity. We've been given abundant life in Jesus Christ. And that abundant life in Jesus Christ, as amazing as that is, as you would be crazy to exchange that for anything else, that's just a little tiny taste of what all of eternity is going to be for us. The indwelling Holy Spirit guiding us through triune wisdom to answer our persecutors, all of that that was there in Matthew chapter 10 that we read about the Holy Spirit giving us the words when we needed them and all of that. All of that is a deposit, a tiny little deposit of the riches of the new citizenship that we have in Jesus Christ. The guarantees of what we have received in Jesus Christ is so overwhelmingly abundant and powerful and amazing, and just all of the superlative language that you can come up with, we ought not to think that trading it gains us anything. To put it simply, suffering and persecution do not undo us like they do so many other people. Suffering and persecution do not undo us because we are in Jesus Christ. If you look at the various readings from this morning, there are all this language about suffering, all of this language about hardship. But did you catch the beginning of that Jeremiah reading in Jeremiah 20, verse 7? Jeremiah says, O Lord, you have deceived me. What a thing to say. What would prompt a prophet to say to the Lord, You have lied to me, God? Now wouldn't he know better than anyone else the power and majesty of God as a prophet? As someone who's interacted with God in a variety of ways, hearing the voice of God, having visions of things that God wants him to do and say, how could someone who heard the word of God like Jeremiah claim that the Lord lied to him, deceived him? Didn't he think that God, the God, the triune God, Yahweh, was like all the other gods of all the other nations, capricious and willful, and he just changes his mind in a spur of the moment and goes one way, and then I'm gonna go do something else. Jeremiah did not think that God was being capricious or deceitful. No, Jeremiah was simply mad. And he was mad at God. Because he had spent the day and the night before being beaten and held in the stocks by the head priest in Jerusalem. And if we read between the lines a little bit, we can see that Jeremiah assumed that being the prophet of God would mean that his message would be accepted by the people and that he would be respected as God's prophet. To be fair to the situation, right, God had told Jeremiah that his preaching would be ignored and that the people would reject him, right? But Jeremiah didn't want to be fair in that moment. He was mad. And he was disheartened that the justice and he was so disheartened that justice and fairness would not do for him. He just wanted a little bit of favor. He wanted some kudos from God, some respect for all of his hard work. However, if you notice again the words of Jeremiah, you will see that the message that he has to deliver is not something that he can ignore. He's compelled to proclaim the oracles of God, even if it means declaring violence and destruction on the people of God. Even if it means that he becomes the enemy of the world, he has to say the message that he's been given. The psalmist feels the same way. He's surrounded by enemies that want to deny the Lord and follow them. Sorry, he's surrounded by enemies that want to deny the Lord, and they're calling him to follow them into all manner of sin. They laugh at him when he suffers for his dependence on the Lord. And so for the psalmist, the path of least resistance means abandoning God and going the way of the world. Consider Jesus' words to the twelve disciples. There, Jesus tells them that not only will they be betrayed by chief priests and leaders of synagogues, but also by parents and children and friends. The disciples are going to face persecution from all sides. But why? Why are they going to be so persecuted? Why does everyone want to stop them from what they're doing? Why didn't the people in Jeremiah's day repent when he told them that God was bringing the curses of the law to bear on them? It's because ultimately our enemies are not flesh and blood. It's not the people that we're fighting against, it's the rulers and principalities of this world, the spiritual forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. In other words, we are at war with the dominion of sin and evil. Sin and evil are inside of each one of us, but they dominate. We know what this domination is like because we face temptation all the time. We want to appear all put together, so what do we do? We lie. We feel disrespected, and so bubbling anger rises up in our hearts. You see beauty out there in the world, and you want to gobble it up for yourself. When you see what someone else has, when you see what someone else has, you connive to either ruin it for them or take it from them. See, in the world, all of these things are normal. But the Christian stands out. A world where all the wrongs of the world are made right and there is no need to envy. And I've said many times already this morning that we are enemies of the world. I've said it enough times now that it probably sounds like I'm ready to declare war on the world. But the truth is that we're not declaring war on the world as much as the world has declared war on us. But you see, our warfare is not what we or they would expect. Our warfare is waged on crosses and in declaring the good news of Jesus Christ over and over again. We fight our battles with forgiveness and turning the other cheek. We stand against a seemingly unstoppable force by brandishing what? Swords and guns and big rockets? No, by brandishing the word of God as our sword and faith as our shield with a prayer on our lips. The calling that we have received according to Jesus is to bear the same suffering that he endured. He told the disciples that if they called their master Beelzebal, then they would do the same to them. But then he strangely follows up those words. If they called me the devil, they're going to call you the devil. And then he follows it up with this weird phrase, so have no fear. What a strange way to follow that up. The world declared Jesus as their enemy. We know this. How do we know that the world thought that Jesus was their enemy? They rejected him and they killed him. It only makes sense that they would also despise and reject us. The mission that Jesus sent the disciples on did not just stay with them. The transformation that happens when we are made citizens of the kingdom of God includes us becoming the servant of God. We are being called to speak the gospel to the world. That's something the world simply cannot tolerate. But this is a calling we all share, something we must take part in. But, I don't know if you've noticed, but at the end of the reading, there's this strange two verses, verses 32 and 33 of Matthew chapter 10. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father is in heaven. Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Those last few verses seem to indicate that if we fail in acknowledging Jesus before the world, he is going to reject us. Is that what he means? Jesus seems to be creating a gaping hole for us to fall into. And when we fall into it, we will fall out of his favor. But let's be clear here. Jesus is not telling his disciples, you better make sure you don't mess up because I'm ready to cut you off. Why would the eternal Son of God take on human nature, die on a cross, just to turn around and cut us off again? Think about what's going on in this passage. Jesus is comforting his disciples. He tells them, Have no fear of those that can only kill the body. They are being sent out into a world as sheep amidst wolves. They are the prey and the world is the predator. The world might try to devour them, but the world's blow will only amount to flesh wounds. There is a higher and better authority that we serve. And he has promised us something in the gospel that is as secure, not as our nature, but as his nature. If you and I started a new nation or a new religion, we would say things like, You will be rewarded to all the people who join us in our new nation, our new religion. You're going to be rewarded for all of your good deeds and all of your loyalty. But we reserve the right to punish you or withhold all the rewards if you fail. That's what we would do. But the kingdom that Jesus is setting up doesn't operate like that. He sends us out as ambassadors with himself as the dread warrior with us, who will fight all our battles. Our Lord Jesus is the one who endured being called the devil first. He endured the shame of a false arrest and a mock trial. They beat him and spat on him. They crucified him. Even after he was dead, they pierced his side. Yet he was not defeated. Because three days later he walked out of the tomb in triumph, not as some half-dead corpse being drugged by disciples, but as the glorious cosmic king of creation and the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep so that he could take it up again. He didn't go through all that pain and suffering of the cross to create a new law for us that we cannot keep, just to try to motivate us to try a little harder. He went through all the pain and suffering of the cross to satisfy God's righteous demands and to give us his righteousness. St. Paul makes that point in Romans 5. While we were sinners and the enemies of God, Jesus died for us. His righteousness in exchange for our unrighteousness. Even the inherited unrighteousness and disobedience of Adam and successive generations of sinners were overcome by the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ. We stand before the Lord Jesus as fellow heirs with Abraham, because like Abraham, we have put our faith in the Word of God, in the promise of the gospel. When Jesus told the disciples that those who deny him before the world would be denied before the Father, he was offering them a solemn warning. Yes. But ultimately, that warning was not for them, it was to the world. Jeremiah said that he felt deceived by the Lord. Peter denied Jesus three times. The rest of the disciples fled at Jesus' arrest. And if denying him before the world means that Jesus would deny them, then the disciples had no room for hope, did they? And yet, when Jesus resurrected on that first Easter morning and he goes to the disciples, what word does he speak to them? Peace. A few days later, he restores Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. So why would the Son of the eternal Son of God who died for sinners be so willing to forgive us when we deny him and run away from him? Why would he be going? We just said it would be ridiculous for him to do all of those things to then reject us again when we deny him. But I mean, wouldn't it kind of make sense for him to be a little bit salty about them rejecting him and turning away from him? The reason why Jesus could come speaking peace to the unfaithful disciples, and the reason why he would do the same for us is here in Matthew 10. Jesus tells the disciples not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. This again sounds kind of terrifying because maybe Jesus is saying that we ought to be afraid of God, right? Because he's the one who can kill both the body and soul. But he tells the disciples that they will be faced with pressure to conform to the world, and he wants them to see what they're trading. If you listen to the offer of the world and you listen to what the world has to offer, and you think, you know what, I'm going to give up my life in Jesus Christ, and I'm going to be conformed to what the world wants me to do, well then God's the one who. Who's ultimately powerful enough to kill the body and the soul? Don't you see what you're trading? Do you see what Jesus is saying there? In his heart, Jesus is telling the disciples that God's power to kill both body, in his heart, Jesus is trying to tell them that God's power to kill both the body and the soul is an assurance, a reassurance for them, an encouragement for them. The good news of all this scary talk about persecution and suffering is that the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, loves and protects us. Jesus gives this little illustration about sparrows, which are sold two for a penny. And I don't know what it costs for a sparrow today, but two for a penny sounds cheap. They're not very useful birds. I don't think they do very much. You can't eat them, I don't think. So they're not good for anything. Maybe they're pretty. I don't know. I don't know much about birds. Some of you know about birds, you can educate me later. If he cares for a sparrow that when it falls to the ground, God knows and God cares. How much more does he love us who are worth more than many sparrows? The secret heart of God is revealed to us here. Don't miss this. We are recipients of the gospel first and not practitioners of a religion. God so loved the world that he sent his son into the world in order that through him the world might be saved. A world that hated him was given the Son of God as a redeemer. Like the early disciples of Jesus, we have been given the gospel hope through the word of God, the promise of the gospel. We are not being called to wage an offensive battle against the world by arguing or fist fighting our way through God's enemies. That's not what we're being called for. We're not being called to conniving new ways to defeat armies of sinners. We aren't being called to do any of these things because the battle has been fought and won by Jesus Christ through his passion, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. The reason why our warfare with the world is not waged with traditional weapons and why we don't fight against flesh and blood, we don't fight against people, is because that even though the world hates us, we love the world the same way that God loves the world. The word of God that promises peace with God through Jesus Christ is preached to the world. And though they hate to hear it, the gospel breaks stony hearts and turns them into living flesh that can receive with joy the Lord of glory. We are precious to God. So precious, in fact, that he sent his son to die in our place to redeem us, to pay all of our sin debt. The Father sets us at his table and welcomes us as his own children through Jesus Christ, through his only begotten Son. And as we journey through this life, we serve as heralds of the coming kingdom. Our lives serve as testimonies of the nature of that kingdom. And we ought to be careful, yes, we ought to be careful to live as if the gospel is true and that to serve God is perfect freedom. But our service is not the measure of our salvation, nor can our service secure our salvation. The kingdom that we are pointing people to is just not that kind of kingdom. It's not a kingdom of a transaction where we do for God and God does for us. We keep telling people about the kingdom of God where the weak and the wayward are brought in and filled with the best of bread, wine, and the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the kind of kingdom where all are welcomed as sinners and transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Suffering and persecution. They're coming. But so will the triumph of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sinners will be saved. The church will be full of people praising God. There is no promise, though, that this process is going to be easy. Tertullian once said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And to put that another way, our Christians suffer for the gospel, the church grows. So not only will suffering and persecution not undo us, it will contribute to the triumph of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we rejoice in the gospel, for it is our hope in life and in death. By it, Lord, you call us not only are we called, Lord, to be your children, but we're also called to be part of your body, to be your hands, to be your feet, to be the mouths that proclaim the goodness and the glory and the mercy of Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would empower us by your Spirit, teach us to walk a cross shaped life, following our Savior all the way into glory. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.