Jesus, the One who Endures

Intro

As we start look into the series in Matthew we are calling the kingdom mission we are looking at the different pieces of Jesus mission to all people, as it also points to us as His believers as those who continue the mission Jesus started.

We look at how the Gospel is good news to the marginalized, because jesus comes to heal not just our body but also our soul, to make us new.

Then we saw that Jesus is the one who calls us to follow Him and that to be a disciple of Jesus means we are with Jesus, we learn from Jesus and we become like Jesus. And as we saw with some of the people that Jesus talks with, He is calling us to more than just learning a few new things, and we often have to let go of some things and trust Jesus as we move forward.

And Brad asked a few questions last week. Two of which were who is a true follower and what does discipleship involve?

In 1943 Luis Zamperini was taken as a POW in Japan, he was sent to a camp where the basic aim was to break the spirit of these men. And the man in charge of the camp had a particular desire to break the will of Luis. Forcing him to race while malnourished and then beating him when he can’t win. Having every prisoner punch him in the face. Ordering him to pick up a large steel beam and hold it over his head if he dropped it he would be shot. He wanted to break him. Through this Luis said that he kept his faith in Jesus and that he forgave this man and others that had desired to hurt him. Luis knew during that time that trials had to come and he had to make a choice of how to respond, but what he held onto was something greater.

Jesus shows His disciples in this passage that part of what Luis went through that they will go through as well.

And He shows them that They will have to endure, just as He will endure on the cross

He teaches them three important things about endurance, things that I think Luis shows us as well.

They can’t escape conflict

They will have to make a choice (and many choices after that)

There is good news for those who choose to follow Him.

We can’t escape conflict

Jesus tells them that He is sending them out as “sheep among wolves”. And if you think of wolves, you think about a pack that attacks you from every side.

Now if you think of a sheep…they are really a defenseless animal. I mean what weapon do they have, that they make a great pillow? Idk. They dont have tools of attack, they aren’t particularly fast or smart, when there is danger they aren’t able to defend themselves, they rely on a shepherd. That’s why they are an easy target for predators.

We would like to think that we can attack the “wolves”. But Jesus is clear that we are the sheep, and we can’t be both a wolf and a sheep. We aren’t supposed to be fighters, Jesus has already told us we can’t hate our neighbor, that we are to care for those who are our enemies.

Jesus points us to the truth that we can't expect to be treated any better than He was. We should expect to face persecution. If we are inferior to Jesus and He dealt with suffering than why would we expect not to?

Jesus also says that a student shouldn't seek to be greater than the master or to be more highly regard, it is good enough (in fact even better) for us to be like Jesus.

Jesus says The language of "I did not come" parallels Matt. 5:17 where Jesus was showing that He is not going to act according to the expectations they might have had (even though in a deeper sense He does). The idea of a sword is to say hostility, there there will be even be family dynamics threatened.

But hasn't Jesus already told us that He will be peace? Isn't He the prince of peace? What Jesus is changing is the type of peace that He will bring. It isn't the removal of all difficulty and challenges, rather it is a peace with God and a peace with the body of Christ. There will be conflict between those who want earthly reward. To follow the Lordship of Jesus Christ will mean that you will be at ends with those who ascribe lordship to the idols they follow. Lordship to money, lordship to a certain belief about the world, lordship to political opinions and tribes, lordship to a certain way of life and pleasure, lordship to an identity.

The inferior text of Luke 2:14 in the KJV has led generations of people celebration Christmas to promote the false notion that Christ brings 'peace on earth, good will to men.' Instead, Jesus promises peace on earth to men of good will, namely, to 'those on whom his favor rests.' To those who welcome him, he offers "peace"...such peace brings the wholeness of restored relationships with God (Rom 5:1) and interpersonal reconciliation within the community of believers (Eph 4:3)...Jesus did not come to eradicate all human conflict...His ministry proved so confrontational that He either attracted people to himself or visibly repelled them" (Blomberg).

This does not mean we seek out conflict. Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 3:13-18 “Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,”

Pride tells us that we have something to prove

Pride tells us that we can be better than Jesus...

2 Corinthians 11:30 “If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses.”

Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit will intercede for them. This isn’t to say that they should not have a defense of their face or be prepared. But what He is saying is that their primary concern should not be trying to find innocence in the face of public opinion.

Oftentimes winning the argument means losing the person. You have to be willing to lose the argument to save the soul of another.

All this hatred is account on their connection to Jesus, to His name. It points to a hatred that isn't reasonable or based on our actions. If that’s true than rational arguments isn’t the problem, the heart is.

We have to know that the message of the Gospel is better than public opinion and speak as if that’s the truth.

We can’t solve our conflicts on our own - “the only remedy for big odds is a big God”

Jesus doesn’t see this persecution as something that we should harbor bitterness about. But rather, as an opportunity to bear witness to the Gospel.

Isn’t that what Jesus did? What Stephen did? What Peter and Paul did? They never threw a pity part for their troubles, they saw it as where God had purposefully placed them.

The Spirit was with them in these moments, God will be with us as well and give us what we need.

You will have to make a choice

Godly wisdom doesn’t include compromise on obedience

The idea of a snake's “Wisdom” is that it can wait quietly from predators and knows the correct time to strike. Disciples are to use intelligence against attacks against them.

The idea of a dove is that one keeps their integrity, to be “unmixed”.

But doves are also seen as gentle, they are a symbol of peace.

Both show us that the disciples must anticipate danger, and know when to avoid it and when they must enter into the fray. But in all of it they must be prepared to deal with hardship rather than to compromise. They still must stay unmixed, we must hold to the truth

The truth will always ask more of us than what we want to give. And often those who oppose the truth will do so passionately. The world will ask of us things that are contrary to God. Jesus identifies three spheres of compromise

Three spheres of compromise

Religious belief

There is overt hostility from religious leaders

They would whip you 39 times because 40 is considered killing them.

Those who will try and tell you “progress or die”, who are willing to compromise the Gospel in order to stay relevant.

This is different then progress on music, or on the treatment of women or minorities in our church. What we are talking about is the Gospel.

Political agreement

Those who will see the pit you against the culture, “everyone else has to do this”

“You have to choose a side

Family dynamics

The Gospel will remove loyalty from even family. Those who are loyal to the culture will ask you to be loyal to it as well.

Why will there be so much fighting between family members? Because the believers will be more loyal to Jesus than to their family. It will feel like "undermining" to those family members, like disloyalty. In the culture of Jesus family meant even more than it does today, it was to go against the strongest convictions a person would have, to be considered an outcast. Any of these divisions would leave you isolated, with no family to go to.

Jesus is calling believers to put Him above their own family. There is very challenging for us. Our excuse might be saying we have to be "Ready" to put Jesus ahead of our own family but in our circumstance it will never call for that. But that isn't what Jesus is saying, He is saying there will be issues within families because of Him. Why?

Because it might lead us to say "I'm have to obedience to Christ and go to church on Sunday, I can't spend time with you until after that." Or saying to a child, "we are going to put God first in our family over this activity or over spending money on this thing or rather than vacationing every chance we get." And guess what…your family might not always like hearing that.

Fathers…there will be choices you will have to make for your family that your kids might not enjoy, even your wife might not enjoy because of the Gospel.

Mothers…you might find your kids don’t like the things you tell them they aren’t able to do or enjoy, your husband might feel you are being to “extreme”.

The Gospel asks a lot of us.

It might also lead to loneliness, we have to be willing to lose those close to us to speak the truth.

But the point isn't that we desire conflict, it is good and godly to love your family. You are not to seek out conflict (some of us do that with our family). But that Jesus must be higher than family and regrettably that will lead to division and rejection. That they shouldn't love their family to the point that Jesus is an afterthought, that Jesus is secondary. In fact, the greatest love we can show our family is from an out-flowing of our love for Jesus.

Jesus himself knew of this conflict with family. Mark 3:21 “When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.””

We also know that God calls us to care for our families. Provide for their needs, seek to bring them up in the faith, love them unconditionally. But in the end, we also know, that sometimes asking them to pursue godliness will not be a popular choice.

Jesus also tells us that sometimes the best thing is to remove ourselves from the hostility around us. But sometimes we like to punish ourselves. We stay around negative people, we stick with those who speak with hatred toward us.

But Jesus has already told us that if someone slaps us on our right cheek we turn the other to him also. To flee is better than to provoke.

You will choose something to fear

And you may see these three spheres of compromise and there are a lot of things you might fear. Fear your standing in society, fear the perception of those close to you, fear of losing things you value...

But the choice is not between fear and no fear, but of what we fear more. It is not about courage for God (although we should have that) but it should be greater fear of godly punishment over human punishment. Do we not believe that God has control over our soul? What can man do to the soul?

So knowing we have nothing to fear Jesus makes clear that we should be willing to publicly acknowledge Jesus even in the face of persecution. Because if we acknowledge Him that Jesus will acknowledge us to His Father. This is a connection to what Jesus said in v. 28 that there is a fate worse than just losing our earthly lives.

There is still grace though, because Peter will do this exact thing in Matt. 26:69-75, and yet forgiveness is shown to Him. It isn't irreversible, but our desire should be to have courage, because there isn't anything to fear to begin with.

What is very clear here is that those who do not acknowledge Christ can't be received by the Father. There is no salvation except through Jesus and acknowledgement of Him.

We have to choose to give up ourselves

John 12:25 “The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Matthew 16:24 CSB

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

, 2 Timothy 2:8-10, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and descended from David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer to the point of being bound like a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”

But Jesus goes even further. We can't just love Jesus more than our own families, more than what we enjoy in the world, more than our jobs. We have to love Jesus more than our own lives. We have to "follow after" Jesus and take up our cross. He says this even though His disciples don't yet know that He will go to cross, the meaning of this only gets deeper after Jesus himself will take up His cross.

Jesus moves from trying to find our physical life and then the section portion is how we will or will not find our eternal life.

We do a lot to hold onto our lives, to cling on to these things that make us feel valuable and important, we do a lot for our "self esteem". We are in the age of expressive individualism, where we define for ourselves what is right for us. Where we are told and encouraged to "be true to ourselves". What feels good to us we should pursue, what our "heart" tells us in the moment to do we should act on. To deny those feelings is "oppressive", it is repressing these inner desires that we should be letting out. Why would we repress our desires? The world tells us. What the world is telling us is that we can trust ourselves to make the right choices for our life. We should not trust ourselves, our "desires" our "Feelings" are often misplaced, they WILL lead us astray. I mean we know this intuitively. When you have the desire to steal something we know that is wrong. When we have the desire to punch someone we know that we shouldn't. But when it comes to the things we WANT, well we tell ourselves that if we want it than God will want it for us. We make an idol of our desires. We make an idol of our lives. Even though we all have those moments where we know that it never lives up to what we were hoping. We know that at the end of chasing the American dream there is still something that is going to be missing. Another place to see, another thing to do, another item to buy.

But what Jesus asks us to do is give up ourselves, to lose our lives and and give it all to God and when we do that we will find it. He tells us to "Take up our cross." Did you know that is what you said you will do when you were baptized? Romans 6:3-4 “Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.”

Jesus tells us we should be ready to face execution, to face whatever circumstances on behalf of Him.

Why? Because our motivation is life with God, it is eternal life. We have to value life with God more than we value the life we enjoy now. Can't both follow the world and follow God.

I think of the illustration of the rope.

What we need to see is that there is a reality beyond this world.

Dying to oneself may mean time in God's Word, in serving the community, in investing in a local church, while living for yourself is self-indulgence, being gone every weekend doing another thing, investing your time in every activity you can be part of.

If we just seek to "find" like in the things we can enjoy without considering how that will affect us than we lose our life to these idols in our life that consume us and don't give up. But if lose (or even "destroy!") our life than we will find how we enjoy life more even without all the things the world tells us we need in order to be happy. But even more so Jesus is talking about the life that is to come.

But the question is why would we trust in human relationships to begin with? Don't we know humans? They let us down, they lie, they do things to get what they want. Certainly mixed in is a desire for our good, for our own benefit, but pride often gets in the way. Why would we let that get in the way of a loving God who would do anything for us? Isn't God worthy of us giving Him our lives?

There is good news for those that choose to follow Jesus.

So what does practical wisdom say when you are facing persecution? When you are forced to sacrifice? It says to abandon your faith, abandon your job because of difficulties, abandon a community that is difficult. That if you don’t abandon then your are ruining your future, but Jesus says “the one who endures will be saved.”

Know all things will come to the light

In the face of persecution Jesus tells them to not be afraid.

One day they will be vindicated, the acts of those who persecute will be revealed. Even though there will be those who appear good but are evil and continue on in doing evil, nothing will remain secret to the eye of God.

In an opposite fashion of those who conceal evil, they are not to conceal what is God but to make it public! They are not to have a secret faith, they are to speak boldly about it and in public places.

It reminds us of what Jesus said in Matt. 5.

Luke 12:3 goes one steps further and says what we say and believe in secret WILL BE heard in public. There is an inevitability that your faith will have to be make known in public and what we see in v. 32-33 tells us that when it is made public we can either acknowledge it before others or deny it.

Know that God cares for you

Jesus uses sparrows, considered the cheapest bird to buy for food. We may say "can't you get a chicken from Costco for $5? How much more are you worth! A chicken is worth very little to us, but they are part of God's creation and here cares for them. God isn't so busy with the rest of the universe that He can't keep His eye on the sparrow. Can you consider how many bird there are in the world? Recent estimates say there are about 50 billion birds in the world, and God knows each one of them. Yet, God cares for us even more than these birds. What does Psalms 139 tell us? He knows our thoughts, He knows what we will say before we say it, that there is no where we can go where we can escape His spirit, no place on earth we can hide, that He knew us before we were even born and He knew all of our days, and His thoughts about us "outnumber the grains of sand." So it isn't even that God knows about us, it is that He knows us better than we know ourselves, that He cares deeply for us. That He has though about what is best for us, about our strengths and weaknesses, about how we will impact those around us, about how we could be drawn to know Him. It isn't like we are a Facebook profile that God scrolls through our feed and see's what is happening in our life and makes judgments based off of it. Rather, God knows us intimately and He desires meaningful relationship with us. He knows the smallest details about us.

Jesus has argued to us by means of after life value that God has for us. That man can only kill the body but only God can affect the soul. But here Jesus refers to the way that God also has control over wordly events, that not even the sparrows die unless God desires for such to happen. And if God cares for each and every sparrow and what happens to them, how much more would God care for us?

Funny enough the reference to not a single hair of your head falling is probably about male pattern baldness! Saying "you will not be bald on a single hair of your head unless the Father knows it!" Some of you men may have words with God about this one... And it isn't just that He has counted, but that He continues to keep count of our hairs.

Therefore, why should we have any fear? When we have the God of the universe on our side, what would we have reason to be afraid of?

We encourage one another to endure

Jesus connects the ministry the disciples have with His own ministry, that they are to be sent out and welcomed by those who believe.

Jesus adds this as an encouragement that even if the world does not welcome them that those who believe in Him should welcome them in. That those that participate in Jesus will enjoy the support of others, of the brothers and sisters in Christ.

There will be many who oppose them, who hate them, who will seek to hurt them. But there will be others that welcome them as a guest and to welcome them will be like welcoming Jesus and the Father who sent Him. The Father enters the house of those who welcome His disciples!

Some of those they welcome they might be welcoming with risk to themselves if the person entering their home is at risk.

There is a prophet, one who speaks on behalf of God. But then there is one who walks according to the ways of God. It means that one who serves God will seek to help those who are honoring God. Jesus even points it back on them. "You know what you will experience, so care for those who might be experiencing the same things."

And it isn't even a big gift, but just a gift that shows compassion to one who follows God.

Little children just means those who follow Jesus but may not be as noticeable.

There will be many believers, in our church, our community, missionaries, who will experience more suffering than we might. Or are in a position we at one point we might have been in. Jesus calls us to recognize their needs and care for them because we understand the struggle that comes with being a believers sometimes.

We should endure “to the end”

To the end of a trial, to the end of persecution, to the end of our life here on earth. And don’t give up.

Those who are faithful to the end will be in the presence of Jesus on day.

Jesus endured for our sake, so that we may endure with Him.

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”