Matthew 10:5-15: The First Mission (Mention the eclipse)

Introduction

If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 10. If you don’t have a Bible with you, feel free to grab one of the ones in the pew back in front of you.

We are getting serious about getting back into Matthew and I have to be honest, I am excited about it.

So since it has been a while, let’s recap the story of Matthew so far.

Recap

Matthew wrote his gospel account with 5 primary sections that each begin with a set of narrative stories that then set up an extended teaching called a “discourse.” So the order of Matthew looks like this: introduction about the birth of Christ and the surrounding events, then it jumps forward to the first set of stories of Jesus’ ministry, and his first major teaching, second set of stories, second teaching, third set of stories, third teaching, fourth set of stories, fourth teaching, fifth set of stories, fifth teaching, and then the closing section about the death and resurrection of Christ.

Now, the main reason it is important to understand the basic structure of Matthew is because it helps us understand the points that Matthew is making in his writing. In each narrative section, he is setting his readers up to then hear Jesus’ official teaching on a topic.

Introduction: 1-3: Jesus as the Messiah and Immanuel (God With Us)

WAY back in mid-April of 2023 we started the first section, the introduction, of Matthew in chapters 1-3, where the entire book starts with a genealogy and the assertion that Jesus is the promised Messiah from the line of King David and the Patriarch Abraham.

After that, we come to the famous story about Jesus’ birth and how it fulfilled the Old Testament prophetic promises about how the nations would come to honor the Messiah who was born in Bethlehem.

Even more than that, Jesus’ conception was by the Holy Spirit, and he was named Immanuel, which amounts to a claim that Jesus is no mere human. He is God with us, the God of Israel embodied as a human.

First Main Section: 4-7: Arrival of God’s Kingdom and the Sermon on the Mount

In chapters 4-7 Matthew shows us how Jesus is like a new Moses. Like Moses, Jesus came up out of Egypt (ch. 2), passed through the waters of baptism (ch. 3), entered the wilderness for 40 days (ch. 4), and went up onto a mountain to give new teaching, most of which focused on the books of Moses (chs. 5-7). Matthew is claiming that Jesus is the promised True and Better Moses,

who will deliver Israel from slavery,

give them new divine teaching,

save them from their sins,

and initiate a new covenant relationship between God and his people.

This also explains why Matthew structured the center of the book into five main parts that highlight Jesus’ teaching. He created a parallel to the five books of Moses, presenting Jesus as Israel’s new, authoritative teacher who will fulfill the storyline of the Torah.

The first of the five teachings (called the “first discourse”) is the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7.

Second Main Section: 8-10: The Kingdom’s Power and Invitation to Discipleship

After concluding his great teaching on the Kingdom, the next section shows Jesus bringing the Kingdom into reality in the day-to-day lives of people (chs. 8-10).

Matthew has arranged nine stories in which Jesus shows the liberating power of God’s Kingdom to in the lives of normal people. There are three groups of three stories here, all about people who are sick, broken, or in danger. Jesus heals or saves all of them by his great power.

Then, in between the triads, we find two parallel stories about Jesus’ radical call to follow him. A person can only enter God’s Kingdom by following him and becoming his disciple.

So then, after the second set of narratives in chapters 8 and 9 we come to chapter 10, which is the second teaching, the second discourse. This is where we’re starting today.

Here Jesus sends out 12 disciples. He teaches these disciples how to announce the Kingdom of God and what to expect as they do so. While many among Israel will accept the Kingdom of Jesus, Israel’s leaders stand to lose a lot if they repent. They will likely reject and persecute Jesus and his followers, and his followers should be ready for it.

Two weeks ago we looked at the twelve that Jesus sent out and realized something. They were just ordinary people like you and me who were willing to listen to Jesus and do the work of knowing and following him.

Let’s go ahead and read Matthew 10:5-15 together

Matthew 10:5–15 ESV

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Where to Go

Matthew 10:5–6 ESV

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Only to the Jews of Israel

The Gentiles would come later (Matt 28, Acts 1:8)

Paul says the same, his message is to the Jew first and then to the Gentile

Why would this be?

Because, as Paul says in Romans 3:2

The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

They were prepared to hear this message because God had been preparing them for centuries!

From Genesis through Malachi, God was telling them over and over again to prepare for the Kingdom of Heaven to come! To prepare for the Messiah who would lead them there!

There is a proper order for how news is supposed to be given. So the Israelites were the ones who should first hear this message.

In case you’re struggling with this concept of there being a proper order for news, think about it like this: If your adult child recently learned they were expecting your first grandchild, who should they tell first? Should they post it on facebook for you to learn about it with all the rest of the world? Would that be proper and right? No! They should tell you directly and honor the relationship they have with you before they tell everyone else!

In the same way, this message of good news was to go to the people God had chosen and led out of Egypt and then it would be proclaimed to the whole world. It was the proper order.

What to Say

Matthew 10:7 ESV

And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Does this sound familiar?

It is the same message that John the Baptist preached

Matthew 3:1–2 ESV

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

And it’s the same message that Jesus was preaching

Matthew 4:17 ESV

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

This is the message Jesus has gave to his disciples to preach in their first mission and this is the message that we have been given to proclaim as well.

The gospel is the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven! That there is a way to be redeemed to God even after we rebelled against him! We do not have to remain as exiles because of the work that Jesus has done!

It is really important that we get this gospel message right. The gospel is not something to make you feel better about yourself, or a manual to help you better your life. It’s not a 3 easy steps to be free from anxiety, or how to live a prosperous life. The gospel is not about you!

The gospel is the good news of Kingdom of Heaven being opened to us depraved wretches because Jesus lived the perfect life that we should have lived but rejected in our sin, he then died the death we deserved to die for our rebellion. He took our place and faced the wrath of God for his people! He was raised then on the third day proving that death had no claim on him for he had no sin! And he ascended into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God interceding for his people! Believing Christ and what he has done for us is what brings us into this kingdom! This leads us to a great love for his works and a desire to follow his teachings!

Jesus preached a clear message and gave that same clear message for his disciples to preach! And one of the grand problems with why the American church has grown weak is because our message is not clear and it is not the message of Christ!

Somehow we have grown bored of the clear and simple gospel and have grown accustomed to sermons like “10 tips to being a better father” or “the joys of motherhood” or “overcoming your giants in life” and we have pushed Christ’s message to the side in order to hear more about me, me, me! It has to stop!

We have to be willing to set ourselves aside if we are to be strengthened once again as a church. We have to make it all about Christ and his word, and not just with our words, but with our very desires. What do I want in a church? Well, what does Christ want in a church? That’s what I want. What do I want to hear in church? The Word of God which is the very word of Life, and I want to hear it sung, read, and proclaimed.

I want the clear message of Christ because if I drift from that, I drift from him!

Our Thursday night small group studies this month are dedicated to thinking and talking about what happens when we get the gospel wrong and it’s so destructive! Please come and join us for that if you are able at all. This is vital to thriving in life as a Christian and so far, the people who have made it have said that this is something the whole church needs to hear.

What to Do

Matthew 10:8 (ESV)

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.

This, too, should sound familiar.

This is exactly what Jesus had been doing in his own ministry.

Matthew 4:23 ESV

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

Matthew 9:35 ESV

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

His disciples were supposed to say what Jesus said and do what Jesus did.

He gave them the power to do these things, and this first mission was meant to be an extension of Jesus’ own ministry work and even today, our ministries are to be an extension of Jesus’ own ministry.

We aren’t supposed to be mavericks doing whatever feels right to us. We’re supposed to be continuing the work of Jesus. This is where many go wrong, they say they’re following Jesus when they’re really following the ways of secularism - giving self-help talks instead of sermons and setting up the church like a business instead of listening to what Jesus has to say about his church. Or they could be following the ways of paganism instead, setting up religious rites and whatever seems right in their own eyes and to their own passions, saying “what does it matter the form of my worship so long as my heart is in it?”

There are specific instructions for the ministry that Jesus sent his disciples into and it is to be faithful to follow his example, not to be innovative changing the message and the work.

And as they went Jesus told them to go with a trusting heart, believing that:

God Would Provide

1. Their basic needs

Matthew 10:8–10 (ESV)

You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.

2. Their Shelter

Matthew 10:11–13 ESV

11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

They were being trained to rely on the Lord for their sustenance. God would meet their needs. They were to take no money with them or from the people they ministered to. They were to pack no suitcase. They were to rely upon the Lord for their shelter and food.

In verse 12 they are told to greet the house and the traditional greeting was the word shalom which literally means “peace”. So in their greeting, they were to offer their peace to the house. If the house was worthy, most likely meaning the owner offered them food and shelter and was eager to hear their message, then their “peace” their shalom, was to stay upon the home. But if the owners refused them and their message, then they were to allow the shalom to be given back and then go on their way to the next house.

Those who reject the good news...

Matthew 10:14–15 ESV

And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Shake off the dust

Don’t carry even the dust with you!

For those who reject you because of Jesus, don’t even carry the dust with you. There are some who have heard the Gospel clearly proclaimed, understood it, and yet rejected it. Those people have chosen for themselves. It is not your job to convince them, but rather to seek out those who will hear the Gospel and believe it.

It is okay to focus your evangelistic efforts somewhere else and God is often driving us to move on to the next town. If they still wish to speak, then by all means have more conversations with them, but do not spend all of your time and energy on those who are rejecting the gospel message. Jesus says to shake the dust off and move on.

“Judgement will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the town that rejects the gospel of the kingdom.”

To understand this we must go again to the idea of taking this good news only to the Jews.

To the Jews were given the oracles of God, they were chosen in God and they were prepared for centuries for the coming of the Messiah.

The Jews were the children of Abraham, the children of the promise! They have no excuse for rejecting the Promised One!

If they were still rejecting him, then it was even worse than the pagan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah acting like pagans.

There would come a time when the message would go out from the Jewish people and to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles would more freely accept the message of Christ than the Israelites. The Gentiles would be welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven as the adopted children of Abraham, while those physical children of Abraham who yet rejected the Messiah would face judgement. They would sacrifice their birthright for the sake of their pride. This was promised back in chapter 8

Matthew 8:11–12 ESV

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Closing

This is an important passage as we think on the ministries that we wish to be involved in, as individuals and as the church.

Is this ministry an extension of Jesus’ ministry?

Are we going to our own people first? Have we been faithful in ministering to our neighbors, family members, and those who grew up in the church yet no longer are coming?

Are we just meeting physical needs or are we meeting spiritual needs as well?

Are we proclaiming the same message that Jesus proclaimed? Do we even know what that message is?

There is a reason we spent nearly two months on evangelism. ITS A BIG DEAL THAT WE KNOW WHAT THE MESSAGE IS! And if we are so bored with the Word of God that we aren’t willing to study it in our personal time and do the work of applying it to our own lives, how will we know what to proclaim when the opportunity comes to proclaim the message of Christ?!

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Turn away from your rebellion and turn toward Christ so that you may enter the Kingdom when it comes!

This is the message given to the ordinary people who were the disciples of Jesus and this is the message given to the ordinary people sitting in this building this morning. If they were willing and expected to do the work of listening to Jesus learning what his teachings were about and following him, why do we expect to be spoonfed the junk food of encouraging self-help instead of the nourishing, though more demanding, meat of the word of God?

In a time where we have so many resources at our disposal we have no excuse for not digging in deeper. We have podcasts, free classes, animated videos, and so much more, literally sitting in our pockets if we have smart phones! And if you need help finding nourishing material, then just ask! I would be ecstatic to help you set up a collection of teaching materials that refreshes every day that you just have to tap two buttons to start listening and learning from! You are not helpless and you are not without help! Let’s learn and grow from the word of God together so that we can be faithful to Jesus!

Are we acting with the authority that Jesus has given his followers? Or do we cower in fear when faced with ministry opportunities?

Are we trusting the Father to provide for us or are we seeking to care for our families and provide comfort all within our own power?

Are we spending inordinate time and energy on people who have outright rejected the gospel, refusing to shake the dust off our feet and move on?

Jesus sends out ordinary people to do his work and he empowers them to have the strength to see it through. If we ordinary people will cling to a simple faithfulness to his instructions, he will bring the fruit.

Let’s pray