A Disciple's Reward
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Over the last several weeks, we have looked at Matthew 10. This whole chapter is about the mission that Christ sent His disciples on. They were called to represent Him and go before Him to proclaim that the kingdom of God had arrived. They were told not to take anything for their journey and to depend upon the hospitality and generosity of those who would believe their message and receive it in the towns to which they went. They were also warned that they would be persecuted for the sake of the gospel and that this persecution would come even from within their own families.
It leaves a person to wonder if it is worth it to follow Christ and go on this mission. A lot of people today live their lives as if it is not worth it.
What would you say? Do you really think it is worth it to follow Christ? What about helping those out who go forward in the name of Jesus to tell the world about what He has done for them?
Don’t answer that too quickly. Look at your life. How do you prioritize your time and your giving? Can someone look at your life and see that you value God’s kingdom?
Most people need to see that it’s worth it. That’s what Jesus does next. Look with me this morning at the last words of this discourse in Matthew 10.
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Pray
If you love Jesus, you will think that regardless of the reward you get for following Jesus, if He saved your soul, you can’t help but tell other people about Him.
However, we live in a culture that is a “me first” culture that wants a reward for doing anything noble.
For the Christian, obedience should not be about what you get, but about the lordship of Christ. Dallas Willard, who is a Christian teacher known for his work on the spiritual disciplines, writes:
To present Christ’s lordship as an option leaves it squarely in the category of stereo equipment for a new car.
Dallas Willard
That is a pretty powerful statement. But we do get rewards for our service and Jesus wanted us to know a few things about a disciple’s reward.
Let’s take a look at them.
1. Receive Those Christ Has Sent (v.40a)
1. Receive Those Christ Has Sent (v.40a)
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
Receiving the messenger was tantamount to receiving the one who sent the messenger
Jesus is not just speaking of the immediate 12 Disciples. He goes through a list, or hierarchy, of those who serve him, which we will look at in a moment.
Jesus wanted people to realize that when they received someone who came in His name, it was the same as if they had received Jesus himself.
Remember that the disciples were told to go out empty handed. Look in Matthew 10:8-14
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
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.
14 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.
The disciples were told to go and depend upon the generosity of the people that they preached to to provide for their needs. This is no different today that it was then.
Paul said this about those who are sent to preach the Word. 1 Cor. 9:13-14
13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?
14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Paul even argued that those who receive the message of the gospel should consider that they who their lives in a since to the ones who preach the gospel that saved them.
But the main point we want to note about those who are receiving the gospel and showing hospitality to those who preached the Word is that they were accepting not just the messenger, but Jesus who sent them.
They would be receiving the word and testimony of the one preaching. They would receive the gospel and become believers. And, they would in turn become partners with the preacher as they showed hospitality to them.
Illustration:
Think about how many of you have helped someone go on a mission trip by giving to a fund raiser or an offering that was used to send them. Several of us had the opportunity to go out from this church to the Dominican Republic and to Virginia this year and many of you gave to make that a possibility. You have also given to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. You’ve given to many other offerings like the City of Hope offering and some of your gifts are going out with others that are not a part of this church, but that we partner with in the association who will be going to New Mexico in a few weeks. All of these gifts that you give are partnerships with these people and these ministries and it is as if you went yourselves.
Don’t misunderstand me to say that all you have to do is give and not worry about how you might go, but we need people to give and help send others. Many people who do this cannot physically go or don’t have the time allotted for them to go, so this is a way they can go with the ones who can.
Application:
When you give to the church your tithes and offerings, you are receiving the message of the church and partnering with those who do the work of ministry. You support the pastor. You support the leaders and the ministry that goes on in that church. You support missionaries that go out from that church. And, as you are doing this, you are participating with those who go.
2. Receive Christ Whom God Has Sent (v.40b)
2. Receive Christ Whom God Has Sent (v.40b)
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
It may seem obvious that if we receive Christ, we are receiving God, but we should not take that for granted. We need to recognize that God sent Jesus.
One of the most popular verses in the Bible is John 3:16.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
We need to remember that Jesus Himself was sent on a mission by God to save the world.
Have you received Jesus today? You might not receive those whom Jesus has sent because you don’t receive Jesus.
Jesus warned that the world would hate those who belong to Him because they hated Jesus first.
But, Jesus came to be received by those who love God. He is God in the second Person of the Godhead.
The Jews had a hard time seeing that Jesus had been sent by God. Look at what Jesus said in John 5:30.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Jesus says of Himself that he is limited to do only what the Father has sent Him to say and do. It’s much like the disciples who were sent by Jesus.
We are not to add to the words of Christ or take away from them. We are not to add to the mission that God has given us. We are to go and do what Jesus has commanded us to do, just as Jesus came and did what the Father commanded him to do.
Jesus repeated this in His prayer in John 17:18
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
So again I want to ask the question. Have you received Christ today. You ask, “Received Him in what way?”
Have you received Him as your savior and Lord.
Explain the gospel.
3. Receive the Reward Christ Has Promised (vv.41-42)
3. Receive the Reward Christ Has Promised (vv.41-42)
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
The final thing we want to pay attention to is perhaps the heart of this teaching Jesus gave. It is the rewards that are received.
Notice first that there are rewards for following Christ. The most obvious one is to have eternal life. Romans 6:23 says,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The gift of eternal life is more than enough for us to be willing to die if necessary for Jesus. But we also will be rewarded for what we do after we have received Jesus as our Savior.
We could spend a lot of time this morning looking at a number of passages that speak of this, but the point we need to know is simply that we will be judged, not for what we have done wrong, because that was judged at the cross. We will be judged for the works we do for Jesus to receive rewards.
Paul talks about building on the right foundation in 1 Cor. 3 and how what we build with will be tested by fire. This is symbolic of the judgment of our works.
It is like a jeweler testing a precious stone for its worth.
But there is another aspect to the rewards that we need to see. Remember earlier that we talked about how their were different categories of people that were sent.
Jesus describes a descending level of those who serve Him. They are all valuable but have different roles.
Most of us would probably receive any of the disciples if they were to knock on our front door today. No matter what plans you had for lunch today, you would gladly change them to have lunch with Matthew, John, Peter, Paul. You would probably even pick up the tab, wouldn’t you?
But, what about a prophet? What about someone like Agabus mentioned in the Book of Acts? You might would treat them the same way. Jesus speaks of prophets and those who helping them receiving a prophets reward.
But then he moves to a righteous person. A righteous person would be anyone who seeks to live a righteous life in the name of Christ. This is an even lesser category of person.
Finally he mentions that if anyone would give even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in His name, it would not go unnoticed.
There is a lot to unpack here.
First, the phrase “little ones” does not necessarily mean children, though it can. It is more a reference to the least of these in the kingdom of God. It means that those who are of the lowest estate in the kingdom of God are still important. God sees the things done for these little ones. The reason children are used as illustrations is because they have nothing on their own to contribute or give.
Jesus made an example of them when the disciples were arguing on the road to say that you must become nothing if you want to be something in the kingdom. Here He uses them to sway that every little thing done for Christ is noticed by God and is rewarded.
You might do things that no one knows about for God, but He sees you. I hope you do them for His glory and not for the notice of other people.
We need people in the church who rise to the occasion and don’t have to be told all the time to do things. If you notice something that needs to be done, get it done and take care of it.
But there is another aspect of this we need to notice. Jesus is also using the most basic gesture that anyone can do to say there is no excuse for not serving in the kingdom of God. You might not have great wealth to give, but anyone can get a cup of water for someone.
Now what is Jesus saying here? He is saying both that the person will be noticed by God for what they do, but also that they will share in the reward of the one whom they helped.
Again Paul said in 1 Cor 3 that some planted, some watered, some harvested, but God did all the work.
Conclusion:
What about you? Do you do any work for God at all. We are quick to blast people who come looking for a handout but are too lazy to work.
Is that you in the Kingdom of God? Do you want God to do something for you? You want salvation and you want heaven, but you don’t want to labor for your Master?
May that not be you. May you serve diligently knowing that God sees you and is a rewarder of him that seeks Him.
If you serve Christ it will be costly, but it will be worth the reward in the end. May we say with David, let me not offer God anything that cost me nothing.
It cost God sending His son to die for our sins. The least we can do is to give our lives for Him.