The War of Love Divides, Part 2
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
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.”
1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
Last time we examined what Jesus said in Matthew 10:34…
Matthew 10:34
ESV
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
The War of Love Divides: Jesus brings division.
Jesus promised that His message would divide people.
Division that is regrettable but inevitable.
Division is an inevitable result of the message of Jesus.
We saw that Jesus has come to bring peace but to a world that is hostile toward God.
Humanity is naturally at odds with God and Jesus has come to bring peace to that relationship between God and man.
But between people, the message of Jesus will be divisive.
Matthew 10:35–36
ESV
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
Your relationships will divide over truth.
Humanity has certainly already been at odds with each other.
But the distinct thing is that Jesus Himself will be the headwaters of the division going forward.
Like a large stone in a rushing river, all waters will part to the right or the left of Jesus.
The truth of the gospel will divide everything that passes by it.
The War of Love and Loyalties: Jesus demands supreme love.
I had mentioned last time about the loyalties and loves that person naturally has.
But when God changes a person’s heart, they now love different things.
Where they once loved sin, they love Christ above all.
Your loyalty to Jesus must exceed familial loyalties.
Your loyalty to Jesus must exceed personal loyalties.
As the sheep of Jesus’ pasture, to find your life is to lose it, but to lose your life for Jesus’ sake is to find it.
Jesus has spoken much of the “debit side of discipleship.”
The costliness of following Him.
What it will take to be a follower of Him.
At the same time, we must never forget that Jesus offers great reward for those who seek to follow Him truly.
The War of Love and Rewards: Jesus rewards His servants
Generally speaking, we struggle with the idea of rewards in the West.
C.S. Lewis once observed in The Weight of Glory,
“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
If Christianity gets reduced to a list of “do’s and don’ts”, then it can easily become a rote and dry system of dogma.
If Christianity becomes only about the “touch this” or “don’t touch that”, it looses the power and vitality that is meant to accompany it.
Hebrews 11:6
ESV
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
God delights to reward those who seek Him by faith.
Faith demands seeking one reward over and above another.
So when we hear Jesus say to us…
Matthew 10:39
ESV
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
If your heart does not immediately leap with joy at the extension of reward offered to us, then today is for you.
If your heart feels dull to the things of God and you don’t rejoice within your soul at the thought of the reward offered in Christ, then today is for you.
Today we will consider the reward of following after Him.
If you find your life, you’ll lose it.
Matthew 10:39
ESV
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
The language here is intense.
“The one who preserves his life will destroy it, and the one whose life is destroyed because of Me will preserve it.”
Keep in mind Jesus is still speaking about the coming persecution of His followers.
The coming persecution will divide homes.
It will divide families.
It will divide communities.
And ultimately divide our own lives.
It is extremely easy to “find your life.”
Just do nothing.
Or strive to obtain your own agenda.
Moralism
“My life is about living by what’s right, no matter the cost. I strive to hold myself to a higher standard—honesty, fairness, and compassion guide every choice I make.
Stoicism
“My life is about mastering what’s in my control—my thoughts, my actions, my character. I don’t chase wealth, fame, or comfort; they’re fleeting. Instead, I focus on being just, kind, and disciplined, no matter what the world throws at me.
Altruism
“I don’t think of my life as anything special—it’s just about doing what feels right. I wake up every day asking how I can help someone, whether it’s teaching a kid to read, feeding a neighbor, or planting a tree for the future.
It’s easy to look normal.
It costs you nothing in the moment to “lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:6)
It costs you nothing in the moment to “be wise in your own eyes” (Proverbs 3:7)
Is there something more than this?
Matthew 10:39
ESV
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
If you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, you’ll find it.
Remember that Jesus is sending out these disciples “like sheep in the midst of wolves.”
They will be hated.
They will be despised.
They will be persecuted.
But Jesus promises that if they don’t count their lives currently of any value, then they will actually find their lives.
Take for example the believers in the book of Revelation.
The Church of Smyrna have been under persecution.
Revelation 2:10
ESV
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
“We must see and feel the incomparable excellency of the Son of God. Incomparable because in Him meet infinite glory and lowest humility, infinite majesty and transcendent meekness, deepest reverence toward God and equality with God, infinite worthiness of good and greatest patience to suffer evil, supreme dominion and exceeding obedience, divine self-sufficiency and child-like trust.
The irony of our human condition is that God has put us within sight of the Himalayas of His glory in Jesus Christ, but we have chosen to pull down the shades of our chalet and show slides of Buck Hill—even in church. We are content to go on making mud pies in the slums because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”
Matthew 10:40
ESV
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
One of my favorite places during our time in Israel was around the Southern steps of the temple mount and the Western Wall.
At the base of the Western wall there are stones that have been piled there.
Those stones are actually from the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.
If you know anything about Jerusalem, you know that the Western wall at the base of Temple Mount is the Jews most holy place.
They believe the Western wall is closest point to what used to be the “Holy of Holies” in the former temple.
The temple isn’t even there anymore.
Jews will stand at the base of the Western wall and pray and wail for the restoration of Jerusalem.
But there is something so striking happening here.
The Jews who are far from God and are in open opposition to God and His Christ are longing for the presence of God.
Jesus promised of the temple that…
John 2:19–21
ESV
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
The temple was the center of all Jewish thought.
It was the place that God’s glory dwelt.
Jesus promises here that He would rebuild the “true temple” which is Himself (Revelation 21:22).
Someone from our group made the most profound statement of the whole trip while in Israel.
We saw all the holy sights expecting to see the Lord Jesus more clearly.
But they said the strange thing was that they didn’t show them Jesus more clearly.
Instead, looking at our group of individual Christians demonstrated more clearly the radiance of Christ.
Jesus has come to take the place of the meeting place of God and man.
He has come as the true temple over His people.
The presence of God amongst the people of God.
Matthew 10:40
ESV
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
Your union with Christ and the reception of the Father.
Jesus unites Himself so deeply with His followers that for others to receive them means that they receive Him.
And to receive Jesus is to receive the One who sent Him.
John 13:20
ESV
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Or as Jesus says to Saul on the way to Damascus.
Acts 9:4
ESV
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
What the Jews at the base of the Western wall are currently missing, we behold.
What the Muslims on the top of Temple Mount claim they have but are currently missing, we possess.
Access to God.
Access to God in the face of Jesus Christ.
John 15:5
ESV
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Weary Christian
Think of what this means for us in your weakest moments.
That you’re connected by faith to the vine that brings life.
The vine sustains the branches.
Matthew 10:40
ESV
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
Your reception by others reveals their reception of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
ESV
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5
ESV
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Christian – When people reject the message of our Savior, they aren’t rejecting you per se.
They’re rejecting our Savior.
They’re rejecting the One who sent us.
They’re rejecting their redeemer.
John 5:23–24
ESV
Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Unbeliever
Maybe you think you’re annoyed by the “fighting fundy.”
Maybe you think you’re opposed to the “Bible thumpers.”
Don’t sooth yourself into thinking you’re merely rejecting a messenger.
If you reject the message with it’s messenger is to reject the Ultimate Messenger.
Turn from your sins today and trust the Savior.
Jesus further unpacks his logic in Matthew 10:41…
Matthew 10:41
ESV
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.
Keep in mind that Jesus is speaking to the twelve Apostles.
The twelve Apostles in His hearing will be those who first take His message in the surrounding towns.
And those who would receive the disciples will face the challenge of the social pressure of receiving them.
“Wait, you didn’t receive one of those followers of Jesus, did you?”
“You know that we follow the way of Moses, not the way of this Jesus of Nazareth! Why did you receive His followers?”
Jesus doesn’t merely promise the reward His disciples with a large public ministry.
He promises to reward even those who receive the disciples who follow Him.
We’re all good with Jesus promising a reward to the righteous man, or to the prophet.
Of course.
But what about the guy who merely receives the prophet?
What about to the guy who merely receives a righteous man?
Apostles who died spreading the message of Christ receiving the same reward as the weakest and lowliest Christian.
Martyrs who died for the sake of Christ receiving the same reward as the slouch that just received the message of Christ.
We can feel the “Jonah like tendencies” crop up within our souls.
We see others receiving rewards for “doing nothing.”
Jonah 4:2
ESV
…That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
Do you know why Jonah got in a boat and ran to Tarshish?
We often mistake it to think he didn’t want to do what God wanted.
But it was because He knew that God was kind.
He knew that God would forgive his enemies.
And he didn’t want that.
We look upon the mercy of God being extended to others by the rewards that God delights to give out of His abundant mercy, and we grumble and complain.
Matthew 20:15–16
ESV
15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Jesus warns these early followers that they should not look on followers that will come after them with contempt for they received the same reward as those who came before.
Jesus says that those who came first will be tempted to despise those who come after (Matt 20:15).
The first workers will receive their due reward just as those who come afterward and it is all according to God’s generosity.
Older/Experienced Saints
Especially for Saints that may have been in the faith longer than others.
There is a temptation and tendency toward looking down on younger believers thinking,
“What do you know about all this?”
“I’ve been in the faith longer than you’ve been alive!”
Though this is true, even the youngest believer receives the same gifts of grace as the oldest Saint in the room.
Matthew 10:42
ESV
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.”
Your least service is observed and will be rewarded.
Matthew 10:42
ESV
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.”
Even the smallest gesture to someone associated with Him will be blessed.
Not because of the status of the recipient but because of the association with Jesus.
Jesus so identifies Himself with even the lowliest of people within the community that when we serve them, we’re essentially serving the Lord Jesus Himself.
The same God who watches the sparrow is the same One who accounts and observes every deed done for the least of these.
Notice again that phrase, “because he is my disciple”
Jesus is not saying this to merely anyone but to those who act in faith and love for Christ.
The motive of the action is everything.
Galatians 6:8–10
ESV
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Christian’s have an obligation to love the city by caring for the needs around us.
But how much greater of a responsibility of those who are called brother and sister within our own local church.
There is nothing insignificant done in this church body.
Hebrews 6:10–12
ESV
10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,
12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Everything has value because it’s done in Jesus’ Name.
Jesus even says a “cold drink” of water will be rewarded because it is done out of love for Christ.
Those who lose everything to gain Christ, gain everything.
David Livingstone
Wealthy family.
“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”
― David Livingstone
