Sent into Hostility

Good morning church family!

It is always a privilege and blessing to gather together as the church

To worship through song together

To pray together

And to open up God’s word together

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan and I have the privilege of serving as the pastor of preaching here at Harvest

We’ve been walking through the gospel of Matthew, line by line

And we are in Matthew 10, as Jesus sends out his disciples to advance his mission in the world

And last week, we saw that when Jesus sends us out, he does not send us empty-handed

He sends us with everything that we need

Living for the mission of Jesus Christ, sharing the good news of the Gospel and making disciples…

Is not about having the right skills

It is about depending on Jesus to provide what we need.

But I’m concerned for us that because we live in a world, and especially in a country, that measures success by the amount of comfort that you get to experience…

I am concerned that we might think that success in the mission of Jesus will lead to comfort in our lives

That we will measure faithfulness in this life by how comfortable we are

And Jesus is going to show us in our passage this morning, that we are not being sent into comfort, but we are being sent into hostility

So that is the title of our message this morning, “Sent into Hostility”

The world in which we live, and the world into which we take the message of the gospel, is a world that is hostile toward the gospel

And it is into that world that Jesus sends us

And living for Jesus in a hostile world will mean that we will experience hostility of many kinds…

And it will in fact not be a comfortable life

And if we are going to be a faithful church to the mission of Jesus in a hostile world, we need to have the right expectations

And Jesus sets those expectations for us in v. 16-23

So let’s give these words our full attention.

Matthew 10:16–23 ““Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them

Big Idea: Jesus sends us with help in a hostile world. [6:00]

Make no mistake: if you follow Jesus by faith and if you see your place in his mission, the world you will be sent into is a hostile one

But Jesus does not send us into a hostile world as His representatives without help.

He provides precisely the help that we need to be faithful to His mission.

It is all too common to fear going out into the community or into the world because of the unknown…

especially when that unknown often leads to hostility.

We think about all the things that might go wrong, and that fear causes us to shrink back and stay on the sidelines.

But Jesus is going to show us that fear should not cause us to stay out of the mission

Instead, the help Jesus provides gives us the courage to enter into the mission, in spite of the hostility

[Bridge Question] What hostility do we face, and what help does Jesus give?

We will do the same thing we did last week - We will say, “Jesus sends us…” and then we will see the hostility we are being sent into and the help that Jesus provides…

Jesus sends us…

Into danger with discernment (16) [8:00]

In v. 16, Jesus doesn’t even try to pretend that following him on his mission is going to be easy or comfortable.

Look what he says:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves…”

That’s literally “in the middle of”

He doesn’t say, “You might see a wolf or two while you are out there…”

He says, “You’ll be surrounded by them…”

Now, why these two animals?

When you think about sheep, they have no built-in defense mechanism.

They are completely dependent on their shepherd — both for their provision and for their safety.

By contrast, wolves are self-reliant and violent.

Jesus is highlighting the difference between the world and his followers:

“In a world full of people who respond violently to the message of the gospel, the only way you’re going to survive is if you depend on Me as your Shepherd.”

Now, I know what you might be thinking:

“But Stefan, we have freedom of religion here. We’re not being killed for our faith. Isn’t this a little extreme?”

Let me read for you a quote from Charles Simeon, a 19th-century pastor in England:

“It might sound harsh for Jesus to describe His followers as sheep in the midst of wolves. And yes, we can admit that Christians today enjoy protections and freedoms that the first believers did not have. But the hostility of the human heart toward God hasn’t changed. The light of God’s truth is still just as offensive to the sinful heart as it has ever been. And the opposition that true followers of Christ face today, though it may look different in how it shows itself, is the very same in nature, and, whenever it is unrestrained by law or culture, it is just as fierce. The only difference is in the form that hostility takes.” - Charles Simeon

The world that we are being sent into is the same world that crucified Jesus

It is a world filled with darkness… and the darkness hates the light.

So the heart behind the hostility is the same

And Jesus is preparing his disciples for this by saying that they are being sent out as sheep in the middle of wolves.

Now, it is common to hear words in Scripture the same way that we use them today…

Today, we use “sheep” to describe people who just do whatever they are told

And “wolves” represent strength and an unwillingness to cower before others

But that is not how Jesus is using the terms

Jesus says that we are sheep…

But that does not mean that we are weak

And Jesus is not calling us to passivity

Make no mistake, Jesus is calling us to be courageous for his mission

He is sending us into danger and we will run into the fires of the world to pull lost souls out of the blaze…

But Jesus is saying that we are sheep in that the way we will have courage is by depending on Jesus, not ourselves.

It is not passivity, it is not weakness… It is strength through our dependence being rightly placed

So what will that look like?

What will it look like to depend on Jesus for courage in the face of the hostility of the world?

It will look like having discernment…

Look back at v. 16 - “So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Notice, he does not say "fight back against the wolves as if you were a wolf.”

He instead uses two more animals to show them precisely how to not be like the wolves… how to not be like the hostile world

Let’s take those one at a time.

Wise as serpents

When Jesus says “wise as serpents,” he’s not telling us to be sneaky or manipulative.

The word for wise is a word that means “prudent” or “good sense”

You think about a snake…

They don’t hurry… they wait for opportunity.

They are not careless or reckless… They are careful, they are calculated… Waiting for just the right moment…

Jesus is saying, “The way that you can have discernment in the danger is by being careful, watchful, intentional… Don’t be reckless for the faith… be intentional with whom you engage and how you engage them.”

I often fear for us as followers of Jesus in an age when it is so easy to fire off a comment or a reply on the Internet, giving little thought to whether or not it was wise to do so

And when we are careless and reckless like that, the result is often like pouring gasoline on a fire rather than bringing hope to the hopeless

Jesus is helping us to see that we are being sent into a dangerous world, and so we need to be careful, calculated, and intentional with how we engage the world…

… depending on Jesus to provide the help we need to know when to speak, when to stay silent, when to confront, and when to walk away.

But he doesn’t just say to be wise… he also say to be…

Innocent as doves

Whereas wisdom guards us from foolishness, innocence guards us from compromise.

Innocence means moral purity — not being guilty of the same sins as those who oppose us.

To be innocent as doves is to not respond in kind, but to be distinctively different.

And Jesus is the perfect example of this

Listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2…

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Peter is saying, “Since Jesus engaged hostility with innocence, by being different, you should follow his example while trusting in God as a just judge.

But this is where so many of us today get off track, isn’t it?

When hostility comes, too often we respond in a way that makes us look no different than the hostile world…

We reply with anger, we call people names, we follow the example of a hostile world rather than the example of Christ…

And in doing so, we are no longer depending on the help he provides, but instead we are depending on our ability to overpower the opposition.

And we become no different than the wolves…

But here is the problem: Looking like the world offers nothing to the world…

Being reckless with your faith and responding to anger with anger will never cause your neighbor to ask for the reason for the hope that is within you

Jesus is saying that we are being sent out as sheep among wolves because he is saying that for us to be discerning in the danger of this world we must be dependent on him

And depending on Jesus is not weakness or passivity

Depending on Jesus means we do speak and we do act, but we don’t speak and act like the world does.

We speak and act like he does

And Jesus provides the help to do exactly that as we go out into a dangerous world with the hope of the Gospel

Next…

Jesus sends us…

Into trial with testimony (17-20) [19:00]

Jesus gives a command: “Beware of man”

That is not a statement about gender…

That is a statement about humanity… Be careful with people…

Why?

Because they will betray you...

When Jesus says, they will deliver you over, that is the same word used for when Judas betrays Jesus…

So Jesus is saying, “They if they would do it to me… they will do it to you.”

And It will happen by two different groups:

Look at v. 17-18

Matthew 10:17–18 “Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake…”

The synagogue was the place of religious teaching.

And Governors and Kings represent governing authorities that reject God’s reign

So I want you to notice…

You have hostility coming from inside of the religious community

And hostility coming from outside in the form of government.

Why would you have hostility coming from both of those sources?

The mission of Jesus is one of calling people to repentance and to submission to Jesus

Calling them out of the world to no longer live like the world, but to embrace Christ and to live for his kingdom…

So hostility will come from anyone who has rejected that message of repentance and submission

Listen to me: Encountering hostility toward the message of the gospel is not a sign that you are doing something wrong…

It could be a sign that you’re going about it the wrong way

If the hostility is aimed toward your manner or your tactics, that is very well your fault

But when the hostility of the world is aimed at the message you proclaim, that is not a sign that you’re doing something wrong.

That is a sign that you are doing something right

Because a message that the world embraces with open arms is a message that tells the world that nothing’s wrong

But when you and I bring the message of repentance and submission to Jesus, there will be opposition…

both by those who claim to know God and those who openly reject him

And when the world opposes you, it will confront you and demand that you explain yourself…

And notice what Jesus says about this…

“… to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.”

Don’t miss this:

Jesus is not just warning them of the danger — He’s defining the purpose behind the danger.

As you and I go out into our community and our city, and our world, we will face opposition from inside and outside…

And it will lead to being mistreated, questioned, even beaten for the message of the Gospel.

But Jesus says there’s a purpose behind that danger:

God will put you in places you would never choose,

so that His gospel can be heard by people you would never reach.

You will have people confront you. They will get in your face. They will question you.

And in that moment, their opposition becomes your opportunity —

the trial they drag you into becomes the testimony you can share.

Jesus is showing us that the hostility actually becomes the means by which the gospel is proclaimed.

Now, you might be thinking “that’s all well and good. But I would have no idea what to say when that time came…”

Look at 19

Matthew 10:19 “Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.”

Why?

Matthew 10:20 “For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

I want you to notice how he phrases that:

He does not say “the Holy Spirit speaking through you.”

He says “the spirit of your father”

When the trials of this world that opposes the gospel result in you answering for your faith in Jesus, You are not standing alone.

When you go to that family gathering and you know that your family is going to oppose everything that you stand for because you’re the only Christian at the dinner table, you are not alone

When you know that you are the only Christian in your workplace, and you have to stand against what they are trying to force you to do, you are not alone

The Spirit of your Father is with you, and in you, and will provide for you the words that you need in that moment.

The way that Jesus phrases this, makes me think of a young boy who is being bullied by other kids

And they’ve surrounded him and they’re mocking him and they’re threatening him…

And he is afraid of what is going to happen…

And then his dad walks up and places his hand on his shoulder…

Doesn’t that change everything for that boy in that moment?

To know that all of the opposition that he’s facing, his dad is behind him

He is no longer afraid!

He is actually emboldened to stand against the opposition because the one who loves him the most and has the power to help him is with him

Christ-follower… it is the same for you: No matter what opposition you are facing, the Spirit of your Father in heaven is with you and will put the words in your mouth

So we do not have to shrink back from the hostility…

The same Spirit who empowered the apostles now empowers us.

And can I just encourage you: You are not required to have all of the answers to everyone’s questions…

The testimony that you have is the truth of how God has transformed you and how he will transform them

And no amount of hostility, and no amount of mockery, and no amount of questioning will ever change the truth of the way that God has changed your life

Whether the hostility is coming from those who claim to follow Christ or from those who have outright rejected him…

You don’t have to worry…

Because Jesus sends us into trial with testimony,

and your testimony before a hostile world will advance the mission of Jesus.

So Jesus sends us into danger with discernment

Into trial with a testimony

And third…

Jesus sends us

Into persecution with promise (21–23) [28:00]

Now the heat gets turned up in v. 21-23, because for most of us we see our homes as safe places from danger…

But Jesus tells us that the hostility we are being sent into might even come from inside our own homes…

Matthew 10:21 “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,”

Notice: The closest relationships are connected to the most severe hostility

In v. 17, religious people beat them

In v. 18, nonbelievers dragged them into court

But in v. 21, their own family members are handing them over to death.

Why? Why would families turn against one another?

Matthew 10:22 “and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”

The world’s hatred of Christians is because of the world’s hatred of Jesus.

There are two responses to the Gospel

Either people will believe

Or they will hate you in their disbelief

There is no third option.

Those who don’t believe may tolerate you for a time…

But when the cards are down, and you are on the side of Jesus, those who do not want him will turn against you.

We need to be very careful that our view of evangelism does not make these words of Jesus wrong

What do I mean by that?

I once heard a pastor say that if we think that the only way to share the gospel is through friendship, then these words of Jesus could not be true

The hard reality is that there will be times when the response that you receive is the ending of a relationship because of the gospel that you represent

If you and I are going to be faithful to the mission of Jesus in this world… We need to get it in our heads that sometimes the people who we love enough to tell about Jesus will hate us for it.

The world hated Jesus first…

And when you look like him, live like him, and speak like him…

It will hate you too.

But we can have confidence, even in the face of that kind of persecution… Look at v 22

Matthew 10:22 “… But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Jesus is not saying here that salvation is dependent on your endurance

He is saying that your endurance reveals that you being preserved by God until the end

When persecution causes someone to fall away and leave Christ, it reveals that they were never actually walking with Jesus, but that comfort was more important than Christ

But when persecution comes and you hold fast to Jesus, it reveals that you truly belong to him, because you are clinging tight to him.

And when you truly belong to Jesus, Jesus says no one can take you out of his grasp, not even those who would seek to kill you

When you and I face persecution, we can do so with the promise knowing that he will hold us fast and that we are eternally secure in his arms

Now, to see the reason we can be confident that he will hold us fast, we need to finish with Jesus’ words in v. 23…

Matthew 10:23 “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

There are many ideas about what Jesus means here… Some people discredit this passage because they’re saying that Jesus is referring to his second coming and so jesus did not come back when he said he would

Or they say that this refers to Jesus “coming” in wrath when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.

Others say that this is referring to the second coming at the end of all things…

But we can actually know exactly what Jesus is referring to if we will simply look at a few other passages

The way that we interpret scripture is with scripture, so whenever we come to a passage and we ask the question “what does that mean?”

We should go to other passages that can inform what it means.

That phrase, “Son of man” comes from a passage in the Old Testament that was a vision of when the messiah would come

It is describing how the coming savior and king would bring about his kingdom

And it is in Daniel 7

So I want to turn there so that you can see why it is Jesus uses that term here

In Daniel 7, Daniel is having a vision of what is happening in the presence of God in heaven

And I want us to look specifically at v. 13-14

Daniel 7:13–14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

So someone with the appearance of a son of man, someone who looks like a human, comes before God and is given dominion and a kingdom over all people’s and nations, for all eternity

So the “Coming of the Son of Man” is the time in which this “Son man” receives this authority, kingdom, over all people, for all time…

So that means that Jesus is saying to his disciples “you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of man is given authority over all nations for all time…”

So then the question that we ask is, “So when will that happen?”

Turn now over to Matthew 28

In Matthew 28, Jesus has been crucified and he has risen from the dead, thus conquering sin and death and fulfilling all that he was tasked to do

And look at what he says in v. 18

Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus is saying in Matt. 28 that the coming of the son of man has now occured…

When Jesus rose from the grave, he was given authority over all nations for all time

The fulfillment of Daniel 7, where Jesus gets the phrase “Son of man”, is fulfilled in Matthew 28 when Jesus commissioned his disciples to go to the end of the earth.

So what is Jesus saying to his disciples in Matt. 10:23?

“For now, you are going to go to Israel… but soon… you will be unleashed to the whole world. And the world will not be able to stop it.”

And we live on the other side of the resurrection, sent out by Jesus who has been given all authority and dominion over all nations, forever.

And so we live in the promise of the authority of Jesus over his mission

And we can endure any hostility

Because he will hold us fast, we will not slip out of his grip...

…because we go out under his authority with confidence in his promise knowing that we are advancing his mission

And so we are ambassadors of his message.

It is a message of hope that a hostile world needs

That there is a God who is holy and righteous, and you will stand before him one day and give an account for your sin

And your good deeds will do nothing to cancel out your sin…

Payment will be required… judgment will be on the table…

And you will not stand, but you will crumble before the throne of God

But that same holy and righteous God sent his son Jesus, to live the perfect life you couldn’t live and he died the death you deserved to die, paying the penalty for your sin

And if you will turn from your sin, embrace Jesus by faith, his death will cleanse you from your sin, and his righteousness will be transferred to your account

and you will stand before God, not condemned, but as holy, blameless, dearly love, and justified.

And though the world might hate me for it… I will proclaim this message

Because it is the only hope for a hostile world

That is the mission that Jesus is sending us on.

And I have the confidence of the promise that Jesus mission will go forward with his power, under his authority for his glory.

[Conclusion]

So may we be a church that is confident in the mission of Christ

And Jesus provides us with the help we need for it:

discernment in danger

testimony in trial

and a promise to sustain us through persecution…

May we not shrink back from the mission in fear…

May we advance the mission in confidence that if God is for us, who can be against us?

Amen.

[40:00]