Matthew Chapter 10
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Matthew Chapter 10 (The disciples mission)
Matthew Chapter 10 (The disciples mission)
Intro:
We left off last Sunday, James wrapped up chapter 9 here in Matthew, and we saw Jesus and His disciples further spreading the Gospel and Christ performing miracles that could only be described as the powers of God, but yet Pharisees said , “He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils” and we ended on Him speaking to the disciples.
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
So 12 men in which Christ called upon to discipline themselves with His word and teachings, and gave them the mission and ability to cast out unclean spirits and to heal sickness and disease spreading His word.
12 in biblical numeric meaning Governmental perfection.
We saw this number represented back in Genesis with the 12 tribes of Israel,
Christ is giving these 12 students of His the governing ability to perform works against unclean spirits and sickness through His name.
Which we went over in the past how Christ gives us, His children the power to tread over evil in His name.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
Matthew references these 12 followers as apostles instead of disciples here,
The reason being, Christ has given them a governing authority to perform His works unto others. Their next step in the mission for Christ being at hand. They are getting ready to be sent forth on their own to perform this mission.
We are going to see some names repeated, again like we have seen especially back in Genesis, there were popular names during these times just like we have today, But Matthew does a great job in this chapter at naming those with the same name from their lineage as well.
Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Bartholomew, who is also named Nathaniel. In John chapter 1 we are going to see him named as Nathaniel
If you want to make note there.
Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
We are going to see later in the book of Matthew where Judas Iscariot will end up betraying Jesus and handing him over to the chief officers for 30 pieces of silver, that’s why that is documented here during the beginning of their apostleship.
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
The gentiles non Jewish people, remember were from all over, and mainly made up of Paganistic beliefs.
Samaritans were mixed Israelite and foreign people who lived in the region of Samaria
Christ is telling them, Don’t spread the gospel to the gentiles “yet”
Jesus wants to announce the arrival of the kingdom of heaven to the Jews first because they had been waiting on this moment. Remember it has been prophesied all the way back from the Old testament,
Ironically, the Jewish priests and hierarchy were the ones who were so blinding by old practices they didn’t acknowledge Christ for who He truly was
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The lost sheep, those who are Jews that are wondering blindly by vain religion, that are hopeless to the true coming of the kingdom of heaven which is Christ.
Christ isn’t segregating the Jews and gentiles here, we have to look at the time period this is taken place. Christ has not performed the ultimate sacrifice yet, His blood has not been shed at this point.
Some gentiles were actually in the mix of this from their faith, but the Jews were ultimately awaiting their Messiah’s arrival, and we will see later on, how the Jews, Christ’s own people, end up turning their backs on him anyway like we mentioned earlier.
James went over last chapter how the religious leaders in chapter 9 were blinded by religion where they couldn't see that this was Christ performing these miracles, the kingdom of heaven at hand.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Divine prophecy being fulfilled yet again from Isaiah
John the Baptist has been preaching this coming in the near future in his ministry, that's why he was the forerunner for Christ, he helped pave the way for the will of God.
Christ IS the kingdom of heaven that is at hand here.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Don’t just preach the gospel, FREELY heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, those being dead in Christ, cast out evil spirits,
Perform works unto Christ in His name,
Remember faith without works is dead, These are commandments to the disciples from Christ himself.
Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
Christ is telling them to not bring any provisions with them, no money, food, supplies, don't bring it,
Why?
Because their needs will be met through God’s provisions,
This is repeated from what we saw in Matt 6 towards the end.
Don’t worry about the needs of the flesh, God will provide as long as we are performing our works and focusing our faith unto HIM.
This is what Christ is reiterating to His disciples.
Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Take a look at that word “scrip” there.
G4082-Scrip (pay’rah) - Of uncertain affinity ; a wallet or leather pouch for food:
Affinity meaning a natural liking or sympathy for someone or something.
A scrip basically is a begging bag
again, going back to what we saw from Christ in chapter 6, don't worry about materialistic things, God will provide our needs if we are performing our works unto him with faith,
If we perform our calling unto Christ, our worldly things will be taken care of, like a byproduct.
Christ is telling them don’t go around begging for things, food, money, etc, kind of like we see a lot of today. Many would rather ask to be taken care of other than working for their needs.
Something we need to always make note of,
We are ALL the body of Christ.
I got into a debate with a friend of mine over pastors and elders of the church drawing a paycheck, My outlook on it is, I don't agree with it, because it can easily lead down a road of temptation and idolatry.
A great test to know whether a person is truly working for Christ or either their self is take money out of the picture.
No one here at Smyrna Fellowship draws a paycheck, and something to always remember,
Being a church isn’t about “business” it is about Christ. It is about coming together, fellowshipping with one another in Christs name, and studying the word of God so we can apply it to our lives and have spiritual discernment.
That is what He is telling His apostles here, Don’t worry about the materialistic needs of the flesh, teach My word and the rest will come through faith. Don't go around begging for things, God will provide your needs as long as you have faith and are performing works unto Him.
One of my favorite references is here in verse 10 “for a workman is worthy of his meat”
Earn your keep, work for Christ and there will be needs provided. No need in begging. Don’t mistake praying for begging, I believe it is better to pray to God for opportunities more so than hand outs.
Work by the sweat of your brow,
Just because you have a day job doesn’t mean you can’t perform works for Christ, in my opinion it seems to open up more opportunities to witness to others.
and remember, you clock out and go home at the end of the day at your day job, you don't clock out with from the job with the Lord.
Every morning you wake up is another day clocked in with Christ.
And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
Look at the word “worthy” there.
Christ isn’t saying for them to choose who “they” see fit to hear the gospel,
Remember the other side of the Sea of Galilee, those natives of that land didn’t welcome Christ and His followers, they made them leave,
He is telling them to enter and spread the gospel and miracles to those cities and towns that welcome them with hospitality and open arms,
This verse is a great reflection of how Christ still works today,
James and I had this conversation a few weeks ago, you see so many people complaining about their lives, their mental health, their placement, whatever, and a lot of them tend to blame God,
“why is God doing this to me”,
If you don't welcome Christ with hospitality and open arms you can’t expect his gospel to work in your life,
kinda like we are seeing here with what Christ is telling his disciples.
Enter with peace, don’t cause conflict, if the city doesn’t welcome you after witnessing miracles of God and hearing the true Gospel, move on,
And when ye come into an house, salute it.
When someone welcomes you into their home, typically you would treat it with respect, clean up after yourself, etc etc.
Christ is telling them to enter into these areas with peace and respect.
And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
If the house treats you with hospitality and open arms.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
That “shake off the dust of your feet”
This is an idiom representing a severed relationship,
We will see this phrase in Acts as well, and basically it is a symbolic act representing that relationship being severed.
Christ is telling them, those who don't welcome you and hear the gospel, when you depart from the city, cut off that relationship.
This again being that example of “you turn your back on God, He will turn His back on you”
Never reject the light of Christ, because if you do, don't be surprised when Christ shakes off the dust of his feet.
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Remember Sodom and Gomorrha back in Genesis?
The city full of corruption, consistently used as a symbol for wickedness and sin,
Christ is saying that city full of corruption and sin from the Old testament will be judged more lenient during the final judgement than those who reject Him.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Two different verses I want us to take a look at here.
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Remember, the serpent was NOT dumb, it was wise enough to corrupt Eve and Adam back in the garden of Eden.
The serpent is a depiction of who? Satan.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Subtilty meaning sophisticated trickery.
Where it says here in 2 Corinthians our minds should be corrupted by the simplicity in Christ.
Simplicity meaning singular, solely focused in Christ and nothing else.
This is what Christ is saying here in Matthew 10:16
Notice it says to be sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves, sheep need what, a shepherd, Christ is our shepherd leading and guiding His sheep, protecting them from wolves.
Be wise and clever like a serpent, but peaceful like a dove, and be lead and protected by keeping your mind singled unto Christ.
In other words,
Don’t be dumb, use common sense, and also have love and bring peace by being solely focused in Christ, letting His word guide and lead us.
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Christ is giving them a warning here, They WILL be brought up by men to confess against them.
Pay attention to what he commands of them in 19
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Christ is predicting what will happen to His followers in the future to come.
If you want to take note here, what we see Christ saying here, is also in,
Acts 4 when Peter and John are arrested on their mission by Jewish authorities.
Acts 8 where Philip is lead by the spirit which leads to the conversion of the Eunichs
Acts 10 where Peter is lead by the spirit which helps open the door for Gentile believers.
These are just a few that I went through in Acts.
There are so many examples of Christs children being lead by the Holy Spirit,
The same thing he is telling His disciples here is what is also predicted to those of us who will be here during the end times.
Not trying to Jump ahead, but Matthew Chapter 24 is Christ depicting those signs of the end times, (I think we actually did a Thursday night Bible study on this)
Christ even references Daniel’s prophecies of the end times as well,
Where it says in verse 19 “for it shall be given you in that same hour” what hour is he foreshadowing here?
The hour of temptation, when Satan comes at the 6th trump portraying himself as Christ, tempting people to follow him.
But I wanted to reference chapter 24 to show that what Christ is telling his disciples here is the same thing we should hold onto through the end times.
Papa always likes to say, “what has been will be” why? because history repeats itself through the start of divine prophecy to it then coming to pass.
The difference between those of us who will see the end times and Christ’s followers here is that we have more examples to follow.
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Christ is predicting that His followers are going to face betrayal and persecution against those close to them.
We’ve said it before, but remember, your relationship with Christ is personal, you can’t ride on your families coat tales to enter into the kingdom of heaven,
Something we see a lot of around here,
When people start studying the word of God and learning the TRUTH, their eyes begin to see clearly, they will begin to be “shunned” or turned away by loved ones for not following the multitudes, or not following “mans” traditions.
We see that so often living in a prominently “southern Baptist” community,
Will that happen, Yes, Christ predicted it here in chapter 10, we see it through His disciples, Its important to remember, Be wise among serpents, and peaceful like a dove,
Keep studying and asking God for the truth and understanding of His word and He WILL reveal it.
But also this is a direct reflection of the end times. it says, “brother will deliver up brother unto death”
Who is death? Satan, and those in the end times when Satan comes, those who don’t study and understand the true word of God will believe him to be Christ, and if you study the word, we clearly see that Satan comes first portraying himself as the Messiah, the ones who don’t know this are the ones who will confront the true believers and it is important to stand your ground, have faith and knowledge in the word that the Holy Spirit will speak through us in those times. Just like we see here with Christ’s disciples, we will see repeated in the final days of this world age.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
This same thing again repeated in Matthew chapter 24 of Christs depiction of the end times.
If you are studying the true word of God, growing your relationship with Christ, you WILL be hated by men,
What the shame in this is, all the different segregated groups of Christians alone, The children of God or who claim to be separating themselves from one another over little differences instead of coming together with one another to study the Truth and keeping mans traditions out of it.
But what a blessing it is to be hated by men yet loved by God.
like the last part of that verse “but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” Not should, but SHALL.
I want us to look again at Matthew chapter 7
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Our journey with Christ isn’t about our image among man, It is about our love and image among Christ.
Living for Christ isn’t about “our” image, it is about HIS image.
But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
It is okay to be hated by man if you are sincere with your relationship with Christ.
Don’t just sit around and take the persecution, if need be, separate yourself, move forward with the truth.
But also keep spreading His light. Keep spreading His gospel. Never quit, endure to the end.
The last half of this verse meaning that this will happen all the way through the end times of His second coming.
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
There we see that chain of command again, same thing we saw the centurion acknowledge in chapter 8
Humble yourself, listen to the teacher, who is Christ
stay humble and serve Him.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Beelzebub, meaning prince of demons, It is a deity derived from the ancient near east, and in 2nd Kings chapter 1 we see it written as Baal-zebub or Beelzebul ironically representing in demonology as gluttony or envy.
Another word for Satan’s right hand man. False Idol False god. Envying something other than Christ. in today’s time we just see it as Baal.
Christ is saying for the student to follow in the teachers footsteps, strive to walk in the teachers path, who is the teacher? Christ.
If the master of your home, your life, is a false god, or idol, anything other than Christ then what more can he say to it.
Keep Christ the teacher as the master of your home, your life. Nothing else.
To wrap things up, I wanna take a look at this verse.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
This is Paul speaking here, stating that he wasn’t sent here to put on a ceremonial show, but to preach God’s word, not through speaking above others and taking credit, letting that pride take over while teaching God’s word which would cause the crucifixion of Christ be made vain or empty.
Something that really stuck out to me in this chapter was not only how this is a great prediction of the end times,
But take a look back at verse 21
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
1st Corinthians 1:17 ties so well into this chapter, because we have a lot of younger families here, young children, myself included, but even those who are grandparents and have raised your children already,
Our children belong to God, God simply is giving us the responsibility to raise one of His creations,
and taking what Paul states and applying it to verse 21, we have to remember as parents, raising God’s creation, it’s not about putting on a show or following the pride and practices of man, it’s about striving to study and learn and apply the TRUE gospel so that we can then pass it down to our children and our children’s children,
That is the REAL generational wealth
Personally, I hope that if I am one of the ones here during the end times, I don't experience what we see in verse 21, will it happen to families, Yes because Christ prophesied it.
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children:And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
This verse isn’t talking about wealth as in money or assets,
It is speaking about the wealth of knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ the TRUE gospel.
Would I like to see my child not have to worry about money, Heck yeah, but honestly I would much rather see Him in the kingdom of heaven for eternity. That should be our main goal is focusing on Christ and passing down that inheritance. Teach our children all we can about the word of God, so that way when they become the age of accountability, it sticks with them and they can further that knowledge.
So basically to conclude.
Study the word of God, stay away from mans traditions and use these commandments from Christ to guide us, and the stories from the disciples as examples so that we can then pass down the knowledge we’ve obtained to our children and our children's children so on and so forth.
Matthew Chapter 10 (The disciples mission)
Matthew Chapter 10 (The disciples mission)
