Pentecost 4 (3YL)

Good morning: My name is Andrew Costa, it is a pleasure to stand before you, to know that this is the begining of a journey that the Lord will have us take together. Another dynamic of the morning is that it is father’s day. Churches often want to stop and acknowledge the day in a significant way.

I think in stead of spending the morning focusing on my biography, or talking at length about fatherhood I will just focus in on our Gospel text. Let our first Sunday on this journey be remember for its focus on the Holy Scriptures and the taking of the sacrament together. If after you would like to hear my biography or hear me talk endlessly about my really great kids and their accomplishments I would be glad to do so .

Matthew 10:24–39 “A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master.

The lectionary today is drops us into the middle of some of Jesus instructions to his disciples before he sends them out on the missionary journey to Israel. This makes sense in that we are in the season of Pentecost, the season where the church having been empowered by the HS is to go out and do the important work of the church: preach the Gospel, care for the sick and needy, bind up the broken hearted. So we can know that these instructions can be for us as well

He is warning them that things will get rough in certain cities.

That is not a sign that things are going poorly, it is a sign they are going well. They went rough for Jesus. They will go rough for Jesus disciples. They may get rough for you.

It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household!

They called Jesus the head of the house of Beelzebub, otherwise meaning satan. Meaning his work was seen as evil. What work you ask? Proclaiming the kingdom of God. Healing the sick, comforting and feeding the poor. We as Christians are not suffering a PR problem. The reason there is opposition to the things of the Gospel is we are exactly where God intends us to be.

If you are serious about Christian discipleship there are people who will see if as evil. This is not unexpected. Jesus reminds us “…how much more the members of his household.”

“Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known.

Jesus is assuring is that the attemps to stop the message by killing the messenger will fail, and that the Gospel will be proclaimed. Its like calling a boycott of an incendiary movie. The best way to drive ticket sales is to tell people not to go see it.

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops.

For a time Jesus was teaching his disciples and doing so in secret. Its time now to go public. They are ready.

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Its hard because pain is pain right now. For those who mourn or suffer from chronic pain, you know that the feeling are right now. They are overwhelming. Yes we know that at the end of all things these things will right themselves. Our glorified bodies will be whole, we know that tears and grief will be no more.

Still we have to keep an eternal perspective, we have to remember that eternity is long, that hell is terrible with pain that heaven is ecstatic with joy. Be afraid of those who harm your soul more than those who harm the body.

Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Two things here. You are special in the eyes of God. The world is a large and complex place, there are systems for weather, ecology, currents, migration, and all of them happen under God’s watchful eye and consent. Your worst day is not a day forgot about and failed to keep his eye on you. The Lord is ruling over them all.

Sparrows are the smallest animals for 1st century people and the penny the smallest amount of money. You are not a sparrow, you are priceless to God, worth the sending of his own son. Any pain visited to you in your Christian journey is not missed by God.

“Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven.

Remember these are commands given to first century Jews as they go to talk to first century Jews. The thought of God coming as a man was a dangerous new idea. The threat for them was real

We know around the world the threat is real for our brother and sister Christians. Not yet for us, but maybe someday. So what ever the world threatens you over your faith in Christ, remember to haven an eternal perspective, remember not to give up the wrong thing for the wrong thing. As Jim Elliot said. “"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.”

The text ends, not with self preservation but with death to self. The Gospel will call us to follow Jesus even unto death. As Deitrich Bonhoffer said "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." [1]

Applications:

So in light of the text how must we look to be changed by the Gospel.

First off this is a text on how to behave when on mission for Christ. Yes it was to a specific time and place but its meaning transcends to us. These twelve are the new 12 tribes of Israel going to call the Old Twelve tribes to be a part of the church.

The church is continuation of that work. The missional commands to them are the mission commands to you. If we cant go on the mission field we must support missions in prayer and finances. Pentecost is the missions season of the church. Lets get to it.

Second thing: Most of this is how to respond to persecution. I have to admit that I am never persecuted for my faith. My neibors who still hang out with me think its weird. On the other hand around the world many are persecuted for their faith.

Riding with Justin. His story is one of many.

If we are not persecuted, we must stand with those who are.

Final application: The Gospel brings peace to our souls. Jesus absolutely reminds us of the termoil that comes with the kingdom of God invades the kingdom of satan to take back what was lost at the Garden of Eden. Families torn apart, the persecution of the faithful. The Highest outcome is Shaloam. The hisghest outcome is peace with God, that thing out souls have been chasing all this time. Imagine deep down, true peace in your soul. Jesus has come to give us peace there when it is absent in all other places.

I finish almost all sermons with the same 3 thoughts, the cross, Baptism and Communion. The cross means that even if we fail, if we fail Christ commands, he is faithful. He has died on the cross to take out sins and to give us his righteousness. When your actions deny Christ before others and you are afraid that he will deny you, remember that he remembered you at calvery and on Heaven he remembers you and pleads with the father for you. On the Cross Jesus has saved us. Remember you baptism. The assurance that the mission of these twelve disciples has reached you. They build a church that is busy going to all nations, and has arrived in your hearts. In the waters of baptism Jesus applies his saving work to you. The disciple is not above his master. We must all have the death Jesus died. And today in this communion feast he offers it free of charge. His death that we must share he shares with us in these elements that we are made like him in every way. In Jesus day Children were expected to be like thier father. The shoe makers son a shoe maker. The farmers son a farmer. And we the sons of Jesus will be made like in in death and in life through baptism and communion. Happy fathers day to us all.