Matthew 10:29-33
Notes
Transcript
Psalm
Psalm
17 Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;
hide not your commandments from me!
20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your rules at all times.
21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
who wander from your commandments.
22 Take away from me scorn and contempt,
for I have kept your testimonies.
23 Even though princes sit plotting against me,
your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counselors.
Prayer
Prayer
Text: Matt 10:29-33
Text: Matt 10:29-33
“The Rev. Mr. Nosworthy, who died in 1677, had, from the persecuting spirit of the times, been imprisoned in Winchester. After his release, he was several times reduced to great straits. Once, when he and his family had breakfasted, and had nothing left for another meal, his wife, lamenting her condition, exclaimed, ‘What shall I do with my poor children?’ He persuaded her to walk abroad with him, and, seeing a little bird, he said, ‘Take notice how that little bird sits and chirps, though we cannot tell whether it has been at breakfast;* and if it has it knows not whither to go for a dinner. Then be of good cheer, and do not distrust the providence of God; for are we not better than many sparrows?’ Before dinner they had plenty of provisions brought them. Thus was the promise fulfilled, ‘They who trust in the Lord shall not want any good thing.”
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Introduction
Introduction
It has been a while since we studied Matthew 6. Hold your place in Matthew 10 because we will be back here soon, but let’s take a short trip to Matthew 6 starting at verse 25.
Jesus starts by telling his disciples not to be anxious. about their life, what they will eat, what they will drink,nor about their body or what they will put on or wear. While this is not specifically about the persecution or the times of suffering all the elect face, This fits in very closely with today’s text.
In verse 26, Jesus points the crowd towards the bords of the air. - Remember in Matthew 6 Jesus is speaking to the multitudes assembled to hear him as he teaches the sermon on the mount.
These birds of the air neither sow nor reap. Yes, they may be involved in the sowing process as they eat seeks and spread them throughout the land, but that is a consequence of their eating and not anything intentional by the birds.
Yet their heavenly father feeds them. Notice the wording used here, it isn’t that these birds are able to forge and get enough food. No, it is that the Heavenly Father feeds them.
Then Jesus compared the birds to those listening and reminds them that they are more valuable than the birds. After all, they are made in the image of God - you are made in the image of God.
Which of you can add an hour to your life by being anxious - by worrying. Worrying has no benefits. Rather we must trust God.
Then Jesus moves from food to clothing, For this example, He uses the lilies of the field. They cannot toil or spin, yet as they grow, they are more beautifully dressed than Solomon in all of his glory.
This grass that is here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow is clothed by God. Won’t he so much more clothe you? At this point, Jesus questions their faith for worrying and being anxious.
Next, Jesus goes on to food and drink. He reminds the crowd how the gentiles seek after these things and how their Heavenly Father knows they need food and drink.
After reminding the many people there listening to His every word, Jesus redirects them from their needs to their duty to first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness because that is much more valuable than being anxious.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus ends with the reminder not to worry about tomorrow. Often this is easier said than done. We must prepare for tomorrow, but we do not need to be anxious about whether God will take care of us tomorrow.
Matt 10:29
Matt 10:29
Now in Matthew 10, Jesus is teaching his disciples. When Jesus mentions the sparrow, this must have sparked a memory from the sermon on the mount.
At this time, this wasn’t something Jesus was teaching the crowds that followed him. This is a time when it was Jesus’ closest student, his disciples. He was teaching them to lead - something that surely struck fear into their hearts.
Remember, these 12 men weren’t leaders. Maybe Peter had some leadership qualities as he seemed to be the leader when he and his friends went fishing. But that was a far cry from leading a church. Jesus would not have told them not to fear if they did not have fear.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Sparrows were so cheap that you could purchase 2 of them for a penny or as we read in Luke, 5 for 2 pennies. If you bought 4, you get one in for free. Two were needed as an offering when one was healed of lepersy. Which would make sense since those who where healed would have nothing. - They could not work because of their disease. They would have had to live outside the camp and would have had nothing.
When we look at something as insignificant as the number of hairs on our head, we can find strength in our God having numbered them. Weirsbe goes a step further and claims that it is not just a count of the number, but that each hair is numbered and he knows us in that much detail.
When Job complained the Lord answered him, “Many hairs have I made on man, and for every single hair its own pit, that not two hairs should draw their sustenance from one pit
If God cares about the little details, what makes you think he doesn’t care about the big details?
Not only does He know us, he is is complete control of all things.
5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,
when there is no trap for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when it has taken nothing?
6 Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the Lord has done it?
As is usually the case, a second witness is welcomed. We can find this in Isaiah 36:10:
10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.” ’ ”
We don’t need to stop there. We could show How God hardened Pharaohs heart or God sent kings to punish the Israelites. The story of God’s control is well documented throughout scripture.
Coming back to this verse - we do not need to live in fear. Living in Fear is not something a disciple of Jesus does. God takes care of the sparrows who are considered of little value. Of course God will take care of you - a creation in His His own image.
Matthew 10:32-33
Matthew 10:32-33
As we continue to Matthew 10:32 and 33, we read:
32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Just like when we looked at the previous verses, we went back to the sermon on the mount, these verse go back to Matthew 7.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
As you see here, not everyone who claims to be a followers of Jesus will enter into heaven. Only those who do the will of His Father.
There is no point in having disciples or having followers if they don’t follow you. Jesus wasn’t interested in having people around him who would provide lip service. He had plenty of those in the Jewish religious leaders. He wanted people who would actually follow Him through the persecution and martyrdom.
There are permanent consequences for for rejecting Jesus. The consequences would not be a small punishment or temporary punishment, the consequences would be eternal rejection by God in Hell.
In this case, doing the will of the Father is acknowledging Jesus before men and this doesn’t mean only those in Church. This is about acknowledging Jesus before men wherever you meet them.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
Christ honors those who confess Him (vv. 32–33). To confess Him means much more than to make a statement with the lips. It also means to back up that statement with the life. It is one thing to say, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” and quite another thing to surrender to Him and obey His will. The walk and the talk must go together.
In heaven, Jesus has two special ministries. As our High Priest, He gives us grace to keep us from sinning. In 1 John 2:1-2 we learn that as our Advocate, He forgives and restores us when we do sin. The merits of His heavenly intercessory work do not depend on our faithfulness, for According to 2 Timothy 2:13, He is faithful even if we are not. But the benefits of His heavenly ministry are for those who are faithful to Him. When Christ confesses us before the Father, He is securing for us the benefits of His sacrificial work on the cross. When He denies us before the Father, He is unable to share these graces with us. The fault is ours, not His.
But something else is involved. One day we shall stand before His judgment seat where the rewards will be distributed (
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
If we have denied Him, we will lose rewards and the joy of hearing His “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What does it mean for those of us who have spent many years denying Christ.
While we still have breath, we have God’s forgiveness. Just like He forgives us from all of our sins we commit every day, God will forgive us of denying Him.
To be sure, anyone who denies Him on earth may be forgiven. Peter denied the Lord three times, was forgiven, and was restored.
Not acknowledging is denying.
Not acknowledging is denying.
We have 2 categories here. We have acknowledging and we have denying. There is nothing in between. If we are not acknowledging, we are denying. If we do not tell someone we come in contact about Jesus, we are denying Him.
Does your barber know that you live Jesus? Does she know that Jesus loves him or her? Since my wife cuts my hair, I have this one covered.
How about the person checking you out at the store? Do they know that you love Jesus and that Jesus loved him or her?
How about your neighbor?
How about your son or daughter?
How about your grandchildren?
How about your significant other? - Husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend?
Children - do your parents and Grandparents know that you love Jesus? Do they know that Jesus loves them?
We have been covering this over the past several weeks because it is part of the text. Jesus doesn’t command us to be witnessed for him or to acknowledge Him once or twice. It is throughout scripture.
When I meet Jesus for judgement, I want to be able to say with confidence that I listened to His commands and I taught others about Him inside of the church and outside of the church. What God whispered to ME, I shouted from the rooftop.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Each of us have a choice this morning. Each of us can be one of God’s children. We can be a christian. But being a christian isn’t known based on what we said. It isn’t known by being baptized when we were younger. Many baptized people will spend eternity separated from God for eternity in Hell.
Being a Christian is known by our actions. Jesus wants us to serve Him. How have you served Jesus today? What have you done that shows your love for Jesus.
When I was younger I had a poster for the wall that reminded me to ponder “if I was accused of a Christian and brought into court, would there be enough evidence to prove it and convict me?
Remember, there are 2 sides to what we are covering this morning. The first is that we must stand up for Jesus and not deny Him. The second is that those who serve a risen Lord are loved by God. They will not be denied entrance into heaven. Jesus will vouch for them regardless of their past.
For these people, God knows and cares for the smallest details of your life. God will provide for you regardless of what suffering you must face. It is better to suffer for Jesus than deny him and have all the riches in this life.
Benediction:
Benediction:
May God bless you and make his face shine upon you. May He give you strength to follow His will this week. May He give you wisdom in decisions you may need to make this week. May each of us praise God for his blessings each day. Amen.