Sheep, Serpents and Doves

Introduction

Whats up friends! Welcome to NXT High School. I’m super stoked to be with you tonight. We are going to be continuing in our series that we’ve titled Defensive Posture where we’ve been talking about what it means to live in a culture where we often have to take a defensive posture in our faith.

But! Before we dive in, I want to provide a quick little update on the rest of the school year & the beginning of NXT Summer Nights. After this week, we’ve got 3 more weeks left of the school year! That means we only have two more weeks left in the book of Acts as a 2 year journey comes to a wrap. I know there are mixed feelings and thoughts about the length of which we have sat in this single book, but let me tell you I believe the Lord is so pleased that we decided to not only commit to journeying through a whole book together, but actually sticking to it!

Wednesday June 2nd will be our last NXT of the year, and Wednesday June 16th will be our first NXT Summer Nights! Mark it on your calendar, we really want this summer to be about community and fun. We won’t be doing long form sermons and worship, but we will be spending time as a NXT High School family (specifically playing spikeball and losing dramatically to me and whoever is my partner because I never lose). Seriously, commit to coming this summer. We’ll be doing a mixture of fun, outreach & service in the city, and other things that will impact your faith.

Now, with all of that being said. Lets jump into tonights teaching. Open up to Matthew 10:16-20....”WOAH! Matt, thats not the book of Acts!” you right. We’ll be getting to that in a moment- Matthew 10 will be the backdrop from which we view Acts 25-26.

Matthew 10:16–20 ESV

“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.

Content

I love this passage of scripture because it very straightforwardly communicates to us how we are supposed to live in a society filled with wolves. Or, to match that with the language of the series we find ourselves in, how we are supposed to take a defensive posture in society.

There are 4 animals mentioned in the words of Jesus in Matthew 10.

Sheep

Wolves

Serpents

Doves

He says first that he is “sending [us] out as sheep” … where is he sending us? “in the midst of wolves”

John Piper frames it like this,

it is clear that when Jesus says he is sending us as sheep in the midst of wolves, he means that we will be treated the way wolves treat sheep.

(https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/sheep-wolves-snakes-and-doves)

Now obviously how wolves treat sheep is assumed to be, well, violent. Wolves pursue the innocent (and in nature, stupid) sheep and easily slay them and consume them. Jesus is telling us that we are sheep who are sent into a world where the wolves will try to slay and consume us.

Now isn’t that encouraging?! My hope tonight is to share with you why Jesus’ words actually are an encouragement for us in culture. Because, they were an encouragement for Paul. I’m going to summarize Acts 25-26 for us because it is long and follows the same narrative that we have been following, but we are going to take a couple of pit stops in the text to highlight two things from the two chapters.

Once I’ve summarized it, we are going to come back to Matthew 10 and talk about what it means to be a sheep-like-serpent-like-dove. Or, as Jesus says,

Matthew 10:16 ESV

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Acts 25-26 follows much of the same pattern as the last couple of chapters we have read. Paul is still on trial and imprisoned for the riot that was stirred up in Jerusalem over a lie. If you remember, rumors were spread that Paul did 2 things: 1. He brought an “unclean” person into areas of the temple that he was not supposed to, and 2. He was the leader of a group of “wilderness assassins’ from Egypt. By Acts 25 Paul is being held in Caesarea, which is about ~75 miles away from Jerusalem, and he remains in detention there for 3 years (AD 57-60). N.T. Wright says this about those 3 years,

He endured legal proceedings, assassination plots, and manipulation by the governor, who was hoping for a bride. Paul, no doubt frustrated, finally played the “citizenship” card, making an official appeal to have his case heard by Caesar himself”

The first pit stop we’ll make is in Acts 25: 8-12, picking up in the middle of Paul’s defense to Festus, who was the governor.

Acts 25:8–12 ESV

Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.” But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

In Roman politics & culture there was something known as the citizen’s right of appeal. This guaranteed any citizen the ability to plead their case before the emperor. So Paul, in an effort to defend himself used his citizen’s right of appeal for trial before the emperor.

Then, Paul was interviewed by another dude named King Agrippa II (who was essentially a Roman pawn to keep control in the area of Judea) and his sister, Bernice. N.T. Wright picks back up and says this,

Then, after Porcius Festus had become governor, Paul was interviewed by King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice, who concluded— too late to be of any good— that he was indeed innocent, and could have been released had he not appealed to Caesar. Yet the wheel has been set in motion. Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, would now go at last to Rome, the heart of the empire, as a prisoner under guard

Our second pit stop will be in Acts 26:30-32, where Paul has just concluded pleading his case this time to the King of the roman occupied Judea and his sister.

Acts 26:30–32 ESV

Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

By now you might be wondering what the importance of starting in Matthew 10 was. Simply put, we see that Jesus gave the warning, and Paul lived it out. Over the course of 3 years Paul was dragged from one official to another pleading the same case over and over again and every single one of them came to the conclusion that he had done no wrong. But this time, finally in front of one who would have had to power to set him free, he yet again would have to remain in chains. All because he appealed to Caesar.

Jesus promised in Matthew 10:16 that he was sending us as sheep into a world filled with wolves. Paul lived out this promise. But, he also followed the commands of Christ to not just be a sheep, but to be a serpent, and a dove too.

So for the remainder of our time we are going to walk through the qualities of these animals that Jesus commands us to replicate.

1. THE SHEEP

Sheep are dumb. If you need proof just search on youtube videos of sheep being stupid. They often times will walk off cliffs if their shepherd is not near them because they are too dumb to know their way around the edge. This is a beautiful picture of our need for Jesus as a shepherd, but thats not the point Jesus is trying to make in this specific portion of scripture. In fact, he isn’t even calling us dumb here. Rather, when he says “behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” he is saying that the world is going to be out to get us, just like wolves are out to get sheep. Piper's full quote from before is as follows,

When Jesus sends us to bear witness to him in the world, he does not send us out as dominant and strong, but as weak and seemingly defenseless in ourselves. The only reason I say “seemingly” defenseless is that it is possible that, since “all authority” belongs to Jesus, he might intervene and shut the mouths of the wolves, like he did the mouths of the lions that surrounded Daniel.

But that does not appear to be his intention. The text goes on to say that the “wolves” will deliver the “sheep” to courts, and flog them, and drag them before governors, and have parents and children put to death, and hate them, and persecute them from town to town, and malign them, and kill them. So it is clear that when Jesus says he is sending us as sheep in the midst of wolves, he means that we will be treated the way wolves treat sheep.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/sheep-wolves-snakes-and-doves

To be a sheep in this world means that the world is going to be out to get us, but Jesus says to be as wise as serpents.

2. THE SERPENT

Jesus’ disciples much like you probably heard Jesus telling them to be like sheep and immediately assume Jesus was calling them stupid or telling them to be stupid. This is not the case. Rather, Jesus counters this notion when He tells them to be wise as serpents. The call to be a sheep is a call to vulnerability, not stupidity. Piper says this about the serpent,

Snakes are quick to get out of the way. They go under rock. So, yes, go among wolves and be vulnerable as you preach the gospel, but when they lunge at you, step aside. When they open their mouths, don’t jump in.

What does this mean for us as 21st century Jesus followers? It means that when someone rhetorically lunges at you, turn the other cheek. When someone physically lunges at you, turn the other cheek. When someone baits you into an argument that otherwise would make you look either like a fool or like a jerk, turn the other cheek. To turn the other cheek means to step aside when they lunge at you, and to not jump into the mouth of the wolf when they open it to bite. And not only that, be as innocent as doves.

3. THE DOVE

To be innocent as a dove means to give no reason to accuse you of injustice or immorality. It means to keep your reputation as clean as you can. It means to be a peacemaker in society, after all the dove is the sign of peace that our culture so widely claims to embrace. Key word, claims. Let us not be like culture and only claim peace, but actually pursue it and create it.

How might we create peace, or how might we remain innocent? Only by the dove Himself. That is the Spirit of God who descended during the baptism of the Son in the form of a .... Dove.

Both the snake-intelligence and the dove-innocence are designed to keep the sheep out of trouble.

What does this mean? Jesus does not mean for us to get into as much controversy and difficulty as possible. He means for us to

risk our lives as vulnerable, non-combative, sheep-like, courageous witnesses, but try to find ways to give your witness in a way that does not bring down unnecessary persecution

Conclusion

Before Jesus sent His disciples out in Matthew 10 he tells them that they are sheep being sent into the world of wolves, therefore they should be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves. The Apostle Paul lives out this command, and so must we. Especially in a world that calls on Christians to take a defensive posture.

So if you leave here tonight with one thing ringing in your head let it be this, to be a sheep is to be vulnerable, to be a serpent is to know when step aside, and to be a dove is to pursue peace. This is not a call to timidity, but a call to Christ-like witness in a world of ravenous wolves. This sheep-serpent-dove character is the character that chose to stand in the Temple and flip the tables, and it is also the character that chose to go to the garden of Gethsemane to pray, and when the enemy arrives says to Peter who cuts off the ear of the enemy with a sword, “Peter, you live by the sword you die by the sword.”

Friends, lets be people with the character of Christ. With the character of the sheep, the serpent, and the dove.

Enjoy small groups. See you next week!