Blessed Division

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 115

Scripture Reading (Forrest): Psalm 60:9-12

Psalm 60:9–12 ESV

Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our armies. Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man! With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

Sermon:

Good morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

When i was in College the David Crowder CD called “a beautiful collision” came out. and one of the songs on that CD was his cover of an old bluegrass song, really he just threw in the first two lines. And while most of that CD does not spend much time in my thoughts this little throw away transition between two songs lives rent free up here all the time. Everybody wants to go to heaven,” he said, “but nobody wants to die.”

But it is not just when it comes to heaven that people desire a certain outcome or state of affairs yet are not willing to endure, or pay, what may be the cost. Everyone wants to be rich, but no one wants to work hard enough to get there. Everyone wants everyone else to get along, but no one is willing to love with a sacrificial love that is required for that. And this is true of spiritual things. If we remember back to the two men who approached Jesus in the middle of the Miracles portion of Matthew. Everyone wants to follow Jesus, but no one is willing to live without a place to rest his head. Everyone want the messiah, but nobody is willing to abandon all, even “burying their father” for the sake of following him. And appropriate to today, everyone wants peace, but they are not willing to fight for it.

Today we are approaching what is a rather difficult section of Scripture. If you read it not carefully, without paying attention to what Jesus is saying then you might be led to wrong conclusion. Today we are finishing the missions discourse, the final word about persecution, and the call of Chrsit t go into the world. But as the final word of persecution we get to he true heart of why the disciples and really why all followers of Chris will face such fierce persecution. Our passage for today is Matthew 10:34 to the end of the chapter today. Lets begin by reading God’s word

Matthew 10:34–42 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Lets begin with a word of Prayer.

PRAY!

For many of us we have heard some or all of this before, these are famous words of Jesus because quite frankly they are very difficult words of Jesus. they are difficult to understand, and then once we understand them they are even more difficult to take to heart. What is all this thought of taking up my cross? how can jesus bring the sword, I thought he was the prince of peace? where did this talk of prophets come from? Didn’t God give us families? why would jesus talk about tearing them apart here?

it is because in this final section Jesus is talking about what would call blessed division. He is talking about the cost that must be paid in order for his kingdom to be established. If we stack this whole sermon on missions and persecution together it goes like this: Go out there and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. Proclaim to people that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But not everyone will love that. I fact, some will reject you in fact, some will reject you to the point of persecution, in fact, some will reject it to the point of persecution unto death. But it is OK. Don't fear Men, fear God, Don’t fear what they can do to you, trust in the one who knows the hairs on your head (and also knows you). But here he gets to the bottom of all of this: do you want to know ULTIMATELY WHY this persecution will come, do you want to know the truth about why this persecution is headed your way? do you want to know the SOURCE of this persecution. well Jesus says: IT IS ME!

The source is, in some sense our divisive savior.

The Source: A Divisive SAVIOR

Jesus started it! He has provoked the world into persecuting him, and by extension his people, and the ones that carry the gospel of the kingdom. Let read it again. Matthew 10:34

Matthew 10:34 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

You know why they are bringing the sword against you? because Jesus came with the sword first. His message, his person, JESUS IS DIVISIVE. and there are levels to this. His message, is divisive. his message that says: am the way the truth and the life, and no one comes to the father except through me. It makes people mad, and Jesus just can’t seem to stop saying things like that. In Matthew so far he has claimed to forgive sins, told the Pharisees that some Roman centurion was more faithful than they were he has proclaimed that “you ave heard it said”.. but I say, which is a harder and more strict law. He has said that Wide is the gate that leads to destruction and narrow is the road that leads to heaven. he has said that if you want to follow him you must abandon everything. his message is so divisive that it seems that whole wold is divided over what will you do with his message.

and the person of Jesus is also divisive. Was he God. I say yes, fully God and fully man the second person of the trinity, the son that proceeds for the father eternally and who sends us the spirit. He is the one by which all things were made, for whom all things were made and through whom all things were made, he sits at the right had of that father. He is the Lam who was slain and the coming conquering King who will judge the sins of the world. He will return to rule with a rod of Iron. He is DIVISIVE.

SO yes, he came to bring peace, but it is a costly peace. as one commentator notes: But the peace he came to bring is not simply the absence of strife; it is a peace that means the overcoming of sin and the bringing in of the salvation of God. and it will cost, first him his life. So divisive was his message that they shouted CRUCIFY him. But it is through that that we are saved. It is through even that, we find wholeness and healing and most of all true peace with GOD. again, the cost of the true and perfect peace of God is the war with sin. So we can put it this way:

He wars against wars, and contends against contention. In the act of producing the people of heaven he arouses the rage of Hell. What this boils down to is that in a fallen world, truth provokes opposition, purity excites vileness, and righteousness arouses the forces of wrong. And Jesus know this, not shying away from this division he counts the cost and brings true peace. It is surely costly, it is heart breaking. Just look at what he says:

Matthew 10:35–36 ESV

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

The very fabric of our lives might come unraveled for the sake of following Chrsit, and that is OK, because the peace that he brings is worth fighting for, the wholeness he gives is worth losing things over, the life that he gives i worth losing yours over, and even here, what Jesus is saying is that the family that you get for following him (he has made us children of God, see John 1) is worth having enemies in your own household!

So Reflecting o this I would like to ask you three question

Leading to three questions:

really in what Jesus says these are not questions, so much as they are statements, but each one carries weight, and I think for us will be impactful realizing the consequences of the statements that Jesus makes. The theme of worthiness is the central tenant of what Jesus is saying in the next section. Note verse 37: Is not worthy of me. verse 37 again, is not worthy of me, verse 38 once again, is not worthy of me. SO if Jesus is focusing on things that make one NOT worthy, lets ask What can we do to be worthy of Jesus. In some sense the answer is simple: follow his commands, no matter how much they may cost. but lets look deeper here.

SO first he says:

Matthew 10:37 ESV

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

and here is the question: WHO DO YOU LOVE MORE?

WHO DO YOU LOVE MORE ?

Note, not who do you love only, but who do you love more. The beauty of love is that, because it is most rightly identified in God it is infinite. So if you love your father and mother at like 1 million love units (and that is a lot of love,) that is good and great, but you better love Jesus at 2 Billion love units. No one who places their father and mother over and above Christ is worth of him, because here is his message, he is high and above. he is God. As God he is worthy of all glory, honor and praise, as God he is worthy of all my affection love and devotion. And if that was not controversial enough Jesus like quintuples down.

Similarly parents, I know that t is really easy to pour you whole self into your Kids, to love them more than life itself, and that is Good, but do you love them more than you love God.

May I be honest, often the greatest Idols in our lives are the good and wonderful gifts that God has give to us. And when your family becomes an idol, that is a problem.

What we are talking about here is a principle of ORDERED AFFECTIONS. And we all fundamentally understand this in principle. Some things demand and deserve more love than others. It is good to love my family. It is even OK to “love” though the word losses some meaning here, a basketball team, or a book, or to love your job, or to love your self, and Love your neighbor, and all of these things are OK. But disordered affections always get us in trouble. If I love a basketball team more tan my wife, she is right to be mad. If I love Pizza more than I love my neighbor I ave some issues. So we all understand the idea of ordered affections. and what Jesus is saying here is the God, and particularly, interestingly enough, JESUS is saying ME, that HE deserves the position of top order of affection.

So who do you love more, do you love your savior, or something, anything else more? knowing it will cost, knowing that he is divisive, that the dividing line in all of humanity is ultimately WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THIS MAN who do you love more?

Jesus continues though. It is not just loving him, but putting that love into action.

Matthew 10:38 ESV

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

SO really here is the question:

WILL YOU PAY THE COST ?

Is this a prediction of his death on the cross, probably a little bit, but is he using that sure future to teach his disciples a lesson. 100% yes. While we immediately think of Jesus when we hear “take up your cross” for the original hearers, this wasn;t a picture of what Jesus would do, but something they witnessed and knew all about first hand. As one commentator puts it:

For us this is a remote metaphor, but Jesus’ hearers were people who had seen men take up their cross (anyone condemned to be crucified was required to carry the cross beam to the place of execution). They knew that when this happened and the man went off with a little knot of Roman soldiers, he was on a one-way journey. He would not be back. Thus, for them, taking up the cross stood for the utmost in renunciation of the claims of self.

And this then is the cost. it is the abandonment of self. It is laying aside your hopes, your dreams, it is a willingness to forfeit all for the cause of Christ. Remember the rich young ruler, a man who desired to follow Jesus so he comes and says, basically I have done pretty well, i have followed the law, honored my father mother, never killed anyone etc. Can I follow you. and Jesus says, good job, just one more thing, sell EVERYTHING you own then come follow me.

and the tragic part of that story is that he wont. He won’t pay the cost. that is too much. and if you will not pay that cost, the final question is even worse. if the cross wasn;t a big enough clue here jesus hits the nail on the head. he is basically asking if you will GIVE YOUR LIFE.

WILL YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE ?

Matthew 10:39 ESV

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

often with statements like this we pastors encourage you do to some self calculus. Here is the math, and it is biblical math. 70 years serving yourself here on earth, imagine you get to Elon Musk levels of wealth, richest man in the world. then you die and what happens, you are the richest man in the cemetery and still dead. or, you give this life, you sacrifice all for the sake of Chrsit, you give him your WHOLE LIFE, that is the cost, you miss out on all these earthly riches, but you get an eternity in heave, infinite wealth. it is in that sense a no brainier. But in this specific case, I think the calculus doesn't grasp the actual pint of what Jesus is saying.

what he is saying is this: The life that matters is the life for the sake of Christ, the life that takes the same road of self-denial as Jesus did and that is concerned not with the benefit that one will be able to secure either here or hereafter, but with the service of God and of one’s fellows.

the math isn;t what can I gain, but is Jesus worth giving my life for. And the answer to that question is of course. you will find life, it may be persecuted life, it may be a difficult life, in fact, it will be a difficult life, following Christ is not for the faint of heart, but having tried to live for self, having attempted to find joy, peace, and fulfillment apart from God is calling me to I can tell you: it is the only life worth living.

We follow a divisive savior, one who calls for us to forfeit everything., we must love him more, love him the most. he is worthy of ALL our love and devotion. then we sacrifice everything we pay the cost, even if, and more to the point because the cost IS your whole life. thee is no such thing as a half-way christian. We are talking about sacrifice, we are talking about servant hood. this is what our Lord requires of us.

So now you are asking: WHERE IS THE BLESSING THEN?

So where’s the blessing?

SO far we have seen costly division, but blessed division? what going on here. well two things. One simply the blessing is eternal life, it is new life. but we can get more particular.

But two more importantly let me say this: the blessing is Jesus. It is seeing him. It is knowing that god became man, entered into creation, that the fullness of god was pleased to dwell in humanly creature for That God entered into his creation. It is knowing that no one has seen God but the only God (jesus Chrsit) he has ,made him known. It is knowing that he is the radiance of God’s glory, that Jesus was the words made flesh, the revelation f God to man. It is knowing that he has made god understandable to rail fallen and pitiful creatures. THAT’S the blessing. and no amount of persecution could but a luster on that shine. He is Good and he is God and just knowing that makes all the persecution worth it.

But we can say more than that, and, in fact Jesus does say more than that in the next section. And I will be honest, when I first planned this sermon, and even getting to Monday when I started focusing here and getting ready for this sermon, I had some, not wrong, but not wholly right thoughts on this passage. on one level this is a message to the world around the disciples, it is a message to them that they should receive and NOT persecute the disciples, that is a right reading of this passage. but I think something else is going on here… and this is how I would like us to approach it together.

One thing that I like to do, to the point that it probably annoys both Desiree and Jayden, is talk to one THROUGH the other one. and this is what I mean by that. Knowing full well tat Jayden is eating a bowl of cereal at the kitchen table, i will go to Desiree in the kitchen and say something like: do you think the kids would like to go to basking robins to get some Ice cream tonight. We all three know that that question, though directed towards Desiree, is not really for her, it is for Jayden. I am EXPECTING him to hear and understand the extrapolation, I would like to take the kids for ice cream, would they like to Go. SO usually he chimes in: I think he would! or something like that. And while what Jesus s doing s much more nuanced (because he is speaking truth to the crowds WHILE still communicating truth to the disciples, in my picture Desiree is jut there for show) it gets the thought across.

So today we are going to look a the deeper truths that are being communicated to the disciples here. First he started by saying: Matthew 10:40

Matthew 10:40 ESV

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

But what does this mean for the disciples. It shows them their IDENTITY!

Our IDENTITY

we are identified in Christ AS MUCH as he is identified in the father. The way this is grammatically structured is beautiful. if they accept you they accept CHRIST, because that is how we are defined, as CHRISTIANS or as those of Christ. and this continues whoever accepts Chrsit accepts the father, for he sends the son. that is how, in some sense, Jesus is defined the only begotten sent one. The beauty here is that we get to take part in this divine chain of authority and identity.

This is why Paul can say for me to live is christ. I am identified in him. Clothed in his righteousness, truly when God sees me he does not see me, he sees the work of Jesus to make me righteous, I am made God’s people. We are, as Lawrence is faithful to remind us every week, SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD! that is our identity.

Our identity is that we are so closely identified IN CHRIST that whenever people bless us, whenever people see us they see christ! what a blessed Identity, but it continues.

Matthew 10:41 ESV

The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.

What is gong on here, well he gives us a title

Our TITLE

Where does this talk of prophets and righteousness come in? well he is not talking about in general if someone happens across a prophet and blesses them then they will receive a blessing, for that would be a bit random. Instead he is calling he disciples both of these things. they are righteous prophets, and by extension WE are righteous prophets. Lets be careful about how we appropriate these titles, but with care I believe we can.

First prophets. If by this we mean someone who is supernaturally gifted by the Holy spirit to certain the vents of the future and then speak with the same divine authority as holy Scriptures. then no. we are not all prophets, in fact, probably none of us for that particular manifestation of that gift closed with the closing of the cannon. But, if we understand a prophet who comes to people with a message given them by God and says: THUS SAYETH THE LORD. well then my friends we must all do that.

Our message is simple, it is the message we have been looking at since Matthew Chapter 3: the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Our message is that no one comes to the father except through him. Our God given message that we are called to take to the world is that salvation is ONLY in Chrsit, new life and forgiveness of sins is ONLY in him. this is what God has said!

and we are righteousness. not in ourselves. because you know you as well as i know me and I am going to assume that you knowing you means that you know that you struggle with sin. that you are not perfect. and that is OK. Chrsit can call us righteous because he gives us his.

so in both parts of this title we see the gifts of God. He gives us the prophetic message: the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and he makes us the righteous vessels for that message. Praise be to God for his kindness to us. but lastly I want to note one final thing: OUR POSITION.

Our POSITION

Matthew 10:42 ESV

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

we are his LITTLE ONES!