“The Secret Ways Revealed”

Scripture: Matthew 10:24-39

Jesus has been teaching his disciples about the relationship that they are to have with him. And as appropriate and necessary as it was for the 12, it is even more important for the Church of today to understand. The point that Jesus always makes is that we are to learn from him, with the result being that our lives are to submit to the ways that the Lord has lived. Every parable that he ever offered placed Almighty God, and that included Jesus, in the superior position, and whether the teaching was about our submission to the Lord’s ways, or the Lord’s blessings that come to us, or the persecution that would come to the Church, Jesus was always in the first position, and humanity was always in the second.

Some people today don’t understand this - they don’t like being second, and they definitely don’t like being told to submit to any authority except their own! But Jesus never offered that option – not to the 12, not to the crowds of his day, and not to the Church during the last 2,000 years! We are sheep, we are broken, we are lost, we are ignorant of heavenly ways, and no matter how you look at it, we need Jesus and the Holy Spirit to show us the way to live in this time and in this place.

We are living in a dark and imposing world, and today’s text teaches us through the light of Christ – a light that reveals and educates us to the life and ways that define a follower of Jesus Christ.

Read Matthew 10:24-25

The Christian’s life must always run parallel to the teaching of the Lord Jesus. When we surrender our life to Jesus Christ, we give up control and influence on our life, and we accept whatever may come from our obedience to the Lord. Jesus was persecuted, and in faith, so will we. Jesus was falsely accused of subterfuge and failure to follow the law, and our lot, when we submit to him, won’t be any better. Sometimes he avoided the situation, and other times he stood his ground – and while we may not know which we are to do, the Spirit will always show us the right way.

The choice that we make can either be for the short term, or for eternity – there is no other option, and there is no blending of the choices. We can choose to avoid the conflict that comes from standing with Jesus, or we can accept all that he taught and all that he endured. The Lord tells us that it is enough to be like the Teacher and the Master, with the implication being that the world can make no such offer. It will be a difficult identity to take on, though – God’s way will always be the right way, but the world will see it differently - they want to see right and wrong, truth and lie, as a relative thing, with each person determining right and truth for themselves. And that is what the Pharisees were all about – their “right” versus Jesus’ wrong.

Read Matthew 10:26-33

In both Matthew (6:25-34) and Luke (12:22-34), we read of Jesus’ teaching on worry. In each of these passages, the intent of the teaching is that worry gains us nothing. Worry about the basics for our human existence – our needs for food, clothing, shelter, and so on, will all be overseen by Almighty God. Matthew tells us to strive for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else will come along with them. Luke tells us that wherever, and whatever, our “treasure” is, our hearts will be there also. In other words, keep the first things first, and everything else will fall into place.

Our text for today carries along this very thought, except it focuses more on fear than on simple worry. But the point is the same – Keep the faith, and all that this may entail! The world, in a word, is a “distraction”! The ways of earth create confusion within our minds and hearts, and that is exactly what Satan is all about. He wants us to be uncertain when it comes to our relationship with God, he wants chaos to rule in our lives, he wants us to lose our nerve when it comes to proclaiming Christ, and he sows doubt within our faith. These warnings aren’t intended to be for those who have yet to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior – they are cautions for all who have given their lives to Christ – they are for the Church. Never doubt that Satan is at work right here among us.

You see, Satan is constantly at work to turn us away from God. Not in big ways, but through doubt and confusion. That was exactly what he did in the garden when he convinced Eve to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge – he made her wonder just what God had actually told them about the tree. (Genesis 3:1-7) And that is how he works against us – always raising questions in our minds. “Are you sure that scripture actually says that?” or “That part isn’t all that important – God loves you anyway, so don’t worry about it.” or “That commandment was only for the people of that day – it really doesn't apply now!”

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it! But these last 2 verses are the focal point – that whoever remains faithful to Jesus, including his ways and all that he taught, will know the glory of heaven, but if we turn away, if we accept the lie that most of scripture was never meant to apply to our lives, we will be denied that glory. In John’s gospel, 1:14, we read that Jesus is truth and that there is no other, and later in 8:31-33, we read that if we follow Christ’s teaching, we will be in the truth, and that the truth will set us free.
And what will we be freed from? From the confusion and doubt that the world causes. From the darkness of earth that is intended to hide the truth of Christ. From the lies that would lead us away from the Light of God.

Read Matthew 10:34-39

There are a number of passages in the Gospels where it appears that Jesus is telling us to ignore our human family, when actually he is saying that we are to see our “family” in a much greater way (Matthew 12:46-50). Human relationships will break and fall apart, but the “family of God” is eternal. There will even be dissention and disagreement over what “faith in Christ” is all about, and the arguments will cause more problems inside the church than even those that occur outside of faith. Jesus must always come first, even before our families, and especially before ourselves.

In William Barclay’s commentary on Chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel, he writes of a man who was asked if he was a Christian. He replied “’Yes, but not offensively so.’ He meant that he did not allow his Christianity to interfere with the society he kept and the pleasure he loved.” Barclay goes on to explain that some who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ hold out no expectation that they will ever be different than they were before they came to know Christ. They continue to put the world first, and Jesus has to take a back seat to worldly pleasures. When we try to keep peace with our families and friends by remaining silent in our faith, when we hesitate to speak a word that embraces Christ’s way, when we refuse to appear offensive against the ways of earth, it is then that we have just refused to pick up our own cross so that we might follow the Lord’s ways – it is then that our life is lost.

In our faith walk, there is no room for safety, or ease and comfort, or personal security, or fulfillment of our dreams and ambitions. But there can be great joy, as well as the promise of eternal life with Jesus, IF we remain in his way and do as he says. (Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27) The secrets of eternity will be revealed to us; the plan of God will be understood one day; we will experience the working of the Lord through our faithful response to the Spirit’s leading; the love of Christ will work wonderfully within us; and we will come to know the power and majesty and glory and hope that comes to us, simply by faithful obedience to Christ and his teaching.

And that will be enough.