Matthew 10:11
The Bible says in Matthew 10:11-15. "And into
whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there
abide until you go from there. And when you come into a house, salute it. And
if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy,
let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear
your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of
your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the
Matthew chapter 10 is filled with teachings
by Jesus on the subject of what His believers will experience as they live for
Him and speak for Him in this world of unbelievers. He had already told the
apostles to give freely because they had received freely. Now He is telling
them that it just may be that their message will not be received, and how to
react if it is not received.
It is true that the telling of the gospel
is a powerful force. Paul said in Romans chapter 1, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the
power of God unto salvation." It is possible that countless thousands will be
saved when they hear the gospel from your lips; not because of you, but because
of the power of the gospel. It is also possible that no one will be saved when
they hear the gospel because humans have a free choice, and they may choose to
avoid God and to continue on in their sinful ways. Just think of the example of
Noah: no one believed him and his warnings except for a few members of his
immediate family. If they do not believe when you
tell them the gospel, neither would they believe even if Jesus Himself stood
before them and told them the gospel.
Even though the message of the gospel might
be rejected, Jesus made it clear that we are not to let that discourage us or
to cause us to give up. He said, "shake off the dust of your feet", which is a figure of speech that means to
forget about it, and go on. It is very important in the walk of faith to be
able to put things behind you, forget about them, and to go on looking forward
to what is next and what is to come. Paul said this same thing in Philippians
3:13: "...but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before."
Don’t be discouraged if someone with a hard
heart rejects the message of the gospel that you bring to them. They are simply
showing the same attitude towards you that they have towards God. But the point
that Jesus made in verse 15 is that they will have to answer for it. He said, "It shall be more tolerable for the
In Matthew 10:16-20 Jesus said, "Behold, I send you
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and
harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the
councils, and they will scourge you in the synagogues; and you shall be brought
before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the
gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall
speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak."
The Lord did give us something to think
about when He used animals to describe what our behavior and attitudes should
be in the midst of the persecution that we will receive. Jesus must have loved
animals a lot, because He used them often in His teachings. We understand that
sheep and doves are gentle and harmless creatures. They certainly are not
threatening or aggressive in any way, and their behavior is very much in
contrast to that of a wolf.
According to Jesus, we can learn a lot from
animals. We can learn what our own behavior should be. Animals seem to
understand their place and their function in this life, and they seem to have
little trouble doing what they are supposed to do. Isaiah 1:3 says, "The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib;
but
In the sense of gentleness and harmlessness
we are to be like the sheep and the doves, but that does not mean that we are
to be naive. Jesus looked at what He considered to be a positive attribute of a
serpent, and He told us to be wise. In verse
17 He told us that we would be wise if we would "beware
of men." Don’t be duped by the human race. Be careful. As in many
things Jesus gave us the example of why we should beware of men. John 2:24-25
says, "But
Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not
that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man." Many have gotten themselves into trouble
because they did not "beware of men."
People will lead you astray, people will
abuse you, and people will be used to tempt you. Make sure that you are
harmless, but never forget that many other people are not harmless. They are
very capable of causing harm, and one of the ways they have traditionally
caused harm to believers is to deliver them up to the authorities to be
punished. This was true in the early days of Christianity, and it was true
during the middle ages and during the reformation. It is also true today in
many Communist and Moslem controlled countries, and sometimes even in our own
country. Jesus said that one of the ways that His followers will be persecuted
is that they will be persecuted by the authorities. Of course, this does not
give a license for believers to disdain, dishonor, or in any way rebel against
the government. Even as Paul said in Romans 13:1 "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For
there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."
As Jesus said, in many cultures it is the
authorities that will persecute believers. This is actually one of the best
reasons to be against capital punishment. The more that capital punishment is
accepted and used in a given society, the greater is the possibility that as
the authorities become aggressive in persecuting believers, they will
eventually use all of the punishments at their disposal against the believers.
We know that all things work together for
good for those that love God. This is true even with persecutions. Of course,
we do not seek persecution, but when we do suffer it, God is able to give us
the grace to bear it. One of His purposes for allowing the persecution is to
give us other opportunities to be a witness for Him. The result of some of the
persecutions of the apostles happened just like Jesus said that it would in
verse 18, "And
you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony
against them." Should you be
institutionalized as a result of a persecution, it just may be that God is
bringing you into contact with people to whom He wants you to be a witness;
that otherwise you would have never met.
In order to have heroes of the faith, we
must have believers who are willing to be martyrs. Sometimes it is through the
suffering of one that others are touched and blessed. This was certainly the
case in the life of Jesus, and it also happened to a lesser degree in the life
of Stephen. The end of Acts chapter 7 and the first part of chapter 8 says, "And they stoned Stephen,
he calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled
down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And
when he had said this he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death." Stephen was a young man who died a horrible
death because he lived in a Jewish society in a time when believers in Jesus
were aggressively persecuted; but his testimony was so powerful that evidently
Saul was touched by it. Saul’s conversion and eventual accomplishments as the
apostle Paul may not have happened without Stephen’s faith in the face of
persecution.
In Matthew 10:21-22 Jesus said, "And the brother
shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the
children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to
death, And you shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that
endures to the end shall be saved." Jesus said that he that endures to the end shall be
saved. This means that in the face of persecution, the way to have victory over
the persecution is to endure it until it ends. Any persecution will only be
temporary, and will have an end, just like all negative circumstances run their
course and things eventually turn around. One of the keys to victory is to not
give up, but to endure it to its end.
Jesus said that we will suffer persecution
from humans in general, and He told us to beware of men. He told us that we
will suffer from the authorities, and in verse 22 that we will be hated for His
name’s sake. Have you ever noticed that sometimes it is okay to mention God,
but as soon as you mention the name of Jesus, the resistance and the animosity
to you becomes much more focused and determined?
Some of the worse persecutions that we will
suffer for the cause of Christ will come from our own family members. That is
exactly what Jesus meant in verse 21 when He said, "the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and
the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and
cause them to be put to death."
The persecution that can come from within your own family may be the worst of
all. The reason that there are persecutions from within families is because so
few people become real believers. The odds are that if one or two people in the
same family are true believers, then the rest will not be. It is rare when everyone in the same family is a true
Christian.
Individuals become true believers, not
families. Of course, it is possible that every person in the same family would
become a believer, but that is not what usually happens, according to Jesus. What usually happens is that if
a child becomes a true believer, then one or more of the parents do not. And if
one or more of the parents become true believers, then often the children do
not. It was important to Jesus that we would understand this so that we would
be forewarned when it happens. He repeated the same teaching again in verses 35
and 36. He said, "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household." First
Corinthians
As we said there is no such thing as a
Christian family per se, because families do not become Christians. Individuals
become Christians. Each individual must repent of their sins individually, and
decide to follow Christ because they choose to do so.
"Whosoever
will may come." If all the
individuals in the same family choose to follow Jesus, then you have a rare
situation. It is not what usually happens. Sometimes there is confusion on this
issue because Acts
In Matthew
The lesson to learn from this is that if
your witness is rejected, do not give up. Just go to the next place or the next
person that the Lord leads you to. If you are a believer, never forget that you
are here on the earth as part of the great plan of God; and He wants to use you
as one of His witnesses. Make sure that you pray every day that God would help
you to be a good witness and not a bad witness for the sake of the name of
Jesus Christ. Never give up. Should you find the grace and the courage to be a
witness, never give up.
The Lord told the disciples that if their
witness was rejected and they were persecuted in one place to go to the next.
This is also a warning to the unbelievers: there is never a promise of
opportunity to be saved beyond today. No one knows the future, not even what
tomorrow may hold. If you have an opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus
Christ and be saved, you had better take it before it is too late.
In Matthew 10:24-25 Jesus said, "The disciple is
not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the
disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of
his household?" Jesus gives us the
explanation to why His believers must suffer persecution. When He calls us to
follow Him, He calls us to adopt His teachings, His philosophy, His example,
His faith, His compassion, and His ideal for human behavior. This way of life
will include persecutions. Jesus suffered so horribly for our sakes, and in a
smaller way we are also called to suffer for His sake. A couple of decades ago
when
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Copyright; 2007 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved