Matt 10

Date: 15 January 2009

Bible (NT/OT): Matt 10:1-11:1

The Twelve Apostles

10 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Persecution Will Come

16 "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 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. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the
Son of Man comes. 24 "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
Have No Fear

26 "So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 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.

Not Peace, but a Sword

34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 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. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 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. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

40 "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 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. 42 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."

Ps 11:5-6

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 6 Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

Sun Tzu:

“Therefore use these assessments for comparison, to find out what the conditions are. That is to say, which political leadership has the Way? Which general has ability? Who has the better climate and terrain? Whose Discipline is effective? Whose Troops are stronger? Whose officers and soldiers are better trained? Whose system of rewards and punishments is clearer? This is how you can know who will win”
“The one who treats me well is my leader; the one who treats me cruelly is my enemy.”
“So set up rules that are not to be broken, do not fail to punish any offenders.”
“Make everyone equal under the law”
“See who is able to make rules clear and commands easy to follow, so that people listen and obey.”
“If you are superior in all of these seven things (above questions), you have won before you have even done battle…Therefore it is possible to know the victory beforehand.

Events:

Yesterday, I woke up and drove to the Clinic where I started my reading and writing then struggled the rest of the day to finish, finally finishing this morning. I had 2 big meetings and saw a couple patients between them. My PA has received his computer access so we are going to start alternating days so that I can spend more time with Marla and Sadie before I leave. I drove home last night and plan to enjoy the 4 day weekend. I guess not much happened of note.

Thoughts:

Bible:

1. “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority” Notice here that Jesus specifically gives the 12 disiples/apostles authority to perform miricalous powers. Two very important things here.
a. The pupose of these powers is only to magnify Christ and bring his Children to repentance
b. The powers are given specifically (and only) to the 12 apostles. The thought that these powers have continued in subsequent generations simply by linage (the line of Peter for example) is not supported biblically.

2. Vs 5-40: If you want to know the true, historic Jesus read and digest these verses. This is not the watered down, politically correct Jesus of the American Culture. These verses do not support the tolerant, all loving, all accepting, “great teacher,” that is proclaimed from the pulpit of liberal churches every week. Christ is either the Savior of the world, Lord of heaven and Earth and God incarnate or he is a raging lunatic. But let’s not let today’s gentiles get away with, “your Christ is a wonderful , compassionate teacher but not a, prophet, priest or god.”

3. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. Travel in faith. Mission’s are as much for the Missionary as they are for the “missionees” J. I have friends who have become frustrated with the “designer” mission trips that my mentor, Dave Philips used to put on. We would spend a couple days preaching the word, a couple days building physical structures and relationships and a couple days relaxing. These were amazing trips and for the mature Christian maybe a bit lavish. However, my friend Dave was the minister for the high school and college ministry and in the spirit caring for “infant Christians” as the vast majority of kids who went on these mission trips were, he did not put a new patch in an old wineskin (read yesterdays). He did not have the expectation of the kids that they would perform as the great missionaries to South America, China, Africa etc… Instead he used the relaxation time to build up and disciple those on the mission trip. Having experienced the trips, I never complained about the 5-star accommodations J. In-fact, I feel that we did more for the kingdom as we discipled the kids then when we sent the kids out to share and work. The purpose of mission trips is the Glory of God, not some number of “converts” that we may claim. The Glory of God was achieved as these kids came to a fuller knowledge of their own depravity and Christ as their savior.

4. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Wow, not really the way the gospel is pushed upon people today. How could Jesus (who knew the truth of Hell’s pain) not frantically evangelize poor, fallen humanity? Jesus obviously does not believe that salvation lies solely in peoples hearing the gospel and then making an informed (and independent) decision for or against salvation. No, Jesus was most definitely a Calvinist. Jesus acknowledged that Gods ultimate salvation of souls was not in the hands of the Preacher or the person being preached to. If it were then the preacher could boast in his effectiveness at “winning souls” and the believer could boast in his wisdom to make a better decision than his neighbor. Likewise, an ineffective preacher would then be accountable for loosing souls and condemning humans to hell. Further, Christ’s death on the cross would not have effectually accomplished anything, salvation instead would be won every day by effective preachers and smart laity. This is not the biblical view of salvation. Praise the Lord that, Salvation “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Rom 9:16-17)”

5. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles So what is the problem with the health and wealth gospel? Doesn’t Christ just want you to have, “your best life now?” The problem is that the bible does not support the fact that as Christian’s life will be easier in fact, life is promised to be much, much harder. How about, “22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake…34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 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. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household…” So who’s right, Jesus or Joel? Why don’t you ask Paul,
“Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Cor 11:23-28).
The problem is that when we preach health, wealth and our best life now we are setting people up for failure. The Hope of Christianity does not lie in this world but in the world to come. In fact all that we are to expect from this life is suffering and persecution. Remember this world is the punishment for our fall out of Eden (Gen 3), not some kind of reward for making a good choice for Christ. When we fix our worldview, we are no longer disillusioned when things are not going our way, we no longer struggle with the faith when we are persecuted or sick. When we have a correct worldview, we instead use such struggles to strengthen our faith in the promise of our future reward, our best life in eternity!

6. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 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. This is how we should live. When unafraid of death, we can live as those unafraid of life. We are now free to go to war and face melanoma without the fear of missing out on our best life now. Don’t get me wrong, death is not natural, it is a direct consequence of the fall. Despair over the death of a loved one and a slight apprehension over our own death is to be expected. However the fears of death that I see daily in the ER, a paralyzing fear that drives patients to waist a day in the ED for every little cough and cold, this we are not to fall victim to. Instead, as Christians we are to look forward to our future glory. If I no longer fear death, how much less do I fear man, how much less do I fear embarrassment, public speaking etc…

7. Ps 11:5-6 “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 6 Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.” The biblical God does not “hate the sin, and love the sinner,” as the liberal church would have us believe. Apart from Christ, God hates the Sin and the Sinner. Apart from Christ, we are children of wrath, children of the devil (Eph 2). This is a very sad fact but if we profess to be Christians and worship the god of the bible, this is the God that we are worshiping. Don’t make a Golden Calf because you cannot stomach the true God of the bible. If this is not the God you worship please do us a favor and don’t call yourself a Christian.

Sun Tzu

1. The one who treats me well is my leader; the one who treats me cruelly is my enemy.” “So set up rules that are not to be broken, do not fail to punish any offenders.” “Make everyone equal under the law” Amazing that though the eastern world loves this guy, they sure are not adhering to his teachings.