Demands of Discipleship
Matthew 10: 34 – 42.
Introduction.
It should come as no real surprise to hear me say
the word “disciple” is the most popular word in the New Testament to refer to
the followers of Jesus. The Greek word
for “disciple” appears 262 times in the Gospels and Acts. It sometimes refers to the original twelve
disciples of Jesus. But, it is also used
to refer to other men and women who became “disciples” after the crucifixion
and resurrection of Jesus.
Interestingly, Jesus used a verb-form of the Greek
word for “disciple” in his last words of instruction to his remaining eleven
disciples. We refer to Jesus’ last
instructions as the Great Commission, “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28: 18 –
20 NIV).”
The fact that the Greek word for “disciple” is used
both in Jesus’ last instructions and in the Book of Acts to refer to men and
women who never encountered Jesus in the flesh leads me to believe that
“discipleship” should not be limited as a reference to the original twelve
disciples. This is a universal term,
which applies just as much to Twenty-First Century men and women like us as it
did to the First Century disciples of Jesus.
Therefore, we need to read Jesus’ instructions about
discipleship as universal instructions.
What Jesus told his original twelve disciples applies to their lives in
the First Century AND applies to our lives in the Twenty-First Century. There is no difference. Jesus’ words have not changed.
Of course, that raises an important question for us
today. What did Jesus tell us about
discipleship?
There is no simplistic answer to this question. Jesus taught his original disciples about
discipleship through his teachings and by modeling the lifestyle they (and we)
should adopt. Jesus even gave an
extended sermon about discipleship in Matthew 5, 6, and 7—The Sermon on the
Mount. The only way to discover what
Jesus wants us to understand about discipleship is to look at the entire life
of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Our Scripture for today is one of Jesus’ teachings
about discipleship. It does not give us
a full picture of discipleship. But, it
does give us three principles (or three demands) Jesus expected of his original
disciples and that he expects of us today.
Love Jesus above all others…
Deny yourself…
Join Jesus’ mission to the world…
(I will stand behind the “three-point-line” this
morning as I preach a three-point sermon.)
Matthew
10: 34 – 42.
34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--
36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'
37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38 and anyone who 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.
40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.
41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.
42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
(NIV)
The Gospel of Matthew contains five sections that
represent five extended sermons. This
Scripture falls in the second sermon. We
might refer to this as the Sermon on Mission Kingdom
of God
Before Jesus sent out the twelve disciples as the
twelve apostles, he gave them some words of instruction and words of
warning. They were instructed to go only
to “the lost sheep of Israel
Love
Jesus above All.
Hostility is a little easier to accept when it comes
from perfect strangers. Hostility is
very difficult to accept when it comes from the people who have been the
closest to us relationally. And this is
what Jesus is warning us about. The
Gospel of Jesus and the message of the Kingdom of God
More than likely, Jesus’ disciples had an underlying
expectation that the Messiah would bring a time of peace on earth. This was the hope of the ancient Jews. One day the Messiah would come and establish
peace on earth. However, even their
expectation of peace was understood to come after a time of intense
conflict. There would be political
conflict as the Messiah had to displace the illegitimate king of Israel Israel
to defeat all of her enemies—specifically the Roman Empire . Peace would come, but it would not be
immediate.
In some ways, Jesus is affirming this point of
view. Yes, the Kingdom of God Kingdom
of God
In other ways, Jesus is contradicting the disciples’
previous understanding of the Messiah.
Jesus did not lead a political revolt.
Jesus did not assume the role of a revolutionary warrior. Instead, Jesus preached about individual
repentance and faith. We see this in
Jesus’ description of human relationships and his use of “sword” as a metaphor.
There are at least two ways to understand “sword” as
a metaphor. In some cases, “sword” is
used to refer to war and violence. Jesus
used “sword” this way in Matthew 26: 52:
"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus
said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword (Matthew
26: 52 NIV).”
Violence
begets more violence. A violent person
is likely to die a violent death. In
other cases, “sword” is used to refer to division. We see this in Hebrews 4: 12 – 13:
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper
than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's
sight. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4: 12 – 13
NIV).”
Just
as a sword can be used to divide flesh from bones, the Word of God can be used
to divide our motives from our actions.
This is what I think Jesus is saying in Matthew
10. He is not commanding us to start a
war against our families or our family members.
Instead, he is describing the result of what happens when we put Jesus
first in our lives.
As disciples of Jesus, we are to be committed to
Jesus above all other relationships. We
are to love Jesus more than we love anyone else in our lives. No relationship is to stand in the way of our
relationship with Jesus. (Notice,
however, that Jesus never tells us to break off all contact with the people in
our households. Jesus does not tell us
to abandon our parents, our children, or even our spouses. Instead, Jesus tells us to expect to
experience conflict in our relationships as a result of our relationship with
Jesus. In fact, we can learn a lot by
following Jesus’ own example at this point.
Jesus’ earthly family did not accept him during his lifetime. But Jesus never abandoned them. He lovingly provided for his family at his
death by asking one of his disciples to take care of his mother.)
Deny
Self.
Verse 38 is one of several places where Jesus told
his disciples to “take up” a cross. On
one hand, this is a kind of surprise.
The other times Jesus tells his disciples to “take up” a cross fall in
the context of Jesus’ predictions of his own crucifixion. He told his followers that he was headed
toward a literal cross and demanded they be willing to take up their own
symbolic crosses. On the other hand, we
don’t have to be surprised. Jewish men
and women of the First Century were very familiar with the sight of a criminal
carrying his own cross to his own crucifixion.
Crucifixion was a popular form of execution for the
Romans for a couple of reasons. First,
it was an effective way to execute a criminal.
No one was coming down from the cross until he was actually dead. When the criminal was dead, he posed no more
threat to the Empire. Second,
crucifixion was an effective way to deter other criminals. It was a public form of humiliation and
death. People who witnessed crucifixions
were “encouraged” to live under the Roman law so that they would not face the
same kind of humiliation and death.
“Take up your cross” is one of those biblical
expressions that has lost its “shock value” over the past 2,000 years. There wasn’t a single person in this
sanctuary who was surprised when you heard Jesus say “take up your cross.” That would not have been the case in the
original, First Century setting. First
Century people would have immediately remembered the gruesome scene of lifeless
criminals hanging on crosses on the side of the “interstate highway.” Perhaps they would even remember watching
condemned men agonizing under the weight of a cross-beam, walking through the
city streets.
It was a typical practice for Roman executioners to
force criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of execution. It was a part of the shame of
crucifixion. Everyone could watch. Everyone could ridicule. Everyone could experience the terror of the
Romans. Yet, Jesus said this shame and humiliation
is a part of being a disciple.
We can interpret this in two ways. I think both of these interpretations are
correct. First, Jesus’ life was headed
toward a literal Roman cross. And we
know now that most of Jesus’ original disciples faced extreme suffering and
humiliation just because they were followers of Jesus. This tells us that we will not have an easy
life just because we are Christians. We
can expect to face the same kind of life that Jesus and his disciples
faced. We will face the sufferings of
the human life, and we will suffer for our faith. Jesus never promised us an easy life. Jesus didn’t pull a switcheroo on us by
telling us life would be wonderful and letting us discover otherwise on our
own. No.
Jesus promised us up front that the way of discipleship involves taking
up a cross.
Second, we can build on the image of a condemned
criminal carrying his own cross. As the
criminal was marched through the busy city streets, everyone who saw him knew that
he was headed to his own death. He was a
“dead man walking.” That is what it
means to be a Christian. Your life is
over. You can no longer live for your
own desires. You belong to Jesus. Your past is over, and your future is in
God’s hands.
If there are two different ways to interpret “take
up your cross,” then there must be two ways to apply this as well. Think of your life in monetary terms. For the sake of argument, let’s assume your
life is worth $100. There are many
different ways to pay $100—one $100 bill; two $50 bills; five $20 bills; one
hundred $1 bills; or a jar full of loose change.
Many of Jesus’ original disciples were killed for
their faith in Jesus. There was a time
when they paid all they had. They gave
one $100 bill at the end of their lives.
Most Christians will not be killed for their faith
in Jesus. For most of us, life is like a
jar of loose change. We give a little
here and a little there. We make small
sacrifices for our faith every day. But,
at the end of life, we have paid all we have.
The only way to “find” true life is to give your
life away for Jesus. The person who
tries to protect life will realize one day there is nothing to protect. The person who gives away life as a sacrifice
for Jesus will find life—abundant life and eternal life. Eternal life is the resurrected life with
Jesus. Abundant life is a life filled
with meaning…a life filled with purpose…and a life filled with mission.
Join
Jesus’ Mission
Jesus has not called us to a life of maintenance. Jesus has called us to a life of
mission. And, there is a big difference
between maintenance and mission.
The person who is focused on maintenance does
everything in his or her power to preserve the life they have. They avoid conflict. They agree with whatever they hear other
people saying. They get along with
others by fitting in—they want to avoid any perceived differences between
themselves and others. At the end of
life, they discover there is nothing left worth protecting.
The person who is focused on mission has one driving
objective in their mind—to complete the assignment they have been given. They don’t worry about conflict or fitting in
with the crowd. They simply want to be
faithful in doing their job. At the end
of life, they discover they have given everything away only to gain something
much more valuable—abundant life and eternal life.
Conclusion.
Of course, we can say the same thing about
churches. Churches focused on
maintenance avoid conflict and do everything to make sure everyone is
happy. They go along with whatever their
members want to do and refuse to do things to make the members
uncomfortable. In the end, they discover
there is nothing left worth preserving.
But, the churches who focus on mission give everything away and discover
they have gained something even more valuable.
They hear the voice of Jesus saying, “Well done, my good and faithful
servants.”
Jesus warned us that not everyone will accept our
message. But Jesus also gave us words of
encouragement…Not everyone will reject our message. If we will be faithful to do the work Jesus
has given us, we will find success. The
people who receive us also receive Jesus.
The messengers are an important part of God’s plan. If there are no messengers, the message cannot
spread around the world.
What kind of disciple has Jesus called you to
be? In all reality, Jesus only calls one
kind of disciple. Jesus calls us to love
him above all other relationships. Jesus
calls us to deny ourselves by giving our lives away. Jesus calls us to join him in his mission to
the world. If we are not doing these
things, we are not living up to Jesus’ demands for discipleship.
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