Prepared For Persecution – Part 2 | Matthew 10:16-25

Scripture

• Matthew 10:16–25

About this sermon

Introduction: Our Lord prepares His men for their first solo-mission (but with oversight) by giving them a set of instructions, but also informing their expectations. What can we expect to face when we serve Christ in the work of the ministry? HOW CAN WE PREPARED FOR THE INEVITABLE PERSECUTION THAT WE’RE GOING TO MEET WITH? This morning we noted three ways that His disciples are prepared. Review: • BE PREPARED BY UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF YOUR MISSION FIELD (vs.16) • BE PREPARED BY UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF MANKIND (vs.17-18) • BE PREPARED BY CONFIDENCE IN THE FAITHFULNESS OF YOUR GOD (vs.19-20) Lesson: Tonight, we pick this up and note three additional ways that Christ’s disciples must be prepared. • BE PREPARED BY THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEED FOR PAINFUL ENDURANCE (vs.21-22) Again, we are talking about expectations. One of the things we struggle with is that fact that even when we are prepared to meet with persecution, we may not have prepared to meet with it so close to home. Perhaps we could envision a world of people WHO DO NOT KNOW US coming against us. But what our Lord prepares His disciples for, as He looks beyond the immediate, to the age that will unfold before the church in the years to come, is that there will come times of persecution when those who come against the people of God are their nearest relations BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER – AND TO THE DEATH. FATHER AGAINST CHILD CHILDREN AGAINST PARENTS — AND TO THE DEATH. A UNIVERSAL KIND OF HATRED — THIS IS WHAT WE MUST BE PREPARED FOR (vs.22a). From the closet relationships to total strangers, people hating the church for no other reason than that the church represents a Lord and a worldview that it hates. God’s people will be despised and will suffer. AND THROUGH ALL OF THAT THE CHURCH IS CALLED TO PERSERVERANCE — THE PEOPLE OF GOD CONTINUE WITH JESUS. The suffering will be painful, but the sustaining power of God will be sufficient. PREPARE YOURSELVES BY TRULY BELIEVING JESUS ABOUT THESE POSSIBILITIES — AND FOR SOME, REALITIES. This is a sadness on top of a sadness. There is already profound sadness when someone we love doesn’t love Christ. There is profound sadness when our loved one’s distance themselves from us because of Christ. But there is an even GREATER sadness when there is a level of animosity that would not only distance them from us but move them to destroy us. SO, TO BE PREPARED FOR PERSECUTION WE MUST BE PREPARED TO ENDURE THAT PAINFUL REJECTION. Are you prepared for that? Our Lord goes on to talk about later in this chapter. ESV Matthew 10:34 "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. ENDURANCE IS NEEDED FOR FAITHFULNESS TO GOD IN SUFFERING, BUT A KIND OF ENDURANCE THAT WILL BE NEEDED IN THE FACE OF THE MOST PAINFUL KIND OF BETRAYAL. • BE PREPARED BY TRUSTING GOD’S PROVIDENCE IN YOUR PERSEVERANCE (vs.23) The endurance we need must be matched with the shrewdness that we talked about earlier. It must also be matched with THE TRUST, THE CONFIDENCE, that our God is at work even through the hatred that we endure — and THAT WE ARE NOT ALONE. • THE SHREWDNESS IN SUFFERING This is a very important statement for us to process. What our Lord makes plain is that faithfulness in the face of persecution does rule out seeking relief from it — seeking to escape it. NOT IN A WAY THAT IS COWARDLY, but in a way that is needful for ongoing ministry. THIS IS A KIND OF WISDOM THAT COMES WITH MATURITY. • SOME PEOPLE SEEK PERSECUTION • SOME PEOPLE FUEL PERSECUTION • JESUS SAYS THERE IS A TIME TO FLEE IT Now, of course, this is a general statement, not a statement for every situation. But what it makes plain is that a part of the shrewdness necessary to faithfulness in ministry is recognizing when it is time to move on to another field of opportunity for the gospel. • OUR LORD DEMONSTRATED THIS ESV Matthew 12:9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"-- so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, "Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. 15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all • PAUL DEMONSTRATED THIS

Topics

• Suffering & Trials