How Does Christ Bring Division. (Matthew 10: 32-40)

Introduction.

Last time we learnt that God is in control and therefore we need never feel alone, and we should remember that God. He has counted the number of hairs on you head so he is in control. That is why we can put up with all the troubles of this world because we know that underneath God is in control and God cares about us. But then all of a sudden, he says in verse 32 it takes an unusual turn.

“Therefore, whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10: 32-33)

So why did he bring that up? Why bring that up here it almost seems a little out of place here, almost as if it has been crowbarred into the text at this point. He’s been saying, “do not fear” and then he says this, “if you confess me before men” which of course has been the point of the passage up to this point, a command to go preach what you heard, then adding that “if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father who is in heaven”. In other words, Jesus is saying, if you do what I’m telling you to do you won’t have any reason to fear, in fact you will be rewarded by the fact that I will confess you before my father in heaven. One commentator I read said, and I quote, “believers who deny the Lord before men will be denied the reward and joy of hearing him say well done good and faithful servant at the judgment seat of Christ”. 

Heavenly Rewards.

I have concluded that what he is talking about in is this passage is the subject of heavenly rewards. If you drop down and look at verse 42 you will see that said in black and white, when he says “whoever gives one of these little ones a couple of cold water in my name assuredly I say to you he will by no means lose his reward”.That’s what we’re talking about here. Verse 33 says, “whoever denies me before men I will deny before the father”. So, what does that mean? I believe it means that if you don’t talk about the Lord or refuse to acknowledge him you will miss out on receiving the heavenly rewards that some will receive in heaven. I believe Christians can do that so of thing and still be Christians. The Bible tells us that Peter denied the Lord, but he still retained his position as a believer and a father of the church. Well, it’s the same “deny” word used here except with a prefix added which makes it even stronger. Peter did exactly that but in an even stronger way than indicated by this word here. So, if you don’t speak up you may very well lose your rewards. That’s a very good reason to put up with the opposition we all face in this life, because if you do you are going to be rewarded. I personality want to hear him say well done that good and faithful servant. This concept is important because then we can recognize that our fear any fear of God is not a fear that God will punish us, but our fear is that we will grieve someone who loves us. I want to hear him say well done not know I have hurt the one who loved me, because I have denied what he meant to me.

What I’m saying is that service involves suffering, which means things like being falsely accused, things like being in situations where you’re gonna be afraid possibly even danger. But also interwoven in this passage is the reason we should put up with things like that, and one reason, among other things, is because God is in control, he cares about us and we are going to be rewarded by him when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

I Do Not Come To Bring Peace But a Sword.

There’s another type of suffering we might experience he says here in this passage which we haven’t touched on yet in these last couple of episodes. Beginning in verse 34 he says,

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword”. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’, and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’  (Matthew 10: 34-36)

Now he is saying in this part of the passage that you’re going to face conflict and then he describes it in detail another aspect of it for us;” I have come to set a man against his father a daughter against her mother and daughter mother-in-law he’s describing whole households getting into arguments. He’s describing conflict, and amazingly he says, “I didn’t come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword”.  Is this really Jesus talking? He’s not talking about military conflict here, he’s not asking us to bear arms or go to war, he’s talking about social and family divisions, as is very clear by what he says in verse 35 a man is going to be against his father, a daughter is going to be against her mother, and a mother-in-law is going to be against a daughter-in-law. You’re probably thinking a daughter in conflict with her mother-in-law is well that’s not unusual, but what’s different about this teaching is that the division in this context is spiritual in nature. He is talking about people and families dividing and taking sides over their view of Jesus. The point, he’s saying there’s going to be conflict, there’s going to be arguments.  You know there’s some people who just hate conflict, are you one, count me among that number. My wife Paula, she really hates any form of conflict so if there’s anything she can avoid it, she will. As a matter of fact, some researchers at UCLA have discovered that same part of the brain that experiences physical pain is activated by emotional conflict. According to the brain, conflict and social rejection hurt just as much as if it were bodily injury. Getting into an argument especially with your own family can be very traumatic. But you must not be afraid, even of family tension, it’s going to come about, and some people close to you may hate you. it

 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10: 37-38)

Don’t do these thigs he says, if you do, you’re not being worthy. He says this phrase three times, so it must be important. It means that you’re not fit to be one of his followers which remember has nothing to do with going to heaven, heaven is a gift received by trusting in Jesus Christ. If he were talking about getting to heaven he would be talking about salvation, but he is talking about our faith inspiring service and by living our lives in that attitude of service, and how doing that will bring opposition and suffering. But in order to be worthy of the rewards of heaven, you’ve got to love the Lord more than any human relationship so you lose right the last verse in this you finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it so you think I’m going to hang on to this relationship I’m going to put it above everything else be car and choose that path in life. That’s what you’ll lose out on if you don’t persevere with the trials of life. Hold on to this possession, Jesus says, because if you don’t hold on to this then be careful over what you might lose in the future. But if you love the Lord, that actually enhances the relationship with God, and you will have treasure stored up in heaven for you. So you don’t lose, you win.

Many years ago when I first became a Christian there was a Bible teacher named Matt De-Hann of Radio Bible class fame I used to listen to his teaching on tape when I was driving my car. I listened to him for years and he once wrote about the boyhood game he used to play called Domino’s. Back in the day before Domino’s was a type of pizza. He said.

In my boyhood days it was a favorite indoor game. Some time ago while visiting an old people home I came upon a rare site of people playing dominoes. A flood of memories surged over me as I remembered my own boyhood days playing the game of dominoes. The unusual thing about dominoes, he said, is that you win by losing. To win in dominoes you must lose all your dominoes whoever gets rid of all these dominoes first, wins the game. The purpose of the game is to be reduced to nothing in order to get on the top. It’s not like football or tennis or other sports where the highest number of runs or points or goals determines the winner. No with Domino’s it’s the one who can reach nothing first that has succeeded.

In the life of being a follower of Christ you lose your life; you lose then and then you win. And that is why we put up with all the bad stuff that comes our way as the result of being a disciple of Jesus because of what we get out of it in the end. 

Service involves suffering, it involves things like being falsely accused, it involves things like being afraid to speak up for Christ, it involves things like being in arguments with people that are close to us, but the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, because God is in control, and you will be rewarded provided you put the Lord first and do what he says we should do. We put up with the difficult stuff because ultimately we get to become more like Christ. We get to become more like Jesus in this life and the promise of a place in heaven with treasure stored there in the life to come.

I hope this passage has help you understand that God is in control and by living the way Jesus says and being his disciple we should definitely be able to develop this sense that God really does love you and that you can have the assurance that when you stand before him he you will hear him say, “well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord”. Why put up with all of this opposition in this life? Well just look at what you will gain.

Somebody has said there are only two options in life, you spare your life of you sacrifice your life, there’s no middle road.  But if you put the Lord first are you love him more than everything else, and if serve him more than anything else, in a sense you lose your life in service to him. Which means in the final analysis loving him over everything else. You either live for yourself or you live for the Lords

Years ago, in England there was a statesman named William Gladstone William Gladstone was a great political leader, as a matter of fact he was involved in British politics for 62 years and he was also a committed Christian. He was called the champion of the average man, and he became known as the great commoner. He was thoroughly devoted to his profession, but Christ always came first in his life. Somebody said this if during his administration there was once a political crisis and at two in the morning and he was still writing a key speech that he was to give the next day it had to be carefully worded because it could mean the difference between victory and defeat for him politically. That night as he sat at his desk in the small hours of the morning a family friend came to the door and said his son was dying and he begged him to come and speak to her son about the Lord. Without hesitation Gladstone went and spent the remainder of the night reading the Bible to the son that was virtually on his deathbed, he told him about the way of salvation he was able to lead this young man to Christ. The young did in fact die and Gladstone had spent the rest of the night trying to spiritually minister to that family and he put that above his political career. 

The next morning, he still had to give the address he wasn’t as prepared as he wanted to be but as he stood before his parliament he spoke with freedom and power and historians say he delivered the greatest oration of his life. It was so powerful that many say it carried him and his party to victory and another term of office. He put the Lord and serving him above everything else and he won.

I can’t guarantee that that is the wort of win me might have by choosing the life of disciple, but I can guarantee that by following Him we will become more like Him. In our case, we become more like Christ and in the next life we will be rewarded by Christ.

C.S. Lewis once preached a sermon on this passage of scripture and he concluded it by saying this.  “The cost of ministry is high but the rewards are great too, what greater reward can there be than to be confessed by the son before the father in heaven, that you where his and good and faithful servant”.