How to Get a Prophets Reward – Part 2 (Matthew 10:40-43)

Last time I suggested that the whole closing part of this chapter is about Jesus putting together his final advise following the commissioning of these 12 men as his disciples and sending them out in hos name with the message of Gods Messiah initially to the nation of Israel. Concluding by saying there going to be some who will not receive it and fact will oppose and persecute you. But also there are going to be some who are going to receive both the message but also that they will receive you as Gods ambassador meaning they’re going to help and support you. An additional point Jesus them made was to say that anyone who receives this message will receive the same reward that the deliver of that message will receive, be they prophet, evangelist, or preacher. receive. I believe means that we can receive what is called a “prophet’s reward” without being a prophet ourselves.

I am struck by the fact that this truth was not only taught by Jesus it was proclaimed by the apostle Paul remember the book of Philippians the book of Philippians. Paul wrote that letter he was in prison in Rome the church at Philippi heard that he was a prisoner in Rome and that he still needed financial support even when he was in prison. Today prisoners are providing basic provisions but in Paul’s day that was not the case. So, they sent someone to Rome to give Paul via his local supporter’s money. Paul in response writes the book of Philippians to thank them for their help. Now you don’t get that as you start reading the book but it’s implied in the very first chapter but by the time you get to the end of the book it is explicitly clear that that’s what he’s saying. In Philippians chapter 4 he says

16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4: 16-19)

He says thank-you for you have supported my ministry even while I’m over here in jail. Understand Paul even in prison considers himself to still be in ministry. This was because the Romans had put a guard on him 24 hours a day and so he had a captive, and he was apparently he was evangelizing all these guards. He’s saying he is grateful for the money, but he is even more thankful for the fruit of the gospel the money can help bring about, and he talks about that fruit to being put to their account. Again if you receive a prophet in the name of the Lord, you will receive a prophets reward. Many commentators as well as myself believe that he's saying to them, I'm thanking you, and I thank God that you are sharing with me in this gospel ministry the specifics of that was they financially supported him both before and after he got imprisoned. He did the suffering but in a real sense they would share in the reward. Rewarded like a prophet , rewarded like an evangelist by accepting and supporting the man and the ministry.

There is fairly well-known story from Europe originally told over 300 years ago of an old shoe cobbler who was a very committed Christian. He noticed a young man of the congregation who struggled hard to make it through school and bible college so that he could go into the ministry. Finally, he did get through and when he got ready leave and go into the ministry the shoe cobbler went to him and he said to him, ‘I wanted to go in the ministry but was never able so because as a young man I had to become the breadwinner for my family. Yet, I always had a desire to be a minister of the gospel but the circumstances of my life made it impossible for me but you’re achieving what was always close to my heart.

I want you to promise me one thing. I want you to let me make your shoes always and for nothing and I want you to wear them in the pulpit when you preach and then I’ll feel like you are preaching the gospel that I always wanted to preach, and I’ll feel I'm standing in there with you. and you’re standing in my shoes. Some say it is where we get the expression to stand in someone shoes from

I think is the picture of what Jesus is saying here and what Paul was getting at. Someone is out there doing the work but somebody’s got to provide the shoes and Jesus is saying you provide the shoes, so to speak and you share in the same reward as the guy that I us out there doing it.

Maybe as we get older that is the major call upon our lives that God wishes to make upon our lives. Maybe the one thing this current generation who now are retired and have benefits from a time of unparalleled financial security. Maybe our roll is to support this younger generation, who don’t have the financial resources that we have to be ministers of the gospel. 

Ok, let’s go back to Matthew chapter 10 and let me remind you he says in verse 41.

“Whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man receives a righteous means reward”

(Matthew 10: 41b)

Supporting those in Ministry.

There are fewer and fewer preachers who are preaching the scriptures verse by verse. God told us to go preach the word, so that’s what you got to do, it to find a church where the message is always from the Bible, which is not always the case these days. If someone is preaching and teaching from the word and they are practicing what they preached, then they are indeed a righteous person. A preacher of the word is by nature preaching righteousness, and in the name of the Lord I tell you that you should at some level be financially supporting that ministry. Because whatever ministry you see up front it is never really a single person operation.

You can have a soccer team with just a centre-forward, you can’t have an American football team with just a quarter back. In fact is more than even those dozen or so people out on the field, it’s a team effort and that applies across all areas of life in the things that really matter.

When the greatness is measured in the sight of God it will be seen again again that the individual who did great things in the kingdom was entirely dependent on others. As far as the world is concerned these other remained unknown. These words of Jesus remind me that God is truly thankful the thankless task of enabling other to serve God to the maximum of their abilities. It’s as simple as that, we all can do something and verse 42 tells us.

And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

(Matthew 10: 42)

We’ve gone from hearing about great prophets to a righteous man now down to a little one.  Now we need to be careful the way this verse is often interpreted it means that if you just do a couple of minor things, just give a cup or an act of mercy then you will be rewarded.  I don’t believe that this is exactly what it says. He says, whoever gives one of those little ones only a cup of what kind of water, cool water cold water. He’s not just saying give a cup of water he said give them cold water and once that’s significant. Remember this is written in the 1st century and this is written out the desert where they did not have cold water, they didn’t have refrigerators. You couldn’t just go to shops and grab a cold can of Coke (others fizzy drinks are available\0 from the fridge. 

How do you give someone cold cup of cold water in those days. That was no easy task why well there were springs and some rivers but it a hot climate the rivers got pretty warm. If you took water from downstream it was pretty tepid and not cold at all. You have to journey to the head of the spring to get access to cold water.  In other words, Jesus is saying you have to go to some effort, to make sacrifice to go find the head of the spring to get cold water. Maybe you had to crawl through rock or up a hill to find the source of a stream to get the cold water and bring it to the prophet or evangelist. There is some effort involved her, there is some perhaps sacrifice involved and if you stop and think about it if you’re going to help a prophet and the word clearly implies hospitality. It’s going to cost money if you are providing food and shelter.

I believe the point Jesus is making is that all the effort, all the time all the money that you spend to support the gospel ministry and the preaching of the word and the teaching of righteousness, the support of sending or enabling others in ministry will be rewarded.  If you assist God’s messengers in any way you share in the same reward.

Conclusion and Illustration.

Let me conclude by making a couple of observations, there’s a chapter break however I need to read you 11: 1 as it really concludes this section.

Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.

(Matthew 11: 1)

Today virtually all Bible teachers concede that the narrative break in this passage ought to be after 11:1. You see if you if you read Matthew as a whole you will discover that the statement and it came to pass is an expression Jesus used to finish off saying or teaching something. This phrase occurs five times in the gospel each at the end of one of the five major discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. The first is at the end of the sermon on the mouth. The second is her at the end of the commissioning of the apostles. There are three further discourse that end this way but I shall point them out as we progress through this book in the future as they appear. This is a marker in the Gospel of Matthew as we’re going through the gospel it marks out the five discourses and to some degree it’s sort of the structure of the Gospel of Matthew . So just tuck that away we’ll bump into this thing this phrase three more times.

Be that as it may the point is when you preach some are going to receive you and some are going to support you, now granted some are going to reject you and some are going to react against you harshly, but some are going to receive the message and they’re going to help the messenger keep on delivering the message. In the overall scheme of things, the point of this whole chapter is that Jesus is commissioning the 12 apostles to go preach and that can be as we’ve seen discouraging work that involves suffering so be encouraged you are going to receive help along the way. But remember when you preach it’s the spirit of God who is speaking in you and when they receive you they aren’t receiving you they’re receiving Jesus and his message when they receive him they’re receiving the through the son empowered by the spirit of God 

The Trinity stands behind those who work witness and tell people about the person and the teaching of Jesus Christ. Now that’s a two-edged sword because when I preach or when I talk to somebody personally about the Lord and they reject me they they didn’t reject me, they rejected the message, and that is helpful and encouraging to know that.

On the other side of that two-edged sword is and when they receive it, we can’t take the glory, don’t take that it personally and think how great a speaker or evangelist you are. It has absolutely nothing to do with how clever we are, it has to do with whether or not the spirit of God was able to work through us by us getting out of the way and allowing Him to do his work. In the final analysis they’re not receiving or rejecting us. they’re receiving or rejecting the Lord.

There is another lesson I think we should get out of this. I think it should motivate us; it should motivate us to support the ministry of others. Do you remember what Jesus said right in the middle of the sermon on the mount, in chapter six, he said lay up treasure in heaven. I understand we are doing this by just loving the Lord, please don’t misunderstand me I understand that but I can’t get over the fact Jesus commanded us to lay up treasure in heaven, it’s a command and that must mean doing something.

I think I think there’s a natural application thing you ought to support this church, the work of God among a community of believers, both locally and further afield. There is ministry going on all around the world and in the town of village or city in which you live, significant ministry, and all the people that went before us provided the foundation upon which we today stand.  I think at least one implication of this if you use your money to support the works of the Lord.  We all need to support the Lord’s work the Lord work, not in order to earn our salvation but in order to hear God say “well done my good and faithful servant”.

It seems to me that by supporting the Lord’s work you are sending ahead the treasure in heaven; the old adage says you can’t take it with you. And don’t you believe you can even carry it with through this life.

Imagine a scenario where you get to heaven, and you are allocated you place in eternity and instead of resting in the spiritual mansion scripture has promised and God has prepared for you. Instead, you are allocated a rundown old shed. God has a mansion planned for you, but he can only build it for you using the materials that you have sent there.