Disruption of the mission

Good morning, One Hope Community Church. How are you guys doing this morning? Uh my name is Ronnie Barnes and I'm one of the elders here uh at One Hope. So, I'm just helping fill in preaching today. So, I'm a standin. So, take that into account. But I do appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning to open scriptures for us to learn from to see what God has to say to us today. Uh and this is uh Memorial Day weekend. So we celebrate those and honor those who have died in the service to give us this privilege this morning to be here to worship openly. Not many countries get to do that. So we're thankful for that. Uh so this morning, yeah, we are going to talk about so I see a lot of new faces as well. So welcome new visitors. Good to see you here. And uh uh the old visitors as well. Good to see your faces too. Uh but yeah, today we are going to uh be in chap uh Matthew chapter 10:es 34-39. So if you have been following along with us, each Sunday we've been going through the book of Matthew talking about this concept of the kingdom of God. Uh, and for me, this passage today that we find ourselves in, Matthew 10:34-39, uh, on the first couple of readroughs and studies, it had me perplexed. And so, as I read through it, it kind of had some ideas and concepts that seemed contradictory to what Jesus said in other passages. Uh, I did not come to bring peace to the earth. I came to bring a sword. Uh, and so that kind of got my attention. But so we're going to back up. For me, it it's always good to look at the context of where we find our passage. And as we look at the context of what came before the passage and what comes after, it really helps you bring clarity to what the passage means. So even though it sounded contradictory at first, I know the scripture doesn't contradict itself. So, let's jump in and see uh what God has for us this morning. So, we're going to start at the beginning of Matthew. Uh and we see that as we start to read this book that uh Jesus is bursting on the scene of his ministry. So, he's beginning to reveal himself to the crowds finally after 30 years. And so, he uh begins to talk about this theme like we just uh is up here is uh living the kingdom. So he start he starts to talk about this concept of the kingdom of God. And actually it was John the Baptist who first began to preach this uh concept. He says in Matthew 3:2, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." So what does he mean by the kingdom of God? And then in uh chapter 4 17, Jesus at the beginning of his ministry begins to say the same thing. Repent. It says Jesus began to preach repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. So Jesus is beginning to teach uh this kingdom of God and what it means this countercultural kingdom that he begins to speak about this upside down kingdom. It's been explained in some with some authors that it wasn't like the kingdom of the Roman Empire of the day that uh was over Israel and the Jewish people. It was different and it wasn't even like what the Jews were looking uh began to think about the kingdom of God when the Messiah came. They thought they uh this Messiah would come and uh conquer their oppressors and set up this physical kingdom. But Jesus talks about a different kingdom, a king, a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom of character and values that reflect the king. So uh and we begin to see that this kingdom of God begins to reveal the authority of Jesus that this kingdom of God has a king and his name is Jesus. and he has values that he sets up and he begins to explain that Matthew 5 chapters 5-7 he begins to talk about uh his message his teachings and begins to reveal and manifest his authority through his teachings and his word and he talks about the values of the kingdom the poor in spirit the merciful this kingdom that reflects who God is he talks about the law of the kingdom and how that law was uh fulfilled in Jesus when he Okay. And he also talks about some of the practices of the kingdom, giving and praying and how Jesus is the fulfillment of those things as well. So he begins to reveal his authority through his message that the kingdom of God is at hand and Jesus has authority over all teachers and all truth. And then we move on from chapters 5 through 7 to chapters 8 and nine. So, this kind of helps us get into the flow of the text of where we're going to find ourselves today. Matthew 8:9 begins to transition from the authority Jesus revealed through his message. Now, he's beginning to reveal. He comes off the mount uh where he's been teaching the people and now he begins to engage with the people in ministry. So, he begins to reveal himself through his ministry and his authority over all creation. So we we've been going through these stories in chapter 8 and N where Jesus you see Jesus reveals his authority over uh demons the supernatural world. He casts out demons. He raises the dead. He heals the lepers. And so we see that Jesus' authority begins to reveal himself that he has authority over the supernatural, the natural, the physical and the spiritual. He forgives sins even as we see. And then at the end of chapter nine, he begins to turn his face towards the harvest. So Jesus was doing uh proclaiming his message. He was practicing his ministry as the disciples watched. But now he turns his face and says the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. So he begins to turn he says there are many more people that need to hear this message and to experience this ministry. And so he turns his face to the harvest. And then he says pray to the Lord of the harvest. Says send out more workers to send out more laborers. And immediately in chapter 10 where we find our our verses today he sends out the disciples. He begins to invite the disciples. Now from Jesus alone doing proclaiming his message and practicing his ministry. Now he invites the disciples to join him. And this is transition from just Jesus doing it to now Jesus inviting his disciples to be on mission with him. And what does he do right away in the verse first verses of chapter 10? He begins to give his authority. The kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus has authority over all creation and all truth. He begins that give that authority to his disciples to go out and do what? Proclaim the message of the kingdom and practice the ministry of the kingdom. And that's where we find ourselves today. Uh and then as we uh gear up toward towards our passage in verses 34 and 39, we see that as the disciples are sent out, they can basically uh uh expect two different responses to this message and to this ministry. reception where they would bless and bring peace to those who receive it or rejection. And and he spends a good amount of time in Stevens preached over the last couple of weeks about this. As they were sent out, they experienced this rejection. And because of this rejection, they experience persecution. And so in that persecution, there could be worry uh and fear. And because Jesus says, "I I will be with you in those times you are persecuted. I'll give you the words to say, so don't worry, and I will give you my presence. I value you, so don't fear." And that leads us up into our verses today. It's a long introduction to get to where we're getting, but our verses today are found in Matthew 10:es 34-39. And then it makes sense. Let's just think about the context now because these are hard words that Jesus brings to us. And that's what hit me as I read through them those first couple of times. It says, "Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. 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. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 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. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Uh let's pray. Ask God to be with us. Father, we do pause right now just to ask for your spirit to bring clarity to your words here and what you would have to teach us this morning. God, we trust that you want to speak to us and that you desire us to respond to your words, that you have authority over all things, especially our lives. So God, speak to us this morning. May your spirit be with us. open our hearts and minds to hear what we need to hear and to see what we need to see in Jesus name. Amen. So we see again do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. So just remember the context that Jesus is on this mission. He's invited his disciples. There's persecution. There's rejection and then there's this temptation to fear and to retreat. And Jesus says on this mission, not only do we not fear and do we not retreat, we move forward and proclaiming this message. The sword is this uh symbol that helps us to understand that we Jesus is moving forward in his mission, not moving backwards. uh and it's offensive type language. We're on the offense, not on the defense. And Jesus says, "As I come on my mission and bring my message, that the king is here, the kingdom is at hand,

that he's bearing and wielding a sword." And that sword, what does the sword represent in scripture as you think about it? like when you when the scriptures talk about a sword, what does it what does it mean? What is it referring to? So, we got a couple of verses that we can go to. Ephesians uh in chapter 6 talks about the sword. And this is a verse where, you know, God's called his saints to battle with the principalities of evil, the darkness, the spiritual forces of evil. And we're to put on the armor of God. And a part of that is the sword of the spirit. So let's let's read this together verses 13- 17. And you get a you can see what what the sword of the spirit means. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances, take up all the flaming darts of the evil one, and extinguish them, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, and it gives the meaning, which is the word of God. So often times in scripture when we talk about the sword, we're talking about the message of God, the word of God, the truth of God. And Jesus is saying as I I'm on my mission, and we're uh facing persecution. We're not retreating. We're proclaiming this message boldly, fearlessly, without fear, and without retreat. that this kingdom of God has a king and his name is Jesus. And we give all of our allegiance to him. We understand that his authority is over all creation and our lives as well. And we surrender to that truth of the message that the kingdom of God is at hand and the king is here. So Jesus is saying as the symbol of the sword, he came to disrupt our lives, not to make them comfortable, peaceful, but he came to disrupt and bring conflict even in our relationship. So the sword cuts through our belief systems. The sword and the truth of God, the message of God of this kingdom cuts through our priorities. It cuts through our relationships as you see here. This is again offensive type language when you hear it's pretty strong for the uh let me go back.

For I have come to set a man against his father. I've come to set a mother against her daughter. A mother-in-law against her uh daughter-in-law. So this is strong language. And Jesus is saying, I came. My message of the kingdom is uh I'm the king. I have all authority and you surrender to my uh kingship. So he brings disruption,

but he also brings us to a decision point when we hear this message of the kingdom and of the king that we either reject it or we We receive it and it brings uh conflict even in our relationships, even in our family relationship between father and son, mother and daughter. It brings us conflict because do we uh accept do we uh accept under the authority of our families more than we are under the authority of Jesus? and even our affections. Do we love our parents more than Jesus? Do we love our kids more than Jesus? And this is home with me personally because I love my family. I know a lot of us do. That can be the greatest love in my life. And I have struggled with that over the years as my kids grew up as I found myself at times placing my affections for my family and my kids over my affections for Jesus even. And it manifested itself in different ways throughout the years. Sometimes fear of what happened if they got hurt and something uh went wrong or anger. And I had to deal with that. They can become idols in our lives. Even though family is good, family, and that's another thing I struggle with. Jesus in other passages said we need to take care of our family. If we don't take care of our family, then we're no better than outsiders. And so, but Jesus here is calling us to disruption of our affections and even conflict with our families if it means they have authority more than Jesus. So, it's really asking the question as we think about the sword, who is first in your lives

or who do you prioritize in your lives? who is central and who do you love the most?

And so when we Jesus calls us to allegiance above all things to his authority, we put him syndrome and him first because he is the king of this kingdom. CS Lewis. I read it, you know, if you don't know CS Lewis, a famous apologetic author, uh, but read him years ago and and this stuck with me. He said, "Put first things first and we get second things thrown in, but put second things first and we lose both first and second things." So, I'll say that again. Put first things first and we get second things thrown in. but put second things first and we lose both first and second. And I think that's what Jesus's message is here as he goes out on his mission with his disciples. He's saying uh our allegiance is to him first. Our affections are for him first. And then if we put him first, these second things are even our families. It's the best thing for our families to love Jesus first, to surrender to his authority and kingship. And we see this in Matthew 6:33. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and what happens? All these things are added unto you as well.

Matthew 22:37, the greatest commandment says, "What is the greatest commandment, Jesus?" And he says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind." So we surrender to the sword. We surrender to this message that Jesus is king. His kingdom is at hand. He has authority over all creation and our lives. And we put him central and first. He requires and deserves absolute allegiance and trust.

But as I I thought about that, the question to me and maybe you because of the context we come from the western our western culture is that does that make God a dictator? You know, is he a totalitarian leader to control us to uh require that absolute allegiance that he does? So anyway, that was my question. And so what separates him? Why isn't he those things? We know he isn't those things. So why isn't he? And then the following verses, verses 37 and 38 gives us a clue. Gives me a clue anyway. 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. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. So it comes back to worthw worthiness as humans with that absolute authority. It always leads to absolute corruption, perversion, selfish outcomes because of who we are. We're finite. We're sinful creatures. And so we would ne we were never meant to stand under the weight of that authority. We can't handle it. Again, absolute authority brings absolute corruption for us. But God is different. God is worthy. He is meant to be first and to be central. And he is able to stand under the weight of that absolute authority and to wield it fairly and justly.

And I want you to hear this because it can become a a heavy message. We Jesus deserves our allegiance. We have to surrender and uh surrender our authority to his authority. But it's I want you to hear this. Jes is always for our good because of who he is. He's able to stand under the weight of that absolute authority and wield it rightly and justly and fairly and it's always for our good. His glory is always for our good. So it's for our benefit. So that's the difference. He is worthy and he is good. So we move on to the last part of our verse here. And if the sword disrupts the status quo of our lives, like Jesus is not going to leave us in our so-called peaceful comfort that he finds us. When the message of Christ comes to us, the message of the kingdom comes to us, we have to make a decision according to are we going to surrender to this authority or we are we not. But the cross is another symbol that we have here. It says, "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." So if the sword sword disrupts the status quo, the cross disrupts the self-centerness of our lives. The cross reminds us that as we surrender to Jesus' authority, we deny self. And not only deny self, we put it to death. The scriptures tell us death to self-will, del death to self-sufficiency, death to self-righteousness, death to self-help, and on and on. Death to self. Galatians 2:20 says, "For I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So we crucify self. We've been crucified with Christ and we no longer live. So we turn away from what self desires because self often wants to be on the throne. Self often wants to be king, wants that authority. And the the message of the kingdom, remember John the Baptist, it wasn't just the kingdom of God is at hand. It said repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. So it means to turn away from self, to take up your cross, to deny yourself, to put it to death, and to turn to Jesus and his authority. Uh in Luke 22:42 says this, Jesus is going to the cross. Another example of what it means to take up your cross. Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Even Jesus, while he was here, denied himself, said, "Not my will." Even as he's going to the cross, the agony of the cross, all the weight of our sin, he says, "Not my will, but yours be done." So, we deny ourselves. We put it to death. And actually, our cross ultimately points to his cross. Uh, and the ultimate disruption. You think about we talking about this message of the kingdom disrupts ultimately the the greatest disruption in history was Jesus going to the cross and again as we talk about the sword and surrender as we talk about the Christ uh the cross and denial can be a heavy thing but it's I want to encourage you is only because of what he's done for us at the cross that

The word of God, the truth of God became flesh and lived among us.

He was incarnated on our behalf. Think about that disruption of the Trinity. what Jesus did to come to earth to take on human flesh for us.

So he humbled himself even to death on the cross

so that we might have life.

So on this mission with Jesus, we have both the sword and the cross to help us on this mission to expand the kingdom of God to tell others and ourselves that the king is here, the kingdom is at hand, and that we don't fear, we don't worry, and we don't retreat. And it might not seem like a popular message in our culture today that but we remember we remember that this mi on this mission that the sword and the cross cut through our affections. It cuts through our belief systems. It cuts through our relationships. It cuts through our priorities. And it brings us disruption. That's just what the message does. And we remember that the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. But there will be those many who need to receive this message and surrender to the king. And in summary, verse 39 says this kind of summarized the whole passage. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Again, it points us back to what CS Lewis said. If you put first things first, then you get second things. But if you put second things first, then you lose both first and second. And it says ultimately if we put Jesus first and central and put self to death, we ultimately these things that we desire even in this passage, we ultimately find peace. We ultimately find love and we ultimately find life.

So, let's just bow our heads right now as we