The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] today's reading passage is taken from the book of matthews chapter 10 verses 16 to 42 i am sending you out like sheep among wolves therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves be on your guard you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues on my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the gentiles but when they arrest you do not worry about what to say or how to say it at that time you will be given what to say
00:00:55 for it will not be you speaking by the spirit of your father speaking through you brother will betray brother to death and the father his child children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death you will be hated by everyone because of me but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved when you are persecuted in one place flee to another truly i tell you you will not finish going through the towns of israel before the son of man comes the student is not above the teacher nor seven above his master
00:01:41 it is enough for students to be like their teachers and servants like their masters if the head of the house has been called bielzebu how much more the members of his household so do not be afraid of them for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known what i tell you in the dark speak in the daylight what is whisper in your ear proclaim from the roofs do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather be afraid of the one who can
00:02:24 destroy both soul and body in hell are not two sparrows so for a penny yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care and even the very hairs on your head are all numbered so don't be afraid you are worth more than many sparrows whoever acknowledges me before others i will also acknowledge before my father in heaven but whoever this owns me before others i will disown before my father in heaven do not suppose that i have come to bring peace to the earth i did not come to bring peace
00:03:12 but a sword 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 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it
00:03:58 anyone who welcomes you welcomes me and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me whoever welcomes the prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward and if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to the one of these little ones who is my disciple truly i tell you that person will certainly not lose their reward this is the word of god once again it's my joy and privilege to be standing here
00:04:41 sharing with you from the word of god with the accelerated pace of vaccination over the past two months i'm beginning to imagine the day when we can resume limited physical services that is only for those who have been fully vaccinated prayerfully let's hope it will happen well before christmas despite the dire situation out there we have been making good progress in our series on matthew and today we have come to chapter 10. the text is taken from verses 16 to 42 with the title the divisiveness of jesus
00:05:16 this title may come across as a surprise to many of you to the point that it may even sound uncomfortable the word divisive certainly carries a negative connotation we would normally think that jesus came to unite people did he come to bring about division instead furthermore our text is among the toughest in the four gospels all 27 verses here are words spoken by jesus and they've been described as very hard teachings some churches would rather skip this passage and not teach or preach on it on one occasion in the book of john
00:05:53 jesus had delivered another heart teaching and many who followed him reacted who can accept it many in fact abandon him now i don't expect this to happen at the end of this sermon but there are some hard questions we need to ask ourselves pertaining to our faith in a nutshell this text is about the cost of discipleship what it takes to be a follower of christ is sometimes said that becoming a christian is easy but being a christian is difficult what does it mean being a christian is difficult what does our faith demands from us
00:06:30 or a more probing question do we even know what we sign up for when we said yes to jesus these are questions to which we seek answers from the texts before us against the backdrop of the divisiveness of jesus let's begin with the word of prayer our father in heaven we beseech your spirit to stir our hearts with your word so that we may be awakened from our spiritual complacency and be jolted into single-minded commitment to your son so that our spiritual indifference may be turned into steadfast devotion to
00:07:10 jesus for it is in his name we pray amen on 2nd april 1979 i boarded a flight to tokyo to pursue my tertiary education in japan as a 20 year old young man i was filled with excitement looking forward to begin a new chapter in my life but nobody told me about the punishing call of winter each year come december i would listen to the weather forecast with alarm as the temperature started to drop i dreaded the chilly wind that bit into my skin during the cold season hey i'm from the tropics okay there was only one
00:07:54 gas heater in the middle of the classroom and to the amusement of my japanese classmates i sat so close to it as if it was my girlfriend and nobody told me how hard the language was i struggled to learn japanese of which i knew nothing before i left the japanese language is unique because verbs are placed at the end of the sentence also the subject in the sentence is offered omit is often omitted i was thinking in english and so i had to rearrange the words before a proper japanese sentence could come out of my
00:08:26 lips today of course it's much easier but it was so tough in the early years also nobody told me the japanese people were not very comfortable with foreigners we were a class of 45 engineering students and i was the only foreigner one of my japanese classmates were very polite to me they treated me as an outsider they were wondering who is this guy who is not one of us some of them even ask me where where's malaysia it took two years before they started to accept me into their inner circles until then
00:09:01 i suffered social isolation and loneliness on campus you may say oh this is just a form of cultural shock but actually it was much worse it was climate shock language shock social shock all rolled into one now looking back it wasn't what i expected but perhaps it wasn't a case of wrong expectations perhaps it was me failing to expect what i should have expected i didn't read the fine prints and so it turned out to be a much harder more trying experience which i didn't expect at the beginning but as they say no pay no gain
00:09:45 thankfully it was also a great learning experience which i also didn't expect at the beginning you can guess where i'm going with this introduction the question that will lead us into the text is this what did you expect when you became a christian do you know what's in store for you have you read the fine prints before you signed up have you ever been told the cost of following jesus now to put this across in an unusual way you will find the invoice printed here in matthew 10 and the amount stated in the voice of
00:10:22 jesus on the cost of discipleship is not small with this in mind let's proceed to examine the text first the structure to facilitate our discussion of this big chunk of verses i've broken them down into five segments or should i say five divisions one rejected by the world two reflecting christ three reacting to persecution four resolute faith and lastly the rewards of discipleship we will navigate the verses uh based on these five segments leaving enough time at the end for the main lesson but before we dive into segment one
00:11:06 as always context is critical in the study of any biblical text we need to know what is happening here the earlier part of matthew 10 until verse 15 is about jesus sending out his disciples on an evangelistic mission to preach to the jews to proclaim the message of the kingdom of heaven the 12 disciples are named one by one in verses 2-4 but why the need to send man out at the end of chapter 9 jesus was saying the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so where to find the workers well the 12
00:11:43 disciples are to become the front liners in sending them out jesus is preparing them for the herculean task of evangelism after he leaves them eventually at the end of his earthly ministry at the end of matthew 28 jesus parting words to his disciples are go and make disciples of all nations but how are they going to make others these disciples of christ when they themselves haven't been trained for the rigors of discipleship they are still an unproven bunch jesus wants to make them tested disciples before they can disciple
00:12:20 others this is the background to our text the context is jesus sending them out on the training stin before they set off he gave them he gives them some specific instructions for the trip from verses 5 to 15 just outside our text but from verse 16 onwards until the end of the chapter jesus continues with what he has been saying to them but this time he paints a sobering picture of what it takes to qualify to be his disciples jesus is making full disclosure here he's saying to his disciples and also to
00:12:56 us these are the fine prints if you want to follow me which brings us to segment one rejected by the world verses 16-23 segment one starts with the bad news in fact it's going to be bad news all the way except for segment five the bad news is jesus is saying i'm sending you out like sheep among wolves in other words there's going to be danger out there wolves here refer to those who oppose jesus and his gospel and they are going to be vicious and malicious the disciples will face stiff opposition
00:13:39 to what they do and what they represent the antagonism will come from two fronts the first from religious leaders and the second from secular leaders verse 17 you will be handed over to the local council the word council here refers to religious council verse 18 you will be brought before governors and kings they will also be tried in secular courts in other words the world will be against you that's why jesus advised them in the verse 16 to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves earlier he used the
00:14:17 metaphors of sheep and wolves and now snakes and doves that's a lot of animal metaphors in one verse anyway this verse may sound a little disturbing to some of you because snakes are symbols of duplicity and lies snake bites are poisonous and deadly is jesus asking his disciples to be like snakes of course not it simply means that they must be prudent and wise not naive and gullible to exercise care and stay out of trouble if they can avoid it in any case the reception out there is not going to be easy it's
00:14:55 going to be bad they will be arrested they will be flocked they will be persecuted all driven by a deep kind of hate against jesus and what it stands for imagine before you set off on a trip and you are told hey this is not going to be smooth sailing it's going to be stormy seas all the way my japanese classmates gave me the cold shoulder at first they avoided me but they didn't treat me badly but what awaits the disciples is far far worse the hostile reception will include verbal abuse and and physical harm
00:15:33 including even death as suggested in verse 39 later this is the bitter reality painted by jesus in this verses now do you think that jesus came to unite people do you think that the talibans in afghanistan now will embrace the christian afghans and say oh we are all brothers do you think that the hindu nationalist in india is inclined to live a peaceful coexistence with the minority christians there if anything our text should serve as a wake-up call for us the logic is straightforward the enemy is satan
00:16:18 this world is satan's domain hence by extension this world is against us this is what jesus is alluding to in these verses to say that jesus is divisive that he brings division well it may sound uncomfortable to some of you but the reality is inescapable if we are on this side we'll be rejected by the world there is already division to put it bluntly there's already a huge gulf between the two camps each camp serving a different master the master of the other camp is constantly opposed to our master how
00:16:54 could there be no division earlier jesus said in matthew 6 no one can serve two masters although he was talking about money in that verse and joshua stole the israelites in joshua 24 15 choose you this day whom you will serve now here some of you may respond well what you say about afghanistan and india may be true but over here do we not co-exist peacefully with people of other faiths somewhat peacefully i don't see much division in this country now to address this if you think like this i'll go deeper into the text
00:17:36 now when jesus sent out his disciples on this mission trip we are not sure about the duration of this of the assignment but it doesn't appear to last very long because when we come to chapter 12 verse 1 the disciples were back with jesus again during this short training stint it also appears that what jesus said about the disciples being arrested or flocked didn't actually happen there is no mention of this in the next chapter there is no record of the disciples facing such persecution during the mission trip of matthew 10.
00:18:12 and hence the conclusion is that what jesus is saying here about persecution he is actually prophesying about what the disciples will be facing soon after his time with them indeed all through the history of the early church the apostles and the followers of christ did face much persecution from religious leaders and the authorities this is well documented throughout the book of acts as early as acts chapter 5 peter and the apostles were flocked by the sanhedrin the highest religious council this painting is based on acts chapter 5
00:18:49 verse 40. so actually our text can be read as jesus prophecy of what was about to happen of what the disciples were soon to face and it finds the fulfillment in the book of acts it would be a severe test of their faith but that's not all sometimes in scripture we find that a prophecy is doubly true meaning it's twofold it may find fulfillment in the short term and also at the same time in the longer term jesus prophecy of the persecution of his followers can be seen to have a two-stage fulfillment
00:19:31 it has already come to pass in the history of the early church and yet it is still to be fulfilled how so now when we juxtapose our attacks with matthew 24 we begin to realize that our text here has great relevance to us even today or in the near future matthew 24 you see outlines jesus prophecy of events in the end times specifically during the tribulation in 1924 jesus describes what christians will face during the tribulation then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death and you will be hated by all nations
00:20:10 because of me and so what jesus says in our text has already been fulfilled in acts and still to be fulfilled at the end times now even if our text is also a prophecy of the end times some of you may respond well i i won't be around during the tribulation granted if we subscribe to the view of a pre pre-tribulation rapture then we won't be around during that time but not so fast that's kind of shallow thinking you see although nobody except god knows exactly when the end of the age will happen i believe we are already locked in a
00:20:51 trajectory moving quickly towards the end times i say this because over the past decades we have witnessed rising atheism and also extremism from one major religion one insists there is no god and the other peddles the false god if you are oblivious to these global developments then our texts would mean little to you i see that god has begun to let go his restraining hand on mankind thereby thereby precipitating increasing levels of godlessness and evil as the eschatological clock ticks away towards the end times
00:21:32 opposition to christianity and persecution of christians will grow as a foreshadow of what will happen during the tribulation i'm spending time to talk about this so that you will hit jesus words in our text so that you will not be loud into complacency and a false sense of come earlier i touched on afghanistan in india but that's just the tip of the iceberg two years ago bbc carried an article on the study by the british government with the headline christian persecution at near genocide levels
00:22:11 the study concluded evidence show not only geographic spread of anti-christian persecution but also its increasing severity what they meant by increasing severity is simply mass murder let's not forget the bombing of three churches in sri lanka on easter sunday 2019 when more than 200 christians were killed we reacted with horror when the news broke but soon it became a distant memory let's also not forget the bombing of another three churches in surabaya on 13 may 2018 when more than 20 christians
00:22:51 were slaughtered this will continue closer to home political developments here in recent weeks point to the growing trend that the dominant religion in this land is bent on exerting its dominance more than ever diversity is not their strong suit we were euphoric when the more inclusive government was elected in 2018 but our hopes were soon dash it has been said we voted once but we got three governments to me it's inevitable as what is happening here is part of a global trend make no mistake christians here will face more and more
00:23:34 opposition slowly but surely segment one of our texts has great relevance to us today and in the near future greater relevance than you can imagine it's more than a mere teaching of jesus it's a warning from jesus it's a call for us to get prepared it's a get yourself ready picture of our increasing rejection by the world and our subsequent persecution moving on to segment two reflecting christ verses 24 and 25 jesus continues with his conversation with the disciples and he now provides a sort of a basis
00:24:17 for their rejection by the world that is he himself has been rejected and his followers shouldn't expect any better treatment we recall isaiah's prophecy in isaiah 53 he was despised and rejected by mankind a man of suffering and familiar with pain like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised other translations rendered this as he was hated shunned by others hence christians facing rejection by the world is therefore a reflection of christ facing rejection by mankind jesus uses three analogies to convey
00:24:57 this point a student and the teacher a servant and his master and thirdly members of a family and the head of the family the former is not above the letter meaning the disciples will not be better off than jesus they are to be like jesus from verse 25a following in his footsteps he then gives an example in verse 25b and i paraphrase he's saying i'm the target of name calling they label me with all kinds of nasty titles as my followers don't expect anything less they even call me bel zebul now this name bel zebul comes from the
00:25:38 hebrew baal zibab which is found in the second kings one verse two it is the name of a philistine pagan god but by the time of jesus bel zebul had come to mean the prince of demons again context is necessary the context of this is matthew 9 34. jesus had just exorcised a demon-possessed man the pharisees who were there couldn't explain it and so they called jesus bowsebull the prince of demons you see the prince of demons has cast out his own demons they claim which of course doesn't make sense why
00:26:16 would the prince of demons drive out his own minions indeed throughout the history of the early church the followers of christ were called all kinds of spiteful things for example they were often accused of being traitors because they insisted on saying jesus is lord instead of caesar is lord and for that they suffered much do you know that they were also labeled as cannibals now the third segment reacting to persecution verses 26 to 31. the natural response in the face of persecution is fear jesus understands this
00:26:58 and he seeks to put the disciples mind at ease by assuring them do not be afraid and he says this not once but three times indeed across the pages of scripture this comforting phrase do not be afraid has been echoed time and again courage may fail us when we are confronted with those who want to do us harm because of our faith the mind shuttles between confidence and despair between faith and hopelessness the ground is sometimes steady sometimes shaky and that's why the repeated refrain do not be afraid
00:27:36 and jesus gives three reasons why we shouldn't give in to fear firstly from verse 26 for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden they will not be made known meaning in the end truth will prevail do not be afraid because you stand on the side of truth truth all will always triumph over lies when you are persecuted all kinds of false accusations will be heard at you but stand firm and do not waver if we backtrack to verses 19 and 20 in segment 1 jesus assures us that when we are
00:28:17 falsely accused do not worry about what to say or how to say at that time you will be given what to say for it will be will not be used speaking by the spirit of your father speaking through you when we are falsely accused the holy spirit will speak through us so that the truth will come to light to continue verse 31 uh sorry the first part of verse 27 may need a little bit of ex clarification he says what i tell you in the dark speak uh in the daylight now some of you may be puzzled by this statement of
00:28:54 jesus what i tell you in the dark and there is nothing sinister about this it's just an imagery of jesus huddling with his disciples around the dinner table away from the crowds so that they could have more uninterrupted conversations the second reason why we shouldn't be afraid in the face of persecution is that we should fear god more than men this is from verse 28 do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell
00:29:32 it's better that men cut us down than god cutting us off the cost of discipleship is high but the cost of giving up is even higher many christians undergoing persecutions they understand this from eyewitness accounts many stood firm in their faith until the end as they face the jaw of a lion or the barrel of a gun because they were so confident that should they be killed they would enjoy the embrace of jesus as soon as they arrive at their eternal home the third reason why we shouldn't be afraid is because we
00:30:09 are precious in god's sight in verses 29 to 31 jesus uses the analogy of sparrows the fifth animal term in our text in those days perils sparrows can be bought cheaply from the market you could get a pair of them for a couple of cents they are they were almost worthless and yet our heavenly father knows even if one of them would fall to the ground is using contrast here we are worth more than many sparrows oh we are worth much more than sparrows he also said this in the sermon on the mount in matthew 6 26
00:30:47 for if god cares for the birds of the air which are worthless in our eyes how much more will he care for us we who are more valuable to him this verse these verses here are words of comfort to those weighed down by doubt and despair when oppressed by persecution god will provide them the strength and resource to weather the dark days of persecution he knows every situation we are in here's the way of every detail he even knows the number of strands of hair on our head from verse 30. we come to segment four
00:31:28 resolute faith verses 32 to 39 this is the hardest portion of our text we've already seen the inevitable gulf between the followers of christ and the world this division now breaks into the family circle verses 35 and 36 describe a son pitted against his father daughter against mother and so on because of your faith in jesus family members will become your enemies if the world opposes us and shuns us is not nearly as unbearable as if our own family turns against us and disowns us our children our parents our siblings
00:32:13 they are all dear to us but now we are asked to choose in verse 35. this is going to be a very painful thing to do there may be some in our midst who faced fierce opposition from family members when you came to faith i've heard many such testimonies but i've also noticed that parents who objected to a son or daughter becoming a christian over time they would come to live with it aldo reluctantly my late grandmother was very angry when my late father said yes to jesus in his late teens but eventually she accepted
00:32:54 it so is what is described in these verses relevant to us today when family members tend to respect each other's decision when it comes to matters of religion my wife's family is rather large consisting of christians buddhists muslims and atheists and they all seem to live happily in peaceful coexistence but not during the end times remember i mentioned that our text is also jesus prophecy what will happen during the tribulation during those terrible years there will be deep divisions within families
00:33:31 caused by some family members becoming christians segment 4 here is a picture of families torn apart because of jesus is as if a sword has divided them as depicted in verse 34. there is a parallel passage in luke 12 where jesus paints the same picture do you think i come to bring peace on earth no i tell you but division from now on there will be five in one family divided against each other two against three three against two they will be divided further against son and son against father and so on
00:34:13 in describing divisions within families during the end times what is not apparent in segment of our text is that jesus has just upped the cost of discipleship his invoice has has become substantially more expensive the first item in an invoice is rejection by the world and it's costly and now we see a second item namely rejection by family and it's even costlier and before we can fully take in all this a third item has just been added to the invoice namely the loss of your life verse 39 whoever finds their life will
00:34:53 lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it meaning following jesus may cost you your life persecution of christians in the past and today have often included christians being killed earlier in the first segment we already discussed this verse 38 is a synonymous to verse 39 whoever whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me i hear the cross here the word cross is not to be taken metaphorically like in galatians 2 20 i've been crucified with christ here the disciples understand the
00:35:33 word cross as the literal cross meaning execution and death if and when we have to face persecution including even death we must remain resolute we must remain true to jesus and loyal to his cause jesus does not mean words when he says in verses 32 and 33 whoever acknowledges me before others i will also acknowledge before my father in heaven but whoever disowns me before others i will disown before my father in heaven lastly segment 5 the rewards of discipleship verses 40 to 42. this will be a short segment
00:36:27 as i said earlier it's bad news all the way from segments one to four here at the end of the text we come to a bit of good news first jesus makes a general statement now the context here is the future persecution of the followers of christ in verse 40 jesus acknowledges those rendering help to the persecuted providing them refuge or even offering them a cup of water anyone who welcomes you welcomes me in other words any good done by anyone to those suffering persecution is the same as if that person does it to
00:37:04 jesus himself not only that from the last two verses that person will receive his or her rewards in the same measure as what the disciples will enjoy and jesus says this three times in different ways this is the degree to which he values those who would extend a hand of comfort or relief to those going through the darks days of persecution but you may wonder here what about the rewards for the persecuted the rewards for the persecuted are only mentioned here implicitly they are implied now at the end of a long discourse on
00:37:48 divisions and persecutions we would expect that the rewards for the disciples will be spelled out more directly why is this not the case i believe it's jesus way of assuring them that when they suffer the hardships of persecution respite will come from unexpected quarters that god will arrange for relief to be extended to them when it is needed i also believe that is jesus indirectly encouraging them that their labor will not be in vain that their labor will bear much fruits that they will be people who welcome
00:38:27 them who will be receptive to their message this is also evident throughout the book of acts where we see paul planting churches all over the empire even as he suffered for the sake of the gospel this concludes our examination of the text segment by segment the big question remains what is the main lesson for us to aid us in the conduct of our faith i asked at the beginning what did you expect when you became a christian were you expecting an easy life a smooth ride to heaven like when i thought how life in japan
00:39:07 would be a breeze the one thing that is so clear and certain from our text is that if we want to follow jesus he has set the bar very high perhaps too high or to some impossibly high just how do we process these hard teachings of jesus in the text i propose to you that it all boils down to the greatest commandment in deuteronomy 6 5. love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength jesus quoted this in matthew 22 37 we have heard this so often that he has
00:39:50 ceased to have any impact what it means is that god demands from his people uncompromised faith single-minded devotion and undivided loyalty to the extent that it may cause us alienation from society expulsion from family and even our own life and like all things of value it has to be tested to be proven genuine the testing of faith is not an option it's a necessity it strips away the spiritual facts james 1 verses 2-4 consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of
00:40:35 your faith the testing of your faith produces perseverance let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete our text tells us that this testing of our faith may include facing persecution it's trial by fire so that we may progress from being mere believers to real disciples so that we may grow from being passive spectators of a high jump event to becoming the athlete trying to clear the bar the testing separates the sheep from the goats it divides the rail and the fake in the middle of our text
00:41:18 jesus emphasized he who stands firm to the end to the end will be safe to those who think they can't do this or are not up to it i leave you with a final piece of good news the words of jesus in matthew 19. with men this is impossible but with god all things are possible he told paul in 2 corinthians 12 my grace is sufficient for you my power is made perfect in weakness so that paul was able to say in philippians 4 i can do all this through him who gives me strength shall we close in prayer our father in heaven
00:42:08 if or when we face persecution cause us to stand firm to the end in the meantime renew us teach us and strengthen us so that our faith may be anchored solely upon the rock your son our lord jesus for we ask this in his name amen if the word of god has ministered to you if you wish to respond if you need someone to pray for you or with you please type pray in the zoom chat a church leader or a pastor will be assigned to talk to you privately perhaps you want to renew your commitment to jesus today
00:42:51 do type pray in the zoom chat now for the rest of us if you wish to make a decision to follow jesus or if you wish to join the alpha program or join a live group or if you have any prayer requests please scan the qr code now we would love to attend to your needs
