Matthew 10 - Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ

Today, rather than study one specific thing in Matthew 10, I wanted to look at several verses and see what Jesus told his original twelve disciples. Although these things were spoken to the original twelve, many of them still apply to us today.

v. 7- “And as ye go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Notice that he commands them to preach. Oftentimes, we think of preaching as being what somebody does in a church pulpit. However, preaching is something that we should do as we go. It is proclaiming the good news. Proclaiming who God is, what He has done on the cross, and what He wants to do in the lives of others. Also, proclaim that Jesus is coming back!

v. 14- “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”

Nobody ever said that the world will listen to what you have to say. I know there have been many times when I've tried to tell others about Christ, and they didn't want to hear it. People will rip up a gospel tract right in front of your face. Remember this- They are lost, and this is what lost people do! The more we understand lost people, the more we understand what God saved us from! When they reject you, don't get offended or give up. When this happens, remember that they rejected the apostles, they rejected Jesus, and they will reject us. Shake the dust off your feet and move on!

v. 17- “But betware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues...”

The other day, when I was doing door-to-door visitation, there were some people that asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, as if we must be one or the other. While JW's and Mormons are notorious for door-to-door visitation, it got me to thinking- “They must not be aware of other Christian goups that actually bring the gospel to their doorstep.” A quick yellow pages search showed that there are 546 Baptist church results in Jacksonville FL listed under “Churches-Baptist-Independent”. There were only 26 listed under Kingdom Hall (Jehovah's Witnesses). If there are over 20 times as many Baptist churches in Jacksonville, I wonder why so many people have never had somebody come to their home and share the gospel with them? Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of ways to share the Gospel, and I'm sure Baptists are doing it in a variety of ways, but I do sometimes wonder if we've lost the zeal that we've once had. Back to verse 17. Men will deliver you up to the councils. There will be times when the opposition will try to silence you any way they can. I've probably read this verse at least 20 times, but have you ever noticed where Jesus said they will scourge you? In the synagoges... This is where the Jews assembled to worship God. There will be times when the “religious” crowd will turn against you. To scourge means to whip or lash somebody, but can also mean punishment. Have you ever been punished for witnessing to someone?

v. 21- “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.”

Have you ever had an Atheist, Agnostic, or Muslim try to quote the Bible and make it look like a hateful piece of writing? It's nothing new... Satan did the same thing (Matthew 4:6). This is one of their favorite verses. Especially when they say, “Jesus taught that” and sound like they know what they're talking about. Anytime someone quotes a verse that sounds kinda fishy, go back and look at the context. There IS a thing called context.  Jesus is saying that others will do this to his disciples. When you live your life for Christ, sometimes even family will turn against you. In certain cultures, families will disown their children for becoming a Christian. In others, such as certain Muslim cultures, they will kill you. This is why Jesus later says, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Don't let your family keep you from getting saved or living for God. When you live for God, you will love your family even more, and God can use you to help deliver them from Hell.

v. 24-25- “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”

When the world persecutes you, ridicules you, or forsakes you for following Christ, remember that we are not greater than our master. When Jesus cast out demons, the scribes said, “He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils casteth he out devils.” We live in a day when many people reject Jesus as God's Son, but say, “He was a great teacher.” We are now moving into a day when people are now attacking Jesus and God the Father. If they attack God, they will attack us. It is not us they hate, it's the God we serve.

There are plenty more great things found in Matthew 10, but I don't have time to go over them all. The general idea here in this chapter is that there is a price to serving God. If you are a child of God, don't be surprised when the world turns against you. Don't be surprised when your friends and your families forsake you. Embrace this fact and remember that God will never leave you.