Matthew 10:24-33 - Encouragement from Jesus to Witness to the World - July 5, 2020 (Pastor Glen Schmiege)

What is a witness? A witness is one who hears or sees something.  Jesus called his disciple to be his witnesses to his forgiveness, love, death and resurrection to the world. He has called us to do the same. Jesus reminds us of what we will encounter as we share what Jesus has done, how he forgives and how he has loved us. He takes on the very challenging emotion of fear. Fear can stop us from ever being a witness to what Jesus has done for us. Fear is one of the most challenging of human emotions whether you are a child or an adult. Hasn’t that been your experience? It’s such a common happening in our lives, in every stage and aspect of our lives, and I don’t care how tough, how confident, how independent an exterior a person displays, everyone experiences fear on some level and to some extent. The question is: How do you deal with it? And, how do you help others who are dealing with fear? The best way to help a person who is afraid is to simply to be there, i.e. showing them you care, giving your support, assuring them that they aren’t alone during their difficult time. The ongoing practice of God and a recurring theme of Scripture from Genesis all the way through to Revelation is to show he cares and reassures us of his love for us.  In fact, in our text for today, Jesus says, “Do Not Be Afraid,” three times…showing us, in three very distinct ways how He is there for us…giving us three very compelling reasons why we have absolutely no reason to be afraid. Encouragement from Jesus to Witness to the World

It’s important to keep in mind the context of Jesus’ words here in this section of Matthew which begins back in chapter 9 and leads into chapter 10 where Jesus sends out His 12 disciples to preach the Gospel. And, in doing so, He sends them out with some instructions as to how they were to carry out their work as well as a warning of what they would face as they carried out their work. Jesus said to them in Matthew 10:16 , “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “You WILL be persecuted.” Do you think the disciples were surprised when Jesus took the discussion in this direction? The Bible doesn’t specifically answer that question for us, but we do know that Christians today (including us) are sometimes surprised when things don’t go in our favor. We even get bitter at God sometimes for allowing us to suffer. We’re shocked that tolerance seems to extend to everyone, except to Christians.

But what did you expect?! Doesn’t Jesus give us a ‘heads-up’ on all of this? Didn’t He say that “The love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12 )…that “Many will fall away from the faith” (Matthew 24:10 )…that“If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household”? If you don’t want to be treated like Jesus, of whose house and family you are a member, then don’t be a follower of Jesus… Now, of course, I’m NOT encouraging that in the least bit. I’m just saying that it comes with the territory and that the alternative is infinitely worse. In fact, it’s a one-of-a-kind, priceless privilege to be a member of God’s household…to be lumped together with the Creator and Savior of the universe…yes, even to suffer for the sake of Christ…to be guided by His Word and comforted by His promises. Jesus gives us that guidance and those promises in our text for today. He says, “Do Not Be Afraid of them,”i.e. of those who persecute you, because “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” I can’t help but to think of the Psalmists who lamented the success of those who hated God…those who plotted against God’s people…those whose mocking of God seemed, at times, to go unchecked. Yet, King David still assures us that “the power of the wicked will be broken” (Psalm 37:17 a)…that “their swords will pierce their own hearts” (Psalm 37:15 )…that “evil men will be cut off”(Psalm 37:9 a). And he also says that “those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land” (Psalm 37:9 b)…that “they will be protected forever” (Psalm 37:28 b). Certainly we can think of the people in our family, neighborhood, work place that we have tried to bring the truth of God’s love in Jesus. They can even respond by saying I believe in Jesus but who want nothing to do with Jesus. Their rejection does not diminish the comfort that Jesus gives us here in this verse, i.e. that the truth always prevails that the truth will, one day, be made known to all people…that the truth for which Christians have suffered for thousands of years will, one day, be that by which we are saved. So, “Do Not Be Afraid,” Jesus says, your day is coming…your eternity awaits.

“Do Not Be Afraid,” Jesus says, “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.” And He also goes on to say at the end of our text, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “If you’ve ever been ashamed of me… If you’ve ever turned away from an opportunity to talk about me… If you’ve ever cowered in fear, keeping your faith to yourself, then, yes, you have reason to be afraid.” And the scary part is that we all know that this isn’t a question of ‘If?’, but a question of ‘When?’ and ‘How many times?’. How many times have I disowned Jesus in my life? How many times have you disowned Jesus in your life? How many times have we been afraid of how our faith and witness would be received? How many times have we assumed that our witness would be ineffective, so we didn’t even bother with it? How many times have we blamed God for our lack of witness saying that He just hasn’t given us the gifts for it? That is scary…that does give us reason to be afraid because each of us is very well aware of what we have said – or not said – about our Savior.

But you’ll notice here that Jesus seems to be a little confused when He says, “Do not be afraid,” and then he says, “Be afraid,” and then He says again, “Do not be afraid.” Well, He’s not confused…He’s just speaking to both our old sinful self as well as to our new spiritual self. My old sinful self cowers in a corner and tells me to be afraid of God because of my sin…while my new spiritual self, along with Jesus, says, “Do Not Be Afraid” because, while the Lord doesn’t tolerate sin, He has already punished His Son for my sin and yours…enabling Him to forgive and forget our sin. When you, along with that tax collector, cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner,” the Lord Jesus turns to you and says, “That mercy is already yours because the guilt has been removed, the burden has been lifted, the sin has been forgiven.” And this comes from the One, the only One, who holds the keys to eternal life.

“Do Not Be Afraid,” Jesus says a third time, “[because] you are worth more than many sparrows.” Despite what many ‘experts’ say, the key to longevity is the fact that we, as soul-carrying creatures, are the pride and joy of God’s creation. Just look at how sufficiently, how meticulously, how lovingly the Lord cares for the sparrows who, by earthly standards, are a rather insignificant part of His creation. See how He provides for those creatures who don’t save for retirement… See how He protects those whose lives could be ended so easily and so quickly by so many other creatures on this planet… See how life for just one of those seemingly insignificant birds begins and ends only with His permission and knowledge… And then be reminded of the fact that “you are worth more than many sparrows” put together. “Do Not Be Afraid” for “even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” The fact that God knows such insignificant information about you demonstrates just how much He loves you…how fiercely He protects you…how closely He holds on to you…how generously He provides for you…and how anxious He is to present to you your crown of eternal life!

Fear is one of the rawest of human emotions, one that creeps into every aspect of our lives. And yet,  as simplistic or impossible as it may sound, we really have absolutely no reason to be afraid of anything, even of death itself because when Jesus says, “Do Not Be Afraid,” He backs up this Gospel command with some incredibly comforting and reliable assurances…assurances to bless and keep you close to Him beyond the limits of life on this earth and into the glory of life everlasting. The encouragement from Jesus to witness to the world is a constant in our world as we witness to the greatest message which changes lives eternally.  Take Jesus encouragement to witness to the world starting with your own world confident of his promise to be with you.