The Gospel Series Part 6i

FINAL GALILEAN CAMPAIGN

Shortage of workers (Mt 9:35-38, Mk 6:6b)

Jesus again shows compassion for the people. Sheep are rather stupid creatures. Without a shepherd to guide them, they can literally fall down and not be able to get up! Of course, we are the sheep of His pasture.

Commissioning of the twelve (Mt 10:1-42, Mk 6:7-11, Lk 9:1-5)

Mt 10:1 "power" - from the Greek exousia, meaning it is lawful or permissible. It involves ability, power and strength (dunamis)^[1]. These miracles demonstrate God is involved, for man by himself cannot do these things.

Mt 10:2-4 A list of the disciples, many of whom we are familiar with. But what about James, son of Alphaeus - Who is this guy? Nothing else is mentioned of him. Ever feel like that? Just a complete unknown. I'm not important to God, I have nothing to contribute to His work. But God uses whatever skills and talents you have. David just had stones, and God says "let's go take on Goliath". Moses had a rod, and God said "let's go free my people" (Ex 4:1-4). You don't have to be specially talented or gifted to be used by God. He looks for the ordinary people to do His extraordinary work.(1 Cor 1:26-29). In 1 Samuel 14:6-14, God delivers the Philistines to two men who simply believed the Lord would battle for them that day.

Mt 10:5-6 The message they are to present is a uniquely Jewish message. The gospel went first to the Jew, and then to the Gentiles. Whenever Paul went into a city, he went first to the synagogue to preach to the Jews, and only then went to the Gentiles (Acts 18:4-6).

Mt 10:7 The message they are to present is NOT one of salvation, but rather the messiah promised to them is here. After Israel rejects their messiah, there is a new commission given to the disciples after the resurrection. See Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, etc. The presentation of the messiah to Israel is over.

Mt 10:8 These are what we have just seen Jesus do in the few previous stories. Jesus gives them the ability do perform these miracles, just as He said He would (John 14:12).

"Freely you have received, freely give." Can you imagine a modern TV preacher having the same abilities Jesus gave the disciples? Do you think we would see them give it away freely, without calling attention to themselves? It's easy for pride to creep in during a mighty display of God's power. But in a broader sense, in the same way we are to share the talents and gifts we have received from God. We have nothing that is not given from Him. We should not be stingy in sharing our gifts with others. (Note: some may say they have no talents or abilities, but that does not have the air of humility we may think. God says you have received at least one gift, so if you think you don't have one, you are calling God a liar, and calling God a liar means you know more than God, and that's not humility, that's pride, so watch out!)

Mt 10:9-10 Travel light. These are special instructions for this time. Later, in Luke 22:35-38 Jesus will give different instructions. This mission is specific to the Jewish people.

Mt 10:11-15 This would be familiar to the Jews, since whenever they travel in gentile territory, upon leaving they would shake the defiled gentile dust off their feet. If the Jews don't accept Jesus as the Messiah, they are just as bad as the pagan gentile nations around Israel.

Mt 10:16 "wise as serpents" - a strange comparison. The serpent is normally associated with satan.

Mt 10:17-20 There are several examples of this in the New Testament. Paul in 2 Cor 11:24-27 lists many of the things he suffered for the gospel. And in Acts 7, Stephen's defense before the council has many details about the Old Testament you won't find in the Old Testament. The only way he could have known this is if the Holy Spirit revealed it to him. Paul also reveals the names of the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses (2 Tim 3:8).

Mt 10:21 This has a broader application than this immediate context. It is also a sign of the end times (2 Timothy 3:1-4). It's fascinating a sign of the end times is children disobeying their parents. Just pick up any paper today and we see people trying to solve the problem of out of control children.

Mt 10:22 Does this mean my salvation is conditional? Definitely not. Rather this is a way to identify true believers. People who fall away when the going gets tough were never really saved in the first place. The truly saved endure to the end. The perseverance is proof of your salvation, not a condition. Just as James talks about works - your works do not save you, rather your works demonstrate your salvation. See also Hebrews 2:1, 3:14, James 2:14-16, Col 1:21-23, 2 Peter 1:10 where the same idea is presented.

Mt 10:23 While persecution is inevitable, we should try to avoid it when possible.

Mt 10:24-25 If they rejected Jesus, they will reject Jesus' followers. If they hated Jesus, they will hate His followers. This should not be a surprise.

Mt 10:26-28 In brief, be bold. Psalm 56:11, 118:6. Hell here is Gehenna.

Mt 10:29 "coin" - 1/16 of a denarius - a denarius was about a days wage for a poor worker. Sparrows were cheap indeed! If God watches over the small and insignificant, won't He watch over us?

Mt 10:32-33 Conditional salvation? NO! What is Jesus' job now? To intercede for us with the Father (Rom 8:34). But if we don't stand up for Him, we lose out on His intercession for us with the Father. We lose a benefit, but not salvation. Salvation is never in question.

Mt 10:34 This is one of my favorite verses to quote out of context. Today as the tree-huggers, liberals and people who never quite escaped the 60's tell us we should just love one another, and the basic teaching of Jesus is just to love (it doesn't matter how you live your life, as long as you looove - gush gush gush), it's fun to throw this verse at them. The response is usually one of shock. - "He really said that?" Yes, He did. Yes, it's taken way out of context, but it's still fun to get a point across. Jesus is the most anti-religious person ever to walk the face of the earth. Who were the religious people of the day? The Pharisees. But Jesus had harsh words for them, calling them the sons of the devil (John 8:44).

But we can't use this verse as a reason to be antagonistic towards people. If we only look at this verse, we can justify many things. But as always, we must look at the context of the greater passage. As someone once said, if your son writes you a letter, would you only read the first sentence of each paragraph and then try and figure out what he said? That's absurd. You would read each word and each sentence to get the whole flavor of what he is saying. Sadly, people don't read the Bible that way. Instead, they just pick and choose whatever they want to in order to prove whatever pet doctrine they hold.

Looking at this verse in the context of the larger passage, Jesus explains what He means in verses 35-37. If you are the only member of your family to be a Christian, you know what the phrase means, "a man's enemies will be those of his own household." There will be strife and tension. In that situation, Jesus did not bring peace to the family, but strife. It's not that strife is the goal or desire of our Lord; it's just a natural occurrence when someone decides to follow Jesus. For what fellowship does light have with darkness? (2 Cor 6:14). They just don't go together. And the natural man does not understand the things of the spirit (1 Cor 2:14). So be prepared for a tough time from other members of your family. Jesus goes on to say, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." We must be firm in our commitment to Jesus. If all this sounds bad and depressing, recall the following:

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)

It's important we stand firm and not compromise.

Mt 10:35-36 Some people know this well. A story is told of a drug addict deciding to follow Jesus, and the parents not understanding. The wished he would go back on drugs; at least they understood that. This Jesus stuff didn't make any sense to them.

Mt 10:37 Jesus should not be number 1 on a list of 10, but number one on a list of one. We are to be completely sold-out to Him.

Lesson: Take up your cross (Mt 10:38-39)

"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38-39)

This is the first time Jesus speaks of the cross to His disciples - they must have been puzzled. The cross has lost much of its meaning today. Several points are in this verse, and we must look at each one in order to understand what Jesus is asking of us.

The cross in historical standing

Today we decorate them and wear them around our necks, place them on top of churches and light them at night. But what does the cross speak of? Death. Suffering. Pain. Agony. Shame. The disciples would understand immediately the connection. But it is lost on us without some background.

We will get into the medical aspects of crucifixion later in this study, but for now a few details will suffice. The Romans did not invent crucifixion, but they perfected it. We get our word excruciating from it, for truly it was "cruel and unusual punishment". First, the victim was required to carry his own cross to the site of execution, as a symbol of the Roman rule of law. When he arrived there, they would lay him down across the cross bar, and pound spikes through the wrists into the beam. Our concept of nails doesn't quite cut it, for a simple nail wouldn't hold the weight. If you think more of a railroad spike, you get a better idea. Then the victim was raised and the bar was placed on the post in the ground, and a spike was driven through the feet. None of these wounds would be serious enough to cause death by themselves, but would cause considerable pain. If you study the physics of this arrangement, the stress placed on the arms is enough to dislocate both the elbows and shoulder in a few minutes. Put in this position with the weight bearing on the chest, the victim was unable to breath normally. The only way to breathe was to take the weight off the arms by raising up, and when that was done, the muscles in the legs would quickly tire and give out. Death usually came by slow suffocation; sometimes the victim would survive for up to 9 days, dying of thirst and exposure.

The Romans were expert executioners. If they wanted to increase the time it took to die (and with it the resulting suffering), they would place a small seat on the post, allowing the victim to place some of the weight of the body on the seat, which would enable easier breathing. In the event they wanted to hasten death, they broke the legs of the victim; without being able to raise up to breathe, death would come in a few minutes. Many times the bodies were left to rot on the cross, as a sign to everyone the penalty for violating Roman rule.

But we must understand not the gruesome way crucifixion caused death, but rather the social aspects of it. This is what is important to us in this passage. Crucifixion was reserved for the most despised criminals. Roman citizens were not crucified, but usually beheaded. Paul as a Roman citizen was not crucified, but probably beheaded. The Roman idea was to cause as much shame, pain and suffering possible as an example to others. When Jesus mentions to His disciples to pick up their cross and follow Him, this idea is probably what they thought of. Today we have sterilized the idea, with our fancy crosses we wear around our necks and display on our churches and Bibles. If we instead think of an electric chair, more of the idea comes through. Only the most hideous crimes are punished by execution in an electric chair. It's association is immediately with the most despised and hated criminals. Could we preach that our Lord Jesus was killed in the electric chamber so you might live? Imagine Paul preaching "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him electrocuted (1 Cor 2:2)". Sounds different doesn't it? What reaction would we get if we wore little electric chairs around our necks instead of a cross? To identify with the cross is to identify with the most outcast and hated people in society.

How the cross relates to us

But when Jesus says we should take up our cross and follow Him, does He mean we should run down to Jerry's (the hardware store...), pick up a few 4x4's and carry them around? (In Luke 9:23, it reads take up his cross daily). Is this what Jesus meant? What does the cross represent for us? Many times we hear of someone with cancer say something like "it's just the cross I've got to bear". Is this what Jesus means? Let's look at some other statements of Jesus to see what He meant.

"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." (John 10:17-18)

"Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53)

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." (Matthew 26:39)

What do all these verses have in common? Jesus had a choice. He didn't have to go to the cross if He didn't want to. At any point He could have stopped the events. As He was being hit while blindfolded and the guards were mocking Him saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?" (Mt 26:68) He could have responded with a Dirty Harry like phrase - "The one who turns to dust is the one who struck me. So there's only one thing you gotta ask, do you feel lucky? Well do you?" Or As the Pharisees were taunting Him as He hung on the cross, He could have chosen to immediately come down in all His glory and power, and vaporize them all. (Go ahead, make my day, as Dirty Harry would say).

It wasn't the spikes that held Him to the cross, it was His love for us (Heb 12:2). It's an amazing concept that the creator of the universe would allow Himself to be killed in the most agonizing way possible, just to save His creation. It would be much easier to wipe out this universe and start over with a new one. That would not take any effort.

So as bad as cancer is, it's not the cross Jesus speaks of here. No one chooses cancer, it's just something that happens. The cross speaks of denying the self and the desires of the flesh. It's a wife who stays with her unbelieving husband because she knows it may be the only chance he has to be saved. It's the worker who has a better job available, but decides to stay with their despicable boss in order to witness to them. It's the person who doesn't fight back as his reputation is slandered unjustly and wrongly. The cross Jesus speaks of involves a choice on our part to deny ourselves and follow the will of the father. Each person's cross is unique to them. My cross will not be your cross. That's important to remember. For some people to fight against their desires is difficult, and it's easy for us to say (who don't struggle with that specific problem), "that's not such a big deal". But for them, it's their cross to bear. Just as each yoke is individually fitted, so is each cross we must bear. The cross Jesus speaks of involves two things. First, denying the self and the desires of the flesh. Second, subjection to the will of the Father.

But something else is interesting here. As we read through the Gospels, we notice Jesus was on the cross only about six hours. The Romans were actually surprised He died so fast. He didn't struggle against the will of the Father. It's important for us to get this point. As we fight for our reputation - after all, they can't do that to us, we have our rights - we prolong our suffering just as someone who was resting his weight on the little seat the Romans provided for crucified victims. And we struggle and fight, going for days on the cross. Jesus didn't fight it, and He suffered only a short time. We can, we should, we must die to self. It's the only way to minimize the suffering.

Why do I want to do this?

But a question remains. If I have a choice, why would I want to do this anyway? Didn't you say the cross is a choice? Yes it is. But they why would I choose to suffer? Because a glorious resurrection is coming. Jesus suffering was quick, and three days later He rose in a new body. If we cease striving and trying to save our life, God can do a wonderful work in us; verse 39 has the key. If you are trying to save your life, you won't. Many people today are in clinics and hospitals trying to find their lives, but that search will only prove fruitless. Psychology and therapy cannot work because they can't deal with the root problem: sin. Only the Word of God can pierce between soul and spirit (Heb 4:12). The only way to find your life is to die to self and lose it, allow the Lord to do His work, and then you can truly find your self. Looking inward to solve your problems only leads to despair, frustration and failure.

A Final Warning

One thing we must be careful of. During Jesus' temptation by satan (Mt 4:9), one of the temptations satan gave Jesus was if He would worship satan, in return satan would give Him all the kingdoms of the world. That was the goal of Jesus coming to earth, redeeming the world to Him. What satan offered Jesus was a shortcut to the end result. The Lord is not just interested in the destination, but the path taken to that destination. Satan always wants to offer a shortcut. Be careful and watchful about this trick by the enemy.

Mt 10:40 We are representatives of Jesus. As such, if we are received, so is Jesus. If we are hated, so is Jesus. We must never forget we are the ambassadors of Christ.

Mt 10:41 Chuck Smith tells the story of a young woman who was called to missionary work overseas. As she went through the training, she found out she had a medical problem that disqualified her. As she was sitting in the room with the other women who were going, she talked to one who was able to go, but lacked the money to do so. So this woman said she would support her financially, and the other woman could actually go and to the missionary work. But the story doesn't end there. As this woman stayed in the states working, she was promoted and received subsequent raises in her salary. And each time she did, she would go to the same missionary people, and find someone who wanted to go, but lacked the funds. She would then sponsor them and support them financially. When she finally makes it to heaven, she will receive a missionary's reward for her sponsorship of many other women. That's the idea given here.

Mt 10:42 No small good dead goes unnoticed by God.

Workers sent out (Mt 11:1, Mark 6:12-13, Luke 9:6)

Antipas' mistaken identification of Jesus (Mt 14:1-2, Mk 6:14-16, Lk 9:7-9)

Herod had a guilty conscience for what he had done to John. The confusion about who Jesus is was the same as the confusion over who John was. Some thought Elijah.

Earlier imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist (Mt 14:3-12, Mk 6:17-29)

This part is told as a flashback of previous events.

Mk 6:17-18 Herod had stolen Herodias from her husband and John rebuked him. This would not have made him popular with the royal family! John ended up in prison for his boldness is speaking the truth. We must always realize people living in sin don't want to hear the truth. And if they have the power to do something about it (as Herod did), it shouldn't surprise us if we end up in prison, just as John did. John's only crime was speaking the truth to people who didn't want to hear it.

Mk 6:19-20 In spite of not liking John's message, Herod could see John was a just and holy man.

Mk 6:26 Compare this event with the later event of Jesus and Pilate. Pilate was in a similar situation with Jesus, knowing He was innocent, but fearing the crowds. And just as Herod, Pilate gave in to something he knew was wrong and unjust.

Return of the workers (Mk 6:30, Lk 9:10a)

^[1] Zodhiates page 903

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