Matthew 10:16-20

Matthew 10:16-20

16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 “But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20 “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

The mission God has called us to fulfill is not an easy one.  There is a price to pay and there are dangers we will face.  However, Jesus has promised that we will never be alone in these times of trouble for the sake of the kingdom.  As Jesus was preparing to send out His disciples to do the work of the ministry He wanted to warn them of the dangers they would face and prepare them for suffering they would endure as well as assure them of His presence with them.  As we seek to participate in the mission of God to be worshiped in all the nations of the world, we must understand that there will be dangers, we will suffer but that the Spirit of the living and all-powerful God who created and sustains the universe will be with us.  We must be prepared to pay the price for preaching the Gospel but we must also rest in the assurance that God will enable us with the right words at the right time so that He will be glorified.

BE CAREFUL IN A DANGEROUS WORLD: Jesus tells His disciples that they are to be like three different animals in a world full of danger.  They were to like sheep in the midst of wolves.  This is not a comfortable or even a safe situation.  We must understand that the mission of God to reach the world is not safe and it is not comfortable.  The people we are called to reach do not like us and will try to kill us so we must be careful.  They were also told to be like serpents.  We are not used to being told to be like snakes because Satan is represented by a snake.  But Jesus was specific about how we were to imitate snakes; we are to be shrewd as serpents.  Since we live in a dangerous world in the midst of people who want to kill us for being Christians; we must be wise.  We must choose our battles carefully.  Snakes don’t go out looking for trouble, they don’t make a lot of noise and choose their battles carefully.  We need to try to avoid the dangers of this world as much as we can.  We don’t need to go out and pick fights and stir up trouble.  Trouble will come and we must be ready for it but we don’t need to go out looking for it on instigating it.  Finally, they were to be innocent like doves.  The dove is used to symbolize the Holy Spirit so we are more comfortable with this analogy than the one of being like serpents.  We have a tendency to become like those who threaten us or sin against us.  When someone yells at us we tend to yell back.  Jesus tells us to be careful not to do that.  We cannot be overcome or dominated by evil.  We are not to become like the wolves who threaten us.  God wants us to remain innocent in the face of danger. 

BE COURAGEOUS BEFORE EVIL MEN: No matter how careful we are, we live in a fallen world in the middle of fallen men, so we will face suffering.  Jesus wants His disciples to be prepared for this reality.  They would be accused of crimes and they would be excluded from the synagogues and even taken before the most powerful political figures.  There are many nations in the world where it is not legal to preach the Gospel or even evangelize a neighbor.  However, this is the mission to which God has called us.  We must not back away from our responsibility to spread the Gospel of Jesus and make disciples in all of these nations.  We can expect that there will be consequences for this kind of courage.  We may be thrown into the courts and face time in prison.  The disciples would be thrown out of the synagogues and even whipped in public.  These things should not surprise us.  Evil, unbelieving men will act like unbelievers.  The disciples were warned that they would even be called in front of governors and kings but they would be there for the purpose of testifying of the power and grace of God.  Paul faced every one of these situations during his ministry and he performed brilliantly.  There will be evil men in the streets where we serve.  There will be angry religious leaders in the tribes we want to reach.  There will be powerful leaders over the nations we want to bring to Christ.  God calls us to be courageous, face our fears and faithfully do the work to which He has called us even in the face of danger or death.

BE CONFIDENT IN THE POWER OF GOD: We might face great dangers as we take the message of Christ to the nations of the world, but we can be confident in the presence and the power of God along each step of the way.  Jesus told His disciples that they did not need to worry about how they would react or what they would say when they were standing before the courts or in the presence of kings.  He assured them that the Spirit of God would put the right words in their mouth at just the right time so they could be effective witnesses for Him in these very uncomfortable situations.  These were simple fishermen who were likely not very comfortable with the idea of having to speak in the presence of kings.  Jesus assured them that He would equip them and use them to bring honor and glory to Himself and testify boldly about the Gospel.  One of the greatest fears most people have is a fear of speaking in public.  Many of the heroes of our faith like Moses and Jeremiah were afraid of speaking but God used them and equipped them to speak with boldness before the most powerful men of their day.  We serve this same God.  This is not an excuse to avoid preparing messages when we have an opportunity to preach.  We are not to take God’s Word into the pulpits of our churches and just “wing it.”  It is a promise that when we find ourselves unexpectedly before judges and representative of our governments; the Spirit of God will super-naturally empower us with the right words at the right time. 

APPLICATION: Beware of the dangers we will face as ministers of God’s Word.  Don’t look for or cause unnecessary trouble but don’t back away from our responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in all nations.  Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing persecution all over the world.  Be willing to suffer, experience danger and discomfort in order to make disciples in all nations.  Trust God to equip us to do things that we don’t believe we are capable.