This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 2 Episode 139  

THE BEAT | What Would Jesus Tell You? (when he sends you out to witness)

Quick Take 

Hey human, get ready to listen to Chapter 10 of the gospel of Matthew with your heart. And consider a few insights as we paraphrase it back to ourselves. How to draw from God’s faithfulness through his Son to acknowledge his glory to others. E139 Thanks for listening.

Can you hear Jesus asking you to acknowledge him to others? Today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

In the first gospel, Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience. He was a Jew. So, he wrote from the point of view of the Jewish tradition, the lens of the Jewish law, the Jewish prophecies. His approach, rather the Holy Spirit’s approach through Matthew’s character gives us a logical, precise and documented accounting of Jesus’s life, as one who was good at collecting taxes, and understood the power of the Jewish teachings and law with respect to a coming Messiah.

For me, this reading of Matthew illuminated a spiritual thread of how powerful the authority of Jesus was, how it played out from all the points of view. That progression will follow in next week’s episode.  A Biblical flashback of sorts in the life of Jesus.

But today I am jumping into the middle of the authority Jesus gave his disciples. Verbatim.

With a few insights at the end.

Listen with me, human. And picture what it would be like for Jesus to be telling you this, giving instructions, insights and encouragement. Picture the other 11 taking it all in beside you. I would be trading eye contact with the others, and back to Jesus’ face, feeling his power, fighting to suppress my own anxiety. My brain and heart would be spinning, and I guess that’s what I want for us. To understand that this is the life he asks us to lead.

That we represent a life of leading with our witness.

Matthew 10

 

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

 

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

 

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

 

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

 

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

 

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 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, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

 

21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 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.

 

24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

 

26 “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. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 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. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

 

32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

 

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 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—

36     a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

37 “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. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

 

40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a 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. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

And there we would sit, with the detail, the paradox of truths that sounded foreign to our ears, but familiar to our hearts, there we would sit with the weight of what we were about to do. Going separate directions, in twos, maybe threes, but always solely responsible for representing what we had learned, how we had learned to love by walking with the Son of Man. By following his instruction, by following his example. Led by the Holy Spirit when so many voices were talking back, shouting, condemning, cursing, questioning, prodding, prompting, denying.

In Our Words, Take It Deeper Within

So, in my own words, to bring this deeper into my heart, our hearts, the power of paraphrasing to archive it for quicker recall… to lead a life of witness.

Jesus tells us:

• we have the authority to drive out impure spirits, (by confession to receive the Holy Spirit), to heal, to bring the redeemer’s message to the sinful heart.
• we are searching for the lost sheep of Israel – lost sheep on our path
• that the Kingdom of heaven is near – Jesus is with us
• we can give freely of the authority jesus has given us, as we have received from him
• to pack light taking no earthly goods; live on the generosity of others through the power of the Holy Spirit
• to first seek out the believer to support and sustain us
• to leave peace with the believer, take it with us if with a nonbeliever
• to steward God’s glory well. Steward our witness with his honor, and move on when it is being desecrated
• to be on guard with all levels of power and persecution; our message will rile up many hearts
• to trust the Holy Spirit for our words
• that we will become an adversity to family, friends who do not believe
• that if we stand firm to the end, we will be saved
• that all are equal regardless of rank and position – be humble
• that the truth will be revealed
• to listen to what he tells us alone, what he whispers in our ear
• to not be afraid of earthly death, only the One who can slay our souls
• to not be afraid, Jesus promises that I am, you are in your Father’s care
• if you acknowledge Jesus to others, if I acknowledge Jesus to others, Jesus acknowledges us to his Father
• that we bring no peace, but a sword – our witness will create trials and spiritual turbulence
• that Jesus must be who we love above all others, or we are not worthy
• that we must take up our cross, bear the struggles as we follow Jesus
• that if we welcome a fellow witness, Jesus welcomes you, and me, and if we welcome Jesus, we welcome his Heavenly Father – it’s a package deal sealed by his divine nature
• that our rewards come from treating others as we want to be treated – we get what we give
• that a cup of cold water, the living water, any service to a disciple, or a believer sustains our reward

The First Call to Witness from Jesus

This chapter affirms the first call from Jesus to witness to others. Of course I would celebrate this. And ask this question: When was the first time Jesus called you to witness? When was the most recent time?

Let’s rest in this clear direction from Jesus today. That we speak up. That we do not remain silent.

32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.