WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Now, if you have a Bible, perhaps you could turn with me to Matthew chapter 10. 00:00:08.300 --> 00:00:15.000 ! We're continuing in this section where Jesus gives his mission mandate to the disciples. 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:23.400 ! And we're going to look at the section from verse 16 to verse 25 as we continue to explore 00:00:23.400 --> 00:00:29.820 what we began to discover last week, that Jesus, his mission and his message, 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:37.340 it brings division. So here we are, Matthew chapter 10 and at verse 16 where we read, 00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:44.200 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:50.200 as doves. Be on your guard. You'll be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:55.760 synagogues. On my account, you'll be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:02.579 Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:08.239 you'll be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your father speaking 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:14.859 through you. Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child. Children will rebel against 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:19.840 their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:26.040 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:32.600 flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the times of Israel before the 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:40.100 son of man comes. The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:46.060 enough for students to be like their teachers and servants like their masters. If the head of the house 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:59.020 has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household and so on. Let me begin with a very 00:01:59.020 --> 00:02:09.039 famous, perhaps one of the more famous job adverts in all of newspaper history. Back in 1914, Shackleton 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:19.180 was looking to reach Antarctica for the very first time. And so in 1914, he put out a newspaper advert 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:29.060 looking for crew members. And the description is wonderful. Let me share with you the advert and 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:38.939 let's think who would sign up. He said, men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:49.859 long months of complete darkness, safe return, doubtful, honor and recognition in events of success. 00:02:50.799 --> 00:02:57.139 Now, whatever else you would say about Shackleton, you would never accuse him of false advertising. 00:02:57.859 --> 00:03:04.099 Right from the beginning, that stark reality of the hazardous nature of this voyage was clearly 00:03:04.099 --> 00:03:12.120 laid out. And remarkably, people signed up. And if you have a chance to read or to learn something 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:19.759 about the story, it is epic and amazing. But as we read Matthew chapter 10, we get the sense, don't we, 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:27.879 that Jesus is providing a similar job description for his followers. Wanted, those who are willing to 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:36.400 become sheep among wolves, to be hated by all, to be persecuted wherever they go. There would be no 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:45.019 surprises and there are no false promises. And again, remarkably, as you read the pages of the New 00:03:45.019 --> 00:03:52.939 Testament, as we read the pages of church history up until the present, despite the peril, despite the 00:03:52.939 --> 00:04:01.620 prospect of persecution, men, women, children have been signing up, willing to sacrifice everything 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:10.500 for King Jesus, the one who gave up everything for them. The message of Matthew 10, and this section 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:18.639 in particular, is stark. That the real Jesus, as he is communicated, will divide people. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:27.079 I say the real Jesus because, you know, we live in a pluralistic society and then it's easy to pick and 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:33.500 choose those aspects of the life and ministry of Jesus that people find most attractive. So lots of 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:41.560 people are drawn to the goodness, the virtue of Jesus, or perhaps his ethical teaching, but will gladly 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:46.399 kind of do away with, you know, his teaching on sin and the need for forgiveness or the realities of 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:52.699 judgment and hell. And the idea that there's only one way to be put right with God, and that's through 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:59.779 faith in Jesus. But if we're dealing with Jesus as he is, and as he's presented in the gospels, and as he 00:04:59.779 --> 00:05:06.779 speaks about himself, we are considering the one who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:13.099 The one who would say really clearly, whoever believes in me, well, they have eternal life, 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:16.360 but the person who doesn't believe stands condemned. 00:05:17.820 --> 00:05:22.800 Jesus is the one who spoke more about hell than anybody else in the Bible, who would tell 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:31.379 so many parables that spoke of end time, judgment, and salvation. And so it's very clear 00:05:31.379 --> 00:05:39.020 from listening to the teaching of Jesus that he brings division. And it's really clear, 00:05:39.019 --> 00:05:44.959 I think when we think about the church in society, that our message continues to cause division. 00:05:46.060 --> 00:05:53.899 We speak about absolute truth. And we say that there is one God, that there is a standard for 00:05:53.899 --> 00:06:01.319 right and wrong, that God the creator has the right to determine how we live. Or we say that we need 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:08.680 Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross. It's not an optional extra. It is essential to avoid 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:16.000 eternal condemnation. And when the church is faithful to the mission of Jesus, as we thought about this 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:23.819 morning, that again, it's not surprising if we meet with resistance and we begin to discover for 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:30.620 ourselves this division that happens. So Jesus wants to prepare the disciples for this mission in 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:38.560 particular here in the first century, but for a Christian mission universally, helping us to see that 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:46.579 we should not be surprised when the division happens. And also, as we will see next week, 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:52.399 that we should not be afraid when it happens. And that's what we see from verse 26 onwards, 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:59.680 but that's our focus next time. So this is a very realistic job description for the disciple, 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:04.279 for the Christian on mission. And the first thing that Jesus wants to highlight for us is 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:12.119 that we should be prepared for opposition. That's their verse 16 to 20, I am sending you out like 00:07:12.119 --> 00:07:19.139 sheep among wolves. This is their first mission, the first time that they've been gathered by Jesus, 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:24.519 and now they're going to be sent by Jesus. But it becomes a preparation for all of their life as 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:32.579 witnesses for Jesus. Last week, we saw that when they move from town to town, sometimes the doors will 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:36.779 be opened and they'll be welcomed. Other times the doors will be slammed shut in their faces. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:44.500 It gets more intense still in verse 17. Be on your guard. You'll be handed over to the local councils 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:52.699 and be flogged in the synagogues. The Jewish religious authorities will be opposed to Jesus and to 00:07:52.699 --> 00:07:59.459 his disciples. And they're warned about that. And it will grow still further. Verse 18, on my account, 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:04.319 you'll be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. So as the 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:12.779 mission grows and expands beyond Israel, so the opposition will grow too. So we read the book of 00:08:12.779 --> 00:08:20.299 Acts and we discover multiple times the likes of Peter and John and Paul were arrested and flogged and 00:08:20.299 --> 00:08:29.439 beaten. Apostles, disciples killed for their faith. So that by the time we get to a book like 00:08:29.459 --> 00:08:39.759 Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, the end of the great gallery of faith, it speaks about some who face 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:48.360 jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sawn in 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:58.199 two. They were killed by the sword. So within a generation of Jesus' ministry, this is reality for 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:02.780 those who are going into the world bringing the good news about Jesus. 00:09:05.540 --> 00:09:10.820 We could take a look if we had time at some of the regimes of our day. We spoke about some of them 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:17.220 this morning, where there are labor camps and Christians being worked to their day. And we could 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:25.759 go to places in Africa and the Middle East where kidnap and torture are not uncommon for the followers of 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:34.039 Jesus. This opposition and persecution is intense in some parts of the world and in our part of the 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:41.939 world. It's much more milder by comparison. You know, the opposition might be, you know, we're labeled as 00:09:41.939 --> 00:09:50.759 bigots or intolerant. It may be that we lose some social credit. We perhaps miss out on certain aspects of 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:59.039 work opportunities. We may be laughed at by the powers that be, but it pales into insignificance 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:04.080 compared to the first century experience and the experience of so many around the world. 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:14.939 But just to return to verse 16 for a moment, I wonder if you saw the perhaps surprising reality. So 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:22.560 maybe we're not surprised about all the opposition and the intense persecution, but notice verse 16. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:30.040 This is Jesus saying, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So we're familiar with the idea of 00:10:30.040 --> 00:10:36.920 Jesus as the good shepherd. You know, he leads his people, he feeds them, he guides us, he protects us, 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:43.360 he lays down his life for us, he calls people towards himself. But here we also discover that this 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:51.460 good shepherd also sends his followers, his sheep into dangerous territory, into spiritual war zone. 00:10:53.320 --> 00:11:02.580 And that's normal part of the Christian life and Christian mission. And he gives wisdom to the 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:10.740 disciples. How should we act in that setting? Verse 16, therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:18.940 doves, be on your guard. So snakes from the earliest of times were that symbol of shrewdness, whereas doves 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:27.419 are the symbol for what's harmless and innocent and peaceable. And then he says, be on your guard. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:35.320 And it's hard to figure out how do those images all play together? What does that look like in 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:42.620 practice? Well, he begins to unpack it a little bit in verse 23 when it becomes clear that the follower of Jesus 00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:48.720 shouldn't go looking for trouble, just running rashly into trouble. So verse 23, when you're persecuted in one 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:58.020 place, flee to another. So there's the application of wisdom and knowing the times. But nor should the follower of 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:06.740 Jesus stay silent and hide our faith to avoid conflict. We need to be wise and we need to be realistic. 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:14.600 We need that shrewdness. But at the same time, we shouldn't be hardened and cynical. We should have that 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:22.240 innocence that is dove-like. And it's a really hard balance. And we need the help of the Spirit. And we'll come 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:29.000 back to the Spirit later. But Jesus is telling us really plainly, we need to be prepared for opposition 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:35.740 and persecution. It's a hard thing to hear, but it's reality. And he doesn't want to shelter us from it. 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:43.960 And he moves on from there. And maybe it becomes even more intense as he says, be prepared for disruption 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:53.120 and isolation. Look at how it begins. Brother will betray brother to death. And a father, his child, 00:12:53.680 --> 00:12:59.759 children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:06.220 because of me. This is really striking language, isn't it? And it's striking language because it comes 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:13.940 from Jesus and Jesus is God and God is Trinity. So Jesus, the Son of God, has always existed. 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:21.400 in a perfect, eternal, loving fellowship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the triune God then created 00:13:21.400 --> 00:13:27.720 people for relationship. And so that God would say it's not good for people to be alone, that it's God's 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:36.019 good idea for flourishing society to establish marriages and families. And then we know as the 00:13:36.019 --> 00:13:41.040 story of the Bible moves from Genesis 1 and 2, God's creation story, to the fall, that sin, when it comes, 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:47.839 well, that brings disruption and breakdown within all relationships, including human relationships. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:54.419 And many of us, I guess, will know that in different ways, painful personal experience of that. 00:13:55.579 --> 00:14:03.740 But here, what becomes clear is that it's Jesus himself who's bringing disruption. 00:14:03.740 --> 00:14:11.940 And how can this be? This one who made us for relationship and fellowship with God and with 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:17.779 one another, how is it that he can speak so openly about the disruption that's going to happen within 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:27.480 families? Let's think about it this way, that the reality that we live with as people now, 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:35.120 created in God's image for flourishing relationships, but that's now ruined by the fall into sin, by nature, 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:42.940 our trajectory is away from God. We turn our backs on God. The direction of travel that we choose is 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:47.420 away from God and his ways. And when we do that, everything else tends to fall apart. 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:56.500 Faith in Jesus involves a 180 degree turn in the opposite direction. And that immediately puts us on a 00:14:56.500 --> 00:15:00.600 different path, perhaps a different path, perhaps a different path to the people within our own family. 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:06.639 Now we live with a very different value system. We have different loves and we have different loyalties. 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:14.519 And Jesus is saying, that's what can bring the fierce division and that sense of isolation. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:22.200 Because people do not want to associate with the one who becomes a follower of Jesus. 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:33.580 Because people want to exclude and resist the one who believes that Jesus is the savior the world needs. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:44.400 And it's a high cost. And Jesus sends his disciples to bring a message that will have a huge impact on 00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:50.740 families and communities. I guess in Western society, we tend to be much more individual 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:56.460 individual than other parts of the world where families is how you think about yourself in terms of your 00:15:56.460 --> 00:16:03.580 identity. And I'm sure we've all heard stories that to convert to Christianity means you could very 00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:10.600 well be disowned from your own family. You'll cut out of the family photos, people operating as if you 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:19.519 never existed, even the extremes of honor killing. Where a whole community might reject Christians. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:28.240 And if you ever get the prayer news from like Barnabas Trust or Open Doors, you'll discover how much time 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:34.120 they have to spend in setting up small businesses for Christians who've lost their family, lost their 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:39.639 job, lost their place in society, and they need help to survive as followers of Jesus. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:17:01.120 Even here in the West, it's certainly the case that sometimes a parent will be displeased if an adult 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:07.079 child becomes a Christian and decides that they want to serve Jesus instead of pursuing their intended career. 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:14.679 Even here, if a sibling becomes a Christian and none of the other brothers and sisters are, they might be 00:17:14.679 --> 00:17:17.980 treated differently, kept at a distance because of faith. 00:17:20.379 --> 00:17:27.819 One really important reason why the church needs to be growing together as a family is the reality that some 00:17:27.819 --> 00:17:36.399 people might lose theirs because of their faith. Jesus is speaking to that. But into this situation, 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.299 notice what Jesus says in verse 22. So he says, 00:17:41.299 --> 00:17:49.079 you'll be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 00:17:50.019 --> 00:17:58.460 And so there is huge cost, but there's also huge promise and huge reward of end time, eternal salvation 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:07.759 for those who are willing to endure, to stand firm to the end. So here Jesus is speaking to us from the 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:13.700 human point of view, to say that as believers, we must persevere through many trials in the life of 00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:19.460 discipleship. Other times he'll speak from God's point of view and he'll remind us that the believers 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:26.900 are kept safe in the grip of the father and the son. And then we come to verse 23. 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:33.579 When you're persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly, I tell you, you'll not finish going through the 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:39.439 times of Israel before the son of man comes. So remember, Jesus is speaking to his first disciples. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:45.099 But maybe we're asking, well, what's he talking about? What's the timetable there? Not finishing 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:49.379 going through the times before the son of man comes. Well, most of the commentators reckon that this is 00:18:49.379 --> 00:18:57.559 speaking about the judgment on Jerusalem that Jesus predicted in AD 70. Remember that Jesus wept over 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:04.039 Jerusalem because they turned their back on Jesus as God's king. And Jesus announced woe and judgment on 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:11.679 the city and prophesied that judgment would come. And so Jesus is now saying that he will come in 00:19:11.679 --> 00:19:19.559 judgment, that judgment that happened when the city was taken over by enemies. But what Jesus is saying to 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:27.059 his disciples here is that they can expect to be persecuted. And when they're persecuted in one place, 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:32.359 they need to move to another place, they need to move to another place. And that will continue to happen. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:41.299 And there'll always be more need. That their mission will keep on going. There'll be trouble and there'll 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:49.779 be opportunity. And even when it becomes impossible, probably to bear witness in Jerusalem, because of the 00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:56.519 judgment, there's still new places to do mission. And so the follower of Jesus, 00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:04.779 is being taught here that we need to be ready to walk the same road as Jesus did. When we read the 00:20:04.779 --> 00:20:09.440 gospels, don't we find so often he comes to a town and he's not well received and he faces opposition, 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:17.619 even in his own hometown. And he's constantly on the move and he's facing opposition from the religious 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:27.419 authorities in particular. And so that leads him to conclude in verses 24 and 25 with the need to be 00:20:27.419 --> 00:20:34.859 prepared to follow in Jesus' footsteps. That's what he means when he says the student is not above the 00:20:34.859 --> 00:20:42.819 teacher, not a servant above his master. So in preparing his disciples for mission, Jesus has been 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:47.339 taking them through various scenes in life. He's taking them to the fields and he's inviting them 00:20:47.339 --> 00:20:53.720 to imagine themselves as sheep among wolves. And then he takes them into a family home where they 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:58.039 can see division that will be churned up because some people follow Jesus and some people don't. 00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:04.899 And now he uses this image of students who follow in the footsteps of their teacher, their master. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:10.159 And that's how things were in first century Israel. You would have well-known rabbis, 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:16.779 teachers who would travel from place to place and they would gather dedicated learners who would 00:21:16.779 --> 00:21:21.940 follow. They would help to make sure that their master was well-resourced and they would listen to 00:21:21.940 --> 00:21:27.480 him and they would live with him and they would shape their lives around his teaching. And Jesus is 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:35.180 inviting his disciples then and now to do likewise. And what does the learner of Jesus discover 00:21:35.180 --> 00:21:44.299 as we follow his life and ministry in the gospels? We discover one who was rejected in his own hometown. 00:21:45.180 --> 00:21:53.700 They're trying to throw him off a cliff. We meet him often treated with contempt. Isn't this the carpenter's 00:21:53.700 --> 00:22:03.600 son? We hear Jesus often being slandered. Verse 25, if the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:09.279 how much more the members of his household. One of the accusations that people hurled at Jesus 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:14.299 was that he worked not with the power of God, but with the power of the devil. In fact, that he was 00:22:14.299 --> 00:22:23.199 none less than the devil himself. And so to follow Jesus is to follow one who experienced this opposition 00:22:23.199 --> 00:22:29.599 and persecution. Follow him on the road to the cross and we see it grow in intensity. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:38.679 We see him dressed up in a purple robe and with a crown of thorns placed upon his head and people 00:22:38.679 --> 00:22:49.119 mocking him in false homage and worship. We see him blindfolded and beaten, insulted, prophesy who struck 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:58.559 you. Even as he hangs dying, we see cold hatred and disregard. Let God save him if he wants it. He saved 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:08.399 others. He can't save himself. What these disciples saw in their master was that the Lord Jesus came 00:23:08.399 --> 00:23:16.440 as the suffering servant that Isaiah spoke about. He set his face like flint towards Jerusalem in the 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:22.679 way of the cross. He gave his back to be beaten and his beard to be pulled out. He was familiar 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:31.160 with suffering and grief, crushed for our iniquities, humiliated so we could be honored, forsaken 00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:43.480 so we could become part of God's family, condemned under the curse so we could know God's eternal blessing. 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:53.120 The message of verse 24 then is a realistic lesson in the school of discipleship. 00:23:53.960 --> 00:24:03.599 The student is not above the teacher. The crown of thorns comes before the crown of glory. So we put all 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:11.559 these things together and what we see is that mission is demanding. There are hazards. There is the possibility 00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:18.919 of persecution. There is a willingness to share and to participate in Christ's own suffering. 00:24:20.919 --> 00:24:30.319 Mission is costly. It requires sacrifice. And so the question is, where does that power, 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:40.539 where does that willingness to bear the cost come from? Well, it comes from us looking again at Jesus' 00:24:40.539 --> 00:24:50.799 mission and Jesus' sacrifice to show us God's saving grace, to recognize that he is the one who has 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:58.680 called us and is preparing eternal glory for us, and he is with us as we go. 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:08.099 To borrow from Shackleton's advert, we follow Jesus knowing there is honor and recognition from our God 00:25:08.099 --> 00:25:18.199 and our Father, even if people in this world dishonor us. So just to draw our thoughts to a close, here's a 00:25:18.199 --> 00:25:26.719 fourth reflection. Be prepared for this kind of mission by looking to the Lord Jesus. Just to go back to 00:25:26.719 --> 00:25:35.819 Shackleton's voyage for a moment. He spent 17 months with his crew at sea, many of those on sort of frozen 00:25:35.819 --> 00:25:43.099 wasteland. Their boat was eventually crushed by massive ice flows and they had to camp in the middle of an 00:25:43.099 --> 00:25:50.579 ice flow in this frozen barren wasteland. And eventually they sent a small lifeboat hundreds of miles over to 00:25:50.579 --> 00:25:58.039 the south, through the South Georgia Sea to Elephant Island to then bring a rescue mission. 17 months of some of 00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:05.119 the worst experiences, worst conditions any human has probably ever had to face. But to read the account, 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:11.559 what's remarkable is that those men who went with Shackleton, they were willing to do literally 00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:20.239 anything for him. They went to the ends of the earth with him. As he led, they followed. And the whole account, 00:26:20.379 --> 00:26:28.559 all the diaries that you read, it tells stories of great camaraderie, of people holding Shackleton in such 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:38.799 high regard. You read stories of resolve and endurance. And it helps to capture something 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:46.619 of the call of mission. We're not called to our own mission, we're called to the mission of Jesus and we 00:26:46.619 --> 00:26:55.559 follow him. And we look to him as our leader day by day and we rely upon him to sustain us and to empower 00:26:55.559 --> 00:27:02.740 us. So some help from Jesus that we find in this text as we close. I want to say first of all that 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:11.539 Jesus helps us by being honest with us. He's not selling a pleasure cruise around the Med and then 00:27:11.539 --> 00:27:19.639 presenting the reality of Antarctic storms. He's been really honest about what we can expect, opposition, 00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:27.720 persecution, rejection. Don't be surprised. When we take the gospel into our community, when we try and 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:34.000 share it with the people that we know, we might be met with a polite nod or total indifference. We 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:40.800 might also be met by mockery and rejection. And Jesus has prepared us for it and Jesus himself has faced 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:52.000 it and his own ministry shows it. And he helps us by being honest with us and he helps by giving us a call 00:27:52.000 --> 00:28:02.079 to faith, a call to stand firm, a call to not give in to fear, to live with the fear of God over the fear of 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:11.579 others. And the second thing that this text reminds us is that Jesus helps us by giving us his spirit. 00:28:12.500 --> 00:28:17.139 Look at verse 19 again. When they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. 00:28:17.679 --> 00:28:23.679 At that time you'll be given what to say, but it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your 00:28:23.679 --> 00:28:29.379 father speaking through you. So here's a wonderful promise facing the heat of opposition. These disciples 00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:36.080 are told when you find yourself having to defend your faith before people, the same people perhaps 00:28:36.080 --> 00:28:42.920 who will put Jesus to death. What does he tell them? He tells them the same spirit that filled Jesus 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:52.180 fills the disciples, fills us too. The promise is that when the need arises, Jesus will help us. The 00:28:52.180 --> 00:28:57.640 spirit will be with us. He'll help us speak in such a way that we can honor Jesus. 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:04.820 And maybe some of us, as we think about our own Christian stories, we can think of those moments 00:29:04.820 --> 00:29:11.100 that can only be explained in a supernatural way. When people seem really hostile and asking really 00:29:11.100 --> 00:29:16.820 difficult questions, but you're able to share the gospel clearly and freely. Maybe you're asked a really 00:29:16.820 --> 00:29:23.100 hard question and you find just the right words when that question is asked. 00:29:23.099 --> 00:29:31.079 Or maybe it's just your character holds up and when you are mocked, you patiently and lovingly respond. 00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:41.379 We're given help. We've got this promise. The spirit of our father, the spirit of Jesus is in us and will speak 00:29:41.379 --> 00:29:51.159 through us. And so we remember that Jesus helps us by being honest and he helps us by sending us the spirit, 00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:58.060 which means he gives us himself. Jesus who calls us to costly mission. 00:29:59.180 --> 00:30:08.080 Well, he's the savior who faced a much greater cause, much greater danger that led to death. 00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:16.360 And he did that empowered by the same spirit that now lives in us, trusting in the same heavenly father 00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:25.399 that we are invited to pray to. And we remember it's because of Jesus loving, sacrificial commitment 00:30:25.399 --> 00:30:35.000 to us that we get the privilege of the call to mission. Yes, it's high cost, but yes, it's high reward. 00:30:36.179 --> 00:30:44.879 And so in the end, we prepare ourselves by looking to the Lord Jesus and by resting in his great love for us. 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:55.720 Let's pray together. Lord, our God, we thank you that Jesus was willing to say hard things to his disciples 00:30:55.720 --> 00:31:06.200 and hard things to us, honest and realistic things that speak to us of the nature of Christian discipleship, 00:31:06.460 --> 00:31:13.140 that help to set our expectations. That means that we don't need to be taken by surprise. 00:31:13.140 --> 00:31:21.560 If not everyone responds positively and warmly. Thank you for reminding us that we're not on our own 00:31:21.560 --> 00:31:31.580 as we go as servants of Jesus, but rather your spirit is in us. And we ask that you'd help us to 00:31:31.580 --> 00:31:39.460 walk in step with the spirit and to rely on the help of the spirit to direct us in our paths and in our 00:31:39.460 --> 00:31:49.500 conversations and perhaps as we face accusations too. Lord, we want to be those who are willing 00:31:49.500 --> 00:31:59.079 to take up our crosses daily to follow Jesus. And we want to be those who recognize that Jesus did not 00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:05.460 cling on to comfort or glory for himself, but he laid it all down so that our sins could be forgiven, 00:32:05.460 --> 00:32:13.140 that eternal death could be turned to eternal life for us. And as we consider all that he has done for us, 00:32:13.220 --> 00:32:21.579 may you make us increasingly willing to sacrifice and serve for him. May we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.