INTRODUCTION

You don’t have to be a very astute observer of our culture to know that most Americans share a common definition of the good life. First, we long for safe and secure environments. We are anxious to live in neighborhoods that are free from crime. We want to be able to eat food and drink water that is not contaminated with substances that will harm us. We want to own enough insurance to soften the blow of any tragic loss. Second, we long to live in families and communities that are free from relational strife. We want to live with and work with people who like us and whom we like. Finally, we want to be able to live with the least amount of hassle. We want our stores to have everything we need so we can do one-stop shopping. We don’t want any interruptions in our gasoline supply or our electricity. We want our doctors and mechanics and plumbers to be available when we need them.

We are loath to surrender these three things; personal safety, harmonious relationships and personal comfort. The only time that humans will choose to live in a way that threatens any of these is if they believe they will obtain something better by doing so. My father fought in WWII. He volunteered to leave behind his family and his home. He chose to live in very primitive conditions. Many times he has told me that when he was crossing the English channel he was certain that the Swanson line would die with him as he is an only son and he didn’t expect to come back alive. During the war, millions of Americans chose to do without many things in order to give as much as they could to the war effort. Millions of families voluntarily sent their loved ones into harms way. Why was their so much willingness among so many Americans to surrender these three things, safety, relationships and comfort? People suffered these hardships because there was a greater good that overshadowed all other considerations. The whole country was fighting for not only the freedom of America but for the freedom of the world. Freedom mattered more than anything else.

In the passage before us today Jesus demands that all who call themselves Christians surrender their right to personal safety, harmonious relationships and personal comfort. But just as the US Government did not require men and women to sacrifice for no good reason, so Jesus sets forward the highest and best of all reasons as to why we should give up these things that we are so desirous of. In this passage…

MAIN POINT

I want to remind you that this passage is part of a larger conversation that Jesus was having with his 12 apostles just before he sent them out to preach. However, it is clear from the first word of v. 32, "whoever", that what he is telling them he is also telling everyone who claims to be a Christian. What Jesus is saying here is not just for some special class of Christians. This is basic Christianity. Jesus does not teach that there are two classes of Christians, those who are merely believers and those who are disciples or really committed followers, those who have made Jesus their Savior and those who have also made him their Lord. This passage emphasizes that if Jesus is not your Lord, he is not your Savior. If he is your Savior he is also your Lord.

The NT teaches that Christians grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus and so there are various levels of maturity among Christians. However, it never teaches that it is possible to be a Christian without the kind of heart transformation that this passage of Scripture teaches. Just like we would never expect a baby to do the kinds of things that an adult would do so we recognize that brand new Christians should not be expected to know and live like those who have known Christ for 25 years. At the same time we know that babies and adults share a common experience of human life. Both are fully human. Both display the fact that they are alive by doing similar things such as eating, sleeping, communicating and learning. In the same way, the baby Christian and the person who has been a Christian for 50 years share much in common. They share the divine life and so love the same things and need the same things to nourish their souls.

To begin with, in vv. 32-33 Jesus tells us that the way we treat him in public will determine how he treats us in God’s presence and therefore how God ultimately treats us. What we most need to understand is what does it mean to acknowledge Jesus before men and to disown Jesus before men? First, these words represent actions and attitudes that are directly opposite to one another. A person who is acknowledging Jesus before men cannot at the same time be disowning him. Every human being is at this moment and at every moment of their lives, doing one of these two things.

Second, it will be helpful if we think about what it would mean for Jesus to acknowledge us before his Father and to deny us before his Father. Jesus acknowledging a person before the Father cannot simply mean that he informs his Father of the existence of a particular person. Rather, Jesus acknowledging a person before his Father means that he is warmly welcoming that person into his Father’s presence and enthusiastically endorsing his right to be there. He is asserting to the Father that here is a person who should be allowed to live forever in his holy presence. Then Jesus disowning a person before his Father means that he is doing far more than just ignoring him. Rather he is denouncing him and asking God to join him in rejecting and treating him with contempt.

Imagine being invited to a party by the son of a very wealthy person. When you enter you don’t know anyone. You stand in the foyer of this grand mansion with very wealthy people all around you, staring at your obviously out of style clothing. You can feel your face getting red with embarrassment. You’re getting ready to leave when the son of the rich man spots you and runs up to you and hugs you and loudly welcomes you. He grabs your arm and says, "I’m so eager for you to meet my Father. He’s going to like you so much." Then he takes you to his dad and warmly introduces you and talks of how awesome it is that you have come to their home. His Father then affectionately welcomes you and encourages you to make yourself at home. " I want you to consider my home, your home from now on," he says to you.

Imagine showing up at this same party after you have spent the last week gossiping about and slandering the rich man’s son to all the other kids at school. You’ve done this because you know that most of the kids in the school are blue collar, working poor and resent kids like your rich friend. So, because you want to be popular at school you regularly mock and lie about the rich man’s son. The rich man’s son knows that you have treated him in this way. When you arrive at the party and the son sees you, he immediately goes to his Father and denounces you and asks that his Father send his bodyguards to throw you out of the party. His Father, because he loves his son and delights in his son being honored, gladly orders his men to throw you out.

Now Jesus says that what determines whether you will be acknowledged or denounced to his Father is whether you are acknowledging him or denouncing him before men. In other words, are you eager for others to meet and love Jesus as you do? Are you so delighted with Jesus that he is obviously important to you? Can people tell by listening to you and watching you live that Jesus is central to your happiness in life? Or, do you regularly deny Christ and renounce him and his claim on your life? Out of fear of what others will think do you regularly disavow any connection to Jesus? Do you seek to downplay the uniqueness of Jesus and to not welcome him into your life and your conversation for fear of what others will think? Do you show by your conversation and by your conduct that Jesus is not important enough to you to risk being rejected by men?

I need to add several important qualifications. First of all, Jesus is not just talking about verbal communication. He is not saying that just because someone talks about him all the time they are definitely going to be warmly welcomed into heaven. In Matthew 7: 21-23 Jesus clearly says that many people are going to stand before him at the final judgement, expecting to be acknowledged by him. But he will disown them because while they talked a lot about him their lives did not correspond to their profession, they were evil doers. In fact, the apostle Paul in Titus 1:16 says this, "They acknowledge knowing God but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." Paul uses the exact same words for acknowledge and deny that Jesus does in Matthew. Therefore, a person acknowledges Christ by both their conversation and their conduct and a person denies Christ by both their conversation and their conduct.

Second of all, there are going to be people whom Jesus will warmly welcome into heaven who denied him. It is very interesting to note that in Matthew 26 Peter denies Jesus three times. The exact same Greek word is used describing his disavowal of Jesus. Yet, he is restored to full fellowship and apostleship by the end of the gospel. Jesus warmly accepts him and he goes on to faithfully walk with Christ the rest of his life. Peter should be a great encouragement to all of us that when we are not as courageous as we know we ought to be or when we compromise our lifestyle out of fear of men, we should not hesitate to do as Peter did. He grieved over his sin and went to Christ to be restored.

Third, I think it is important to note that the ways in which people acknowledge Christ before men are going to be as varied as people’s personalities and circumstances. It seems to me that the critical question for each of us to consider is this: Do I change how I talk and how I live because I am afraid of what certain people will think of me? Do I behave and talk one way around Christians but another way around those who don’t know Christ? Do I behave one way in public, around Christians, and another way in private? There will be no closet Christians in heaven. There will be no hypocrites in heaven.

Finally, it is necessary for you to see what motivates the person who acknowledges Christ before men and what motivates the person who denies Christ before men. Back in v. 22 Jesus said, "All men will hate you because of me." Therefore, when people openly acknowledge Christ by their conversation and their conduct among people who hate him, they are declaring that something besides their personal safety matters more to them. Human beings do not naturally put themselves in harms way unless there is a far greater good to be obtained. What is that good for the Christian? To be loved by Christ and warmly welcomed by him into heaven is the greatest good that a Christian can imagine. Therefore, she is eager to talk about this great Savior to all who will listen. She is eager to live as though being in heaven is the greatest good she can imagine. She is so impressed with Jesus and so confident of his power to rescue her from all danger that she simply lives as a Christian regardless of who is watching. On the other hand people who regularly put their personal safety above the reputation of Jesus simply show what is in their hearts. They reveal that Jesus means little to them and that what he offers is of no consequence. The transformation of a human heart by God is demonstrated in the willingness of the person to speak and live for Christ no matter the personal risk.

V. 34 is another one of those statements by Jesus intended to shock his hearers and us. It is shocking because he says that the purpose of his mission is exactly opposite to what most of us presume his mission to be. In fact, what he says is not and is the purpose of his coming in this verse is a direct contradiction to dozens of other statements he and others make about his purpose. He says here not to suppose he came to bring peace but a sword. Yet when the angels sang on the night Christ was born their song was; "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." In John 14: 27 he says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." Paul says in Romans 5:1, "Therefore, …we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,…" Again, in Eph. 2:17 he says, "He (Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near." In Isaiah 9:6 he is called the "Prince of Peace". So what in the world is he talking about? He tells us in vv. 35-36. He has come to turn family members against one another to such an extent that the one who follows Christ will find his greatest enemies to be the members of his own family. Let’s put these statements together in a way that I think is very helpful.

It is true that Jesus came to offer peace to human beings. But the peace he offers is peace with God, not peace with the world of men. In other words, the presumption of Jesus’ mission is that God and humans are at war with each other. They are enemies. He comes to make peace between God and men. He satisfies God’s anger against human rebellion by dying on the cross in the place of all those who belong to him. Then he gives all his people new hearts that no longer hate God and his ways but love God and his ways. So God now loves all those who are in Christ and all those in Christ now love God. There is peace where there used to be war. However, what happens when you are fighting in a war and one of your fellow soldiers lays down his weapons and raises a white flag and surrenders to the other side? In fact, he doesn’t simply surrender but he embraces and loves your enemy and his kingdom with the same passion he used to hate it and love your country. You call fellow soldiers who do this, "traitors". If you catch them you kill them. The closer your relationship with the traitor the greater will be your sense of betrayal and your anger against the one who surrenders because their betrayal will be that much more personal.

So Jesus tells us that when you abandon sin and follow him you can count on the animosity of those in your family who do not join you. This does not mean that every time there is marital conflict or sibling rivalry in families where one of the parties is a Christian it is because they are a Christian. But you can count on family members not appreciating you and even hating you if you decide to follow Christ. Their hatred is not for you personally but because you follow their true enemy, Jesus. Please note, they choose to be your enemy, you don’t choose to be their enemy. They hate you. You are not to hate them. We are to love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us because we never know if God might not have mercy on them and cause them to lay down their arms and join us in following Christ. I was at a bachelor’s party for a good friend of mine named Andy. His family and a bunch of close friends were there. We were all sharing stories about Andy. One of his brothers, named John, told how when Andy became a Christian in High School he hated him and gave him a hard time. He mocked him and challenged him at every opportunity. But now, 10 years later, John had become a Christian in large part due to Andy’s patient endurance and consistent love in the face of John’s persecution.

Immediately following this declaration he tells the apostles and us how we are to respond to the hatred of family members. Read v. 37. If the affection and approval of your family means more to you than the affection and approval of Jesus, then Jesus will simply treat you as you desire. He will let you have the joy of quality family relationships on earth in exchange for an eternity of suffering his disapproval in hell. This is quite an audacious statement. Loyalty to Jesus supersedes every other loyalty. Who but God has a right to command this kind of allegiance? Who but God can command you to disobey a parent’s desires? Who but God can tell you to not submit to your spouses desires? Who but God can command you to not fulfill your child’s request?

While this verse confronts basic and natural human loyalties it also can be misused and misapplied. There are times when its application is fairly obvious. When your dad tells you that if you don’t renounce Christ he will disown you, the choice is obvious. When your dad tells you, as my dad did, that he doesn’t want you to be a missionary the choice may or may not be obvious. If you are going to disobey your dad you have got to be absolutely convinced that being a missionary is exactly what Christ is calling you to do and not just some romantic notion you came up with on your own. When your husband commands you to stop reading the Bible and fellowshipping with God’s people, the choice is obvious. But when your spouse asks you, politely, to stop trying to convert him, the choice is not so plain. You cannot stop from praying for his salvation. You cannot stop from living like a Christian in all your life. But you should stop talking about Christ in ways that your spouse finds offensive.

When loyalty to family requires that you disobey a clear command of God in the Scriptures, then your choice is obvious, you must obey God rather than man. But when your family disapproves of something that is not so clearly commanded, the choice is not so obvious. Children are obligated to obey their parents, even if they are not Christians. Husbands are required to love their wives, even if they are not Christians. Wives are required to submit to and respect their husbands, even if they are not Christians. It is easy to justify being stubborn and unloving and disobedient with this verse. However, it is equally easy to appeal to my responsibility as a child, parent, husband or wife in order to avoid the hard choices this verse calls us to make.

V. 37 sums up what it is that motivates Christians to volunteer for the rejection of family and living in homes where there is constant tension and conflict because of allegiance to Christ. Any person who seeks to find their happiness by maintaining harmonious family relationships at the expense of loyalty to Christ is going to discover that harmony to have been short-lived and not adequate compensation compared to the eternal loss they will experience in hell. Any person who gives up harmonious family relationships because living in harmony with Jesus is their hearts greatest desire will discover that the pain of losing those relationships is nothing compared to the eternal happiness of living with Jesus.

Jesus ends these instructions on an encouraging note. Read vv. 40-42. He has warned that men will hate them and that they should expect even those who are closest to them to act as their enemies. But now he assures them that there are going to be people who will welcome them. Those who receive the apostles because they are his representatives are not only receiving them but also he and his Father. Here again the apostles are pictured as ambassadors for Christ. Just as the President of the U.S. demonstrates how our government feels about another country by how he receives that country’s ambassador, so do people show their opinion of Jesus by how they respond to the apostles and their teaching. This verse is still true. While the apostles themselves are no longer with us, their testimony about Jesus is preserved in the pages of the New Testament. How you feel about and treat the New Testament is how you feel about and treat the apostles. In turn, this is how you feel about and treat Jesus and his Father. I’m not just making this up. Your true opinion of Jesus and his Father is revealed by how you treat this book. (See 1 Thess. 2:13)

But Jesus goes even further. Not only do people show their opinion of Jesus by how they treat the apostle’s but also by how they treat every follower of Jesus. Notice what Jesus does in vv. 41-42. When people receive those who speak for Jesus, because they speak for Jesus, he will reward them just as he rewards those who speak for him. When people welcome those who have been made righteous by Jesus because they have been made righteous by Jesus, Jesus will give them the same thing he gives the righteous person. Finally when people show the most basic kindness, giving a cup of cold water, to even the most unimportant disciple because he or she is a disciple, Jesus will reward that person with eternal life. This is not salvation by works. Rather notice that the emphasis is on the motive behind the hospitable behavior. People who treat Christians well because they are Christians show that they too have been converted from being God’s enemies to being his friends. When you treat God’s people as friends because they are his people you show that you too are one of God’s friends.

There are two applications you need to get from these verses. First, there are many people who will respond to you and your testimony for Jesus. Yes, your family may hate you and you may be mocked and ridiculed and maybe even killed for being a Christian. But there are many who will welcome you because you represent Jesus. Count on it. I have experienced what Jesus says in these verses. I have often been mocked and cursed by people for trying to share the gospel with them. But at the same time I have been warmly welcomed by complete strangers because I came as an ambassador for Christ. I remember a young man named Brian. I was in a dorm room late one afternoon sharing the gospel with a student. The door was open and other students were walking up and down the hall. Suddenly a student stuck his head in the door and asked, "Are you talking about Jesus?" After I replied that yes I was, he asked if I could stop by his room for a minute when I was done. When I stopped by Brian’s room he said to me that he wanted to know God and asked if I could help him. We began to meet to talk about Christ. After a couple of meetings he said that he thought that a lot of the guys on his floor would be interested and wondered if we could start a Bible study. We set up a time for me to come by one evening. When I arrived he knocked on every door on his floor and invited every guy to come to the study. About 10 showed up that first night and by the end of that school year there wasn’t a guy on that floor who did not hear the gospel from Brian or me. Jesus promises here that this is going to regularly happen to his people. If you will live like a Christian and be friendly and naturally talk about the most important person in your life, you will find people who will warmly welcome your presence because they find themselves drawn to the one you represent.

However, there is another application here that I don’t want you to miss. The emphasis here is not that people are only welcoming Christians by listening to what they have to say but that they are supplying the physical needs of these Christians because they belong to Jesus. That’s the point of the cup of cold water. In other words, Jesus is saying that people who are attracted to him, who are delighted with him delight to show their love for him by loving his people. People who love Christ use their time and resources to serve those who belong to Christ.

You are sitting in the midst of a whole bunch of people who belong to Christ. For most of us, many of our family members belong to Christ. You show how you feel about Jesus by how you treat the people that you are sitting around. Husbands, if I were to watch how you treated your wife who belongs to Christ, what would I think you think about Jesus? Wives, if I were to watch how you treated your husband who belongs to Christ, what would I think you think about Jesus? Parents, if I were to watch how you treat your children, what would I conclude you think about Christ? Children, if I were to watch how you treated your siblings who belong to Christ, what would I conclude you think about Jesus? What would anyone conclude about how we feel about Jesus if they were to watch how we treated one another? My dear friends, listen carefully to what I am going to say to you. How you treat particular, individual Christians is how you are treating Jesus. If he is precious to you, then each person who belongs to him will be as precious to you as he is. If you do not treat particular Christians as though they are precious to you, then you do not truly love Jesus, no matter what you say.

People who are delighted with Jesus delight to spend time and money taking care of those who belong to Jesus. They do it because they want above all else to be rewarded by Jesus with his presence in heaven forever. The only thing that will motivate humans to give up personal safety, harmonious relationships and personal comfort is the promise of something greater than all these things. Fellowship with Jesus Christ is a far better treasure than any of these things. The heart of the Christian yearns for this above everything else. This is the gospel of Jesus.

© Copyright 2000 John Swanson.
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