Matthew 10: 34-42

Some of us are reading through a book in our Santa Rosa Bible class.  It’s written by a pastor who had a big aha.  What I mean is he realized that what the American church sometimes portrays as following Jesus is a far cry from what Jesus describes.

I once lived across the street from a church which called itself the Church Triumphant.  I always wanted to go across the street and ask if they had already gone to heaven.   Because Jesus tells us that following him will not be a life of one joy, one happy moment, after another.  This world will not permit it.

But that hasn’t been my experience, pastor.   I am a Christian and things are going just fine. Well then let me ask you, dear Christian.  How close are you following your Savior?  Are you following Him at a distance, a safe distance that arouses no attention from the world., your friends or family.  Are you following him at a distance, a dangerous distance that makes you easy prey for Satan.   How close are you following?   Do you walk with Jesus just one hour on Sunday morning?   If someone were to watch you over the course of your day, could they accuse you of following Jesus as your Lord and Savior?   Maybe that’s why you haven’t experienced what Jesus tells his disciples here.

But I suspect you have.  You know what comes with following Jesus in an unbelieving culture—in your workplace, even in your own families.  It’s a struggle not just in places where you take your life in your hands by saying: I believe in Jesus. We  may not have someone wanting to jail us or take our lives. Yet it’s still a struggle to persevere in following Jesus.  It’s still a struggle that too many abandon on the way.

Here Jesus helps us look beyond the struggle.  To see that the cost is worth it, by far.  So we say,

Christian, Bear the Strain
I.  Yes, it will cost you to follow Jesus
II.  Yes, but follow on to  rich reward.

Jesus is sending the 12 disciples out.  He tells them . As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.  Wow, the kingdom is near.  Sounds like good times are just around the bend. So the disciples thought.  Like many, they thought that the coming of the Christ meant peace.  The Romans would be gone.  A great new king would take charge. Great expectations, kind of like those Christians who believe that Jesus will return and reign on the earth for a thousand years- a millennium of peace.  Great expectations, but wrong expectations.

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  Wait a second.  What about the Christmas angels?  Didn’t they sing of peace on earth at Jesus’ birth?  Yes they did. Didn’t Jesus say, Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give you. Yes he did. And he does.  He offers a very special peace that only He can give.

The other day in Oslo, Norway a bomb went off.  A peaceful day was horribly changed into death and destruction.  That’s what sin does to our relationship with God.  It’s like a bomb that brought death and destruction to something so good –  and we were the bomb makers.  And did you see that street in Oslo?  Debris everywhere.  That’s what sin does.  It makes debris out of the love that we owe each other, out of unborn children, out of marriages meant to last. And worst of all sin makes debris out of our relationship with God.               But for some strange reason beyond my understanding, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.  He gave us Jesus who then lived for you and  took your guilt to a cross where he paid the price for us all.  Every sin.  Every sinner.  It is finished. And how can we be so sure?  Jesus rose from his grave.  And now through faith in Jesus, God’s word declares, we have peace with God. In Christ, God is your dear Father and you are his dear child.  Never will he leave you or forsake you. His love will never fail you, even when you breathe your last breath on this earth. That’s the peace Christ gives in the gospel of peace.

But what happens wherever that gospel is preached.  Some believe it.  Others reject it.  That’s the sword that Jesus speaks of here.  Think of a sword.  It cuts.  It divides.  When God’s Word draws people to Jesus, there comes a great divide.  God spoke of it in the Garden of Eden when he said:  I will put enmity between your offspring and hers.  Jesus speaks of it when he said to his disciples:  If they hated me, they will also hate you.

With Jesus comes a great divide.  Sometimes that divide results in terrible things done to Christians.  I often sense it in the way that people act when they find out I am a Christian pastor.  There’s a divide. And sadly that divide sometimes runs right through a family. Jesus speaks of it here:  “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— ³⁶a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household (35b,36)

Well who wants that?  These are people near and dear to us.   If my faith in Christ turns my loved ones against me, that a serious price to pay.  No one wants to be at odds with family.   We want peace and good relations.  But sometimes that is what it will cost you to follow Jesus.  What does Jesus say?  ³⁷ “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; Yes it will cost you.

And then Jesus adds³⁸ anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. When Jesus disciples heard that word cross it must have shook them to the core.  The crosses they knew were not pretty jewelry hanging on a golden chain.  They were ugly instruments of torture.

But Jesus wasn’t telling people to go around carrying a heavy wooden cross. He’s talking about the things that make it hard to follow Jesus. From the teasing of friends to a job lost because you refuse to go against God’s Word , all the way to a Christian mother in prison condemned to death in Pakistan because of her faith.

Yes it will cost you to follow Jesus.  And for some that cost is too much to bear.  They’d rather live their life and not deal with those things.  But how sad.  Such a person has struck a terrible bargain in walking away..  Jesus says it this way.   ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it.  Or as Jesus says elsewhere:  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul.

So you, Christian, bear the strain, no matter how hard.  For yes it will cost you to follow Jesus.  If you are faithful, it will cost you.  But follow on, follow on to rich reward.

I’m reading a book by the late Pastor Richard Wurmbrand.  When he was in prison in Rumania, he met a man he had led to Christ but now was in prison for his faith while his wife and children were starving.  Pastor Wurmbrand said to him.  Do you hold it against me that I told you about Jesus and now you are in prison?  To which the man then said.  If you had not told me, I would not have known about our wonderful Savior.  Here was the kind of man Jesus was talking about when he said:  Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

You see, to follow Jesus is to lose our life in Him.  Before he came to us in baptism, we belonged to this sinful dying world in all its ugliness.  We were without God and without hope.  Our lives were set on a different course with a whole different set of values.  But we have lost that life in Jesus.  In fact, sometimes that life is taken from us by those who hate Jesus.

But we have lost that life only to find another.  He who believes in the Son has eternal ,life. And when we believe, we find life.  Real life.  Life with God.  Life that even death cannot destroy.  Life that offers a rich reward.   And not just to that man in prison.  All of us who follow Jesus regardless of the cost.  We follow on to rich reward.

And how do we do that?  We listen to those he has sent.  We listen and take to heart the message Jesus has given them in this Word.   It started with just these twelve men.  But it goes on to this day through those he has called to his service. For what does Jesus remind them here?  They do not speak for themselves.  They point you to Jesus and urge you to follow.  So  listen closely to what Jesus says to them.   ⁴⁰ “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.

Now I’d like to skip down to the last verse of our text. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”  Whenever I read this I think of two very special people years ago.  I was going through their neighborhood knocking on doors, introducing myself as Pastor Smith of a new church in the area.  It was a hot desert evening.  I came to their neighbor’s door.  I knocked., He opened up, listened for a few moments then yelled at me and slammed the door.  But before I could leave, he opened the door again and asked if I had any kids.  I told him two — and one on the way.  He muttered that’s too bad and slammed the door even harder.

I trudged over to the next house not sure if I wanted to knock.   Ed and his wife answered.  They soon realized I was a Christian pastor, invited me in, listened to my story, encouraged me in my ministry and then brought me a very welcome glass of cold water. They probably thought it was nothing but it meant a lot coming from these two people who followed Jesus and honored his gospel. They helped me to bear the strain as we should help each other.

But here’s the thought.  If I have my way when I get up to heaven, Ed and his wife will be in for a surprise.  Here is one person who will greet them with one big hug.  I suppose there will be a lot of that going on.  So Christian bear the strain of following Jesus.  Yes it is hard at times.  But  follow on to a rich reward — and more.  Yes, more.  Amen.