Whoever Receives You || Matt 10:40-42 & Rom 6:12-23

Kia ora and welcome to the St. Francis Church

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faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus.

As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow

Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For

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among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and

peace. Good morning everyone. I hope your week

has been good, because God is good, so he would

have been there with you. I hope you're feeling

well and fighting off or staying away from any

of the illness that seems to be. travelling rapidly

around everyone. But we come here now this morning

to worship God, to hear his word and to hopefully

be able to take something away from what I'm

going to share with you this morning. Three verses

this morning. That's what we get from Matthew

today. Jesus has been sending out His disciples,

just 12 ordinary guys, he gave them specific

instructions. He warned about the rejection and

the hardship and told they'll be like sheep among

wolves. The whole of Matthew 10 is one long commission

and it ends here with three verses that feel

almost like an afterthought, almost. Jesus' words

are never wasted, are they? They're even the

one or two that we get. So hear this again. Whoever

receives you receives me. And whoever receives

me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives

a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive

a prophet's reward. And whoever receives a righteous

person in the name of a righteous person will

receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever

gives one of these little ones even a cup of

cold water because he is a disciple, truly I

say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

Let's sit with that last image for a moment.

It's a cup of cold water. Not a miracle he's

talking us about, not a sermon, not a... a big

sacrifice, a cup of cold water given to a thirsty

person in Jesus' name. And Jesus says that that

will not be forgotten. All of us, through our

lifetime, we walk into rooms or spaces carrying

things, things like fear, loneliness, am I good

enough? Pride. Sometimes you might walk into

a room saying, look at me, or hopefully they'll

look at you. Or there's the other one of, I want

to hide. I have to be here, but I want to hide.

So what did you carry into this place this morning?

I'm not going to get you to name it out loud.

You already know what they are. I have another

question for us, though. And it's hiding in these

three verses in Matthew that I want to pull out

into the open for us. It's not complicated, but

it's more demanding than it's look. It's this

question here. Do you understand who you're carrying

when you walk into a room? Because Jesus is saying

something extraordinary here to us. He's not

just commissioning the disciples to go and do

good things. He's saying, when people encounter

you, they're encountering me. So when they encounter

you, Janine, or Dave, or Wendy, or Tony, when

they encounter us during the day, they're encountering

Christ as well. And when they're encountering

me, they're encountering the Father who sent

me. Now that's a chain of presence that goes

all the way back to God. And it runs through

you and through the ordinary, unremarkable, imperfect

you and I. That's a certainty in our lives. Today's

three readings all converge on this. How we show

up in the ordinary days, which is just day to

day living, matters more than we usually believe.

The cup of water, the door opened, the person

welcomed. Those ordinary things, simple things

are not peripheral to what God is doing in the

world. They are central to it. When you go back

to the beginning of Matthew chapter 10, Jesus

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

has been watching. He's been moving through the

towns and the villages. We heard that just a

couple of weeks ago. Teaching, healing, meeting

people at the edge of their lives. And Matthew

tells us that when he saw the crowds, he had

compassion for them. Remember that gut wrenching?

That's his compassion. It physically moved him.

They were like sheep without a shepherd. And

then he does something unexpected. He calls 12

ordinary guys, gives them his own authority,

now this is the authority you have in my name,

and he says, go and do what I've been doing,

go and heal, go and announce, bring the good

news. And by the end of chapter 10, he's telling

them, well whoever receives you as you go and

do these things, receives me. Sitting here, you

are not just people going out to do good things

for God. You are carriers of His presence. You

are a vessel where He dwells within you. That's

the extraordinary claim that we have, and it's

not reserved for the Twelve. The early Church

understood this. And they understood this to

apply to every follower of Jesus who goes into

the world. I think within some of our teachings

in the life of the churches since then, we've

lapsed on it. But this also connects to something

that Paul was saying in Romans 6. His whole argument

in this chapter is about what you yield yourself

to. He says this, do not offer any part of yourself

to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather

Offer yourselves to God as those who have been

brought from death to life, and offer every part

of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness.

An instrument. Wow. The word in the Greek is

huppun, which is a tool or a weapon. Paul is

saying that your body, your hands, your voice,

your presence, These are the instruments that

will be used in everyday life to share and tell

and show of God's love and life. The question

is not whether you'll be an instrument of something.

The question is what you'll be an instrument

of. Now an instrument can be used for a tool

or the same instrument can be used as a weapon.

This is the question he's asking us, what will

you be an instrument of? And Jesus and Matthew

10 are saying that each of us have the responsibility

of being an instrument through which people encounter

him. Not because you're impressive, not because

you've got everything sorted, but because you

belong to him. And he has chosen to make himself

present through the people who carry his name.

We are marked externally and internally with

His name when we are baptized in the name of

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We

carry His presence which dwells within us. Teresa

of Villa is attributed with these things, God

has no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours

are the eyes through which he looks with compassion

on the world. Ours are the feet with which he

walks to do good. Ours are the hands with which

he blesses all the world. We do something like

this at the cathedral, every chrism mass, which

is held in Holy Week. One part of the service,

the bishop goes back to the front or back wherever

you're standing and looking at the church. has

the anointing oil that's just been blessed for

that time and calls us to come forward and marks

in our hands the sign of the cross with the oil

saying, God has no hands but these hands. That

brings it down that my hands are to do God's

work. My words, my life, my feet are to carry

me to do the things that God has called me to

do. And that is placed on each one of us. You

may not feel like as you go through the days

that you're actually carrying much but Jesus

says whoever receives you receives me and That

should change how you walk into a room So I wonder

if I send you all out today to outside the doors

there with these words still in your ears Whoever

receives you receives me and they should change

how you walk in true. How you would then come

into this room this morning if you really knew

that. If that was in front of your thinking instead

of tucked away in some corner of your mind. Now

look at where Jesus lands this whole discourse.

He doesn't land it on the dramatic, on the miracles

or preaching. He lands it simply on a cup of

cold water. And whoever gives one of these little

ones even a cup of cold water, because he is

a disciple of mine, truly I say to you, he will

by no means lose his reward. A cup of cold water.

Well, in first century Palestine, offering water

to a traveler, this was just a basic act of hospitality.

It wasn't remarkable, it wasn't spiritual, it

was just ordinary. It was just an ordinary human

decency towards someone who was thirsty. And

Jesus says, when that happens in his name, that

it doesn't go unremarked. It doesn't fall through

the floor of history unnoticed. God sees it.

If he knows they're here on your head, the numbers

of them, he'll see this as well. Think about

what that means for the texture of an ordinary

week. A drink made for someone or for a colleague

who looks like they're struggling. The phone

call that took 20 minutes that you didn't have

at the beginning of it. Or the door held open,

the name that's remembered by someone thinking,

oh, they won't know it. The moment when you choose

to stay instead of leaving. The second question.

when the first answer wasn't the real one. Those

are the cup of cold waters. These things feel

small. They get lost in the ordinariness of days

and we just think they're just things that happen.

We don't usually think of them as spiritual acts.

We certainly don't think of them as encountering

Jesus, but Jesus says they are. Thing that is

small register in the economy of God. The smallest

act of a genuine welcome done in His name is

not nothing. There's a story that illustrates

this, and you heard it as a first reading this

morning, Abraham in Genesis 22. He's asked to

give up the thing that he loves most, his son,

the promised son, the son that... everything

was supposed to flow through. And he goes, he

doesn't understand it. There's no record in scripture

of him arguing his way through the theology of

it. He just goes. And at the last moment, God

provides. God provides the ram that's caught

in the thicket. He hears the angel's voice. And

Abraham names a place the Lord will provide.

What strikes me about that story in this context

of the Matthew is this. Abraham's obedience to

that looked like one thing on the outside, a

man walking up a hill with his son, with some

wood. Unremarkable from a distance, just a man

walking out for the day with his son. But the

obedience was carrying the whole weight of the

covenant, the whole future of God's people. everything

that was to come. That tells us that sometimes

what looks small from the outside is carrying

everything on the inside. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

said this, we can do no great things, only small

things with great love. With obedience to the

command to go. The disciples Jesus sends out

of Matthew 10, we know they're not impressive

people, we've seen what their life's like, it's

written down there for us. They're fishermen,

there's a tax collector thrown in, and people

who will within hours of the crucifixion, they're

just going to run away. They're going to deny

Him. But they carry something that they didn't

generate themselves. And the cup of cold water

given in Jesus' name by the least of them, it's

not nothing. And Jesus says so. See, in just

these few verses, there's something else that

we shouldn't miss with it. Jesus is not only

talking about the people being sent, he's talking

about the people who are doing the receiving.

Whoever receives you, they receive me. Whoever

receives you, receives me. That means the act

of welcome. of opening your door, your table,

your attention, your life to someone who carries

the presence of Jesus, that act is also an encounter

with God. Welcome is not one directional. It's

not charity flowing from the generous to the

needy. Welcome is something that is mutual. The

person who gives a cup of cold water meets Jesus.

And the community that receives the person carrying

Jesus, will they meet him too? Paul, he picks

up the same logic in Romans 6 from the other

side, he says, but now that you have been set

free from sin and have become slaves of God,

the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the

result is eternal life. What you and I give ourselves

to shapes what you become. Because if you give

yourself to sin, sin shapes you. Now I have two

boys, sons, that are lifetime examples of this.

You've heard about it there. They've decided

to steal, steal in drugs, harm people. They've

given themselves to that, so they're in prison,

released from prison, go back into prison, released

again. It's a continual cycle. What you give

yourself to is what you will become. If you give

yourself to God, then God shapes you, not the

world. This is not a mechanical formula. It's

an observation about how formation works in life.

And it applies to welcome as well. That every

time you open yourself to someone in Jesus' name,

Something happens to you. You are being formed.

You are becoming the kind of person who recognizes

the presence of Christ in the unexpected faces.

This is why hospitality in the New Testament

is never just politeness. It's a spiritual practice.

It's a practice of staying, well, I'm open to

the possibility that the person in front of me

is carrying something that I need. the unexpected.

Henry Newman in his book Reaching Out says it

this way, hospitality is not to change people,

but to offer them space where change can take

place. It is not to bring men and women over

to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed

by dividing lines. Hospitality that is open and

welcoming. In Jeremiah 28, the prophet gives

us a darker version of this very same principle.

There's a prophet named Hananiah saying what

the people want to hear, that, hey people, peace

is coming, exile will end soon, everything's

going to be fine, so follow me. And Jeremiah

stands up and says, I hope you're right. But

the test of a true word from God is whether it

proves true. You can't always tell in the moment

which voice is genuine. Because we're wanting

to believe that peace is coming, exile will end

soon, and everything will be fine. And if someone's

saying that, we want it, don't we? The same is

also true of welcome. There's a discernment that's

required. Not every voice that claims to come

in Jesus' name does. Jesus himself warned about

this earlier in Matthew 10, just last week. Standing

at the back talking with someone and someone

came in, generally afflicted on the knee, crossed

themselves, got up, then crossed themselves again

and went out. I knew this person though from

many years from being here. So I had an eye on

them. And they walked out, walked around, and

walked down the hallway. So I excused myself

and then followed them. Spoke to the person.

He said, I'm just here for prayer. I said, well,

that's good. But you're not really here for that.

You're here for something else. And he walked

down. I followed him out of the church. My welcome

is to welcome them. But when they come stealing,

You have to discern. You have to be ready to

understand what's happening. As all of you are

talking and sharing in conversation, there are

walls roaming around as well. But with that,

because of that exchange and the many things

over the years with this person, the call is

not to close down and stop welcoming them. The

call is to be discerning and to keep the door

open. Because the risk of welcome is real and

Jesus calls us to it. It seems next time may

be the time that I reveal myself to them. Three

verses today. I said at the start they feel like

an afterthought, but they're not. They're the

hinge that the whole discourse turns on. Jesus

has been sending people out into the world and

they won't always welcome them. He's been honest

about the cost that they've faced. Sheep among

wolves. Don't be naive. And then he says, and

yet. Even the middle of all that, welcome is

possible. Welcome matters. And welcome carries

more weight than it looks like from the outside.

So here's something that I would like us, all

of us, to take home today. You're carrying something

bigger than yourself, not because of who you

are, because of whom you belong to. When you

walk into your street, your workplace, or cafe,

or anywhere, supermarket, your family gathering,

your neighbourhood, you are not walking in alone.

Jesus says, whoever receives you receives me.

Now that isn't pressure to be impressive. It's

permission to be present, to show up, to be open

and be available to those that you encounter

as they encounter you. Don't underestimate the

cup of cold water, whether that's a smile or

a welcome opening the door. The small thing done

in His name is not nothing. It registers. not

just with the person in front of you, but it

also registers with God. The conversation that

nobody else noticed that you had, the moment

of patience that cost you something, the welcome

that was inconvenient because you wanted to be

somewhere else. These are not peripheral to your

life of faith, they're the substance of it. And

remember that welcome forms you. Every time you

open yourself to someone in Jesus' name, you

become really a little more the kind of person

who can see Him in unexpected faces. And that's

not an accident. That's how formation works.

Paul says, offer yourselves to God as instruments

of righteousness. Don't offer Him just your big

moments. Offer Him your ordinary ones. The whole

life of the Christian life can be described as

learning to see, to see the face of Christ in

the face of our neighbour and to respond to what

we see. Ordinary time. That's what we're in.

We're 13 weeks in of about 28 of them for this

season of the Church's calendar, the season of

going deep and of growing up. And perhaps the

biggest and I think the most grown -up thing

Jesus calls us to is also the most ordinary thing,

which is to welcome, to give water to the thirsty,

to open the door for someone. But whoever does

that in His name, Jesus says, will by no means

lose their reward. Amen. Let's pause and pray.

Father, as we go and journey through our week,

that we learn to be attentive to the small things,

the cup of cold waters that you have named. Not

going in the door, pausing with someone, having

a conversation or just listening. Going deeper

with them. but welcoming them and receiving them

because you are in them. May we take notice and

have compassion as you did. May your spirit move

us to see those around us. May we be discerning

people as we welcome them. Amen.