Matthew pt. 34 - Not Peace, But a Sword

Matthew chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10 is awesome because

Matthew 10 · chapter mention Matthew 10 · chapter mention

we've got this whole, this whole all of chapter 10 is this

discourse where Jesus is giving the command of the disciples.

And now we're really coming to where I think the wave is most

powerfully crashing from everything that he's been

saying. He's been giving a lot of

instruction throughout chapter 10.

Thank you, Chris. He's been giving a lot of

instruction throughout chapter 10.

He's called the disciples to him.

He's given them authority that's all powerful.

It's all profound. It's all amazing.

We learned the names of the disciples from Matthew.

He sends them out, tells them where to go, tells them what to

do. This is all exciting times.

But then he's saying, behold, I'm sending you out a sheep

among wolves. Here's how I want you to be

wise. I want you to pay attention.

Be aware, persecution is coming. And now he comes and says what I

think are the most strongest statements that Jesus makes

about himself, where he makes himself exclusive and distinct

from everything and everybody who has ever lived.

No one has ever talked this way. No one has ever talked this way

and been taken seriously. We should say that anyone who's

ever talked the way that Jesus talked, either it was Jesus or

it was an insane person. Those are the only two

categories. There's either the king who

everyone goes, there's weight, there's power, this is reality.

Or you just go, man, that poor homeless guy, he's really off

his rocker, like, you know, or he's high or intoxicated on

something. Let's pray for him.

Let's be a blessing. Those are the two categories of

the people who speak this way. So we come to Jesus's words in

verse 34 through 39. Do not think that I have come to

bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace,

but a sword, for I have come to set a man against his father,

and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law

against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be

those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother

more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or

daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not

worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose

it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus, bring us the revelation that we need right now.

Help us to not soften your words.

Help us to not change your words.

Help us to take them as You intended.

Help us to understand with clarity how we can walk in

obedience. Make us grow, make us mature,

make us strong, make us faithful until the end, and help us to

love you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength

and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Do not think that I have come to

bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace,

but a sword again, one of those things that I haven't seen too

many refrigerator magnets for in Christian bookstores for the

words of Jesus. Not too many bumper stickers,

right? But I have been told many times

by Christians that I need to tone it down because I need to

be more Christ like and Christ is all about Christ glory and

that's what people forget. Christ is not ashamed to say who

he is. Is Jesus humble?

He is humble and yet he's the most humble man who has ever

existed because he's not only man, he's also God.

So he he descends to earth perfect and holy.

So he's perfectly humble in doing so.

And he also says, hey, if you don't love me more than you love

your wife, if you don't love me more than you love your husband,

if you don't love me more than you love your parents, if you

don't love me more than you love your children, you're not worthy

of me. Imagine if I spoke that way to

you. Hey, if you don't love me more

than you love your spouse, you're not worthy of me.

It becomes absurd when you think of anyone else talking that way.

I'm not worthy of you, John Michael.

What are you even to be worthy of?

What does that even mean? Who do you think you are?

Is what you would say to me? You're not worthy of me.

What if somebody knocked on your front door?

Hey, if you don't love me more than you love anybody else,

you're not worthy of me. And let me say it not two more,

not one more time. Let me say it three times in

total. You're not worthy of me.

Jesus understands who he is and what he's worth.

This is why he does what he does.

This is why he acts the way he acts.

This is why he talks the way he talks.

He continues to divide. And in fact, he says, I didn't

even come to bring peace. I came to divide.

We're going to break all this down.

We're going to answer all the questions that you already have.

First of all, though, he says, I have come.

Not everybody even can talk that way.

Jesus comes from somewhere. Where did he come from?

He came from heaven to earth already.

Now you have to reckon with this man Christ.

You have to reckon with Jesus before you take your last

breath. We say your breath.

Before you take the last breath that He gives you, before you

return the breath to the giver of the breath, which is the very

last thing you'll do by the way, on earth is return breath to God

as you die that He gave to you that you borrowed for a season

is you'll have to reconcile with Jesus one way or another.

You've got to determine and decide this man who said he came

from heaven, that that is the question, where did he come

from? He came from heaven to earth.

No one else can say that they came from somewhere.

They can just say that they were born, that they just had a

start. They had a beginning date, they

had a birthday or they had a moment that they were conceived.

But Jesus has always existed, even though he was conceived by

the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb. Jesus has always been.

It's simply in the moment when he was conceived in the womb of

Mary that the word became flesh. So you can't read Matthew's

gospel and come away thinking, man, Jesus seems like a super

interesting guy. You cannot read the gospels and

have that conclusion. You have to be Bible ignorant to

come to that conclusion. You have to be a worldling.

You have to be a lukewarm Christian to come to those kinds

of conclusions. Go.

Well, you know, Jesus was for me, but it wasn't for everybody.

Go. Hey, man, you haven't read the

New Testament. No, I have.

All right, then, it's been way too long and you don't remember

what it says. You.

You don't remember the words of Jesus.

Shall I read some to you? Well, the Bible's been changed

by men. All right, Fully full category

now, like dog and pig. At this point, I'm not going to

just pour out all of my pearls. If you would be humble to

receive the words of the King, not the words of man, then I

would share them with you. But I'm not going to waste all

of my breath because the harvest is ready.

So I just need to move on from 1 field to the next.

If I get resistance, I can be gracious and I go, hey, hang on

a second. But whenever I continue to

receive opposition, I know that I need to move on.

But Jesus has come from somewhere.

I haven't come to do this. He says I've come to do that.

So we're going to see that. You can't just come away and

think Jesus was an interesting guy, man.

Jesus was like a good moral teacher.

No, he doesn't allow for us to make that vote.

We're going to see more why that's true later in the

passage. But let's think about one of the

questions that you already have in this moment that every Jewish

reader would have had. Remember, Matthew wrote his

Gospel for the Jews. Matthew's a Jew writing to the

Jews. He's constantly referencing Old

Testament Scripture. Jesus is actually quoting Micah

in this passage as well. He's paraphrasing it.

And so he's constantly showing Jewish readers, hey, guys, you

know how the Messiah is supposed to do this.

And they go, yeah, we know the Messiah is supposed to do that.

And he goes, Jesus did that. And they go, interesting.

And over and over Matthew goes, you know how the Messiah is

supposed to do this. And Jewish readers are going,

yeah, yeah, we know that. And he goes, yeah, Jesus did

that, Jesus did that, Jesus did that, Jesus did that.

But here the Jewish reader is going to be stumped a little bit

because the Messiah is supposed to bring peace.

That's one of the promises. That's one of the guarantees.

We call Jesus the Prince of Peace.

The Scripture says he is the Prince of peace.

So what's going on, Jesus? Which is it?

Are you coming to bring peace or are you coming to bring a sword?

Are you the Prince of Peace? Are you the Lord of war?

What's going on here? Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

The Messiah does bring universal peace.

Jesus right now is bringing peace to every single heart who

receives him. That's where his peace shows up.

But the Prince of Peace is not yet.

Everyone say not yet. He is not yet forcefully

establishing his peace. Guys.

He's literally going to come back and forcefully establish

peace. We already read that the Father

is going to make Jesus's enemies Jesus's footstool.

It's that's not a high position, in case you're wondering.

He's going to prop his feet up on his enemies is the point

that's being made there. He has not yet come to fully

establish his universal peace. He is going to do that later,

but he is not yet making his enemies his footstool.

But now he says, I've not come to bring peace, but I've come to

bring a sword. A sword, pretty obvious, right?

This was the weapon of warfare. This was what they all

understood. They understood what a sword was

for. A sword is for stabbing.

A sword is for cutting. A sword is for slicing.

A sword is for separating. Not a sweet image, not a pretty

thing. If Jesus was talking to us

today, he would say I didn't come to bring peace, but a gun,

the weapon of warfare that we're familiar with.

Man, this sounds intense. It is intense.

It is heavy. He's remember the context

though. He's explaining.

He says, hey, you're going to be persecuted for my name's sake.

You're going to be flogged, you're going to be beaten,

you're going to be carried into courts, you're going to be hated

for me. And then he clarifies, I didn't

come to bring peace, but a sword.

We're going to answer all the questions that you have.

So Jesus does bring peace to every heart.

Jesus has brought peace to my life, and that's not a peace

that's contingent upon your outer circumstance.

We want to clarify that it's not a peace that's contingent upon

everything is going well. Jesus brings a peace that can

live with you and stay with you in a North Korean prison camp.

Jesus brings a peace that can live with you when you're having

challenges in your marriage. Jesus brings a peace when when

your children are breaking your heart.

Jesus brings a peace when loved ones die.

Jesus brings peace that's not based upon man.

Everything is peaceful. We're sitting in a hammock today

and the day is beautiful. We enjoy those moments.

That's the goodness of God as well.

And yet Jesus peace is a deeper thing.

It is a truer thing. It is a more solid thing.

It is a more immovable thing. So the sword that he references,

it's the obvious weapon of warfare.

But Jesus does not mean that he is handing out swords to his

disciples for them to go and forcefully and violently

establish the work of the Kingdom.

This is very important to understand.

We are not supposed to rise up and make Christian militias.

We are supposed to rise up and make disciples.

That is the work of the church, the government, the church, the

household, all spheres of influence that the Lord has

given. 1 does not rule over the other three.

They have an inner working. Jesus rules over them all.

They each have an authority potentially over the other in

limited degrees and in limited ways.

But we're not supposed to rise up and make Christian militias.

We're not supposed to take up arms.

We're supposed to rise up and make disciples.

We're not to advance the work of the Kingdom with physical

violence. Jesus is explaining that he

divides people. That's what he's doing here.

He's explaining that as his church makes disciples, the

wicked will attack the righteous.

That's the point that he's making.

That is the sense in which he brings the sword.

There will be division because light and darkness cannot be

together, and darkness will resist.

That's the point that Jesus is making.

Darkness will resist. The Word of God is often

described as a sword. The word of God is a sword that

divides. It is a sword that exposes.

It is a sword that cuts deeply. And when the Word of God is

wielded, it will necessarily create division between light

and darkness. It is inevitable, and you cannot

stop it, nor should you try. You go, oh, there's this tension

we have to navigate. It's a sword.

Jesus chose his imagery on purpose.

He didn't use the soft analogies that you and I want to put into

place. He used the harsh, divisive ones

that he intended to use. He doesn't need us to come clean

up his language. He doesn't want us to.

That would then begin to miss his message.

His message is, hey, it's going to hurt.

There are deep and thick bonds that you have with people that

you love. And he said, and I'm going to

sever those. Why would you do that to me?

Jesus? He's going to know.

You misunderstand. It's not that I want to sever

you from those people. It's that my truth is going to

come and change your life. And then you being a Christian

will actually start to act like a Christian.

You having a new life, you will begin to behave as though you

have a new life. And that is where the divide

will come. Some will be made disciples by

you. That's our only goal, That every

heart would be one, That every life would be saved.

And yet, my disciples, he's teaching us, it won't be that

way with everyone. Some will harden their hearts

against you and hate you. Some will distance themselves.

And it will be in that moment when you will have to choose who

you will love. And that is why He makes the

distinctions he then goes in to make.

If you love your spouse, If you love your children, you go wait

a second. He says.

You're. You're telling me I have to

pick. Absolutely.

Jesus is jealous. God is a jealous God.

What does that mean? Does it mean he's jealous of

what I have? No.

He's not jealous of you. He is jealous for you.

He is a husband who won't share his wife.

I I know the feeling. That is a jealous thing.

And marriage is a good thing. It's not.

I'm not jealous that Natalie gets to go hang out at the pool

while I work. Like, that's a blessing.

Good. Go hang out, have a great day.

But I'm jealous for my wife. I'm jealous for her.

She's all mine and only mine. And she was like, well, hey,

this guy from high school reached out and he was saying

maybe we can get lunch. Like, ha, ha, ha, very funny.

That's hilarious. Over literally over my dead

body. Would that happen?

That's the only way it would happen.

You sound like a jealous husband.

Guilty. Lock me up and throw away the

key. I'm not sorry.

Jesus isn't sorry. He says I won't share you.

I want all of you. And yet He does command deep

love in marriage. We know how much God honors

family, father, mother, spouse, children.

We see all of His commands to love and yet He prioritizes.

You have to love me more. And if you don't love me more

than you love them, you're not worthy of me, is the way he puts

it. That is a divisive message,

isn't it? And said, hey, everybody

together, I'm willing to be one God among many.

That was always the story throughout Scripture.

I am not one God among many. That is what still gets

Christians persecuted today. You will not be persecuted like

we said last week, just because you're going, I just love Jesus

so much. It's not because you're loving

Jesus so much. It's because loving Jesus is

going to look like something. Do you understand?

Loving Jesus looks like something.

It means you said no to that invitation.

It means you said yes to that one and that it it showed up in

a practical way over the Thanksgiving table during

conversation. It wasn't just a private

interior thing that was happening.

Loving Jesus looks like something.

It necessarily must show up in a certain way.

It's got to have a practical outcome and that's what

sometimes you and I are tempted to hold back and go, well, let

me not make it a public thing because that will create

discord. Jesus said it would create

discord. You should be you all the way.

You should love the Lord all the way, loudly, boldly, joyfully.

How much, how much do people celebrate their love for sin at

this point, the month of June? It will be thrown in our faces

all month long and they will be saying we are.

Not only are we, not only are we sinners, we're proud of it.

We delight in it. This is our identity.

But the church goes, well, I don't want to say any too much

about Jesus because people might not believe.

Does does the world have that approach?

Right? That's what we've been told for

decades. If we'll just do our thing and

mind our business, they'll just mind theirs.

And the enemy goes, these Christians, I love it.

They're like sheep, but they're not wise as serpents, they're

naive as sheep. They're dumb as sheep and they

just go. We'll just mind our business

over here and maybe we won't get shoved off the Cliff.

So what do we do? Is now the time to rise up?

Yes, rise up and make disciples. Rise up and love the Lord your

God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

But that will be divisive. Yes, Jesus is divisive.

He didn't come to bring peace. You're not going to have

peaceful interactions with everyone.

You should. To the degree that you are able

to live at peace with everyone we're commanded.

To the degree that I'm able, I'll live at peace with

everyone, but I'm not able to control their side of the

equation. I can only control mine.

So the Word of God will divide. Light and darkness will be

clarified. There will be a separation.

Jesus said. For I have come to set a man

against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Jesus isn't saying he wants people to rebel against his

will. He's just saying that they're

going to. Now we tend to think of enemies

as people who live in a faraway land.

You know, somebody who's praying to Allah who wants to cut our

head off, Maybe we think of someone like a local criminal or

something like that, who maybe wants to break into our home and

hurt us or our family. But Jesus is saying that in some

instances, not in every instance, but in some instances,

you're going to have an enemy in your own house.

You might have an enemy in your own bed because your

righteousness convicts others of their unrighteousness.

And if they don't choose the correct response, which is

repentance, they are left feeling exposed, ashamed and

angry. There's two responses.

When I feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and when I

recognize the holiness in your life, I can go, oh, that calls

me up, man. Thank you brother, that that

called me up higher. Oh, I need to grow and mature in

that area. I need to repent.

I need to crucify flesh or I go, whatever.

Who do you think you are? And I begin to push back against

it. Division was created.

The word came, the sword came and did the work.

And Joe Michael, what did he do when he was cut open?

Repent. That's the right answer.

Or harden up with pride. The sword cuts to the heart when

Stephen preaches in the book of Acts, the sword cuts to the

heart and they murder him. The sword cuts to the heart when

when Peter preaches and they repent.

You don't know how people will respond to the sword of the

Lord's word, and you are not responsible for that.

You're just responsible to be salt and light.

But often times the church has not spoken the words of Jesus.

We have given a mealy mouth Mashed potato message and people

go, what exactly? And you're like, God loves you

and like, I know I've been saying that and you're like, OK,

want to come to church? Like, no, I'm good.

God loves me. Why?

Why do I need to? The message isn't clear.

You're not blowing the trumpet on the right notes.

You're like, well, I did play one note, but but there's a

whole song that has to be sung. The truth of God includes the

wrath of God and the grace of God.

Without one, the other doesn't even make any sense or or

without understanding the wrath of God.

The grace doesn't even mean anything.

God loves you. I know I'm awesome.

Of course he does. And people believe that people

are deceived and people need to be told the truth because you

love them, because you love Jesus, and because you don't

want them to lose their life. And Jesus even warns his

disciples about that very thing for themselves.

You're responsible, though, to be salt and light.

It looks like this. A person gets saved and begins

to live like a saved person and others feel convicted and

warfare happens. It can be so bad that Paul on

1st Corinthians 7 even says your spouse might leave you because

of it and that if they do, you're free to divorce.

We know God hates divorce, and yet he goes, hey, this can get

like these divisions are going to go farther than you think.

Let me clarify how far it could go.

So the gospel is a sword. It cuts even the thickest bonds.

It will sever. It will sever friendships that

you've had for years, and it's going to hurt and it's going to

break your heart. And still you have a friend who

sticks closer than a brother. The gospel will slice through

the thickest and the strongest bonds that you have.

When you're betrayed or hated or just unloved by someone who once

loved you, it's important to remember the words of your

master because that's where you'll have to make a choice

with your love. Because it will hurt, You'll

feel it, and you'll go. I did not see this coming.

I thought everybody else might separate from me, but I thought

this relationship would stay deep.

I thought this would stay true forever.

And Jesus, they're going. I'm worth it and I'm with you

and I love you and I'm more and I'm worthy.

But if I keep my eyes on people and go look at all, I'm losing.

Look at all, I'm giving up. And he's going.

I told you this was coming. I did tell you it was coming.

And for some people to say he's not worth it.

That's the choice. That most make he's not worth

it. He's not.

And they say I'll, I'll pick these relationships and he says

you can, but I'll also give you that warning.

If you hold on to that life, you're actually going to lose

everything anyway. But if you'll lose that life,

you will get the life that is truly life.

I will give you the life that you were always after anyway.

Jesus has to be more precious to us than anything in anyone.

We have to. Remember his warning.

These are stern words. I will not soften them for me or

for you. I'm not the shepherd of your

feelings. I'm a shepherd of your souls.

Whoever loves father and Mother more than me is not worthy of

me. Whoever loves son or daughter

more than me is not worthy of me.

Whoever loves friends more than me is not worthy of me.

Whoever does not take up His cross and follow me is not

worthy of me. So we've got to make ourselves

worthy of the calling that we've been called to.

We have to walk out Our Calling with fear and trembling.

We have to fear God and that will protect us from the fear of

man. But we will.

Fear. We must fear someone, God or

man. But Jesus calls after our most

precious relationships, parents, children.

And God commands love for parents and children, like we

said. But he requires more love for

himself, and this could show up in many ways.

Let's think about our modern moment.

Sometimes Christian parents are faced with this.

They say, should I go to my child's false gay wedding?

This wouldn't even have been a challenging thought for

Christians 40 years ago. It would have just been an easy

answer, but because you have been brainwashed, because you

have seen a bazillion commercials normalizing

degeneracy, normalizing sexual perversion over and over and

over and being beaten over the head and told to be a nice

Christian that you doubt, you doubt yourself and you're not

sure what that looks like and you justify things.

You go, well, I want to make sure I have relationship for the

purpose of the Gospel is the thing that people will say.

You go so you'll go celebrate. You're going to you have a

wedding is a celebration is an affirmation is A2 thumbs up of

what's happening instead of no, I can't participate in that.

My love for you is deep and continuous.

But if you're asking me to celebrate the thing and imagine,

you know, having celebratory ceremonies for other sins, you'd

say I can't go to that. But give it 40 years and not

renewing our minds and not standing up to the challenges of

our culture, and we go, well, I'm going to go to Bob ran off

with his secretary. He's having a big celebration

party. He's invited me.

And, you know, I want to have a good relationship with Bob.

So, you know, I want to make sure that I don't offend him.

So I've got to go be a part of that.

So we can't. Participate.

That might be one thing that it would look like it's not a

massive conundrum. Should we take Johnny to the

baseball game or should we go to church?

Again, 40 years ago, this stuff was simple.

This stuff was plain. This stuff was easy.

I'd do anything for my children. Careful, because children are

wonderful as children, but they make lousy gods.

Spouses are. Wonderful as spouses, but they

make lousy gods. Parents are wonderful as

parents, but they make lousy gods.

Friends are wonderful as friends, but they make lousy

gods. And whenever I have chosen

someone else's convictions over Jesus's convictions, then I'm

making him. At best, I'm making him one God

among many in my life. Not worthy of me.

Jesus is claiming ultimate supremacy.

He's either Lord and King of all, or he's just some crazy

guy. You're not worthy of me.

You're not worthy of me. You're not worthy of me unless

you love me more. And again, loving Jesus has to

look like something. I love Jesus more.

Than anybody, but I'm just going to bow down to this to this, you

know, 90 foot statue because it's just like what's bowing

down anyway? Like it's just like knees and

like cartilage and ligament like it's no big deal.

It's it's no big deal. It's no big deal that I do the

thing that everybody pressures me to do because it's just no

big deal. It's no big deal that I watch

this show. It's no big deal that I go to

that wedding, false wedding. It's no big deal that I

whatever, insert, whatever thing would oppose the will of God for

your life with some sort of justification following Jesus

has to look like something. And when we're tempted to look

at ourselves with pity because of this, because of this

separation, because of this pressure, as though I'm going

through some unique persecution, Jesus gives a Storn a stern

warning and a powerful promise. He seems to ask, Do you love

them more than you love me? Do you choose them or do you

choose me? Lot's wife comes to mind.

As they were leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, they were commanded do

not even look back at the city. So lot.

Left Lot didn't look back, but Lot's wife.

She just thought. I don't know what she was going

to miss. I don't know what it was in her

heart that was reaching back for Sodom and Gomorrah.

But there's something there that she was longing for.

There's something she was What about my friends or what about

the shopping or I don't know. Don't know what her motive was.

I can't assume, but I know it was deep enough that it

displeased the Lord and that she wanted to stay.

She didn't want Sodom and Gomorrah to be judged, to be

condemned. And she not only didn't want,

she didn't just love them, but she loved herself more than she

loved the Lord. Jesus said Remember Lot's wife.

He told us. Remember Lot's wife?

Another Jesus. Bumper sticker that we're

missing. Another coffee mug needs to be

made. Remember Lot's wife?

Jesus, Mr. Nice Jesus, who wouldn't hurt a family,

apparently. Who turned a woman into a pillar

of salt because she looked back. The preserving salt that she

should have been in her life, that she refused to be during

her lifetime, the Lord turned her into in death.

She was holding. On to it.

So she lost it all. If you love your parents more

than you love him, you're not worthy to be his disciple.

If you love your children more than you love him, you're not

worthy to be his disciple. If you love anything or anyone

more than him, you're not worthy to be his disciple.

He's not begging us, He's warning us, because this is

reality. I'm not overstating his case.

We're meditating on it. We're drawing it out.

But this is needed for us because we have been, we have

certainly been told something else, something much softer.

Repeat after me. Ask Jesus into your heart.

Cool sea in heaven. You're in.

Are you sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're in. Because we did the thing you

repeated after me, didn't you? Yeah.

OK then. Then you're definitely in.

Where's that in the? Bible it's not, but you know it

works. Does the Lord save some people

that with you, Michael? Absolutely.

He has before and he will again. And yet, is salvation a

formulaic process? No, it is not.

Ask Matt who the Lord saved sovereignly sitting in his seat

while the Word of God was preached.

Nobody led him in a prayer. Nobody told him what to do.

But Jesus saved him and made him new, as Matt responded by faith,

just like we've talked about with healing, it's not a

formula. Faith is this mysterious thing

that I don't get to wrestle down and control.

I don't get to put it in a box and tie it up with a bow.

It is, it's, it's more surrender involved in that.

And that's why many of us will not walk in it.

That's why we've stumbled into it.

But then we get away from it because we go, well, how do I do

that again, walk with the Lord. It's almost like a relationship.

Jesus's recruitment is intense. There's nothing soft about it.

He promises challenge, He promises persecution, He

promises danger, He promises loss of life, and he says that

loss of your life is actually a requirement.

This is required. All who seek to live a godly

life in Christ Jesus will be met with persecution.

It almost seems easier experiencing a persecution from

an enemy who who really hates your guts.

I imagine sometimes that that would even be easier than the

loved one, than the loved one who just starts to shun you,

than the friend or family member who just starts to dance at you

because you go, that one stings. The other one I was prepared

for. The other one I knew going into

this whole thing that that was a risk I was taking.

But the loved one, the family member, when I just want to

share the good news with them. And I'm saying God loves you.

And yes, he does call you to repentance and Jesus is King and

they're going no, no, no, no, no.

And not only do I reject your King, I also reject you.

It hurts. It stings.

We can acknowledge that and we also take it to him and we also

say, Jesus, you're worthy. Another thing on the altar as I

worship you. Another thing on the altar as I

take up my cross looking like Jesus.

Following Jesus is going to look like something and it will bring

division. Verse 38 Whoever does not take

his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life

for my sake will find it. So Jesus hasn't gone to the

cross yet when they were hearing this message.

Now when when Matthew finally gets down to writing it down,

Christ has already been crucified.

Matthew tells the whole story. So the readers of this Gospel,

the crucifixion has already happened.

But the day he was saying this to the 12 or at least the 12,

maybe more, Jesus hadn't been crucified yet.

He hadn't gone to the cross, but they were all very familiar with

crucifixion. They had all seen crucifixion

before. They had all seen someone

carrying their cross. Carrying a Roman cross was a

gruesome, horrifying thing. It reminded you of your

mortality, even though you might not be guilty of committing any

crime against Rome that would get you killed.

When you saw a man carrying his cross down the street, you might

make eye contact with him and a couple Roman guards might be

walking with him. It wasn't always the giant

fanfare that Christ had at his crucifixion.

It was hardly ever that. Most of the time, just like

there's another one, maybe you'd offer him a cup of water as he

carries the beam. But the when you saw a man

carrying a cross, you knew one thing.

He's not coming back from where he's going.

Wherever he's. Going.

He's not coming back. This is the last walk he's ever

taken, and he knows that with each step and any moment he

decides to hesitate because he wants to not die, a Roman whip

will urge him forward, and pain sends him forward until he's

eventually crucified. Excruciating, excruciating

death. And this is the tool that Jesus

chooses to teach us to follow him.

Not a great recruiting method he needed.

He didn't go to school for marketing.

He didn't know how to really draw a crowd.

It seems he knew how to divide, he knew how to separate, but it

wasn't super good. It's just drawing people

together. It's intense.

There's nothing soft about it. This is the.

So someone carrying a cross, they understood this is the last

walk that they'll ever take. Jesus is saying to his

disciples, if you come with me, there is no going back.

And although it will cost you your life, there will be pain on

the way to your cross. There will be pain while

carrying your cross. There might be many pains, but

you will not do it alone. And my will will be done, and

you will be worthy to be my disciple.

Oh, I don't know if I love him that much.

That's the, that's the vote of many.

That's the vote of many. And he gives the warning and

the, and he lets them know ahead of time the consequence for

that. I don't know, I might choose, I

might try and I might choose to just try and wring out the best

80 years I can get here. Well, first of all, friend, you

don't know that you're getting 80.

Could just be today. So keep that in mind.

But I, I think I'm going to just take my chances, do the best I

can with 80 years or so here. And you know, we'll see what

happens in the last few minutes there.

You cast your vote. It's very clear what you've

chosen. Jesus says, come and follow me.

Come and be like me. Come take the last walk that you

should ever take and don't turn back.

Your will isn't going to be done.

His will will be done. And that's good news for you

because it pleases him to give you life that is eternal life.

We'll get to that next week. He finishes with the rewards

course. You'll have to endure a whole

sermon on this, where they got to hear it all and within a few

moments. But it was heavy.

It was heavy. It's still great reward.

It's always worth it. But he doesn't hide the pain

from you. He doesn't hide the pain from

me. It's a shame that it's been

hidden to us by others. Those who discipled us, those

who preached to us, they probably loved us.

They probably meant well and they were probably taking

certain truths of Scripture. But again, one of the advantages

we have here is as we go verse by verse, we're not dodging

anything. We're going to take everything

that Jesus has to say and everything Jesus has forced to

grow in verse 39. If you find your life and you

hold on to it, you're going to lose it, is what He's saying.

If you lay it down, He's going to give you something greater

anyway. If your life is about self

fulfillment, let's be clear what He means when He says you'll

lose your life, you'll go to hell.

That's the. Implication here, if you hold on

to your life, if you find it all man, I've got all of my life and

none of Christ's, you'll go to hell.

But if you take up Christ's life now on earth, which involves a

cross, not only will you go to heaven, but you'll have heaven

within you even on the earth, if your life is all about self

fulfillment. You'll.

Carry a cross eternally. But.

If you get on the cross now, you actually sit on the throne with

the King, which is the life that we're always looking for anyway.

Heavenly Father, your word is perfect.

It's true, it's weighty. I pray that your Saints would be

strengthened by it. You sent out your word today to

accomplish something and it will accomplish what you sent it out

to do. It will cut people to the heart,

but I pray that every single person listen to this message,

listening to your word today, that they would have the

response that the hearers of of Peter's sermon did.

Just one of. Repentance, one of devotion, one

of deeper love. Lord, show us how to walk in

wisdom. Show us how to walk in strength.

Show us how to walk in conviction so that our love for

you would really look like something.

As we pray for those that we love, as we pray for our enemies

and anyone in between. Just make us faithful and help

us to keep our eyes on the reward that is to come, the

blessing, the promise. It's not an equal trade.

We're not giving up something deeply valuable for something

slightly more valuable. We're really just.

Crucifying ourselves and our love for self.

Help us to not hide it and call it love for others, when really

it's a love of self. Help us to love you more.

The greatest command is to love you, to be with you, to know

you. Strengthen your people, refresh

your Saints. Send them out in joy today.

Joy because they have found the treasure in the field.

Joy because they have the Pearl of great price.

Joy because they have the King who is worthy of it all.

And now the Lord. Bless you and keep you the Lord.

Make His face shine down upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.