Yet another reference to Matthew 10 today (see yesterday's post). Made me think about families.

You see, none of my family (except my beautiful wife) are Christians. I have spent a good deal of time wondering if they will become Christians. I used to worry about it a lot but these days I trust god a lot more than I used to.

The issue is though; how much of a 'Christian' should I be? We have a party coming up soon with lots of family there. There will be drinking, swearing, lewdness and general being an idiotness.Should I sit in the corner and tut away? Not go? Dip my toe in the water? Dive in? I don't know really. Scripture says that we are to be salt and light but we also need to be in the world sharing the Gospel. how are we to share the Gospel if we never mix?

Worst part of it is though, that many of the family use Jesus Christ as an extra piece of punctuation!


Guess I will have to try and remember Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Last Sunday, I had the enormous privilege of preaching again. Preaching has become something that I really really enjoy. At first, as you can see from some of the posts here, I wrote it all out and read it through as the talk. Recently, taking some advice from the pastor, I have been a little more relaxed.

What I am doing now is writing out several different mind-maps and working through them. I stop to change things as the Spirit dictates and I enjoy doing just that. The Sunday just gone, I felt that I should preach on Matthew 10

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. 9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! 26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c] 37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. 40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

There were two or three different things that came out of the passage for me upon deeper reflection. Firstly, the first bit is for the First Century. It is one of those passages in Scripture that is meant to be for the people at the time. Yes, there are lessons to be learned but we needn't worry about taking no shoes and no staff! Yes, God has a specific place he wants us but I firmly believe that it is where we are right now. Yes, God may have somewhere else in mind for us but we have a mission now. The second part of the passage, from verse 16 to verse 23 is definitely for us. And it is a scary passage as well. We are being sent out among wolves. We will be brought before powers and flogged. Ok, maybe we will not be physically flogged but we are in danger of ridicule and punishment. Take the man arrested for preaching in the street from Leviticus. Now that passage is banned in England effectively and Christians can be guilty of a hate crime (as opposed to one of those I really really really like you crimes) if they preach from Holy Scripture. Then there is the Ulster preacher in trouble because of comments he made about Islam. Apparently you cannot really claim that Jesus is the only way to God these days.

A little aside here for one moment if you please -

'I am the way and the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the father except through me' John 14:6 Only Jesus will get you to heaven. All other religions are wrong and I do not care who knows it. I believe it with all my heart

You see, that is something else that comes out of the passage. We are told (three times in this chapter alone) that we need not worry. God will give us the words we need.
Finally, the chapter makes it clear. It will be tough and we will be hated by people. Maybe our family will hate us. Society certainly will. Doesn't matter, what's the worst that could happen?

You see, they can kill the body but not the soul. God is more important. Fearing him is more important. I think this part means respect rather than be scared but it makes no difference. He is stronger, more important and a better judge of what is happening. He has told us some news and we need to share it, we need to shout it from the rooftops. People are going to go to hell if they done respond to the message. It might be the people who hate us but we need to love them!

Incidentally, this passage contains the verse about Jesus not coming to bring peace. It seems to be the go to verse of a friend of mine who is a devout atheist. Interesting that this week I preached on it.

Incidentally, ever since Sunday there have been a lot of things pointing to Matthew 10...

So Sunday went well. Leading. Sorting worship. Preaching. Organising communion. All of it was me. I was a little nervous but it went off well. Coming only two weeks after my last time of preaching I don't think that the talk was as good as it could have been but it was ok.

I preached on Matthew 10 and it  contains that beautiful verse about not worrying what to say because God will send his Spirit to speak through you. I cannot tell you how many times I have thought about that verse! It is a powerful verse.

I hope to write a bit more later