Message Based Questions

Matthew 10: 16-23 The Future of the Church | 2024-03-24

Message Recap:

Matthew 10: 16-23
The Future of the Church

Matthew 10
16“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But 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, 20for 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. 22You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When 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.

Jesus is talking to His Disciples about the future of ‘the church’ not necessarily about what will happen to them specifically; at least not immediately. Jesus is preparing them for PERSECUTION.

This is a warning. Jesus says, ‘I am sending you out like SHEEP among WOLVES.’ Jesus has given the Disciples specific things TO DO as they go out in Ministry. He warns them that there will be opposition. Jesus is telling them WHERE they can expect this PERSECUTION. Jesus is describing this as WOLVES. This is a passage that is applicable to all generations.

We benefit from this warning because Ministry isn’t for the ‘faint of heart.’ We too face opposition and PERSECUTION. Jesus says ‘Be on your guard…’ We need to know where to expect PERSECUTION and we need to know who are the WOLVES?

1. Man
Matthew 10
17 …the local councils
18 …governors and kings …the Gentiles
21“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents
22You will be hated by everyone because of me…And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake…(KJV)

We will face opposition and persecution from humanity. Satan and his evil spirits fight against us USING a number of things and one of them is men and women.

Romans 3:10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

That’s the state of humanity.

Romans 1:18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, andworshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

THAT is the state of humanity and our country.
This is all spiritual, the devil prowling around looking for someone to devour but, He can’t devour everyone.

2. The Church
Matthew 10:17Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.

Jesus says that PERSECUTION will come from people in the CHURCH.

II Corinthians 11:1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
5I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” 6I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

We see false doctrine, gossip and lying about church leadership. We see disrespect and a lack of submission to the Authority God has put in place.

12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

God cares about the health and UNITY of His church, both macro and micro. He gives us boundaries and instruction on how to manage the church, like a family. The wolves in the church manifest through some of these areas inside the church:
• Defiance and lack of submission
• Infighting and jealousy
• Lying and gossip, slander

Jesus is specifically warning the disciples about
PERSECUTION from organized Religion.

Acts 4:1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
5The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them:

Acts 5:17Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

Throughout the book of Acts we see PERSECUTION coming from the Church.

3. Governments
Matthew 10: 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.

Jesus was PERSECUTED by the local Government, Herod and Pilate.

John 15:18“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

In Acts 12 we see James, the brother of John was the first of these 12 to be put to death by the Government, King Herod Agrippa I.

Acts 12:1It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.

There are other examples in the Bible and it will only get worse.

Revelation 13:5The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them.

We see some of this already today. The attacks on our beliefs and the vilification of Christians here in the US. We are living in the End Times. Good is called bad and bad is called good. Jesus is warning us, yet also lets us know we are not alone:

Matthew 10:19But 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, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

The Holy Spirit is with us. God will be using all of this for His glory. PERSECUTION doesn’t stop the Gospel, it propels it.

After the martyrdom of Stephen:

Acts 8:1And Saul approved of their killing him.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.

4. Family
Matthew 10:21“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

The enemy knows how hard this will be so he will do anything he can, he will use anyone he can to take you out, including family. ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’

Mark 10:29“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

Hebrews:23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Jesus isn’t trying to make us feel good, He’s warning us, because we need to know what potentially lies ahead for us. Remember though they are PERSECUTING HIM and not us.

Jesus confronts Saul on the road to Damascus saying:
Acts 9:4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

God will get the last word.

This happened to Herod in Acts 12 after putting James to death:
Acts 12:21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

When Peter and John were arrested and declared again the truth about Jesus, the Pharisees were together trying to decide what to do:

Acts 5:34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35Then he addressed the Sanhedrin…

38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

We can be confident in a Faithful God. In spite of what we see around us, He is in control!

There are 5 things that Jesus gives us as part of this warning that will help us:

1. Be Wise – 16Therefore be as shrewd as snakes…
2. Be Harmless – 16…and as innocent as doves.
3. Be Alert – 17Be on your guard…
4. Be Calm – 19But 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, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
5. Be Consistent – 22You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
6. Keep Moving – 23When 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.

Message Based Questions:

Question 1:

What are some reasons people might give for persecuting Christians, whether physically, verbally, etc.? Are any of the reasons justifiable? Why or why not? Do you think one type of persecution is worse than another? Why or why not?

Question 2:

Can you think of a time you were “persecuted for righteousness’ sake?”
Can you think of a time where you allowed a fear of persecution affect your actions? What about a time you thought you were being persecuted, but in hindsight realize you were just seeking persecution?
Who is someone God is calling you to be bold about your faith with?

Question 3:

What from this passage encourages you in your suffering for the short-term? What encourages you for eternity? Why do you think suffering is inescapable in the Christian life? How might we live if we never suffered? What practical implications does this teaching about suffering have for your life right now?

Question 4:

Identify where your loyalties lie. If persecution increases, and I believe it will if we are faithful, where will your loyalties lie? What if religious elites reject you, as they rejected Jesus and the apostles? What if the government persecutes you, as they did Jesus and the apostles? What if your own family members reject you because of the Gospel, as has happened for thousands of years to those faithful to Jesus? What do you need to do in your mindset and attitude to help prepare for the same? Spend some time this week in reflection upon that idea.