Study of Matthew |
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Matthew Chapter 10
Jesus Himself gave authority to His twelve disciples to cast out unclean spirits, heal diseases and sicknesses. They were to go forth preaching the gospel and allowing these signs to follow them in order to confirm the truth of what they spoke. For many years the early church got away from their first love of the Lord. Signs and wonders began to disappear from among them. It could be that there were many who went to extremes and went beyond their calling, perhaps they took glory for themselves instead of Christ, perhaps they misused the gifts for material gain or some other reason and the church leaders of that day over corrected it by starting to take control and forbidding anyone but so-called clergy to lead the church meetings. I'm speculating here, this is not "Thus saith the Lord," but so many times when error does creep into the church, human nature tends to over react and go to the opposite extreme. The gifts were given to the church and never taken away. The only way they would disappear is if we rejected them. Actually if everyone would flow in the spirit and do all things by the type of love Paul spoke about in 1 Corinthians 13, there would be no excessive fleshly demonstrations attributing to be the Holy Spirit. What they might have done though is to throw the baby out with the bath water and organize so much that there was a division between clergy and laity where the clergy did the leading and the laity did the following. This should not have been because all the church is to receive the Holy Spirit and exercise the gifts accordingly, not just clergy. I personally believe hierarchy was never in the plan of God for the church but was only to be in place among Israel before the coming of Christ. Now Christ is the head of the church. While we are to have good leadership to keep proper godly order so as to avoid the wolves in sheep's clothing, I don't believe that meant a clergy laity division that puffs one above another. We do need godly leadership to keep the flock safe from the wolves. There is a place for that, but titles and hierarchy that try to rule the personal private lives of people should be avoided. There are some cults who try to tell people who to marry, and delve into their personal lives, not giving them freedom of choice. Jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples of all who will believe, not just clergy. It is good to have a godly leader who will teach, preach and keep order to avoid chaos, but he is not to be a lord or dictator controlling people but to lead them gently to fruitfulness. He should always encourage others to be filled with the spirit and exercise the gifts of the spirit that God imparts to them; exercising those gifts both in the meetings and when they go out to minister among the lost. Notice how the apostles were those that were sent out first to spread the gospel. They were ministers of light. The word apostle did not imply they were higher than others in the church, neither were they apostles so they could be licensed and titled to receive the honor and praise of men. They were simply ministers of the light of the gospel going forth for the first time where the gospel was never preached before. They were those who ventured into new territory as far as the gospel is concerned.
Going to Israel first was not because the gospel was not for the Gentiles but because it was not yet time. God has His own timing. The gospel had to go to the Jews first. When they rejected the gospel, then it went to the Gentiles. Perhaps it was originally intended for all Israel to be saved by faith in Christ first and then they be used of God to reach the rest of the world. This I believe is what will occur in the last days. Again my speculation. The Jewish leadership though rejected Christ, had Him crucified by the Romans, and then the gospel went to the Gentiles. When the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled and the Gentiles (non Jews) have had a chance to hear or reject the gospel, it will go back to the Jews. We've seen so many Messianic Jews in our world today that it may be that the time of the Gentiles is close to ending very soon and God's attention will return to Israel. I realize that many of the Messianic Jews are Gentiles also attracted to Messianic Judaism and returning to the original roots rather than the Hellenistic roots of the understanding of the bible but many actual Jewish people are also finding Jesus as savior. I might add that more and more Jews are returning to Israel to live. The first believers in Christ were Jews and the last believers will be Jewish. I get this understanding by the combined study of Daniel, Revelation, and Matthew 24. Also the writings of Paul where he talks of the grafting in of the Gentiles into the vine explained in Romans chapter 11 is very important to explain the latter day return of Israel back to the right standing with God. Jesus said He was the vine. Ye are the branches in John chapter 15. We are to bring forth fruit once we are grafted into that vine. It is now for everyone who will to receive. We only get cut off when there is no fruit. The whole bible is fascinating to study and then it fits together, one part many times explaining the difficult passages in another part of it. Just like it was planned by our creator to be so even though it is made up of separate books by different inspired writers. Yet the one who inspired them is the same Holy Spirit.
Why did they preach, "The kingdom of Heaven is at hand?" It has been over 2000 years since Jesus came and we see no visible kingdom. The Pharisees asked Jesus when this kingdom was to come. Here is what He answered them:
Jesus' first coming was for the salvation of individual souls that would believe upon Him. The kingdom is within us when we come to Christ. His first coming was not to set up the visible kingdom that they were looking for. Before Christ can set up the visible kingdom, the sin problem had to be dealt with. To enter His kingdom, we must first be born again and have our sins remitted or cleansed. Jesus came to save us from sin first. Yet there is a visible kingdom to come. He describes it here:
Christ will not come visibly until all things are fulfilled and the gospel is preached all over the earth. He will come in power and glory. The Lord first will come to take His people out of the world who are faithfully following Him. He first will raise those who died "in Christ" and then take the ones alive to be with Him. These faithful ones will escape the wrath poured out upon the unbelieving world. Notice that Christ never promises that believers will escape the wrath of men but only the wrath of God. During this time of great tribulation, Israel as a nation will finally come to know the Messiah or savior their ancestors rejected. Then Christ will come visibly in which every eye shall see Him including those that pierced Him (probably their descendants). What a glorious time that will be. The nation of Israel had to be in their place and in existence again before the end time prophecies could be fulfilling. In 1948 this happened, just after WW2. This is why there is so much trouble in the Middle East and also why the nations of the world are trying to take away Israel's land. Satan does not want Israel to be a nation so that prophecy cannot be fulfilled.
John chapter 14 also speaks of the Lord going to prepare a place for His believers.
Before Christ can come the 2nd time, He first must suffer and die for sins and be rejected by the generation alive during His first coming. Just as Jesus suffered at His first coming, the Jews will suffer just before His 2nd coming. Remember the story of Joseph. His brothers didn't recognize Joseph when they first went to Egypt but they did recognize Him the second time they came to Egypt. They rejected Joseph and sold him into Egypt not wanting his dreams to come true that he would rule over them. It is similar to Israel rejecting Jesus. The first visit, they suffered agony over their sin of what they did to Joseph and thought surely the bad that was happening to them was because of what they did to Joseph. The second visit they recognized Joseph, ate with Joseph and were treated kindly. A restoration occurred and much forgiveness. This is what will happen either just before Christ comes or just after Christ comes a second time.
Free, free, free. the gospel is free. We do not charge to preach, to heal, to cast out devils. It is supposed to be free. I realize when an evangelist comes to preach, offerings are sometimes taken to pay his expenses but to charge high fees before coming to speak, is really not what Jesus said to do. If I had to pay to get in to hear someone preach the gospel, I'm better off staying home. I know most could not afford to send out videos, tapes or cd's free of charge but we need to be very careful not to use the gospel for gain or profit when it was freely given to us. Freely we receive and freely we give.
They were to go forth and trust the Lord to take care of their needs. This is not easy but that was what was commanded of them. They received no salary, tithes or a living. They probably received only food, shelter and provisions to help them survive their journey and further the gospel. Jesus is not saying here that we can't provide a home, shelter and continual support for a local pastor especially one with a family. He is saying to His apostles and those that go out to charter new territory not to take a lot of stuff with them but trust in the Lord to provide for them. By giving support for missionaries, we are being used of God to provide so I'm not saying to not give and send them forth with nothing. We must remember that God uses us to provide, help and support. So listening to God's direction in these matters is important. The main idea may be that we are not to exploit the poor and guilt them into giving great sums of money. This type of ministry is not really for women and children but men especially called of God to be sent forth in this manner. However, there has been a few pioneer types of women who have been willing to go like this. They surely are very special people.
God provides miraculously when one is really called to go and preach the gospel. We think living by faith is believing God for healing and such. Going forth like this is really living by faith.
By being worthy, it probably means that they gladly receive the words of the apostles and do not reject it or take it lightly and it could also mean that the household had a reputation of being hospitable and of being honorable, but if the ones that were sent out stayed there and found that it is not so, they are to depart shaking the dust off their feet.
To reject those that bring the gospel is very serious. Only by the mercy of God and perhaps the prayers of other believers might they be given another chance at salvation.
Paul speaks in the 2nd chapter of Romans how serious it is to be judgmental of people who commit the same type of sins as Sodom and Gomorrah but do the same things themselves. To one who rejects the gospel, it is worse for them than the judgment upon Sodom, Once we hear the gospel and we reject it without ever repenting, we will actually be in worse shape than those that live in sexual immorality or confusion that never has heard the gospel and didn't have a chance to be saved. Paul was not excusing the sin in that chapter in no way. He says clearly in chapter one of Romans that the wrath of God will come upon all those that live in sexual immorality, idolatry and uncleanliness. He was just saying that to sit in judgment of those who sin in that way but they themselves commit other sins that are similar are just as guilty. To reject our cleansing from sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ is the biggest sin of all because that was the only way God provided us where we can be saved and escape the wrath of God.
Wise but harmless. He is warning them that the words they preach may not always be received. It is especially rejected by whatever established religion may be in control or the area they visit. A new way of salvation that does not require the rituals, rites, ceremonies and requirements of the established religion will cause anger, jealousy, and fear. People do not want their income threatened even if their income comes by way of misled lost souls who are on their way to hell if they don't receive the gospel that will save their souls. Others want to continue in their sins and still think they are okay so they will reject any gospel that requires them to repent of sin. The true believers were the ones who were persecuted and killed for the message they preached. Jesus warned them that it would be that way. He also said to be harmless as doves. They were not to take vengeance. They were not to fight back. They were not to persecute, put to death or harm anyone who rejected their message. How the early church got from these words of Jesus to the stuff that occurred after the time of Constantine, I will never understand but that's another topic.
The first persecutors of true believers in Christ was the established religion of the Jewish hierarchy during the time of Christ until 70 AD when Israel as destroyed by the Roman armies. The second persecutors of believers were the Romans who worshipped their emperors and idols. Old Babylonian religions with many gods were already the established religion of that day. They already had temples with idols representing their own gods. They didn't accept the fact that there was one God and and thought there were many gods. Of course those gods were not real gods at all. Notice also with all waves of persecution, when the preaching of the gospel happens, it does cause the economy of evil businesses to suffer loss and that will stir up anger and persecution also against the message of salvation and eternal life the gospel brings. The love of money is another false god. The third time of persecution is after the time when Constantine stopped all persecutions of Christians and then Christianity mixed pagan religion all with the blessing of the Roman Emperors that came after Constantine. In fact the emperors began to be head of the church. When the Roman Empire fell, the pope of Rome became head of the church and the government became the Holy Roman Empire which was not holy. When they gained power, they began to persecute and kill fellow believers who followed the truth and held onto the word of God. After the Protestant Reformation began to become popular and took over a few governments they began to persecute those that opposed them. Established religion always opposes anything they think is a threat to their existence. That is why Jesus probably reminded them to be harmless as doves. Better to be persecuted than to be the persecutors. Because of this messy history of the church, we have real deceivers and heretics that can come and preach anything. Had we been harmless as doves and wise as serpents we could have walked in love and we could have been a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. A church of brotherly love never uses force but trusts in the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives and convert the lost. They are wise to keep His word and not deny His name but also they are harmless as doves. Had the church been that way all through the Middle Ages and beyond, Jesus might already have been back because the true gospel would have spread over all the earth. That part is my speculation but just because the spreading of the gospel is not always written down doesn't mean its not happening. There was probably places that received the gospel that we don't know about. The gospel is not forcing Christianity on everyone. The gospel is the true preaching of being born again by God's Spirit, receiving the Holy Spirit and following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
How many have stood before church councils, Jewish councils, evil men, governments, emperors and such because of their true faith in Jesus Christ? Jesus said for them not to fear what to speak because the Holy Spirit will give them the words. That is one of the reasons we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is probably why the early church began to fail, at least what is recorded in church history books. We are at the mercy of historians here. God always has a remnant that stay true to the original word. Some though did not keep up Holy Spirit baptism that is to follow true conversion to Christ. Perhaps they started to mentally believe in a man called Jesus but there was no repentance from sin. Perhaps the warning to the church at Corinth scared them out of seeking the gifts. Perhaps clergy wanted to lord over the laity and they didn't want the laity to be filled with any gifts of the spirit. I don't know what happened exactly but how we got from the church described in the book of Acts to the church in the Middle Ages is beyond my understanding. A church with no godly leadership and no care for the flock will have heretics and trouble makers. A church with too much organization and a separation between clergy and laity resulting in Nicolaitism which will suppress the laity and stop the gifts of the spirit from flowing in the church. This will then result in no one getting born again, no one becoming fruitful and no one being filled with the Holy Spirit. That means there is no love being shed abroad in hearts by the Holy Spirit. We cannot love one another without the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That is why the early church of brotherly love could evolve into the controlling Roman church we saw in the Middle Ages and the Dead Protestant churches years after the first believers lost their first love years after the reformation. I should remind myself and others that just because it does happen to some, God always has a remnant that stays true to Him throughout history. We just don't always hear about them. Among those that fall away, God has always has faithful people scattered among those that lost away from their first calling. No Spirit, no life, No Spirit, no love is a deadly combination and will definitely hinder the real gospel that saves. That is why the devil causes these things and we must resist them by getting a proper understanding of scripture and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
This is what happens when legalistic religion replaces the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We can actually get to the place that we hate our own parents, brothers and sisters over religious reasons. On the other hand some hate may come because we desire to save people from their sins and those that reject the gospel may be those that do not want to repent of sin. Religious people usually think they have no sin to repent of but those that have gone beyond repentance and have their conscience seared will also hate those that bring the truth.
If any religion, church, Christian or non Christian persecutes a believer and preacher of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, mark them as false. As I stated before, Jesus said to be harmless as doves. You want a true religion, don't look at any who persecute other religions. That is not the way Jesus taught us to spread the gospel. In saying that though, I don't mean that we should keep quiet and not preach the gospel to other religious groups. We just do not harm them physically if they reject our message though.
Look what they did to Jesus. They even called Him, the devil or accused Him of representing the devil. They will also accuse His followers of the same thing.
All things will be revealed in the end. Rewards will be given to those that are faithful.
This is hard especially for some of us who live in a country where we've had it easy and do not suffer persecution but it is really better to die a physical death for standing up for the truth than to be lost for eternity in hell, both soul and body. Temporary death is just that, temporary. If one is put to death because they believe in Christ, they will live forever in eternity where no one can harm them again. The persecutors will be judged and sent to hell for eternity if they do not repent and turn to Christ before death comes to their body. We are to fear the one that can send us to hell not the one that can kill our body temporarily. Since Jesus now has the keys to eternal life. He is the one that we need to listen to and obey, not the people who rule this world and its system.
This is one of the comforting passages of scripture. It is good to read this just before going to bed at night. The fact that those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ are so precious to God; in fact we are special to Him before we even come to Christ because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our sins. We are so well known to God though that the hairs of our head are numbered. He knows all about us and cares. He cared enough to send Jesus to die for our sins and make a way for us to be saved and inherit eternal life. To throw this back at Him and deny His salvation is really the insult above all insults. He offers us life, eternity and all good things and yet so many would rather remain in their sins and neglect this good way.
If we are ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, He will be ashamed of us. To be ashamed is to withhold the truth from anyone who may ask. To be ashamed is to fail to acknowledge Christ in front of an unbelieving crowd. Jesus tells us not to fear men. We are not to fear what they think if we confess the name of Christ. We are not to fear those that kill the body but cannot touch our immortal soul. Jesus is reminding us of the things that are eternal. The things we see now are temporary. We live in such a short time span. We are here one day and gone the next. We need to focus on the eternal destination of our souls and not on what we gain in this life which is here today and gone tomorrow.
We get the mistaken idea sometimes that the gospel causes unity. Yes, we are to strive to have unity of the spirit and truth among those that believe upon the name of Jesus. But if error creeps into the church, it will cause division because there will be some that fall into error and some that hold onto the truth. We are not to have unity at the expense of forsaking the truth. Jesus is speaking here though of those that do not believe in our own household and among our friends and family. When we take a stand for Jesus Christ, our enemies can be among our own loved ones who do not believe. If we choose to please them and water down our message, we are putting them ahead of Christ.
We are not worthy of Christ if we do not confess Christ or let them know we believe in Christ if they do not believe.
This could mean two things. If we find our life in this world and seek the things of this world instead of seeking the things eternal, we will lose our souls. If we choose to please our families, our neighbors and those around us to gain their favor that we would lose if we kept following Christ or if we rejected Christ because it wouldn't please our loved ones, we would lose our souls. Christ must come first above even our family. The second explanation is that if we deny Christ to keep from getting killed, we may save our temporary life but we will lose our soul for eternity unless we are granted repentance like in the case of Peter who denied Christ 3 times. According to tradition Peter later was crucified upside down for his preaching of the gospel. I realize we could deny the Lord temporarily and then repent later to but what if we were killed anyway before we got that chance? Nevertheless, if we choose Christ He will give us the strength at the time not to deny Him out of fear. Corrie Ten Boom one time said that her dad explained it to her in this way. He asked her when did he give her the ticket to board the train, ahead of time or just before she got on the train? She realized that God doesn't give us the grace to go through hard times when we don't need it. He waits until the time when we do need that extra strength. If we lose our lives for His sake, we will have eternal life while those that persecute us will lose their souls for eternity unless they find a place of repentance sometime before they die.
This refers to those who are for real, not the charlatans and pretenders. If a person is preaching the gospel and is a follower of Christ and we treat them kindly, we shall get the same reward as they get if of course we are believers too. If we give them just a cup of cold water we shall be rewarded. See how important it is to support and care for those that spread the gospel of Jesus. In saying that though, this doesn't mean that those preaching the gospel should be devouring widows houses and preaching giving in such a way as to receive riches and live in luxury while fleecing the poor. This doesn't mean that we are to shower preachers with diamond rings and gold watches. This means that we care enough for the true ones that are really preaching the gospel, that we give them what they need to survive and not suffer hardship. Let us not use these words of Jesus as a license to fleece the poor and take from a poor widow who barely has enough to feed herself. There are people who think they have a right to do these things if they represent Christ. They live in luxury. They have fine clothes, two or three houses, cars, jewelry and many things while the ones that give are sometimes poor and have little. This is not what Jesus is teaching. I remember reading of a missionary who would go from one town to another preaching the gospel, having not even enough for train fare. Yet somehow God would use someone to give him what he needed when he needed it. He did not get rich or gain many material things. God will surely bless those that helped him survive his many journeys for the gospel's sake. This is the type of giving the Lord will reward. He never told any of us to use these words to get rich and live in luxury when there is so many that can barely live from one paycheck to the next and some even do not have a paycheck to live on. Study the scriptures. You will see that tithing in the Old Testament was never to come from the poor. Tithes were used to support the priests, the Levites and a portion was given to the poor. They didn't take them from the poor. Tithes came from the landowners because the Levites didn't have their own parcel of land but lived in cities scattered among the other tribes. They gave up their land inheritance to become servants of the Lord to the other tribes. They had to have tithes to live on. The poor was never fleeced for tithes in the Old Testament. If we insist on teaching tithing from the Old Testament law then at least get it right. I know there is the story of the widow's mites in the New Testament but we got to realize that the scripture referring to that story was immediately after Christ rebuked the Pharisees for devouring widow's houses. Notice that the chapter breaks up and separates the two teachings but in the original text there was no chapter divisions. This passage should go together.
I'm not saying that the poor should not give but they never should be made to feel like they have to. The poor did not tithe under the old Levitical priesthood system. I believe in supporting those that labor for the Lord, but I believe the New Testament teaches doing this in love because we want to support the spread of the gospel, not because someone threatens us with a Malachi curse or promises us that we will get rich. Let love motivate all that we do for the Lord. That widow willingly gave all she had. It was her choice. Someone didn't guilt her into it. She gave out of love. DC
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