Matthew 10: The First Commission
This is the last post of my comments on the 10th Chapter of Matthew, as a follow-up study from our February 3 service. You can listen to the service in its entirety on our website, www.cometothesprings.com
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Matthew 10:16 (The Message)
Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
Most of us initially come to Christ looking for something--anything--that will make our lives work better. And Christ certainly delivers. I know that my life, if not for Christ, would have taken a completely different course, full of pain and regrets. That being the case, how do we process it when Jesus then tells us that His way is going to lead us into trouble? If we followed Christ to achieve a life that smoothed out before us, why would we continue to follow Him when he says the road is about to get bumpy?
Jesus finishes his commission of the disciples in Matthew 10 with sobering words about the difficulty of their task. He predicts persecution, rejection, arrest, even death, all as a direct result of their efforts to represent Him in the their community. But along with these hardships, Jesus promises two things: (1) that each of his followers is immensely valued and cared for by God (vs. 29-31); and (2) that not even the smallest act of kindess in His name goes unnoticed or unrewarded (vs. 40-42). So every follower is left with a cost-benefit dilemma: is the price worth the reward?
Jesus is classicly counter-intuitive. "If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me." (Matthew 10:39, The Message) He leaves us with an excruciating choice between what we've been pursuing our whole lives and His path, which he states up front is lined with hardship but is somehow also the road to joy. The very desire that drew us to Him in the first place, if we're honest--our 'looking after ourselves'--he asks us to set aside. If, in its place, we abandon ourselves to Him, we find not only Him but our true selves.
If we're only looking for assistance, we'll never get this. Jesus doesn't assist, he rescues. He doesn't tweak, he overhauls. He doesn't ask for a little or even alot, he asks for everything, and gives everything. Jesus is a very poor accessory. What he's counting on is that one taste of Him renders everything else bland in comparison. One day in His service makes every day in self-service meaningless. It can only be experienced to be understood.
I have a little white flag tucked away in my desk. Years ago I wrote the lyrics to a song by Chris Eaton on the flag. The song is called "All Or Nothing."
It's got to be all or nothing
The best that I can be
Holding my hands to heaven
For the bounty in store for me
And how could I ever doubt You
After all You've pulled me through
Now the least that I can do
Is give all or nothing for You
I've tried to negotiate with Jesus many times. It never works. The white flag works though. Consumers and self-preservationists beware: Jesus is driving an all-or-nothing bargain. But this life doesn't disappoint. In fact, it's the only life that doesn't.
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