We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Matthew and our Lord’s instructions to His 12 apostles as He sends them out to begin their ministry training. We are going to study His commands and warnings about how they are to go and from that we will glean a number of principles we are to likewise follow in our lives in our time. As we saw last week, there are three sections in chapter 10 each ending with the phrase “truly I say to you.” Last week we saw the first section in verses 5-15. Our passage for today is 16-23; and we will look at the last section over the next couple of weeks in verses 24-40. If you have your Bibles with you, I encourage you to read along as we cover these verses. Matthew 10:16-23.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father His child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.”
From this point on in the Gospel of Matthew we are getting a chance to sit in on the on-the-job training or internship of the apostles as they learn from Jesus Himself. After His resurrection, they would be sent out to fulfill the role that God had called them to, to go to a hostile world and preach a very unpopular message. For now, He is sending them on something of a training mission. Jesus is sending them out to the people of Israel who have been waiting for the Messiah, waiting for the kingdom of Heaven to come.
Last week we saw the commands that Jesus gave to His 12 apostles and the principles for evangelism that they were to follow. The instructions were meant for them but there are many principles that apply to us today. We see the same thing again in this passage. The Lord gave these instructions to the 12 and some of them are specific to them and their first mission but there is a telescoping effect. It reaches past this immediate mission and into their ministry following His ascension and then unto all believers who would come after them until the return of Jesus to reign on the earth. We saw in verse six the statement, “go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That is a very specific statement related only to the apostles on that particular mission. But that is only the beginning, it then touches out until the return of Christ. We saw in verse eight that they were to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons.” Now they may have done some of those, but there are no indications that they raise the dead on this first brief mission but they would later in the book of Acts.
We also see in verse 17 that they would be delivered up to councils and scourged in the synagogues but none of that happened in this first mission, in fact there was no persecution of them until after the resurrection of Christ. This is a very common pattern we see in scriptural prophecy. We see it many times throughout the Old Testament where the prophet would make an immediate prophecy that has a fuller fulfillment in the future. Just think about all of the prophecies concerning Jesus and His raining on the earth. He came to suffer in His first coming but there are at least 2000 years, and we have no idea how many more until the institution of His earthly kingdom. It is sometimes referred to the mountaintop perspective. From our position at sea level the mountain tops can be described as if there next to each other and they look close together but as we reach the top of the first peak, we realize there is another massive valley in between before the second that we would have never known about until we reached the top of the first mountain.
We will see much more of this as we get into chapter 24 and Christ prophecies there so we will not deal with verse 23 in detail today.
The passage that we are studying today has principles focused on the mid and distant range from the perspective of the apostles. As Jesus commissions the 12, He is warning them as well as all of the disciples who would follow throughout history and He begins with these analogies in animals. We are going to split them up into five, the four apparent ones and then a fifth that sums it all up. Sheep, wolves, serpents, doves, and the good Shepherd. Now I realize Shepherd is not an animal, but the title was catchy so just go with me on this one.
Jesus begins His warning “behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” And we are going to start with the disciples of Jesus as sheep. Now I am by no means an expert on sheep or on wolves, but their primary characteristics are not difficult to see. Sheep are not the smartest creatures and will follow in a herd mentality without thinking. But that is not the characteristic Jesus is highlighting here as we will see in His comparison to serpents. What Jesus is highlighting here is there defenselessness. Sheep almost completely are nearly defenseless against predators. They do not have teeth or claws to fight back with, that they do not have sheer size or weight behind their bodies to club predators, all they are able to do is run, and though they might be able to outrun you or me, they are not getting away from a wolf.
Their only defense is the Shepherd. Their only hope for safety is the one who watches over them and defends them against these predators. Jesus is telling His disciples that He is sending them out as defenseless sheep amongst overpowering wolves that, and catch this, wolves that are already present. “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” They have already arrived, you are not looking for them to come but walking into the middle of them.
What a call to ministry. Jesus is saying, “I am calling you out of the relative safety of ignorance and into a life of tremendous peril, as sheep in the midst of wolves. I am sending you into a Christ-rejecting, God-hating world with the message that begins with sin and judgment; a message that will be seen as utter foolishness if not taken to the point of malice and hatred.” Not only will the wolves be surrounding you, but Scripture makes it clear that there are wolves even among the sheep. In Acts 20:29 Paul warns the Ephesian elders, “I know that after my departure, grievous wolves shall rise up among you, not sparing the flock.” There are wolves masquerading as sheep ready to tear apart the unwitting.
At the same time though being sheep does have its advantages. We may be defenseless against the wolves in and of ourselves, but we belong to the good Shepherd who knows and loves his sheep. We belong to the good Shepherd who knows who the wolves are both in inside and outside the herd. We belong to the good Shepherd who is in control of every aspect of our lives and has promised to work all things for the good of those who love him, who follow him, who belong to him.
But we are sheep in the midst of wolves, surrounded by danger on all sides and we must be constantly aware of that danger. And who are those wolves? Jesus names them in verse 17, the wolves are men, and Jesus lays out the persecution that will come against his disciples then and now, and where it will come from. Now this persecution did not come until after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. This is that middle bit, the second mountain peak to the prophecy, to the warning, but it is one that we are still standing on. Who are the wolves? The wolves are men. Yes, they are backed by demonic forces, yes, it is the ruler of darkness behind these agents, but the enemy are very much men.
And Jesus gives us here where those attacks will come from. The first are the religious in verse 17. “For they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues.” It has always been the religious that call for the destruction of Christians. The Jews in the first century, it was the accusation of atheism that led the Roman persecution, it was the Roman church itself that led the persecution of true believers after that. They may use the government as a club, but it is the assault on their false religious beliefs from the true gospel that is the rallying cry for persecution.
Where does the religious persecution come against believers in our culture? A number of years ago it was said that atheism is the new religion and psychologists are its priests. I think that has changed only slightly in the past decade. The most prominent religion in our country today is not Christianity, it is not psychology or atheism, it is the religion of social justice and it has levels of adherence throughout all of the more mainstream “religions.” People no longer dip their fingers into the holy water and cross themselves as they walk into public view, they virtue signal. It happens all the time both in public and in private conversations. Whenever we fail to adhere to the zeitgeist, the spirit of the moment, the moralizing of the masses, we are called out for our “sins.” And the most grievous sin of all in this new religion is to claim that there is a holy and just God who would punish the sins of those who reject him.
At the moment, true believers who preach the gospel are not being pulled before governors and kings but if you believe that we are completely safe from them then you are being willfully blind to reality. In fact, I believe we are in danger as Christians. We are seeing it peek through around the country today as mayors and governors have declared religious gatherings illegal. Whether you believe we should be meeting or not, know that this is only the beginning. The government is beginning its encroachment on our churches and make demands on how we are to worship, what we can and cannot do.
This is not some conspiracy theory saying that the illuminati have some grand hidden scheme, this is the simple truth of what Jesus is saying right here right now. “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” The wolves of the progressive left might be more apparent, but they are still in charge of the conservatives as well. The Democratic party might be recognizably evil, but the Republican Party does not represent the truth of Scripture and are merely wolves who are a bit more sympathetic to the sheep for now. And really, that is a far more dangerous prospect because we as sheep become comfortable around those wolves and they take what they want without us even questioning it.
This is all the more true when it comes to our children, the most vulnerable among us. The academic system of our country is determined to rip our lambs apart because they are the easiest to devour. Voddie Baucham, a pastor that you should all be familiar with, a tremendous man of God and powerful preacher, said it beautifully concerning our school systems in this country, he said, “we cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.”
Now we may all be very aware of the wolves that exist in the highest levels of academia. We see the them prowling the halls of universities looking for a chance to attack God’s sheep. But we must be aware even in our schools and in our community, there are wolves who we may not even recognize as such. You say to me “the teachers in our communities are all Christians.” Do you trust their profession of faith, their knowledge of the gospel? It may be true your child’s teacher this year is a believer, but what about next year, what about the other faculty they interact with? More importantly, even if the teachers are believers, they are bound to a system that is run by Caesar and he is determined to make your children into dutiful Romans. You say, “my children’s teachers do not go on about social justice or any of those issues.” But are they teaching your children the truth of God’s Word when the question of morals or ethics come up as they certainly will in the vast amount of time your children spend at school. Where are your children learning their worldview and how to defend it? Because if you’re trusting an hour of Sunday School a week to instill Biblical values in your children, even I’m not that good.
Now, I am not saying that you have to pull your kids out of public school, mine are in public school right now and we have had a good experience. I am not requiring you to homeschool your children or otherwise threaten to excommunicate you if you do not. But what we as parents need to realize, what we must recognize as true and remain conscious of, is that we are sheep in the midst of wolves. Your children are spending eight hours a day, five days a week in the midst of wolves and out of your sight. Do you know the morals they are being taught? Do you know the religion they are being taught? Do you know who it is you have entrusted their education to?
That is the essence of our Lord’s next analogy, warning us to be shrewd as serpents. In the ancient world serpents were seen as the most crafty, shrewd animals. In Genesis 3 begins with the phrase “now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” They really are not imposing predators. Look at them compared to a wolf; snakes do not have speed to run pray down, they do not claws to pin their victims down or jaws to tear them apart and yet they are vicious predators. Why? They are patient, masters of concealment and ambush. The ancients saw serpents as cunning, wise, prudent, using skill and caution to avoid danger.
As we confront a hostile world we must be shrewd as serpents. There is no point in creating havoc all around us. Every aspect of our culture is controlled by wolves and so we must be careful in how we approach them as we preach a gospel. We have to use wisdom, and we must be innocent as doves, pure as doves.
Believers are living in a hostile world but we are never to go around creating harm, creating issues. Christians do not go through the world fighting and on the offensive in that way. Rather we are to be pure. The dove was a symbol of purity, of holiness, of innocence, of being undefiled in any way. So while we are to be wise, we are also to be pure. We are to be aware of our surroundings, careful in how and when we respond but we are to never compromise the truth.
We are to let nothing be the cause of our persecution but the truth of the gospel that we preach as we see in verse 18, “you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake.” In 1 Peter we have been studying this very concept and will be looking into it in more detail this next week. Peter writes “keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observed them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” We will be attacked for our faith, for the sake of Christ and his message, but we must be sure that it is only for Christ and his message that we suffer. We must be innocent as doves.
We must be cautious of our actions and our words and in both we trust in our good Shepherd who will be with us. We trust Him both with our safety and with our testimony. “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for He will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” God will not abandon us during the time of persecution and He will give us the words to use to defend the truth that we hold dear.
I believe that there are two sides to this. First is the importance of our training. In our study in 1 Peter we are going to see the command next week in chapter 3:15 “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” We cannot defend the truth if we do not know it. We cannot give an account for the hope that is in us if we do not know what that hope is or why we have it and this means studying the word of God. I do not believe that Jesus is saying in Matthew 10 that God will put words or concepts in our head that we had no knowledge about and so we must study his Word.
The other side of this is that promise to bring to our minds and put in our mouths the right words as we give an account for our faith. We do not need to worry, to be in fear because God, through the Holy Spirit will embolden us to stand and remind us of his truths. I have experienced this in something of a lesser form on numerous occasions. I have never been required to defend myself in the face of persecution, but on many occasions I have been questioned by both believers and unbelievers in aspects of the gospel and in my response I gave a far more meaningful and powerful answer that I could have ever prepared beforehand, no matter how much time I had. I could consciously feel the Holy Spirit empowering me to speak. Concepts that I studied, things that I knew to be true, but the power of the response went far beyond anything in myself.
Now is that inspiration on par with Scripture? Not at all, I would never claim anything close to that but I could feel the protection and empowerment of the Holy Spirit to preach or teach the message God required those people to hear and I had nothing to do with it but to be a mouthpiece. I do think the same concept though stands behind the inspiration of Scripture. What is the New Testament but the Holy Spirit inspired recollections and teachings of the apostles? Being sure that every word and concept were put forth exactly how God required them to be.
Our hope for security, our help through times of trouble, our protection and encouragement comes only through the good Shepherd. We must remember that it is because of Him we are going to face all of this. In verse 22 Jesus says, “you will be hated by all because of my name.” Peter says in the end of 1 Peter chapter 2 “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps… And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously… For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
Christ went before us as our example and now serves as our Shepherd and guardian. And we are promised “it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” Is that to say that only the person who endures to the end of persecution will be saved? Is this some sort of additional aspect of the gospel that we need for salvation? Of course not it simply means that if you survive the persecution, then you are one that He is holding secure. Endurance is a hallmark of genuine salvation and it is God that secures us. It is not up to us but up to Him.
We must also asked the question, “if God has promised persecution when we preach the truth, why are we not facing it now?” I think so many in the churches in our country are afraid and that is why they accept a watered-down gospel that has let the wolves in. We do not talk about repentance, we do not talk about confession of sin, we do not talk about humbling ourselves, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. We do not talk about submitting ourselves to the Lordship of Christ. We will talk about obedience in the narrow way, and the cost and the price. We will talk about being a sheep among wolves and the cost of discipleship. We try to play nice, fit into the religion of the age so that we do not face their ire. We twist and manipulate the gospel until it becomes something other than the message Jesus preached. We changed Jesus into someone that is acceptable to the wolves. And when we cannot do that, we just remain quiet; hiding in the fields hoping that the wolves will stay away or go after someone else.
I pray that we will go out in boldness preaching the message of the kingdom. Going out shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. That we will recognize the danger around us for what it is and not be duped by the deceptively peaceful veneer of our culture. I pray that we as the sheep of God will go into the midst of the wolves with confidence in our great Shepherd.