Lose Your Life to Find it!

Matthew 10:27-42 

Jesus Teaches the Fear of God

27 "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Confess Christ Before Men

32 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Christ Brings Division

34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; 36 and a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

A Cup of Cold Water

40 "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."

Fear God and do not deny your Savior out of fear of others!  Confess Him as Lord to them, knowing that even family will be divided by the gospel of truth and righteousness.  Give generously to meet needs as you received Christ and had your eternal needs met in Him like a cool drink of water in a dry and thirsty land (Psalm 63:1).  These are the main teachings of these passages for us as well as to the original hearers that we may take them to heart and live accordingly.  Jesus first made it clear that what He tells us, what we now read in the scriptures what He said, that we are to pass on to others and not keep inside for ourselves alone.  The word of God and His kingdom are given to be shared as treasure and not merely treasured up in our sealed hearts; rather, we are to open our hearts to put out this message to all with ears to hear it.  Why fear the reactions of those opposing us when we identify with Christ as Lord and Savior and openly tell those we meet of these infinitely important matters?  If we fear them, we lack trust in God’s keeping of us.  He uses the analogy of the birds which simply live and die in God’s good hands; why do we imagine we will receive anything less from Him since we are valued infinitely more as we are made in His very image?  The only one to fear is God Himself if we reject Christ utterly and fall short of saving grace because we know the judgment of hellfire in that tortuous lake at the end of time is the end of such.  But we who are in Christ have an unshakable (Hebrews 12:28) assurance no longer fear that punishment (1 John 4:18) and so need not fear the opposition of others rejecting the gospel and us when we bear witness to that saving grace of good news to them.  Yes, we are to confess Jesus Christ to all and we will be confessed as faithful followers before our one and only Father who is in heaven.  This stand for the uncomfortable and inconvenient truth to the world set against the Lord will cost us, however.  We will often not have peace with men, though we have peace with God in Christ (Romans 5:1), which is of far greater importance and infinitely more valuable.  This is often most pronounced in families where one or more members of parents and others will be in combative opposition because of the message holding us all to accountability before God for our sins and who refuse in pride to confess they are sinners and repent of those things they enjoy with a firm grip.  We are told not to love them more than our Lord to appease them and create a false peace at the expense of a loyal heart to our Lord.  We are told in summary that it is necessary to lose our lives as the world defines them to find them in Him.  Finally, we are reminded to receive those ministering the gospel and meet their needs like we should with all.  Who knows who will be observing our lives (Hebrews 13:1-2) besides God who sees all?  May the heavens rejoice as we live for Christ and the gospel’s words of life (Acts 5:20) while we lose our life to find it forever in Him!