Take up a Cross and Follow (Matthew 10_32-42).m4a

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sad in our path we were sinful sons of wrath following a crooked road. We were lost and wandering souls. We couldn't choose righteousness. We couldn't save ourselves from death. We got a grace rich in love and gave us life with Jesus. By his grace by his grace we are saved. It's not by works hope, by words, but by faith in Jesus name. [00:01:03] Speaker B: We. [00:01:03] Speaker A: Have peace in Jesus Christ. He has brought us to his side and raised us up and gave us life and seated us with Him on high. The perfect King, the God of love adopted us through his own Son and brought us in and gave us faith and made us sons and daughters. By his grace by his grace we are saved it's not by works or by words, but by faith in Jesus name. By his grace, by his grace we are saved. It's not by works hope, by words, but by faith in Jesus name. Jesus died to give us life brought from dark into the light, righteousness, the Father side by the grace of Christ, by his grace by his grace we are saved it's not by works hold by words, but by faith in Jesus name. By his grace, by his grace we are saved it's not by works hope, by words, but by faith in Jesus name. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Amen. Good morning and welcome. Emmanuel Fellowship church. Whether you are worshiping here in person with us or online hello. Good to see you guys. We are glad you chose to celebrate the Gospel with us today. A couple things I want to make you guys aware of. First off, if you're visiting with us today, we have a gift for you in the back of the room. There's no pressure there. We would just love for you to have that. There's a mug. There's a book. Grab one of those, grab it, grab one of those and grab it. Grab one of those, take it home. Second man if you've been here a while, manual fellowship is your home, and you're wondering what your next step in your faith is, what it looks like for you to get more plugged into growing your faith, we would love to be in that journey with you. We would invite you to fill out a connect card. There's these blue cards in the back of the room if you're like. Man I've been here a while, and I'm not part of the email list, or I want to join the prayer team, or I want to serve, or I want to be discipled, whatever that might be. We can help you figure that out by filling out this card. Or there's a QR code on the back of some of the chairs. If you do a digital version of that, we just as your pastor, myself, Jim Craig, Jesse, we want to be available to serve you. We want to be in this journey with you. So we invite you to reach out let's figure out what God might be calling you to do next in your life. Guys, I don't know about you, but I'm going to be 100% for real right now. I came in today with a pretty empty tank. It's been a rough week at the cell house. But God is so good, so glad to be here. I'm so glad to celebrate his gospel. Today, as we were singing that song, singing about the grace of Christ, I was reminded of the comforting words of Jesus himself, where he says to everyone who's weary, to everyone who is burdened, come to me. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me. I am gentle, I am lowly of heart. And you will find rest for your souls, beloved, regardless of what brought you into this space today, I promise you, jesus invites you to come to him for real rest, real life, real rejuvenation, real grace, real gospel. So, beloved, let's take a few minutes and let's sing about that Jesus. Amen. [00:05:49] Speaker A: Be our helper. He amid the flood immortal is prevailing for still our ancient foe DOST seek to work us woe his craft and power out great hand armed with cruel hate honor is not his equal. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Close. Whoa. If we and our own strength and by heart striving would be losing, we're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing. You ask who that may be. [00:07:15] Speaker B: Christ Jesus. [00:07:17] Speaker A: It is he. The Lord of hosts name from age to age the same and he must win the battle whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Handle this world with devils fill should threaten to undo us we will not be upon God half will it's true to triumph through us and all this world with devil spell should breath into until we will not feel for God will his truth to triumph through us whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, whoa. A mighty fortune. I got Almighty Fortresses I got Almighty Fortresses I got Almighty Fortresses I got his kingdom is forever. His kingdom is forever. His kingdom is forever. His kingdom is forever. And our own strength and fight our striving would be loud. Rock of Ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in the let the water and the blood from your wound inside which be of sin the double cure save from wrath and make me fly not the labors of my hands can fulfill the lost commands should my passion never fade and my efforts all be wait, you must save in you alone. Rock of Ages, no one takes your life, yet you die. That I might live. Costly grace you freely give. Rock of Ages, you have paid the price, you are clever to cover me let me hide myself in the it nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I claim naked come to thee for dress helpless love to the, for grace wretched to the fountain fight, wash me, Savior, or I die. Rock of Ages, no one takes your life, yet you die. That I might live. Costly grace you freely give. Rock of Ages, you have paid the price, you are clever to cover me let me hide myself in the and while I draw my final breath I'll rest upon your grace. And when I close my eyes in it's rock of Ages, no one takes your life, yet you died I might live. Costly grace you freely give. Rock of Ages, you have paid the price you were club to cover me let me hide myself in the. [00:15:32] Speaker C: For corporate confession a passage that I've reflected on in the past and was on my heart again this week. It's actually a passage that gets taken out of context a lot. I think most people here have probably heard someone trying to offer encouragement by saying, god won't give you more than you can handle, taken out of context from one Corinthians 10 13 14, no temptation has overtaken you except such as his common demand. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And the big part, verse 14 therefore, my beloved flee from idolatry. So it's about temptation. It's about not putting anything above Christ, because really most of this life is more than I'm able to handle. And it doesn't matter how much of a positive attitude you have, how optimistic or strong or stable you are, at some point we're all going to face something that's just too much for us. But that's kind of the point, because we're not able to handle it, but Christ can. In Two Corinthians Four says, we have this treasure in earth and vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. It goes on hard pressed, not crushed, perplexed, not in despair, persecuted, not forsaken, struck down, not destroyed. It says all of this, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So today, just thanking God that when it is too much, he is there and he is able to handle it. And I just pray from Psalm 61 two from the end of the earth I will cry to you when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I. [00:17:38] Speaker A: Can wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fountain, no. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Hope, precious. Is the flow that makes me white as snow no other fountain, no nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow no other fountains I know nothing but the blood of Jesus is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fountain, no nothing but the blood of Jesus hope precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fountain, no nothing but the of Jesus. [00:21:53] Speaker D: Thanks, Jared. My bad. Not Jared's. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just come before you and we continue to lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving. What a great and awesome and wonderful God that you are. And we're just so glad that we can freely gather and we can worship you. We can hear Your word preached freely when so many other believers around the world can't do that. Lord, we pray for Sam this morning as he's confessed a tough week for the Tamale house. And right now we just pray that you shower him in Your grace, that you'd anoint Him and fill him with Your spirit, Lord, that you prepare Him as Your vessel to bring forth a message that You've laid on his heart. And for us, Lord, and in our minds and in our hearts that we would receive that with joy and gladness. Father, we worship you and glorify you, and it's in Your name we pray. [00:22:44] Speaker B: Amen. Amen. Good morning, church. My kids locked me out of my iPad about 20 minutes ago, so I got to pull a gym and do this from the laptop today. And somewhere in the room Craig's going, that's why you printed out. Ah, what a joy to be together today. We are continuing our series in Matthew and man, I don't know about you guys, our time in missional discourse in Matthew Ten has been pretty heavy. And to be honest with you guys, not to dash anyone's hopes, but it's not going to get easier today. We're still in a section of text that man, Jesus just has a hard challenge for his church, and I think it's good for us I think it's good for us to take our time in this section of Scripture and let Jesus's words kind of stew on us. Amen. So we're going to get into this. We're in Matthew ten if you want to go ahead and open your Bibles there. If you don't have a Bible with you today, we have house Bibles around the room. Just kind of look under the chairs around you. You'll see one eventually. By the way, if you don't have a Bible today, I'd strongly encourage you to take that one home or talk to one of our pastors and let us get you a nicer one. We really believe in the importance of access to God's word here at Emmanuel. Oh, also, before we jump into this, I am supposed to tell you guys we have coming up this is in your bulletin, but we have coming up here in just a few weeks, our first and only church family members meeting for the year. That's like the first weekend in December listen, guys, listen. We have one business meeting a year, okay? You got to come to this one, okay? It'll be good, it won't be boring. We'll praise God, we'll share some food together. We'll celebrate what God has done in our church. We'll talk together and pray about what God might be leading our church into in the new year. It's going to be an actual worshipful time, but please set aside time for that if you are at all able to. I think it's that first week in December. All the details are in the bulletin or online on Next Step. So today we're stepping back into this missional discourse, right, this teaching, where Jesus is talking very specifically about what it means for his church to join with him in evangelistic ministry, right, to go and preach and proclaim the Gospel. And it seems like a little bit like I'm getting into just announcements territory here, but I have to say this bit also a really practical Next Step. We spent several weeks talking about what it means to be on mission. Guys, starting November 25 at our adult discipleship hour, nine to ten, before this, before this gathering, jim is going to be doing a six week class on mission and evangelism, and I'd strongly encourage you guys to be a part of that. If you're sitting here going, I don't know, I don't know how I can get to church by 09:00 a.m. Listen, yes, you can, okay? We can talk about it later, but I promise you, promise you. The world does exist on Sunday mornings early. I know we don't see it most of the time, but it does. Nine to ten, that's starting November 25. We're finishing up some time and going through the story of Genesis right now. It's been really good, but that'll be done in a few weeks. And after that, Jim's going to take us through a class on evangelism. But today we're still in Matthew. We're still in the missional discourse. If you recall, this all started at the end of chapter nine. We've been working through these narratives of Jesus'ministry where he's healing people. He's speaking into the real needs of the people who live in the region of Galilee. He is burdened by all the physical and spiritual need around him. In chapter nine ends with this scene where Jesus asks his followers to pray to God to send workers out into the field, right? You guys remember this piece? He's burdened by all the need around him and he says, guys, the harvest is plentiful. It is the workers that are few pray to the Lord of harvest to send more workers. And then in chapter ten, he begins this teaching on mission and evangelism by calling and sending his twelve apostles to join in the work around Galilee. And there's this cool moment where it becomes this picture of the broader mission of the followers of Jesus to join in Jesus's work. The discourse shifts from Jesus speaking just to the apostles to speaking to all of the church here in that guys, all of us. And Jesus, as he gets into this teaching of what it looks like for his church here in that us to join with Him in the work of evangelism, of mission, of seeking and saving and serving the lost. There's this really strange shift. Jesus spends a lot of time talking about the danger and the risk of going on mission, following. Jesus apparently can have very real consequences for those followers. And he says that we are to be ready for real opposition and real persecution. Guys, this is foreign to a lot of us, right? Like, we live in a context, in a culture, in just a bubble of the Christian experience. We have a whole lot of religious freedom. And the kind of opposition, the kind of persecution that Jesus talks about is just not our normative experience as modern American Christians. But guys, what we're going to see today is that as Jesus continues this pretty big push on, like be ready, be ready for this to be hard, be ready for this to cost you. You're going to see all of this teaching on expecting and processing opposition and persecution come together with a discussion about loving Jesus and seeking the reward of Jesus. Because what we're going to see as we look at this text is that Jesus has zero problem telling his followers to love and value Him and his kingdom above all else, everything else, everything, even family. Beloved, the call, the follower of Christ is Jesus above all. Hear that, beloved? All. Jesus is not content to have space in your life or your heart, even if it's prime real estate. He's not content to have part of you. He wants all of you. And as we consider this bold teaching of Jesus, we're going to be drawn back to the reality that you as a human being made in the image of God, were built for that kingdom. You were built for that kind of life. You were designed for heaven. Beloved, heaven is the reward of the Gospel, yes, but it's not somehow selfish or wrong for you to seek that with your all. It's what you were made for. So regardless of what opposition may come from a sinful and rebellious world, jesus people seek the kingdom because the kingdom is worth it. Beloved, you were made for heaven. You were made with eternity in mind. So pray with me, church. We're going to jump into this difficult and bold teaching of Jesus, and it's intense enough that we're going to walk through it chunk by chunk and digest it as we go through it. So pray with me, and then we'll jump into this. Father, we ask this morning that you would be our guide through the text. Spirit, we need you to be the one to open our spiritually blind eyes and our spiritually deaf ears. We need you to be our guide, our discipler today, Father, as we are challenged by this teaching, first and foremost because of just some cultural differences and some unique aspects of the time and place within which we live. But even deeper than that, God just challenged by how intense the call is. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would speak to us afresh, especially those of us, Jesus, who've been following you for a long time and who have grown really content in our laziness and our apathy and our fence straddling. God, I pray that you would prick us afresh, pick at those old convictions that we have worked so hard to ignore. Invite us again to give you our yes and to seek Your kingdom first, Jesus. We need you for this work. We can't do it on our own. So we pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen. Okay, Matthew ten, we're starting in verse 32. Read with me, church. Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge before him. I will also acknowledge him before my heavenly father. And whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. Okay, so we're jumping right into the deep end, right? Whoever acknowledges me, I'll acknowledge him before the Father. Whoever denies me, I will deny him before the Father. [00:32:35] Speaker A: Whoa. [00:32:36] Speaker B: Okay, we're getting right into it right now. Notice here we're starting with a therefore. Yes. Stops you back. What is therefore? Jesus is directly continuing a thought here, right? In verses 26 to 31, jesus has this whole bit. We talked about this last week, about how you shouldn't fear those who oppose the Gospel work because the worst they can do is kill you, which is such an insane thing to say, right? But that is what Jesus tells us, hey, don't worry about anyone who persecutes you or oppresses you. The worst they can do is kill you. And then he goes on to say, I mean, God could send you to hell if you wanted to, if you're going to be afraid of someone, which is a really strange way to comfort people. And yet that's where Jesus goes with this, right? He says, don't be afraid of your oppressor. They are men and women just like you. The worst they can do is injure you physically. The actual comfort he gives is, he says, you're on the side of God, and God controls the whole thing. It's all in his hands, body and spirit. And he supervises the entirety of his reality. Birds don't die without his consent. And he ends it by saying verse 31, so don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Don't be afraid, beloved. God is on your side, and he is in control. Jesus says not to fear persecution, not to fear suffering, not to fear opposition, because you are on the side of God, the king of reality. And that thought is what Jesus is building upon when he says, therefore, because God is on your side, because you don't need to fear persecution because of that, remember that your acknowledgement of Christ before an unbelieving world will be rewarded. That's what he's saying here. Don't be afraid of how hard it is. God is on your side. So remember, God will reward your proclamation, your boldness. He'll reward it. He'll stand before the Father, Jesus Himself, the judge of the living and the dead, the King of reality. He will acknowledge you before God the Father. Guys, Jesus is speaking here an encouragement to his church. In the midst of preparing them for the coming tribulations, he says, don't be afraid. Remember that you're standing up for the kingdom of God, and I am standing with you. You stand up for the kingdom, I stand up for you. Jesus will stand before the Father and declare your name. Beloved, in Christ. In Christ. You, beloved, will be holy, righteous before God the Father. Jesus in your place. He will acknowledge you, stand as your advocate. What an encouragement. Now, obviously, right there is a caution and there is a sorrow that is at least as heavy as the encouragement is beautiful, right? The flip side of this amazing encouragement is that those who reject Christ, those who are not in Christ, who choose not to follow Him, jesus will deny them before the Father. To be apart from Christ is to face God the Father on your own merit. And beloved, that is a terrifying prospect. It's a terrifying prospect. You need an intercessor. You need someone to stand for you before the Father, to stand in your place when your righteousness is judged. So stand with Christ that he may stand with you. And by the way, I'm not just saying this as this abstract theological idea. Beloved, I implore you, if you are in this space and you are still considering what to do with this Jesus, please consider Him. Please consider him. Consider his heart for you. Consider what he offers you seek his kingdom, it is well worth the cost. He will stand and intercede on your behalf and allow his righteousness to be placed over the top of your sinfulness. He's quick to remind us there is a cost, the beloved, the kingdom of God is worth the cost. Well worth the cost. Read on with me, verse 34 36. Don't assume that I came to bring peace on earth. I did. Not to come to bring peace, but a sword, for I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law. That one we can imagine. And a man's enemies with the members of his own household. Now, Jesus is quoting I'm sorry, all the mothers in law in the room. You're wonderful, and you are a gift. Jesus is quoting from the prophet Micah here, but the message is pretty clear, right? Standing with Christ means standing against the world, and that means real opposition, even potentially opposition from within your own family. Now, I'm sure even as we read these words, many of you are wondering, how the heck do these words come out of Jesus's mouth? I mean, is he not the Prince of Peace? That isaiah nine proclaims. We love to read that text every Christmas. What about Zechariah Nine? Didn't he come to bring peace to the nations? Well, yes, but there's actually a really important distinction here. Jesus himself, in John 14 says he doesn't give peace the way the world gives peace. Jesus's peace is better. So stick with me on this for a second. The world tells us peace is simply the absence of conflict, right? The absence of violence and opposition. And by the way, that isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's most times actively a good thing. We should all be praying to God for peace in our world right now. Peace in places like Israel and Palestine, peace in the Ukraine, peace in North Korea, peace in all the places where violence and injustice are sadly the norm. We should be praying to those end and seeking those ends. But the peace of Jesus is simply more than that. It's more than just the absence of conflict. The peace of Christ is the presence of the shalom of Christ. It's the presence of redemption. It's the presence of holiness and forgiveness and unity and connection and restoration. It's not just an absence of conflict. It's a beautiful vision of heaven. The peace that Jesus is bringing is heaven peace. It's God and man together for eternity. Peace. It's wonderful. But you have to understand that is not the peace of this world. Our world is full of rebellion, evil, sin, betrayal, selfishness, and sorrow. And guys, hear this. The present shalom of God will not create an absence of conflict. Far from it. In a rebellious and sinful and broken world full of betrayal, selfishness and sorrow, the present shalom of God will create loathsome conflict. It will create the kind of conflict that divides the most intimate relationships. Do not be deceived, beloved. Sin is crafty. The curse has deep roots. Those who you love most can reject Christ and reject the Gospel, and as a result, reject you. Do not think that Satan and death will go quietly into hell. Now, don't mishear me, beloved. They will go read Revelation, get to the end. The good part. Christ himself, with the sword coming out of his mouth, will cast Satan death and the curse itself into the fiery pit, and they will be eternally destroyed. That is worth celebrating. That is worth anticipating. But don't think they will go quietly. They will bite and squirm and squeal and fight to the very bitter end. And if you say yes to following Jesus, you can expect to be on the receiving end of those death throws this is deeply sorrowful when this translates down to those we love so dearly, this is painful and heavy. When those death throws step out of this idea of abstract, beautiful theology in our anticipation of forever, and they stare us in the face with someone we love who's rejected Christ and as a result, rejected us, that pain is real. That pain is heavy. That's why Jesus is so kind to warn us. We should consider the real cost of following Jesus. Look how he continues our text in verse 37 the one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. The one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn't take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. For anyone who finds his life will lose it. And anyone who loses his life because of me will find it. Guys, it's a very real possibility that faithfulness to Christ can divide your family. It's a very real possibility that those whom you love will say no to Jesus. And while they may not openly hate you or physically attack you in our culture, they will not understand your devotion to Christ. And they will likely think less of you and you will find that it affects your relationship. Some of you already know this. Children, grandchildren, siblings, spouses who don't follow Jesus like you do. It's real and it's painful. But beloved, this is where the rubber hits the road. I'm about to speak out loud one of the most difficult gospel teachings of Christ that many of us will hear. But it is necessary, it is important for us. Beloved, Jesus is still worth it. That's it. That's the teaching. In spite of the cost, Christ is still worth it. Beloved, Jesus is worth it. Even if it divides relationships in your family, even if that sibling drifts away from you relationally, even if that grandchild rolls their eyes when you speak to them, even if you decide not to date or marry that person because your lives are going in different directions, beloved, Christ is still worth it. He is. Beloved, Jesus is simply not content to compete for your affection. Many of us think that what Jesus expects of us relationally is for us to order our relationships by level of affection and loyalty and just make sure that Jesus is at the top of the list, right? As long as God is number one, you're good. I know a pastor said it like this if our heart is a chest of drawers, we just need to make sure that Jesus is the top drawer. Right? But the reality is, this doesn't work. Christ is not content to be one among many of your relationships, even if you put Him first. Beloved, Christ wants all of you. He wants your whole life. He doesn't want to be your top drawer. He wants to be the chest. You put the other drawers in. He wants all of you. He wants you to consider and order all your relationships within the context of Him. He wants you to consider and order your relationships with the Gospel as a lens for how you think about them, how you think about your place in the Kingdom, beloved. Christ above all, christ in all, Christ through all, hear me, church. Anything less than that is simply not following Jesus the way he defines it. It isn't. Beloved, hear this. You cannot follow Jesus on your own terms. You can't. I promise you. Many have tried. None have. Like, can we be real for a second? You're like, Wait, were we not being real up to this point? I promise you guys, the rich young ruler was more Godly than all of you and me combined. Look at what he says. He followed the whole law from his youth into adulthood. He did everything he was supposed to do, but he left Jesus disappointed. He wanted to have Jesus and his idolatry of his wealth and his comfort. He wanted to follow Christ on his own terms and say, christ, I'll give you this, this, this, this, and this. Now you just give me this and this in return. And that is not how it works. It is not how Christ interacts with us. He's not sitting with you ready to wheel and deal and come to define the terms of your relationship. Beloved, Christ defines the terms of your relationship. He is your Creator and your God and your authority. He deserves and demands all of you. He invites you to give Him your yes. Just your yes, and then to walk forward with faithful expectation, take up your cross, and follow Him, because we have so sanitized this sentiment from Jesus as to almost making it meaningless. Oh, that's just my cross to bear. Something we say when we're referring to an inconvenience or a trial in our life, right? No, guys, that's not what it means. Across to bear is a humiliating, torturous public execution. Across to bear is to be stripped down and beaten within an inch of your life, cast into the street naked and bleeding and forced to carry your own instrument of death in front of your home community so that your abuser can literally nail it to you and invite everyone around to come watch you slowly suffocate in your own blood. That is a cross to bear. That's gross. I know. You have to understand, when Jesus said this line to his followers, it had no religious or spiritual connotations. The way we think of it, people didn't wear cross necklaces in Galilee. It was a symbol of Roman oppression. It was a symbol of brutal death. It was a reference to horror. And Jesus tells his followers, give me your yes and join me there. Beloved, to follow Jesus on his own terms, not yours, is to simply give Him your complete and total, yes. Nothing held back, nothing of your own, no scheming, no wheeling, no dealing. Simply yes, Jesus, and then taking the step to follow Him. And beloved, that is a huge ask. That is no light thing. That is no small thing. It's very big. Guys, this ask from Jesus, this complete and total, give me everything. Don't be mistaken. This is a gift. The extremity of Christ's request to you is a gift because it shines a spotlight on exactly what our idols are. Let's be honest, guys. Many of us, dare I say most of us are following Jesus for a lot of wrong reasons. You come to church because you were raised to. You connect to church because you're lonely and you find community here. You show up because you feel good, when you feel smart, when you figure out right doctrine and how to understand the Bible better, there are many reasons. But I'm here to tell you guys, there is only one reason that is actually worth it. When you look at what it costs to follow Christ, to give your yes, there is only one reason to do so that will actually sustain you through hardship and trial and suffering. There is only one reason who is willing to stand before God the Father on your behalf. His name is Jesus. And beloved, he is worth your all. He is worth your complete and total yes. You may find a whole lot of joy and comfort in this life. You may figure out the secret of how to succeed by all our cultural standards. You may be beautiful and rich and comfortable the rest of your life, but if you get all that and you miss Jesus, you have lost everything. Hear this, beloved. If you have the best this life has to offer and you miss Jesus, you have lost your forever. You've lost your forever. But with Christ, with Christ, even if you lose everything this world has to offer, even if you lose your very life, you have Christ. And beloved, if you have Christ and nothing else, you have everything. If you have Jesus and nothing else, you have everything. Read on with me, verses 40 to 42. The one who welcomes you and the One who welcomes you welcomes me. The one who welcomes me, welcomes him who sent me. Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he's a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. Anyone who welcomes a righteous person because he's righteous will receive a righteous person's reward. And anyone who gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, truly, I tell you, he will never lose his reward. Jesus ends this teaching on mission with this bit about reward in his kingdom. And he says it kind of strangely, right there's kind of this back and forth repeating phrases like kind of almost like he's saying it proverbially, right? But there's something here that's really important for us. Notice in the way Jesus says this the prophet, the righteous, the little one, they all get the same reward in Christ. This phrase, by the way, little one, it kind of means toddler. It's a weird little phrase, but it's a term that Jesus affectionately uses to refer to his followers, his little ones, those who come to him. And the way he says it is kind of like, yeah, you're really bad at following me, but you're great. I love you. I welcome you. You bring about as much to the table as a two year old, but I'm glad you're here. I love that, by the way, in Christ, we're small, we're needy, but we get the same reward as the prophets and the righteous in Christ. We don't bring much to the table, but we get Jesus, we get forever. We get heaven. Beloved, heaven is the promise. It is the promise. You must remember the reward. You must consider the reward. And don't be fooled here by our culture. We have this weird idea that altruism is only inherently good if it's done for no reward, right? If you do good and get rewarded well, it's just selfish. You were just doing it to get something. You have to be disinterestly, detached from your righteous deeds in order for them to matter. And that can be. You know, we watch a YouTube video of a guy giving food to a homeless person just for views and likes, and it kind of turns our stomachs. But, guys, this idea simply does not apply to heaven. It doesn't. And it's important to grasp this. So you have to remember, you were built for heaven. It's what God made you for. You were designed for it. Think of it this way. If you get a new car, it will be a better car if you drive it on roads versus lakes. Yeah. I don't know if anyone here has any experience driving your car on lakes, but the vast majority of cars don't perform all that well if you drive them down into the lake, right? It's a silly way to say it, but it's true, because cars were made for roads. So you sync them up with their design, and sure enough, they perform better. That doesn't make them bad cars or selfish cars, because they prefer the road to the lake. It just means they were designed for roads, not lakes. I know, like, three of you in the room are like, actually, there was a car designed to drive on lakes. It's a terrible car. You, beloved, were designed for heaven. When God made you, when he put you together, when he designed your heart, your mind, your passions, your gifts, your strengths, your weaknesses, he had eternity in mind. You're made for heaven, not this cursed and broken world. You were made for eternal peace and joy with Christ. Of course you long for it. Of course you desire it. Of course you should seek it. You should seek this reward. Of course you should direct your life toward this reward. That isn't selfish, that isn't prideful, that's you moving toward your design. You were made for heaven, and you will most flourish in heaven. The reward is so important and it's so good for your life and faith to be motivated by the reward. The Gospel says, cross now, crown later. And beloved, the crown is important. You should seek it. You were made for it. You were made for it. Jesus's words here, like if you're just in your Bible reading plan and you come along Matthew ten, and it's like 07:00 A.m. And you're only a half a cup of coffee into your day and you just read this, his words can sound really harsh on a first reading. He seems so intent on focusing in on suffering and trial and loss. He makes it sound so hard to follow Him. And he speaks so intensely about denying folks and folks not being worthy of family hating each other. It's no wonder why most people who initially followed Jesus left Him right. No wonder. It's no wonder, by the way, that even John the Baptist doubted the Gospel plan when he faced the trials and hardships of his life. Jim's going to take us into that next week. Jesus puts this sermon directly into application by showing John the Baptist in the midst of his trials, in the midst of his suffering. And you know what he does when he faces the worst this world has to offer? He crumbles and he doubts. He doesn't know, and he's not sure, because like all of us, he's a human being full of brokenness and sinfulness. And it's hard. It's hard to walk the road, to be a disciple. It's no wonder that most folk who initially followed Jesus left Him. Jesus spoke in intense and strange ways. But guys, he does so to draw our attention to the reality of the Gospel. Beloved, you have to remember that apart from Christ, we are spiritually blind. We are so steeped in the world that the kingdom, the thing we were actually made for, seems foreign to us. It seems like a major loss to suffer in this world, to potentially have family dislike us. It feels wrong for Jesus to want to love us, to love Him supremely, even above family. But guys, that is exactly why Jesus speaks so intently, so intensely. He's trying to shake you awake. He's trying to remind you, you weren't made for this cursed world. You weren't made for this brokenness you think you were because it's all you know. You don't know any different. And so Jesus speaks intensely and harshly and says, no, listen, you were made for more. You were made for better. You were made for something greater. Jesus wants forever for you. He wants forgiveness for you. He wants restoration for you. He wants you to have His Gospel he wants you to find your real life. Guys. The gospel is nuts. It's why the scripture teaches that to people outside of Christ, it sounds crazy. Sounds offensive. It's nuts, man. It's wonderful. What a gift. What a God who seeks us out and shakes the scales from our eyes and draws us back to his original design for us in spite of our hard and rebellious hearts. Beloved, as we land out today, I want you to be challenged. I didn't sit down and plan out like, oh, what are we going to preach in November? Let's just be mean for a couple Sundays. That wasn't the plan. We're just going through Matthew. These are the words of Christ. And beloved, I think these are the words of Christ for us today. So let them challenge you. Let Jesus'stark words hit you square in the chest. Sit with the difficulty of this teaching, with the intensity of this challenge, and allow it to draw you back to the Gospel. Allow Christ to shake your eyes open and remember that beloved, Jesus is worth your yes. He's worth your yes. So as we land today, Chris, if you want to come back up as we land today, what do you do with a punch in the face text like, today's I'm going to give you three thoughts and then invite you to sit and pray for a few minutes before we take Communion. Three thoughts. The first one is this if you've not given Jesus your yes and found salvation and life in Him I already said this, but I'll say it again. I urge you to consider it. And by the way, I do mean consider it. Consider the cost, because there is one. Jesus wants your whole heart and your whole life. And I'm confident, confident that as you consider the Gospel, you'll find that it's worth it, that your heart actually longs for your Creator. If you're in this space and you haven't given Jesus your please, please consider Him afresh. Consider what it means to say yes to Him today. If you're in this space and you're in Christ, man, can we all just admit that we need to be convicted by this teaching afresh? We all have idols. We all have loves that draw us away from Jesus. Every single one of us spend our lives struggling with our old self, with our old desires. Beloved, hear Jesus's invitation afresh today. Come to Him with a brand new yes, with some fresh repentance. I promise you, you will find grace, plenty. You'll find your Jesus with open arms, gentle and lowly joyfully awaiting your repentance and your return. Beloved, there is enough grace to go around. Come back to him today. Give Him your yes all over again. See what he does for you. And lastly, because this is the missional discourse, even though we've just been talking about suffering, proclaim Jesus, proclaim the Gospel. Share this amazing news, because the world the curse they stack against people's hearts. People will not believe if no one comes to them and declares the goodness of Jesus. And that will cost you to give Christ that yes. To go into your sphere of influence your circle of influence your friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors and actually be the one who boldly says there is a God and he loves you, and he wants to fix it as a costly thing to share. But this is what it is. [01:03:31] Speaker A: To. [01:03:32] Speaker B: Take the grace you've been given and give it to others. There's too much for you to hold it in. There's too much goodness in Christ for it to terminate on you, and you know that's true. Think of the cloud of witnesses, the saints who've come before you. Think of those who faithfully give Christ their yes, who counted the costs, who joined Christ in the work and whose faithful proclamation cleared the way to shake the scales off your eyes, that you might come to know there is a line of brothers and sisters who came before you, who said yes to Christ, who paid the cost. And if they were standing here in this room, they would say, oh, it is so worth it. Join with them. Join in that bold proclamation. So, beloved, I'm going to invite us, as we always do. Let's take a few minutes to pray. I'm going to invite you to sit in this space, meet with Christ in a way your heart needs. If you can do that just sitting in your chair, that's awesome. If you want to get on your knees at your chair, at the steps, if you want to find some space to be alone with Christ, I invite you to do that. If you want to grab one of our pastors to pray with you, we're around the room. We are for you. We'd love to help put language and stuff with you and pray with you. If you want to grab a card in the back, write down a prayer, or even drop it in the box and ask our prayer team to pray over it, or our prayer team, we'd love to do that with you. You can do that. During this time, the last thing I want to remind you of, and I've said this each Sunday we've been in the missional discourse, is to consider lostness. Consider those in your life who need Christ. Love it. I'm so serious. Grab your journal, grab your Bible, grab a card, write down the names of the people you love that you long to see, come to know to Christ. Do the work your heart needs to do this morning, beloved, in just a minute, I'll come back up and we'll take you. [01:05:48] Speaker A: Sam SA. [01:07:43] Speaker B: Beloved, I want to invite you to continue responding to Christ as your heart is leading you right now. If you need to keep praying, you do that. But I also want to invite us to have one other practical way to respond to what God might. We take communion every week here at Emmanuel, and there's a reason for that. It's not just because this juice tastes so good after a long morning gathering. No, it's because the Gospel is so good. It's because when we take up the Elements, scripture says that we're proclaiming his death until his return, that by partaking, by experiencing my remembering, we're proclaiming that Christ's work is sufficient. Beloved man, especially on a day like today, where I'm guessing a lot of us got punched pretty hard, can we take a step back and remember that his grace is sufficient, that his work is complete, that there is grace for you. There is room for you with all your faults and failures. The little ones get the same reward as the prophets in the righteous image. So if you want to join with us in response by declaring that I invite you to do so, if you didn't grab elements on the way in, you can just raise your hand. We'll have some come down the aisle for you. On the night Jesus was betrayed, he shared a meal with his closest friend. It was a Passover loaded with all this meaning and all this history all about God redeeming his people, god intervening in human history, god making a way in the midst of brokenness. While they're sharing this meal, christ infused this new meaning into it, showing how even all the way back at the Passover, god has always been pointing to Him, to the Gospel, to the work of Christ. He took the bread and he passed it, and he said, this is my body broken for you, beloved. Take and eat. When they had eaten, he passed the cup and he said, this is my blood poured out for you, the blood of the new covenant. Beloved, take and drink. Deep the covenant of grace. The gospel of Jesus is worth celebrating. Amen. Let's end our time today by standing up, remembering the Gospel and celebrating that gift. [01:11:06] Speaker A: Christ is my reward and all of my devotion now there's nothing in this world could ever satisfy through every trial my soul will sing no turning back I've been set free christ is enough for me christ is enough for me everything I need is in you everything I need rise my all in all the joy of my salvation and this hope will never fail heaven is our home through every storm my soul will sing jesus is here to God be the glory. Christ is enough for me. Christ is enough for me everything I need is in you everything I need I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back the cross before me the world behind me no turning back, no turning back the cross before me the world behind me no turning back no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. No turning back. No turning back. No turning back. No turning back. [01:14:26] Speaker E: Amen. Amen. Thank you, church, for being with us this morning. I'm going to say something and I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being here this morning. Thank each and every one of you for being here this morning. It means a lot to me, to the pastors, to the church that you are here this morning. Today is a richer day because you are here today. And if I could go through the church and name each one of you, I would. But there's not time. But I mean that it's a richer experience when you are here today. Thank you for being here this morning, guys. We all have next steps and if you visit our website, Emmanuelfellowshipstl.org, you're going to click on the Next Steps tab. You're going to see opportunities to take those next steps and I hope that you do visit that often to see what our church offers for you. And your next steps could be something small, could be something quite large. I'm going to mention two that are also in the bulletin that are on the hospitality table if you want to grab one of those on your way out. If you are a part of our church, if you consider this your church home, if you go to work tomorrow and somebody says, hey, what church are you a part of? And you say, Emmanuel Fellowship, then our membership class that's coming up on November 19 is for you. That is something that you should come to and be a part of and learn what the Bible says about church membership because it's in there and we would love for you to come and be a part of that. On November 19 from 06:00 p.m. To 08:30 p.m., dinner is provided. We would love for you to come. There is a sign up sheet on the hospitality table as well as on the website. Please consider that. If you consider this your church home on November 19 from six to 08:30 p.m., the second thing I want to mention is there are some colorful boxes in the back that is for Operation Christmas Child. Many of you have taken those and I think all of us know what that program is about. It's an opportunity for those to be filled with good things to be sent to a foreign mission field to bless children that are in need. Those are due back here next Sunday, November twelveTH. So if you would bring those back filled up so that we can take those and take them to the place they need to get to, please consider doing grabbing a box and bringing that back next week. Before I pronounce our benediction this morning from Psalm 46, this is I think a little different one. But in light of what Sam preached today and inherent in every message, there are next steps. Sam mentioned three of them, right? If you've never said yes to Jesus, consider that the second one was be convicted by this and say yes to him all again. And the third was to proclaim Jesus, proclaim the gospel as you leave here today. But there's one thing I want to encourage you to do, and this is our benediction. And this is something that I think wherever you sit on that spectrum of those three, here's what Psalm 46 says be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth. The Lord of armies is with you. The God of Jacob is your stronghold. Guys, have a wonderful day. It's a beautiful day. Have a great day, a great week. And Lord willing, we'll see you back here next Sunday. [01:17:56] Speaker A: Good at finding bits.