Episode 331: How to Suffer Well | Dave Sloop

Introduction

Indeed. Sloop, you wanna unpack that, brother? Let's do it. Let's do it. Well, good morning, everybody. This feels a little hot, Caleb. So excited to be together. We have a lot to cover here in Matthew chapter 10. We're actually gonna cover even a few more verses than that, so we're gonna jump right in. We're in Matthew 10. It might be worth following along today. If you have a Bible or an app that you like to use, we're gonna go verse by verse. There's 16 verses that we're gonna look at.

The Context of the Passage

But before we jump into this particular text, I wanted to just tell you what's been happening in Matthew 8 and 9. In Matthew 8 and 9, we see about 11 miracles take place. And at the end of that chapter, in Matthew 9:36, Jesus is moving through the towns and it says that he sees the crowds and he has compassion on them because they are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And he turns to his disciples and he says, he says, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest therefore that he might send workers into his harvest field.

And then if you flip over to chapter 10 verse 1, Jesus calls the 12 disciples and they become the answer to that prayer that he has them pray in verse 38 of chapter 9. And he sends them out with some instruction, and here's what he says. He says, I want you to cleanse the leper, heal the sick, cast out the demon, raise the dead back to life. Who does that sound like? That's Jesus, and he does all of those things in Matthew 8 and 9. He says, I'm gonna give you the power to do what I do.

But then he says, when you go, I want you to preach this message, the kingdom of heaven is near. Who does that sound like? That is the same message that Jesus preaches. He said, I want you to say what I say. And when you go, don't take anything with you because God is gonna provide for you just like he provides for me. Do you see what Jesus is doing? You will be like me in your power, in your proclamation, and in your provision.

And then in verse 16 of chapter 10, he says this, Now I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. You will be persecuted like me. Jesus is preparing his disciples here that they are about to get crushed. And listen to some of what he says in these verses between sixteen and twenty-three. He says, you will be dragged before governors and kings. You'll be dragged into courts. You will be flogged in their synagogues. All men will hate you because of me. Be encouraged. He says, you're going to be like me. You're going to suffer. And he wants to teach them how to suffer well.

And so we're going to pick it up in verse 24, and we're just going to walk right through and listen to what he says. He says, a student is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher and the servant to be like his master. Jesus says, You will not graduate from this class. You're not going beyond me, but you should expect to be like me. And in context, what he's saying is, You're going to be treated like I'm treated. And he expands on that. He says, If the head of the household, meaning himself, has been called Beelzebub, which is just another word for the devil, how much more the members of his household? You guys.

He's saying, if they misunderstood me, if they called me Satan, which they did in chapter nine, he casts out a demon and they say, it's by the prince of demons that he did it. Jesus said, if they called me Satan, they're going to call you Satan. Then in verse 26 he says, so. Don't be afraid. Isn't that interesting? He says, they called me Satan, they're going to call you Satan, so don't be afraid. The fact that he says so means there's something from verse 25. He wants them to draw strength and courage from in the face of persecution and suffering, and it's this, they are wrong. They're wrong about me. So don't be afraid.

In other words, do not be afraid of people who do not have the truth. And then he says this, There's nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. In other words, it's not just that they're wrong, it's that you're right, you have the truth, and there's coming a day when you will be vindicated for it. There's coming a day, maybe not in your life, but when every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. What you have, what has been revealed to you is the, capital T, truth. And it is the truth that the entire world needs to hear. Therefore, what I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. He's saying you need to get loud because this word needs to go out and you are my plan. You're the answer to the prayer from verse 38. So don't you shrink back. Will it be hard? It will. But do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Jesus says, you don't be afraid of those who can only harm your body. There will be opposition but there is a limit to what they can do to you. And he says, here's the limit. They can drag you before kings and governors, they can drag you into court, they can flog you in their synagogue, they can beat you, they can throw you into prison, and they can kill you, but that's it. That sounds pretty bad, Jesus. That's a lot. And Jesus would say, they cannot touch your soul. That part of you that is the most authentic, real part of your life. That part of you that will exist with me forever in paradise. They cannot touch it. It is protected, it is secure, it is safe. So don't be afraid. Do you know the key to greatness? It is when that life is more important than this life. It is when we are more preoccupied with the eternal than the temporal. And when that is not just a hypothetical but a reality for you and me, then we can look persecution and suffering in the face and we can say, do your best because all you can do is snatch my life and then I'll be with him. Like Paul says, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is better by far, he says. Do we believe that? Jesus says they cannot hurt you. If you want to be afraid of something, he says, be afraid of the one who can kill body and soul in hell. And he is not telling his disciples that he wants them to live in fear and walk in fear that God will cast them into hell if they make a mistake. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying here, what he's doing, is he's contrasting the power of the ones who oppose them with the power of the one who protects them. And Jesus is saying how silly it would be to be afraid of the one with limited, lesser power when you are protected and watched out for by the one with infinite power. And it's clear that that's what Jesus intends here based on what he says next.

God's Sovereignty and Our Confidence

Verse 29, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father? Do you know how in control he is, guys? There's not a bird that will fall to the ground that does not do so with his permission and consent and knowledge. He's on the throne. You do not need to worry. And then Jesus throws this in, and even the hairs on your head are numbered. Do you realize who you are in his eyes? Jesus is saying. He knows how many hairs you have. He says that you were knit together in your mother's womb. He knows your thoughts from afar. He knows when you sit, when you rise, when you stand, when you go. He's hemmed you in behind and before. Before a word is on your tongue, he knows it all together. All your days or all your days ordained for you were written in his book before one of them came to be. He sees you. He's got you. Do not be afraid. And then you can almost see Jesus smile. He says, you're worth more than many sparrows. So take a deep breath.

This is not to say that you're not going to suffer. It's the opposite. He's saying you will suffer. But when you do, take comfort in the fact that your God has not closed his eyes, he's not fallen asleep, he's not turned his head, he's not forgotten your name. When you suffer, can take comfort from the fact that he has permitted it for his purposes. And so you rest. You trust him. Jesus says, if you want to be afraid of something, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. But do not be afraid of them.

The Power of the Unbeatable Hand

Now, how many of you have ever played Texas Hold'em? How's that for a transition? Sinners. Alright. Texas Hold'em is a game where everybody at the table is dealt two cards face down. Okay? It's a it's a game of poker. And then there's five cards dealt face up. And you're trying to make a a hand of five cards and you can use the common cards in the middle. Everybody can play off of those cards. But the way this game is structured is that you can know every once in a while, I have the best hand possible. There is literally not a hand that can beat me. And every once in a while, what's really fun is when someone else at the table thinks they have a good hand and they feel confident, but they should not because you have the unbeatable hand. And if they bet into you, what do you do? You call or you raise. What if they have more money from you than you and they feel extremely confident and they push everything into the middle? You could be shaken from your position if you're not careful. But all you need to do to restore your confidence is what? You remember what's in your hand. And then you look up from your cards and you say, I'm all in. Do you know why? Because there's nothing concealed that will not be disclosed. There is nothing hidden that will not be made known. There's coming a time when you're going to get to lay down what you have and you will be vindicated in front of all those people sitting at the table who thought you didn't have it, and you will claim what is rightly yours. Jesus is saying, disciples, do not fold your hand. You have already won. All you do is stay in the game. You take whatever comes. You take the hit. You absorb it because the victory has already been won. You hang in there.

Application for Today

Now, it would be easy for us to hear this and to go, this doesn't really apply to us today because it was life and death for them. Like, if they claimed to know Christ, if they preached Christ, they would be put to death and almost all of them were. But for us, it's not the same. But it would be a shame if we did not apply this to ourselves because the reality is all suffering, all persecution, it is relative. And there will be a cost for us to identify with Christ in our context. It might cost your reputation. It might cost friendships. People might look down at you and think that you're crazy. Jesus is saying, do not fold your hand. Speak up. The truth is on your side.

Now, if he is coming after their fear in the first eight verses, he's coming after your apathy in the next eight. Jesus wants his disciples to know the stakes of the battle that they are in, and it is a battle. So far in these first eight verses, he's talking to his disciples. They're the subject. He says, you are worth more than many sparrows. But then the first word of 32 is whoever or if anyone. Jesus is still talking to the disciples but he's talking to them about the ones to whom they would preach. And he wants to make sure they understand the commitment that he's calling for and the cost of those who would reject him.

And before I jump into these eight verses, I want to acknowledge something. This is uncomfortable. And if you're anything like me, you might be tempted to tune me out precisely because it's uncomfortable, but I want to ask you to do the opposite. Would you be willing to lean in and sit with the uncomfortable words of Jesus? Because if you stick with me to the end, I think that you'll not only understand what Jesus said but why he needed to say it.

Verse 32 says this, whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. If this sounds like an ultimatum, it is. Jesus says, there are two choices. You can accept me, you can reject me. And there will be consequences for both. He says, if you acknowledge me before men, I will acknowledge you before my Father who is in heaven. That is to say, the only thing needed to gain access to heaven is an identification with the person and the work of Jesus Christ. He said, that's it.

And notice how inclusive this invitation is. Anyone, whoever, whoever acknowledges me, I will acknowledge you, and you're in. However, if you deny me or if you disown me, I will disown you before my Father. That is to say, there is no other ticket in. There is no other backdoor or secret handshake. There is one way, Jesus said, and it is to identify with me. You cannot come by virtue of your moral performance. You cannot come through your achievements. You can't earn or buy your way in. Jesus said, it is through me. And if we deny him or if we reject him, then he says, you will remain estranged from me. And if you die in this state, you will get the opposite of heaven. It is a place that in verse 28 Jesus calls hell.

And it's uncomfortable to talk about it, but we have to because Jesus does. And we have to be honest about the fact that it is a reality for those who deny him. Jesus calls hell a place where God destroys body and soul. It is eternal death, and it is being held up against eternal life as one of two options for every human soul. And Jesus offers himself as the singular path to life.

Jesus' words are uncomfortable, but they are not unclear. In John 14:6, he would put it this way,

I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I'm the only way, he says. Peter would say it this way in Acts 4:12,

There is salvation found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Jesus said, you can accept me or you can reject me. Those are the two choices. One leads to life, one leads to death. And there is no middle ground. You cannot just say he's a nice guy, which is what most of the world says. He was just a good man. Jesus says, you cannot be in the middle here. You're with me or you're against me. If we say we don't know where we stand, we can be sure that we do not stand with Christ because the commitment that he calls for, it is decisive, it is exclusive, and it is public. He says, Do you stand with me? To say that I'm not sure where I stand would be like saying, I'm not sure if I'm married. You see, because when you got married, it was in public, and it was to one other person and it was an exclusive commitment. And when you made that commitment, it changed everything about your life. Right, Melissa? Bliss? You're welcome. It changes everything, and that is what Jesus is going to tell us next. He says, Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace to the earth but a sword.

The Cost of Discipleship

Jesus says, Do not confuse my intentions here. I did not come to make your life easier. He said, I did not come to bring political peace and prosperity. That's what so many people were seeking him for. He said, I did not come to just be another idea, another philosopher, another way of life. I didn't come to give you some rules that would kind of clean your life up and make things better. I did not come to bring peace. Not like that. He said, I came to bring a sword. That is to say, I came to disrupt everything about your life.

And Jesus is going to borrow prophecy from the book of Micah and then he immediately explains why he uses it. So I'm going to read this big chunk and then I'll explain it. He says,

For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

Then he explains, If anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Jesus says, I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. And with that sword, I mean to sever every allegiance, every affection, every loyalty that you have over and above me. I will not share is what Jesus is saying. When you come to me, you come and you bring all of yourself. The beauty of Jesus' invitation is that it is for everyone, but what Jesus says is when you come, you bring your whole self. There will be no dark corner of your life over which I do not reign and rule. You come and you bring it all or do not come.

Jesus says, if you don't come carrying your cross, it’s just a picture of death, that we die when we come to him. Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. We get off the throne of our life and we just let him have the reigns. That's what it means to come. And then Jesus closes this way.

Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus says, if you try to find your life, you can go. You can go try to find life in some other places. It will evade you and elude you your entire life. Anything that you try to build your life upon will be like a mirage. It'll be like sand through your fingers. It's not going to work. It won't satisfy. But the irony is, if you would be willing to lose your life, if you bring your whole self and you lose your life, you will find it. We will find Christ, but he says, you'll find your life, you'll find yourself. As Saint Augustine said, you formed us for yourself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.

Jesus said, I am it. I'm the only way.

The Unpopular Truth in a Tolerant World

Now, in a world where tolerance has become the highest virtue of the land, and tolerance is a good thing, but tolerance by some is defined as do not disagree, do not have an opposing view, do not make an absolute claim on truth. And in that world, then nothing is really true. If everything is true, then nothing is really true. And that is the world that we live in. And in that world, what Jesus just said is not just unpopular, it is unacceptable. You cannot say that. I mean, how arrogant and how narrow minded to say, you are the only way, to suggest that there's no other possible way out there. And I understand that.

Earlier I said that Jesus' words are uncomfortable but not unclear, and we might be tempted to confuse that extreme clarity with extreme cruelty. But for the last few minutes that we have together, I'd like to implore you to see this through a different lens. In fact, I'd like you to see it through Jesus' eyes.

Do you remember how we kicked this thing off? In Matthew 9:36, it said Jesus looked at the crowd and he was filled with compassion. That word in the Greek is splaknizomai. It is used 12 times in the New Testament only about Jesus. And that word, we don't have a great English corollary for it, but it is to so deeply identify with someone else's pain that it forces you to act. It is the word used for the leper in Mark 1 when Jesus, he saw the man, he was filled with compassion, he reached out his hand and he touched him. He had to. He couldn't help it. He was overcome. He had to go. It's the same word that's used in Luke 15, the prodigal son. When the father sees his son a long way off and he's filled with compassion and he sprints out to his son, not to rebuke him but to receive him. He had to. He had to go. It's the overflowing, overwhelming compassion and love of Jesus. He looks at the crowd and he calls his disciples and he goes, we've got to go. We have to. You have to tell them there is no other way.

You see, it is Jesus' compassion that fuels this extreme clarity. He needed them to know. If we think Jesus is narrow minded and arrogant, it is because we do not see the whole picture. We do not understand how sick we are. We don't know how drenched in sin we have been from the day of our birth. And when I say sin, I don't just mean like the bad things that we do. I mean the condition, the disease that is in your heart that causes you to turn your back and go find life in other places. It is a cheating heart. It is an unfaithful heart. It is the heart that looks at the dad just like the prodigal son, and we say, I do not want you. I want your stuff. Give me the inheritance and I'll go find life somewhere else. That is what sin is.

We've said, God, I want your world. I want air to breathe. I want other people to enjoy. I want laughter, love, joy. I want adventure. Give me those things. Give me your gifts. But I do not want a relationship with you. That is sin, and it is offensive. We are the rebellious child. We are the unfaithful bride that hops into bed over and over again, cheating on the one for whom we were made. And the Bible is very clear that what we have earned for ourselves because of this wickedness, because of this rebellion, is eternal death. The wages of sin is death. That is what we deserve.

Do you know in the Bible, the picture of God's justice is depicted throughout the Old Testament as a sword? He says, Israel, my sword is out of its sheaths. It is drawn against you for your wickedness and your rebellion. It is the picture of God's righteous judgment, and the problem is that sword is pointed at you and at me. And God is just. We deserve it. He cannot turn a blind eye to sin because he's just, but God is also loving. And in the same way that Jesus looks at the crowd who is harassed and helpless and he's filled with compassion, God sees you, he sees me, and he's filled with compassion. And his compassion moves him to act, and so he puts on skin and he comes to earth as Jesus.

Jesus said, I did not come to bring peace to the earth. And that is true. But he did come to bring peace with God. How does he make peace with God? Jesus comes and he does what you couldn't. He came and provided what was lacking. He fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law. He was perfect. Do you know that's why he was perfect? It's because you could not be. God knew you couldn't be. And so he came to do what you couldn't. He lived the perfect life that the law required, but then Jesus also knew that to make peace with God it would require a sword. And that sword that was pointed at you, he turned it on himself and he became the perfect substitute and sacrifice for you.

You see, when Jesus says, I am the only way, he's not being arrogant, he's being honest. There is no one else because the only one who could take that penalty for you is someone that didn't deserve it. He's the only one. He's the only one that ever was perfect, and he's the only one that was qualified, therefore, to lay down his life. Do you realize every other religion is a prescription? It is a prescription for how you can be good enough for God. Only Christianity. God says, they can't do it. I will go down. I will go down and I will make the sacrifice. Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to a cross becoming sin so that we might be the righteousness of God. And he did it for you because you are worth more than many sparrows.

Closing Challenges and Invitation

Some of us here today, some of us disciples, need to be shaken out of our fear and our apathy. We need to be woken up. You have the unbeatable hand. Look at what you're holding, and when you go to work on Monday, you get on the rooftop and you be honest about the truth that the world needs because the world is filled with harassed and helpless sheep who are marching towards death and they do not know. Do not shrink back, CHS. Be bold. You have the truth. But it can't stay in here. It has to come out of your mouth.

And some of you might be here and realize for the first time that you have been at odds with the one that made you. You've been like that wicked son who went off to find life somewhere else. Can I give you the best news on planet Earth? The invitation is to anyone. And it's not even clean yourself up and then come. It's come now. Come as you are, and he will come immediately and make his home in your heart. He'll begin to change you, not overnight, but over time. You will get new desires in your life. You'll be a new creation. You come and you receive that for which you were made. You belong to him.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word that cuts through our cynicism, that cuts through our preconceived ideas. Lord, you have gone out of your way to show us your great love, and you went out of your way to be honest about what we need. God, I pray that some today would find life for the first time, new life. If you're new here, these curved rails up front are an opportunity for you to just come and process whatever God has spoken to you during this last thirty minutes or so. And then these straight rails are for you to process with someone, that would love to pray with you, someone who might, you might come to to help usher you in to the presence of God for the first time.

Lord, thank you for this time. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.