Matthew 10 - Part 3

 

Read Matthew 10

Now it’s time for some special instructions.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

You are not to pack massive provisions with you.  You are not to pay for your housing or meals.  You will be taken care of by godly people, but make no mistake, this is no cakewalk.  You are not headed down the Primrose Path. 

I am sending you as sheep among the wolves.  I am sending you out among your natural predators.  I am sending my sheep among those who I have protected you from so you can reach the sheep who need a shepherd most.

So here is your charge:  Be on your guard.  Be alert.  Be ready.  This is no time to be lackadaisical.  You are on a mission.  You don’t have logistics trains behind you like the Roman legions, but you are on a mission nonetheless.

You will have trouble along the way.  You will be seized by local authorities.  You may be delivered to regional authorities.  You might be beaten or flogged because you belong to Jesus, even by those who claim to know God. 

You might even be punished in a synagogue.

Whenever you are taken by force and whatever they do to you, remember, you are witnesses of God and the One he sent to save the world.

And don’t worry about what you will say.  You don’t’ need to bring money.  You don’t need to bring extra clothes, and you don’t need to bring a speech.  When the occasion arises that you need to speak to people in authority, trust that God’s own Spirit will give you just the right words.

Be alert but not anxious.  You might just get your first dose of feeling the Holy Spirit at work in you.  Jesus didn’t tell his disciples that a time was coming after his resurrection where the Spirit would dwell within them, but he did give them a heads up that the Spirit would accompany them on this mission.

The Spirit will be at work in you.  The theological term here is cool beans.  The Spirit will give you the words that you need at your most difficult times.

Amen.