Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] But before we proceed, let's pray and ask God's blessing on our time together.
[00:00:06] Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for who you are. We give you thanks for the privilege we have of coming into your presence this morning, looking at your word.
[00:00:17] We pray that you will guide us by your spirit. As we look at this passage, as we consider the words, the teachings of Jesus.
[00:00:25] We thank you for him and we pray that you'll teach us from his words, teach us from your word, and guide us by your holy spirit. We pray that all that I say this morning will honour you and that all of us will lift up your name through our thoughts and our deeds and our words. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:00:49] This is a lady that Jan and I met about 10 years ago in Nigeria. As many of you will know, we spent about 20 years in Nigeria at different times. And on our last, perhaps the last year or so before we came back, about 10 years ago, we met this lady with her son.
[00:01:17] This lady lost her husband due to the activities of a group called Boko Haram, whom you may have heard of, one of the Islamic State linked groups that are very active or were particularly active at that time, perhaps a little bit less so now, but still active in northeast Nigeria. And her husband was among many who were killed by these Islamic insurgents in northeast Nigeria.
[00:01:48] We met with not just her, but a whole group of widows that our mission sim that we were linked with was helping with helping them to get resettled in the town where we were based, which is the city of Jos in Nigeria.
[00:02:04] So she was just one of many. But I put her photograph up to remind us that in our world today there are people who are daily suffering for their faith, being persecuted, if you like.
[00:02:16] This is another photograph. You might recognize the lady on the left.
[00:02:21] If not, I should point out she's my wife and she's here today. But the lady on the right is a lady named Mrs. Dalgara, and I have mentioned her here before, although it was a long time ago.
[00:02:32] Her husband too was martyred for his faith a little earlier, more like about 15 years ago, just after Nigeria had an election. And this particular man was an indigenous missionary for the local church that we were linked with. And he was asked to recant his faith or die.
[00:03:00] And he chose to.
[00:03:03] Not to recant, but to stay faithful to Christ. And he was killed for it.
[00:03:09] There is an upside, to the story, I suppose, that some years later we were told that I think either one or both of the two men who had carried out that killing came to faith in Christ after many years of observing his faithful people and the way they stood for Christ.
[00:03:30] But this lady, at that point, she was at a widow's seminar and we had the chance to meet with her.
[00:03:35] And that again, is a reminder.
[00:03:38] Leah Sharibu, I have mentioned here before, she was a young girl. She's not quite so young now. At the age of 14, eight years ago, she was abducted along with more than 100 other girls in northeast Nigeria.
[00:03:53] But all of the others were released. All of the others were Muslims.
[00:03:58] She was not released because she was a Christian, and she too was asked to recant her faith or to remain in captivity.
[00:04:06] And she refused to deny her faith in Christ.
[00:04:11] So to this day, she's still in captivity. She's not been seen by her family. And if you.
[00:04:18] I'll give you some information later as to where to find out more about Leah, but there's a whole foundation set up in honour of her to encourage all of us to be aware and prayerful for those who are suffering in different ways for their faith.
[00:04:34] This man's name is Kevin, Kevin Rideout. His parents, George and Mary, worked with us in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s, when Kevin would have been a small child. He's now about 50, so we knew him back then, but he later became a pilot with our mission's air arm in Niger, the Republic of Niger, over the border from Nigeria, north of Nigeria.
[00:05:02] In October, on 21 October, he was abducted and has not been heard from or heard of since. So to this day, nearly three months later, his wife and family still don't know where he is. They have had no word from him and there's been no update as to what's happened to him.
[00:05:23] Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting that he was specifically abducted because he was a Christian. He may have been abducted because he was an American expat living in that country, but he was there serving God because of his faith in Christ.
[00:05:40] And so if you like to pray for Kevin and for his family, it would be good to remember him. And we know that although we don't hear any news, that doesn't mean nothing is happening. Because the way missions work when something like this happens is there's a lot of background, negotiation and contact going on that, for security reasons, is not made public. So just because we don't hear anything doesn't mean that nothing is happening. But there are people working hard in whatever way they can secure his release.
[00:06:17] But it's a reminder.
[00:06:19] All of these cases remind us that in Our world today, many are being persecuted or are suffering for different reasons for their faith.
[00:06:29] So today we come to look at a passage that sue has read for us, and I've entitled it Our Little Time Together Today. Sheep Among Wolves.
[00:06:44] Because that just struck me from what Jesus said.
[00:06:48] He said he sends his disciples, his followers out like sheep among wolves. And it's just a reminder of the vulnerability of God's people when we are serving him and particularly witnessing for him.
[00:07:06] This is all part of the series on the Gospel of Matthew, which you may recall we started when Maddie was here some years ago.
[00:07:15] I'm not sure if you remember this, but there are 28 chapters in Matthew and you can see that we're up to chapter 10.
[00:07:21] So we're going to be at this for a while. I hope you enjoy reading the Gospel of Matthew because we're going to be doing a lot of it.
[00:07:31] But it is. It is. I really enjoy studying in depth the Gospel of Matthew or any of the other gospels because it focuses on Jesus and on who he is, what he says, what he teaches, and through him we can understand more of who God is.
[00:07:49] And it perhaps helps us to get, not to get distracted onto theological tangents and arguments and just to focus on who Jesus is. And that's what hopefully we'll be doing this morning.
[00:08:03] So last week, Dan led us through the beginning of this chapter where Jesus sent out the 12. He sent them out to the Jews specifically, and they were to proclaim the coming of the kingdom. They were to engage in healing and cleansing, driving out demons.
[00:08:26] And there were also issues to do with finance and support and how they were to survive. So that was all last Sunday.
[00:08:36] Today we move on particularly to look at what Jesus taught about persecution and some of the suffering that his disciples would face.
[00:08:47] Now, we know that they were sent out to the House of Israel, but as we go through this passage, we'll see that a lot of the things that Jesus said don't only apply to that specific session that he sent them out for, but they have broader implications and broader applications which we'll come to.
[00:09:07] But the point is, following Jesus will involve cost for us and for others.
[00:09:14] And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning. So firstly, verse 16, Jesus says, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves.
[00:09:25] And it's a reminder. That's what Jesus is saying to his followers, the twelve that he sends out. But as we'll be seeing, he's also saying it to us. I don't know if you like being called a sheep?
[00:09:39] I'm thinking of a reel that I've seen.
[00:09:42] Although these days if you see a reel, you don't necessarily know whether it's real or not or AI generated. But anyway, this is one you may have seen of a sheep caught in a crevice in a rock, and two or three people laboring to pull the sheep out and finally pull him out, and he immediately runs across to another crevice and falls in that one.
[00:10:05] And sheep have a reputation for being a little bit stupid and for following the crowd.
[00:10:11] And not everyone likes being called a sheep.
[00:10:15] But perhaps what Jesus is saying here is he's pointing out the vulnerability of his followers as they go out into the world around to tell others about him. They will be susceptible.
[00:10:30] He also says, be as shrewd as snakes or as innocent as doves.
[00:10:36] I guess being called a dove is not so bad. But being called a snake, that's probably not something we would favor either. But we know in another passage where John the Baptist says to the Jewish leaders, you call them a brood of vipers and says, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
[00:10:57] So that little passage perhaps is suggestive that snakes or vipers were seen as creatures that would run away and flee.
[00:11:05] And perhaps in that sense, Jesus is talking about being shrewd or wise or careful to know when to escape or move away or flee from danger, but at the same time to be innocent.
[00:11:20] Some of the translations say harmless.
[00:11:24] The word harmless can sometimes be taken to mean perhaps ineffectual or ineffective, or, you know, when you say, don't worry about him, he's harmless. He never does anything.
[00:11:36] It's probably better to think of the idea of innocence or blamelessness.
[00:11:43] In summary, we can say Jesus is here talking about wisdom and transparency, that sort of balance between being street smart, being wise and knowing when to leave and when not to leave, but also to be transparent and blameless in all that we do. So that's the first little instruction that he gives. And then he moves on to say, be on your guard. You'll be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.
[00:12:13] Now, there's no record in this particular chapter of Matthew that this actually happened to them during this particular sending that Jesus is talking about for the next few days. But we know that in time they did experience many of these things, and I'll talk more about that later. But they, Peter and John, later on, even in the Book of Acts, we see where they were brought before local councils and rulers and were called upon to defend themselves or to explain what they were doing.
[00:12:53] He then says, on my account, you'll be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
[00:13:02] Now, he's just already said earlier in the chapter that they're being only sent to the Jews. Now he's referring to Gentiles. So this is one of the clues that these instructions Jesus is giving have a broader applicability not just to the particular mission that he was giving them at that time, but beyond for them and even for us.
[00:13:26] That says you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses.
[00:13:34] But he says, when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it at that time. You'll be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you.
[00:13:48] Now, apparently some people might take this verse to mean that if you're a pastor, you don't need to prepare sermons, or if you're a preacher, you don't need to worry about what to say. Just stand up and God will tell you what to say.
[00:13:59] But I don't think that's what this verse means.
[00:14:01] It's talking about not worrying or not being afraid about what we will do or say when we're pulled up in front of authorities or when Jesus followers would be brought before authorities or arrested or asked to explain themselves.
[00:14:19] I borrowed this list from John Piper who listed six.
[00:14:25] Six costs. He called them six costs of being a missionary.
[00:14:29] I think I prefer to call them six costs of being a disciple of Christ or a disciple who becomes a witness to Christ. Not somebody who keeps quiet and never speaks up.
[00:14:42] We'll talk about that again later. But somebody who is a follower of Jesus and who testifies to who Jesus is and is a witness to him by his life and by his words and actions will be at risk of certain costs.
[00:14:59] And the first one was this one we've just been talking about being arrested by authorities.
[00:15:08] He moves on. Jesus says, brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
[00:15:18] This may seem a bit extreme just reading it like this, but we know from our contact with people in Nigeria that this happens. It happens in many countries where family members will betray one another because of Christ. In particular in Muslim cultures, but not only there, in many places in the world today, and maybe even here in Australia in certain cultural groups, for someone to profess belief in Christ may mean that they lose contact with their family or they're outcast by their family, in some cases even killed by their own family.
[00:15:56] A little hard to believe and yet it's a reality. So cost number two would be betrayal by family.
[00:16:06] Then Jesus goes on to say, you will be hated by everyone because of me.
[00:16:13] And that's another cost that following Jesus. And even in those days, some of the teachings that Jesus was saying, for example, about attitudes towards slaves or towards women or towards children, a lot of those things would have generated offence and would have led to hatred.
[00:16:39] Although I guess we need to be sure that it's because of Jesus that we're being hated. Sometimes Christians can do things that lead to them being hated, not necessarily because they're being Christlike, but maybe being unchristlike. So I guess being hated is one thing, but we need to be sure it's because of Jesus and not because of other things.
[00:17:02] But he says, the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
[00:17:08] And that's one of those curious phrases. I'm not sure if you understand quite what that means. I looked at that. It's a little difficult to get all the meanings.
[00:17:18] But what it doesn't mean almost certainly is that we are saved by our persistence in the face of persecution.
[00:17:30] We know it's clear from the rest of Scripture that our salvation, that is our acceptance by God into his family, is purely because of God's grace and it's purely through the forgiveness that comes through the death of Christ. And that's based on our faith, simply on our belief in who Jesus is.
[00:17:52] So that is clear. So it obviously doesn't mean that.
[00:17:56] What it does mean is, I guess, suggesting that there is this process of the suffering and the hatred and the family betrayal, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that it won't go on forever, that God is in control and there will be a good outcome at the end.
[00:18:18] So the third cost of being a disciple or a follower or a witness of Christ is being hated.
[00:18:26] We move on.
[00:18:28] Jesus says, when you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.
[00:18:35] And that's the reality for many, many of Jesus followers. I think of a friend of mine whose name is Buba. He's a Nigerian, he's from the Fulani tribe.
[00:18:48] And I first came in contact with him because of. In my role in leadership in SIM in Nigeria.
[00:18:57] He contacted me because he found himself in this position where he needed to leave. He and his family had to leave their town in northeast Nigeria because he'd become a Christian. And in his particular tribal group and family, he was experiencing all those things. We've just been talking about family, betrayal, hatred, persecution.
[00:19:19] And for his own safety and his family's safety, he needed to move from where he was to the place where we were staying. So we were asked as a mission to help with some of the logistics of that, which we did. And I've kept in touch with him. In fact, almost every week I get a message from him letting me know how things are going with their outreach and the evangelism amongst the full only people.
[00:19:43] But when I think of people fleeing from one place to another, I think of him and pray for him and many other particularly Fulani people who become Christians.
[00:19:56] The Fulani are staunchly Islamic in their belief system and have been for centuries.
[00:20:03] So it's a huge thing for one of them to profess faith in Christ.
[00:20:09] When we lived in Nigeria, we learned a new acronym called idp, which is Internally Displaced People.
[00:20:17] In other words, refugees. But not refugees from one country to another, but internal refugees. Refugees who? Or people who've been displaced from their home to another part of the country.
[00:20:29] And some of those pictures I showed you earlier, they were examples of IDPs internally displaced people.
[00:20:39] This is a reality in many parts of the world. When people profess faith in Christ and are persecuted, they have to flee to another place.
[00:20:48] Then he says, truly, I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. That's another one of these sentences that's a little bit hard to get your head around exactly what it means.
[00:21:00] Clearly it doesn't mean that Jesus would return with his second coming before they finish the project that he was sending them out on, because we know that didn't happen.
[00:21:10] So it has multiple layers of applicability.
[00:21:15] It may mean just that Jesus would be present among them before they'd finish their task. And it also may be looking ahead to future events, including the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and in fact Jesus final return. But whatever the case, one of the costs of being a disciple of Christ is being displaced. That's the reality for many people.
[00:21:41] He goes on to say, a student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It's enough for students to be like their teachers and servants, to be like their masters. So if the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household Beelzebul. That's just a way of being likened to either demons or even to Satan himself. In other words, he's being seriously maligned. And Jesus is saying if this happened to him, it's certainly going to happen to his followers.
[00:22:21] So the fifth cost of being a disciple of Christ, being maligned, which is kind of like being hated, I guess.
[00:22:29] We move on. He says, do not be afraid of them, for there's nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
[00:22:46] Do not be afraid.
[00:22:48] I have mentioned this before, but that phrase appears apparently 365 times in the Bible.
[00:22:56] Now, I didn't count it right.
[00:22:59] I just got that off the Internet. And as we know, the Internet never lies.
[00:23:05] Although I did see a meme once, and I think I've told you about this too, with a picture of Abraham Lincoln saying, do not trust everything you read on the Internet. And then quote from Abraham Lincoln, which only goes to show you should not trust everything you see on the Internet.
[00:23:24] Nevertheless, I'm trusting that there are 365 references to do not be afraid. You can count them if you like and check up on me.
[00:23:34] So that's one for every day of the year.
[00:23:36] So maybe there's a message there that this idea of not being afraid is important for us. It appears three times out of those 365 in this passage we're looking at. So there's three.
[00:23:51] Excuse me, three. Do not be afraid. This is the first one.
[00:23:55] Do not be afraid of them. That is all those people who are doing these things to you. Why?
[00:24:00] Because God knows what is happening and all will be revealed. Sooner or later, what's hidden will become open and seen by all.
[00:24:12] So that's a reason not to be afraid.
[00:24:15] Do not be afraid too. Is this one.
[00:24:18] So do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
[00:24:24] Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
[00:24:30] So another do not be afraid.
[00:24:33] But you notice there's also a be afraid here. Do be afraid.
[00:24:38] Do be afraid of the one that is God, who has the ability to destroy body and soul in hell. In other words, Jesus is saying hell is a reality. It's not just make believe like some people would like us to think.
[00:24:54] God has that ability to destroy those who reject him, harsh though that may seem.
[00:25:04] But he says, don't be afraid of those who can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul.
[00:25:10] And that also may seem a bit harsh.
[00:25:14] But as we learned earlier, people are being killed for their faith.
[00:25:19] And in fact, although nothing like that happened to these 12, when they went out on their mission and came back to report a little later, it did happen to them in due course, most of them.
[00:25:34] And recently I happened to be reading a book by Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, and he just gave a nice little summary of what happened to many of Jesus followers, the disciples, over the course of the next few decades. Years or decades.
[00:25:55] James and John were the sons of Zebedee, as you may remember, James was killed with a sword under the rule of Herod, who was the first of the 12 to be martyred.
[00:26:07] John, his brother, was exiled by Rome to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.
[00:26:15] So he did live to an old age. But he may be the only one.
[00:26:20] Thomas, it is believed, took the Gospel eastwards and ended up in India. And that he was.
[00:26:28] Tradition has it that he was killed there while engaged in missionary work in India.
[00:26:34] Simon. Not Simon Peter, but the other Simon, according to tradition, was crucified in Egypt.
[00:26:41] Mark, who wasn't one of the original 12, but he wrote Mark's Gospel. He was thought to have preached in Egypt and was burnt to death there for his faith.
[00:26:51] Simon, or Peter, after preaching the Gospel from Africa to Britain, is traditionally believed to have been crucified upside down because he did not feel worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus did.
[00:27:04] Bartholomew also was believed to have preached in India, and he was beaten, crucified and beheaded.
[00:27:14] Andrew, Peter's brother, laboured in the area north of the Black Sea, what is now Russia, and tradition has it that he was crucified in Achaia, in that region.
[00:27:26] Matthew ministered in Ethiopia, in Egypt, and it was believed he was killed there by a spear or with a spear.
[00:27:33] And Philip preached in Asia Minor, and he was reportedly stoned and crucified.
[00:27:39] So when Jesus said to them, don't be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, he was serious. They may not have realized. I'm sure they didn't realize it at the time, what was ahead for them. But no doubt when these things came upon them later, they would have thought back to these words that Jesus had said.
[00:28:03] So the sixth cost is death.
[00:28:09] He then goes on to say, are not two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.
[00:28:18] Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
[00:28:22] So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
[00:28:27] Two sparrows sold for a penny. There's another reference in Luke where we're Told that five sparrows were sold for two pennies, which means if you bought two lots of two, you get the fifth one thrown in for nothing. So they're worth even less than this.
[00:28:45] That's how worthless sparrows were. And yet none of them. Nothing happened to any of them. Without our Father's knowledge and care, even the very hairs of your head are numbered. Now, for some of us, that's not such a difficult task, but for others, it is.
[00:29:06] Don't be afraid. That's his. The third, don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
[00:29:15] Then he finishes by saying, whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. And then a warning, whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
[00:29:27] So it is possible to disown Christ. And this is a reminder not to be silent, but to be willing to acknowledge Christ before others.
[00:29:39] So there's a warning here for all of us. So as we think about what this means, firstly about persecution, we may not be experiencing much of it at all in our culture, depending on how you define persecution. Yes, sometimes people say things to you because you're a Christian that are a bit harsh, but when you're talking about real persecution, as in death and being jailed and all that sort of thing, that's less common here. And yet think of what happened in Bondi recently.
[00:30:12] It doesn't necessarily mean things are always going to be that way in this country. Who knows where we're headed?
[00:30:19] If Jews can be attacked, Christians too could be. And we know there are all kinds of instances where such things have happened in other countries as well. So be ready, be prepared.
[00:30:33] And the second thing is to be aware and informed about those parts of the world where these things are already happening.
[00:30:42] And I'm going to mention a few of these now, just to finish with Open Doors, have a website called the World Watch List, which I find quite interesting to look at. It gets updated every now and again, but this is the latest one and it lists. This one here, lists the 10 most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian.
[00:31:03] And looking through this is just a reminder as we pray for people in these various countries.
[00:31:09] Nigeria is there as number seven, but it includes North Korea, if you can't read it, North Korea, Somalia, Yemen.
[00:31:16] Now, speaking of Yemen, we know of a couple, a family from right here in Launceston who are currently in Yemen, believe it or not, as missionaries speaking to people about the Gospel.
[00:31:32] And that's listed as the third most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian and yet people are becoming Christians in that country.
[00:31:41] Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. And the list goes on. They're just the top 10, but it might be good to look that up occasionally and just pray through that list and be reminded that there are people in our world who are living in countries like this.
[00:31:59] That's World Watch List from Open Doors.
[00:32:04] Leah. I mentioned earlier there's a Leah foundation which you can look up on Google their website if you want more information about Leah. There's even a book about her written by Peter Fretheim, a friend of ours within sim and another colleague that talks about her capture and all the details about it.
[00:32:29] There's also a group called the Stephanos foundation and this is from their Facebook page. They do have a website too, but their Facebook page seems to have more useful information on it. It's a Nigerian based organization run by somebody that we know and that keeps track of the persecution that is going on in Nigeria. This graph is interesting, although it's a bit hard for you to see the details, so it's probably better to look at it this way.
[00:32:56] In the month of December, it lists each week by week the number of people killed and the number of people kidnapped.
[00:33:05] Christians in various parts, well within Nigeria, in the various states of Northern Nigeria. So in December, a total of about 220people lost their lives because of their faith and another three to 400 kidnapped.
[00:33:24] And that's just one month, that's just last month. This is an ongoing reality for many followers of Christ today.
[00:33:33] And it's just a reminder to us to be in prayer for them and to remember them and to be informed, not just to utter a general prayer, but maybe to do some research and look up some numbers and read some stories and pray particularly for those people.
[00:33:50] So just as we finish, perhaps I saw this phrase and found this was helpful, that in summary, we could say that Christians can live courageously because of the fear of the Lord.
[00:34:02] And the hope of Heaven has set us free from all earthly fears. If we're fearing our Lord, we're serving him and honouring him with our lives. We are set free from earthly fears.
[00:34:15] So I trust that as you hopefully think about what Jesus has been saying about persecution, about sheep among wolves, that that will be an encouragement to us and maybe a challenge to us to pray for those who are suffering day by day.
[00:34:34] And let's pray together as we conclude.
[00:34:39] Our Father, we thank youk for this teaching from Jesus.
[00:34:42] Thank you that he has sent us out into the world like sheep among wolves, perhaps vulnerable.
[00:34:49] And yet you've called us to be wise and to be honest and blameless in all that we do. We pray, Lord, that we will not disown you, but we will acknowledge you before those around us, both here in our families, in our society, in our day to day work.
[00:35:09] We pray that we will indeed acknowledge you. We will not disown you or deny you, and that you'll help us to be in prayer for those who are daily suffering because they are followers of Jesus and have stood up for Him. So thank you for this time. We commit all of what we've been talking about, Lord, and ask that you will guide us to know how to apply that in our daily lives. We pray in Jesus name.
