16 “Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves. 17 Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues. 18 For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles. 19 When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say. 20 For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 “People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. 22 Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24 “No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master. 25 So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!
26 “So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. 27 What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. 29 For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!
32 “Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven. 33 But those who reject me publicly, I will reject before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; 36 your worst enemies will be the members of your own family.
37 “Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples. 38 Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples. 39 Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.
40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes God’s messenger because he is God’s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. 42 You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward.”
Read Matthew 10:16-42 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
During Jesus’ first commission to His disciple, He shares a brief idea about how spiritual loyalty works. On the surface, this idea sounds obvious, but even with all its obvious characteristics, this idea is often ignored. In His first message directly to His group of twelve followers after bringing them together as a group, Jesus includes the following big idea: “Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven. But those who reject me publicly, I will reject before my Father in heaven.” (v. 32-33)
There are several layers of this truth that are worth paying attention to. The first is that this concept relates to public declarations. This is significant because while what we do in private for God is important, what we live, say, and do for God is even more important. If we live completely for God in private, but then live completely counter to God’s will in public, then we have missed the truth about discipleship.
Declaring our allegiance to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in public is rarely ever popular, but it is what Jesus says is important. This does not mean that we stand on a street corner with a bull horn declaring to everyone who is within earshot that we belong to Jesus, but instead that we don’t shy away from living our beliefs and siding with God’s plan for our lives even if others around us choose to live differently. Declaring publicly means that we let people know that Jesus is the reason for us living the way we do, whether this declaration is to a stadium full of people or to one or two friends we are with away from the crowds.
But if we have messed up and rejected Jesus publicly, have we closed the door to Jesus ever accepting us again? Not at all!
Jesus’ star disciple, Peter, is known for speaking before thinking, and this character trait got Peter in trouble more than the other disciples. Throughout all the gospels, Peter is the disciple who is known as the one who publicly rejected Jesus, not just once, but three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest. In this event, Peter is our example for what happens when someone who has followed Jesus chooses to publicly reject Him.
Following Jesus’ resurrection, we learn the answer: Jesus invites Peter to be His disciple again. (John 21:19)
For those who have messed up or fallen away from God and Jesus, the invitation is open to come back to Him. This invitation won’t always be open, because Jesus may return before we take the chance or our lives may end before we have made the decision. While the invitation is open, we would be wise to take Jesus up on it. When we publicly declare that we belong to Jesus, He will draw us to God and we will be saved for eternity. This declaration comes with a wiping away of our past sins, and it marks the beginning (or restart) of our live with God!
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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