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This Week's Sermon The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost 15 June 2008 "A Warning!" Matthew 9:35-10:20 LSB Series A Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

A week ago we received a warning that we had never before received when the floods hit. We received reverse 911 calls telling us to stay off the streets or to evacuate if we were in low-lying areas. I suppose most people appreciated the warning, given the serious nature of the floods. Some people ignore such warnings at their own peril. Some people get swept away in flood waters. Our Lord Jesus also gives warnings to Christians, some of them similar to what we experienced last week. Who would have thought that our Lord's warning about building your house upon the rock would be so graphically illustrated for us? The floods which came, the winds that blew and beat against the houses are pictures of life in general. In today's Holy Gospel Jesus becomes more specific as he describes the life of the disciple under the cross, particularly as he sent out the Twelve on their first mission trip.

While the first part of this reading is about the Lord's harvest and praying for workers to go out into it, the latter part is a sober outlook because Jesus describes the persecution that will come to Christians in this world simply because they belong to him. It is a warning that also contains a promise. We need to listen to our Lord's warning as well as his promise.

As Jesus sent out the Twelve he gave them specific instructions. First, they were to go only to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." The Gospel would not go out to the Gentiles in any official manner until Pentecost. One would think that Israel would welcome announcement that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. The Twelve were to depend solely upon those they served for their sustenance. Later, after Pentecost, that would change, but for now they were to go out urgently to announce the coming of the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus told the Twelve that not everyone would welcome them or treat them kindly. There are persons who are not persons of peace. How true it is that often a Christian's peace is thrown back into his face. That is because not all the world is waiting for Christ's message of peace. Quite the opposite. Just as his own opposed him, so does the world oppose Christ's Gospel. We would be mistaken if we thought that the world is waiting breathlessly for the Gospel. When the Gospel is proclaimed it is often met with great animosity and hatred. For example, one may not speak of Christ in many public settings, but recently the Associated Press reported that school children in one Maryland school district are going to be instructed in understanding Islam! This so-called "religion of peace" is anything but peaceful. It has always had what one analyst called "bloody borders." Wherever it has gone, bloodshed accompanies it. Yet, Christianity, the real religion of peace, is outlawed and denigrated.

Of course, it is not politically correct to say such things, not only in our own land but also in the United Kingdom where the Church of England has to battle on behalf of Christianity! What has happened in the past is happening now and will happen again in the future. Listen to the warning given by our Lord Jesus:

"Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles." (Matthew 10:17-18, ESV)

Jesus is speaking about "this new sort of combat," said St. John Chrysostom, an ancient Church Father who lived in the 4th and 5th centuries. Christians are going to suffer wrong and willingly permit others to inflict punishment on them. One wants to know why God permits this kind of injustice. Why should those who deny Christ gain the upper hand? You see, that is precisely the same kind of question that modern-day Islam has been asking, but the answer is far different. For Islam the answer lies in force, of outlawing all other religions, of using violence to suppress any and all opposition.

Our Lord Jesus gives the answer as to why God permits Christianity to be persecuted:

"and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles." (Matthew 10:18, ESV)

Jesus goes on to say something that I wish had been included in the reading, words just two verses beyond our text's ending: "and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22, ESV) Hated by all! What a warning! But it is precisely the warning we need to hear! Some accuse Christianity of being an easy way out of reality, but I don't hear any of that in the Holy Gospel. I hear very difficult, very challenging words from Jesus. What happened to him is going to happen to us. It is life under the cross. The Christian life must be described in these terms or we are guilty of false advertising. It simply will not do to say that becoming a Christian is the answer to all your problems. In fact, Jesus warns us that being connected with him is going to increase our trouble! Even the members of one's own family will find Christians odious!

Chrysostom asks a rhetorical question:

"Some may object, saying, 'How then will others come to faith, when they see on our account children being slain by their fathers, and brothers killing brothers, and all things filled with abominations? How could this sort of warfare work out? Will not we be treated as though we were destructive demons?" [Ancient Christian Commentary. Matthew 1-13, p. 200].

Through the suffering of Christians God the Holy Spirit proclaims his Gospel in all the world. While a time of persecution is not something that we should willingly seek, we need to know that when Christians were most persecuted the Church grew most rapidly. "The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church" is the way that describes it best.

Christians speak through persecution. Specifically, Jesus promised the Twelve that the Holy Spirit would be speaking through their mouths [v. 20]. It is not the voice of a mere man who speaks the Word, but God the Holy Spirit. Luther was fond of saying that when the congregation hears and sees a man preaching perhaps in a very unpolished way, they can be sure that the voice is the voice of God the Holy Spirit. That is the way God the Holy Spirit works. Don't look for impressive miracles! Look for suffering Christians and there you will most assuredly find the word of Christ.

What looks like certain defeat is not. There is a harvest to be brought in. Jesus calls it a "plentiful harvest," but the Church needs workers to bring it in. The Church needs faithful pastors who are unfearing in proclaiming Law and Gospel to their hearers, men who are not afraid of what men can do to them, men who will suffer persecution and pain for the sake of the Gospel. Not all can do this, as the case of Judas clearly illustrates. That is why the Church must continue to pray for such men who feed the flock of God and guard it against the wolves who wish to devour it.

Jesus goes on to say, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22, ESV) Don't give up when persecution and hatred come your way because you are a Christian! Listen to your Lord's warning! Hear him say that all of this serves the good of the Gospel message. Conduct yourself in a godly way. Be "innocent as doves" but as "wise as serpents." To be innocent as doves is the same as being as Christ himself was when he was persecuted. He did not open his mouth nor complain, but rather he endured for the sake of the world.

Dear friends, the harvest is sure! God will bring in his sheaves, but it will not be easy for the laborers. It will be difficult and trying, but God does not leave you without his help. He sends you Christ in Word and Sacrament to sustain you. Here in the Holy Supper he not only forgives you, he encourages you, reminding you that Christ has overcome the world and that his Kingdom is forever. Even now he reigns, although the world cannot see it.

For those who reject Christ and his Word spoken through his Christians, there is a judgment. It will be more horrible than when God destroyed two of the most wicked cities on earth, Sodom and Gomorrah. It will be the fire of eternal judgment. No one rejoices in that. Rather, we rejoice in Christ and his victory over sin, death, and hell.

It is sure. Therefore, listen to our Lord's warning of what is to come. Dear friends, that time of persecution seems ever closer again in our day. May God preserve you and his Church in faith so that none of the elect is lost!