Chapter 24 - The Suffering of the Messengers
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Bonhoeffer- 'The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the divisions which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will he blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end. But when the end comes, the hostility towards Jesus and his disciples will be made manifest the whole world over, and only then must the messengers flee from city to city, in order that they may proclaim the Word where it can still find a hearing. If they run away then, they will not be running away from the Word, but holding fast to it.
The Church has never forgotten Christ's promise of his imminent return, and she has always believed that this promise is true. The exact manner of its fulfillment remains obscure, but that is not a problem for us to solve. This much is clear and all-important for us today: that the return of Jesus will take place suddenly. That fact is more certain than that we shall be able to finish our work in his service, more certain than our own death. This assurance that in their suffering they will be as their master is the greatest consolation the messengers of Jesus have. As is the mast, so shall the disciple be, and as the Lord, so the servant. If they called Jesus a devil, how much more shall they call the servants of his household devils. Thus Jesus will be with them, and they will be in all things like unto Him.'
My thoughts-
The truth is -Christ followers are being persecuted all over the world. Today to be a Christian and to follow God's truth, His words means you are biased, you are prejudice, you are morally deficient because you are not accepting of the world's ways. To hold fast to truth today means to align yourself against those who call themselves enlightened, those who profess to have TRUE love for all, something Christian's are supposed to have. To believe in God's truth's right now in the world we are currently living in, means that what we call God's love, others call His hate. Things have been twisted and turned so violently misaligned that to be a true Christ follower means more than ever standing up for TRUTH. It means LOVING all sinners, but HATING all sin!
We cannot glorify sin and love sin. Those who choose to follow sin's path willingly and want the approval and acceptance of the sin in their lives, those who actually ask us to accept the sin as being not sinful, are the exact people spoke about in God's word-
Isa_5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Isa 5:22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Isa 5:23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Pro 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
Mal 2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Luk 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
Luk 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Pe 2:18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
As servant of God we must hold fast to the TRUTH and share the TRUTH. If we are persecuted for sharing the TRUTH we are to flee and continue to share the TRUTH.
More and more this world is becoming the place of evil. We live in the age of evil acceptance. Accept the evil and live as enlightened, loving, fair, moral, and good- or else. Are you prepared to accept the label of an evil person, a person filled with hatred for people, a false Christ follower who doesn't really following Christ because Christ accepts all sinners. Try as YOU might, are you prepared for others NOT to comprehend your LOVE of the sinners but not their sin? Because they believe it's one and the same. They believe you cannot say you hate sin and yet love them because that thing you are calling sin is their life, it's a part of them they have no control over, it is who they are, it is NATURAL and to fault someone for their NATURE, for something beyond their control, is to hate them, and hate that part of them.
How does this fit in with what Bonhoeffer is saying about Christ's disciples, Christ's followers suffering? It's the time in which we live and a form of suffering that is just over the horizon for many. Daily we our morals have been beaten, whittled away and society calls all manner of lifestyles good, acceptable, natural, loving when the truth of it is the sin that has been accepted will NEVER be good, can NEVER be good. The sinners can find forgiveness for the sin however natural that sin is to them, but sin will never been changed to no longer being sin.
Our flesh nature is our enemy, living to our flesh nature in any form of sin is wrong, from the greatest to the least of sins. The one who loves their own covetous nature and clings to it, calling it normal and good, and right is just as guilty as another clinging to a physical urge that is part of their nature. One is not more right than the other, one is not more acceptable than the other. The SIN is never acceptable! No matter the SIN!
For me to placate a coveting person and tell them not to worry, it's okay to be coveting would make me a part of their sin. I have to console the coveting person and tell them that there is HOPE in Christ to overcome, there is forgiveness at the foot of the cross, and if they have to seek that forgiveness constantly- then do so!
We are not guiltless, we are riddled with guilt and only CHRIST can save us from any of it! Only HE CAN SAVE US, but He will NOT save us without our willingness, without our consent.
Please Lord, keep us in YOU all the way until they end of time as we know it. Please Lord, we would be YOURS in this world where so much is twisted and warped, where it truly is as it was in the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Lord, please, let us remain true to You all by YOUR power, YOUR grace, YOUR love! If we suffer, Lord, help us to cling ever tighter to YOU in that suffering! Please Lord, please! We would be YOURS.
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Bonhoeffer- 'The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the divisions which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will he blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end. But when the end comes, the hostility towards Jesus and his disciples will be made manifest the whole world over, and only then must the messengers flee from city to city, in order that they may proclaim the Word where it can still find a hearing. If they run away then, they will not be running away from the Word, but holding fast to it.
The Church has never forgotten Christ's promise of his imminent return, and she has always believed that this promise is true. The exact manner of its fulfillment remains obscure, but that is not a problem for us to solve. This much is clear and all-important for us today: that the return of Jesus will take place suddenly. That fact is more certain than that we shall be able to finish our work in his service, more certain than our own death. This assurance that in their suffering they will be as their master is the greatest consolation the messengers of Jesus have. As is the mast, so shall the disciple be, and as the Lord, so the servant. If they called Jesus a devil, how much more shall they call the servants of his household devils. Thus Jesus will be with them, and they will be in all things like unto Him.'
My thoughts-
The truth is -Christ followers are being persecuted all over the world. Today to be a Christian and to follow God's truth, His words means you are biased, you are prejudice, you are morally deficient because you are not accepting of the world's ways. To hold fast to truth today means to align yourself against those who call themselves enlightened, those who profess to have TRUE love for all, something Christian's are supposed to have. To believe in God's truth's right now in the world we are currently living in, means that what we call God's love, others call His hate. Things have been twisted and turned so violently misaligned that to be a true Christ follower means more than ever standing up for TRUTH. It means LOVING all sinners, but HATING all sin!
We cannot glorify sin and love sin. Those who choose to follow sin's path willingly and want the approval and acceptance of the sin in their lives, those who actually ask us to accept the sin as being not sinful, are the exact people spoke about in God's word-
Isa_5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Isa 5:22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Isa 5:23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Pro 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
Mal 2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Luk 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
Luk 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Pe 2:18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
As servant of God we must hold fast to the TRUTH and share the TRUTH. If we are persecuted for sharing the TRUTH we are to flee and continue to share the TRUTH.
More and more this world is becoming the place of evil. We live in the age of evil acceptance. Accept the evil and live as enlightened, loving, fair, moral, and good- or else. Are you prepared to accept the label of an evil person, a person filled with hatred for people, a false Christ follower who doesn't really following Christ because Christ accepts all sinners. Try as YOU might, are you prepared for others NOT to comprehend your LOVE of the sinners but not their sin? Because they believe it's one and the same. They believe you cannot say you hate sin and yet love them because that thing you are calling sin is their life, it's a part of them they have no control over, it is who they are, it is NATURAL and to fault someone for their NATURE, for something beyond their control, is to hate them, and hate that part of them.
How does this fit in with what Bonhoeffer is saying about Christ's disciples, Christ's followers suffering? It's the time in which we live and a form of suffering that is just over the horizon for many. Daily we our morals have been beaten, whittled away and society calls all manner of lifestyles good, acceptable, natural, loving when the truth of it is the sin that has been accepted will NEVER be good, can NEVER be good. The sinners can find forgiveness for the sin however natural that sin is to them, but sin will never been changed to no longer being sin.
Our flesh nature is our enemy, living to our flesh nature in any form of sin is wrong, from the greatest to the least of sins. The one who loves their own covetous nature and clings to it, calling it normal and good, and right is just as guilty as another clinging to a physical urge that is part of their nature. One is not more right than the other, one is not more acceptable than the other. The SIN is never acceptable! No matter the SIN!
For me to placate a coveting person and tell them not to worry, it's okay to be coveting would make me a part of their sin. I have to console the coveting person and tell them that there is HOPE in Christ to overcome, there is forgiveness at the foot of the cross, and if they have to seek that forgiveness constantly- then do so!
We are not guiltless, we are riddled with guilt and only CHRIST can save us from any of it! Only HE CAN SAVE US, but He will NOT save us without our willingness, without our consent.
Please Lord, keep us in YOU all the way until they end of time as we know it. Please Lord, we would be YOURS in this world where so much is twisted and warped, where it truly is as it was in the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Lord, please, let us remain true to You all by YOUR power, YOUR grace, YOUR love! If we suffer, Lord, help us to cling ever tighter to YOU in that suffering! Please Lord, please! We would be YOURS.
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