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- 'Neither failure nor hostility can weaken the messenger's conviction that he has been sent by Jesus. That his word may be their strength, their stay and their comfort, Jesus repeats it. "Behold, I send you." For this is no way they have chosen themselves, no undertaking of their own. It is, in the strict sense of the word, a mission. With this the Lord promises them his abiding presence, even when they find themselves as sheep among wolves, defenseless, powerless, sore pressed and beset with great danger. Nothing can happen to them without Jesus knowing of it. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." How often have the ministers of Jesus made wrong use of this saying! However willing they may be, it is indeed difficult for them to preserve a true understanding of this word and to adhere to the path of obedience. How difficult it is to draw the line with certainty between spiritual wisdom and worldly astuteness! Are we not all prepared at heart to do without "worldly wisdom" and much prefer the harmlessness of the doves and thus again fall into disobedience? Who is there to let us know when we are running away from suffering through cowardice, or running after it through temerity? Who shows us the hidden frontier? It is just as bad to appeal to the commandment of simplicity against that of wisdom, as to appeal to the commandment of wisdom against that of simplicity. There is one in the world who has perfect knowledge of his own heart. But Jesus never called his disciples into a state of uncertainty, but to one of supreme certainty. That is why his warning can only summon them to abide by the Word. Where the Word is, there shall the disciple be. Therein lies his true wisdom and his true simplicity.'
'Only the truth of that Word will enable him to discern what is wise. But to deviate from the truth for the sake of some prospect or hope of our own can never be wise, however slight that deviation may be. It is not our judgment of the situation which can show us what is wise, but only the truth of the Word of God. Here alone lies the promise of God's faithfulness and help. It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.'
My thoughts-
We are all guilty of twisting God's word to suit ourselves, aren't we? We've uttered the following words- 'God understands.' As a way of making an excuse for our failings.
In my Old Testament reading it still amazes me how often God's chosen people turned away from Him only to turn back to Him, to only once more turn away from Him. How often the same king would turn to God only to turn from Him once more. This was a constant, and if anything it reveal the evilness of men's hearts.
Jer_17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Man knows what God wants from Him- obedience.
Man knows this includes self sacrifice.
Man knows this means warring against their own natural inclinations. If it were our natural inclination to follow God in all truth, we would have done that, right? It'd be easy. Yet we gave up that natural inclination when we chose to sin.
The natural self rebels against God, there is an ACTUAL ACT of OBEDIENCE involved in following God, not an automatic act, not at all.
We have to constantly guard against our own natural inclinations even once we've turned to God because they'll forever be trying to creep back into our lives and turn us away from our Savior.
1Co_2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Jn_2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Pe_4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe_4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
We must walk in CHRIST'S truth no matter what that truth is, whether our flesh nature likes that truth or not, and most assuredly it won't.
We cannot alter the truth to suit anyone! We can't tell someone we have a special deal for just them- a half off special- they can sin half the time and still get the benefits of never sinning. It DOES NOT work that way! We must speak ONLY truth! We cannot condone a single sin.
Psa 19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Psa 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
We need our Savior to keep us, to save us!
We need to follow our God and the Holy Spirit's leading especially when we are working for HIM. And we can only work for Him as HE leads. Any path of our own we forge is not good, it must be a path forged by God, with God's blessing, His leading.
Please LORD we would be YOUR.
We would truly be as WISE as serpents and HARMLESS as doves, only in the way YOU LEAD us to be, not in our own way, please Lord, Your way, not ours, always!
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- 'Neither failure nor hostility can weaken the messenger's conviction that he has been sent by Jesus. That his word may be their strength, their stay and their comfort, Jesus repeats it. "Behold, I send you." For this is no way they have chosen themselves, no undertaking of their own. It is, in the strict sense of the word, a mission. With this the Lord promises them his abiding presence, even when they find themselves as sheep among wolves, defenseless, powerless, sore pressed and beset with great danger. Nothing can happen to them without Jesus knowing of it. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." How often have the ministers of Jesus made wrong use of this saying! However willing they may be, it is indeed difficult for them to preserve a true understanding of this word and to adhere to the path of obedience. How difficult it is to draw the line with certainty between spiritual wisdom and worldly astuteness! Are we not all prepared at heart to do without "worldly wisdom" and much prefer the harmlessness of the doves and thus again fall into disobedience? Who is there to let us know when we are running away from suffering through cowardice, or running after it through temerity? Who shows us the hidden frontier? It is just as bad to appeal to the commandment of simplicity against that of wisdom, as to appeal to the commandment of wisdom against that of simplicity. There is one in the world who has perfect knowledge of his own heart. But Jesus never called his disciples into a state of uncertainty, but to one of supreme certainty. That is why his warning can only summon them to abide by the Word. Where the Word is, there shall the disciple be. Therein lies his true wisdom and his true simplicity.'
'Only the truth of that Word will enable him to discern what is wise. But to deviate from the truth for the sake of some prospect or hope of our own can never be wise, however slight that deviation may be. It is not our judgment of the situation which can show us what is wise, but only the truth of the Word of God. Here alone lies the promise of God's faithfulness and help. It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.'
My thoughts-
We are all guilty of twisting God's word to suit ourselves, aren't we? We've uttered the following words- 'God understands.' As a way of making an excuse for our failings.
In my Old Testament reading it still amazes me how often God's chosen people turned away from Him only to turn back to Him, to only once more turn away from Him. How often the same king would turn to God only to turn from Him once more. This was a constant, and if anything it reveal the evilness of men's hearts.
Jer_17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Man knows what God wants from Him- obedience.
Man knows this includes self sacrifice.
Man knows this means warring against their own natural inclinations. If it were our natural inclination to follow God in all truth, we would have done that, right? It'd be easy. Yet we gave up that natural inclination when we chose to sin.
The natural self rebels against God, there is an ACTUAL ACT of OBEDIENCE involved in following God, not an automatic act, not at all.
We have to constantly guard against our own natural inclinations even once we've turned to God because they'll forever be trying to creep back into our lives and turn us away from our Savior.
1Co_2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Jn_2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Pe_4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe_4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
We must walk in CHRIST'S truth no matter what that truth is, whether our flesh nature likes that truth or not, and most assuredly it won't.
We cannot alter the truth to suit anyone! We can't tell someone we have a special deal for just them- a half off special- they can sin half the time and still get the benefits of never sinning. It DOES NOT work that way! We must speak ONLY truth! We cannot condone a single sin.
Psa 19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Psa 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
We need our Savior to keep us, to save us!
We need to follow our God and the Holy Spirit's leading especially when we are working for HIM. And we can only work for Him as HE leads. Any path of our own we forge is not good, it must be a path forged by God, with God's blessing, His leading.
Please LORD we would be YOUR.
We would truly be as WISE as serpents and HARMLESS as doves, only in the way YOU LEAD us to be, not in our own way, please Lord, Your way, not ours, always!
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