"24 "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!
26 "Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
32 "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
In the Church there will always be religious phonies, counterfeit Christians, tares among the wheat. Those who name the name of Christ but do not uphold His teachings. They outwardly appear to be good, moral followers of Christ, while speaking perverse things from the pulpits, they are the agents of Satan. The deny the authenticity and authority of Scripture, therefore, denying the true nature of God. Certainly, one of the biggest offenses against God one can make, to deny what His Word says , that "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
They wear a religious mask to church, "holding to a form of godliness, teaching a doctrine that does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And rather than actually accepting Christ into their heart, they have denied His authority. In other words, they have a saved appearance without having a saved heart. They have abandoned God, no longer convicted by sin, but celebrating it, not living a life of repentance; more concerned about the approval of men that the approval of God. In spite of what they may believe, they will someday stand before the God they have denied, the One who ultimately determine a person’s final destination, to give an account for the way we lived.
Though we must confront their error, rather than to judge and condemn them, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to convict them. God doesn't require much in a man to become a Christian, but He does require all of him.
"Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
"He
who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."
Beginning with verse 29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father."
I believe most everyone today knows what sparrow is, they are those little brown and grey birds that hover around our houses, building nests and searching for food. In Jesus' day, sparrows could be bought two for a penny. As odd as it may seem to all of us today, in that day they were actually bought for hors d'oeuvres. In Luke's gospel, he says you could get five for two pennies, if you bought four, they’d just throw one in for free.
And yet Jesus tells us "Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." If God watches over and takes care of these little sparrows, how much more will He watch over and take care of you, who is worth so much more to Him? God's care, though not stated, is implied. There is nothing, not even in the most insignificant moments of our life that Our Heavenly Father does not know about, to the extent of providential care. That's the point.
He goes on to say in verse 30, " But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
It's interesting to note, that the average person has approximately 140,000 hairs on their head, it is comprehensible to me that God actually identifies every hair on your head. He knows the exact number, or the lack there of for some of you. I mean if there's not a lot of them to count. But there are some people who have a full thick head of hair, can you imagine knowing the exact number? God does!
Look at verse 31, "So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."
Many have no doubt that God controls greater matters, then they question that His care extends to such small details as the concerns of individual man. God is not only aware of everything that happens, He cares. If you question how valuable you are to Him, I encourage you to remember this; He loves and cares so much, He sent His only Son to die for you! He is worthy to be praised with a holy and righteous awareness of who He is. I cannot stress this enough. We often use language broadly concerning God.
After all, Jesus has just told them in the previous verses, He's sending them out as sheep in the midst of wolves, that they’ll be hated by everybody, obviously they’re going to be afraid. Psychologically, we don’t really want to do something that we fear, we don’t want to be hated, we don't want to be persecuted and we certainly don’t want to be killed for our faith. We all want to be liked and highly thought of by people. I believe that's why so many today tend to completely avoid confrontive ministry. They're more concerned about self-preservation than they are serving the Lord.
If you're not willing to get yourself out of the way, to pay the price no matter the cost, you're probably not a Christian. If you love the world, you're not of God. You have to be courageous, willing to boldly follow through with that which the Word of God calls us to do. Confront sin and error. That's the evidence of truly being a disciples of Christ. In being like Christ means we can expect to be treated like Christ. We can't be afraid we might lose our reputation and pull back our testimony just keep our mouth shut to keep from being confrontive. We cannot be afraid to speak the truth; God's Truth!
Jesus is telling us, when the time of hesitation comes, "So don't be afraid." Do not let not your heart be troubled. Speak the Truth and do not fear. Ironically, we're not afraid, well, most of of aren't, to let other Christians know what we think or believe. In recent years, I've heard some very strong, rather ungodly chatter in many church discussions. Yet, we're afraid to confront someone who is headed to eternal hell and tell them the truth and offer them a way out. That's when many Christians become paralyzed with fear. We should be far more concerned about snatching the lost and dying out of the fire, than demanding to have our own way regarding a minor church issue, they're sitting in my families pew or worship music. I must say, it just makes no sense to me. The fact is, the more you stand for what's right, the more the world is going to hate you. Those who stand up for Christ in spite of their troubles have eternal value and will receive great rewards.
In Matthew 5, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Verse 32, "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven."
When it comes time that we must make the decision, to stand for Christ or stand for the world, the true disciple will be willing to confess Jesus Christ before men. He'll stand for the Lord. If you know and believe you have the protection of God, if you believe God's promise for vindication, you will confess Jesus Christ without fear. In order to be a true Christian, you have to confess Christ. You have to believe that in the end, God lift up His people. What could possibly be more reasonable for a true disciple of Christ than to boldly and fearlessly confess Jesus before men. I mean if you're a Christian, you have not only to believe in Christ, but to profess that faith.
I do not believe there is any excuse for shrinking back, certainly not the fear of men. Confession before men means more than talking out loud to people about Jesus. You confess with your life as you live out that confession. The walk and the talk have to go together, you have to make that statement a way of life. That is part of a cause and effect relationship with Jesus. The only thing worthy of fear is the fear of not confessing Christ before men. To confess Christ before men is a statement of identification. This goes for times when you’re standing in front of a bunch of other Christians, in front of a group of people who are neutral and when you’re standing in front of an angry hostile group of people. A true Christian confesses Christ. This emphasizes the public confession, you can't a secret Christian. That's basic.
In Romans 1, Paul said "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.."
And in Romans 10, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
If you're not willing to do that, your profession of faith is a lie and you're not saved. There must be this verification of faith. The Bible says it’s going to cost us something to be a Christian. If we belong to Christ, we will be willing to confess Him, no matter how hostile the environment around us gets. That's how you know you're a true Christian. I believe this is a good place for us to examine ourselves and ask the question "What will I do in the middle of a persecution?" Are you willing to stand up and confess Jesus Christ? The only acceptable answer is, "Yes, I confess Christ no matter what you do to me!" If you're not willing to that, you better examine your heart. There may be a temporary lapse, but it's temporary. Peter had a lapse and he turned around and boldly confessed Christ. If you affirm your loyalty to Him, on the day of judgment, He will say "This belongs to Me." What a magnificent promise.
That brings us to verse 33, "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."
This could speak of a lot of people; those who blaspheme His name, those who openly deny Him, those who rejected Him, people who deny Jesus in that way. Sure, you can deny Him by your words, but I don't believe that the issue He's talking about here. He's talking about those who deny Him by their absolute silence. Those who deny Him by their actions, the way they live their lives, the way they talk. Those who live like everybody else lives. I mean I've heard some professed Christians who have pretty filthy mouths. He will deny that He even knows them.`
The people in Matthew 7, "Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
If your life is a denial of Him, if it does not affirm your confession of Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior, He will deny you before the Father. "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness," because that’s how He will respond. What terrifying words, for those who believe they've lived a life "good enough."
In Closing..
I am deeply concerned about people who say they’re Christians, but their words, attitudes and actions do not reflect Christ. They’re not like Christ. I have to wonder, if I don’t see Christ being reflected in their lives, will Christ see it. There's more to being a Christian than just saying the words. When you became a Christian, you did not just buy fire insurance. You affirmed the Lordship of Christ, and that means that a life of obedience to His commands. Not just the parts you like that don't interfere with your worldly, self-fulfilling lifestyle. We must confess Christ not only with our lips before men and with the way we live our lives.
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen