Mat 10:32-42; The Guaranteed Rewards for Fearlessly Serving the Lord.

Thursday January 16, 2025

Reward for fearless witness: Mat 10:32-33

Confess (homologeo) or deny?

Terrific parallel:

Confess me or deny / I will confess him or deny. 

Before men / before My Father in heaven. 

Reward or consequence (believer and unbeliever).

Mat 10:34-36, Not Peace but a sword.

Peace on earth? (Luk 2:14).

Sword: closest human relationships.

Presence of Christ on world intensifies all divisions lying just under the surface.

Mat 10:37-39, Suited to Him.

Worthy - suited to Him, fitting, deserving.

Because of eternal security, we may want to shy away from some terms, like “worthy.” Believers are worthy in their eternal position, but are their lives worthy or fitting?

No one is comparable to Him, not the one you love most. Lessen Him and be not fitting for Him.

Find your life (Jonah; Jon 3:1).

Only a right perspective of Christ can show you who you are.

Pick up his cross and follow Me: Death to all things that stand in the way of complete devotion to the Lord.

“I came” speaks of His own mission and authority.

Mat 10:40-42, We are all rewarded when we help one another to accomplish our missions.

Consistent mission for the Lord is too difficult to do so without the motivation of love of Him and love of mankind.

What divine good life on earth is rewarded in heaven. It is mocked and persecuted on earth and it is celebrated in heaven. (Rev 3:2, 5)

We are not perfect. Sometimes we may fear. Peter denied the Lord. Same verb: Peter’s time of weakness was soon changed to strength (Mat 26:72 cf. Act 2:22).

Rather than deny Him, we are to deny ourselves (independence from Him and sin), Mat 10:38. (Tit 2:11-12)

Consistent mission, and help of others, demands fear and love of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord definition. What does it mean to fear God?

The right idea of God’s Person that causes the believer to take very seriously his obedience, reverence, and worship of God.

Consistency is too difficult to be done with wrong motivation.

John Mark, Demas (Col 4:14; click in 2Ti 4:10).

Radical choice of loyalty (friend of the world, Jam 4:4).

The question of priorities - whom to fear - leads to a radical choice of loyalty between Jesus and people who oppose Him (to accept His people is to accept Him).

Joh 12:42-43

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

The issue is not merely obedience to Jesus’ teaching but acknowledgment of Him as Lord to a hostile world.

Knowledge of what the Lord said and did will increase your faith and attach all of your desire to Him (Mat 11:1-6).

Heb 13:15-16

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks [homologeo with dative: praise His name] to His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 

I would not limit that praise / confession to the song service or the church alone, but in every place. 

Heb 11:24-26

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

Psa 26:6-7

I shall wash my hands in innocence,

And I will go about Your altar, O Lord, 

7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving

And declare all Your wonders. 

Psa 96:1-4

Sing to the Lord a new song;

Sing to the Lord, all the earth. 

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. 

3 Tell of His glory among the nations,

His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 

4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods. 

Application: Periodically look ahead to the reward for your service to the Lord. (1Co 3:14; 2Co 5:10; Rev 22:12)

It is not your talking or your learning that is rewarded: It is your doing.

Rev 3:1-6

Assist all others you can in their missions (right down to a cup of cold water) and you will be rewarded.