Truth in Advertising
When Beth and I had been married for about a year, we got a call from her old college roommate. This was a girl we both knew from church and InterVarsity that Beth had lived with for a while her sophomore year. But then this girl had gotten married herself, and moved with her husband to another school, and we sort of lost track of her.
So getting a call telling us that she was going to be in town and inviting us to lunch was a nice surprise—we thought it would be a great chance to catch up on what was going on in her life and fill her in a little on what was new with us. We met her and her husband at the Village Inn and we made small talk as we waited for our orders to come in.
But then, just about the time my Reuben and fries arrived, she reaches into her bag and pulls out this big black folder and starts to tell us about this great opportunity they had been invited to be a part of, and how they wanted to give us a chance to be a part of it too. I don’t remember what it was they were selling—cleaning supplies or vacation timeshares or real estate or something—but it was clearly a pyramid scheme, and I suddenly lost my appetite and couldn’t wait for lunch to be over as fast as possible.
As we left, I felt really angry. It wasn’t so much that they were trying to sell us something, or even that they invited us to be part of the pyramid, as it was that I felt duped. I was mad because I felt like they had used our friendship as a pretense to try to sell us. I thought we were going to lunch to catch up with old friends—instead, it felt like our friendship didn’t really mean anything to them, they were just trying to make a sale.
I remember wishing that they had just been honest from the get go. If they had called and said they had this investment opportunity they wanted to share, we could have decided if that was something we wanted to listen to or not. At least we would have gone into lunch knowing what was coming. At least there would have been truth in advertising.
Or again, a few months ago Beth and I took Ellie to something that had been advertised as a fun carnival for kids. There were games and bouncies and food. But shortly after we got there, all the games were shut down and we were invited to listen to what was supposed to be a “short” 20 minute presentation. 40 long minutes later, we were starting to feel like we were being held hostage.
Again, a little truth in advertising would have been nice. If you are going to invite me to something, don’t imply I’ll be getting one thing and then spring something completely different on me. Be up front.
Jesus practices truth in advertising.
When Jesus calls people to follow Him, He’s very clear about what will be involved. He doesn’t promise one thing, and then deliver something completely different. Jesus is very up front.
Consider Matthew 10. Matthew 10 is where Jesus first sends his disciples out to do ministry on their own. He sends them to the towns of Israel and instructs them to proclaim that “The kingdom of heaven is near.” It is, in a sense, Jesus’ marching orders for those who would follow Him. It is Jesus’ description of what it means to be His follower.
And Jesus practices truth in advertising. He does not promise ease and safety and security. He does not tell us that we will be welcomed and celebrated because we come in His name. In fact, He says it will be hard. He says it will be dangerous. He talks about opposition and hatred and even death.
In verses 38 and 39, Jesus says this:
38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
That’s pretty up front. Blunt even. Jesus compares following Him to carrying a cross. Carrying a cross means dying. Jesus carried a cross. He died.
Jesus says that we need to be prepared to lose our lives for His sake.
The Choice
I could stand up here—as some preachers do—and promise that if you believe in Jesus and give your money to the church then your life will be great and problem free. I could promise you health and wealth, constant joy and never-ending happiness, relaxation and retirement…but that’s not Biblical. It’s not what Jesus promised.
Instead, based on what Jesus says in Matthew 10 and what the Bible says elsewhere, I can tell you that if you live for Jesus you will experience trials and setbacks and opposition and disappointment. If you live for Jesus it will be risky. If you live for Jesus it will be like carrying a cross.
But, let me also add, if you live for Jesus you will be giving your life to something great. You will be giving your life to the rescue and redemption of lost people. You will be giving your life to the service of the great King of the universe. If you live for Jesus today, you will be rewarded with the greatest treasure of all in eternity.
Here’s my summary of what Jesus is saying in verse 39, the choice that He’s presenting us with: Live for the Savior, and risk your life; or live for yourself, and waste your life.
Jesus is saying that if we follow Him we will put our lives—our comfort, our identity, our reputation, maybe even our physical life—on the line. Truth in advertising. Following Christ means risk. But if we choose to live for ourselves—if we try to preserve our comfort and our security and our lives—then we will waste the limited amount of time we have here on earth. Live for the Savior, and risk your life; or live for yourself, and waste it.
Harassed and Helpless
Let me show you in a little more detail what Jesus is talking about, and why He says following Him is the right choice to make. Let’s go through Matthew 10.
I’m going to go through this chapter in order—and I’ll give you the main flow of thought--but I’m not going to be able to hit each verse. So you might want to have your Bibles open to get the full context. Matthew 10. There are four main points for us to look at.
First, we start with the great need. Jesus is calling us to go to a world of great need.
Let’s start with the verses that come immediately before Matthew 10. Here’s the context for Jesus sending the 12 apostles out. Chapter 9, verses 35-38:
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
As Jesus travels from village to town, He is moved by the great needs He encounters. The crowds of people are like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. Jesus sees people desperate for healing, people in need of good news, people who—without Him—are lost.
And Jesus puts it in an agricultural metaphor: There’s a great harvest—lots of people who can put their faith and trust in Him—but the workers are few. So Jesus calls His apostles together and prepares them to go out in His name. He gives them “authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (10:1) and then He sends them out. Verses 6-8:
Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
“Just imagine the people that the disciples were going to encounter: the diseased, the dying, the despised, the demon-possessed. It’s not exactly the most appealing group.” (David Platt, Radical) But it is a group of great need. Jesus is sending his followers to a world in need.
Really, that’s been a big part of this Radical series—helping us see the need. We’ve talked about the numbers of people who do not know Jesus. We’ve talked about how Jesus is the only way to salvation. We’ve talked about how God is blessing us so that we can share those blessings with others. We’ve talked about the billions of people who are poor, hungry, thirsty, sick, or in bondage.
We live in a world of great need. The point of the movie we’ll be showing tonight is to help us to see the need. And here in Matthew 10, Jesus is sending His followers to that need.
Like Sheep Among Wolves
But now, the truth in advertising part, Jesus tells us that this assignment comes with great risk.
Verse 16:
16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
This is a vivid image. At the beginning of this series we read Jesus’ statement about false prophets coming in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15) and I referenced the old Warner Brothers cartoon where the sheep dog and the coyote would punch the time clock and then the coyote would try to dress up as a sheep and steal away a lamb. But now Jesus turns that image on its head. He says that He is sending the sheep—without a disguise—into the midst of a pack of hungry wolves.
It’s not a scenario that inspires confidence for the sheep. And we’re the sheep. And the world is filled with wolves.
Here are some of the risks that Jesus says we assume when we follow Him: the risk of being arrested, verse 17:
17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
We saw this last week with Peter and John in Acts 4. As they put it so well, if it ever does become illegal to speak of Jesus in this country, we would have to decide if it is better to obey the rules of men or to obey God.
Or, again, Jesus talks about the risk of family conflict. Verse 21:
21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
This sounds almost unbelievable, but David Platt tells the story of an Indian woman who came to faith in Jesus only to be poisoned by her own parents. It happens.
Or there is the risk of being hated. Verse 22:
22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean every person on the face of earth will hate you. But the point is clear: those who stand for Jesus risk hostility.
And slander. Verse 24:
24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!
If they thought Jesus was the son of the devil, what might they say about us? The fact is, the more we become like our master, the more we run the risk of being treated just like Him. And remember, they killed Him.
And that’s a risk we run as well. Verse 28:
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Jesus is very upfront: living for Him comes with enormous risk. Everyone who wants a safe, untroubled, stress-free existence needs to stay as far away from Jesus as possible. As Platt says: “The danger in our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ.”
Why Do It?
So that raises an obvious question: Why would anyone want to follow Jesus? If the risk is so great—if the potential for hardship and persecution and hostility and rejection is so enormous—why do it? Why would anybody say: yes Jesus, I’ll take the risk and follow you?
And the answer is that the reward is also great. While Jesus is up front about the potential hazards, He is also clear about the benefits. Though we might lose much in serving Jesus, we will gain so much more. As verse 39 says: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
For centuries Christian disciples and missionaries—thousands upon thousands of people—have counted this cost and taken up the cross of Jesus to proclaim the only message of salvation in the world. The reason they have done this is because the blessings outweigh the costs. Yes there are risks, but there are also rewards.
Of Sparrows and Birds
Which brings us to our third point: we are being called to serve a Great God. When you take the risk of following Jesus, you entrust your life into the hands of an infinite, omnipotent God.
The ironic thing about Matthew 10 is that right after Jesus goes through all the opposition his disciples might face—they might be arrested, they might have family conflict, they might be hated, they might be killed—after going through all this, He says, verse 26:
26 “So do not be afraid of them.
Huh? Don’t be afraid? Jesus, you said they’re going to hate us, we’re not supposed to be afraid? What do you mean? Verse 28:
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jesus says the worst anybody can do is kill your body. God, on the other hand, can destroy your soul. That doesn’t sound terribly encouraging, but listen to what Jesus says about this God. Verse 29:
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
I checked on the internet, and it’s pretty much impossible to get an accurate census on worldwide sparrow numbers. But the stat I read most often says there are 35 different species of sparrows numbering in the billions of total sparrows worldwide. It is estimated that some flocks of sparrows can contain as many as 20 million individual birds.
These are relatively small, insignificant birds—two for a penny—and yet God is fully aware of each and every one of them.
Or, again, Jesus says that the very hairs of your head are numbered. Again, I checked the internet and found that the average total number of hairs on a human head is between 100,000 and 150,000. Some have more, some have less, but still—with over 7 billion people in the world—that’s a lot of hair to keep track of.
And Jesus’ point is that the God who is in command of even these smallest details loves and values you. When you take the risk of following Jesus, you are putting yourselves in the hands of this great God. And no matter what happens to you, He will never let you go.
Finding Life
The fourth point, then, is that there is a great reward. For those who heed Jesus’ call and take the radical step of turning their lives over to Him, there is a promise of eternity spent at His side. Verse 32:
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Jesus is saying that if we make our lives about proclaiming His gospel—if we orientate our lives so that as much as possible we are making much of Him—if we “acknowledge” Him before others; then when we die and we come to the heavenly gate Jesus will say to the Father: “Yes, I know him. Yes, I know her.” And we’ll be admitted into eternity. But if we do not make our lives into making much of Him; then when we get to the gate He’s going to say: “Sorry, I don’t know you.”
This is the reward: being able to spend eternity at the Savior’s side, acknowledged as His friend forever and ever.
I really think this is what Jesus means in verse 39:
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
We can live for the Savior, and risk our lives; or we can live for ourselves, and waste our lives. Or, to put it another way: Jesus calls us to a life of radical risk, but he promises a radical reward.
John Piper, in a book called Don’t Waste Your Life, writes:
The strength to risk losing face for the sake of Christ is the faith that God’s love will lift up your face in the end and vindicate your cause. The strength to risk losing money for the cause of the Gospel is the faith that we have a treasure in the heavens that cannot fail. The strength to risk losing life in this world is faith in the promise that he who loses his life in this world will save it for the age to come…
This is the faith that frees us to risk for the cause of God. It is not heroism, or lust for adventure, or courageous self-reliance, or efforts to earn God’s favor. It is child-like faith in the triumph of God’s love—that on the other side of all our risks, for the sake of righteousness, God will still be holding us. We will be eternally satisfied in him. Nothing will have been wasted. (pgs 90 & 95)
Jesus is up front: living for Him will be risky, at times frightening and perilous. As David Platt says, there is a sense in which being in the center of God’s will is the most dangerous place any of us can be.
But at the same time, it’s also the best possible place we can be; because we know the omnipotent God who watches over the sparrows has us securely held in His hands.
Jesus calls us to a life of radical risk, but He promises a radical reward.
John and Betty Stam
Finally, I would like to close with a story of radical commitment to Christ. In 1934 young missionaries to China—John and Betty Stam—were caught up in the middle of the early communist revolution. A group of rebels imprisoned them, along with their 3-month-old daughter Helen.
Two days later, John and Betty were taken into the street and killed, but not before Betty was able to hide the baby in a sleeping bag. Two days later Helen was found by a Chinese pastor, who nursed her back to health and returned her to her grandparents. Along with the baby, they found a note that John wrote on the night of their arrest. It explained the circumstances of the arrest and the ransom demands the rebels were making. He ended it like this: "Philippians 1:20: 'May Christ be glorified whether by life or death.'"
Were John and Betty Stams’ lives wasted? From a human perspective, their deaths certainly seem tragic. But what about from Jesus’ persepective? Months before dying, Betty had written these words:
When we consecrate ourselves to God, we think we are making a great sacrifice, and doing lots for Him, when really we are only letting go some little, bitsie trinkets we have been grabbing, and when our hands are empty, He fills them full of His treasures.
For John and Betty Stam a life or radical risk was completed with a radical reward. They lived for Jesus, and believed it was worth it. What about us?
Benediction
A Franciscan blessing:
May God bless you with restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for
justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you
may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able,
with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word Who is our Brother and Savior,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore. Amen