“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
Well, there goes the party…
1. I am sending you out like sheep among wolves
2. You will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.
3. You will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
4. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
5. You will be hated by everyone because of me
This is just in case we thought serving Christ sounded exciting. It is, but maybe not in the way we anticipated. Allow me to remind as all that serving Christ openly in this world is tantamount to enlisting in a war. In war…there are casualties.
I don’t need to remind many of you, but…it’s good to remember the truth about the terrain. When we see faithful men and women fall…in service to Christ…they deserve our prayers and compassion. They are casualties of war.
And…let’s not bicker about what inflicted the wound. It’s irrelevant. It may have been that pastor’s own sin that did him in, but it was Satan…poking and prodding, tempting and beguiling…that resulted in the wound.
Fortunately Jesus didn’t leave it at that. He reminds us of two important things.
1. He will defend us: “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”.
2. He will protect us: “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Why is it this way? “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master”. It’s the way they treated Jesus. It’s the way we can expect to be treated ourselves.
No commander goes to war without a well developed support system. As E. M. Bounds said…”if there is no prayer in the pews, there is no power in the pulpit.” I believe when our warriors fall it’s because support in the pews failed them. Let’s recommit ourselves to pray for those God has raised up to serve us. Their welfare is in our hands.
Live boldly out there today…
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