Matthew 10:34

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0:00 I think always among the people of God, all the way back to the time of Jesus, right? It's like this is like big stuff that we're trying to organize life decisions around. We're trying to like figure out how to sort out money and allegiance and pride and greed and Jesus keeps going. It's just like the little kids. Let the little children come to me. Be simple, little children love one another

0:31 and receive the forgiveness of your sins, you know? So it's fun to have kids in our midst to remind us of the simplicity of the gospel and we'll try and get there this morning. We're looking at these four core values, story, peace, lineage and life and we're spending two weeks on each of them. And last week we started talking about peace. Just looking back at my notes here a little bit. Oh yeah, we got into like the reality of anxiety and fears

1:09 and peace coming in the midst of it. Like we talked with the kids actually last week about the disciples on the boat with Jesus and they're freaking out. They're like very afraid and they know when to be afraid of a storm, they're fishermen and Jesus gets up. When they wake him up and they're like, why aren't you awake? And he's like, oh, you have little faith and the premise is basically Jesus wanted them to be okay in the midst of the storm because they knew he was on board

1:42 and he got rid of the storm because of their lack of faith but wished that they would have enough faith to endure the storm. And so this week I've been thinking about how interesting it is to me that Jesus comes in the midst of Roman occupiers, brutally occupying and imposing a subjugated peace with brutal governors. He comes in the midst of unjust occupation

2:14 and unjust hypocritical church leadership and he doesn't kick off Rome or usurp the hypocrites. He just takes the injustice from both of them. He allows the church to falsely accuse him and falsely convict him and he allows the Roman occupiers to falsely kill him. He just takes the injustice. Just really interesting and I don't all the way know what to do with it for myself.

2:47 The hope that I have comes in this week as I start to think about what comes in the wake of Jesus' leadership. And so we're gonna look at that today thinking about the peace of God. And I mentioned last week that often when I think about the peace of God and I think about scriptures, the first verse that comes to me is the peace of God which guards your hearts and minds,

3:21 confounds the reasoning of the world. The peace that surpasses all understanding, guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So that peace confounds the world and guards your hearts. The second verse that actually sticks with me or pops out to me when I think about the peace of God and the scriptures is in Matthew chapter 10, starting at verse 34, if you wanna look there with me. Matthew chapter 10.

3:55 Let's find it. Well, actually we have to get some context here. In Matthew chapter 10, Matthew's got Jesus. He's assembled his 12 disciples at this point. And remember how that goes? Jesus by now is like assumed the responsibility, the mantle of the authority of being an itinerant rabbi. He's walking around Galilee and teaching in synagogues

4:27 on an interpretation of the prophets. And they're starting to recognize by this point that it's unique, he's got his own interpretation. He's not teaching one that was passed on to him. And then traditional for the rabbis, itinerant rabbis, they gather a group of people, young men mostly, who had finished school. And then we're gonna train to take up his teaching. So they'd follow the rabbi around these disciples and Jesus has gathered these disciples to him. They're all young men.

5:00 And in Matthew chapter 10, he's gonna do something here with them that's a little bit, feels premature, if you are like following the story of Jesus because he's just got these 12. And they weren't the top students, he like picked them. They didn't apply, he like selected them, which is like an inverse of how it usually happens. And in chapter 10, it says he called to him his 12 disciples and gave them authority

5:31 over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and affliction. This is the beginning of chapter 10. And then Matthew names them, the 12 apostles were first Simon who was called Peter and Andrew's brother, James, the son of Zebedee and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, James, the son of Alpheus and Thaddeus, Simon, the, what is that word?

6:03 Yeah, ESV's has a different word, which is weird. And Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. These 12, Jesus sent out instructing them, go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and proclaim as you go, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He sends them out and he says, don't go to people outside of Israel,

6:35 stay within the Israelites because they'll understand the idea of the reign of God coming. They will have been awaiting that. And Jesus' primary message whenever he sends the 12 out is the reign of God is here. God's in charge and his king has come. And so Jesus' primary message, John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus says, get ready the Messiah's coming. Jesus' primary message is, good news,

7:06 you've got a king, here he is, right? You've got a king, here he is. So now he's gathered this 12 and he's like, go announce to all of Israel that the king is here. The reign of God has come, right? And then he says, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then he tells them what to do, what goes along with the reign of God. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Healed the sick, raised the dead,

7:37 cleansed the lepers, cast out the demons. You received without pay, give without pay. Acquired no gold, nor silver, nor copper for your belts. No bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staff. For the labor deserves his food. He's saying, hey, go out and announce the reign of God. And then bring the things that the reign of God brings.

8:11 Under the reign of Jesus, no sickness. So since you guys are the harbingers of the reign of God, cast out the sickness, heal the people. Under the reign of God, no death. So since you guys are out there, the harbingers of the reign of God, bring people back to life. Under the reign of God, there is no intrusion on his authority, no spiritual or physical intrusion on his authority, so cast out all the demons. And so the 12 uninitiated, just beginning their ministry,

8:43 go with the blessing of Jesus and extend the reign of God out into Israel. And what you would read when you read maybe Luke or something is that they come back and they can't believe that it worked. That the reign of God actually manifests itself in their presence, in the healing of people, even in the raising of dead. Jesus sends them out to do that. And then it says, and when you enter a town or a village,

9:14 find out where is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, breed it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it's not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you, listen or listen to your words, shake the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

9:45 Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Solomon Gamora than for that town. So there's something tangible. This is important. The peace of God is like a tangible, experiential thing. We got to the peace of God as one of our core values because when we started asking people, what did they associate with the cross Orlando? As we gathered together, they said, in the presence, when we gathered together, we feel a sense of peace.

10:16 It's not a position of your mind. It's not a will or a choice that you make. It's a thing that you experience, something that you enter into the peace of God. And what we learned last week is it confounds the understanding of the world. So it's not determined by the things around you. You may successfully escape in a way where you forget the problems of the world and experience a temporary reprieve or ease

10:47 because you have escaped the things. This is not the peace of God. The peace of God comes amongst the storm. And so that though you are on the boat and the waves crashing over, you look at the waves, you deal with the situation, you experience the fear and also the peace of God. And Jesus says, the disciples, when they are the harbingers of the reign of God, they come into a place and because God has given it to them,

11:18 then they bring peace with them noticeably. And he said, if they're not interested in the reign of God then you leave and the peace goes with you because peace is part of the reign of God. Okay, cool. But this is not the verse that occurred to me. When I, it's like the first one is the peace of God which transcends understanding, God, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And the second one is just after this. So he's sent out the disciples

11:49 and he gives them some more instruction like preparation and then have no fear. And he's telling them like in verse right at the top, let's say 24 or 26, have no fear of them for nothing is covered that will be revealed or hidden that will not be known. He says you're gonna come up against hardship when you go out there carrying the reign of God.

12:19 And he says, then he says in verse 34, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword for I've come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Wait.

12:50 I love that. Jesus man, this is in one teaching. Like he's prepping the young dudes to go out without an extra tunic, without any money, without an extra pair of sandals, just your staff, go out there and announce people the reign of God. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out the demons. Oh, they're gonna persecute you. It's gonna be brutal. I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. Okay, you ready to go? See ya.

13:20 That's what he's doing right here. And he's sending them out. And so like I'm thinking like the peace of God, the transcends all understand, guards your heart to mind in Christ Jesus. I didn't come to bring peace but I came to bring a sword. In what way might that be true?

14:01 You know, Jesus says he came to bring a sword but, he never picks one up. Actually there's one time, remember where they're in the Garden of Yosemite, it's after the Last Supper. Jesus has already left the upper room.

14:31 He's gone to get his money. And Jesus then takes the 11 plus probably some others but at least the 11 and they leave Jerusalem. It's nighttime. Everybody's doing their passover thing so it's quiet. They walk through the town, out the gates, down a little valley that sometimes is called Gehenna and then up into this hill where there are the olive trees

15:03 and this little garden called the Garden of Gethsemane and you can look back and see Jerusalem and Jesus is praying and he knows that the crucifixion is coming, he's like way down with stress and at the end of his prayer, bummed that his closest friends fell asleep and couldn't feel the pressure with him. He goes back to the front of the garden and Judas like the one he picked, whom he loves, comes up to him and Jesus is like, do what you gotta do, right?

15:34 And then so Judas kisses him on the cheek which is the sign that Jesus is the one. So fascinating that Jesus comes as the like king of kings, the prince of peace, the salvific actor of the world, the incarnate infinite God, infinite God, bound in the flesh of a human, come through the womb of Mary. He comes as the fulcrum of humanity

16:06 and like the guards who come to arrest him don't even know who he is. Jesus comes as ultimate king and even the guards in his little town on the wrong side of the desert, like most of the world has no idea that Jesus is there. And then I say, I said he came with a little form

16:37 that we would not recognize him or know him, nothing we could pay attention to him anonymously, no fame to his name, right? Power from God, but no power on earth, the soldiers don't even, you say he came to bring a sword, but then they come to arrest him and he's like, Jesus, you came with a whole army. What am I leading a rebellion here that you come with all these guys with swords? And Peter, I don't know, like Peter,

17:09 he takes a sword from a guy, right? He didn't have one, he took a sword from a guy and then chops off the one guy's ear, you remember this story? And then Jesus takes the ear, puts it back on and looks at Peter and is like, hey dude, like if you live by the sword, you die by the sword, like put that thing away, don't you think I could lead a whole army if I wanted to? So Jesus said he didn't come to bring peace, but to bring a sword, but he's absorbing violence,

17:43 he's not perpetuating it or putting it out there. This is what he means when he says, I came to bring, I did not come to bring peace, but the sword. That aligning with Jesus causes problems.

18:13 So what he means? And so he's trying to give the 11 before they go out without any extra clothes or money. Don't think that this is gonna be like a victory lap or something. People are not going to like you. I was thinking about that. People are not. I prefer people to like me.

18:44 I mean, I know most people do, but like, my like, one of my skills is getting people to like me because I have like an internal thing. I really don't like it if people don't like me. So I got really good at getting people to like me. I remember like when we were starting the coffee shop, when we were very first starting, I had no idea how to, I mean, I did not know, I'd never worked in a coffee shop

19:17 before I told you this before, I was using the grinder wrong. I'd never built an Excel spreadsheet. I did not know how to plan. I did not, I'd never written a business plan and did not have one. Kevin and I picked a building and started putting some chairs in it and I found a coffee machine that was donated and I started making coffee and staying behind the counter. I mean, there might be two more steps, but that was it. And I was in there one time and I was like, looking at my little spread, my little sheet of paper that said starting and ending cash and I thought,

19:47 we're never gonna make it. There's like four people that come here and they're my friends, you know? And I try and talk them into buying coffee from me. And then I realized when my friends were buying coffee, so the problem wasn't that only my friends were coming in, the problem was I didn't have enough friends so I just decided, I'm making friends with everybody who walks in the door. I'm just gonna make friends with everybody that walks in the door here. I'm gonna ask them what they do, I'm gonna like,

20:17 I'm gonna ask them how their day was, yeah, I started doing hand shaking Tuesdays, I'm shaking everybody's hand, man, come on in. I'm gonna ask them how they do it. It's way easier, actually, it's way easier to navigate the world when people like you. It's like way easier to get things done when people like you. It's just easier. Jesus told the 11, go with your peace, I'm giving you peace. And when you come into a house, the peace will go with you.

20:48 And the reign of God is real, so along with you will come the things that go with the reign of God, health, life, freedom, will come with you, but not everybody's gonna like it, he said. It really, actually, the language reign of God is actually very helpful to start to figure out what's not to like about health, life, and freedom.

21:25 Right? Cast out the sicknesses, raise the dead, cast out the demons, health, life, and freedom. What's not to like about that? I mean, clearly people did not like Jesus, they killed him. The church and the government killed Jesus, right? Clearly they did not like him. And the lens for this that's really helpful to go in what way did Jesus bring the sword is to think about him as a king.

21:55 Now in first century, they knew what it was like to have a king, right? They'd had a lot of kings, actually. But Israel had had kings in their past, though God warned them about it, but they also had lots of occupiers as well, Assyria, Persia, Babylon, Rome. They'd had a lot of people conquer them over the time. They knew what kings liked, needed. They knew what kings required. And I just wrote three things, thinking about it.

22:25 I have to look at them because I have not lived under a king. Allegiance, obedience, and tax or money. They know what a king's looking for. A king is looking for allegiance. I'm committed to you. I'll follow you. You are the authority. Obedience, I'll do what you say. Though other people may tell me different. Though my inclination may be to do what I'd like, I'll do what you'd like.

22:56 Allegiance, obedience, and kings always want a tax. Kings always want money, right? Kings. This is the sword he brings. This is perpetually the problem. Jesus said, I didn't come to being priests, but a sword. Violence will follow behind. We've already said, Jesus doesn't pick up a sword.

23:28 Jesus absorbs the sword. He's like, I walk around in the world and people, violence will follow me. And it does. In every place. Why? Because Jesus is a king. And there are others that require allegiance, obedience, and tax.

24:02 This friend of mine, an author, way smarter than me, talks often about one of the only powers or authorities Jesus calls out by name when he's around. He calls it mammon. So Jesus says, you can't serve God and mammon. It's like the spiritual authority that manifests in money.

24:32 Jesus said, I didn't come to being priests, but a sword. But he means is when I come, when my reign comes, violence will follow because so many people are committed to money. They won't like it when I come. The church kills Jesus because they really like, I mean, there are several reasons. But one big one is they like that Rome leaves them alone

25:02 to manage their sacrifices the way they want with the temple money they've aligned. And so whether it's Jesus or Bar city, like these other people who have claimed to be messiahs, they got to tamp them down so that it doesn't mess up their power and money system that they have. Caesar ends up killing Jesus. Pontius Pilate ends up killing Jesus because his job is to keep the people from uprising and keep the money

25:33 going up to Rome. So wherever there's money, the reign of God will have conflict following behind it. Because people will give their obedience to Christ instead of the powers of the world, the allegiance. Wherever there's power. Wherever people are fighting for power. The reign of Christ will have violence following behind it.

26:08 Money power. So obedience is power, right? Taxes is money. Allegiance. This is the last one that really got me. It took me a minute to get it. Fame. Peace. Kings like fame. Power, attention. Inscriptions. They will know my name and adore it.

26:40 And Jesus comes and his coronation is a resurrection that is whispered among a backwards people on the wrong side of the desert. whose story does it make it to the halls of power and fame forever. But as it comes, once it gets there, it is suppressed like crazy because the Caesars can't handle it until they finally co-opt it

27:10 and go, ah yes, the King whom you, like he has selected me by divine appointment. We're together. When we went to Versailles a couple of summers ago, we looked at King Louis XIV Chapel in Versailles. He had a gorgeous chapel built so that he didn't have to leave. And a rector and you walk in, you can't walk in on the ground floor but you can walk in on the balcony where King Louis stood, right?

27:41 And they describe it to you when you go in there. A gorgeous chapel. He's, excuse me, he's in the balcony in the front. And they tell you that when he comes there, anybody who comes to the chapel goes on the ground floor and stands around and looks at the back. Only King Leo can look at the front. Everyone else worships God through King Leo and King Leo worships the front. We worship Leo, Leo worships God.

28:12 He's co-opted the God to say, now through me you get to him. My authority comes from him alone. Fame, power, money, allegiance, obedience, tax. Jesus said, my reign is here now. It comes with life, health, freedom, but don't think it comes with ease.

28:46 Violence will follow it because there are other kings. And so, this is the kicker for me. Amongst all the other kings. All the other swords. All the other powers, all the other monies,

29:17 all the other fames, the reign of God endures. We talked about this a while ago. Paul writes his letters amongst authorities that are burning Christians as lamp posts, saying submit to your authority and the church endures. The church itself at the Reformation is like selling access to heaven.

29:52 Literally selling access to heaven to build Pope, the basilica, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, is built with people who bought their way to heaven, hopefully. The church, all the power and money of the church, and still the reign of God endures inside of it. And for us today, there are powers vying for our allegiance, obedience, and money.

30:27 There are powers and authorities kings besides Jesus. And in large ways and small, as we find our ways to commit our allegiance, obedience, and full self to Christ, we may do it at some expense. Why? Why would you live under the reign of God instead of some other?

31:06 When things got hard, Jesus asked his disciples, he said, I know this is weird and hard. He said, are you guys going to leave me? And Peter answering for the disciples said, Oh Lord, to whom shall we go, man? You're the ones with the words of eternal life. They encountered the peace of God amongst the storms of life.

31:39 For me, the greatest evidence of the reality of the reign of God in Christ Jesus is the perpetuation of faith amongst all the things. It is evidence that there is a peace of God for you in whatever confounding situations we find ourselves in. The peace comes not in the powers of the world, the fame of the world,

32:15 the money of the world. But in citizenship and obedience, allegiance to the God in Christ Jesus. I pray that we could encounter that peace together here. I'm glad it's of one of our core values. I think it's something to cling to, the peace of God, the tangible peace of God.

32:46 Let me pray that we might know it together. Hey Lord, thank you for the gift of your son and his reign on earth. Teach us how to live underneath it, though violence may follow it. Teach us what it looks like for allegiance, obedience and commitment to you. That we might know your peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.