I pointed out a couple of weeks ago that I believe here in Matthew 10 we are looking at Christ’s first church. Last Sunday afternoon my message was entitled “The Greatest Job on Earth,” and it suggested that what is described in this chapter – the ministry of Christ – is the greatest calling given to men. In some ways it is an outline and description of the Christian ministry. But there are a hundred things found in the fastest growing, largest churches, which are not found here. In fact, the highlights of Matthew 10 seem to be non-existent in today’s churches, or at the very least are well down the list of their most important aspects of their ministries.
Bible Christianity can be stated in very simple terms, but perhaps differently in different scriptures. For example, in the last verses of the Book of Acts we have Luke’s summary of Paul’s ministry in Rome. “Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.” Christianity is all about Christ, including His rule over creation and His rule over the hearts of humanity. If a church’s day care, its soup kitchen, its homeless shelter, its coffee bar, its basketball team, its karate club, its support ministry for former drug addicts, and its quilting guild – If its Awana program or any of a hundred other things are given more importance than what Jesus says in Matthew 10:7 then despite its worldly success, that church will be a failure in the eyes of God.
The ESSENCE of the Christian ministry is PREACHING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
This evening, I’ll deal with some of things mentioned in verse 8 – healings, resurrections and other miracles. If tonight I don’t point out that the gospels don’t describe the disciples’ miracles, I’ll point it out now. Yes, we have a few references to this sort of thing in the Book of Acts, but rarely before or beyond that. The ministry of the twelve, the thirteenth, and those preachers who followed the apostles, was not centered in those things which authenticated their early ministries. Their ministries were the ministry – the preaching of the King and the His Kingdom.
Paul, for example, was a preacher such as every gospel pastor should be. He enjoyed the opportunity to declare: “thus saith the Lord.” And Paul told us in I Corinthians that the ministry of preaching is something very special to heart of God. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Why is preaching so special? Simply put, if God says that something delights Him, then that is the way that it is. But I think that there is another Biblical reason – Preaching, more clearly puts the work of the ministry into God’s hands. And when the results are God’s, then the glory is God’s as well. Jehovah loves and deserves the pre-eminence – something often taken from Him in churches today. God could have chosen that debate and argument to be His tools of the ministry, but He hasn’t. Neither has He selected music, dance or drama. The public, explicit, vocal declaration of His will has always been God’s way. “As ye go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Preaching has also always been considered to be foolish by foolish man, and even in a lot of professing Christian churches today it is still thought to be foolish. But let God be true and every man a liar. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
If you were listening last week, or if you were paying attention this morning, you might have heard some words which seemed out of place – odd. For example, there is “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.” At this point in the development of Christianity, Christ was focused on Israel and Israel alone. That will change, as will some other very obvious things. For example, there is no reference to preaching the cross or the crucifixion of Christ in this chapter. There are explanations for these things. And as to the last, it’s because Christ has not died – without a proper background, that idea would have been incomprehensible to those Jews. The point to be noticed right now is that the King has every right to dictate the nature of His Kingdom. The disciples had no authority to devise their own doctrine, theology or pattern of ministry. The preacher is not a seeker of – or an exponent for – any new or private revelation. He is merely suppose to be one who declares what has been previously declared by God. He should be taught well enough to teach others, and his subject should first have been taught of God.
Some time ago I was disgusted by a series of television ads developed by the Mormons. The LDS have been trying for years to create a false image of themselves.. They have given the impression of having more wholesome families than anyone else. They pretend to be more moral, smarter, more kind and more just than the rest of Christendom. In truth they are just as wicked and sinful as everyone else. In those ads there was a series of clean-cut young people verbalizing a 30 second paragraph of lies. I know that it has always been their doctrine, but in this ad they actually, explicitly declared that … the true church and the true gospel (theirs) had been lost to humanity for over fifteen hundred years, but that they were restored by Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Then the ad had the temerity to say that theirs is the only church to have the complete Bible, because they have the “Book of Mormon.” The LDS have been trying for years to be called a “Christian denomination,” but right there on the screen they attacked the very roots of Christianity and the promises of Christ. And right there they declared war on those of us who teach and preach the Bible as the twelve did. Their ads contained some subtlety, but in at least one of them there was nothing but blatant lies and obvious heresy. And my point is this: Mormonism isn’t a declaration of the revealed will of God; it is a perversion filled with their new revelations. It isn’t found in Matthew 10, or anywhere else in the sixty-six books of the Bible.
The ESSENCE of Christianity is the KINGDOM OF GOD and the KING of that Kingdom.
I know we have had several of messages on the Kingdom recently, so I’ll try to reach even farther back. Do you remember when I preached through the Book of Daniel? During that study we came to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the huge statue – a colossus. It had a head of gold, chest of silver, with lesser metals going down to feet of iron and clay. Then the whole thing was destroyed by a stone miraculously cut out of a mountain. Daniel was able to explain to Nebuchadnezzar what it all meant. There were going to be a series of kingdoms, with the first being depicted by gold, the second was silver and so on. The last and most glorious kingdom was of God, and it destroyed all that remained of the previous kingdoms. One of the essential features of nations and kingdoms is that they are distinct from one another. And when it comes to the Kingdom of God, there never has been a more distinct kingdom. It will be unlike any other kingdom – because it begins with a spiritual core It is not a kingdom of men and for men; it is the kingdom of God and it is all about God’s glory.
The kingdom that the disciples were to preach was that of this stone – in fact the stone was Christ, the King. Why must it be preached? Because its citizens must be prepared before the King’s arrival. The true citizens of this kingdom are those who love and embrace the King. The King is Christ and the citizens of His Kingdom are “Christians.” Christ commissioned these ministers – “As ye go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
As you think back on the rest of this commission, the Lord made it clear that there will be a war fought over His Kingdom. The apostles needed to know that they would be fighting against lies and deception. They were not to use the bait and switch tactics of the others, offering one thing and providing something else. The warfare of the Kingdom of God is not physical and fleshly. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” As Paul reminded Timothy, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare.” The King of this Kingdom will not tolerate a wicked or evil warfare fought on His behalf. Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith.” As for Paul himself, later he would say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” And it could later be said of the other twelve Apostles as well.
Everything about the Kingdom of God is radically different from any of the kingdoms of men. Its economy is different, and its currency is different. Its laws are holy, just and good, and there isn’t the constant evolution of laws that we see in human countries or kingdoms. The criminals in this kingdom will be distinctly and severely judged – eternally judged. And the king of this Kingdom will be literally worshiped without the slightest hint of idolatry.
And of course the primary thing about the Kingdom of God is the KING. In teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, the disciples taught what Christ taught. He cannot be separated from His own teaching and doctrine. One of the later ministers of Christ declared in the Book of Acts – “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”
How do you think that the Apostles explained their ability to heal and to raise the dead? And I guarantee that their explanation was that the King of their Kingdom is the divine Son of God. They were forced by the circumstances to imply, if not actually declare, the deity of Christ. There can be no doubt that later Paul taught that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the King, the Second Person of the God-head. If we can use Paul as a representative of the earlier Apostles, they might have said with him that God has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
And what was the root and foundation of Christ’s desire to healing the sick or raise the dead? Why was Christ such a blessing? It was grace – pure and simple. I’m sure that the disciples then took the opportunity to preach the grace of God. Not only did they teach and preach about the grace of God in general, but they undoubtedly talked about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the multitude of His personal miracles.
Why should society be so angry with these ministers of God, if they were healing the sick and raising the dead? It was because of that part of their ministry which was not mentioned in verse 7. Remember that the primary message preached by Christ was – “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Christ Jesus is the King of the Kingdom, and until the subjects in that kingdom repent and submit themselves to the King, they will be treated as rebels and criminals. People loved the miracles, but they weren’t so pleased with the demand that they repent of their sins before the King and Holy God.
I am sure that at every opportunity those preachers implored people to repent and to put their trust in Christ.
In Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus preached to these very men whom He is sending out –“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Believe the gospel. The Apostle Peter was one of these twelve, and later he preached to the Jews of Jerusalem, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord,” Paul preached to the Greeks at Mars Hill, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
Coupled with the Christian call to repentance, the message of Christianity is to believe on the Lord Jesus. “In the beginning was [Christ Jesus], and [Jesus] was with God, and He was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. here was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” To the Jews in Pisidia Paul preached, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” When he saw the repentant attitude of the Philippian jailer Paul simply told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And as he wrote to the Romans he said, “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”
What is the essence of Christianity? The King and the Kingdom. What is the essence of the Christian ministry? Teaching and preaching Christ the King. And what must be the essence of our response? Repentance and faith. Judge for yourself: is this the ministry and message of your church? And – in the light of that are you living in repentance and faith? “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Only those who repent and call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered from the wrath and judgment of the King of kings.