Today on Insight for Living, from Chuck Swendall. I love the way one person put it rather cleverly, always preach the gospel. When necessary, use words.
Isn't that good? When your life is what it should be, your words will not surprise them. They may not agree. They may not even like to hear it, but they can't say you don't live what you're saying.
Ideally, your life gets the attention and then words follow. Some of us had the privilege of growing up in a Christian family where our faith in God was cultivated and celebrated. Well, that's not true of everyone. In fact, sometimes we hear stories of parents who express their disappointment, even their embarrassment, that we've chosen to follow Jesus. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swendall reminds us that persecution in any form comes with the territory. In fact, Jesus warned us that following Him would present opposition from our friends and family.
So how do we prepare for the inevitable? Chuck titled today's message, A Severe Checklist for Disciples. God's Word is alive and it is active and it is sharper than a two-edged sword. It is able to pierce between the soul and the spirit, between joint and marrow, and is able to serve as a discerner, a critic of the heart.
Surgeons can do work on the heart, but they cannot do work on the soul. That's God's area. He gave that to us and that makes us different from animals. Inanimate objects, we alone have souls, the spirit. I often think of this part of us as a reservoir that fills through our lives.
And as we mature this reservoir, gains discernment, right decisions, wise responses, the ability to say yes when we should and no when we should. All part of that deep reservoir that God's Word fills with its truth. Every time we open His Word, whether at home or here at our church or on the road, in the air, wherever we may be, His Word is alive.
If you were to cut out a page of the Word and put it in a bottle, cork on it and throw it out the sea and that Word washes up on the shore and is open. That page is alive and active by the one who reads it and discovers what is there. And we have this book in our own language.
Isn't that wonderful? Never get over the thrill of having your own Bible, which is alive and active. We open this living book today to the 10th chapter of Matthew, considering a severe checklist for loyal disciples.
It is severe. It isn't easy to hear and it's even more difficult to fulfill. But with the grace of God, we, longing to be loyal disciples, can follow the checklist.
It gives us the boundaries, the dimensions of the track on which we run. Matthew 10, I'll be reading 32 down for a ways through the chapter. It takes us down into verse 1 of chapter 11. Matthew 10, 32. Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven. Jesus continues, don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth. I came not to bring peace, but a sword. I've come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Your enemies will be right in your own household. If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you're not worthy of being mine. Or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you're not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it.
But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. Verse 42, if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded. When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his 12 disciples, he went out to teach and preach in towns throughout the region. A severe checklist.
You will be able to judge for yourself where you are. You're listening to Insight for Living. To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scripture studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck titled, A Severe Checklist for Disciples. The checklist manifesto is a wonderful book.
One of the best I've read in the last year or two. Written by a seasoned experienced surgeon named Atul Gawande. He writes of the value of putting important things in a list. And that applies of course to whether you're flying a huge and complex commercial airplane or building a skyscraper and all of its technical sophistication. And even in the complex world of surgery, where a simple 90 second checklist has reduced deaths by more than one third in a number of hospitals.
Think of it. Just a checklist. In Austria, for example, an emergency checklist saved the life of a drowning victim who had spent half an hour under ice and water.
In Michigan, a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. In the cockpit of a large airplane full of passengers about to crash, a quick pass through that checklist brought it down safely and saved all those lives. Throughout our lives, we face different kinds of problems. Some are simple, some are complicated, a few are complex. Checklists help in all three. I've given you a place in your outline to write down some of the benefits of a checklist in case you need to be convinced.
Listen to a few. One, they break down problems into specific steps to take. Second, they remove the need to rely on our memory or our intuition. We think we remember something better than we actually remember it, and a checklist solves the problem. How often I've looked at a small airplane I may have been traveling in and watched the pilot on the tarmac with a clipboard literally checking off, though he must have been flying 40 years of his life still using that checklist, not relying on his memory. Here's a third benefit.
They force us to keep the essentials in mind. Fourth, and finally I could name others, but this will be enough, they increase the likelihood of success in whatever may be our involvement at the time. Yewande speaks of walking by a building where a hospital was being built, and as he stood and looked at the complexity of that structure and think of it, if you've been in and around a hospital lately, you realize all the miles of wiring and the endless number of pipes and conduit and plugs and units and unique needs, the generator to continue on if the electricity fails in the midst of an operation, and on and on it goes. He spoke to the one building this particular structure, and he heard music to his ears as he told him, here's the secret and here's the checklist, and he went right through them one after another through one phase after another in the timeline of the building of this structure. Jesus had quite an assignment on his hands when he called the twelve and then sometime after demonstrating to them what ministry was about, release them to go on their own. Two at a time in a group of six groups, they went out among their own people, the Jews, no longer able to stand in the shadow and watch the master work, they were now before the public, they were the ones to take the criticism, they were the ones to feel the difficult questions, they were the ones to minister as they had seen him do.
It's safe when you're beside the mentor and you can stay quiet as the mentor does the hard part, but then it comes a time when the finger points at your chest and says it's your turn. That happens in chapter 10 of Matthew. Before Jesus had finished and sent them out, he gave them what I'm calling a severe checklist. Keep in mind that he's preparing the twelve for spiritual combat.
I've said before and I'll remind you, they're not walking into a playground, they're walking into battle and the battle will be fierce because the enemy, Satan himself and his demons hate everything God's people love and certainly would like to silence the message of truth, which spells his own doom. Knowing this, Jesus prepared them for combat, if you will, with this checklist. I've given you a place to write down four in the passage we're looking at, drawn from the passage we're looking at, 32 through 42 of this passage before us.
Let me give you the first one, then we'll read the words. Loyal disciples openly acknowledge Christ before the world. Disciples openly acknowledge Christ before the world.
They don't keep it secret. Without being ashamed or hesitant, true disciples acknowledge him as Lord. Look at how it reads, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father. Your Bible probably reads confess, he who confesses me, which is a common translation of homologao, the Greek verb that means to agree with, to affirm. A better rendering is acknowledge. We might see it as they're identifying with Christ by their acknowledgement.
If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe that God raised him from the dead, we are saved. Confess with the mouth, acknowledge with the mouth. Back to Matthew 10 here, it is a public acknowledgement. Please observe we acknowledge him publicly here on earth. We make him known.
How do we do that? Obviously, we do it with our lives to start with. I love the way one person put it rather cleverly, always preach the gospel. When necessary, use words.
Isn't that good? When your life is what it should be, your words will not surprise them. They may not agree. They may not even like to hear it, but they can't say you don't live what you're saying.
Ideally, your life gets the attention and then words flow. So that's another way we acknowledge him. I do not hesitate to say that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I need to remind you in case you have forgotten for a moment that it's not politically correct. That's why it's the right thing to do. When you do that, you make it known that you are a follower of Jesus.
Now, wait a minute. There's no reason to be obnoxious about it. I don't have a flag in front of my house that says don't blame Jesus if you go to hell.
That's not a good witness. I don't wear a great big cross on my neck or on my suit or clothing. I live a life. We pay our bills. We treat people with dignity and respect. We say I'm sorry when we're wrong. We express affirmation to those who need it. When I don't do those things, you have no idea the guilt I live with because I realize that I have given a message without words that conveys something other than a Christian. I don't do well with people that come to our door and they want to sell something.
Okay? This is time for me to confess. My wife is so patient. In fact, I want to pull the door away from her and say what do you want? But I don't usually do that.
The other day it was in a rather hurried moment. A guy came and wanted to sell us a roof on our home and I wasn't in a roof mood. So I told him off. I said look, thanks for coming. We don't need a roof.
My wife allowed about an hour to pass and then she whoa! Not literally but she said I think you could be a lot nicer when you talk to folks that come to the door. I said you know I got a better plan. Why don't we get a little sign that says keep out. No, no, no, no.
I didn't say that. Why don't we get a little sign that says no solicitation. She said I think that's a great idea. It's a nice way to solve it and to deal with my impatience. But I realized when I blow off a seat, it would be hard to follow that guy back to his truck and say I'd like you to know about Christ.
Having virtually insulted you here in front of my wife. See what I'm saying? It's so easy for us to forget the value of simply living the life. It speaks volumes. So I preach to myself as much as I preach to you today.
And the opposite is also true. Deny him here. He denies you there. It's evidence that you don't belong to him. Another way you may deny him if I might add is your silence.
You're in a gathering. Subjects arise that are appropriate for you to mention it or to become known as a Christian and you let it go by. Why do we do that?
There are a number of reasons we do, but that's a denial. In fact, you say, well, you know, if I do this as you describe where to do, you realize there will be problems. Look at verse 34. Don't imagine I came to bring peace on the earth. I came not to bring peace, but a sword. In his first coming, he came with a sword. In his second coming, he comes with peace. He's the prince of peace. He sets up a kingdom of peace. But when he first came, he and those who followed him presented a sword, often a very sharp sword, that causes others to feel uneasy. You don't do it to make them feel uneasy, but you're just a loyal disciple willing to acknowledge Christ without hesitation and without feeling ashamed. So we start there.
Here's number two. Loyal disciples willingly accept rejection, even from their own family members. Loyal disciples willingly accept rejection, even from their own family members. Look at verse 35.
I told you the list was severe. I've come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother. Or a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Her enemies will be right in your own household.
If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you're not worthy of being mine. Before we go there, let's pause at this place and think about moms and dads that turn against kids because the kids get so serious about spiritual things. Maybe you're one of those moms or dads.
Maybe you're one of the kids. Family members can make ugly statements about Christians that have come to be known as such in the family. And family gathering statements are sometimes made snide remarks.
Perhaps relatives and those who were once friends turn on you. You see, Christ sets at variance these relationships. One man puts it this way. I once talked to a young girl at a Christian conference who told me she'd been raised in a pagan family and that since her conversion her father had refused to speak to her. She said, I can understand why he objects to my decision because he knows nothing of the gospel.
He believes all religion is superstition. But you would think that he would at least be happy that I'm not an alcoholic or a drug addict or a prostitute or a criminal. I've never had such joy in my life and I've never loved my father so much, yet he has cut me out of his life. I work some with seminary students, young men and women who have been called to do God's work and go into vocational Christian service and I don't know how many times I've heard them make the comment, you know, everything was great until I got real serious about my faith.
And then my dad was disappointed because I didn't go into his work or his kind of work. Or my mother felt embarrassed when she told people that I was at a seminary. And I've been trying to encourage them with the fact that that's part of the responsibility of being a disciple.
You go right on. One of the men who mentored me named Bob told me that when he first told his mother that he had come to Christ and been converted, her first words to him were, well, that's fine for you, Bob. Just don't get fanatical.
That's an example. Just sharing the fact that you have given your heart to Christ causes certain family members to bristle. Jesus said that would happen.
When it does, you just simply know you're on the right track. Jesus warned us that we could expect pushback, even from our own families. And it falls to every one of us to be prepared when the persecution comes. You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll titled today's study in Matthew chapter 10, A Severe Checklist for Disciples. To learn more about this ministry, please visit us online at insightworld.org.
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If you're listening in the US, dial 1-800-772-8888. Did you realize each sermon presented on Insight for Living is accompanied by an online interactive guide called Searching the Scriptures? In about 15 minutes, you can read through the key ideas of Chuck's message and the biblical text.
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