Matthew chapter 10

This chapter is where Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to begin their ministries.
The number of disciples signifies a mission to Israel. In Jewish texts from Jesus' day, twelve often symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel. Although Jesus had many disciples, he deliberately selected a core group of twelve, most likely to emphasise that His mission, the "...gospel...the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: [was] first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." Romans 1:16. This does not imply that ther is any preference of favour, in regards to salvation for Jews over Gentiles but rather a chronological order. Jesus came and ministered in Israel, and here He instructs His disciples to "...not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." It was not until later that He commanded the deciples and later Christians to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15.

Jesus' disciples were the leaders of the true remnant of God's people. Thus many scholars point out that the church built on this foundation of the twelve leaders of Israel's remnant represents the true heir of God's ancient promises.
Jesus was interested not only in proclaiming the kingdom but also in demonstrating it.

This Chapter is largely self explanatory so I will only focus on 3 sections.

By His authority alone.

It is easy to envy the 12 diciples. They actually got to be a part of Jesus' ministry while He was here on earth. They performed miraculous healings and exorcisms. It is vital though, that we remember that it was only because Jesus "gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness." that they could do these things. It was not by any power or righteousness of their own, they were ordinary, albeit extreemly blesed, men who walked and served with Jesus and ministered in His name. It's like the statement "A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square" (If you are not mathematically minded, trust me, the statement is true) The disciples needed Jesus' authority to heal, but to heal, Jesus did not need the disciples. Today, any Christian has the Holy Spirit within them and thus the possibility that the Holy Spirit will use them to heal a sickness or even to exorcise a demon. We need to remember though that God wil only perform a miricle through us if it is His will, and will bring glory to Him. God is not here to make us look good, but it is the other way around.

Acknowledge Him before men.

In verses 32-33 Jesus states that "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." This is a fairly serious verse! This is the NIV but other translations have:

NASB: "...who confesses Me before men, I will also confess..."

KJV: "...confess me before men, him will I confess..."

AMP: "Therefore, everyone who acknowledges Me before men and confesses Me [out of a state of oneness with Me], I will also acknowledge him before My Father Who is in heaven and confess [that I am abiding in] him."

The Message:(I know it's not a real translation) "Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?"

So we have that, if a person will acknowledge / confess / acknowledge and confess / stand up for Jesus before mankind, then He too will acknowledge / confess / acknowledge and confess / stand up for that person before God in their time of judgment. The Sermon on the Mount was all about living in such a way that Jesus can be seen in a Christian, but that is not enough. This does not suggest that someone has a better chance of being Born Again if they preach to more people than someone else. This chapter is directed to Jesus' disciples, or more generally to people who are already saved. So from the Sermon on the Mount we know how to live a life reflecting one who has been saved by the blood of Christ, but now we are told that we must also share his Gospel and testify about Jesus or our deeds are worthless as a whiteness.

Life wasnt meant to be easy.

Well it was, but then sin entered the scene and things changed. Another topic for another post. Jesus compared a Christian life to the 'narrow way'. In other words, it not gonna be easy. here Jesus takes it even further and says "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Remember, to Jews honouring their parents was one of the most important of the 10 commandments. If a Christian places anything, even their own family as a higher priority than Jesus then he/she is not worthy of Jesus. This is not suggesting that placeing Jesus as our highest priority does make us worthy of Him, and salvation, but rather is a warning that even so He needs to come first in our lives. Jesus needs to be such a high priority for a Christian that he/she will even 'lose' their own life / desires and completly serve Jesus. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 Laying down one's life does not necessarily mean dying but also means putting aside one's desires and needs to serve another.

Greater love for Jesus, has no one than this; that they lay down their own life, and put aside their own desires to serve and live for Him.