“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as
serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to
courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before
governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what
you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is
not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother
will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise
against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my
name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they
persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not
have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
(Matthew 10:16-23 ESV)
Now Jesus gave these instructions to his twelve disciples, but what he instructed
them in this section of the Scriptures is not just specific to them, but these
instructions are for all the Lord’s disciples (followers, believers in Christ), except
in any place where the reference is specific to a particular place or person or
group of people. For these same instructions, or others similar to them, are
taught in other places in the Scriptures and are intended for the Lord’s followers
both for then and for now.
For we who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-persuaded faith in him, who
are paying attention to what he says, and who are listening to him with our
minds and hearts, and not just with ears, who are following him in obedience to
his commands, are his sheep, his followers (John 10:27-30). And he is sending all
of us out into the world to share the truth of the gospel with the people of the
world and with the worldly church, too. And we are being sent to people who
may not want to hear what we have to say, too.
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