“The Hairs on Your Head are All Numbered” Matthew 10:24-33
5th Sunday after Pentecost July 17, 2011 Pastor Thomas Kock
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing! Amen. The Word of God for our consideration is found in the book of Matthew, chapter 10. (Read text) In the name of Jesus, our Master, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
The sermon text is part of a lengthier segment in which Jesus is about to send out His disciples on their own. They are going to go to towns and villages to tell people that Jesus was about to come to their town/village to preach and teach. The disciples were to get people ready for Jesus’ arrival. What a cool job, huh? One would sure think so!
But listen to some of the way that Jesus describes it: “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. {15} I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. {16} I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. {17} "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. {18} On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. {19} But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, {20} for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. {21} "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. {22} All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. {23} When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” (Matt 10:14-23a NIV)
Wow! Does that sound like the kind of job you and I would like to take? That sounds kind of rough, doesn’t it? It sure sounds rough to me!
And yet think of how Jesus Himself was treated. Sure, at times He seemed to be loved and adored. There were crowds who followed Him.
But why so? Many of those crowds followed Jesus for selfish reasons, merely wanting Jesus to fill their bellies, to heal their diseases to give them a comfortable life.
Think, for example, of when Jesus fed the 5,000. The next day Jesus confronted the crowds, pointing out that they’d fed their bellies and had their fill. And what did the crowd demand? A miracle!” [cf. John 6:30] It was as if they’d completely forgotten what Jesus had done the day before! Their following of Jesus was selfish, driven by a “what’s in it for me” attitude. (Do I even need to ask if we might see that same sinfulness in ourselves? L ) When confronted by their sinfulness, many of the crowd left, stopped following Him.
Eventually, the enmity against Jesus would grow more and more intense. For example, when Lazarus dies, and Jesus tells the disciples that they’re going to go to Bethany, Thomas says, “Let’s go, that we might die with Him.” In other words, the disciples recognized that there was intense hatred of Jesus, to the point of wanting to put Him to death.
And of course, that’s what they eventually did. Eventually they challenged Jesus with question after question, trying to trap Him in His words. When that didn’t work, they simply found false witnesses to lie about Him so that they could put Him to death. And eventually, they had their way, and put Him to death.
If that’s the way Jesus was treated, ought it surprise us that Jesus’ followers would be treated in a similar way? Our text says, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” (Matt. 10:24 NIV) If Jesus had it hard, if Jesus’ life was touched by lots of difficulty, ought it be a surprise to us that our lives would be touched with difficulties? No! Ought not to be a surprise at all!
And yet how often don’t we think to ourselves, or say, “This isn’t fair! I’m a believer in Jesus! God is supposed to be on my side! It’s not fair that I should suffer in this way!”
Not fair? What if God were to treat us fairly? Why, if God were to treat us fairly, He’d have to burn in anger against us and send us to hell forever! That would be fair, because God is perfect and holy, and we’re sinful. No, if God were to treat us “fairly,” that would be an awful thing! Our text touches on that when it says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mat 10:28 NIV) Who is it that can destroy our body and soul in hell? That’s God! If we want to fear, don’t fear what other humans can do to us, even if it’s horrid! Ultimately, all they can do is effect our time here. God, by contrast, determines our eternal destiny! If we want to fear, fear that God WOULD treat you and me fairly, that God WOULD treat you and me as our sins deserve! For then we would be going to hell, no questions asked, and that’s worth being afraid of!
Thank God that He doesn’t treat us fairly; rather, He deals with us in grace, always having our ETERNAL best interests in His heart. And part of His dealing with us in a way which is in our eternal best interests is that a “student isn’t above his teacher, or a servant above his master”. In other words, part of God’s love for us is that He allows us to undergo trial and difficulty, even as our Savior underwent trial and difficulty.
But God doesn’t want us to become disheartened by that. Indeed, He wants to encourage us. He wanted to encourage those disciples. So what does Jesus do to encourage them?
Why, obviously, He begins talking about birds and hair! J There are all kinds of hairstyles out there, aren’t there? Sure! (Show pictures of several kinds of hairstyles, including a couple of “wacky” looking hairstyles! J )
Now, what does God say about all that? He says, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matt 10:30 NIV) Do YOU know how many pieces of hair are on your head? I have zero idea how many hairs are up here.
But you know what? God knows! God knows exactly how many hairs are on my head! God knows how many hairs are on your head! In other words, God knows you even better than you know yourself!
And that has wonderful ramifications. If God knows me better than I know myself, then He knows (even better than I know) what will be best for me. I have my plans. I have my ideas as to how life could/should go. I have my ideas as to what would be best for me in my life.
But I don’t know me as well as God knows me. And the plans which I have for myself … well, those plans might be exactly the WRONG thing for me. And the things which I think might be awful? Well, God might know that that would be exactly what’s BEST for me!
And how, ultimately, can you know that? Because God loves you with the ultimate love! He loved you enough to lay down His life at the cross for you!
And so it’s enough for us to be like our master, like our teacher. In other words, it’s expected that we will go through struggles and difficulties. That’s par for the course. But like our Master went through difficulty, then ended up in glory, so will we! We too will end up in glory, just like our master! So, it’s enough for us to be like Him, isn’t it? Of course!
And so we look to our future with reasonable eyes. We expect that we will face difficulty and trial, like our Master did. We expect that people will sometimes stand against us when we stand up for Him and His Word, just like some people stood up against Jesus. But we also know what the end of the matter is; even as Jesus ended up in glory, so will we. Our God knows how to get us there, for our God knows us even better than we know ourselves. Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Amen.