What does it mean to confess Jesus before all people? Matthew 10:24-42

Today, we continue our journey through the Gospel of Matthew, arriving at the conclusion of Jesus sending His disciples into the world to proclaim the mission on their own. The key passage for our entire reflection today is this: "Those who confess me before all people, I will confess before my Father in heaven. Those who do not confess me before all people, I will not confess before my Father in heaven."

Jesus begins this final section of His charge to the disciples by warning them of division. He tells them, in effect, “You have all seen how hard people have been on me—calling me names, calling me a demon, calling me evil. Now imagine, if they called the head of the house that, what are they going to call you?”

Much like in Jesus’s day, it wasn’t pagans and outsiders calling Jesus a demon, or Beelzebub, as the scripture specifically names it; it was God’s very own people. I don’t know about you, but in my own fourteen years of preaching the gospel, the harshest criticism, division, and hatred I have experienced has never come from the outside. Yes, there was some pushback and some laughter, but the harshest opposition I have faced came from within the people of God. It came from other Christians telling me, “Oh, no, no, you’re saying that wrong. You need to say it like this.” I’ve been called all types of awful names—heretic, blasphemer—and I won’t fill in the other blanks for you.

As Christians, we get so caught up with the how—whether we agree with it, whether it looks the way we think it should—that we forget what the Apostle Paul tells us from prison. He acknowledges, “Yes, there are those who are preaching Jesus, not how I agree with, not how I think they should. But praise God that the gospel is being preached.” Paul points us back to the why. He points to what really matters: that Jesus is preached.

Yes, it is important, as Paul says elsewhere, to preach the true gospel and believe in the true gospel. But sadly, most of the divisions we face in the body of Christ are not a question of a false gospel versus a true one. They are minor theological, political, and personal preferences. We allow these minor tears, these minor friction points, to cause so much division, hatred, and callousness in our own hearts that the world looks in and draws its own conclusions. A friend of mine put it this way, quoting what he sees in the church: "You either do not believe your God got up from the dead and restored to everyone a brand new life, or your God isn't powerful enough to change a human heart."

Every time you turn on the news, it feels like there’s another Christian doing something that goes totally against what the Bible says. And while you can say there are hypocrites at Walmart, this is a real issue. The entire world is looking in, searching for answers and for hope. Meanwhile, as the body of Christ, we are so caught up with how people are following Jesus—"Are they doing it correctly? Do they do it like I do?"—that we have forgotten the true life and power of the gospel. We have put so much focus on our personal views and beliefs about Jesus that we have, at times, completely forgotten the mission and call of the person of Jesus.

One of the most dangerous and compelling examples in history that shows how badly this can go occurred in a very Christian nation: the Germany of Martin Luther, the man who started the Protestant church. In the 1920s, Germany was the theological center of the world, with the greatest schools and seminaries. However, a troubling movement was rising from the German people’s dissatisfaction with how World War I ended: the Nazi platform. In the 1920s, they were not yet major players, but you could find a small line in their platform about how they viewed religion. They would accept any religion, especially Christianity, as long as it was "positive to the race of the German people."

In Germany, we see this thing called "Positive Christianity" starting to bubble up in a nation that, again, knew all the right things. They knew that Jesus came not to support worldly powers but to tear them down. They knew Jesus did not come to settle closely and nicely within our world order, but to turn it upside down. And though the Nazi movement fizzled out a bit as the 1920s progressed, we know how the story goes. In the 1930s, the party rose to power, and a fraction of Protestant German Christians broke off in full support of this new regime, calling themselves the "German Christians." They began pushing this form of "Positive Christianity," doing everything they could to use the message of Jesus to be positive toward the Nazi regime.

While others rose up against it, like the Confessing Church—whose core scripture is the one we are reading today—they said, “No, no, no. In the midst of evil, darkness, heresy, and even downright blasphemy, we will confess the true version of this gospel.” It is not a "positive" gospel that supports worldly powers, but one that comes and says, “There’s a new king in town.” It is not a Christianity that settles neatly with the social order, but one that divides it, as Jesus says, bringing a sword to establish a new kingdom and a new way of life.

Sadly, even this Confessing Church fizzled out when it mattered most. When the Nazis started doing the terrible things we know they did, rather than standing up and shouting the confession their church claimed to believe, its members shrank back. They decided, "You know what? Let's just keep this personal. Jesus is our personal king." They wanted to make sure Jesus could fit nicely into their new reality because, well, their lives were getting better, they were making more money, and Germany was becoming more important on the world stage. Their lives were looking a lot better, so they decided to fit Jesus nicely into the worldview their great Führer, Adolf Hitler, was telling them they needed to live.

While that is an extreme example, it shows us the danger of trying to place Jesus nicely within our own worldview. It shows the danger of trying to make Jesus fall neatly in line with any other personal value or belief that is not rooted, founded, and originated in Him.

What this confession means in the face of worldly powers was exemplified during the Nazi regime by my favorite theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the midst of all this, he continued to proclaim the true confession of Christ and the true message of Jesus, writing some of the greatest works Christendom has ever seen, including The Cost of Discipleship, Ethics, and Life Together. In a time of evil which he tried to warn not only Germany but the world about, he chose to preach one thing: single-minded obedience to the call of Jesus. He didn't try to rationalize it or fit it into our worldview. Every one of Dietrich’s works, written in the midst of fierce opposition and oppression, focused on this truth: while this grace is free, when you live it out, there is a cost.

On April 9th, 1945, at the Flossenbürg concentration camp, he was martyred for this confession. He would not fall in line with Adolf Hitler’s vision of the world and compromise Jesus's. He stood strong until the end. This is what it means to live out the true confession of the gospel. It means you are willing to, and actually do, drop everything else that gets in the way of a single-minded focus on living out your days following Jesus’s call as part of Jesus’s kingdom. You don’t evaluate the things of your life and see how Jesus fits in with them. You die to that old life and everything else. If there are other things in your life that are acceptable on this new foundation, within this kingdom, then great. But anything that would taint, hamper, or ask for your allegiance must go.

As Christians, as followers of Jesus, we have one allegiance, and that is to the kingdom of heaven above all else. All other allegiances, loyalties, and rights are gone. We are now slaves to this King, servants to this Lord. And what does this Lord call us to do? He calls us to become a servant to the world around us. This is what our passage, which we are now going to journey through, is all about.

We begin in Matthew chapter 10, starting in verse 24:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he may become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they insult the members of his household?”

The reason the Israelites, and especially their leaders, did not accept Jesus as Messiah was because He did not fit into their expectations. He lived outside of their personal beliefs, their political views, and what their social status would seem to deserve. How could their Messiah be such a lowly man when a Pharisee was such an honorable and high-statured man? Jesus lived outside of and even challenged the personal preferences, comforts, and status of the Israelite leaders. This is ultimately why they rejected Him: Jesus did not fit into their worldview or their viewpoint about how God was going to save the world.

Even John the Baptist had his doubts. And Jesus’s reminder to him was simple, as we'll get into more next week: look at the outcome. Rather than looking at how I do things, rather than looking at how raggedy I look as a carpenter and traveling preacher, remember this: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the good news is preached. Jesus reminds us that He is coming in, and it will be by His power and His might that God’s kingdom is revealed to the world. It is by the power of God’s Holy Spirit working in our world and through us that His kingdom will be the light and stand in opposition to the world.

This means we don't have to worry about being the Holy Spirit for other Christians. We don’t have to make sure they're being convicted in the way they need to be or that they're doing the right things. Why? Because that is God’s job, which is what our next couple of passages are about. Let’s continue, picking up in Matthew chapter 10, verse 26:

“So do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in darkness, tell in the light. What you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are two sparrows not sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs on your head are all counted. So do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.”

Jesus’s command is simple: stop fearing, worrying, and concerning yourself with what everyone else is doing. Trust the God who knows the number of hairs on your head. This means we can remain in single-minded obedience to following Jesus and let God convict the rest of His church and the world. Let us stay focused on proclaiming what God whispers in our ear, which is the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of Jesus.

And let’s remember what that focus is. Every time Jesus tells it, it is this: Jesus came and lived the life we could never live, setting us free once and for all from any self-gained righteousness. He then sacrificed Himself on a cross, dying the death that we deserved, not Him. He rose from the dead three days later, becoming the firstborn of a new creation, and ascended into heaven at God’s right hand, where He is ruling His kingdom right here, right now, until He returns to reveal it to all the world. The end.

That’s the focus. There are a lot of other things in there, and yes, we can debate them, and at times it's important. But if we let all of the other things crowd in and drown out the simple message that God has reconciled the world to Himself, then that is not the gospel. The gospel is the hope of Jesus meeting us where we are. We need to have faith that God is the one who will judge, convict, and set His church straight. What we are called to do is live in single-minded obedience and do our job.

Do you want to have a strong theology and know your doctrine? Great, then study harder. When you’re preaching, preach that true gospel. But let’s not spend so much time worrying about everyone else that we are quick to jump on them when they are wrong. Instead of worrying about needing the Ten Commandments in every classroom, let us preach truth. Are the Ten Commandments the gospel? Giving the world Christian values without the source of life in which those values are rooted is folly. This is why the world looks at us as mean and hateful. It’s because we try to say, “Hey, before you come to Jesus, before we introduce you to Jesus, you need to live like us and think like us.” We start throwing out values and belief systems before we bring the gospel, both to the world and even within our own churches.

Let’s focus on the why. The simple gospel is that Jesus, who is God Himself, came in human flesh, lived among us, died for us, and rose again, giving us all a new life. When we stay focused on that call and the life Jesus has given us, the world around us starts to change. Other Christians and other churches will come and ask, “What are you doing so different than us? Why is what you’re doing bringing people to Jesus? Why is what you’re doing gaining the honor and respect of our local communities like Hayden and Blount County?” Then we can say we are simply living in single-minded obedience; we are actually living out the life and message of Jesus.

We can change the world, and even better, the body of Christ, by staying focused on our mission and how we are living it out, rather than obsessing over how everyone else is doing it. Instead of trying to Christianize the world with values, we start going and making disciples. Because fun fact: if people follow Jesus, they will have Christian values. Let’s not get the two confused. Let’s not lead with belief systems and values before we present, in a true and beautiful form, who God is in Jesus Christ.

I would dare to say that Christian values disconnected from the source of our Christianity are not Christian values at all. Jesus is the life, source, love, and foundation of any value we want to share with the world. If we try to isolate these values, if we try to just do good Christian things without pointing to the source and life of these things, then we're lost. If we focus so much on the how that we don't give enough space for preaching and teaching the why behind it all, that is not making disciples. That is not living in the single-minded obedience and faith to which Jesus is calling us. It's saying, “Hey God, I actually trust myself to make sure everyone’s doing right, rather than trusting that You’re going to change their hearts.” We must lead by showing the world through our lives—how we serve, how we love, how we communicate—what Jesus has done in our lives, before we ever start saying, “Okay, now here’s how you should live.” It all starts with the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of King Jesus.

So I want you to ask yourself: Where are you putting the how over the why? Where are you putting how people are doing church, or even how you are serving the Lord, before you focus on the source, life, and power of it all—which is the life of Jesus and what He’s done for us?

Let’s continue, picking up in verse 32:

“Therefore everyone who confesses me before people, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. Whoever denies me before people, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person’s enemies will be the members of his household. The one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and the one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And the one who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on my account will find it.”

The most subtle way to deny Jesus is to start looking at Jesus as an add-on to your life rather than the king of your life. Jesus can’t just be another altar on the idol of American values. Jesus cannot be just another altar on the idol of you. Jesus must be your King and your Lord, which means if Jesus is king, Caesar is not. If Jesus is king, Trump is not. If Jesus is king, no president who ever lived is. And if Jesus is king, you are not. All of our preferences, comforts, and ideals must be laid at Jesus’s feet, so that we can then receive all those things from Him. He is the source and life of every decision, every value, every belief that we hold.

It’s funny that the Christians in Germany who followed the Nazi regime titled themselves "German Christians." I have found that the moment you add a word in front of "Christian," the focus becomes not the "Christian" part, but whatever you put before it. We are not American Christians; we are Christians. We are not [fill-in-the-blank] Christians; we are followers of Jesus before all else, citizens of God’s kingdom before all else. And that means proclaiming the sweet, beautiful message of hope found in Jesus before all else.

When we do that and confess that message before all people, everything else falls into place. Because as we confess, people begin to believe. As we confess and preach and live, God begins to work on the human heart. We don't have to systemize the working of the Holy Spirit; I think He has a good enough system Himself. We can live our lives in simple love and relationship with God through serving others. That’s how we confess—not merely by shouting on a street corner with a bullhorn, but by doing what Jesus says at the end of this entire message to His disciples. Let’s pick back up in Matthew chapter 10, verse 40:

“The one who receives you, receives me, and the one who receives me, receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And the one who receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person shall receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

So after all the talk of swords and divisions, of giving your life, dying, and carrying your cross, what is the conclusion of it all? Share a cup of cold water with someone who needs it.

That word "little ones" is key. While in other Gospels this is said when Jesus is surrounded by children, in Matthew's context, He is not. So when Jesus says "little ones," for Matthew, it means those of little influence and little social status. When you begin to serve the least of these in the world, that’s when you will receive the reward. That’s when you will find the love, life, hope, peace, and purpose we are all searching for in Jesus. It’s just as He said in the Sermon on the Mount: "seek first the kingdom and all these things will be added to you as well."

Seeking the kingdom means affirming that Jesus is King. It is seeking His life, His love, and His purpose for our lives. When we stay focused on the heart of the Gospel message and confess that before anything else, we will begin to see God not only transforming the world around us but also repairing the tears and divisions in His church.

So my one challenge for you today, if you forget everything else, is this: Where in your life can you begin to confess or live out that pure, simple Gospel message? The message that the God of the universe died for you so you didn't have to, rose from the dead defeating death, hell, and the grave to give you new life, and is now sitting at God’s right hand, ruling His people until He returns one day to reveal that fact to the rest of the world.

Where in your life do you need to re-center on that message, rather than on the how it happens or the what it all means? No, let’s be simple. Let’s take a moment to be thankful for this new life He has given us—the life we all have today. Think of the families you have and the jobs you loved and perhaps have now retired from. Let's remember the gifts God has given us, not because we deserved them, but because of the one simple fact that Jesus died for you and rose again on that third day, giving us all new life.

Remember the simplicity and single-mindedness of that kingdom: Jesus is King, and we are not. Let’s pray.