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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, send us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to
all of us that we may hear well. Amen.
In our
Gospel reading today, we read about where Jesus speaks about rewards. He says: Whoever
receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The
one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward,
and the one who receives a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
And whoever gives on of these littles ones even a cup of cold water because he
is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
These
words of Jesus in our reading come from a much larger sermon of Jesus that he
gives to his disciples, and so first of all today, I’m going to give
I.
A short overview of Matthew 10
which
will be able to give us the context that helps understand what Jesus is talking
about. Secondly, we’re going to look at Jesus’ words:
II.
He who receives you, receives me; and
he who receives me, receives the one who sent me.
And then, in our third part, we’re going to look at
III.
What Jesus says about rewards.
So
let’s come to our first part, where we’re going to give
I.
An
overview of Matthew 10.
What
happens in this chapter is that Jesus chooses his twelve apostles. In
Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels, they are called the twelve apostles.
Sometimes they are simply called the twelve. In John, he doesn’t use the
word apostle at all, but he uses the word disciples. A disciple
is a student, but an apostle means someone who is sent.
Now,
Jesus had many, many disciples, maybe even hundreds. But in all of the gospels,
we read that he calls together these twelve disciples, these twelve apostles
and gives them a special mission. Jesus even promises them: When the Son of
Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It’s an amazing mission
to which Jesus has called them!
So we
read at the beginning of this chapter that Jesus gave them authority over
unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every
affliction. Isn’t this an amazing thing? And also in this chapter, we read
the twelve apostles’ names: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew
his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and
Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
So Jesus
sends these twelve apostles—the famous ones, and the not-so-famous ones—out on
a special mission. And when they go out, Jesus tells them whay they should say:
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then he says: Heal the sick, raise
the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. And Jesus gives them various
instructions about what they should do when they go and visit people and speak
this word and do these things among them.
Now,
isn’t this a wonderful word they are called to say! The kingdom of heaven is
at hand. And what a wonderful thing they are called to do: Heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Wouldn’t you think
that people would be lining up everywhere to hear them, and wouldn’t you think
that there would be great joy and happiness everywhere they went?
Not so! – you see, Jesus wants these disciples, these apostles, to
realise one thing. When they speak the word of Jesus, it is not them that
changes peoples’ hearts. They are only called to speak, and are only called to
do what Jesus has told them to do. But the changing of hearts, that is
something that only the Holy Spirit does. In John’s Gospel, we read where Jesus
says to Nicodemus: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit.
When
we speak the word of God, we can hear it. It’s just like the wind—you go
outside on a windy day, and you can hear it. But where the wind comes from, and
where it is going you don’t know. The same goes with the word of God—we
can’t hear where it came from. But we trust that it came from God,
we trust that it was from the Holy Spirit, that it was Jesus’
own words. And we don’t where it is going—we don’t who will believe it,
and who refuses to believe it. The Holy Spirit is the one who changes peoples’
hearts, and that is his job alone.
And
so, in the rest of the chapter, in Matthew chapter 10, Jesus warns the twelve
apostles that not everyone they go to will want to hear their words. He says: I
am sending you out in the midst of wolves…They will flog you in the synagogues…
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next… Do not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul… A person’s enemies will be those of his
own household… Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of
me.
You
can see from all these words, that Jesus is sending the apostles out on a wonderful
mission, but it is going to be a difficult mission, because people’s
hearts are sinful, and because of their sin, they don’t like to hear
God’s word. We should also remember this in our own missionary work. We can
only speak the word of God to people—and sometimes, no matter how friendly we
are, how much we try and be kind to people, people don’t want to listen. Some
Christians beat themselves up all the time, and say: If only I had been a bit
more friendly when that new person came to church, maybe they would have stuck
around. Now friendliness is a good thing, but people aren’t converted by it.
That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. And if the Holy Spirit doesn’t work faith in
their hearts, but hardens their hearts to the word of God, it’s not your fault.
The Holy Spirit wants to show you that the work of changing and converting
people’s hearts doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to him.
And
then, after Jesus speaks of all these dangerous things that the apostles are
going to encounter, then we come to our reading for today, where Jesus gives an
encouragement. He says: Whoever receives you receives me. He wants to
say: Don’t give up, don’t get downhearted. But when people are friendly to you,
and want to listen to you, it’s not you they are listening to, it’s not you who
will be their friend. It’s me who will speak to them, and it’s me they are
going to meet. I am going to become their Friend and their Saviour.
And so
we come to our second part of our sermon, where we’re going to think about the
words of Jesus where he says:
II.
Whoever
receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
On
Easter Sunday, Jesus says almost the same thing in reverse. He says: Receive
the Holy Spirit. As the Father sent me, so also I am sending you.
And
so, we see that there is a kind of order, and a structure in what’s happening
here. The Father sent Jesus into the world. The Father is true God, and Jesus
is also true God. We say in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is God of God and
Light of Light. The Father sent him into the world as a little baby and in
order to die for sin of the world on the cross and to rise again on the third
day. That’s what God the Father sent Jesus for.
But
then, Jesus also said to the apostles: I am sending you. Now what are
they called to do? They are called to tell people that Jesus is the Son
of God, and that he is actually their Lord and their God, and to tell
people that he died and rose again and ascended into heaven.
And they are called to preach to people the forgiveness of their sins,
which Jesus won for us, which he bought for us with his blood.
And at Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon his disciples
and sent them out for the task.
So
this means, when people listened to the apostles, who were the listening to?
Not them, but Jesus. Jesus said: Whoever receives you receives
me. And not only that, but Jesus says: Whoever receives me receives the
one who sent me. The one who sent him is God the Father. And this happens
because Jesus and God the Father are one God, together with the Holy Spirit.
And so
this is a wonderful encouragement to us too. We are Christians, and we believe
the testimony of those first Christians whom Jesus sent out into the world to
say that they had seen him with their own eyes. And yet, there many
people in the world who don’t want to know us from a bar of soap, and think, all
those Christians are hypocrites, they’re no better than the rest of us,
rah-rah-rah! Jesus knows full well that we’re sinners. He even chose as
one of his apostles Judas Iscariot, knowing full well that he was going
to betray him. Before he died, all the disciples ran away from him, and
Peter denied him three times! We’re no better than them, and we’re no
better than anyone else down the street. But we have a Saviour, who has called
us, and has miraculously chosen us, and has forgiven us. And when people hear
what we have to say as Christians, then they welcome not us, but Jesus.
And not just Jesus, but God the Father. As Jesus says: I am
the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.
Let’s
be encouraged and strengthened by this wonderful forgiveness of sins, and the
wonderful promise of eternal life and eternal glory that Jesus gives to us.
So the
third part of our sermon is where Jesus talks about
III.
Rewards.
Jesus
says: The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a
prophet’s reward.
Now,
in Australia, it is so common for people who are not Christians, and who don’t
go to church, to justify themselves and say that they’re all right, and
then say about all the good things that they do. They say: I believe that we
should do the right thing by our fellow man. Or: I like to help people, or I
give to charity, or I’ve done this or that. And people often think that
if they do their bit, God will reward them with eternal life.
Now,
this isn’t what Jesus is talking about at all. So let’s get a few things
straight.
Firstly,
St Paul says that by nature we are all children of wrath. Isaiah the
prophet said: All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. We are
sinners, and there is absolutely not a single thing at all that we can do to
blot out our sins, or pay for sins, or wash our sins away, or make up for our
sins. Not even all the good works of Mother Teresa, not even Gandhi, not even
the mostly saintly person we can imagine, and not even the Virgin Mary herself
can do a single thing to earn a single drop of forgiveness for the tiniest little
drop of sin in the entire world.
Secondly,
Jesus Christ alone, and absolutely no one else, is the one who blots out all
the sin in the world, who pays for all the sin in the world, who washes all of
it away, and makes up for it all, by his perfect work of sacrificing himself on
the cross on Good Friday. He is the only person who has ever lived, who at the
same time is also true God, and completely without sin—and so it can only be
done by him.
Thirdly,
the forgiveness of our sins, and our reconciliation with God, our adoption as
his children, our salvation, and eternal life—all of these wonderful things!—does
not depend on anything at all that you have ever done, or will ever do, but it
is all given to you completely and totally freely by God. And it is given to
you for free, because Jesus died for you, he has paid the price. And the word
of God says it, and we believe it, and that settles it.
Now,
let’s talk about rewards. Once we have become Christians, and forgiveness,
salvation, and eternal life has been given to us, God wants to encourage us in
good works. We are always going to be carrying around our sinful selves with
us, but in this life, as Christians, we make a little start, a little
beginning, in good works, but it is only that, it’s nothing more.
When we die, then we will be for the first time completely free of sin, and
will sing praises and give glory to God for the whole of eternity.
Let me
give an example. Let’s say you are from another country, like the closest country
to our parish, New Caledonia, and you want to become an Australian citizen. So
you become one, and you get to have all the wonderful privileges of a citizen.
But then, the Australian government gives out rewards to good citizens. Now a New
Caledonian Australian like you might do wonderful things in the city of
Maryborough or Childers, or wherever, and then they get an Order of Australia.
The reward is an encouragement. It doesn’t make you a citizen. In the same way,
we are already citizens of heaven. But also God wants to help us to do good
works, and to encourage us to show love to people, and help people, and all
kinds of things like that. So he also rewards us in this life, and also in the
next life. He wants to say to you: Well done, good and faithful servant.
Or
another example. Maybe you go and buy a dog. And you love this dog, and you are
so happy with this new puppy who is so cute, and such a nice dog! But then you begin
to train it, and when the dog does something good, you say: Good doggy! And
give them a biscuit. The dog already belongs to the owner—the owner bought the
dog long ago and loves his dog. And now, after having bought the dog, he trains
the dog and rewards it. In the same way, God loves us, and he has bought us,
and we belong to him. And then, he trains us, and when we do something well, he
rewards us! Our wonderful owner, our wonderful Good Shepherd, wants to
encourage us in what is right, and when we do well, he promises to reward us.
A
Christian should never say: I own this or own that, because I did
this good work and that good work. Jesus gives us so much more
than the world’s little biscuits! So much of what he gives is hidden to our
eyes, and hidden under the cross, so that we continually need to trust him that
he is providing for our every single need. If only our tiny little minds could
understand just how much Jesus gives us and rewards us each and every single
day—so much more than we could ever imagine, than we could ever see or ask for,
and so much more than we could ever understand.
And so
Jesus says: The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will
receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person wil
receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones
even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will
by no means lose his reward.
Amen.
Dear
Jesus, we thank you for making us yours, and for forgiving us our sins, and for
giving us the promise of eternal life. Now encourage us in our lives, and help
us to speak your truth and shine your light to those around us, that they may
see our good works, and not give glory to us, but to you. Let them receive not
us, dear Jesus, but you, and not only you, but our heavenly Father. Amen.
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