Paraphrase: (8/10/06)
Mt 10:28, Lk 12:4-5 Don’t be afraid of these. They may be able to kill the body, but that is the worst they can do. Your fear and reverence ought to be reserved for Him Who alone can destroy not only the body, but also the soul. Mt 10:29-31, Lk 12:6-7 Think about it! Sparrows are of such little value. They can be had two for a penny, five for two pennies; yet God does not forget even one of them. Not even one perishes without His leave. As for you, He accounts for every hair of your head, for you are far more valuable in His sight than any number of sparrows, so fear not. Mt 10:32-33, Lk 12:8-9 Be bold! Confess Me publicly here, and I shall confess you publicly before My Father and His angels. On the other hand, if you reject Me here, before men, I will reject you before My Father and His angels.
Key Verse: (8/11/06)
Mt 10:32 Everyone who openly acknowledges Me before men, I will openly acknowledge and welcome before My Father.
New Thoughts (8/13/06)
When I looked at the relevance of this section to the whole of the Gospels, I said that it established Jesus as one of greater import than man. That is not stated outright, needless to say, yet I think the connection is made. Consider that Jesus moves immediately from pointing out how much more we are worth than the birds to speak of the need for us to publicly proclaim our allegiance to Him. The importance of that profession of loyalty is that He will not acknowledge those who will not acknowledge Him. He will reject those who reject Him. There is indeed a connecting thought between these two parts of the message.
For our confidence, Jesus points out how much more we are worth than the birds for which God takes such care. By comparison, the bird is worth less than one hair from your head. That’s the message. By the same token, though Father willingly gave His only Son for our salvation, we are still of less worth to Him than one hair from His Son’s head. And yet, He gave His Son for us. What punishment would not be fitting to the one who has no gratitude for that sacrifice?
Let me offer a different perspective. For myself, I love having birds around. I enjoy listening to them, seeing their colors, watching their behavior. It is a joyous way to wake up in the morning, having the sunrise songs of the birds as an alarm clock. Think about it. There are composers out there who have built their symphonies around the structure of a bird’s songs. Yet, these, our Creator says, are worth nothing in comparison to us. Now, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Here is One to Whom we are by comparison the sparrows. We are next to worthless compared to Him. This is no cause for despair, mind you. The sparrows are next to worthless compared to us, yet God cares for them wonderfully well. So it is with us. We are next to worthless compared to His Son, yet He cares for us marvelously well.
The point comes down to this: If we have such a willingness to praise these worthless birds, how criminal is it that we won’t praise the One Who is greater? How criminal is it that we will not loudly celebrate the Savior?
Another angle: He is Lord. We are servants – slaves, to put it more bluntly. We may be His friends, but we are His slaves nonetheless. We signed up for that duty, put our ears to the doorjamb and invited Him to mark us as His for life. We no longer suffer slavery to exist in our society, so we do not quite grasp the power of this. But, what would be said of a slave that would not acknowledge his master? He is most likely to be a renegade, seeking escape from his servitude. I suppose that in our times, our sympathies would lie with the escapee. We would perhaps aid and abet him in his efforts to be free. We do not understand the idea of voluntary enslavement. We don’t see the possibility that there is a covenantal foundation to the relationship of master and slave. No, I’m not advocating a return to the practice, only that we see the situation in the light of the culture of the time.
Perhaps the thought can be more comfortably approached by a different comparison. Consider the arts. Consider one who has spent time as an understudy to this or that great artist, and as such, his work has been greatly influenced by that teacher. When that student emerges as a talent in his own right, would we respect him should he deny the teacher’s importance? Would we think well of him should he claim that those lessons were nothing to him, that he would have been just as good without them?
What about the child who disowns his parents? This, too, would only begin to compare with the enormity of our injustice should we disown our Christ. And yet, how do we behave? If asked, there are very few among us who would not be pleased to say where we come from, who will not gladly display our lineage. If asked, there are very few among us who will not gladly proclaim the names of our influences, our heroes, and extol their particular virtues. Yet, when it comes to Jesus, it’s somehow different. Here is our greatest love, and yet we are reluctant to talk of Him, to share Him.
Maybe it’s only me. Maybe I’m the only one who has experienced this, but somehow I doubt it. I do know that there are many who have such great boldness that nothing can prevent them from speaking of Him. There is no situation in which they will not extol His greatness. This is as it should be, surely. Yet, in myself I know a certain weakness, a timidity that ought not to be such an issue. Asked what I do with these hours before going to work, I am reticent to let the truth be known. Why is that? I tell myself it is because my example at work is not always as it should be. That’s probably true enough. Yet, I am forced to face this thing. I am putting myself at risk by refusing to be open about my faith. I have succumbed to the pressure of a godless society, and I must reject this here and now.
That is precisely what Jesus is getting at in this section. Fear not. I have allowed myself to be silenced by those who can do little or nothing should I speak. I have had my eyes and my concerns in the wrong quarters. There is a God in heaven who is determined that I should speak of His Son, who created me to speak of His Son. If He is my provider, and He has determined to have me employed in this place at this time, then it is for His purpose, to declare His glory.
Though it is ‘just a job’, I have been given this job for a purpose. I have been created with a purpose, sent with a purpose, and it is time I live my purpose. Like the Apostles before me, I am sent to proclaim, and if I will not proclaim Him here and now, neither will He acknowledge me as His when I come to stand before the Father, His Father first and foremost. Is avoiding a little discomfort now worth it? I should think not.
Father, forgive my silence. Holy Spirit, come with Your boldness and give my tongue liberty! Jesus, my brother, my Savior, my Lord, I apologize, for by my silence I have sinned against You and have failed of my purpose in You. Let this be a turning point. Let me no longer avoid the good things You have prepared for me. Let me speak the words You give to me in those moments, that Your name, Your office, might be glorified.
Return to that word of confidence that Jesus speaks. You are of much more value than many sparrows. I love the things I see in Thayer’s explanation of that ‘much more value’. You are different. You greatly excel the sparrow, and herein lies the difference: You matter. You make a difference. The sparrow, for all its ability to bring a bit of pleasure to us, makes no real difference. Yes, our lives would be somewhat the poorer for his absence, but we’d hardly notice it. For all that, however hard that sparrow may pursue its existence, however diligently it builds its nest, pursues its food, and so on, it will not change one soul. In the scales of eternity, it will not have mattered.
You and I are of more value. We matter. We make a difference. Depending on our choices, that difference may be for better or for worse, but we need to understand that we do make a difference. By our action or inaction we may well have eternal consequences not only for ourselves, but for those we encounter.
I have expressed my concern for my own well-being already. Jesus gives us that concern as an incentive to action. However, there is a better motivation, the motivation of love that we see as the driving influence in our own Teacher. If I have not love, Paul says, all that I do is worthless. However ‘good’ my deeds, however commendable, they are as nothing if I have only done them to save my own skin, as it were. If there has been no compassion, no love, then I am not a Christian, I am a mercenary. It is a materialistic Christianity that has no motivation other than one’s own salvation. It is a hollow and empty Christianity that has no concern for the souls around us. It is a dead and worthless Christianity that is kept for its ‘proper place.’ That is the sort of Christianity that the world is comfortable with – believe what you like so long as you don’t expect me to believe it, but a Christianity like that will prove unable even to save the one who holds to it. God deserves better from us.
I was created to make a difference. That is my purpose. I may not fully understand the how and the where of it, but I can know with an absolute certainty that this is the truth of it. This applies to my words and my behavior. This applies to the way I approach everything. It is not just a matter of missionary events and outreaches. It’s a matter of how I pursue my professional life. It’s a matter of how I approach my work. There can be such a thing as a godly engineer. I’m not quite certain what would define such a thing, but it’s there. There is such a thing as a godly teacher, a godly cashier, a godly lawyer. The key lies in keeping in mind at all times that whatever company’s name may be on the place where I work, whoever’s signature may be on my paycheck, I don’t really work for them. I work for Christ Jesus, my Lord, my Master.
There has been much made in the news of late of the fact that so many Muslims consider themselves Muslims first, citizens of whatever nation second. Much is also made of the fact that most Christians would say much the same. Quite honestly, I’m not sure how a Christian could say anything else. You are a stranger and an alien here, but a sojourner in foreign lands. You are a pilgrim, in the world but not of the world. How else shall we understand these things? This does not preclude a degree of patriotism, a love of our own country. It simply requires that we maintain a proper perspective, never putting country before faith. So it is with our labors. We are employees of a company, and we can respect and support that company insofar as it does not require us to reject the greater loyalty we owe to our Provider. Here in America, we have largely lost sight of this. We have allowed the workplace to restrict us, to force us to ‘accept’ things that are utterly unacceptable. We have been put in the position of tacitly supporting things that are absolutely anathema.
Into this environment, into this constriction, the word of God comes, saying, “If you will not confess Me here, why should I confess you in heaven?” Into this environment comes the Caleb call. Take the land. Rise up in holy boldness and refuse to be bound. Look the giants in they eye and declare, “My God is greater!” They may be able to kill the body, but He to Whom you owe first allegiance determines your eternity. Be bold and be strong! The Lord is with you. You were created for this time. You were created to spread life in this land of death. If you will not do it, God will surely find another who will. He did not spare Israel when Israel rejected its purpose. Neither will He spare the Church if the Church rejects its purpose. His will shall be done. Rejoice to be part of it, and rise up.
