Matthew 10:24-39
June 27, 1999
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Her name was Nancy. John was barely 16 years old, and was nervous just thinking about this girl that he was crazy about. He had a driver’s license now, and would drive by her house after school, hoping to catch a glimpse of his sweetheart, even if only for a few moments. If she were there, he’d pull over and say “Hi” and nonchalantly pretend that he just happened to be in the neighborhood. By the way, John lived on the other side of town.
John finally discovered enough courage and resolve to ask her out. He’d been out on dates with girls before, but this was something new because he now had a driver’s license! They wouldn’t be riding their bikes nor would they be driven by parents or riding around with some older friends. This was a whole new phase of life where you got to say cool things like, “What time should I pick you up?” Of all the phone calls he had made in his life, or ever would make, this was the most momentous phone call he was making, and his high hopes made his fears all the more intense.
Today, John doesn’t remember at all what he said or asked her to do, but he’ll never forget her response. Four little words: “Let’s just be friends.” Four words that were like daggers in his heart. Four words that young men hate more than perhaps any other words in the English language: “Let’s just be friends.”
This polite rejection of four little words makes you feel like a big, stuffed animal—a kind of real-life Barney the Dinosaur. Cute, maybe, but kind of pathetic, and someone she doesn’t want to introduce to mom and dad. The ultimate irony is that once those words are spoken in a relationship, it becomes impossible to “just be friends.” Most of us have enough fears and self-doubts that we don’t need friends who remind us that we’re not quite good enough for them.
When you and I were 16, like many 16 year-olds today, we were handicapped with a variety of self-doubts and fears. One of the greatest fears at that age was romantic rejection. Probably it is still one of our greatest fears!
Disciples Will Be Rejected
Today, on the whole, however, our fears deal with different issues and certainly involve higher stakes, like the fears Jesus was addressing in today’s gospel lesson. He knew that his followers would have to face division and persecution that would be terrifying. They would be hated, tried, beaten, betrayed by loved ones, even executed. Jesus was warning them what lies ahead.
When Jesus chose the twelve disciples and told them that they will find their strength and identity in being like Jesus, they were honored and excited. They were being accepted as members of the in-crowd. Jesus didn’t say to them, “Let’s just be friends.” Jesus told the disciples that he was not embarrassed about being with them. “It’s okay to be seen with me.”
But in this same association that gave them this feeling of recognition and acceptance, they will also find challenge and outright persecution. When the Pharisees slandered Jesus’ healing abilities and said that they did not come from God, but from “the rulers of demons,” the disciples will also be slandered. Their close association with Jesus will lead them to similar kinds of stinging criticism.
But listen again to what Jesus said, “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.” When we have secrets, we hide them from others, like John liking Nancy, and we become afraid. But when our secret is out, everyone knows about it and there is nothing to fear anymore.
Jesus told them not to be afraid to share with others what he taught them. Jesus said, “have no fear of them, these Pharisees” because what he taught them are not secrets but will be proclaimed from the housetops. Jesus wanted them to know that if there’s anything that they should be afraid, it shouldn’t be the Pharisees and definitely not the truth. They should be in fear of God.
What Do We Fear?
The disciples were afraid of being slandered by associating with Jesus’ teachings and his miracles of healing. They were being asked to give up on having a normal family home life where they can grow up and grow old together. Rather they would be hated, tried, beaten, betrayed by loved ones, even executed. Jesus is sending the disciples out as sheep into the midst of wolves.
What do we fear today?
*Are we afraid that our families are disintegrating and we’re helpless to stop it?
*Are we afraid of losing our jobs, of being “downsized” or simply not making enough to make ends meet?
*Are we afraid of being robbed, of someone taking away things we have worked so hard for? I have a CLUB in my car, don’t you?
*Are we afraid of the Y2K computer bug?
*Are we afraid of getting married or never getting married and having children?
*Are we afraid of sickness, of cancer or AIDS?
*Are we afraid of death, our own or that of a loved one?
*Are we afraid of being abandoned by our parents?
When our son Greg was growing up at this church, he would say, “I’m scared. I’m scared.” He probably learned this when we left him in the nursery for the first time. He was afraid of abandonment—losing his parents.
At the root of these fears is the fear of loss. Every fear we have is grounded in the knowledge that we have something or someone to lose. I can lose my job, the family, the house, my money to robbers, my records in the computer crash, my freedom, parenthood, health—life itself. It is all at stake. Rejection and loss are the basis of our fears.
Though there may be good reason to fear rejection and loss; in the end, today’s gospel is telling us they are ultimately not much more harmful to us than a 16-year-old’s experience of romantic rejection. Yet, from an adult perspective, we know now it was part of growing up, part of learning to be more secure in ourselves than in what others thought of us. We know now that there’s life beyond romantic rejection, and that in the whole scheme of things, there are much more important things of which to be afraid.
Today’s gospel lesson reminds us of this. From the perspective of Christ, if there were anything we need to be fearful about, it is to fear God.
Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I also
will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me
before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”
Christ offers us the ultimate perspective of God’s kingdom, and from that eternal perspective, we will all realize that being faithful to Christ wherever we meet him in this life is much more important than the fear of rejection and loss. We think that losing all of the possessions that we have worked so hard for and feeling rejected by people are the biggest worries and fears that we have. Jesus said that what we need to fear is when we don’t acknowledge him in front of others. That we don’t want to be associated with Jesus. That there are times when we want to keep Jesus a secret and not proclaim him from the housetops. Times when we don’t acknowledge Jesus but we claim Jesus as our Lord, then we need to start worrying.
Personal Story
Let me tell you about a time when I was on a plane traveling on a business trip about 20 years ago. First of all, I grew up in a local church that frown on people who would carry their big Bibles around just to show the world that they were Christians. I thought that what was in the inside counts more than what you can see on the outside. I believed that only God need to know whether or not I was truly a sincere Christian.
When I would travel in these cramped airplanes that force you to become bosom buddies with total strangers, I try to protect my privacy. I justified my disinterest to my neighbors by saying to myself that I have a lot of work to catch up. And as seasoned frequent flyers, there’s a well-known etiquette onboard that when someone pulls out work, it means, “Don’t bother me.” And I try never to pull out my Bible in fear of being associated with these “Bible thumping Christians” and inviting my curious seat mates to ask me about all the questions they have about God but never had a chance to do so. Besides, I was usually busy.
On one flight, I was seated with an older woman, a white hair grandmother type. I started to notice that she was looking over to the papers I had laid out. She excused herself and asked me what kind of work I was in. In fear of saying what I was, I said, “I’m an educator.” Her next natural question was, “Do you teach in the public schools?” I said, “No, I work in the church, Christian education.” Her eyes lit up and I knew I was in for a long conversation. By that time, I had to be straight with her. There was no more hiding from her who I was.
I told her that I was a Baptist minister and that we just moved from San Francisco to Philadelphia for my new job. I shared with her that we would soon have our second child in November. She told me that she was just visiting her daughter because she had a new baby herself. I remember the baby pictures well. She told me that she would pray for me in my new ministry and our growing young family in Pennsylvania. She shared with me how important Jesus was in her life. In return, I shared how God has called me into Christian ministry. We actually exchanged addresses and promised to write.
Today, I can’t remember her name. But I know I kept her greeting card someplace. In that serendipitous conversation with a total stranger, she taught me that to be a disciple of Christ, I am called to acknowledge Christ before others. I discovered that there’s no such thing as keeping our faith a secret because Christ said that we should proclaim it from the housetops. We can’t cover up our Bibles with a brown shopping bag because the power of the Word reaches out to everyone even to the little white hair woman on the plane.
From that unplanned conversation on the airplane, my call to Christian ministry was strangely re-affirmed by a total stranger. I realized that once I promised to be a Christian minister in the vows I made in the presence of my home church and especially in front of God, I am never able take off my Christian identity whenever I want to. Rather than fearing being rejected for my faith, I was accepted for it. I pray I was a blessing to this woman as much as I know she was a blessing to me.
Being Faithful to Christ
Being faithful to Christ wherever we meet him in this life is much more important than the fear of rejection and loss. The things that we think we must have and keep on having whether they are materials of comfort or even important family relationships are:
-driving us to cling to what we eventually must lose;
-keeping us from saying what must be said;
-keeping us from going where we must go;
-keeping us from doing what needs to be done;
-keeping us from being who we need to be.
Imagine what the world would be like with a Christ-body church that was unafraid of losing worldly praise and esteem, as well as its possessions, its buildings, its stained glass windows, its tax-exempt status, its politically protected position, and its freedom to assemble! What would you have? You’d have the church in China, which is experiencing an exponential explosion of growth!
Imagine what our neighborhood would be like when our church is retrofitted and renovated enabling us to reach out to more people with the Good News of Jesus Christ! Our neighbors would see that the investment of resources that we are making in our building is a long-term commitment to bring learning and empowerment to Chinatown.
Imagine how our neighbors can be transformed with Christ as the head of our church when we preach and proclaim the saving grace of God every Sunday from this pulpit. And when our neighbors see our lives practicing Christian discipleship in both word and deeds, they will also not be afraid!
Just imagine what we would be like when we recognize that we should not and must not be afraid of losing and clinging to things that are preventing us from being faithful to Christ. Being faithful to Christ wherever we meet him in this life is much, much more important than the fear of rejection and loss.
Fearing God
In this world filled with the demons of sickness and violence and loneliness and oppression, we are understandably afraid of many things, just as the disciples to whom Jesus spoke in today’s gospel would have been fools not to fear the events he told them about.
When Jesus was preparing his disciples for the coming spiritual battles, he instructed them not to fear the enemies of the gospel because their power was limited. Rather, they should fear God because he had the power to commit both body and soul to hell. It’s not that Jesus was trying to convince his followers to relate to God out of fear, but he was showing them most of their fears have no power to touch their souls.
The Bible teaches us that God is to be both feared and loved. Fear represents the vertical dimension of faith. God is above and beyond us. We are not equal to God. God is the one whom we owe our absolute obedience. And when we do fear God, God reminds us that against any kind of hardship and fears, we are seen as more important than sparrows and that he knows of every hair on our heads.
As Paul said, “If God is for us, who is against us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus or Lord.
So, the good news is that there’s nothing to fear! In our fear of rejection and losing our families, Jesus announces the very words a 16-year-old boy doesn’t want to hear: “Let’s be friends.” In John 15:15, Jesus said,
I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know
what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made
known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose
me but I chose you”
Rather than the feared words of romantic rejection for a 16-year-old, Jesus goes out and chooses us to be his good friends. We are good in Jesus’ eyes to be his friends and to be his disciples. Let us not be afraid of the things that the world throw at us for the only one we need to be mindful of is God. Let us go from this place acknowledging the love of Christ in our hearts and proclaiming the God’s good news from the housetops!
Let us pray.
Gracious God, we pray to have the courage and faith to share how we love you before others. Help us to take up the cross and bear witness to your love and mercy. Release us from all the fears and worries that we have about needing to have everything that we have now and wanting to own even more. Help us to trust you with our lives for your service and glory. Amen.