Matthew
Love for the Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus in Matthew 10 instructs His 12 disciples
Before sending them out to preach the Kingdom of Heaven message
As part of His instruction,
Jesus tells them this message of the Kingdom will be accepted and rejected
There will be some who love Him more than anything
And others who will love other things
Including family members and their own lives more
These words are very strong but for the ones Jesus is sending out
They must have a love for the Father and Jesus above everything else
It is this love for Jesus and His Kingdom that is so powerful
This strong love should be in all of us
The fear of punishment should not be our motivation
The gain of good social friends should not be what motivates us
Our motivation should always be love
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
Matthew
Love for the Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus in Matthew 10 instructs His 12 disciples
before sending them out to preach
the Kingdom of Heaven message
As part of His instruction…
Jesus tells them this message of the Kingdom
will be accepted and rejected.
There will be some who love Him more than anything
and others who will love other things,
including family members and their own lives, more.
These words are very strong…
But for the ones Jesus is sending out
they must have a love for the Father
and Jesus above everything else.
It is this love for Jesus and His Kingdom
that is so powerful.
This strong love should be in all of us.
The fear of punishment should not
be our motivation.
The gain of good social friends should not
be what motivates us.
Our motivation should always be love.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart.
Jesus in Matthew 9 and 25
gives us a picture of this love.
The picture of a bride and a groom…
The bride who is in love with the bridegroom
longs to be with her groom.
She looks forward to leaving family
to live with her groom.
She even changes her identity
by taking on his name.
This is the picture Jesus sets before
those He sends out with the message
and power of the Kingdom.
Love is a choice and that choice takes trust.
Becoming a bride takes time…
Time with the groom learning all about Him.
Accepting the proposal comes
after you have considered every one else
and everything else.
The accepting of the proposal comes
when the bride wants nothing else
but the groom for the rest of their lives.
These are the people Jesus sends out.
There will be those who reject you
because you do not give them
a one-night stand or commit to their way of life.
There will be those who appreciate you
and respect you…
They will offer you as a disciple
a small thing like a cup of cold water.
That gesture of kindness will be
rewarded by Jesus, the bridegroom.
As we read chapter 11–13…
You are invited to walk with Jesus and His disciples.
This journey will be very intense.
And we will see how Jesus
and the message of the Kingdom of Heaven is received.
We will see the response to Jesus…
Positive – People, Jesus is the Messiah!
Neutral – John the Baptist, Is He the Messian?
Negative – Pharisees, He is NOT the Messiah!
Chapter13, Jesus gives us some parables
about the Kingdom that are…
Commentaries about these three types
of responses to the Kingdom.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 10:37-11:1 NIV
37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
11 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
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