Matthew 10:34–39Scripture
Matthew chapter 10. Turn your Bibles there with me as we continue on. And today we've made it to the end of chapter 10, I believe. Oh, we have not. So, we are almost to the end. Verse 34 through 39. Today we get to hear Christ speak to the apostles. He continues as he sends them out to prepare them of what they'll face when they go out to share the gospel.
And then he begins to help them understand that as they go out and they preach truth we have already heard that they'll face opposition of every kind.
But sometimes we think the opposition we'll face we label it to certain types of people. He begins to change the people that might oppose them and really lay for them the ground groundwork of what they're going to face. Matthew 10:34 says, "do not think that I've come to bring peace to the earth. I've not come to bring peace but to bring a sword.
Now this declaration is quite specifically it is an analogy but it is also the reality that what divides people and belief systems and ideas is truth.
And this is a problematic in our world today because truth is relative to each person. But there is a truth that is supreme in every way. And when that truth falls, it divides opinions, ideas, and the hearts of men.
Introduction
For I've come to set 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 those of his own household. It's amazing. We know that our family is structured much like the church. It is a family of families. This here today is a family of families. When we think of division, we don't think of it coming through our front door and setting up camp there. We don't think of that. We don't even we really don't think of that. If we are three, four generations of growing up in a Christian home. We don't think that division could find its way into such a situation for we are all Christians. We all have same ideologies. We all have the same thought life. We all have the same passions and it is Christ. But
Did you know that division can come right into your home and it can come right into the church.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 3:00
Today this happens even now in our homes but in the church as well. There is division about what people believe is truth and what is not truth right inside the walls of the church. This is not them versus us. This is division right here in this house over the things of the Lord. That's shocking, right? Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Well, shoot. Brooke made it back too quick. I wasn't that long ago. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago. Brooke and I met across the court at a volleyball net in between us and I saw her from a distance. I remember her watching her play games and I thought I want to get to know her. She was full of joy, smiling all the time, bouncing around.
Well, pretty much like she is today if you were to come over to our house. And so I like that. I wanted to get to know her a little bit better. And so I tried to figure out how to position myself that when we moved across the volleyball net, we would move face to face all the way across and she would at least get three rotations with me smiling at her.
How you doing? You know, and I so pretty quickly our relationship was pretty much a whirlwind. We met, we got engaged, we got married in four months. When you know folks and so it was probably so we didn't have a lot of time to decide whether we loved each other whether we were going to commit our lives to be together and all that jazz I do remember we had been dating for a little bit but by the way in all of that we broke up well you can ask her how many times it was fascinating it was a interesting kind of journey in the middle of this situation of us, you know, committing to one another through an engagement and then and actually 30 days later getting married.
One night we were sitting out on the back end of where the cafeteria is. Now, they filled this in, but there was a giant pond. In the middle of the pond, there was a fountain. And we were just kind of sitting there having oursel a little bit of a picnic. And I looked over at Brooke and I said,"I think I'm falling in love with you." And the silence. Oh, it was so long.
And then you began to wonder, "did I make a mistake here?" Saying that, she looked at me in her Brooke kind of way. She responded back, "I think I'm falling in love with me, too." And then she giggled and ran off.
I mean, that's one way to not say that you two are love someone. And although she didn't really mean that she loved herself supremely, at the heart of this statement comes this message today.
And most of us live our lives this way.
I think I'm falling in love sweetly and day by day more and more with me too.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:57
And this is the thing that will prevent you from encountering Christ. This is the thing that will prevent you from being captivated by him. This is a thing that will rob you of the type of affections that he longs for that he demands. He is worthy of our affections. Amen. We have affections of all kinds. We are affectionate toward the things that we love. We are affectionate towards our habits. We are affectionate towards our hobbies.
We are affectionate towards our alone time. That's for me. That's for me. That's for me. I like my alone time. Sometimes I call it bath time. One day I'll have a hot tub, Jr. And I'll call it hot tub time. I'm affectionate towards that time. How many of you would admit that some of us need some of that time? We just need that time.
We have affections of every kind. So when we think of the word affections, we think of it and we attach it to a person. And the Scripture does really well at helping us understand there are dueling affections in our life. And so Jesus speaks to this because
Nothing gets us to a place where we are faced with identifying our affections like a little bit of persecution, like a little bit of trouble.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:19
And so as he commisss the apostles to go out into the world and to preach the gospel, he warns them and has been warning them all through chapter 10, he's been telling them there are going to be some things you face. They will deliver you up. Your family will deliver you up. They will persecute you. They will kill you. They will punish you. They will hate you on my account.
That's what he's calling them to do. To preach truth and to stand resolute in the proclamation of that truth.
And when you do so, understand this, people will not be happy about it. Right. How many of you know today if you say anything that's verging on truth today out on social media that could incite people to a riot let's just talk about some of the hot topic issues like murdering children or homosexuality. And right inside of the walls of our church, we and between churches we are seeing people acquies towards their affections of men.
We began to twist truth because the reality is
Our affections are not resolute towards God. They are divided between God and man.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:57
And so then we twist truth and we make it bend so that we can still love people and acquies to their wants and their desires even if they are sinful right inside the walls of the church. And those are the big ticket items if you will. But at the end of the day there are many things that you are affectionate about that God is not pleased with.
It could be an attitude of the heart. It could be the way that you think, the way that you feel. It could be your initial reaction when someone cuts you off on the road. It could be your judgmental spirit. It could be some of those things. How many of you know that if it was not for God, you cannot be trusted with you.
And so, he questions our affections because your affections keep you on the narrow road that leads to salvation. Anything else is a ditch and there are competing affections in life. And most of us come to church and we worship. We sing songs of adoration towards God. But in our heart of hearts, we say, "I think I'm falling in love with me, too." We set the course of our life on that affection.
But
A true disciple is revealed when obedience to Christ comes into conflict with what that disciple loves most.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:29
What happens when Christ contradicts what you love? There's something frightening about the ease with which we can call oursel followers of Christ today. We affirm his lordship. We affirm the authority of Scripture. We quote it with confidence. We say that whatever God has spoken, we believe that. We will live according to that.
But those confessions are remarkably easy when Christ agrees with you. But what happened when he begins to disagree with you? It's easy to believe the Bible when it condemns the sin of strangers. When he's going after somebody over there and he hasn't pulled into your garage yet.
It's easy to confess the lordship of Christ when obedience costs very little to you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:36
But what happens when truth enters your house? When he begins to convict you and talk to you about you. What happens when the word of God confronts your desires or your marriage or your children or the way you parent your children? Maybe your sexuality or your reputation or your future? What happens when someone you deeply love embraces something Christ condemns?
What happens then? Whose affection wins out then. Now truth has touched something I love. Matthew like just to help us here all through Matthew like leading up to this place what I believe he is doing is he's helping us understand where our affections are. And he said there are some right inside the walls of the church, right inside your family who profess to have ultimate affection towards God, but in the re in reality do not really have affections for him.
They know what to say. They know how to act. And so he calls them out through Matthew. The writer's calling us on that. Matthew 7:13, Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate." There are those who are trying to enter by the wide gate and there are people and there are masses right inside the walls of the church that one day will realize they only get there by the narrow gate.
Matthew 7:17 he says every healthy tree bears good fruit. What is he doing there? He's showing the difference between a healthy tree and an unhealthy tree. Both look like trees. Both look like they're bearing fruit. Some fruit's good. Some fruit's bad. He says, "Right inside the walls of the church, right inside our families, there are those who look like they're healthy, but they actually don't produce the fruit that they should." So, he's drawing a line between true believers and false believers right inside the church. In Matthew 7:21, he warns, "not everyone who says to me, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven.
There are two professions. Matthew 7:24, "A wise man who built his house on the rock, not on the sand." So, there's two types of people right inside the walls of the church. They're two foundations. And Jesus continually warns us that not everyone who appears to be a disciple is a true disciple. So what's the test of a true disciple? Your affections.
Your affections.
What happens when Christ stands on one side and something I desperately love stands on the other?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:42
Point 1Christ creates a crisis of loyalty
I have three points I want to make real quickly. And we'll get out. Number one, Christ creates a crisis of loyalty in this text. He says,"Do not think that I've come to bring peace to the earth. I've come to bring peace, not peace, but a sword." Now, this is confusing, right? Because he is the prince of peace. This would be shocking as he stands and he professes I did not come to bring peace. Then why are you called the prince of peace?
When the angels come in the Christmas story, they say peace. And all through Scripture, we see declarations of peace. All through Scripture, Jesus commands, "as far as it's dependent on you, live at peace with all men." So if the goal is peace, how are we standing in a situation as Jesus sends out the apostles, he tells them, "I didn't come to bring peace.
I came to bring a sword." How are we here? And then he moves on and he begins to describe division between a father and a son and a mother and a daughter and a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law.
People right inside of a household. Now, this is shocking language. Jesus is peace because Christ demands a response. And some reject him and some accept him. Some bow before his authority and others do not. And
When those responses occur within the same family, the sword falls through the home.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:55
Let me let's go back to Genesis. I think I hope this is right because it's not on my notes, but I think it's Genesis chapter 3. Let's look here.
When did this happen? When does the first declaration of immnity happen? When does it happen? I think it's so, Adam and Eve are in the garden. They sin. God's judgment falls. Verse 14. The Lord said to the serpent, "because you've done this, cursed are you above the li all the livestock, above all the beasts of the field, and your be on your belly you shall go, and the dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
P.S. You were made from the dust of the ground. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. And then we see the defining line, dividing line if you will, between those who are Christs and those who are Satans.
This is the division. There can be no peace between the two. There can be no peace between the two.
The sword is not violent. It is a division produced by complete competing loyalties.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:47
Jesus is not preparing his disciples for the reality that there will be moments when following him will cost them peace. There will be moments like this where people desperately want peace within but the truth doesn't allow it.
If peace was the ultimate g you know aim. If peace was the ultimate aim then that would have to apply peace with sin.
I mean I think he wants us to live peacefully as possible with one another. But what happens when sin tries to reign supreme? What happens then?
It's hard to live peaceibly when he's calling you to righteousness and Satan is pulling you towards sin.
There's a natural division that happens when truth falls. It divides between what he wants and what the world wants. It divides.
There is in this world a dangerous kind of peace.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:18
You need to understand that every time there is a truth, there is a perversion of that truth. Yeah. And the enemy will try to present something for you, that looks like it's godly, that looks like it's a fruit of the spirit that looks like it's something that God desires, and he will inject it right into the life of the church so that you will acquies to something that looks godly, but it's actually a perversion of what is truly godly.
Did you know there's a piece right inside the walls of the church that will destruct destroy your life and corrupt it from the bottom up and the inside out?
There's a bad corrupted kind of peace. Some of us want this type of peace so bad that we will never speak truth. Some of us want this peace so bad that we will that we will never stand on truth.
Not all peace is righteous peace. There is family peace purchased by silence.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:23
Have you ever known that peace? You never really say anything truthful. By the way, they're being commissioned out to tell the truth. We never we get together with our family. We never say the truth because we want to keep the peace long enough to have dinner.
You shall be my witnesses except for not at my family because we need peace while we eat.
There is a church peace purchased by avoiding difficult truth from the pulpit. There's a relational piece purchased by compromise upon compromise. There's a theological piece purchased by changing what you believe because what we once confess has suddenly become personally expensive to us.
We got to keep the peace, Sean. We got to live peaceibly as much as it is dependent upon us. So, I'm going to I'm going to change my belief system to keep the peace between somebody who will get triggered if I disagree with him.
Jesus does not authorize us to purchase peace at the price of truth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:50
Yeah. Right.
So this is where the conversation falls as he declares to the apostle that I am the prince of peace. I do come in peace. I want those who are mine to live peaceibly among one another. I want when people look into the church, they see unity in the church. They see people loving one another. They see something different than the world. I want that between those who believe and who are my disciples. I want that kind of peace.
But when sin runs into truth, I bring a sword because I don't want you to be comfortable living with sin.
Yes. Here. Here. When peace runs into truth, I bring a sword. That's when I do it. That's when I do it. Sometimes the temptation is not to openly deny Christ. Is simply to soften truth, to avoid it altogether, to stay quiet or to reinterpret it.
To convince oursel that preserving the relationship is the loving thing to do. But what of God's relationship with you? Yes.
When we prioritize men over God, we reveal our affections.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:19
If preserving peace requires me to surrender what Christ has spoken, I'm choosing loyalty. And the sword reveals our loyalties.
Point 2Christ claims the highest affection
Number two, Christ claims the highest affection. That's right. As a believer in Christ, he claims it. It's him and it's all him. It's you love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Listen, he's sending them out and he's saying there going to be people in your family that deliver you over to be crucified.
It's going to get shocking, guys. And they're going to do it because of truth. You want to know one of the most polarizing things in our society today? Truth. Yeah. Amen. Truth. Because still it's always been that way. It's not new today. It's not new to our culture. It's not new to America. It's not new because we got social media.
People hate truth. It's offensive to their loyalties.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:25
It's offensive to their affections. Notice this. Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. He applied the same truth to love of a son or a daughter. Notice the words more than me.
We like to talk a lot in life about possible situations where you're standing, somebody says, "Deny Christ or I'll kill your wife." Let's say somebody's standing with a gun to my head talking to Brooke saying, "deny Christ or I kill your husband. Let me die." Yes. Amen.
Let me die. The same thing goes for my son. Let me die. Yeah, but what of a father when they have a gun to your son's head? Where are your affections? Oh, you think this is this can never happen? All around the world, people are laying their life down. Yeah. And they're being put in situations like this. There are people scared to worship.
There are certain places in China where when they come to worship, they don't get good light shows and awesome lyrics. When they come to worship in a small home, they come by night through alleyways to come into rooms and their worship is them whispering because they cannot be caught by the person in the room next to them. And when they worship, they say, "this is the air." That's right.
Will you gather with other believers at the risk of your own life? Some of us won't gather if we don't have air conditioning.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:38
Yes, I feel you. I feel you. I'd rather I'd rather have air conditioning. But what happens if the air conditioning goes out and we decide we're never going to have it again? I'm interested to know what happens to our attendance then one month down the road.
There are people in America whose affections are tested by the temperature in the room, much less the cost of your life.
We see clearly who you love when conflict arises. When persecution shows up at your door.
When someone may not be your friend anymore because you have a different opinion about something.
But the truth divides. It divides. And this is the heart of the passage.
Jesus does not condemn love for the family.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:53
I love Brooke. My affections are just not as much for Brooke as they are for the Lord. And I hope it's the same for her regarding me.
One of the greatest there was an interview panel. There was an interview panel recently. They had a panel of pastors standing on the stage or sitting on the stage. Somebody said, 'what is the greatest danger to the church today in America, Paul Washer grabbed the mic and he said, "pastors and they all laughed because they thought he was joking, but it's Paul Washer.
Throat punches is kind of his thing." And he said, "No, I'm serious. It's not funny. Pastors are the greatest danger to the church today in America. Let me tell you why. Because we will twist truth for the affections of men. And that just doesn't affect people in the seats. It affects people standing behind pulpit. Our ego becomes the thing we're most affectionate about.
And this is a bad thing. And be careful because
Your greatest affection becomes your ultimate authority in life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:22
It's it's the thing by which you begin to make decisions and it rules you and operates you like a marionette. The problem is not that you love your child. The problem begins when your child gains authority over your conscience and your interpretation of Scripture.
The problem begins when your child's happiness becomes more important than Christ honor. The problem begins when maintaining your child's approval becomes more important than maintaining faithfulness to Christ. And if you think this doesn't happen today, you're wrong. In an act of love, parents will lay down their life for their children so their children have everything. But what of God?
What of him? So they have good grades and they have the best shoes and they have great outfits and they have a great self-esteem, but what of God? So they have a good scholarship. So they are really good. So they have the best coaches in the world. So they have all of that. So they have a nice place to live. So they have dinner around the table. So they have that. What of God?
Cuz you can have the best shoes and you can have the best grades and you can have the best scholarship and you can have the best coaches and you could have the nicest house and you can have the nicest room and you could have the newest computer and you can have the name brand shirt. But
If you don't have God, one day your hand will fall limp and it will open up and everything you held dear will be released.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:55
Yes. Except for your relationship with God.
Some of us have let our children's affections dictate ours. Their affections have become our affections. Let me tell you, over and over again, I have watched men stand resolute on I'm going to get specific about a specific thing. I try to steer clear of this, but let's just talk about this issue of today, homosexuality today, transgenderism today. Let's talk about that. Like I don't normally talk about issues, but this is just an issue that I've seen a lot. And by the way, there's great division in the church. Tired of denominations have broke off over this subject.
I have watched pastors stand behind pulpits, make stands regarding God's truth on this subject. But when their kid came out of the closet, their entire theological foundation shifted within months.
When your kids are your affection, your belief systems constructed by those who prioritize sin rather than he who is righteous.
Right? Amen.
Your affections have authority in your life to direct it where it wants to go. And you run around like a bull with a ring in its nose being pulled towards what it wants.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:40
I know today we live in a liberating society. I want to be liberated from this, liberated from the man, liberated from authority, liberated. But there is no such conversation in Scripture. You are a slave to sin or you are and or you are slave to righteousness. And to be freed from sin is to be enslaved to righteousness. There is no in between.
You may be liberated from one thing, but you're enslaved to another. This liberation theology is the most unbiblical thing the world has ever seen. I'd rather be taken by force by Christ than stay enslaved to a life of sin which produces nothing but misery. Oh, I track with me here. Track with me here today. There is I can't think of many people if you really get to the heart of the subject and the conversation and they got transparent.
They would say, "you know what? My life of sin has produced some real great things."
But I could talk to a lot of people that say, "being a slave of Christ is the best thing that's ever happened to me." Don't you want to have fun, man?
You can have fun and be his. The greatest joys of my life have come from knowing him.
Affection will become the authority of your life.
The moment someone I love determines what the Bible is allowed to say, that person has begun functioning as the Lord over your conscience.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:29
This happens with a parent to a child. This is why he says you have to you have to be more affectionate towards me than them. Otherwise, they will set your conscience. They will determine what is true. I did not come that you might live peaceibly among those who don't stand on truth. I came to bring truth and it might separate the one you are affectionate towards.
My goal is to not ruin affections. My goal is to prot prioritize your affection to me. When our love begins interpreting the Bible, we have a problem. We must be careful here. We're fallible. We're our interpretation can be wrong. And if Scripture corrects us, we should gladly change. All right.
Point 3Christ claims your affection over the world
Blah. Number three, Christ claims your affections to the world.
He claims your affection over the world to him over the world. He claims your affection to him over your family. And track with me here. Here's the ultimate thing. He claims your affection to him over your love of self.
And honestly, that's the heart of the issue here. He's really just building up by starting away from you. Because if he just came straight at you might be more resistant to it. So he's like, "Don't love the world." You're like, "Yeah. Preach, brother. Preach. Don't love your family more than me. Preach. Don't love yourself more than me." Now you got personal.
I mean, because that's the greatest problem. That's why he has to tell us when he corrects us, love your neighbor as yourself. He knows that we have a tendency to love oursel a lot.
So then if we love our neighbor as ourselves, we're going to love them a lot. You're like, "Well, Sean, I know people who are suicidal and they don't love themselves." No, it is because they love themselves that they're suicidal.
It's because they love themsel. It's because they prioritize themselves over everybody else. Because they only think about themselves all the time because they're fixated on themsel.
Can I help you today? Let me help let me help you today with something fascinating. I actually got a conversation with somebody this week and they're like, "I need a better self-esteem. That's how my faith is going to grow." And I went, I didn't do that face while I was talking to them. I'm not rude. But I went and inside I was like because that sounds good in our society.
But then when we watch the Apostle Paul in the epistles go from sitting before the apostles for three years and being trained by the apostle, he starts the he starts the first epistle by declaring who he is and his accomplishments. By the time he gets to the last epistle, he says, "I am the chief of sinners." We actually see his walk with the Lord.
And in his walk with the Lord and through the as we travel through the epistles and in his time with the Lord and walking with the Lord and serving the Lord as an apostle of Christ, we see him from going from declaring who he is to saying he's the worst of everyone. His esteem diminishes, but yet his faith increases.
Right? What? What of this? What of this? You mean if I don't fixate on myself, my faith goes up? Yeah. Because your faith is not in you. Your faith is in him.
Right? So today we have this therapeutic idea we've injected into the life of the church. We people need therapy. They need to believe in themselves more. They need to try harder. They need to love themselves more. The Bible says you're a filthy rat. You're a sinner. You need help. How many of you know I got a problem? How many of you know if you're left to your own devices, you're doomed?
Yeah.
I'm not I'm not just thankful he saved me. I'm thankful he keeps me because if he doesn't keep me tomorrow, I won't choose him. I'll choose me every time.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:06
Amen. That's why I'm glad I'm a slave of his. That's why I'm glad I'm a slave of righteousness because when I try to go off, he snatches me back. How many of you have ever tried to quit on God, but he wouldn't let you? He wouldn't let you. You know why? You're his.
You are his. You were bought at a price. He loves you. You are a treasure to him. That's good news. Amen. That's good news. He claims your life and he bought it at a price. Matthew 10:38, "Whoever does not whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Here's an esteem issue. When you took a cross in Rome and you put it on your back and you walked to where they were going to crucify you, what you were saying declaratively is, and the reason they made you do that is because you're saying, "I did it. I'm guilty.
I'm worthy of punishment." Yet in the church, we have a hard problem admitting our guilt. Sean, why do you keep talking to me about my guilt all the time? Why do you keep saying I'm a dirty sinner? Cuz you are. And
That's the beauty of the gospel. In spite of you, he died. In spite of you, he saves. In spite of you, he redeems.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 42:53
It is not merit. It's not because of what you do. You've done nothing good. You are a slave to that kind of life. But he chose you. He called you. He gave you the gift of repentance. He changed you. And he keeps you. Yes. Amen. That's good news. I'll pick up my cross because every day I'm guilty. That's right.
My guilt doesn't fade with dedication to him and service in the church and kindness to my wife and kindness to my children and faithfulness to my job. It doesn't it doesn't diminish by time. I'm guilty and I'm just as guilty today as I was the day I was born. I'm guilty and I will bear that cross. And it's not just about losing my life.
The greatest loss, the best loss is the sin that was taken because you bear that cross.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:53
That's the greatest and most beautiful loss of all. Jesus then explains that the one who preserves his life will lose it while the one who loses his life for my sake will find it.
And the cross was not an inconvenience. The cross meant death. Jesus has moved progressively closer. First the world, then the family, now you listen. Christ or your family.
Christ or your reputation. Christ or your desires. Christ or your comfort, Christ or safety, Christ or your life.
And Jesus says me, that's lordship. The test comes when truth becomes costly. Anyone can say Christ is precious when nothing precious is being threatened. Anyone can confess Jesus as Lord when lordship costs nothing. It's amazing out of the same tongue that comes bless Christ comes curse Christ.
Where are your loyalties? Where do your affections lie? We see it in the tongue. We see it in your tongue. What happens when holiness costs pleasure? What happens when conviction costs reputation? What happens when Christ contradicts what I want? What happens when faithfulness cost my life? Then competing affections are exposed.
The true measure of what I treasure is revealed by what I am willing to lose in order to keep it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 46:04
Let me ask you this question as we close. What affection wins in your life? That's the question today of this text.
What affection wins? Look at the progression of the text. Matthew 10:34, I have not come to bring peace, but to bring a sword. Matthew 10:37, Jesus says, "Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:38, "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Do you love Christ more than your own life, others, family, self? The circle keeps getting smaller.
And
At every level, Jesus asked, "what do you love most?"
Pastor Shawn Gray · 47:03
I recall as we close A similar request of love with one of the apostles. Peter, do you love me? Of course I love you. Then feed my sheep.
You know what? He's feeding them truth. Truth. Peter, do you love me? Of course, love. Of course, Lord, I love you.
Do you love me more than the world? Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Do you love me more than your wife, your children? Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. I love you. I love you. I've already said it twice, but I love you thrice. Do you love me more than yourself?
And the declaration was, you will deny me because you have mixed up affections. And Jesus goes to the cross because he picked up his cross and he went there. And Peter stood and he was questioned about whether or not he was Christ's disciples and he denied Christ because his affections were out of order. But when he realized what he had done, he felt sore in his heart. He repented and he never denied him again.
Some of us this morning are like Peter. Good news. If you're his, he loves you in spite of you. Some of you are sitting in your seat today and you're much like Peter and you're wrestling with affections. And you've been a God denier. You've been a
You've been a you've been celebrating God with your lips in worship, but you've been denying him with your life on Monday.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:12
And today is an opportunity to evaluate your affections. Your heart, if this is you, should be sore and sad.
Repent because this is an opportunity to get your affections in order.
Because today, it's more than just coming to church. We've been commissioned to go into the world and preach the good news, the truth of the gospel. And sometimes that will come at a cost to you like it came at a cost to them. Sometimes you'll be breaking bread with family and you'll stand on truth and it will offend.
But where are your affections? Peace with men or peace with God? Where do you stand?
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