Better Than Saving Your Life

Better than Saving Your Life

I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. . . . Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:16-17, 28

You will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.

Matthew 24:9

Most of us want to be safe. So we wear our seat belts and take our vitamins and lock our doors. And those things are part of being wise. But Jesus didn’t seem to place a high priority on personal physical safety—at least not when the choice was between being safe and being persecuted for devotion to Jesus.

Imagine the scene as Jesus prepared to send his disciples out in twos for ministry. Far from giving a pump-you-up pep talk to reassure them, he seemed to be preparing them for the worst. “When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say,” he instructed (Matthew 10:19). “All nations will hate you because you are my followers,” he predicted (Matthew 10:22). And then he encouraged them not to fear those who wanted to kill them, saying, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.”

Excuse me? we want to say in response. They can only kill my body? And this should be a relief to me?

God has not promised us that he will protect us from physical harm. In fact, he has promised us that as his followers, we should expect to be persecuted. And he promises that when we are, we will be rewarded generously for everything we’ve endured to make his name known.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What do you know about how followers of Jesus in the New Testament were treated?

Why do you think God considers the safety and security of our souls to be more important than the safety and security of our bodies?

Can people who are ministering in foreign countries, inner-city neighborhoods, or anywhere else expect to always be physically safe?