Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Sword That Reveals, the Peace That Saves: Christ’s Dividing Call (Matthew 10:34–36)

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The Sword That Reveals, the Peace That Saves: Christ’s Dividing Call (Matthew 10:34–36) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today, we're doing a deep dive
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  into a passage that, frankly, doesn't sit well with a lot of
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  modern ideas about faith. No, it really doesn't.
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  I mean, you look at our culture and there's this overwhelming
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  pressure, this social rule that says the highest virtue is not
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  offending anyone. Some even call it a kind of
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  toxic empathy. And that pressure seeps right
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  into the church. It absolutely does.
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  It creates a demand for a certain kind of Jesus.
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  A safe savior. A safe savior, Exactly.
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  Meek Mild, always affirming his job, in this popular view, is
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  just to make sure everyone feels comfortable and that all our
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  relationships are smooth, right? He's like a divine mascot for
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  getting along. But if that's the picture of
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  Jesus you're holding in your mind, then Matthew chapter 10 is
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  going to come as a real shock. A huge shock.
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  Specifically verse 34, Jesus says, and there's no ambiguity
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  here, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
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  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
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  And that one line just obliterates the modern gospel of
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  niceness and compromise. It forces a confrontation.
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  So our goal for this deep dive is to really take apart that
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  false image, that caricature, and to figure out why the Prince
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  of Peace says he's coming with a weapon drawn.
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  OK, before we get into the weeds, let's set the scene.
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  Context is everything. What kind of text are we even
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  looking at here? This isn't just a random saying.
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  No, not at all. We have to ground ourselves in
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  the genre of the text. This is what's known as the
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  mission discourse. It's a commissioning narrative.
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  So marching orders. Marching orders precisely for
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  the 12 apostles. They are about to go out on
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  their first mission, and Jesus is preparing them.
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  He's warning them about what ministry is actually going to
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  look like. He's stripping away any illusion
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  that it will be popular or safe. And the disciples, given their
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  background and the expectations of the time, they were almost
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  certainly thinking that Messiah's arrival meant
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  immediate political peace. Oh absolutely.
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  They were expecting Rome to be overthrown, the Kingdom to be
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  restored, and an immediate era of Shalom.
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  You know, national stability, prosperity, rest.
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  That was the dominant messianic expectation.
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  So Jesus is correcting that right from the start.
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  He's directly refuting that idea for the current age for this
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  dispensation we're in now. He's making it clear that the
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  gospel in this church age works first as a divider, not as some
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  kind of social glue. And that's the key concept we
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  have to get our heads around. What's that?
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  That true, lasting peace with a holy God requires a violent
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  spiritual break from a sinful world system.
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  So if you walk into being a disciple expecting everyone to
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  applaud you, you haven't actually listened to the King's
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  instructions. OK, let's break this down piece
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  by piece. Then let's start with that first
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  phrase, that warning. Do not think how strong of a
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  command is this really. We have to look at the Greek
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  here because the grammar is so forceful.
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  The phrase is MO nomisete, MO nomisete, right?
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  It uses the negative particle MO with what's called the aoris
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  subjunctive of the verb nomiset, which means to think or to
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  suppose. And that specific instruction,
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  What does it do? Why is it important?
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  In Greek, that combination is a very strong prohibition.
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  It's used to forbid someone from even beginning to do something.
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  It's pre emptive. He sees the thought forming in
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  their minds and he he cuts it off before it can even take
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  root. So it's much more than just,
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  hey, don't think this. Oh, much more.
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  A better translation would be something like stop harboring
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  that thought, or do not even begin to entertain that idea.
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  It tells us the disciples were already operating on this false
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  assumption that Messiah meant no more conflict.
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  Jesus is performing surgery on their whole theological
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  framework right there. He's.
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  Correcting their entire idea of what this age is supposed to
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  look like, Yes. He's saying the defining mark of
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  this era is friction. It's separation.
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  It is not tranquilly. And after that warning, he names
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  the instrument the sword you've mentioned.
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  This specific word choice here is critical.
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  It's everything, because the word he chooses immediately
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  narrows the kind of conflict he's talking about.
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  The Greek word in Matthew is machera.
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  Machera. It refers to a short sword, a
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  dagger, maybe a large knife. It's the kind of thing you'd
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  carry on your belt, maybe under a cloak.
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  It is not the primary weapon of a soldier in a national war.
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  So if he had been talking about a big geopolitical overthrow of
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  Rome, what word would we expect to see?
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  He would have used Romfea. That's the big heavy broadsword
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  used for battlefield slaughter. It's the word you see in
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  Revelation associated with large scale judgement.
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  By picking Machera, Jesus immediately changes the frame.
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  So what does the Machera represent then, if it's not for
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  a battlefield? A machera was used for two main
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  things. Close quarters combat where your
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  enemy is literally within arm's reach and for sacrificial
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  slaughter. It's a surgical tool.
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  OK, so the conflict isn't national, it's.
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  It's intimate, it's personal, it's domestic.
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  It's the weapon you use when the person opposing you is sitting
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  across the dinner table. It's not about fighting legions.
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  It's about the division that happens right inside the home.
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  That reframes the entire passage.
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  The division is deeply personal. Deeply it's a precise instrument
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  for severing a soul's allegiance to the world, even when the
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  world is represented by your own family.
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  So we have this close quarters weapon.
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  Let's look at the action itself. Is this division just an
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  unfortunate side effect of the gospel, or is it actually the
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  point of the sword? The grammar shows it's the
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  intended result. Look at verse 35.
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  It starts with the word gar, which means for or because.
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  So it's giving the reason. It's giving the reason the
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  'cause it establishes the logic. The sword in verse 34 causes the
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  disruption in verse 35. This means the disruption isn't
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  an accident, it's the stated purpose for bringing the sword
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  in the first place. And the verb he uses for that
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  disruption, for that division, it sounds pretty intense.
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  It's the verb decazu. It's a strong and actually
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  pretty rare word in the New Testament.
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  It means to cut in two, to cleave, to set at variance.
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  This isn't about a temporary disagreement, it suggests a
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  permanent split in allegiance. Cutting in two, that sounds
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  absolute. It is.
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  Think about it this way. Christ's claim to lordship is
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  absolute. When that claim enters a family
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  and some accept it and some reject it, a cutting in two is
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  the only possible outcome. The gospel acts like a catalyst.
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  It forces everyone to show their true colors.
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  The family unit gets split just like oil and water.
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  When you shake them up, they can't stay mixed.
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  Christ's truth is the blade that makes that clean, permanent
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  separation. So this has huge implications
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  for a new believer. You know someone who comes to
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  faith and suddenly their family turns on them.
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  It's so easy to think I must be doing something wrong.
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  If I were a better Christian, they would love me.
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  And this text is the exact opposite.
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  That's the comfort here. This passage defines the normal
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  Christian experience in this age.
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  Jesus is being painfully clear that separation, that hostility,
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  isn't a sign of your failure. It's a sign that the mission is
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  working. It's a sign that the Musharra is
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  doing what it was sent to do. It's separating the holy from
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  the profane, the citizen of heaven from the citizen of this
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  world. That friction you feel is the
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  proof that the separation is happening.
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  It's a validation, not a failure.
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  That is a massive perspective shift to see rejection not as a
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  detour, but as a signpost on the right path.
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  It changes everything. Now Jesus doesn't just pull this
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  idea out of thin air, He grounds it in the Old Testament, which
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  is fascinating. He quotes Micah 7.6.
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  Why is it so significant that he anchors this in prophecy?
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  He's showing that his mission isn't some new radical departure
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  from God's plan. He's operating within the
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  analogy of faith, showing that this is the fulfillment of
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  themes that were already there in the prophets.
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  But to really get the power of what he's doing, you have to
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  look at Micah's original context.
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  Right. Micah was prophesying during a
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  really dark time in Israel's history.
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  A terrible time. During the reign of King Ahaz,
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  who is 1 of Judah's worst kings, he brought in all sorts of Pagan
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  idolatry. The entire social fabric was
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  just disintegrating. Micah 7 is a lament.
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  The prophet is horrified because there's no goodness left.
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  You can't trust anyone. Not your neighbor, not your
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  friend, not even your own spouse or children.
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  So when Micah says a man's enemies are the men of his own
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  household, he's describing A tragedy, a symptom of decay.
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  Exactly. For Micah, that division in the
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  home was proof that the nation had abandoned God.
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  It was a sign of sin, rotting the country from the inside out.
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  He was weeping over it. But then Jesus takes that same
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  verse and applies it to his own ministry.
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  That's a huge theological shift. It's a complete reversal.
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  It's one of the most brilliant things he does.
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  He takes this description of division caused by sin and
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  transforms it. He says that same kind of
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  friction is now a necessary consequence of his Kingdom
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  arriving. So the division is no longer
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  happening because people have abandoned God.
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  Now it's happening because God in the person of the Messiah has
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  shown up. The division is caused by
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  holiness entering a sinful world.
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  Christ's presence forces the issue.
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  His absolute truth collides with our rebellion, and that
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  collision creates the split. It's division for a redemptive
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  purpose. If you trace this idea of
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  spiritual division back, it seems like it's been there from
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  the very beginning. All the way back you go to
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  Genesis 3.15, the first promise of the gospel.
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  God himself puts enmity, a state of war between the seed of the
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  woman and the seed of the serpent, and that cosmic war
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  doesn't care about bloodlines. We see it right away in the
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  first family. Cain and Abel.
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  Why did Cain kill Abel? Because Abel's worship was
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  accepted based on faith and it served as a silent rebuke to
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  Cain's rebellion. The conflict was deadly and it
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  just keeps going through the Old Testament, Bishmael and Isaac,
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  Esau and Jacob. Biological closeness was never a
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  guarantee of spiritual unity. So the sword of Christ in the
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  new covenant, it redefines what family even means.
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  It completely redefines it. It makes it's clear that the
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  true family of God isn't based on your genealogy or your
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  nationality. It's based exclusively on faith
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  in the Messiah. Jesus says it himself in Matthew
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  12. Who is my mother?
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  Who are my brothers? He points to his disciples,
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  those who do the will of my father.
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  The sword simply makes that spiritual reality visible and
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  sometimes painfully tangible. This brings us to the big
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  paradox, though, the one people always struggle with.
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  Isaiah 9.6 calls him the Prince of Peace.
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  So how can the Prince of Peace show up with a sword?
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  And that forces us to be clear about the timeline of
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  redemption. We have to distinguish between
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  the First Advent and the Second Advent, the peace that Isaiah
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  and the other prophets promised, you know, the lion and the lamb,
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  nations beating swords into plowshares.
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  That peace is absolutely coming. It's guaranteed, but it's for
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  the future. It's for the millennial Kingdom
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  when Christ returns to reign physically on the earth.
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  In this present age, the Church Age.
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  In this age, the king is spiritually present, but he's
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  been rejected by the world system.
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  The world is still in rebellion, so the primary work of the
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  Church in this era is not to establish World Peace, but to
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  gather the elect to call people out of the nations, out of
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  darkness and into His light. Which is an act of separation.
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  It is an act of separation. So until Christ returns to
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  enforce peace, the Church is essentially an embassy in
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  hostile territory. To expect peace with the world
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  now is to confuse the cross with the crown.
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  We are in the age of the sword, where opposition is the norm.
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  That really changes how you should view conflict, especially
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  inside your own family. It's not a bug, it's a feature
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  of this age. It's the expected reality of
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  discipleship. Let's shift a bit and look at
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  this through the lens of systematic theology.
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  There's a huge Christological claim being made here when Jesus
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  demands A loyalty that can override the 5th commandment.
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  Oh, it's the highest possible claim.
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  Think about it from a 1st century Jewish perspective.
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  Honor your father and mother was an absolute foundation of their
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  society. It's in the 10 commandments.
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  For any human teacher to demand that his followers prioritize
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  him over that sacred duty would have been seen as instant
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  blasphemy. Unless he wasn't just a human
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  teacher. Precisely the only person who
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  has the authority to effectively reprioritize a command from God
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  is God Himself. So when Jesus says you must love
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  him more than your father or mother, he is implicitly
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  claiming to be Yahweh. He's demanding the worship and
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  total allegiance that belongs only to the Creator.
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  And that connects directly to our confessional standards.
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  It connects right to the Westminster Confession, chapter
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  21, which says religious worship is to be given to God the
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  Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and to Him alone.
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  The story isn't just a metaphor for social division.
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  It's a declaration of Christ's exclusive lordship and His
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  deity. The division it causes is proof
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  of who He is. So the sword cuts between
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  people, but it also reveals A deeper spiritual reality about
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  why one person believes another doesn't, even in the same
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  household. This moves us into siteriology,
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  the doctrine of salvation. Yes, it raises the big question,
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  why does the sword fall where it does?
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  Why is 1 brother saved and the other is left in unbelief?
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  And the answer from a reformed perspective is.
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  The division is the visible result of God's sovereign
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  election and His effectual calling.
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  Salvation is never a family inheritance.
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  It's a personal supernatural work of grace in the life of an
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  individual whom God chose before the foundation of the world.
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  The confession is very clear on this in Chapter X.
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  How does it describe that call? It says God calls the elect out
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  of that state of sin and death to grace and salvation by Jesus
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  Christ. It's an individual rescue
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  mission. So when the sword falls between
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  a father and a son, what you're seeing is the external sign that
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  God has sovereignly reached in and made one person spiritually
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  alive while the other sadly remains in their natural state.
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  One becomes a new creation and the other is still.
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  Still dead and trespasses and sins, as Paul puts it.
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  And that's where the friction comes from.
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  The new life in the believer. Their desire to follow Christ is
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  fundamentally opposed to the old life in the unbeliever, which is
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  hostile to God. The holiness of the one becomes
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  an offense to the other. Understanding this text properly
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  helps us build some guardrails against some really common
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  modern errors. Let's start with universalism.
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  Universalism is the idea that in the end everyone gets saved,
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  that God's peace just covers everybody regardless of their
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  response to Christ. Matthew 10 just wrecks that
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  idea. Jesus explicitly says he brings
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  a sword to cause separation. There are sheep and there are
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  goats. There is wheat and there are
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  weeds. The sorting is real and it has
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  eternal consequences. What about the opposite side?
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  Something like Pelagianism? Well, the modern form of
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  Pelagianism would be the idea that our natural affections,
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  like our love for our family, are inherently good enough to
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  get us into the Kingdom, or at least contribute to it.
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  This text is a brutal corrective to that.
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  It shows that even the most powerful and sincere natural
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  love, family love, can become an idol that stands in the way of
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  true faith. Let's drill down on that family
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  idolatry that feels like a very potent temptation today.
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  It is probably the most powerful and subtle in the Western
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  church. It's the elevation of the
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  nuclear family, It's harmony, it's traditions.
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  It's comfort to the place of the ultimate good.
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  The unspoken rule in so many homes is we don't talk about
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  things that will cause a fight. Peace at any price.
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  Peace at any price but the family is a temporal
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  institution, a gift for this life.
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  The family of God is eternal, and when loyalty to the temporal
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  family requires you to compromise your loyalty to the
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  eternal King, the choice is clear.
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  The Sword of Christ forces that choice into the open.
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  If we think about this in terms of law and gospel, how does the
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  sword function as law? As law, the sword exposes our
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  sin, it revealed our deep seated idolatry of fearing man more
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  than we fear God. It condemns us when we stay
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  silent about Christ to keep the peace at Thanksgiving.
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  The law shows us how we've prioritized earthly approval
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  over a King's command. And how does it function as
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  gospel? As gospel, it shows us that
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  Christ severs these ties as an act of severe mercy.
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  He cuts us free from a crippling dependence on the approval of
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  others. He wounds our earthly
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  attachments so that we can be healed for eternity.
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  By forcing the separation, He frees us to find our entire
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  identity and security in Him alone, in our union with Him.
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  It's a painful surgery, but it's performed by the Divine
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  Physician to save our lives. OK, this brings us to the really
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  practical part application. How do you live this out?
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  This isn't just a theory, this is real life for so many people.
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  Let's start with the head, with our thinking.
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  First, you have to do the hard cognitive work of dethroning the
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  family as an idol. You have to consciously realign
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  your priorities, an affirm in your own mind that the family of
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  God, the Church, takes absolute precedence over your biological
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  family. If your goal is emotional
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  comfort over obedience to Christ, you're already
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  practicing idolatry. So you have to reject that
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  pragmatic voice in your head that says just keep it quiet.
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  Don't rock the boat. You have to.
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  A quiet gospel is a powerless gospel.
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  The kind of peace you get by suppressing the truth isn't real
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  peace. It's just a temporary truce with
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  the enemy. You have to get to a place where
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  you believe that offending someone you love with the truth
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  is a more loving act than comforting them on their path to
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  destruction. This also means resisting that
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  broader ecumenical spirit that wants to downplay doctrine for
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  the sake of a superficial unity. Yes, you have to accept that
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  truth by its nature divides. It separates truth from error.
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  You have to be willing to be called divisive or intolerant if
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  the alternative is compromising what Scripture clearly teaches.
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  This means rejecting the whole Seeker sensitive model that
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  intentionally hides the sword of Christ so as not to scare anyone
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  away. Now for the heart.
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  What comfort is there for the person who is feeling that cut
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  right now? The person who's been excluded,
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  rejected because of their faith. The pain of that is so real.
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  The pain is absolutely real and the text doesn't minimize it.
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  The comfort comes from understanding what that
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  suffering means. When you are rejected for
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  Christ's sake, you are entering into what Paul calls the
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  fellowship of his sufferings. You are walking a well worn
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  path, the same one walked by the prophets and the apostles.
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  Your suffering has a purpose. And there's a specific promise
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  attached to that loss, isn't there?
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  A stunning promise In Mark 10, Jesus says that everyone who has
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  left family for his sake and the Gospels will receive a
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  hundredfold in this life. New mothers, brothers, sisters
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  in the church and in the age to come.
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  Eternal life. The comfort is that you haven't
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  really lost anything. You've traded a temporary
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  earthly clan for an eternal spiritual family.
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  Finally, let's talk about the hands specific acts of
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  obedience. For many people, this whole
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  passage becomes real at the moment of baptism.
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  Believers baptism is so often the line in the sand.
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  A family might tolerate A vague private faith, but the moment
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  you go into that water and publicly declare that your old
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  life is dead and you belong to Christ, that's when the sword
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  often falls. That's when you have to choose
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  not to fear the family that can only reject you temporarily, but
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  to obey the God who gives you eternal life.
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  And the Lord's Supper? That must take on new meaning
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  for someone who feels estranged. It becomes the family reunion.
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  If you've been cut off by your biological kin, the communion
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  table is where you find your true family.
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  The sacrament is a visible, tangible assurance that you
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  belong, that you are home, that the blood of Christ is thicker
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  than the blood of biology. So in our day-to-day
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  interactions with unbelieving family, how do we handle this?
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  We're called to be bold but also gentle.
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  The key is to be gentle but firm.
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  When you're pressured to compromise, to participate in
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  something you know is wrong, or to stay silent when Christ is
• 19:38
  mocked, the response isn't anger, It's a quiet, firm
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  choice. It's saying, I love you so much,
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  but I love Christ more, and I cannot dishonor him.
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  It's not an attack, it's a statement of ultimate
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  allegiance. We definitely need some pastoral
• 19:52
  guardrails here. It would be easy for someone to
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  read this and use it as a license to be arrogant or
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  obnoxious. That's a critical danger.
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  The disciple doesn't swing the sword.
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  The disciple suffers its cut. We are commanded to pursue peace
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  with everyone as far as it depends on us.
• 20:05
  We should be patient, kind, respectful.
• 20:07
  But that pursuit of peace stops at the boundary line of
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  compromising truth or obedience. So we had to be really honest
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  with ourselves about what's causing the offense.
• 20:15
  Exactly. Is my family offended by the
• 20:17
  gospel itself, the message of sin and repentance, or are they
• 20:21
  offended by my prideful, harsh, self-righteous attitude?
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  If it's the latter, the problem isn't Matthew 10.
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  The problem is my own sin, and I need to repent of it.
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  Our goal should always be to make sure the only stumbling
• 20:35
  block is the cross of Christ, not our own bad character.
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  And at the root of it all is refusing that idol of approval.
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  That's the bargain the world always offers.
• 20:44
  Just keep your faith private. Don't be so serious about it.
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  Jesus forbids us from taking that bargain.
• 20:49
  We can't trade the approval of God for a little bit of
• 20:52
  temporary social comfort. This also puts a huge
• 20:55
  responsibility on the local church.
• 20:56
  A massive 1. The local church needs to be a
• 20:59
  real family. It has to provide genuine care,
• 21:02
  hospitality and a sense of belonging for those who've been
• 21:04
  cast out. When the world says you chose
• 21:07
  Jesus over us, the church has to be the place that says with open
• 21:10
  arms and in Jesus you found a better family.
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  As we move toward wrapping up, it's clear that this text is a
• 21:17
  sharp critique of many modern church trends.
• 21:20
  It's polemical. It challenges the whole seeker
• 21:23
  sensitive movement. It completely demolishes it.
• 21:26
  A ministry model builds on avoiding offense has to, by
• 21:30
  definition, mute the very message Jesus said would cause
• 21:34
  it. It's a fundamental
• 21:35
  contradiction. Faithfulness according to Jesus
• 21:38
  will often look like rejection from the world's point of view.
• 21:41
  And the therapeutic gospel, the idea that Jesus is here to fix
• 21:44
  our relationships and make us feel good.
• 21:46
  Jesus is Lord, not a life coach. The therapeutic gospel says
• 21:50
  conflict is a sign your faith is weak.
• 21:52
  Jesus says conflict is a predictable result of your faith
• 21:54
  being strong in a world that hates him.
• 21:57
  We follow him because he's worthy, not because he promises
• 21:59
  an easy family life. It also cuts against those
• 22:02
  subtle prosperity ideas that if you're obedient, things will go
• 22:05
  well for you socially. The Christian life is crossed
• 22:07
  before crown. Faithfulness might actually
• 22:09
  increase the pressure on you because it exposes the idols
• 22:12
  your family holds dear. Jesus promises persecution, not
• 22:16
  popularity. And an idea of unity at any
• 22:19
  price. Unity that isn't based on shared
• 22:21
  truth is just a coalition. It has no spiritual power.
• 22:25
  Christ's claims are exclusive, and that exclusivity is
• 22:28
  offensive. When you proclaim it, some will
• 22:31
  believe and some will rebel. That's not a failure of the
• 22:33
  gospel. It's the sorting power of the
• 22:35
  gospel at. Work.
• 22:36
  And finally, it's a rebuke to cultural Christianity.
• 22:39
  The idea that you can have Jesus as a nice family tradition
• 22:43
  without having him as your absolute king.
• 22:45
  As soon as you take him seriously, as soon as you talk
• 22:47
  about sin and repentance, you find out very quickly if your
• 22:50
  family wants the real Christ or just a religious mascot.
• 22:53
  He refuses to be a mascot. We've talked so much about the
• 22:56
  pain of the soul sword, the cost.
• 22:58
  We can't end there. We have to come back to the
• 23:00
  gospel, to the deeper mercy. Why did the sword have to come?
• 23:04
  The sword had to come because true, eternal peace with God
• 23:08
  could only be bought through a violent final separation.
• 23:11
  And the critical thing to remember is that the Ultimate
• 23:13
  Sword didn't fall on us, it fell on Christ.
• 23:16
  You're referencing Zechariah 13.7.
• 23:19
  Yes, awake, a sword against my shepherd.
• 23:23
  On the cross, Jesus experienced the ultimate separation.
• 23:27
  He was cut off from the living, abandoned by his friends, and in
• 23:31
  that final, awful moment, he was forsaken by his Father.
• 23:35
  He took the separation we deserved.
• 23:37
  He took the divine separation caused by our sins so that we
• 23:40
  could have the divine union. We could never earn adoption
• 23:43
  into the very family of God. So when you as a disciple feel
• 23:47
  the sting of rejection from your earthly family, you're tasting
• 23:51
  just the single drop from the cup that Christ drank to the
• 23:54
  very bottom. And in that fellowship with Him,
• 23:56
  you find a peace that no one can ever take away.
• 23:59
  So as we close, what's the big take away for you, the listener?
• 24:02
  It seems to be the peace with the world and peace with God
• 24:05
  are, for now, often mutually exclusive.
• 24:08
  The sword is designed to cut you free from your need for the
• 24:10
  world's approval, so you can rest in the King's approval
• 24:13
  along. And you should let that reality
• 24:15
  shape your worship. Sing the hymns that acknowledge
• 24:17
  this cost. Like Jesus, I, my cross, have
• 24:19
  taken that line. Let the world despise and leave
• 24:21
  me. They have left my Savior too.
• 24:23
  That's not a lament. It's a defiant declaration of
• 24:26
  loyalty. And you can claim the promises
• 24:28
  like Psalm 27.10. Absolutely.
• 24:31
  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
• 24:34
  take me up. That is a covenant promise from
• 24:36
  your true Father that He will never leave you, no matter who
• 24:39
  else does. And that leads to our final
• 24:41
  provocative thought for you to take away as you think about the
• 24:44
  fear of family rejection. Jesus puts that fear in its
• 24:47
  proper place with his very next words in this passage.
• 24:52
  I want to leave you with this charge straight from Matthew 10
• 24:54
  verse 28. Do not fear those who kill the
• 24:57
  body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able
• 25:01
  to destroy both soul and body in hell.
• 25:03
  The fear of man is a trap. It is.
• 25:06
  The fear of man is a temporary snare, but the fear of the Lord
• 25:09
  is the beginning of eternal wisdom.
• 25:11
  Don't let your fear of a temporary frown from a relative
• 25:13
  keep you from the eternal smile of your Creator.
• 25:16
  Love your family enough to tell Him the truth, but love Christ
• 25:19
  enough to bear the cost when they reject it.
• 25:21
  He is worthy.