Latest / Reformed Thinking / Sheep in the Midst of Wolves: The Sovereign Ordination of Persecution and the Spirit's Provision (Matthew 10:16–20)

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Sheep in the Midst of Wolves: The Sovereign Ordination of Persecution and the Spirit's Provision (Matthew 10:16–20) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. Today we are really getting into
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  a critical passage. We're looking past the more
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  comfortable parts of ministry and mission and staring right
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  into the, I guess, the hard realism of what it means to be
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  sent by Christ. Yeah, our focus is Matthew
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  chapter 10, specifically verses 16 through 20.
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  It's Jesus's mission briefing to his disciples.
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  It is jarring to say the least it.
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  Really is. I mean, let's set the scene a
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  little bit. Jesus, He's just commissioned
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  the 12. He's given them their, you know,
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  their initial marching orders. Just go to the House of Israel
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  for now. It feels like this high energy
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  moment. The deployment.
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  A deployment? Exactly.
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  But then all of a sudden the whole atmosphere shifts.
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  The conversation turns from here's where you're going to
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  here's the brutal reality of what you're going to face.
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  And that shift just forces this huge theological question on US,
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  one that really defines the nature of the Kingdom.
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  All our sources seem to circle back to this one paradox.
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  Why does the King, the Messiah, when he's recruiting his very
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  first ambassadors for this, you know, supposedly victorious
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  mission, promise them not protection or comfort or
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  success, right, But hostility, Flogging courts, being hated?
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  It's a complete reversal of what anyone would expect.
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  Yeah. I mean, it dismantles any kind
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  of simple worldly triumphalism right out of the gate, whether
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  that's the disciples back then thinking, you know, great, here
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  comes the political Kingdom, or for us today thinking that
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  faithfulness means life gets easier.
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  Yeah, Matthew seems to record this specifically to strip away
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  that assumption, to tell the disciples and us that setting up
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  the Kingdom does not mean immediate political power or,
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  you know, personal safety. So that's the mission of the
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  passage itself, then. It forces us to see that the
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  Kingdom grows through this paradox of suffering, not in
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  spite of it. Right.
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  So for you, the listener, our deep dive here has to do three
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  things. We need to pull out the
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  theological clarity on suffering.
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  We need to analyze the strategic posture Christ demands and then
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  grasp the absolute certainty of His provision when things get
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  tough. OK, so clarity is the goal, the
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  idea that when believers face hostility, it isn't some tragic
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  accident. It's not bad luck.
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  It's not a sign you did something wrong.
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  Right, it's a sovereign ordination from the King.
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  Precisely so. The central idea for us today is
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  this. The King sovereignly sends us
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  into hostile territory, and he requires us to engage that world
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  with well, strategic prudence and moral purity, all while
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  resting on the spirit empowered witness that he promises.
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  It sounds like a tough brief. It is, but let's take it piece
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  by piece, starting with that absolute authority of being
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  sent. OK, so Section 1, Jesus opens
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  this briefing with a line that is, I mean, it's just designed
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  to grab your attention and frankly, it's a bit terrifying.
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  Verse 16 Behold, I send you out a sheep in the midst of wolves.
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  And the Greek construction is just so deliberately forceful.
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  It's built to eliminate any doubt about who is in charge of
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  this whole operation. Our sources point to a couple of
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  linguistic details here. They do the first is that little
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  particle and do it's translated behold or look and it works like
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  a verbal spotlight. It's Jesus saying stop what
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  you're doing, pay attention. This next thing is a massive
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  mood shifting statement. And the second detail is maybe
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  even more important. It's the emphatic prone ego.
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  Right. The Greek word for I.
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  It's placed right before the verb apostolo I send.
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  Now, in Greek, you don't technically need that pronoun.
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  The verb ending tells you who's speaking.
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  So it's inclusion has only one purpose, emphasis.
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  It intensifies the subject. Jesus is basically saying it is
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  I personally the one with all authority in heaven and on
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  earth, who is deploying you. He owns it.
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  The mission, the methods, the destination.
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  It's all his. Which moves this way beyond just
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  passive permission. It's not.
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  Hey, if you go out there, you might run into some trouble.
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  No, it's a sovereign ordination, an active placement.
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  The Lord of the Harvest is personally putting his authority
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  behind this. And that connects this moment to
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  the whole sweep of redemptive history, right?
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  So I who sends them is the same Yahweh who sent the prophets
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  into impossible situations. Like sending Ezekiel to a nation
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  of rebels knowing they wouldn't listen.
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  Exactly. Christ is identifying himself
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  with that same sovereign authority over history, over
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  adversity. And that's the realization that
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  should, I think, settle the mind of a believer.
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  If Christ is sending us but our location, even if it's in the
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  midst of wolves, it's not a mistake.
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  It's a divine appointment. In a strange way, the presence
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  of opposition becomes a confirmation.
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  It confirms the accuracy of the sender's map.
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  It's almost like if we didn't find ourselves among wolves,
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  we'd have to wonder if we were actually following the
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  shepherd's directions. This grounds the whole thing in
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  the Doctor of Providence. I'm thinking Westminster
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  Confession chapter 5. Yes, the confession is clear
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  that God directs and governs all things, and that includes the
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  actions and the locations of these wolves.
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  Jesus doesn't say I hope you can avoid the wolves.
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  No, he says. I send you in the midst of them.
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  That Greek phrase on Misu? It means surrounded, engulfed.
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  You're centrally positioned inside a hostile force, but you
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  are still completely under his command.
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  We have to pause on it because that is such a crucial
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  correction. It just shatters the popular
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  error that, you know, faith guarantees safety and comfort.
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  The blessed life equals easy life error.
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  Right. If Christ himself sends his most
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  faithful ambassadors directly into danger, then danger can't
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  be proof that you lack faith or that you've missed God's will.
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  We have to guard against that so strongly.
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  The moment you feel that pressure, that opposition, you
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  should remember Matthew 10.1 Steen.
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  That pressure point might be the very center of Christ's will for
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  you in that moment. OK, so let's define the
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  environment a little more, because the metaphor itself is
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  just devastating wolves like Hoy in the Greek.
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  Yeah, in that world, a pastoral context, the Wolk is the apex
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  predator. It's smart, it's powerful, it's
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  relentless, and it hunts in a pack.
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  And the sheep. The sheep is completely
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  defenseless. No claws, no fangs, no armor.
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  Sending a sheep into a Wolf Pack is, from a human perspective, a
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  death sentence. So why use an image that's so,
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  so unsettling? Because Jesus is making a
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  fundamental statement about the world's natural condition apart
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  from His grace, the wolf metaphor represents the world's
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  predatory nature, It's deep constitutional hostility to the
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  Gospel and to Christ's authority.
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  And this ties directly into systematic doctrine, right?
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  The doctrine of Total depravity? WCF chapter 6.
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  Exactly. Total depravity means the
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  opposition isn't just, you know, a political disagreement.
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  It's moral and theological. The world apart from grace isn't
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  some neutral marketplace of ideas.
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  No, it's actively hostile to the light.
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  It's driven by a deep seated hatred for purity and truth.
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  The opposition is fundamental, not accidental.
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  OK, let's bring this home to the listener.
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  Our sources talk about the weary St. the believer who's facing a
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  hostile workplace or a family that's turned against them
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  because of their faith. And they start to think I must
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  have done something wrong. I must have missed God's will.
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  This text is the most powerful correction for that kind of self
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  doubt. Difficulty is not a detour.
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  It's the planned pathway. It's the deployment route for
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  that weary office worker feeling ethical pressure or that student
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  feeling isolated on campus, this mission brief says.
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  Your vulnerability is not a liability.
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  On the contrary. It's the very platform where
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  Christ's strength is perfected, the world expense, power to win
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  through strength. Christ shows His strength
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  through the weakness of his sheep, who depend completely on
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  Him. So we don't panic, we don't
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  retreat just because there's opposition.
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  We stand trusting that the eye who sent us is greater than the
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  wolves around us. The first comfort is knowing
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  that the presence of the wolves confirms we are exactly where
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  Christ placed us. Right, so having set that
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  hostile scene, the sheep were sent into the Wolf Pack.
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  Jesus immediately pivots. He goes from the setting to the
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  required mindset. He says so be wise as serpents,
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  and innocent as done. Yeah, and that little word.
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  So is the key. It links the danger directly to
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  the command. It's because you're among
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  wolves. Therefore, you must adopt this
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  posture. And the command itself, the
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  language it calls for something synthetic, something blended it.
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  Does the Greek verb is geneste? It's a present imperative of
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  Genomi, which implies this constant process of becoming.
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  It's not a static you are. It's a command to actively
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  cultivate these two traits that, frankly, do not naturally
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  coexist in US. Cunning impurity.
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  Right. This requires supernatural work
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  by the Spirit. So let's take the first half,
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  which is the more jarring one. Wise as serpents.
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  Why on earth would Jesus use the serpent, the image of the
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  tempter from Genesis 3, as a model for his people?
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  He isolates the creatures. 1 positive trait.
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  It's prudence. The Greek word for why is here
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  is frontomos. It's not about being a genius.
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  It's about practical wisdom, cautious insight.
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  Tactical intelligence. Exactly.
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  It's the ability to see traps, to perceive threats.
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  It's knowing when a question is genuine and when it's a legal
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  trap meant to get you in trouble.
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  It's also knowing when to speak and maybe just as important,
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  when to flee. As he says later in verse 23,
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  when they persecute you in one town, flee to the nest.
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  So this Serpentine prudence just completely refutes the idea that
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  faith requires you to suspend your critical thinking.
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  Or to be reckless. We see this lived out so clearly
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  in the New Testament. I mean, think about the Apostle
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  Paul. His Roman citizenship.
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  Perfect example, Acts 22. He's about to be flogged
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  unjustly, and he doesn't just wait for a miracle.
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  He strategically uses his legal rights as a Roman citizen to
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  protect himself and advance the mission.
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  He uses his intellect sanctified by grace.
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  But wisdom by itself is dangerous.
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  You said it before, it's not enough without a moral check
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  that prudence can quickly turn into something else.
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  It can turn into panorja. That's the Greek for
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  Machiavellian craftiness, manipulation, winning at any
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  cost. Which is why Jesus immediately
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  balances it. And innocent as doves.
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  Yes, the word for innocent is Akuraioy.
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  It's a great word. It literally means unmixed or
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  alloy free. It was used to describe pure
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  metal or wine with no impurities.
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  So, moral integrity. Total moral integrity.
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  A heart free from guile, malice, vengeance.
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  If the serpent is the mind's defense system, the dove is the
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  heart's purity control. It's what keeps wisdom from
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  becoming craftiness. It is.
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  We might understand The Dirty games the Wolves play, but we
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  refuse to play them. The bottom line is you don't lie
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  to protect the truth. You don't sin to avoid
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  suffering. The purity of the messenger has
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  to match the purity of the message.
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  And this synthesis, this combination of wisdom and
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  purity, it really speaks to a constant tension in the church.
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  It guards against two huge historical errors.
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  Yeah, 2 ditches you can fall into.
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  The 1st is what we could call the naive pietist.
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  This is the all dove, no serpent crystal.
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  Always wants to be nice. Puts being agreeable above
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  speaking the truth. They often just refuse to
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  acknowledge how hostile the world really is, which is a
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  denial of total depravity, really.
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  And that posture is just so vulnerable.
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  Devastatingly so. It leaves the flock open to
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  wolves in sheep's clothing inside the church, and to all
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  kinds of dangers outside. They confuse being nice with
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  being faithful. OK, so what's the second dish?
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  The second is maybe more common when culture gets aggressive.
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  It's the pragmatic zealot, the all serpent, no dove.
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  This person is all about winning.
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  Yes, the mission is everything, so the end justifies the means.
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  They'll adopt the world's tactics, slander, manipulation,
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  political games, thinking they have to fight fire with fire to
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  win for the Kingdom. And they forget that the Gospel
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  is advanced by holy people speaking a holy truth.
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  They forget that we can't use the devil's tools to build God's
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  house. John Calvin talks about this,
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  doesn't he? He saw this command as a
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  necessary corrective for our fallen nature.
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  He did. Calvin saw that Christ commands
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  the serpent's cunning because we're naturally too reckless,
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  too unguarded, but at the same time he commands the doves
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  innocence because we're just as inclined to use our intelligence
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  for wicked, manipulative ends. We need wisdom to survive and
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  purity to be worth saving. That's a great way to put it.
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  So let's bring this down to a practical level for the
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  listener. This isn't just high level
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  strategy. This is about our head, our
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  heart, and our hands day-to-day. Right in our head, we have to
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  reject that false choice. Culture gives us that.
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  You can either be smart or you can be good.
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  No, you're commanded to be both. In our heart, we have to
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  actively root out that desire for revenge when we get wronged.
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  When they slander us, our Akario status means we don't slander
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  back. We stay unmixed.
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  And in our hands, in our actions, our speech has to be
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  robust, sharp enough to dismantle arguments like Paul
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  says in 2nd Corinthians 10, but always delivered with the
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  gentleness and respect Peter commands in First Peter 3.
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  We have to refuse the temptation.
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  Just get outraged and adopt the world's nasty rhetoric.
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  The gospel isn't advanced by slinging mud.
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  Not at all. OK, so after defining the
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  character needed, Jesus then moves from that internal
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  disposition to the external reality.
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  He issues his profound warning in verse 17.
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  Beware of men. It's so blunt and that command
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  beware prostitute in the Greek. It's a present imperative.
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  This isn't a one time warning. It's a call for a lifestyle of
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  constant, ongoing vigilance. But the object of the warning is
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  what's so striking men after button He he doesn't say beware
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  of the Romans or beware of the Pharisees.
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  He just says men. Why so general?
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  It's another statement rooted in total depravity.
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  The opposition isn't just from a few bad actors or an evil
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  system. It rises from the fallen nature
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  of humanity itself. Apart from grace, the natural
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  man is an enemy of the Kingdom of God.
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  The implication there is so sobering.
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  The very people we are sent to save are the same people who
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  will try to destroy us. Yes, and the passage then
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  details the institutional machinery that will be used.
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  It covers 2 main areas of opposition.
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  Let's. Start with the first one,
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  Religious hostility in verse 17. They will deliver you over to
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  courts and flog you in their synagogues.
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  For the first disciples, that was terrifying.
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  The courts, the Sinidrian were their local Jewish councils.
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  This means the opposition was coming from their own people,
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  their own heritage, and the synagogue was the center of
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  their whole life. So being flogged there wasn't
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  just physical pain, it was total social and spiritual
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  excommunication. Right.
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  And it highlights something crucial.
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  False religion is often a bigger threat to the Gospel than
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  outright secularism because it claims God's authority to punish
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  the true witnesses. The sting is deeper when it
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  comes from people claiming to speak for God.
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  Absolutely. And then the hostility escalates
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  in verse 18 to the civil sphere, and you will be dragged before
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  governors and kings for my sake. The Greek verb there octhesis.
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  It implies force being hauled in against your will.
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  It predicts that inevitable clash between the Kingdom of God
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  and the kingdoms of this world. The Church, as salt and light,
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  will always irritate A corrupt state that demands ultimate
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  loyalty. But right after that terrible
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  prediction, Jesus reframes the whole thing.
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  He says this happens for my sake.
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  Yes, suddenly suffering isn't a sign of failure.
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  It becomes a badge of authenticity.
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  It confirms your identification with Christ.
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  And the arrest isn't a set back. It's the means of the mission
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  it. Is God ordains the trial to give
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  His ambassadors the biggest possible stage to bear witness
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  before them and the Gentiles? Think about that audience.
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  Governors and kings. These are people who would never
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  walk into a small house church in Galilee.
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  But now they are a captive audience.
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  They're forced to hear the gospel when the believer is
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  dragged into their courtroom. The trial is the platform.
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  The courtroom becomes the pulpit.
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  Exactly, and we see this play out over and over with Paul.
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  His imprisonment seem like a disaster but they were the
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  engine for the gospel. He gets to preach to Felix
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  Festus, King Agrippa. And later, his imprisonment in
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  Rome leads to the Gospel spreading through the Praetorian
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  Guard and even into Caesar's own household.
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  What the wolves meant for silencing Christ used for global
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  proclamation. So for the church today, this
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  command, beware of men. It just confronts one of our
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  biggest idols, doesn't it? The idol of popularity.
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  It completely dismantles any seeker sensitive idea that if
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  we're just nice enough or agreeable enough, the world will
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  like us. Jesus promises the exact
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  opposite of applause. So this warning prepares us not
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  to be shocked when faithfulness leads to consequences.
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  We might not be dragged before a Sanhedrin.
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  But we get handed over to the courses public opinion to HR
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  tribunals, to social media cancellation.
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  We shouldn't be surprised when the world acts like the world.
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  The hostility isn't a sign the church is failing.
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  It's a sign the light is actually shining.
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  Right, so as Jesus describes this terrifying scene being
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  handed over to hostile authorities, he gets to the
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  disciples biggest fear. What am I going to say?
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  And he commands them in verse 19.
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  Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say.
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  The Greek verb mirimicite. It's about a divided mind.
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  Your mind is just spinning, oscillating between fear and
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  trust. Our sources call anxiety here a
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  form of functional atheism. I like that functional atheism.
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  It's acting as if God has left the room and you're on your own.
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  And Jesus forbids that. He forbids that internal
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  scramble to write your own script.
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  Exactly, and the reason he forbids it is the promise that
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  follows the doctrine of Providence is right there in the
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  words will be given dothecitai. That's the divine passive voice,
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  isn't it? It is, and it's key.
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  The passive voice means God is the hidden agent.
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  The words will be given to you. Your defense doesn't rest on
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  your own quick wit or rhetorical skill.
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  It rests entirely on God's immediate supernatural
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  provision. And the timing is specified in
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  that hour. Yes, which is so consistent with
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  how God provides. It's like the manna in the
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  wilderness. It was given daily, you couldn't
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  store it up. Right.
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  God doesn't give us a lifetime supply of good defenses upfront
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  to make us feel secure and in control.
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  He promises a fresh infusion of the Spirit's power at the very
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  moment of need. This forces us to depend on Him
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  moment by moment. Then verse 20 gives us the
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  systematic clarity on the source of this defense.
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  For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father
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  speaking through you. It's a full Trinitarian defense.
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  The disciples are sent by the Son, given voice by the Spirit,
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  and that spirit is called the Spirit of your Father.
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  That phrase Spirit of your Father is so comforting.
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  It's a reminder of adoption. Even when your earthly family
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  turns on you, as Jesus says will happen, you are intimately owned
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  by your Heavenly Father. You're not standing there alone.
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  You are a vessel for the third Person of the Trinity,
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  testifying to the Father's glory.
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  Now we need me to put up a guardrail here, a theological
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  safeguard. This text can be and has been
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  abused. It has.
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  It's often been used to justify intellectual laziness in
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  ministry. We have to be clear, this
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  promise is for a specific context.
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  It's for emergency defense during persecution when they
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  deliver you over. It is not a prescription for
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  normal teaching or preaching. Paul tells Timothy to study to
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  rightly handle the word of truth.
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  He asked for his parchments. Preparation is a spiritual
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  discipline. So relying on this for your
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  Sunday sermon is presumption. It is, but relying on it before
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  a firing squad is faith. It's the difference between
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  ordinary discipline and emergency provision.
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  This. Promise also confronts the idol
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  of pragmatism in the modern church, right?
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  The temptation to script everything higher.
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  PR firms massage the message to avoid offense.
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  Yes, Jesus is calling for a radical relinquishment of
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  control over the outcome, over the rhetoric in that crisis
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  moment. Our job isn't to stop preparing
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  our hearts and minds. No, not at all.
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  Our job is to fill our hearts with the Word, as Colossians 3
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  says. So the Spirit has a rich
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  vocabulary to draw from. But in that critical moment, we
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  trust his superintendents. We confess Christ clearly,
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  lovingly, and truthfully, and we let the chips fall where they
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  may. Our faith is in the speaker, not
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  in the script we wrote. Exactly.
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  So to really tie this all together, we have to put Jesus
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  at the center of it. He never asks his disciples to
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  do something he hasn't done himself.
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  This whole posture, it's a description of Christ.
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  He is the perfect synthesis of the serpent and the dove.
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  His wisdom, his Serpentine prudence, was on display
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  constantly. He avoided traps.
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  He knew the right time. He refused to make a political
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  mistake that would derail the father's plan.
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  And yet he was utterly dove, like pure Akarayoy.
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  No guile, no manipulation. Even his enemies couldn't find a
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  real fault in him. And this leads right to the next
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  point. His own passion is the literal
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  fulfillment of verses 17 and 18. He was delivered to the
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  Sanhedrin, the councils and then to the Roman governor Pilot.
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  What looked like his ultimate defeat in silencing.
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  Was the absolute climax of the mission.
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  It was the ultimate testimony to the Father's plan of salvation.
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  So his silence before his accusers wasn't weakness, it was
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  deliberate fulfillment of Isaiah 53, silent as a lamb.
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  And we are empowered to speak with conviction precisely
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  because He chose to be silent as the Lamb and secure our
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  redemption. His suffering secured our
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  provision. Which means the Spirit's help
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  isn't just some random gift, it's secured by Christ's work.
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  We are sons and the Son. The Spirit's help rests on the
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  finished work of Jesus, who was now interceding for us from the
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  throne. Our courage in front of the
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  wolves is theological, not just psychological.
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  So the big take away? The imperative for the listener
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  seems pretty clear. The church has to recover a
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  biblical expectation of opposition.
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  We have to stop interpreting resistance and hardship as
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  failure. We have to abandon the myth that
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  faithfulness should feel safe. And that means rejecting 2 big
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  idols. The idol of comfort were sheep
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  among wolves, not guests at a spa.
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  And the idol of approval. We have to stop trying to sand
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  down the ages of the cross to make it more palatable to the
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  wolves. It's an impossible task anyway.
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  Our metric for success has to be obedience to the sender, not
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  applause from the wolves. So, practically speaking, what
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  does this wise curity look like for us right now?
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  First, I think, is to cultivate readiness without panic.
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  We need to be in the Word daily, learning to articulate the
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  gospel clearly. The Spirit uses the vocabulary
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  we've cultivated. 2nd Cultivate courageous integrity.
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  In public life, that means refusing corrupt shortcuts at
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  work, speaking truth when it's easier to be silent, and
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  accepting the fallout without bitterness.
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  And finally, we have to reject the modern habit of outrage and
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  slander and manipulative rhetoric, even when it seems to
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  be working for our side. The gospel is discredited when
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  its defenders use the devil's methods.
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  The mission is spiritual. The weapons have to be holy.
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  So we've pulled together the threads of this dense,
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  difficult, and yet I think really comforting passage.
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  The hostility is appointed by the king.
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  The posture is this strategic blend of wisdom and purity, and
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  the provision for our witness is divine, given in that hour.
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  Yeah, the world's hatred doesn't stop Christ's mission.
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  It's just the stage where his sustaining power is put on
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  display. It's the quiet confidence of
• 23:14
  knowing who deployed you. The mission is dangerous,
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  absolutely, but the victory is secure because the shepherd is
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  sovereign over the wolves and he never loses one of his sheep.
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  So here's a final thought for you to consider this week.
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  Since the spirit who speaks through you is explicitly called
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  the spirit of your father, what specific area of your life?
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  Maybe it's pressure at work, or social alienation, or a
• 23:36
  difficult family relationship. What area have you been tempted
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  to retreat from out of fear? And how might viewing that
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  pressure point as a God appointed platform change your
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  behavior this week? And as we close, remember that
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  the Lord's Table testifies to this very reality.
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  It nourishes us for this dangerous mission.
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  It declares that the ultimate wolf of death has been defeated
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  by the Lion of Judah. The courts can rage, the
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  governor's can threaten, but the spirit of your Father speaks
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  through you, and His word will not return void.
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  Go with the confidence that the mission is secure, not in your
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  strength, but in His.