SENT: Reward (Part 1 of 2 blogs)

Today, an exposition of Matt. 10:40-42; tomorrow, 5 implications for us in daily life.

Conclusions are good. They signal the end of one thing so something else can begin. Every once in a while you get a cliffhanger, but normally conclusions conclude. They wrap things up, summarize, synthesize, resolve issues, tie things together…then move on. We come now to the conclusion of Christ's Sermon on Mission. How believers are SENT by God to to carry the gospel, being Christ-centered people in a hostile world.

In Matt. 10:40-42 Jesus concludes His sermon on mission with words of assurance & encouragement. Jesus was instructing His apostles, preparing them for real life & ministry; & He gave them a realistic, non sugar-coated look at what would come at them. But He ends this sobering sermon on a high note. He tells them that those who receive them favorably give evidence that they receive Him favorably. As we conclude it’s good to see where we’ve been Beginning at Matt. 9:35 and moving through ch. 10, we’ve seen Christ’s compassion that must motivate our mission-mindedness & actions; God’s calling which is the basis of our living & giving the gospel; God’s character displays in & through us to make the gospel attractive to those who will believe; the caution He wants us to exercise; the courage we need to get out of our comfort zone & engage in courageous witness for Christ; the crucifixion to self that is necessary as we live for Christ; and now in conclusion, reward. No C word. We usually think of rewards in terms of what we deserve, what we earn for good performance or behavior. But as we will see, this is not the kind of reward Jesus is speaking of here. In context of sending His apostles to reach the lost, He teaches that Those who receive the gospel favorably are rewarded with eternal life. Our Savior is the rewarder of those who seek Him, of the one who pursues & serves Him by faith, Heb. 11:6. Let’s pick it up at v. 40.

10:40 begins He who receives you receives Me. Christ lives in His people. They go in His name as His representatives. How they are treated is how He is treated (18:5; 25:45; Luke 9:48). He who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He makes another strong assertion of His deity by saying all who receive Him receive Him who sent Him. The Son is equal to the Father. Jesus wasn't just the Sender, He was sent. Apostellō is the common Greek word for SENT. It has several usages. Jewish rabbis used it of one called & sent as an official representative of another, an ambassador. The NT uses this term of Jesus being sent by the Father. It is used of Jesus sending believers, John 17 as the Father sent Me, so I send you. The New Testament used it for disciples. Paul uses the title at the start of most of his letters as a way of asserting his God-given authority as Christ’s representative. Jesus was an apostle/sent One from the Father, the 12 were sent ones from Jesus, & the Father’s authority was conveyed through them. The response of those to whom they went was a response to the One who sent them.

10:41 in the name of a prophet … in the name of a righteous man. This expands on the principle of v. 40. To welcome Christ’s Reps equals welcoming Him. Prophet one who, if he conducted himself in a worthy manner, was to be treated exactly as the one he represented. He had the same authority and the same message as the person he represented. Receive is a key word; it means to welcome, take hold of, accept. Greek word dechomai, used 6x, 4 in v. 40, 2 in v. 41, the word lambano is used 2x in v. 41 & also translated receive, means take. Jesus focused on the positive response of receiving rather than the negative response of rejection. In the OT, a person who received or accepted a prophet & his message was basically accepting God’s will. They believed God had spoken. The will of God for those who heard the message of the apostles & those who hear the message we bring, & received it favorably was/is that they would believe and be saved. Back to 10:40 to receive the message of Christ’s sent ones is to receive Christ. A person receives us & our testimony receives Christ because we are His ambassadors. And to receive Christ is to receive God.

10:42 whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones. Beautiful picture. The reference is to their lowliness in spirit, their littleness in the eyes of an undiscerning world. Believers. Not stature but status. Little ones was a term of affection that Jesus used toward his disciples, especially when they followed him with the innocence and faith of a child (18:1–6; 19:13–15). He used the same wording in 25:31–46; saying that those He sent represented Him & any response to them was equivalent to a response to Him in person. 25:40 to the extent you did it unto the least of these My brothers you did it unto Me. A cup of cold water, the smallest service, a gift even the poorest person could give. In the name of a disciple or, as in Mark 9:41, because you are Christ’s: from love to Me, & to him from his connection with Me. He will not lose his reward. Here is the word reward again, for the 3x. The key to understanding this passage is what the reward is & why it is given. Jesus seems to assume His disciples understood the concept of reward in His kingdom. Reward is usually something offered in return for some service or benefit received. In the Bible, a reward can refer to something given for either a good or bad act. The psalms speak of a reward for the righteous Ps. 58:11 and of the reward of the wicked Ps. 91:8. When the Son of Man returns in glory, He will reward each according to his works Matt. 16:27. 1 Cor. 3:8-15 speaks of varying rewards for believers. Here it is used in the sense of an outcome, the result of belief. It means they believe & are saved. It ties back to 5:12 great is your reward in heaven. This is the salvation Christ purchased & gives to His chosen ones. We tend to think of reward in terms of what believers earn, like 1 Cor. 3:8-15...but the idea behind reward in Matt. 10 is of receiving by faith not works and the reward being of grace, undeserved and unearned.

The idea of God’s reward being given to His people is stated as early as God’s covenant with Abraham Gen. 15:1 do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you, you reward shall be very great. But even there it is clear in context that the reward is not deserved from God, but is an expression of God’s grace toward the human covenant partner whom God has chosen. The reward is not a payment for but a motivation to faithfulness. The reward of Matt. 10 is God’s gift of eternal salvation Matt. 25:34; Rev. 11:18. The reward is given not in response to our works but our response to Christ's finished work. Rom. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 22:12. God's rewards are always gifts of grace to undeserving sinners who can only respond well to Him due to His giving them the ability and desire to respond well. What do we have that we have not received from God as a gift?

C.S. Lewis wrote a paper in 1962 entitled "They Asked for a Paper", where he distinguished between various kinds of rewards. He said a person may marry only for money, so is rewarded by money, but is rightly judged dishonest & selfish because the reward is not linked with love. On the other hand, marriage is the proper reward of an honest & true lover, and it is not selfish desiring it because love and marriage are naturally linked. The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, like a trophy, but are the activity itself in its fullest experience. The rewards of the New Testament belong largely to this category. So if we speak of merit or earning rewards in the context of this passgae we misunderstand Jesus in 10:41-42. Jesus is saying essentially the same thing in 3 ways...that those who receive his followers, because they accept what those individuals stand for, will in turn be received by God. Because he is is literally in the name of and refers to recognizing the prophet, righteous person, or “little one” for who he is as God’s representative who carries the life-giving gospel. The person receiving the disciple is becoming a believer. Receiving or not losing a reward here in Matt. 10:40-42 means receiving eternal life, not some specific status on earth or in heaven such as the rewards God promises to believers for their faithfulness to Him as seen in 1 Cor. 3:8-15.

Next up, five implications for daily living. Check out the blog tomorrow for that.