Hear now the word of the Lord from Matthew chapter ten, verses 16 through 25.

"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over. Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father, his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household?"

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.

In 1978, a man named Dale Duensing became the band director at Hastings Senior High School, and as the band director, he also took over the marching band program, and Mr. Duensing, who eventually became my teacher, was an incredibly effective marching band teacher. Uh, marching band is so difficult because you're not only trying to coordinate musicians to produce sound as one, you're trying to get them to move in coordination, visually and musically, in their motions and movements and in their music. You're trying to get not 100 people scattered over a football field to look like they're scattered, but you want to see them moving as one. It's incredibly difficult to do. But Mr. Duensing was very good at this. Uh, from 1978 to the year 2002, when he retired, his marching bands never failed to receive a Division one rating at the Nebraska State Marching Band Association uh state competition in the year 2012. He was inducted to the Nebraska music Educators Hall of Fame. I have a lot of respect for this man. I learned a lot from him. Uh, what made Mr. Duensing so effective was that he knew what it would take to get his bands to perform at the level required to produce an incredible marching band, and he wasn't afraid to ask for it. You see, he knew it was going to require suffering.

It was going to require sacrifice. He knew that he was going to have to ask a lot of his people. And again, he was not shy to ask for it. I can still hear his his words in my ears. Get your feet up. Heel toe, heel toe. You know, when I started marching band camp a couple of weeks before my freshman year, I wasn't prepared for what I was about to go through. Uh, first of all, I'd been playing the alto saxophone since fifth grade, but I was not prepared for the level of musical rehearsal. My lips were so sore from how we practice our our songs over and over and over again until they were perfect. And more than that, I wasn't prepared to stand. I was weak, I wasn't prepared to stand outside in the hot, muggy August heat and march and march to the satisfaction of a of a very difficult to please kind of a man. And then when the semester started, I wasn't prepared that every day at 630 we had to be on the field, not just at the school, on the field, or you were late. And as the weeks went on and it got into October, I wasn't prepared for how incredibly cold it was in those mornings as we were out there trying day after day to perfect it. I wasn't prepared for it, but Mr. Duensing was. He knew what was required. Now in the year 2002, his last year of teaching, I was a senior.

That was my senior year. He I he had a son my age and he wanted to teach through his son's graduation. I remember how much pressure there was on us to try to maintain his streak of Division one ratings. And I remember at the end of the year how proud we were when we achieved that together, because that was always the goal. As much as we had to suffer and sacrifice and put in to get that, we knew what the goal was. We knew what we were working for, and it was such a good feeling when we were able to achieve and accomplish that goal together. Now, maybe you didn't go out for marching band. Um, maybe you're just as big of a nerd as I was and did. Or maybe you did something different, like choir. Or maybe you went out for a cool thing, like a sport or did drama. Whenever you're a part of something that requires people to work together, it's going to take suffering and sacrifice. But everyone knows the goal. Everyone knows what they're working toward together. What's difficult is when we are called upon to suffer in particular ways, and we can't see what the goal is. We can't see where it's leading. It seems senseless. It seems purposeless. We don't know where things are moving and we can feel lost in the middle of that suffering.

Well, this morning we're talking about the goal of suffering as Christians. Jesus wants to teach us about what the suffering that we have to endure for the sake of his name will bring us toward. So that our big idea today is that Jesus conforms us to his image and our suffering. That's the goal. That's the purpose that Jesus is conforming us to his image in our suffering. Now in this passage. This is not a happy, peppy passage. In each section, Jesus is confronting us with very difficult realities of suffering that believers are going to have to endure. But in each section, Jesus also provides the hope that we have the confidence that we have the the goal that we have in front of us as Jesus brings us into suffering for the sake of his name.

1. Confident Before Kings (Matt. 10:16–20)
2. Continuing to the End (Matt. 10:21–23)
3. Conformed to Christ’s Image (Matt. 10:24–25)

Confident Before Kings (Matt. 10:16–20)

So the first section is that confident before kings, confident before kings. In verses 16 to 20, the second section is continuing to the end, continuing to the end in verses 21 through 23. And then third, conformed to Christ's image in verses 24 through 25. Conform to Christ's image in verses 24 through 25. Now in the previous section. Again, we'll start in this section confident before Kings. In the previous section that we looked at last week. It's very inspiring, very aspirational. We're going to go on a mission. It's going to be exciting. We're going to proclaim the gospel of Jesus throughout the world. What an exciting, aspirational message we had.

But the tone changes quickly. You can almost just feel the coldness settle over us as Jesus changes what he's talking about, and tells us about the difficulties that we're going to face on this mission, he says. In verse 16, he says, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Now, what this is getting at is sheep are entirely defenseless against wolves. Sheep don't have ways to fight back when the wolves close in among them. And Jesus says, that's what your reality is going to be. So Jesus says. Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Because you will be defenseless. Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Now, some people think that perhaps this is just a general wisdom wise as serpents, just a general wisdom to do the right things at the right time in general in life. But the context, I think, really pushes us to recognize that the first and the second part of this verse goes together because you are sheep in the midst of wolves, therefore you must be wise as serpents. In other words, Jesus is saying, you're going to face risk no matter what. You're going to face hardship and suffering. But you don't have to put yourself unwisely in situations that you shouldn't be in. You should not rush in where angels would fear to tread. Some risk is going to be necessary, but not all of it.

Be wise about this, but also in all things be innocent as doves. That means you must bear witness when the time comes. You may not shrink back from bearing witness for the sake of Jesus, and we must live obediently. We cannot shrink from what we are called to be and to do. But that doesn't mean that at all times that we are called to rush into every danger that we might possibly do. Even later, Jesus is going to say, when you face persecution in one place, flee to the next city. That's what Jesus is trying to equip his disciples to understand how they are to navigate their way through these difficulties. And there's not really very clear instructions that can be given all the time. We need wisdom, and that's what Jesus is trying to teach us, so that we can navigate through all that we will face. So what dangers are we going to face? Well, in verse 17 Jesus says, first of all, beware of men. Uh, he's saying you're going to face this from all corners, and he's going to work through all of the various areas where we are going to face this. But the first place he says after this, this general warning, beware of men, as he says, for they these men will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues. Now, the fact that Jesus talks about the synagogues tells us he's not talking about civil courts.

He's not talking about being brought before the government magistrates, the civil judges. He's talking about the courts of the church. He's talking about, particularly here, the Jewish synagogue system. Uh, the Jewish synagogue system, like the New Testament church, was overseen by various courts. Synagogues had something like hour session that would oversee the the people in each local synagogue. And they had a regional group of courts that oversaw all the synagogues. And they had the Sanhedrin that oversaw the entire Jewish nation. And Jesus is saying, you are going to be brought in front of the institutional Jewish church. Even that won't be a safe place for you, even though, as Jesus is hinting, even though he is the Jewish Messiah. Well, you know, even today, history is littered. You read this all over the place where we see the institutional New Testament church, the institutional Christian church, become a place that persecutes believing Christians. As churches go sideways one way or another, we have to be constantly on guard, constantly vigilant to continually, faithfully following Jesus. Wherever even the institutional church may go. There's danger from men. There's danger from the institutional church. There's danger. Then Jesus says from the governments in verse 18 he says, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. The day will become when we will have to give testimony. Jesus is saying before the government in some way, shape or form.

Now this happens all over the world, and increasingly Christians are called to give an account for what we believe in the public sphere, even here in the United States of America. This isn't one day, someday, or somewhere else in the world. Increasingly, this is something that we need to pay attention to, because this is going to require the wisdom of serpents and the innocence of doves to navigate. But even in the midst of all this, in verses 19 and 20, Jesus says, there is hope. It's not the hope. Don't worry, don't worry. I'm just kidding. You won't have to face any of this. That's not what Jesus says. The hope he gives us is much more targeted. Look at verse 19. Jesus says, when they deliver you over, do not be anxious. You remember when we read that in the sermon on the Mount? Do not be anxious about your life, what you'll wear, what you'll eat. Don't be anxious. Well, now, Jesus says, don't be anxious when you are called to give an account of your faith, when your life is at stake. Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. The hope we have is that we can be confident, even when we are dragged before kings, to bear witness.

Now, this is not sort of an excuse not to prepare to preach or teach the Bible. I promise you, I have prepared for the sermon, and that's a good thing. That's not contrary to what Jesus is saying here. The point is, is not that we don't ever have to prepare to preach or teach. It's not even to forbid us from preparing to speak. If we are called to give an account for the name of Jesus. Notice what Jesus says do not be anxious about it. Don't be anxious about this. Why? Don't be anxious because it is not ultimately dependent upon you and on your preparation. But on the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, as a pastor, I semi-regularly have a recurring nightmare that it's time to preach. And up until that point, I had not prepared in the least. The whole week is gone by, and I haven't given any thought to what I'm going to preach. And now it's time to preach. And I have to go. That's incredibly anxious. I'm not alone. I've heard other pastors share similar kinds of nightmares. It's a vocational plague, I guess. Uh, another pastor told me he is. The way his dream goes is it's time to preach and he can't find his notes. He's looking all over, can't find his notes, doesn't know what he's going to say because he can't find his notes.

And I'm sorry about the the clobbering there. Um, what what what's happening there is that we're recognizing that preaching is very important. Preaching is important, and we don't want to do it poorly or badly. Should we just switch to this one? Got it. Okay, I'll turn this off. Sorry. Hopefully that'll eliminate the noise. That preaching is important. And we want to give faith testimony well to what Jesus has to say to us. And we're not prayer prepared if we're don't have notes or haven't thought about it during the week. That's a frightening thought. Not just because it would be embarrassing, but because we want to give a faithful testimony to Jesus Christ. And if that's true, just week by week as we gather Lord's Day by Lord's Day, how much more anxiety provoking would it be if we're called to give an account for our lives? That's not just me. That's all of us. If any of us are called to give an account for our lives. Now, the comfort here is that we don't have to be anxious about this, because the Holy Spirit Himself promises to give us words. Now, again, that may not sound like the comfort we want. I want my problems to just go away. Can Jesus do that for me? But if you look through the history of the church. When martyrs are called upon to give testimony, to bear witness for the name of Jesus Christ, it is glory for them.

We are still talking about it. We have places in the Bible where where figures are called to bear witness even at the cost of their lives. You think about Stephen in Acts chapter seven, giving testimony about the the name of Jesus before he is stoned to death. But you think about after the New Testament. One of my favorite stories is the story of Polycarp. Uh, Polycarp, an early church father who was killed in roughly the year 160 AD, where he's called to give to bear witness. And they ask him, your life will be spared if you would just say away with the atheist because Christians, because they didn't worship the gods of the Roman Empire, they were the atheists. And so Polycarp, tongue in cheek, looks around at the, in the, in the, in the auditorium where he is, and he waves at everyone and says away with the atheists, pointing to everybody else. He's having a little fun with this. The Holy Spirit is giving him words to say, and they continue to press him. You will lose your life if you do not renounce your faith in Jesus Christ. And then he stops and says this. He says. For 86 years I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? You threaten me with fire that burns for a season and after a little while is quenched.

But you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked. These are words that continue to be declared today. It is glory to bear witness for Jesus. All of us have to die in one way, shape or form at some time. But not all of us will get to die bearing witness for the sake of Jesus, which will be unto our eternal glory, not because of the glory of us, but because of the glory of Jesus, the one whom we confess. This is good news. This is good news. The Holy Spirit will give us something to say. So on the one hand, we do face grave danger and Jesus doesn't make light of that. But on the other hand, we can have this confidence that when we're called upon to bear witness, we will have something to say. Don't be anxious about it. But still Jesus has more danger to warn us about, and still he has more hope to give us.

Continuing to the End (Matt. 10:21–23)

So in the second section, we read continuing to the end. Now, previously, the danger was from men in general, from church, from the government. But here the danger is even in our families. And this is one of the most heart rending parts of this passage. Brother will deliver, brother, verse 21 over to death. And the father, his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. The difficulty is that not only we're going to be hated by our families, and I think the shame that we incur, incur by families, by those who are closest to us, is perhaps the most difficult to taste. Some of you have faced very difficult rejection for the sake of Christ's cause within your own families, and that is extremely difficult to taste or to take. But Jesus says it's not even in just your families. You are going to be hated by all. But the hope we can't have comes at the end of verse 22. The one who endures to the end will be saved. Now don't hear that as a threat. Well, if only if you make it to the end, you're going to be saved. That's not how Jesus is saying it. Jesus is giving us this as a promise that there is assured victory. There's light at the end of the tunnel that the hope we have is not a hope. So boy, if I get through this, I. I hope that I'll be saved. We have a confident assurance that when we get to the end of this, when Jesus Christ, by His Spirit perseveres us to the end, that there is a guaranteed final victory, the world will not have the last say. The enemy will not have the last word. Jesus Christ has conquered, and we have everything to be confident in, even as we face the most brutal suffering.

And even if we are called upon to give up our own lives. Well, then, in verse 23. Jesus then summarizes the faithfulness that we are supposed to model in the midst of all this suffering. But in doing so, Jesus gives us one of the most difficult verses in the whole Gospel of Matthew, if not the entire New Testament. So let's look at what Jesus says when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. In other words, just keep going. Don't stay there. Be wise as serpents flee to the next. But then he says, for truly I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Now, what does this mean before the Son of Man comes? Well, there are lots of different interpretations for this. Some have interpreted this poorly to try to discredit Jesus, to say, well, Jesus clearly thought that his final coming was going to come very quickly. And when that didn't happen, Jesus was shown to be mistaken and confused, and his disciples were misled by him. Well, that's not what Jesus said, and therefore we can't judge him by what he didn't say. There are two better ways to interpret this. I think the big question is what does it mean when Jesus talks about the coming of the Son of Man? One is that he is talking about the final, eventual coming of the Son of Man at the end of time.

But if so, there's a way to read this and understand this, where Jesus is simply saying, continue to evangelize the lost sheep of the house of Israel until the very end, until the end of time. You're going to continue having to go through this, continue to meet the lost sheep of the house of Israel until the Son of Man finally comes. In the end. It's one way to understand this. But I think it's even better here to understand that the coming that Jesus talks about, that when this before the Son of Man comes, that it's not referring to the final coming of Jesus at the very end of time, it's referring to a different kind of coming. The coming that Jesus came with came in judgment in the year 70 AD against the nation of Israel. You see, everyone agrees that this is a reference to Daniel 713, where there's a prophecy where Daniel sees one like a son of man coming on the clouds, and it says that he came before the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. Well that coming, the coming before the Ancient of Days. It's the presentation. It's the establishment of the kingdom of this Son of Man. It's not his final coming in judgment at the end of time, but the establishment of the kingdom of the Son of Man.

And if that's the case, and the word here Jesus uses for coming is not the word that normally is associated with the final end time judgment coming of Jesus. He is coming again in that way. But that's not the word that's used here. The idea seems to be that the coming of the kingdom is going to happen in stages. In some sense, the kingdom came when the king was born into this world, and in other sense, the kingdom came when Jesus was baptized, and then when he was tempted by the devil and he overcame the temptations of the devil. In another sense, the kingdom came even a little bit further when Jesus lived perfectly obedience all the way to the point of death in his suffering at the cross. And of course, in a very real sense, the kingdom was established when Jesus was raised as the first fruits from the dead. And and then when he ascended into heaven, where he sat down at the right hand of his father, the King is now in heaven, interceding for us as our priest. The kingdom comes in stages, but one of the parts of this is that the King is now reigning. Jesus is now reigning to put all of his enemies under his feet. And one of the significant ways that Jesus did that was in 70 AD, when the Romans marched against the nation of Israel, and they destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and they destroyed the temple in Jerusalem as judgment against unbelieving Israel, who had judged their Messiah and crucified him, and did not turn in repentance to believe in him.

Jesus is saying, even after I am departed from this world, you need to continue evangelizing the Jews. The day will come when it will be too late, when the judgment will come and you won't have even gotten through all of the towns when that happens. But until then, be faithful to proclaim the gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You know the church I previously attended? I once had a little girl asked me a very good question. She said, when did Jesus actually save us? Is it when he was born or when he died? Or when he was raised from the dead? When did he save us? And it was really good conversation. I was talking with her and her father, and the analogy we thought of was this. Imagine if I were going to walk out to the back door, back there at the at the back of the sanctuary, and I walked, I did that, I walked every step all the way to the end of that door. And you asked me, well, which step was it that got you to that end? Well, you might be tempted to say the very last step when I got to the end, and there'd be some truth to that.

But of course, if I hadn't taken the step before that and the step before that and the step before that, then I would not have reached that final step to be able to take it. So in some sense, how did Jesus save us? He did save us, and he will ultimately save us at the very end. When every enemy is put under his feet and and Christ delivers the kingdom to His father so that God may be all in all, forever and ever. But that wouldn't happen if Jesus hadn't been putting his enemies under his feet. And that wouldn't have happened if Jesus hadn't ascended into heaven. And that wouldn't have happened if Jesus hadn't risen from the dead and hadn't been crucified. And on and on and on. Every step that Jesus takes is a step that he took toward our salvation. And in the same way in looking at it from just a different angle. Every step that Jesus is taking is establishing the Kingdom of God forever. And Jesus is saying, Before the Son of Man comes, you are going to continue and be faithful to this work all the way to the end, but especially toward that judgment that's coming in 70 A.D.. Well, there's still a question at this point that remains. If the kingdom really is advancing, if Jesus really is putting all of his enemies under his feet, why do I have to suffer so much? And why do our brothers and sisters in some parts of the world have to suffer and are tortured, and our are forced to give up their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ? And Jesus truly is the King.

Why should his servants endure so much suffering? Well, this isn't a mistake. It's not because this is somehow slipped out of the control of Jesus. It's not because of some weakness on Jesus's part. Rather, what Jesus tells us in the final section, verses 24 to 25 is that by our suffering. We're conformed to Christ's image. And remember, that's the goal. What all of this suffering, what all of this sacrifice is about, is that through this, Jesus is conforming us to the goal that we are conformed to his image.

Conformed to Christ’s Image (Matt. 10:24–25)

So the third section conformed to his image. Jesus says this in verses 24 to 25 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. Now the implication here is that if the teacher and the master suffered, so too will the servant, so too will the disciple. And then Jesus says in verse 25, it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. And again, the implication is if the teacher and the master was perfected through suffering, triumphed through suffering, so must we pass through that. And then third, Jesus says, if they have called the master of the house beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? Again, the implication is, if Jesus was hated and disdained and scorned, so must we.

In fact, even more than our master, we must suffer. To continue to fill out his sufferings. Of course, Jesus was the one who was crucified and suffered more than anyone else. But, but, but through the extension of time, we must continue to fill up the sufferings of our Lord. So what does this mean? This beelzebul that's one of the big questions, is people study this. What does that name mean? Some people think it means Lord of the flies or something like that. Maybe you had to read that novel in high school like I did, but I think probably a better explanation is that this is a Hebrew word, Baal, which means Lord. You may know Baal, one of the the the gods, the the pagan gods in the Old Testament just simply means Lord. And then zebul means abode or dwelling place. And so Jesus is making a play on words. He's saying, if they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, Lord of the abode, master of the house, they've called him Lord of the abode, a demonic kind of a name to malign his role as master of the house. How much more will they malign those of his household? So it's a sinister kind of play on words. He's derided as the Lord of the abode. But still, here we come to the end of this and we say, well, why must we suffer? Well everywhere the Bible teaches us.

That suffering is what uniquely conforms us to the image of Christ. I think one of the clearest places that Paul talks about this is in Philippians three, verses eight through 11, where he writes this. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, sacrifice them, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings. Why? For what purpose? Becoming like him in death. But again, why that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. By this suffering that Jesus is leading us, Jesus is conforming us to his image, particularly his resurrection image. He's making us like him. You know, as a freshman in marching band, I remember how hard the upperclassmen were on us, including, I remember with a jolt waking up on Friday morning of marching band camp. There was someone in my bedroom telling me that I needed to leave, and my parents permitted this, and they took me off and I was hazed.

I don't think, um, this is anything that's permitted anymore, but, um, I guess I'm getting old enough to say back in my day, that was still permitted. And they were pretty kind, relatively. Uh, but they were kind of mean to us. And I thought there were so mean to do all these things to, I don't know, spray things on us and stuff like that, as they made us march in the early morning hours before anyone else was up. But what I realized later on is they weren't being mean. They were initiating us. It wasn't that they wanted nothing to do with us. In fact, they were trying to conform us to their image. They were trying to get us to be like them, to take seriously what they had learned to take seriously from the upperclassmen when they were freshmen, to take seriously this this high calling of being a marching band student in one of Mr. Dancing's marching band. They wanted us to be just as committed to the goal as they were. Well, how then do we apply what Jesus is saying here as he wants us to see this so that we're committed to this goal? The implication here is embrace the resurrection power of Christ's sufferings. Embrace the resurrection power of Christ's sufferings. You know, this morning, if you're unfamiliar with Christianity, you may not understand what the gospel actually teaches. I want to be so clear about this.

I first want to say welcome. Uh, this is a great church where you can ask hard questions. Please ask hard questions. I hope this is one of them. What is the gospel that's on your mind? Well, in Christianity, gospel. The gospel is not that those who do something great either in one great act or or through a life where they live a really good life, that they somehow earn something from God, that's not at all what the gospel teaches. It's not that those who attain some level of triumph in this world will then qualify themselves to enter into heaven. That's not what the gospel teaches. The gospel teaches us that all of us are condemned by the righteous and holy law of God, that all of us fall so far short of the glory of God, that we all deserve condemnation and hell forever. The gospel then, rejects the idea that we can do anything to save ourselves. The gospel then announces what God did through His Son Jesus Christ to save us. That Jesus Christ came into this world to live a perfect life, taking every step necessary to save us, including suffering and dying on the cross for our sins where the righteous suffered for the unrighteous, the innocent for the guilty. This is the great exchange of the gospel that our sins were imputed. That's the theological word. They were credited. They were counted to Christ's debt, taken away from us, and he suffered under the wrath of God in our place.

And then there's a double direction to this. His righteousness was then counted to all of those who believe in him, and who receive that gift of righteousness and forgiveness of sins for our salvation. This is why salvation is by faith alone, because there's nothing that we could do to earn it. The most that God gives to us is simply to receive by faith what God has done on our behalf through His Son, Jesus Christ. This morning, if you've come here trying to find salvation, trying to find a clear conscience, trying to find forgiveness from your sins, this is how you find it. Will you believe in Jesus today? But the second part of embracing the resurrection power of Christ's sufferings. If you've been called this morning to salvation or or 50 years ago to salvation. All of us are called to be prepared for this kind of suffering, that persecution is going to come. Jesus doesn't sugarcoat this. He refuses to keep us ignorant. The call to follow Christ is a hard one. Hard is the way that leads to life. It's going to require suffering along the way. But that's why Jesus gives us the hope at every step. This isn't a hopeless cause. It'll be difficult, but there's hope at every step. We will be called before kings, and yet God will give us words to speak. We'll be hated by our family and by indeed all people.

But those who endure will be saved. And we must suffer like Jesus. But in doing so, Jesus is going to conform us and shape us, and do the work to transform us into his image. Imagine going to an oncologist who refused to even tell you about your cancer. Refuse to tell you about the suffering and death that you will face unless you receive treatment. Don't you want your oncologist to tell you the truth? And don't you want that oncologist to perform the necessary surgery to save you, no matter how painful it might be? Jesus is not leading us into suffering because he is weak or uncaring. He cares about us too much. He knows that there is a cancer in us that would lead us to cling to this world and everything in it. If he didn't perform surgery to release our death grip on the passing away things of this world, so that we might find our ultimate hope and comfort and satisfaction in him. Earlier, I quoted from Philippians three about the way in which we are being conformed to Christ's image. I want to read part of the rest of that chapter. Paul writes, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us, for many of whom I have often told you, and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and my crown, stand firm. Thus in the Lord, my beloved. Jesus conforms us to his image in our suffering. He doesn't take suffering away in this life, but he does clarify the goal what this is all about. That through this he is conforming us to be like him. Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we pray that you would give us Jesus. We pray that whatever may come, that you would cling us to Jesus, even when we are too weak to continue on clinging to him ourselves. We pray that by the power of Your Holy Spirit, you would give us a love for Christ that never fades away, that cannot perish, spoil, or fade, because it comes from you as a gift. That we might lay hold of Christ and have confidence to pass through even the most painful sufferings, as we bear witness for his name, that through this Christ might conform us from our lowly image into his glorious image. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.