Do You Really Want to be Like Christ?

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

You will be hated by everyone because of me.

When you are persecuted...

The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.

Matthew 10.16, 22, 23, 24

Platt:

As we go to the needy, we will learn to depend on His presence. If we follow Christ for the spread of the gospel into the midst of danger, we will never be alone. He'll be with us and give us everything we need to stand and to speak and to preach. This is where the presence of Christ is most powerful. We live in presumptive safety in this world, being surrounded by its comforts. Christ's presence and power aren't needed in such situations, or so we think. But when you go to danger, when you're a sheep in the midst of wolves, you need His presence and power more than anything else. You're acutely aware of your utter dependence on Him.

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When we go into the world doing good deeds and helping people with their needs without saying anything about Jesus, the world is fine with that. But when we go into the world doing these same things and telling people that Jesus is the only way to be saved from sin, death, and hell, then the world will respond much differently. We will be betrayed, we will be hated, and we will be persecuted. Notice in verse 23 that Jesus doesn't say, "If you are persecuted." He says, "When they persecute you."

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I am challenged by this. It is easy to get on with doing good deeds- there are a lot to be done especially in a place like this- and it's easy to think that because we're doing them in Jesus' name then we're doing what is expected of us. And it's easy to accept the praise of man for doing good deeds. But this challenges me to make sure we're doing good deeds always alongside telling people the truth of the gospel and be willing to be hated for it.

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The danger of our lives increases in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ. That is an unavoidable conclusion from what Matthew is telling us. 

Everyone who wants a safe, carefree life free from danger should stay away from Jesus. The world responds with hostility to Him. So as we are conformed to Christ more and more, the world will respond to us more and more as they responded to Him. If you want to avoid being betrayed, hated, or persecuted, then don't become like Christ! We are so prone to sit back and settle for religious routine and comfortable Christianity, because it's safe. And the world likes us in that mode. As long as we live lives just like everyone else—going to church on Sunday and keeping our faith to ourselves—we will face little risk in this world. The only problem is that we will know so little of Christ. But when we do know Christ, and when we're becoming like Him and proclaiming Him, things will not be easy for us. The more Christ is manifest in your life and in your family, the harder it will get for you in this world. This is what Jesus said in Luke 6:40: "Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Does that frighten you? 

You will become like the One who was mocked, beaten, scourged, spit on, and nailed to a cross. And all of this brings us to the question we must ask, namely, do we really want to be like Christ? I mean, really? Because if we really do want to be like Him, then our lives won't stay the same, and they won't be easy; they will be dangerous. Christian, this is what Jesus—your Savior, Lord, and King—is saying. So do you really want to be like Christ?