Think of me as the manager in an amusement park. I'm going to hire all of you as attendants. Your job will be to pick up all the trash in the park and to help the other workers. So that people can recognize you, I'm giving you a special hat to wear. As long as you wear it, people will know you are connected to me and you can go on any ride or see any show in the park. Great, eh! But, when you wear the hat, you have to do anything that others ask.
That means you may have to clean up spills, find a child, or fix a ride. If people keep asking you to work, you might want to take your hat off. Take it off and no one will know that you are connected to me. They won't ask you for anything anymore. But, take it off and you will also miss out on the things that you could enjoy. So, you have to decide what's important. Do you want to wear the hat or not? A choice needs to be made.
You can think of our lives in Christ in a similar way. When you became a child of God, you put on a “hat.” It connects you with the Lord Jesus. And when you wear it, you are telling everyone that Christ Jesus is your Savior. As long as you have it, God is with you blessing you: He will forgive your sins; He will hear your prayers; He will take you to heaven. And He wants to do that.
But when you wear it, others will see it, too. Some will laugh at it; others will demand that you do things for them; still others will want to know what it's all about. With all the questions and demands made upon you, you may think it's not worth it and want to take it off. But Jesus said, “Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”
The choice is yours. What will you do? May God help us to put on Christ and fearlessly, faithfully follow for in following much is gained. But, by putting Him aside much is lost.
I. Even though you are opposed, be content in your Lord.
Such fearless and faithful following won't be easy. You will be opposed for calling yourself a disciple of Christ. In our text Jesus said it this way: “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” What does He mean by all that?
Well, let's take a different example that is significant for us today. Today is Father's Day. What does it mean to us? It's a day we set aside in our nation to thank God and to honor Him for the gift of good fathers that He gives us.
Good fathers provide for their children. They work hard so that their children can have a decent home, clothing, food, and other things to enjoy. It's their God-given privilege and responsibility. They are to provide for their children's needs. In fact, the Bible says, “If (a father) does not provide for His relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tm.5:8).
But there's more; that's not all a father does. Even more important than that, a good father provides discipline and guidance for his children, especially in guiding them to the Lord Jesus. He teaches them the way they should go in their faith in the Savior. Like the Bible says, “Father's, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ep.6:4). In love good fathers provide for their children's physical needs, and most importantly, they lead them to the Savior.
So it is that the Scriptures say, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ep.6:1). They are in charge, so to speak, because God has placed them there.
Somehow, it almost seems like our present day world has gotten that all mixed up, as though children are in charge. Kids, don't follow that. You are not above your parents; you are not to yell at them because you don't get your way; you are not to determine the outcome of matters at home; but your parents are to lead you, and you are to put yourself and your wishes aside to their good guidance as they guide you in the way of the Lord. It's the same thing that Jesus means here when He says, “A student is not above the teacher, nor is a worker above the master.”
What He's getting at is the idea of submission. A servant, a student, and children in the home all have this in common – they submit to the will and direction of those whom God has placed over them. But such submission is not a bad thing. Look at Christ. He's our Lord, right! He's our Creator, right! He's in charge, right! Yet, our Master came as a servant for our eternal blessing. When He was confronted with difficulties and challenges, when people opposed Him, He didn't give up; He didn't even lord it over them. But He submitted in order to carry out a specific mission – to redeem us from our sin. His Father asked Him to suffer and die for us and He did what was asked of Him – willingly.
Because of that humble obedience, the world despised Him, persecuted Him, yes, killed Him. At no point, however, did Jesus ever give up or complain about what His Father asked Him to do. Should our attitude as His followers be any different?
What happens when the world opposes us; what happens when it makes life hard because we call ourselves Christians and don't follow a life of sin? Jesus makes it plain that such opposition will come for a student is not above his teacher. If He was opposed, if the world slandered Him by calling Him the devil, shouldn't we expect the same? Are we better than our Savior? Obviously not. So don't be surprised or angry when it comes – expect it.
Yet, even though you are opposed, you can be content in your Lord. Why? Because He died to make you His own and He rose from the dead to give you life. In baptism He received you as His child. In the Lord's Supper He assures you of those blessings. In Him eternal life is yours today and always. So He says in our text: “Do not be afraid.” And then He adds later on: “Be faithful even to death, and I will give you a crown of life” (Rev.2:10).
Follow Him, dear friend – follow faithfully, fearlessly , for even though you are opposed, you can be content in Your Lord.
II. Even though you seem so insignificant, you are not forgotten.
You can be content because you are always under the watchful eye of the Savior. Nothing gets past Him. He sees, He knows, and He will bless. In our text He assures you of that in a variety of ways, but perhaps the best known and the one that creates such comfort is found in His words: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Think of the significance of the Savior's words this way.
One day a child came to her father and asked, “Dad, how many children are there in the world.”
“I don't know,” her father responded; “millions and millions of them; perhaps billions.”
“If there are so many,” she said, “then how can God take care of me? How can He know where I am and what's happening to me if there are so many others?”
“Oh, God knows about you all right,” said her father. “He not only knows you; He knows how many hairs you have on your head. And He knows when one of them falls down. How many sparrows do you think there are in the world?” he asked.
The little girls tried to think. “More sparrows than children, I guess,” she said.
“Well, the Lord Jesus said that our Father in heaven cares for them all, and not one of them falls down dead unless He lets it fall. So, if God takes care of every sparrow, don't you think He can take care of you, too? Jesus said, ‘Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
You see, dear friends, as God's redeemed in Christ you are not forgotten. If things are going badly for you, or people in the world are getting the better of you and making fun of you, or even if it seems to you, like it did that little girl, as though you are so insignificant among many others and therefore beyond help, know this: before God you are not forgotten. Sooner or later the truth will come out, sooner or later those nasty little things that others did to you will be revealed. In fact, they are already known by God and He will make them plain on judgment day. The truth is people don't get away with sin before God. He knows.
But even more than that, He knows the suffering that His people go through because of their faith in Him, and He is there to reassure them with His comfort and love in a Savior. That Savior promises: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hb.13:5. That Savior promises, “I will hold you in my hand and nothing will pluck you out” (Jn.10:29) until I take you home
Now that, dear friends, is something to tell others about, or as Jesus said it here, “proclaim it from the housetops.” And that we will do as we fearlessly, faithfully follow. For even though the child of God is opposed, he can be content in His Savior. And even though he seems so insignificant in this world, to that Savior he is never forgotten. So, don't be afraid, dear friend. God grant it such assurance daily in our lives of faith; for Jesus' sake. Amen.