staying strong

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:32-33

Jesus says these words to the twelve apostles as they are commissioned in His name to preach the gospel of the kingdom throughout Israel. The context, starting in Matthew 10:16, is His warning to them that they will face persecution. He sent them out as sheep in a country of wolves. They would not always be warmly received. The gospel would be rejected and they would be hated men. But they are encouraged to stay bold and strong. The world would hate Jesus in them. They would suffer for His sake, but there was a bigger picture at stake.

Later, in the Book of Acts, after Jesus has ascended into heaven, His apostles were left to preach the gospel together. And the message of the gospel blazed out of Jerusalem, throughout Israel, eventually all the way to the household of Caesar himself in Rome! All that in a generation. But there was intense opposition to it as it did so. The apostles preached the gospel boldly despite this. They did so even as they were persecuted and martyred. They held true. Not a man among them denied their Savior! This was no fabricated story that unraveled under scrutiny! Every one of the apostles stood strong and true under severe opposition. Every one of them suffered under state persecution of the Christian faith. Every one of them, save John, died a martyr’s death and they tried to kill John, and when he wouldn’t die, they exiled him. These men would not deny their Lord!

The conviction to hold as tenaciously as they did to the Christian faith is still put to the test today. The world still needs the gospel. And it is still antagonistic to Jesus. We don’t fight those who oppose us, but we love them with the truth of the gospel. And we must not deny our Lord. We love and acknowledge Jesus in each moment of worship and each gospel proclamation!