St Matthew, Chapter 10, verse:40b, The Reward.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Blessings for the Apostles' benefactors) Part 2. 

Christ begins to tell his disciples about the rewards that the people will receive.  But first he tells them that the people must receive him and the message of the kingdom of heaven.  The disciples are going forth to the lost sheep of the house of Israel first.  They are preaching to their people, they are preaching to fellow Jews.  Will their brothers and sisters accept their message?  Will they receive the message sent by Christ?  Christ tells his disciples that he who receives them receives him.  But even more, he tells his disciples,  "He who receives me, receives him who sent me."  


The disciples are the messengers.  They bring the message that Christ has sent them to carry.  Christ is the voice from heaven.  He gives the message given him from the father.  Receive the Father from heaven and you will be saved is their message.  Turn back from the worship of idle gods and turn to the one true God in heaven.  For he has come to you through the voice of his son made man.  He has come down from heaven to live among you.  He has come to bring salvation.  He has come to bring the sword of God to separate the true children of God from those who would worship the evil one.

Accept the message of the kingdom.  For through it salvation will come.  Keep it close to your heart for with it you will find protection.  Renew yourself daily with the message for by doing so you will throw off the tricks and traps of the devil.  And when you receive and keep the message Christ will bring you your reward.  For those who find their life will lose it.  But those who find their life and lose it for Christ's sake will find it eternally in him.  Christ is the way and the truth and the life.  In him there is no lie.  He told his disciples that there will be separation.  Mother will turn against daughter.  Father will turn against son.  Children will turn against parents and the message will separate all in his name.  And those who take up the message, their cross, and wear it in public will be rewarded.  They are the ones who are worthy of Christ.

Are you worthy?  Will you receive the Father through Christ?  Come, receive your reward.  Take up your cross and become worthy of the love that Christ has for you.  Christ loves you unconditionally.  Whether you love him or not, he still loves you.  Yet, to reciprocate with your love tells Christ that you know the love that he has for you and you appreciate his love.  You say, I am worthy of his love.  You say I am grateful for his love.  You say I am humbled that he loves me, a sinner.  You say I am blessed by his love.  Receive the love from Christ and receive the love from God the father.  For they both have great love for you.  And the Holy Spirit will come forth and reside in you that you may be in him as he is in the Father.  Faith is the belief in the desire to be in Christ.  Are you in him or standing on the sidelines looking in?

St Matthew, Chapter 10, verse:40a, The Reward.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Blessings for the Apostles' benefactors) Part 1. 

Life!  Wondering in the distance.  Elusive.  Needing to be discovered.  Begging to be found.  We live in a world filled with the sights and sounds and wonders and magic that brings palpitations to the heart and joy to the mind.  Our ever increasing desires are the stuff that industrialist dream of, the passion of capturing the expanding market to be on top.  Life!  Where are you?  Why do you elude me?  I seek to find you.  I seek to know you.  I seek to have you fully, present in the here and now.  Not tomorrow!  Not yesterday!  But right now, as though I lived in a movie of my own making, on top of the world.  What I see in the movies drives me.  I want you life and I want you now!  Where are you?

Christ told his disciples,  "He who finds his life will lose it."   We have life.  What is meant by this?  I am alive and I have life.  I want more life that I may live it to the fullest.  But I live.  If I had the money and the cars and the fame I would really be alive.  I would live like a king, like a prince.  I would travel the world, eat in the best restaurant, wear the finest clothes, drive the most expensive cars, and have the most beautiful women that the eye has seen.  Then I would really live.  I will have found my life.  I will live my life, never working again, only doing what I feel like doing everyday.  That would be the life.  Where is the jackpot?  Where is the power ball?  Where is my luck?  But Christ says that I will lose it.  He says that the life that I find I will lose it.  Why?  Because it is not lasting, it is not forever, it and I are only temporary.  For I am not eternal and though I may have found my life I will lose it because I want to keep it forever.

How then can I keep my life?  How can I preserve it so that I can have it forever?  Christ say "He who loses his life for my sake, will find it."  So I have to lose my life for Christ's sake to find it permanently.  I have to give up the joys and pleasures that I dream of to get them.  I have to set my plans of being a millionaire and living the life of a prince so that I can have it forever in Christ.  What must I do? 

Christ sends his disciples out to teach the people how to find their life.  He wants the disciples to teach the people how to have life eternally and not life that is lost.  Many will not accept.  Many will not believe.  Many will call this blasphemy because it goes against the thinking of the day.  Receive the message of the kingdom and find your life.  Christ told his disciples,  "He who receives you, receives me."   Receive Christ.  Receive the life you are meant to live.  Find the life of your dreams and live it in Christ.  Those who do not, will miss the reward.  Those who live for today, will lose their life.  Those who seek to preserve the life they have, will lose that life and the life they have in Christ.  Do you have life?  Will you lose it?  Come receive the life that Christ has to give and live life eternally.  Get your reward!!!

St Matthew, Chapter 10, verses: 39, Who is worthy to fight?

Our paragraph topic is:  (We must give up all for Christ) Part 5.  

Christ told his disciples that they must take up their cross or they will not be worthy of him.  He also told them that neither the love of father or mother or sister or brother or any relative should separate them from him otherwise they are not worthy of him.  For one must sacrifice all for Christ to show that one is worthy of him.  The disciples are in a war.  They are battling the dark forces of evil and Christ tells them that they have to be fully committed to him.  Otherwise they are not worthy of him.

Likewise he is instructing them concerning the people they will meet and how they will show their acceptance of the message of the kingdom and their commitment to Christ.  One who allows family to separate them from the love of Christ is not worthy.  One who does not take up the cross of the message of Christ and wear it before men is not worthy.  These are signs that the people have not accepted Christ and the message they bring.  They may say that they do but their actions prove otherwise.  They may want to accept but their hearts are still bound to the evil that they say they want to divorce themselves from.  Christ requires total commitment to show 
worthiness of him.  

Now he goes a step further and tells his disciples,  "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake, will find it."   Life is lost and must be found.  The disciples must know this.  They must understand that one's life is not given but must be discovered, it must be found.  Once found, it becomes the driving force that directs a person.  It is the reason we live, the purpose of living, and the guide by which we live.  The disciples will preach to the lost sheep of Israel.  They will help them discover their life and show them the way to the kingdom.  They will open the eyes and the ears of the lost sheep and help them discover their light so that they can become lights to others.  But if their life is not committed to Christ they will lose it.  The devil will come and steal it away with his tricks and traps.  They have no defenses without those that are given by Christ. 

When their life is given to Christ for his sake then they will find that they have more life and have it through him.  For Christ is the light of the world.  He is the source of life that was given to him by his father in heaven.  The disciples must understand this important concept so that they can teach it to others.  We will loose our life if it is for ourselves.  But if we lose our life for Christ we find it preserved with  more abundance in Christ.  Even today for those who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, complete commitment is the requirement.  Complete acceptance is the key.  Surrender of ones life will bring life alive again in Christ.  Will you lose your life for Christ?  Will you show yourself worthy of him?  Christ has a more abundant life waiting for you in Him.  Surrender your life for his name's sake and receive a new life in him.  Faith is the belief in the desire to be in Christ.  Are you in him or standing on the sidelines looking in?