" Seize the cross " -- Matthew 10: 34-47 -- Rev. John W. Armstrong

Sermon notes:

 

Seize the cross (Matthew 10:34-42)

I.     Christ divides us from _____________ (vv.34-37)

A.  Charity begins at home.  So does ________________ for the sake of Christ.

1.  Jesus invades our family space, claiming to be the most important ____________ in our lives!

2.  Jesus brings peace with God, but not all receive His peace.  Opposition results.

3.  “A good war is sent [into each home] to break a bad peace” (St. Jerome).

B.  Compromise never involves wholesale capitulation to worldly ways.  Rather, it __________________ them.

C.  Disciples walk the narrow way between family ________________ and family neglect (vv.35-37; 1 Timothy 5:8).

 

II.    Christ divides you from _______________ (i.e. from your old way of life; vv.38-39).

A.  “take” (v.38; Greek: lambano) = (1) To take on one’s own initiative, or (2) to passively receive.  In v. 38, its meaning is __________________.

B.  The cross is not something we grudgingly accept but ________________ take up/embrace (Isaiah 50:5-7; Luke 9:51).

C.  To take up the cross is the daily decision to give fearless ______________ to Christ (vv.32-33).

 

III.   Your absolute importance to others (vv.40-42)!

A.  In __________, Jesus Himself confronts others, and in Jesus, God Himself confronts them!

B.  “You are the latest _____________ in a venerable chain of missioners          extending from the missionary God Himself” (F. Dale Bruner).

C.  We scatter blessings wherever we go (Martin Franzmann)!