Jesus Has just finished his instructions on how to Send a Preacher and on how a Preacher is to be sent and now He addresses the relationship of the disciple to the Teacher (Master.) We are all to be students of the One Master, Jesus. Not students of the disciples to come.

Even the greatest teacher in the world today is merely a student of Jesus pointing our worship and actions to being more like Him on a daily basis. There are 2 dangers here. One, some churches teach the the subsequent disciples of Jesus had the authority to pass down apostolic gifts and authority that was never theirs to give.

And two, that churches would divide themselves on the basis of who the teacher is. And unfortunately, many were priding themselves on being students of Peter or Paul, when it was always the intention that they model their behavior after Christ. Jesus is saying, those are just My students, Follow Me. We should be pointing the lost to Jesus, not Peter, not Paul, not a Pope or prophet, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Now Jesus applies that teaching to the scribes and Pharisees who were claiming that the miracles being done were from the power and influence of Satan. So Jesus says, Don't fear them.
No secret will remain secret. The selfish desires of those who hinder the outreach of the gospel will be broadcast for all to hear. Imagine all the times a church leader has insisted on self serving motivations but phrased it in such a way that he is fooling himself that his motivation is for God.

All that will become known by everyone. Jesus increases the stakes and tells his disciples to not even fear death at their hands because they only have authority to kill the body, the temporary home of our soul. They do not, however, have power over the soul, the eternal.

God has the power to destroy both our temporary and our eternal bodies. So when there is a fear of teaching truth for fear of offending others, preach it anyway. Our role as disciples of Christ is to be teachers, to be like Him and many times that means rejecting the worldly standard summed up with the lie called, “being more open minded” and compromising the gospel message.

He then compares the worth of his believers to that of many sparrows, showing that God cares enough to provide for mere birds, how much more so are we valued over sparrows? He says God even knows the number of hairs on our heads. He is affirming the value we have as followers of Jesus but then gives us a clear warning.
He says that those who deny Him in the presence of men, He also will deny in the presence of His Father. The thought of reaching the day of judgment only to hear Jesus deny knowing you is a frightening thing.

The question remains then, are we denying Him to the point at which He will deny us? Are we insisting that hell isn't real? That all people are saved? That discussing the consequences of sin is too negative? Then we are denying His power and His purpose for coming. And if we are doing that we aren't “another way to god’ we are liars.

Jesus then makes it clear that he didn't come to create a Kumba yah attitude amongst ‘good’ people. He came to divide believers from non believers even if that divide separates father and child, brother and sister. And if we aren't willing to love Jesus more than family, we aren't loving Him enough.

Then Jesus adds the last requirement. We must be willing to love Jesus so much that we would surrender our very lives. Unless we are willing to take up our cross and follow him, we are not being the students Jesus wants us to be. If that means leaving a religion that is anti-scriptural, or that there is a risk of an honor killing because you chose Jesus, the choice is clear, it must be done. If it means being disinherited, or shunned by family Jesus must come first.



Matthew 10:24-39
[24] “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. [25] It is enough for the disciple that he may become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they insult the members of his household! [26] “So do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. [27] What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops. [28] And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. [29] Are two sparrows not sold for an assarion? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. [30] But even the hairs of your head are all counted. [31] So do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows. [32] “Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before people, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. [33] But whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. [34] “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. [35] For I came to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; [36] and a person’s enemies will be the members of his household. [37] “The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. [38] And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. [39] The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it.