A Disciple Serves

This morning we are jumping back into our study on discipleship. If you remember, we’ve been working through some definitions for discipleship. We’ve seen that a disciple is chosen and loved by God. We’ve found that a disciple abides and communes with Christ. And, we’ve understood that a disciple is to imitate Christ and to vigilantly wait on his return. Today, I want you to understand that a disciple serves others because he desires to honor Christ. To see this, let’s read Matt. 10:40-42. From this passage I want to consider two questions: Who is the disciple to serve? And, why is the disciple to serve?

First, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ to serve? I chose this passage specifically because it is one of the most used passages, by both Christians and non-Christians, about the expectations of the church. Christian service organizations will use the phrase, “give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name” as their motto. Church members will criticize a church’s budget because we aren’t doing enough to “give a cup of cold water.” Unbelievers will try to summarize what the church should be doing in the world, saying, “You know, Jesus was all about service and giving a cup of cold water.” So, I have some selfish motivation in choosing this passage because I want to clear up some misunderstandings around the expectation that Christians should serve their fellow man.

First, we need to understand what Jesus means by “receive”. The Greek word he uses is “dechomai”, which can mean to accept or grant access to. It is the idea of showing hospitality. To receive someone is to welcome them, to invite them into your home, to serve them food. For example, in Matt. 10:14, Jesus tells his disciples that judgment will come on the town that does not receive them on their missionary journeys. At the core of Christian service is the practice of hospitality. Hospitality is not just a sector of the economy, nor is it just being good to acquaintances that come over for a cup of coffee. The Greek word for “hospitality” is “philoxenos”, which literally means “love for the stranger.” It is loving generosity extended to those who are outside of your family or clan. Hospitality is the act of showing someone basic kindness, not because they are related to you or because they are your friend, but simply because of your love for your fellow man.

So, now that we understand that, let’s go back to the question of who we are to receive or be hospitable to. Jesus answers this question by giving us one group, and then breaking that group down into three subgroups. He says in verse 40, “Whoever receives you receives me.” So, who is the Christian to serve? We are to serve other disciples. Gal. 6:10 puts it this way, “Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” We are to receive (or be hospitable to) other believers. We are to care for and love other disciples.

Jesus then expands this group into three subgroups. First, he says in verse 41, “The one who receives a prophet… will receive a prophet’s reward.” In the history of Israel, prophets were despised by their own people. In Matt. 5:12, Jesus reminds his disciples that the prophets of the OT were persecuted for holding to the Word of God. In Matt. 13:57, Jesus rebukes his own hometown because they would not receive him as a prophet. To bear the word of God to a lost world and a rebellious people can be a lonely, persecuted calling. Disciples of Jesus Christ should be ready to receive and love the one who brings the Word of God. Whether it be your pastor, Sunday school teacher, or just your brother or sister in Christ, if someone brings the Word of God to bear in your life, even if it hurts because it challenges sin, you should not shun or reject, but you should welcome that person.

Second, in verse 41, Jesus says that “the one who receives a righteous person… will receive a righteous person’s reward.” Just as prophets were despised by the wicked and rebellious of Israel, so too were those who were truly righteous. As Psalm 37:32 says, “The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.” We see this more and more in our society – to speak the truth against sin, to live in a way that is right and good, will bring reproach from this world. To live in a faithful, committed marriage is seen as repressive to individual sexual freedom. To have children and raise up the next generation is viewed as a burden to the environment. Even to say that a man is a man is labeled as hate speech. Just as light is abhorred by creatures of the night, so too righteousness is despised by those who walk in evil. But, disciples of Christ are to be different. We are to receive the righteous person as though he is Christ himself. Now, it may seem that this should go without saying, but Christians can, especially in our day, be pulled between two worlds. I see it every day on social media – a group of pastors or theologians will berate their brother or sister in Christ because that person post something that, until 5 minutes ago, every Christian believed to be true. A pastor will post, “God made the world in 6 days”, and compromising believers will pile on, “How dare you embarrass us with these quaint ideas!” And that really is the heart of the matter. Believers are often embarrassed by the righteousness of their brothers and sisters. So, in an effort to fit in with the world, they will belittle and reject them. But, Jesus says that the true disciple is one who receives the righteous, even if that righteousness convicts us.

In verse 42, Jesus gives us the third subgroup: “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… will by no means lose his reward.” When we read this phrase, “little ones”, I think we automatically assume that Jesus is speaking of children, but that’s not necessarily the case. Certainly, there are places where Jesus commands us to receive children (Matt. 18:15), but the word literally means “the least”. What Jesus has in mind is another group that is often despised by the world (and even the church, sadly). The least covers anyone that we would naturally assume to be less than, unworthy, outcast. In Jesus’s day, it included children, women, slaves, the diseased, and the disabled. And, I don’t know that things are much different today. It is certainly the case that even today, our first reaction when we see a physically or mentally disabled person, is to ignore or reject them. It is certainly the case, even today, that our first reaction in meeting a person of a lower economic status would be to move along quickly. Yet, the disciple of Christ is called to serve just these types of people. James 2:3-4 says, “If you pay attention to the one who wears fine clothing… while you [belittle] the poor man… have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

Now that we understand the “who” of Christian service, we need to ask, why should we serve? In our passage, with every group that Jesus calls us to receive, he says that the one who receives these people will receive a reward. He says if you receive a prophet you receive a prophet’s reward. If you receive the righteous, you receive the righteous man’s reward. And, if you care the for the least, you will not lose your reward. So, Jesus clearly intends to motivate us to serve others by dangling in front of us the hope of reward. Some scholars teach that there are rewards that the Christian earns for his obedience, and I think there is some ground for that. But, I don’t think that is what Jesus means by “reward” here. Rather, I agree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer when he wrote, “He who offers a cup of cold water to the weakest and poorest who bears no honorable name has ministered to Christ himself, and Jesus Christ will be his reward.” The reward of Christian service is that we serve Christ when we serve our brothers and sisters, and by doing so we receive the reward of life with Christ. After all, what is the “prophet’s reward”? Eternal life with Jesus. What is the righteous person’s reward? Eternal life with Jesus. To love the one’s that Christ loves is definitive evidence that we are part of the household of faith. As Jesus tells the sheep at the great judgment pictured in Matt. 25:40 – “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

There is another motivation for Christian service that is related to this. In John 13:14-15, after washing his disciples feet, Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet… a servant is not greater than his master.” So, we are to serve because we follow our master. Jesus came as the servant of men. He is our Lord, and we should serve as he served. As Eugene Peterson put it, “God did not become a servant so that we could order him around but so that we could join him in a redemptive life.”

Brothers and sisters, as disciples of Christ, we are called to love the ones that the world despises. We are to love the one who carries the word of God. We are to love the righteous as we seek to live in righteousness. We are to love the least, the outcast, the despised, the vulnerable. We do this because we love our Lord Jesus, and we want to serve as he has served us.