LESSON VI.--NOVEMBER 6.

CONFESSING CHRIST.--MATT. 10:32-42.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven.--MATT. 10:32.
      TIME.-A. D. 28. Immediately after the first commission to the apostles.
      PLACE.--Somewhere near the sea of Galilee.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Matt. 16:13-16; Acts 8:35-37; Rom. 10:8-11; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 12:8-12; Matt. 10:9-31.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. Confession of Christ; 2. Peace or a Sword; 3. Taking Up the Cross.

INTRODUCTION.

      The Lord not only called the twelve disciples and educated them for an apostleship, but he appointed them and commissioned them to go forth and preach. In connection with the commission he gave a charge, and spoke a discourse. The present lesson is the concluding portion of that discourse. This portion of the discourse is peculiar to Matthew, though some of the sayings occur in the other gospels. As such trials and emergencies as are described did not occur on this first missionary journey of the apostles, some have supposed that the discourse belongs to a later period. But Matthew, himself an apostle, and present, would be most likely to record the whole discourse. The Twelve alone were prepared for so early a revelation about persecution.--Schaff.

      I. CONFESSION OF CHRIST.--32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men. [303] The Lord has pointed out in the preceding part of the discourse the hardships which will visit his disciples, the hate of the world and persecution. Then to encourage endurance he gives various grounds of encouragement. 1. The Master was called on to suffer and the disciple is not above the Master. 2. Every secret will be brought to light and all injustice visited upon his disciples will be made known. 3. Their enemies might kill the body but they could not destroy the soul. 4. The Father's watch-care would be over his disciples continually, and 6. The last and greatest motive to faithful endurance was that every one who confessed Christ before men he would confess before his Father in heaven. To confess Christ does not mean to accept some particular creed, but to publicly acknowledge the Lord, and to live before men as his servant. It implies, 1. A confession of faith in him with the lips, such a confession as Peter made. Matt. 16:16, and the Eunuch, Acts 8:37. Paul describes this confession in Rom. 10:10 when he says: "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." It implies, 2. An acknowledgment of Christ by obedience and by giving the life to his service. Confession is a demonstration of faith, (1) by public acknowledgment, and (2) by an obedient life. A verbal acknowledgment of Christ is not enough if the life is a denial, for it then shows that the acknowledgment was a lie. The two must correspond. Him will I confess. Christ sitting on the throne of judgment promises to acknowledge as his own faithful brother, as one saved by his grace, every one who has thus acknowledged him before men. All who come out on this side and who remain true to him spite of temptation, trial and tribulation, will receive the eternal reward.

      33. But whosoever shall deny me before men. The Jews denied him when they rejected him as Messiah. All who refuse to receive him as their Lord and King deny him still. The recreant disciple who through the cares of the world turns away from Christian life denies him. Peter denied him in the hour of trial, through fear, but repented, confessed him boldly, even unto death, and was forgiven. The denial of Christ may be the silent denial of a life that refuses him, or may be made with the lips, or may show itself in deeds. In the times of persecution which he had just described there would be a great temptation to deny him to save one's life. The Church of Philadelphia, one of the Seven Churches of Asia, was commended because in a time of persecution it had not denied the name of the Lord. Him will I also deny. The treatment awarded above will be that visited by men on the Lord here. Those who receive him will be received; those who reject him will be rejected; those who confess him will be confessed and those who deny him, denied. To be denied by Christ is eternal condemnation. As an explanation of what confession or denial [304] before the Father is, turn to Matt. 25:31-46 and read Christ's description of the eternal judgment.

      II. PEACE OR A SWORD.--34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. These seem like strong words from him whom the prophet called "The Prince of Peace," at whose advent angels sang of peace and good will among men; and he pronounced a blessing upon peace makers. At first glance it would seem that this passage was inconsistent with those who describe him as the Prince of Peace. It is not, however. He came to create peace, peace among men, peace between man and God, peace in the human soul; but the immediate effect of his mission was to stir up commotion. Often a place has to be conquered. All who attempt to reform the world, deliver men from thraldom, or lift them to a higher life will meet with opposition and arouse contention. Elijah, John the Baptist, Luther, Wilberforce, the anti-slavery and temperance reformers are examples. Christ has to conquer a peace by overcoming the evil that is in the way of peace. Hence, to preach the gospel of purity and peace always arouses the opposition of the evil doer. Evil has to be put down before peace can prevail. Hence, while the great end that Christ proposes is peace, the immediate result of his coming, and of the preaching of the gospel, was opposition and bloodshed. I come . . but a sword. The only sword that Christ or his followers use in the conflict is the Sword of the Spirit, but the persecutor has in every age turned upon them the carnal sword. Christ and almost every one of the apostles listening to him died by violence. Their preaching unsheathed the sword, but it was bathed in their own blood.

      35. For I come to set a man at variance with his father. This was not the Savior's object, but the effect. The conversion of individual members of the family would cause variance. In nearly all quarrels, except those about religion, the members of the same families stand together, but in religious feuds the family circle is often broken and its parts arrayed against each other. When a man abandons the religion of his ancestors, his own kindred feel more keenly than others the shame which the world attaches to the act, and are exasperated against the supposed apostate in a degree proportionate to their nearness to him. Jesus came to set a man thus at variance with his kindred, because this evil is unavoidable in saving some.--McGarvey.

      36. A man's foes shall be of his own household. This has been verified [305] thousands of times. Many a convert has been turned out of home and banished by kindred, because he had confessed Christ.

      37. He that loveth father or mother more than me. The Lord does not require of us to love these less but him more. Love for him must become the dominant principle of life. This is the idea in the strong expression of Luke 14:26, 27. The connection with what precedes is: Love to Christ may divide families and separate parents and children, but is superior to family affection, due one who has done more for us, and to one who has stronger claims. No parent has loved us with a supreme, pure, unselfish love like that of Christ. Not worthy of me. No one is worthy of Christ, but the love Christ gives creates the love that Christ claims, and is the reward for all the trials and self-sacrifices here spoken of.--Schaff.

      III. TAKING UP THE CROSS.--38. He that taketh not his cross. Luke adds, daily; not once, but all the time. The cross is the pain of the self-denial required. The cross is the symbol of doing our duty, even at the cost of the most painful death. Christ obeyed God, and carried out his work for the salvation of men, though it required him to die upon the cross in order to do it. And ever since, the cross has stood as the emblem, not of suffering, but of suffering for the sake of Christ and his gospel; as the highest ideal of obedience to God at any and every cost. Observe, his own cross, not some other man's. Compare Heb. 12:1, "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Observe, too, on the one hand, that the Christian is not merely to bear the inevitable cross laid upon him, but to take up the cross voluntarily. The connection between this and the preceding is clear: Not only must you accept the doctrine of a suffering Messiah, if you are to be my disciple you must possess my spirit of willing self-sacrifice for love's sake. The point of duty for us, as for the Master, is not to seek the cross, but by the cross to seek the glory of the resurrection, which is found in no other path. The cross for the cross, never; but the cross for the Lord, always.--A. Monod. And follow me. To follow Christ is to take him for our master, our teacher, our example; to believe his doctrines, to uphold his cause, to obey his precepts, and to do it though it leads to heaven by the way of the cross. It is not merely to do right, but to do right for his sake, under his leadership, and according to his teaching.--P. "The Christian," says Luther, " is a Crucian." The Savior pictures to his hearers a procession. He himself takes the lead with his cross. He is the chief Crucian. All his disciples follow. Each has his own particular cross. But the direction of the procession, when one looks far enough, is toward the heavenly glory.--Morison. [306]

      39. He that findeth his life shall lose it. Whoever counts his life of so much value that he will preserve it by sacrificing his Christian integrity, or will renounce his religion to save his life, will find in the end that he has lost his soul forever for the sake of a few fleeting years; while he who gives up all things, even life itself, will find an abundant reward in the life eternal. All self-seeking is self-losing. Even in the spiritual things, he who is perpetually studying how to secure joy and peace for himself loses it. A certain measure of self-forgetfulness is the condition of the highest success even in Christian grace.--Abbott. As if one should say to a husbandman, "If you spare and keep your grain you lose it; if you sow it, you give it life." For who is so ignorant as not to know that the grain sown is lost to our sight and perishes in the earth? But, by the very means of rotting in the dust, it springs forth to a renewal of life (John 12:24, 25).--Bede.

      40. He that receiveth you, receiveth me. They would go forth in Christ's name, as his servants and embassadors. They carried his message, and to receive it and them was virtually receiving him. An insult offered to a king's representative is an insult to the king.

      41. In the name of a prophet. That is, because he is a prophet. The apostles themselves were prophets. He who hospitably received a prophet, as a prophet, would receive the reward due a prophet, or become a partaker of his work and reward. The same would be true of a righteous man.

      42. Whosoever shall give to drink to these little ones. By the "little ones" are probably meant Christ's disciples. A cup of cold water only. The smallest act of kindness. If done "because be was a disciple," or out of regard for Christ, he should never lose his reward. Good deeds are never lost.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      Of the man who is so silly as to be ashamed of Christ, Christ will be [307] ashamed. What a proof of a weak mind that a man should be ashamed to save his soul to turn away from hell, and to follow a divine Lord!

      Christ will not allow us to be cowards. We must be soldiers, soldiers who keep flags flying and proclaim their calling.

      CONFESSION must be made with the lips, and in act. There must be faith in the heart, but it must not be kept in secret. Christ demands a confession of faith in him before men. Too many confess a creed instead of Christ. To the confession of the mouth must be added the demonstration of life. Baptism is a profession; the daily life, attendance at worship, keeping the ordinances, speaking for Christ, all these are acts of confession. Christ made the "good confession" and was sentenced to death for it; we make the good confession and the sentence of death is taken away.

      THE SWORD.--The Christian is a soldier. His life is a battle. Sin is aggressive. He must carry the war into Africa and fight sin. Wrong and Right will grapple and he must be for the Right. It is when the battle is over and eternity comes that he shall have peace. Then he shall sing of victory and wear the white robes of a victor.

      BEARING THE CROSS.--In The Cross-Bearer, a little book published by the American Tract Society, is a series of illustrations from French pictures, showing the right and the wrong ways of bearing the cross. One picture represents the disciple as sawing off a part of his cross. He would bear the cross, but the one Christ gave him was too heavy. Another is dragging his cross behind him with a cord, being ashamed of it. Another is worshiping his cross, crowning it with flowers, instead of bearing it; praising religion, but not practicing it. At last one comes with his Master before him, bearing his cross, while the disciple walks in the Master's footsteps, and carries his cross exactly like the Master does.--P.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note the four things spoken of in this lesson as belonging to discipleship of Christ: (1) Confessing, or professing; (2) Fighting; (3) Bearing his standard (the cross); (4) Suffering. 2. Note that these are all duties of the soldier: He must (1) take the oath to his country and leader; (2) Fight bravely, (3) March under the flag; (4) Be willing to endure hardness as a good soldier. 3. Bring out what confession is, point to Peter's confession, that of the eunuch; that of living and dying for Christ; show who the confessors are. 4. Show what denying Christ is; how Peter denied; how Judas denied; how the Jews denied him; how sinners now deny him. 5. Point out how Christ brings war; why the Christian must be a warrior; what sword we must fight with; what we must fight; when peace will come; who are counted victors. 6. Having brought out how the soldier is enlisted, and what weapons he fights with, next point to his banner. Show that the soldiers of every country bear a banner; what that of the Christian soldier is; how he bears the cross; how he prepares to bear it. 7. Show that the cross is borne, not by wearing crosses, or bowing before crosses, or making the sign of the cross, but by following Christ, the great Cross-Bearer, taking his example, denying self, suffering for him, and doing his work. [308]

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: