Acknowledging Jesus (Matthew 10:32-33)
I had been with the Main Street church about six months when a brother responded to the invitation hymn. When he stepped out in the aisle, I started sweating profusely—I couldn’t remember his name! After the invitation hymn, I hoped that either this man would let his name slip or my brain would begin functioning. Nope! I had to lean over to a man I knew rather well and say, “I can’t think of your name. What is it?”
You’ve never struggled with names, have you? You have never called a child by the wrong name. You have never talked to someone in the grocery store and had no idea what her name was. You have never gone to introduce someone to a friend and forgot a name.
Forgetting names is embarrassing. Yet, there’s one name no one had better forget—the name of Jesus. Jesus made clear: “Jesus acknowledges those who acknowledge him.”
Scripture (Matthew 10:32-33)
verse 32:
In Greek, “acknowledge” means “confess” and it literally means “to say the same thing.” The word basically means to agree with a truth; however, when coupled with the preposition “before,” as here, the word carries the nuance of testifying in court. Jesus painted a picture of one standing before a judge and saying, “Jesus is the Son of God.” Whoever testifies to the truth of Jesus, the Lord will acknowledge him before the Father.
verse 33:
The converse is also true; if someone refuses to acknowledge Jesus, the Lord will not acknowledge him before the Father.
Application
“Jesus acknowledges those who acknowledge him.” How can you make sure Jesus acknowledges you as his own?
Jesus spoke these words to the apostles. Yes, he said “everyone,” and that makes these verses applicable to everyone. However, Jesus spoke these words to the Twelve as he sent them “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 10:6). Because Jesus spoke to his disciples in a miraculous age, some of this text doesn’t apply directly today. But this text is truth, and we want to hear how one can acknowledge Jesus.
“Jesus acknowledges those who acknowledge him.” Therefore:
One: You Acknowledge Jesus with your Body
“Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues” (Matt 10:17). A disciple of Jesus acknowledges the Lord without regard for his Body.
Disciples throughout the ages have acknowledged the Lord without regard for the Body. The author of Hebrews noted that Old Testament saints “suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated” (Heb 11:36-37). New Testament saints likewise acknowledged Jesus without regard for the Body:
- Stephen was stoned.
- “Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:1-2).
- Antipas, Jesus’s faithful witness, was killed in Pergamum (Rev 2:12).
You will likely never die for acknowledging Jesus, so how do you acknowledge Jesus with your Body? “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). Instead of sinning in your Body, you live for Jesus. Have you honestly “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”?
Two: You Acknowledge Jesus with your Broadcast
“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour” (Matt 10:19). “What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” (Matt 10:27). A disciple of Jesus will Broadcast his faith.
The Apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and spoke directly from Jesus. The Holy Spirit will not give you what to say; however, Scripture reveals Jesus’s words. The words of Jesus are imperishable: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31). Jesus’s words bring eternal life: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (Jn 8:51).
Do you Broadcast Jesus? Do those around you know you’re a Christian? Do they see your faith in your lifestyle? Do they see your faith in the way you dress, in the way you talk, in your entertainment? Do you share all the wonderful things Jesus has done? Do you Broadcast the gospel?
Three: You Acknowledge Jesus with your Blood
“Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (Matt 10:21-22). A disciple of Jesus will put the Lord above his flesh and Blood.
Not even one’s family can interfere with his Christian life. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26).
When it comes to acknowledging Jesus, how important is Blood? If your parent does wrong, do you do wrong just to get along? If a child does wrong, would you call him out? If a sibling worships in error, do you attend sometimes to keep peace? How important is Blood? How important is Jesus?
Do you need to acknowledge Jesus this morning?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.