Matthew 10:1-42 (NLT)
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.
2 Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (also called Peter), then Andrew (Peter’s brother), James (son of Zebedee), John (James’s brother),
3 Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (the tax collector), James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus,
4 Simon (the zealot), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
5 Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans,
6 but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep.
7 Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!
9 “Don’t take any money in your money belts—no gold, silver, or even copper coins.
10 Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed.
11 “Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy person and stay in his home until you leave town.
12 When you enter the home, give it your blessing.
13 If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing.
14 If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.
15 I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day.
16 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
17 But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues.
18 You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me.
19 When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time.
20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed.
22 And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved.
23 When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, the Son of Man will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel.
24 “Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master.
25 Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names!
26 “But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.
27 What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!
28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.
34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.
35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!’
37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.
39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
40 “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.
41 If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs.
42 And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
The call and the command to go and minister in the name of the Lord – not something that Jesus tries to sugarcoat, glorify, or entice with. Going with nothing, receiving provisions (requires humility and trust), receiving rejection and persecution rather than honor and glory, and having more reason to be discouraged than not. This is the promise Jesus is giving them as they go out. This really doesn’t sound like the kind of speech that would be encouraging and inspiring, yet there is a need to understand the cost of ministry, to avoid illusions of grandeur and accolades. In fact, there are more sureties of trials than there are of popularity or success. The reward that will motivate, though, and the prize that will be pressed towards is the one that will keep the heart through all the self-doubting and wonderment if anything is being effective. It’s the knowledge that everything done is done in His name and in yielding to participation in His working. He’s the One who will be glorified, and He will be exalted in ways that may never be known. It’s in this unveiling of the realities of peril in ministry that a resolution lies in the heart of the true reward. There is also the removal of the power that personal gratification and ascension can have to corrupt and magnify discouragement in times of rejection and apparent failure. The people are not the ones for whom the work is done, although they are the intended ministry. The Lord is the One who must be their Salvation, and our only unshakeable gratification must be the pleasing of Him in obedience. What a release and liberation from the power of men to discourage or disable. Ours is a mission that makes us completely independent from the fickleness of men’s favor. If exalted, it will be God. If persecuted, it will be man, with an ever-increasing enhancement of confidence in the One who will sustain and reward on the other side of standing.