How to Face Constant Conflict as a Christian (Part 7)

Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message #171

TEXT: Matthew 10:17-20

We are moving on in our series of messages on what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Over the past few weeks, we have explored Jesus' metaphors saying that Christians are like sheep in the midst of wolves, and should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Now, we are getting into the practical instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples as He is sending them out on a missionary journey. Lord, willing, we are going to go through all of the rest of Matthew chapter 10 as we seek to understand how we should carry ourselves when we face conflict as Christians.
 
This past week, the ruling came down in the case of a Christian baker who refused to bake a cake for a homosexual couple. The Civil Rights Commission of Colorado ruled that Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Bakery had to supply wedding cakes to homosexual couples and that he and his employees had to undergo some kind of "anti-discrimination training" as well as report to the government how many people they refused to serve each quarter. This dear Christian brother has decided that he would rather not bake any wedding cakes if the government is going to try to force him to do something against his convictions such as even remotely participate in a homosexual wedding.
 
There are several more cases similar to this one pending across the country. And such instances of conflict between Christians who desire to live by Biblical principles and the world which opposes the principles of God will only increase as time goes on and as we draw near to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. To use Dr. King's phrase, in light of "the fierce urgency of now" -- in light of the fact that this passage has intense and immediate application, let us turn to Scripture and continue to see how we should face conflict as Christians from Matthew 10...