Do Not Fear Them, Fear Him

Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Pinetop, Arizona

Rev. Michael “Mick” Mathews

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 21, 2026

Sermon: “Do Not Fear Them, Fear Him”     Matthew 10:21–33

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Having a father who sets clear expectations for behavior is important for the well-being of children. It’s why we celebrate fathers in our nation today – and it’s why it’s such a tragedy that so many kids today grow up without having a father in the home. Fathers can be especially helpful in preventing their kids from using alcohol and drugs when they talk to their children about avoiding such things. Then if someone offers the kids those things, they will be more likely to reject them because they don’t want to disappoint their father. When someone offers them drugs or alcohol, they can even say something like: “No thanks, my dad would kill me.” Not that they literally expect to be killed, but they know there will be severe consequences that far outweigh any momentary thrill.

Last week, we heard how Jesus sent out the twelve apostles to spread the good news about the kingdom of heaven. The Gospel reading this week is a continuation of the instruction that He gave them as He sent them out. Jesus warned them about the severe opposition they would face as they continued to work for Him and spread His message – and it’s a reminder to us to expect the people around us to sometimes be opposed to us when we speak about Jesus as well.

Jesus warned that even close family members could turn against those who speak His message: “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.” But then Jesus offered this reassuring promise: “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:21–22). The opposition cannot last forever, and there will be an eternal blessing that comes to us in the end.

Jesus reminds us that He faced opposition too. People accused Him of being Beelzebul, the prince of the demons – claiming that the way that He was able to cast out demons was because He was working with them. Many people refused to recognize Jesus for who He truly was, namely the Son of God come down to earth as a human being. They rejected His message about God and they rejected Him – even to the point of working to put Him to death upon the cross.

Jesus tells us that if we are His disciples, His followers, His servants, then we should expect to be treated in the same way that our Master was. Would it really make sense for us to expect the sinful world to treat us better than it treated Jesus? So Jesus encouraged His apostles to just keep going. “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next” (Matthew 10:23). There will always be new people in new places who need to hear about Jesus.

Unfortunately, too many of our fellow Christians today have given in to the demands of the world rather than faithfully teaching what God’s Word says. To avoid being criticized by the world, they have gone along with the world’s message. This is especially the case when it comes to addressing the sexual sin of homosexuality. There are churches that go along with celebrating June as “Pride Month,” endorsing and promoting sexual sin in order to go along with the world. Thanks be to God that there are still strong Christians and strong churches who warn people that homosexual behavior is destructive, but God offers a better way to those who repent of sin, receive forgiveness through Jesus, and live the way God has designed for us.

There will be cost for promoting a message that the world hates. You may have heard about the struggle of two courageous Lutherans in Finland – one a pastor and the other a laywoman who has served as a member of the Finnish parliament. A number of years back they published a pamphlet promoting the Biblical view of marriage and sexuality. They were hauled into court for promoting so-called “hate speech” by criticizing support for homosexuality. After seven years of legal battles, they were recently found guilty by the Finnish Supreme Court, and now they will have to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights. They continue to fight so that the truth of God’s Word can be spoken without restriction in Finland and in the rest of Europe.

Why don’t they give in as so many others have, in both Europe and the United States? They know that they ultimately will answer to a higher authority than anyone on earth. They will one day have to answer to our Heavenly Father, and they do not want to disappoint Him.

In this way, they are like the prophet Jeremiah of old. God gave Jeremiah a message to speak, and it was an unpopular one. God had Jeremiah warn the people that God was about to let Jerusalem be overthrown by its enemies. The people mocked him for always talking about “violence and destruction” (Jeremiah 20:8). They refused to take his warning to heart (even though it did eventually come true). But Jeremiah found that he could not keep silent about the message God had given him. Even when he tried to remain silent, the message was like a burning fire shut up in his bones. He just could not hold it in. He had to tell it. He had to speak God’s truth.

Jesus encouraged His apostles to keep speaking the truth also, even when they faced opposition for it. He said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Even if the world punishes you for speaking God’s truth, what’s the worst that they can do? Kill you? If they do that, what more can they do? They can kill your body, but they can’t kill your soul. And what happens to you after this life is safe and secure because God has given you a place in His kingdom through faith in Jesus. He will raise your body at the last day so that you spend eternal life with Him. But for those who reject God and His truth, God will send them body and soul in hell.

So Jesus encourages us not to worry about what might happen to us if we continue to believe His message and proclaim it. Our Father in heaven takes care of everything in the world, down to the smallest detail. He knows about the life of every sparrow. He knows about every single hair on your head. He knows what to do to preserve you in your faith and to bring you safely to Him in eternal life. We have fellow believers in Christ today around the world whose lives are under threat for their faith. Christians who live in Islamic countries and communist countries are executed for their faith on a regular basis. We pray for them to be faithful, and we pray for God to keep us faithful as well. For Jesus says, “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32–33).

Jesus has blessed us with the only message that can save us from sin, death, and hell. It is a message of both warning and of hope, as St. Paul puts it in Romans: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Every single human being is a sinner who deserves God’s anger and punishment. We all equally deserve death and hell. But God has chosen instead to give us eternal life with Him. He sent Jesus to suffer the death that we deserve, so that all of our sins would be paid for. God put our sins on Jesus, and He now puts Jesus’ righteousness on us. We don’t have to do anything for this gift to be ours. God gives it to us freely, without us having to do a thing except receive what He gives us. But then, in gratitude for such a free gift, we ask God to help us to live now in the way that pleases Him. We turn from living a life as a slave of sin to living as a slave to righteousness – as children who want to live in love and respect toward our loving and caring Heavenly Father.

And the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jeremiah 20:7      O LORD, you have deceived me,

                  and I was deceived;

       you are stronger than I,

                  and you have prevailed.

       I have become a laughingstock all the day;

                  everyone mocks me.

8    For whenever I speak, I cry out,

                  I shout, “Violence and destruction!”

       For the word of the LORD has become for me

                  a reproach and derision all day long.

9    If I say, “I will not mention him,

                  or speak any more in his name,”

       there is in my heart as it were a burning fire

                  shut up in my bones,

       and I am weary with holding it in,

                  and I cannot.

10  For I hear many whispering.

                  Terror is on every side!

       “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”

                  say all my close friends,

                  watching for my fall.

       “Perhaps he will be deceived;

                  then we can overcome him

                  and take our revenge on him.”

11  But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior;

                  therefore my persecutors will stumble;

                  they will not overcome me.

       They will be greatly shamed,

                  for they will not succeed.

       Their eternal dishonor

                  will never be forgotten.

12  O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous,

                  who sees the heart and the mind,

       let me see your vengeance upon them,

                  for to you have I committed my cause.

13  Sing to the LORD;

                  praise the LORD!

       For he has delivered the life of the needy

                  from the hand of evildoers.

Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 10:5a These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them …

Matthew 10:21 “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Matthew 10:24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Matthew 10:26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”