This Sunday I will be
preaching on a section of Matthew 10 that includes the following verse. I am
sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves. This was Jesus speaking to his 12
apostles about to be sent out to do ministry in His name, and it wasn’t going
to be easy. When given the picture of
persecution Jesus goes on to paint it’s not something most of us would want to
sign up for. And yet if anyone claims to
be a follower of Jesus then signing up for it is exactly what we have
done. But why do we have to be sheep in
this metaphor? Sheep aren’t exactly
impressive or fierce animals. I’ve never
heard of any sports team mascots as sheep.
Bears, Lions, Bulls, Tigers, and Sharks yes, but never a cute little
lamb. But perhaps that is the point
Jesus is making. It’s a reminder that He
is the shepherd. He is the one who will
be watching over us and we need to remain humble and rely on Him.
But make no mistake we are
called to go into this world among the wolves.
I’m calling on all my fellow Christians reading this to remember
that. It’s sometimes so easy for church
folk to stay in their own little Christian bubble only associating with other
Christians. Let’s face it; that’s just
not biblical. I’m at that stage in life
where my son is about to make a decision on what college to attend and that’s
got me thinking about this Christian bubble concept a bit more. A couple of the schools he has applied to are
Christian. I’m okay with that. I graduated from a Christian college
myself. But I have to say I’m glad he
has not chosen to apply to some of the more fundamental and strict options out
there. Because the more rules and
regulations there are, the less it resembles anything like the real world. My college used to have a tag line that I
always loved; “Freedom within a framework
of faith.” I think that captures the
proper balance a Christian school should have.
I don’t mean this blog entry to turn into one about college choices so I’ll
stop here. My point is whether its
school or any other area of life I think we need to be intentional about
remaining in this world God has called us to.
And in this world we need
to be shrewd as snakes and innocent at doves.
That snake reference goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 when the
serpent is referred to as the shrewdest or craftiest of all the animals. When you look at the term shrewd from that
perspective it seems quite negative knowing the serpent represents Satan. But to be shrewd in and of itself isn’t necessarily
a bad thing. Many business minded and
successful people in this world would be considered shrewd. A shrewd business person is often insightful
and will seize opportunities and leverage them for the good of their company. And all of that can be done with integrity, although
many times it’s not. There can be a
dark side to shrewdness. If you are
shrewd with less than scrupulous intentions and motivations that’s when it can
be a very bad thing indeed; which is why Jesus follows up with the command to
be as innocent as doves. Our innocence
gets at those intentions and motivations.
Our innocence gets at what is really going on in our hearts, and God
calls on us to have clean hands and a pure heart.
I’m thankful to have a
number very successful people in my life who have done incredibly well in their
vocations who are great examples for me.
I can say of these men and women I’m thinking of that they are both
shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.
They have followed the example of Jesus and been servant-leaders in
their areas of business. I have an uncle
who worked at one of the nation’s top accounting firms. He did so well he was able to retire at age
55. He didn’t retire early so he could
enjoy the easy life; he retired early so he and my aunt could head off to China
and do mission work. That’s a “shrewd as
snakes and innocent as doves” lifestyle you can look up to; which brings me to
one final thought on the current presidential election. Don’t you think being shrewd as snakes and
innocent as doves could be a good metaphor for helping us choose who to vote
for? My hunch is if we only used the
shrewd as snakes part one candidate in particular might rise to the top. A certain businessman who has shrewdly made a
lot of money. Now throw in the innocent
as doves part for the same guy. I don’t
think I have to write anything else. You
can figure it out from there.
As we all live our lives
in the midst of this crazy mixed up world, may we all remain as shrewd as
snakes and innocent as doves.
