The Great Chain of Welcome: The Reward of Service Text: Matthew 10:40-42
Introduction: The Cosmic Welcome Mat
We live in an age that prides itself on its tolerance, its inclusivity, its broad-minded welcome. But this is a cheap welcome, a flimsy welcome mat laid over a trap door. Our culture welcomes everything except righteousness and excludes nothing except the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ. It is a welcome that leads nowhere, offered by people who are themselves cosmic orphans. They offer you a place at their table, but the table is floating in a void. They offer you a key to their house, but the house is built on the sand of relativism, and a storm is coming.
The Lord Jesus Christ, at the end of this great commissioning of His disciples, concludes with a different kind of welcome. It is a welcome that is fiercely exclusive in its foundation but gloriously expansive in its application. It is a welcome into the very life of the Triune God. And it is a welcome that has consequences, both for those who extend it and for those who receive it. It is a welcome that carries weight, a welcome that bestows reward, a welcome that links a simple cup of cold water given on earth to the very throne room of heaven.
In these three verses, Jesus lays out what we could call the great chain of welcome. It is a principle of divine representation. To welcome the King's messenger is to welcome the King. To welcome the King is to welcome the One who sent Him. This is not a sentimental platitude about being nice to people. This is a foundational principle of kingdom economics and eternal diplomacy. How we treat the least of Christ's ambassadors is how we are treating Christ Himself. This passage teaches us that there are no small acts of faithfulness. Every handshake, every meal, every glass of water given in the name of a disciple is an eternal investment, a transaction recorded in the ledgers of heaven. It is a truth that rearranges our priorities and redefines what constitutes a significant life.
The Text
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”
(Matthew 10:40-42 LSB)
The Principle of Representation (v. 40)
We begin with the foundational axiom of all Christian service and hospitality:
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me." (Matthew 10:40)
This is the doctrine of divine embassy. The disciples are being sent out as plenipotentiaries of the King. A plenipotentiary is an ambassador invested with the full power of the sovereign. To insult him is to insult the king he represents. To receive him is to receive the king. Jesus is establishing a direct, unbreakable link between Himself and His followers. When they knock on a door in some dusty Galilean village, it is not just Peter or John standing on the threshold; it is, in a profound and covenantal sense, Jesus Christ Himself.
This principle demolishes all our pietistic attempts to separate our love for God from our love for our brother. You cannot claim to love Christ while despising His people. You cannot say, "Jesus, you are welcome in my heart, but your followers can stay on the porch." To receive the body is to receive the Head. John says it with his typical bluntness: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar" (1 John 4:20). Jesus here gives us the mechanics of why that is true. The church is not an organization that represents Christ; it is the organism that is the body of Christ. To welcome a hand or a foot is to welcome the person to whom they belong.
But the chain does not stop with Jesus. "He who receives Me receives Him who sent Me." This is a staggering claim. To welcome a travel-stained disciple into your home for the night is to welcome the Lord of glory, and in doing so, to welcome God the Father, the sovereign creator of the heavens and the earth. This is a Trinitarian welcome. The Father sends the Son, the Son sends the disciples, and the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit. The entire Godhead is invested in this mission. This means that hospitality to a believer is not just a good deed. It is a profoundly theological act. It is participating in the very fellowship of the Trinity. When you set a plate for a visiting missionary, you are setting a plate for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is why persecution of the church is such a high-handed sin. When Saul was breathing out threats and murder against the disciples, Jesus did not say, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting My followers?" He said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4). An attack on the embassy is an act of war against the sovereign.
The Principle of Shared Reward (v. 41)
From the principle of representation, Jesus moves to the principle of reward. The welcome is not only cosmic in its reach but also in its recompense.
"He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward." (Matthew 10:41 LSB)
Notice the crucial phrase: "in the name of a prophet." This is not about being nice to a man who happens to be a prophet. It is about receiving him because he is a prophet. It is about recognizing his office, honoring his message, and identifying with his mission. The motive is everything. You are not just giving a bed to a man named Isaiah; you are giving a bed to the prophet of the Lord. You are siding with him. You are saying, "His God is my God, his message is my message, and his enemies are my enemies."
And the result of this identification is a shared reward. The one who provides the base of operations shares in the victory. The one who holds the ropes for the man going down into the well shares in the reward of the rescue. God does not just reward the preacher in the pulpit; He rewards the woman who watched his children so he could study. He does not just reward the missionary in the jungle; He rewards the saints who paid for his mosquito net. This is kingdom partnership. Not everyone is called to be a prophet, but everyone is called to receive a prophet. Not everyone has the gift of public righteousness, but everyone can honor and support a righteous man.
This is a great encouragement to those who feel their service is small or unseen. In God's economy, faithful support is as valuable as faithful proclamation. The widow of Zarephath, who fed Elijah from her last bit of flour and oil, shared in the reward of his prophetic ministry. She did not just get to live; she was brought into the central storyline of God's redemptive history. When you support a faithful minister of the gospel, you are not just helping him do his work; you are participating in his work. His reward becomes, in part, your reward. This is a glorious truth that should fuel our generosity and fellowship.
The Principle of Small Things (v. 42)
Lest anyone think this applies only to supporting the "big names", the prophets and famous righteous men, Jesus brings it down to the most humble level imaginable.
"And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42 LSB)
Here we see the stunning grace of our Lord. He moves from a prophet, to a righteous man, down to "one of these little ones." Who are the little ones? They are the ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill disciples. They are the new converts, the weak, the unimpressive, the ones without a platform. They are the very people the world overlooks. And the act of service is scaled down as well: from providing lodging and meals to providing "even a cup of cold water." This is the bare minimum of hospitality in a hot, dusty climate. It is an act that anyone, no matter how poor, could perform.
And yet, the promise is just as certain. "Truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." The motive is the same: it must be done "in the name of a disciple", that is, because the person is a follower of Jesus. You are not just quenching a man's thirst; you are serving a brother for whom Christ died. You are recognizing Christ in him. And for that small, almost invisible act of faithfulness, God promises a reward that cannot be lost.
This verse is the death of all spiritual pride and all excuses. You may say, "I cannot host a prophet, for I have no room." Or, "I cannot fund a righteous man, for I have no money." But can you give a cup of cold water? Can you offer a word of encouragement? Can you show simple kindness to a fellow believer because he belongs to Jesus? Then you are in line for an eternal reward. God sees the motive of the heart. He is not measuring the size of the gift, but the love and faithfulness behind it. The widow's two mites were more in God's sight than the overflowing coffers of the rich. A cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple outweighs a banquet given for show.
Conclusion: The Great Reversal
These verses, coming at the end of this chapter on mission, frame the entire Christian life. Our life is one of being sent, and of receiving those who are sent. We are all, at various times, the messenger and the one who provides the welcome.
The world's system of rewards is based on power, influence, and spectacular achievement. God's system of rewards is based on faithfulness in small things, on love for His people, and on recognizing Jesus in the least of His brethren. The world honors the one who receives the celebrity. God honors the one who gives a cup of cold water to a "little one."
This is the great reversal of the gospel. The Son of God came not to be served, but to serve. He is the great Prophet and the truly Righteous One, and yet He was not received. He was despised and rejected. But through His rejection, He opened the way for us to be received by the Father. He was thirsty on the cross, and was given vinegar, so that we might drink from the river of the water of life.
Therefore, when we receive one of His people, we are participating in this great gospel reversal. We are demonstrating that we belong to His kingdom, where the last are first and the greatest is the servant of all. Every act of hospitality, every provision for the saints, every cup of cold water, is a declaration of our citizenship. We are saying that we value what God values. And He has promised that such faithfulness, however small it may seem to us, will never, ever be forgotten. He shall by no means lose his reward.