The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 14, 2016
Luke 12:49-53
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law- and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”(NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Imagine for a moment that you are a dyed-in-the-wool Cardinal fan. I know. I know. For some of you that may be extremely difficult, but give me some latitude here. A friend of yours (who happens to be a Golden Bears fan, but you try not to hold that against them) has an extra ticket for The Big Game— you know the one I am talking about, the game between the Cardinals and the Golden Bears. He wants to know if you will go to the game with him as his guest. You automatically accept!
Now imagine that it’s Saturday, November nineteenth. You’re sitting in California Memorial Stadium surrounded by a sea of blue and gold. You, of course, are proudly wearing your sweatshirt with a large cardinal “S” on it. The game quickly turns into a blowout. Your beloved Cardinals are marching up and down the field almost at will. The offense looks like a well-oiled machine. The defense is all but a thing of beauty. Being an avid fan you jump up and cheer every time the defense stops the Golden Bears in their tracks. Being an avid fan you stand up and sing “All Right Now” with a big ol’ smile on your face every time the offense scores. Do you think that you could expect maybe a little bit of trouble from the sea of blue and gold that literally surrounds you?
It is not difficult for us to image ourselves in a situation where we can expect trouble, is it. In fact, many of us can probably remember a time or two when we had to prepare ourselves for the trouble that we knew we were going to encounter simply because of the situation we were in.
If you can imagine singing “All Right Now” in California Memorial Stadium surrounded by a sea of blue and gold, if you can remember preparing yourself for the trouble that you knew was coming your way then it will be very easy for you to understand what your Savior is saying to you here in our text for today. This morning let’s see how these words of Jesus remind us that: As Disciples of Jesus— We Can Expect Trouble. There are two questions we want to address today. The first question is: What is the source of this trouble? The second question is: What is the result of this trouble?
What is the source of the trouble that you and I can expect to endure as disciples of Jesus? While the answer to that question may sound a little shocking at first, the answer is— Jesus! How can that possibly be? Look at what Jesus Himself says in the opening words of our text, “I have come to bring fire on earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
Fire can do one of two things. Fire can destroy and fire can purify. Wild fires and house fires can cause tremendous destruction. But, fire in a kiln can strengthen pottery and fire in a furnace can purify gold. So also, the “fire” that Jesus brings on earth, the “fire” that Jesus brings into our lives has those same two effects.
In our Old Testament lesson for today (Jeremiah 23:23-29) the Lord God says to us, “’Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” This is the powerful message of God’s Law, my friends! People can say whatever they want about God’s holy Word. People can believe whatever they want about God’s holy Word. In the end— whether it’s at the end of their life or at the end of this world— in the end the “fire” of God’s holy, powerful, unchanging Word is the standard, the guide, the rule that will be used to judge all beliefs, all actions, all people. At the very same time, Scripture tells us that God uses the “fire” of affliction and the “fire” of persecution to strengthen and to purify the faith of His disciples here on this earth. (See Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2-4; I Peter 1:6, 7)
Here in our text Jesus that He knew exactly what His work here on this earth would do. It would bring this kind of “fire on the earth.” Every false teaching and every false teacher can and one day will be destroyed by the “fire” of God’s holy unchanging Word. Every disciple of Jesus— including us— can expect to experience the “fire” which on the one hand is the “fire” of persecution while on the other hand is the “fire” of purification for our faith and our life.
The comfort that we have as we endure this “fire” in our lives is found in Jesus’ words, “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” Jesus is not talking here about the “baptism” that He received from John in the Jordan River. Here Jesus is talking about the “baptism,” the “washing,” the “purification” that He will undergo on the cross of Calvary’s hill!
For us as disciples of Jesus this is Gospel, my friends! Pure sweet Gospel! Jesus took all the filth and all the stench of all our sins upon Himself— including that “pet” sin that we all too easily commit, including that “horrible” sin that we still can’t believe we actually committed— Jesus took all the filth and all the stench of all of our sins upon Himself. And then, as the writer to the Hebrews reminded us this morning, when we stay focused on Jesus what do we see? We see “the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of God.” The “joy” that Jesus kept His eyes focused on as He made His way to the cross was the “joy” of our salvation! Jesus knew that on that cross He would be “washed clean” of all the sins that He had willingly taken upon Himself! Do you know what that means? That means that our sins are gone! That means that our sins are forgiven— including that “pet” sin that so easily overtakes us, including that “horrible” sin that Satan still uses to keep us up at night! That’s why Jesus says here in our text, “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” Jesus could hardly wait for the moment that He could victoriously declare from the cross, “It is finished!” “I have reached my goal!” “Your salvation is complete!”
Yes, my friends, as shocking as it may sound at first, Jesus (Pointing to the cross) is the source of the troubles that we can expect in our lives as we strive to openly live as His disciples here in this sinful world. But let’s praise God for those troubles! That “fire” that Jesus brought on the earth, the “fire” that we experience in our lives as Jesus’ disciples is a testimony to our connection to Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our faith”!
Sadly, however, not everyone believes in Jesus as their Savior. Sadly, not everyone trusts in what the Son of God has accomplished for them on the cross of Calvary’s hill. That sad reality leads us to the second question we need to address this morning: What is the result of the trouble that we can expect to encounter as disciples of Jesus? Look at what our Lord says in the second portion of our text, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” What? What happened to Jesus being the “Prince of Peace”? (Isaiah 9:6) What happened to the angels’ message of “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests”? (Luke 2:14) The peace foretold by the prophet Isaiah, the peace announced by the Christmas angels is the peace that the risen Christ proclaimed to His frightened disciples on that first Easter Sunday when He showed them His hands and His side and proclaimed, “Peace be with you!” (See John 19:19-23) It is the peace that Jesus has now established between God and us. It is the peace that comes from the forgiveness of sins purely by grace through faith in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us. (See John 20:19-23; Romans 5:1)
Conversely, the peace that Jesus is talking about here in our text is earthly peace. The eternal Son of God did not leave the glory and perfection of heaven, humble Himself by becoming our true Brother, allow Himself to be beaten, mocked and nailed to a cross simply to put an end to all wars and all hostilities and all disagreements between sinners here on this earth (at least not while the earth is still standing in its present form). No, rather, the truth that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who left the glory and perfection of His heavenly home and humbled Himself by coming into this world as our true Brother, the truth that Jesus lived a perfect life in our place and then allowed Himself to be beaten and mocked and nailed to a cross in order to pay for our sins, the truth that Jesus then victoriously rise to life on the third day to prove that He is this world’s only Savior from sin— that is what truth divides the entire human race into two categories: believers and unbelievers, sheep and goats. (See Mathew 25:31ff) That truth is what divides people right down to this very day.
Try posting something on Facebook about Jesus being the eternal Son of the one and only living God and that Allah is nothing more than an idol, a figment of people’s imagination. How many “Likes” do you think you will get? Try asking someone who says they are a Christian, someone who may even go to church on a regular basis, ask them how they reconcile their support of a woman’s so-called “right” to kill her unborn child, or people’s so-called “right” to enter into a same-sex marriage with the Bible’s clear condemnation of both! It won’t take long to see and to hear and to experience the fact that the Truth that Jesus proclaims here in His Word does indeed “divide” people.
And as Jesus brings out here in our text, sometimes His truth even divides families. I have seen this type of division within a family. Perhaps you have seen it as well. One family member faithfully attends church as often as they can while another family member laughs at them and says that they have “more important” things to do. The way they see it, as long as they make it to church on Christmas and Easter that’s “good enough.” One family member faithfully strives to live their life in such a way that everyone knows that Jesus is this world’s only Savior from sin, while another family member maintains that it doesn’t make any difference which religion someone follows because they all worship the same “god,” they just call him/her by a different name. How do we handle that type of division in the family? Do we ostracize that person— cut them off from the family and refuse to even speak to them? No, we do not. Do we love them any less? Absolutely not! In fact, our heart may yearn even more deeply for that individual because we so dearly want them to believe in Jesus so that they can spend eternity with us in heaven!
We can, however, expect trouble when there is this type of division in a family. We can expect trouble because our love for that person will not allow us to condone their sin. We can expect trouble because our love for our dear Lord and Savior will not allow any idol or any false teaching to be given an equal footing with the one true God and His holy Truth. We can expect trouble because our love for the gift of faith which God has graciously created in our heart will not allow us to starve our soul by not coming to church, by not receiving His holy Supper, by not making time to read and study His holy Word. We can expect trouble because our love for our own soul’s salvation— the salvation the Son of God secured for us on the cross— will not allow us to leave our Savior’s side no matter who is standing on the other side of the line that divides the sheep from the goats.
If you can imagine standing up in Stanford Stadium proudly wearing your blue and gold shirt and loudly singing “Fight for California” while surrounded by a sea of white shirts with a big cardinal “S” on them, if you can remember preparing yourself for the trouble that you knew was coming your way simply because of the situation you were in, then you can understand what Jesus is saying to you here in our text. As disciples of Jesus— we can expect troubles!
May the good Lord grant that recognizing the source of these troubles and realizing the results of these troubles will enable us to rejoice even as we encounter these troubles in our lives.
To God be the glory!
Amen