Not Peace, but a Sword

The Fire of the Gospel and the Cost of Peace

Church, why don't you turn your Bibles as you're standing to Luke chapter 12. In Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 49, I hear you this afternoon in the word of the Lord from Luke chapter 12 verse 49.

I came to cast fire on the earth, that would it be, and would that it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with is my distress until it is accomplished. Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, and mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

You also said to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the West, you say at once a shower is coming, and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing and you say there will be scorching heat and it happens, you hypocrites.

You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? And why do you judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison.

I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. This is the war of the Lord. You may be seated. Things you have probably been taught in your Christian life or just from a secular standpoint is that Jesus is all about peace.

In fact, so ingrained is that, is that we often, even the world remembers, one of the titles of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. Living in Wisconsin, I saw so many Lutheran churches called Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Prince of Peace, and that title, that name came up out often in the very names of churches.

Jesus is indeed our great Prince of Peace, but peace comes at a cost. Here the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the peace that he brings, but not only of the peace, but also of the sword and the vision that his name will inspire.

The Gospel as Fire, Judgment, and Division

Jesus said here in the gospel of Luke chapter 12 verse 49, he says, I came to cast fire on the earth. Again, things that you probably didn't know Jesus said if you're coming from an outside perspective is that Jesus says, I haven't come for peace.

I've come for division. I didn't come to bring forth nice, you know, things and rainbows, but I've come to bring fire. And he says, in fact, and that it were already kindled, meaning that his coming, his work, his ministry was the kindle that will light this world on fire.

If you're following along in this afternoon's insert, Jesus said he came to cast fire on the earth, and what he's actually alluding to is the judgment that the gospel would ignite. Do you remember the first time you heard the gospel?

Do you remember the emotions that stirred in you when you first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? I remember my first interaction with the gospel. Do you know what I felt on that first occasion when I heard the gospel?

I felt anger. I felt anger. I was upset. Please recognize I grew up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and I had a gospel. I had a good news that I had in my possession, and when I heard the Christian gospel, frankly, I was upset.

I was offended. I was angered by it. Who are these people who say that Jesus is God? Who are these people that say there's a holy and just God who accounts for sin and hell? Who are these people who dare say that God is a trinity?

All these things that Christians were telling me, all these things that were in their gospel, to me, were anathema. So when I heard the gospel the first time, I was literally dumbfounded because, first and foremost, as a young boy, I didn't really know that there was any actual religion that adhered to the Bible other than Jehovah's Witnesses.

And so when I saw that there were other Christians, other groups out there that were using the Bible, I felt offended that they would use the Bible to teach what I thought at that time were false doctrines.

So when I first heard the gospel, I was angry. I didn't like what I what I was hearing. Again, I was mad at the notion that a just God would throw sinners into hell. I was angry at the notion that Jesus could be called God.

And upon hearing the gospel, it ignited a fire in me, a passion of opposition to this Christian gospel. And that without election and the calling of God on my life, that surely would have led me to face the righteous judgment and wrath of Almighty God in hell.

You know, Charles Spurgeon commentating on this text of Scripture, he said this concerning this text. Charles Spurgeon wrote, he says, Our Lord was here certainly alluding to the opposition and persecution which the gospel would excite.

He bears witness that the gospel is an ardent, fervent, flaming thing, a subject for enthusiasm and a theme for intense devotion and a matter which excites men's souls and stirs them to the lowest depths.

For this reason mainly, it arouses hostility. So true are the words of Charles Spurgeon here, when he says the gospel ignites a fervent passion either for it or against it. People are either ignited in a passion to fervently serve the Lord or to hate the Lord, to detest Him.

And this is why the gospel arouses such hostility. Because it is not neutral. The gospel of Christ beckons you to come to Him, to Him alone for salvation. Which is why Jesus goes on to say in verse 50, He says, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how great is my distress until it is accomplished.

See the Lord here, if you're following the notes, please follow along. The Lord describes a baptism and this is a particular baptism pointing to the passion. This is a baptism of anguish, referring to His passion in His death, which as Christians we are joined to.

The Greek word for baptism again means to be immersed, to be dunked underneath something. So Jesus isn't talking here in this context about literal water baptism. Instead, after all, Jesus was already baptized by John the Baptist in actual living water.

Here the baptism that Christ has referred to is the baptism of His anguish, the baptism of His passion, the baptism of His death, which was fast approaching in this gospel narrative. And so Jesus here describes the immersion of His passion.

So the word again for baptism simply means to be immersed. And the Lord describes a baptism, the immersion of His total self into a sacrificial and atoning ministry of the passion. Passion meaning the sufferings that led up to His crucifixion and His eventual death.

This baptism is the same as the cup that our Lord had to receive, which was the full cup of the wrath and the fury of Almighty God. If you have a moment, please turn to the Gospel of Mark chapter 14. And notice in chapter 14 of Mark says, in verse 33, it says,.

And when He took with Him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled, and He said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even a deaf. Remain here and watch. And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from Him.

And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Jesus was baptized in anguish, baptized in His passion. And as a man, He saw the immensity of the task before Him.

And yet He said, Father, let not my will be done, but your will be done. But He, interestingly enough, did ask that if it were the Father's will that the cup would pass. What cup? Well, many theorize and consider the cup to be the cup of God's wrath.

I think that's right. But I think accompanied with that cup of wrath of Almighty God, the winepress of God's Almighty wrath, as referenced in Revelation chapter 14 and in the book of Ezekiel and Isaiah, the wrath of Almighty God, I think will also accompany that cup is this anguish, this immense pain, this intense baptism that Jesus is also pointing and alluding to, that Jesus also points and alludes to in Luke chapter 12, this distress until it is accomplished.

And indeed our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished this great work, accomplished His great passion. On the cross when He is about to give up the Spirit, He says, Father, it is finished. It is finished. Indeed He did accomplish the work of redemption, the work of salvation.

We have much to learn from Jesus here in this text of Scripture. When you realize the extent of our Lord's baptism in cup, it should renew in you, beloved, a total hatred for the sins that you and I commit that put Him on that cross of passion.

What is lacking in so many Christians today is a baptism of anguish over their own sins. Indeed, many of us forget that it was because of our sins that our Lord had to bleed, suffer, and die. Lest you forget the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, even earlier today we spoke of His intercessory work, His resurrection, but we often overlook the passion, the cross, the immensity of the pain that He bore for our sins.

And I think we too should join Christ in a baptism of anguish and anguish over our own depravity, over our own sins, but not to be left in such anguish. Because what Christ has accomplished in His anguish, in His passion, in the cup that He bore, was our total redemption, salvation, and forgiveness.

Amen? See, in Christ we're not left in or to our anguish. Rather, we must understand that our election and adoption as saints through faith in Jesus Christ means that we have joined Jesus in the baptism of His sufferings, in His death, and consequently also in His glorious resurrection from the dead.

Our anguish, and particularly here in this context, Christ's anguish, can lead to joy resulting in eternal life. That's the joy of the Lord, which was baptized in anguish, baptized in His sufferings. Jesus goes on to speak in verse 51.

He says in Luke chapter 12 verse 51,. Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? Why, yes! Of course! You're the Prince of Peace. It is on your shoulders that the government will rest. You are indeed the mighty God, the Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace, and to the increase of your government there shall be no end.

You are the one that is prophesied in Isaiah that He shall come and He shall bear the rod of the stump of Jesse, and the lion and the lamb shall meet together, and they shall lie together, and there'll be no more harm, there'll be no more hatred, no more suffering in the mountain of the Lord.

Of course, Jesus is coming to bring peace. So then, why does He say no? No, I didn't come to bring peace on earth. Well, which one is it? Is He a dividing sword? And the answer is He is both. He is the Prince of Peace who brings forth a sword, and that sword of division is the vision that happens in a world that is frankly polarized by evil and polarized by the gospel.

The gospel is polarizing. The gospel does divide. There are those who are saved and those that are lost. There are those that are in Christ and those that are in Adam. There's a difference in classification between the elect and the unelect.

Beloved, it really is a dividing sword. The gospel here is indeed a sword. So is there a contradiction in Jesus being the Prince of Peace yet bringing the sword of division in culture, religion, and the home?

Again, I don't think so. The world's image of a docile, frail, hippie Jesus who only preached the message of love, acceptance, and inclusion is a myth and it's a caricature of the biblical Jesus. Weak men do not create peace.

Jesus was not a weak man. Can I get an amen? Jesus was not a weak man. He was a man of conviction. He was a man of power. He was a man of a sound mind. And weak men do not create peace. They do not create good times.

They only produce disaster. Jesus wields the sword of division between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and lie, justice and injustice, righteousness and unrighteousness. He is indeed the dividing line of the ages, people.

Though the cross be folly to those that are perishing, it is also the power of God to those who are being saved. The gospel can, has, and will continue to divide families, households, people groups. The gospel in itself is not inherently divisive because it is bad, but because it is good.

And men in their fallen state are not good. Therefore, the gospel is divisive around that line. So then what does Jesus mean when he goes on to say that the gospel, that he has come to bring the vision from now on?

In verse 52 it says, in one house there will be five divided, three against two, and two against three. He begins to say there'll be divided father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, and all these interpersonal relationships that are so important.

Well all it takes is for one to look maybe in their own lives. If you're a Christian, maybe you grew up in a household where religion wasn't the thing, or you were of a different religion, like myself, growing up Jehovah's Witness.

When I became a Christian, boy did that divide the household. At the age of 16 when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, what inevitably came as a result of that at the age of 16 is that my dad threw me out of the house.

At 16, because I followed Jesus, and not the false Jesus of the Watchtower. And that was a dividing line. Was Jesus cruel to allow my father to throw me out of the house? By no means. Can I tell you something?

I miss those days. I truly do, because at such an early age, and at such an early time my conversion, I counted the cost of following Jesus. I thank the Lord that he didn't make it easy for me. I thank the Lord that at that moment all I had was Jesus.

I was thrown out, and you know, I didn't even have a coat that winter. It was in Connecticut. I didn't have a coat. I had one friend who was a Christian, and I told him what was happening, and he had to send me a coat from Chicago.

I then started meeting of a church, and the youth pastor took me in. And for the first time I celebrated Christmas at my youth pastor's house. You see, I was so glad that all I had was Jesus. Counted all joy then, my brothers, when you encounter various trials of different kinds.

Why? Because it's in the testing of your faith. It's in the crucible of following Jesus. It's in the crucible of seeing the division that Jesus brings even into a family unit, that you see the blessing that is Christ and Christ alone.

Jesus is truly worthy. Whether you gain everything or lose it all, if you have Jesus, I promise you, you'll always be ahead. Because Jesus is the treasure and the possession of the ages. Jesus is truly that pearl of great price.

Jesus is truly worthy of everything. Therefore, beloved, don't be afraid of the sword of Christ. If you're following the notes, though Jesus is our Prince of Peace, his message and work is a sword that creates division between those who are saved and those who are perishing.

Again, his message and work is a sword that creates division between those who are saved and those who are perishing. The Gospels, again, it's not divisive because it's bad. It's divisive because it's good.

In this fallen world that we are in, men are not good. In Luke chapter 12, verse 54, Jesus says, he also said to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the West, you say at once a shower is coming.

And so it happens. And when you see the South wind blowing, you say there will be a scorching heat. And it happens. You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Discernment, Church Unity, and Settling Disputes

Jesus warns to beware of a lack of discernment. A lack of discernment. That we fail to recognize the present time. Sometimes a sword of division can even fall upon God's people in the local church. The word of discernment itself means, the word discernment itself actually means to cut or to separate.

It's very similar to the word holy in scripture. When we lack to walk in the discernment and wisdom of the Lord, that is to cut and to separate from that which is ungodly, we open ourselves up to errors that can divide the brotherhood.

We must beware of an ungodly division. This is why time and time again in scripture, Jesus admonishes his people to be united. To be of one mind. To be dedicated to the teaching of the pastors and the elders and to the teaching of the Apostles.

Building up ourselves in this most holy and precious faith. We are called and admonished time and time again to build up towards that maturity of the Son of God. And so beloved, beware not to lack in discernment.

Discernment in your own personal lives, your interpersonal relationships, but also here in the local church. Here we believe and we hold firm to our great confession of faith and in particular the authority of scripture.

And so even the pastor, his word is not fully gospel. Why? Because the gospel is the authority. The Word of God is the authority. Every pastor, every elder, every lay person is subject to this authority.

So be discerning. Be wise. Know the Word. Be a Berean. Search the scriptures to see if these things are true. Lest you be divided in the household of God. That division is a discern the times in which you are in.

Discern the place in which you are in. Not to fall into the same error as the Pharisees did in the time of Jesus, who they could see clearly the events of the world around them. They could see the clouds rising.

They could see the change in temperatures. They could see the change in the seasons. Yet they could not interpret the present time and they missed the visitation of the Lord. Beloved, do not miss the season in which you are in.

Maybe you're in a season of joy. Maybe you're in a season of trial. Maybe you're in a scene of conquering. Maybe you're a season in defeat. But I promise you, discern what is God's perfect and pleasing will in any given season of life.

Because he knows and he cares for you and he loves you. Though he is a dividing sword, he is still the one who brings us that perfect peace. So even when times are bad, even when things are divided, Jesus is still good and he still offers peace to his people.

And so we have to remember not to lack in discernment in which we fail to recognize the present time in which we are in. In verse 57, Jesus goes on to say this,. And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way unless he drag you to the judge and the judge hands you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison.

I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. You see ungodly division can occur when we fail to settle, why don't you write this in there, when we fail to settle with our accusers, allowing bitterness to incur judgment.

This is why the Lord Jesus Christ in the Great Sermon of the Mount goes to great lengths to talk about interpersonal relationships, how we were to treat one another. You've heard of the golden rule, treat others the way you would want to be treated, right?

And so the Lord Jesus Christ goes to great lengths to describe the type of relationships that we ought to have as Christians, not just with our family, not just within the church, but also with our neighbors and those to whom we come in contact with.

And Jesus warns here what happens when bitterness takes root in our hearts, when we allow pride to get in the way of making an effort to settle an account. Maybe someone has sinned against you, maybe it's someone in the church has offended you.

How do we take care of these issues as God's people? Do we just march away and go to a different church? Do we gossip? Do we talk about people behind their backs? No, no, no, by no means. Such arrangements would dishonor the Lord.

How do we settle disputes within the people of God? Is that we make every effort to settle in a way that would be glorifying to God, amen? And so people of God, remember who you are and why you were purchased.

Notice that Christ is a dividing sword, but we are not called to be dividers. We're called to be peacemakers. Jesus is the sword of division. We do not add any more division, whether it be through our conduct, our speech, or the way we treat our fellow man.

The way we treat our fellow man has great significance. Again, you've seen this theme in today's messages. How we treat others matters. How we treat the elect, the people of God, has great consequences for the future.

How we treat the least of these. Consider them, brothers and sisters, our speech and our conduct before a holy and a righteous God, that we do not cause division, even within our own midst, so that we incur judgment because of our bitterness, because of our sin, because of our backtalking, because of our gossip.

I want to praise God for a moment that this is not a church that I have come to know to be a gossiping church. And something you have to realize is that this is a treasure among churches, because many churches struggle with the sin of slander, struggle with the sin of bitterness, struggle with the sin of speaking behind people's backs.

And I'm so thankful that we have a church and a church family that loves one another and is careful not to fall into that trap of bitterness and deceit, for those things certainly cause division and ungodliness to abound amongst the people of God.

And so, church, what we see here from Christ is that Christ is indeed that dividing line. Human beings are going to be under two categories on that great day of judgment. In Matthew 25, I've alluded to it several times today, there are two categories.

There's sheep and there's goats. There are those on his right and those to his left. To one he shall say, go be blessed and inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world. And to others he shall say, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Jesus is indeed that dividing line. But church, elect sheep, the sheep of Jesus Christ, choose to live in the peace that was purchased by the dividing line of Jesus Christ. In the center of human history lies the cross, and the cross bridges two dispensations, the old and new covenant.

And in that dividing line of the cross, you have to make a choice, a decision. I know it's a scary word for Calvinists sometimes, but we believe in volition. We believe in the will. And you have to choose whom you shall serve today.

So therefore, choose life and choose the Lord Jesus Christ so that you may live and you can have the peace that surpasses understanding, that it may guard your hearts and your minds even in divided times, even in divided homes, and even in a divided world.

You can have the peace that comes from knowing the rock of ages. May you know him today, may you trust in him. Let's pray. Lord indeed you are that rock of ages, you are indeed the dividing line of the ages, that upon your ministry, your life, in the fullness of time you came to live a holy, perfect life, set apart from sin.

Never did you slander, never did you live a life of bitterness, but instead you were the example of one who walked and lived in the joy of the Lord, that the Lord truly was your stronghold, O Lord Jesus.

And you set the model for us to enjoy today, even though through faith in you we may see division in our homes, we may see division in our workplace, division in our culture. We know that it is you and you alone who shall one day bring upon peace upon earth, because though you are that sword, you're also the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

So Lord we wait eagerly for your return, in which you shall bring to nothing your enemies, your enemies' knees shall be dashed to pieces as pottery is, and you shall bring peace with God and man, peace and reconciliation and creation, where indeed the Lion, the Lamb shall lie together securely, and there'll be no harm nor evil in all of your holy mountains, says the Lord of Hosts.

It is in your name, Jesus, that we pray. Amen. Well church, as we've considered the message of the passion, the message of the dividing line of the ages in Jesus Christ, I think it'd be appropriate for us to consider hymn 186, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

Let's sing that together, hymn 186.

When I survey the wondrous cross.

Amen church, let's take a moment to reorganize ourselves into small groups as we prepare to pray. Once we find ourselves in those groups, we'll open with our first prayer of confession. Well church, our Lord Jesus Christ said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished.

Jesus certainly was baptized into the passion that was awaiting him of his sufferings, his death, his burial, and of course his Lord's resurrection from the dead. Oftentimes we fail to recognize Christ's passion, in particular to be baptized into his passion, and so let's pray in prayer confession that our failures to be baptized into that passion.

Let's pray. Father, we consider this afternoon the Lord Jesus who suffered more than any man who ever lived, in particular not just because of the short 24-hour period of his sufferings, Lord, but because of the immensity, the gravity of the sins of all humanity laid and bare upon Jesus Christ for the sake of his elect.

Lord, we cannot even fathom, for if we were to bear our own sins, it would crush us to the depths of hell, and yet Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world. Oh Lord, forgive us for not considering the grandeur, the work of Christ's passion, not to be baptized into the anguish in which Christ was baptized.

Lord, help us to have a proper view of our sin and a view of that sacrificial ransom sacrifice that was done on our behalf. If we only knew the depths of our sins and the power of the cross, oh Lord, truly I believe we would look different.

Our churches would look different, we would look different, our families would look different. Oh Lord, help us, forgive us of our failures, forgive us where we fall short in recognizing the immensity of your cross, the immensity of your passion, and help us to be baptized into this passion as Christ was, for his glory and his name's sake.

Amen.