ALL
IS NOT EASY
IN
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST
September
08, 2019
Rev.
Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah 23:23-29
Epistle Lesson; Hebrews 12:1-13
Sermon Text; Luke 12:49-53
This morning, the section of
God's Word we focus on is taken from Luke, chapter twelve, looking at verses
forty nine, through fifty three. Here,
Jesus is speaking.
“I came to throw fire on the
earth, and how I wish it were already ignited.
But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is
finished! Do you think that I came to
bring peace on earth? No, I tell you,
but rather division. Yes, from now on
there will be five divided in one household:
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, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
These are your words,
Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of
truth. Your Word is truth.
Amen
Annie announced to her
parents she was going to get baptized.
She was going to get baptized at church, and there were going to be a
couple hundred members who were going to be there, as witnesses. Her family looked at Annie, and said to her, “How
could you do this? You are such a
disgrace to our family.”
Matilda had come home, and
was happy to announce to her dad that she now believed in Jesus, as her Savior.
Her father went a step
farther. Her father looked at Matilda,
and said, “You are no longer my daughter.”
Bertha came home, and was
having a conversation with her mom. She
said, “You know I used to live a pretty rough life. I loved alcohol, I loved drugs, and I loved
sex. But, now I have come to faith to
believe Jesus, as my Savior. I don't want
to live that way, anymore, because I want to follow Jesus.”
Her mom looked at her, and
said, “I liked you the way you used to be.”
Now, all three of those
examples are just made up, but they really get us to think about the harsh
reality Jesus is talking about in our text for today. All is not easy in The Kingdom of Christ,
because of the name of Jesus.
Now, in His ministry, Jesus
had reached His zenith. He had reached
the high point in His popularity. But,
Jesus is now focused on going to the cross.
More and more, He is talking about Judgment Day. More and more, He is talking about end
times. And so, more and more,
people are beginning to oppose Jesus, because of who He is, and because of the
message He is proclaiming.
Now, if you were to look up
this section of scripture in your Bible, it probably would have this
title. Not peace, but division.
You might be saying to
yourself, “But, Pastor Tweit, didn't Jesus come to bring peace? After all, at Christmastime, when you ask
some people what they want for Christmas, many people just generally say, 'I
want world peace'.”
Doesn't it make sense for us
to want peace, just like the angels had proclaimed when Jesus was born, when
they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men, on whom
His favor rests”? That would be
great.
But, we also know that forty
days after Jesus was born, His parents brought Him to the temple. It was Simeon who held the baby Jesus in his
hands. As he held the baby Jesus in his
arms, he spoke words that are very familiar to us. The Song of Simeon. They are wonderful words to hear, because he
says,
“Lord, now dismiss your servant in peace.”
Simeon is talking about that
peace.
“For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all
people.
A light for revelations in the Gentiles
and the glory of your people, Israel.”
Simeon then says something
that isn't as familiar to us, when he says,
“This child is destined to cause the falling and
rising of many.”
The name of Jesus,
is going to cause a
division.
The name of Jesus,
is going to cause people to
rise in their faith,
or it is going to cause them
to fall and stumble
over the name of Jesus.
That is what our text for
today is talking about. All is not
easy in The Kingdom of Christ.
Usually, when we gather
together for worship services, or study God's Word, the part of God's Word we
like to focus on is the love of God.
That is the part I love getting to, and talking about.
But, scripture also talks
about the justice of God. That is the
portion of scripture Jesus is focusing on in our text for today.
During the course of this
last week, I was really thinking about what would be the best way to present
this to God's people. In the end, I came
down to, “Let's just look at it a verse at a time, because each verse is
really fitting on to itself.”
Let's go to verse forty
nine. I will focus on that, and then I
will go verse by verse here, this morning.
Again, in verse forty nine,
Jesus said,
“I came to throw fire on the earth,
and how I wish it were already ignited.”
The word 'fire'
there is in keeping with 'judgment'. It is in keeping with 'division'. And so again, that portion of God's Word, the
justice of God really here is focusing on that judgment, where Jesus said,
“I came to throw fire on the earth...”
I see Jesus' words here, and
I can't help but think of the portion in scripture, Genesis, chapter nineteen,
which is the account of Sodom and Gomorrah.
We know that's ultimately what happened.
Fire came raining down from heaven.
But in the meantime, do you
remember how Abraham pleaded with God?
He said, “God, if there are fifty righteous people in the city, if there
are fifty, will you save the city?”
Maybe Abraham was even
pushing God a little bit more than he should have, but God said, “Yes, if there
are fifty righteous people.”
Abraham kept working
backward. He went to forty five, then
forty, then thirty, twenty, and finally ten.
“God if there are ten righteous people in the city, will you preserve it? Will you save it?”
God said He would.
But, there were less than ten
righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah.
And so, God's judgment came burning down on Sodom and Gomorrah, with
burning sulfur. And Sodom and Gomorrah
were consumed. Sodom and Gomorrah were
destroyed. We hear that portion of
scripture, and we know it is talking about the justice of God, and the judgment
of God.
We look outside of ourselves,
and we say, “That is going to happen to other people.”
And yet, here is the warning
for us to take away from our text. The
warning simply is this. The Apostle Paul
wrote this in The New Testament.
“If you think you are standing firm,
be careful lest you fall.”
I am speaking those words to
myself, as well. Those are real serious
words to take to heart. What happens to
others in judgment does not happen to us.
Maybe the most comforting
verse of our text for today is the next one, in verse fifty. Jesus says,
“I have a baptism to undergo,
and how distressed I am until it is finished!”
The baptism Jesus is talking
about undergoing is simply going to the cross.
He is talking about He has a vision.
That vision is going to the cross to pay for the sins of the world. But, as Jesus is going to the cross, He
admits how distressed He is because of what is upcoming. Not only is Jesus true God, but Jesus is also
a true Man. The emotions of that
journey, as He is walking to the cross is starting to weigh heavily upon
Him. The Greek word, here for 'distressed'
is 'synechomai'. And yes, it does
mean distressed, but it means, 'under pressure', or 'being
compressed'. Have you ever been
distressed, because you have been under great pressure, and you feel
compressed, because of a decision that is upcoming? That is exactly how your Savior felt, as He
was going to the cross. That is exactly
how our Savior felt, as He was going to the cross, knowing what loomed in front
of Him, and the pressure He was under.
Here are maybe the four
greatest words from our text that I want you to take away, because Jesus says,
“I have a baptism to undergo,
and how distressed I am,
(and here are the four words)
until it is finished.”
Have you heard those words,
before?
“It is finished.”
You should. Those three words should take you right to
Good Friday. Those three words should
take you right to the cross, because the Greek word here is the same as what
Jesus spoke from the cross. One of the
seven sentences Jesus spoke from the cross was, “It is finished”, where He made
full, and complete payment for all of our sins.
Here is what Jesus was getting ready to go ahead, and to do for you, and
for me – to say, “It is finished”, to say, “Your sins are paid for”,
and to say, “You have everlasting life with me in heaven”.
Maybe now it is verses fifty
one to the end are the most challenging words to hear in our text for
today. In verse fifty one, Jesus says,
“Do you think that I came to bring peace on the
earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Again, you might be thinking
to yourself, “Pastor Tweit, Jesus came to bring peace, didn't He?”
Here is where I want you to
understand. Yes, Jesus did come to bring
peace. What I am about to say is now
talking about your vertical relationship with God. Jesus came so that you would have peace with
God. After all, that is what scripture
leads us up to. The prophet Isaiah wrote
this, and oftentimes at Christmastime we read this portion of scripture.
“He will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace.”
Again, go back to what the
angels sang on the night in which Jesus was born,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth
peace to men on whom His favor rests.”
Think about what Jesus said
to His disciples on Maundy Thursday evening,
“Peace I leave with you.
My peace I give to you.”
Think about what Jesus said
to His disciples, after He rose from the grave, and entered a locked room. He entered, came in, and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
So, what Paul wrote in his
ministry, when he says to God's people,
“You now have peace with God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So yes, you do have peace
with God, because of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is also letting on that
there will be division. When He says
that, He is talking about division in your horizontal relationship with other
people. There is going to be division in
your family, because of the name of Jesus.
There is going to be division in your relationships with other people,
because of the name of Jesus. In verse
fifty two until the end, that is what Jesus is talking about, when He says,
“Yes, from now on there
will be five divided in one household:
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 her
daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Families are going to be
divided, because of the name of Jesus.
Sometimes in America, we may hear it these few ways. Sometimes it is the case that Dad doesn't go
to church. It is Mom who is bringing the
children to worship. What is happening there?
There is division there in that family, because of the name of Jesus.
Or, sometimes it may be this
way in families, where a grandson will say, “My grandma taught Sunday School
for many, many years, but it is not for me.” What is taking place there? There is division in that family, because of
the name of Jesus.
Sometimes in this world, in
other countries, there may be one person in a family who comes to faith to
believe in Jesus, as their Savior. They
are shunned by the rest of the family.
That is simply in keeping with what Jesus said. There is division in that family, and their
horizontal relationship with one another, because of the name of Jesus.
So, here is where, when we
are looking at this text, we realize this.
Since we realize all is not
easy in the Kingdom of Christ, we come to this conclusion. It was not easy for Jesus. We should not expect it is going to be easy
for us.
Two last things I want to
share with you. One is from a
commentary. In this commentary, Paul
Kretzman wrote a commentary called, “The Popular Commentary of The Bible”. Here is a quick, short, little paragraph he
wrote on this particular portion of scripture.
“Contention, dissension,
strife, and enmity will follow the preaching of the Cross at all times, causing
divisions even in the midst of the most closely knit households. Friendships of long years standing, the most
intimate ties of blood relationships have been disrupted, because of opposition
to Jesus. This the believers of all
times should know, lest they be offended.
They dare not expect their lot to be more pleasant than that of their Lord.”
I want to take you back to
the good news I shared with you earlier.
Jesus said in our text for today,
“I have a baptism to undergo,
and how distressed I am,
until it is finished.”
When Jesus spoke those words
of our text, He was speaking them before they happened. Today, we have 20/20 vision to know we can
look back at what Jesus said is now a completed act. The baptism Jesus was to undergo was going to
the cross. Jesus said those three words
that bring such great comfort to you, and to me.
“It is finished.”
I am so thankful that as we
are here to worship on Rally Sunday, as we gather around the name of
Jesus. We are built up in our faith in
Jesus, as our Savior. And, we are
prepared to be with Him in Heaven for all eternity.
“It is finished.”
Our sins are paid for. Heaven is ours.
May we take that message of
our Savior to others so that more stand with you, and the Holy Christian
Church, and are gathered with Him in Heaven, for all eternity.
Amen
Glory be to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it
was in the beginning, shall be now, and forevermore.
Amen