As a kid my parents always said to me, “You only want to hear the things you want to hear”. Looking back, I guess they were right.
- I mean, if they said, “If you mow the lawn, you can have a bowl of ice cream” but what I would hear was, “you can have a bowl of ice cream” and I would start scooping.
- Or they would say, “If you raise your math grade, we’ll buy you a new baseball glove” and I would immediately tell my friends, “dude, I’m getting a new baseball glove”
- Or sometimes my mom would say, “Take your dirty clothes down to the laundry room” and from my room I would yell, “Mom, why don’t I have any clean underwear”
So, I guess my parents were right . . . I tend to only hear the things that I want to hear. My guess is that we all tend to only hear the things we want to hear . . . don’t we?
We even do this in the church. We like to look at scripture and underline and memorize passages that say the things we want to hear. “For God so loved the world” . . . “I am with you always” . . . “nothing can separate you from the love of God” . . . We love those words, we embrace those stories because they bring us comfort and peace and hope. They illuminate for us a God who we want to see.
But to really appreciate the depth of God’s story and to fully understand God’s grace, we also have to wrestle with the things that we don’t want to hear . . . and today is one of those days.
For three years, the disciples had traveled with Jesus and they thought they knew what he was all about. They had seen him reach out to the broken and offer restoration. Bring healing to the sick. Life to the dead, and hope to the hopeless . . .
They had listened to his teachings that love was more important than money, people were more valuable than religion, and forgiveness was more powerful than revenge.
And then Jesus seems to turn 180 degrees from his character. He says . . .
“You think I have come to bring peace to the world . . . I have not come to bring peace, but division. Because of me, households will be divided; Son’s will argue with their fathers. Daughters will disagree with their mothers. Good friends will be at odds with one another . . . all because of me.”
Does that bother you? I’ve got to tell you that it bothers me because that’s not what I want to hear. That’s not what I want my Jesus to be about. My Jesus has called people to come together in unity and agreement and peace and harmony. After all, one of his names is “The prince of peace”.
But these words seem so completely contrary. Not unity, but division. Not peace, but the sword.
Those words go against the very nature of who I am or at least strive to be. I want to live at peace and agreement with others. And I believe that in spite of the fact that the world is filled with so much disagreement, the majority of us do not want to rock the boat.
The problem comes when people seek peace at the expense of principle. When our goal becomes to simply get along or to not make waves it often leads to abandoning who we are and what we stand for.
This is exactly what Jesus is addressing . . . and He begins by talking about fire.
Now in that day, fire was very important. They even thought that it was a basic element for creation and re-creation. Fire was used in the fields to clear out the old underbrush in order for new seeds to pop open so they can grow.
Jesus is on this passionate journey toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, toward his place of death, burial, resurrection, and ascension in order to bring fire that would consume the old and make way for new life. And although this journey brings Jesus a lot of distress . . . he’s pretty pumped up about it because he knows what’s gonna happen.
In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit descends upon the church, and resting above the Christians is something like flames of fire. And as the Holy Spirit indwell us, we become set aflame with a passionate love for Jesus. It’s a fire that burns within us. It’s a fire that consumes the ungodly parts of us and sets us ablaze with new life.
Jesus is talking about is passion, enthusiasm, zeal and devotion. He wants to see us on fire for the sake of the kingdom of God. He wants us to get pumped up about what God is doing in our lives and what he’s doing in this world.
He wants us to get a little fired up and share his passion because this is exciting stuff . . .
But then he warns us that not everyone will respond favorably to our passion.
If you’re committed to following Jesus with this kind of passion and excitement, it will most likely put you at odds with people who do not share your convictions. And he says that this will include conflict in your family. This is some of the most painful, difficult, complicated conflict there can be.
In the earliest years of the church, when Christianity was a radically new religion, people were despised for following Jesus. It was a major point of division. If a Jew converted to Christianity, his family had a funeral for him and he was disowned. If a person claimed to be a disciple of Christ, they were considered the enemy, and a bounty was placed upon their head.
Jesus is forewarning us that this fire, this zeal, this passion is going to cause conflict and there will be people, including family members, who will try to throw water on your fire. Their goal is to get your flame to be as small as possible, perhaps extinguish it all together.
How many of you, right now, there are people in your life who are holding a bucket of water waiting for the chance to douse out your flame? Every time you get a little excited about Jesus and what he’s doing in your life, they want to calm you down just a little bit. “Chill out Jesus freak”
And the reality is that life would be a lot easier if you didn’t take your faith seriously; you could go with the flow, adjust your convictions and your lifestyle to fit the circumstance. Then there would be peace in your family, or peace in your friendships, but inside you would be a mess because you cannot serve two masters . . . another difficult thing Jesus liked to say and something we don’t like to hear.
This is a sobering word. To really contemplate what cost you’re willing to pay to maintain a red-hot devotion to Jesus. Some of you have already settled for a very small flame. You’ve tried to find that sweet spot to where all your family and friends affirm you and Jesus will still accept you. The flame is not out but it’s as small as possible because you really just don’t want to rock the boat.
You see, these hard sayings of Jesus are only hard because they call us to live by our convictions; to walk the walk. We cannot just hear what we want to hear. We cannot put our faith in a drawer and take it out at certain time. There is a cost to discipleship and one of the costs is division.
- So, if we want to live at peace with the world, we ought to enthusiastically and unapologetically embrace the values of the world. It’s easier that way.
- But if inner peace is at all important, then we ought to take the road less traveled, the road where we listen to the still, quiet voice of Jesus and follow it.
He wants to see us on fire for the sake of the kingdom of God. He wants us to get pumped up about what God is doing in this world. It might cost you some friends, and it might affect your family, but a different kind of peace will be yours.
Now if you’re anything like me, when there’s an awkward moment in the conversation, or things are being said that you just don’t want to hear, you try to change the subject and focus on something that is way more important . . . like the weather.
I mean, everybody wants to know about the weather because if you know what the weather is going to be that day than you’ll know how to prepare for that day . . . right?
But people say the craziest things about the weather as if it’s the most important thing we could talk about in the few moments we have together.
- “It’s very hot out today” . . . man, thanks for the tidbit of wisdom; no wonder I’m so hot and sweaty. I’m not sure what I would have done without you telling me that it’s hot outside today.
- “It’s raining today” . . . well, that would explain why I’m so wet. I was inside and dry and then I went outside and I got wet and I wasn’t really sure how that happened.
It’s amazing to think about how much of our life is filled with ridiculous conversations about the weather
So, I was thinking, what if as a church we started having conversations of passion . . . instead of asking, “How’s the weather” . . . start asking . . . “How’s your walk?” “How can I pray for you?” “How can we get fired up about what God’s doing in your life and in this world and through this church?”
What would happen if we started having those kinds of conversations? I think that the little flame of passion that we once had would start burning a little hotter and brighter. It would create a church culture of enthusiasm and zeal and devotion which would lead to authentic relationships, passionate worship and missional living . . . that’s something that gets me pretty pumped up!
But then Jesus starts to talk about the really hard stuff . . . Judgment.
He says it’s ok to know what the temperature will be tomorrow but that’s not the most important future you need to prepare for. We need to be prepared for eternity and Jesus is saying, “Some of you check your weather app more than you check your heart.”
Because the cold hard truth is . . .
You’re going to die and you’re going to stand before God and give an account for your whole life. And we’re all going to be found guilty; our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our motives, what we have done, what we have failed to do will all come to testify against us and it will ultimately lead to our eternal separation from God.
And what Jesus is saying is if you’re going to get prepared for the weather, get prepared for judgment. And he uses an interesting analogy. Let me apply it to you personally.
Let’s say that you have committed a horrible crime and you are guilty so you hire an attorney and say, “What can I do?” and he says, “Nothing . . . there’s nothing I can do for you because this is a doomed case. You’re guilty. Everyone knows it. Nothing will change it. So you just need to prepare yourself for sentencing.”
Imagine, as your day is approaching, and the weightiness of your transgression has settled into your soul and you’ve got your sleepless nights and panic-filled days.
And then you get a letter in the mail. And you get that feeling in your stomach because the return address is the person that you committed the crime against. “Oh man, dare I even open it. “
You open it up and it says this . . .
“I love you. And I’m worried about you. And our day in court is coming. And I know what’s going to happen to you. And so I have decided I would like to pursue you and forgive you and cancel any punishment or debt or obligation that you have toward me.
And I’m worried about your emotional well-being so I’d like to build a friendship with you and help you recover from this. My guess is right now a lot of your family and friends have disowned you, so I would like to be your family and your friend.
And so I’d really like to meet with you before we go to court because once we stand before the judge and the gavel is hammered upon the desk, there’s no turning back and there’s nothing we can do. But it’s not too late. Let’s meet. Let’s reconcile. Let me forgive you.
And this is so important to me that I’ll meet with you whenever works for you. I’ve cleared my whole schedule and whenever you’re ready, I’m gonna come and meet with you. You don’t even need to come and meet with me. I’ll come and meet with you.”
Can you imagine receiving that letter? “Are you kidding me? I’m going to get my life back? My enemy is going to become my friend? They’re going to cancel all my debts? They’re going to give me a whole new life.”
That’s what Jesus does . . . that’s why he’s on this journey to Jerusalem . . . He died for our sins, he rose as our savior and he pursues us . . . its called grace.
Gods Riches At Christ’s Expense . . . And he offers it to you and he offers it to me.
And when you receive it, God’s spirit indwells within us and we become set aflame with a passionate love for Jesus and he calls you to a group of other sinners called the church to help keep your flam burning bring through authentic relationships, passionate worship, and missional living.
To really appreciate the depth of God’s story and to fully understand God’s grace, we have to wrestle with the things that we don’t want to hear . . . and when we do, it leads to grace.
We see a God who loves us so much that he would send his only son that whoever believes in him will have ever lasting life.
Now that’s something that we want to her.
This is what Jesus wants us to get excited about. He wants to see us on fire for the sake of the kingdom of God. He wants us to get pumped up about what God is doing in our lives and what he’s doing in this world. May God grant us the courage to follow him, and bring the peace that comes from the sword.