Pastor Ross Tenneson preaches from Luke 12:49-59.
Jesus came to bring division Connection One hard part of following Jesus is that all of us will lose relationships or some relationship we had will suffer as a result. Among the different costs there are to follow Jesus, a relational cost is one of them. I had a friend since second grade and we regularly hung out until about four or five years ago. I didn’t have many friends in High School and this is like one of the few guys I bonded with deeply. After college, we even took trips to Florida together to see his mom. Yet, as I pursued seminary and ministry, he pursued card games, board games, and role playing games as his ultimate focus. There’s nothing wrong with those interests, but there was a tension in our relationship because those things were the most important to him rather than the Lord. A few years ago I reached out to him to see if he wanted to get together to celebrate graduating High School ten years earlier. I never heard back from him. I reached out to him periodically over the next few years and never heard back. I finally asked him what I did wrong and if there was anything I could do to apologize. He finally responded that I did nothing wrong, he just thought we had “become different people” and that he was alright with that. So, just like that, a relationship from second grade is over. Why? He was right: we had become different people, we had shaped our lives around different goals. So, the question I want us to ask and answer this evening is: When our relationship with Jesus costs us relationships with others, how will we respond? Will following Jesus cost us relationships we value and how do we respond in those moments? Let’s take a look at our text to find out. Heading 1 Revelation Jesus starts out by saying, Luke 12:49–50 ESV 49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Jesus continues speaking to his disciples about what life following him will be like. Like so many of his sayings, this one is quite difficult to understand. I bet a lot of us are scratching our heads right now. When difficult imagery comes up, it is often referencing what came up earlier in the book and in the Bible as a whole. Scripture is the best tool for interpreting Scripture. So, when Jesus says something like “I came to cast fire on the earth,” the best thing we can do is think where else in Luke and in the Bible the idea of fire comes up (also we should look for “baptism” since that’s a concept here as well. Thinking of where these concepts already appeared in Luke leads us right to John the Baptist and his words in Luke 3. He was a prophet who came to prepare the way for Jesus by revealing who he is and what his ministry would be like. This is what he said about Jesus in Luke 3:16-17, Luke 3:16–17 ESV 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” John uses the imagery of fire two ways here. First, Jesus will come and baptize (“that is immerse” or “wash”) with fire. In other places in the Bible, fire has the property of purifying or refining. Alternatively, Jesus will come and judge with fire. In other places in the Bible, fire images destruction and judgement. Friends, in this short phrase, “I came to cast fire on the earth,” Jesus is teaching something of the highest importance: based on how we respond to Jesus, we will either be purified or destroyed. If we come to him in surrender and trust, he will “baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire,” that is, completely cleanse us from our sin and renew us within. We will become new people just as gold becomes new when the flames burn away the impurities and make it pure gold. Does your sin and your shame feel heavy? Do you feel like there are stains on your soul that won’t come off or that God can’t forgive? Then I am here to remind you this evening that we do not come to a weak savior who is unable to forgive, unable to purify. He came to purify with the unstoppable power with which fire burns. Your guilt, your shame, your past cannot stand up to his power to forgive, period. Your sin is not stronger than Christ’s power to heal and forgive. We serve a God who merely wants to save, but who is strong and able to save. Yet, we must beware that we don’t refuse to come to him in surrender and trust. For, the same power with which he purifies those who believe in him, he will destroy those who insist on rebelling against him. “but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Fire is not only an image of purification, but of unrelenting destruction. Jesus’s desire and my own desire in bringing this up is that no one would have to suffer this fate. The free offer of Jesus is that anyone who trusts him, anyone who repents, anyone who puts all their hope in Jesus will receive purification so they need not suffer the fire of judgement. Then Jesus adds, “and would that it were already kindled!” Just as Jesus is eager to save anyone who will trust in him, he is eager to return to the world and fulfill his ultimate purpose of saving his people and judging the wicked. Then Jesus says in verse 50, Luke 12:50 ESV 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! His baptism that Jesus is looking forward to here is far different from ours. And to be clear, the word “baptism” can mean different things in different contexts. We most commonly think of it as referring to water baptism. Water baptism is a cleansing on the outside of the body that pictures a spiritual renewal that has happened within. When Jesus talks about baptizing with the “Holy Spirit and fire” he is talking about the inner renewal and cleansing that only he can do (that’s why he mentions the “Holy Spirit”), and our water baptisms are symbols and pictures of this. When Jesus talks about his own baptism here, he is referring to his “immersion” not in the cleansing power of God, but in the judgement and wrath of God. The reason he is able to baptize us with the Holy Spirit, cleanse us of all of our sin, and restore us to life, is that he gave his life up. Jesus was immersed in the judgement of God so we could be immersed in the mercy of God. We can only have a baptism of cleansing and renewal that makes us right with God because Jesus had a baptism of judgement and death in our place. Are you regularly in awe of the grace and mercy of Jesus? This is one area I want to grow: not just having a head that understands the sacrificial death of Jesus, but a heart that never ceases to wonder at it. Jesus then says, “how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” Understandably so, his heart and mind is focused on this great sacrifice he will have to pour out. In these two verses, Jesus reveals the two things that are heaviest on his mind and heart (and so should be on ours as well): his death, burial, and resurrection and his second coming to make all things right. The idea of there being but two choices, two ways to respond, leads into the teaching Jesus gives next. Luke 12:51–53 ESV 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 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.” Jesus has a striking answer to his own question. He asks, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?” At first blush, I think our answer should be, “uhm, yeah Jesus, I kind of do actually. This actually seems like exactly what the Bible talks about you doing, bringing peace to your people, bringing peace to the creation, bringing peace to the world”.[1] So, how unexpected when he says, “no, I tell you, but rather division.” What is that all about? On one hand Jesus has come and brought abundant peace: peace between sinners and God and peace between his people in the church. Yet, on the other hand, there remains an unresolved tension with the world: much of humanity has believed in Jesus and become children of God, yet, even more tragically remain in rebellion against him and refuse to come to the truth. The two ways of responding to Jesus that I mentioned above constitute the two groups of humanity that exist. This is the fault line upon which all of humanity divides. There will one day be complete peace when Jesus returns and rules over his multi-ethnic family from every nation. In the meantime however, we have to navigate a tragic and real division. Why is this a “division?” Because at the end of the day, one segment of humanity is living for one ultimate purpose and another segment of humanity is living for another one altogether. There will be inevitable conflict that results. Where does Jesus talk about this division showing up? He refers to the family. He says “in one house there will be five divided, 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 her mother-in-law.” This sounds so unexpected because the Scriptures are in favor of families being united, so what is going on here? The nuclear family tends to be the strongest unit of alignment in human history. People from all cultures and all times have loyalty to their families: it’s just natural. Yet, when Jesus comes, he establishes a bond of relationship and loyalty even deeper than natural family: a spiritual family with its supreme loyalty to God. Since our new loyalty to our Lord and our spiritual family runs even deeper than our bond with our natural family, division often results when our natural family does not share our same allegiance to our God. Jesus’s call for our complete allegiance produces division with those who have loyalty to something else, even in our own families.Even within the familiar bond of family, there are different kingdoms depending on who belongs to Jesus and who doesn’t and that brings conflict. Friends, has your decision to follow Jesus created any conflict with your family (either your parents and siblings or your extended families?). I know it to be the case that several of you have suffered division with family for following Jesus. In many places in the world, the division created with one’s family over following Jesus can be so deep that it can even cost you your life. Division with family over following Jesus is a normal occurrence in the Christian life. (And while Jesus chooses to focus on families here, this division spills out into other relationships as well, as is the case with the friend I mentioned). Jesus’s point is that no one can follow him and expect not to have conflict with others. The choice to give our supreme loyalty to Jesus will inevitably divide us in ways from those who don’t share that same value. In order to follow Jesus, we have to sacrifice our idol of getting along with everyone all the time and avoiding tension. Could it be that we fail to share our savior with our closest, most dealry loved relatives because we value comfort and avoiding tension more than their soul? When division arises because of our decision to follow Jesus, we need to accept it as part of following Jesus. Following Jesus could look like your parents disowning you because they don’t approve of your religion, it could look like siblings withdrawing from you because your holy lifestyle makes them uncomfortable, it could look like bringing up an uncomfortable conversion with a relative and calling them to repentance rather than avoiding the topic. When Jesus says he brings “division,” he is not calling us to be unloving or fail to love.If we avoid bringing up Jesus and living obediently for Jesus in order to avoid conflict, we have not loved God and we have not loved our unbelieving family members. We have not loved well. The only way we can have final unity with our unbelieving family and friends forever is if we invite them to follow Jesus along with us and we come to share him as savior. I remember a few years ago at a family Christmas gathering, I was speaking with my uncle who was an atheist. I turned the conversation toward faith and discussing the things of the Lord, to the protests of his daughter who started asking us to stop disagreeing with each other. She wanted a comfortable time rather than a discussion about the most important things of all. Yet, were I to cater to her preferences, rather than the spiritual needs of my uncle, I would avoid “division,” but I would not have lived as Jesus would have. And I thank God I did speak at that moment because my uncle suddenly died of a heart attack last year. I just shared a very, very minor example of family division. Many of you have stories of far, far greater division that have resulted from your decision to follow Jesus. I want to remind you that Jesus is no stranger at all to it. Family division followed him around through the gospels. The clearest place in Luke this shows up in is Luke 8:19–21 ESV 19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Jesus felt separation from his earthy family because of his complete orientation toward his heavenly Father and his spiritual family. When he preached in his home town in Luke 4 and the crowd tried to kill him, there were likely relatives among them. Jesus knows what division from earthly family and natural relationships feels like and he is able to sympathize with you and it is worth it. What is Jesus calling us to? He is calling us to value our unity with him above avoiding division with any person. My main point I want us to walk away with his that Unity with Jesus is more important than avoiding division with others. So, I want to ask you this evening, who are you avoiding conflict with because you value comfort more than their soul? Who are you avoiding talking about Jesus to and living like Jesus around in order to not hurt that relationship? When Jesus brings division and when we bring division, it’s never creating division that didn’t otherwise exist. Rather, Jesus reveals the conflict that already lurks beneath the surface between a sinner and God, and the first step toward healing it is bringing it into the light. I want to say a word about what it looks like when we experience division with family and friends over our faith. As ambassadors of Jesus, the only reason we should divide with another is over the gospel, both in content and in manner. Allow me to explain what I mean, beginning with content: We should tirelessly avoid needless conflict and controversy with unbelievers until it comes to the one crucial area in all of life: how someone responds to Jesus. This is one area we should be unwavering. Jesus was bold with us in calling us to turn from our sin and become his own. We must make this our one issue over which we focus on above all. Okay Ross, but what if they have different politics than me? Friends, do we see Jesus or his Apostles dividing with Romans and Jews over politics in the New Testament? No, it’s consistently over their boldly preaching Christ. Okay Ross, but what if we have serious disagreement over COVID or the vaccine? Nope, someone’s opinion on the vaccine is not a spiritual life and death issue so it is not our focus. Of course we can discuss these things with unbelievers, but if we sense that these issues are creating relational tension, we must find a way to pivot away from them and have conflict only over the things that matter most. In addition, the manner in which we disagree with others must match our message in grace, humility, and patience. If our manner of disagreement with others is less loving and gracious than the gospel we preach, we need to grow. Jesus said earlier in Luke, Luke 6:35–36 ESV 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. In other words, the division we experience with others must never be because we did not treat them well (even if they don’t deserve it!), or over another issue other than the gospel. If there is relational division between us and an unbeliever, it should be because they are rejecting Jesus, not something we said or did (they should be rejecting Jesus, not us). And friends, notice that the relational division I am talking about is one way. Elsewhere in the gospel, Jesus talks about experiencing rejection, but it’s always us experiencing rejection and never us rejecting others. If a relationship breaks with someone, it shouldn’t be because we decided to break it off, we only call to repentance and prayerfully await the response of the other person. Church, we should be able to tolerate division with others (when we have loved well in the process), because we value union with Jesus so deeply. When we cannot tolerate losing earthly relationships over the gospel, it’s a sign that our hearts don’t believe our unity with Jesus alone is enough to sustains us. Yet, unity with Jesus is enough to sustain us. When we lose relationships with others on account of our love for Jesus and them, we enter more deeply into experiencing our unity and oneness with Jesus than before. When we suffer for Jesus, we always get more of Jesus. And who knows, maybe God will save the person we suffered division from and we will end up with true unity with them for the very first time. One final word, since we as members of the same church, all agree that Jesus is Lord, and we want to follow him, there should not be division here. We are all living for the same purpose, with the same book, and the same Lord, so we must fight for unity with one another. The type of division Jesus is referring to here is division between the world and his people, not between the unity his people share with one another and with him. Jesus now shares two examples of healthy, gospel-centered conflict with these crowds for us to learn from, Luke 12:54–56 ESV 54 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. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 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? As you can see, Jesus is bringing division with his words. Yet, it’s the right kind of division: it’s division over people’s response to him, not some other unessential topic. What does he point out? The crowds can interpret nature to predict the weather. They can tell when a rain shower is on the way or a scorching hot day is on the way. So, when they misinterpret Jesus and who he is, it’s not because of an intellectual deficit. Their minds are working fine: they are able to discern the weather. Their inability to discern who Jesus is, when he testifies to himself with such teaching and miracles, is that their hearts are resisting and refusing to come to him. Hence, he calls them “hypocrites.” They portray themselves as spiritual people, and act in spiritual ways, yet are incapable of discerning plain spiritual truth because of their proud and unrepentant hearts. Jesus is making this plain. The reason why people refuse to come to Christ is not ultimately head reasons, it’s heart reasons. Jesus could probably find 1000 different reasons to divide with these people. But which does he focus on? Their hearts’ responds to him. When Jesus divides with others, he is consistently pointing out their hearts’s response to him. He says something similar next, Luke 12:57–59 ESV 57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 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. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.” Jesus challenges them to respond to him rightly. He brings up the example of an accuser dragging someone to court. This man had obviously done wrong, but there was a way to avoid judgement: get right with his accuser along the way. Likewise, Jesus is offering the opportunity to any sinner, any offender, to get right with him along that way. That is, before anyone dies and faces judgement, they can ask for forgiveness and will receive it. May we never avoid sharing this message in order to avoid division. In bringing up division, Jesus’s heart is always pursuing unity and reconciliation with himself. And in the interest of not avoiding division, I would say to anyone here who has not yet come to Christ, please come to him. Your division is not with me or any other person, it is with God. And Jesus allowed himself to suffer division from God, coming under the judgement of God on the cross, in your place so that you could come and have everlasting unity with him and with his people. So please, come to him. And friends, I leave us with that reminder. If you suffer division in this life for following Jesus, how sweet that you have everlasting and complete unity with our savior because of his life, death and resurrection.
[1] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 469.