This morning brings us eight days before we celebrate the two hundred and thirty-fifth year of our independence as a nation. I will be one of the first to admit that I do not understand the concept of independence as well as an older person, especially as someone who has been through a war. I must confess that I often take my freedom for granted, after all, I have known nothing but freedom. But we all know, or at least have been told, that freedom does not come without a cost. The cost of freedom has been the lives of many Americans. This morning our text sets up a juxtaposition, that is it sets up opposites next to each other. Our text juxtaposes peace and war, life and death, Christ or else.
If we were asked if we would rather have peace or sword (or war), most of us, I would imagine, would most certainly say peace. We live in a world which fantasizes about peace. We have the United Nations which was initially set up to help maintain world peace. We set up our defenses to ensure peace. We send ambassadors to other nations to help promote peace. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we have not been so sure about peace and so our government has set up a department of homeland security. Our airports and our boarder patrols are working harder to make sure that we are protected from more terrorist. We all agree, we want peace, but at what cost? At any cost or at all cost?
The Bible reminds us, especially at Christmas time, that Jesus was born as the Prince of Peace. Certainly Jesus came in peace. He never did anything wrong. He never harmed anyone. He always did what was right and good. He was a peaceful man who brought a message of love, even God’s love for His people. Even the image we see at Christmas time is the picture of a peaceful serene night at the stable in which Jesus was born. We sing, “Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, all is bright . . . ” If there ever was a scene which depicted peace, calm and serenity, it would be the Christmas manger scene.
However, Jesus says He came not to bring peace, but to bring a sword. We read beginning at verse thirty-four of our text, “34Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”(v. 34-36). These are Jesus’ words. He says He came to set “a man against his father,” He came to set “a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,” He says that “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” So what is it? Did Jesus come to bring peace or a sword?
Before we answer that question, we also have the juxtaposition of life and death. Jesus continues speaking at verse thirty-seven by saying, “37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (v. 37-39). So, what does this mean? Are we not to love our children or our parents? Maybe we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the better question is “How important is our own life in this world?”
Jesus says, “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Again, what does this mean? Maybe the better question is, “How important is your faith in Christ?”
Life or death, that seems to be the question of our text. Of course, we are at a disadvantage if we are thinking only in terms of physical life or physical death. Jesus is speaking, not just about physical life, not just about physical death, but He is speaking about spiritual life and eternal spiritual death as well.
War or peace, life or death, Jesus or else? Those seem to be our options. Let us take these options and put them into other terms. Let us ask the question a different way. Can a person follow Jesus and live in this world? Of course, as we sit comfortably in our pew here at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, worshiping Jesus, we will say, “yes.” After all, we are Christians, we are followers of Jesus and we are living in this world. The question might rather be, how much of our faith do we compromise when we leave this place and go out into the rest of the world? When we leave this place, this safe haven, this sanctuary, do we go out into the world, to our jobs, to be with our family and friends and simply listen to and agree with everything they say in order to keep the peace? Do we listen to the sociological and theological positions, the ideologies and concepts of the rest of the world and give the impression that we agree? Notice I said, “give the impression that we agree?” Maybe you have never heard it said this way, but, apathy is simply the impression of a low level of agreement. In other words, if we remain apathetic to the false teachings and doctrines of the world, the false ideologies and concepts, the false theologies of the world, that is the same as implying we agree with them, whether we do nor not. So, do we simply stand by and listen and remain apathetic, or do we disagree and stand up for our faith, even knowing that we may be persecuted?
Back to our questions, stated another way, “Can a person live in this world and follow Jesus?” How often do we see and hear in the news that someone, some Christian makes a public statement concerning the pluralism or politically correctness of our world and when it is not said the way society says it should be said, that person is chastised for their statement. In other words, they are said to be intolerant. Can a person live as a Christian in our world? To put that another way. Think about your own life. I have asked this question and now I ask again, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence against you to convict you?”
Can we have it both ways? Perhaps you might remember the illustration I told a while back about the young man who was a Christian and had a summer job working in a lumber jack camp. This lumber jack camp was known as one of the roughest, toughest, rudest, and meanest lumber jack camps in all the world. And the young man was known by his family and friends and his church as being a strong Christian. When questioned about his taking this summer job he suggested that he would make out all right. At the end of the summer he came back home before heading back to college. When asked how he fared at the lumber jack camp he answered that everything went well. When asked how they reacted when they found out he was a Christian he answered, “they never knew.” Was he a Christian or was he not?
The disciples answered that this is too hard. That Jesus was asking too much. How often do we say the same thing? Do we understand the extent of the sacrifice that Jesus is asking of us? More often we simply pay lip service to Jesus’ demand for total allegiance. Maybe it would help if we begin with Jesus. When we begin with Jesus we understand and believe that Christ gives us His all. He gave His life for ours, even though He did not have to. He gave up the glory that was His in heaven. He humbled Himself and took on human flesh and blood, becoming one with us, one like us, except without sin. Then, He, who was without sin, took our sins upon Himself. He allowed Himself to be crucified for our sin. He suffered the eternal death penalty for us in our place. His death gained freedom from sin for us so that we might have life.
Not only that, Christ also gives us His Holy Spirit, along with gifts and abilities to do the works of service which He has for us to do. The Holy Spirit, working through the Word and the Sacraments, the means of grace, gives us faith, strengthens us in our faith, and keeps us in faith. He gives us all His good gifts and blessings, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.
And more, Christ gives us the ability to lose our lives for His sake. We cannot do it on our own. On our own we continually fall victim to temptation and sin. We would continually deny Jesus and our faith in Him. We continue to seek peace on the terms of our world.
Christ brings the question of war or peace, life or death, Christ or else. Christ is the center of controversy, even in our world today. He cannot be ignored. His name, His person, His Word bring struggles. Wars have been fought and are still being fought over His name. While the world tries to ignore Him it cannot. While the world tries to place Him as just a good man, a good teacher and the like, it cannot deny His being God. The very mention of His name brings controversy.
Jesus words in our text are still true today. We do have to place Him somewhere in our list of priorities. He wants first place. What place do we give Him? And before you answer, remember that it is not that He wants us to say that He is first in our lives, He wants us to live it, to show that He has first place. I believe that one of Satan’s greatest victories today is that he convinces us that if we say that Jesus is number one in our lives, then we can go on and live however we want to live, because we have said Jesus is first. Yet, our actions betray us as we live something other than Jesus being first in our lives. We live putting other things ahead of our relationship with Jesus. “After all,” we rationalize, “I have said that Jesus is the number one priority in my life, what is wrong with skipping church on Sunday in order to do something I like to do?” Our actions betray us when we sit idly by and apathetically say nothing in response to those who bash our Lord’s good name.
Jesus does not say that we are not to love father or mother, brother or sister, He simply says that we are to love Him more than these. He has come to bring war and the war He brought was the war which He won, the war against the devil. He has won and His prize is us as His people. We can either live our lives as if this world is all we have, thus finding our lives, and in so doing we will risk eternal life. Or we can live our lives as if this world is but for a moment, thus losing our lives in this world, and in so doing gaining eternal life in heaven. We can live in the present as if this is all we have or we can live with the understanding that our time in this world is short compared to our time in eternity and with that in mind, we live our lives with that eternal perspective focusing on the things of eternal life. We cannot have it both ways.
Thanks be to God that Jesus came, not to bring peace, but to bring war. And thanks be to God that He won the war. We do need forgiveness for our sins and thanks be to God that He grants us that forgiveness. Thanks be to God that by His grace, through faith in Jesus, not only do we have forgiveness, but we also have peace, not as the world gives, but the peace that Jesus gives, the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we have eternal life with Him. As Christians, by ourselves we can do no good thing, only refuse and reject what God gives, but by God’s grace, through faith, which He gives to us, He works in us, He moves in us, He stirs in us so that with His help we do live our lives to the glory of the Lord. And with the help of the Holy Spirit we are moved to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
If we were asked if we would rather have peace or sword (or war), most of us, I would imagine, would most certainly say peace. We live in a world which fantasizes about peace. We have the United Nations which was initially set up to help maintain world peace. We set up our defenses to ensure peace. We send ambassadors to other nations to help promote peace. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we have not been so sure about peace and so our government has set up a department of homeland security. Our airports and our boarder patrols are working harder to make sure that we are protected from more terrorist. We all agree, we want peace, but at what cost? At any cost or at all cost?
The Bible reminds us, especially at Christmas time, that Jesus was born as the Prince of Peace. Certainly Jesus came in peace. He never did anything wrong. He never harmed anyone. He always did what was right and good. He was a peaceful man who brought a message of love, even God’s love for His people. Even the image we see at Christmas time is the picture of a peaceful serene night at the stable in which Jesus was born. We sing, “Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, all is bright . . . ” If there ever was a scene which depicted peace, calm and serenity, it would be the Christmas manger scene.
However, Jesus says He came not to bring peace, but to bring a sword. We read beginning at verse thirty-four of our text, “34Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”(v. 34-36). These are Jesus’ words. He says He came to set “a man against his father,” He came to set “a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,” He says that “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” So what is it? Did Jesus come to bring peace or a sword?
Before we answer that question, we also have the juxtaposition of life and death. Jesus continues speaking at verse thirty-seven by saying, “37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (v. 37-39). So, what does this mean? Are we not to love our children or our parents? Maybe we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the better question is “How important is our own life in this world?”
Jesus says, “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Again, what does this mean? Maybe the better question is, “How important is your faith in Christ?”
Life or death, that seems to be the question of our text. Of course, we are at a disadvantage if we are thinking only in terms of physical life or physical death. Jesus is speaking, not just about physical life, not just about physical death, but He is speaking about spiritual life and eternal spiritual death as well.
War or peace, life or death, Jesus or else? Those seem to be our options. Let us take these options and put them into other terms. Let us ask the question a different way. Can a person follow Jesus and live in this world? Of course, as we sit comfortably in our pew here at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, worshiping Jesus, we will say, “yes.” After all, we are Christians, we are followers of Jesus and we are living in this world. The question might rather be, how much of our faith do we compromise when we leave this place and go out into the rest of the world? When we leave this place, this safe haven, this sanctuary, do we go out into the world, to our jobs, to be with our family and friends and simply listen to and agree with everything they say in order to keep the peace? Do we listen to the sociological and theological positions, the ideologies and concepts of the rest of the world and give the impression that we agree? Notice I said, “give the impression that we agree?” Maybe you have never heard it said this way, but, apathy is simply the impression of a low level of agreement. In other words, if we remain apathetic to the false teachings and doctrines of the world, the false ideologies and concepts, the false theologies of the world, that is the same as implying we agree with them, whether we do nor not. So, do we simply stand by and listen and remain apathetic, or do we disagree and stand up for our faith, even knowing that we may be persecuted?
Back to our questions, stated another way, “Can a person live in this world and follow Jesus?” How often do we see and hear in the news that someone, some Christian makes a public statement concerning the pluralism or politically correctness of our world and when it is not said the way society says it should be said, that person is chastised for their statement. In other words, they are said to be intolerant. Can a person live as a Christian in our world? To put that another way. Think about your own life. I have asked this question and now I ask again, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence against you to convict you?”
Can we have it both ways? Perhaps you might remember the illustration I told a while back about the young man who was a Christian and had a summer job working in a lumber jack camp. This lumber jack camp was known as one of the roughest, toughest, rudest, and meanest lumber jack camps in all the world. And the young man was known by his family and friends and his church as being a strong Christian. When questioned about his taking this summer job he suggested that he would make out all right. At the end of the summer he came back home before heading back to college. When asked how he fared at the lumber jack camp he answered that everything went well. When asked how they reacted when they found out he was a Christian he answered, “they never knew.” Was he a Christian or was he not?
The disciples answered that this is too hard. That Jesus was asking too much. How often do we say the same thing? Do we understand the extent of the sacrifice that Jesus is asking of us? More often we simply pay lip service to Jesus’ demand for total allegiance. Maybe it would help if we begin with Jesus. When we begin with Jesus we understand and believe that Christ gives us His all. He gave His life for ours, even though He did not have to. He gave up the glory that was His in heaven. He humbled Himself and took on human flesh and blood, becoming one with us, one like us, except without sin. Then, He, who was without sin, took our sins upon Himself. He allowed Himself to be crucified for our sin. He suffered the eternal death penalty for us in our place. His death gained freedom from sin for us so that we might have life.
Not only that, Christ also gives us His Holy Spirit, along with gifts and abilities to do the works of service which He has for us to do. The Holy Spirit, working through the Word and the Sacraments, the means of grace, gives us faith, strengthens us in our faith, and keeps us in faith. He gives us all His good gifts and blessings, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.
And more, Christ gives us the ability to lose our lives for His sake. We cannot do it on our own. On our own we continually fall victim to temptation and sin. We would continually deny Jesus and our faith in Him. We continue to seek peace on the terms of our world.
Christ brings the question of war or peace, life or death, Christ or else. Christ is the center of controversy, even in our world today. He cannot be ignored. His name, His person, His Word bring struggles. Wars have been fought and are still being fought over His name. While the world tries to ignore Him it cannot. While the world tries to place Him as just a good man, a good teacher and the like, it cannot deny His being God. The very mention of His name brings controversy.
Jesus words in our text are still true today. We do have to place Him somewhere in our list of priorities. He wants first place. What place do we give Him? And before you answer, remember that it is not that He wants us to say that He is first in our lives, He wants us to live it, to show that He has first place. I believe that one of Satan’s greatest victories today is that he convinces us that if we say that Jesus is number one in our lives, then we can go on and live however we want to live, because we have said Jesus is first. Yet, our actions betray us as we live something other than Jesus being first in our lives. We live putting other things ahead of our relationship with Jesus. “After all,” we rationalize, “I have said that Jesus is the number one priority in my life, what is wrong with skipping church on Sunday in order to do something I like to do?” Our actions betray us when we sit idly by and apathetically say nothing in response to those who bash our Lord’s good name.
Jesus does not say that we are not to love father or mother, brother or sister, He simply says that we are to love Him more than these. He has come to bring war and the war He brought was the war which He won, the war against the devil. He has won and His prize is us as His people. We can either live our lives as if this world is all we have, thus finding our lives, and in so doing we will risk eternal life. Or we can live our lives as if this world is but for a moment, thus losing our lives in this world, and in so doing gaining eternal life in heaven. We can live in the present as if this is all we have or we can live with the understanding that our time in this world is short compared to our time in eternity and with that in mind, we live our lives with that eternal perspective focusing on the things of eternal life. We cannot have it both ways.
Thanks be to God that Jesus came, not to bring peace, but to bring war. And thanks be to God that He won the war. We do need forgiveness for our sins and thanks be to God that He grants us that forgiveness. Thanks be to God that by His grace, through faith in Jesus, not only do we have forgiveness, but we also have peace, not as the world gives, but the peace that Jesus gives, the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we have eternal life with Him. As Christians, by ourselves we can do no good thing, only refuse and reject what God gives, but by God’s grace, through faith, which He gives to us, He works in us, He moves in us, He stirs in us so that with His help we do live our lives to the glory of the Lord. And with the help of the Holy Spirit we are moved to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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