Peace or Division | A Sermon on Luke 12:49-53

Introduction
Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus the Prince of Peace.
In Luke 2:14, we hear the angels singing, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”  And many love the image of Jesus carrying a baby lamb, gently in His arms.  That’s why His words in our Scripture today are shocking.  Let’s look at them together in Luke 12:49-53.

Luke 12:49-53
⁴⁹ “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! ⁵⁰ I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. ⁵¹ Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! ⁵² From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

⁵³ ‘Father will be divided against son
    and son against father;
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’^[a]”

A World on Fire
Jesus’ words in verse 49 are startling.  “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning!” 

In Scripture, fire often represents judgement, purification, and the Holy Spirit.  The prophet Malachi foretold Jesus using the image of fire when he said: “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.”

Jesus’ very existence confronts our lives.  When He enters our world, hypocrisy is exposed, sin is confronted, and hearts are revealed.  You can’t avoid it.  When He draws close it burns away the fake facades we wear like masks.  He reveals who we really are.

So, some try to avoid the Fire.  They stay far away.  They hide in the shadows, running from the Truth.  The Pharisees had a great public image.  Everyone looked up to them and though they were model citizens, the most holy in all the land.  However, their public image masked a lot of private sin and wrong attitudes and selfish motives.  Jesus' teachings exposed their hypocrisy.  So they tried discredit Him.  When they couldn't, they tried to kill Him, thinking that would hide their duplicity.  But Darkness can never overcome the Light. (John 1:5)  The Crucifixion only turned up the heat even more to burn the farce they called “peace”.

What is Peace?
Peace is a word people love to hear.  We pray for “peace in the middle east”.  “Peace” was the slogan and logo of the 1960s—used by people on all sides of the conflicts.  Ironically, “peace” is usually the reason powerful politicians justify going to war.
They drop bombs on each other until one side submits and there is “peace.”  So what exactly is peace?  What does that even mean?

According to our faith, “True peace is life made right with God.”  The Hebrew word for peace in the Bible is Shalom.  It means wholeness, completeness, harmony, a right relationship, and well-being under God’s blessing.  Peace is the perfect state in which Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before they sinned.  It is the condition humans have been trying to find ever since we lost it, and it is the perfect peace God has been working in our world to restore as well.

But true peace, shalom, is always built upon a right relationship with God.  Apart from peace with God, all other peace is inferior and temporary or invalid.  It sounds good, but it does not deliver real harmony or wholeness.  And it does not last.

Jesus is the “Prince of Peace”, because He came to restore complete wholeness to the world through a right relationship with God.  He came to bring us back into the perfect peace of the Garden of Eden.  But to bring us back to God, all our other idols and false gods and fake peace must be burned up in the fire of God’s refining flame.

Disturbing the Peace
The Pharisees and teachers of religious law, as well as the Romans, said Jesus was “disturbing the peace”.  And it’s true.  He was disturbing their peace so He could re-establish true peace.  In Jerusalem, they killed Jesus on a cross in a vain effort to protect their way of life—which was just a fake kind of peace that rejected God to benefit people in power at the expense of the weak.

But you cannot escape the refining fire of Jesus’ Truth.  His very existence demands everyone choose with whom they will live in peace.  Will you be on God’s side or the side of someone else?  Will you follow Jesus unconditionally as Lord, or will you follow some other lord?  No one can remain neutral.  It is not one of the options.

And we see from Jesus words that our surrender to God leaves no room for compromise.  It is an unconditional surrender.  “Families will be split apart… Father will be divided against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother…”

Why?  Because these close relatives sometimes choose differently—one for the Lord and the other for someone or something else.  And the truth is, you may experience this in your life too, if you end up differently aligned with Christ than the people you love.

Jesus absolutely did come to bring peace—peace with God.  But when people must decide whether to receive that peace, it inevitably creates division.

Our Own False Peace
Before we think too much about divisions out there in the world, we should probably ask a harder question.  Where have we made peace with things in our own lives that God never intended us to live with?  Because the truth is, many of us have made a kind of false peace with our brokenness.

We make peace with sins we know are there but don’t want to confront.  We make peace with bitterness we’ve carried for years.  We make peace with habits we know are unhealthy.  We make peace with relationships that are wounded but never healed.

We tell ourselves, “This is just the way I am.”Or “This is just the way life is.” Or "This is just the way the real world works."  And over time, the brokenness begins to feel normal.  It becomes familiar.  It becomes comfortable.  And strangely enough, it begins to feel like peace.

But it isn’t peace.  It’s just settling.  It is selling out.
It’s learning to live with the darkness rather than stepping into the light.
And this is exactly why Jesus says He came to bring fire.  Because sometimes the most loving thing God can do for us is to disturb the false peace we’ve made with sin.

Jesus refuses to leave us comfortable in the things that are destroying us.  
He comes like a refining fire.  Fire is uncomfortable.  Fire burns. 
Fire exposes what is real and what is fake.  But fire also purifies.

The fire of Christ burns away the lies we hide behind.  It burns away the idols we cling to.
It burns away the broken patterns we have learned to live with.  Not to destroy us, but to heal us.
Because on the other side of that refining fire is something far better than the fragile peace we try to manufacture for ourselves.  On the other side is true peace. 
Peace with God.  Peace that restores what sin has broken. 
Peace that brings us back into the wholeness God created us for in the first place.

And that leaves each of us with the same question Jesus placed before the crowds.
Will we hold on to the false peace we have built for ourselves?
Or will we surrender to the refining fire of Christ and receive the true peace only He can give?

Because Jesus didn’t come simply to make us comfortable.  He came to make us whole.

Be Ready | A Sermon on Luke 12:35-40

Introduction
So far this Lent, we’ve moved from Determination to Commitment to Perseverance.  Today we will here Jesus call to Be Ready.

Luke 12:35-40
³⁵ “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. ³⁷ The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! ³⁸ He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn.^[a] But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

³⁹ “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

Be Ready
Jesus tells this story to exhort His followers to be ready.  Be ready for what? [His return…]
He said, “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning…”   It almost reminds you of the Passover back in Exodus.  God told the Hebrews slaves to be dressed and ready to go, for the Lord was about to delver them and they needed to have their sandals and and be ready to leave.

Jesus and His followers lived in a time before electricity, a time when you traveled on foot.  Imagine the Master of the home staying out late at a wedding feast—well past his bedtime.  It’s dark and he’s tired from a long wedding celebration—maybe up to a week of socializing.  Then the master has to walk home—maybe a long, long distance.  By the time he arrive home, he will be tired and thirsty.  

And as he approaches his home, he might find a dark home with no lights.  The servants he pays to help him are sleeping.  He has to wait for them to find lamps, fill them with oil, trim and adjust the wicks, and then light them.  And since there are no lighters at this time, they have to strike flints to get the lamps burning.  Can you imagine?  Then, they must dress (you can't greet tyhe master in your PJs).  So the master has to wait for them in the dark while they come to the door and open it.  Then he has to wait for them to go collect water from a well and make some refreshments (there aren't Ritz crackers in the pantry; everything is made from scratch).  He’s tired from the journey, but he has to wait because his servants have been lazy and aren't prepared.

If he has good servants, the master may find a home brightly lit home with lamps in the windows and perhaps along the pathway guiding him to the home.  His servants have been waiting diligently for his return.  They are already dressed to serve.  They've kept their lamps burning so the windows are illuminated and they can quickly answer the door.  They open the door as soon as their master arrives.  They already have refreshments on the table waiting to sooth him after his long journey.

Which servants would you want on your payroll?  Which servants do we want to be?  And since this parable is about the return of Christ in the Last Days, He is the Master, and we are the servants, what should we do if we want to be servants who are ready for our Master’s return?

Be Alert
We need to be alert.  Being ready means being proactive, not passive.  We see the example for this when we are seated and served at a restaurant.  A waiter or waitress  has "wait" is in their job title. A bad wait staff doesn't pay attention to you.  You have to constantly get their attention when you need them.  But a good waiter or waitress is attentive without being intrusive.  They pay attention to your needs from a distance and serve you before you even need to ask for help.

As you wait for Jesus return, are you watching & listening for signs about how you can serve? Are you obediently working?  Are you praying and listening the God's Word in Scripture daily? Are you sensitive to nudges from the Holy Spirit?  Do you look for reasons to serve, not excuses why you can’t 

Spiritual Maintenance
Jesus uses the image of a lamp.  The lamp He referred to would have been a clay vessel filled with olive oil that burned a flax wick inserted through a narrow spout.  These were finicky; the wicks need adjustment, drips must be cleaned up, you must keep at least one lamp burning or else you had to use flints to light the lamp, which could be tricky.

If we are going to be ready spiritually, our spiritual flame needs maintenance.  How do you tend your spirit from flickering out?

Tend Your Flame

Some ways you can help tend your spiritual flame, is through worship--gathering together with outer believers to honor and adore God.  It helps keep your prorities straight and invigorates your spiritual passion.  

Prayer and Scripture train you to share your life with God and be ready to hear His voice.  Don’t wait until you have an emergency to pray.  I mean, you can; but how much better is it if you have a daily/ongoing relationship with God.  Then we you need Him for a major issue, you already have a relationship and know you can trust him.

Through self-Examination, we evaluate our life and ask:

• If Christ returned tonight, what would you be ashamed of?
• What spiritual flame in your life has been flickering?
• Where have you been lounging in spiritual pajamas instead of wearing servant’s clothes?

Repent of your sin; be reconciled with God and your neighbor.  These are also essential acts that hel you tend your spiritual flame and keep your lamp burning bright.

Jesus’ Return is Good News
One thing I don’t want us to lose sight of is this:  The Master’s return is a good thing!  When we follow Jesus as Lord, His return is not an occasion for dread or fear.  When we stay alert and are ready, we know we belong to Him.  We know there is grace.  Jesus is not looking for reasons to be angry, but for reasons to reward.

We want to be found faithful.  And we know Christ will bless us when He comes.  Jesus Himself will sit us down and serve a heavenly feast.

Luke 13:29 says, “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.”  And Revelation 19:9 says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Closing Meditation
Ask yourself:

If Christ returned tonight, what would you be ashamed of?

What spiritual flame in your life has been flickering, almost ready to go out?

Where have you spiritually been lounging in pajamas instead of wearing a servant’s clothes?