Luke 12:49-53 Christians Can Expect Trouble

            At Jesus’ birth, the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”  The prophet Isaiah refers to the coming Savior as the “Prince of Peace.”  And says about him - “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”  The prophet Zechariah says the Savior “will proclaim peace to the nations.”  And the apostle Paul begins many of his letters by greeting his readers, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

 But here in our text, we hear just the opposite. Jesus says, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” How can that be? God wants peace for the world. Jesus came to secure peace by his perfect life and sacrificial death in our place. But people refuse God’s offer of peace. People reject Jesus as Savior. And that creates division. As Jesus tells us, ^ “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” So for Christians, in this sinful world, we should expect opposition and trouble. The Bible doesn’t teach any Theology of Glory. In fact on a number of occasions Jesus tells us quite the opposite. Jesus tells us that as Christians we can expect to have trouble and suffering in our life. Jesus tells us in our text that he came “to bring fire on the earth.” And so we are reminded that Christians Can Expect Trouble. That is shown by the baptism Jesus underwent. And that is shown us by the fire Jesus kindled.

 Jesus came into this world to give us peace. Peace was destroyed by sin. Sin had destroyed the relationship that existed between God and us, his creatures. Instead of peace, we deserved God’s punishment. We were doomed to an eternity of punishment separated from God. But Jesus came to restore peace between us and God. To accomplish that Jesus had to deal with sin. 

 To do that Jesus himself underwent suffering. He was mistreated by the world, and as his disciples we can really expect no better treatment. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” The world will treat us, who are Jesus’ disciples, in a similar way to which it treated Jesus.

 Jesus tells us here that he has a “baptism” to undergo. What is this “baptism” that Jesus is speaking about?  He had already been baptized by John in the Jordan River. Here Jesus uses the word “baptism” in a figurative sense, but elsewhere Jesus speaks very plainly about this. Jesus told his disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priest and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” The baptism Jesus is referring to in our text is the sufferings and his death which he must undergo. 

 We see here the human nature of Jesus. He was distressed by this. This baptism which he was to undergo weighed heavy on his mind. Think of what he said in Gethsemane when his baptism was about to begin, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” 

 And yet at the same time we see combined with this distress, Jesus’ inner urge to go on. In John chapter 12 Jesus speaks, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Jesus’ sufferings were indeed frightening, but Jesus had no idea of running away from them. Our lost condition under sin meant that Jesus had to go on. The only way that we could be saved, the only way that we could have peace, was if Jesus took our sins upon himself and suffered their full punishment. And Jesus did just that. He went to Jerusalem, where he was betrayed, tried and convicted and put to death on the cross for our sins and the sins of the entire world.

 Through our baptism, by faith we have been joined together with Christ in his death. The apostle Paul tells us, “don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Being joined with Christ in his death means that we enjoy all the benefits of that death. It means that we who were once dead in sin have been made alive - given spiritual life, given eternal life.

 We have peace with God. We have a certain peace to look forward to for all eternity in heaven. And that peace affects our lives right now. In fact, that peace remains no matter what trials and temptations come our way in this world of sin.

 How would you characterize the Christian life? The fact is, life, even as a Christian, isn’t always easy. Things don’t always go well. Often we feel beaten down, defeated by the sorrows and temptations that come our way. We have crosses to bear as we follow our Savior. And that is difficult for us. How easy to think that things should be glorious for us in this life. In fact, that message is many times what we hear from other Christian groups. That if a Christian prays right, lives right, follows God’s word – things will go well with him and his life will be characterized by success.

 How easy for us to think that way and so be disappointed, disillusioned when problems come, or when I’m called upon to serve or to sacrifice for the Lord. Our Lord has made us a number of promises for this life. We know that God is on our side. He is with us, to protect and care for us. He blesses us in many different ways. But it is easy for us then to simply expect that those blessings will also include an abundance of physical blessings, and that our life will be easy and free from trouble and that everything will go well for us.

 But we know from experience that the Christian life is not always an easy one. In fact often it is quite the opposite - it can be very difficult to be a Christian. We suffer trouble and sorrow; sometimes simply because we are Christians. We are ridiculed for our beliefs. Others consider us strange because we would get up early on a Sunday morning to sit in church. On occasions we may even give up recreation, or change our schedule because of church or Bible study, because we consider the Word of God to be more important. We are different. Perhaps some movies or TV shows we don’t watch because they glorify certain sins. The Word of God directs our lives and what we do and the world and our society consider that strange. And that can make our lives difficult and uncomfortable at times. Our Christian faith will at times bring us into conflict with the world around us.

 But what a great temptation it is for us to live and act like the world. We don’t want to be different. We don’t want to be ridiculed. We want to fit in. How nice it would be to have an easy and comfortable life. When ridicule and trouble and suffering come into our lives, Satan uses those things to lead us away from the Lord. Instead of placing our trust in the Lord and turning to his Word for comfort and strength, it can be easy for us to question God’s power and control in our lives, or even to question God’s motives and reasons for allowing such trouble in our lives.  

 But the new life that we have in Christ makes us willing and ready to endure the fire, to endure the sufferings which the Lord allows to come our way. The Bible does not teach a Theology of Glory, but rather a Theology of the Cross. Jesus baptism - his sufferings and death, result in a fire being kindled.  Because there will naturally be a division between those who follow Jesus and those who do not. Anyone who is not a follower of Jesus, is against him. There really can be no middle ground. Either Jesus is who he claimed to be - namely the Son of God and our Savior. If that is the case then we will devote our entire being to him, follow him with all our heart and soul and mind.

 If, however, Jesus was not the Son of God and not our Savior, then really the only other option is that he is a liar and a lunatic. With his statements and claims, Jesus really didn’t leave any room for a middle ground. And so there will be a division between believers and unbelievers and this will cause tension between the two.

 As believers we follow the Word of our Savior. His Word guides are lives. It directs our actions. It shapes our thinking. As disciples of Jesus, we are also called upon to spread his Word. Part of proclaiming his Word means preaching the law. That can be very difficult. To point out to someone that what he or she is doing is a sin is not easy. Our society places an emphasis on accepting people and their beliefs. To tell someone that what they believe or their particular lifestyle is wrong or a sin that makes us uncaring, narrow-minded, even a bigot. But really the most uncaring thing that we can do is let sin go unchecked and unconfronted. The most uncaring thing would be to let that person continue in their sin and to eventually to be lost forever in hell.

 Yet so often, we don’t like to do that do we. We don’t want to say anything. We don’t want to cause any problems. We don’t want to cause those divisions. It is easy for us to think we can overlook the problem and somehow get along. And these types of divisions can be especially difficult to deal with when they occur within the family.  And yet we see that happen. Families do not believe as a group. Each person has to believe for himself. There will be these divisions within families, in communities, divisions between churches, hatred, name-calling and even persecution may result. But we should not let this disturb us. Jesus tells us to expect it. Jesus tells us these divisions will even take place within families. We should not allow ourselves to be tempted to give up our faith just in order to get away from this sad and difficult situation. What is most important is God and his word. What is most important is our eternal relationship with him.

 We might wonder why would God even allow such situations to occur? Why would God allow our lives to have such trouble and difficulty? Jesus speaks of fire. Fire is not only a destructive force, but it also purifies. Precious metals, such as gold or silver, are placed in fire to burn off and remove the impurities. After it has been through the fire, that metal is more valuable, even more precious than before. The apostle Peter compares that process to what happens with our faith when we suffer trials. Peter writes, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved to be genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Through that fire of trouble, the Lord works to strengthen our faith, to keep us focused on heaven and to bring us at last to that blessed place.

 It isn’t because God isn’t in control or because God doesn’t love or care for us, or even because he is punishing us that this fire is kindled and that we have troubles in our life. It is for precisely the opposite reasons that we have troubles in our life. As we heard in our second lesson this morning, God uses those things to discipline us. Although we don’t like to be disciplined, proper discipline is actually good for us. It shows us the proper way and keeps us on the proper path. God’s discipline is perfect.

            And so while we, as Christians can expect trouble, it does not need to upset set us or cause us to despair.  Our Savior has told us that we will suffer trouble, but he has also promised that he will use it for our good, even if we can’t always see how.  Finally no matter how hot the fire, no matter what trouble we might face, we have the sure hope of heaven to look forward to.  Our Savior Jesus also faced trouble.  He didn’t have to, but for our sake he underwent that baptism.  He went to Jerusalem to suffer and die, so that we might live and live eternally.  That knowledge will give us the strength to face the troubles in our lives.  May God grant us that strength.