#1257 Matthew 10 Part 5 The Great Divide

 

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For 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. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever 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. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10: 34-39

Matthew 10: 34-39

10Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me. Jeremiah 15: 10

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth - Jesus, the Messiah, is also known in the OT as the Prince of Peace, so its easy to see how the Jews of that time would be confused. I mean even in our own time there are those who profess to be Christians, who take a Post Millennial view, and think that we are in the Millennial reign now. They believe that God just threw out a thousand years but didn't mean a thousand years, though He's not a God of confusion, and many I have talked to and heard think that they are ushering in the Kingdom, that it's kind of evolving to where the earth is governed by goodness. I am personally waiting for Christ to come back and establish peace. We have to take the whole counsel of God, and even some of the early Rabbinical teachers understood that the Messiah would suffer, in other words, He would not be well received. The Prophet Isaiah speaks of both appearances. Jesus has already told them that a servant is not above his master, the student should expect the same treatment as his teacher.

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

3 and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.  Isaiah 2: 2-4

More on Isaiah 2

Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant

But a sword - He is making this more and more clear, that "yeah, He is the way, the truth and the life, that no one comes to the Father but by Him", and this is peace, peace with God, the peace offering of Christ, to be offered up as the solely acceptable and pleasing sacrifice to God for the sins of all who believe. At the same time, the world is still born, hates God, is at enmity with Him, and people love and defend the very things that God calls us to repent of. So here is this sword, and it is the truth, and He will have them make no mistake about this, this sword divides. It separates truth from error, it rips open the veil, it causes tension with those who hate the truth and those, who by the grace of God, have come to love it. Jesus was the most polarizing man in all of history, just go out and tell the whole world that there is a God, that He hates sin, tell them what He calls sin, and then tell them that there is only One way to be reconciled to your Creator and that is through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, believe me, this divides.

1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.… Ephesians 2: 1-3

…18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.… John 3: 18-20

A man against his father, a daughter against her mother - In case you were wondering, yes, this includes familial ties. It's not just a man going against the grain of atheism, or leaving Mormonism, Judaism, Islam, for Christ, obviously those differences occur in families as well, but I have seen it also in the evangelical church. I have had these issues with my own father, though I did not grow up with him, yet we took him in for a time, and he professed to be a Christian. He said some right things with his mouth, knew some of the vocabulary, but accepted another gospel, was blown about by every wind of strange doctrine. He changed for whoever was in the room until he no longer wished to be there, couldn't stand the reading of certain passages of Scripture, did not want to be questioned on his doctrine or lifestyle. I have seen the same thing with my wife, yet those matriarchs in her family did not profess to believe, made fun of people who did, tried to use the weight of their position in the family, their wealth, their influence, guilt, anything to impose their will and ideology, but my wife became more and more enamored with Christ. We don't seek to be divisive, but you tell the truth, you don't bow to their idols, and guess what, regardless of what you would like it to be, regardless of your hope, the closer you draw to God, the wider the ravine. 

A person's enemies will be those of his own household - I pray hard even now, because I see people I am close to fail in the simple things God has asked of us. Sometimes my children are rebellious, and yet they think they would be the good guys in a story about persecution, even though they can't be asked to do something good and useful, like cleaning the dishes now. What if they could gain popularity, be held in high esteem by millions of people, what would they choose then? If you can justify rebellion now, if you think your life is difficult in a first world scenario, and you're mad now at those who correct you for doing the things that God says not to do, how will you respond to bigger temptations and more difficult trials? Look at Cain, what did his brother do to him? His brother took God at His word and offered a more pleasing sacrifice than Cain. He chose godliness, and God corrected his brother for offering an inferior sacrifice and for having a heart bent on evil, feeding it, pandering and bandaging an ego that needed to die, but instead he let it grow until it begged for the sacrifice of his brother, Abel. He then slew his brother with a stone. Long before the first bullet was ever made millions died at the hands of others, murder is not in any instrument or tool, it comes from the heart. 

We should expect that normally, following Jesus makes us better husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, sons, daughters and so forth. Yet there are times when the presence of Jesus divides rather than unifies.

ii. The greatest danger of idolatry comes not from what is bad, but from what is good – like love in family relationships. The greatest danger to the best comes from second best. - E Word

Whoever loves father or mother...son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me - Jesus is calling for the ultimate allegiance, that He, through Whom all things were created, and He, the soul redeemer, the Lamb worthy, slain for His sheep, that He be lifted up, that He hold the highest seat in your heart. If He does then the outward sign of this will be your willingness to tell the truth even when it is unpopular, to acknowledge Him even when it causes family to hate you or walk away. This is an awesome story that J Mac tells about John Bunyan, a great man of faith. I know a lot of people today that excuse everything family. If someone in their family is doing it then they defend it. I see crazy celebrities on tv who think they're great parents for letting children make decisions they are not equipped to make, but they are popular with their kids, their friends, and mom and dad are culturally hip, plus they have enough money to bail you out when it proves to be stupid advice. I have heard parents tell other parents, "but look, he or she is crying because you won't give them what they want, you are making them feel bad, just buy it for them", and they mistakenly call that love. As it will turn out, the one that gives you everything you want is not the good parent, but the one that instills in you a fear and reverence for God, that is the real parent, that is the one who loves you enough not to send you speeding towards a meeting with a Holy and just God, one where you will not be able to throw a temper tantrum to get out of it.  

John Bunyan knew all about this, only in a kind of a special way. They told John Bunyan to quit preaching. But he said “I cannot quit preaching because God has called me to preach.”

And they said, “If you preach, we'll put you in prison.”

And so he said to himself, “If I go to prison, who cares for my family? But how can I close my mouth when God has called me to preach?”

And so, he committed his family to the care of God and was obedient to the call of God and preached. And they put him in prison. And since then, he’s blessed millions of families, because it was there he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress.

But listen to what he said, “The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me, in this place, as the pulling of the flesh from my bones. And that not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great mercies, but also because I should have often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family was like to meet with should I be taken from them, especially my poor, blind child who lay nearer my heart than all I have besides. Oh, the thought of the hardship I thought my blind one might go under would break my heart to pieces.

“But yet, recalling myself, thought I, ‘I must venture all with God, though it go to the quick to leave you.’ Oh, I saw in this condition I was a man who was pulling down his house upon the head of his wife and children, yet thought I, ‘I must do it; I must do it.’” End quote.

I pray to God I never have to make that decision, don't you? And for some of us, it doesn't have to be, but for some of us it may. Some of you have had to make a choice. You've confessed Jesus Christ, and it's alienated your family from you. But that’s the way we prove the reality, you see? One who says, “I'm not willing to make that sacrifice,” isn't genuine. - J Mac

Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me - We have often taught and been taught wrongly in the church, that this has to do with bearing, putting up with someone else, as if my wife were my cross, my child, my epilepsy, my cancer, and so on. The context doesn't communicate this, and the disciples lived in Galilee, were familiar with Palestine and Roman occupation, for them the cross meant one thing, death. When Rome told you to take up your cross you were going in one direction, and you weren't going to talk your way out of it, you were carrying, on your back, the instrument of your own torture and death. Knowing what sort of prolonged agony this was, it's humiliating, barbarous nature, the disciples have gone all the way from the loss of friendship to the loss of family unity and now death. This is the price of discipleship, though not every disciple will experience torture or be murdered, he or she must acknowledge that this is the call, this is on the contract, it is never off the table, and we are okay with that because this present suffering does not compare to eternal glory. It is interesting too, that His disciples still aren't aware that He will take up His cross and go to Calvary; the sight of that must have caused these words, "follow me" to echo in their heads for some time.

“When the Roman general, Varus, had broken the revolt of Judas in Galilee [4 BC], he crucified two thousand Jews, and placed the crosses by the wayside along the roads to Galilee.” (Barclay)

17And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.… Romans 8: 17-19

…19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.… Galatians 2: 19-21

Whoever finds his life will lose it - There is often a way to avoid the cross, and I have heard this lie told often among those that are religious, that teach a pattern of denying the truth. If you make peace with the culture, become liked by the culture, hold the truth back, deny Christ, water down the gospel, change what God says, omit what God says, add to what God says, well then you will find this life, they will not be threatened by you because you won't tell the truth that they hate. You will salvage yourself from the cross that Christ has told you to take, because for fear of death you have denied the only begotten Son of God. You will trade eternal life for temporary comfort, forever for forgettable seconds. You may get promoted, you may live a long time here, may enjoy the riches of this life for a season, but what an uneven trade, a horrible investment.