Not peace, but division

When Jesus asks “do you think I came to bring peace on earth?” (Luke 12:50) we expect Him to say Yes, and are somewhat  taken aback by His reply “No, I tell you but division”.Speaking to prepare His disciples for the reality that their preaching will more often than not bring opposition (even to the point of death 12:5; 12:11-12) and to help the crowd understand the nature and cost of discipleship we catch a glimpse of three essential realities.The first is that Jesus is Lord of all. He is not the  Lord of Christians only but of all people, the universal Saviour through whom all must come if they are to escape God’s righteous wrath and judgment. Men and women are divided by their response to Him.The second is that Jesus fully immersed Himself and allowed Himself to be overwhelmed by divine judgment upon our sin. This is graphically spelt out by Jesus in 49 under the metaphors of “fire” ( see Jeremiah 5:14,23,29 and Luke 3:17) and “baptism” in 50 (see Mark 10:38,39). New Testament authors are at one about this extraordinary commitment of the Son to the Father’s gracious yet costly way of bringing salvation to sinners (see 2 Cor 5:21, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 2:2 and Hebrews 2:17). Here we see the love of God so clearly shown.

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon and His blood;

Hallelujah! What a Saviour.” (Phillipp Bliss)

The third is that Jesus demands repentance from all people. It is when people refuse to turn back to God and enthrone Jesus as their Saviour and Lord that we see the true nature of sin. Here is God in Christ so lovingly dealing with our sin, yet so many choose to ignore, reject or put off responding to Him. The gospel is a very bitter pill for self made people to swallow. On the one hand it invites us to agree with God’s diagnosis that we are sinners and on the other to humbly turn back to Him.“The problem” it has been said “with self-made people  is that they are inclined to worship their creator!” which of course is the ultimate folly confirming their rebellious independence of God thus inviting His righteous judgment.The blessings of a humble owning up in regard to our sin and in coming to Jesus as our personal Saviour and Lord are comforting and challenging.   The comfort is found in Ravi Zacharias’ words ‘only God can humble us without humiliating us and exalt us without flattering us’. The challenge is to be prepared to divide with people (especially family and friends) over Jesus.Our Lord’s words in 12:52-53 and 14:26-27 remind us that no person (or thing) should be allowed to stand between us and the Lord Jesus.Our own eternal destiny hangs on this commitment as does our temporal happiness (since my love for Christine my wife will be enriched if I love Jesus more than her). But so too will our witness if we are prepared to love our non-Christian friends so much that we seek to encourage them to also trust in Jesus through our words and lifestyle that is ruled at every level by Jesus.As we live for Jesus we will always be persuaded that His tough words are in reality tender since they are for our good, the welfare of unbelievers and for His glory.regardsPeter Brain