Luke 12:49-53 ESV
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were
already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my
distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace
on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house
there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will
be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter
and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and
daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Not
Peace, But Division
Well, these are words that you don’t
hear taught much at all in the gatherings of what is called “church” here in
America, if any. This is not the Jesus that most people paint a picture of
these days. They paint Jesus as a peacekeeper and as someone who just went
around doing good and who everyone loved and admired for his kindness, for his
generosity, for his mercy, and for his compassion and his love for the human
race.
But Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 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. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:34-38 ESV
And the thing of it is, this isn’t
just talking about the non-believer in Jesus versus the believer in Jesus. In
many cases this is professing Christian versus professing Christian because one
is taking God and his word seriously and is following the Lord wholeheartedly
while the other is professing faith in Jesus Christ while still living for the
passions of the flesh. And many people professing faith in Christ these days
feel that they are being given permission by God’s grace to continue in their
sin, only now without guilt.
So, what we have here are Christians
who have died with Christ to sin and who are living to God and to his
righteousness being opposed by those who make no profession of faith in Christ
at all or by those who are buying into the cheap grace gospel and who are living
worldly lives. And those who are living to God and to his righteousness are
teaching the truth as opposed to the lies and many of them are exposing the
fruitless deeds of darkness which then just makes them disliked by those who
are living worldly lives.
And so we have non-Christians
fighting against Christians, and we have nominal (in name only) Christians
fighting against the Lord’s devoted servants. And then we have the Lord’s
servants confronting the deeds of darkness and calling people to repentance and
to obedient faith in Christ, and so have division between light and darkness,
and between truth and deception, etc. And so we have even family members
against one another or against what one another believes and says and is doing.
And this has to happen, for
darkness and light do not mix. Hate and love do not blend together as one. Lies
and truth cannot be rolled into one, either. Wickedness does not go to bed with
purity, either. So, the closer we walk in fellowship with our Lord the more we
are going to be rejected and hated and persecuted even by family members. And
so we must choose to love God/Jesus more, and to continue in our walks of faith
and obedience to him, even if it means being hated and rejected by family
members.
For Jesus Christ died on that
cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him
who gave his life up for us. He shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us
back for God (to redeem us) so that we will now serve God with our bodies. And
he died to put our sin to death with him that we might be crucified with him in
death to sin and that we might be raised with him to walk in newness of life in
him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
So, we need to understand here
that we don’t just “get saved” and then we live our lives and one day when we
die we get to go to heaven. We must die with Christ to sin and live to him and
to his righteousness. Our sinful practices must be put to death and we must now
walk in holiness and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. Sin should
now no longer be our practice but righteousness and obedience to our Lord
should be our practice or we don’t have eternal life with God but the fearful
expectation of hell as our eternal destiny. So, please take this to heart.
[Lu
9:23-26;
Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas
1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27;
Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]
Seek
the Lord
An
Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based
off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
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