Jesus Came to Bring Division

“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.” (Luke 12:49-53 ESV; cf. Matthew 10:34-39)

John the Baptist told us that Jesus Christ would baptize us with the Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). And Jesus’ baptism, in this case, was not his water baptism, but his baptism into death, in which he was crucified on that cross, wherein he put our sins to death with him so that we might also be crucified and buried with him in death to sin so that, in the power of God, we might now walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23).

“Fire” here appears to speak of judgment, and in Jesus’ death on that cross he judged our sins and he put them to death with him. For he died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might now live for him and no longer for self. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our bondage to sin so that we might now honor him with our lives. So we are not to let sin have mastery over our lives to make us obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey, it leads to death.

[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]

So, Jesus didn’t come to this earth to be born as a human baby and to grow to manhood just so people would like him, and so that people would think that he was a great guy. He didn’t come here with smooth-sounding messages to tickle itching ears to make people feel good about themselves, either. He came to shake things up. He came to bring division and to turn family members, one against another. So how did he do that? By teaching them the truth of God’s word.

In other words, Jesus came to draw people to himself, to faith in him. He came to call them to deny self, to die daily to sin, and to follow him in obedience to his commands. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for his sake we deny self and we die with him daily to sin, and we now walk with him in obedience to his commands, then we have the hope of eternal life with God. But if we deny him, then when he returns he will deny us (See Luke 9:23-26).

So, when people make the choice to leave their old lives of sin behind them to now follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands, that becomes a sticking point (obstacle, hindrance to relationships) when others in the family or in the same household do not hold to the same beliefs and values. And this can happen among people who all profess faith in Jesus Christ, too, for some people accept an altered gospel message while others accept the true gospel that Jesus taught, and so it can still divide families.

So the division is not just those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ and those who profess faith in our Lord. But it is those who walk in obedience to the Lord, by faith, by the grace of God, and those who continue to walk in deliberate and habitual sin. For both may profess faith in Jesus Christ but it is only those who deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience who have salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God. But many who profess faith in Jesus Christ will contend with that division.

And since you have two schools of thinking on the subject of what constitutes genuine faith which saves, and you have the division of those who make no profession of Christ and those who do, you are going to have conflict in families and within the gatherings of the church, too. For there will be those who take a much more liberal approach to Christianity while others will take the approach that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught which requires death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness.

But please understand that it is not the thinking of humans that determines where we will spend eternity. It is the word of God, taught in context, that lets us know that if we walk in sin, if sin is our practice, if we are still living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, and if holiness and godliness and moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness and obedience to our Lord are not what we do, in practice, then we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith in Christ we have professed with our lips.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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