Sermon on Matthew 10:34-42, for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost 2020 (A), "Divided; United"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our
Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. There’s a hard lesson about
division and judgment in today’s Gospel: Jesus talks about how He did not come
to bring peace, but a sword. Divisions in the world, the family, and ultimately
divisions from ourselves. Divisions are a tragic symptom of our sinful
condition. Selfishness, rivalry, divided loyalties, and much more come from our
sinful refusal to put God and His ways first. By contrast, God’s peace comes to
those who trust and follow Jesus, even while they are divided from those who
won’t follow Jesus. Ultimately Jesus must divide from sin, error and unbelief.
There must be a parting of ways between God’s way and the world’s way—between the
devil’s lies and God’s truth. Thank Jesus for rescuing us from lies and bringing
us into truth. So where does Jesus divide and where does He unite?
Jesus must divide us from lies and unify
us with the truth. Lies are incompatible with the truth. Space for lies always sacrifices
the truth. Lies are often clever imposters of the truth, so you have to be wise
and discerning to identify the truth and reject imposters. Lies need distortion
and cover-ups and silence to survive, but truth survives in openness and
honesty and in the light. Jesus is the Truth, and so He and His disciples will always
be dividing lies from truth.
To be united to the Truth is to know
Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the True God and Eternal Life.
His Word opens our eyes to see clearly. Sometimes the Truth is painful or
uncomfortable. Lies can lull us into a false sense of security, but like bait
with a hook inside, there’s always a painful catch and realization of being
trapped. The Truth sets us free from sin, but freedom needs protection, because
we easily throw it away and the devil will gladly snatch our freedom away through
sin, whenever he can tempt us.
Jesus must divide us from sin and unify us
with righteousness. Sin is incompatible with righteousness. To hide and protect
our sin, rather than bringing it to the light to be exposed and confessed, is
to sacrifice righteousness. Sin takes root in our thoughts and motives, it
grows in hiding, and then like a weed it flourishes in our words and actions,
if it isn’t uprooted. Uprooting our sin is a constant, daily effort, just like
weeding your garden. And the more mature and deep the roots of the weed are,
the harder it is to pull out. Same with sin. When we confess our sins, Jesus
unites us with His righteousness forgives us. United with His righteousness we
begin to walk in His ways and follow in His path of obedience. He leads us out
of sin and into obedience and life.
Jesus must divide us from unbelief and
unify us to faith. Unbelief is to doubt or reject God. To trust our will and ways
more than God. Unbelief calls God a liar, and calls us true. Therefore,
unbelief is incompatible with faith in Jesus. By unifying us with faith, Jesus
continually drives unbelief away. That includes our doubts, worries, and
uncertainties. For those who have not yet believed, Jesus always calls us to
faith—His Word goes out to all the world. To believe in Him is to have
forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus then unite those who gather to Him in faith
as Lord and Savior.
Beginning with these divisions, seeing how
Jesus divides us from lies, sin, and unbelief, we can begin to see how deep the
dividing sword must cut. Jesus said that He came not to bring peace, but a
sword. His truth divides from our sinful rebellion. But how deep does the sword
cut? Jesus says, “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not
worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it.” This sword cuts right through our own life. Sin,
which clings so closely, must be cut away. In Hebrews 4:12, God’s Word is
described as a sword that pierces and divides us: “For the word of God is living
and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul
and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.” That sword cuts to our heart and soul, exposing
sin and removing it like a surgeon’s knife cutting away a cancerous tumor. But
this tumor of sin is wrapped around our soul and spirit, our thoughts and
intentions. Jesus is the master Healer of body and soul, who can exactly apply
that sword to bring healing instead of death. But it requires division from ourselves.
Death of the our sinful nature, so we can live in the new life of the Spirit.
Losing our life, taking up our cross and following Jesus. So we’re not “safe”
from this dividing sword—it cuts through us and our life too.
Jesus divides us from our sinful life but
unites us to a new and better life. Losing our life for His sake, we find it in
Him. New life in Jesus is not enslaved to sinful pleasures but the joy of
serving Christ and our neighbor. New life in Jesus is the joy of doing what is God-pleasing
and helps our neighbor. New life is the joy of knowing that not even death can
separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. New life is the peace that’s
deeper than anything the world can give.
But the new life is not without pain. The
disciple of Jesus might be divided from their own family members. Parents,
children or spouse, anyone in our own household might be divided against us
because of Christ. Sometimes they may dwell with us in peace, but in many situations,
people face an ultimatum— “Choose Jesus or me.” The old sinful nature can be so
strong that family may reject or ostracize their believing family member. Two well-known
Christian authors who originally were atheists, Lee Strobel and J. Warner
Wallace, got so angry at their wives’ conversions to Christianity, that they
tried to “debunk” Jesus to get them out. Fortunately, both failed, and were
convinced and converted by the evidence for Jesus’ life, death, and
resurrection. But not every family division turns out so well. Jesus’ warning
is serious—that we can’t choose family above Him. God is always first, and no
other can take His place.
But the good news, as before, is that when
we do face division from our family for Jesus’ sake, we are united by faith and
fellowship to a new Christian family. Fellow disciples of Christ become our new
family. If we lose family because of the sword of Christ, in our new life in
Him, we find new family. If blood is thicker than water—then faith is thicker
than blood, as a deeper binding tie. And for many Christians their closest
family is the church. Praying for each other, caring for each other, and
bearing one another’s crosses, we build deep and lasting family bonds—a spiritual
family, not biological. So divided from family we are united to the Church, the
body of Christ. We have a place, a home, a family of belonging in Him. So many today
long for a place to belong.
And finally, we are simply divided from
the world to be united to Jesus. As J. Warner Wallace’s son puts it, “Standing
up for any set of ideals is by its very nature divisive.”[1]
It’s a sobering reality that Jesus tells His disciples “Do not think that have
come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
This is the parting of ways that comes from following Jesus. Leave sin, lies,
and unbelief behind to join Jesus in righteousness, truth, and faith. Leave our
sinful flesh behind to join His new life and be filled with His Spirit. Leave
our earthly family to be united with our church family. And that’s not to forget
that, Lord-willing, our earthly family joins us in a deeper unity as part of
the body of Christ. The kingdom of Christ is open, Christ is still calling for
disciples to follow Him. But we cannot minimize the cost of separation from the
sinful world. But the new unity we find in Him is so much better.
Yes, there are some painful and necessary
divisions. Jesus has to set Himself and us apart from the sinful world and the
lies that enslave. But it’s a separation from death, so that we can join Him in
life. A separation from lies to join Him in truth. Jesus brings the sword, but
He fights for us and He fights for life and truth, even when it slices away our
sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. But whatever we lose in this life, we gain
in greater measure in Him. His peace is forever yours, in Jesus’ Name, Amen!
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