Life in
Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
“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)
Grace and
peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hold up your
hand in front of you. Let your fingers
illustrate your family, or the people you gather with regularly at work or
morning coffee, or your household, or your neighborhood. That’s the kind of group that Jesus is
talking about here. Five people, a
typical Galilean family. Father, Mother,
Sister, Brother, and Brother’s wife all are living under one roof. It’s a close gathering of people who spend
time together, people who love one another or at least understand each
other. Jesus says that because of him,
because of the “fire” he has come to bring, groups just like that will be
divided. Groups like that, which you are
a part of, are divided because of
Jesus. You all know the two topics that
you should avoid if you want to have a pleasant conversation. What are they? Yep, religion and politics. Well, you can blame that in part on
Jesus. That's because of the fire.
The old saying goes, put three Germans in a room and you’ll have four different
opinions. It’s true for politics (but we
won’t discuss politics today), and it true also for religion.
Really, talk
about religion is talk about God. What
is it that people don’t want to hear about when there is God talk? What is it about God that makes for
uncomfortable conversation? Well, everyone
wants to hear about a god who loves and forgives; a god who takes people for
what they are. But no one wants to be
held accountable to a god. No one wants
to hear about a god that punishes because of sin. But, whenever we talk about the real God, the
God that the Bible tells us about, the God that Jesus speaks about, we always
come to the reality that we are sinful people.
Whenever we talk about a perfectly holy God, people get uncomfortable. That’s the fire. God himself; who He is in comparison to us
and what He expects of people. We call
it the Law.
For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24, ESV)
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am
the Lord your God, who brought you
out of the land
of Egypt
No one wants
to be accountable for their actions against a God who promises to punish
sin. In fact, people love a god that
they can work their way out of sin. They
love a god who just sweeps sin under the carpet and forgets that it
exists. They love a god who is the
picture of a forgetful old grandfather who overlooks what he doesn’t like. But, you see, that’s just not the God that
Jesus tells us about. And although Jesus
didn’t come to condemn the world, but in
order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17 , ESV) he did come
to bring God’s fire, and that fire brings with it, division. That’s because no one can understand the true
nature of the forgiveness Jesus brings without experiencing the fire of the law
of God. That fire of God’s Law tells us
that because of sin we deserve nothing but punishment.
We don't do
anyone any favors by bringing the law "lite". There is no lite
version of the law that is easier to swallow like some lite beer. Many of you know exactly the division that the
law brings. We do not want to tell our family members that belonging to a
church that teaches and believes things that are not taught in the Bible is
wrong. It's not necessarily better to go to any church the no church. And then
it comes up when they want to commune at this altar. We have the responsibility
of turning them away. Because God tells us that to commune at this altar is to
say we believe, teach, and confess the same things. Membership in a church is
saying that you believe what that church teaches. It is especially pronounced
these days when so many churches are drinking the Kool-Aid of the current
culture.
Others of
you know this division when you have family members who are living outside of
what God says is right. We don't want to be the one to tell them that their
activity pushes them away from God and can lead them to hell. You don't want to
tell them because were afraid of the division.
Others know
the division because God's word cuts you right to the heart. God says you shall
not commit adultery. But he doesn't just mean sleeping around. He means looking
around and thinking about sleeping around. His law is firm. It is sinful and
deserving of hell. It's never been easier to deserve God's wrath and punishment
then so-called soft porn on the Internet. (Matthew 5:27ff )
And you feel
the division when you speak about your neighbor and less than favorable terms.
It is a breaking of the fifth commandment, you shall not kill. But of course,
you don't have to actually kill. Jesus says the words do well enough. When you
talk about your neighbor in any way that reduces his reputation to anyone else
you have killed him. Jesus says clearly that this kind of activity deserves
nothing but hell. (Matt 5 )
This is the
bare edge of God's law. It's the wrath of God come down on sinful human beings.
There is no way for you or me or your family members to work out our own escape.
The law means punishment, death, and eternal separation from God. This is the
division that Jesus comes to bring. It is the full force wrath of God against a
sinful race. And so, the reaction that you see in people is perfectly
understandable.
“If that’s what God does we
don’t what to have anything to do with him.”
“If that’s the kind of god
you’re talking about we don’t want to talk about him at all…”
So, sin and
God's threat of punishment for that sin divides families. Jesus is responsible
for that division.
Do
you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division.
There's something
else to the fire that Jesus brings. Something unique about the one who brings
the fire to earth. Jesus is not the picture of God tromping through the
vineyard trampling the grapes with lightning coming out of his hands striking
dead all those who sin against his law. And he talks about it when he says:
I
have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is
accomplished!
Jesus isn't
just speaking in hyperbole. He's talking about a real baptism. He's talking
about a real fire and anger and God's wrath. Right away in the Gospel of St.
Luke after the wonderful account of Jesus birth in the proclamation that Jesus
brings peace, we have John the Baptizer telling everyone that God's wrath is
coming. And then Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan
River .
Jesus
doesn't come to dispense God's wrath. That is, he doesn't come to condemn
sinful human beings. But instead he comes to bear God's wrath. The fire that he
comes to bring is the fire that he himself will hang in. And it begins with him
going into the water of the Jordan River and
being baptized by John. In Jesus Christ, God becomes the human sin bearer. In
Jesus Christ, God becomes for all people the bearer of God's wrath over sin.
When Jesus comes out of the water wet from his own baptism, he heads straight
for the cross. The years that he walks the earth he walks it as a sinless human
being yet bearing the sins of the whole world. And he walks in distress until
the feat is accomplished. Jesus baptism is a baptism of fire and blood. On the
cross, suspended between earth and God, Jesus bears the full punishment of
God's anger over our sin. This is the baptism that Jesus is distressed about.
This is the baptism that he has come to bring. It is the division he comes to
bear. He is divided from and forsaken by God, suffering eternal hell for you
and your family. Nothing shows God's
displeasure over sin more clearly than the bleeding and dying of Jesus Christ,
his only son, on the cross in your place.
There is no way to bring this Word to people
without offense. The law must offend. God is perfect and holy and just. He
cannot set aside what he has declared to be good and right and true. The law
has its purpose. It must be proclaimed in its full force. We must see Jesus
bleeding and dying and suffering on the cross as being our just punishment. We
must know that that is what we deserve for our sin. Without it we would never
crawl to the cross begging for forgiveness from the one who offers it to us
freely. Without the law in its full force the sweetness of the gospel cannot be
received in its full force.
And the full force of the gospel is this. The
baptism that Jesus bears he bears in our place. The punishment he receives he
receives in our place. The wrath of God that is poured out on him is poured out
on him in our place. It is a baptism of fire. It is a baptism of blood. It is a
baptism of water…
There's the font. It stands out here in front of
us. It's not just here because it's a piece of furniture we cherish. It's here
to show us the baptism that Jesus brings. The water in the bowl and the words
spoken over that water when it is poured on our heads is our connection to
Jesus on the cross. He is baptized in the river. We are baptized in the bowl.
The water is the same. Our sin goes in the water. Jesus is in the water and he
comes up and carries it to the cross. There is no simpler picture of grace. God
makes promises and makes your head wet. The promises are given in the sin is
taken. Jesus bears that baptism and the water with all your sin. He walks up
out of the water and hangs on the cross and suffers God's just punishment. And
you are declared by the word and the water to be righteous in God's sight.
There is nothing other to be done than to live
according to the promises that you have been given: To reject sin; To speak
against it especially within your own family; to take the division Jesus brings
and use it to proclaim God's anger over sin.
Then point people to the place where God pours out that anger and
punishment and Jesus. It's the cross. It's the cross with Jesus on it. It is
forgiveness won there and given to you and your family freely by God's grace. Amen.
The peace of
God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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