Families are great…sometimes. Hopefully, most of the time! But you know how things can get. One family member knows just how to get at another to provoke them Or someone says something offensive and the sparks fly! Some of you have experienced this, and it’s not good. There are brothers and sisters and parents who don’t speak to each other anymore. Even the closest of families can experience divisions because of words that are spoken. It’s painful—and I may have dredged up some of that hurt for you just now.
I want you to think about that division, that separation, that loss and how it feels. And think about the role God’s Word has played in all that difficulty and division if it has. Jesus talks about that today as he teaches us that
A Christian Loves God Above All
This Brings Earthly Opposition
Jesus expected opposition and he got it. What do you think about the way he talked about that? “Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. You might find that surprising. It might be confusing. At the birth of Jesus, angels descended to earth with this announcement: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind” (Luke 2:14). At the time of Jesus, the disciples and many others were looking for a Savior for Israel who would bring national independence and peace for the Lord’s people. And yet, Jesus says that this is not why he came.
A sword a thing that damages and divides and destroys that’s what he came to bring! What?! That does not sound like the gentle, loving Jesus I have pictured in my mind. At issue is the kind of peace that Jesus came to bring and the way people react to that, which results in the need for a “sword,” which we’ll talk about in a minute.
Jesus was born on that Bethlehem night to bring, not a worldly peace of any kind, but a spiritual peace. He came to live in a way that makes up for the sinful way everyone in the world is and lives. He came to offer that life as a sacrifice that God would accept and which would pay for all people’s sin. This would bring a spiritual peace to the people of this world. That’s what the angels were excited about and what caused the shepherds to run from the newborn Savior’s side and tell everyone about his birth!
Jesus came to show himself as the Savior who had been promised to come. He came to tell people to trust in him for forgiveness and salvation for spiritual peace with God.
But you know how people are. You know how you are. We are often most concerned with what we experience in our day-to-day life instead of prioritizing our eternal life. So, we do dumb things that God tells us not to do in order to try to manufacture peace in our lives.
We may think that having enough money will bring peace to our lives even though we know that banking on wealth is risky because there are lots of ways that can disappear.
Domineering parents can bring obedience and a certain quietness from children that may seem like a step toward peace but it doesn’t bring actual peace to a house.
Deep down we may know the truth about something, but we’ll choose to think something else, to believe something different, in order to bring peace to our hearts— but deep down, we still know the truth, so we don’t get the peace we were looking for.
We even try to convince ourselves that our sins are not that serious so that we’ll feel better but all it takes to rob us of any peace that brought us is to stumble across a particular Bible passage or hear it in church on a Sunday morning.
We focus on the wrong kind of peace just like ungodly people do. We need the reminder just like Jesus first disciples did that worldly peace is not what Jesus came to bring. He was concerned with spiritual peace.
Just as he met with rejection when he proclaimed this, he says that we will too. Since he talks here about our families, our closest relationships, what he says sounds terrible. It sounds wrong. The same Lord who tells us in the commandments to honor our parents, who tells parents to not exasperate their children, is the same Lord who says, I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
We don’t want to hear this because we very much want a worldly peace. And when he makes this personal and says that you and I are not worthy of him if we fail to love him above even our families, it is a hard thing to hear.
The sword is what Jesus used. That’s the thing that caused division and made relationships disintegrate. We might think of what God says about “the sword” in Ephesians: At all times hold up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. Also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:16-17).
Jesus’ Word is like a sword that divides people even family It disrupts family “peace” when God receives the priority over family members. But how often don’t we present ourselves as people who are unworthy of Christ because we let our spiritual peace be threatened so that we can enjoy a worldly peace with our friends and family? We don’t broach touchy subjects that God speaks about because we don’t want to offend. We don’t want to threaten our relationship.
Is it right to be the type who avoids conversations about God with family members? Listen to Jesus, and you tell me. We do that to keep the peace at a 4th of July barbecue or a Thanksgiving dinner. And we may accomplish a worldly kind of peace. But Jesus isn’t interested in that and that is not be the chief concern of a Christian who loves God above all else.
We get brave enough sometimes, I’m sure. But probably often enough, we tread too lightly or just avoid the confrontation altogether. Our love for our earthly relationships trumps our love for following what Jesus say. It even trumps our love for the spiritual and eternal peace of our brother or sister or parent or child or friend. Quite simply, this is a cross that we are not willing to bear for God.
Then Jesus’ words sting: “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. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
We are guilty, and we are sorry and, hopefully, we are repentant. We ask for God’s forgiveness, and we ask for the Holy Spirit’s help so that we don’t sin in that way again. As forgiven followers of Christ, we want next time to show that we love God above all.
This Brings Heavenly Rewards
The point of Jesus’ work as our Savior was to bring spiritual peace. He brings and restores peace with God. His forgiveness is what makes us worthy to be called Christians. Jesus defines Christians as those who love God above all else. The Holy Spirit strengthens us through his Word and Sacraments so that we are willing to bear a cross of suffering including threats to our closest earthly relationships or even the loss of those relationships.
As we display our love for God above all else, it will disrupt the peace in our families even. We see it when spouses or children don’t want to go to church on Sundays, when someone in the family says that this is God’s will. Spouses who fight over offerings to God because one wants to give as God directs us to give. Is someone in the family opposed to a church funeral when that’s what our loved one would have expected for the sake of those they left behind? Does family not understand why you won’t be at an event at a particular time because you’re serving at church or attending a service? Some family members get annoyed any time God is brought into a discussion.
This opposition and rejection by unbelieving family members is a cross that Christians bear. And not silently. There would be no division, no disruption of peace, if we sat quietly and allowed a fake peace to rule when the Prince of Peace is looking for us to take up our cross and follow him. A Christian does what Christ did, and that was not being silent while letting people slip off into hell.
Though this is hard, God gives heavenly rewards as we do what Jesus expects from his disciples.
When we admit our sins in this area, we find forgiveness and the renewed promise of eternal life. These are blessings from God.
Jesus is pleased when we follow him. Knowing that is rewarding for us.
When we do speak up and properly represent our Savior, we are sharing his Word with people who need to hear it. What if they listen?! They might! It could take once or a few times or dozens, but what if they listen?! When they do, it is not just a blessing for us to witness, it is a huge blessing for them! It results in a heavenly reward for them!
Jesus was sending the disciples out to tell people about him, and he wanted them to know what to do and what to expect. He was up front about the difficulties they would face and the opposition that would confront them. But he also indicated that some would listen.
Some would receive those disciples and that meant receiving their message about the Savior, believing that message! Some will receive us too!
A prophet, one who shares what God says, has the reward of eternal life. Jesus extends this term “prophet” to the disciples, and so we, his disciples today are included as well. People who receive us when we share the God’s Word, who believe it, also have that reward of eternal life!
The person who received God’s message from the least of those disciples and did kind things for them—as simple as giving them a cup of water—because they were Christ’s representatives, had God’s reward. People will listen and respond well sometimes when we represent Christ too.
It’s good for us to hear these last words of Jesus on the subject. They’re very positive; they give us joy and hope. Some will receive us as we represent him and share his Word! Some will listen when we speak for him like a prophet would! Some will accept us because we are God’s righteous people! Some will respond in God-pleasing ways!
As Christians, we love God above all, and because we do that, there will be a cost— even the loss of the closest relationships. But there is also the reward of people listening to us and responding to the Word of God we share, which brings a heavenly reward to them too. May our love for God above all be evident in our life and in our speech for the glory of God and for the good of those who see and hear us. Amen.
Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.