Introduction
“The tale is told of a soldier during the Civil War who simply could not make up his mind which side of the conflict he supported. Thus, he dressed in a blue coat and gray pants, and walked down the center of the battlefield confident of his approval by both sides…and was immediately shot by both sides! Jesus tells us we can’t be “fence riders” when the issues involve matters of eternal consequence. We must choose. “You are either with Me, or against Me,” our Lord declares, “but you cannot be both!”
A story is related of an elderly German woman who, as her village was being entered by an American unit during the final days of the Second World War, stood in the middle of the street holding a small U.S. flag. Her friends told her she was crazy; she should hide and wait to see who would win. She replied, “I already know who’s going to win, and I want them to know which side I’m on!”
Transition
Often our religion takes the form of social niceties. There is a spiritual battle raging and we speak of our “religious heritage.” The world perishes and we focus only on our own needs.
Christ did die for us and we are called to meet the spiritual needs of the Church, BUT, of primary need is our need to get down off of the pedestal of our life, turn our hearts daily toward Christ and Him crucified and follow after Hi;, in like manner to that which He walked this earth.
We are supposes to be engaged in the battle. Not spectators. A recently produced Christian discipleship film asks the question “Are you a fan or a follower?” Are you living your life connected to Christ or with Christ as an afterthought? Are we living out of the abundance and overflow of a heart which burns with the love of God or are we just going through the motions?
CIT/CIS: Pick up your Cross and follow Jesus. Choose a side in the battle.
Outline
I. Jesus didn’t come to bring peace in this world. He brings eternal peace into our temporal experience.
II. He brings a sword in this world.
a. While we are salt and light and love in this world, eternity is primary.
b. When we do good works, we display God’s eternal love and worth.
c. Love of this life separates from Christ.
d. It keeps Him at bay.
e. He calls for our Phileo, affection.
f. Not only commitment but love.
III. Salvation brings with it a radically different understanding of the world.
a. Love (Christ) transforms. Commitment (Religion) only regulates.
IV. Taking up our Cross means that we are prepared to die.
a. Not minor irritations.
b. Not subtle religious duties.
i. The heart’s intent.
ii. When you love something it consumes you.
iii. Illustration: giving Christina flowers, teddy bears, etc.
c. Salvation is not easy. Christ offers it freely but it brings with it a high cost; life change.
i. Those who misunderstand the high cost of salvation always construct “magic formulas” to cling to rather than the truth.
V. When we look at this world through the Gospel lens we find that what we have found is not worth finding.
a. Illustration: Felicity hunting through boy’s toy boxes finding breakable and broken treasures.
b. This world is not our home. We are pilgrims.
c. Cling to Christ. Cast off the illusions of this world.
i. Illusion of control, wealth, power, and worth.
Exposition
I. Jesus didn’t come to bring peace in this world’s terms. He didn’t come to secure national boundaries or to establish a melancholy existence for His followers.
The peace with Jesus gives brings eternal peace into our temporal experience. In Christ you and I have peace with God which brings eternal life and a connection to God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in this life.
In Luke chapter seven the occasion of the woman who anointed Jesus feet with expensive perfume from an alabaster jar is recorded. Jesus had entered the home of a Pharisee to dine with him at his invitation.
Sometime after dinner had begun an unnamed woman, who had heard that Jesus where Jesus was dining, came to the home and began crying at His feet, anointing His feet with this very expensive perfume, wiping with her hair, washing it with her tears, all the while kissing His feet – a sign of utmost submission and affection.
The Bible says that “Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:44-47 NIV84)
The peace that Jesus brings is peace with God for the forgiveness of sins! Jesus makes war with the corrupt sinful ways of this world. His peace is a peace in the midst of the chaos of this world and with the God who shall one day crush the sin and corruption of this world and establish His reign through Christ in perfection.
II. There are many people that seem to under the mistaken impression that Jesus came to make peace with the world. While we are salt and light and love in this world, eternity is of primary concern. We are pilgrims, passing through.
This world is not our home. Nothing that we have in this world can save us and nothing that exists in this world can bring us peace.
Our task is not to bring peace into the world as the world understands peace. That is, when we do good works, when we do something that has a positive immediate effect on someone’s life or situation, our calling is to display God’s eternal love and worth in order to draw the world to the worth of Christ.
In other words, if we donate something to Red Cross or go on a mission trip for disaster relief or something along those lines, we do it in order to show the world what the love of God looks like. This world is perishing! It is passing away.
“What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31 NIV84)
Jesus did not come to bring peace to this world. He brings a sword. The Gospel often separates men and women, mother and father, sister and brother.
For the believer the Gospel is paramount. All of our affections radiate out from the epicenter of faith. I grew up in California so the analogous language of an earthquake is very familiar to me. When an earthquake strikes it begins at one focus point where the tectonic plates have accumulated enough pressure and finally give way to a violent explosion of energy. That very spot where the quake begins is the epicenter. From there huge amounts of destructive force are thrust outward in waves of energy. So it is with us. When love for Christ erupts in our hearts waves of His love travel throughout our lives, transforming every area of our life. His love brings destruction to sinful habits. His love crushes idolatrous worship of the many false gods in our lives. His love forces change in our lives because of the immensity of the power of it!
Love of this life separates from Christ. It keeps Him at bay. The love of Christ, on the other hand, violently removes our grip on love of this life. Have you ever had to remove a small child’s hand from something that was potentially or certainly destructive for that child? When you begin peeling the child’s hands off of the item which, unbeknownst to him or her will surely hurt them, they begin to scream, they fight against it, they don’t understand. They think you are trying to cause them pain when in fact your force is intended to save them.
The love of Christ is violent. God hates those things that come against His glory and our knowing Him. You see, God is calling for our Phileo, affection of the heart. Of the possible Greek words which could have been employed to express the idea of love in this passage, Phileo is used. Unlike Agape love, which is more commonly used to describe the love of and for God, which implies more of a dedicated love, the writer records the word Phileo in this instance.
God wants not only our commitment but the affection of our heart. He wants not only obligatory religious ritual. He wants our hearts.
The truth is that salvation brings with it a radically different understanding of the world. Love (what Christ gives) transforms. Commitment (what religion offers) only regulates. Where love makes us want to do something, commitment, religion, only makes us have to do something.
Religion says check this box. Jesus says “Take up your Cross.” That means that we are prepared to die. Carrying our Cross does not mean that we are patient with minor irritations. It has nothing to do with subtle religious duties.
Jesus is talking about our hearts intent. He is speaking about what is driving us; where we are getting life from. Is our affection, our Phileo, attached to this world or to Christ?
When you or I genuinely love something it consumes us. It may even become an obsession. When I first met Christina I was immediately interested in her. To tell you the truth I don’t think the feeling was mutual. In fact, it has been well said that usually the cure for love at first sight is a second glance.
When we started to see each other she would play hard to get. As I began to fall in love with her I would routinely give her flowers, teddy bears, and call her just to tell her how I felt about her. How much more grand is every marriage when we do not stop courting our spouses?
Over the years I have grown only to love her more and more. After more than a decade together both of our lives are so interconnected that it is sometimes hard to tell where one of us ends and the other begins.
Time and again the Bible uses the analogy of the Bride and Bridegroom to describe Christ relationship to the Church and our individual lives are to be no less connected to Jesus. He is the lover of our souls! Following Him, though, comes at a high cost. He demands all of us.
To the extent that we give all of ourselves, as He empowers us by grace, we will find the real peace that Christ brings. Friends, salvation is not easy. Yes it is very true that salvation is the gift of God’s grace to all who will receive Christ by faith. Yes, in that sense, salvation is “easy.” But it comes at a high cost; it changes everything in our life.
Our priorities change, our affections change, how we spend our time and money changes. If it doesn’t change then we may want to consider why not. Those who misunderstand the high cost of salvation often construct “magic formulas” or “golden calves” of various forms to cling to rather than clinging to Christ.
For those who are unwilling to turn their hearts over to Jesus it is often easier to trust in their baptism, their church membership, or perhaps their own goodness.
However, when we look at this world through the Gospel lens we find that what we have found is not worth finding.
Conclusion
It’s a funny thing that my little daughter felicity does when she is playing. She is always hunting through her older brother’s toy boxes looking for buried treasure. Oh is she ever thrilled when she finds some interesting plastic thing. She is similarly saddened when because of its brokenness she cannot play with it. This world is likewise filled with breakable, soon to be broken, and broken treasures.
This world is not our home. We are pilgrims. Cling to Christ. Cast off the illusions of this world; the Illusion of control which in our frailty we could never posses, the illusion of wealth which moths destroy and rust corrupts, the illusion of power which goes as easily as it comes, and the illusion that this world holds any worth that is in any way comparable to knowing God in Jesus Christ through the Spirit.
“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”(Philippians 3:8 NIV84) Amen.
