Review of what we’ve covered so far this Lenten season:
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God
Jesus came to bring life
Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets
Today we'll be taking a look at another of the statements Jesus made about why He came to earth.
Matthew 10:34-39
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
“For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.”
So, why did Jesus come to earth? Lets go back to verse 34
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Jesus didn’t come to bring peace? What’s that verse we always quote during the advent season?
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
How is it possible that the Prince of Peace would come to earth not to bring peace but to bring a sword?
And, what will this sword do?
It will divide families! Verses 35 & 36 say:
“For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
I remember this kid in High School who would start fights! He wouldn’t start fights to be in them, he would start fights to watch them. He would go to person “A” and get them mad a person “B”. Then he would go to person “B” and get them mad at person “A” and this would continue back and forth until “A” and “B” would get into a fist fight and this joker would just stand back and watch and laugh!
Is that what Jesus is doing in this passage, causing fights for His own entertainment?
Does Jesus hate families? Does He want to destroy our family relationships? Of course not! The Lord is pro-family from the beginning of the Bible to the end!
One man married to one woman for all of their lives and raising children to know and love God! That is God’s plan!
So, what’s He talking about when he says,
“For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
When you get saved, really get saved, you take a stand! You may not even know that you’re taking a stand but you are.
Suppose you’ve gone to a church meeting because someone invited you and you heard something you’ve never heard before! You’ve heard that there is One True God who wants to know you, He wants you to be one of His children, a child of God.
You’ve heard that because of sin, which is rebellion against God, that you are eternally separated from God but because of God’s great love for the people of this world He sent His One and Only Son to die on a cross as a penalty for your sin!
You’ve heard that if you turn away from your sin and trust in Jesus, the Son of God, you can be saved from an eternity of destruction in hell and instead you will live forever with God in heaven.
And, that’s just what you’ve done! You’ve been born again! You’ve moved from death into life! You’re eternal destiny has been changed!
Of course, you don’t really have a total grasp on this because you’ve never been taught anything from the Bible before but you know that something has happened and you’re excited about it!
In your excitement you go home and tell everyone in your family.
You tell them that Jesus has forgiven you for your sins.
You tell them that Jesus saved you.
You tell them that since Jesus saved you, you will go to heaven when you die!
This is GREAT NEWS!
But …
What are your family members hearing …
Jesus has NOT forgiven me of my sins and I don’t even think that I am a sinner!
They are hearing that Jesus has saved you (whatever that might mean in their minds) but they are still lost or something.
They are hearing that since they are not saved, they will go to hell when they die!
Here’s the thing, all of this may be true but if they are not prepared to hear the truth it can and most likely will cause division!
It’s like a man will turn “against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
Now this is important! When the man turns against his father or a daughter against her mother it is NOT, or at least it should not be, the Christian turning against the unsaved member of the family.
It is quite natural that a new Christian will not know the maturity and sensitivity of the Holy Spirit in order to speak the truth in love. This does not mean that we should stop witnessing to our family members until we are spiritually mature Christians!
But, back to the Scriptures …
All of this about, “a daughter-in-law (will turn) against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
This is usually not as dramatic in America but just check out the Voice of the Martyrs website if you want to get a clue about how this all works in nations which are dominated by non-Christian religions.
A young Christian in the Middle East named Dawud says,
“Many times, when a young Middle Eastern person converts to Christianity, their family locks them in their room for months at a time.
“The family beats and threatens the young Christian," he says, "Once I thought one of my friends had died because he just disappeared after his conversion.”
“A friend that Dawud helped lead to faith in Christ was disfigured by her parents. ‘Her mother threw some kind of harmful chemicals on her head and she lost all of her hair and her skin was damaged!’”
As we become more mature as Christians we will be able to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in our conversations with non-Christians just as Paul wrote about when he said in
1 Corinthians 9:19-23,
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.
“To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
“To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
“To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
Even so, there will be division and that is what swords do, they pierce and divide.
Let’s review the Scriptures we’ve covered up to now …
Matthew 10:34-36
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
“For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
So, Jesus came to bring a sword and this sword will cause division even among family members if some are believers in Christ and some are not.
Jesus goes on to say in verse 37
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
What does that mean? It means when we come to Christ for salvation we may very well get opposition from our family members and when we do we will have to make a decision.
Who do we love more? He does not say that we need to stop loving our father or mother or son or daughter, He just says that we can only have one God. We can either have capital G God, Jesus or we can have the small g god of our family.
What’s the first commandment?
Exodus 20:1a, 2 says
“I am the LORD your God … You shall have no other gods before Me.”
And when you couple this with Matthew 22:37-38 which we all know says,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
We realize that this thought of loving God more than our father or mother or sister or brother is not a downgrading of our family members but an elevation of God in our lives!
And, this amazing love for God is what gives us the strength to endure the persecution that will come our way whether it comes from our family, from our friends, our co-workers or from total strangers!
Yahweh or Jehovah is NOT allah or buddha or krishna or anyone else beside the one true God revealed in the Holy Bible as the God of Israel, the Creator and the Trinitarian Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In today’s age of “anything goes” it is popular to say or believe that all paths lead to God. It may be popular but it is not true.
The LORD described Himself through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45:6
“I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun, that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other!”
It doesn’t matter what Oprah or Joel Olsteen say or anyone else for that matter.
Jesus Himself is divisive when He says in John 14:6
“I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
He is drawing a line in the sand across eternity!
The Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul in
Galatians 1:6-9 says:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all.
“Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
“As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
Those are strong words - they are a sword.
Believe them to you salvation or reject them and reject God Himself.
May God be praised and may we never, ever compromise on who God is in this world that assaults the Truth of Jesus daily!
So, let’s review.
The Christ, the Son of the Living God.
That we might have life - abundant eternal life
To fulfill the law and the prophets
To bring a sword
Benediction - Jude 1:24-25
“To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy -
“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
