OPENING
Good morning, church family. I want to begin today with a story that might help us understand something profound about the nature of Christ's ministry.
Last summer, I had the opportunity to speak with a forest ranger in Colorado. As we drove through a section of the national forest, I noticed areas where the trees were blackened, the undergrowth cleared away, and new green shoots were just beginning to emerge from the forest floor. "What happened here?" I asked.
"Controlled burn," he replied. "We do this intentionally."
I was puzzled. Why would they deliberately set fire to a beautiful forest? He explained that without these controlled burns, the forest becomes choked with dead wood, fallen branches, and overgrown undergrowth. When lightning strikes or drought comes, these areas become tinderboxes that explode into devastating wildfires that destroy everything - the healthy trees along with the dead wood.
"But when we bring the fire intentionally," he said, "when we control the burn, it clears away only what needs to go. The healthy trees survive, the soil is enriched with ash, and new life springs up stronger than before."
As we drove away, I couldn't help but think about Jesus and the words He spoke in Luke chapter 12. Sometimes Christ brings a fire that makes us uncomfortable - not because He wants to destroy us, but because He loves us enough to clear away what's choking out our spiritual growth.
I. THE FIRE JESUS BRINGS
Let's read together from Luke 12:49-56. [Read passage]
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!"
What kind of fire is Jesus talking about? Is this the fire of judgment? The fire of hell? The fire of destruction? I don't believe so. This is the fire of purification, the fire of truth, the fire that burns away what is false so that what is true can shine forth.
The prophet Jeremiah knew this fire intimately. In Jeremiah 20:9, he cried out: "But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."
Jeremiah felt God's truth burning within him like fire. It wasn't comfortable. It wasn't convenient. But it was necessary. The word of God was so powerfully present in his life that he couldn't contain it, couldn't ignore it, couldn't push it down. It had to come out.
This is the fire Jesus brings - not the fire that destroys, but the fire that purifies. Not the fire that consumes everything, but the fire that burns away the chaff so the wheat can be gathered. Not the fire that brings death, but the fire that makes new life possible.
When Jesus says, "How I wish it were already kindled," He's not speaking with destructive glee. He's speaking with the urgency of love. He knows that this fire, uncomfortable as it may be, is exactly what we need for spiritual health and growth.
Think about it this way: when a doctor tells you that you need surgery, it's not because they want to hurt you. It's because they love you enough to recommend something uncomfortable now to prevent something catastrophic later. The surgeon's scalpel causes temporary pain to bring lasting healing.
This is the fire of Christ - the uncomfortable truth that cuts through our self-deception, our comfortable compromises, our spiritual complacency. It's the fire that says, "You can't stay where you are and become who I've called you to be."
II. THE BAPTISM OF SUFFERING
In verse 50, Jesus says, "But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!"
Jesus is not talking about water baptism here. He's talking about the baptism of suffering He would endure on the cross. He felt constrained, pressured, burdened until this mission was accomplished. The Greek word here suggests being held in a tight place, feeling hemmed in until the task is complete.
Do you hear the weight in His voice? Do you sense the burden He carried? Jesus understood that bringing this purifying fire would cost Him everything. He knew that speaking truth in a world that preferred comfortable lies would lead to His crucifixion.
But He also knew it was necessary. He felt that fire shut up in His bones, just like Jeremiah. The love of God for a lost world burned so intensely within Him that He couldn't hold it back, even knowing it would cost Him His life.
This teaches us something profound about authentic discipleship. Following Christ isn't always comfortable. It isn't always popular. It isn't always convenient. Sometimes the fire of God's truth burning within us will cost us relationships, comfort, acceptance, or security.
But here's what we must understand: avoiding this fire doesn't make us safer. It makes us more vulnerable. Just like that forest ranger explained - when we refuse the controlled burn of God's refining work in our lives, we become spiritual tinderboxes, vulnerable to the devastating wildfires of temptation, compromise, and spiritual collapse.
III. THE UNCOMFORTABLE DIVISIONS
Now Jesus says something that might shock us: "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division."
Wait a minute. Isn't Jesus the Prince of Peace? Didn't the angels sing "Peace on earth" when He was born? What does He mean?
Jesus is talking about the inevitable result of truth intersecting with falsehood, light encountering darkness, righteousness confronting compromise. When the fire of God's truth burns in our lives, it will naturally create divisions between those who embrace it and those who resist it.
Listen to what Jesus says will happen: "From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, 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."
This isn't because Jesus wants to destroy families. It's because truth has this effect. When one person in a family surrenders their life completely to Christ and allows His fire to burn away their old ways of thinking and living, it exposes the compromises of those around them.
Jeremiah experienced this. His own people rejected him because his message made them uncomfortable. They preferred the comfortable lies of the false prophets to the uncomfortable truth of God's word. But Jeremiah couldn't stop preaching because God's word was like fire shut up in his bones.
Church, let me tell you something: if your Christian faith never makes anyone uncomfortable, including yourself, you might want to examine whether you're really following Christ or just carrying around a comfortable religious philosophy.
The fire of Christ will make us uncomfortable with:
Our prejudices and biases
Our materialism and greed
Our gossip and judgment
Our spiritual laziness and complacency
Our lack of love for the lost
Our unwillingness to forgive
And when God's fire starts burning these things out of our lives, it's going to be uncomfortable. People around us might not understand the changes they see. They might feel judged by our transformation. They might resist the light that our lives begin to shine.
But we cannot let the fear of making others uncomfortable keep us from embracing the uncomfortable Christ.
IV. THE CALL TO SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT
In verses 54-56, Jesus gives us a weather lesson: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is."
People in Jesus' day were experts at reading weather signs. Fishermen could look at the sky and know whether to take their boats out. Farmers could sense when storms were coming and protect their crops.
But then Jesus delivers the devastating critique: "Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?"
They could read the weather, but they couldn't read the spiritual climate. They could predict rain, but they couldn't recognize the Messiah standing right in front of them. They had discernment for natural things but were spiritually blind.
Church, what is God saying to us today? What spiritual signs are we missing because we're more concerned about the weather forecast than the spiritual forecast?
The fire of God is moving in our time. Can you feel it? Can you sense it? There's a stirring in the hearts of believers around the world. There's a hunger for authentic faith, for real transformation, for the kind of Christianity that actually changes lives.
But there's also resistance. There are forces that want to keep us comfortable, that want to convince us that faith should never be challenging, that following Christ should always feel good.
The fire shut up in our bones should give us discernment to know the difference between God's authentic work and cheap imitations. Between the controlled burn that brings life and the false peace that leads to spiritual death.
V. EMBRACING THE UNCOMFORTABLE CHRIST
So what does it mean to embrace the uncomfortable Christ? It means:
First, we stop trying to make Christianity comfortable. We stop looking for churches that never challenge us, preachers who never convict us, and Bible studies that never change us. We embrace the fact that spiritual growth requires spiritual discomfort.
Second, we allow God's fire to burn away what needs to go. We stop protecting our pet sins, our comfortable compromises, our spiritual blind spots. We pray with David, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Third, we speak truth in love, even when it's unpopular. Like Jeremiah, we allow God's word to burn in our bones until we cannot keep silent. We become people of conviction, not just preference. We stand for righteousness, even when it costs us.
Fourth, we develop spiritual discernment for our times. We learn to read the spiritual weather. We become sensitive to what God is doing in our generation. We ask, "Lord, what are you saying to your church today?"
Let me tell you about Sarah, a woman in our community who embraced the uncomfortable Christ. For years, she attended church regularly but lived like everyone else during the week. Her language, her entertainment choices, her business practices, her relationships - none of them reflected her Christian profession.
Then God's fire began to burn in her heart. It started with conviction about her speech. She couldn't stop thinking about Ephesians 4:29: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up."
It was uncomfortable. Her coworkers noticed the change and mocked her for being "holier than thou." Her family couldn't understand why she suddenly had a problem with movies she used to enjoy. Some of her friends drifted away because she was no longer fun to be around.
But Sarah couldn't quench the fire. God's word burned in her bones like it did in Jeremiah's. She had to obey. She had to change. She had to let the fire burn away what was choking out her spiritual life.
Today, Sarah's life is a testimony to the power of the uncomfortable Christ. Her marriage was restored. Her children started asking about faith. Her workplace became a mission field. The fire that initially made everyone uncomfortable ultimately brought light to everyone around her.
That's what the fire of Christ does. It may cause temporary discomfort, but it brings lasting transformation.
CONCLUSION
The comfortable Christ requires nothing of us. The comfortable Christ never challenges our lifestyle, never confronts our sin, never calls us to sacrifice. The comfortable Christ is not Christ at all - he's a religious figment of our imagination, an idol we've created to make ourselves feel better about our spiritual mediocrity.
But the uncomfortable Christ - the real Christ - loves us too much to leave us where we are. He brings the fire of purification because He knows what we can become. He allows the divisions because He knows that truth is more important than artificial peace. He calls us to discernment because He knows we're living in critical times.
The question is not whether Christ will make us uncomfortable. The question is whether we will embrace that discomfort as the pathway to spiritual maturity.
Like Jeremiah, God's word can become like fire shut up in our bones - a burning conviction that we cannot ignore, cannot suppress, cannot contain. It will change how we live, how we speak, how we love, how we serve.
Yes, it will be uncomfortable. Yes, it may cost us something. Yes, it will challenge everything we thought we knew about following Jesus.
But church, I'd rather have the uncomfortable fire of the real Christ purifying my life than the false peace of a comfortable religion that leaves me spiritually dead.
The controlled burn is never pleasant while it's happening. But when the smoke clears and new life begins to spring up from the ashes, we understand that the fire was not our enemy - it was the very thing we needed for abundant life.
Will you embrace the uncomfortable Christ today? Will you allow His fire to burn away what needs to go? Will you let His word burn in your bones until you cannot keep silent?
The fire is already kindled. The question is whether we'll step into it or keep trying to avoid it. But remember - avoiding God's controlled burn only makes us more vulnerable to the devastating fires of compromise and spiritual death.
Choose the uncomfortable Christ. Choose the fire of purification. Choose the narrow path that leads to life.
