The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

August 19, 2007

“Fellowship by Fire!”

Luke 12:49-56

Preached at Providence Lutheran Church in Holland, Ohio

By Pastor Dennis R. King

The Grace and Mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you all.

Who is the one saying the words in our text? Is this Jesus, the Bread of Life? Has Luke made a mistake? One might wonder as one reads this text if this is the same Jesus we know, the Wonderful Counselor, and the Prince of Peace. Let me assure you that it is! It is the Christ- the one who brings the Kingdom of God to this earth. The fire Jesus brings to this earth is the fire which purifies and refines. In this text Jesus has expressed the earnest desire and yearning of His heart. He is bringing His Father’s plan to completion that His grace might through the power of the Holy Spirit enter the hearts of people. One might say Jesus Christ has created His fellowship by fire. This fellowship is the communion of saints, the church. The purpose for Him creating such a fellowship by fire is (1) to bring peace by parting, (2) to bring watching by warning, and (3) to bring justice by judgment.

We might be confused how Jesus can bring about peace, watchfulness, and justice through what seems to be their opposites, parting, warning, and judgment. We begin to understand how Jesus can do this when we look more fully at His ministry. Jesus foresaw His suffering. He knew what He was to undergo and the necessity of undergoing it. Jesus was ready to face His suffering. He longed for the time when He would suffer and die as He focused on the salvation of all people. Like a woman in labor He longs for His work to be complete. His sufferings were the travail of His Soul, which He cheerfully underwent in hopes that He should by them see His Seed, His heirs by grace, redeemed and saved. This is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The disciples and many others felt that Jesus and the Gospel would bring universal peace, that people would unanimously embrace it and that the preacher of it would be great. But instead Jesus decrees, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?” Christ did not come to give to the disciples or us peaceable possession of the earth, and outward prosperity onthe earth. Living in comfort is not necessarily a sign of the comforter. It is better that we are stirred up by the Gospel than perish in a worldly peace.

Jesus brings peace by parting. The effect of the preaching of the Gospel is and will always be division. That was not the design of the Gospel. One might hope that the Gospel would unite if all would receive it. But the fact remains that there are some who not only will not receive the Gospel, but oppose it and are enraged at those that do receive it. It brings division. The story is told that in the Gentile world all was quiet, for all went one way, the philosophers agreed, so did the worshippers of different deities. But when the Gospel was preached, many were enlightened by it. They turned from the power of Satan to God. Then there was a disturbance, a disturbance similar to that mentioned in Ezekiel 37:7, Ezekiel prophesied the word of God in the valley of the dry bones. There was the rattling of bones, and new life came forth. New life and peace came to those that embraced the Gospel while others were angry that some had received it.

The preaching of the Gospel will even give occasion for discord among the nearest relatives. In fact that was one big reason the Romans hated Christianity because it tore families apart. Over and over again a man had to decide whether he loved his kin or Christ better. The essence of Christianity is that loyalty to Christ has to take precedence over the dearest loyalties of this earth. A man must truly be prepared to count all things but lost for the sake of Jesus.

Jesus gives us an example of a family parting ways in our text to show what will happen when the Gospel is preached. He uses a Jewish family consisting of father, mother, married son, and his wife, and one unmarried daughter. According to the custom of the day, the son brings his wife to live in his father’s house. When one in the family turns to Christ and another does not, the one that does turn to Christ Jesus will be zealous to bring the others to Jesus. Remember the words of First Corinthians 7:16, “How can you be sure, Christian wife that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband that you will not save your wife.” But the person that continues in unbelief will be provoked and will hate and persecute the one of faith who tries to convert him. Persecution will break through even the strongest bonds of love and natural affection. In fact those that believe not are often so violent and outrageous that they are ready to deliver up into the hands of the persecutors those that believe, though they are very near and dear to them. This very thing happened in Jesus’ day, during World War II

and as recently as today in Iraq as well as other places in our world. We find, in the Book of Acts that wherever the Gospel came, persecution was stirred up. Therefore like the disciples of Jesus, let us not promise ourselves peace upon the earth. For we, like the disciples, are sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Our peace comes by parting from the world and following the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now having given His disciples their lesson, Jesus turns to all people to bring watching by warning. Jesus wants all including each of us to be watchful, that we and all humanity might learn to know the ways of God, that each individual might know the ways of God for himself. Jesus wants each person to be as wise in the affairs of his or her soul as they are in their outward affairs in the world.

The Jews were weather-wise and so are we. That is why Jesus used the example of the weather. The Jews by observing the weather foresaw when there would be rain and when there would be hot weather and thus planned their days. Even regarding changes of the weather God gave and gives warnings about what was or is coming. The National Weather Service observes such changes. They have learned from what has happened in the past and can predict what will be. So we plan our days. We hang the wash outside or dry it in the dryer. A trip is taken or canceled. The windows are left open or shut. By taking notice, by being watchful, we see the warning. Whosoever is wise will observe and learn. Many fail however to observe or learn.

If people are like that in matters of the weather, I wonder where they are in matters of the soul. In matters of the soul the Jews are not wise. They pretend to expect the Messiah and His Kingdom and yet are in no way prepared to receive Him. They do not discern that now is the time, according to the indications give them in the Old Testament prophecies, for the Messiah to appear. Nor did they see that according to the marks given of him. Jesus is He! They were not watchful and do not heed the warning. Now is the accepted time for each one of us to recognize Jesus as our Lord and Savior, an opportunity which we may never have again. Today is the day to reaffirm our interest in the Kingdom of God and the privileges of that kingdom. Now is the accepted time. It is folly not to do so. This was the ruin of many people in Jesus’ generation. They were not prepared for His presence. They did not heed the warning of His Coming. They were not watchful. Today, Jesus wants us to be watchful heeding the warning of His Coming again and He wants us to warn others. He wants us to be prepared for the judgment.

Jesus carries out God’s plan of creating a fellowship by fire by bringing justice by judgment. Jesus regarded the coming of God’s Kingdom as a time of judgment. The Jews however firmly believed that God would judge the nations by one standard and themselves by another. The very fact that a man was a Jew would be enough to absolve him from the judgment of God. The Jews judged themselves better than the Galileans, and they still do. All people, including ourselves at times, have a tendency to judge others and say, “well at least I am not like him/her or them. We know we should not judge, but we still do. However, let us not forget that God does not play favorites. He judges each and every one of us impartially, that justice may prevail.

In the verses following our text Jesus used a very vivid illustration. He said, “When you are threatened with a law-suit, come to an agreement with your adversary before the matter comes to court, for if you do not you will have imprisonment to endure and a fine to pay.” Note that the whole assumption is that the defendant has a bad case which will inevitably go against him. “Every man, woman, or child,” Jesus implied. “Has a bad case in the presence of God, and if a man is wise, he will make his peace with God while there is yet time.

Jesus and all His great servants have always been obsessed with the urgency of time. There are some things a man cannot afford to put off. Above all he cannot afford to delay making his peace with God. Now is the time to take a good look at ourselves and repent of our sinful ways, “Ere the day of Grace be ended.”

If one does not make peace with God, God’s justice will prevail and that one will be put into jail until he pays the last farthing (one-sixteenth of a penny) of his fine.

The truth reveals however that the only way one’s fine can be paid in full is through the ransom of Jesus Christ, the ransom He gave for us in establishing His fellowship by fire. He established a fellowship by fire for His followers (including us) so that all will find peace in parting, so that all will be alert to watching for His warnings, and so that all are assured of seeing justice prevail by His judgment. Amen.