Jesus is Radical

Luke 12:49-59

Luke 12:49–59 NKJV

49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” 54 Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. 55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. 56 Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? 57 “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? 58 When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”

Prayer

Lord, your thoughts are interesting this morning to say the least. You have a way of capturing our attention. Oh dear Jesus, please help this preacher teach these radical words of yours this morning in a way that will be pleasing in your sight. Lord, may I preach accurately your inerrant truths.

Lord, as you describe the fire you bring, may Your Holy Spirit kindle in us an arresting awareness of your presence as I speak, may you kindle a brush fire within our soul and radically bring a change among Your people. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Message

The message of Jesus is radical. The change that comes about in one’ life once you surrender to the Lord is radical given the transformation is authentic. Your life will totally change once Jesus comes into your heart.

Since Jesus Came Into My Heart

1 What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart! I have light in my soul for which long I have sought, Since Jesus came into my heart!

Refrain: Since Jesus came into my heart, Since Jesus came into my heart, Floods of joy o'er my soul like the sea billows roll, Since Jesus came into my heart.

The first time you hear the message and the Holy Spirit invades your being, the conviction, the movement of your soul, emotion is radical from anything or anyone you have encountered up to that distinct point in your life or the fact you will ever encounter.

Jesus’ approach, Jesus’ message, Jesus’ arrest of our soul, the conviction, the charge, the transformation is a real change and you will never encounter anything in this life to compare.

Yet, the transformation is foreign to our flesh. The transformation brings about a real topsy turvy jolt to one’s very life once we surrender to His call. And, we read of its divisive nature. Not everyone around us will get on board with what the Lord is doing. In a very real sense, the change will be divisive even with our loved ones because they do not know you anymore. You are not the same person. Say amen! I am not the same person anymore. But it will be foreign to some you love the most.

Dearly beloved, may we never forget that the road is called narrow.

Matthew 7:13 “13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

Jesus is now days away from going to the cross and He is sitting down with His disciples pouring into them all that He can because His time of departure is soon. The air weighs heavy for Jesus. Factions are forming for and against Jesus. We see recorded in the annals of history of the Bible in all of the scenes we have studied to this point that Jesus is in fact divisive. Not everyone will be on board. Oh listen dear brother and sister, if the Lord really were to get to moving in our midst and we see radical change in the lives of people, not even the church at large will be comfortable with the change. When the Lord moves radically and revolutionary, that key word revolutionary, certain people will revolt.

He shared with that intermingled crowd what has been referred to as the hard sayings.

Jesus, the best Teacher/Preacher that ever spoke has a way of jolting our conscience. He will arrest our attention. And on this day He shared words that seem so adverse to what Jesus stands for as we know Him.

Firstly, when I state that Jesus is radical we see that in our text this morning.

Jesus’ Message is a Call of Divisiveness

Let’s read Luke 12:49-53 again.

Luke 12:49–53 NKJV

49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Nothing about what Jesus shares here gives us a warm and fuzzy. Jesus’ words are jolting to our nature. I thought Jesus was “peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

The words and actions of Jesus to this point seem to strike us as highly contradictory in the tone and message He delivers at this scene.

If I were to ask you what Jesus’ mission was all about until your heard here His comments, the last thing you would say is that “He came to send fire.” The last thing you would have said is that He came not to bring peace, but to bring division”, those would not have been comments even thought of.

You would say along with me:

“What? Oh my goodness Jesus, why would you say such a thing?”

You would utter all the prior teachings you have learned:

Luke 19:10 “10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

John 3:16–17 “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

John 10:10 “10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

We think of the “I am” statements in the Gospel of John:

the bread of life, the light of this world, the Good Shepherd, the door, the Way, the truth, & the Life, the true Vine

Everything we know and think about Jesus does not align with such hard sayings.

Why would Jesus make such a statement?

Jesus used what we call hyperbole in literature or in His communication that is radical, it arrests our attention and that is exactly what He is speaking to us today about as He spoke with those disciples that day.

Contextually, Jesus was speaking of the baptism He encountered with John, He was speaking of the death on the cross, that baptism of His former life to die for the sake of yours, but the coming of the Holy Spirit later at His departure after sacrificing His life on the cross.

Luke 3:15–17 “15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.””

Acts 1:4–8 “4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

The theme of fire is divisive in nature in the Word of God. Fire represents radical traits just as our Lord has a radical impact on our lives. In the Word of God, fire is a major theme of the Bible. It is used 557 times in the Bible. The first mention of fire was in Genesis 19:24

Genesis 19:24 NKJV

24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.

Fire represented judgment for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The second time fire is mentioned is in Genesis 22:6–7 “6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?””

Fire was introduced as the purging agent between life and death. Fire is a great separator. Isaac was spared and the scapegoat, the ram was in the thicket.

And then what we have been studying on alternating Sundays, the Exodus.

Exodus 3:1–2 “1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.”

Fire represented the presence of God.

Think about if for a moment. Fire does not represent middle ground. Fire is light, fire is warmth, fire is direction and a sense of finding your way in the form of a lantern or a cloth soaked in kerosene around a log points us the way. The other side of fire regardless the size of the flame, if you touch it, it burns. Fire has always been the way in which a needle is purified for usage. Fire removes the impurities in the Bible.

The Bible speaks of the dross removed from metals and the Psalmist speaks metaphorically of the dross.

Psalm 119:119 “119 You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies.”

We want to forget that Jesus came to judge as well. We struggle with the compassion of our Heavenly Jesus and the judgment He will administer when our time is up.

I know when I learned the FAITH presentation, the fact that “judgment is without mercy”, that portion always moved in my soul as I shared that fact. I was sobered to the fact that Lord, I know you bring the increase, but help me to share the sound Scriptures to lead someone to Christ.

It is a fact, “unless we repent we shall all likewise perish” is what the Bible states.

Judgment comes unless we accept the gift of life in Jesus. Fire has no middle.

Jesus in His great love and grace counters us with John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Romans 2:16 “16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”

2 Timothy 4:1 “1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:”

John 9:39 “39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.””

Jesus is the fire, He is the great separator from good and evil. He is salvation yes, but He is Judge and He is a doorway to heaven or hell.

Oh listen dear church, I identify more with sinners. I am one. I feel so much for those that fire will be the great separators and I yearn that people, people I love will not spend an eternity in hell.

Ill. Seminary student asked professor about his mother and how would he be able to live with the fact when he goes to heaven if his mother is not there, if she is not saved.

The professor stated that you will be so enamored with the goodness and righteousness of heaven and the constant worship of Jesus that you will never look back on your mother. Listen to me dearly beloved, that response does not bring comfort whatsoever with our soul. The professor answered theologically sound but emphatically weak.

Ill. Many times preachers choose not to share the real world of the sin infested lives they lead. The reality is that preachers are called, they are still sinners. I can identify with sinners more than I can saints.

I’ve shared many times of my salvation experience at age 9, it was real. I was a child of the King and He had his hand upon me providentially, divinely guiding me and placing people in my life to be the bumper rails, the encouragement, the positive influences I needed to be held accountable.

I met Jane at a point in my life when I was finding my way in college. I was saved but I was living a life in the world and in Jesus and dabbling in both lifestyles. On one particular weekend in my later part of my Junior year of college I came to a crisis of belief.

I came to a crisis of belief that I needed to make a statement as to what my life stood for. Jane was with her sorority on a retreat at Cheaha Mountain and my frat brothers stayed back. On this evening I went with frat brothers to Desperado's lounge on the bypass.

Some of the guys were there with girlfriends who were not in the sorority and I was by myself. This was a time when the Lord arrested me as I found myself in Desperado's Lounge on the Bypass and had consumed an enormous amount of alcohol in just an hour and a half.

Something about that particular evening arrested my soul. I saw I had the tendencies of other family members in my life that alcohol could be a ruling agent and I had to come to that dividing line in my life. What do I want my life to stand for?

From that point onward, I do not believe Jane nor I ever went to another college reunion. I went to my 10th year high school reunion, but I knew overall what those events, what those times together stood for, what that chapter of my life was. If any of those friends walked in right now I would hug them and welcome them, but I had to make a stand what my life stood for.

Have you truly drawn the line in the sand and made a life statement as to what your life is really all about?

Listen to the language of verses 51-53.

Luke 12:51–53 “51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.””

Jesus is saying to us today that if you want to follow Me, you are going to experience some division.

You are going to have to say “no” to some things of your former life. Dearly beloved, as the song goes, “you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything.”

Not everyone will accept the new you. I pray that if you have never really drawn that line in the sand and stated that you are going to follow Jesus regardless, I pray you do that today. I am not stating that I have never sinned again, I sin everyday. What I am saying is that I determined on that day that I was going to attempt to live my life as a statement for Jesus everyday. And dearly beloved, I do not want to hurt your feelings, but not everyone will be on board when you choose to do so. But, Oh dear brother, dear sister, it is worth it. I would not take anything for my life in Christ.

The Happy Goodman’s sang, “I wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.”

Jesus’ Movements Calls for Discernment

Luke 12:54–59 NKJV

54 Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. 55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. 56 Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? 57 “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? 58 When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”

You know, not only is Jesus radical, but Jesus is deep. He will put you to thinking. We know the crowds had grown constantly in His ministry. Passerby's that were curious were always there as they had heard of the miracles of Jesus. Obviously, the disciples were there, the extended disciples the seventy or so that had constantly grown outside of the twelve apostles were there. And, the religious elite were always nosy and around to see how they could get rid of Jesus. Jesus was radical and deep and He was a fire then and He is a fire today.

Even the religious elite would succumb to the call of Jesus and He was radical to their teachings up to that point.

John 3:1–3 “1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.””

Luke 18:17 “17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.””

Luke 18:18–27 NKJV

18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. 24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” 27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

Jesus was impacting everyone He encountered. He shared to the crowd and He was targeting the Jews of the day that had not become followers. You spend much time discerning the weather, but you are ignorant of the workings of God during your time here on earth.

You are so worried about living a legalistic, self pious civic minded life in the here and now and you do not realize my aim, my mission, what the life of the people of God are really all about.

Live your life in such a way that you win others to me. You can win the battle and lose the war. You may win the battle of calling everyone to judgment here on earth for their failures toward you, but you are ignorant to your own failures and yes, I am Jesus, I am the Savior of the World. I spared you. Have compassion for others that are on a one way road to burning in hell.

I did come that you may have life more abundantly. I did come to seek and save that which is lost. I am the bread of life, I am the living water, I am the door, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Way, the Truth, & the life, I am the True Vine, but I am also fire. I am the dividing line of life. I am the passage way to heaven and I am the same gate that leads to hell if you do not follow me.

Oh dear church, may we be sober today and understand that God loved a sinner like you and me and we have escaped the fire. But others will not just feel warmth that do not know Jesus, they will not just get singed, the will burn. And you dear brother or sister, there is no middle ground. You are either in or out and the only way to salvation is Jesus.

Acts 4:12 “12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

Our third point is the invitation.

Invitation

Jesus was Charged in Paying Your Debt

Luke 12:57–59 “57 “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? 58 When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.””

Jesus as He shared this word reminds us we all owe a debt. We all are guilty of our sins. The bill for our ransom has been paid if only we will accept God’s gift of redemption for our soul.

Have you come to that point in your life and you’ve drawn a line in the sand and stated what your life is going to stand for for these last days the Lord gives you? When we see the wars and rumors of wars and the state of our world are you discerning that the time is now to respond, and I mean really respond to the call of Christ in your life? Jesus as the song states:

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin has left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”