Go to War

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great privilege to share the Word of God with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church. Our church exist by grace for glory in love.

There once was a joke, “Why did the family go on vacation to the beach?” “To have their toes in the sand and arguments in the car ride down there.”

Thank you to the church for allowing me to be absent for the past week to enjoy some time away. I am happy to report that our car rides were *mostly* free from arguments.

We will come back to the idea of fighting within the family a bit later in our sermon this morning, but first I want to share on the purpose of vacation for us as people. While there is certainly no biblical mandate to traverse miles from home and find some waves, we see from the very beginning that we, as humans we were created for rest. God has woven the need for rest into our very beings. The book of Ecclesiastes is an insightful description of the human condition. In Chapter 3 there is a pretty familiar passage that talks about the different seasons we go through. Some may recognize this as the words to The Byrd’s song “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

Amongst the various “seasons” listed in chapter 3, we see, “a time heal, a time to laugh, a time to dance, a time for peace” All of these various seasons expose at least some part of our need for rest. Rest is a good thing, woven into our very being. Vacations can be a valid part of receiving the rest we need.

But as it pertains to our text this morning, there is one commonly given purpose of vacation that I want to denounce. The purpose of vacation, is not to “find ourselves.” While I was away this past Sunday, I had the opportunity to visit with Fellowship Baptist Church down in Florida. It was a good experience and refreshing to be with other believers in a different part of our country, professing the same faith and confidence in the same Christ. As I was worshipping with our sister congregation, I was reminded that we are not to rest FROM God, but rest IN God. The point of our rest isn’t to find the true self at our inner being, but to expose our greater need of the all-sufficient, greatest being, God Himself.

You see humans, fickle creatures as we are, have the tendency to make everything about ourselves. Trevin Wax calls this the human tenancy to “look in”, he writes, “The “look in” approach to life means that your purpose is to look inside yourself in order to discover who you truly are—to find what makes you unique—and then to take hold of your authentic self and emerge with it intact and uncompromised. Who are you? Only you can figure out the answer, and the way you find out is by looking deep into your heart to discover your uniqueness, to come to terms with what you most want from life.”

This may sound great, and it is certainly the main message in most of our television programming, songs, and even much academic education, but the problem is that it is divorced from reality.

I mentioned earlier the book of Ecclesiastes, the Holy Spirit inspired reflection on the description of the human condition. That book ends with this words, Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 “13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

The point of humanity, the meaning of our lives, then, is not found within ourselves, but outside of ourselves, found in God Himself. Life i found in fearing, revering, respecting, God and obeying Him. He is the one who brings all things into judgment. He is the one to whom everything is exposed. We find our purpose and our identity, not at the core of our deceitful hears, but in God.

With this in mind, open your Bibles, if you have not already, to Matthew 10. Thank you to Pastor Derek Holmes, for continuing us on in our series in my absence last week. I hope that I haven’t lost you with my musings on vacation from my time away this passed week. I believe these thoughts serve as a great introduction for our primary text this morning, because we are going to be looking at both divisions within families and more significantly, our identity being found in Christ and Christ alone. And if we are to find our identity in Christ, we have to first know who Christ is. Begin with me in verse 34 of Matthew 10.

Matthew 10:34 ESV

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

If you are reading along with me in a Bible that uses red letters, you’ll see that this is a direct quote of Jesus Christ. At first glance, this can be a very confounding statement to be made by Jesus.

On the cultural level, Jesus is often viewed as mild in temperament. We hear of His great compassion, His dining with sinners, and His peaceful teaching. All of those are valid aspects of the perfect Character of Christ, however, they are not the whole. Those who focus solely on His compassion overlook His justice. Those who focus solely on His dining with sinners overlook that those meetings ended with a command to go and sin no more. And those who focus solely on His peace overlook statements like what is presented before us this morning.

But what are we to make of this statement from the very mouth of Christ when so much of Scripture would point towards His peace. The very angels that declared His birth to the shepherd keep watch over their flocks in the near by fields even declared, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth PEACE among those with whom He is pleased!” Isaiah describe Christ as the “Prince of Peace.” Later even in the book of Matthew chapter 26, Jesus Himself will tell one of his disciples, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

So what are we to make of this? If we are to believe, and we certainly do as we have it listed as church’s second core value, that the Bible, Scripture, is inspired, authoritative, and totally truthful, then what are we to do with this apparent contradiction?

For this particular case, we must understand the difference between goals and means. Looking to whole of Scripture, we know that Christ certainly brings ultimate peace. In Revelation, Through Christ comes the new heaven and new earth. God wipes away every tear, death shall be no more, no mourning, nor crying, nor pain, those things pass away. That is certainly the epitome of peace. We also find peace in the here and now through faith in Christ. Romans 5:1 “1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we have faith in Christ we are the recipients of eternal peace with God!

So the Christ’s ultimate purpose is peace. He was not mixing His word’s when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

But the reality is, and those who have served military service will know this better than I could explain, but the path to peace is paved with war. I reference this a lot, but in the garden of Eden, at the fall of Man, God tells Satan, “I will set enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, He shall bruise your head and your shall bruise His heel.” I often remind us that this is the first telling of the gospel. The snake crusher is coming. But think about what that means! The snake will be crushed! That’s not what we consider to be a peaceful image, and yet it is the means through which Christ brings peace!

Tying this back to our passage this morning, Christ is bringing peace in the ultimate and eternal sense, but in the present, He is not bringing temporal peace.

Keep in mind the greater context of Matthew Chapter 10. Jesus is sending His disciples out on an evangelistic message. They are preaching to the masses that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. These verses we are looking at this morning are intended to repudiate the false belief that the Israelites had that their Messiah was coming to restore national Israel to a place of peace and prominence among the nations. He is pointing them to the spiritual Kingdom. He is defusing the belief that His coming was as a conquering Messiah who would defeat Rome and establish peace in Israel.

When we read that is not bringing peace but a sword, Jesus is not referring to a literal sword. This word in the Greek can refer to a physical sword but it is also used figuratively to describe division. This is why we must be careful students of the word any time we dive into God’s Word. Much like we might say we’re caught between a rock and a hard place when facing a difficult decision. We’re not literally stuck between boulders. In the same way, the word sword here is used to describe division. So Jesus is not telling His disciples to arm up, nor is He contradicting His teaching to put the sword away later in Matthew 24, but rather explaining to His disciples that the message of the gospel supersedes physical kingdoms and will bring much division. There will be tangible division between those in the Kingdom of God and those in the Kingdom of Satan or as it is put in 1 John, the children of God and the children of the devil. We see this explained further in the next few verses.

Matthew 10:35–36 ESV

35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

These verses sound like an apt description of the typical family reunion or a long ride down to the beach!

But in all seriousness, the reality is that the receipt of the gospel causes division. Coming to Christ, seeing the seriousness of our sin, repenting their from and following the Good Shepherd is not accepted easily by all.

I have said before that you who know Christ have more in common with the believer in a remote place, different culture, on the complete other side of the world, than your neighbor who looks like you, talks like you, and enjoys complaining about the same college athletics team as you. When you come to see Christ as the Sovereign Lord He is, you are adopted into the great Family of God. And this is something that is not even always accepted by your earthly family.

William MacDonald wrote, “It is a curious mark of man's perverted nature that ungodly relatives would often rather have their son a drunkard and dissolute person than have him take a public stand as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ!”

This may be a painful reminder even for some of us in this room. I’ve heard countless stories of parents whose children upon leaving the home, go off in the world, reject the faith their were exposed to as a child, and in turn reject their own parents. Some can no longer go to family gatherings due to chastisement and debauchery.

While none of us should desire to see division in our families, it is a reality of which our God has graciously made us aware, it should not surprise us when and if it occurs.

I once had a discussion about our church covenant with a group. In our member’s covenant we have a statement that we promise, “to seek the salvation of our families and acquaintances.” As we were talking about this the question was posed, what if there has been a deep division in the family because of a difference in faith. The question was asked, “How do we keep that promise if we aren’t able to be in consistent communication with particular members of our family?”

Now this is an excellent, and as we can see in our text this morning, VALID question. How do we seek the salvation of those whom we have had to set boundaries between? First of all, we pray for them. We pray that they may have their hearts softened. We pray that God would send laborers in the field that may be able to share with them in a way that we have yet been able to. Then, we take advantage of of any opportunities that we are given with them. We exuded grace and love, using the wisdom of a serpent and the gentleness of a dove to plant gospel seeds and trust the Lord to do the growth. Lastly, we simply trust in God knowing that first and foremost our allegiance is to Him, and He will work all things out for ultimate good. We seek the salvation of all, our family members, our friends, and the random person we see crossing the street, we pray and take advantage of opportunities as they are presented before us, and we leave the saving to Savior.

If and when divisions rise between family members because of Christ, we must hold fast to Christ. This brings us to the next verse

Matthew 10:37 ESV

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Let me say this clearly, the family unit is a gift from God. I want our church to be a church full of strong families, serving together for the glory of God. Our worship service is family integrated. We want our children to be growing up in the faith. I want them to see mom or dad taking notes, singing passionately, praying unashamedly, talking about the message together when they leave this place. Scripture shows the great honor and duty there is to be loving fathers, nurturing mothers, and obedient children. Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward, blessed is the man who has a quiver full of children.

All of this is true. But one of the biggest schemes of Satan being played at least currently in our country is that the idol of the family. I want to be very clear here because the family is certainly a great blessing to be cherished, but the problem with sin is that it twists what is good. Food is good until it transforms to gluttony. Seeking to do what is right is good until it transforms to gluttony. Relationships are good until they transform into extramarital affairs. And families are good until they gain greater importance in our lives than the God who gave us the family.

I mentioned in our introduction that our sermon would be exploring where we find our identity. Much of our lives are shaped by our families. From our very DNA, to food preferences, and understanding of relational dynamics are gained from our families. Then as we leave our house and go out on our own many start their own families and have hopes and desires for their children. If we aren’t careful, we can begin to define ourselves by our families.

Once more, the family is good thing. The Family is a GREAT thing, but what we must never forget, is that Christ is greater! I love my son and I want the absolute best for him, but my deepest love and devotion must be for Christ! I’m sure if I asked him what he absolutely wanted to be doing right now he’d tell me he’d rather be watching PAW Patrol. If he were to be my greatest devotion, I’d skip the service and plant him in front of the TV, but no, I am here to worship corporately with this body of believers through the singing, reading, and preaching of the Word. Because I love my son, I hope that he too gains a love for participating in the body of Christ and I’m hopeful that will come. But whatever God does in the life of my son, my first devotion is to Christ.

This may seem like a silly example, paw patrol over church service, but it illustrates a deeper a real problem that exists in our culture. As we see denominations and churches lose focus of the gospel and drift into culture, much of it is driven, though maybe subconsciously by parents shifting from their values to be more relatable to the younger generation. Flash and pop over theological veracity. Weekend experiences over corporate gatherings. General acceptance over convictional truth.

As much as we love our children, we cannot allow our love for them surpass our love of Christ.

One pastor notes, “The gospels report at least two would-be disciples who did not accept Jesus' call to follow Him because they were unwilling to sacrifice their family ties. One wanted to wait for his inheritance before following the Lord, and the other wanted to delay obedience until he had settled everything with his family. Of such half-hearted, divided commitment Jesus said, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" Luke 9:57-62.”

Church, we must understand that the family is blessing FROM God, but not a blessing ABOVE God.

But the family is not the only source of identity that we elevate beyond its natural position. While some of us may not struggle with that, we can all learn from the next verse.

Matthew 10:38 ESV

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

I mentioned in our introduction the human tendency to look in, to dig to depths of our selves to find our true, authentic selves.

Here in this verse Jesus Christ is commanding the exact opposite. The call to take up the cross is the call to die to self-seeking. In the time in which Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, the cross would need no explanation. These folks would have seen thousands of their friends, family, and other Israelites, crucified at the hands of their Roman oppressors. Some estimate that roughly 30,000 jews were crucified throughout the lifetime of Jesus. The call to take up the cross and follow Jesus, is to follow Him even unto death.

This is a message that doesn’t play well in our context. In comfort culture and self actualization, a call of potential suffering and self-denial goes against the grain. But dear Christian, if we are to take the Word of God seriously, and we must, then it is a message in which we must receive and follow.

Now these disciples would have a very literal threat of potential crucifixion as we know Christ Himself was crucified. What does it mean for us in our modern context? A W Tozer said  to be crucified with Christ means "Three things. Number one: a man who is crucified is facing only one way. Number two: a man who is crucified is not going back. He has said goodbye. He is not going back. And number three: he has no further plans of his own."

The calling of taking up the cross is simple yet costly, it is denying ourselves to be fixated on following the model and commands of Christ. It is realizing that this life is not about ourselves, but giving God glory and enjoying His grace along the way.

Look at the last verse of our section of Scripture this morning:

Matthew 10:39 ESV

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

“Life” in this verse is referring to the temporal, the here and now. Whoever finds his life here will lose it. This means that clinging to our earthly desires, ambitions, and self-centered goals leads to spiritual emptiness. We don’t take them with us.

However, Whoever loses his life for Christ sake will find it. While the call to lose our life for Jesus’ sake may seem daunting, it comes with a promise. Those who do so will find true life—life that is abundant and eternal. This is not just about the afterlife but experiencing the fullness of life here and now through a deep relationship with Christ. And also I want to be clear that this isn’t an exclusive call for martyrdom. There is no action, no work, we could take, even self-sacrifice that would grant us salvation. But the willingness to forsake everything for the sake of Christ indicates the spirit of true discipleship, and therefore the spirit of a person who is destined for heaven and eternal life in God's presence by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Throughout this message we have been talking about seeing Christ as the ultimate in our lives. Finding meaning, purpose, and direction not deep within ourselves, but deep in the Word of God which points us on every page to the glory of Christ.

One of the most interesting and overlooked aspects of this text this morning, is that while we look at this knowing the full story of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, the disciples hearing these commands for the first time would not have known that when Christ called them to carry their cross and be willing to lose their life for His sake, that in just a short period of time from this moment Christ would literally carry His cross and lay down His life for their sakes.

We’ve talked about a lot of uncomfortable things this morning. Being ostracized from family, good things being contorted into idols, denying self and following Christ. All of these are hard things to consider. They show us the reality that being a Christian is not easy. It’s not health and wealth, sunshine and rainbows.

The reality is that even when we know God through faith in Christ, this life is not easy. From our perspective there are messy, uncomfortable trials. Does our struggle mean that God has forsaken us?

Romans 8:32–35 ESV

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

God knows that my own family is hurting right now. We are processing through some difficult health news. But in any and every trial I may go through, I am reminded that Jesus Christ really lived, and died, and rose again, and through faith in Him God has justified, sanctified, and will eventually glorify this feeble body.

Church, following Christ is worth it. Ye, though we may walk through very valley of the Shadow of Death, we can fear no evil for our Good Shepherd is with us. Nothing can separate us from the Love of Christ. Not tribulation, not distress, not familial implosions, not loss, not danger, not sword.

When we believe that Jesus truly is the Christ, the one who lived and died and rose again, when we turn from our sin and to Him, we find peace with God and purpose in this life that has eternal impact. I implore you today, find yourself not in yourself, but in the Christ who saves you. Come to Christ. See He is Worthy. Follow Him. It is costly, but it is worth it. Reflect on this truth in our Hymn of Response and I’ll be upfront if anyone desires to know more.

Let’s pray.