The War of Love Divides
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:27
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· 14 viewsAs the sheep of Jesus’ pasture, to find your life is to lose it, but to lose your life for Jesus’ sake is to find it.
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34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
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.
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.
38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Moralism
“My life is about living by what’s right, no matter the cost. I strive to hold myself to a higher standard—honesty, fairness, and compassion guide every choice I make. It’s not always easy; I’ve lost friends and opportunities for standing firm on my principles. But I believe it’s my duty to show others the right path, to speak out when I see wrong, and to live as an example. I’m not perfect, and I wrestle with my flaws daily, but I try to inspire people to think about what’s just and good. The world needs more of that, and I’m doing my part to make it so.”
Stoicism
“My life is about mastering what’s in my control—my thoughts, my actions, my character. I don’t chase wealth, fame, or comfort; they’re fleeting. Instead, I focus on being just, kind, and disciplined, no matter what the world throws at me. When hardship comes, I meet it with patience; when fortune arrives, I stay humble. I’ve learned to let go of what I can’t change and to find peace in doing what’s right. I’m not immune to pain or doubt, but I strive to face them with clarity and courage. Living well means aligning with reason and virtue—that’s enough for me.”
Altruism
“I don’t think of my life as anything special—it’s just about doing what feels right. I wake up every day asking how I can help someone, whether it’s teaching a kid to read, feeding a neighbor, or planting a tree for the future. I don’t have much, but what I have, I share. Seeing someone smile because they’re a little less burdened—that’s what keeps me going. It’s not about me; it’s about the difference we can make together. I’ve made mistakes, sure, but every step I take is toward leaving things better than I found them.”
As the sheep of Jesus’ pasture, to find your life is to lose it, but to lose your life for Jesus’ sake is to find it.
As the sheep of Jesus’ pasture, to find your life is to lose it, but to lose your life for Jesus’ sake is to find it.
As we saw last week, Jesus demands His followers to fear God and not man.
When our fear of God outpaces our fear of people, we will no longer fear people.
We saw Him say that our fear of other people’s persecution should never cause us to fear them but to trust our Heavenly Father that knows every hair on our head.
We also saw that Jesus explicitly says that He will serve as the mediatory between God and man.
Jesus will be the One who either commends or condemns before His Heavenly Father.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
The War of Love Divides: Jesus brings division.
The War of Love Divides: Jesus brings division.
Jesus does not pull any punches for His follower.
He did not come to bring peace on the earth, but division.
The message of Jesus will divide.
It will not be a message that brings unity in the world.
See the Jews expected Messiah to bring peace to the world described in the OT (Isaiah 9:5-7; Zechariah 9:9-10).
After a brief time of conflict, there was going to be reign of peace.
For Jesus to describe here that he has come to bring a sword would be shocking to their expectations.
What does it mean that Jesus is bringing “a sword” instead of “peace”?
Division that is regrettable but inevitable.
Division that is regrettable but inevitable.
Luke speaks of it in his gospel account by describing the angels song from heaven with the angel army.
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Jesus truly does bring peace on the earth.
But it’s important to understand the kind of peace that He is bringing.
In what way does Jesus bring peace?
To imply that He is bringing peace demands hostility.
Hostility always demands an offended party and an offender.
Where we divide that line of hostility is critical.
The hostility that exists is not primarily between us as humans.
Though there is much conflict and hostility, it is a derived hostility.
Our greatest hostility is primarily toward God.
Man’s greatest hostility is not toward other people but toward their Creator.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Mankind is primarily in rebellion and opposition to God.
This means that true peace must first reconcile a people to God.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…
The wonder of the gospel is that the hostility that once existed between God and man has been satisfied.
The hostility was removed in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus offers us peace with God now through His own life, death, and resurrection.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
By faith, Christians are declared righteous in the presence of a Holy God and thus have peace with God.
By being united to Christ, the Christian is at peace with Jesus Christ.
So we ought never to say that Jesus has not come to bring peace at all.
He has indeed come to bring peace!
But its the right kind of peace in the right kind of place!
Before peace exists, there must be hostility.
Do you understand that hostility?
Every Christian knows and understand the hostility that once existed in their hearts toward God.
Do you really see and believe that you were an enemy of God?
An unbeliever is not just neutral in this world.
They are at odds with the KING of Heaven!
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
So how does Jesus bring a sword?
A “sword” which was relatively short and sharp was meant for one thing: division.
Nobody carries a sword for any other reason than to divide the object being swung against.
A knight carries a sword to strike an opponent.
A king carries a sword to fight off any offenders and bring peace.
And Jesus brings a sword to divide humanity.
Jesus Himself will be the “line of demarcation.”
Either people will be on Jesus’ side or they will be opposed to Him and His mission.
The sword that Jesus describes that He brings is NOT one of military power and conflict.
What is the object that Jesus has come to divide?
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.
Your relationships will divide over truth.
Your relationships will divide over truth.
There’s a phrase that often is used on the streets sometimes in joking, “blood is thicker than water.”
Family bonds are more important than any other relationship.
And in some ways, there’s a lot of truth to that.
But the message of Jesus will divide even the closest family ties.
Jesus isn’t maliciously trying to divide families.
The communists try to divide families and the family unit.
But Jesus doesn’t try to divide families.
The word used for “set against” could also be “separate.”
Jesus expects that families will be divided as a result of His message to the world.
Father’s will be opposed the children, children opposed to parents, and members of the household will be against one another.
It should be mentioned here that Jesus isn’t bringing a hostility that doesn’t already exist.
It’s not as though families get along before Jesus.
No!
Actually the Bible tells us very clearly from examples like Cain and Abel, David and Absalom, and many others that families have always been shot through with conflict.
There was conflict in homes all over the world.
Fighting and bickering.
Quarreling and squabbling.
But what Jesus is predicting here is more significant.
Your relationships will divide over loyalties.
Your relationships will divide over loyalties.
Imagine for a moment being a Jew and living in your home there in this region of Galilee.
You go to Synagogue with your family every week and you gather with your community.
But then there is this man who sends out His apostles and they come proclaiming this “good news.”
Some would have heard this message and received it with joy, but others do not.
We get a taste of this in our own day when people come to saving faith.
Just because a person comes to saving faith, does not mean their family goes with them.
It does not mean that others will agree with them.
So what is distinct that Jesus is bringing out here?
It’s that now the quarrel’s and squabbles will revolve around Him and His message.
The fighting and hostility isn’t the new thing here.
The new thing here is that Jesus will be the true dividing line between conflict in the home and ultimately within each person.
Because the true object that Jesus seeks to cut is every individual follower of His.
The final object that the message of Jesus will divide is actually the individual person themselves.
The division comes because of the authority of Jesus over every person.
You’ll either side with Jesus and receive His authority with joy or you’ll hate His authority and despise it.
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.
The War of Love and Loyalties: Jesus demands supreme love.
The War of Love and Loyalties: Jesus demands supreme love.
Jesus explains how family members will be divided.
They will not be divided because they are at war with one another per se.
They will be divided from one another because of what they love most.
Love unites.
Love unites us around what we deem most important.
This is not hard to see in the world.
In the home we grew up with everyone loved the Pirates.
It wasn’t like my Dad raised us saying, “Here son, here is how you love the Pirates.”
We loved them because they were our team.
Now everything is good in a home like this until my brother-in-law showed up rooting for the Braves.
It was all in good fun but there was a bit of a rivalry in our family.
This illustrates in a simple way what Jesus is describing here.
Before a household comes to Christ, they grow up loving sin.
Sin is what they love.
They may look moral on the outside.
They don’t cuss.
They go to church.
They read their Bibles.
But they love sin.
And what Jesus says happens to a person when they begin to follow Him is their loves change.
They once loved sin, but now they love Christ preeminently.
22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
They love Jesus above everything else.
It’s actually not through weapons of warfare that homes are divided by a shifting of loyalties that divides homes.
Your loyalty to Jesus must exceed familial loyalties.
Your loyalty to Jesus must exceed familial loyalties.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
You may wonder, “How could Jesus’ compassionate mission cut any deeper?”
38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Your loyalty to Jesus must exceed personal loyalties.
Your loyalty to Jesus must exceed personal loyalties.
Just when you think Jesus could go no further, He does.
He says that everyone who follows Him must “take up his cross and follow after Him.”
This is promised “suffering/death which believers endure in following the crucified Lord” (BDAG).
Jesus had not yet went to the cross yet.
But surely in this day everyone was aware of the practice of crucifixion.
The fuller meaning was not yet known because Jesus hadn’t been crucified.
But surely all would have been aware of this practice.
How does a person “take his own cross and follow after Him”?
Is Jesus calling His followers to a life of self-hatred?
Certainly not!
But the life that Jesus is calling for is a life submitted to His Lordship.
A life not with our own desires as the governing and ruling reality, but His Kingship and authority as the governing principle.
This means that your situation does not govern your life.
No matter how horrible of circumstances you’re walking through right now, they don’t detract you from the will of God.
All of us are called to “carry our cross” and “follow after Him.”
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
The War of Love and Rewards: Jesus rewards His servants.
The War of Love and Rewards: Jesus rewards His servants.
Jesus has spoken much of the “debit side of discipleship” or the costliness of following Him.
But we must never forget that Jesus offers great reward for those who seek to follow Him truly.
We reject any idea of a life of sacrifice for sacrifice sake.
A life that views altruism as a “good in and of itself.”
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
If you find your life, you’ll lose it.
If you find your life, you’ll lose it.
The language here is intense.
“Finds” is actually more like “seeks to gain” (France), “to win or preserve” (Carson).
To “lose” could also be “destroy”
“The one who preserves his life will destroy it, and the one whose life is destroyed because of Me will preserve it.”
Keep in mind Jesus is still speaking about the coming persecution of His followers.
The coming persecution that will divide homes, divide families, divide communities, and ultimately divide our own lives.
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
If you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, you’ll find it.
If you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, you’ll find it.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Your least service is observed and will be rewarded.
Your least service is observed and will be rewarded.
The way people treat my children and love for them.
If a person is willing to receive someone they perceive is a prophet, they’ll be blessed in that manner.
The same thing goes for the righteous person.
But what Jesus goes on to say is truly astonishing.
42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Even the smallest gesture to someone associated with Him will be blessed.
Not because of the status of the recipient but because of the association with Jesus.
Jesus so identifies Himself with even the lowliest of people within the community that when we serve them, we’re essentially serving the Lord Jesus Himself.
Notice again that phrase, “because he is my disciple”, Jesus is not saying this to merely anyone but to those who act in faith and love for Christ.
The motive of the action is everything.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Christian’s have an obligation to love the city by caring for the needs around us.
But how much greater of a responsibility of those who are called brother and sister within our own local church.
There is nothing insignificant done in this church body.
Everything has value because it’s done in Jesus’ Name.
Jesus even says a “cold drink” of water will be rewarded because it is done out of love for Christ.
As the sheep of Jesus’ pasture, to find your life is to lose it, but to lose your life for Jesus’ sake is to find it.
As the sheep of Jesus’ pasture, to find your life is to lose it, but to lose your life for Jesus’ sake is to find it.
Benediction
Benediction
