April 1, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
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| Hi, welcome to another God's Grace is Greater segment. | |
| Today, we're continuing our deep dive into the gospel of Luke. | |
| We are finishing chapter 12 today. | |
| And in finishing chapter 12, we're going to be talking about this message that Jesus brings us about not peace, but division being what he brings in this world, but how he uses, he brings peace by using division. | |
| This is a very powerful, um, clarification that Jesus gives us on what he's there to do, what he's here to do as the Savior and Messiah. | |
| And it's very fascinating, especially in the context in which we're reading it. | |
| Again, we're picking up right where we left off in Luke. | |
| We're in chapter 12. | |
| We picked up or we're picking up at verse 49. | |
| But right before that, what did we just read about? | |
| We read about being ready, preparing ourselves for the master who's coming home. | |
| Jesus tells his disciples and us reading through these words that we don't know the time or the day or the moment when Jesus is going to return, so we must be prepared. | |
| And in being prepared, that means what we have to do is live a life that God wants us to live and tells us how to live through the scripture that we are given and that Jesus died for us. | |
| Or did Jesus taught us before his death? | |
| And that's what we're picking up at right now in verse 49 in chapter 12. | |
| And I'm very excited to read these words because I think that they are, you know, you hear this often quoted, but the context matters. | |
| And like I said, that contextually is where it's coming from. | |
| So let's just go ahead and read. | |
| We're in chapter 12, verse 49. | |
| We're reading up to verse 59 and finishing chapter 12 today. | |
| So let's go ahead and read it says. | |
| I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze, but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how it consumes me until it is finished. | |
| Do you think that I came here to give peace to the earth? | |
| No, I tell you, but rather division. | |
| From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two, two against three. | |
| They will be divided father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. | |
| It goes on saying, He also said to the crowds, When you see a cloud rising in the west, right away you say, A storm is coming, and so it does. | |
| And when the south wind is blowing, you say, It's going to be a scorcher, and it is. | |
| Hypocrites! | |
| You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don't you know how to interpret this time? | |
| Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? | |
| As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. | |
| Then he won't drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you in prison. | |
| I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last cent. | |
| Now this verse, these verses that we've read through tell us a lot. | |
| And there's a lot to kind of unpack here. | |
| And we start with these, this verse that Jesus gives us about peace, not peace, but division that he's going to bring. | |
| Now again, the context is important because just before this, Jesus tells us that those who are given, who know about the kingdom of Christ and go against it, will be punished more severely than those who don't know about the kingdom and go against it, who don't know about Jesus and go against him. | |
| He tells us in no uncertain terms to not only be prepared, but understand that if we know and do wrong, then that's even worse than if we don't know and do wrong. | |
| And right after that, he talks about this division that he's going to bring in this earth. | |
| Now, I can tell you just on a personal note, I have family who don't believe. | |
| And it's not necessarily that they don't believe in Jesus, but maybe they don't believe that Whatever it is. | |
| And you maybe have the same thing. | |
| Maybe you deal with unbelievers inside your family or your friends and your circles around you. | |
| And it's especially hurtful when it's close family because all you want to do is try to help them to see the way that you've been shown through the gospel by Jesus in his revelation here that he gives us in the gospel. | |
| But what Jesus tells us to understand and have comfort in is that is the knowledge that he came here, not to make this earth peaceful, the peace that we will receive will be in heaven. | |
| That's the reward, the eternal salvation in heaven. | |
| That is the peace that we should work toward and understand that in this world, there's going to be division, there's going to be strife, there's going to be chaos. | |
| I love the way that they describe the first passage here. | |
| Dr. Jeremiah Wright talks about it in saying, quote, Even Jesus longed for his father to end all evil and bring in the full expression of his kingdom. | |
| Yet, that was not God's plan. | |
| Fire is the image of judgment and baptism is the image of suffering. | |
| Both must come as God planned from eternity past. | |
| Whatever discomfort or impatience a person feels can be put before the Father who loves his children and controls all things. | |
| When you read in the first verse there where he says, I came to bring a fire on earth and I wish it were set ablaze already. | |
| And he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with. | |
| He's talking about the problems that are going to be on this earth that are not going to go away. | |
| He knows the problems he's facing. | |
| Jesus is getting ready, preparing himself for the worst imaginable type of pain and discomfort that you can even fathom. | |
| He's going to be beaten, tortured, hung on a cross, spit on, despised, lied about, all of these things. | |
| What's he doing it for? | |
| He's doing it for you and I, so that we may be saved. | |
| And he goes through it all. | |
| But he reminds us, not only is he going to go through it, but in this life, we're going to face similar things. | |
| Maybe not to that extent. | |
| But if we do truly believe in Christ, one of the things we're going to have to face is the realization and reality that it is divisive. | |
| It is a demarcation line. | |
| It is to say, I believe in Jesus. | |
| And if somebody says they do not, then there is going to be a divergent set of Circumstances, if you will. | |
| There's gonna be division. | |
| There's gonna be strife. | |
| There's gonna be pain. | |
| But! | |
| But! | |
| Through it all... | |
| If we trust in Him, if we believe in Him, if our faith is real, I believe He will deliver us through it all. | |
| And not only will He deliver us through it all, but He will make His will known and done in this life and in the next. | |
| And if you believe in that and trust in Him, He can do things that you think are impossible. | |
| Sometimes, the best thing we can do for people who are | |
| Suffering or putting themselves through tough time is to let them proverbially speaking or literally hit rock-bottom Sometimes you can try to pull people up all you want But they if they don't want the help they don't want to find Jesus in their heart then you have to realize that there is a division that is that is on this earth and after that you have to have faith and trust and | |
| Because as he taught us in the previous verses about being prepared, part of preparing ourselves is understanding that it's not always going to go the way that we want. | |
| And that in those times that it's not going the way that we want, that means our faith has to become stronger, not weaker. | |
| That doesn't mean we backslide. | |
| That doesn't mean that we go back on what we know to be true. | |
| It means we become more firm in our faith, more firm in our belief, more firm in our true devotion to Christ. | |
| And that's what I believe he's getting at here. | |
| When he tells us that families will be divided, he tells us fathers will be divided against their sons and mothers against their daughters, and so on. | |
| What he's telling us, essentially, is that the path we're going to choose is not going to be easy, and it's not going to be peaceful, and it's not going to be what we expect it to be. | |
| There may be moments of peace. | |
| There may be moments of triumph and gladness and thankful hope, but He's saying that that's not the whole thing. | |
| That's not all it is. | |
| Just as he's going through and about to go through, as we are in this story, this incredible set of affliction, we too are going to face the same. | |
| Then he goes on to talk to the crowd that's there listening, and he gives this incredible example. | |
| He talks about how they can read the weather, right? | |
| They could see the sky and know that if the clouds were in the West, right, that it was going to rain, or if that the wind was blowing to the South, that it was going to be hot that day, right? | |
| But he calls them all hypocrites because he's saying, you know how to do all this, but you don't even understand what I'm trying to teach you in this long sermon that we're going through piece by piece in Luke. | |
| And in the same way, a lot of us have this mastery over the world. | |
| You know, we think we know everything sometimes. | |
| And I'm just as guilty. | |
| Sometimes we think we know it all. | |
| And sometimes the worst thing that you can encounter is when you're talking to somebody who, you know, as you're trying to share that word, they think they know it all. | |
| They think they know better than God. | |
| They think they know better than Jesus. | |
| They have a better idea. | |
| Their science is going to save them. | |
| Even though it won't, and it can't, but they believe it will. | |
| And just as that's a hypocritical thing, this too is the hypocritical thing that we face, right? | |
| And finally, what does Jesus advise us? | |
| What's his final advice here in chapter 12? | |
| He wants us to settle our differences with one another. | |
| Because he recognizes there's going to be division, he recognizes there's going to be hypocrites who think they know better than everyone else, but then he finally ends it all by saying, why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? | |
| If you're gonna go, in the example he gives, in this kind of parable he gives, he talks about if you're going with somebody who you're adversarial against, to have somebody make a ruling over you, in this case it would be like two people who, one who sees Christ as his savior and the other who doesn't, if you know you're going to God in the end, you're both going to God in the end, wouldn't it be better to settle your differences before all that takes place? | |
| Because, what does he say? | |
| He says you, he says that If you do get to the judge, guess what's going to happen? | |
| You're going to be handed to the bailiff, and the bailiff's going to throw you in prison. | |
| What's that? | |
| What's prison? | |
| Prison's hell! | |
| He's telling us to not use this division as an excuse to run away from one another and never talk to each other. | |
| He's saying, it'd be in your best interest to settle this before you meet your maker. | |
| Because he tells us that you'll never get out Of this debt that you've paid, this debt that you've created, this cell that you will be in until you've paid every last cent. | |
| And we know what that means. | |
| That's an eternity in the fiery lake. | |
| So he gives us the entire formula. | |
| Not only how to understand and accept the division that's coming and that exists, but then he tells us how to recognize it. | |
| Then he tells us what we should do, how we should fix it. | |
| So, ask yourself this. | |
| Are you able to judge for yourself what is right? | |
| Do you trust your own judgment in that regard? | |
| Are you going to make amends before we meet the Maker with those who see differently than us? | |
| Or at least you will make the attempt, even if it fails? | |
| Let's say a prayer and we'll wrap it up. | |
| Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you for this incredible wisdom from the scripture that teaches us more clearly how to understand that there's going to be affliction and division in this world, that you and your incredible glory did not come just to bring peace, but to bring division as well. | |
| And Lord, that though we may know and trust that we'll find ultimate peace with you in heaven and our eternal salvation, that we'll face affliction and strife and division in this world. | |
| Help us to not be as the hypocrites and place our trust in anything other than you. | |
| And Lord, help us, as you've taught us in this example, to work to settle our differences so that we may help others find you in their heart. | |
| And that, as we know, to kick the dust off our sandals from those who reject you, Lord, help us work for those who may at first reject you, but that there's a hope that they could find you in their heart. | |
| Let's not give up on those people. | |
| Lord, we thank you for this incredible lesson and we pray that you'll give us all understanding and discernment in our heart on what these words truly mean. | |
| In Jesus' name we pray. | |
| Amen. | |
| Alright, well, I hope you guys enjoyed that, you know, recount of the end of Luke. | |
| Tomorrow, we'll be starting chapter 13. | |
| So I hope you guys are ready for that. | |
| But with that being said, I want to say thanks for watching another God's Grace is Greater segment. | |
| We're gonna wrap it up there. | |
| Thank you guys. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. | |
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| I appreciate it. | |
| But with that being said, thanks for watching this episode of God's Grace is Greater. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. |
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